Christmas

I love Christmas. It is my absolute favorite holiday. I love spending time with my family, waking up and watching the girls and everyone open presents and staying in my pajamas all day.
We had our traditional Christmas Eve with Jeff's family. It was at Aunt Alison's house this year. Cara sang a solo and both girls enjoyed participating in a poem with all their Knight cousins.
This year the girls decided they wanted a Wii from Santa. It was our first year without a ton of "toys" as they've moved on to the electronic gadget stage. It was kind of sad to see the ending of all the dolls and dress up type things of the past. But I was so happy to have their new stuff take up much less real estate when it came time to put it all away :)
One of their favorite toys they received were the DSi's from Grandma and Grandpa Moody. Not only did they have games to play, but what they seemed most amused by were the built in features of the camera and sound recorders. After being banned from screaming into the device and replaying it (over and over), the girls spent countless hours of taking photos of everything. It was interesting to see what subjects each was most interested in. Cara seemed to enjoy photographing people while most of Natalie's pictures consisted of all the animals around Grandma's house.

Christmas 2009 was fantastic spending time with all our families around.

A Family Babymoon

With the impending changes due next year, we decided to get some travel in before it becomes extra "fun" to go anywhere with an infant/toddler for the next few years.

In November Jeff and I had a weekend away in Vegas without the kids, so for Christmas we asked the girls how they would feel about going on a cruise with us in December for their big Christmas gift from us. They were thrilled at the idea so we planned for an 8 day trip.

It came so quickly and before we knew it, we were getting on the ship. The girls loved all the big staircases (I only let them take the elevator once- because of my selfish desire to burn the extra calories climbing the stairs), having their meals served (without having to set the table before or do dishes after), deserts every night, someone making their bed every morning, the turn down service at night and of course---THE WATERSLIDE!!

Once we were further south the weather was nice and warm, but closer to San Diego, it was a bit too chilly for us adults with the 70-ish weather plus the chill from the wind caused by a sailing ship. However, it didn't deter them one bit.

Before making it to our first port, the ship had to make 2 unscheduled stops. The first actually took 4 hours as the ship had to turn around and go back to San Diego for someone with a medical emergency. The second morning we woke up to find they had stopped again for another medical emergency in Cabo San Lucas. (Yikes! There must have been some real sickies on this ship).

We made it to Acapulco (only an hour later than planned) and it was off to explore the city--the girls first experience out of the country. We took them to an outdoor market so they could shop. They were so fun to watch bargain with the shopkeepers there. Both girls had divided up their money for the 3 ports we were going to stop and had given themselves budgets for what they wanted to spend at each. Of course the wheeling and dealing was customary with the salespeople but the girls were so good about sticking to their budget. They walked away from many a souvenir before each deciding on a pair of earrings (thank goodness they didn't fall in love with some crappy magnet, tacky shirt or any of the other thousand cheesy trinkets that I'd have to look at forever :) After they had made their purchases, we decided it was time to head back to the ship and wanted to walk since it was only a few blocks. The girls experienced a taste of Mexico traffic (sans any traffic signals), the lovely sidewalks filled with trash and the other delights of the big city :).

The next morning we were in Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa. This was my favorite port of the three we visited. It was a smaller town and we had to be tendered to the dock, but I liked the smaller feel. We hired a driver to show us around and take us to see the Ixtapa resort before dropping us off at a beautiful beach. Jeff and the girls played in the waves for hours and I loved just relaxing on the beach. We took a water taxi back to the dock and did a little shopping before going back to the ship.

Our final port was Manzanillo. We took a bus into town and did some shopping. We had an interesting experience with one of the shopkeepers who had trouble with some basic math. It ended up being a good teaching moment for Cara and Natie. The town was definitely small and I didn't find it as charming as Zihuatanejo had been so we headed back to the ship after a few hours and had some fun in the water.

The final two days at sea flew by. We spent lots of time relaxing, playing with the kids and just enjoying the downtime. The girls were such a joy to bring and the trip was just what we all needed. They didn't even complain when it was back to school on Monday. I'm sure it didn't hurt that they had a week of Christmas programs and parties to look forward to.

How Sweet!

Cara and Natie wanted to make us a cake for our anniversary. Banana cake decorated with strawberry frosting and all sorts of candy including Skittles, Pixie Sticks, Kit Kat, Resse's Peanut Butter, Laffy Taffy, and Dum Dum suckers (courtesy of their trick or treating loot).

It was an interesting mixture but was so sweet of them :)

Halloween

I was just going to have them use their renaissance costumes I had made this spring but at the last minute I had a burst of energy to throw together a couple of fairy costumes.

We had dinner with some friends then went trick-or treating together

So much fun, she could hardly stand it.

Girl Time

Yesterday Natalie had a birthday party right after school. Cara had a playdate set up that fell through at the last minute leaving me feeling bad for the poor girl. I felt even worse saying to her, "Sorry about that, let's just go home and hang out while your sister enjoys the party," I decided it was time to go have some girl time with my oldest.

Since I needed one anyhow, I decided to take Cara along to get a pedicure with me. I can never decide what color to pick, so I let her choose. She picked out matching red for both of us.
It was a nice hour just relaxing with Cara listening to her tell me about her day. As I was sitting there with her I realized how long it had been since we actually had some fun time with just the two of us. With me feeling lousy for the last two months, and all the running from one activity to the next and just trying to keep up some days, it had been a while. I love the little moments like this.

Matching toes. Can you tell which ones belong to the kid though?

For Posterity

I posted this on my Facebook page, but figured I'd post it here as well.

I'm Not Dead

In the words of Pink, I'm not dead. True, I've ignored blogging altogether for the past 4 months. It's one of those things that you find you've fallen behind on and you wonder, "Do I try to catch up or just ignore that hole in the timeline and just blog forward?" Well, I guess I'm just going to blog forward or I'd never blog again.


So, just a brief catch up. We had a nice summer that flew by way to fast. We didn't do much in the way of vacation since Jeff couldn't really take much time off work. I worked and the girls spent a lots of time in the desert with Grandma and Grandpa Moody. So I won't say we didn't travel since I spent much of the summer in the car driving back and forth. They had fun spending time with their grandparents, going to movies, amusement parks, swimming and working in Gma & Gpa's yard. When I wasn't driving or working, we spent lazy days at the beach. We even managed to squeeze a quick trip to Utah to visit their little cousins.


As the summer was winding down, I got the shock of a lifetime. Despite my well crafted plans, I guess kid #3 will be coming in April. It was shocking and I'm going to be honest and say I'm still coping with the idea of 3 kids. But Cara and Natalie are soooooo excited and it is fun to watch them. Eventually I'll probably post the video of us telling them just so it's here for posterity.


The girls are settled in school. Cara is in the third grade and Natalie is in second. So stay tuned. I'm going to try and stay on top of my blogging...again.

It Sucks!!

I'm not a big fan of appliances but I feel that if I have to do a job around the house, I want good equipment to make a boring job easier. I've had my Dyson for several years and I'm still impressed. The other day, I was vacuuming and I noticed it wasn't picking up as it normally does. So I quickly checked a couple of the hose areas and I when I opened one area, I noticed this:

Yes, it's a pen! Who vacuums a pen up and 1) doesn't notice it and 2) leaves it in there? Well, judging by the drywall material found with this pen, I have a good guess.

But regardless, I'm still happy that my vacuum really sucks :)

Budding Chef

Cara always has to be busy doing something (I wonder where she gets this from?). While my mom was visiting for a couple of days, Cara was in heaven cooking up a storm with Grandma. Last night, we were treated to a special dinner planned and prepared by my 8 year old.

It was a tasty meal of fruit salad and Dizzy Dogs :)

Church Socks

Jeff and I have an ongoing debate. I hate clothes with holes, snags, etc. If you have a pair of socks with holes in them, when you take them off THROW THEM IN THE TRASH! Sounds logical right? Why waste the energy washing them just to put them in the trash? However, my husband feels that the laundry is the place to put things that need to be thrown out.

So Jeff has a few pair of socks that have worn through on the bottom (however, he does have many pair that are perfectly acceptable). When I am being the wonderful wife that I am and folding his socks, I am just matching pairs up and putting them in his drawer. I don't have time or the inclination to inspect his socks before lovingly folding them and placing them in his drawer. :)

The last time I saw him wearing a pair of these "holey socks" I stuck my finger in the hole and gave it a nice pull. Who would want to wear socks with a big hole on the bottom? So today, I look over to see him sitting on the bed...what do I see? Those dumb socks with a huge hole on the bottom!

So I walked by and gave a nice tug on the hole...Here's what happened (note the hole in the left sock as well).

Let's see if they make it to the laundry again. I have a feeling they will.

Dream Job

It kind of seems late to actually post about my job since I've technically been there since February. But since it's now official that they're actually going to PAY me to design, I thought it was post worthy :)

I had the opportunity to intern with Deborah Davis for a day in October last year. In January, she called and asked if I was interested in interning for her. So for the past three months, I've been working on Mondays and Wednesdays, but I've been earning course credit instead of a paycheck. I was happy to continue working for free since I was learning so much and actually loving what I was doing. But when I asked Deborah about continuing my internship, she said that based on my work she just wanted to hire me (before I've even finished school!!).

As of Friday, I am officially gainfully employed working for Deborah Davis Design. The firm does both residential and commercial design but most projects lately have been commercial. Her biggest client is actually E! Entertainment, (which also includes Style Network, G4 and I think the new Fear channel too). So her office is located in their corporate offices, which is a bit of a commute, but I actually appreciate the time I get to myself while I'm driving (plus I get to satisfy my love of the city by working in the heart of LA).

I'll continue working two to three days a week in the office and I'll be able to work from home other days-my boss is super cool and practical about this. I've done work on some interesting projects and I've already been given lead on two designs (including Joel McHale's office).

Here are a couple of pictures from one of the jobs I worked on. It's a shampoo room for Chelsea Handler.

So, if you think I've fallen off the face of the earth, I haven't. It's just been busy around here with 9 units of classes, the internship and all the rest of my mommy/wife jobs. Even with all the craziness though, I am loving every minute of it :)

The Bribe

I don't know how many of you parents have experienced this phenomenon when you have a child who loves and article of clothing and it it is worn no matter what.

Natalie has been wearing these brown boots since I think Kindergarten (apparently, my kids have my feet that don't grow very fast). She wears them with pants, skirts and (my personal favorite) shorts. She wears them when it's cold and when it's hot. She wears them for hiking, running and you name it. With the exception of church, she wears these things everywhere. I have grown quite tired of these boots. She has an entire basket of shoes (if you know me, you will find this entirely plausible) that she never wears.

Well, they were beginning to look pretty ratty and I have been searching for an acceptable replacement. I have no problem letting her wear boots in the summer, but they need to be presentable. Unfortunately, now is not the time to be looking for boots, unless you want rubber ones for the rain.

So despite my requests, Natalie has continued to wear these horrible boots ...until today!! When we were shopping for new shoes for Easter a couple of weeks ago, she happened upon these cute red sneakers that she really wanted. I told her no at the time because I was focused on the task at hand. However, yesterday I had the brilliant idea of bribing her. I would buy her those red shoes, but in exchange, she would have to give me the boots. I wasn't sure that she would go for it, but sure enough, she loved the idea. I thought about ceremoniously burning them, but I'll just be happy to huck them in the trash.

Here are the new shoes (she loved posing for the pciture). Don't you think every girl should have at least one pair of red shoes? :)

Easter and More

It's been over a month since I've posted to this thing. Honestly, I have been so busy that I hadn't realized how much time had gone by. The last few days have been a bit relaxed for a change, so I apologize for the lengthy post, but for me it's now or never with my blogging.

Last weekend we went to the annual Easter event at the Reagan Library. We've been taking the girls every year for the past several and it's one of our favorite traditions. There are lots of games and crafts for the kids and they had a good time. However, I noticed that they weren't as into it this year as the have been in the past. Sadly, I think they may be growing up, but they still were happy to go.

Thursday, my sister-in-law came down and brought my cute nieces to spend Easter with us. That evening we had a girls night and went to see Mamma Mia. Since my best friend Tarja's birthday is later this month, I decided to surprise her with and early b-day gift. We had a great dinner at Miceli's in Hollywood. It's a great old Italian restaurant with live piano music and the waiters get up and sing. It was fun being serenaded while we laughed, dined and had a great time. Then it was up to the street to see the play. Of course the play (at my favorite theater) was awesome. Who wouldn't love the fun music of ABBA? (Especially when Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan were NOT singing)!

The next day I was off to the desert to spend Easter with my family. Saturday, we went to a small children's museum in Redlands. Cara and Natie seem to be the perfect age for this type of thing. They have both been learning about different animals in school, so the stuffed (and live) animals were fascinating to them.

Later that evening, they colored Easter eggs with their cousins.

Easter Sunday was a great day. Of course the Easter bunny stopped by. I think the twirling ribbons he left were a big hit--and I've only been snapped in the eye a couple of times :0)

They hunted the eggs they had colored and later in the afternoon, they went on an egg hunt in Grandma & Grandpa Moody's yard. It involved baskets full of plastic candy filled eggs all over 5 acres of desert so you can imagine the amount of candy they hauled away from this. Since Jeff has a new job, he doesn't have any time off yet, so it was back home for him on Sunday evening, but not before spending some quality time with our families.

Monday was more relaxed as we just found small things to do with the kids here by Grandma's.




It has been so nice to just get away for a few days to get away from the stress about all the things I need to get done at home. Tomorrow will be back to work for me, but I have really enjoyed the break and I'm ready to go back to the real world. Hopefully it won't be quite so windy there!

Treasure Hunting

So far I've had an ideal weekend. Friday night I went out with a couple of girlfriends. We had a great time, though Jeff is still baffled as to how it's possible to spend 4 hours talking...silly man.

Saturday morning I actually slept in, then went for a nice run while Natie was at her riding lesson. I barely remembered that I had a baby shower to attend, but I finally made it after racing to Babies R Us to grab a gift. After having more girlfriend time at the shower, I came home and we took the Cara and Natie on a Treasure hunt.

They had their first geo caching experience last weekend with their Uncles, Grandpa and Aunt. If you are unfamiliar with this, geo caching is where you have a GPS and you plug in coordinates (you find these online) and you are led to a small box or tube that is hidden. They are apparently all over the place and inside these boxes, are little trinkets that other people have left. So you can choose from the treasure box and you leave a small something in place of what you remove.

Since last weekend, the girls have been really excited to go again, so off we went. It was actually a perfect day for it. The hills are green from all the recent rain and it was clear and beautiful. We found one of the three we went looking for. Next time, our navigator should remember to print out the hints, or at least read them :) But it was a perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon-a real treasure hunt with a good hike included.

On our way

hunting in the bushes..

What's inside? Natalie's treasure

...and mine :)

Then it was home to get ready for a much needed date night with Jeff. We had a yummy dinner and he sat through the biggest chick flick, Twilight.

Though I didn't pick anything out of the box, this whole weekend has been a treasure for me. It was perfectly busy in a good way. Now it's time for my Sunday nap.

Gainfully Employed

I just thought since my last post was so pathetic, I should update with the good news. Jeff spent the last few weeks going to several interviews.

He actually had two great offers to choose from, as well as a few other places where he was in the process of interviewing that wanted to continue with him. But on Tuesday he accepted an offer with a company in Valencia. They write software for attorneys. He thinks he will be happy there and I do as well. They have very low turnover, offer great benefits, and from what Jeff can tell, they have a nice working environment. He will start either this Monday or next, depending on how quickly they can complete his background check--gee, I hope he passes :)

So we're relieved that he won't be unemployed at all. The way things have turned out, he will have his last day with El Camino on Friday and start his new job on Monday. It's all better than we could even ask for and we're so grateful for everyone's thoughts and prayers for us :)

The only tiniest down side of all this is that I no longer get to dress Jeff for the interviews. He never bothers with what I want him to wear, so I've had a bit of fun picking out nice things these past couple of weeks. The new job, he can wear whatever he wants, so I suspect I'll get even less of my way :( Oh well, it's a small price, and I'll gladly pay it. Congratulations Jeff !

What is Wrong With Them?

I love mornings when the girls come in our bed and snuggle before they start bugging us for something to eat. This morning was no different and the question inevitably came, "What's for breakfast?" I like to make Valentine's Day special for the kids, so I usually make them something fun like heart shaped muffins or something to start the day off right.

Since V-day is what the girls refer to as a "candy holiday," I thought what the heck. I told them that we were having pie. Yup, I told my kids they could have pie for breakfast (mother of the year, I know). I had every intention of letting them have some of of the Chocolate Satin pie in the fridge. Why not? I never let them eat stuff like that in the morning...But all three of them made the same shocking comment, "Gross!"

What the crap?!!!?? None of them wanted pie for breakfast? I was beyond shocked. I could understand Jeff not wanting pie, but what kind of kid turns down pie for breakfast? Crazy...

When it Rains..

This isn't a pity party post, just an observation. Have you ever noticed that things all go to crap at the same time?

Sparing all the details, the company that Jeff has been employed by for the last 14 years is shutting down. We got the news last week, though we have no idea how long it will take to get everything squared away, we're thinking within the month though. I'm fine (now), past freaking out, and feel fine that he's going to find a job soon (he's at his third interview this week, and who wouldn't want to hire such a smart geek).

But on Tuesday I came home and my garage door won't open. Fine. It's annoying, but not that old so I'm sure it's under warranty. Then yesterday, I'm deciding what to fix for dinner. I walk out to the freezer in the garage. When I open the door I am greeted by a wind of warm air that stinks beyond gross. I quickly close the door and figure out that sometime (recently I can assume) the freezer decided to break. Again, not that old, but clearly broken. This latest is not the end of the world either but I'm irritated that the meat I had stored is all rancid.

Add these little annoyances with my broken camera, which, by the way, Jeff had ordered a new LCD for it and when it arrived it was broken. What is going on here? I thought things happened in three's. Well we've met our quota and I'm ready for stuff to stop breaking.

Not good!

I love my camera. It's small enough to carry in my purse. I use it all the time for work so it comes in handy to just keep it with me.

So Friday night we were enjoying a "Family Fun Night" and I had taken a couple of pictures. I put the camera back in my purse and later went to retrieve it. This is what I saw when I turned on the camera:

Crap! So amidst the fun, it looks like my camera took a blow and this is the result. Kind of artistic isn't it though?

Stupid DMV!!

I hate stupid rules and even more so when my tax dollars go to support these retarded policies. It was time to renew my drivers license and I had received notice that I could do it by mail. Well my birthday came and went and I forgot to send it in. Once I realized this, I was totally paranoid that I was going to get pulled over. And since I have apparently lost my talent for talking my way out of a ticket, I wanted to get the thing renewed as quickly as possible. I noticed that the renewal notice had an option to renew online. So, I went to their stupid website and walked through the process but there was some code that was missing from my renewal notice-of course.

I didn't want to chance sending the thing in and waiting for the new license to come in the mail. Since I was over in the area (after taking an hour long spinning class-and mind you, I don't dress up for the gym) I decided to the pay my fee and be on my way...not exactly. Now the wait was pleasantly short, I don't even think it was 5 minutes. But once I paid them and the bureaucrat was almost done with me, she says, "Now I just need you to step over to the camera for your photo." What??!! I explained that I didn't need a photo- I was eligible to renew online so why did they need my photo now? The one I already had was perfectly awful and I still looked the same!I looked to her for some sympathy. After all she was a woman and as far as I know, a human. Well, no such mercy from her. In fact, I could even read the bit of delight she took from my frustration that I had to get a picture taken when I was clearly not in any shape to be in public, let alone photographed. She stated that anytime you go in the offices for a renewal, they have to take your picture. Blah, blah, blah....something about fraud...blah, blah.

How dumb is that? So I really had no choice. I couldn't come back after a shower and finish the process. I was trapped in their stupid rules.

Jeff took great delight when a couple of weeks later the envelope arrived. He even committed a crime and opened my mail to see the thing. I guess it's not as bad as Nick Nolte's mugshot, but it's right up there. He's threatened to do something awful with it, but I'm sure he knows better. I think it might get lost...Stupid DMV!!

Great To Be Eight!

With turning eight, Cara was old enough to decide that she wanted to be baptized. It was such a great day for her and we are so proud of her decision.

She was able to wear the same dress that both my mom and I had worn when we were baptized. Her daddy baptized her I can't believe how fast she is growing up! We are so grateful for all the support of family and friends who came to share this special day with us. I made my first movie for the program. It was easier than I thought it would be. And since I was pleased with how it turned out, I thought I'd share it.

An American Girl B-Day

My Cara turned Eight on Friday. She decided she wanted to have her party at the American Girl store. So she invited a couple of friends and we had a "Girls Day." Those of you who don't have girls who are into this, may not be able to understand the "experience" so, I'll illustrate for you :)

A quick happy car ride..

We started downstairs...there was a 3 hour wait to get your dolls hair done (at $10-20 each, so we decided to skip this)

Then it was upstairs to more shopping, the doll hospital, doll photo studio and the cafe.

Waiting for our 2:30 lunch seating

Then it was time to take our seats

And of course the dolls each get a seat

Deciding what to order

Yummy cinnamon rolls...

The tasty appetizers...

mmm...Pizza

Sharing food with the doll...

Blowing the candles out on the cake

Enjoying the cake with peppermint ice cream

A fun and delicious meal!

Happy Birthday Cara!!