It’s now been 2 months and I am way behind on my posts. I have been having problems with my laptop and it was shutting down after about 20 minutes of use and then would restart and shut back down ever 5 minutes or so so I would just give up. I was having super difficulty going though the hundreds of pictures I take and picking my favorites in 5 minute increments. Well I finally down loaded the last of my pictures from my camera to my laptop and stuck them on our home server and not more than 2 weeks later Matthew told me the server had crashed.
What?!!! The server where all my pictures since we before we got married are on? The server that you said would keep my pictures safe unless the house burnt down? There hasn’t been a fire. Matthew has spent the last 3 weeks or so doing all that he could to try to save the server and last night was his last attempt. I had hope until last night that everything was going to be okay. Now…I am frantically searching my memory for any place else my pictures could be. I have some ideas. I think we put some on some CDs…I’d have to go though a box labeled “Office Junk” that I sealed up 5 years ago and check every cd i can find…I’m hoping to obtains some from my parents and Matt’s parent’s computers…the ones I am mainly worried about are the ones of Isabelle’s first year. I don’t really have those in anything else except 2 scrapbooks that I made. Granted they are big scrapbooks, but that’s all I can see that I have left. Thankfully I’ve been making Huge Shutterfly books since 2007 and therefore all my pics favorite pictures are stored on their online site and I have books I’ve made. I am feeling not so happy right now. The good thing is that I think I really only am missing about 2 to 4 weeks worth of pictures from this year the end of July and beginning of August. So when I recover…ooh, I think I stored a back up CD with my parents when we bought the server for fear I’d lose my pictures. I just keep reaching for straws, but I guess I’ll have to see what pans out. If I find them, I guess I’ll be uploading them to Shutterfly and making myself a 2006 book as well as a pre-baby book with some old pic of Matthew and I. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
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Well this month was busy. We did lots of fun things so far this summer. July has turned out to be busy too, so that’s why I’m just getting around to blogging. Lets see. I took some cute pictures of the kids…well, more acurately I took lots of pictures of the kids and each one of those pictures has a kid that looks cute in it…maybe even two!
First things first, congradulations to Isabelle as she graduated kindergarten (see isabellesworld) and thus summer for us began! The kids wanted to have a sleepover in Preston’s tent…it was more like a couple of hours in the tent together and then if we wanted them to sleep and stop aruging about who was touching who, they had to end up in their own beds. We tried that a couple of times with the same result. We watched Austin a few times and we made crayons.
We started a project with some friends and we grew butterflies. It was cool in the beginning, but then it got gross pretty quick then a bit nerve racking at the end as I was trying to keep them all alive, but it was a great learning tool and the kids enjoyed it. We started out with 10 caterpillars and in the end we ended up with 8 or 9 butterflies( We already can’t remember). Not bad odds. Anyhow we grew them and watched them and hatched them and let them go. You know me and bugs…I couldn’t even look at certain points because they gave me the eebee-geebees! Well releasing them was super fun. Lily was not interested, but Austin was. I put a simple syrup on the kids fingers and they hung around for quite awhile on their fingers…there was an incident though. When they had finally turned into butterflies i was trying to put some oranges in there cage without letting them escape and as I was zipping them up, in came the Tiny Tornado… lily knocked the cage upside down and there was a butterfly casualty. One of the butterfly’s wings ended up broken..it got lodged under and orange and the moisture permanently defected it’s wing. It didn’t fly very well as a result. But in any case it was fun and the kids really enjoyed it, especially Isabelle who named her bugs.
We also celebrated Flag day. We learned about the flag, sang “The Star Spangled Banner” planned a BBQ for dinner, ate home made red, white and blue popsicles and of course had burritos for lunch…what? They were on an American flag plate!!
We learend about coconut and coconut palms. We made a craft and then busted one open…they kids didn’t seem to like them very much and it was very hard to peel the flesh from the husk…glad we can just go to the store and buy it pre done…my dried coconut tasted exactly like the fresh and it was much easier to eat. we tasted the flesh and the coconut water as well as some dried fresh coconut and some sweetened shredded coconut I had…the kids liked the sugar coated stuff…go figure.
We also had a 1st Day of Summer party. We had crafts, a story, a potluck and water play and a waterballon fight. The kids had a fun time!
I, of course made some stuff this month. I made Isabelle’s teacher a framed monogram out of crayons as well as a reuseable monogramed bag to put it in with a note as a goodbye/thank you gift. I made Lily a dress out of an old onsie and some butterfly fabric. Isabelle got a new pink skirt with floral details. Lily got a pair of her old jeans turned into a new skirt. Isabelle got a new green dress with floral detail and Lily got a pink one in the same pattern, though Isabelle’s is my favorite because she loves to wear it and it cost me 82 cents! My friend who has a new business had an idea, but can’t sew…not that I know how to sew or anything…so she described a towel idea and I sewed her a sample..we’ll see if it ever goes into production. Preston Loved it…I’ll have to make him his own soon.
I was just shopping. It was going really well because upon arrival to Walmart I “dug out”(moved a regular cart out of the way) a special 3 seater shopping cart(not unlike the one pictured above) so that I could…you guessed it, put all 3 kids in the cart so they wouldn’t run around, touch stuff, get in people’s way, ect. What a nice trip we had, no one running off, grabbing cookies or bothering anyone else. We checked out, the cashier help me load the last two bags into my cart, we headed out the door.
“You can’t take that out there.” I hear yelled at me as an ALARM is sounding. “Me?”I ask bewildered.
I get a nod. “Take what out?” My kids were in the cart, there was no way they shoved something under the cart that I didn’t pay for. I look at the cart. It’s fine.
“You can’t take that. The cart out.” says the should be happy Walmart greeter with a stern face.
“Are you kidding me?” (I must be on a hidden camera show, right? Have them shop and don’t let the customer take the cart out, make them carry the groceries out…funny, but I’m not playing that.I can barely lug the 3 kids in the store to get a cart!)
“No, that’s our policy.”she retorts.
“Oh, well that’s a ridiculous policy” I came up with a quick solution, “Well you can just follow me out so I can unload my cart at my car and then bring it right back.”
She laughs in my face, “Well that’s not going to happen!”
I look at my receipt. ” I need to talk to Michael.” That was the name listed on my receipt as the store manager. “Can you call him?”
“No. I can’t do that…” Now I’m sure you can imagine the shock on my face as she pauses here…”…you’ll have to ask someone else. Go ask her.” as she points to the nearest cashier.
Fine. So I ask her to call Michael for me. She does. I hear, ” Can I have the store manager to the front of the store for customer service?”
So we wait. “Mommy, why won’t they let us leave the store?” asks Isabelle. “I don’t know,Isabelle. We’re going to find out.” You all know Isabelle is sensitive, right? So I’m just hoping she doesn’t start panicking and crying…well, I kinda wished she did..hehehe.
So here comes Michael, ” What’s the problem here?”
” It would seem that I am being harassed and not being allowed to leave the store and I am not happy with that.” I calmly reply hoping he will see the ridiculousness of what is happening.
“Well those carts can’t leave the store.” he replies.
“Umm. What would be the reason?” I ask as I am astonished he doesn’t just say, “Go ahead and be on your way.”
“Well carts get stolen.” he replies.
“Okay. I’ve been to many-a-Walmart and used these kinds of carts, the carts with the 4 seaters, the two seaters, the ones with the baby seats attached and no one has ever stopped me at the door and told me to leave it at the door. It’s a shopping cart! You want me to unload all my groceries into another cart, and all of my kids?? You see, I choose this cart because I have 3 small children and it has 3 seats. It’s not like I have a 13, 9 and 11 year old in the cart! I chose it because it fit us.”
He nods his head,”Yes I see that, but people don’t return them to the store and they get stolen.”
I park next to the cart return so I can return the carts into their proper place, so he’s not really appealing to my rational side at this point…am I going to load this GINORMOUS cart into my mini van after I take the kids out? He must have seen the crazy going on inside my head or maybe he just hear what he had just said to me.
“You can take it out today.” he says as if he’s doing me a favor.
“Oh, great!” I say as I push the cart out the door.
I got in my car and called corporate customer service which is 1-800-WALMART, by the way and explained to the representative how completely ridiculous this was and how I’d like to come shopping next week and not be stopped at the door and require the store manager to approve me leaving the doors. It’s not like at Vons where you have to leave the cart because it has a TV in it…I understand that, but in their defense an associate will walk you out, unload the cart and bring it back in for you!!
It was all a little dramatic with lights and alarms going off. The customer service rep tells me he had never heard of such a thing or such a policy and completely agreed with me that is was ridiculous. I’m hoping I’ll be allowed to use the cart next time without incident…he can give me a special card or something I can wave. He can send an associate out of the store with me I don’t care, but come on, SERIOUSLY Walmart?
Well we got another bug this month. Wierd virus…just a fever then when it broke 3 days of whinnieness. All the kids got it…all at different times. So I spent lots of time doing laundry and not much else.
When we were well, we went to Disneyland for the last time on our passes…not sure if we are going to re-up…maybe after the blackout is over…there are 2 new rides they just opened…star tours and the little mermaid. Had my neice over for a day. I made her work for her dinner…she had to make it herself! The kids had fun making pizzas, but they picked off all the toppings they put on…guess it was just too much fun to put the toppings on!
We also enter the Chili Cook off in our area. It was fun, it’s a bit tiring, but fun. Our freind Jeremy helped us out in our booth. That man is a sales man. He was so fun to watch he talked people into tasting our chili. He came up with a slogan for us since our chili tasting number was 404 he would chant, “You’ll want more of 404!” So we said that alot! It was fun…then everyone left and the street was quiet they finally anounced the winnners… I have to say that I was doubtful for us winning after they announced the second place booth…theirs was so spicy it killed me and so many people complained after tasting it, I felt like maybe people liked eating fire rather than chili, but in the end Matthew’s chili won first prize and we walked away with $300. I’m sure he’ll be entering next year, so put it on the 2012 calendar for the sat of Memorial Day weekend.
This month I made the girls these cherry outfits, friend who just had a baby’s little girls matching skirts and one of my other friend’s daughter’s matching outfits. I made Lily a dress and a little top as well as our yearly 3 layer german chocolate cake for Matthew and Mahlon’s birthdays.
We’ve been planning this vaction for a year and it finally happened. We went on a 7 day cruise. We had a great time…well most of us. Preston didn’t, but you can read his story on his blog. The kids were pretty good. We watched the shows and those were pretty good. There was a hypnotist and I volenteered and was hypnotized. Apparently not well enough as he sent me off stage, but as I sat there and watched the show I found that I couldn’t really watch it because he kept telling people to “sleep” and after hearing that a couple of times, I just couldn’t help myself. I was too relaxed and too sleepy. Matthew said I was doing what he was saying, though I don’t remember that. I just remember resting with my eyes closed in my chair. In any case it was fun. I felt tired for a bit after, but within an hour I was fine and not tired at all. Matthew and I took turns giving Lily and Preston naps. We ate way too much as is always the case on a cruise. My favorite thing I ate…the vanilla soufle with vanilla sauce and a close runner up was the coconut sherbet on the kids menu. We’ve been on this cruise before so we didn’t do any tours. We got off the ship in Cabo San Lucas and took the kids to the beach. That was nice. Isabelle love, love, loves the ocean. Lily we talked in to liking it and it was completely lost on Preston. We got off in Puerta Vallerta and went to Sam’s Club and Super Walmart. Have you been to Walmart out of the country? They had mounds and mounds of Mexican bread and fresh fruit that you could buy by the bag. They also had Chapstick behind locked glass( which was what I needed). It was weird. Things weren’t any cheaper there than they would be here. Besides Preston, we all had a good time. Isabelle probally had the best time as she got to do and eat pretty much whatever she wanted!
We went to the LA Zoo this month just before our passes ran out!
I made some bird’s nest cupcakes and some more burp rags and a couple of onsies and my very first nursing cover.
Also this month our friends added a new member to thier family. Caleb! Congrats to the Luce’s.
We colored eggs this year. Can you believe our luck? We found a dinosaur egg decorating kit. It was easy for Preston to do too! Isabelle did the speckled eggs this year and she really got the hang of it. Lily got to color on her eggs with a white crayon and then dye them. As you can see, there was an incident and only 1/2 of her eggs made it. The other became a casualty of snack time. I didn’t mess up this year so our eggs were nice and bright opposed to the super pastel eggs of last year.
Easter Sunday we went to church. We were super late, but then discovered that the overflow in The Court’s delay is at least 10 minutes so we really didn’t miss anything. We even got to sing songs! Anyhow after I got home from church and Lily woke up from her nap we went to my parent’s house for an egg hunt and dinner. The kids had fun. Isabelle and Austin found most of the eggs. About 1/2 way through, Preston got tired of looking and gave up and Lily eventually figured out what the kids were doing and started to find what was left and even started re-hidding the eggs for the kids! It was her first egg hunt. After my parent’s we went to Matthew’s parents where the kids got to play with their cousins while the adults suffered from gluttony. It was a nice Easter!
March is over. I’m 30. Well at least 29 went out with a bang! It was a busy month. We had Noah and new baby Maddie over for a play date. We went to our friend’s the Baron’s home and I’m sure they’ve never seen a tornado like that before. How much mess can 1 kid make in comparison to 3?!! We had St. Patty’s Day and a family birthday dinner for me. I got a new sewing machine/ embroidery machine for my birthday. I’ve figured out how to sew straight lines and made a couple things (in pics next month I’ll bet), but have yet to master the embroidery…I’m scared. Matthew won a trip from his work and we went on vacation! We had to leave the kids with our parents. They made it through. Isabelle said she missed us. Preston wants to know if next time we go on an airplain can everyone please watch him and Lily is traumatized, I think. She cryed today when I dropped her off at church. She never cries.
So we spent my birthday in airports, airplanes and in the air. At least my first day of being 30 was 3 hours shorter than it could have been. We flew to the Bahamas and stayed at the Atlantis Resort. It was amazing. A water park, pools everywhere, waterfalls, seal life, beaches and that was just outside. We had an amazing view from our room and most of the pics you’ll see are from our room. We went to a 5 star restaurant and cooked with the chef there. And we got full body massages, spent a day on the beach and time on the water slides, and in the pools and sun. The parties that were thrown were amazing. There were living statues and water dancers at one party, games, body painters, preformers and fireworks at another and the grand finale was a formal dinner where the attendees were recognized. Matthew was one of the special, special people there. He was not only in the top 10% people who got to attend the trip he was also #1 in his peer group, therefore the top of the top!! I’m so proud of him. He does such a good job at his job! I’m glad that he was recognized for all he does!
This month I had a baby shower to go to. I made an ocean growth chart out of the wood they sell at Micheals. I painted it and glued it and I think it came out pretty cute and unisex as the parents are waiting to find out what the baby is. I also made a diaper cake, which I think is the cutest one I’ve made thus far. I aslo made burp cloths that are zebra so they can also go either way for a girl or boy for that shower. Then it was St. Patty’s day so I made biscuits with a parsley leaf to look like a clover and the rainbow cake I made last year ( you can find themboth on the family fun website by Disney) but this year I forgot to reverse the order so myy rainbow was unside down. Oh well. It was still pretty. Oh and I made a coconut cake that was super moist and yummy.
Lets see. I hurt my toe this month. Matthew posted it on facebook. It was ugly ( It still is ugly and it’s been about a month!) and it really hurt especially when the dr drilled a hole in it with his special fire or lazer tool and squeezed the blood out of it. He said he saved my toe nail ( I do still have my toe nail, granted it is black) and then asked if it felt better….um NO! You just drilled a hole in my toe that is so swollen I can’t bend it and then used every muscle in your body to squeeze it. It did not feel better. Later that day I was able to hobble around the house and even sleep, which was something I couldn’t do the night before since I felt like my entire leg was going to explode. Then lucky me after sitting in the urgent care for 2 hours, I got pretty sick with strep throat along with a 103 fever that lasted for 4 days. It really knocked me off my feet for about 5 days. I also got a cold too. I guess I needed more vitamin C this month. What else? I’ve just been working on getting Lily her med and been ever so happy that she can eat pancakes and is growing!
Matthew worked very hard last year and as his reward he gets to go to the Bahamas for FREEEEEEE and lucky me gets to go along with him. We found out some info on it this month and we are looking forward to that. What’s better than a free vacation? Not much.
I think I slacked on the pictures this month as I was pretty sick most of this month. I did manage to make a few things, though. I made groundhog chocolate muffins for Isabelle’s class as she seemed pretty excited about Groundhog’s Day. She even wanted to watch the groundhog on the news. I also made Isabelle her Valentine cards for school. They came out great and her teacher loved them! They were cheap and easy for her to pass out without any problems. I also made a dress for little Hailey for her 2nd birthday and I made the girls each a dress, but I guess I didn’t take pictures of them oh well, I’m sure they’ll wear them next month. The last thing I made this month was a snickers’s cake. It was a chocolate cake with nougat filling that was topped with peanuts and caramel frosted with choloate frosting and topped with snickers. It was tasty.
