Wedding and the dreaded back to school ickies

Last weekend I had the honor of being my friends Maid Of Honor in her wedding.  The wedding took place in Santa Barbara, CA which is just unbelievably gorgeous!  Butterfly Beach is a long strip of sand and rock but in one small area, there is this beautiful old tree with a little patch of grass.  It all looks out over the ocean and is just breathtaking.  Add the setting sun and the night was just perfect!

I have know the beautiful bride since we were in high school.  It has been so much fun to be by her side as she planned her wedding.  And I must say, we still look good 12 years later :)

 

After coming back, one of my kiddos got sick.  Hers was not so bad and I thought we had escaped the dreaded back to school cold until this weekend when my oldest caught it and it is 100 times worse than the other ones was.  I don't think it helps that my oldests immune system is not as strong as others.  But, with some rest and homemade soup (I don't care if it was 95 outside, soup always helps when you are sick :/) we are pulling through.  We better all be nice and healthy, a little birdie told me that in less than a week, this one will be turning a year older :)

 

 

Vegas!

Last week I turned 30. I never thought of myself as the person who freaks out at getting older but this time, I did. Not just because I am officially out of my twenties but I feel lost, starting all over at this age freaks me out. I know I am in no way "old" but starting a new life at this age can make you feel this way. So, to get my mind off things, I went away to Vegas with some friends and family. We had this planned for quite some time and I was extremely happy to get away for the weekend. We all had a great time and I will never forget it. I was also able to see my friend who moved out there last year, if was do nice seeing her!!! I cannot wait to make our yearly trip again next year or maybe I will have to go again before then :)

How To Mend A Broken Heart

Growing up is a tough one.  Before school let out, my oldest found out that her best friend, a boy named Adam would be moving.  He was only moving about an hour away but to a 9 year old, that is forever away.  You see, my oldest isn't the most out-going child.  Once she knows you, she is more than willing to chat and open up but she has a real fear of people not liking her.  She is so scared that someone might say something and has had a hard time with bullies since the first grade.  Back then we didn't know she had Epilepsy and she seemed "weird" to other kids.  She was doing things that we didn't know where they were coming from and kids don't take very well to the kid who doesn't act "normal".  Even after she was diagnosed and started treatment, the meds did not always work.  It took us a good 8 months for her to finally find one that did the job.  In the meantime she would scream in class and not remember it later, she even once hit a kid on the back of the head before screaming and then crawled under desk and cried.  I am not condoning the assault on the boy but i do have to say, she remembered none of it.  It was almost scary when she said she had no clue what I was talking about and later that night before bed, she came downstairs crying her eyes out asking "did I really hit someone?  Is he ok?".  My heart broke.  Girls seem to be the worst in all of this.  There was a gang of girls who stuck together and they were set on making her life a living hell.  The ring leader eventually moved away and things got better but never 100%.  In the meantime, she made a friend.  A little boy named Adam.  I questioned it at first, shouldn't she be besties with a girl?  We surely cannot have a boy over for sleepovers and the typical girlie things, should I tell her to find someone else to hang out with?  I asked her why she liked this boy so much, wondering if it was a crush and she told me "he is just like me, he doesn't say mean things and he makes me feel happy".  During an open house in one of her journals she even wrote about her best friend saying he was "different like me".  Adam is in the special ed class with Cass sometimes so I guess in her eyes, he has some flaws just like she does and they mesh well.  So, besties it was and has been for 2 years.  And then he moved away.  I was never able to get an address for his new place so it seems, for now, they have lost touch. 

Today while I was making dinner she came out with a clay heart she had made at a festival a couple of weeks ago.  It was torn right in half and she was teary.  I asked what happened and she said she was thinking of Adam and it just feel in two.  We did have the talk about destroying personal property in a fit of rage but after that, it broke my heart.  She went to her room and after dinner was in the oven, I went to check on her.  She was sitting in a chair looking out her window with tears streaming down her face.  She told me without looking back at me that Adams favorite color is green just like the grass.  In her hands was her friendship bracelet he had bought her (they each bought one for one another, he actually bought her another one after she bought him one because it wasn't right for her to only have one, so sweet), she wears one on her wrist and the other one was too small to put back on after she had to take it off so she has it in her special box.  When I sat besides her, she melted into my arms and cried.  I don't know if I am prepared for broken hearts!  If she was older and it was a boyfriend, I am totally prepared for the "you deserve better, now lets go shopping and eat junk food" speech but how do you deal with losing a best friend?  As an adult it sucks, I cannot imagine how her little heart is breaking.  As I speak, she is moping.  She wants to snuggle on the couch and just chill and that is not her personality.  I told her I would try to track him down but that was all I had in my arsenal.  So, people help me out here, how to you help your child mend a broken heart?

Fourth Fun

This fourth of July I was honored to be able to make some cupcakes for a friend of mine and in doing so, I was also invited to be a part of the festivities.  My girls were super excited, they were able to spend the entire day in the pool.

I know it may seem ordinary for kids to be in the pool but this was a huge thing for us.  Because of my oldests Epilepsy, she is not supposed to be in water.  Don't get me wrong, people with Epilepsy are allowed to be in water but it can be deadly.  And I feel a little blessed in the fact that she hates water.  Ever since she was little, she has been massively fearful of water and would not go in so when she was diagnosed and we were told the dangers of her swimming, we were actually ok with it.  I felt like God made her scared of water because he knew that one day, it could be dangerous for her.  However, the house we were at has a hot tub and the water temperature was the same as the pool.  She started by putting her feet in, then moved to the steps and eventually was touching bottom in the middle.  Granted, the water maybe touched her shoulders at that point but that is a huge step for her!!!  I was pretty proud.  My middle child who is scared of absolutely nothing was a little fearful at first but before we knew it, she was swimming like a little fish.  And my youngest was the least fearful of all.  She was in a little round fish floater and I just kept hearing "look at me, I kickin' back" and "I swimmin momma", she had a blast.  And not only was it at a dear friends house, my family was there too.  The girls got to hang out with cousins and my Aunt and Uncle, which is always a good time!

And the best part?  We didn't have to go anywhere for fireworks.  The fireworks are shot off basically in their backyard.  So, after a short sing along by ukulele, we sat around the pool holding on to sweet babies and taking in a wonderful patriotic display.  It was a great time.  Thank you Mollie for having my girls and I over for the celebration!!!

Friendship Bracelets

My girl is getting older and has amazed me with some of the things she is into now.  She is not a girl who has a ton of friends and her close friends that she plays with everyday are 3 boys.  I am not alarmed, they are mean like girls are and she has had a hard time with some of the girls in her grade so for her, I am sure it is a safe haven of sorts.  There is one boy in particular, Adam, he has been in her class for the past couple of years until this year.  They really hit it off.  According to Cass in a story she wrote that was in her open house folder, Adam and her are best friends because he is different like her.  Adam and Cass also both go to special ed together and while I would like to say these 2 are normal, I am sure they get told otherwise by their peers.  I think they have the unspoken connection of 2 kids who have slight differences than the "normal" kids and so they have gravitated to one another.  The other day Cass came home sad, it turns out that Adam is moving.  My heart broke for my girl.  As an adult, saying goodbye to friends is never easy, for her I am sure it hurts more.  This boy has been her best friend, her safe place at school, someone she relates too.  Then she showed me her arm, "mom, look what Adam bought me"  Placed on her sweet little wrist was her very first friendship bracelet.  "He said he wanted me to have it so I could always remember him".........we were in the car so between having to drive and having my 3 girls stare at me, I decided the ugly cry was out of the picture.  How sweet is this boy?!  The school is selling friendship bracelets, I am not sure who it is benefiting, but he thought about my girl and wanted her to have something to remind her of him.  That next morning, I gave her some money so she could do the same and when she came home, she had another.  I guess he wanted to buy her another one after she bought him one.  I die!!!!!!  Why does he have to move?!!!  It saddens my heart for her.
Now, here is the funny part.  When we were talking about him yesterday, she told me how when he gets to San Diego, yadda yadda yadda, I had to stop her.  San Diego?  "Baby, that is great news!!!!"  For those of you who have no clue where I live, it is not far at all from San Diego.  If someone in San Diego called me right now and wanted to have lunch, it would be completely possible.  She may not be at the same school with him anymore and yes, she will have to make new friends and hopefully they are as kind, but I am hoping his parents will be on board for us to get the kids together every now and again.  I cannot see her saying a forever goodbye to this sweet boy!!!!
Now I know some of you are thinking it is more, that these two may have a sweet innocent school crush on one another and that may be so, but how cute are they?  Crushes at that age are innocent and they play star wars and battle swords for goodness sakes, it is fun.  Play on sweet children!!!

Blessed Union

I may be sappy but I get teary eyed just thinking of weddings.  If I could pull off being a wedding crasher, I would totally do it.  Luckily this weekend, I did not have to.  One of my best friends was getting married and I was actually invited :)  It was out at a lake here and though the weather wasn't perfect, the ceremony and reception sure were.  The bride was gorgeous...........

The groom waited anxiously.........

A couple of tear filled vows later, they were married......

It is hard to believe I am old enough to have all of my friends getting married.  Then again, I have three kids so I am not that young, lol, I try not to think about that too often, I am young at heart at least.  The best things about weddings, after the joyous ceremony, it is time to let loose and have some fun.

Congratulations Bre and Chuck.  Your wedding was as beautiful as the two of you.  I wish you many many years of wedded bliss and cant wait until you start having babies and catch up to me :)

Bachelorette Shenanigans

Over the weekend I went away with some of my very best friends and some of their friends all in the name of celebrating the upcoming nuptials of one of my best friends.  We loaded up a decorated van on Friday and weren't returning until Sunday afternoon.  I was pretty excited, I had never been to Santa Barbara, except maybe passing through and we have stopped in Solvang a couple of times but I have never stayed for the weekend.  The first night we ate at a super yummy Japanese restaurant called Something Fishy, they did the whole fire show in front of you and the food was delicious!  The next morning we were picked up and went on a wine tasting extravaganza.  We visited 3 wineries and one olive oil place and had lunch in between.  I think I fell in love!!  It is so beautiful up there and we had perfect weather to make it even better.  Don't believe me?  Take a look.......

As I had mentioned before, we made a stop at an olive oil place after the first 2 wineries and right before lunch.  The name of the place was Global Gardens and it was a quaint little store that doesn't look like much but it is amazing.  The store owner had a small table set up outside under a big pepper tree, she gave us each a roll and proceeded to let us tastes some olive oils, vinegars and my all time favorite, the walnut oil.  Everything she sells is organic.  You can find mustard's, nuts, soaps, dishes, all kinds of things.  I came home with a Spanish mix, it is mainly olives, garlic, olive oil and some seasonings, they say it is great on pasta and I am super stoked to try it out.  If you are ever in Los Olivos, you have to stop in and try some samples and pick up a few things and if you don't think you can make it, check it out online!!!!
After the day of wine tasting and a little bit of relaxing, we headed out for dinner and some dancing.  It was a great weekend that I will never forget and I am hoping wont be my last.  I think my girls would like a trip up sometime to get out in the fresh air and beautiful scenery!!!

Birthday Fun

Last week was my birthday, I am officially kicking off the last year in my 20's, my farewell tour if you will.  And because I have super cool and amazing friends, they came down and took me out to dinner over the weekend.  I have been friends with these two amazing girls for almost 14 years now, geez that makes me feel old!!!  So, out to dinner we went and luckily there was a nice little wait to eat and there just so happened to be a wine place across the street that does wine tasting so we were able to have some fun even before dinner began.  It was nice to kick things off.  This year alone one of these lovely ladies will be getting married and hopefully one if not both will be starting their families.  I am so excited for the festivities of this year and hopefully 14 plus more years with these amazing girls!!!!!

Family and Friends

I love my Aunt.  She is a wonderful woman and we have a great time together.  From time to time she will come down and rent a cottage at the beach about 1/2 mile from our house and she brings her friends.  Her friends are a riot!!!  I love being able to hang out with this group of people.  They are always warm and welcoming and you can always walk away with your belly hurting from all of the laughter.  It never fails that there will be a moment when we are all in the same room and there are at least 3 different discussions going on and I can look around the room and just feel blessed.  This is life!!!

One of my Uncles is in this picture but there was supposed to be another on.  Why is here not there you ask?  Well, it turns out that he is train cursed.  And by that I mean that any time he steps foot on a train, it kills someone, lol.  It has happened once before I guess but that night, he was supposed to be taking the train down, after getting off work early and showing up around 7.  Well, the train he was on hit a person on a horse, thus killing the person and horse.  So, his eta was pushed back to 9 or so.  Around 9 or so my Aunt got another text.  After the train finally was able to go again, it hit another person!!!  Seriously 2 people and a horse were all killed.  So, he arrived sometime around 11pm.  Let me be the first to say, I don't think riding on a train interests me much anymore!!!!

Little Friends

I love having friends.  I love being able to have that time where we can just sit and chat and talk about life and cry and be able to support one another.  What I love even more is seeing my kids start to make friends.  Being in the military, it is sometimes hard for kids to have good friends because it seems that by the time they actually start to make good relationships, one or the other moves away.  And even though they remain friends, it gets hard to keep in contact.  So I love being able to have friends here for my kids.  And I love that their friends love the younger siblings as well.  A couple of weeks ago we went with some friends to Dave and Busters for lunch and some play time.  Hayley absolutely loves their oldest daughter and she loves her right back and it is so sweet to see when I am sitting right across the table.

We had such a fun time.  I think that sometimes I cringe at the thought of taking my kids to Dave and Busters because I know they like to just run around and I have to keep reminding them to stay by me and not fight on what game we will play, but it was actually not as bad this time and I had some fun too!!!!  Towards the end of our time, after the girls turned in their tokens, we found this ride.  I think ti was called the typhoon or cyclone and the girls didn't actually ride it but they still sat down and watched the screen.  I had seen some people on it before them and there are giant wind tunnels on each side of the seats that blow the heck out of you and I am sure they wouldn't have liked that.  But it was funny to see their faces just watching the screen.

I think Hayley was wondering why I put her down on this thing but she had to get in the picture too.  I like to call Hayley my little old lady.  She is careful, she doesn't get too wild and if other kids are playing more on the rough side, she will come sit next to me and give me the look like "those crazy kids", lol.  We get along really well!!!!

Baby Shower Fun

Last weekend I had the pleasure of throwing a baby shower for my friend and fellow leader Amanda.  For over a month I schemed and lied and sat through a dinner where her sweet daughter wondered why no one would want to throw a shower for her mom and new sister.  Ugh, I wanted to scream, "I care!  I promise that you will have a great shower and feel loved!!!!!"  Needless to say, when the preggo mama went to the potty, I told her daughter who was sworn to secrecy.  Her husband dropped her off that morning, she thought she was going to a Girl Scout meeting, but she had so much more fun in store.  We started by eating, what would a baby shower be without food?!!  Following the food, we played a couple of traditional baby shower games, the "smell the chocolate in the diaper" game which was a ton of fun to watch.

We also had some cake, made by me, yes, I just promoted my self but this is my blog so I can do whatever the heck I want to do.  Here is the link to the baby shower cake or you can even just check out the whole site here.  All in all, it was a wonderful day and I was so happy to see her happy.

Now, if that sweet girl would just hurry up and get here so I can hold her and snuggle her, the world would be alright :)

Who Cares If I Posted Late?

Is there really such a thing as being too late to post on being thankful?  No!  So, I am doing it two days after Thanksgiving and I am ok with that.  Not to mention that I left the house early on Thursday and arrived home late, followed by an early wake up on Black Friday and again not getting home until late.  Therefore the feeling of hopping online and posting anything or even just looking at the illuminating light of my laptop made me cringe, so enjoy this thankful post 2 days late :)  This year was spent with wonderful family and great memories but I was constantly thinking of last year.  Last year this was our Thanksgiving......

(aren't we lovely?)

Those two gentlemen in the picture with our family?  Those were Marines that we hosted for our Thanksgiving meal.  When we signed up for the Host A Marine program we thought it would be nice to have some guys over who haven't had a home cooked meal in a while and let them relax and watch football.  What we got was so much more.  These guys were amazing and we still have them in our lives.  Unfortunately, both of them are overseas right now fighting for our freedom and this year, there Thanksgiving was not spent at home.  I felt a pit in my stomach each time I thought of these guys and how much I wished they could be state side this year.  Not to mention back in my home.  I really do need to make them each a better apple pie sometime!!  Last year I made it and it went bad.  As I was making the apple part of the pie I didn't realize until later that my bowl I was using to mix had a crack in the bottom so most of the juices ran out of the bowl and therefore the pie was not the way it should be.  Anyways, wherever these gentlemen are this year, I hope they had a decent meal.  And please make sure when you say your prayers at night that you pray for all of our men and women over seas who do not get to be home this year.

And another memory I think of? Black Friday approximately  3 or 4 years ago with my amazing friend Julie.  We spent all of Thanksgiving with her family at a retirement home (she had an organization called KNOTS that was amazing, I will have to get into that one later), but it was a great day and that night at midnight, we headed out for my very first ever Black Friday.  We even got cool sunglasses......I miss my Julie!!!



Friends

For a couple of weeks we had a teeny tiny visitor in our house.  I first thought this was going to be a nuisance who would leave a pee trail in my dog free home but the little rascal turned out to be a perfect fit.............

Meet Jewels everyone.  She belongs to a very dear friend to me and they had to leave super quickly for an unexpected trip.  So, we got to have a little visitor come and stay with us.  She doesn't bark and loves to snuggle on the couch.  Oh and did I mention that her family never lets her on the couch to snuggle so we completely ruined their dog for them?  But the thing is so small and the weather was chilly and I thought she needed warmth, so I let her up and she would snuggle between me and the couch, it made me want another baby, ha.  She left on Halloween night but I swear she was hesitant to go, she looked back at me like she knew she was going back home to where she wasn't allowed on the couch anymore..........yes Daniela, if you are reading this, I still say your dog loves me more :)  Not to mention that our baby misses her tiny nap friend :)

A Day Late

But who cares when cuteness abounds?  Our Halloween was fun and tiring, no really, I really felt like I was 80 and wanted to be in bed at 7!!!!!  We  started out with super yummy blueberry pancakes for breakfast, followed by apron wearing and cookie baking, I will talk about the cookies on another post soon.  Not too long after my mom came down and we hit up the consignment shop near the beach.  As some of you may not know because I have never divulged my secret obsession here, but I love roosters in my kitchen.  Not too over the top where people start thinking an intervention is needed, but I love them and find a place for them in my kitchen.  Well, the consignment shop had some off white china that had a cute rustic vintage like rooster on it.  So, I bought me a pitcher.  I could have gone all crazy and bought the napkin rings, plates, coffee cups, but I didn't, I kept it to one pitcher.  It is super nice, come on over and I can pour us some juice :)  Ok, back to Halloween.  After the consignment shop we came home and dressed the little ones in proper Halloween attire.

Yep, those are my little darlins.  Later we switched Hayley from duck feet to her pink squeaky shoes, more on that in another post yet again, but the squeak was very fitting......and we knew where she was at all times!  After the girls were dressed and ready our good friends came up and went trick or treating with us.  It was hard to get a picture of the whole brood, but my dear friend thought this was her idea of fun for us.....

It wasn't so bad when we were together, it was when we were separate that we got looks.  Thanks Daniela, love ya :)  All in all, it was great Halloween.  How could it not be when spent with friends and family?

3 is enough!

A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of watching my friends adorable little 4 month old girl.  I got to bottle feed her, ugh, that made my heart ache.  I loved holding a small baby again, feeding her and having her look at me the whole time.  I loved having her lay on the blanket on the floor and squeal and baby talk.  I loved having her here, and then I realized just how much I don't want any more kids, haha.  I have always questioned if we were truly done having kids.  My heart aches as Hayley grows up and I know I wont have a little one in onsies who needs me to bottle feed her or carry her everywhere.  There is no way we can be done having babies!!  And then I added a fourth for the day and I know that I am indeed done!!!  She was blissful while we were home....and then we had to leave the house.  Cass had stuff at the school we needed to do so my first obstacle was getting 2 babies in the car.  Who do I take first?  Who gets to sit alone in the car while I go round up the others?  How am I going to drive?  I already had Hayley's seat in the middle part of our car so I had to put our little friend next to her.  Well, her seat sits backward and ti is a huge seat, so I had to slide my seat up.  I felt like a moron sitting so close to the steering wheel!!!  Then we actually got to the school and I strapped the smallest one to me in a snugli, followed by one in the stroller, followed by 2 kids holding the stroller while we walked up a steep hill.  I was sweaty and out of breath once we got to the top.  Yes, it may be because I am horridly out of shape but I also had a ton of kids!!!!  One of which was strapped to my chest and I forgot just how heavy a baby gets when strapped that way.  It was horrid people!!!!!  But, it made me put the nail in the baby makin' coffin for sure.  My uterus is ok with it now, it does ache when I see a small baby and get to snuggle them, but then it remembers the craziness of going anywhere and realize, I like some sort of freedom.  Now, let me leave you with this sweet face I got to snuggle for a day!!

Yes, that is my chunky monkey on the left.  She was so excited to be around a baby!!!  She also seemed incredibly large to me when I sat them next to one another.  She is growing up!!!  Ugh, maybe I want another baby.....no, no uterus, calm down!!!

Engagement Celebration

Over the weekend I got to celebrate the engagement of one of my very best friends.  Her name is Bre and I have known her since high school.

She recently got engaged to her amazing (now fiance) Chuck.  He gave her an amazingly gorgeous ring and makes her happier than anything money can buy.  The party was a luau and was filled with great people, food, drinks and dancing!!!!  I got to see her parents that I haven't seen in a while.

This is Bre, her sister Allie and her dad.

This is Bre with her mom and sister, plus her new fiance.  I love how she would look at him!

And this is me with the gorgeous bride to be.  I love and don't love this picture.  I love that I am back in California and can see my friend and celebrate with her.  I love my dress I picked up the day before for only $10!!!  Seriously, $10!!  So excited.  What I don't love is how I look.  I swear I always say I will have my pre-baby body back by the following summer.  So, last summer I vowed and his summer, I think I am 4 pounds lighter, which could be because I don't eat a meal.  4 pounds is nothing.  I felt so jiggly.  Mostly just in my crazy flabby arms that have no tone whatsoever in them.  And it doesn't help that I am vampire pasty, I seriously would fit in with the Twilight crowd.  The rest of me was sucked in by spanks and thank the Lord for those!!!  But I am waiting for someone to make invisible arm spanks.  Or some device that would make my arms looked toned and tan.  I know, the device exists and it is called a push up every now and again but I don't like them and don't want to do them :)  But I swear, by next summer I will be back to my pre-baby body...........I wont laugh until next summer when I see that I am down another 4 pounds.  But if I lose 4 pounds every year, by the time my kids are in college, I might be back to my pre-baby weight, woo hoo!!!!

Friends

A couple of weekends ago my dear friend Daniela invited us over for a BBQ at her house.  I met Daniela when we were living in Illinois.  We became instant friends, but of course, the Navy moves people and we were the first to go.  Well, besides Julie who had to move way the heck out of state and she now knows that she needs to come home because she is missed way too much!!!  The good news?  Daniela and her family received orders to California and have moved out here!!!  They aren't super close, about 45 minutes away but close enough to see.  We had a fun girls night a couple of weeks ago, we met halfway to see Sex and The City2 and had yummy cocktails before.  This time we went to her house.  Her hubby grilled up some burgers and dogs while we drank high school alcohol, otherwise known as Boone's.  I know, we are so super classy.  I believe she has a nice blackmail picture that hasn't surfaced yet and it never will because she knows I can take her down :)  Now, my dear friend is originally from Texas which I have always accepted, however I was a little nervous how deep her roots go when my sweet girl came down looking like this.

What the?  Guess it will come in handy when all them darn yeller bellies come to take down San Diego.  Ok, so I forgot to mention we worked at Cracker Barrell together out in Illinois and well, they carry stuff like this.  If you have never been, please don't be alarmed or judge, they have yummy food and the store is a country store filled with old time candy and cute stuff for the house.  And of course the outfit in question.  Not only did I get to visit with my dear friend but I also got to spend some snuggle time with her newest cutie Arabella.

How sweet is that little face?  Her momma kept telling me the light makes her looked shocked, like the first picture, I personally think it is because she doesn't like me.  I wanted to snuggle and take in the little snuggly sweet smelling baby that I miss and she just cried and cried until her mom or dad took her.  The girl liked being alone in a swing or her bassinet more than being in my arms.  I told her she better wisen up because with an attitude like that, there will be no coach purses from Auntie in her future.  I will get my snuggles in, by george, I will get my snuggles in!!!