Hello Summer

Sorry all you folks back East, or in Colorado,or anywhere else in the world where its SNOWING! Cuz here in good ol' So Cal we are having our ever so nice heat wave in the middle of January. And its been FAN-freakin-TASTIC. I was beginning to feel white and pastey. Yes ma'am its been 80-something degrees here for a whole week. Shorts and tank tops, even bathing suits. Loving every minute. Makes me crave summertime. Dont leave heatwave, not yet.

Chp Or Dale??

So Im lookin at pics on the computer and Wyatt comes to join me. He sees this, I giggle. Our convo went like this...Wyatt: "Mom whos that?"

Me: " Its jackson on Halloween when he was little."

Wyatt: " Oh what was he?"

Me: " Ummmmmm he was a chippendale dancer..."

Wyatt: "Oh, (pause)... which one was he? Chip or Dale?"

Seriously rolling on my floor right now laughing hysterically. Hahahha Wy you kill me.

Dont Judge

Call me crazy, insane, nuts... whatever u want. But this is for my sanity, and so my kids dont end up in Tijuana because there have been several times that the thought has crossed my mind. Yes I made these, with everything from scrapbook paper to cardstock, stickers to glue, velcro to magnetic strips- you name it. Yes, I know CRAZY. And much to my satisfaction it seems to be working, so far....

Exhibit A: Take Away Charts- full of their favorite things and ready to be taken away- muahahahahah!!!Exhibit B: Listening Jars- full of colored cotton balls for good behavior and chores competed, waiting to be filled up in order to get a treat.

Exhibit C, D and E: Chore Charts- obviously.
Wish them luck. Better yet, wish ME luck.

Sad Sad Day

We thought our Eagles would fly all the way to the Superbowl.... That Sunday came along, and the boys were pumped...However, it was a sad sad day for the Eagles fans here in Orange County. And even more disapointing, look what I got in the mail the day after-

Until next year Michael Vick :(

Fruit Galore

Erin came over with Bailey today and I took her on our fruit walk. Only half the fruit walk cuz I knew all these kids were not gonna make it. We were gone for a few hours and felt like we were doing something bad because we ended up filling the whole back end of my trailor up with fruit, oh and erins backpack. Grapefruit, oranges, tangerines, blood oranges, lemons, limes, it was Ah-MAZING. I stopped by Kristyns and dropped her off a big bag and Erin took home a huge backpack full, I filled up a grocery bag for Keiras mom and this is what I still had left. Hopefully you cant OD on Vitamin C! I will be back there next week for my next stock up!

Rebel Child

What kid doesnt want to participate in pajama day?!?! Yes Wyatt. He fought me for two days, and told Riley the day before that his stomach was gonna hurt the next day so he wouldnt be going to pajama day. Terd. This kid is so worried about what other people think it kills me. Took everything in me to convince this child if there was ever a day it wasnt cool to wear clothes to school this was it. Finally I won. And he went, Pjs and all. And his Eagles bear won the award for the best climber ( huh?!?!) and it turns our he actually liked wearing his pajamas to school. Why would you NOT?!?! Thought that was a given.

How We Get Ice Cream-

-FOR THE BOYS!!! This is how the boys are carted around ladera these days (or nights I guess). We have been back to our nightly walks but this week was too darn cold for these kids to ride their bikes, not to mention both their lips are about to fall off cuz theyre so damn chapped. So into the bike trailor they go, bundled up, playing their DS's, windshield down and snug as a bug in a rug. And hitting up Baskin Robbins on the way... while Luke and I push their fat butts around Ladera, no ice cream in hand :( Spoiled if you asked me ;) PS> Doesnt it look like Jack has a mustache hahahahahahahah

Happy Hikin

New Years day after I drug Lukes butt outta bed, we went for a hike in Ladera. Nicest day, especially for a 4 hour walk. Ladera has little fruit trees all over the place so we filled up my backpack with oranges, blood oranges and grapefruit (which I stupidly brought my backpack that I cut the straps off of which in turn didnt fit Luke meaning I had to carry it the WHOLE time, stupid stupid stupid!) The boys did great, til about the last 45 minutes when those little legs could barely move anymore, so Wy ended up on Lukes shoulders while I raced Jack home to keep him entertained. Needless to say I hurt the next day. And I am never bringing that backpack anywhere, EVER again. But my fruit was delish ;)

Happy 2011!!

Ok so here I am, starting the new year. I WILL get to the rest of 2010 (after I get my external hardrive cord from my parents house so i can upload my pics to this computer!) YES i got a new computer! Merry Xmas to me!!! Actually our old one ran outta memory, just in time for me to finish up Jacksons team Highlight video and team book- fabulous huh?! But I LOVE my new one and am really excited to have this HUGE sreen in front me as I type- so thank you Luke, I LOVE YOU! And thank you to the rest of you who totally understand where I have been for the last 2 months while I havent been blogging (as mentioned above!) :) On that note- its a new year. Full of new resolutions. Full of change Im sure. And FULL OF BLOGGING! I promise ;)

I have tons of resolutions this year- some I am sure will be lost within January but I might get an A for effort. And others that I am determined to succeed with because it will make my life, and in turn Luke and the boys lives, way easier!

1) Quit losing my mind daily. Its not that everyday is totally outta control crazy, I think it just carries on from the day before, or week before in some cases. This one has lots of A B and C's to go along with it though- let me explain.

a. Stick to my routine. Daily, weekly, whatever. Boring, maybe. But all and all, way easier to keep up with homework, chores, meals, sports, etc.

b. Stick to the kids chore charts, take away charts and behavior jars. In other words, nip their bad habits in the butt so we are all happier, mostly for my sake so I dont want to take them to Tijuana and make a buck.

c. Make more time to get out of the house and go for a walk or to the park so we dont all go stir crazy. Otherwise those bad habits I referred to above keep creeping up on them/me and we are back to the beginning and probably one step closer to that trip to Tijuana.

d. Quit taking on everything just because someone asks me. I have enough shit to do people- and enough kids to take care of. Im all for helping people out but I seriously have NO clue how to say NO!

2) Make more dinners at home, and lunches as well. Quit using baseball, softball, football and every other excuse in the book to not make dinner. Or we are all gonna weigh 350lbs soon, except Jackson, he will never weigh more than 44- im convinced. The kid has a tapeworm or something.

3) More "family game nights" as my kids like to refer to it as. I love when they ask for this and I love the few months a year that we actually have time to do it. We need to make more time during the crazy months to keep this going. Really because Im competitive and love to win, which I usually do, even with Wyatt on my team. Thats me being modest ;) We did kill them at Battleship the other night. It was bad.

4) Keep up our workouts. I dont need to hardcore work out (well I need to but lets be real, its not gonna happen) but as long as we do our weekend hikes, nightly walks/runs, or an occassional trip to the gym a few nights a week Im good with that.

5) REALLY start our saving jars. We keep saying this and never do. Two of them- one for the kids sports and extra curricular activities, cuz lets face it, the price to play anything these days is like a freakin paycheck. As i type this Im thinking about the fact that in another month or two we will have to sign up BOTH boys for football, one in tackle which is more than twice as much as flag, and its seriously making me want to vomit. And one jar for a vacation, a real vacation. On a beach, with a fruity drink in hand, and a week to just not think about the reality of life in general. Wow its been way too long. If anyone has earned it its Luke, and lucky him, he gets ME too accompany him, we wouldnt want him to travel alone, what fun is that?!?! So a few bucks, or a twenty, every now and then would help. (Still gagging thinking about football sign ups. Sick)

6) Put away my laundry. I suck at this. I put away everyone elses. But for some reason hanging up my shirts is the biggest chore of them all. I could seriously justify hiring someone to do this for me because no matter how bad I want to I physically cant, or wont, which ever way you want to look at it. Luke thinks its hilarious. However hes not so good at hanging up anything either. Ill give you proof if you want.

7) Be more patient with stupid people. I know this sounds so bad but seriously, I am not one to bite my tongue. I will give you a piece of my mind or an opinion even when its not wanted if I think you are totally lame. It may come out as a smart ass remark (thats the Erwin blood in me) or I could be totally serious. But Im sure most people dont appreciate it. But lets be honest, I probably dont really appreciate them or whatever they did to deserve my sarcasm/honesty. Practice what you preach people. ( I think Ive been watching Chelsea Handler way too much!)

8) Read more. I know this sounds lame, but its one thing that allows me to just relax for awhile and escape the madness. Usually it happens after the kids have gone to bed and Luke is watching some lame history channel show, or very rarely at naptime when I have nothign else to do. My sister in law gave me a bunch of books at xmas and Im so excited to get started (right after I finish Are you there Vodka, its Me Chelsea and the Kendra Wilkinson book- pathetic I know!).

9) Get more organized. This is weird for me because I feel like I can be freakishly organized sometimes. (You should see the kids playroom baskets or Jacksons school folder). But by organized I mean I want all my pics on the computer organized into REALLy organized folders, photo books/scrapbooks done, home video onto organized DVDs, the kids preschool work into scrapbooks, my blog updated daily, etc etc etc. These are all things that have been staring me in the face for years and I cant seem to get it done. Myabe a little time every week set aside to do it?? Otherwise I have a feeling that one day Im gonna go on a rampage and just throw everything way. That would totally suck.

10) Take a little more time every day to appreciate what Ive got and a little less time every day concentrating on what I dont. Not everything is perfect all the time, and I have a hard time accepting that sometimes and tend to dwell on it. Ive got it good, real good, alot better than alot of people I know. Even though there are always lowpoints and there will always be lowpoints, I do have alot more highpoints. And that makes me excited for 2011 and all the crazy things that we get to endure, like two kids playing football this year (yes Im still thinking about that registration check and Ive made two trips to the toilet already thinking I was going to hurl!) So to all my friends- Happy 2011- may it be more crazy, more busy, more happy and more RELAXING than 2010!!! And may you see lots more pictures of these smiley little faces!!

7-0 Cowboys!!

So today was the day that our boys secured the #1 spot- they win this game and they were in the Superbowl for the 2nd year in a row!!! They played Bellflower and whooped on those Broncos 39-0. Safe to say these kids deserve a Superbowl and another undefeated season!! Next week is a bye week for us cuz Riversides team folded after 2 games- so we have Halloween off to get ready for playoffs and SUPERBOWL!!!!!!

It'ssss Spoookkyyyy!

Thats what Keira said about every craft we did today. I went to Michaels and bought a ton of stuff for the kiddos to do inside thanks to all the rain we had. Erin and bailey came over and we went crazy. They had so much fun. However I think Erin and I had more fun, well until it was time to scrub that paint off my table. Not cool. :)

I Can Breathe Again

Today was a BIG day. A day I had been anticipating for weeks. WYATTS 1ST PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCE!!! I know, sounds sooo ridiculous. But seriously, I never know what to expect from this child. I had no clue what I was going to get from his teacher. With Jackson, I always knew, from day one. I never had to worry about him. You hear me call him Mr Perfect (trust me, that child aint perfect) but he certainly tries to be. And pretty much thinks he is, and if he isnt being perfect, he knows right away and makes sure he admits it, apologizes for it, then fixes it. I know, talk about a complex right?!?! He just always TRYS to be the perfect child. Wyatt on the other hand- whether its at home, in public, with learning, ANYTHING, hes completely unpredictable. Wyatt missed his whole first year of preschool thanks to stupid Capo district waiting lists, and this kid wanted nothing to do with learning when it came from me. And he has a temper. He can be mean. He can be stubborn. He HATES to clean up. And sometimes the things that come out of this childs mouth gets him straight in his room. Ahhh a mothers nightmare when it comes to school. So I sit down and Miss Miriam pulls out his little paper and my hands are sweating and I just say "Ok, lay it on me...' She starts laughing and says "OMG I just love him! But he is nothing like his brother!" OH SHIT! HERE IT GOES!!!!! Worst possible thing she could have started with. And then goes on and on about how great Wyatt is. How all his class loves him and they think hes so funny. And he dances like a crazy person and it cracks her up. "Jackson was always so quiet and hated to sing and dance with us!" Ummm ok wait this is what you were talking about as far as how they are different?! This I can handle. Then gets into "school type stuff"... Basically hes doing great, there is nothing he is behind on, other than knowing how to use scissors lol (for good reason might I add, you think I ever gave this kid scissors?! YA RIGHT! ), he listens, tries hard, gets along with everyone, shares, raises his hand, hes polite, always first in line (thats outta pure competitiveness Im sure) and LOVES school. Ummm are we talking about the same kid?!?! I just kept asking "Ok so what do we need to work on? What about this? What about that? Do we hold him back a year cuz hes behind?" And all she kept saying was "If there is ever an area of concern Ill let you know, but he is doing great!!" HOLY CRAP! Is this really happening?! I can stop sweating?? Yes I can stop sweating. I was sooo proud of that little dude. He may be a terd for me most of the time, but apparentely Im doin something right despite my constant headache with this kid. THANK GOD! And thank you Wyatt for totally proving me wrong :)

Rebel Child

What do you do when your four year old asks for blonde hair? Well, you give it to him!!!!
Haha yes Wyatt asked me to bleach his hair. Well asked for it to be blonde like brothers is what he actually wanted. And he loves it. Me, I just crack up every time I look at him. Luke calls him blonde bear and thinks its hilarious. Its hair, this too shall pass. However I do wish I would have thought about the fact that the next day was picture day at school. (Grandma and grandpa, nana and papa, gammy, etc- I apologize in advance for the blinding school pictures you recieve this year!) Stupid me. LOL Lets hope tattoos and piercings dont come next! ;)

Oh How I Love Thee...

... my BFF Oxi Clean. I dont know what i would do without you, especially the months of August- November. You will always be near and dear to my heart. Dont ever leave me.
And yes I used all three of those on his jersey this week. :)

Homework Date

Kenna and Jack got to the house today after school and McKenna wanted to come in and see the hamster. Well a few minutes later she sat down, opened her backpack and took out her binder, and we are just talking about school and before I knew it she had sat down and started her homeowrk. LOL So i text Kristyn to let her know McKenna would be here for awhile apparentely. So Jack got his out and they sat at the table and did homeowrk together. McKenna would even help Jack when he needed it- I almost died it was so cute. Ahhh the first homework date. ;)

Oh and of course Wy couldnt be left out so he got out his workbook too! LOL

Guess Who's 6-0?!

You guessed it- COWBOYS BABY!!!! These kids are unstoppable. A 39-7 Victory over Downey this weekend. Jack had a sweet interception- well almost a FULL interception but he and the ball hit the ground. It was awesome though. He played so good. (More pics to come when I get the team pics from this weekend but here are a few for now!)

And Wyatts game- well it didnt happen. We rushed from jacks game to eat lunch, then home to change Wy and to the field (where we had to hike a mile to get there!) and apparentely his AWESOME coach didnt realize our game had ben swicthed to 9am, not 1pm. We were so happy- sike! Nana even hung around after Jacks game so she could catch Wy's :( Oh well there is always next week!!

RUN Just as Fast as YOU CAN!!

Well its official... Wyatt is the kid that I always knew he would be. I picked him up yesterday and Miss Miriam says "I thought Jackson was shy, Wyatt is way more shy!!" Um, excuse me?! Are you joking?! Well she was talking about with the girls ;) Apparentely his entire class full of girls were chasing him all recess time I guess. Keep in mind there are 12 girls in his class- and ALL of them were chasing Wy. Miss Miriam told me this and I started cracking up. Jackson said "Wy were they trying to kiss you?!" Which totally pissed Wyatt off and he said "NO! they wanted to tackle me!!" And Miss Miriam replied with "I dont think that was it Wyatt!" And a little wink for mom! I left and in the car said to Wyatt "Wy thats so cute that they were all chasing you!" and he says "Mom thats cuz im the best boy in my class!" HAHAHAHA I raised such a modest young guy. He sure is cute though. ;) I dont blame these chicks!!

Hi Jacksons Mom

Jacksons little friend gave him an envelope the other day with a few notes in... I seriously almost died. PS this is a little Asian kid in his class who lives down the street, that Jackson never even plays with. Cutest thing ever. LOL

Meet Hamski

Actually her name is Piper but Luke and I call her Hamski. I started "whining/listening jars with the kids" (thank you Rachel!) and they were supposed to be able to get a toy after it was filled up. Well they wanted a Hamster. I never thought it would only take 2 weeks to fill these suckers up. But I guess if you really want something you will clean mirrors and vaccuum for mom, not to mention be on your best behavior. So Hamski was the prize, AKA Piper (after Jacksons teachers dog haha). And yes she spins on this damn wheel ALL NIGHT LONG. Aye yae yae.....

5-0 Babbbbaayyyyy!!

Jacks game this week was in Compton, Luke was here (wooohoooooo!), their coach was suspended but still managed to "coach"/yell from the stands, their DJ played music during the game dropping F-bombs every other word, the Compton kids looked us up and down and repeatedely used the words "tiny'" "kill" "butts" "crap" "suck/suckers" "OOO-ooo" and god only knows what else- YES sir we were in Compton. And yes sir we kicked their asses in a field full of mud. And when i say mud I dont mean a few mud puddles here and there, I mean all of Compton High Schools stadium was mud. Dont believe me- check out the pics from our 30-6 victory. These dont even do it justice!!! Haha Sucker Coach Robert took Jack in his car after the game!! Sucky for him!! BUTTTTT I did take Radyn home with us after pizza so had to wash both their uniforms and their shoes (in the bathtub!)!! Anyways, We are now 5-0 babbaaayyyy!!!!!!!!!

(Before the game!)

Jake after first quarter!! He did at one point had mud covering his WHOLE face!

Roberts brand new shoes in the 1st quarter lolOur water boy trying to stay upright on his way off the field lolRuben at halftimeHALFTIMECoach Blake after he slipped in the mud on the middle of the field hahahahah classic!More halftime