a look back

I had a great birthday last weekend. We planned to go to Monterey on Sat. with both sides of the fam. Everyone flaked out on us so we almost stayed home. I'm so glad we didn't! We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, ate delicious seafood at Jack's Bar & Grill on Cannery Row, and made it to the beach to see a beautiful sunset. My parents came too and stayed overnight for a belated anniversary trip. It was nice to spend time together out of Fremont. Thanks Mom and Dad for your help with the chillies and for the scrumptious dinner!

Little J was SO FUNNY when the server brought out the crab dinner that Mom and I were going to share. She took one look at the plate and went into fits. "Is that a REAL crab? You're going to EAT that? EWWWWWWW. That's so DISGUSTING!" She went on and on. Fast forward to 10 minutes later when she got brave enough to try some and J wouldn't stop eating crab. "MMMMMMMM this is delicious. I love crab. Can I have some more?" were the next words coming out of her mouth. Between the 3 of us we polished off a half a crab in no time. We can't wait for our annual family crab feed in November.

The Aquarium was fun- a little crazy with 3 small chillies but we managed with some extra help from Grampy and Grammy. I totally splurged and used some b-day money to buy a membership for the year. We will be visiting the Aquarium (and seafood restaurants a lot) and I'm excited about that!

new level of multi-tasking.....

It was 8:28 AM and J's school bell rings at 8:30. The boys and I were going to walk the lake after we dropped J off so I was planning on being gone for awhile. As I passed the laundry room I remembered I had 2 loads in the dryers. I ran back for the laundry basket and loaded kids and laundry in the car.

Fast forward to a red light on Auto Mall. We're waiting at the light, listening to some tunes, and before I realize it, I'm folding laundry in the overflowing basket sitting next to me on the passenger side. I really need to slow down sometimes.

Check out my sweet chillies and the huge pile of laundry looming over them.
The best part of folding laundry? Chillin' with my little guys and watching a Disney flick. They are totally zoned out in this pic munchin' popcorn while I fold clothes.
I usually don't mind doing laundry. I mind a lot more lately. It seems to have multiplied 2 times in the last few months. It's probably due to the fact that I have 2 growing, messy boys and it's starting to rain and get muddy. *sigh* I forgot about soccer on Saturdays too. hope it doesn't rain Friday/Saturday morning.

happy birthday to me & Breven & Tori & Jen

The first week in October has become birthday central as our family grows. My birthday was Sunday. yeah. one year closer to 30. ug. My nephew Breven's b-day was Monday.

Hapy Birthday to Breven!


And my sis-in-law Tori's b-day was yesterday.
Happy Birthday Tori! The big 18! Yikes.


AND my friend Jen's b-day is this Friday.

Here's all of the girls (Tori, Jen, Gayle and me) at our quadruple b-day party at Gram's last Sunday. The night was all about the food- requested by the birthday girls! We had as much dessert as dinner and it was delicious! Dinner was salmon, roasted beef, fresh-cooked veggies, Aunt Lita's awesome salad with Balsamic vinegar dressing and feta cheese, baked potatoes, & french bread. Brownies, strawberry angel food cake, carrot cake and Death by Chocolate rounded out the birthday goodies. Such a fun night.

playing catch-up!

Where did the last week go? It got sucked into a black hole and I don't remember much.

Happy Birthday Gayle!!

We went to a rockin' surprise birthday party for our dear friend Gayle two Saturdays ago. Joey had been planning the entire Cajun-style party for MONTHS and Gayle never found out- which is so cool! We ate BBQ'd alligator, listened to a groovy Zydeco band, and enjoyed the balloon artists, charicature artists and face painters that Joey had brought in. Everyone had an awesome time! TJ went through probably 10 balloon swords, Coop ran everyone down pushing his stroller in the courtyard and J had the best time playing with all her church friends as a beautiful tabby cat (courtesy of the talented face painting artist). We all took a turn in the face painting chair. It was a fabulous family affair!


The rest of last week is a blur. The only thing that sticks out is how much I hate my job right now. In the middle of an annoying apartment turnover- for so many reasons. Tired of working for the other guy. Tired of my "boss." Almost burnt out. I just have to hunker down and tough it out for a little while longer.

Dave was home all last week for his LAST BREAK between quarters. It was nice to have him here to take J to school and help out during the day. The chillies were in heaven having Dad home to wrestle, play and snooze next to.

Phase II is so close

I can't believe it's been 3 years this December since we took this apartment management job. Dave laughed when I informed him that phase II was so close. What is phase II you ask? Well, phase II consists of Dave finding a pratice and making money instead of borrowing it so we can save up for our own house. Dave graduates from school in December. I still can't believe this long road of chiropractic school is almost over for Dave and our family. So excited for him to get on with his career.

Our 5 year plan is still on schedule. I don't want to live in this 2 bedroom apartment anymore and five years is the MAX. It is darn nice to not have a rent payment every month, but I'm already feeling burned out. Some people are not meant to be homeowners and I don't want to babysit them any longer than necessary. I'm excited for phase II!!