Easter 2008

I get these expectations. I shouldn't,,,but I do. Last year Brody's birthday fell on Easter weekend and we incorporated the city's annual Saturday-before-Easter "Eggstravaganza" (to be said with a large sweeping gesture of arms) at Chase Palm Park into the festivities. It was a blast! The kids were so cute. Brody had a cool new Cars basket (thanks to Grandmama), collected a ton of chocolate eggs, saw the Easter Bunny, stole candy from other kids' baskets...just good times all around. In fact, it almost got a bit overwhelming. So many kids - too many kids - that I was constantly afraid we'd loose one. Well, I had a year to look forward to this year's "Eggstravaganza" only to be sorely disappointed. Too little eggs for the amount of kids, big kids in the little kids areas stealing up all the candy, it just didn't seem as well planned as last year. But Brody had fun, so that's all that counts. He was SUPER excited about seeing the Easter Bunny. In fact, it was the thing he remembered most about last year's egg hunt!

Every year for Easter, Reality does their service at the local high school in the outdoor amphitheater. We look forward to it every year. This year, we had several friends join us which was really special. Besides the blazing heat, it was a beautiful service as usual. Tons of decisions were made which was really touching. Afterward we had a good time playing at the Kids Fun Land where Brody got to jump in the Bounce Houses and eat sno cones. We ate delicious carne asada tacos!

We waited till after nap on Sunday to give Brody his Easter Basket so he'd actually have time to play with all the goodies. He loved all his special treats! We've gotten a lot of good play/use out of this Lightening McQueen basket. Thanks again, Grandmama!

We ran out of daylight to do egg dying yesterday so he and I attempted to color some eggs this afternoon after school. I didn't have lemon juice (random) so I used vinegar in the water. I guess that was a wrong decision because our eggs were less than brilliantly colored. Oh well. We made a good mess and have 6.5 (one broke) blue eggs to show for it.

Fun fact...Easter will not be the third week of March again for another 200+ years. I don't have the desire to actually verify this fun fact so if I'm wrong, let me know but it's the rumor I heard!

Carolyn + Sasha = Precious!

Did I mention that my precious girlfriend Carolyn came for a visit the other week? She and her family were visiting family in Palm Springs and she actually carved out a couple of days to come to SB for a weekend visit! The timing couldn't have been more perfect as Kevin was out town on a men's retreat and we were super in need of distraction. I was so looking forward to our little nuggets playing together. Unfortunately, Brody has been going thru a 'turning 3' stage and was a bit of a beast the entire time. Of course, this was only made me feel terrible as just-turning-2 Sasha is a perfect angel. [Note to God: I'd like one of those, please! ] She also has a big brother who probably abuses her in little ways too but I was so embarrassed every time B decided to jerk something out of "Cha-Cha's" hands or shout "NOOOO! She's doing it wrong!!" at the top of his lungs. Ugh. I kept saying, "This is new. I promise. Two weeks ago he was the perfect little boy-man. I'm so sorry. He misses his Dad." And so on. Gracious as always, Carolyn didn't make me feel like a terrible mother or like I had a monster-child of a son. Thank you, girlfriend.



There were times when Brody was sweet and played with his blue-eyed girlfriend and life was really nice. They started off having a ball in the bathtub but rumor has it that the event ended with Brody splashing Sasha in the face and saying he wanted her to leave. I told him that I would remind him of this when they are 16 and Sasha is the unattainable beauty queen that she's destined to be. "You kicked her out of your bathtub you know."

Even tho I was big-huge pregnant we still managed to have a pretty active and really fun time. On Saturday we took the kids to the beach and they ended up sleeping for like 3 hours afterward which gave us the great opportunity to sit down on the patio, eat junk food (mostly me), drinking tea and lemonade and just visit w/o distraction. Perfect.

I love Carolyn and I love that our husbands really like each other. One day maybe we can all get together as families and do something fun. Like....run on the beaches of Mexico, possibly?? ;)

Love you C. Thanks for coming to see me. Yours truly, me.

THREE THINGS: F&B

I think this will be a Monday post from now on. Friday's are too hard.....And now it's Tuesday. Here we go...

1. Orangina - I literally can not get enough of it. I think about it at least once a day. If you haven't had one in a while I suggest you stay away as it is addictive. I can only find them at Trader Joe's which, thankfully, is just down the road. Brody loves them too and always ends up drinking half every tiny little bottle I drink. Stingy kid. By the way...does anyone know the proper pronunciation? In my house we say 'Orangeeena' because it is pronounced the other way around Brody we end up talking about girl and boy parts. Noteworthy: According to Wikipedia there is a blood orange flavor recently released in Europe. If only I could be so lucky!

2. Honey Nut Cheerios - Can I get a 'what what'?! For some reason Honey Nut Cheerios have been rocking my world lately! Because they boys like to totally copy-cat me, we literally go thru 2 boxes in about 5 days. Hands off my Cheerios!!! The good news is that according to their ads I am lowering my cholesterol and enjoying a heart healthy meal! Noteworthy: the Trader Joe's brand of Honey Nut O's is pretty outstanding too. On the other hand, grocery store off-brand labels...not so much.

3. Coca-Cola - I know. I can hear it now. "Why are you drinking Coke!?!". Listen, 2-3 cups of coffee a day are permissible when pregnant. The caffeine in coke isn't going to amp up this baby any more than 3 cups of coffee might. That said, I do recognize that the amount of sugar in a can of Coke is horrifying and something that should be avoided. Here is the deal...I went completely off of Cokes when I was pg w/Brody. After he was born I went off the deep end. I was drinking gallons and gallons of Coke and wondering why my nursing baby wasn't sleeping well! This time I figure I'll enjoy a Coke when I want to - without going overboard - so that I don't feel deprived and loose my mind again when baby sister comes. Allow me a Coke and a smile, wont you?

Just Cuz...

Every now and then I like to post a pic just to show off how stinking in love I am with my family. Would you just look at how God has blessed me? HOW do I deserve this man who treats me with so much love and patience and goodness? HOW do I deserve a son who is so precious and tender hearted - and who is going thru a really terrible about-to-turn-3 stage but is still so genius and adorable? WHAT did I do to deserve this life and these blessings? I'm humbled by God's continued grace and generosity. How I fail you, Lord, again and again.

Brody didn't fall asleep till after 11pm tonight and Kevin is in Dallas for a few days speaking at an industry show and Baby Sister is really abusing me. But I'm going to bed happy and content and in love. Praying that tomorrow goes a little more smoothly for us all.

Sweet dreams.

Funny Hubby

Oh but you MUST check out my husband's morph! Makes me laugh every time...

Three Things

My second Three Things entry and I'm already behind! Wasn't able to post on Friday b/c we had some very precious friends in town (photos to follow).

1. www.freerice.com is a very cool website that has two goals:
1. Provide English vocabulary to everyone for free.
2. Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

2. Freegans! Oprah did a show on freegans the other week and quite honestly I can not get them out of my head. "Freegans are people who employ alternative strategies for living based on limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources." Basically, they do their grocery shopping from garbage bins. Listen, I'm not condeming. I'm actually excited about the idea of free food and any other usable goods and might even consider the idea if I didn't think Kevin would leave me immediately. I even had a dream that I tried dumpster diving at Scolari's!!

3. Cloth Diapers! You know..they are not your mother's cloth diapers. They don't even require safety pins anymore! My girlfriend Julie (who is due shortly after Baby Sister) is going for it, bless her heart. It's her first and I'm eager to see how it goes. Fuzzi Bunz, Happy Heinys, Mother Ease, Bumkins, but my favorites are the g Diapers.

Helper!

Check out Bubba helping paint Baby Sister's room! He did a wonderful job. He even added is own personal touch...literally. There are two tiny hand prints in Sister's closet that will stay there as long as we live in this house. What a little helper!

Thoughts on pregnancy....

9 months and counting...

4 weeks and 5 days till Baby Sister...9am c-section on the books...

Feeling like a gigantic whale...ankles are not swollen yet but expecting that delight to begin soon...people are being very kind to me...

Experiencing a lot of contractions but not too painful yet...

Ready to meet this precious gift...and to be not pregnant anymore...

Working hard to get her room ready...but not stressed about it like I was with Brody...

Who loves my cute top? Maternity clothes are so awesome nowadays! Definitely one of the highlights of being preggers.

9:45pm. Sleepy...

Baby Sister Shower!

Can I just tell you that I had the MOST precious baby shower last weekend thanks to Amity, Darlene and Cara Lisa. I work for Darlene and her husband, Walter - who are just amazing and deserve a post of their own. Dar graciously offered to host the shower in her home. The home also deserves it's own post as it's my most favorite house in Santa Barbara!

Several of my lovely girlfriends turned out and showered me and Baby Sister with love and encouragement and gifts!! This time around we don't need all the "stuff" so it's fun to get the "goodies". Lots of pink :)

Thank you, ladies for a precious and memorable shower. You make me feel special. And thanks to Mom Sturm, Tams and Dee for sending gifts. LoVE yOu!!