Random

Here is my disclaimer:

You may find some random post the next couple of weeks. As you can tell, I have been a BAD BLOGGER lately. But my guilt is catching up with me (okay, it was really Aunt Cathy). So I will be pulling random things out that I haven't blogged about(um, Halloween, etc). Sometimes it will be just a picture or two, or you might get lucky and get some words with it--if not, use your imagination! I don't know why I decided to catch up during the busiest time of the year--oh well, I guess I like to make things dificult. Enjoy!!

Let It Snow.........

This is as good as it gets in Sacramento. It was 34 degrees when I woke up at 6am this morning. Our high is supposed to be 43 degrees. Still had to fight Grant to put his jacket on when he walked out the door this morning for school. I guess that Canadian blood runs thicker than I thought!

Anyone want some of these??

Okay, I'm not trying to sell everyone that looks at this blog something, BUT.............some of you have mentioned that when we did this fundraiser at our school that you wanted to buy some. And I don't remember who you all were, so I guess this is my lazy attempt to get to you (whoever you are). Here is the low down:

Butter Braid® pastries are made from sweet, yeasted pastry dough, are layered with 100% real butter and contain zero grams trans fat. This gives Butter Braid® pastries a flaky outside, and a tender, light and airy inside as each layer raises up before baking. As you take a bite of the One-And-Only Butter Braid® pastry, you will be biting into over 16 layers of warm goodness.

Each Butter Braid® pastry contains a mouthwatering filling such as tart apple, warm cinnamon or smooth cream cheese. These fillings are laid atop the dough and wrapped up as the caring makers of Butter Braid® pastries hand-braid the dough sealing in the filling. The Butter Braid pastries are then frozen to seal in the homemade flavor and freshness.

To top it all off, each Butter Braid® pastry comes with an icing packet to complement the filling inside. Drizzle it over the baked pastry and you have a breakfast, snack or dessert that will leave you (and your guests) begging for more!

Butter Braid® pastries come frozen, allowing you the choice of when to thaw, rise, bake and eat! You can watch as your pastry doubles in size and smell the irresistible aroma of the pastry as it bakes. We recommend that you share your pastry with others, but we won’t tell if you happen to keep it all to yourself!

Flavors:
Apple
Cream Cheese
Bavarian Creme
Raspberry
Strawberry Cream Cheese
Cinnamon

This has been our Christmas Morning tradition for quite a few years now. We take one out of the freezer on Christmas Eve before going to bed. Over night it thaws and rises. Before we start opening presents on Christmas Morning, I pop it in the oven, and when we are done with presents, it is nice and golden brown--ready to eat!!


They are $12 each, I will be putting in the order in Wednesday (but since I am the chair of this fundraiser I have a little bit of a grace period). I can pick up money from you when I deliver them to you on December 18th. Just leave a comment or shoot me an email!!

Answer

Ideanugons..............."Indiana Jones"

1st Grade Spelling

Can anyone guess what this says?

One hint: Emma helped Grant draw a picture of "someone" and then wrote this name under it. I will post the answer tomorrow. ***Kids make me laugh***

Sometimes

Sometimes...............you think life is crappy.
Sometimes...............you want to hide under a rock.
Sometimes...............you are super stressed out.
Sometimes...............you want to cry.
Sometimes................you want to scream.
Sometimes................you want to eat chocolate.
Sometimes................you want to go on a vacation.

And then....................you read on a friends blog that their little sister, who is 25, has cancer. And you kind of stop to think, that maybe things aren't so bad. Just SOMETIMES!!

The Good Ol' Days of Preschool

This is what preschool is all about:

Blowing Bubbles (and trying NOT to slurp)

And Painting with a TOOTHBRUSH!!

Cleaning off my phone

Today I realized I had this cute picture on my phone and I just had to share. There is this diner close to our house that has a 50's theme, table side jukeboxes, and good ol' fashioned milkshakes. Really--who could resist this picture?

Good Food, Good Friends

I love it when other people have birthdays!! It was so nice to send the kids off to school and go have a sit down breakfast, (that I didn't have to make), with grown women and have some adult conversation--for an hour and a half!! Who's next?

Errands

This was a conversation that Grant had with another Mom in our carpool group this morning on the way to school:

The Mom: "Grant, are you going to the birthday party this weekend?"
Grant: "Um, yeah, I don't know if I'm going."
The Mom: "Oh really, do you have to do something else."
Grant: "Yeah, I gotta' check with my mom. Cause' she might have to do a lot of errands and I probably won't be able to go!"

Do I win worst mother of the year award?

Made My Heart Smile

This was the email I got from Emma's teacher today. It made my heart smile:

Emma had a great day today! We love the way she walks in the door every day full of joy and ready to work hard. She really took her time on her math test today. Watching her read is always a treat! I’m proud of her.

Mr. H & Mrs. M

Coloring INSIDE the Lines

Grant has just recently shown an interest in coloring--ANY coloring! So tonight when I sat down with Emma to start her homework, he wanted homework too. So I got out a little workbook and did about 3 pages with him. This page was enough to make a mother proud:

(I was getting a little worried--I'm sure you moms out there who went from girls to boys know what I am talking about)

Student of the Week

Today was the first Monday morning assembly at Emma's school. Every week each teacher picks a student to be "Student of the Week". They get their name read by the principal and go up on stage to pick a pencil. Emma was the first one chosen from her class for "Being a role model to other first grade students". Way to go Emma!

(Taken from my phone so the pictures are kind of blurry)

Grant's First Day of Preschool

Grant started preschool on Septemeber 8th. This is the same preschool that Emma went to for 1 1/2 years. So he was pretty familiar with the teacher, classroom, routine, etc. But last week made me realize that he is definitely still my baby. When put in a room with 23 other kids and 6 adults (it is a parent participation program) he kind of retreated into himself. By the time my workday rolled around (Thursday) he was ready to have Mommy stay all day. Its a new week, so we'll see what the future holds. I think he is having a good time, it will just be an adjustment to figure out the routine, dealing with so many other kids, and learning to listen to other adults. But that's what preschool is for, right?

FINALLY--PART 2!!

I blogged about the first wiggle on 3/9/09....6 months later:



This was RIGHT after Jamie pulled it--Oh my gosh, I can't believe I just lost my tooth!!



After the initial shock wore off--Yippee, I lost my tooth!

To make a long story short......this morning Emma bumped her mouth when she was playing, and made her tooth bleed and made it A LOT more wiggly. So after not eating all day and saying that it hurt, Jamie was FINALLY able to get in and pull it out. I honestly thought Emma was going to have a heart attack throughout the whole process. But when it finally came out she was VERY excited.

Tonight when I put her to bed she said, "Mom I think I know why my stomach feels kind of funny inside--because I just want to scream because my tooth came out!"

Sometimes you just need a good laugh

I got this one from a friend via email (thanks Megan). It was just the thing I needed right now....a good laugh! I think I might survive the until next week. Hope this helps someone else get through the day too! Enjoy!!




-I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

- MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I
know how to get out of my damn neighborhood.

-More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can
think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell
my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves
me.

-Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you
realize you're wrong.

-I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was
younger.

-Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the "people you may know"
feature on Facebook people that I do know, but I deliberately choose
not to be friends with?

-Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't
work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically
fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all
know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards
or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

-There is a great need for sarcasm font.

-Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and
suddenly realize I had no idea what the f was going on when I first
saw it.

-How the heck are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

-I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than
take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

- I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear
your computer history if you die.

-The only time I look forward to a red light is when I’m trying to
finish a text I started at the last one.

- LOL has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else
to say".

- I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and
hunger.

- Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart",
all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

- How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod
and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

- I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up
to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

- Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in'
examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete
idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and
said "Yes that's G as in...(10 second lapse)..ummm...Goonies"

-What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each
other?

- While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and
instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.

- Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the
person died.

- I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the
shower first and THEN turn on the water.

-Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty,
and you can wear them forever.

-I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

- Bad decisions make good stories

-Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their
profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got
the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if
I do!

- Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every
year?

-If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring
would probably just be completely invisible.

-Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go
around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly
nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be
a problem....

-You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work
when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything
productive for the rest of the day.

-Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't
want to have to restart my collection.

-There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are
going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

-I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me
if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I
swear I did not make any changes to.

- "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this.
Ever.

-I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people
watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will
they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't
watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and
leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'

-I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello?
Dammit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and
goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone
and run away?

- I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not
seeing anyone of importance the entire day.. What a waste.

-When I meet a new girl, I'm terrified of mentioning something she
hasn't already told me but that I have learned from some light
internet stalking.

-I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle,
then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

-Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising
speed for pedophiles...

- As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers,
but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

-Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still
not know what time it is.

-It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.

-I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to
answer when they call.

-Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to
with it.

-It really ticks me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and
the link takes me to a video instead of text.

-I wonder if cops ever get ticked off at the fact that everyone they
drive behind obeys the speed limit.

-I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

-I disagree with Kay Jewelers.. I would bet more kisses begin with
Miller Lites than Kay.

-The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw
they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words,
someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think
about it, and then estimated that there must be at least four people
eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by
myself. There's nothing like being made to feel like a fatty
before dinner.

First Spelling Test

Way to go Emma!! This was the results of her FIRST spelling test. When she brought her words home on Monday, the only one she hesitated on was "that". But obviously she mastered it. When I said that she got 100%, she quickly corrected me that she got an A+. Whatever you call it--good job and keep it up!

(And yes, even though I didn't blog about it YET--Emma is in first grade now. She has been in school for 3 weeks now. Grant starts preschool on Tuesday, and then I will post pictures and updates for both of them)

The Water Bottle

Today in church Grant's teacher wasn't there, so I sat with them through music and lesson time. It was a hard day from the time he got up, so by the 2nd hour of church, you can only imagine what state of mind we were BOTH in. He was sitting on my lap, sitting in his chair, taking his shoes off, laying on the floor, was hungry, wanted something to drink, etc, etc. I was about to LOOSE it right then and there. He reached over and picked up the water bottle (that I had given into and just let him keep at his chair at that point), took a drink, then put his finger in the water and said, "Look Mom, my finger is getting baptized!" What else could I do but laugh?

Last Summer Getaway

Yummy ice cream enjoyed outside, on the beautiful shores of South Lake Tahoe

This ice cream was SO big!

Our little billy goats

Our little clan

Next to some water--that NO ONE fell into

High above Emerald Bay

One cute brother and sister

Beauty!!

Slippery Slope

This story deserved a post all by itself..........

We decided that we needed one last getaway before school started for Emma & Grant. So we quickly located a hotel and headed off to South Lake Tahoe. On the way up we stopped along the roadside to throw rocks in the American River. Now, you all have to know that this was at the insistence of my hubby. The kids were content, just had lunch, and were tucked in for the long haul watching Harry Potter in the back. But Jamie dragged them out of the car and said, "Come on, it will be fun!!"

First we have to traverse down the mountain side, over fallen trees, and over rocks. Jamie and I are wearing flip flops, and I insisted that Emma and Grant at least put on their water shoes. So after getting down to the river bottom, we look up river and see a nice little area that has large flat rocks with a little waterfall like thing. So Jamie convinces the kids that is where they should throw rocks--even though they have to walk about 50 yards to get to that spot. I stay on the shoreline, with camera in hand, and Jamie takes off carrying Grant (because he didn't want to walk in the water) with Emma following close behind. While looking through the lens I catch a glimpse of Jamie slip, Jamie and Grant fall down, Grant get completely submerged under the water, and then both come back up. Grant was NOT happy!! Not too much longer after that incident, Emma took a spill of her own. Now may whole family was wet--and had not thrown a single rock!

**Side Note**After making it back to the car, we discovered that Grants bag had NOT made it in the car. So we wrapped him in a towel for the rest of the drive, and hit Kmart for the essentials for the rest of the trip.

First Trophy

When we talked to Grant about playing soccer this summer, the first thing he asked was if he would get a trophy. After he heard that a trophy was part of the deal, he was ready to go!! So the season finally ended and he got this trophy. Doesn't he look proud?










Coach K and THE trophy










Grant and Sterling
(Double Trouble)

Where did THAT come from?

Today while driving in the car Emma asked, "Mom, do you think at Christmas time, when Santa goes to a house that has a dog inside, that the dog would bite him? Or do you think that the dog would know that Santa is a good guy and just leave him alone? I said, "I think that the dog would leave him alone." Emma replied, "Yeah, your probably right." End of discussion. Where did that thought come from?

Not a Pioneer Woman

Do you have one of these gigantic bowls from Tupperware? Mine is actually white with a blue lid, but my mom had an orange one growing up. If you ever need to do a BIG job--this is the one you get out--it holds 32 cups!!

Today I made salsa--32 cups worth! We had a TON of wonderful Roma tomatoes in our garden that needed to be used ASAP, so this was their resting place. Fiesta anyone, I'll bring salsa??

**Side Note***I just wanted to say that this is one more reason I'm not cut out to be a pioneer woman. There were many other things that needed to get done today (or just sit around and do nothing since my family has been sick all week). But the tomatoes had to be used, so this is what we did. I love having a garden, but it is a little demanding on the schedule. Now I have to figure out what to do with all the carrots! Any ideas??

Sick........and tired!

Sick and tired of throw up, laundry, barf bowls, cleaning toilets, Sprite, cleaning carpets and no sleep!! This has been my world off and on for the last WEEK!!! I don't know what kind of bug this is---but I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Just had to vent!

Daddy's Big Adventure

So I mentioned in the last post that Jamie had gone on a High Adventure trip with the Scouts. This is one of their activities:

The whole group-DRY!

Entering the water. I was supposed to point out the big rocks they had to carry the boats over!

Entering--"The Chute"

Jamie is the one front right

Going, going..........

GONE!!

Emerging triumphant

Victory!!

**Don't ask about the schmuck on the back of their boat taking a drink. That was their "guide". Jamie was beyond pissed then they got these pictures back. And he assures me that it wasn't as easy as the guy is making it look. And to his defense, I saw the pictures of the other boat from their group and their guide was working hard not just to keep them from smashing into the rocks!**

Exhusted

This week has been filled with a lot of fun. Jamie took off Wednesday with the Scouts to go on their High Adventure Camp. They had white water rafting, hiking, swimming at Lake Tahoe, and a few other things on their list. So me and the kids have been holding down the fort. We swam at the lake one day, went to the movies, rented movies and had an indoor picnic, and stayed up later than we should have. I think it all caught up to Grant.

Yesterday may parents had invited us over for dinner. I struggled with Grant to get him to eat anything (which isn't all that unusual), but then he started to complain that his tummy hurt. And it's ALL gone DOWNHILL from there. He threw up at my parents house (thanks Grandma Redfearn, for helping clean up the floor, Grants clothes, etc, etc), and this is what he looked like on the way home (we only live 4 miles away):


Poor guy made it in the house before we had another "incident" but he held the bag the whole way home--just in case. Since then, about every half hour or so, he gets sick. He has been such a trooper though--hitting the bowl every time but ONCE!

Daddy should be home soon and can assume the bowl duty!

Family Talent Show

Tonight my family decided to have a little impromptu concert.


First it was Grant...



Then it was Emma...........

And finally it was Jamie...........

And she with no musical talent (Mommy) was behind the camera. I decided that MY talent was blogging about THEIR talent!

The Strauss Festival

This is where I have been spending my evenings and nights since last Wednesday. This a is local event held in the community every July. For the past 5 years I have volunteered. The last 3 have been as a dresser backstage. Its not the most glamorous job (the pin pricks in my fingers go to show), but it is fun. And last year I roped my mom into doing it with me. It is a crazy whirlwind for 5 days, but pretty fun too. Now I just need to hire a house cleaner to get my house back in order, and convince my kids to let me sleep for about----12 hours!! See you all next July.




Check out more about the Strauss Festival at:http://www.straussfestival.com/