A little slice of life...

Here are some video's I found from when the kids were little. Mostly I'm putting this on for my mom to see, but feel free to watch. These are just moments we captured in our daily lives.

This one cracks me up. Jake wants to know...where's Grandma?

Just thought this was cute. That's my tiny dancer...

And this one is hilarious...Her face is priceless. Kiernan REALLY liked her bike helmet apparently.

The Curse. Continued. Again.

Remeber how my car was in the shop for 43 DAYS? Well, this picture was taken 1 week after I got it back. Maybe the rental car wan't cursed... my car was. Dangit! *sigh*

I'd tell you what was wrong with it, but really, does it matter? It came home later that day & has been running fine since. That is, if you call getting 13 miles to the gallon, paying $4.60 a gallon for gas, & driving approximately 50 miles a day "running fine".

HaH! As if!

Hey Batta, Batta!

Jacob waiting for his turn to bat.
Jacob playing catcher position. His first time out, he took a baseball right in the place where boys shouldn't be getting hit with balls. As he lay on home plate screeching "My balls dad, my balls!" (not the game kind you know), Mike stood there with tears of laughter streaming down his face. That day all of the parents went home & bought their kids "cups" to add to the uniforms. Nothing made me giggle more at these games that watching the outfielders standing there knocking on their "cups" like it was their own personal door knocker
Jake on third base, ready to run for home.

This year Jacob was on an area Little League team, they were the Mets. He was a great little baseball player, pretty good at most stuff, but REALLY GOOD at hitting. He had great batting technique & the best hitting record on the team. At the end of the year there was a contest to sell tickets to "Little League Day" at the local baseball stadium. Well, Jakes team sold the most tickets, so they won the grand prize! Our local team, the Grizzlies, are an AAA team that the SF Giants recruit from. The winning team got to do a few fun things with the Grizzlies, here are some...

First, they got to run on to the field at the opening of the game with the Grizzlies players. (Childhood dream, can you imagine?) Wish I had a better camera!

Next, they were put in groups & sent out onto the field with a Grizzlies player to stand for the national anthem. Here is Jacob & friends on 1st base talking to their "player" ...

Here they are for the national anthem... (Can you see Jake? That hair!)
After the national anthem they ran back to the dugout with their player & got autographs from all of the players...
Finally, they got to spend the entire game right behind home plate. They ate as much as they wanted, and had a grand time doing it...
At the end of the game was a massive fireworks show to top off the evening! It was a totally fun night to top off a really fun season!

Why I do what I do.

So, some of you have asked me what it is I do at work? Marketing, I say, while being all puffed up because it sounds like such a "big girl" job. Well, here's the skinny...Marketing is what it may be called, but I like to think of it as "decorating", as in deorating everything, all of the time, as much as we can, with other peoples money. YaY! It's been a really great time, and we've had some really fun projects, like juggling hundreds of soda cans, building trees made of money, and dressing up stuffed bulldogs the size of a real great dane!

I've attached some photos of one of the parties we threw because I just happened to find them in my files & thought I'd share. The girls I'm with are the Marketing "crew", minus our fearless leader, Keri, who graciously went on maternity leave so that I could get my foot in the door at the credit union. Me, Erin, Kelli & Michelle had a "member appreciation day" at our Clovis branch. There were games, activities, food, giveaways, & alot of down home fun!

My job rocks!

There's no place like home...wherever that is?

So I'm sitting here eating my Pop Tart (Strawberry, in case you were wondering) and pondering how could it possibly be the last day of school today? Which leads me to my next thought, "Wait, if school's out, then I've owned a house for 3 months & I STILL can't live in the dang thing!". Perplexing. I now have a Kindergartener, a second grader, a home, a ridiculous case of allergies, and a drivers lisence that say's "California" on it. How did all of this happen?

In my mind I'm still living in Texas, with toddlers, & I can breathe.

We had a girls night out last week, wich is the first one we've had in awhile & it took me right back to Texas. Thanks to Mel we had so many great girls nights out, it was such a relief to finally get one here. At the same time however it really made me miss you guys in Texas. I actually got called out the other day (by Tracy, I think?) because I was talking about Texas & I started the sentence with, "Back home..."

Thanks California girls for the great night out, and thanks Texas girls for all of the good times. I just wanted you to know that I still think of you all the time & of the fun times we had.

Happy Birthday Lukas!

Last weekend was my nephew "cutie baby Luke's" 1st birthday party. Now anybody that knows my sister will know that she doesn't just throw a party, she puts on an EVENT. I am sorry to see that she is just as meticulous as I used to be and worked her booty off to put on a great shindig. I tried to be the voice of reason for her..."Do the flowers & totems REALLY have to alternate on every third pole?", "Do I REALLY need to iron the tablecloth...again?", "Do you really need to make yellow cake, chocolate cake, cupcakes & have pie?", "HOW many people are coming?", "You want a MIXED DRINK BAR?", ect. Nonetheless, I can see myself doing the very same thing, so I just tried my best to help. Here are a few of the highlights:

Uncle Mike feeding Luke his cake. Uncle Mike is called the "baby whisperer" around here. Poor Lukie was teething that day & not so happy, but the cake was OKAY with him.
Stef asked if I could make the girls matching outfits for the party. Here are Jordyn & Kiernan in theirs, not pictured are Aunt Kimmie & her daughter Piper who also had the exact same tops.
Erica & stef working the "bar". Here you can get a peek at what was going on in my parents yard...pool, bar, barbque, lanterns, leis, music, lounge chairs...
Stef & Luke socializingStefanies good friend Kaipo is from Hawaii. Here is her & her husband performing for the crowd.
Without knowing Kaipo had taken the kids to the back of the house & taught them a Maori (New Zeland) dance, and put them in costumes. Seriously, HOW CUTE ARE THEY? Kiernan loved it!
And the crowd watches...
Heres Grandma Diane & her girls...Here's the Coleman family (I seriously have no idea what is up with my hair?)Here is the whole West clan...Wouldn't be a party if we didn't ham it up a bit...Thats all folks!

Tag
Hello, I got tagged by Melanie, so here we go...
A-Attached or Single?-Attached
B-Best Friend- Depends. Always my sisters Mich & Stef, in Teaxs Mel & Amber, in Cali it's gotta be Tracy
C-Cake or Pie?-chocolate cake with chocolate icing, always!
D-Day of choice?-Saturday, no work, no lessons, sleeping in
E-Essential item?-Cell phone, of course
F-Favorite color?-Red & pink
G-Gummy bears or worms? worms
H-Hometown?-Fresno, California
I-Favorite Indulgence? Shopping (It would be Krispy Kreme, but oh well)
J-January or July?- You would think my birthday month, but I have to say July
K-Kids?-2, Jacob & Kiernan
L-Life isn't complete without? My kids
M-Marriage Date?-May 29, 1998 (Hey Mel...I forgot AGAIN! 10 years! Oops)
N-Number of Bro & Sis?-2 sisters
O-Oranges or Apples? oranges
P-Phobia and Fears?-Having a major disease, like cancer
Q-Quote?- Hmmm, so many. "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent" -Eleanor Roosevelt
R-Reason to smile?- My kids make me laugh all the time...especially Kiernan, she is unmatched in sass & spunk
S-Season of choice? Fall!
T-Tag Ten People? Oh boy lets see...Stefanie, Kristi M, Kristin M, Anna H, Gwen H, Krista G, Kimmie C, Laura S, Natalie M
U-Unknown fact about me?-I HATE the smell of toothpaste. I wanna gag every time I brush my teeth
V-Vegetable?-Mushrooms & Zucchini
W-Worse habit?- I'm so forgetful it's nearly a crime. I don't do it intentionally, but I do it a lot
Y-Your favorite food? The last few weeks I've really craved a good mushroom burger
Z-Zodiac sign? Aquarius