Book Exchange

A month or so ago, my cute friend Betsey (oh you, the Chard and sweet Nora will be sorely missed!!) had what she called a book exchange. It was SOOOOO much fun!!! I can’t wait to do it again and all of you book lovers out there should organize some in your neighborhoods. She had us all bring books that we’ve read and didn’t need at home any more. You all know the ones. The books that you read and didn’t love, or the ones that you never even finished, or even ones that you liked but just don’t want forever. So anyway – we all bring our books and Betsey put them in huge gift bags on the coffee table. The first girl in the circle grabbed a book out of a sack, without looking. The next girl, like in the Christmas gift exchange, could either take a book out of a bag or steal one already out. We decided that books could only be stolen 3 times before they were stuck w/ whomever had them. At the end, any books you ended up with and didn’t want we all put together and Betsey donated! Brilliant!!!! Fun, friends, books AND treats. My kind of afternoon!! Here’s my haul. Now I really, really, really wish I had time to read. ☺

Star Sighting Update

It is the most beautiful Saturday in Southern California. I was on my way home from my personal assisting job in Beverly Hills at about 11:30 this morning. Between my employer's house and the gate where I exit is this darling little park. Whenever I see people outside or driving up there, I always take a good look, because I've seen the homeowners lists, I know who lives there! So as I'm driving past the park I see a guy and his two kids throwing a ball around. It's Eddie Murphy. So of course, being the voyeur that I am, I slow down to stare, when his two GIGANTIC, VERY menacing personal security guards start walking towards me. That's when I stopped staring and started driving. Sad that because of people like me he has to take security with him and the kids to his own neighborhood park. But as always, fun to see someone I've only ever seen on the screen.

Jewelry District

So I recently got brave and ventured down to the jewelry district downtown. All I have to say about it is HOW have I been making jewelry for 7 years and not been here/known about this????? It’s AMAZING!! So many beads, so little time and SO MUCH CHEAPER! Wahoo. If you need me, you know where to find me. On the corner of Hill and 6th! ☺
(Ok, not on the corner like that…!) ☺

P.S. Since I was brave enough to explore the jewelry district, I’ve since made it down to the fashion and fabric districts also. Such Funnnn!

Some of my recent finds:

More Shea Classics

If you’ve ever read this blog you know that Shea can be a pretty hysterical kid. These are a few keepers I’ve written down the past month.

-The other day Chris and I were kissing in the living room and Shea walked in from his bedroom. He ran up to us and said, “I want some!” (Which just sounds wrong coming from a three year old.) We laughed and grabbed him up for his share.
-Yesterday we were at the WIC office and Shea was playing with a little girl, when he had to go potty. In the bathroom, he still being excited about wearing big boy underwear & excited about his new friend said, "Mom, I'm going to show that girl my underwear." Um.....NO, let's not do that buddy!! Where to begin explaining this one??
-We were driving to church two weeks ago and there was a guy walking on the sidewalk near us with a shopping bag. Shea looked at him and asked me, “Where’s he going, mom?” I said, “I don’t know bud, maybe he’s going home.” Shea responds, “I bet he’s going to the store to get some to get some Kleenex for when he has issues.” (I’m pretty sure that this means that I’ve had way too many “issues” in the past little while.)
-And my favorite, although probably not appropriate for the blog – be warned, this is a bit too much information. I had just finished nursing Clare and had lifted her up to my other shoulder to burp her (before covering things up.) Shea walked in at that very moment and said, “Put that boobie away mommy!” ☺

Happy Late Birthday Sweet Boy

I’m sorry that your mommy was so vain that she blogged about her cake, but nothing else about your birthday. Nice going mom! I’ve been wanting to post some of the things that I love about you this year. In no particular order:

-You LOVE to cuddle. Your favorite parts of the day are all the moments we get to sit on the couch and hold each other. I love that about you my big boy.
-You’d rather have red pepper strips and sugar snap peas for a snack than candy.
-You can’t go to sleep at night without 4 stories, 4 songs and 4 minutes of cuddles. Where did 4 minutes come from? We have no idea!
-You say, “I Yike that” and “Yanks, mom”
-Every day, you are a different superhero.
-When you have a temper tantrum it follows this exact pattern: You drop whatever you were holding. Your shoulders fall, your head falls back and then your bottom lip comes out. Then you throw your hands over your eyes and crumple to the floor, crying. Every time, no matter what. Way to be consistent son.
-You are obsessed with Star Wars. You would sleep with your light saber if we’d let you.
-You say, “I’m so exciting!” when you’re excited about something.
-You LOVE to ride your bike. You would ride around our the four sidewalks in our courtyard for 8 hours straight if you could.
-You are the most adorably, sweet big brother I’ve ever seen. A few days ago I ran down to rotate the laundry and I asked you to take care of Clare. When I got back you were standing beside her swing just watching her sleep. I asked you what you were doing and you said, “I’m just watching over Care, mommy.”
-You are mine. And even though you’re getting to be such a big boy, you’ll always be my baby and I love you more than I can say.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG BOY!!!!!

"Helping" mommy make the cake frosting.

Stick the buttons on Darth. (Yeah, you cheated. Hey, it's your party!! :-)

Grabbing the goodies at Darth's demise.

Have I always been like this

or is it getting worse??
I'll be the first to admit that I have a serious problem with needing things to go a certain way (my way - in case you hadn't inferred that). But I feel like it's getting worse and worse lately. The problem right now is THE LIST! Every day I wake up with some enormous number of things on the list that I feel need (NEED) to be done that day. So I get a plan in my head for how the day will go and how I'll get that ridiculous number of things done - and then it never happens how I want it to and I end up melting down!!! It's 1:35 right now & my house should be picked up (it's NOT!!!) I should have had the laundry done & folded by now (it's still in the dryers.) Clare should be peacefully sleeping in her crib (HAH!!!) I should be sitting on my couch watching a rerun, that I haven't seen, of Without a Trace, while working online and eating my lunch (I've seen this episode 3 times, I haven't even logged on to start work and I have yet to make me a lunch!) AND I haven't even started on the things that are actually written on the list. I feel like crying (and now I have to re-do my hair too - which is not even on the list and I don't have time for - but have to do because Chris turned the shower on when I was bent over the tub trying to clean Clare up from a blow-out and totally soaked the back of my head.)(I was really mad & swore alot & kicked him in the butt - which was kind of funny.) AAAGGGHHHH! Help!!!

Beautiful Baby Girl

Ok, I realize that I’m totally biased, but come on! Have you ever seen anything this cute? Here’s Clare’s 3 month update:
She is a joy! Ok, a screamer, but a joy. Let’s just be honest here. She screams A LOT more than her big brother ever did. And man is she loud! A few weeks ago at church – someone said to me, “She’s the loudest newborn I’ve ever heard.” It’s true. But we sure love her. She just got to the smiley, talky stage. It’s SOOO fun! She’s happiest right when she wakes up and before she realizes she’s hungry. She’ll look at one of us and her smile lights up her whole face. She gets so excited that her little body just folds in on itself. It’s too cute. She talks all the time. It fascinates Shea. He loves it when she gets going.
She still doesn’t sleep very good. She had a week of 6 hr stretches at night and then she went back to 1 ½ or 2. That was not pretty for the mom. Now she’s back to every 3 hours on the dot. I’ll take it, I guess. We nurse pretty quickly and she goes right back to sleep most of the time so it’s not too bad. Other than that, she’s a pretty normal (if loud) 3 month old, ☺
What I love the most about having two kids is watching the interaction between them. I didn’t anticipate how fun that would be. They adore each other. Already? Is that possible? I don’t know, but Clare LOVES to watch and listen to him and he ADORES her. We feel so lucky. She has added so much to our family in such a short time. I can’t image us without her. We love you beautiful girl.

Why I haven't been blogging

Among adjusting to two kids, working too much and having computer issues, another reason I have neglected the blog is all the trips Shea and I’ve been taking. Have we mentioned how much we LOVE living in LA??? There are sooo many awesome things to do. We’re starting “Field Trip Fridays” with a bunch of friends next week and are so excited to visit what sound like some awesome places this summer. In the past month, Shea, Clare and I have been to Disneyland twice, to the LA Zoo, back to the Grove to ride the trolley, to the La Brea Tar Pits and to various parks around our house. LA and good friends RULE!

I AM NOT KIDDING!!!

Ok, sorry for this highly inappropriate cartoon, but I couldn't resist. You will not believe what I paid at our local pump today. Are you ready for this people??? Brace yourselves. The Chevron on the corner of National and Westwood (where we've gassed up since we moved here) currently has REGULAR UNLEADED at...


$4.15!!!!!!


Gag me with a spoon!!!

I can not afford anything anymore. Bread at my corner Vons? $4.59/loaf. One. Loaf. Of. Bread. Are they kidding? $10 for the two loaves of bread that my family will eat this week? Eggs and milk? I can't even talk about (thank goodness for WIC or we wouldn't be eating eggs or drinking milk.) What I wouldn't give for a Walmart! All you Provoans who have two within a few miles, don't take it for granted - go there often and buy bread at less than $4.59/loaf just for me. :-)

-Ok, just for you Megan: Eggs $4.69/dozen. Regular, white, XL, normal eggs. And milk $4.59/gallon. Regular, white, 2%, normal milk. AAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHH (I remember NEVER paying more than $1 for a dozen eggs OR for a gallon of milk, price matching at the Mart!)

Wii

This weekend we got a Wii! And no, I can't believe that the Wii is what finally got me out of my blog hiatus. Sorry about that folks, you can stop sending me nasty messages, (Hey, Julie! I finally know how you feel when I text nasty things to you about your few and far between posts. :-) I'm back. So the economic stimulus check (that hasn't actually arrived, but should soon - I really hope) actually went to stimulate the economy, instead of sit in the bank where it should have. Oh well, we knew Shea would LOVE it and we weren't disappointed. He kept saying, "I'm so exciting mom! I'm so exciting!" And he thanked Heavenly Father for his new Family Home Evening Game twice in his prayers tonight.

1 Wii: $249 - 1 warranty (there is, after all, Chris' track record w/ electronics): $45 - Assorted assesories: $150 - Shea's excitement: Priceless!

Clare talking