wildflower child

mt rushmore

2011-06-29T15:46:00.000-07:00

we opted to take a "lift n slide" ride near mt. rushmore. it was rad! the best part was riding down the slide in toboggan like sleds where you can control how fast you go. chloe and i rode together.... she looooved it! she kept telling me to slow down but i said no way dude, momma has a need for speed. when we got done she was complaining cause i didnt go fast enough. haha! like mother like daughter :)

mt rushmore. i had never seen it before and let me tell ya its pretty fantastic!

sylvan lake and the needles highway

2011-06-29T15:39:00.000-07:00

the badlands look pretty good

2011-06-29T15:20:00.000-07:00

the whole fam went away for the weekend and traveled to the west side of good ol south dakota to explore. good times were had... first stop on the trip: the badlands. kind of like a mini grand canyon.

we didnt encounter any 'rattlers here but we did see a baby rattlesnake near the cabin we stayed at.

my son, the comedian. hike those shorts up!!

my friend, the critter keeper

2011-06-18T08:15:00.000-07:00

my friend sabrina lives in the town next to us and she is a fabulous person. i love hanging out over at her place cause its ridiculously fun to play with all the different creatures living there. its like an awesome little animal farm... meet some of her critters:

tiny

friskers

meow-meow

shadow

and my personal fav, steve-o ;)

zeta, the baby raccoon

kisses

baby chickies and duckies!!!

chloe's friend shantay

black and yellow black and yellow

duckies

mamas laying on some eggs

let me show ya around...

2011-06-18T07:40:00.000-07:00

our house :)

the old school in town

the 3rd little pig's house lol

random building...

the ball field

now available in the US!!!

2011-06-13T10:54:00.000-07:00

oh dear god, what is this world coming to? hahaha. did you hear the noise it makes when its taking a shit? it fricking cracks me up! ... like this game isnt on chloe's "birthday list". ha!

game on

2011-06-12T11:42:00.000-07:00

i cant stop playing this game... as some may know, i am an avid skeeball fan. i mean, really a lot. forget gambling in Vegas, just take me to Circus Circus so i can get my skeeball on! haha! and when i used to take the kids to ChuckECheese, i would spend more tokens trying to score the "jackpot" for skeeball. (and accomplished it many times, which made me quite popular with the kiddos teehee) so yeah, my skeeball obsession is no joke so when i saw a commercial for this: http://www.chuckecheese.com/chuck-e-games/games/skeeball.php i was stoked! of course it pales in comparison with the real deal, but its still rad. i have yet to get all 9 balls in the 100 slot... a challenge perhaps? think u can do it? well, i double dog dare ya :)

good luck my friends

tweet tweet

2011-06-11T14:15:00.000-07:00

chatting with the birds.

i went shooting today

2011-06-05T15:43:00.000-07:00

here in south dakota im surrounded by hunters. most people own guns, carry guns, and even get wasted and drive around while shooting at shit. i kid you not. and hunting is the favorite pastime for sure. Deer, antelope, elk, mountain lion, bighorn sheep, mountain goat, coyote, pheasant, duck, turkey, geese, and swans are all legal to hunt in South Dakota. yeah... wow. anyways, being the avid hunter myself, i decided to take an afternoon to go out and see if i could get some goods shots in. (with my camera, ofcourse... jeez! hehehe)

in love with this house!

hey hay!

word to ur mother

this is the site where a tornado touched down last year... it uprooted some pretty hefty trees and even broke this one in half!! yikes!

home sweet home

creepycreeperton barn

watch out for those crop dusters!!!

the end. :)

one flew over the cuckoo's nest... and then went kayaking

2011-06-03T13:07:00.000-07:00

i traveled to lovely Yankton, SD for a week of clinical experience at the mental heath facility. for the entire month of may, i have been studying psychiatric nursing. we've been learning about depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, bipolar, personality disorders, autism, adhd, domestic abuse, substance abuse and all the meds that go along with those disorders. i have to say that i have enjoyed studying this aspect of nursing immensely!! having struggled with a mental illness, myself, for more than half my life has given me an inside view of how challenging times can be... therefore, i was excited to study about mental health. The experience at the mental health facility taught me an incredible amount about how severe some patient's conditions can be and how a nurse can help them cope and adapt. it was an intense week filled with a lot of work and little play time. yet, my friend natasha (who was awesome enough to let me stay with her) promised me a chance to go kayaking, provided we got all our schoolwork done AND the weather held out! well, we got lucky :) so we enjoyed a relaxing break during a "crazy" week.

these are natasha's babies :) it was little tallie's first time in a kayak.

i went out on a kayak by myself at first so i could snap some pics

arent they a cute bunch? :)

ahh.. serenity

my turn with the kiddos!

my pants got soaked. wet white pants... um, yeah not the best decision. but hey, my braincells were on vacation for the moment. teehee

my little horse whisperer

2011-06-01T11:49:00.000-07:00

Whenever we go to Wisconsin to visit Nana and Papa, we HAVE to take a short walk to visit the nearby horses. Chloe absolutely LOVES them :)

This is my favorite horse :) i love his blue eyes. and he gave me an up-close-and-personal greeting... check out this pictures series: yep, horse teeth. at least he smiled for the camera! haha

Kisses all around :)
<3

a boy and a turtle

2011-06-01T11:43:00.000-07:00

Clay caught this monster snapping turtle while fishing in the local lake. My thoughts? Damn, thats a huge turtle! ( and Clay is looking pretty huge too!)

welcome back y'all

2011-05-29T07:24:00.000-07:00

yeah... its been a while. a lot has happened since the last time we met. our current location: letcher, south dakota. middle america at its finest. the experience can only be described as somewhere between green acres and son-in-law. the kids are resilient and adjusting well... chloe is my 7 year old shadow who continues to amaze me with her anythingbutmellow personality. right now she likes to do what mommy does all the time and i try to guide her endless energy in a positive and productive direction :) clayton, or should i say "claybear" as his lady friends prefer to call him, is now taller than i am. enough said. haha. my soon-to-be 13 year old (omj!) is one of my bestest friends. he can catch anything that swims, slithers, hops, or scurries and maintains his compassion for all creatures. me? im going to nursing school and, quite frankly, kicking ass at it :) my love for knowledge, life experience, and caring for people is completely fulfilled through nursing school. its the hardest shit ive done but its reassuring to know that my grades and my instructors confirm that its something i pretty much rock at. one more year to go and i cant wait for what lies ahead!!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

2009-09-16T12:11:00.000-07:00

Well, the kids and i have been living in Alaska for almost 3 weeks now. its a huge change from living in California- shit, that's the understatement of the year. we don't know anyone here aside from Sheryl and Larry. most of the people seem friendly enough but i'm struggling with the idea of planting roots here, hoping that we will be moving back to P-town after this "experimental year in Alaska" is over with. i'm unable to let go of the life we had there. i miss it. i've never been a big fan of changes and my stubbornness forbids me to give up on the idea of returning home. home... what does that word really mean, anyway? if home is where your heart is, then my home will always be good ole P-town. but home could also just mean wherever me and the kids are as long as we're together. Alaska doesn't feel like home but its only been a few weeks. who knows how i'll feel in a month or even a year. but a YEAR?!? oh my god, that is such a long time! at least it seems like an eternity right now. i do like it here though. i like the idea of raising my kids in a small town surrounded by the wilderness... a simple kind of life, ya know? i just wish i could bring everyone that i love with me. i miss them all so much. there isn't a day that goes by that i don't think about the people i love and all the things i am missing out on by being here. i'm so scared that the next time i see everyone they will have changed so much and our wonderful lives together will be nothing but a mere memory... but change is inevitable and that concept is something i continue to struggle with. i tell myself to stop fighting change. to embrace it. to welcome it. because change and the ability to adapt is what makes us grow and become stronger. i mean, just look at all the changes i've had to deal with in the past year. i know for a fact that had it not been for those changes i would not be the strong, independent woman that i am now. so i guess what i'm saying is should we, as humans of habit and security, invite change into our lives in hopes that it will empower us? maybe. just maybe.

into the thick of it

2009-09-14T09:52:00.000-07:00

nature hike with my boy :)

wild berries. don't eat em!!

shroomin

clay and i named these little guys "booger shrooms"

"eagle rock"

some harbor seals floatin down the Kenai river

A vegetarian's dream

2009-09-13T12:04:00.000-07:00

One of the things i love most about our new place in Alaska is the wonderful gardens that are on the property. Ma and Pa work really hard each spring to ensure that there are plenty of fruits and veggies to harvest. And what's even more impressive is that they start most of their crops from seed inside the house in early spring!! The kids absolutely LOVE being able to pick fresh crops and i am happy to report that there is no problem getting them to eat their vegetables now :) Their grandparents have even told them that next year they will each get a row in the garden to plant whatever their little hearts desire. who knew kids could be stoked on veggies!! here is a look at what the garden looked like this year:

basil
peppers

melons

tomatoes

potatoes

broccoli

peas

artichokes

rhubarb

beets

lettuce

strawberries

chard

brussel sprouts

carrots & parsnips

turnips

big turnips :)

cauliflower

cabbage

and so here we are...

2009-08-28T17:02:00.000-07:00

P-town. The place i grew up in, our house in Birdland, friends i've had since high school... i've left that all behind now and i'm starting a brand new journey in the beautiful land of Alaska. If you would have told me a year ago that I would be living in Alaska and my parents would be living in South Dakota, i'd probably tell ya i think you're nuts!! But because life is unpredictable and hard times, although painfully heartbreaking to go through, make you stronger and allow you to grow and live your life to the fullest.

My parents told me they were selling their house a few months ago and i was totally taken by surprise. it was the house that i grew up in, the house my kids had grown up in... full of memories. they never hinted the fact that they had no money or were even considering selling the house. i didnt want them to sell it and i hoped that because the economy was suckish they wouldnt be able to. Me and the kids had moved into a quaint little place of our own in downtown ptown and life was pretty darn swell. It was definitely challenging being a single mom with 2 kids living on our own... but it was awesome at the same time cause it gave me such a sense of accomplishment and it brought our little family together in so many ways. But my parents sold their house with no problem at all and in what seemed like record time to me. So they were busy selling stuff on e bay and packing shit away without really having a plan of action. They talked about moving to Wisconsin or Minnesota... which would make sense seeing as thats where my mom's from. And they also talked about moving to places like Montana or Idaho or Tennessee... My dad was convinced that California was going to hell and that everyone needed to get outta Dodge. Fast. They decided to buy an RV. Cool. I would love to own an RV someday and just take off and travel to anywhere. But then they took a trip to South Dakota in their new RV and ended up buying a house. Um.. excuse, me? You bought a freaking house without consulting me?!?!? without letting me and the kids know?!?! i mean come on, South Dakota?? where the population of their town in only 120 people??? jesus christ!! i seriously think my dad done lost his mind when he told me where they moved to. But whatevs... i figured i could at least try to make things work in p-town without my parents' support. I had such a wonderful family of friends that i knew i would be able to rely on if i needed some help :) And then me and the kids took our annual trip to Alaska where Clay's grandparents live. They offered to have us move in with them and told us that if we could stick it out for a year they would build us our own house on their property. A generous offer indeed!! Like everyone, i have always dreamed of having my own house someday never imagining that i would be able to get one pretty much for free. So with much thought and consideration i made the decision to give Alaska a try. I knew that because of major budget cutbacks within the school system i would probably not be getting the job that i wanted as a special needs aide and without a consistent source of income there was no way that i would be able to stay in California. Leaving behind a wonderful family of friends was the hardest thing i've ever had to do and i miss them so much that sometimes i wonder if i've made the right choice. But in all honesty i knew in my heart that the choice i made was the best one for myself and for my children. The adjustment is huge and i know it will take time to settle in... but P-town will always be home. no matter where life takes us or throws at us one thing is for sure: my kids and i have each other and we are survivors, not victims. and so... here we are.

whoa!

2009-01-15T19:58:00.000-08:00

christmastime!!

2009-01-15T15:36:00.001-08:00

xmas morning... after opening presents. and, yes, clay is wearing his brand-new, homemade snuggie : ) and, ofcourse, chloe got a snuggie too

chloe and her "water machine." she looooves this thing!! she told santa that she wanted a water machine for xmas. at first i was like: umm.... a water machine? what the hell? i didnt want to ask her too many questions about what the heck a water machine was cause "santa" is supposed to know these things, right? but... santa pulled through and delivered just the kind of "water machine" chloe wanted... YES!
clay got a new painted turtle from santa. he named him "squirt". him and jack are getting along just fine...all dressed up

this, folks, is a whip cream roll and it is the highlight of our christmas dinner. pure yumminess!!

the whole fam went back to Minnesota & Wisconsin a couple days after xmas. chloe had never been there and clay and i hadn't been back for almost 10 years. i had totally forgotten just how fricking cold it is there!!! but the snow is amazing and we all had a blast playing in it : )

my grandpa is kind of a hard core green bay packer fan. i was kinda like... whoa!

and here he is... my grandpa. he's battling throat cancer at the moment and the doctors say things arent looking too good for him : ( but he was in great spirits and sooo happy that we came to visit!!here's me and my dear grandma... she wasnt used to having a vegetarian in staying at her house cause well... everything is meat and potatoes in the midwest!!! ahhh!!!! but i survived... i mean, Wisconsin IS known for its cheese and, man oh man, its delicious!!! happy christmas to all!!

my son shows me the raddest stuff

2008-12-20T09:13:00.000-08:00

clay likes to go on you tube and look up lego videos. lego videos? yeah, i didn't know they existed either but then he showed me these and now i'm hooked... ha ha

popsicle sticks & a polaroid

2008-12-18T17:40:00.000-08:00

this is an ornament that hangs on my parents' xmas tree: the date on the back of the ornament is 1984. notice the complete lack of bangs that i have in this picture? yeah.. mom says i got a hold of the scissors and cut all my bangs off. sounds a lot like a certain little blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl that i know... he he.

all i want for christmas is... a snuggie?

2008-12-18T16:53:00.000-08:00

lately, every time this commercial comes on both clayton and chloe say, "mommy, i want a snuggie for christmas!" hmm...

yep, my kids want a blanket with sleeves for christmas. ha! but there's no way im paying fifteen bucks for each one... plus shipping! yeah, forget that! so... im taking a trip to the fabric store and im gonna make my own damn snuggies. maybe i should just make us all matching snuggies for xmas. hmm... i just might.

: )

how to make the yummiest stuff on earth:

2008-12-15T17:35:00.000-08:00

okay folks... here's the secret family recipe for some deliciousness. i don't really have a name for the candy. some people call it sponge candy or angel candy or chocolate-covered honeycomb... i just think that its my most favorite stuff to make around the holidays : )

here's the ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1 cup dark corn syrup

1 TBSP vinegar
1TBSP baking soda

first ya combine the sugar, syrup, and vinegar. in a saucepan and cook it over med. heat, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved:

continue cooking, without stirring, until the mixture reaches 300 degrees Fahrenheit on a candy thermometer:it gets really bubbly and looks like soda bubbles:once it hits 300 degrees, remove it from the heat and gradually stir in the baking soda:mix it well and it starts to look like this: pour it out into a lightly buttered pan. dont spread it out... just let it be:let it cool. then take a hack at it and break it into pieces:looking good:
next step is to dip those pieces in some chocolate:

for sure my favorite part:

lay the pieces out on some wax paper and you're good to go. yummers!if ya wanna get really fancy shmancy you can melt up some white chocolate too and get funky!

enjoy! : )

betty crocker ain't got nuthin on me. HA!

random awesomeness

2008-12-13T13:12:00.000-08:00

my daughter is an abstract artist... this painting actually has her name in it. but its not exactly in order.... hmm.

tiggerrrrrrr

these guys stare right at me whenever i'm on the computer... they kinda creep me out sometimes. clay set up the x mas village this year. he did an excellent job!
mom got the kids gingerbread cookies from a fundraiser that tri-valley haven was having. sometimes mom does some pretty cute stuff...she got juni and avery each one too : ) random arts and crafts... we tend to get a little more crafty this time of year.chloe's creative juices were definitely flowing... check out what she made:

ahhh! pets gone wild!!!

me and clay had a "gingerbread house making" date. it was the radness!

clay's masterpiece

...and mine

the nutcracker

2008-12-09T20:58:00.000-08:00

miss chloe valentina and miss juniper sky were in the nutcracker on sunday. they were peppermints and pretty much the cutest things you ever did see : ) the show was awesome and the girls did a fantastic performance!

all dressed with make-up and hair done.

lemme just say one thing about chloe's hair... the dance nazis told me that i HAD to put chloe's up in a slicked back ponytail because they have this wierd complex about having all the dancers look the same. wierd. but yeah, chloe's got pretty short hair so i basically used up an entire bottle of gel trying to make her hair stay back. it was quite an ordeal! then i had to put fricking makeup on her . she was a trooper though...

chloe & juni

chloe is freeeeezing in this picture! it was a cold morning.

here they are:

grandma gave chloe some flowers after the show!celebrating a fabulous performance

: )

random events

2008-11-26T20:42:00.000-08:00

we like to rake leaves in the dark
and climb trees

chloe had her first soccer party. man was she stoked to get her very first trophy! pizza party!!

cuddle time with uncle

happy 22nd birthday bro! chloe wrapped up one of her favorite dinosaurs and gave it to her uncle

love

my wonderful cake creation

yumm-o

rainy days are our fav

clay playing some football in the rain

good catch!

my little patriot

2008-11-12T21:52:00.000-08:00

rainy days & snow cones

2008-11-11T09:22:00.000-08:00

in a month's time...

2008-11-07T16:23:00.000-08:00

jeez. what an awesome month its been for me... got a long-term subbing job at harvest park for a class of special needs kids. the teacher is really awesome and the 5 other aides that i work with are pretty cool too. but the kids are the best part. there are 12 students and their disabilities are ranged anywhere between mild and severe. when i first started subbing in this class i had no idea how to approach the kids because the teacher didn't really tell me about each student or explain much. she told me which kids got violent sometimes but other than that i pretty much had to figure it out for myself. i really didn't think that it was possible to get to know these kids as well as i feel i do after only a few weeks of working... seriously, though. and being able to put a smile on their face or make them laugh or teach them something- man, its amazing. I really can't describe the passion that i seem to have discovered for teaching... its weird, really, because i never imagined that i'd be a good teacher. the sad part is that the lady i'm subbing for could be returning to work right after thanksgiving. she hurt her hand while she was working (i guess a kid fell on it and broke it or something..) and she's had some surgery done on it but she still cant use it very well. i confess that i am secretly hoping that her hand stays messed up so i can take over this job. shit, i am SUCH an evil person...ha ha ha. seriously though, i'll be pretty bummed if i have to leave this job but, alas, what a wonderful experience this has been for me : )

oh, october...

2008-11-02T18:37:00.000-08:00

where has this month gone? been moving at warp speed lately, it seems... but life is rad : )

our trip to turtle pond

2008-09-28T21:44:00.000-07:00

the famous turtle pond we smuggled these guys home...

for juni & avery

2008-09-28T08:04:00.001-07:00

day at the glen

2008-09-26T18:50:00.000-07:00

festivals are rad. especially ones that have kiddie rides!!

This was the highlight of Chloe's day for sure! She has been dying to go down one of these slides FOREVER... but she's never been tall enough. She measured up this time and insisted on going down the first time all by herself. I was totally freaking out, paranoid that she would fly off the slide or something. But she didn't. She loved it...
Then she begged to go down it again and this time invited mommy along for the ride. man, those slides are fun!!
sand in a bottle
baby oinkers
llamas hold a very special place in my heart... he he he

coastal clean up day

2008-09-22T07:43:00.001-07:00

chloe and i got up early on saturday morning to take part in the coastal clean up day. we went with brandi and bodhi to the marina in berkeley to help pick up trash. it was super!

my dancing prancing soccer player

2008-09-22T07:22:00.000-07:00

chloe sure loves soccer... although she doesn't really play the game. she just sort of prances around and screams a lot. but, man, she has a great time and everyone gets a kick outta her vibrant and happy personality... ha ha ha!

come watch her play... i guarantee you will laugh until your sides hurt : )

seems like a lifetime ago...

2008-09-17T08:08:00.000-07:00

me and clay

oh hells yeah!!

2008-09-15T10:33:00.000-07:00

ode to a worm

2008-09-15T08:49:00.000-07:00

I'm standing up on my soapbox for this one...

2008-09-14T07:17:00.000-07:00

I received this email last week from a parent in Clay's class:

"Subject: "Gay Day"

Dear Friends: This is an issue that is pretty much going under the radar, and I think we all need to make this telephone call. This is real. I just called. It took less than 30 seconds. It is just a recording and pressing 2 to say NO. Please read it!! AB 2567 has passed the California Assembly and the Senate and is awaiting Governor Schwarzenegger' s signature or veto. This bill will set aside May 22Nd as a special day to celebrate the life of homosexual politician Harvey Milk in the public schools. Harvey Milk will be honored in the same manner as our Founding Fathers and Martin Luther King, although the only thing he is actually known for is being proud to be a homosexual! If you haven't heard about this bill it is because the liberal media is downplaying this bill so that it will pass. PLEASE CALL GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER AND MAKE YOU VOICE HEARD. The Number to call is : 1 916-445-2841 Please forward this to as many people as possible.

Legislature Passes Bill for 'Gay Day' Celebrations in California Public Schools By Peter J. Smith August 8, 2008, SACRAMENTO (LifeSiteNews. com) - California public schools soon will be planning 'gay day' celebrations every May 22 unless Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoes the legislation. Thursday the California Assembly approved AB 2567, which designates May 22 as 'Harvey Milk Day.' The 43 to 26 vote occurred on party lines with Democrats for, Republicans against. Earlier this week, AB 2567 passed the California State Senate on another party line vote 22-13 - Democrats for, Republicans against. The bill will require all public schools to 'conduct suitable commemorative exercises' in commemoration of the anti-religious, homosexualist agenda of the late San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk. According to a Senate analysis of the bill, 'This bill requires the Governor to proclaim May 22 as Harvey Milk Day. The designation of a day of significance triggers statutory encouragement for public schools to observe and conduct commemorative exercises suitable to the day.' 'This bad bill will teach impressionable schoolchildren the anti-religious, homosexual-bisexual - transsexual agenda of Harvey Milk,' warned Randy Thomasson, President of Campaign for Children and Families. 'If signed into law, AB 2567 will mean an official day commemorating homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality in California government schools. This will harm children as young as> children as young as kindergarten. ' 'The Democrats are so cocky, they have no qualms about pushing sexual indoctrination upon children in an election year. For the love of God, parents and their children, we implore Governor Schwarzenegger to veto AB 2567' Thomasson said.
------ End of Forwarded Message"

I was a bit stunned after i read the email... I immediately googled Harvey Milk. I found out that he was a little bit more than just a "proud homosexual"... He was named on Time's 100 list of most influential people of the century!! he was on the same list as people such as: Mother Teresa, Anne Frank, Muhammad Ali, and Rosa Parks. why shouldn't our kids learn about Harvey Milk? I'm trying to teach my children not to judge a person by their race, religion, OR sexual preference. Yes, he was gay, but he was a great man and he stood up for who he was and what he believed in!! I was pissed that this parent had the audacity to assume that i would automatically agree with this email's "message". is this why i gave my email out on the class parents' email list at school? To receive shit like this? i mean, everyone is entitled to their own opinion.. don't get me wrong. but please don't try and push your ignorance onto me!

thankfully my best friend always has her camera ready

2008-09-10T10:06:00.000-07:00

what would i do without you, La? thank you for the wonderful pics!!!

best friends walking to school together

gettin down to some sweet scottish music

my little animal lover
dirrrty grrrlmy most favorite kind of nut
fun with the wiiwe'll eat your face!!!late night bike ride

half moon bay. matching sweaters from Alaska.yes, my crack is showing a bitmy cold little eskimoLa and i bought these matching toe rings back when we were in high school. i never take mine off and neither does she : )clay was the master at finding sand dollarslove

soccer time

2008-09-08T08:22:00.000-07:00

chloe is playing soccer this year. her team is the daffodils. we got up at the butt crack of dawn last saturday to participate in the annual p-town soccer parade. then it was game time. i was a little nervous about how chloe would do playing in a "real" soccer game... but she did great! i was laughing my ass off most of the game. instead of dominating like i thought she would, chloe just bossed her teammates around, telling them, "kick it! get the ball!!" It was fricking hilarious!!!

yeah #4!!! you know!!

here's my little daffodil in action:

fish sticks

2008-09-07T20:33:00.000-07:00

tonight clay wanted to make "his own" dinner. he chose fish sticks. i told him how to use the oven (turn it on, set the correct temperature, set a timer). he made them all by himself... even waited by the oven as the timer counted down. i asked him how they tasted and he replied, "Really good. Even better because I made them." then he asked me if he could help me make dinner more often. such a sweetheart my mr. man is. and he loves his mamma... he even hangs out with me during lunch while i'm working at his school! makes my heart melt. makes me so very proud to be his mom.

sleepover success.... YES!!

2008-09-02T16:08:00.000-07:00

TGIF!!!

2008-08-29T08:37:00.000-07:00

wow, what a week it has been... last day of summer (its been quite a rad one!), first day of school(chloe started kindergarten and clay is in 5th grade!!!), my birthday (thanks to everyone for all the b-day wishes & love!), started working again and, yes, i'm still a kick-ass yard-duty!, soccer practice, dance tryouts (chloe & june are peppermints for the nutcracker... woot!), and back-to-school night last night.

so, yeah... i'm kinda wiped out. i swear, i look forward to the weekends now just as much as my kids do! ha ha ha!

my mr. man & chloe bear

chloe & her awesome teacher

28 life is a great balancing act... and i'm finally getting the hang of it : )
namaste

chloe turned 5

2008-08-24T08:47:00.000-07:00

it was an action-packed birthday for little chloe valentina... she woke up at 7 and insisted on waking everybody else up so she could open her presents:

her new bike from g-ma and g-pa in alaska
had to take it out for a spin right away

we went and played miniature golf in the dark. it was so cool. everything was glow in the dark and the black lights overhead made everything look awesome!!

pops tried to beat my score in skee-ball. but he couldn't measure up to my mad skills. ha!b-ball championpinata time!!!

here's the birthday girl... showing off the cake that she decorated

wow... 5 years old. and starting kindergarten soon. where does the time go? really.

happy birthday my chloe bear!!!

beach bums

2008-08-18T15:51:00.000-07:00

we have the best friends in the whole wide world...

2008-08-18T11:23:00.000-07:00

a special birthday party just for chloe. it was the radness. thanks La for the pictures! we love you guys!

happy birthday kurt!!

2008-08-16T15:41:00.001-07:00

went to del valle to celebrate kurt's birthday. it was rad to just be able to relax and hang out with some good friends.

kurt, brandi, and little bodhi

bees-a-plenty
mountain drinking some beer
time for a little swim

just chillin by the water
anyone want some PB&J nilla wafers? YES!!!

this pretty much ruined my day

2008-08-15T14:11:00.000-07:00

the new harry potter film isn't coming out november 17,2008 anymore... nope. for no apparent reason (other than money, ofcourse) they pushed the release date back to july 2009. um... wtf?!?!

here's the lame story

alaska 2008: part three

2008-08-11T10:50:00.000-07:00

one of our favorite places to go while in alaska is a little town called homer. the welcome sign to this beautiful place reads: "welcome to homer: a quaint little drinking town with a fishing problem." ha ha ha. i think that is rad! it IS the halibut capital of the world and definitely one of the most beautiful places i have ever been. there is a cute little beach where you can look out past the water and see snow-capped mountains and a few glaciers. the day that we went was breathtaking... but i really don't think this video does it justice.

here's chloe... just tossing some rocks into the water. okay, more like chucking them and competing with her brother to see if she could throw as far as him. ha ha.

clay found a sea star just laying on the beach. at fist we thought it was dead but then realized it wasn't so clay HAD to save it and made sure that the little creature made it back into the water.

get crafty : )

alaska 2008: part two

2008-08-11T10:25:00.000-07:00

clay is the best fisherman... seriously, he can out-fish almost everyone. he definitely out fished me this year, catching some red salmon, some silver salmon, some king salmon, and a huge 50 pound halibut!! i think fishing is in his blood. he makes it look so easy when really... its not.

here he is with a pink salmon.... we don't keep the pink salmon cause they don't taste very good. their meat turns to mush once they hit the freshwater. but they are a lot of fun to catch and release!! it was clay's first time halibut fishing. i cant express how difficult it is to go halibut fishing. we go out on a tiny boat into the ocean. drop our lines down to touch the bottom (which is 200-300 feet down!!) and you bounce your pole up and down until a halibut grabs hold of it. then you have to reel it up and "fight" the fish at the same time. its a workout i tell ya, but clay managed to catch the biggest halibut of all of us. a 48 pounder. they had to spear it just to get it onto the boat! it was awesome!!

clay's grandparents are two of the most amazing people, and we are so blessed to have them in our lives. here they are, teaching their grandson how to pan for gold...

alaska 2008 part 1

2008-08-07T10:19:00.000-07:00

okay, i've got quite a few pics and a couple rad videos from our latest trip to alaska.... but this one takes the cake as being the best video ever!! chloe caught her very first fish while we were in alaska this year. um, yeah.... stoked! it was a pink salmon... or as we "native" alaskans call em: a humpy, due to the massive hump on their backs. she reeled it in with the help of her grandpa larry. here is my little fishergirl in action:

and here she is with her fish:

more pics to come soon : )

forget the concert... lets get ice cream!

2008-07-20T07:40:00.000-07:00

now that chloe can ride bike on her own its so nice to go out for bike rides with her cause she doesn't have those damn training wheels slowing her down... so we went for a cruise downtown to catch a glimpse of the friday night concert going on.

we HAD to stop at the dairy and get ice cream. i've never seen that place as busy as it was on friday night. everybody wanted ice cream and i don't blame them cause their ice cream is super yummy! chloe definitely enjoyed hers:

so many people gathering together to enjoy some tunes... one reason i heart p-town:
then we rode home

'cause i'm one determined woman...

2008-07-20T07:34:00.000-07:00

so i kept trying to upload the video from clay's birthday and i couldn't get it to work. i seriously tried like 16 times. i finally figured out what i was doing wrong... i wasn't saving it as a video file. duh? anyways, problem solved. enjoy!

double digits

2008-07-16T09:19:00.000-07:00

clay turned 10 yesterday!! he wanted to keep his big day pretty low-key so his best friend spent the night and we went to the new indiana jones movie and fudruckers ( his fav place to eat). then we invited some close friends over for cake and fireworks. it was splendid! happy birthday to my big ten-year old!!

opening presents

showing off his new crawfish
i made a sweet video of the party but i'm retarded and can't seem to upload it. i cant figure it out... sometimes i can upload a video with no problem and other times it won't work... argh! anyways, i tried like 5 times to upload it and its not working so i'm giving up : (

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAY!

we went pickin'

2008-07-13T06:52:00.000-07:00

well, we headed out to brentwood to go peach picking again. the kids have lots of fun climbing the ladder and trying to pick out the perfect peach. i think we got plenty of good ones... 19 pounds of peaches! anyone want some luscious peaches.. just lemme know. in other words: "please do not molest the corn..." ha ha ha

i seriously go out to brentwood just for this stuff. they are the best corn nuts ive ever tasted! i picked up an extra bag for a certain friend of mine who likes corn nuts too : )

ha ha ha ha

2008-07-12T09:05:00.001-07:00

my pops sent me this video. its awesome.

went on a couple of really rad dates...

2008-07-12T07:18:00.000-07:00

thats right. i've been dating. the first date was with La. we went to the fair and... honestly, words cannot describe how much fun we had. well, maybe a few words and some hilarious pictures. check it out here

my other date was with my man. we went bowling. it was sooo nice to spend some one-on-one time with each other : )

his game has gotten pretty darn good... he got a strike and a bunch of spares! he was so stoked!

like mother like son... our snack of choice was nachos, of course!! i swear, sometimes its so unbelievable how my kids are totally just like me. clay asked if we could get nachos before we even got there. yeah!

final score: clay 110 momma 134

bowling just kind of runs in the family. i can remember going to the bowling alley all the time when i was a kid. ma and pops used to bowl in a league ( ma still does) and we would go just for fun as a family. my bro is hecka good too... he puts a rad spin on the ball and he beats me every time! i swear, we should join a family league or something... we would kick ass.

hmm... now i just gotta teach my boy how to play hold 'em... ha ha ha!

holy heatwave, batman!

2008-07-08T17:05:00.000-07:00

the kids have a summer camp this week. and by kids i mean: chloe, juniper, avery, and our new friend chase, too. they're all in the same class and we drop them off around 9 and pick them up at noon. it feels kind of weird but incredibly rad at the same time. so ive been having a little spare time to myself in the mornings... today i spent my free time killing spiders in la's backyard. there is some kind of serious infestation going on back there, i tell ya. he he

well, its hotter than heck outside, but we be stayin cool yo.

i finally figured out what i was doing wrong and why i couldnt upload videos off my camera! yeah, im stoked.

bodhi-sitting

2008-07-08T16:57:00.000-07:00

chloe and i had the pleasure of babysitting our little friend, bodhi. he really liked chloe... she pretty much entertained him the whole time. and she even got to push the stroller while we went for a nice stroll downtown. chloe's got great maternal skills even though she is heck of rugged and tough. so she had lots of fun pretending to be a mommy for a few hours : )

he is such a good little guy

if i had a hammer...

2008-07-08T09:04:00.000-07:00

chloe asked me if i would help her nail 2 boards together. um, sure... but she wanted them nailed end-to-end. that was a bit more of a challenge, but i was up to it. it only took us 5 nails but we got the job done. ha ha ha.

and yes, my daughter has whiskers in the pictures. she painted them on herself. he he.

i miss my man

2008-07-05T18:41:00.000-07:00

he's been away for 3 days now. and he won't be back til monday. but he's stoked! he's having a rad time catching some waves and digging for sand crabs. clay was invited to spend the holiday with his best friend's family in seascape. i was nervous about letting him go but he was really excited about it so, of course, i couldn't deny him the right to go along. and he's having a blast. i can hear it in his voice when i talk to him. he told me that him and thomas caught some tiny shrimp and they were the cutest things he's ever seen... ha ha ha. i love it! and i love that my mr. man is growing into a great young man. i'm so proud of him and he continues to amaze me on a daily basis. he is my rock, my angel, and we've been together for almost 10 years now
10 years... wow. that really makes me trip out to think that i've been a mommy for 10 years. its awesome. and i really love it more than anything in the world.

me and mr. man 1998

me and mr. man 2008

pic by lori

can you imagine the adrenaline rush?

2008-07-05T09:37:00.001-07:00

this is a cash game. they're playing with their actual money. and this is real. and why i heart poker

good god this looks cool!

2008-07-02T20:24:00.000-07:00

fun at the fair

2008-07-02T16:35:00.001-07:00

chloe and i went to the fair with some pals. it was $2 tuesday and chloe was free. but that darn wristband for rides was $23 bucks! ha ha ha. the weather was perfect, the nachos & beer were superb, the rides were bitchin', and the company was most excellent! we had a really rad time.

the grand canyon is really, um... grand?

2008-07-02T08:08:00.000-07:00

when we got to the grand canyon we pulled over at the first vista point to have our first peak at the canyon. to stand there and look at the vastness and natural beauty of the grand canyon is truly a spiritual experience. you can look at pictures but it really does not do it justice. there just happened to be 3 Buddhist monks at the same spot we stopped at. my bro recognized the language they were speaking and told me they were from Thailand. i love the fact that people from all walks of life come to visit the grand canyon... it just makes me smile.

dude, i love my brother. he can make me laugh and laugh and laugh.
"hey, bro... take a picture with me."
"okay."
he turned around at the last minute. he did it on purpose.

this is me about to throw my little brother into the grand canyon. ha ha ha

um, yeah... duh? its not a wishing well, people...

okay, here's some pics of the grand canyon:

one thing i learned on this trip is that kids are never too old for a leash of some kind. i wish i woulda had one for chloe. that child would not stay away from the edge of the path... and by the "edge of the path" i mean a drop-down-into-the-fricking-grand-canyon kind of edge. yeah, i was scared and i pretty much kept my eyes glued to chloe when we were out hiking.my poor dad didn't enjoy the grand canyon very much... he got vertigo every time he would look over the edge and he really didn't like it when one of us went close to the edge.

it was heck of fun to sleep in the Rv. well, actually i didn't sleep very well at all but it was fun cooking and eating outdoors and looking for little critters with the kids and watching movies inside the Rv and playing cards. that kind of stuff was awesome!

the second day that we were there my pops offered to watch the kids while my mom, bro, and i went for a hike to see some more of the grand canyon. i was stoked! i didn't really get a good chance to really enjoy the canyon cause i was watching the kids like a hawk. it also gave me a chance to take some pictures :AND i got to horse around with my bro some morenice pose, craiga very nice Samaritan took a pic of us
okay so we all know i have a somewhat adventurous side.(which is yet another trait of mine that my daughter seems to have inherited.)

so i had to get a little daring and some fun while enjoying the grand canyoni believe i can flyit sure is a long way down. ha ha ha

woot!

my dad doesn't like this picture. it kinda freaks him out.

i had a really wonderful time with the fam on this trip. i appreciate that my parents do this kind of stuff. they've always provided my brother and i with the best vacations and now they are giving that gift to my children as well. my family is definitely dysfunctional... but i love the heck outta them : )

road trippin

2008-07-01T08:04:00.000-07:00

the whole fam piled into a rad RV and headed out for a week-long road trip. first stop: vegas, baby!! we didnt stay in the RV while we were in vegas. we stayed at bally's and enjoyed the air conditioning and the pool.

we're a good-lookin bunch, don't ya think?

chloe learned to swim on this trip. i kid you not. not really sure how it happened.. its kinda like how she learned how to ride without training wheels last week. she just all-of-a-sudden finds the courage to do something and she does it... kinda like her mama in that way. i'm so proud of her! the first thing she said when she swam by herself was: " Can I go to swim at Baba jules' house now?" ha ha ha. look at her go:

as many know, there are 2 things that my family holds dear: baseball and.... poker. seriously, we watch high stakes poker, the world poker tour, and the world series of poker together as a family. and, yes, we tivo them all too. ha ha ha. anyways... the world series was going on, of poker that is, while we were in town. so we all headed to the rio to check out the events going on. we walked right past johnny chan and antonio esfandiari but i was on a mission to see my, personal favorite pro: daniel negreanu . i know he may resemble my ex-husband quite a bit by the looks of him but, trust me, that is NOT why i like daniel. in fact, im not physically attracted to him at all but the man is an incredible poker player and has such a great demeanor about him. im rambling again... sorry. so i was on the look-out for mr. negreanu but i didnt see him. and trust me, i tried hard to find him. i played hold-em at the bellagio. most of the pros play inside "the fishbowl" at the bellagio which is a room within the poker room that is entirely glass so you can see inside. i saw sam farha barry greenstein eli elezra minh ly gus hansen who is really hot, by the way... and doyle brunson who is a poker legend. but i never saw daniel : ( i managed to win around $500 playing poker though! so i was stoked!!

me and pops in front of the bellagio.

family portrait in 100-degree weather.. ha hawhile in vegas i definitely recommend visiting dick's last resort. its inside Excalibur and we had a great time eating lunch there. our waiter was awesome... he was hell of funny and said what was on his mind. the kids got buckets of sodaour waiter made us these hats to wear. its kind of what they do there... they make hats out of sheets of white paper and they write something funny on them. chloe's says " i pooped in my pants... not." and mine says " milf." i had an interesting time explaining to my parents what m.i.l.f. stands for. it provided lots of laughs and i was definitely red from embarrassment.clayton: "i play with my sister's barbies" the view from a walkway over the vegas strip at the MGM grand where we saw the lions

we went to the medieval times show at Excalibur. we cheered on our red knight, who was, by far, the best looking of all the knights. and we all had a blast

my brother... 21 years old and his first time to vegas (since turning 21) He hit a royal flush playing video poker and won the jackpot of over $1000. can you say "beginner's luck?" ha ha ha. he was just a little stoked!
vegas was fun, as always. next stop: the grand canyon...

its nice to be home again

2008-06-30T12:11:00.000-07:00

my daughter is outside right now. picking up dog poop. singing "Tell Her About It" by billy joel. seriously, i couldn't make this shit up if i tried. ha ha ha. its good to be home.

i made a pond

2008-06-30T07:44:00.000-07:00

I've been working on a special project lately. its been a joint-effort, actually. we've been wanting to give Jack a better home. so i finally took charge and did it.

here's a great spot for a pond! my mom wasn't too stoked on the idea, but i didn't really listen to her cause i knew i could make a sick ass pond..

i, of course, dug the hole:

shadow helped dig too. he loves to dig but he kept digging in the wrong spots. i wonder if you can teach a dog to dig on command... probably.

while we were digging, we suddenly uncovered a mass amount of clam shells!! what the heck?? Chloe was super pumped about our "discovery" and we pretended we were archaeologists digging up dinosaur bones... it was great.

before:

after:

gracias to kurt & brandi for donating the pond insert and the cool filter-fountain thing! jack seems to like it. we've also added 3 pollywogs and a few tiny fish that we caught at sycamore grove. the kids love it too. i am definitely pleased

i'm extreeeemely flattered...

2008-06-17T14:03:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago my brother's friend, Kevin asked if he could interview me for a paper he was working on for college. He told me he was writing a paper on single parenting so I agreed to the interview. Kevin just dropped off a copy of his paper for me to read. here it is:

Faith and Love in Single Parenting
by: Kevin Calhoun

There is a recent television commercial that shows two teenage boys playing soccer in their backyard. A mother cheers whenever one of the boys scores or when the other makes a stop. After a few tries, the narrator, probably one of the soccer-playing teens, says, "I love my life. I don't want to ruin it with a child." What is interesting about this commercial is not that it has a message, but that it displays a message in a manner that is extremely wrong and misrepresented.

If society believe that having children ruins lives, how would people reproduce? The advertisement's position is somewhat arguably important, but it should have been portrayed differently and in a less offensive manner. One role model of mine is Jennifer Sewall. She is a single mom raising two children. And she is the image of what mothers, single or not, should be. She says that her son and daughter have brought her joy and love and have done everything but ruin her life. She supports the idea that love, compassion, and stability are more important in raising a family than having both a mother and a father.

I learned quite a lot while sitting down with Jen and talking. Her daughter, Chloe, played in the backyard while we discussed her life - not just about her raising her children but about her life before. Jen grew up in Pleasanton in a house walking distance from mine. Her brother, Craig, is my best friend. When Jen was eighteen, she had her first child, Clayton. He is nine, now. I asked her how much time she spends with her kids. She wakes Clayton up at 7:30 am. Clayton has matured greatly in the last few months. So,, he basically get ready for school by himself while Jen cooks breakfast. Chloe usually wakes up by herself and eats with her mom and brother. The three live in the same house that Jen and Craig grew up in with their parents, Jeff and Teri. Jen usually drives Clayton to school which starts at 8:15 am. There isn't a set schedule at the Sewall house, so sometimes Craig, Jeff, or Teri help Jen out with the daily routine.

According to the book, One Parent Families: Healing the Hurts, by Howard I. Smith, single parents spend most of their day with their children and get little time for themselves. Single mothers, in particular, spend up to nine hours doing basic duties and tasks that are important to raising their kids. This takes away from personal time: time to work, time to relax, time to study. As statistically accurate as this book may be, Jen has found time to work and raise her two children. Yes, she has an amazing family that helps out a great deal, but that doesn't necessarily mean she can't do it alone. Both Jeff and Teri work as well. So, their time is limited. Craig goes to school in Santa Barbara and has recently gotten back from a four-month program in Thailand. So, until Chloe starts school full-time next year, Jen can only work for two hours four days a week. Her job does not take away from spending time with her two children.

A lot changes a woman when she becomes a mother, especially a single mother. A lot of people stress the strategy of having children after college or when they are in their mid-twenties. Jen had her first child at the age of 17. So, it is fair to say that things changed more for her than of someone older or someone with a fancy college degree. She told me that before she got pregnant, her life was moving in awkward directions and that she was making bad decisions. As many would agree, high school is very tough and, overall, the teenage years can be extremely hard as well. When Jen found out she was pregnant, she stopped making those choices and became a healthier person. She was responsible for another life. So, harming herself would only harm her child. Clayton cured her. Some people might argue that pregnancies ruin plans and destroy futures. But Jen's first child saved her and made her more responsible and caring.

In a particular situation like an unplanned pregnancy, family support is extremely important. In the book, Single Parent Families, by Kriss Kissman and Jo Ann Allen, it is stated that without family support, a young, single parent is "vulnerable to failure." In the entire study on a single parenting, one can probably conclude that this is true. A young mother is a different scenario than one that includes and older, more stable one. The Sewalls have helped out tremendously with Clayton and Chloe. Jen told me, "I couldn't have done it without them."

Jeff, Teri, and Craig help Jen raise the kids. When Jeff is not working and has time to spend with his grandchildren, he coaches Clayton's baseball team. He also drives Chloe to school. Craig spend quality time with Clayton, throwing the baseball around and playing games. He plays with Chloe and babysits while Jen is out or at work. Teri and Jen raised Clayton early on, pretty much by themselves. Craig was younger then and Jeff was working more. So, the two girls' schedules revolved around raising Clayton. Whether with family support or without, with both a mom and a dad or not, all single parents can learn from the hard work and compassion that Craig, Jeff, and Teri gave Jen in the early years of Clayton's and Chloe's lives.

It might be true that children need some kind of male influence in their lives. Many people say that having both a mother and a father is vital in how a child grows up. In his essay, It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good, Rick Santorum stresses the idea that families can only succeed if they have both a mother and a father. "It is and open and shut case: the best place for kids to grow up is with a happily married mom and dad, " he reasons. "And the more of these families there are in a community, the better it is for everyone." This is just one man's opinion on what families "should" be. According to an article entitled "The Benefits of Living in a Single Parent Family", by Anne Parron, conflict-ridden homes have been shown through research to be the worst living situation for kids. "If the prior two-parent living environment included ongoing conflict, a change to living with only one parent can have a positive effect on the kids such as gradual lessening of anxiety." This article is an obvious rebuttal to the previous essay, but it shows how every theory can have a counterargument. More importantly, this article shows that there are many benefits of single parent families.

Parron continues to describe her views and observations and states, "Kids learn about relationships from observing the adults around them. It is often better for children to see no relationship model when the parents stay together." This particular explanation correlates directly to part of what Jen and I discussed. I asked her if she and Clayton's father had stayed together, would it have been easier to raise the baby? She told me that she was afraid of staying with him for a number of reasons. For example, she was afraid that they would be together under the wrong circumstances. She thought that her age and her own selfishness contributed to not staying together. She feared that staying together would hinder the upbringing of her child.

There are a few options that many women consider after they realize they are pregnant. One controversial issue and option is abortion. Many people argue that a woman should have the right to choose whether she keeps the baby or chooses to abort. There are several things to consider before having an abortion, and there are a lot of arguments that support it. I asked Jen if she considered this particular alternative. She told me that abortion was out of the question. "Life was meant to be," she said. Particular situations contradict this idea, but planned or unplanned, life is meant to be.

Another option on how to handle an unplanned pregnancy is adoption. This is the best alternative to abortion. If a mother simply cannot raise a child, she should consider giving it up for adoption. Of course I can't comprehend the magnitude of that decision, but I am adopted, and my personal views on adoption are extremely positive and joyful. I cannot help but think that my biological mother considered her other options. I'm extremely glad I am here. I know a few other people who might agree.

Speaking with Jen, I learned a great deal about single parenting. And I have never enjoyed the process of writing an essay like I had writing this one. Any type of family can work, even one that has only a mom or a dad. It is time for our society to detach itself from its negative views on single-parent families. We need to realize that love and compassion are what really matter in raising children.. We need to have have faith that single mothers or fathers can accomplish everything that a married couple can. It is harder, of course, but Jennifer Sewall is the greatest example of how it can be done, and it is working.

a trumpet?

2008-06-16T14:42:00.000-07:00

Chloe and i were outside playing in the kiddie pool and along came a bee...

"Mommy, Mommy, a bee!" Chloe screamed out.
"It's okay, honey," I reassured her. "Its just a bee."
"Mommy, is it a trumpet?" Chloe asked.
A trumpet? I thought to myself... "OH, you mean a hornet?" I confirmed.
"Yeah, that one."

he he he... don't kids say the cutest things sometimes?

our last week of school

2008-06-13T08:50:00.000-07:00

no more school!! i feel like I'm more excited about the fact that i don't have to go to school than Clay is. ha ha ha! no more yard-dutying for this mama... now its time for summer!

Clay performed in his class play this week. he was an Iroquois (notice the Indians hat?) ha ha! He had one line: "Of course I'm upset! Look what these European fools are doing." It was awesome.

there's my little Indian

she was very proud of her "Bubba"

random, i know... but definitely picture-worthy. U KNOW!!!!this night was awesome... out on the ranch on a hot summer night. I hope to have lots more nights like these : )

Clay found a lizard

a girl and her goat

YES!!

extreme makeover: cupcake edition

2008-06-10T21:57:00.000-07:00

i have no idea why my cupcakes turned out retarded... they were all disformed and weird...

so i had a little fun
and did sort of an "extreme makover" with them...

before:

after:

ha ha ha ha
: )

catchin critters

2008-06-10T13:21:00.000-07:00

the kids and i went out to sycamore grove. we brought nets and jars and caught tons of little creatures... pollywogs, tiny fish, lizards, and a little crab-thing that wanted to "eat chloe." ha ha ha. it was rad!
i love that place!

this article is awesome!!

2008-06-08T10:50:00.000-07:00

i found a great article in the paper today. it was all about visiting Alaska and, more specifically, visiting the Kenia peninsula which is exactly where Clay's grandparents live!! The article talks about Soldotna... which is the town they live in, and about Homer... which is where we go halibut fishing. I just thought it was a great coincidence that someone from our local newspaper went there and wrote about how truly amazing the place its. Alaska is my second home and I give major kudos to the author of the article.. yay Alaska!!

click here to read it

it was a sad morning today

2008-06-07T18:59:00.000-07:00

he calls about once every couple of months. he lives in Finland. he doesn't write or send them anything. he doesn't help to support them financially. he's my ex-husband and Chloe's father. he just happen to call this morning and Chloe talked to him. she put the phone on speaker (which was seriously not my idea), and i caught parts of their conversation...

not all of the conversation was upsetting: Chloe told him how we built a pond for our turtle, Jack; and she informed her daddy that Swisher got traded to the white sox and doesn't play for the A's anymore (which was devastating news here at our house); and other important news according to our almost 5-year old daughter.

But then Chloe started to ask him why she "can't see him" and "when can he come over to play?" he tried to explain to her that he doesn't live here and he's "working" in Finland right now. Then Chloe said something to him that broke my heart. still unable to understand why her father is absent in her life, she said, "Why don't you live in my world, daddy?"

i wanted to grab her and hug her and tell her how much everyone loves her... but i didn't. i let him continue to try to explain his "situation" to her. he promised that he would come and see her this summer. but he's made those promises before... when Chloe got done talking with her dad she hung up the phone and said to me, "I really miss my daddy."

and this happens every time he calls... it seems like a cycle, really: Chloe doesn't usually talk about her dad or say she misses him- but whenever he calls she gets really upset : (

Clay didn't talk to him at all on the phone. I asked him if he wanted to and he just said, "no." He knows that my ex is not his biological father but was still raised by him for 3 years of his life.

I'm just not quite sure what I should do about the whole situation... Do I continue to encourage Chloe's father to be a part of her life? He is such a small part of her life as it is and seems to just upset her when he does contact her... OR do I ask him to please stop calling every couple of months? I could continue to send him pictures and updates on the kids?... I don't know. I'm trying to be the best mom I can possibly be and I just don't know what to do about this.

windows

2008-06-06T15:40:00.000-07:00

what is it with people and their car windows...?

today i was sitting at a stop light and i looked around at the cars beside me... now, its a pretty warm day out and it gets stuffy in the car so it was definitely one of those days when you either have your windows open or you have the A/C on in your car. anyways, as i was sitting there i saw quite a variety of people and their "windows".

there was an old-timer next to me with his windows rolled all the way down and his arm hanging over the side. he had a relatively old car but i think he might have had A/C... he just chose not to use it. either way, this old man was enjoying the nice breeze that the wind was providing as a means to keep cool...

then there was an obvious mom from the valley. a "soccer mom", if you will. she even had a "proud parent of an honor roll student" bumper sticker ordained on the back of her black escalade. i could see some kids in the backseat and kids are ALWAYS hot so i assume she had the A/C blasting. maybe she can afford all the gas it must cost her to fill her tank and thats why she was wasting the gas by using the A/C... who knows?

i looked over to see another car with a "generic male" as the driver. he was driving a civic with the back windows down but the front ones up. hmm... obviously he likes his air from behind. that, in itself, told me enough about that guy. ha ha ha. . kidding. just kidding : )

as for me? well, anyone who has ridden in my car knows that the A/C tends to malfunction and blow out super hot air rather than cold. seriously, on really hot days when i have to use it, I have to beat the shit outta the thing to get it to work! so... i like to keep 3 windows down while i'm out driving around and i need a little cooling off. why don't i have all 4 rolled down? well... cause the 4th one is busted and i'm not too handy at fixin cars.

mini indy!!

2008-06-05T16:55:00.000-07:00

chloe's last day of school was celebrated with the traditional "mini indy" put on by the staff of gingerbread preschool. the kids got to bring their bikes, pick out a racing number, decorate their ride, and race thru an awesome course!! it was really fun and i was WAY impressed by the whole thing.. kudos to the wonderful staff of gingerbread... i know at least 3 little kiddos that had an awesome time!!!

ready to rock!
here's avery going thru the car wash!!

waiting in line to "get gas"
clear the way... chloe's coming! ahh!!after the race we enjoyed some nachos and sno cones with our buddiesshowin off her "winning" ribbon : )

horny little bella

2008-05-28T13:38:00.000-07:00

while the huneke's were in hawaii, i got to housesit for them. i invited kurt, brandi & bodhi over and bella really took a liking to kurt. ha ha ha!

kite festival

2008-05-28T13:36:00.000-07:00

the annual kite festival in san ramon was this weekend. yay! the kids had so much fun making (free) crafts and playing together.

bestest friends forever

the tea cups!!!
waving from the ferris wheel ride
face painting
this was definitely a highlight for the kids. they got to show off some karate skills and break a piece of wood. plus, they gave us a coupon for a free month of karate lessons! score!
avery was so excited to see clay. he asked if he could go home with him. my mom and dad (and clay) took avery home while la, me and the girls stayed at the festival. clay had so much fun "babysitting" avery at our house! they made tunnels together in the sandbox, played with clay's pet lizard, and did other cool boy stuff. we get to watch avery again this sunday and clay is already planning fun stuff for them to do together... how sweet is that?
thanks guys for a super duper day! love you!

swimming at skylar's

2008-05-28T13:34:00.000-07:00

clay, chloe and i went over to play with the harrison's. it was really hot out so we took a dip in their pool. we had so much fun we came back the next day and went swimming some more! thanks to erik, jules & skylar for keeping us cool during the heat wave last weekend! love you guys!

its always fun at baba's house

2008-05-14T10:25:00.000-07:00

chloe and i ditched out on gymnastics on tuesday so we could go out to baba jules' house to meet the new goat! she's adorable! the kids had a great time playing with the goat, exploring the backyard, playing on the slip n slide... it was a rad afternoon. and now i really cant wait for summer!

look at them cuddling the goat. too cute

this will make no sense at all to most people but this was a conversation between me and la last night. we were making ice cream sundaes and the bottom of the jar of caramel totally broke off in a perfect circle for no apparent reason at all. dumbfounded by what had just happened, lori and i turned to each other...

me: how does that happen? how does that happen?

la: i dont know... am i high?

love you la : )

mamma's day

2008-05-13T10:15:00.000-07:00

this mother's day the fam went out to the city. we wanted to go to alcatraz but they were sold out! what the hell? so we improvised and hung out at pier 39 and Ghiredelli square. it was a fun day. i am so blessed to have such a wonderful family and 2 little kiddos that are the loves of my life : )

my madre and me

my chloe bear and me

my mr man and me
attempting to take a family portrait. the kids were fighting over the green ball but i remained in pose.
we had lunch at boudin (YUM)

chloe had to save some bread so she could feed the birds on the way back to the car. i totally sang the "feed the birds" song from mary poppins while the kids fed the pigeons. people walking by kinda stared at us. i should have put a little cup out for tips... ha ha ha!

we went to Ghiredelli square hoping to find some cool little shops but there werent any. so we all made a wish at this cool fountain and then left.

last stop: lombard street. here's the view from the top. i heart SF. and i heart mi familia. it was a good day for sure!

i've been slacking on my blog

2008-05-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

holy crap! i havent blogged in a month! what have i been doing? well, ive been hell of sick. barfing, barfing, and more barfing.pretty much confined to the couch or my bed. it sucks. a lot. the doctors don't know whats wrong with me but i have an appointment with a GI specialist tomorrow so hopefully i can get some tests done and solve the problem. and on top of that i have a fricking head cold so im all full of snot and my sinuses are all clogged up. so.. ive been out of it needless to say. but im feeling pretty good today so i thought i would catch up on my blogging ( im so productive ha ha!)

some exciting news: my bro is (finally) home!!! well, actually right now he is in maine visiting his new girlfriend that he met on his trip to thailand. im so happy for him cause he hasnt had a girl since he was, like, 14. but the chick lives across the country... you'd think he could find a girl a little closer to home but whatevs... as long as he's happy!

chloe and uncle, playing guitar and singing together. chloe is sooo excited to have her uncle back! i swear, she follows him around like a puppy dog... its super cute!

oh brother, where art thou?

2008-04-17T10:32:00.000-07:00

my not-so-little bro has been studying abroad. he'll be coming home at the beginning of may. im so excited for his return... i cant wait to see him! i get to talk to him every once in a while and he seems to be having a really great time over in thailand. and from the looks of the pictures below, i would definitely say that craig still has his wonderful sense of humor.. and he's found a few buddies to get silly with! love you bro! miss you tons and tons!

here is the craig i remember

getting a tattoo from a thai boy

my brother is bald!!!!

he looks like an old man.... i love it!

him and his crazy friends

a bird's eye view

ha ha ha

great group shot!

i march in silence

2008-04-09T13:54:00.002-07:00

along with quite a few people right now, I too am protesting against the fact that China gets to host the 2008 Olympics. The Olympic games is about countries coming together and participating in a unified event, and i believe that the country that is honored to host this event should symbolize that. and, for me, China does not. I do NOT believe, however, that the United States should boycott the Olympics... that would just penalize our athletes that have worked so hard to get where they're at. Protests and violence and boycotting is not going to make China suddenly un-communist. the voice is from within and the only way China is going to change is by the strength of its own people. the human spirit cannot be contained and just as the people of Russia did, the people of China will prevail and demand freedom from their government. its just a matter of time. and perhaps this is the time... perhaps by allowing China to host the Olympics their people will be influenced by the rest of the world... my hope is that the people of China will catch a glimpse at what true freedom looks like and they will find their long-lost voice.

free tibet

an article from the Washington Post:

The Real China and the Olympics
By Hu Jia and Teng BiaoSaturday, April 5, 2008; Page A15

This week, a Beijing court sentenced human rights activist Hu Jia to 3 1/2 years in prison for subverting state authority and to one additional year's loss of his "political rights." He was arrested in part for co-authoring, with Teng Biao, an open letter on human rights. Below, The Post printsHuman Rights Watch's translation of the Sept. 10, 2007, letter:

On July 13th 2001, when Beijing won the right to host the 2008 Olympic Games, the Chinese government promised the world it would improve China's human rights record. In June 2004, Beijing announced its Olympic Games slogan, "One World, One Dream." From their inception in 1896, the modern Olympic Games have always had as their mission the promotion of human dignity and world peace. China and the world expected to see the Olympic Games bring political progress to the country. Is Beijing keeping its promises? Is China improving its human rights record?
When you come to the Olympic Games in Beijing, you will see skyscrapers, spacious streets, modern stadiums and enthusiastic people. You will see the truth, but not the whole truth, just as you see only the tip of an iceberg. You may not know that the flowers, smiles, harmony and prosperity are built on a base of grievances, tears, imprisonment, torture and blood.
We are going to tell you the truth about China. We believe that for anyone who wishes to avoid a disgraceful Olympics, knowing the truth is the first step. Fang Zheng, an excellent athlete who holds two national records for the discus throw at China's Special Sport Games, has been deprived of the opportunity to participate in the 2008 Paralympics because he has become a living testimony to the June 4, 1989[,] massacre. That morning, in Tiananmen Square, his legs were crushed by a tank while he was rescuing a fellow student. In April 2007, the Ministry of Public Security issued an internal document secretly strengthening a political investigation which resulted in forbidding Olympics participation by 43 types of people from 11 different categories, including dissidents, human rights defenders, media workers, and religious participants. The Chinese police never made the document known to either the Chinese public or the international community.
Huge investment in Olympic projects and a total lack of transparency have facilitated serious corruption and widespread bribery. Taxpayers are not allowed to supervise the use of investment amounting to more than $40 billion. Liu Zhihua, formerly in charge of Olympic construction and former deputy mayor of Beijing, was arrested for massive embezzlement.
To clear space for Olympic-related construction, thousands of civilian houses have been destroyed without their former owners being properly compensated. Brothers Ye Guozhu and Ye Guoqiang were imprisoned for a legal appeal after their house was forcibly demolished. Ye Guozhu has been repeatedly handcuffed and shackled, tied to a bed and beaten with electric batons. During the countdown to the Olympic Games he will continue to suffer from torture in Chaobei Prison in Tianjin.
It has been reported that over 1.25 million people have been forced to move because of Olympic construction; it was estimated that the figure would reach 1.5 million by the end of 2007. No formal resettlement scheme is in place for the over 400,000 migrants who have had their dwelling places demolished. Twenty percent of the demolished households are expected to experience poverty or extreme poverty. In Qingdao, the Olympic sailing city, hundreds of households have been demolished and many human rights activists as well as "civilians" have been imprisoned. Similar stories come from other Olympic cities such as Shenyang, Shanghai and Qinhuangdao.
In order to establish the image of civilized cities, the government has intensified the ban against -- and detention and forced repatriation of -- petitioners, beggars and the homeless. Some of them have been kept in extended detention in so-called shelters or have even been sent directly to labor camps. Street vendors have suffered brutal confiscation of their goods by municipal agents. On July 20, 2005, Lin Hongying, a 56-year-old woman farmer and vegetable dealer, was beaten to death by city patrols in Jiangsu. On November 19, 2005, city patrols in Wuxi beat 54-year-old bicycle repairman Wu Shouqing to death. In January 2007, petitioner Duan Huimin was killed by Shanghai police. On July 1, 2007, Chen Xiaoming, a Shanghai petitioner and human rights activist, died of an untreated illness during a lengthy detention period. On August 5, 2007, right before the one-year Olympics countdown, 200 petitioners were arrested in Beijing.
China has consistently persecuted human rights activists, political dissidents and freelance writers and journalists. The blind activist Chen Guangcheng, recipient of the 2007 Ramon Magsaysay Award and named in 2006 by Time Magazine as one of the most influential 100 people shaping our world, is still serving his sentence of four years and three months for exposing the truth of forced abortion and sterilization. The government refused to give him the Braille books and the radio that his relatives and friends brought to Linyi prison in Shandong. Chen has been beaten while serving his sentence. On August 24, 2007, Chen's wife, Yuan Weijing, was kidnapped by police at the Beijing airport while waiting to fly to the Philippines to receive the Ramon Magsaysay Award on behalf of her husband. On August 13, 2007, activist Yang Chunlin was arrested in Heilongjiang and charged with subversion of state power "for initiating the petition 'Human Rights before Olympics.' "
China still practices literary inquisition and holds the world record for detaining journalists and writers, as many as several hundred since 1989, according to incomplete statistics. As of this writing, 35 Chinese journalists and 51 writers are still in prison. Over 90 percent were arrested or tried after Beijing's successful bid for the Olympics in July 2001. For example, Shi Tao, a journalist and a poet, was sentenced to ten years in prison because of an e-mail sent to an overseas website. Dr. Xu Zerong, a scholar from Oxford University who researched the Korean War, was sentenced to 13 years' imprisonment for "illegally providing information abroad." Qingshuijun [Huang Jinqiu], a freelance writer, was sentenced to a 12-year term for his online publications. Some writers and dissidents are prohibited from going abroad; others from returning to China.
Every year in mainland China, countless websites are closed, blogs deleted, sensitive words filtered. Many websites hosted abroad are blocked. Overseas radio and television programs are interfered with or strictly prohibited. Although the Chinese government has promised media freedom for foreign journalists for 22 months, before, during, and after the Beijing Olympics, and ending on October 17, 2008, an FCCC [Foreign Correspondents Club in China] survey showed that 40 percent of foreign correspondents have experienced harassment, detention or an official warning during news gathering in Beijing and other areas. Some reporters have complained about repeated violent police interference at the time they were speaking with interviewees. Most seriously, Chinese interviewees usually become vulnerable as a result. In June 2006, Fu Xiancai was beaten and paralyzed after being interviewed by German media. In March 2007, Zheng Dajing was beaten and arrested after being interviewed by a British TV station.
Religious freedom is still under repression. In 2005, a Beijing pastor, Cai Zhuohua, was sentenced to three years for printing Bibles. Zhou Heng, a house church pastor in Xinjiang, was charged with running an "illegal operation" for receiving dozens of boxes of Bibles. From April to June 2007, China expelled over 100 suspected U.S., South Korean, Canadian, Australian, and other missionaries. Among them were humanitarian workers and language educators who had been teaching English in China for 15 years. During this so-called Typhoon 5 campaign, authorities took aim at missionary activities so as to prevent their recurrence during the Olympics.
On September 30, 2006, Chinese soldiers opened fire on 71 Tibetans who were escaping to Nepal. A 17-year-old nun died and a 20-year-old man was severely injured. Despite numerous international witnesses, the Chinese police insisted that the shooting was in self-defense. One year later, China tightened its control over Tibetan Buddhism. A September 1, 2007, regulation requires all reincarnated lamas to be approved by Chinese authorities, a requirement that flagrantly interferes with the tradition of reincarnation of living Buddhas as practiced in Tibet for thousands of years. In addition, Chinese authorities still ban the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet and a world-renowned pacifist, from returning to Tibet.
Since 1999, the government has banned many religious beliefs such as Falungong and the Three Servants. Their followers have experienced extremely cruel and planned persecutions. Many died from abuse, suffered torture, brainwashing, imprisonment and labor camp internment for persisting in their faith, possessing religious books, making DVDs and writing articles to expose the truth of the persecution.
China has the highest death penalty rate in the world. Execution statistics are treated as "state secrets." However, experts estimate that 8,000-10,000 people are sentenced to death in China every year, among them not only criminals and economic convicts, but totally innocent citizens, such as Nie Shubin, Teng Xingshan, Cao Haixin and Hugejiletu, whose innocence was proven only after they were already dead.
Another eight innocent farmers, Chen Guoqing, He Guoqiang, Yang Shiliang, Zhu Yanqiang, Huang Zhixiang, Fang Chunping, Cheng Fagen and Cheng Lihe, who confessed their "crimes" after being cruelly tortured by the police, have been sentenced to death and are currently held in prisons in Hebei [province] and in Jingdezhen [in Jiangxi province].
Torture is very common in China's detention centers, labor camps and prisons. Torture methods include electric shock, burning, use of electric needles, beating and hanging, sleep deprivation, forced chemical injection causing nerve damage, and piercing the fingers with needles. Every year, there are reported cases of Chinese citizens being disabled or killed by police torture.
Labor camps are still retained as a convenient Chinese system which allows the police to lock up citizens without trial for up to four years. The detention system is another practice that the police favor, freeing them to detain citizens for six months to two years. Dissidents and human rights activists are particularly vulnerable targets and are often sent to labor camps, detention centers or even mental hospitals by authorities who want to simplify legal procedures and mislead the media.
China has the world's largest secret police system, the Ministry of National Security (guo an) and the Internal Security Bureau (guo bao) of the Ministry of Public Security, which exercise power beyond the law. They can easily tap telephones, follow citizens, place them under house arrest, detain them and impose torture. On June 3, 2004, the Chinese secret police planted drugs on Chongqing dissident Xu Wanping and later sentenced him to 12 years' imprisonment for "subversion of state power."
Chinese citizens have no right to elect state leaders, local government officials or representatives. In fact, there has never been free exercise of election rights in township-level elections. Wuhan resident Sun Bu'er, a member of the banned political party the Pan-Blue Alliance, was brutally beaten in September 2006 for participating as an independent candidate during an election of county-level people's congress representatives. Mr. Sun disappeared on March 23, 2007.
China continues to cruelly discriminate against its rural population. According to the Chinese election law, a farmer's right to vote is worth one quarter of that of an urban resident. In June 2007, the Shanxi kiln scandal was exposed by the media. Thousands of 8- [to-]13[-]year-old trafficked children had been forced to labor in illegal kilns, almost all with local government connections. Many of the children were beaten, tortured and even buried alive.
The Chinese judiciary still illegally forbids any HIV/AIDS lawsuits against government officials responsible for the tragedy. AIDS sufferers and activists have been constantly harassed by the secret police.
The Chinese government has been selling arms and weapons to Darfur and other African regions to support ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. The Chinese authorities have forcibly repatriated North Korean refugees, knowing that they would be sent to labor camps or executed once back home. This significantly contravenes China's accession to the "Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees" and the "Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees."

· Please be aware that the Olympic Games will be held in a country where there are no elections, no freedom of religion, no independent courts, no independent trade unions; where demonstrations and strikes are prohibited; where torture and discrimination are supported by a sophisticated system of secret police; where the government encourages the violation of human rights and dignity, and is not willing to undertake any of its international obligations.
· Please consider whether the Olympic Games should coexist with religious persecution[,] labor camps, modern slavery, identity discrimination, secret police and crimes against humanity.
As the Beijing Olympics slogan says, we live in "one world" with "one dream." We hope that one day the Chinese people will be able to share universal human rights, democracy and peace with people from all around the world. However, we can see that the Chinese government obviously is not yet prepared to honor its promise. As a matter of fact, the preparations for the Olympics have provided the perfect excuse for the Chinese government to restrict civil liberties and suppress human rights!
We do not want China to be contained or isolated from the rest of the world. We believe that only by adhering to the principles of human rights and through open dialogue can the world community pressure the Chinese government to change. Ignoring these realities and tolerating barbaric atrocities in [the] name of the Beijing Olympics will disgrace the Olympic Charter and shake the foundations of humanity. Human rights improvement requires time, but we should at least stop China's human rights situation from deteriorating. Having the Olympics hosted in a country where human dignity is trampled on will not honor its people or the Olympic Games.
We sincerely hope that the Olympic Games will bring the values of peace, equality, freedom and justice to 1.3 billion Chinese citizens. We pray that the Olympics will be held in a free China. We must push for the 2008 Olympics to live up to the Olympic Charter[,] and we must advocate for the realization of "one world" with "one human rights dream." We believe that only an Olympic Games true to the Olympic Charter can promote China's democratic progress, world peace and development.
We firmly hold to the belief that there can be no true Olympic Games without human rights and dignity. For China and for the Olympics, human rights must be upheld!

booowwwllliinnng

2008-04-09T13:54:00.001-07:00

Walter Sobchak: OVER THE LINE!

Smokey: Huh?

Walter Sobchak: I'm sorry, Smokey. You were over the line, that's a foul.

Smokey: Bullshit. Mark it 8, Dude.

Walter Sobchak: Uh, excuse me. Mark it zero. Next frame.

Smokey: Bullshit, Walter. Mark it 8, Dude.

Walter Sobchak: Smokey, this is not 'Nam. This is bowling. There are rules.

chloe & i went bowling with B, La & juni. the girls got their own lane while the adults kicked some major ass in our lane! seriously... we all did so well i think we should join a bowling league.... we're looking for a 4th teammate if anyone's interested... ha ha ha!!

fun times at granada bowl... too bad they're tearing it down in a year : (

this was one of la's many strikes

crabby face!

fun on the spinny chairs

we really need to do this more often. love you guys!

if the Buddha dated...

2008-04-08T12:45:00.000-07:00

so i recently finished reading a really fantastic book : if the Buddha dated by charlotte kasl. it took me about a month to read because i really studied and reflected on what this book was all about... i would read a few pages and then write things down on how it pertained to my life and my past relationships. and, well... most people know my past relationships have been somewhat- um.. chaotic? ha ha ha..but really, i felt like i was renewing my spiritual energy throughout this whole process. and for me the book wasn't a how-to book on dating.. thank goodness!! it was more about learning how to be true to your " Buddha self". i guess its given me a different outlook on certain things and its definitely helped me takes steps forward on my spiritual path. and while i don't necessarily want to date right now... i think the book has most certainly prepared me for when i do. so... i guess im done with my little book review now.. ha ha
you can check out some more info here: http://www.getreadyforlove.com/kasl%20ifthebuddhamarried.htm

namaste : )

girls just wanna...

2008-04-07T08:18:00.001-07:00

chloe and i had a rad playdate with julie and skylar (& louie too)! we rode bike to a cool park and had a little picnic lunch...

hey you!

skylaaaaarrrrr!!!i love louie... or as chloe called him, " dewie" ha ha hathis was a cool little spinner thing... the girls had a blast on it! after our picnic we rode bikes to a dog park. ive never been to a dog park... its so cute! all the dogs just run around and play with each other. and the girls found some stuff to play on too

on our way back to julie's we stopped at the creek to play.
chloe had to pee it was a really great day! i had so much fun... even though i totally bailed on erik's bike... actually, that was really funny. thanks jules and skylar for an awesome time!! love love love

an unusual spelling word...

2008-04-04T10:13:00.000-07:00

Clay had some spelling homework last night. He has spelling every week, but this week one of his spelling words was a word that i had no idea what the meaning was. So we looked it up together on the internet and this is what we found:

MISBEGOTTEN
Adj.
1.
misbegotten - born out of wedlock; "the dominions of both rulers passed away to their spurious or doubtful offspring"- E.A.Freeman
bastardly, misbegot, spurious
illegitimate - of marriages and offspring; not recognized as lawful

The first word that Clay noticed was the word "bastardly". He said, "whoa, mom, thats a swear word!" I told him that the word bastard actually has a meaning and i explained to him what the word meant. He then looked at me as if a light bulb suddenly went off in his head... " So you mean..." clay said with a sly grin on his face, " Im a bastard?" " Yes son, " I said. " Since your dad and I werent married when you were born... technically... you are a bastard." Clay burst out laughing and it made me start laughing too. who would have thought that one of my son's spelling words would reveal this kind of information!!! ha ha ha! After Clay and I were done laughing, he turned to me and said, " So can i say "bastard" now? Since i know what it means?" I had to think about that one for a minute... I mean, I dont really consider it a bad word but i really dont want clay running around telling everyone " Im a bastard! Im a bastard!" So i told him he couldnt say it at school and as long as he used it in context then he could say it once in a while....

April Fools

2008-04-02T08:56:00.001-07:00

so... april 1st was my parents' 30th anniversary. i know, weird that they were married on april fool's day but... yeah. anyways, mom got a new diamond and dad got a new sound system for the HDTV. they definitely went big for their 30th.... but its really is quite an accomplishment to be married to the same person for 30 years.. ha ha ha! clay had a baseball game in the evening and he played awesome! im so proud of his baseball skills... i love watching him play! chloe made some little friends at the game and had fun flying her kite with them...
i made these
happy 30th ma & pa!

disneyland

2008-04-02T08:44:00.000-07:00

fun times at Disneyland!! it was a bit crowded but... its ALWAYS crowded there.

chloe looks a bit exhausted
the tea cups... woot!
clay in a rad treehouse
me and my man

the kids spent most of their time just hanging out at the hotel pool.

chloe diggin into her who-cakes

pammy's pad

2008-04-02T08:38:00.000-07:00

while we were in L.A. i got the pleasure of seeing Pammy!! she picked me up at my hotel and brought me back to her place for some "leisure time." Lo had made some brownies and yummy apple-tinis (thanks Lo!) It was so rad to see Pammy's apartment and just hang out together. good times! thanks again to Pammy and Lo for picking me up and taking me back to the hotel... i love you guys!!

zoo ride

2008-03-26T23:39:00.005-07:00

a fabulous day at the zoo!

2008-03-25T16:48:00.000-07:00

ready??? HIKE

2008-03-25T15:13:00.000-07:00

clayton had been wanting to show me this "really cool pond" out in Sunol. so... me, clay, chloe & my pops ventured out for what we thought was gonna be a fun little hike. well... it was definitely fun but not so little. we hiked up a path that was pretty steep and pretty long.... but well worth it!!

chloe & g-pa do you see my family?
there was this really cool patch of cactus growing
it was a beautiful day
we came across some cows...
they were blocking the path so we took a different route...

then the cows followed us to the pond...

our close enCOWnter...he he he

the kids had a blast!

she'll follow her " big bubba" anywhere

chloe got a little tired so clay gave her a piggy-back ride

my awesome kiddos

eggs

2008-03-17T10:34:00.000-07:00

egg dye-ing egg die-ing
my egg

peace, man

play ball!!

2008-03-17T10:09:00.000-07:00

opening day for little league was on saturday. team pictures, hit-a-thon, clay's first game, and a bbq were all the festivities that took place that day. for team pictures clay took a picture by himself; one with his best friend, thomas; and one with the coach, my dad. it was too cute!!

clay was a little nervous for his first game, but he did awesome! he got on base every time he was up to bat

my little catcher
and here he is on the mound... clay is definitely a natural pitcher. he struck out the first batter that he faced and didnt allow any runs. he even came back in to pitch later in the game to relieve a boy who was having a rough time. i was so proud of him!
clay had a rad time playing his first game of the season
lori and the kids came to watch clay's first game. it was so cute... all the kids were cheering clay on!! they all really look up to him because he's a "big kid." he he he. lori and i found out that the girls can start playing softball next year... um, yeah... we're stoked!!

thanks for coming to the game guys!!! we love you!

love love love little man

another rad field trip... woot!

2008-03-12T09:21:00.000-07:00

Clay's class had another field trip on Monday. this time we went to the marine science institute in redwood city. we got to spend the day on a ship and cruised around the bay. but it wasn't just a leisure cruise... the kids threw out a net and pulled in some fish, took water samples and studied the differences in the water, took some mud samples from the bottom of the bay ( using this really cool claw-thing), and looked at all the plankton on the water through microscopes. it was a great learning experience for the kids and it also educated them on the impact humans have on the San Fransisco bay. i had a great time... i really love this group of kids and Ive become pretty good friends with their awesome teacher, Becky!

here's the boys: such hams!

silly heads

chillin before boarding the ship

classroom for the day: on a ship!

best friends: clay and thomas ( he's clay's "brotha from anotha motha". ha ha ha! the boys taught me that little saying!)

a quick lesson in net-fishing

waiting to see what they caught

we caught tons of fish, including some rays and a leopard shark! i liked this little guy: he was flat and both eyes were on top of his head... definitely a bottom-dweller ha ha.

my mr. man. it was clay's first time on a ship. he's been on tons of little boats when we go to Alaska, but he's always been a little scared of going out on a big body of water like a bay or ocean . but he loved it! now i just need to convince him to go halibut fishing with me when we go to Alaska.... but the boat is a lot smaller, and the waves are a lot more intense. i know chloe would do it in a heart beat ha ha ha!

he takes after his mama

2008-03-07T08:50:00.000-08:00

clay has started his baseball season already. he's on the mets and my dad is the coach.... its pretty awesome. and the coolest part? clay wants to be a catcher... just like his mom was back in her softball days. i've already taught him a few things about the art of catching. he he he... god, i love baseball!

it was a really sunny day... can u tell? ha ha