Jumping on Beds..........

20 years.....

I have my 20 year reunion from college coming up! 

20 years flew.....10 years ago I had my first baby and 10 years before that I was a young girl living on my own in Baltimore! So strange to think about life in chunks of 10....what will I say 10 years from now about myself?  

We are traveling to Baltimore for my reunion....I can't wait to see my college...I know so many changes have occured since I was there....it has grown by leaps and bounds since I walked the campus.

I have been rushing around looking for a dress to wear and finally found one tonight with the kids in tow.

When I think back on the "college Annie", I picture:

  a political science major....a republican....a catholic....a party girl.....a girl that wanted to sleep in and skip class.... an insecure girl that would drop a class if the syllabus called for an oral presentation....a girl that loved living in Baltimore and all that it had to offer!!!! 

I decided to major in poly sci because I found myself a senior in high school absolutely fascinated by politics.  I watched the Iran Contra hearings and loved Oliver North.....I loved Ronald Reagan..(still do)! 

I remember taking a class in college, Soviet Politics, and LOVED learning about the Soviet Union and dreamed of visiting some day.

I was in the "Young Republicans" and remember standing on the corner of Cold Spring Rd. in Baltimore, holding up a sign that read,  "Honk for Alan Keys"  ( I think that is who he was...running for senate or something)....I worked for the governor of MD as an intern and that's when I decided that politics was boring!  

It was my senior year of college! I guess you could say I had come "full circle" from high school.

I looked through my old college yearbook today to see if I would remember names.  I found myself right there back in school in my mind.  I am such a different person today.....or am I?

This week, as  I looked for a dress to wear to the reunion, I was striking out left and right.  I stood there looking at myself in the mirror over and over with disgust.....I didn't like the way I looked in anything.  "If only had I worked out! Why didn't I stick with that hellish video?"  I thought to myself.

Suddenly, as I walked around the mall, I realized that I hadn't changed all that much from college.  Deep inside I am still that insecure girl walking through the college cafeteria with my food tray desperately scanning for my roommates table, hoping no one was looking at me. 

I may not like politics, may not be a practicing catholic.....may not be a party girl but deep inside I am still a young girl wishing  I could be kind to the girl in the mirror and not judging her! 

20 years and still lots of work to do!!! 

Oh well....I am also still a girl that LOVES Baltimore and cannot wait until I am standing on the corner of Cold Spring Rd. again....this time no Alan Keys sign in sight, just  a girl....holding my kids hands, proudly showing them where Mommy lived and loved once upon a time! 

Weekend Review...

How is your Monday?

I had a good one....got a lot done today! I went to a Pinterest Party....everyone brought a meal that they had pinned.  I took the easy way out and made sautaed asparagus and it was good so I will make it again! I will see if I can find it and link. (okay, I couldn't find it....so I sautaeed asparagus in olive oil and then added a little white wine...then some lemon pepper...then cheeses....added bacon bits on top when done).

I also took the girls to get haircuts today and for the very last time in my life, had a say in the way Cara's hair will be cut. I told the hairdresser to take 2 inches off so that it would be a clean cut.  Well, when Cara's cut was over and she walked up to me in the waiting area, I could just about see steam coming out of her ears.  Then I saw tears welling up in her eyes and my heart sank.  I felt like the worst mother in the world for not checking with her about the length, after all she is in 4th grade.  So, from now on (if Cara ever lets anyone cut her hair) she will be in charge of telling the hairdresser what she would like done.  Another move toward independence and another move away from me being in charge of my "babies".   

In other news....our weekend was wonderful!!! 100% whatever we felt like doing, we did it!!!! 

We started out on Friday with the school spring fair (our school's big fundraiser)....it was so cute! The girls in charge did an awesome job decorating and having fun games and activities for the kids.  We also had the silent auction which we bid on a couple of things but we didn't get them.

Saturday we went for a hike on a local trail... I think I linked over the weekend.  It was so beautiful.  I felt like I was somewhere else, not in Orange County....not that OC is a bad place but it was really cool to feel like we were in another place exploring! 

It was a good hike.....I am thinking maybe 5 miles when it was all said and done. It took us half a day. I would love to go back but at the same time would not want to go anytime soon.....at least not for the whole hike.  Maybe just half of it next time.  

Charlie likes to fill his hat with water when we hike and then put the hat on....helps with the heat.

Most of the trail is shaded which makes it really enjoyable.

One of my honey and I...

Afterwards, we went and got some pizza! It tasted so good!! 

Sunday, Mannie had a baseball game but the kids and I decided to skip it and go to the pool....heaven! I am not a pool person but just sitting there felt so relaxing and like summer.  I ended up jumping in because it got hot.  Then after the pool, the kids played soccer, frisbee and steal the bacon at the little park attached to the pool....I love where we live.  It is really pretty here.  I felt very appreciative of my town.  I think that is a good thing.  

I thought about another summer idea......and I am putting no pressure on myself to do this whole thing but I thought that this summer the kids and I will do a Orange County research project of sorts.....our goal will be to visit each city in Orange County and find out what makes it special...of course we already know that answer for many of the cities but we will visit those cities anyway and take pictures and maybe even make a little book, who knows.

Anyway, we met up with Mannie for dinner at Stealhead Brewery on Sunday night.

Joann had asked us if we wanted to meet up at UCI on Sunday night to watch the eclipse and we did! It was really fun to be there with the huge crowd of people all staring up at the sky for the big "event"....the kids will remember this always and it was neat to be there with friends.  Thanks for the great idea Joann! That was fun! 

I made  little solar eclipse cupcakes for the big night!

So, that was our weekend! It was really fun and relaxing!!

This week I am gearing up for our trip to the east coast.  We have to leave Indy and again,I am torn about that......I hope she will be okay in the doggy care.  One good thing is we are going to have them train her while we are gone...I figure it will guarantee that she will get some one on one time with a human.  But I am afraid we will go to pick her up and she will be a totally different dog and not our fun loving, playful pup!  

So, on the one hand I cannot wait to be back in Baltimore but on the other, I will REALLY miss Indy and will worry about her.  Being a dog owner is way harder than I had imagined.   

Love my Indy!

I better go....it is getting late....must start getting the kids in order for bedtime and i need to fold 3 loads of laundry!!

Have a wonderful night!!!!!!! 

 

My Rock!

Mannie is working at the LA County Museum of Art! 

He is helping prepare for the BIG exhibit opening soon!

He says when you stand near it, you feel like Indiana Jones when the big boulder is rolling after Indy.

I can't wait to take Charlie!!

Very cool!

Mannie has to wear protective head gear and bright colors as per job safety!

Sometimes he has very interesting jobs going.  This is one of them.

Love that guy! 

We just got back from an AWESOME hike in a rocky place (speaking of rocks! )

Kids did a great job hiking to a waterfall!!

I am soooooo tired out right now but it is a good tired not the usual exhaustion I feel!! 

We didn't take Indy and I am so bummed because we were told dogs weren't allowed but we saw soooooo many dogs on Holy Jim trail so if we do it again, we are taking her.....she would have LOVED it!!!! 

TIme to go get cleaned up! Hope you are having fun! 

Happy Saturday!

Summer Plans!

Hi there!

Can you believe it is Thursday already? 

So excited! Each day closer to summer is a good one!

The kids were outside last night playing after dinner....it reminded me of summer! The days are longer and once they get their homework done and dinner is done, I figure why not let them just play until the sun goes down!?  But that did mean getting to bed later and then this morning was a little rushed but I am definitely in summer mode.

I have been planning my "No Plans" summer! ;) 

I was browsing a local family magazine yesterday while I got Felicia washed and came across an ad for a Bible School....the ad caught my eye because it was written in Indiana Jones font.  So, I read the ad...it was about Adventure!!!! I started to contemplate sending my kids to this bible school but then I thought to myself that all the "adventures" they would have at this camp would be without me and suddenly I got the idea to just make our own "Adventure List".  

I finally figured out how to get the free fonts on my computer and then went to town on our summer list!! 

I can see getting almost everything on our list accomplished except I cannot guarentee "zipline" or "spot a whale".....all hinges on a possible trip at the end of the summer.  I am okay with not being able to complete every activity though. 

 The others are definite possibilities..locally and on a trip to Utah(Gia and Gramps' cabin roadtrip) we have planned!

I am beyond excited for all the adventures we will go on together!! Life is so wonderful! So many things to see, do and explore together!!!

I have another "summer project" to share but I am still working on it!

Are you as excited for summer as I am?

Hike

Hey there!

Happy Tuesday! It is a little gray this morning and I am still in my pj's....I drove the kids to school in my pj's. Now I am doing laundry, a little research and checking on blogs.

We had a nice weekend.  We went on a little hike on Saturday to Peter's Canyon.  It was not my favorite park...too close to a busy road and you could see lots of houses....didn't feel as emmersed in nature as I would have liked.   Our original plan was to go to Irvine Regional Park and there was a huge line of cars to get in....I had never seen that before.  So, we drove down the road and decided to explore PC.
But we did hit a big hill that was tiring in the heat.  
Cami started to lose it a bit but she marched on and we all made it!!  Awesome!

On the way down the hill, Mannie made a bet with the kids that whoever didn't slip (it was steep and rocky) would be the winner.  I think we all slipped.  But Charlie was determined to be the winner so when we reached the bottom of the hill, he and Mannie turned around and climbed the hill again so they could walk down the hill one more time without slipping.....they did it! I was so proud of Charlie's determination! 

We saw a roadrunner! So cute....meep, meep! or is it beep, beep? 

I will try a little closer...

Mother's Day we went out to brunch.....and dinner! I remembered to ask Mannie to take my picture with the kids!  I don't love the picture...I look stressed out.  But that is how I was on Mother's Day....well, maybe hormonal is a better word to describe me on Mother's Day.  Damm you hormones!!!!!! Being a woman is hard so how fitting to be hormonal on Mother's Day! But, I am blessed to be able to celebrate this holiday as a mom and not just as a daughter. I am so LUCKY to have these 3 amazing kids!!! They are the LIGHT of my life for sure!!  

In other news....Cara fractured/broke her finger last week....during the Star testing of all things.  So, she has been writing with her left hand.  I was laughing to myself last week because I have been taking each day one day at a time since life got busy for us....and I have been writing my daily "to do" lists....and I thought to myself how quickly that strategy went out the window because surely "Sit in Urgent Care" and then "Visit to the orthopedic doctor" were NOT on the "to do" list.  That's life though.....God always likes to remind us that we can't control it all, no matter how hard we try!!!!  

Cara is doing fine though!  And I did manage to take on that mini emergency and complete my "to do" list as well. 

This week, I have it all lined up once again.  We are slowly getting to the point where I will be able to breathe a little better!  Cara has 2 BIG projects due on the 25th so that has been one of the big "to do's".  She has business day coming up.  She and a couple of friends will be selling homemade chocolate lollipops so we have been gearing up for that.  The girls will make some tomorrow after school here.  I think they need to make at least 50 of them.  Cara also has a huge "California Report" that she has been working on for a couple of months.  The research has been ongoing but she also has a diorama due that we have been working on.  I discouraged the "mission building" because I wasn't inspired to do one and let's face it, the parents have to be on board with the project so they can help.  So, she decided on a Native American diorama and I thought that sounded fun.  I think she has really enjoyed the whole process of creating the report in general.

We have a trip coming up at the end of May! I am going to my 20 year college reunion in Baltimore! So that is my Light at the End of the Tunnel!  I am getting there! 

I will say though, that this past weekend we had no plans and as we hiked on Saturday, I was so at peace just knowing that had nothing looming over our heads and no where to be.  It was amazing! We have that this coming Saturday too and I am determined to keep it that way....NO Plans!! 

Well, I suppose I will go check on the laundry, I think the cycle just ended! 

Have an awesome day!!!

 

 

Mother's Day 2012

Hi there.

I was so happy to come across a strawberry plant yesterday while I was running an errand.

So, I came home and made a card to match and now we have a Mother's Day gift to give to Gia on Sunday!! And yes, I went with the corny, "Berry much" inside the card! How could I not?

I also finished a Cami layout too!

I have got my daily to do list out so I need to get crackin' on that!

Hope you have a great day!!! 

 

Happy Being Scrappy! *ETA

Happy Tuesday!

Well, some of our activities are winding down here....softball and cheer....so between that and no homework due to testing, the kids and I got some time in the scraproom last night.

 

I made 2 layouts!! It was SO fun!!!! Love it!

Here are some peeks....

But I must go to work so I will hopefully post the layouts later!

Have an awesome day!!!

***ETA....

Had a great day at work!! Then had some time to run a couple of errands before pick up!

Here are the layouts....I seriously had a blast making them! Tomorrow....Mother's day stuff!!

Sunday...it's a good day!

Hi there.....enjoying a quiet moment while Mannie and the kids are out getting ice cream and materials at Home Depot.

We had a great weekend! 

It started on Friday night with dinner here at home.....bbq chicken, broccoli, salad, potatoes and mac and cheese! Then we headed out to the bookstore to get a couple of books for the kids.  I think it is so fun to just browse the bookstore....so relaxing.  Cara has found a new series (horse related of course) that she loves so we got the next book in the series. Charlie has decided on Geronimo Stilton for now.....I am so happy he has found something....all he was interested in the past year has been Diary of Wimpy Kid and Big Nate....there is only so many times you can reread a book.  Cami is not into anything unless it has to do with a bird which I have found to be a very limited market btw! However, we did find a few bird books for her on Friday which was good.

Saturday we packed up the car and headed over to Newport for the Spring Fair at the ENC.  Luckily, I didn't have too much to bring.  I decided on a binder to hold the photos I was selling and a few framed pictures to display.  

Thankfully the sun decided to show itself and so we had a really nice day at the ENC.  I hadn't been there in a while and it felt so good to walk around with the kids.  

The kids had entered in the art show for kids and Cara won an award but Cam and Charlie didn't.  They had a hard time being happy for their sister....it took a couple of hours before they could even go into the gallery and pose for a picture infront of their art work.  Good life lesson....you don't always get a trophy or win! We need to work on being happy for the winners though.

We spent the whole day there since Gia and I had a booth.  The kids were awesome! There were crafts to do and Drew, Joann, Beth and Matthew came so they were happy to hang out with their friends.  We also went fishin' for crawdaddies....they caught (and released) a bunch of them.

Here is my booth....

I was really bummed out as we were leaving....all packed up and I realized I hadn't taken any pictures with {me}  in the booth..I was too busy....I also felt a little disappointed that Mannie didn't think of it either.  But I guess I shouldn't feel disappointed in him because photography isn't his thing and he was busy too.

Sometimes it is hard to feel passionately about something while no one else in your immediate circle feels the same.  You know what I mean?  It would never occur to Mannie to take my picture in the booth.  I wonder if there is some way that I sort of disappoint Mannie.....what am I not doing to be a part of his passion (baseball)?  Not sure.

I guess it might be a good topic for a date night or day.

 But I was bummed about not having a photo because this booth was sort of a big deal in that I had never done anything like it before. I felt a little vulnerable "putting myself out there" and I certainly don't consider myself an "artist" as was advertised but I was honored to be named one nonetheless.  I am just a mom that loves taking pictures.  Well, it has been an interesting experience anyway....that's what life is all about.

Here is the only picture I have from the ENC with me in it....I like it....Cara and I went for a nature walk together and it was really nice to walk around talking with her and holding hands....how long will she let me hold her hand?  I don't know so I was relishing the moment yesterday and this picture will remind me of that.

 

After the fair and  since it was Cinco de Mayo, we celebrated our "engagement anniversary"....funny, we would never celebrate it if we didn't have a major holiday to remember the date.  Anyway, 15 years!!! Best years of my life....15 seems so long, sometimes I can't believe it and think I will wake up from this amazing dream and find myself back in my old bedroom in White Plains, NY!

Today the kids and I went out to breakfast!!! Sugar Shack in San Clemente.....awesome!!!  If you are local, try it, you won't be disappointed!! Yum...Then we hit Mannie's baseball game!

Now back here just relaxing!

Kids and Mannie just got back! 

Hope you had a great weekend! 

TGIF!

Hello Friday!!! I looooooooooove you!!!

Made through another week of Mannie working away from home.

He comes home today! 

Always better when we are all together! 

I got my banner done for the booth!! I love it!! It always feels so good when I "see" something in my head and I actually make it a reality....doesn't always happen but when it does, it is rewarding.

I love making banners... I have dreamed up another one for Cami's room which is the next room on our "to do" list. 

I made a to do list for every day this week as opposed to a general to do list that I usually do  and it really kept me focused  and less stressed. I am going to operate that way until the end of the month.

Today is cleaning day and so far I have gotten most of it done and it is still early!! Feeling good about that! 

Hope you are having a great day and getting all your "to do's" done!! 

TGIF! Have a good one.

Last of the Ranch

I never did finish the ranch photos.

Last day....photos, a few words.

Any day that starts with hot cocoa is a good one!

Morning walk....

The barn.... Hogs

Mr. Goat....

Filling up the pool for the ducks...

horsing around....

We checked out and headed to a nearby waterfall for a little mini hike....pretty lighting.....

Lunch in Solvang....

Then time to head back to Santa Barbara to pick up our sweet pup.....she was SO excited to see us...and was pulling us out of the dog camp place....then she proceeded to sleep the ENTIRE way home from SB...she must not have slept much at dog camp.

I missed her so much!!

I leave you with a family portrait from our hike....

:)

Gotta love family!

Hope you are having a nice Wed.  I am.  Getting stuff slowly crossed off my to do list this week. 1/2 way to Friday!! Can't wait!!!!