Vacation!

I didn't really go anywhere, but my little sister Heather was in town for almost a week, so it felt like vacation!!

The kids and I picked her up at the airport on Thursday afternoon.
Friday morning we left for Disneyland, for 3 whole days!! I know you all think I go there WAY too often, and I will tell you again...It can never be too often...it's the Happiest Place on Earth!!

I also had to make sure before she went back to Arizona's 105-degree days, that she spent a day at the beach! So on Tuesday we headed down to Paradise Cove. It was a beautiful day, and the place was practically empty! We started with breakfast on the patio, and then parked ourselves in their beachside adirondack chairs & played in the sand!
















It was a great week with Auntie Heather! Madison just adores her, and will really miss her! When we took her back to the airport, Heather leaned in the back seat to give Maddie a hug goodbye, and Maddie reached up for her to pick her up...it was the sweetest, but saddest thing!! We'll miss you Heather!!

End of School Year Activities!!

The last week of school is always an eventful one!

First was Dylan's Martial Arts Graduation. They gave him a certificate and he got to break a board with his foot!


Next was the Dance Festival. Every grade does their own dance on the playground. This year Dylan's grade did "We Go Together", from Grease, of course! I couldn't have been more excited, because this is one of favorite movies ever!! Dylan asked me to see the movie, and decided he was over it within the first 5 minutes. He did, however, ask me to download the song on iTunes and put it on his iPod. He has been listening to it repeatedly for the last 2 weeks!


Last, but definitely not least, was the Classroom Museum. Every student picked a person to do their biography on, and Dylan picked Milton Hershey. It was so cute. Among the 28 students, we had a Dalai Lama, a Mother Theresa, an Amelia Earhart, a couple Kobe Bryant's, and so many more. All the parents went into the classroom one morning to see all the work they did. They each made a poster of their person, with the face cut out, and they put their own little faces in. Just about the cutest thing I ever saw!!


Now school is over, and we have almost 3 months of fun!!

Dylan's REAL Birthday

My baby isn't a baby anymore!! He's 8!! Since I made the Mother's Day blog so sappy, I will try to spare you the emotions today. Seriously though, I can't believe I am the mother of an 8 year old. A smart, gentle, loving, sweet, funny, and gorgeous 8 year old.

Have I mentioned that I am blessed? He couldn't make me a happier mom. Even on his worst day, he is the best kid ever. Fact.

Since his birthday falls on a Tuesday this year, and it just so happens that I volunteer in his classroom on Tuesday morning, I got to spend the whole morning with him! Last night he helped me bake cookies as treats for his whole class. His teacher let him make a crown and decorate it with stickers, and then he got to pick out a story for Mr. Spence to read to the class.

After class, he came home to find his birthday present...which was a new flat screen TV for his room. Not a big one, but perfect size for a boy. He loved it.

Then we went out to dinner with my Grandparents and his cousins. He had a great time! When we got back to Grandma's, we sang Happy Birthday, and had cake...delicious cake that I made!!

Happy Mothers Day!!

Every year, this day reminds me how lucky I am to have 2 amazingly perfect children, who have changed my life in ways that I cannot even begin to explain.

I definitely think that a parent is responsible for how their children turn out...for the most part. And excuse my language, but I work my ass off every single day to make sure they are happy and well-balanced. However, I think their perfection goes way beyond my parenting techniques. Simply said...I'm so blessed.

Dylan was born when I was 23 years young. I say young, because I was really not in a place where I was settled and ready to have a baby. He was a surprise. After he was born, my life changed in so many ways. I was back at work full-time when he was only 6 weeks old. And he was 4 months old when I moved back home with my Grandparents. I didn't keep in close contact with my friends, and I never went out without him. Nope, no dates. For almost 3 years. I don't regret it, ever...not even for a second. Then we moved into our own place, and shortly after that, we met Cody. I never would have married Cody without Dylan's blessing. He loved him from the moment they met.
Then we were a family. For the first year of our marriage, I was convinced that I didn't want anymore children. Cody did, but wasn't pushing it. Then one day, we were on a little family vacation, and just somehow decided that we wanted another little one around. The next 19 months were some of the hardest, emotionally, in my life. We had a hard time getting pregnant, had miscarriages, and just went through a lot. It could very well have taken its toll on our relationship...but we leaned on each other. And just when we were exhausted trying, a miracle happened. When they told me our little miracle was a girl, I cried. I couldn't have been happier. Our miracle was born in January 2009, and we named her Madison.
And now I am a mother of 2. And of course a wife. And they've changed me...for the better. I couldn't imagine my life without them. I am happy here, right where I am. I've never been happier. This is it...and it's SO worth it.










I'm sure I'll tell this story again next year...but at least you have 364 days.

So to celebrate...Cody made reservations at The Farm at The Grove for brunch, and then we did one of my all-time favorite things ever...SHOP!!! I think we all got a Mother's Day gift...I just couldn't resist...ANYTHING!! Cody bought me new Gucci sunglasses...Dylan bought me new perfume...and I bought clothes...for myself and Maddie. Mostly for Maddie. It was a wonderful day. The best ever.

Happy Birthday Dylan!!

To celebrate Dylan's Birthday, we took him and his best friend Aidan to Mountasia...the funnest place ever! (yes I know, totally gramatically incorrect.)

We started with lunch, which of course was pizza, followed by a spacial birthday sundae! They seriously do their best to embarrass the birthday boy...by ringing an alarm & banging the biggest drum you've ever seen. It worked. He was super embarrassed!




We let him open a couple presents today...






After we had lunch, we headed outside to start the fun! The boys did the bumper boats...I elected to skip this one, because the boats come equipped with water squirters, and, well you know...a girl just can't mess up her hair so early in the day!




After the bumper boats, we did the race cars. Both the boys wanted t ride with Cody, because he's just so cool. They played rock, paper, scissors to decide...Aidan won. The whole time I raced the car around the track, Dylan was yelling in my ear..."Mom, this isn't Sunday driving!!", and "My Grandma can drive faster than you!!" Yea, he's definitely growing up!

Then we golfed, and went inside to play video games, which might have been the best part of their day. Cody & I let them have their fun, and I whipped him at air hockey. Don't let him tell you otherwise!

On our way home we let them listen to whatever music they wanted to. You've always wanted to know what an 8 year old listens to? Well let me just tell you...Black Eyed Peas & Linkin Park. Awesome, right?

My story ends tonight with them staying up till midnight playing video games. Of course.

Friday Fun-Day!

The evening started with a little amateur photo shoot on our front lawn...






Then my best friend Jennifer came over for one of our awesome sleepovers! Cody always works Friday's, so it's just us and the kids. We went to Porto's Bakery for dinner, and it was delicious. I'm still going veg, so I ordered the turkey croissant, without the turkey. And the cheesecake, of course. Simply amazing.
The rest of our night consisted of drinking wine, turning up the music, and dancing around the house with the kids. We all had a great time.






Little Maddie loves dancing. Dylan, not so much, but we did manage to get him to teach us the Thriller dance. He even went to bed listening to his iPod with his headphones on, and this is what I saw when I went to check on him...

7 going on 16?? He's growing so fast!!

Seriously...I couldn't think of a better way to spend a Friday night!

The High Chair

Apparently we are going through a little bit of separation anxiety. By we, I mean Madison, who is currently sleeping on the couch...pretty much on my lap.

It's been going on for about 2 months now. She used to go to sleep so nice...in her crib. Even at naptime.
Now, all of a sudden, she will not sleep in her crib at all. I will lay her down, and she will stand up, holding the railing, and jump up & down and just scream.
I've tried to get her to sleep in our bed...but she will only do that if I lay down with her. Sometimes this is ok...and even though I wish it were possible for me to nap every day with her, it's just not.

So, we've discovered, quite by accident, that she is very comfortable in her high chair. Almost too comfortable. If I pull it in the living room and stay nearby, she will fall asleep in there. We just can't try to be sneaky and move her into her room...she catches us every time.

We've tried everything.

This is what has become of bedtime in our house.

School Lunches...

Against all my better judgement, I decided over the last month, to try to let Dylan buy his own lunch at school, not every day, but once or twice a week.
I say it was against my better judgement because school lunches are beyond bad for you.

Nowadays, you add money to your child's account, and at lunchtime, they type in their code and then the lady lets them pick their lunch. When the account gets low, they send you an email saying you are low on funds.

So, this morning I told Dylan he could buy his lunch from school. But when I picked him up, he was starving, and thirsty. I asked him what happened, and he tells me this story.

He gets to the front of the line, and the lunch lady has him type in his code. He said he typed it in, and the lunch lady didn't even ask him what he wanted, but instead shoved at him a plain cheese sandwich & a carton of milk. Let me say that by "plain cheese sandwich" I mean 2 pieces of white bread with a piece of american cheese in the middle. He told me that he went to his table, almost in tears, and wondered why he had to have that and all the other kids got to choose grilled cheese sandwiches or cheeseburgers. He said the sandwich was gross, and he hates milk, so he threw the whole thing away and didn't eat.

When I found out, I called and found out that he only had $1 on his account, and not the $2.75 it costs for lunch. I was furious. Why didn't they send me the appropriate email saying my funds were low? Why wouldn't they tell Dylan that the funds were low and that was why they were giving him a plain cheese sandwich? Why would they just let him wonder why he didn't get a good lunch? Are they robots who don't care about out kids and are jut programmed to hand out food? I don't think this is acceptable at all. If you're working with kids, you should care about the kids. If she had said this to Dylan, he could have chosen to go into the office and call me, so I could have brought him something decent for lunch. Instead he had to go from 11 am to 2:30, starving.

Needless to say, the first thing they see Monday morning will be my email. And Dylan will never be buying lunch from school again.

Grrr....don't mess with Mama Bear.

Oil Spill...

There are 5,000 barrels of oil a day spilling into the Gulf of Mexico right now. There have been 11 lives lost, not counting all the sealife that won't make it.

Is the environment not bad enough already? I think it's so naive when people say that they don't believe in global warming. I think it's hilarious that most of those people are republicans. I always thought that respect for our planet should be more than just a right or left debate. I guess people will open their eyes, when it's too late.

Drill baby, drill?
Get with it, people.

Not-So-Happy Meals...

Santa Clara County in California is enforcing a ban on fast food restaurants selling fattening Kids Meals including a toy. The purpose is to fight childhood obesity. In order for these restaurants to include a toy in a kids meal, they have to meet nutritional standards.

McDonalds and Burger King were at a town meeting to oppose this, of course...because they are going to lose so much money.

My opinion? I'm so glad you asked!

I actually think this is a step in the right direction. I understand that parents should be held responsible for what their children are eating, and that it's not necessarily the responsibility of the restaurant to make sure our children are eating healthy. I make sure my kids eat healthy...especially more recently. However, I also know what it's like to be in a hurry & ask my child where he wants to go for dinner, and then hear him base his decision on what toy each fast food restaurant is offering. It's ridiculous. I think maybe it would be different if these restaurants offered anything on the healthier side, for children. I've seen the changes that these places call healthy. McDonalds sells their apple dippers...sure apples are healthy, until you are dipping them into caramel. I won't even go into how they keep these apples from spoiling inside their little plastic baggies. You know they're not fresh. One of the fast food places recently started offering mac'n'cheese...which is one of the most unhealthy things you can choose to eat...but it's vegetarian! Chocolate milk? Loaded with sugar. My point is that there areno healthy choices. I'm not saying that we never eat fast food...if you're reading this, you probably know that my husband is one of the most unhealthy eaters...ever. However, our entire family has made major changes, even Cody. I think that parents everywhere need to be more conscious about what they are feeding their family. I'm not blaming McDonalds, but I think their food is finally catching up with people. There is nothing good and nothing healthy about their food. Nothing. They don't care about our children, they are out to make money. I think this ban is appropriate because I think it's unfair to target children, who don't know any better, with a toy or prize for eating unhealthy. Fast food restaurants have had their chance to improve the quality and nutrition of their food, but have failed to do so, so this is a consequence. So be it.

Family Day...

We woke up early today & went to the Burbank Farmer's Market. I love that place! It's so much nicer to shop outside on a beautiful morning then to shop in an ugly grocery store.

This afternoon we took the whole family on a walk at Runyan Canyon. Well, Maddie strolled, but the rest of us walked. Even Lou came! It was fun, but there are way too many people there. I think I need to find a less populated place for us to take our walks.

This evening Cody gave me a little break and took the kids to Shamrock to visit. Dylan of course brought his DSI to play with, and Maddie met her new BFF. Nicole Richie was there and as soon as Maddie saw her, she reached her little arms out for her. She held her & they played the entire time they were there. So cute!

On my "break", I cleaned up the house. Of course!

More Easter...

Now that I think I've finally got the hang of using iphoto on my new mac, I'm uploading the final pictures from Easter!

The day before Easter, we went to The Beauchamp Easter party...also Andrea's birthday. She is seriously the best party planner ever. She planned an Easter egg hunt, with prizes, and even cooked a ham! (None for me...still going veg!)

Here are the Beauchamps with Cody & Madison...


After everyone had had a few drinks, Andrea & I came up with an amazing Easter game.

First, you have to take a shot of Jack Daniels out of a half of a plastic Easter egg, then you have to carry an egg on a spoon in your mouth in a relay race...oh just let the pictures speak for themselves...

Here's Todd with the "shot glasses"...


Andrea's not far behind with the Jack!


One of the relay teams taking their shots...


And let the races begin...





It was a fabulous day at the Beauchamps...as it always is!!