{Re}united!!

{Friday} May 28, 2010

Today the girls had a day off of school, so our plan was to go to the mall or Pretend City . . . something away from home . . . but, as my luck would have it, that didn't work out. Right after I got Charlise (literally only a couple of minutes) I heard Hannah gasp and say "OH NO!!" My first thought, Charlise threw up . . . no, I walked around the corner to see her standing in a puddle of bright blue paint. Lovely. She unscrewed the cap and dumped it on her clothes & feet . . . and then walked out of the room and down the hall leaving a beautiful BLUE trail behind her. Needless to say, I spent the entire morning scrubbing carpet in hopes that when we move out someday we will see some of our deposit. It's still a horrible mess . . . one that I'll have to scrub the death out of tomorrow. Crossing my fingers that all of this elbow grease will pay off . . . sigh. I can't be mad . . . it's my own dumb fault for putting paint where a toddler can reach it . . . doh. Anyway . . . our night tonight totally made up for the rest of my bum day . . .

For some weird reason I haven't seen my cousins, Tonill, Melissa, & Angie in 23 years!!! Something happened after my parents got divorced and we completely stopped seeing them . . . SO sad. Tonight we were able to have dinner with Melissa and her family . . . they're here visiting Disneyland {and about every other amusement park in So Cal}. It was SO so so great to see her again. We had SO much fun. It's her daughter, Lexi's, 12th birthday, so we met them at their hotel, rode in a limo over to an Italian resteraunt and partied it up for a couple of hours . . . caught up a bit and laughed . . . a lot! Lexi & the girls hit it off and they had a great time getting to know each other. {They even all tried oysters together . . . and they all loved them! Wha?! Reha said it tasted just like shrimp . . . I'll just take her word for it . . .} I'm so grateful that we are back in touch . . . really sad that it took my Grandma Vee and Charish passing away to bring our family back together, but I'm glad that something good has come from our horrible year. Here are some pictures from our fun night . . .

Melissa & I at dinner. What an awesome woman . . . I had such a fun time!!

Hannah & Lexi . . .

. . . and Reha & Lexi.

Didn't take long for us to catch up and let loose.

The girls in the limo coming back from dinner. Lexi is wearing one of Charish's scarves. They met at my grandma's funeral and hit it off. Charish told me about how much she loved getting to know her and how excited she was to see her again {which would have been about now}. Unfortunately they didn't get the chance. When I was thinking about what to get her for her birthday I thought it would be really great to give her something of Charish's for her to keep. She loves it and I know she'll take good care of it.

On the way home we could see the Disneyland fireworks out the limo window . . . the girls "ooo"ed and "aaawww"ed the whole way back.

Can't wait to see them again. Thanks for the fun night Melissa! xoxoxo

Fancy {Tea} Party

{Thursday} May 20, 2010

Today Reha went to a fancy-shmancy birthday party. It was at Olivia's Doll House in Tustin . . . this place is a girls DREAM! There is nothing short of fancy about this place. So cute. She had a blast and is already begging to have her birthday party there next year. She only has 11 months to go . . . not too long to wait. haha

Charish's {Headstone} . . .

{Tuesday} May 18, 2010

Jason texted me earlier today and let me know that Charish's headstone was finally set and in place. It feels good to know that her grave is marked now and it's not just a patch of dead grass, but at the same time it feels really, REALLY weird to see a headstone with not only my sisters name on it, but her picture . . . sooo doesn't seem right. It's very foreign to me, and I'm not sure it will sit well with me for a really long time. I am still really struggling with her being gone, almost more so now than before. The longer the time goes on the harder/lonelier it feels. I miss her SO much . . . can't wait to see that smile again {unfortunately I'm sure it will be way too long of a wait!} Her birthday is coming up, so we plan on celebrating at Chuck E. Cheeses so the kids {and I guess secretly the adults too} will have some fun celebrating such a great woman. It's sad {unbearable at times} that she's gone, but there's no reason to only mourn her absence . . . instead we need to celebrate the fact that we're blessed to have had her in our lives.

The lower left plaque is a "hero medal" that she was given for saving so many lives by giving others her organs, and the balloons have the first initials of all of her kids and nieces. {Isn't her picture beautiful? It's everyone's favorite. Mannnn I miss that smile.}

Wow! Can you say {SLACKER}?!

So much for my "every day" goal. Sheesh I suck. I guess the only time to start fresh is now, right. Ugh, that bugs me how unmotivated I've been! I in no way have taken pictures every day, but what I have taken I will update in the next couple of days.

Today wasn't bad. I found out a few weeks ago that I'm pregnant! Can't believe we'll be having #4, but I'm SO excited! I can't wait to hold this sweet thing in my arms. That is THE best feeling in this life . . . being handed your newborn for the first time and laying her {in my case} on my chest. That first eye contact is something that is so perfect. Can't wait. And, as with all of my pregnancies, I. am. sick. And exhausted. But I have been trying to remember that it's a good sign. With all three of my miscarriages I didn't feel sick, so it's been really good to remember when I wake up feeling like a train has come through my room and hit me a few times, that it means that this baby is progressing, and hopefully healthy.

So, as for my picture today . . .

I have been SO blessed with some amazing {totally an understatement by the way} friends. Aside from having lunch with Amber & Kristi this afternoon {finally getting out . . . was so nice}, I got this sweet surprise on my doorstep when the girl's & I went out tonight to get some fancy Del Taco for dinner. Just about 30 minutes before on Facebook I wrote: "Oatmeal cookies sound sooooo good right now. The soft/chewy kind . . . too bad I don't have a good recipe . . . anyone?? Come on . . . don't hold out on me now!" I love the fact that I have friends who will drop anything to put a smile on my face. They are a-stinking-mazing. Love them. So thanks to Mary I had my craving fed and I didn't even have to clean the kitchen from baking . . . awesome.

I LOVE being {Mom}!

{Sunday} May 9, 2010

These girls make my life worth living. I had a great day today being loved by these sweet things. They got me a "mom" bracelet {with Grandma Carey's help}, and Reha made me a necklace . . . which got MANY complements at church. So cute. And they both made me cards and Wade brought me flowers {last night}. I have an awesome family . . . SO so so blessed. Thank you for my special day Wade, Hannah, Reha, & Charlise!! xoxoxo

{Giant} Bubbles!!

{Saturday} May 8, 2010

We had a fun day today blowing bubbles. Wade made the girls some bubble blowing contraptions out of straws and string that ended up being really fun!! I love to sit outside and watch my family play.

Finalist!

{Thursday} May 6, 2010

Hannah entered a poster contest for the Irvine Water District and found out today that out of all of the schools in Irvine they picked 5 finalists. Hannah and her best friend, Ria were the only two people from her school that made it to the top five! She is SO excited. She wont find out until sometime in the summer if she won, but if she does, they'll be using her poster for their calendar and other things. I'm so proud of her. {Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of her poster, but when . . . if ever . . . we get it back I will post a picture.}