Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Pitty Goo

Here's my baby, Lily.

She's my pretty girl, or as I like to say "my widdle pitty goo"

She looks like her Daddy


She does NOT look like me

I am a little sad about that.

However, despite the fact that she looks like her Daddy and NOT me, she is so stinkin pretty.  
I can't say that she gets it from me because she DOES NOT look like me.  
Does this mean that my hubby would have made a very pretty girl?  Hmmmmm

Don't tell him that I said that!



Sunday, September 11, 2011

Weddings + Las Vegas = A Pretty Cool Time

My hubby has been working so hard lately.  His company does sound consulting and instillations for churches around southern California, and he works part time at our church at the Sound and Lighting Pastor.  On Friday, he finally wrapped up a looong instillation and was very much looking forward to relaxing.  However, when Saturday came a knocking, he drug himself out of bed to drive me to Las Vegas for a very special occasion.  
My big brother was getting married!!!

Phillip is my second oldest brother yes, I am the youngest of 3 AND the only girl, and I love him so so much.  He's been through a lot in his 35 years of existence, and we...his family...want him to be nothing but happy.  Well, he finally met a winner.  That winner's name is Annie.  She's beautiful, calm, cool, collected, goes with the flow, and is not high maintenance.  Most importantly she thinks the world of my big brother.  
What I love most about my brother is that he has always had the best sense of humor.  Sometimes it's a little "in the gutter", but hey, who doesn't have their moments of "in the gutter"?  He and Annie's sense of humor is what steared them to get married at The Elvis Chapel, by...wait for it...ELVIS!  

When my hubby and I arrived we went in and sat down in this teeny tiny little white room.  It was a little dated, and had your typical white wedding slatted arch decorated with fake vines and flowers.  Then Elvis appeared.  He was so nice and came over to shake our hands.  My hubby and I could not stop laughing.  It wasn't a making-fun laugh, it was a so-awesome-that-it-makes-you-giggle laugh.  
 Phillip and Annie came in, gave us hugs, and then Phillip took his place at the alter.  Elvis, then proceeded to walk Annie down the aisle while singing an Elvis tune that I've never heard before.  Sorry to all of those Elvis fans out there, but I'm not hip to the Elvis tunes.  

Annie had the biggest grin on her face and it made her glow.  Phillip might have been crying, but it was hard to tell because he too was glowing with excitement.  I, however, was crying despite all the hip shaking that the Elvis officiator was doing.  The ceremony was so sweet and wonderful.  I laughed, cried, and even danced.  That's right, since hubby and I were in the wedding party,  Elvis asked us to dance after they said 'I DO!'.  It was so great.  I think that I may have looked more like Elaine from Seinfeld than Michail Baryshnikov.  I didn't care.  We were dancing for joy!  Woo hoo!

After the wedding was over and we signed as their witnesses, we gave them big ol congratulatory hugs and then sent them on their way to do whatever newly married people want to do.

Since we had a few more hours to kill before we needed to start heading back, we drove down the strip and ended up at the Luxor.  
I've never been to Vegas so it was interesting to see the things that I saw.  Being from the bible belt has allowed me and my 'baby eyes' to be sheltered from a few things.  Well, thanks to Vegas, I may have just seen it all.  As Phillip would say, "What IS illegal in Vegas?....Murder?" They don't call it Sin City for nothing, people.  
The Luxor had an amazing Titanic exhibit going on, and since hubby is a huge understatement of the century Titanic fan, we had to see it.  It was probably the best exhibit that I've ever been to.  They created a life like walking deck, bunk room for the 3rd class, Grand Staircase like the one that you see in the movie, and they even had an actual piece of the side of  Titanic ship hanging from the ceiling.  It was so cool to actually imagine being there.  
After all of that we discovered that we were starving.  So hubby treated me to an extremely overpriced steak house.  Yikes!  There's also a reason why we eat at Chili's on our date nights.   Next time, if there even IS a next time, we're hitting up the buffet.  

Friday, September 9, 2011

Our first homeschool field trip

On Labor Day (useless holiday, if you ask me, but you didn't so I'll shut up!) my hubby woke up with the brilliant idea of taking the kids to an apple orchard.  We've never done this in the years past, so I said, "Heck yeah, buddy!" and rounded myself and our 3 punks up as quickly as humanly possible.  I also had every intention of making is a field trip for homeschool.  Visions of essays and poster boards danced in my head.  

We drove for about an hour and a half up to Oak Glen to the Riley Orchard #1.  
It was so purdy and purfect.  I kept waiting for a hobbit to appear.   It was rainy, which is a rare occurance in SoCal, and so so so green.  I was in heaven!  Plus, hardly anyone was there.  Awesome!
We checking in with ease, got a quick tutorial on how to pick the apples from the trees without killing anything, and then set off on our adventure.  
My hubby was determined to find the tree with the biggest apples and then strip that said tree of all it's fruits.  
Cheese balls!
My crew did a very good job of picking some prime apples, and I had every intention of using them apples in my first ever apple pie.  Ooooh yeahhhh!  I really couldn't contribute much to picking because I had a 7 month old strapped to my side.  I did give it a whirl once, though.
My hair hates humidity.
I think that I did an awesome job considering that I was one handed for the most part.  

We then ventured into the gift shop to see what else we could do besides ripping the trees bear.  
No, son, you MAY NOT get a coon skin hat!  Do we look like the Clampits?

The lady  at the counter suggested that we press some apples, and make some cider.  Killer, brahhh!  







My kids did such a fantastic job pressing the heck out of those apples.  I was amazed by their strength and determination to squeeze, squeeze, and squeeeeezzzzeeee.  

In the end, they made some pretty stinkin tasty cider.  

After we wrapped things up at the Riley Orchard, we headed down the hill to have some lunch at a quaint, little seasonal restaurant.  

The food was scrumptious, but their pie was kind of a bummer.  I knew that I could do better.  Muahahaha!

 In the end, all that my daughter really wanted out of this day was a caramel apple.  Thank goodness that they were EVERYWHERE!


The day was perfect, and my pie is cooking in the oven.  We will definitely go back there if not this year, then the next.  












Sunday, September 4, 2011

Life At Home Without Money


Getting to stay at home with all three of my punk-a-roos is such a blessing.  I can't help but think back to the days when our first kid was an infant.  I worked full time for an insurance company during the day, and my husband would stay with our son while I worked.  When I would get home, I'd give my hubby a quick kiss, and then he'd head off to work at night. We never saw each other because we were just trying to make ends meet.  I had no choice but to work.  
Then a few years later God blessed my hubby with a stable job, and our first daughter was born.  We were blessed enough for me to be able to stay at home with her and my son. We lived in a tiny 2 bedroom apartment that was built back in the 50's in a sketchy neighborhood.  Ahhh the memories!
 I'm sure that things would/could be much more stable financially if I worked.  However, since I don't have a  career, I've never landed a job that paid enough to be worth being away from my kids all the time.  My hubby and I feel that it is more important for me to be at home and holding down the fort, than for me to work.  If the hubs came home and announced that I needed to get a job, then I would head out that very second and start looking.  I actually love working.  I love the adult interaction and feeling like I am contributing financially to our wellbeing.  But right now, in this juncture in our lives, I get to stay with my  babies.  Such a blessing! 
95% of the time we are living pay check to pay check.  Yes, this sucks!  Yes, we have debt!  No, we don't have any savings what so ever!  My husband works so hard constantly.  He's always waking up early and coming home super late.  It's a shame that things aren't better for us in the monitory sense, so that he wouldn't have to work so hard.  Yet, when I wake up to my kids in the morning, and I get to spend all day with their smily faces, the financial stresses of life fade away.  My husband loves the comfort of knowing that I am taking care "the home".  And I love it because he openly appreciates it.  
Every single time that I pray, I thank God for making it possible for me to be a stay at home Mom.  We make sacrifices all the time and we don't get to enjoy the finer things in life like vacations or cool toys.  But, hey, in the end all of that stuff doesn't matter.   We try really hard to make the most fun out of every thing that we do as a family.
What does matter is that I get to watch my kids grow.  I get to have a huge influence in their lives in every aspect.  I get to see their funny moments, and their sad moments.  I also get to see moments like this:


Now isn't that worth it?  If she was stuck with a babysitter all day long while I worked, then I would probably not even know about her new hilarious trick.  I would get to see her in the morning, and then I'd get to put her to bed at night 5 days a week.  I want to be there for all the day to day in-between stuff.  My children are my gifts from God himself, and I intend on spending as much time with these gifts as possible, while I can.  

Please do not be offended if you are not a stay at home Mom.  This was not intended to make anyone feel bad at all.  This is just what has happened in my life.  This is simple me, being thankful that I am able to be with my kids.  I know tons of women who have kids AND work out of the home.  My hat is off to these women because I know first hand the aching heart of wanting to be with my kids while I worked.