A Disc Golf {Pro} in the Making

{Saturday} June 19, 2010

This morning the girls & I were nice & lazy while Wade went to work for a few hours. It's always nice to just be able to sit around with no schedule. When he got home we went shopping for a new suit and shirts for Wade . . . didn't find a suit unfortunately, he could really use one more. It's kind of hit & miss when you have to get your suits at places like Marshalls. We took a little break from shopping and had a late lunch at Chipotle {yumm-ness}, then took Hannah to a birthday party at her best friend, Ria's house. After we dropped her off we went to one more Marshalls store where Wade found a few dress shirts. Charlise fell asleep in the car {which was so great because she REALLY needed a nap . . . serious cranky pants}, so when we got stuck trying to find something else to do to enjoy the beautiful day, and Reha asked if we could go to the park and go disc golfing, I decided to just have them drop me & Charly off at home and they could go, just the two of them. I was glad he took my Flip camera so that he could catch a few videos of her, which he grabbed a couple of pictures from. She did a great job and had a ton of fun . . . this girl loves her daddy!

{Dinner} Time = Learning Time . . . or Silly Time?

{Tuesday} June 15, 2010

Today the girls were out of school for a furlough day, so we went to the mall and walked around a while to enjoy our beautiful weather. It was a fairly uneventful day . . . nothing too exciting happened, besides of course our trip to Costco . . . okay . . . that wasn't exciting either.

Dinner time always seems to turn into learning time. Tonight Hannah asked the difference between the Old & New Testaments, and it started a long conversation on "time" . . . B.C - A.D stuff. {The paper Wade has was a timeline that he made to better explain things} I'm pretty sure Hannah caught on, the girl LOVES to learn new things . . . but as far as Reha & Charlise go . . .

. . . I'm thinkin' they weren't interested tonight. These girls are g.o.o.f.y.

My life is bliss . . . I am so blessed to have these 4 loves in my life! Someone pinch me . . .

"Choo choo {TRAIN}!!!"

{Monday} June 7, 2010

Yesterday my mom came and stayed with us so that we could wake up, drive to Oceanside to meet Ian & Jayna, and catch the Coaster {a.k.a. "choo choo TRAIN" to Charlise . . . the funny girl said it over and over and OVER the whole way there}. The girls loved it, and it was so great to spend the day with my family. I felt like there was a weird cloud over us all day because it was clearly obvious that Charish and her kids were missing. Nevertheless we had a really fun time, and the kids really enjoyed Old Town San Diego and all of it's unique little shops and old schoolhouse, etc. I'm looking forward to doing it again someday.

A picture of all of us . . . Charlise is a little weirded out that we're all saying "cheese" to the camera on the table . . . but I think it turned out to be a good picture of all of us. I love my family!

Hannah let Charly sit on her lap for a while and pointed out different things. Charly kept saying, "I want da choo choo train to go FASTer!"

All of the kids.

Hannah & Reha were able to dip their own candles in the candle shop. I remember doing the exact same thing when I was this young. Total de ja vu . . . I love that they will have the same memories. Fun times!

One of the things that they were MOST excited to see was the old schoolhouse . . . unfortunately the only day that it's closed is Monday. Booo! But Uncle Ian was cool enough to hold Reha up to the window so she could see inside.

The girls on the front steps to the schoolhouse.

Grandma Carey loving on my girls . . . I'm so grateful that they have such a great relationship.

One of the best shops in Old Town . . . the candy shop with all of the old fashioned candy . . . the girls were ALL over it . . . of course, and were able to pick out their own candy stick.

Sitting in an old wagon.

At the train station getting ready to come back.

This was SUCH a fun day. The girls were all well behaved and really soaked in every moment.

{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.