First day of School, a little late!

First day of school!! That is right we have a kinder and a 1st grader!

The first grader. Well, did not want to go to school, I think he was a little nervous. I asked him once he said no, so I let it go..but I did hype 1st grade up as much as one possibly can without being a crazy momma. He had his school stuff, a new outfit, a yummy lunch made, his tummy was full from breakfast and off he went! Our first grader that did not have a problem getting up early (he already gets up at dawn) and even though he was quite he had that huge smile on his face and kisses to give to mom, dad, and his sisters! The first few weeks that followed were tough for him. Not wanting to go to school, saying it is too long, and that he did not want to walk there (we live .2 miles away). I kept saying to Derek and myself, "at least he is not saying he does not like school." If he did not like it then there would be an entirely different way I would have to change my approach, but I just let him work through the long days and get us to walking .2 miles twice a day. Now he is just fine.

The kindergartner! A few weeks before Em started school we were really trying to get her excited for school, it did not seem to be working. Example, the kinder meet & greet at the park which was a cry fest for her. But on the big day she was ready to rock & roll and could barely contain her smiles. All of the days since she just waves and runs to her spot on the line. She can not get enough! We have noticed her love of telling us about the play kitchen in the classroom, playing the role of mommy, and lack of moving her 'clip up' to reward her positive behavior. Yes, a lack! Drew had so many days he moved his 'clip up' and I really did not know what was going on with her. When I asked her teacher after a week of noticing I got this very 'kinder' answer from her, "well, Emma does have her own personality." Such a sweet way to say she is not listening! She is sweet, but really likes to 'help' kids even when she should just let them be. Something we are working on:)

Then off to yogurt after school with the Maloofs. Last year we went to lunch, so why not keep the yearly outing on the first day of school up!

Now what about daddy and momma?
Daddy.
Well, Derek was happy they were having such a great first day and since then has been very good about, well, everything. He even went to two sessions at back to school night last week. I was a mess three days last week with fevers and sleeping, so without him and my neighbor I do not know how I would have gotten them to school, fed them or be the parents Derek and I want to be with our kiddos. Not only was Derek happy about the excitement of the kids and helping me out, but LOVES the NEW SARA. He is a stinker. I am not a morning person and got lucky last year when Drew was placed as a late bird for school (school starts at 9:30), so getting up at 6:45am is a TOUGH thing for me! REALLY REALLY TOUGH! I swear in a way he was more excited to have me wake up early (maybe seeing the daily struggle, which is kind of messed up!:)) than watching his children start this new school year.

Momma.

Yes, I am not a morning person. I like to do laundry at night, drink a glass of wine while reading a book, blog, etc. It is the only time I have to myself. There are also many nights that I can not sleep more than 3 hours the entire night. I hate those nights and have had a few since school started. How much fun is it to get a few hours of sleep then get kids ready for school, make lunches, walk nearly 2 miles to and back from school a day (that is right I walk to school 4 times and walk back 4 times a day, trying to look at the positive of exercising), not have enough time for a nap then go to dance and baseball, cook dinner and all of the other stuff I need to get done? On a scale from 1-10 I am going to give it a 0! I am a walking zombie and not in a good mood. For some reason Derek finds it funny that I am not a morning person. Whatever. I have been getting better and so far they have only been late twice each. Is that okay for the first 4 weeks of school? haha. As long as I do not lay down I am good. Now I just walk them to school, then Lilly and I head for a walk/run and I drink nearly a pot of coffee and go to bed by 9:30 most nights. Yes, Derek this NEW Sara that you love to laugh at so much is exhausted and now you stay up later than her! **I stop drinking coffee at 3pm**

Meet the 3 yr old!

Lilly Patricia is 3! Our baby! Well, she is very insistent that she is not a baby anymore because she can go peepee on the potty and does not have a bibi. So, I guess she is not a baby anymore!

But this "I do it all by myself girl," was

in here...

came out looking her fabulous self to complete our family...

**I was so feeling happy on drugs**

One...

Two....

Three!

oh wait...no this is the BIG GIRL three yr old with no bibi!

To ring in the grand 3rd birthday we did not do much. Busy lives! We headed over to Linda's house of pizza, a '3' cake with mum-mums, swimming, and of course presents! Lilly was one lucky girl for just having me, Derek, Drew, Em, Grandma, Uncle Damon, Auntie Chow, Saige there..she made out on the gifts! Below are some pictures. If you do not know what she is dressed as, it is LaLa Loopsy. Emma had it on her cake too.

This coming up weekend we are having my side family day down in south county, pics to come!

Tackle this?

I have not done this in forever, but thought, why not! Yesterday I straightened up the garage so Derek would get down my Halloween stuff. Yes, he did get all 6 boxes down. Do I have too much stuff? Anyways, I tend to focus on one area of the house for a few days and the others go to crap. Yes, I wrote crap. So, today I am going to focus for one day and one day only on this 'eyesore' section of my room. Bills that need to be filed, started project, attempts to organize school supplies to move to a hutch in the dinning area, pictures from when I was little until my engagement that I want to put into albums and I refused to put that purple box away until I do so...it has been almost a year now but I will not give up, and of course all of the stuff I want to do that I tear out of newspapers and print up. Needless to say..it is a mess. I promise I run a very organized household, but this triangle of my room is a hot mess! I am going to start calling this area my "junk drawer," Hopefully, I will be able to update with 'neater' pictures toward the end of the day.

Fulgoni Wedding!

They got hitched! Richard and Kristi are married and from what could tell from the wedding....Kristi has got this man IN-LOVE with her! I mean love, love, love!

It was very hot on Saturday at 5, but we hopped into our cab (it had not air!) and made our way to Quinn's Ranch to witness and help them celebrate the kick off to the rest of their lives. The very large wedding party looked great in their suits and dresses and Kristi looked amazing and very happy.

I have known Richard since high school, Derek pretty much as long and we know how Richard can be. He is hilarious, loves music, to party, to chill, he loves his friends, and very thoughtful. I would not say that he is the sappy type, but he gets so into things and just loves!

He is a lover. He is a lover of his now wife. From the moment he made his walk down the isle his tears started coming. When he saw his wife (first time that day) I thought he was about to burst, when the officiant (his elder brother) asked for a moment of silence for those that were not able to share in the celebration (Richards dad passed away when we were in high school) you could see not only his face but those of his family try to hold it together, and when he started reading his two pages of hand written vows he wrote or Kristi....well lets just say, everyone was crying. Love, love, love!

**btw, Richard is English. Just imagine all of this being said with an accent!**

This ranch, country, backyard themed wedding was very pretty. Wine barrels, large jars full of beautiful purple/white flowers, strings of lights, and hay stacks decorated the reception. Two open bars, some great music, a food truck (Richard had an Inn&Out at his 18th b-day party...so fitting), and how am I going to write the following without an "oh goodness"..they had two port-a-potties! That last part was a little tough to get over, but heck we were in a backyard! Who cares in we live in Yorba Linda! I saw a ton of people that I know and some I have not seen in a very long time, so I did a lot of talking. A little strange though, with FB you know things about people that you never really would if you did not see them. Conversations were a little strange at times. For instance, I am friends with a gal on FB, I see her every couple of years at wedding and so on, never talk to her on the phone or even email, but I knew she just bought a condo/townhouse in DC and that it was really cute. She knew I had three kids...you get the point. It was just strange. I think Derek had a good time and at 10:30 the party was ton, in the cab, and I hit my pillow HARD!!

Derek and Mike waiting in the shade before the ceremony started. Of course, none of me! Dang-it this time though, I look kind of cute and my hair looked good:)

Winters Wedding!

I was not there on Sunday the 9th, but with FB I was able to see beautiful pictures of a Smith Family friend get married! I say congrats to the Winter Family for getting another addition to their family!

Athol, MA....a small town, but I love it! I think I love the smells, small streets, memories from my childhood. I am very sure I could never live there, but I smile when I am there or think of being there.

The Winters have a huge family in Athol. The Smith family was big too, but theirs is HUGE. By the way, I am a Smith:) Anyways, we had great times as children with the Winter family. Having sleepovers, walking the streets laughing, swimming in the lake, babysitting together, making french bread pizza at Bruce and Susan's house...they lived down the street from my Uncle Jimmy, going to little league games, and so on. It was just fun! Well, we are old now and are married with kids making new memories that do not really include them but I do smile when I think of the Winter Family. Just like I do when my think of my aunties and uncles. It is just sweet and nice.

So when I saw these pictures today on Chris' FB...I smiled and was happy. My sisters and I still have some contact with Chris and we very happy when this 'wicked smart' boy went to college, got a great job, got engaged and now MARRIED! Congrats!

These are Chris' parents, Bruce & Sue

Aquabats!!

http://www.theaquabats.com/news/


Concert in the park anyone? Love 'shows?' Well, my kids went to what I am saying was their very first show in the park! The Great Park of OC hosted a series this summer of music at the park and when I saw they were hosting the Aquabats we had to go! So after finding out what teacher Drew had for 1st grade, picking Em up from dance and grabbing some picnic dinner we headed down the I5. Where was Derek? Work:( When we got there I really should have begged someone to go with me! It was so hot and gross outside I was black from the asphalt, my tank keep falling down, Lilly kept wanting me to hold her, and the 20somethings took up the entire front part of the viewing area that we moved to the back of the stage (that actually worked out for the best). What I ended up getting was not really what I thought was going to happen at the 'park.'

We LOVE the Aquabats! They have their own cartoon/action series on HUB and have been on YoGabbaGabba. I am now aware that they have a pretty big following other than that! I had no idea who they were outside of Yabbaland or HUB. As of Thursday, I do.

I now know...

***that they are appealing to parents, children, and 20somethings!
***when people go to hear them in concert/show/free concert in the park...some mosh and crowd surf. The band was very good about telling people not to do that.
***they are very family orinated, and did not use fowl language. I felt just fine having my children beside me at the punk-rock-ska show.
***they also use the crabs, water, fish, and other props that are on the tv shows as part of their show.
***the hundreds of people that were there used symbols and repeated words with the band...not cult like just pure fun.

And now that I have looked then up more on the internet, I am HOPING that they do a surprise guest spot at the YoGabbaGabba concert that we are going to in Nov!

look at lilly's face!

We even ran into the newly married Money's! I am sorry, but I have to write that I would never picture these cats (or two of the Auqabats) being Mormon!

AWE, then Lilly! My Lilly, my buggy!

Lilly wanted to do it all! She wanted to dance and eat and jump and run and drink water from the water fountain (yuck!, but they do not have those, they have Gatorade water bottle things...remember I live in the grand OC, haha) and go on the balloon and go on the carousel! That girl made me run, run run! As we stood in the line for the carousel looking at the hotair balloon....

Lil decided she wanted to go on a horse. WOOHOO! Yes! That girl has gone on that dang thing so many times and either Derek or myself have to sit with her on the 'carriage section' and the other stands next to the other two sitting on a horse or tiger. Once again, WOOHOO! Oh wait, right when the dang thing started my moment of joy turned to a few minutes of dizzy screaming. BOOOOO. I tried very hard to get a pic, but it did not happen like I wanted. Always a picture:) In the end she was fine and did not want to get off, of course, but getting there was a sweaty mess for me! You have to look really good at the first picture to see Lilly's freaked out face.

FYI, everything is free there (some special events charge $10 parking), http://www.ocgp.org/