Oh the Bliss!

Hannah's B-day, where the kids got to decorate their own cakes and blow out their own candles. So fun! At the Irvine Lagoon, the kids had a blast swimming. Eating (and breathing) frosting. My kind of girl. Happy Half Birthday Ben! We celebrated with cupcakes from French's and he received a couple new (to him) Rescue Hero action figures. Opening gifts on Father's Day Nana spent a good amount of time reading and learning about bugs from Ben's favorite magazine. (Thanks Pam!) And my sweet baby boy, who is now over 10 months old.

I want to blog, I do, really. I want to blog about my mom's birthday which was on the 13th of this month and I want to blog about how much I love her and do the whole "5 things I knew/5 things I know" bit for her. I want to blog about Father's Day and my awesome husband and how he is the most amazing dad to our kids and I know EVERY wife says that about the father of her children but there can only be one #1 and that's Mark. I want to blog about my own awesome dad and how much I still adore him and how thankful I am for his fatherly role in my life. I want to blog about seeing BFF Lolly and how excellent it feels to have her in the same state and how I love the ease of being with her. I'd like to blog about how much I despise Jon and Kate +8 and how much I wish people would STOP WATCHING THE SHOW and how sick I am of hearing about them everywhere but I can't blog about that because that would seem a little hypocritical. I want to blog about all of these th...

Addison keeps growing up, despite my best efforts to keep her tiny and babyish. Ok, that's not all true. I love that she's learning fantastic new skills, like using the potty and dressing herself and riding a three wheeler. She's adorable, even when she's whining... which makes the anti-whining campaign hard sometimes because all I want to do is laugh at her tiny chipmunk voice and kiss her. Troy is smitten with her and she has noticed and loves it. Yesterday we went for a walk around the neighborhood and she pushed T's stroller (almost) the entire way. When I attempted to push him myself (so we could get home before the sun rose again the next morning) she yelled at me, "I PUSH IT. He's MY baby." As close as Addison and Ben are I think eventually it will be Addison and Troy that are the buddies. It is such a joy for me to watch the developing personalities of my kids and Addison never fails to have me tickled by her cuteness everyday.

Just in case you see me and you're tempted to either a). look the other way and laugh (or gasp), b). think bad thoughts like, "wow, she's really letting herself go", or c). flick (potential) caterpillars off my face, please don't. I had my eyebrows waxed for the first time three or four weeks ago and the lady told me that in order for her to do a "thorough sculpting" I needed to let all my brows grow in. So that's what I'm doing. And I'm committed. So don't laugh. Thank you.

Do you remember those Noxema commercials, circa 1996-98, where two girls, most likely wearing overalls and pony tails and were painting each other's nails or something, would look at the camera and say, "I'm Katie, this is Jackie." and then together they'd really enthusiastically say, "We're best friends." Remember those? Yeah, well, I think I'm missing out on some royalties or something because whoever "created" those commercials totally stole the concept from me and Taylore, we were the epitome of the Noxema Girls. So much so that I remember us being called that by kids in high school. My neighbor is in high school and her best friend is over ALL the time. Sometimes I roll my eyes at their giggly little ways and think, geez, don't they ever get sick of each other? And then I think of Tay and the hours upon hours we spent together and how we'd talk on the phone for umpteen hours and hang up only so one of us could go to the oth...

Saturday was Tina, my lovely Mother-in-law's birthday! We drove up to Simi and got to spend a little time celebrating with her. I think I've really dropped the ball on these lists, but, whadaya gonna do? 5 Things I Liked About Tina When I First Met Her: 1. Very spirited and fun. 2. Extremely welcoming to me, and my family. 3. She went out of her way to find out my favorites and then spoiled me with them nearly every time she saw me. 4. Her obvious adoration for her husband. (I mean, she still totally has a crush on him, it's so cute.) 5. Her willingness to let me be the #1 woman in Mark's life. I didn't grasp the depth of that gift until I had a son of my own. 5 Thins I Like About Tina Now: 1. Her excitement and great expectation of the Lord's imminent return, and her total love for Him. 2. Her gift of finding exact items for incredible prices... Our house and closets would be rather empty without her deal finding talents. 3. Not just her willingness but her des...

Tonight I handed Troy off to Mark for a minute so I could go say goodnight to Addison. When I came back out, about 2 minutes later, Troy was gone. Me: Where's the baby? M: In bed. ----pause for dramatic effect --------- Me: What? (mouth gaping) You put him to bed? M: Yeah. Is that not what you wanted me to do? Me: So he's in his crib? M: Um, yes. Should I not have done that? Me: And he's not crying? M: I don't hear him. Me: Well, I think I should go in there because I'm sure he's waiting for me to nurse him. And he's probably pissed. I went into his room positive I was going to see Troy sitting in bewilderment wondering why I had abandoned him at bedtime and denied him mama's milk. When I opened the door I couldn't really see him sitting up, so I quickly walked to his crib to rescue him from a most assured state of utter shock. He was sound asleep. Sound. Asleep. I was not prepared for this! I know it seems so silly, like, shouldn't I be celebr...

This video is dedicated to Kari who maaaaaaay have invited me and the three over for dinner every wednesday and thursday night until the end of So You Think You Can Dance. Kari, Are you ready for THIS?

Addison, say 'cheese': No, really, say 'cheeeeeeeeeeeese': Addie just smile: Come on, Addie, SMILE!: Fine. Hi Troy.