Pumpkin Patch Kid

Last weekend we met up with our friends and Ryan's godparents, Jarrod, Michelle and Preston for a visit to the pumpkin patch. It was a first for both Jake and Ryan! (I don't have any pictures of all 6 of us - we were just trying to get each of our own children to pose for the cameras - which as you can see below, was not an easy task!)

Here's Jake and I on the hay ride...oops, I cut Ryan's head out of the photo!!

Isn't this the cutest Turkey you've ever seen?

And how about a picture of two little bunnies? Here's Ryan and Preston sticking their heads through the bunny cut-outs!

It was a fun time and we came home with 1 pumpkin which we look forward to carving this weekend.

Happy Fall, All!

We have a climber...

...a crib climber, that is!

This morning when I heard Ryan calling me from his crib, "Mommy, up" and "Up Mommy" I opened his bedroom door to find him laying in the middle of his blankets and R6 (his new teddy bear from Build-A-Bear) smiling away at me. He quickly jumped up and our conversation went something like this...

Ryan: Shower?

Me: Yes. I just took a shower. Did you hear the shower?

Ryan: Yes! Shower!

Me: *smiling at my sweet "baby" boy!

Ryan: Out?

And then what I hoped to never see him do because after all he is still my baby, right? He CLIMBED over the side of the crib and landed on his two feet on the floor!! He looked up at me and just smiled and then said, "Mommy, up!"

So, unfortunately for me, because I am not quite ready for my Ryan to be a big boy yet, we will be removing the front railing of the crib tonight and replacing it with the guard/toddler bed rail instead. Hopefully Ryan will understand that he is not to get up out of bed unless we come in to get him up - otherwise I'm afraid we'll hear him on the floor of his room playing with his monster trucks after bed time!

Welcome Baby Natalie

On Friday my sister and brother-in-law welcomed their first child, Natalie Faye, into the world! The whole family was there waiting for the word from Daddy David that Natalie arrived - it was 12:28 p.m. on 10/9/09, she weighs 7lbs 10oz and is 20 1/2 inches long! Mommy and Natalie were both recovering well.


I finally got my hands on her --- isn't she a cutie! Here's our first picture together; Auntie Patty and Natalie.

And of course we had to get a bow on her right away!


Here's a photo of Ryan holding his cousin - look at all that dark hair Natalie has (and what happened to my little baby? Ryan looks so grown up in this picture!).

We spent the weekend at the coast so we could check in on the new family as often as possible. We spent some time with Kevin and Shannah at their place, eating dinner, watching football and enjoying Ryan being his usual talkative, playful self.


Here's a picture taken while we walked the pier in Pismo with Grammy and Papa. Papa bought Ryan a seashell so he could "hear the ocean"! Ryan was intently listening to "the ocean" through that seashell!

We had a fun weekend with family and look forward to catching up with them all again soon to love on Natalie and see how much she changes in her first few weeks home!

Congratulations Michelle and David on a healthy, beautiful baby girl!

A Journey 4 Hope Auction

My friend, Tamara Buitenwerf, and her family are hosting an online auction on their blog, A Journey 4 Hope Auction. The auction will be up until October 23, 2009. Please visit their blog, read their story, check out the auction items and bid on an item (or 2, or 3) if you find something you like! Thank you in advance for helping them out!

A Journey 4 Hope Auction

The Picture Post

I've been lacking in posting pictures lately. Here are a few pictures from the past few weeks around here.

Here's the birthday boy on his birthday. He doesn't look happy here but I promise he was having a blast swimming with Addy!



The monster truck cake!



Opening presents ---



And playing with them as he went along ---


The big finale gift --- thank you G.G. for the new bike!


Wearing Uncle Kevin's cowboy hat and acting goofy for everyone ---


Giving Baby Natalie kisses! Next time we see Auntie 'Chell and Uncle David, it will be Natalie's birthday!


Papa and Ryan sharing a lollipop!



We had a busy and fun weekend. Now time for laundry and getting ready for the busy work week ahead.

Dear Bob & Jillian...

After watching last night's episode of The Biggest Loser, this is the letter I would like to write to The Biggest Loser team trainers:

Dear Jillian & Bob,

I am a faithful watcher of The Biggest Loser and have been for the past several seasons. Although I am glued to the television each Tuesday night to tune in to how well the contestants are progressing along their weight loss journey - I must admit that I am not excited about the joint effort in training all the contestants together this year. I guess I liked the competition side of things between the two of you better. I do appreciate the contestants working together towards their common goal and I suppose that is what truly matters.

The reason for my letter is to ask you a question: Why? Why the black leather jackets on weigh in nights? And if you must wear them, Bob, can you wear one that doesn't look like it should be worn by a girl walking the halls of the local high school? I mean, let's face it, this season was most-likely taped during the summer months in sunny Southern California, it can't be cold enough for a leather jacket. The poor contestants are standing next to you wearing nothing but spandex shorts (and sports bras for the women)! I'm just sayin'...

On a lighter note, way to go BL Contestants for surpassing your 150 pound weight loss goal on last night's episode!

Sincerely,

Biggest Loser fan but not a fan of the leather jackets!

Ryan's 2nd Birthday! Video by Brandi

Ryan's 2nd Birthday! Video by brandi - MySpace Video

Shared via AddThis

HAVING FUN IN THE POOL WITH ADDY!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Ryan

Happy Birthday to you...

Happy Birthday to you...

Happy Birthday dear Ryan...

Happy Birthday to you!

I had read somewhere a long time ago about a good way to "journal" your child's favorite things throughout the years. I'm going to start this with Ryan this year and continue on until he is too embarrassed to answer my silly questions! I will make a binder to add a page each year on Ryan's birthday but I'm also going to post Ryan's answers here for you all to read. The "interview" went a little something like this:

Mommy: Happy Birthday Ryan! How old are you?

Ryan: Two! (holding up his right hand instead of 2 fingers!)

Mommy: Ryan, what kind of birthday party are you going to have this year?

Ryan: Monster trucks!

Mommy: Ryan, what's your favorite color?

Ryan: number

Mommy: No, what's your favorite color?
Ryan: blue!

Mommy: Ryan, what's your favorite number?
Ryan: Six!

Mommy: What do you want to be when you grow up?

Ryan: Barney grow up.

Mommy: Who's your best friend?

Ryan: Mommy best friend!

Mommy: And who else?
Ryan: Daddy best friend!

So there you have it, Ryan's birthday interview on his 2nd birthday. :)

Happy birthday, little man. Mommy and Daddy love you so much! You're growing and changing every day, never missing a beat along the way. You're talking from the minute you wake up in the mornings until the minute the lights go out at night. You're such a joy to have in our lives and we hope all your dreams come true, even if you want to be Barney when you grow up! Love you!!

Is That Really Possible?

Is it really possible that tomorrow my little munchkin will be 2!?!? Where oh where has the time gone? I feel like it was just yesterday I was frustrated not knowing my true due date and being taken off work a month early due to stress, high blood pressure and gestational diabetes. Having to really watch my food intake and check my blood sugar 3 times a day. Those are great memories. But what's better is having my little companion, my cute little cuddly boy who has given me more great memories in the last 2 years than I ever could have imagined.

One quick story: Last night Ryan came running in the living room and jumped up on the couch with me, laid in my lap and just giggled. I held him tight, rocking him and told him that this is what I used to do when he was just a little baby and he laughed! I rocked him and pretended to burp him and he thought that was so funny!

Tonight we go birthday party shopping. Tomorrow we party!

Recipe for Confidence

• Choosing a top that you're not so sure is work-appropriate.
• Throwing on a cami underneath the top you're not so sure about and deciding it's a "go"!
• Going in to wake up my (almost) 2 year old, realizing he's wet the bed, picking him up out of the bed and having him say, "Mommy pretty" while pointing to my top that I previously was not so sure about!!

Needless to say, he made me feel good about my wardrobe choice today and my co-workers even commented on the top too! Apparently there is no reason to second guess my work attire. Ha!

Haven't posted much lately and that's only because I haven't got much to say! Nothing new going on around here. We're planning for Ryan's 2nd birthday party next weekend but that's about it. I suppose I'll be back with more pictures soon.

OH - a quick shout-out to Tammy!! Tammy, I went to the Madera District Fair last night with some girlfriends to see Gary Allan! It totally brought back memories of the year my parents bought me tickets to see Gary Allan, Shelley Wright and Mark Chestnut at the Hanford Fox Theater for my birthday and I took Jessie with me to the concert. Can you believe that was 10 years ago!?!? Two words to sum up the Gary Allan concert last night: Handsome; Perfection!

cry, cry Baby!

Last night my in-laws offered to keep Ryan for the evening and take him along to run some errands and have dinner. I was excited for the little break in my day between working 8 hours and doing the nightly routine at home! I opted to skip the gym last night so I could go home to (catch up on As The World Turns and lay on the couch) make dinner, put away some laundry, clean the kitchen and relax. When Nanny and Papi brought Ryan home at 9:00ish last night, Nanny walked Ryan up to the door and I could immediately hear crying. NOT crying because he couldn't wait to get in the door to see Jake and I - crying because he DID NOT want to come home! I tried calming him down explaining that Nanny and Papi needed to get home and go to bed too and that he would see Nanny first thing in the morning but he was having no part of that explanation! I told Ryan he was hurting Mommy's feelings and that I was so glad he was finally home but again he was having no part of my reasoning! We finally told Ryan to wave bye-bye and took him in the house where he proceeded to cry and throw a fit.

While out and about with Nanny and Papi, Ryan got some cool little plastic dinosaur toys. One of said toys makes noise like a dinosaur when you press the button on its belly. I was able to get a smile and a few laughs out of Ryan when he tried scaring me with the dinosaur sounds! We shared a few laughs and colored a little with his new colored pencils before I changed his clothes and put him down for the night.

I only got to spend about 20 minutes with Ryan last night but it was probably the longest 20 minutes of my day! I love this kid more than life itself - but he can throw quite a fit when he's not getting what he wants and obviously the last thing he wanted yesterday was to come home and spend some time with his Mommy who missed him dearly for the 4 hours he was gone!

Yum-O!

Thanks to Rachael Ray, we had a delicious dinner tonight!


We had Honey-Mustard Pork Chops with The Works Baked Potatoes.
This is the sour cream, bacon and shredded cheddar cheese waiting for the baked potatoes to be done...then I scooped out the potatoes and added it to this mixture before adding it all back to the potatoes...so good!


And here's the finished product (that Pepsi is Jake's!). Thanks Rachael Ray for making recipes so easy even I can follow them!


Hope everyone had a great weekend.

No Soda and a Gym Membership

I just realized that it has been 2 whole months since I last drank a soda! Woo-hoo! I've had a few sips (maybe 3 total) since I gave them up but it has not been as hard as I thought it would be to quit drinking them.

Also...

I rejoined the gym! Myself and my co-workers are now all signed up with new gym memberships and are going to help one another stay motivated to going to the gym at least 3 days a week. We are all very busy gals and have families to go home and take care of in the evenings so devoting an hour or so for 3 nights a week is going to be a good start for us.

It's like a mid-year resolution!

Etsy Shop!

Go check out my Etsy Shop today! It's full of hairbows and tutus, ready to be shipped to you (or your daughter, sister, niece, granddaughter and friends) today! I'm still working on the hairbow holder and headband portion of the Etsy Shop but should have them up soon, so check back often for new additions to the website! Debbie and I are working on making more tutus, headbands and hairbows to stock a booth at the Top of the Line Holiday Marketplace in Visalia in November. That will be a 3 day-long craft show just before the holidays so we'll need to be ready to go with lots of crafts!

Visit us at: http://www.hairbowsandtutus.etsy.com/

Thank you in advance for your support! :)

KISS Country 93.7 and Children's Hospital Central California

Good Morning All! I have signed up to be a "Change Bandit" for KISS Country 93.7 to raise money for Children's Hospital Central California once again this year. I have been a part of the Change Bandit program since 2002 I believe (maybe 2001).

What is a Change Bandit, you ask? Good question! Change Bandits are volunteers who “rob” co-workers, classmates, families and friends of their change during the month leading up to the “Bandit Bash.” A "Bandit Bash" is the night all the Change Bandits gather to turn in their collected donations at a reception and concert! This year's Bandit Bash will feature recording artists Chris Young (winner of Nashville Star) and Richie McDonald (former lead singer of Lonestar)!

My personal goal this year is to raise $300.00! In years past, I have been able to collect more than $200.00 from co-workers, friends and family. If you would like to make a donation to support Children's Hospital Central California, please contact me for more details. You can mail checks to me, payable to Children's Hospital Foundation, or we can meet up if you would like to donate some change or cash. The Bandit Bash will be held on Thursday, August 27. Therefore, I will attempt to have all my donations wrapped up by Tuesday, August 25.

Thank you in advance for your support of the Change Bandit program and Children's Hospital Central California!

Always, Sometimes, Never

I've seen this on a few blogs that I follow, Jenna and Heather and decided I wanted to play along to let all of you know a little more about me!

I ALWAYS ---

...thank God for the many blessings in my life!

...leave the house way too early in the morning because I have a fear that I'll get into the habit of being late to work if I do it even 1 time.

...check my e-mail, blog, myspace and checking account online at least 5 times a day!

...tell Ryan that I love him as much as possible.

...stress out about way too much!

...sleep with the fan on even in the Winter!

...drive way too fast and use cruise control on the freeway.

...do the same morning routine, shower, blow dry and straighten my hair, put on my makeup, let Harley out, get dressed, get Ryan up and head out the door!

I sometimes ---

...text message while I'm driving (I know, I know, I shouldn't).

...lose control of my temper and yell at the dog too much!

...think I want to plant flowers but it never ever happens.

...wish I could live in a big city and work in a skyscraper building with lots of windows and wear dressy suits to work everyday! Ha!

...get caught up on laundry!

...actually clean the kitchen before I go to bed at night - I really want to get better at that.

...get crazy and want to clean all the closets and bedrooms at once!

I never ---

...lose sight of the things that really matter in this world, God, my family and our health.

...say 'I love you' enough.

...call my friends and family just to say hello and ask how their day was.

...am happy with my hair! In fact, I think I'm going to cut bangs - I need a change!

...get tired of driving.

...save as much money as I should, you know, in case of an emergency!

...get tired of listening to Ryan talk and watch him learn new things. He's so much fun right now, repeating everything we say and acting like such a big boy!


So, did you learn something new about me? What is 1 thing you Always, Sometimes and Never do?

to be a child again...

Have you ever ate something that brought back childhood memories!?!? Last year I ate some really fresh Red Vines and had to e-mail my Mom about it because it brought back memories of weekly trips to the bowling alley while my parents bowled on a bowling league. I remember my parents letting us go to the video store in the bowling alley to buy licorice because we could get 5 pieces for a quarter!

Today on my lunch hour, while perusing the candy aisle at Target for something small and sweet to place in the baby shower table favors for Michelle's baby shower this weekend, I came across chocolate covered raisins....oh, how I love chocolate covered raisins! (Don't worry Michelle, this is not the favor for the shower!) I did buy a bag to snack on at work though. In fact, I've finished eating my lunch and now I'm snacking on some as I type! Chocolate covered raisins will always bring back memories of visiting Papa and Grandma in Visalia while growing up. I can remember sitting with Grandma working on word search puzzles and eating chocolate covered raisins! Those were the good ol' days - HAHA!!

*Photo courtesy of google images.

What candy or food brings back memories of growing up for you?

Happy Wednesday all.

A Long Update!

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted anything substantial! Here are a ton of pictures from the past several weeks in the Avila household (and the Avila's on vacation!).

First, here's Ryan being silly at cousin Jeremy and Shandra's wedding last month.



He was enjoying the camera with Aunt Michelle and Uncle David.

Here's me and cousin Jazmine.


Papa and Ryan.


Me and my little man.

Our 4th of July was pretty laid back and lots of fun! I was up early for the 4th of July Celebration at the City Park. Debbie and I set up a booth to sell our Hairbows and Tutus. Here's a small glimpse of our booth.

I forgot to take pics of Ryan watching fireworks on the 4th. He spent the whole day with Grammy and Papa because I was busy at the park. He went swimming and got to play with Aunt Shannah and Uncle Kevin before we picked him up and headed back to the in-laws for our BBQ/fireworks for the evening.

Here's a few pics of the diaper party we gave Michelle and David last month:


My first attempt at decorating sugar cookies (it left a lot to be desired!):

Here's David and Michelle opening their diapers!


And Ryan and Preston playing in the pool and then with the lawn mower and blower toys!



Two weekends ago we loaded up the trailer, Harley and Ryan and headed to the coast for some camping! We met up with our friends Thursday night and enjoyed some ocean front property for 3 days! The weather was beautiful, sunny and warm the entire weekend. Ryan really seemed to enjoy playing in the sand and staying in the trailer.

We are very blessed to have such great friends that we can enjoy weekend getaways with - even though I don't have a picture of all of us together! We look forward to our next camping trip (in a campground that does not have sand beneath our feet and loud quads and dune buggies racing by at all hours of the night)!

This past weekend Jake and I escaped for a weekend in LA. We drove around a lot - the hills in Calabasas, Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Hollywood and everywhere in between. We had no plans, just wanted to have some fun. We saw the Michael Jackson star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the gate to the Playboy Mansion, some beautiful homes, DASH and Smooch (the Kardashain's stores), went to The Comedy Store in Hollywood for a late night stand-up comedy show and stayed at the Beverly Hills Plaza Hotel! Fun, fun and more fun! (Photobucket is not playing nice anymore, I'll add more pics of LA later.)

Now it's back to real-life here. Work, cooking, cleaning, laundry, crafting and everything else we do around here!

...eight...nine...AND ten!

This weekend Ryan totally surprised Jake and I.

The scene: We were in the trailer at the coast (a post on that with pictures is coming soon) and Jake and Ryan were laying on the coach playing and talking.

Jake was counting to Ryan and Ryan was repeating every number. One...two...three...four...five... and then, completely surprisingly and out-of-nowhere, Ryan continued on all by himself: six...seben (ha!)...eight...nine...AND ten!

Jake and I shared a huge smile and could not believe our ears! Then we immediately coached him to do it again and again. In fact, he's done it on the phone for Aunt Michelle & Uncle David and Grammy too! He finally did it for Nana this morning when I dropped him off.

So my almost two-year-old can count to 10 all by himself and I partially thank Barney for that! :)

Are we making progress people?

I am happy to report that today was the first day in a really, really long time that Ryan did not cry when I dropped him off at Nanny's this morning! Seriously, he has cried and clung to my leg every. single. day. for I don't know how long now. It's depressing leaving him off thinking maybe he really does miss me during the day! I know how much fun I can be to hang out with - I mean, who else watches Barney on replay over and over again, lets him sit on the counter while I make sugar cookies and lick the beater when I'm done and laughs and plays and kisses him more than me!?!? I LOVE THIS KID! :)

Here's to hoping there are no tears shed tomorrow morning (by me or him!).

Happy Monday!

The Proposal

Last night Jake and I had a "date night" complete with dinner AND a movie, imagine that! It was a nice night, dinner at our favorite Mexican food restaurant and a quick stop at the mini mart to purchase drinks and a snack before heading to the movies. The Proposal was the movie of my choice but Jake went along with it; I mean, it was his Father's Day gift after all, so wasn't it my job to choose the movie for him?! I think Jake will agree that if you want to see a light-hearted, funny movie, you should definitely go see The Proposal (with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds) because if for no other reason than the theater is not as packed as the new Transformers movie just out - talk about LONG lines and packed theaters!


In other, not-so-exciting news, Ryan has a double ear infection (or, as the Dr. put it, ear infection in the right ear and start of one in his left ear). We're hopeful the antibiotics will kick in high gear before Saturday when we're hosting a small Diaper Party/BBQ for David & Michelle at our house. I'm making a trip to Wal-Mart today to load up on all the antibacterial cleaning supplies I'll need to get the house in tip-top shape before the BBQ.


I want to give a quick "shout out" to my new blogging friend, The Cookie Mama because you'll just die when you see how amazingly talented she is!

Stay tuned for a link to the Etsy Shop where Debbie and I will begin selling our handmade hairbows, headbands, tutus and much more online!! I am very excited about the Etsy Shop but first I have to get enough goodies made for the 4th of July Celebration where we're hosting a booth to sell our stuff (and finish a tutu for my friend, Annie's daughter, which I promise I haven't forgotten about Annie!). THEN the Etsy Shop will be stocked and ready for mass distribution! Ha!


This brings us to the end of the blog post for today. Sorry for a pictureless post, I'll make up for it next time!

Watch

It has been years since I've worn a watch everyday - in fact, it was probably about 8 years ago, when I was attending San Joaquin Valley College and was enrolled in the Health Professionals Course (or whatever it was called)! I did love the white uniforms, the medical terminology and the wearing of a watch everyday!

Last week I was forwarded a link for ToyWatch, an extremely expensive brand of amazing watches that have been seen on the wrists of many celebrities recently and fell in love with these watches. In an effort to find one at not quite the same expense, I did a search on e-bay. And lucky me, found several of these watches that I just had to have (not that I need more than one, or that I will get more than one, but it was difficult to decide just which one I was going to bid on).

The picture above is a picture of 1 of the watches I really, really like!

And the second picture is of the 1 that I bought!

What do you think of my purchase...hopefully it's as cute on as it looks in this e-bay picture!

*Disclaimer* Pictures are from ToyWatchusa.com and ebay.com. I am not a spokesperson for ToyWatch and they have not asked me to include this in my post - I just happen to be really crazy about cute, flashy, sparkly jewelry and watches!

Such a big boy!

A little recap of the past few weeks around the Avila house!


Here it is - documentation of Ryan's first haircut! Can you tell how happy he is?! Ha!

Now that we've cut off the unruly mess in the back of Ryan's hair, we might try letting it grow out and see if it ends up curly. I love the short cut, it's easier to wash in the bath and I think it will keep Ryan cooler in the summer heat. When someone asks him if he got his hair cut, he replies, "haircut?" and rubs his head! Smart boy indeed!

Ryan had his 15 month immunizations (yes, we're a little behind on that) and he weighed in at 31.4lbs and was 34 inches tall!

We've done some fun things the past few weeks; We took Ryan to the sand drag races out at the race track - he loves trucks and quads but I think his favorite thing to watch were the dune buggies. He sat pretty well for a few good hours watching the races until it was late and past his bedtime...then Mommy had to take him home and get him to bed.

The next day Jake and I escaped town for the day with some friends and drove up to the Good Guys Car Show in Pleasanton. It was a lot of fun, the weather was beautiful and we saw some really nice cars and trucks out on display. Ryan stayed with Grammy and Papa Saturday while we were out of town. Grammy says he was a good little boy and only asked for us a handful of times! Grammy took Ryan out to Papa's work to see the cows, which they said he really enjoyed, and then out to some friends' house to feed the kittens and he liked that as well!

That Sunday the 3 of us were up early and met Grammy and Papa at their house for a boating trip! We took Ryan to Kaweah Lake for the day, for a little fishing and a lot of sun! At first he wasn't so sure about the rocking from the wakes caused by the other boats but by the end of our day he was pretty comfortable, he even sat in Papa's lap and drove the boat!


Next time we go, we hope to actually get in the water and use the tubes instead of deflating them because they were taking up so much room in the front of the boat. Haha!


That about sums up what we've been up to the past few weekends. Our little man is growing like a weed and is such a happy little guy! This weekend I am taking Ryan to cousin Jeremy's wedding. Jake has to work all weekend so he won't be able to come along, but I'm sure fun times will be had by all.

My ABC's

Because I read about 52 or so blogs everyday, I find some amusing things on other people's pages, and today found this and wanted to play along. (I promise a more updated post of what's been going on around our house is coming - with pictures too!)

A - Age: 27

B - Bed size: King - and I would have it no other way!

C - Chore you hate: Cleaning bathrooms.

D - Dog's name: Harley

E - Essential start your day item: Diet Coke!

F - Favorite color: Red

G - Gold or Silver or Platinum: Silver is my favorite.

H - Height: 5'5" - 5'6"

I - Instruments you play: Played piano and flute for years, but haven't touched either in a long time.

J - Job title: Legal Secretary; Mommy to 1 amazing little man; Wifey to 1 great hubby!

K - Kid(s): Ryan (20 months)

L - Living arrangements: Hubby and Ryan (and Harley)

M - Mom's name: Jennifer

N - Nicknames: P-Dawg

O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: C-Section with Ryan.

P - Pet Peeve: Empty toilet paper rolls on the holder, empty Pepsi cubes in the pantry! :)

Q - Quote from a movie: "Do you like apples? I got her number. How do you like them apples?" -Good Will Hunting

R - Right handed or left handed: Right

S - Siblings: 1 Sister, 1 Brother

T - Time you wake up: Monday-Friday, 6:00 a.m.; Saturday-Sunday, usually 8:00 a.m.

U- Underwear: Whatever's comfortable!

V - Vegetable you dislike: Onions and Peppers.

W - Ways you run late: Take too long to get my hair straightened, Ryan crying when I drop him off in the mornings, Long lines at Sonic!

X - X-rays you've had: eh, my teeth?

Y - Yummy food you make: I think my chili beans are pretty awesome! And thanks to Michele's Bunco food, chicken in the crockpot is a new favorite of ours!

Z - Zoo favorite: Monkeys

If you want to play along, post YOUR ABC's! These are fun!

It's a GIRL!

Wow - where has the time gone!? It's been a while since I last posted, things have been really busy lately I guess!

First things first:
Congrats Michelle and David on the news that you're having a GIRL! We are very excited to be welcoming a baby girl into the family this Fall. :)


This past weekend was really fun, Grammy, G.G. and I took Ryan to the Homecoming Parade on Saturday and Ryan did so well sitting and watching the parade. Thank you Grammy for Ryan's new folding chair, now he looks like a big kid sitting in his chair with us! He even got to pet a horse, a very nice gentleman came up to us before the parade started and told us that Ryan could pet the horse if he wanted to - didn't think to take a picture of it though.


Sunday we went to the coast for a visit with Auntie Chell and Uncle David! Ryan was in a great mood and was the best little guy all day, with the exception of a few fussy fits in the car - but that's expected of a little one, right? He played soccer in their back yard, played with Uncle David's race car and continually made us laugh! I'll follow-up this post with some pictures soon.


Other than the usual stuff, nothing much is new these days. We're working and Jake is playing softball again. Tonight will be Ryan's first time watching Jake play co-ed softball in Lemoore this year. I'm hopeful he will sit in his folding chair and watch the entire game -- HAHA! Just kidding, I hope he runs and plays and tires himself out so he will sleep in tomorrow! :)

And lastly, let's give a little "woo-hoo" to Kris Allen who was named the winner of American Idol last night! I normally don't vote, however, I did vote about 12 times after the final performances on Tuesday night! I'd like to think my 12 votes really counted and without them, who knows what would have happened! Haha!

*UPDATED* We will not be going to Jake's softball game tonight because it doesn't start until right at Ryan's bedtime! And I am not a fan of screwing with bedtimes - so maybe next week will be Ryan's first time watching Daddy play softball in Lemoore this year!

I Will Survive; Hair bows and Tutus

Maybe the title of this post should read, "I DID Survive!" because I did survive my first Jillian Michaels workout with the 30 Day Shred. I confess, it took me longer to start than I wanted, in fact my first workout was last night and not Tuesday morning as previously mentioned. However, I did it and I actually look forward to tonight's workout too.

And can I just say "woo-hoo" that Kris, Adam and Danny are the top 3 finalists in American Idol!? Are you people watching? I don't watch religiously because Tuesday night (in my opinion) is the best night of TV and I can only flip between The Biggest Loser, Dancing With the Stars and American Idol so many times without missing the really good parts of TBL!

This weekend my friends Brandi, Debbie and I are going to host a booth (is that the correct terminology, "host"?) at the Art Fair/Craft Fair at the Civic Auditorium. We've been extremely busy this week trying to finish making the last of our hair bows and my tutus. This is my first craft fair to actually sell something that I've made and I'm a little nervous. I pray we at least make a little $, enough to cover the cost of the booth rental would be nice! And since we have to man the booth at all times of the fair, my Mother's Day will consist of waking up early, dragging Ryan to the park with me and hoping he is entertained enough to last through the afternoon! Wish us both luck! And if you're not doing anything this weekend, stop by the booth and say hi. :)

Today was the day; 30 Day Shred

Because sometimes I feel like I have the best friends in the world, I convinced my friend Kristina (Kris, do you have a blog yet?) to join me in buying and committing ourselves to the 30 Day Shred. I've read other blogs that are doing this workout and have confessed their frustrations with it but also have decided they love the pain they are experiencing as a result of their Shredding. SO - today was supposed to be the first day of our workout, on our own and in our own homes. My DVD arrived yesterday and I thought I would share the e-mail I sent to Kristina this morning, so here it is:

At 9:00 last night I went to the mailbox to retrieve my 30 Day Shred – and this is the point I’d like to tell you that it wasn’t there, The End. However, it was, and I opened it right up, put it on top of the TV, set my alarm for 5:30 a.m. and drifted away in dreamland. At 5:30 a.m. I jumped out of bed (or, rolled) and wouldn’t you know I seriously could not get the DVD player to work. I swear, I’m not making this stuff up! I asked Jake before bed how to use it because we have the DVD player, Play Station 2, VHS, Direct TV box and a converter box to make all these things work, hooked up to the TV in our bedroom. He told me it was easy and I followed his exact instructions but couldn’t get anything other than a blue TV screen. So I promise to get it all figured out tonight (as in, he can show me step by step how to make it work) and I will do my workout tomorrow morning. I’m sorry if you started today and I didn’t. I promise I’m not going to be a flake this time around – I just couldn’t get it all working this morning…I know, I suck. :(

And so with that, tomorrow I should have an update on how my first date with the 30 Day Shred (otherwise known as the Jillian Michael's (trainer from The Biggest Loser) workout DVD). Wish me luck. Actually, scratch that, I'm motivated enough to actually hold myself to it this time! So just wish me a not-so-out-of-shape-body that will not be sore the entire weekend!

Care for a Hug anyone?

I taught Ryan how to give hugs this week! I know it probably doesn't sound like much to anyone else but it really is the sweetest thing. :)

I'll post a picture and a more detailed post soon but for now I just wanted to share that my baby now gives hugs!

That's it for today!