Two Of Every Kind...

Below is brother in law, Rob (always a hoot), Sandra, baby Lyla, Parker (7), & Breah (12)
Sister Sophie age 3 was left with her other grandma in WA, we missed her!
Well, God commanded Noah to load the animals into the ark, "two of every kind...." We got a glimpse into the a creative artistic interpretation of the biblical account of Noah today, when we went to the Skirball Cultural center in L.A. with Dan's sister, Auntie Sandra and her family. That's right first we hosted Dan's older sis, Carol and her fam. of 6, and now we got to host Sandra, his younger sis and her fam. of 6 (though 1 was left behind in WA.) We had so much fun. Sandra's kids were great, and VERY patient with mine who were a little overly excited to see them. The Skirball Noah's ark exhibit could not have been more perfect for my kids ages! The exhibit was totally inexpensive & interactive, AWESOME, animals built out of recycled materials, rope ladders to climb, a craft to make....a must see for locals with little ones.

So admittedly, I am starting to feel tired, we've had guests every night for a week now, and been gettting to bed late, but the big wedding is tomorrow, so I can't crash and burn yet! More family fun to come...

A Full House

Girl above, no relation.



Check out these cutie brunettes!
So the long-awaited visit is off & running. On Sat., Dan's nephew Beau is gettin' hitched here in California, and so all of the relatives on Dan's side are gradually making their way over here for the big to-do. Friday night our first batch of family arrived, Dan's sister Carol, hubby Darin, and their 4 lovely kids, and a visiting friend of the family Marcela from Brazil. So Saturday we hit the Getty Museum and then went to The Grove. The day was really fun, esp. for Dan & I who tend to spend our weekends doing house projects and eating leftovers, so getting out and about was great, even with all the kiddos. They did really well. The Getty was beautiful and the Grove was cool, celebrity spotting, the girl that plays Sage on a new teenager-geared show, Privileged. She was much more gorgeous in real life. So then Sunday we all went to church, & that evening took Carol out to a fancy-shmancy dinner for her birthday! Meanwhile, yesterday, my other sister in law, Leah had baby #5, a FIFTH BOY! No name yet! We're still waiting with baited breath.

So the Hughey family is out sightseeing, doin' the LA thing today, they did Santa Barbara yesterday, and I'm enjoying them all very much. They are fun-loving, helpful to me, and they are very grounded in the Lord. Here's what I've learned about my nieces & nephews so far:

Rhaquel (just turned 17 in Dec., name pronounce Hockel) favorite color is white because she loves white dresses and white bedding. My interpretation of that is she's a romantic for sure, and will have a very lovely home someday.

Jacob (age 15) enjoys texting & is remarkably good with babies for a teenager.

Twins (just turned 14 in Dec.) Brandon agrees with me that Maggie Gyllenhal was not the best choice for female lead in The Dark Knight. Katie Holmes, way cuter. Kaylee doesn't know why her sister enjoys shopping so much, doesn't like to wear make up and would prefer to have sons someday because she thinks girls tend to be overly dramatic.

I truly hope my kids are as pleasant as they are when they're teens someday, and I'm not just saying that to try and kiss up.

Clever & Amusing

Just thought I'd mention some cool stuff:

1. 22 words blog (twentytwowords.com) I linked to this blog through a friend (Kelly's blog).  So the concept is the majority of his blog entries are 22 words long.  Have you ever attempted to write something thought provoking using only 22 words, no more, no less?  Trust me, it's a killer.

2. Watched season premiere of Lie to Me, and though it was not cool that they portrayed the Christian family as homeschooling, isolated freaks, I expect no less, so onto what was cool about the show.... they made a Kato Kaelin reference.  Come on who doesn't love a reference to Kato Kaelin?  It makes me nostalgic for 1994.

3. Now here's for the amusing part, in less than 24 hours I will have 7 house guests (along with the 6 of us) that makes 13 people living together in a 1300 square foot house.  Can you say cozy?

Expectations

I learned quickly during my first year of marriage, that false expectations can often lead to unnecessary conflict. There were many, many moments that I spoiled during that first year of marriage, and several in the 11 years in between that really didn't have to be spoiled. The only reason they were was because I would go into a situation with ridiculous expectations. For example, I often would picture special occasions, such as birthdays, Valentine's Day, or what have you to be just like something out of a Meg Ryan movie (wait I'm dating myself) make that a Kate Hudson movie. I'd expect Dan to come home from work with some very unique and thoughtful gift hiding behind his back, and tickets to a show in his pocket, and reservations for dinner already called in. Instead, he'd often come in and and ask, "So whaddya wanna do tonight?" or "Hey, let's eat leftovers, so we can save money." As a result I'd often pout, or get upset, or angry when really how was he supposed to know what I'd been thinking? I mean come on, he doesn't even like Meg Ryan movies. As a result, I've learned to be more realistic with my expectations. That's helped me in marriage, it's helped me in parenting, and it's helped me in life.

Today, as is my ritual, I caught a glimpse of the host chat on Regis & Kelly, and Miss Ripa was sharing how her 7 year old daughter wrote a letter about how our new president would help little children not to be afraid anymore because he has daughters, so he understands kids. (As opposed to Reagan, Clinton, Carter, Bush Sr, and Bush Jr? Oh wait they all had daughters too). All I have to say is this, as a nation I am witnessing some really, really outrageous expectations for our new president. Hopes are high as we "usher in a new era of 'competence'" (said a recent Oprah guest). Well, I look forward to seeing all of our problems suddenly dissapear. I look forward to peace in the Middle East, an end to terrorist threats, and to poverty being abolished. But in the meantime, perhaps we should be reminded that life is not like the movies, though it appears our new leading man would be quite a hit at the box office.

Before & After (so far)

Okay, so we haven't finished the windows, trim, garage door, etc. but here's what we've done so far...

Downright Neighborly

How many times have we heard the command, "love thy neighbor as thyself" right?  Well I've got actual neighbors that do that, and it's awesome.  First of all I've mentioned the Herveys several times throughout my blogging.  This weekend they helped up paint the exterior of the house.  I don't have pix on that yet, but I'm working on it.  Anyone who's ever taken on a big painting job on their own knows that it's not fun, not even a little fun.  So we're very, very grateful.  Secondly, my other neighbors, the Carpenters don't actually hang out with us like the Herveys do, they're older like my parents age, and they go to a different church, but they still are always so helpful & kind.  They watch our kids from time to time, and they lent us their trailer because during the next 2 weekends, I'm going to have a ton of house guests, so now I have a whole separate area for the all my teenager nieces & nephews to sleep.  

Anyway, it's amazing to see the concept in action, and a good reminder to me to live out the love so to speak.  It's easy to say you want to be helpful, but difficult to actually do (especially if it involves actual labor or sacrifice, right)?

Kid Update from my last blog:  Morgan had a HORRIBLE case of hand, foot, & mouth.  The twins both got a few sores in their mouth, but nothing like Morgan's case.  She had them everywhere.  Lorelei has escaped the plague so far.  We stayed home from church yesterday so as not to further infect the people of Ventura County, but we'll see who ends up sick in the next week or so!

Footnote: when mentioning the "live out the love" concept, I'm referring to living out the love of Christ, because without that stipulation, the deed would be merely a self-serving attempt at finding some type of earthly fulfillment (ex: the peace corps or Oprah-esque volunteer type work) but considering I know most of my general audience, I'm pretty much preaching to the choir.

Please Don't Hate Me

So basically, here's how it happened.  Yesterday, Morgan was being super crabby, which is unlike her and very drooly.  I assumed this was due to some type of teething.  In the meantime, I watched my friend's kids.  Then, I noticed she felt warm.  Then I noticed she had little bumps in her mouth when I checked for some protruding teeth.  So like all moms do, I typed in mouth sores on babycenter, and self diagnosed that she had sort of a baby version of cold sores called gingivostomatitis.  Therefore, life continued on and I taught 2 classes IN MY HOME this morning (total 20 students), had 2 different moms watch Morgan during those classes (both moms have 4 & 5 kids of their own), and I dropped my other 3 kids off at school. 

Now I've noticed that Morgan continues to be miserable though she has no more fever, and someone suggested she may have hand foot and mouth which is INCREDIBLY contagious.  I feel terrible, I'm totally wracked with guilt that I may have infected the world with some very uncomfortable virus that's making my baby miserable.  So here I am confessing to you all now, and I admit even doing so is quite painful.  Like I said, please don't hate me. 

Here's the only good news about the whole thing: first of all the virus just runs it's course, not much to do about it really, but try and keep them comfortable.  We bought her a Wendy's frosty because everything else was hurting her to eat.  (I have never seen a baby eat like my Morgan does, so to see her spit out granola bar after biting into it was the saddest thing ever).  Secondly, though I know it's very inconvenient enjoy the extra cuddling.  When Morgan's healthy she's always running around, trying to keep up with her sisters.  Today she just wanted me to hold her, and so I did, and even though I didn't accomplish much, it was very sweet to have her just lie on me for a while.  But of all the days to be trapped rocking in a glider,  Oprah was about menopause, we're not quite ready for that topic yet.  

Again, so so so sorry about this.  

Joy Behar Scares Me

For the record, I admit that I waste a lot of time watching mindless television, but honestly I almost never watch The View.  However, this morning, I was cleaning the living room, I turned on the TV to listen to background noise and hear what they would say about the Golden Globes last night (a total snooze by the way, except Tina Fey's pretty funny).  Anyway, intstead of that, Anne Coulter was on and being confronted simultaneously by all of the ladies on The View about her recent chapter slamming single mothers.  My blood pressure went up, and I got a knot in my stomach.  How can a person have such a vehement debate with someone else and not like throw up on national television?  I'm the type of person that apologizes to waiters when they mess up my order, so really I don't get it.  I felt afraid for her, very, very afraid.

Meanwhile, just wanted to throw out a disclaimer.  When I blog, I totally ramble and disregard all the things that I would deem essential as an English Teacher.  So don't judge me for my run ons and comma splices people, I know they're there.

Lastly, just got a call last week from a distant cousin who reads my blog, thanks.  I'm always so happy and thankful and flattered and genuinely surprised to know people out there read this stuff.  I love reading other blogs myself though.

Oh & thanks Bethie for watching the kiddos this weekend so Dan & I could go out on our anniversary.  I got to eat shrimp with hollandaise sauce and watch Tom Cruise wear an eye patch for a few hours, truly good times.

Who Doesn't Like Flannel?

So I know that some of you out there have husbands that are fussy about the way you do your hair or what types of clothes you wear or maybe how fit and fab you are, but my husband is extremely laid back.  He never really cares about what I'm wearing or whether or not I have on make up or if I cut my hair super short or grow it out long.  He's just really, really chill so to speak, which I love.  His attitude towards outward appearances has (believe it or not) helped me to relax over the years about trying to look just so.  But maybe, just maybe now that we've been married 12 years (next week's our anniversary), maybe I've relaxed a little too much.  Because I just made an astonishing discovery.  There is something that I wear that my husband HATES, and I wear them OFTEN, they are my super comfy flannel PJ bottoms.

Now in addition to being laid back, Dan is pretty quiet about his opinions, this is probably a form of self-preservation that's evolved in him over the years since I tend to be overly-opinionated and defensive with him, and have been known to at times, over react if he even suggests he doesn't like something I purchased or am excited about.  (EX: Dan says, "I don't know I kind of think that paint swatch looks similar to the neighbors" Me responding, "WHAT do you mean?  I love that color, How could you not like that color, we've been talking about that color for months, you never like anything I like, I can't believe you don't like it.....)  My point in explaining this is this, he didn't initially come out and tell me he didn't like my flannel PJs.  He made a couple comments at different moments that made me put two and two together.  The last one was this, I had tried on a new shirt the other day and asked him if he liked it.  He said it was hard to tell while I was wearing "those pants."  Then he made some other quiet comment about them, and I suddenly had the epiphany that he hated my PJs.  When confronted, he admitted that yep, it was true, he really, really hated my PJs. 

So fellow moms, what's the lesson here?  Only this, that even the most laid back, super non shallow of men really don't appreciate frumpiness.  So even though, I have days where I pretty much stay home ALL day, and even though I like to wear my PJ bottoms while I'm cleaning the house, I resolve in the new year to upgrade to at least presentable, can be worn in public sweat pants because seriously the guy hasn't asked much of me over the years, it's the least I can I do. So Happy Anniversary babe, 12 years down, many more to go, and I promise not to invest in any more pairs of flannel PJs.  Love you.

Naughty & Nice

Morgan got in to the Desitin the other day.  I'm not sure why, but she was awfully grumpy about me catching her and interrupting her before it really got all over the place.  And I let the girls have a few "slumber parties" over the break, here's a sweet moment with the twins.  It reminds me of when they were teeny tiny.  I used to sit them both together in the same car seat, they were so little, and they'd cuddle up together.  AAhhhh, cute.  

Anyway, Happy New Year People.  Here's to potty training in 2009!  Oh yeah, baby, glamorous days ahead....