In Memory of Gary Reavis

I've talked about my step dad a little bit here and there, but today my blog is completely dedicated to him. Yesterday was the one year anniversary of his death and it's important that I write about how I feel, but also so I can remember him and his life here on earth. He is missed very much everyday, but I know that he is in heaven and he's being well taken care of.

When my Mom first married Gary, I hated, and I mean hated him. I was angry about a lot of things in my life that time ( I was 12) and he fueled the fire. Through trials and tribulations(a lot of them), we grew anincredible relationship. Despite our differences, we grew to respect each other. He was there for me in many ways I didn't even realize until I got older. I learned a lot from him and he helped shape who I am today.

As an adult I learned to appreciate his kindness and his willingness to go out of his way for others. He treated my children like they were his own because to him they were. He and the princess had an incredible relationship that she will never forget. We talk a lot about him and some days she is sad and the others she has very happy memories. The princess remembers him as the silly Grandpa and that he was. It saddens my heart that the ruler will never know his Grandpa.

My sister is a Daddy's girl and this has been a tough year for her. Not only did her father pass away when she was 19, but she also moved away from home to go to school. She was the apple of his eye and he was so very proud of her. The relationship was very special and I knows she misses him so much.

Gary died on December 10, 2007. It's taken me a couple of days to write this post. I keep sitting down to write and then it feels too sad and I stop, but I wanted to keep his memory alive and try to remember all the great things about him. He was a great cook and taught me most of what I know today. He taught me how to do simple things like laundry and how to keep a house. He also taught me about hard work and where to find a good deal which translates into he was cheap. His family was his life and he put all of his energy into it.

Although I'm very sad that he is not here, I know that he is with God. I was there the moment he took his last breath. I got to give him a kiss and tell him that I love him. He was surrounded by his family who held his hand when he died. His pastor was there we were able to say a prayer before he passed. I hope that when it's my time that my family will do the same for me. As much as we didn't want him to go, he went peacefully and with all the love of his family and friends. That's the way it should be

So I'll end my post with, I love you Gary and I miss you terribly, but I'm glad you're with God living comfortably and not on this earth suffering. I think about you everyday. You gave me so many gifts in my life and I'm truly grateful for everything you did for me. Thank you.

May God bless you all.

Weekend Re-Cap

Back to the real world for me. I was on vacation last week and boy was it nice. I'm back at work now and can't believe last week went by so fast. We had a very mellow Thanksgiving. We went to my Dad and step mom's house and it ended up being just my family. It's usually it's very chaotic and crazy with a bunch of kids running around and people talking over each other. Very different atmosphere this year. We ate a little later than usual and this year just had a weird feel to it. I think part of it was that it was the first year Thanksgiving without my step dad and I was a little sad. I don't think I realized that until Thanksgiving was over.

Friday I decided to get up at 3:45 and join the masses to do some shopping for Christmas. What was I thinking. I went to Kohl's which opened at 4:00 a.m. By the time I got there at 4:15 a.m. it was a complete mad house, but since I was there I decided to shop. In the end I got what I wanted plus a little more. I waited in line for and 1 hour and 15 minutes. Longer than I shopped. I don't usually go out on black Friday and now I remember why. It's wasn't worth. Sure I got a few good deals and I did get a big chunk of shopping out of the way, but I was totally exhausted and when I got home the hubby had to go to work and I was left with 3 hungry children that wanted all of my attention. Late in the morning my best friend Jen came over with Violet and we baked cookies, brownies and pumpkin bread. We went a little crazy, but it was fun. I brought a bunch of the goodies to work today just so I don't eat them all. These pictures are the kids frosting some brownies we made and adding sprinkles. They had so much fun!At about 1:30, the ruler was ready for a nap, but there was so much going on in the house that he was having a hard time settling down. So I decided to lay in my bed with him, hoping he would snuggle with me a fall asleep and that's exactly what he did. I also fell asleep and Jen let me sleep until 4:00 p.m. with him. What a fantastic friend. She took care of the queen and the princess and finished baking the cookies. I felt like I had totally left her hanging and she teased me for a while, but I know she really didn't mind. Jen always has my back. Whenever I need he she is there for me no matter what it is. She loves my kids like her own. After I woke up and stopped feeling guilty for sleeping all afternoon we finished baking and the hubby brought home dinner from Subway. We hung out the rest of the evening and when everyone was settling down around 9:00 p.m.and Jen and Violet were getting ready to leave, guess what happened? Bet you can't guess. I couldn't believe it myself. The queen stuck a bead up her nose and couldn't get it out. It was pretty far up there. Now let me remind you that the queen is 9. Yes 9. This is something I would expect from the princess(which happened last year and we had to make an emergency room trip) or the ruler because that's what a 2 year old would do, but no it was the queen. Needless to say she was embarrassed and had actually had in stuck there for quite some time, 3 hours to be exact, and waited until 9:00 p.m. to tell me. Thank God Jen was there. The hubby had left for his second job at 8:00, so if she had not been there I would have been dragging a sleepy 2 and 4 year old with me to the emergency room on a Friday night. What Fun! We got to the hospital a little before 10:00 p.m. and left at little after 12:00 a.m. When we finally got to see a doctor, it took about 2 minutes to get the bead out. What a night! Jen was watching Mork and Mindy when I got home (love that show) and still giggling about my trip to the hospital. I am amused by the situation now, not so amused on Friday night. So we said good night and she laughed all the way out the door. I'm sure she is giggling as she reads this. She is the greatest friend and I don't know what I would do without her. Thanks again Jen!!

The rest of the weekend was pretty mellow. I cleaned house, did laundry, took another nap. I needed to recover from my late night in the emergency room, and of course the ruler woke up at 6:30 on Saturday morning. That boy will sleep in every day during the week, but if it's Saturday or Sunday, 6:00 a.m. seems to be a great time for him to wake up. Murphy's law I guess.

Yesterday I went out and did a bunch of errands all by myself. I don't very often go out without taking one of the kids with me so this was a real treat. I went to Starbucks and sat inside and read the paper. Usually I hit the drive thru because I have 3 kids in the car with me. I went grocery shopping alone, to Costco alone and I had a couple of things to return at Kohl's. What a sense of freedom. No buckling and unbuckling of car seats. No arguing about sitting in the cart at the store. I didn't have to tell anyone to stop touching everything. It was great. I wasn't planning to buy a Christmas tree, but they were so nice at Costco and such a good price that I squeezed a 7 foot noble fir in the car. It smells so good. It's not decorated yet, but I'll probably do it Friday night when I have time. When I got home I felt refreshed and ready to conquer dinner, bath and bedtime. I made a yummy butternut squash soup which no one seemed to like but me. Their loss and that means more for me.

So here we are knee deep in the Christmas season. I LOVE IT! I always wish I could do more for my family, but money is tight this year so it will be a little thin. I can say that the sense of family that comes along with the holidays is what I love the most. My big crazy family gets together and we are crazy, but I just love us all be together despite how dysfunctional we can be sometimes. I love the smell of the Christmas tree and gingerbread. And I really love eggnog lattes from Starbucks. YUM! I do truly believe that Christmas is the most special holiday of the year. Not only because all the fun stuff, but the true meaning of Christmas. The day that Jesus was born. That's the most important part. I don't talk a lot about religion or push my personal beliefs on anyone, but I do believe in Jesus and I celebrate his birthday. It's not any of my business whether or not you believe, but I know in my heart that I'm a believer.

I hope that everyone has recuperated from their Thanksgiving holiday and is celebrating the Christmas season.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Just a quick funny for the day:

What did the turkey say to the turkey hunter?

Quack, quack.

Ha! I thought it was funny.

Hope everyone has a great day. I plan to eat until I am in a coma. I am so grateful for my life and all the great people I have in my life including my new bloggy friends.

My Sister

As I wrote about yesterday, my sister is home from college. She is a junior at CSU, Monterey. She attended 2 years at CSU, Sacramento and decided to transfer this year. I miss her terribly, but I know that she's enjoying it there and who can complain about going to college next to the Pacific Ocean. She is home for Thanksgiving and I've already seen her twice. Lucky me! There is a big age gap between us, 12 years 11 months and 21 days to be exact. She is a Cinco de Mayo baby which always make her birthday fun. She is so fun to be around and as you can tell, she is adorable. She is very creative and loves to make her own cards for any occasion. She's the best sister a girl could have.

I made a fantastic meatloaf dinner on Sunday. It was so yummy! The whole family was over. My brother, his wife and 2 kids, me, my husband and our 3 kids, my stepbrother and his wife, my Mom's great cousin's daughter (I still haven't figured out what that makes her to me) and my Grandma. I have a big family and when you put us all in one house, it's a little (a lot) noisy and a little chaotic, but we make it work. After dinner we had pumpkin pie & whipped cream. YUM! The ruler loves whipped cream and if he sees the can, he will open his mouth like a baby bird and expect you to squirt it in his mouth. It's pretty cute.

My sister is going to come over tomorrow afternoon and help the queen and I work on a school project. It requires some creativeness, which I lack. In the morning I'm going to be cooking a turkey for the princess' preschool class. She is very excited! It's also pajama day at preschool which makes it even more fun. So, at 7:00 a.m. I will be putting the turkey in the oven. It's a 15 pounder and I'm not stuffing it, so it shouldn't take very long. The turkey I made for my potluck at work last week was fantastic. I impressed myself. But I digress. Let's get back to my sister.

I've had the privilege of working with my sister not once, but twice. She interned in our communications department in the summer of 2007 and then came back to work at my company, in my department, in the beginning of 2008. She worked through the second semester of her sophomore year and into some of the summer. She left in July to get ready to move to Monterey. She lives in the dorms. It's been hard not having her at my office or even in the same city. We do talk often and I'm glad that we had the time together that we did. Her Dad died last December and it gave us a lot of time to heal together and just be together through a very rough time in our lives. I can't imagine losing my father at 19 years old. She has been through a lot and she still continues to thrive in all areas of her life. I am so proud of her. This Thanksgiving is going to be rough. It's the last holiday we spent with her Dad. He died about 15 days after Thanksgiving. This year my mom and sister are going to my her boyfriends families house. I think that's probably for the best. None of us are up for cooking at my mom's house this year. I'm going to go to my dad's house this year. I could go on and on and on about how much I love my sister, but I think you get the point.

I hope y'all have a great Thanksgiving and that you are as grateful for your life as I am. May your families be as blessed as ours.

Live Simply

This is my motto today. It should be my motto everyday, but I tend to complicate life sometimes or maybe all the time. I make myself so busy and put so much on my plate that I can't enjoy the simple things in life. So today I'm enjoying my coffee in my favorite cup that reminds me to slow down. As I'm typing, I'm listening to Christmas music. I love, love, love the holidays. Since they don't make Thanksgiving music, I'm starting my Christmas music collection early. Every year I buy the holiday CD from Starbucks and I love them because it's such a mix of artists. A minute ago I was listening to Norah Jones sing about peace and now I'm listening to Dean Martin sing I'll be Home for Christmas. I have everything from the Kenny Chesney Christmas CD to the Nutcracker which is most favorite Christmas CD ever. I can listen to the music and see the ballerinas dance during each scene in my head. I've probably seen the Nutcracker Ballet at least 15 times and it never gets old for me. I've taken the queen every year since she was 3 except once. I'm hoping we can afford to go this year. I really want to take princess this year. She's never seen it and I think she would love it. We get all dressed up with our fancy dresses, shoes and purses. We take the binoculars because I've never been able to afford the close seats and then afterwards we get to go to a party with the ballerinas and other characters. We take pictures with them and they sign the kids programs. It's so much fun. I feel like a little kid every year when we go.

It's 11:45 PST and I'm still in my pajamas. I love lazy Sundays. I just put the ruler down for his nap. The queen and princess are outside with daddy raking leaves. I'm actually getting a moment to myself and I'm not doing laundry, cleaning the bathroom or vacuuming. I'm enjoying my second cup of coffee and listening my Christmas CD's. Life's good.

I took a couple of pictures this morning of our lazy Sunday. The ruler was just lounging on the couch watching cartoons and the princess was hanging out in the rocking chair. Couldn't pass up a Kodak moment. Their so dang cute. Sometimes I wonder how I got so lucky in the kid department. I don't know where the queen was when I was taking pictures, but I didn't get one of her. I wish I would of because her hair this morning was hilarious. The right side of her head had a huge bald spot because of they way she slept and it was sticking straight up.

I hope that you are all enjoying your Sunday. Check back tomorrow and I'm going to post about my sister. I don't think I've ever mentioned her in my blog yet, but I will introduce you to her tomorrow. She's home from college for the week so we are going over to my Mom's tonight for family dinner. I'll be doing most of the cooking since my mother isn't much of a cook. My step dad (my sisters dad), passed away last December and he did all of the cooking. He taught me almost everything I know about cooking and so I want to treat my sister to one of our favorites that he used to make for us. Meatloaf, mashed potatoes , a special red gravy, corn and rolls. It is my all time favorite meal that he made and I have perfected the recipe. I'm a little sad as I type this because I miss him terribly and it's hard during the holidays when a loved one isn't with us anymore. I know that he is in heaven and that one day I will see him again, but it doesn't mean that I don't wish he wasn't here making meatloaf for all of us, but he's not, so I'm proud to carry on the meatloaf legacy.

HAPPY THURSDAY!!!

Today I'm just going to talk about the good things in life. This morning I found it ironic that on my way to work with my friend Becky, who was nice enough to give me a ride again, we got pulled over, but it worked out just fine. I was feeling a little bit like the sky was falling, but it's turns out it's not. You can find out more about our morning here.

I finally got my rental car this afternoon. I couldn't get it last night because I didn't have my driver's license. The police officer gave it to my husband on Monday after the accident and he forgot give it back to me. It worked out for the best because I got a pretty cool car. It's a Ford Escape Hybrid. It has satellite radio which is really cool and it get really good gas mileage for a SUV. It's normally a very expensive rental, but since it was the only car left at the rental place, I got it really cheap. YAY ME! Things are looking up! I must admit I'm a little apprehensive to drive home tonight in traffic, but I'm sure everything will be fine. I drove last night, but I didn't go very far and it wasn't in rush hour traffic. I must admit that I'm feeling pretty decent considering that someone plowed into me 3 days ago, but I'm still pretty sore and my right elbow is bugging me a bit. I think I'll make an appointment with my doctor just to be on the safe side.

My hubby has been great through all of this. Between me being sick and then the accident, he has really stepped up to take care of stuff that I would normally do. So I want to publicly thank him and let all my bloggy friends know how much I love him and how great I think he is. I don't always tell him that so I wanted to make sure I put it in writing. I appreciate everything he does for me even though I don't always show it.

And now just for kicks I wanted to show off my adorable children. I haven't written much about them lately. I've been a little self absorbed with all the stuff that's been going on so I thought I'd show off some cute pics. The princess has her first band performance during an assembly at school tomorrow. I'm so proud of her. She really enjoys playing the clarinet and she's pretty good. I enjoy listening to her practice and hope that she will continue with band in the years to come.

The first one if of the ruler. He takes his coloring very seriously. When he's not using the coloring book, he is under the table creating art on the kitchen tile. One of these days I'll take a picture of one of his masterpieces. Thank goodness for washable crayons. The next is the queen and her friend Violet on Halloween. The queen was a zombie doctor and Violet was a zombie cheerleader. The last picture is of the princess. We went to a roller skating party a couple of weeks ago and this is her out on the rink. She thinks she's hot stuff and well, she's right.

I hope everyone else is having a great Thursday. When I get home from work I'm going to cook a 20lb. turkey for our Thanksgiving potluck at work tomorrow. I can't believe it's only a week away.

Thanks to everyone for all your comments and prayers. I know that I've been complaining a lot lately and I appreciate your tolerance. I am going to spend the next we focusing on what I'm grateful for. One thing I do know is that I have a lot of things to be grateful for and I need to start remembering what they are.

HUMP DAY!

As Wednesday is usually referred to, I would like to get over it. I would like to start my week all over again, but that's not going to happen. I haven't blogged in a while and I feel like I have a lot to talk about, but I'm going to do my best to keep it short.

I had a great weekend. Saturday was the princess' last soccer game for the season followed by her party. We played indoor soccer for an hour (SO FUN!) and then went to a pizza parlor and had pizza, cupcakes and handed out trophies. Sunday I had to get up bright and early and take the ruler to the doctor. He's had a rash for a while and it wasn't getting better, and he was scratching a lot. He has eczema so I'm not immediately alarmed when his skin breaks out. So off to the doctor on Sunday am. Thank goodness for urgent care clinics. I didn't have to take any time off work. His eczema got infected while scratching it so we have some antibiotic ointment and a steroid cream to help it heal. The rest of our Sunday was pretty mellow. We went grocery shopping, did some housework and watched football. Unfortunately, the Redskins couldn't beat the Cowboys which was very disappointing to me because I'm a Redskins fan. Now I have to listen to my 2 co-workers that sit very close to me that are Cowboys fans. :-(

So the excitement of this week started on my way to work Monday morning. I'm all proud of myself because I left the house early. I had a new outfit on that I bought at Ross on Friday. The outfit cost me $13 for the shirt and pants. I'm such a bargain shopper. So I'm at a stoplight getting ready to turn left when I notice in my rear view mirror that the car behind me is going really fast and is not slowing down. I look in my rear view mirror again and realize that this guy is going to hit me. So, I hold onto the steering wheel, let my foot off the brake and he plowed into me. He hit his brakes about 20 feet before he hit me. Didn't do me much good. He knocked me through 3 lanes of traffic and into oncoming traffic. Needless to say that I was a little shaken up. I called 911 and then got out of my car to look at the damage and see if anyone else was hurt. I apparently hit the person in front of me and he hit another car in front of him. I felt okay at first, but as the adrenalin wore off I really started to hurt. I was real dizzy and my neck started to ache and I had a screaming headache. I can now say that I've had an ambulance ride to the hospital. If I never have to do that again in my life time, I'll be okay. After an examination and x-rays, they sent me home with ibuprofen, Valium and vicadin. I was in a Valium coma for a couple days. Now I am ready to rejoin the real world and move on with my life. I thank God every moment than none of my kids were in the car with me. It could have been a lot worse.

I'm back at work today. I'm a little slow and have to keep getting up and down so I don't get to stiff, but it's nice to be alert, coherent and productive. I'm starting however, to feel lately like the universe is out to get me. Am I karmicly cursed? Am I being punished for something I've done? I know that stuff like this happens and that it's just a part of life, but I'm kind of feeling like I'm being ambushed by the universe. I know that this isn't true, it's just the way I feel.

With any luck, the remainder of 2008 will be uneventful. Now I just have to figure out how to get a new vehicle that will accommodate my family. I was using my mothers car temporarily (which is the car I was in when I got hot) until we could get back our feet and get a new mini-van. Things have been tough financially and we had to give back our van to the finance company in August due to a loss of income. The car I was driving is a total loss and so know I have no idea how I'm going to get another vehicle. I do have faith that God is going to take care of me, I am just impatient and want to know how right now.

Thanks for letting me vent. I hope there will be a vehicle for my family coming in the near future or I will be taking the bus for a while.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BECKY!!

Today is my bestest friends birthday! I won't tell you how old she is, but she's older than me. Only by six months, but not the point, she's still older than me. Anyway. She is the one who got me started with this whole blogging thing and I thank her for it. I'm having a blast.

I'm going to get mushy for a minute and then I'll chill out. I met Becky 22 years ago at church. Yes church. We immediately clicked and have been friends ever since. We spent a lot of time getting in trouble when we were younger, but I think we have grown up to be pretty good people. Sometimes our challenges and hardships were overwhelming, but we have walked through most of them together. There were a few years that we lost touch when she moved out of state, but we have cruised through life together for the last 12 years . I've watched her grow up so much and become such a incredible woman. Though life has not been easy by any means, she still gets up every day, puts one foot in front of the other and marches through life like a true soldier. I cannot express the love that I feel for her and can't imagine life without her. I am fortunate enough to have her working in my office now, 1 floor above me and can go visit or just say HI anytime I want. She loves my children as her own and she tolerates my hubby. HA! I know that she would take a bullet for me and I would do the same for her. She is the only kind of friend to have and I'm glad she's mine.

So, please give Becky some birthday love today. She thinks it's just another day. I beg to differ. Today I celebrate your birth and that you have survived yet another year on your incredible journey called life. Here's to many more years of love, joy, health and frienship. I love you with all my heart!!!!

CHEERS!

Not Better Yet

If you can't already tell from the title, I'm still sick. I finally went to the doctor on Monday and found out that I was really a lot sicker than I thought. If you thought a sinus infection and an ear infection weren't enough, let's through bronchitis into the mix. I'm not by any means a good patient. I over do it all the time and don't take time to rest when I'm not feeling well, but this scared me a bit. My doctor told me that if I didn't stay down and rest, my bronchitis would turn to pneumonia and I would have be hospitalized. That was enough for me to plant myself in bed for the last 2 days.

I am feeling better today, just not enough to go to work. I'm afraid that if I jump back into everything 100% that I will land my butt in the hospital. NO THANKS! Lucky for me, things are super slow at the office and my bosses and co-workers are very understanding. As I sit here typing I realize that I'm not 20 years old anymore. My body is not as resilient as it used to be and I need to take better care of myself. As I'm sure most of your understand, I try so hard to balance my life. Between 3 kids, a husband, the house, work, friends and relatives it seems as if I'm constantly being pulled in too many directions and I'm not good at saying no, or just leaving the dishes or laundry for tomorrow. I'm also not good at asking for help when I feel overwhelmed. Somehow I think that it is going to make me less of a mother, wife or employee and what I forget is that asking for help is a very human thing to do. And last time I checked I'm human. We as people like to be needed, helpful and nurturing. So maybe this is my lesson. I usually need a big wake up call to remind me to slow down and enjoy what's in front of me. And lastly maybe I should ask my friends and family for help. I know that I would be there for them in a second if they asked and they have. And as many times as they offered to help, I've turned them down thinking that makes me less of a woman. It doesn't and deep inside I know that.

So this is a lesson in humility. I am not super mom, super wife or super employee. I am Jennifer and I am human just like everyone else. I guess I should start acting accordingly.

I AM SO SICK!

I started feeling bad last week. I think it started on Thursday. I knew that I was coming down with something, but it was the day before Halloween and besides who has time to be sick. NOT ME! I use the bulk of my sick time at work for my kids. With 3 kids you can imagine how much time I use. So...I powered through Halloween and then the weekend. With soccer and all the other household and mommy duties, I just ignored my cold. By Monday I was feeling pretty bad, but I took my Tylenol Cold and pushed forward. I made it through Tuesday and realized that I wasn't getting any better. I stayed home from work yesterday and slept all day. It's the only time I can get any rest. The queen is very kind and just wants to lay in bed with me and watch TV. Last night she rubbed my feet and kept checking on me to see if there was anything she could do or if I needed her to get something for me. When the princess and the ruler show up it's a little chaotic. They just want to jump on the bed and play which is great every other day, but not when I'm sick. Thank goodness I have a great hubby. He really takes care of me and allows me to rest. He also yells at me when I get out of bed and start doing stuff around the house.

Today I am back at work, but I don't think I'm any better. I can't breathe out of my nose. I can't smell and I can't taste. It's driving me nuts!! I have tried close to everything to clear my nose. Tylenol Sinus, Tylenol Severe Cold, Theraflu, Alka Seltzer Cold Plus, Homeopathic remedies - tea for colds, a hot steamy shower, Emergen-C, vitamins, shower soothers (these cool little round tablets that you put in the shower and it has menthol in it. The vapors are supposed to open your sinus'). So the only things I haven't tried are a humidifier (mine broke the last time one of the kids were sick), Ocean Spray saline nose spray, echinicea and patience. If you have any ideas, I would love to hear them. I know that I'm supposed to rest and take it easy, it is truly difficult for me to take a day off. Even though I was off work yesterday, I still helped the hubby with the kids and getting their things ready for today. I'm not the best patient and I don't sit still easily.

I am hopeful that I will be able to breathe tomorrow and that I won't have to use so many tissues. My nose is so raw and the tissue at work SUCKS. One of my co-workers went to Target at lunch and bought me Kleenex with lotion. She is my new best friend for the day.

Becky..this doesn't change your best friend status. Ha Ha

GET OUT AND VOTE!

If you haven't already, please take the time to vote today. This is an exciting election and I'm proud to be a part of it. No matter what party you are affiliated with, it is so important to take part in one of the greatest rights in America. We get to pick who will run our country for the next 4 years. There is record breaking voter registration this election cycle and the hope that we will have record breaking voter turn out at the polls. Americans are fired up about this election and they should be. History is going to be made tonight (in my opinion) as we embark on a new journey in America.

Being from California I do understand that I tend to fall to the left when it comes to politics and that not everyone agrees with me, but I have noticed that the older I get and 3 kids later , I have developed some conservative ideas and that shocks the hell out of me! I am still a Democrat, just not as much to the left as I was in my youth. I believe that my youth was full of ignorance and opinions based on belief and not experience. Over the years I have had many experiences in life that have helped shape who I am and have also allowed me to make informed decisions in politics.

So if you haven't cast your vote, now is the time. Be a part of history. Take advantage of the right you have been given in this great country we live in!

Weekend Re-cap

What a soggy weekend it was. Halloween was a crazy day! After my post on Friday morning, my day went kind of haywire. Right after lunch, I got a call from our nanny that I needed to come pick up my son because the nanny's daughter was in the emergency room.

Now before we move forward with the rest of the story, I would like to tell you about our nanny. Nanny sounds so pretentious, but we really haven't found any other appropriate title for him other than manny or mansitter. And yes I said him. He is a great guy that takes great care of our kids. He is a stay at home Dad who wanted to make some extra money so he didn't have to go back to work. It's been a fantastic expierence so far. Before he started in July, I was taking and picking up kids from 2 different child care centers. Not so easy when you have to be to two places by 6:00 and you get off work at 5:00. I was totally stressed out all the time. Even though the hubby does help, he goes to work early 2 days a week and work late 2 days a week. So the bulk of the taking and picking up was on my shoulders. When our nanny approached us we were thrilled! I had another woman approach me before this, but she then changed her mind. Now I have someone who comes in the morning to take the queen to school, the princess to preschool and someone to watch my sweet baby boy. The nanny's daughter is the same age as the ruler so it works out really well. He then picks up the queen and princess from school and they are waiting for me when I get home. All of this is done at a very reasonable rate that is cheaper than what I pay for all three to be at a child care facility. It has allowed the queen to do things like band, drama club and both girls to play soccer There is no way I could do all of that stuff on my own. His daughter is doing fine. She was dehydrated and it was causing cramping in her little tummy. They gave her some IV fluids and she has recovered completely

Ok, back to the point of this story. My crazy Friday. The hubby had to pick up the queen and the princess from school. The emergency room that the nanny was at is very close to my work. I had a deadline on a project so I had to bring the ruler back with me to my office. This is a picture of him in my elevator. What I could have had done in an hour, took me 3 hours. A 2 year old in a office is never a good thing. He wanted to climb up the stairs, visit everyone in their office and generally just snoop around to see what he could get in to. So I finally finish my project and get out of the office an hour later than I had intended to. Then had to stop and get gas (it was $2.39 YAY!), and with traffic it took me an hour to get home. After that it was a quick piece of pizza, making sure everyone was so cute in their costumes and out the door we went. My friend Jennifer and her daughter Violet came trick-or-treating with us like they always do on Halloween. It's become traditon. I think this is the 4th or 5th year in a row that they been with us on Halloween.

The ruler was not that fond of all the scary stuff. He lasted about a half a block and he was ready
to home. It had started to rain so the hubby took him home. We finished the block with the girls. They had a good time. I went home to get the boy ad we were off to party the the prncess' soccer coach invited to. The hubby couldn't go. He has a 2nd job as a bouncer at a local sports bar and he had to be to work earlier than usual due to aparty they were having for Halloween. After that we went to my Da's to show the kids off and then it was home to bed.

The queen's soccer game was at 9:00a.m. on Saturday. Not only was it the morning after Halloween, but it was rainy and soggy and cold. It rained all day. I don't think it let up once. I let the hubby sleep and dragged all 3 kids out in the rain. The ruler wasn't feeling so hot, but the princess loved the puddles. It turns out that we lost the game but only by 1 goal. We were at one point behind by 3, then we tied, but in the end the other team pulled it off.

It turns out the the boy had a 102 degree temperature and that's why he sat on my lap during the whole game. He slept most of the afternoon on Saturday. We took a nice long nap together. I have had a cold since Thursday and it's still holding on. Yesterday he was back to his spunky self. His temperature was still hovering around 100 but you couldn't tell.

Becky came over on Saturday night and watched the kids for a few hours. I had a meeting and the hubby had to go to work early again. Thank God for people who are willing to watch my rugrats.

Yesterday I took the queen, the princess and Violet to see HSM 3 (High School Musical for those of you who didn't know the acronym). The girls had a great time! We then proceeded to Costco and then home. The kids played played outside for a while. Jen came to pick up Violet. We all had dinner together ans then it was time to get ready for the wee ahead. Bath, PJ's, brush teeth and finally bed. I'm getting tired just thinking about my weekend. Sometimes I'm just ahppy to come to work on Monday, just so I can sit still. With soccer coming to an end and winter fast approaching I'm hoping for those weekends where you don't go anywhere. We just stay inside and watch movies, or play games and just enjoy each. Yet another reason why I love this time of year. We get to slow down and enjoy our life.

Have a great week!

P.S. I'll post Halloween pics tomorrow. Forgot to bring the camera with me today. Sorry Becky. You'll have to wait one more day!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

This is a great time of year. It is the beginning of the holiday season. I LOVE the holidays. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years. It means family, food and presents. 3 of my most favorite things.

Last night we went to the Princess' preschool for their annual harvest carnival. The kids got to wear their costumes a day early. They had a blast. There was a cakewalk, cookie decorating, ghoul bingo, an obstacle course, fishing and lots of of stuff that I can't remember. It's nice to have the carnival somewhere where the kids are comfortable and I don't have to watch them every second. They can just roam around from classroom to classroom. My hubby showed up right when we got there so he was able to help with everyone. He works late on Thursdays which left dinner and costume up to me. It was a little (a lot) crazy at the house trying to get everyone in costume with accessories, make sure had the diaper bag, a sippie cup, my purse and of course all 3 kids in the car and to the school. Needless to say, I forgot the camera. Yes, the camera. The one thing that allows me to remember how cute they were and much fun they had. So, I have one stinking picture from my phone and it's not that great. OH WELL! Can't remember everything. I'll take lots of pictures tonight.

On another note, I want to talk about my dog for a moment. Becky was telling me to look at my comments today because DysFUNctional Mom had posted a comment and there was a picture of her dachshund in a hot dog costume. He is so cute. I have been arguing with the hubby for years that our dachshund, Flash, would be the cutest dog in costume, but he is adamantly opposed to the idea of dressing Flash up. After seeing DysFUNctional Moms doxie, I guarantee that my dog will be in costume next year. HE is so cute and because as you can see in the picture, he would look like a burnt weenie.

Have a safe, happy and most of all fun Halloween.

WELCOME TO MY BLOG

After months and months of reading about others lives, their children, their struggles and their joy, I decided that it was high time I get in the game. When I read all these great stories of struggle and triumph or watch funny videos of others children, it makes me realize that I may have something to contribute in the blogging world. My best friend (since 5th grade) Becky has this blog called My Crazy Beautiful Life and I love to read it and nag her when she doesn't post for a while. Through her blog I've been able to read others and not only learn about how other moms deal with the day to day stuff, but I also learn that I'm not the only one in the world who struggles with how to balance all that has to be done in a 24 hour period. It is nice to know that I'm not alone in this very big world.

So a little bit about me and my life. I am a 33 year old Gemini born and raised in Sacramento, California (sounds like a pik-up line). I have been married for 11 years and I have 3 adorable children, 1 dog and 3 fish tanks. I work full-time as a Legislative Coordinator for a state trade association. I love my job! There aren't many days when I dread going to work. I track legislation that comes out of the State Capitol, follow legislative hearings and monitor bills that are amended throughout the legislative year. I really love being involved in the political process and learning how it really works. How a bill becomes a law is many times very different than how it is explained on paper.

I love to read (when I get a chance), I'm a TV drama and reality show junkie. I love Gray's Anatomy, ER, Private Practice, The Biggest Loser, Intervention and pretty much anything on the Food Network. I like to play poker, preferably for money(nickel, dime, quarter - I'm poor) and I fancy myself as a pretty good player. A lot of the entertainment in my life comes from watching my children.

The hubby and I have been together for a total of 14 years. He is my knight in shining armor. He knows how to make me laugh and knows how to comfort me when I'm sad. He works very hard to support our family (2 jobs to be exact). I can't imagine my life without him. We have weathered many of storms and we are still standing, together. He is my friend, my lover, the father of our 3 gorgeous children, but most of all he is my partner in life.

My kids are my life. There are somes days that I am completely overwhelmed by that statement and there are days that I can't imagine how I ever lived without them. They are all so very different and the can compliment each other so well on some days and then clash the next. I guess that's the joy and pain of brothers and sisters. Both my girls played soccer this year. The princess' season ended last weekend and the Queens season ends in mid November. The last 3 months of my life have revolved around soccer. Between the girls, we had practice 3 times a week anD games twice a week. That's 5, yes count them, 5 days out of seven that I have been at practice or at a game. Thank God that the queen has GREAT friends with GREAT parents that help us out by taking and sometimes picking HER up from practice. Otherwise I'm not sure that I could of pulled it off. 2 of the 3 days of practice, the hubby works late so he couldn't participate as much as he wanted to. The ruler is the cutest boy I have ever laid my eyes on. He is definately a Momma's boy and I'm okay with that. He loves to build things just to knock them over. I think he was a fish in another life. He loves the water and is attracted to the tiniest little puddle. I could go on and on about my kids, but I will save some for later.

Thanks for reading!!