So Why Do I Even Have a Blog?

Does anybody blog anymore? Obviously I don't.
Does anybody even read this? I mostly stopped reading all the blogs when they killed google reader.
But hi. It's 2014. August through December happened and now we are nearly halfway to January.
Pinterest led me to....my own blog. The desk post. And then I scrolled down and saw that just a year ago, my little girl turned ten and we had this awesome Club Penguin party complete with a giant rainbow layer cake.
Sigh.
It seems like turning ten was a lifetime ago, although it also feels like I was holding her all tiny and curled up against my chest a few weeks ago. Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey stuff indeed!
Eleven is weeks away. I am not drowning in party prep.
No invitations, no water bottles or candy bars to wrap, no piñatas that are about a year before my theme is popular enough to be mainstream (Lalaloopsy was impossible to find when we did that party for L2, now they are not only all over Downtown LA, but all over everywhere).
This year she didn't want a party. Not even a Doctor Who party! (And I had a few adorable ideas on my Pinterest party time board)
It will be a small affair, just church because it's a Sunday, and then lunch, a movie and maybe some shopping with two of her best friends. Then I have to get these awesome girls back to church for an orientation meeting, because they are ten millions kinds of awesome and found a new ministry to be a part of. And we can't say no to serving God.  I'm trying to find a way to include cake in the day. I'd love to find this cake. I mean find because I don't want to attempt to build a TARDIS myself.
http://pinterest.com/pin/49469295880804722/

So, should I even bother with a recap of 2013?
Let's see. We left off in July.
August had my sister visiting, and L1 and I going to a weekend camp with a church group. It was awesome.
September had a needle, ink, and my leg. It also had an unexpected death in the family. That sucked, but sadly it is also the only way all of our family gets together. The getting together part was strangely fun (should you have fun at a funeral? Oh well. We did. I mean, there was crying, too.)
September also had a great new private school for us. Still homeschooling, but but this year we are part of an Academy. We have the benefit of turning in report cards to someone else for accountability, we have extra support, we have classes 2x month, and I get to pick what I want the girls to do. K is part of the preschool class.  I teach art class to five year olds. And I love it.
October had a surprise Paris party for L2. It was awesome. Maybe I'll post pictures. Flickr and Instagram and Facebook have pictures though, because that is where my real life happens.
September through December was Christmas Play time. It was fun and busy and intense and the kids were awesome and soon we should get our DVD of the show.
November I hated my oven for being too small.
December my sister came, then left, then came back, then I left. I kidnapped my husband and took him on a lovely three day two night getaway to Santa Paula, California. We mostly hung out in Ventura. We had a great time. Did I mention it was just the two of us? Yeah, that hadn't happened in eleven years. I won't let that much go before he and I have real time together and alone again.
I'm sure I have a friend or two willing to keep my kids overnight. I'd even return the favor.

January. This month had a cat scan. I never saw the cat, just a machine that told me NOT to look at the laser, which made me want to look at the laser. There was also an ultrasound (there are no humans growing inside me) and now we wait for results. Hopefully the results are good. Because now through June I have a lot to do, I'm looking forward to most of those things, dreading one or two of them... and I just don't have time to not be well.
So. Let's pray for good results. A clean bill of health.

And maybe I'll even blog again before summer.

Oh, hello there...

So, I guess it's safe to say spring was busy this year. Who has time to blog?
It was crazy; death in the family, end of the school year, a CHEA conference, oh, and two awesome trips to Redding to visit my sister.
Summer is in full swing. We've been busy with VBS, an almost trip to camp that was rescheduled for August due to a fire near the road to camp, trips to Knott's Berry Farm, birthday parties, pool days, swim lessons, movies, sleepovers, park trips, shopping, and the occasional pajama day at home.
Coming up we have a day trip to Los Angeles, two days of Apple Camp for the girls, followed by a trip to the beach and a bit of shopping at a fun consignment store... I think I still have some store credit.

New Desk

A couple weeks ago while on a bowling outing, I decided that I must have a new desk.
My dad had a cool, old desk & when he was packing up to move out of the country, I asked him "You want to take that old thing? You should leave it. Here. With me." He didn't leave it.  He loves his cool, old desk.

Ikea has a nice one that sorta reminds me of my dad's desk... except for how it looks nothing like his.
Also, it was just under $500 (it's a bit less now, but it wasn't when I decided I had to have a new desk). So, I searched Craigslist.
I found this an oak roll top desk listed for $50, and it was conveniently close to us. I emailed the seller, and it was available.  I had to wait for Bernix to get home, because oak roll top desks do not fit in shiny Touaregs.  They totally fit in Town & Country minivans, though.
We went to look at it, and the sellers had removed the drawers & shelves on one side to "make room for a computer".  The lady was excited to let me know that my computer would fit in the desk.  I laughed (nicely) and said my computer is "this big" (picture me holding my hands 15" apart).  So, they knocked $10 off the price because now I had to find a way to cover up the big empty space.
We brought it home & put it in the garage, because I didn't want my oak roll top desk to look like oak.
I searched pinterest for ideas.
The following Sunday, Bernix & the littles stayed home from church because he was a little sick & a lot tired.  I came home from church with Lisa & he was in the garage, sanding the desk.  Isn't he sweet?
Another day, we went to Lowe's to look at paint.  I still had only a vague idea of what I might want.
Lowe's had a sale on sample paint, buy one get one free. They also had some cute colors. I chose Velspar Secluded Garden & Cream In My Coffee.
We were going to start painting, and realized we hadn't bought primer.  We probably needed to prime the desk before painting it.  I went out for primer.  I stopped at ReStore and found a super cute chair for $10.  I didn't find primer (well, they had some cans of tinted primer...).  I went to home depot for primer & found a can of clear coat on the clearance shelf.  I grabbed it, got the primer & went back to find the price of the clear coat.  I didn't want to pay too much for it... and the girl told me "It's your lucky day.  I can't sell it for a penny. So, you can have this for free." Yay! Free!
I came home & Bernix started priming the desk while I sanded the chair.
We stayed out painting until after dark.  Almost everything got a first coat of paint.  It took 3 separate sessions to get everything painted, including one early in the day so we could take advantage of that fancy light source, the sun.
Also, I had to fix the big empty top half of the inside of the desk.  I decided to make a memory board for it.  I failed to buy a piece of wood or foam.  I improvised and used cardboard, fleece I had on hand, the pretty fabric I bought, pretty cream colored ribbon, some old buttons from a giant box of buttons I got at church, and my handy dandy staple gun.  My handy dandy staple gun decided to hate me that day (maybe it hated the cardboard?) and I wasted at least 50 staples.  I finished the memory board and hot glued the buttons on (just for decoration). Bernix helped me glue it inside the desk.
Once everything was dry, we just had to... rearrange half the furniture in the house to make room for the desk.
Bernix did that for me, with very little help from me (I'm not much help when it comes to moving furniture, since I am not very strong).
We got the desk inside around 10pm Sunday night.
I've been enjoying my beautiful new desk & chair all week.

What do you think?

Weird Week

So, this week Bernix worked some crazy weird hours. 

Usually he leaves around 4 or 5 in the morning & gets home around 5 or 8 pm. 

Monday he got home around 8 pm.

Tuesday he went to work super early and was back around 9:30, and went with us to drop off Lisa for her state writing test.  Then we went to Coffee Bean, where we had fancy schmancy drinks and bagels and Lorelei did school work for a whole 30 minutes before I was called to pick up Lisa because she was done. 

We eventually came home & he went to work around 4 or 5. 

Wednesday I finally made it back to my Irvine bible study, and he was home when we got back around 1. We went to get my sister's new phone line/SIM card & went to ChickFilA, and we came home to watch a movie.  I think he was asleep before the movie started, which might have been before 6pm.  He slept until about 6am.  Then he made breakfast, and informed me we only had 3 eggs so only the kids got eggs.  I laughed.  I mentioned the words frittata & french toast, and he was all "Oh... those would have been good ideas." I had coffee so it was okay.  We also had bacon which was good because bacon. 

He swept the floor when I asked why we can't have a robot vacuum to clean the crumbs on the kitchen floor.  Girls started school.  I entered spelling lists on Spelling City.  Answered 20 questions asked by Kevin, 15 of which probably involved cookies or ice cream.  I realized he was here & would leave later for work, so I had to make food (lunch? dinner? Linner?) 

We threw chicken in the crockpot for soup, he peeled potatoes for fries & roasted potatoes.  More school.  He made fresh squeezed orange juice from oranges from the backyard. 

More school. 

He taught Lorelei science because it bores me & he enjoys it.  They had fun with magnets. 

We ate.  I realized the fridge is pretty much empty, and I was even out of flour & sugar (FOR SHAME!) and I didn't want to take the minions to the grocery store. Also, I asked him what we could do about our fridge because a crisper drawer is freezing our produce, and you can't do anything with frozen lettuce.  Carrots & tomatoes, sure.  Soup & salsa. But lettuce? Ruined! *cry cry cry* 

He said we'd probably buy a new fridge "eventually/soon" and I said something about not being my mother & it's only one drawer & I think if he can't fix it (he probably can.  He is very handy.) my aunt Mildred must have a number of a refrigerator repair man.  

I went to the store alone. It was so nice to not have anyone asking for chips or cookies or ice cream!  And I forgot that I wanted to buy myself a tiny ice cream to have later when the kids are in bed. 

I came home, they all helped me unload the groceries & then.... Bernix had to go to work. 

And he usually puts the groceries away! *cry cry cry* 

I hate putting groceries away.  

So here I am, procrastinating the putting away of ALL THE THINGS.  

I might need more coffee. 

completely unrelated chalk art... Lisa made a TARDIS in the driveway

She Turned Ten

So at the end of January, my baby girl decided it would be a good idea to be ten years old.  I mean, not that she had much of a choice.  I saw it coming, she was born one day, then she was 1, and then 5, then 8, and all last year she was 9.  I still wasn't quite ready for 10.
We planned a small party for her.  Then we realized it was going to rain the day of her party.  We decided to have the party anyway, partly because we had guests from out of the country staying with us, waiting for Lisa's party.  Partly because it was her birthday & I'd already ordered food & balloons.

So, the two days before her birthday I started baking cakes for her small party.  Yes, many cakes for one small party... because she had seen a picture of a stacked rainbow cake & asked for one.  So, I made her a rainbow cake.  Also, it had to be done two days before because the DAY before her party, I had to decorate the cake.  Of all the themes she could have picked for her party, she chose the one theme with practically nothing available to buy party wise.  Club Penguin.  You can't get a CP cake (well, one place said they'd do it, but it was the same price as a wedding cake).  I couldn't even find any little plastic Club Penguin figurines. We had a bunch of them once upon a time, but they must have gotten lost in one of our moves.  I don't remember ever seeing them in this house.  Someone told me about a cool frosting technique I could try.  I meant to practice, but I never got around to it.  I think I ended up doing a decent job anyway.  Lisa loved her cake, and that's what matters.

A few of our friends were able to make it to the party, despite the rain.  Then the rain stopped and the kids got to run around outside for a while, anyway  It was a pretty good day.  I'm glad she asked for a party, because the past couple of years she'd had family trips to San Diego for her birthday (one to San Diego Zoo, where we spent a long time watching the pandas, one to Sea World).

Now, get ready for a bunch of party pictures.

        
                 

January Happened

We did things after Kevin's birthday.  For one, my parents came to visit.
*okay, so half this stuff was in December...

A few days after they arrived, Christmas happened.  Right before Christmas, Ev came to town, which was fantastic, because I missed my sister (she left a day after Christmas, so I miss her again).

(please don't ask me how or why a guinea pig was in my Christmas Tree) 

Having parents here meant we had someone to watch the kids, so there were a few movie dates; we saw The Hobbit, Breaking Dawn, and possibly another movie I'm forgetting.  We also took everyone to see Hotel Transylvania, and I had a Girl-Cousins-Night-Out and saw Pitch Perfect, followed by a trip to Denny's.  All movie trips were fun. I should do that more often.

After the Tournament of Roses Parade (on tv, cuz ain't nobody trying to freeze in Pasadena all night/morning) we took the kids to the snow... it was really cold.

There was a homeschool class at California Adventures...

And then Lisa decided she wanted a party for her birthday... that deserves a post of it's own, because it was a very big birthday.  She's double digits now. 

My Baby is 4

So, October & November flew by in a blur.  Before I knew it, December had arrived.  And with it, came the growing up of my baby boy.  It's hard to believe that it's been 4 years since we anxiously awaited his arrival.  And yet, here we are.  He's 4.  I guess I can't really call him a baby anymore, even though he will forever be my baby.

Tonight we celebrated.
He wanted a pirate party,  but with the Christmas Play being tomorrow (his actual birthday) I had to figure out an easy way to throw a party.  So we went with Chuck E Cheese.  They set up, do all the cooking, and clean up.  It's also impossible for kids to be bored.  Win win win win.
Being  a Friday night, it was a pretty small party.  We had a great time though, and the most important thing is that Kevin was happy.  He deserves to be happy, because he makes us happy every single day. That boy is a joy, so kind and full of love.  I thank God that Kevin is part of our family.