Okay . . . . .

Okay, I'm officially obsessed with Adam Lambert's music. I downloaded the few songs they had on iTunes, and he is sooooooo darned good, I want to hear more, I can't wait until he comes out with an album. I'll definately be there downloading it. My fav song is "Whole Lotta Love," which is a Led Zepplin song, he sings it so awesome, I listen to that while I'm running on the treadmill and it just hypes me up, makes me run those extra few minutes/seconds if need be.

Oh, I Almost Forgot!!

On Saturday I took Joshie to get "his hair did." Sounding a bit ghetto huh?? Anyways, Vanessa did his hair, he got it colored, he wanted it black, so black that it has a blue tint to it and he needed a cut badly. So as he's having color put onto his head, of course mom breaks out the camera, to which, of course, he tries hiding, and does apparently. His expression, "wow . . ." is all he manages to say, is priceless and hilarious every time I hear it. It's as if to say, "wow, I can't believe you're doing this to me, yet again." I just have to laugh, that's what mom's do, right? It's my motherly duty to record all parts of ones life and the lives of my children. So dang it, if I have a camera in my purse (which I almost always do), then humor me and let me take my dang pictures. It's my right, and I stand by that. So I took a few pictures, but none of them have his face in it, only his hands IN FRONT of his face. So here it is, the one and only picture I could muster.

Memorial Day Weekend Pt. 1

Well, Sunday we got up, went to church and went out to eat afterwards and had a very satisfying lunch of hot chicken wings, antipasto salad, zucchini sticks and mozzerella sticks. Joshie and Darian had been having this craving for about a week, so even though it wasn't the healthiest, it was REALLY good!! So, earlier we hadn't decided whether to take the boat out Sunday or wait until Monday, then Erica texts me and asks what we're doing, mom and Roy wanna come over, let's cook out. So we were like, yeah, we can stay home and cook, the kids can swim and we'll just hang out. So we did just that. We had hamburgers, fried chicken, pasta and macaroni salad, pickled cauliflower, watermelon, yummy!!! We just sat outside and watched the kids swimming. Thankfully it wasn't too hot sitting outside, because the adults didn't swim, we just observed. But it was a nice time and nice to hang out with everyone.

Andre's Graduation

Well, tonight was kinda hectic. We had Summative for Joshie at school, and he HAD to be there in order to get a grade. Each 8th grade class had to design and build a theme park, yes, I did say, theme park. So we had to go see what the end results of these many hours of work had turned up. It was cute. You could tell that some of the classes really had put alot of effort/work into their creations. Cute ideas, cute theme parks, really. So anyway, after Summative we had to jet over to Andre's graduation, wow, I can't believe how quickly time has gone by. I remember when Andre was just a baby, and my baby girl was just a baby and they played together. Joshie wasn't even a thought yet. Whoa. Anyway, it was completely raining, practically the entire time we were there. Thank goodness I keep an umbrella in my truck. So, needless to say, mine and Darian's hair was a complete and utter disaster, why did we even take the time to style it? Who knows, I personally didn't know it was raining, or had the potential to rain. Anyway, we sat in the rain for 2 hours, yes, again, I said 2 hours. Finally he made his way to the front podium to receive his diploma, the whole family cheered!! He threw his hands in the air to show his excitement. It was bittersweet for the family as well, as Josh was not there to see his son graduate, because of course, he is incarcerated, unfortunately for him. Roberta had called me earlier to see if the kids would be able to make it, and I wasn't sure if they were because of Summative. But we did and everyone was so glad that they were there, especially Andre. Even Lloyd came up to me three times in the evening and thanked me for taking them, he said, "Hey thank you so much for bringing them, Andre was so worried that they weren't going to be there to see him graduate." He (Andre) must have really, really wanted them there and had let Roberta and Lloyd know. I know the kids wanted to be there, as it was a big moment for Andre and they wanted to be there to share it with him. It was worth it sitting in the rain I suppose, to have your kids maintain their relationships with their other family and their brother.

What Next???

Well on Sunday, I went to drop off Krista's Mother's Day gift that I still had for her, since I haven't even seen her (or heard her voice) since Easter. She's not at the house, but Robert is there with the kids and he's showing me how Clem can walk now, and I have to leave because my lil' family is out in the truck waiting for me, so we can go eat (because we just got out of church and we're starving.) Anyway, as me and Robert are going in towards each other to say our good-byes, he steps on my foot, but it's wasn't so super painful, it was kinda like whatever. But I get in the truck and happen to look down at my foot and my middle baby toe is all bloody, and the nail looks like it's come off, but it doesn't fall off, but it doesn't even really hurt, until later . . . . . then my toe starts having shooting pains every so often.
Anyway, I say, What's Next?? Because I was supposed to start my official workout this morning, but now since it doesn't seem like I can even get a tennis shoe on it, I don't know what the heck I'm gonna do. Last week I didn't do anything, because I had all three kids at home sick, one day or the others. I was at the doctor three days in a row, oh it was a mess. Now this. When can I officially start my workouts??? We'll have to see what my little toe says.

Jay Bell

Well, Thursday, OD had a private lesson with former Dbacks player, Jay Bell. We bought this basket from a fundraiser that the Ahwatukee Little League was having, and we got a couple of signed pictures and an Official Jay Bell bat, super cool. So we finally hooked it up so he could finally have his lesson with Mr. Bell. He was a super nice guy and gave OD lots of really good tips for hitting (that was all they worked on), and OD was hitting the ball REALLY good while in the batting cage, doing what Mr. Bell told him to do. It worked and OD could see a difference in his hitting, it was awesome!!! This first picture was taken at our church when Mr. Bell came and spoke there. We went up and told him we had "won" the fundraiser basket of his. He was super nice and said, "yeah, well let me know and we'll get together!!" He was really enthusiastic. OD had a really great time.

The Black Hole Costco

Well, yesterday I went to the Black Hole, aka Costco, which I have been putting off for weeks. I have been putting it off because I dread getting one of those "monster carts" and filling it up to where it's easier to pull than to push and then getting to the register to find yourself 2 miles back. I also hate going by myself because they box all the stuff up at the register, but when I get to my truck I can't even lift the darned thing, so I have to put each thing in individually, but when Alan is with me, he does all the heavy lifting.
Anyway, they usually have really good things to eat too, not yesterday, and I was a little hungry when I got there, I know, I know, it's always bad to go shopping on an empty stomach, I couldn't help it though, I'd been running around all day and just hadn't made the time. They had these stupid protein bars, some acai liquid (junk), some kind of pizza roll thing--something my kids would eat, not me.
So I piled my cart as much as I possibly could with stuff, which of course I needed, and which of course will be used by us for the next month, because I'm not going back for a while; at least not by myself. I had meats, cheeses, two bottles of vino, tp, snack puddings, brownie mix (gotta have brownies--but now I need a new pan--MOM!!) LOL What else? Oh yeah, I did buy lots of fruits and veggies, which is good, soaps, bleach, some tank tops that I like to wear to bed, and some undies, gotta love the full-back undies (can't wear the thongs to bed, not too comfy). Come to think of it, I didn't buy anything frivolous (unless you count the vino, and tanks and undies), just stuff we really did need, food!! The cashier even commented, "Wow, your fridge must be empty." Geez dude did you really have to say that in front of everyone? He's like saying I'm buying up the whole store or something.
BTW, my tab was a whopping $426!! You know you can never come out of there with less than $100.

Paging Dr. Anna . . . .

This week, I have been a nurse, and I mean the whole week, so far. I was in the doctor's office Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and have had kids home every day this week, different days, different kids. Of course they all have the same ailments, sore throats, stuffy/runny noses, headaches, fevers. So, needless to say, I have done absolutely nothing to get myself in shape, I've been a blob and absolutely feel like one too. Come Monday, I'm getting on my bike and whipping myself around the block a few times, can't wait for the sickness to get out of my house. Let's just hope those little viruses haven't creeped into my body yet. No sign of any yet. Stay tuned . . . . . Hey, who's gonna take care of me if I get sick? Good question.

Mother's Day

Well, Mother's Day was a great day in some ways, and sad in other ways, I'll tell you why. We went to church and Pastor had a very nice message about mothers, of course. He was stating all these traits that mother's have, caring, listeners, loving, dependable, loyal, etc., you get the picture, and he compared all of those traits to the ones that Jesus has and is. Similar stuff, pretty cool the way they put it in the sermon. After church we went to pick up mom and took her to lunch at the Elephant Bar. Elephant Bar?? Why would you go there?? It was actually a REALLY nice place and the food was soooo good. Mom and I had a margarita, yummy, we just had a really nice time. We dropped the kids off at home, because Darian wasn't feeling too well, and Mom, Alan and I were on our way to see Dee's mom, since she's been pretty sick and was recently sent home with Hospice, which is never a good thing. So we get there and Nanita is in her hospital bed in the middle of what used to be the living room, and she's on a breathing machine, or oxygen is being pumped into her, I'm not exactly sure. Anyway, she's breathing, but it seems like it's very labored breathing, very sad. I hate to see people in that state, and I'm sure it's been truly one of the hardest times for my friend Dee. I feel for her. She's been there for her mom through all these tough times, taking care of her and tending to her mother's every need. It has to be tough to see your precious mother in that state, knowing there's absolutely nothing you can do to help her. I just can't imagine. So Erica and Gilbert get there just a bit later and Erica and I are standing there looking over Nanita, when all of a sudden she stops breathing, just poof, nothing more. I call Dee over to see if there's anything to be done, or what, and she checks her and sees that her precious mother has indeed passed. It was sad to be there when someone has taken their last breath in your presence, that had never happened to me before. Dee was very distraught, to say the least, and she was trying to keep it together, call family members, etc. She was doing a very good job, under the circumstances. So her mother's funeral will be this Saturday, the viewing on Friday. Funerals are always a wierd thing, kinda awkward too, you don't know if you can say anything at all to make the person/people feel any better, and you hope you say the right thing. I guess just your mere presence and being there for the person in whatever way they need, is what counts. We were glad we went that day to see her before she passed.

Easter 2009

Well, yes, I know I'm a bit late, but better late than never right? Anyway, Easter was great. At first when I heard we were doing it at a park, a part of me groaned, because I knew it would be a lot of work taking all of the stuff we would need, and also, reserving a spot at the park is not the easiest thing to do, especially for holidays. But, needless to say, it was super fun. None of us had been to the park in a really long time, and it was fun to be out and play games like, Bocci ball, volleyball, the guys played basketball, and of course we had our famous confetti eggs. We had some "neighbors" that also got into the fun with us, remember the little kids that kept coming up to us to get the confetti eggs? They had a blast with them as well, and we had about 40 dozen anyway, so there was plenty to go around. We did our cookout, ate and just had fun. Funny thing is, we never got around to doing the actual Easter Egg Hunt. What?? No egg hunt, why not? We were all just having too much fun doing other things, that we just forgot, oh well, it was still a blast.