I have a distinct memory as a child...

... trick-or-treating in my neighborhood. I remember going to a house where two middle aged women answered the door giggling. Through fits of laughter, they explained that they didn't have candy because they ate it all while watching a movie. As I was walking away, I could still hear the "Sorry, kids!" through muffled giggling. I thought those ladies were absolutely crazy... I don't now.

Little Miss Cupcake

It seems that I have inherited the Halloween bug from my dad. Every year he would work hours upon hours on the coolest costumes... his specialty was making the candy bag incorportaed into the costume. I was the Energizer Bunny one year, and the drum was hollow, intended for the candy. There are the Ghostbusters with energy packs, a robot with hollow stomach- and my favorite- a full sized blue mailbox with netting in the slot to collect all the sweet treats. When people came to the door in looked like someone had played a prank on them and just left a mailbox there- that's the last year they gave out toothpaste! although, I am no Ted Bear (yes, that's my dad's name) I am his daughter and had a few things up my sleeve. I made kaitlin's costume all by myself! (No incorporated bag included... I'm not that good.)

Look at Little Miss Cupcake... I love the cherry hat!

We laugh together everyday

Jimmy had his marketing final tonight. He brought home the commercial he made for the product his team developed. I still laugh at the expression when the commentator says. "Stop!" Congratulations on an A+, Jimmy!

"The laundry is done!"...

... is a completely fictitious statement.

Let's PAR-TAY!

Yesterday, we had Kailtin's fifth birthday party. It was so fun! Check out the invitaion here. In March, Kaitlin decided to have a 'digging' party. I wanted to do an archaeologist themed party, but archaeologists study civilizations... I didn't want small children digging up human remains, so we changed the theme to a paleontologist theme. We painted fossils (frosted dinosaur shaped sugar cookies), mapped bone structure (did dot-to-dot pictures), went on a search for the excavation site (sang 'walk in the jungle' while walking to designated area), dug up ancient dinosaur eggs (candy filled plastic eggs buried in a sandbox), hatched eggs (dissolved dinosaur capsules in ward water) and studied soil (ate dirt cake). All the kids love being a part of the excavation.

Balloons for the mailbox (people still got lost)- $9.00

Finding shovels in the off-season- $13.50

550 lbs. (quite literally) sandbox sand- $60

Cleaning up after a vomiting child at 2 a.m because of a sugar and 'dirt cake' overdose- priceless.

p.s.- I grant permission to anyone who wants to copy this fun idea. Just don't overdo it on the sugar...

*sizzle*

I heart Troy Bolton... like the 16 year old I'm pretending to be, I went and saw High School Musical 3!!!! For the Midnight Showing!!!! On a school night!!!! I squealed like a little girl and giggled when I wasn't batting my eyes at the beauty that is Troy. Yay for creepy mommy stalkers!

P.S.- I did chant, "I love my husband, I love my husband, I love my husband" the whole movie.

Although I still feel really bad about it...

...I still giggle every time I think about catapulting Kaitlin earlier today. She got on the see saw, expecting a 'mommy and me' moment. I got on the see saw and watched my poor little daughter shoot into the air like a clip from America's Funniest Home Videos. I guess I forgot about the cut whiskers. I laughed, she cried. I suppose it's just the karma making a house call from that time she opened the bathroom stall door while I was still doing some business... we were at a community pool...I had on a one piece... I'm not a 'pull it to one side' kind of gal...

For someone terribly afraid of being abducted by aliens-

being woken up in the middle of the night by a child wearing a glow bracelet- is not an ideal situation.

Sign of the times

We live on a long, winding road. Off of the road are smaller private drives to get to individual residences. In some cases, the private drives have two to three homes on them. We live on a private drive with two other neighbors a couple of miles up the same way. One of the neighbors have the same 'Yes on Prop 8' signs as we do on the main road, in front of the property we live on. They are a great family with five awesome kids. (I needed to put in a shout out because those kids feed our dogs when we're out of town) When our family left for church at 9:00 this morning, the 'Yes on Prop 8' signs were still out on the road. When the neighbors left for church at 10:30, the signs were gone. Someone had stolen the signs! They came and talked to us after church to let us know what had happened... really?! Someone would really steal signs that don't agree with their beliefs? It's hard for me to believe that someone who claims to be open minded, would not respect an other's right to freedom of speech- on their own property! I am not going to get into any more nasty details.. just the best part.

After church, we went to my in-laws as part of the Sunday tradition (It's a long day for us- morning meeting, obligatory meals...). As we are driving up the road and crested a hill, we see this:

Yes, the neighbors (including/mostly the teenage boys) had made a eight by eleven foot sign! Jimmy and I laughed sooo hard, because it is just like those boys- and dad! Commentary between me and Jimmy:

M: Haha! That sign is huge!

J: Tell me about it! We totally have to get the camera a take a picture for your blog. (Yes, he does give me lotsa great material)

M: Look, there's even a little bumper sticker on the bottom. I bet what they did was this- finished the sign, then one of the boys said (in mock teenage boy voice) "Wait! Let's put a bumper sticker on it!"

J: Haha! That's probably exactly how it went... even with that voice.

Scroll up to check out the little bumper sticker on the bottom of the big sign. Look, they also replaced all the signs we had out on the road too.

As we were driving down the private drive, the neighbors were driving out. We pulled over, rolled down the window and had a good laugh as the dad said, "Yeah, we came home and the boys and I made this sign. It's huge, isn't it? We were all finished when Matt said, 'Wait! Let's put a bumper sticker on it!' " Jimmy and I would have been rolling, had there not been seat belts strapping us in.

I know it sounds stupid...

...but the only reason I cleaned the house today was so I could burn pumpkin spice candles.

Judging by my physique,

I've never been sent to bed without dinner. For the first time in my history of child rearing, I have sent my child to bed without dinner. This is not the worst mistake I have made as a parent.

To top that list is reading my darling daughter the book, "Green Eggs and Ham".

EVERY SINGLE MORNING our conversation goes something like this:
M: Sweetie, I picked out a dress for you to wear today.
K: Yay! I just adore wearing dresses!
M: It's a super cute black belted dress. Don't you love it?
K: I hate black.
M: But, it's cute...
K: I expressly told you I only like the colors- pink, purple, yellow (because it's Pres. Monson's favorite color), white, red and green.
M: Look at the belt! And with a pink undershirt and black leggings and ballet flats and your hair in a side bun with a flower... I just think it completes the outfit...
K: I will not wear it here or there,
I will not wear it anywhere!
Not with a goat, not in a boat!
I do not like it Sam-I-am!
M: Oh, gosh...

That little girl does really have the word expressly in her vocabulary. I came up with a brilliant idea when she started to talk. Don't baby talk her. Use adult words. Her vocabulary will be superb. I am sincerely paying for that choice. I now hate the words: meanwhile, nevertheless, inappropriate and any other word over two syllables-

I boycott all big kid words.

I will not use them here or there!

I will not use them anywhere!

I do not like them Sam-I-am!

USU at SJSU

My parents (Mamma Bear) works for the football coaches at Utah State. She gets to attend one out of town game a year. We are so lucky that she chooses the game at San Jose State. This means a whole lotta spoilin' goin' on from the g-diddies. (Did you see I used my required ebonics word of the day? Are you proud?) When they flew into San Jose, we met them for dinner.

We decided on a very close Mexican restaurant called, Pedro’s. Ladies and Gentlemen, Pedro knows how to cook him some good Mexican eats! I love Pedro. Fantastic food. Will work for his food.
My dad just loves to be goofy, especially when pumped full of pain meds for his sore back. The waitress came and asked us how our day was, "good n’you?" She replied with a, "It’s my best day!" in a very heavy accent. ‘Best’ could easily be mistaken for ‘birth’ when spoken with a thick accent. So, Daddy-O breaks into song. Eventually the whole restaurant attendees around us join in. FAB-U-LOUS. I think this story would be more fun with a little background about good ol’ dad.
My father loves movies. Chick flicks, check! Outrageous spoofs, check! Indiscriminate property damage, check! One of his favorites when I was in high school was, ‘My best friend’s wedding’. After seeing that movie, ANY TIME we would go to a restaurant, he would get a literal glint in his eye, lean forward and start very quietly, "From the moment I wake up…. before I put on my makeup…" Everyone else at the table would sing "I say a little prayer for you!" Yes, we did do this quite often. Extremely often.
I wouldn’t have sung with him, but for these reasons, my voice was heard:

1.) I am just as much a quirky duck as he is.
2.) I love it when people stare at me.
3.) He was paying.

The only thing I regret about these singing moments is that I didn’t ever bring the lobster claw gloves and wave them in the air while we sang…

P.S. At sports games, do they have to announce "Team A- 30 points, Team B-NOTHING!"? Why can't the announcer just say, "Team A- 30 points, Team B- Has potential..."?
Just a thought.

Now the pressure's on

Now that the blog-a-thon is over I can tell you all about the vacation our family returned from 24 hours before the ‘thoning started. We came home early so I could, uh, well- my priorities have never been in conjunction with reality… that’s why I’m so fun (and a little flaky) but I digress…

Here are the pictures from the weekend we spent at the beach house. So fun! My parents came from out of town and we all got to hang, west coast style.

When I informed Kaitlin of our upcoming awesome vacation, like the dutiful jet setter she is (she has her very own matching luggage), Kaitlin promptly packed her most important possessions. Flashback to Spaceballs: "Take only what you need to survive!" "It's my industrial strength hair dryer- AND I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT IT!!!"

This snapshot was taken before the sunburn, look how optimistically pale we are... (gotta love the aviators, I looked for them for 2 years!)

Corn mazes are pretty cool, until the ears of corn start talking to you and tell you, "just one more step... it's right around the corner... keep going... you'll get out of here... I promise..."

My wonderful, amazing, supportive and super duper awesome family and some guy I don't know. He even has a matching shirt. I would love to tell you stories of matching shirts... let's save that for another post. I only talk about childhood therapy issues when I'm feeling strong. (Now that we're sharing feelings... I actually do know everyone in the picture. That comment was *sniff* just my way of *sniff* trying to feel *sniff* funny and accepted *ker-honk*)

Jimmy said he was going to the bathroom, has anyone seen him? Oh dear, why is that pumpkin leaking?

I love this picture. I have no funny jab or silly remark. I just think it's so real and sooo sweet. Kaitlin loves her Grandma.

Let's commence with the commentary... do you think I used too many 'comm' words in that last sentence? hmmm, anyway- HAD to get a picture of the cool hair I did. You know, I did that with my eyes closed? and with one arm tied be- no! one arm totally cut off my body!! and a twitch in my right knee, which, you know, is the dominant one for me. I am so freakin' awesome!

Loved the hay throwing+the cool hair+the screaming child while I pulled out 1 piece of hay at a time. Good times.
The pumpkin patch required that I carry my child out in the newest and safest stroller. Top of the line, or so they say...

The Pacific ocean and Kaitlin face off.

What you don't see in this picture: the ocean won.

What you do see in this picture: the ocean defeated, dude.

Dear Tyra,

I think you should really consider changing the age restrictions on your reality show. I think I have your next Top Model. Love, Stephanie

***

Dear Stephanie, (in a very somber tone, yet smiling with the eyes)

You're weird. You will not be continuing on your journey to become America's Next Top Model. Love, Tyra

Blog-a-thon!

If you are a closet UB40 fan and use Ebonics at least once in your daily vernacular, you are my Sistah.
If you are in need of ego padding by way of comments, you are my Sits-tah.

There is a Ri-freakin'-diculous-ly awesome blog to connect to other SITS-TAHS! (By the way, I can spell... the SITS stands for Secret's In The Sauce)


Check it out! I am fairly new to the site, but love it still the same. I have found some seriously great gals through SITS.


First up, ladies and gentlemen... (drumroll, please... No, louder than that)

4 Kennedys and a Dog- I find this fabulous lady wearing designer jeans and a covet worthy bag... always. She is a starlett if there ever was one!

Next in the blog fabfest is... (you don't need a drumroll for the next four, it's a little redundant, don't cha think?)

Maternal Mirth- She had me at 'the Casa de Luna-c'. 'Nuff said.

Third... (rhymes with uhhh.... lotsa stuff I don't want to type because this slick chick is nothing of the sort and I don't want you to make associations with her and any words of the type- so, get your mind out of the gutter, unless you though that third rhymes with 'superb' or something quite nice)

Pennies in My Pocket- Love all the special days... she makes me feel warm inside, like a rainbow in the soul.

Fourth... (my favorite grade in elementary school. Miss Ballinger was uh-maze-in')

Stacey- The quirks post she has is an exact replica of mine... I think I found someone that is just so incredibly cool that I just have to love her pure grooviness.

And Fifth... (you know the old saying, 'last but not least' yeah, same goes here.)

Afros- Anyone that uses the word 'seriously' in italics is good on my list. Love, love, love her!

I have learned to love in a whole new way, all because of the sheer genius of Tiffany & Heather and their brilliant idea. Check out SITS!

New member of the family

Giuseppe (our little gangster car) has adopted an Italian mother. She cooks pasta for him and continues to fill his plate even when the little guy insists he's not hungry. We welcome Estelle to the family! Here are some little known facts about the mama:

• Came with Bengay and Calgon scent at no extra charge


• Equipped with a trunk large enough to stash a body (She's Sicilian)


• Still has original license plate frame-Go Bears!


• She's cheery teal in color


• I'm pretty sure we found an ad for The Scooter Store wedged in between the seats


• She recently bought a winter home in Florida

We love Estelle and all her quirkiness.

P.S. this post was inspired by a comment... you know who you are, your majesty. Heehee:)

Here comes the bride...

Congratulations Melissa & Matt!

My sister-in-law, Melissa has gotten engaged! I love talking wedding colors, centerpieces, dresses, shoes, FOOD, invitations and all the other great stuff that comes along with weddings. I am truly happy for darling Melissa.

Famed Paleontologist Invites Colleagues to a Dig

Accomplished and beautiful paleontologist, Dr. Kaitlin Graham of Napa Valley Christian University, has made a discovery of the century. Dr. Graham has unearthed, what seems to be, an ancient dinosaur playground. Found on site were fossilized dinosaur bones, preserved dinosaur eggs and other pieces of evidence pointing to an existence other than human life. As a brilliant and well-know paleontologist, Dr. Graham has a multitude of equally distinguished associates. All aforementioned associates will be asked to accompany Dr. Graham to continue her work at the digging site, located at 2951 Main Street. Exhumation for this project will commence on Saturday, October, 18th at 10:30 am. Regarding the sensitivity and high security of said site, body guards will escort the summoned paleontologists and return after dig is completed. Their work is expected to take 3 hours. The public should anticipate great and unusual things to come forth from this prodigious effort. A complete list of the paleontologists was not available for publishing at this time, but should be made so by Monday, October 13th. Should readers have any questions regarding this article, please feel free to call editor-in-chief, Stephanie Graham @ 555-8783

How's that for a birthday invitation?

Was Driver's Ed a requirement?

On Friday, I was late dropping Kaitlin off for school, so when I got there, only two or three cars occupied parking spots. As I was walking Kaitlin into the building, I heard a huge crunch followed by loud honking. It turns out that one of the few cars parked was attempting to exit through the lamp post. Yes, the woman backed up and drove forward into the post. Maybe it wasn't so much the accident that made me laugh, but the persistent honking afterwards. "Move! You stupid lamp post! I was here first!"

Our internet-

S-T-I-N-K-S!!!

I have been wanting to get online to post funny and inspiring stories, but as previously stated, our internet bites like no other. A few days ago, I was reading a great blog, talking to a friend and cooking dinner... I like to multitask... when all of a sudden, just like the late '90's on AOL, I got booted off the internet! Has this happened to you since the "you've got mail" era? Me neither! I can't believe I was kicked off the world wide web! I have proven my worthiness through countless awesome posts and some not so great posts (to keep me humble), why now? I don't know. However, it has been entertaining seeing Jimmy climb up on the roof with various garden tools trying to fix the satellite receiving our signal. Plus, we've gone on family walks because mommy isn't checking everyone else's blogs for a new post. In fact, on one such walk, we took the dogs up the road for a couple of miles. It was fun until Kaitlin fell on some gravel and Jimmy tried to pick some aloe from the side of the road to heal our ailing daughter. Aloe is a pretty tough plant and tends to want to stay put in the ground when one pulls on it. Hence, the cuts on my husband's hands from the 'healing' aloe plant. Yeah... good times. Any event resulting in a rake wielding man on the roof, exercise for me and a couple of injuries, is definitely post worthy.