Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Change of Scenery

I'm tired of not being able to post pictures here anymore, so I've exported this entire blog, and moved over to blog.com.  Sorry if you received our Christmas card with this url, but I had them printed before I decided to move! 

If you want to keep up with us, head over to: http://themcreynolds.blog.com

See you over there!

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Burnt out

Halloween is normally one of my favoritist (is that even a word?) holidays.  But this year, I have no desire whatsoever to decorate or even get in the 'spirit'.  Everything seems like a monumental task lately.  We have had literally no downtime since June (May, maybe?).  Every weekend is filled with activities, and the weekdays are now becoming busier as well, with activities and meetings and sports.  We signed up for swim lessons, and already missed the first two lessons because we were out of town.  Even this last weekend, we had plans only for Friday night/Saturday morning.  I thought for sure we'd have time to relax during the rest of the weekend.  But instead, we ended up super busy again.  Rushing to get the boat into storage (and off our street - see last post), running to the market for food for the week, running to Target for basic supplies... the list goes on! 

Part of being so busy is my training for this half marathon as well.  I'll be running in the Santa Barbara half on November 10th.  I am already regretting signing up for this.  I've come to the conclusion that I am not meant for long distance running. I enjoy the 5k's and maybe even a few 10k's, but a half marathon is just becoming a PITA.  Especially because So Cal is having a heat wave.  In October!  I have been waking up at 4:30am on Saturdays in order to be running by 5am and be done before 8.  Because by 8am it's already 80 degrees.  It's becoming more of a burden than fun.  And this last week I started getting super sick, so I've done 11.5 miles a few weeks back, and didn't get in 12 last weekend.  I am running a zombie 5k/mud run this weekend (www.runforyourlives.com), so I'm going to try for 13 miles next weekend.  If I don't get it in, then I'll be running 13 miles for the first time at the half.

I also think this whole running thing is better for addictive personalities.  I am not sure I am one of those.  I have never understood things like smoking.  What do you mean you can't just stop doing it?  I suppose I can say I'm a little addicted to sugar, but even that I gave up in order to lose weight a few years ago (and have kept it off).  So I am starting to think I just don't have the "addiction" gene in me.  I've been running for coming up on 2 years, and while I can say I enjoy it, if I don't run for a week, it's not like I miss it.  So, after I finish this half, I am done running the long distances.  I'll do some 5k's for the fun of it, but I do not enjoy the long runs at all.

So after Nov. 10 I am taking a break.  From everything.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Neighbors

We live in a city.  I know this.  So I suppose I shouldn't be upset that our neighborhood isn't like the one I grew up in the Suburbs.  But I am.  It upsets me that kids aren't out playing in the street until they get called in by their parents.  It upsets me that I can't walk outside and see other moms I can lament with.  Don't get me wrong, we do know several of our neighbors.  But I feel like they're not nearly as friendly as the group I grew up with in the "Valley".  We've lived here for almost 8 years, and I just barely met one of our neighbors this summer!

Anyway, the whole reason this came up is because one of our neighbors seems to have it out for us.  Our new boat doesn't fit into our backyard, so we've been parking it on the street in front of our house since January.  In order not to inconvenience anyone else (everyone in our neighborhood parks on the street), I've been backing my truck into the backyard instead.  So really, no one is inconvenienced, see?  We use the space in front of our house that was previously used by my truck, for the boat, and I park my truck in the backyard.  Well, starting about 3 weeks ago, parking enforcement trucks started showing up.  We got chalked twice.  The second time, Mike happened to be home, so he went out to talk to the guy.  Turns out one of our neighbors is calling and complaining about an "abandoned" boat on the street.  He can't tell us who, but he told Mike when the call was made.

What irks us both is that this SOB hasn't said anything to us.  You can't leave a neighborly note on the door if you're too cowardly to come say something to us in person?  And really, what does a boat parked in front of OUR house hurting them?  Like I said, we've done our best to minimize the impact to anyone else, yet someone is still complaining.

So much for neighborly neighbors.

Friday, July 6, 2012

Summer is here!

I always forget as we get into the summer season just how busy it can get.  But here we are, already past July 4!  I was looking at my calendar the other day and surprised by how much we already have planned.  And Amanda will be starting Kindergarten on August 14!  So really we barely have a month until SCHOOL starts!  Yikes!

I bought Amanda her school uniforms this week.  Schools in LAUSD can "suggest" a uniform, but any parent can opt out for their child (for any reason) by just sending a letter to the office saying they opt out.  But when I told Amanda about it, and had her pick out her uniform clothes with me on-line, she was more than excited to shop.  Plus she told me she didn't want to look 'different' than the other kids.  The 'uniform' is just khaki bottoms and a navy or white polo shirt, which is basically sold by just about any kids clothing store out there.  I ended up buying from Children's Place because they were having a big sale plus, I had a coupon for 20% off.  Yay sales!

We spent July 4 at my parents for a bbq, as is the custom since my Dad's birthday is on July 4.  Then we walked up to a local Church that does a big fireworks show.  Although this year we felt it just wasn't as good.  Maybe next year we'll try something new.

I have been sick on and off for the last 3-4 weeks and I am sick (ha!) of it.  First Mike & I both came down with a cold that just sapped our energy and made us congested.  Then just as I was sure I was over that, I came down with a stomach flu on Monday this week.  SO not fun.  I'm still recovering from that and getting my appetite back.

My hair is slowly growing back, and now I feel like I'm in that "in between" time when I don't quite have long enough hair, but it's long enough to be shaggy.  I probably should go back to my hairdresser, but honestly I don't know when I'm going to find the time!

Anyway, here's to a fun and busy summer!

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

June already?

Where does the time go?  Oh wait, I was stressing about schools... ha ha!

So now that I can rest easy (I turned in all enrollment stuff yesterday!  Woohoo!) about schools, I can focus on the end of Amanda's preschool years.  The school is having a whole graduation ceremony for the kids on June 20 at 11am.  Ugh, talk about an inconvenient time!  Guess I'm taking the whole day off...

They sent home graduation pictures in their cap & gown last week, and I went on-line to check them out.  When we first turned in sizes/money for the cap & gown we were told they would all be in green, but apparently they changed their minds and put the girls in yellow.  And UGH did Amanda's turn out terrible.  Yellow is definitely not her color, and the photographer did not do a very good job getting her to smile like the last school photographer did.

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Amazing the way it all works out..

So as I have been posting on here, the search for a public (aka free) school for Amanda this year has been a long and arduous journey.  But finally this week, I can say it's OVER!  We finally have a school!

To recap, starting last November, we applied to a magnet school (you can only apply to one), then we toured the local schools in March, followed by applying to two local charter schools, and a school for advanced studies (last minute find thanks to the librarian at our local library).  As of the end of March, I was super frustrated and believed:
  1. Magnet schools were impossible to get into, with nearly 1,000 applicants for only 80 spots, a complicated points/lottery system, and limited campuses.
  2. Charter schools were impossible to get into, with lots of applicants (they couldn't tell me exactly how many) and a complicated lottery system that was supposedly random, but still gave priority to certain people.
  3. GATE and SAS programs were impossible to get into because it's hard to identify a child as 'gifted' in Kindergarten, so most schools don't even offer it until 2nd grade (so why even try?).
  4. Getting a permit OUT of LAUSD is impossible, especially since we don't work anywhere near the school districts we were considering, and we don't qualify for any of the other reasons.
  5. Getting a permit to go anywhere but our local school is impossible, as we don't qualify for any of the applicable reasons.
Yet, as of last week, we were accepted at a magnet school, a charter school, a local school not our own, AND an SAS program.  I also discovered Mike works within another (good) school district I didn't even know existed (Culver City), so we could have viably applied to get out of LAUSD if we really wanted to.

I love choices :)

In the end, we chose Playa del Rey Elementary School School for Advanced Studies (SAS) for lots of good reasons I hope we'll be happy with.  I spent yesterday calling the rest of the schools to decline their invitations to attend, which felt both scary and relieving at the same time.  I guess we'll never know for SURE if we made the right decision, but I hope we don't end up regretting it.  I am super happy to have made that decision and have it behind us though.

In other news, the same time we were getting acceptance calls, I got a call from preschool on Thursday that they had to call 911 on Kevin.  He apparently was riding those 'flinstone' like cars and ran it headlong into another kid.  It threw him from the car, did a flip and landed on his head.  Luckily I was home that day (getting our house checked so we can get solar panels installed), so I drove over and rode in the ambulance with him.  Talk about scary!  But he was fine in the end.  ER doc gave us the all clear and told me what to watch for that night.  I leave you with a picture of him strapped to the pappoosa just after we arrived at the ER.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

New Look!

As many of you know, I had been growing my hair out for the last several years.  I was doing so with the intent of donating to Locks of Love, a wonderful charity that makes wigs for children with cancer and other diseases that prevent them from growing their own hair.  Well, last week I realized my hair was just not growing any more, and I was getting sick of the upkeep the long hair required.  So on Saturday I headed to the salon.  I don't have a regular hair person, so I just went down to Fantastic Sam's.  I told the lady what I wanted to do, and where I wanted to cut it (basically only my longest layer was going to be the required 10 inches, and the rest was just going to have to go), but she started brushing out my hair and convinced me we could get a full 10 inches out of the whole thing.  So she started chopping.  And chopping she did.

The pic to the left is how I came back.  SUPER short, like even shorter than I have ever had before.  Amazing!  Mike hates it (he likes long hair), but I assured him I intend to grow it out again.  I was super self-conscious about it for several days, but I am slowly getting used to it now.


On Sunday, we headed out to the beach for a bike ride.  Here's the only pic I took of the kids when we stopped for ice cream:

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Big weekend for us!

We had a big weekend for everyone this weekend!

1st- Amanda gave up her nap.  I'm pretty sure she was ready to give up her nap a while ago, but I was being stubborn (I need the down time too!).  Also, they still make them lay down at preschool so I felt like if I didn't continue that on the weekends, it would throw her whole schedule off.  Ironically, I picked her up from school yesterday and she told me they weren't required to take a nap because they found mice droppings on their cots.  So they had to wash the bedding and the kids just got to watch tv instead.  This won't happen every day, but it was funny that it happened on the Monday after she went a whole weekend without naps!  She did pretty well.  Still had a bit of a meltdown on Monday night.  But she goes to sleep better (no more coming out of her room every 5 minutes for an hour!), and sleeps later (at least until Kevin woke her up), so that's nice.

2nd- Kevin started potty training.  We've been encouraging him for a while, but he was never really interested.  Lately though he has started wanting a diaper change at every pee-pee, so last Thursday I put him in some BUZZ! underwear, which he promptly soaked.  By Friday, he started to get it and after a few accidents, he went on his new froggy potty (won in a silent auction at preschool).  Saturday and Sunday were huge wins, and at school on Monday they said he did really good too!  Yay for Kevin!

We are trying a new cleaning lady this week as well.  The old lady has apparently dissappeared.  She was supposed to come on Good Friday, but called the night before to cancel.  Then she didn't show up for the next two weeks.  My neighbor, and her sister both tried to get ahold of her, but she has apparently moved out of her house and cancelled her phones.  So my neighbor knew someone else who we are trying today.  We shall see how this one goes!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Thirty-four

That's how old I turned last Friday (6th).  The whole thing came up about age at work during the week before.  I don't care who knows my age, nor do I try to hide it.  I have never understood why people do that?  Do they just want the attention it undoubtedly garners?  People used to tell me it would change as I got older, but it hasn't.  I still don't care.  I will shout to the world I AM 34!

Anyway, my birthday fell on Good Friday this year, so the kids & I had the day off.  I had originally thought we'd go to the zoo, but then decided on a playdate with a friend instead (the zoo was probably going to be super crowded!).  The kids had fun, and then we went to McDonald's for lunch (yes, I had McDonald's for my birthday lunch!  That's how I roll...).  After naps I took the kids to see "Mirror, Mirror" which they both really enjoyed.  We were supposed to go out to dinner with Mike afterwards, but it was getting late and we had filled up on popcorn, so he made us Spaghetti instead.  Then we went out on Saturday night.

We had a good Easter that weekend as well.  The kids had FOUR egg hunts.  One at school on Thursday, then at a Church party on Saturday, then the Easter Bunny on Sunday morning and the last one at my parent's house Sunday evening.  I was surprised at how little candy they got.  Obviously I could control the Easter Bunny eggs, but the Church one (all donated eggs) consisted of mostly toy-filled eggs, and the one at school was pretty light on candy as well.  The only one with heavy candy was the one at my parent's house (Grandma couldn't resist I guess).  Then we went to the dentist on Tuesday.  Luckily, no cavities this time!  Hurray!

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Another 5k!




This last weekend I ran another 5k in San Diego - The Hot Chocolate 5k/15k.  Such fun!  Above is a pic of my two friends & I as we approached the starting line.  Running with friends is a lot more fun than doing it alone :)  Not my best time (37:10) but I also didn't get to train much, thanks to a BAD cold I caught in early March, and I twisted my ankle just mere days beforehand.  Not to mention it was a super-hilly course and my legs were sore for days afterwards!  But what matters is I did it!

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Bath time fun!

So I joined a couple mom-inspired groups on facebook that post some interesting fun ideas for kids.  One of them was to make their bath glow.  They actually put highlighter ink in the water and used a blacklight, but seeing as how Kevin has a tendency to drink the bathwater still, I decided not to do that.  Instead, I purchased on Amazon some submersibe LED lights.  They are like the flameless candles, but waterproof and they rotate between colors.  The kids had so much fun in their bath!  I have also heard of using the glow sticks, though they are harder to find this time of year.  Here are some pics:
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My OCD daughter had to line them up in a row GlowInTheDarkBath 021 GlowInTheDarkBath 027

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Update

So apparently Blogger doesn't support my browser at work anymore.  And unfortunately because of security risks, I am not allowed to install anything on this computer either.  So guess what, that means I can only post from home!  Yikes! So definitely uploading pictures doesn't work.  We shall see if posting just words works...

A couple of weeks ago we picked up the new boat from the mechanic and took it out for a spin.  It worked pretty good, though the ballast system seems to be somewhat impaired.  Mike & Nate went in the *freezing cold* water, and the rest of us laughed at them :)

Other than that, it's business as usual around here.  I am trying to get Amanda into a school for this coming year that isn't our local one.  I've applied to 3 different schools, and I have 3 more in mind.  None of these are private, by the way because Mike is 110% against it.  I actually asked him "on a scale of 1 to 10 where 10 is adamantly opposed to any private school whatsoever, where are you?"  And he replied a 12.  Lovely.  So I trudge on...

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Customer Service just isn't what it used to be.

Remember when you were young and your mom would say, get a phone bill with the wrong amount billed?  She would call AT&T and have it ironed out in 5 minutes with a credit to the bill and a gift in the mail.  They were desperate to keep your business.

I have *never* had that experience.  But the latest one is a doosie.  I belong to various deal sites where they have a deal a day at 50% off or more.  Just before Valentine's Day one was offered for flavored popcorn.  I <3 flavored popcorn, so I jumped on it.  I ordered a 3-way tin in a Valentine's heart pattern.  Here's what arrived yesterday:

Where are the Valentine hearts?  And why exactly is the popcorn OUTSIDE the tin?  See those two stickers sticking off the sides?  That was supposed to hold the lid on, and it obviously didn't.  *sigh*

So this morning, I e-mail customer service.  Their response?  That it was 'disclosed' that you may not get a Valentine Heart tin (I finally found it after digging around the website, in extremely tiny print off in a corner somewhere), and they are very sorry but they aren't responsible for what happens in transit.  Really?

This comes after the wake of a similar experience at work where a dormant check is now lost in a black hole and no one can find it, and no one is claiming responsibility.  And I'm left shaking my head wondering what happened to good customer service?

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Everyday around here


So it used to be that every night after bath, I would read Kevin a book while Mike read Amanda a book, and then we'd switch.  Well, now Kevin *insists* on being in Amanda's room while Daddy reads to Amanda, so here's a pic I took of them on Amanda's bed, reading.  Kevin is also asserting some independence and insists on picking out his pajamas nowadays.  Thus, the thin, summer pajamas in the heart of winter.  Good thing we have a space heater in his room!














And this next picture was taken on Lincoln's birthday. I headed to the Pepperdine College campus to pick up tickets to 2 great kids shows coming up in the next couple months.  Outside the theater is this great fountain.  The kids threw in some pennies and enjoyed the water for a bit before we headed home for naps.  The entire day turned out really nice despite having to lug the kids around running errands.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Say hello to my little friend!

Meet the new boat (yet to be named):
The above picture is at the gas station near the guy's house we bought it from.  The tires needed to be filled before embarking on our 90 minute journey home.





We officially picked up the new boat yesterday (Sunday) and brought it home.  The guy insisted we pay him in cash, so here's Mike holding all that cash before we left.

It was seriously nerve-racking getting so much cash out of the bank on Friday!  The teller counted it all out for me too before he gave it to me, so anyone watching could see I was taking a WAD of cash out.

Overall the entire transaction was pretty painless.  The guys was very trustworthy, and even though we had to pay off his bank directly and they sent the title to him, he came through and signed the title over to us.

Then we got home, and discovered the boat is too wide to fit up our driveway :(  While Mike had worried it was too long, he assumed it was the same width as the Midnight Mist (or only slightly wider, but not enough to worry about).  Turns out, we were wrong and there isn't any easy way to get the boat into our backyard.  So after trying to squeeze it through for about a 1/2 hour, Mike gave up and left it parked there for a bit until the Super Bowl visitors left from in front of our house.

Meanwhile, the kids played in the boat, hanging from the new tower.  Here is a pic of them "just hanging out".  Both kids love the new boat and can't wait to go out on it.  I love the extra room it affords inside, and it has TONS of storage space.  Mike is more than excited about the wakeboarding 'extras' like Perfect Pass and a ballast system.  Looking forward to a fun summer on the new boat!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

We're busy up in here, yo!

The past 2 weeks have been just so busy, I barely have time to think!  Amanda's birthday pizza party was a huge success.  Her whole class was so cute and thankful for their pizza lunch.  I had fun too, setting up the plates, doling out fruit & pizza slices.

Last week was an emotional roller coaster.  We all had MLK day off on Monday, so we headed up to Castaic to drop off the boat for some (what we thought were) minor repairs.  The floorboards were feeling a bit soft, so Mike thought a few might need replacing.  Well, turns out the whole floor is rotted, along with the supports that keep the floor up.  So we're talking thousands of dollars to repair on an already super-old boat (not worth the cost of the repairs).  Mike has an emotional attachment to the boat since it originally belonged to his dad, so he was really feeling down about it, and deciding what to do.

Then he found another boat for sale with all the extras in a boat he ever wanted.  At a very good price too.  But the guy didn't call him back for several days, so we weren't even sure the boat was still for sale.  Plus, we weren't sure we could afford it.

Then on Thursday I found out at work that due to a new 'job grading' analysis they did, I would be receiving a fairly large raise, effective immediately!  Talk about good luck (or bad luck, if you see it as I was being grossly underpaid for the past several years)!  AND, that evening the guy selling the boat called Mike back and the boat is still for sale!  He is out of town, so we agreed to come down and see it next Sunday.

Then, upon talking to various family members over the weekend, it became obvious we may not be able to fit the new boat in our backyard.  You see, in order to store our current boat, after pulling it into the backyard, we manually swing it around in a 270 degree turn, and back it into a paved spot in our backyard.  The new boat has a double-axle trailer (old boat was single) so the pivot point changes and turning it sharply becomes out of the question.  So, Mike became depressed & upset again that we may not be able to get the new boat (he refused to even think about storing it somewhere because there are no storage places with roofs in LA for boats).  THEN, after discussing with more family members, now he thinks we can just pull off one of the tires (on each side) and still pivot the boat.  So then he was happy again.

Talk about the gamut of emotions!

So on a happy note, we celebrated my grandmother's 89th birthday on Sunday at my parent's house.  Though her health could be a bit better, she is a pretty spry 89 years young.  She is hilarious because they live in a retirement community and my grandmother constantly complains that it's all "old people" so she doesn't participate in any of the activities.  Hilarious!

This weekend (Saturday the 28th) is Amanda's birthday party.  I have almost everything finished except the food which I'm taking Friday off to do.  I am also cleaning our house from top to bottom and making my own balloon arch.  Hopefully I will get it all done in time.  The balloon arch is a funny story...
So the theme for her party on Saturday is "RockStar" because Amanda loves to sing and pretend she's a rockstar.  I bought a Rock Show set from one of those half off deal sites:
and a stage background to put up the day of the party.  So then I was looking up ideas for decorations and came upon the idea of a red carpet leading up to a balloon arch.  Looked it up on Amazon and a red carpet was like $5 - score!  So then I started looking up how much a balloon arch would be.  I was seeing prices from $350-$400.  Really?  For BALLOONS?

Thus began my search for a reasonably priced balloon arch!  I love the internet.  I found a site that said how to make one yourself, and set to work.  I headed to Home Depot and (with Mike's help) for about $5 got some PVC pipe to act as the base on either side.  Then I bought some aluminum wire on Amazon for $5 for the arch, and some pink & purple balloons from the 99 cent store.  All in all, I think I spent barely over $20.  Now it just remains to be seen how this will look!  Wish me luck!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Fabulous Five!

My baby girl is 5 today!

 This picture was taken this past weekend at a friends' birthday party at Scooter's Jungle.  She was so excited to turn 5 just like all her friends!

She is turning into quite the little lady.  She is often shy at first, but (just like me) opens up quickly and likes to make sure everyone is included.  I often hear from her teachers that she is the first one to approach a new friend in the class and befriend them.  I couldn't be prouder! 

She has a quick wit like her dad and will often have us laughing around the dinner table.  She can often be super-sensitive and quick to cry, but usually a quick hug and she's back to her mischevious self.  She has been an amazing older sister and loves her little brother to peices (most days).

She will start Kindergarten this Fall, although we don't know where yet.  That's the fun of living in the city near a school that has horrible API scores.  I will keep you posted on what happens with that.  But suffice it to say, I don't want her to go to the school down the street!

The 'norm' at our new school is for the parents of the birthday child to provide a pizza lunch for the class.  So I will be heading down there at noon today to provide pizza, fruit, juice & cupcakes to all the kids.  We also put together 'goody bags' for everyone with a personalized card from Amanda in each one (she is quite the artist lately).  Happy Birthday to my litttle (big) girl!

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Christmas & after Christmas photos

So, for Christmas Day I was asked to bring a pie for dessert.  I decided to finally put my apple peeler/corer/slicer to work and make an apple pie!  Amanda wanted to help, and being that all you have to do is crank, I said "OK"!  So here she is cranking out the apples for our apple pie!
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Christmas eve at my sister's house, here's my mom & Kevin.
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And Amanda discovered Andrew's Leapster. My mom helped her with some of the games, and they had a good time for at least an hour!
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After dinner, it was time to open a present, and Amanda picked one from Aunt Erin & family. She opened it and discovered it was the same present she had just gotten from my best friend! Oops!
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Then the kids wanted to take a bath, so we ran a bath thinking the older two would take a bath first, and then the younger two afterwards. Ummm, nope. Everyone wanted to get in the bath together. So that's what they did!
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(I have no pics from Christmas Day)

On the Wednesday after Christmas we headed to Travel Town at Griffith Park with our good friends the Mascari's. Here's Amanda & Nick next to a train wheel.
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And the whole group walking on the train tracks.
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I tried to get all 4 kids in one shot, but didn't get that great of a pic. Mady couldn't see over the top very well, and Amanda was being silly.
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Daddy helping Kevin walk on the tracks.
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And Kevin's FAVORITE part - riding on the train!
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Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Happy New Year!!

I wish I had some punctuating thing to say about 2011 but really it was a pretty benign year for us.  Amanda turned 4 and Kevin turned 2.  I had LASIK.  That's about the extent of the really memorable stuff.  I guess that's how you want it to be :)

We are hitting the ground running again this year.  We're already booked up for almost every weekend in January and well into February.  Amanda's "rockstar" birthday party is the last weekend of January.  I dawdled in getting the invites out until mid-December so I decided to delay it a week and do it the 28th (even though her birthday is the 17th).  I have the goodie bags bought, decorations purchased and entertainment booked.  Just have to figure out the food.  And pray the weather is good.  It's a crap-shoot in January.  Some years it's been cold & rainy, and other years it's warm & sunny.  Amanda really wanted to have her party at home with a bouncer, so cross your fingers it stays warm & sunny for us!

New Years was quiet as usual.  Kids went to bed at their normal time.  I considered letting Amanda stay up until 9pm to watch NY turn to midnight but Mike put the kibash on that.  We rented "Captain America", and played a game of Monopoly (I won), kissed at midnight and then I went to bed.  Since I won Monopoly, Mike got up with the kids at 6:30, then he went back to bed when I got up at 8.   I discovered Target was open at 8am on New Years Day, so we headed to Target and got some shopping done with Mike slept in until about 10:30.  The kids were super-good that day as well. 

Actually all last week (their school was closed and Mike had the week of) they were on their best behaviour.  Sometimes I wonder if school is actually teaching them bad habits, or maybe they don't get enough nap or something... but man all week I came home to glowing reports of how they played nicely together with their new toys and rarely fought!  Go kids!  I took Wed. off and we headed over to Travel Town at Griffith Park.  Kevin is really into trains lately, and he LOVED it, especially riding on the train that goes around the park!

Then I had to work on January 2nd :(  First time since 2006, but I had to go in for a half day to get our year-end accruals in to corporate.  They insisted they have everything by end of day on the 2nd (even though they take the rest of the week to actually post everything).  Turned out to not be that bad of a day.  Hardly anyone was in the office, and those that were there showed up with food, food and more food!  I had a McDonalds egg McMuffin, a donut and a bagel for breakfast.  Then our CFO bought us lunch at The Counter too.  Plus the VP of Accounting brought in a hoard of desserts and tequila shots for after lunch!  I was done with work by 12:30, but stuck around until 2 eating and playing games.  If I had made any sort of resolution to eat less, yesterday would NOT have been good for me!

My only real resolution this year is to be better organized.  We're starting with a cleaning lady.  I finally broke Mike down and he is allowing me to have her come once a month.  It's not as nice as every 2 weeks, but it's better than nothing!  We will still have to do the in-between cleaning, but I'm hoping this will help us all stay better organized and less cluttered.

Cheers to the new year!