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Well, through the Corona Dance Academy Lexi started dance, as mentioned in my previous blog. Well on Sunday was her first "recital". I was really nervous about how she was going to do. I mean gesh, we're taking this little 3 year old girl, and putting her up onstage in front of a large auditorium and expecting her to dance lol. I kept waiting fo the moment she realized what was going on and to freak out! Fortunately, that moment never happened. She got her first taste of "stardom" at the rehersal. She did really well and never once got shy, or scared. But the recital, well they led all the little girls out onto the stage with the lights out, and I thought, well surely we're going ot hear some tears. But no, they all walked out, and went behind the princess house where they stayed until the music cued. She came out and did her dance. Man was Momma a big crying baby! lol. There she was, my little princess, doing her first and second position on stage, her little hop over the wands, and blowing kisses to the crowd. We aren't allowed to take video, I could however purchase the professional video for $35.00 where I'll get to relive the whole 5 minute dance over and over again lol. So once I get the video I'll share her dance. Same with pictures. We are supposed to get her professional pictures this next week, so that will be exciting. We signed Ian up for his first season of AYSO soccer. I'm excited to get him going again. Ian is the type of kid that wakes up and wanders into our room and immediately asks "Momma what are we doing today". Needless to say if I don't keep him active he goes quite stir crazy. School was good, and that was the main reason we enrolled him, but because of different vacations we're taking this summer, I'm deciding not to do the various parks and rec activities due to cost and the amount of times we'd miss...So, I'm sure he'll start going cuckoo here soon. So, thats our latest adventure! I stopped comments from being allowed to post here. Due to the crazy pageant moms who wanted to be rude about my experience with that pageant, so any comments need to be left on myspace or emailed to me :)
I haven't done a blog post since January. Terrible Terrible Terrible!
Well, since then, we've bought a house. We relocated to Corona, and have a little 3 bed. 3 bath house. It was quite the fixer upper, and we definitely put some sweat and tears into it. So far nothing has required blood so that's good :)
Ian continued going to Grace Christian Preschool, and I have to say that the one huge downfall to moving to Corona is that we wont be going to that school anymore. I can't put into words how amazing that school is. I was able to participate in the classroom a few times while Willie was unemployed in May, and was able to participate in the various activities that they did, and I just can't get over the loss of not going back. I'm so obsessed with it, but realize that I have to give Ian's new school a chance. I've already figured though that if I can get Ian and Lexi into Grace on the same Schedule that I could maybe get a part time job to have something to do while they are in school. I don't know, I'm mildly obsessed about it, theirs just so much missing from Ian's old school in the new one. Like Daily Chapel. A Calendar full of fun stuff like daddy and me snow day, mommy and me day, arts and crafts week, the friends that Ian made. . .well I'm just going to stop, I think you've gotten the point. . OBSESSED!
Lexi started a dance class in Corona. Right down the street from us is Corona Dance Academy. It's a Princess class and every Monday morning we go at 9:30 and walk in to a rack full of Princess (Disney) Costumes for them to wear while they dance. Talk about Lexi Heaven. This Sunday is her first Dance Recital, I'm so stinking excited. It's so neat to get to see Lexi do things as she gets older, the age limits go away and she's now able to participate.
We went to Target yesterday and got her Makeup and hairspray. You can't have bangs so I have to Aqua Net them to back to her pony tail. Makeup consists of blush and lipstick, the auditorium has those bright lights, and Lexi already as pale as she is wouldn't have a face at all if I didn't use a little.
So, I dont know. So, things are going well....not much else to write :) I'll post pictures :)
A few before and after pictures of the house: Hallway before:
Hallway AFter:
Living room before:
Living Room AFter:
Entry:
Entry after:
Lexi in her costume for her recital:
First buy a ticket. Then get on the train. Nice...
File this in the "things I wish I had known" bucket. A mortgage or loan of any type is a big deal. Getting a low rate and eliminating loan closing costs are just the first part of the battle. Choosing a lender is the next. When it is time to do this, everyone will start giving you recommendations and you should do some work on which one you'd like to select. Here, I'll outline some tips that I will be using the next time I select a broker.
Eliminate choosing a broker that you know personally
At first this might seem silly, but when doing business I always try to avoid doing it with someone I know. "Business isn't personal" is the first thing that comes to my mind, but it's a lot harder to think that way if you actually know the person personally. If that doesn't convince you, ask yourself this: If something was done negligently, would you be able to sue this person for it?
Eliminate any broker that lies about anything
If the agent or broker lie about anything, even something as simple as "I did call you back and you didn't answer" and they didn't, dump them. If they lie about simple things, they'll have no problems lying to you about bigger things that can affect how much money you are paying them to the rate they have "locked in".
Eliminate any broker that doesn't call you back at a specified time more than 3 times
If a lender is too busy to call you back, or forgets to call you back numerous times, you've got a problem. As the loan process moves forward you are probably going to talk with these people at least once a day. If they don't call back when they need to you could set your loan back days, for no reason.
Eliminate any broker that has to get back to you on certain questions
Try asking questions that you already know the answers to. If the agent doesn't know, or needs to ask someone else and get back to you, get rid of them. This is their business and they are not fluent in it. You can tell that an agent knows what they are doing when they can answer your questions immediately without needing help. If you go with someone that isn't knowledgeable this could hold up your loan, and cost you money.
Eliminate any broker that gives you a bad feel
If you're getting a bad vibe from a agent, it's probably a good idea to not work with them. Trust your instinct, even if that agent is promising the world, if something triggers that bad vibe, get out while you can. Along this same sense, if you can, I'd suggest not going with a online broker, before doing business meet the person in person to get that vibe in the flesh.
My kids recently have been getting "bigger" and I couldn't be prouder of them or happier about who they are becoming as people. It was funny, but today's Ian and Lexi's swim lessons was a "real look" on how they are doing as individuals.
Lexi is getting brave, and trusting in others more. This was more apparent while she was swimming as today was the first day she was jumping off the wall and swimming back and forth with her head in the water, looking at the teacher's toes, and then up at the sky. She went further than ever before by swimming the entire length of the pool. She was brave before, but relied on us to take care of her, but now she is branching out. Beforehand she told us how excited to go she was and it was really awesome to see her take one more step towards a big girl.
Ian is the awesome big brother, still looking for praise often while accomplishing things, but also very aware of helping his sister. When asked to help Lexi jump into the pool, he couldn't have been more excited. Now hours later Ian is still asking Lexi if she'd like to jump in the pool and that he'd hold her hand.
Ian also had a bit of a rough patch today where he had to swim 100 meters, and do it the proper way. At first Ian started to cry when walking over to the "big pool". I think he might have felt a little alone so I tagged along (I normally don't come and at the time Lexi is still playing in the pool so Momma doesn't get to come either). I would have a lot of trouble doing what Ian was about to easily accomplish, it would take me about 20 minutes and everyone would be laughing (not that I'd care, I suck at swimming). Jackie, of course, always glides through the water, and that's what I started to see from him. It was truly awesome to see it start to click together.
After a few strokes Ian stopped his crying and started to swim down the lane. He would pop his head up to see if I was watching, at which the instructor told him to concentrate on the swimming, not on me. I would follow closely so that when he turned on his back he would be able to see me. With that he did the entire pool and then the other child appeared late to start the lesson, so it was time for another pool length.
No crying this time, it was a race. We usually race up the stairs and you could tell already that Ian was wanting to "win". Winning right now is something that I'm trying to teach softly. The basic underlying meaning is that sometimes you don't win, and that's just fine, but you need to try so that you can excel. Ian and the other child went about half the pool together and then Ian started to look like Jackie on his turns with rapid acceleration doing his big arms. In the end he won, and we waited for his other friend to win as well and got in the other pool.
The rest of the lesson was tear free and even afterward Ian got into trouble for wanting to do more big arms, something we didn't want to punish for, but it was time to go and he didn't get out of the pool before the count got to 3. Lexi, seeing that her brother was in trouble decided that she would share her prize, some chips, with brother and Ian was ok again. What great kids.
I'm not sure how in the heck they do it. They could be sleeping, in the other room, or across the planet. As soon as the parents start having a good time that doesn't involve the kids, the detector goes off and one of the kids come into to act as sweetly as they can to break up the fun.
Quite annoying.
I wish that was the case today when I dropped Ian off at his first day of Preschool. Instead my little boy ran straight into the classroom, and it was me who had to ask "Where's my hug and kiss?"
I've known that my little boy was getting to this point. I've known he's been ready for preschool for some time now, its just the idea that if I accept this, then that means he's getting older, and sometimes I don't want to embrace that. I want him to forever be in my arms and protected from all that life will throw at him.
I'd say "acknowledgement time" first approached when we were out shopping for school clothes the other day. I was looking for size 5T long sleeve T-shirts, because that's what he is, a Toddler. Well that day my little boy was shoved out of the Toddler T's and into the regular sizes, and into his first XS.
So today, I dropped him off. Willie asked me how I held up. Well of course on our way there, I reminisced. I remembered driving to the hospital with Willie and my Cousin Courtney listening to Luciano Pavoratti, and begging Willie to take the bumps slower.
I remember his first diaper change, the most hysterical moment in the hospital all caught on film ready to embarrass him when he's going on his first date, or to the prom.
I remember his first fall down the flight of stairs at our house in Pueblo, and seeing him teetering on the edge of those stairs totally oblivious to the fall, and me freaking out for the next 2 hours crying hysterically while he giggled and played like nothing had ever happened.
The toy that he'd crawl too and drop the ball down and dance and make the funniest little goofy face.
How he'd say ditty and Hadem Momma instead of Kitty and Love You Momma.
Gosh I could just continue and continue, and it was so nice to have that moment, before he took off and left me ha ha. I don't feel bad that he did that or my feelings hurt, I look at it as a kudos to myself in giving him the self security and trust to know I would never leave him somewhere he wasn't safe.
So today, my little chunko started preschool. I didn't cry then, but unfortunately I'm teary now. Oh well. . lol I still have Lexi to go too.
Ian with the school bag that we decorated for him
Ian just born
Where did the time go?
That last question is just something that depressed me more and more, because I know I'll be saying that for many years to come :(
What a pair these two are. Ian is always the very outgoing boy. Always making new friends at the park, always talking to the other children, and encouraging interaction. Lexi is usually spotted not to far away from him, gathering bravery and mimicking his playful attitude. After a while she tends to wonder off, attracted by a beautiful flower, or baby tree and continues to play on her own. Rarely are these two ever in social situations apart from each other, and recently Lexi wasn't allowed to go to Mc Donalds with Ian and I because of bad behavior (she really needed a nap).
Watching Ian without his other half was very revealing. Gone was his "bigger than life" personality, and he barely interacted with the other children in the play zone. I found this odd, Ian is always very personable, why was today different. He went and tried to strike up conversation, but after a few failed attempts went on his way to play by himself (the two children were a year or so older, and brothers).
It suddenly hit me what was missing in Ian that day that his personality seemed to show a new light, and it was Lexi. He was actually asking to leave because he missed "baby" and made sure I brought home a happy meal for her.
The dynamic that the two of them share is so phenomenal and amazing to watch. They're more than brother and sister, they are best friends! The love and respect they have for each other (besides when they are pulling at each other and annoying each other) is so apparent even at this young of an age, that its amazing. So many times I've questioned myself about having them close together, and then things like an occurrence today happen, and I'm so glad they have each other and a best friend for life.
We were on our way to see Santa. Before hand we went to Red Robin for lunch, and after our meal and dress change, we were walking out and they got to pick a balloon. Ian picked a blue one and Lexi and pink. They carried their Balloons all the way to Santa, and even let me hold them while they talked to him about their X-Mas wish lists and photos, and then wanted them back afterwards. They had the best time running through the side walks at the outdoor mall with their balloons chasing them the whole way.
However, on our way to the car, Lexi let hers slip. I cannot even begin to describe how attached and loving Lexi is with her Balloons. She goes berserk whenever she loses one. It affects me in a terrible way too because she acts as though she just watched her favorite stuffed animal get thrown away, she acts very passionately about the balloon. So here comes her other half. Seeing her so distraught, he reaches out to her with his blue balloon, and say's "you can have my balloon baby". It took all I had to keep my tears from falling watching this enormous gesture of giving coming from a 4 year old. Lexi took the balloon, crossed the street, and let go of that one tool. But this time it was okay, brother gave her a hug, and said we'd get another one some day.
Amazing. Just truly amazing the things these little people see, feel, display. Just Amazing. And I'm so proud to have such a neat dynamic duo.
Lexi Ian and Santa
Lexi with her Balloon
So, we're really close to this wild fire. We saw it start yesterday at around 6:00 p.m. We woke up this morning to smoke all over the place, and looked out our window and saw gawkers over at the walmart across the street. We packed up the kids and took some video and pictures to share. We are all safe, the car is packed just in case.
These photos were taken at Portola and Alton, immediately behind the McDonalds and next to the Ralphs Shopping Center:
This was taken at Walmart when we drove over. Our apartments are in view when I zoom out, you can see how close it was. The amazing thing about this video is how quickly the fire "jumps" down the hill. Very powerful force of mother nature.
I'll put up more photos when I have them, unfortunately our printer isn't sending the material to our computer. Stupid technology ;)
Willies failed attempt at getting video of him and Ian going down the slide at Wild Rivers Water Park.
I went to Carl's Jr in one of the crappier parts of SoCal (there are many - you choose the one nearest you if you live here), and I think my phone fell out of my pocket. I noticed that my phone was missing as soon as I got back from work.
I ran back to the restaurant, even used a dude's phone to call it to see if maybe I had thrown it away. No dice, it was gone.
I went to Cingular to get a new phone. I'm only 3 month's into the contract so I don't get another "free" phone. I was shown a few model's and I cut the guy short,"What's the cheapest one?" He showed me a POS that had a tag of 150 bucks. "Maybe I'll keep searching!"
He told me that what I probably needed to do was go to Wal-Mart and grab a Go Phone. He gave me a SIM card and said to buy one of those and then plop my SIM card in, and I should be good to go. I went to Wal-Mart and found a replica of my phone for 100 bucks.
Still too steep. I don't want a camera, I don't need to impress my friends with how slender and cool looking my phone is, I just want to talk on a it a few minutes of the day. There was another for 20 bucks, and they were all sold out.
I got home and went online, to ATT's website for Go Phone's. $10 bucks! Now that's what I'm talking about, and with free two day shipping! I'm sold. I picked the more expensive "plan" that you have to choose (25 cents a minute) as I wouldn't be even using a plan at all, as I have my own. I ordered the thing and expected something to go wrong.
And nothing did. Got the phone in two days, works great. It's not a flip phone so I have to lock my keys (who cares) again like the old days. In addition to the phone, I actually got a car charger, a phone clip (so I won't lose it again), and a AC charger. This is crap I had to buy before, but now for 10 bucks I'm sitting great.
Now this begs the question, why the crap did I sign up for a 2 year agreement in the first place? I'm going month-to-month in the future! (or VOIP anyone?)
We received this today from our insrance company in response to the documentation I sent them about our situation in Colorado:
"I have received the photographs and estimates. I'm going to have everything reviewed by my supervisor to confirm our subrogation rights against the management company. Once I have a final answer, I will call you to discuss settlement."
Keep your fingers crossed the final answer is "yes"
The Dugars family in Little Rock Arkansas just welcomed their 17th child into the world. Yes you read that correctly. 17th Child! It was an 8 lb 8 oz and joined its 16 siblings who range through ages 19-2. According to the article that I linked above, Michelle Duggar has been pregnant for a whopping 10.5 years of her life! I couldn't even take the 18 months that I was pregnant with my two, so all the more kudos to her for that fact alone.
But how many children are too many children? When I was 14 I was entered into a Pageant, and while we were waiting for the Judges to make some decisions on my age group, the MC would spontaneously call out contestants and ask them questions. My question was "How many children do you think people should have in a family". Well, I was naive. Without thought or even regard to the other contestant who was in a family of 12 siblings, I blurted out "2, because that’s how many I have in my family and that seems like a perfect amount." Later, after it was all over and I massacred my shot at the big trophy, my "Coach"/Aunt took me to the side and said that the correct answer was "However many children the parents love" was the more PC Answer.
Well now that I'm older, I feel as though my coach's answer was incorrect. I think there are a lot of factors that go into raising a family. Love is definitely the biggest factor, but I would say running a close second to love, is support. You need to be able to support your family, and if you can't handle one, you probably have no business having two.
I had recently while standing in line had a conversation about the Duggar's with a woman who was just in shock over the fact that this woman wanted to have another child. I told her about it and she just simply laughed and said something rude. Something rude to the comment of how its probably impossible to care for so many children and she's probably on food stamps and a drain on the economy. Well because I had visited the Duggar family website some time ago, I knew this wasn't the case. I also know that they have a 7,000 sq foot home (that is PAID for btw), have NO debt, and are really quite down to earth and very organized and friendly.
She combated me with "well, all those kids, someone has to get lost in the shuffle." My response was ”true, but you know, I think that as children get older, they start to look out for one another as well as themselves. The family seems very family oriented and I wouldn't bet if everyone pitches in, and the older children help with the everyday life just as would be in a family of two." She agreed, so I was pretty proud of myself for winning my argument.
So my point is, the Duggar's are loving parents, with 17 kids! I know that’s not the life that I would have wanted for myself, but I'm not going to judge these people or call them drains on the economy, because I've done my research and know otherwise. I won’t get into their belief system of "if gods wants me pregnant then he wants me pregnant" because on that front, I also think that god invented someone smart enough to invent birth control...But to each their own. 10 years pregnant? Not for me. But, congratulations to the Duggars on number 17!
I figure I might as well get it out of my system. I'm sitting here on the verge of tears every time I think about it. Whenever she comes out I'm just reminded of how much I miss her. Throughout our years growing up she was the closest thing I ever had to a sister. Having her here in CA and watching how much she enjoyed the kids, and how much the kids loved her really gets to me when she leaves. I'm sure that Ian is going to wake up soon and ask if Courtney and Greg are gone. That'll be heartbreaking.
He did get to say his goodbyes last night though. We figured that that would be the last time he saw them so made sure he said bye. God that just sucks...
In other news, when it rains it pours, and aparantly all over our basement, and our management company decided to royally screw us. Our basement flooded by way of a window well they had supposedly fixed, and did a little damage to the flooring. Well, my management company being all that smart, decided to go in and start tearing up our flooring to prevent mold, and cause harm to the tenants. The tenants aren't there until Thursday but we'll ignore that, the more pressing issues is that they didn't start in the bedroom because the seventy year old man with arthritus that is house sitting couldn't move the furniture (imagine, the window started leaking in the bedroom and would spread out from there), but started in the family room!!! and worked there way in! How the heck is that going to work? you could seriously see where the water was underneath my laminate flooring? Man how much did you pay for your xray vision idiots.
So I'm estimating damages in between 1K and 3K. 200 for the window. Excavating services to get the lot figured out and draining properly, and at least 500-600 for the new laminate. We're thinking of sending Willie out to reinstall the laminate once its in. That might be cheaper than hiring someone else to do it. Well see. This is just a nighmare, my concern is getting rid of this management company ASAP. Its funny because everyone I ever talked to about rentals has always said "the renters tear up your house!", in my case its my management company. shesh
anyhoo,...here are some photos to share :)
We had so much fun in San Diego this past weekend. Well wait, there was one very MAJOR snafuu...our house in Colorado flooded. So much so there were frogs in the basement. We got the call for that on early Friday morning, and joked, ... did the rain know we were on vacation?
So after that was semi taken care of, we went off Kayaking in La Jolla. That was fabulous. We saw seals, went through caves, rode the surf in. It was a lot of fun!
Then we went out for our first San Diego dinner. It was fabulous. I can't for the life of me remember the name of the resauraunt mostly because Willie dropped Ian and I off at the corner and we just walked around trying to find a place with no wait, and found a good place lol. I got to practice a little conversational spanish and then it was back to the room. The hotel was playing a movie at the pool on a transportable movie screen, and those are just two of ians favorite things, swimming and a movie. So we of course did that Friday and Saturday night.
Saturday we went down to La Jolla again. I think next year or next time that will be where we consider staying again. Though the hotel we were at this year accomodated the kids so fantastically, had a brilliant pool and was right on the "river" or lake whichever you'd call it, that it'd be a tough call. Actually I take it back. I think I'd stay where we were and still do the less than 20 minute commute north to La Jolla. So we went there Saturday and surfed, snorkled and boogie boarded. While Willie was out at the board at one point, he saw a seal less than 5 feet away! It was pretty neat according to him. The kids got so exhausted they took their naps on the beach!
Later that night Willie went out with Greg and Courtney and I took the kids to the pool for Finding Nemo. Again another great night. OH WAIT. I forgot about how we rented the paddle boat for half an hour. Ian was afraid of course, at first, then he in his usual so excited and full of life mannor started shouting "this is great"! Such a stinker.
Sunday, Lexi woke up not feeling too well, and Sea World was on the chopping block. We ended up going but I'm actually (dont read this Willie) disappointed (Willie destested going practically) we went. The kids moods weren't that great, we went too late in the day, they hadn't taken naps, and we were only there for about 4 hours. We did however see what what we had set out to see and that was Shamu, and feed Sea Lions, see sharks and dolphins. So that was good.
Ian however came home with a fever and has been kind of under the weather all day.
San Diego was fabulous. I had such a great time! A perfect vacation!
So, this last weekend was outdoor nationals. We were at Marina Park in Huntington Beach. In a Flashback moment, I remember the people bitching about this particular location because of the amount of homeless people and the amount of gangs in the area. Well, this weekend, Ian and Lexi met Gang members kids...:(
Now, here is what I don’t understand. As a gang member, you are dressing (at least these particular areas) in your oh so hot looking white wife beater shirt, your shit pants (that’s what I call them because they look like you took a load in your pants), and your white socks up to your knees and your shinny black shoes...more than likely you've got the bald head, and various "tough guy" tats up and down your arms and chest and back, and wherever else I don’t want to know about. Why doesn't having children change these people? Is it just that easy being a gang banger? And for the love of god, why would you want to project that kind of image and the responsibilities and "adultness" that come along with dressing that way?
Where does this come from? Well, we were at the Marina, and here come Mom and Pop Gangbangers with their kids down to the water to start splashing around. Thank god I had my sunglasses on because I didn't want them to see I was starring at them in disbelief as here comes little gangbanger in his mini tough guy outfit. Complete with gold chain! Maybe I just haven't driven by the "thug life for generations" clothing store, but good god. It was truly disappointing to know that that kid probably has no chance in reversing the destructive lifestyle his parents lead, and keeping it from projecting into his own life.
So, back to Ian and Lexi's earlier encounter at the park: Ian is the most fun, loving, friendly kid. Always wanting to make "friends" and hang out and be friendly. He has never encounter (and pardon the French, it might be tough to call a kid this but that’s what they were) assholes at his young age, but here he was being pushed around the slides, and the sandbox. These were gang bangers kids. Their parents were off doing something else in a huge make you uncomfortable group. (Is their going to be a drive by later?)
I saw his face. It broke my heart. Confusion, fear, betrayal, all looks in a Childs eye that should not be there while playing peacefully with people he considered "friends".
Am I delving too much into it? Am I creating a Mountain out of a Mole Hill. I don’t think so. Today Ian informs me that "The kids hate me". I said "what kids honey". "The Kids at the park." "Which kids?" "The kids at the racquetball park, they hate me. They hit me and pushed me." Talk about a crushing blow to a parent to hear their extremely friendly 3 year old talk about what should always be a pleasant thing,...going to the park. Now you could also ask, well where were you? We were there. About 20 yards away. Willie witnessed this and quickly ran over.
I think it shook him to his core. Yesterday at kids club while Momma was in her League, Ian bit another little boy. The lady at the desk said they had been "confrontational" all evening, but Ian didn't need to bite him. He didn't break skin and she promptly put him in time out. I have yet to hear from him why he did it, though I’m sure like the park incident it will come out later.
My response: I have totally delved him into everything that a childhood should be filled with, and totally without responsibilities or cares in the world other than which train he wants to play with, vs. why is this kid hitting me. We have not watched a single adult cartoon that we normally enjoy (futurama, and Simpsons are his favorites), but rather immersed him in all things kid. He's my little chunko, and so help me god, until the day that it should come, he will always be free to be carefree, and a kid without the projections of adulthood.
It seems like a bit of a tricky game, the home prices are decreasing while the interest rates are climbing. I think if we were to buy here in California, the time would be coming up. The market looks to be dipping quite heavily as certain house that were costing 400k a year ago have dropped into the 350k region. Just recently a few of those selective homes have dropped even further. Now some are going for the 320's. If we were to offer on a house we'd probably start offering 25% below the asking price. Since we have no real rush to move forward on buying a home and time is on our side, we might be able to strike a deal. Who knows. Makes me really glad we didn't buy 1.5 years ago when there was a buying frenzy.
Zillow
Movoto
You've got to be kidding me. After seeing the articles that were written about this topic I was half expecting "Paris Hilton" or Anna Nicole Smith style photograph (You know the totally classless type), but these photos of Amy Polumbo are totally harmless. They can be seen here and are obviously just photos of Miss USA with her hair down and crown off. How silly that this would be making such a huge splash.
The Simpson's Movie is going all out on marketing. They're actually converting 7-11 type stores to Kwik-E-Mart Simpson type store. Someone mapped them out on Maps Live.
My car has been dirty for quite some time. Last weekend we decided to finally clean it and our VW. We got the materials like soap, wash rags, and a bucket, and headed outside. The kids got to "help" by playing with the water and splashing it on everyone. It was pretty nice to have a family activity while doing chores.
The kids got a little tired of washing cars and went off to play on their bikes, but we had parked right next to the concrete loop they like to play on so it wasn't a big deal. Every once in awhile they would come back to play with some bubbles, get squirted, or what not. Only took about 2 hours too.
Joost bills itself as "The new way of watching TV" and I totally agree. It's on demand TV that allows you to switch channels and even use a remote to do it. I totally dig it, and believe that it is indeed the future of TV.
The shows takes a few seconds to buffer and every so often it has to re-buffer the stream. An advertisement comes on once every 15 minutes or so, and sometimes ads are in the corners that you can click on to navigate to a website. Pretty cool, and not intrusive, way less than say, regular OTA TV.
The biggest problem is there's really not that much content. For instance, I want to see some educational little kid shows for my kids. Nada. I'm thinking, they really couldn't break a deal with PBS to get some Seaseme Street going, but they can persuade MTV and Comedy Central? Sure, those channels are geared towards 17-25 year olds, but that's about all the TV you're going to get on Joost. Most of it was comedy, MTV type channels. I did see the token adultish CNN news broadcast, but give me a good kids channel Mr Joost!
You know how you like a new show, like you can't wait for it to come on next week? That's how I've been feeling about shows like Trigun, Gundam SEED, Cowboy Beebop, and Gungrave, except for one thing.
They're all shows that were animated in Japan and are actually completed. That means there are jems out there in the sci-fi, drama, mystery, horror, and family genres that you haven't seen and they've been there for years.
I first started with Cowboy Beebop. Being a more adult themed western sci-fi type of show (Firefly anyone?) I really liked it. I later tried on Full Metal Alchemist. This took about 2 years. Recently though with the slump good shows on, I decided to try a few more Anime shows.
I started easy with the Ghibli movies. These are essentially geared more towards kids, but they involve magical fantasy type themes, and some of them have sci-fi elements as well. They share similarities with the American made counterparts, like adult humor splashed in with the kiddie stuff.
I watched Porco Rosso, the story of a fighter pilot turned into a pig that helps people but has his own strange agenda as well. Moved on to Howl's Moving Castle, a fantasy themed story about a girl who gets changed into a old woman. Then Kiki's delivery service, which was more geared towards kids as it was about a little girl that happened to be a witch that spends a year away from her family. Nausicaa: of the Valley of the Wind was also a cool Sci-Fi type of film that featured (in the English version) Patrick Stuart, Uma Thurman, Edwards James Olmos, Mark Hamill amongst others. Others I watched were Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke and Whisper of the Heart, all of which are probably better known than the others. From there I got into the series that I spole about above.
This post is getting a little long but I'm enjoying watching these and not really missing English spoken TV right now. The subtitles are especially wonderful when the kids want to play loudly and you don't really have to hear anything.
Lexi is unlike Ian in many ways. One of them is her bravery. Ian gets scared at ocean waves, while Lexi charges down to the ocean. Lexi will try things that she hasn't done before, while Ian has to be shown that it's ok to do things and that he's safe.
There's only a few situations where I think this is a bad thing, and one of the is the pool. Sure enough on Friday the bravery came out of Lexi down at the pool. She was swimming in her kiddie ring, and she decides to put her arms up and let go of the ring. Since she can't swim at all, she sinks right to the bottom and starts dancing on her tippy toes. I watched the entire thing wondering what her plan was.
Of course, I rush over from 4 feet away and get her up out of the water before anything bad happens, and she's fine. Held her breath and everything, just opened her eyes so they stung a bit. She cries for a few seconds, gets her ring, and after I sternly tell her to not let go of it, she tells me, "Lemme lone!"
Back to playing in the pool. I'm playing with Ian with his "surf" board skimming him across the pool and turn around. This time Lexi has already submerged herself, so I again pull her out, and she's fine again. This time though I put her in timeout, and ask Mamma to go get her wings. Lexi wants really badly to swim with Ian and the other kids and she's brave enough to try just about anything, including drowning.
The wings are a much better piece of mind. She can't take them off so I don't have to constantly (10 second checks instead of 2-3 seconds) her sinking to the bottom, but I still can't wait for her to learn to float.
Jackie was really excited about the just past Independence day holiday and now I can remember why. It's like our summer Christmas. Last year we missed the town's Pancake breakfast by 5-10 minutes, so this year I didn't want to miss it. I essentially kicked everyone out of their beds around 8 and started to get packed for the long and fun day we were going to have. We barely made the pancake breakfast, and only had 6 dollars in cash so we only got a plate, but there was a free refill, so we all got to eat a few bits before the grills were turned of and the parade started.
Since the pancake area was at the end of the parade line we actually went around to the end of the parade area and watch the majority of people and floats pass by. After the water ran out we decided to walk against the parade traffic, which ended up working out great. We got back to where we parked our car just as the parade was ending. To top off the parade, Lexi was able to see a mini pony, and was allowed to pet it as the handler was carting it back to it's car.
We headed back for nap time which was pretty adorable. Lexi did her routine of getting out of bed and playing with sleeping Momma, but Ian was pooped. He went right into our bed (where he takes a nap) laid down, pulled the sheet up over him and went to bed. We both didn't even ask him to do this, he just went in a zonked out. Our little "chunko".
Getting up from naps was equally painful as everyone was groggy from the heat. I kept asking, "Are the gonna go?" until Jackie was fed up with me asking. I love going to the beach, and didn't want to miss a hot day in the biggest pool around. The waves were pretty awesome. The water was a great temperature and the waves had little chop so it was easy to float. They were pretty big though, so we did have to watch out upon entering and existing to not get smashed on the short break. We stayed there for about 3 hours and then decided to head to the grocery store for some picnic food.
We got some salad, a cooked chicken, a beer, watermelon, and some gatorades and headed up to Top of the World. We scarfed down the huge meal just about as it was getting dark, and made our short trek over to a small rock face that we'd be able to see the cities' fireworks. The fireworks came on around 9'ish. At first we could see 1 or 2, and then we saw them start to light up all over the place. We counted 10 shows that we could see from our vantage point, and I'm sure if you hiked to the hill adjacent to ours you could have seen 3-4 more.
The amount of people throughout the shows kept increasing and Jackie said, "I hear people, but I don't see people." People had come from all over to do the same and us, and as it was getting later I decided to terminate our fun a little early, before everyone else there and in Laguna Beach decided to head home.
I was a little glad we did. It was pushing 10PM when we got home and we had actually had less traffic than a regular day down there. We were able to go home and light off our own fireworks (essentially party poppers) and go up and hit the hay. I did enjoy listing off the "Did we have fun today?" things we had done that day for nite-nite time as I was certain that the kids and ourselves had had a great day.
We walked to a high school and had pancakes (my favorite) for breakfast first thing in the morning. Then we went and watched a parade where I saw some princesses, fire trucks, and old cars. It was neat! After that we went and tried to have lunch at the Cookie place (Frescas). We ended up at a Pizza place and I didn't eat my lunch, so it was time to go home and take naps :(
I'm glad I took my nap when I did though, because then we got to go to the beach for the rest of the afternoon. Dad took me out "surfing" and I had soooo much fun. I cried when we had to stop cause Dad's back was hurting and he was afraid my arm was getting tired. I kept trying to drag the surf board into the water so I could do it myself but mom and dad kept stopping me :( Oh well, we got to do it again later.
Then we went to the store and got a chicken and some salad and watermelon and had a picnic at the "top of the world" park. After we were done eating we got ready to watch the fireworks. Mommy counted 10 different fireworks shows that we could watch! It was really neat. Then it was time to go, and when we got home mom had a surprise for me. We had some firepoppers to pop. We popped them and then went upstairs brushed teeth and went to bed. I was pooped! But it was a great day!
Me Wiping out
surfing
some more surfing
You can always tell it's summer as it starts getting really hot, and the amount of police officers on the road increase. We kicked ours off with a visit from Lissa, Jackie's friend, in which we did the usual going to Disneyland and heading to the beach. Jackie got a chance to go out with me into the water which I thought was especially cool as she usually just sits on her butt on the short. She was amazed at how clear the water was. I've been telling her for weeks now, but whatever :)
We're thinking about getting some snorkeling stuff, but I'm thinking after seeing the prices of the stuff out there that we'll go in stages. Probably get a mask and snorkle first and get some fins later. I can't wait to go back, and for the first time, Jackie can't either. I think we're probably headed out there Wednesday (the 4th) for sure, but we got to sneak in a little parade action as well (There's a parade down Lake Forest Dr).
My BFF (Best Friend Forever) Lissa came in on Thursday, and went home today. Thursday when she arrived we had a Jackie "fiest" and dinned on Gorganzola steaks, Crab legs, Rosemary Carrots, and Salad, featuring my homemade salad dressing. I should have totally made my Asiago Cheese mashed Potatoes, but...I didn't think of it until we sat down and ate. And of Course, in true Jackie Fashion (Read, I'm doing so well, etc, entries) the portions were plentiful and the food was freakin awesome! She walked away satisfied that's fo sho.
Then, Friday. We went to Disneyland at 9:00 a.m. Sharp. Well sort of, you know how girls are, and more importantly, mommy girls (do we have the sunscreen, check. The drinks? Check. The ? Check!) So anyway we roll into Disneyland around 10:00 a.m. and are there until 10:00 p.m. I haven't done this since we got our season passes a year ago with Courtney and Greg while they were visiting. Man it was tough. PLUS I was by myself. That made it even harder. Willie and I have become quite accustomed to going on busy days and simply going on the line free rides and not going on any real rides every. Well with Lissa I had to do the whole "tourist" thing, but it was fun. We got in the more popular rides at Disney, and then went over to California Adventure where we even got in a few Momma rides when Willie joined us around 4 p.m.
Saturday we woke up and took Lissa to the Disneyland Warehouse where we found some more affordable Disneyland Souveniers for the peps back home, and then we went to the beach after the kids took their naps. Lissa made the comment of "I can totally see why you stay here,..." That was nice.
The truth is about staying in California, is we truly LOVE it here. It's fabulous for "young" (i.e. the kids are young) families. It's the damn house prices that have us thinking of moving to AZ (where you can still be close to CA) where we'd be able to get a house and dog (Man how awesome would it be for Ian and Lexi to have a darn dog and cat again . . sigh)
so...back on track, . . Lissa left today. It was genuinly nice having her here. All those phone calls we have with eachother, we got to have in person. It was very very nice, AND it began our usual stint of summer visitors. In three weeks Courtney and Greg will be here again, and we're going to San Diego for a Mini vacation that Friday Saturday, and Sunday, I already have a good name of a babysitter while we are there, so I'm hoping to squeeze in some Momma daddy and visitor time, but who knows if I'll be able to overcome my anxieties to do that with a total stranger in a hotel room.....God i wish I could get over my own stuff....sigh
OH huge news. While Lissa was here I was able to go out in the ocean with her and Willie. We have been goign to Laguna Beach, which BTW Kicks Huntington Beach's ASS as far as CLEANLINESS goes. Hello!!!! In Hunitngton the water is brown! In laguna its totally see through. There is an open swim from pier to shore coming up, and I'm thinking of swimming it. It's a mile. But hey, I know I can do it and I'm totally huge right now on snorkeling, which we went today and priced out and man, its expensive, but i think we'll save up some and get some fins and goggles and a snorkle, if anything for me, because heck, I could see the ocean floor! That was soo amazing! And here I've been saving for a new pots and pan set...gesh. lol So we went today to look because I'm just so stoaked on the idea, and wow, is it really more expensive than I thought. We started at Costco but they only carried the smaller size fins for the sets of cheapo snorkeling stuff (i.e. 70 bucks), and we're wanting the larger fins so we really only need 1 pair for the both of us since we never get to ....
Well this sort of went off in a tangent This is what happens when my wrists hurt and I dont give a flying leap about the typos and I've had to wait four days to blog lol. So...needless to say, it was nice having my BFf here ....and I had tons of fun with her, even though I had to do the touristy thing and see Cruela De Ville (however thats spelt), who I'm not kidding, said "Do you enjoy wasting money, she's not going to remember any of this"..well I know Disney wants their characters to stay in character, but I bet Walt himself wouldn't have wanted to hire such a bitch lol
Imagine this scene. You have to go poop at work. You get a magazine. Go into the bathroom. While reading the magazine you pick a stall. You notice someone in the next stall over already dropping bombs.
Oh no, Potential poop buddy! What do you do? Do you back out of the stall and go one more over or do you boldly sit down and start firing away as well?
I decided to sit down as it would look pretty silly to change stalls. I mean, they've seen my shoes. They could ID me by looking around the office a bit. What happens if it's my cube buddy? Ewww. Could you imagine the horror of hearing about how you're so embarrassed about pooping that you had to sit over a stall?
No! I will not have that happen. I will sit here, and read my magazine and squeeze it out.
Whammy, I drop a load and I'm done. Do I get up first? My poop buddy did after all come in first so by rights they should be able to leave first. I try to think about the best pooping etiquette but give up and just get up and go wash my hands. I could have swore I knew who my poop buddy was, but they were already sitting at their cube. Great, now I have to look at everyone's shoes...
I think we did a great job with Ian in teaching him to swim. We really started to "push" him when he was 2. When I say push, I mean we would dunk him in the water a few times and throw him up in the air to play with him. I think we would normally never exceed putting his entire head in the water more than 3 times.
Today, at 3 and half, he can swim better than I can (and I'm not kidding). I may be stronger and can swim longer (ie Keep my head up by doggy paddling about), but he can put his face in the water, and kick that way a good 10 feet. I think it's amazing to watch. I kept thinking as I watched him in lessons today, is the teacher pushing him? How is he going so fast!? He really looks like his Mom who just glides through the water. I tend to thrash wildly.
He also rolls to his back to breathe, keeping his ears submerged. He's doing so well that we opted to get him in another lesson a week (he now goes two times).
Lexi is also progressing. She got in the pool today by herself and proceeded to scare the crap out of her parents by swimming off into the pool. Since we had our clothes on we were really hoping she didn't sink so we'd have to jump in :)
After Ian's lesson we stuck around. Another kid 1 year old got in the pool and immediately started to scream. The Dad was there watching. At first it was cute. After awhile though it started to wear on Jackie, but I thought he was doing pretty good. Holding his breath, rolling to his back, etc. I noticed after a few minutes though that the Dad's smile was gone. As we were leaving Jackie went to talk with the Dad for a moment and we turned to leave. As we did the 1 year old puked water and breakfast out into the pool, and then continued to scream some more.
Me thinks they pushed him a little too hard...
I think that I will always push my kids, but more to the extent of having fun, not training to be a Navy SEAL.
Look at this. The first pictures of "tinkerbell" are when she was almost 1 year old (9 months, not even walking yet). I had to get her a 2T costume because thats all they had. Little did I know it would come in great for later.
here she is just a month ago at Disneyland in her Tinkerbell outfit:
CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? I can't lol. Same outfit. Same little girl, but two years later :( They get old so quickly :(
And mommy's beautiful! That's all
I started out the morning with a nice breakfast. Mom said she didn't want me to have a reason to be grumpy at swimming, so she made me nice and full! Then, she told me a surprise. If I was a good boy at swimming then we would go to Toys r Us afterwards and get me some legos! That made me really excited.
Even with the idea of getting Legos afterwards I still was nervous and scared when we got there. I pulled all my usual tactics (having to go potty, screaming, throwing a tantrum), but mom stuck to her guns, and took me to the pool. Mom made sure to give me a hug and a kiss and say I love you, cause I dont like it when she forgets, and then threw me into the water with Telia.
I cried for about 5 seconds, and then started gabbing with my teacher. I told her about Pappa and Iah's latest visit, the Mosquitos that come out at night and drink your blood, and how if I was a good boy I'd get Lego's. I really made a connection with my teacher today.
I had a lot of fun. I did really well and got lots of high fives! I floated on my back and my tummy. Telia fixed my goggles and I was able to open my eyes underwater. She also showed me how to splash the water (freestyle stroke) and I did a very good job at that. Afterclass Sherry gave my mom my success cards and it was determine I am a beginning sea otter!
We went to lunch with dad afterwards and I had fun putting my cards into my swim book. Then.....
WE WENT TO TOYS R US AND GOT LEGOS! I got a Thomas the Train lego set. I'm so excited to play with it. When dad gets home we'll put it together. Dad also got a rocket for us to put together and launch. When we were at the park about a month ago I saw these people launching these cool rockets, and I wanted one so now I have one that dad and i can put together and launch. I'm going to have a fun weekend!
I didn't too well today at swim lesson. As soon as we got there, I started to get angry. Momma took my shirt off and that made it worse. I got even more angry when she put on my swim trunks even though I kept telling her I didn't want to go. When I got to my lesson, I just kept yelling and yelling "I want momma" so momma had to go out of the pool area so that I could get my lesson done.
I told my teacher that I get to see Iah and Pappa later and it was time go. Hopefully, I will be in a better mood next week for swim lesson. The teacher said its time for me to get some cards for my swim book, so that might make it cooler.
I had my first swim lesson today. I didn't want to go and threw a tantrum to try and persuade mom to not make me go. But she didn't fall for it.
We got there, and the other classes were still going. So I played around the pool with baby. Then it was my turn where I threw one last attempt at a perfect tantrum to make mom go home, but she just stripped my clothes off, and threw me into the teacher, whose name is Shelly.
I did Awesome! (at least mom told me I did). I learned how to float like superman with my face in the water!, and kicking my legs. Then we worked on back float, then we did some rolling over, front to back back to front etc.
Afterthat she tried to get me to start using my arms while I was kicking on my tummy, but I didn't like it. She pushed my head down when I tried to lift it to breath, so I got angry, and its a good thing that swim class was almost over because I wasn't having much fun at that point.
But I gave Shelly high fives and told her I'd see her next week. I'm not sure if I'll throw a tantrum or if I'll just trust mom that it will be fun, because it was fun!