My Gym!

**my camera phone stinks!**

We LOVE going to FREE events at My Gym. http://www.my-gym.com/. Since I do so much stuff with the kids I am always looking for free or cheaper stuff to take them to. I am saving my pennies on things until the kids get older and start to care! haha. Anyways, they have open houses a few times a year and we have been to birthday parties there. The place is fun for the kids and us adults get to hang out for a bit.

With that being said, I am not sure what happened, but I found myself signing Lilly up to join My Gym. I am trying to blame someone until her 2 months there is up! Could it have been.....

Kaya coming over to play on Friday for a bit while Jonee and I had a glass of wine?

Could it have been later that same night I went out with Mar to the wine bar?

Or maybe going there this time with Mar, Leydy, & baby Sam (Sam has a membership) along with seeing Jen and the kiddies? They had so much fun!

Or maybe that I had to run and pick up Drew from baseball. That is when the My Gym staff got me! I really had to leave to get Drew, but did not want to be rude! I really had to go to Grant's 2nd birthday, Gabba Gabba, themed birthday party? Grant is the little guy on the right that was refusing to look at the camera all afternoon.

Whatever the reason, Lilly has been enjoying her time at My Gym. She gets one more month and then no more for her. It is fun, but nothing that she does not already do with me, her friends, in ballet or at the park.

Playdate Fun

I avoided the entire last school year without having a playdate for Drew with any of his little school friends. Honestly, I do not have the time. If that makes me a 'mean mommy' then so be it. Those that read my blog know my kids are never bored, but dang a playdate with a new kid takes a lot of time! Especially, if a parent comes. I am also not ready for Drew to go to a house of parents I do not know. That issue with me is still something I am going to have to get over and be honest with new parents. I also really do not want to make any new friends and if that parent is in the mood to make a friend then, well, I have a hard time saying no. Drew never asks for playdates. WHO BROUGHT IT UP TO HIM!! Really, if Drew asked I would have made more of an effort. Connor, Caden, my mothers group, family, and our neighbors seemed to do just fine last year. However, I think the lack of seeing family and Caden and me no longer being in the moms group might have had an effect on him. That, or he really just wants a play date.

So crap... he asked me almost everyday last week and finally I set up a playdate with his little 'best friend' Cameron. They were in kinder together and ended up in the same 1st grade class. Drew was so excited! He talked about it the entire night and morning yesterday. He is just so sweet. Cameron is just as sweet! Cameron walked home with us, had some chocolate milk (my kiddies super excited since they hardly get that), they watched some TV, played in his room & the wii and then it was 3:45. His mom is very sweet and has another child in 7th grade, so she is kind of a pro in this playdate area. Next playdate will probably be soon:)

Poor Drew just wanted to hang out with his BFF, but his dang sister wanted to hang out with them. I finally just had to take her away from them by asking her to clean her room.

Well, she cleaned it. I gave her a big thank you, helped her a little bit more by putting things in the proper places (I am strict about that), gave her a kiss and walked out. I walked back in to Emma rolling around on her rug to music surrounded by some of the girls shoes. She is one funny girl.

What was Lilly doing? Rolling around in the bathtub. She has been taking 2-3 baths a day! I think she misses being in the pool:)

Family day at San Juan Capistrano Mission

 

 

I have never been to the San Juan Capistrano Mission before. Many southern California kids go there in 4th or 5th grade while learning about the beautiful California missions, but since we moved so much and to two different schools in the same district in two years I just missed it. At the time I was happy that I got to miss having to make a replica mission, but it took me until 32 to get over to see one. I think there are 21 missions in Ca and now that I have the itch to see them all, do not be surprised if you read about more of them in the near future. Take a look, http://www.missionsjc.com/.

Walking through the mission while listening to the head set things, the kids loved them, on a beautiful Sunday was perfect. The kids LOVED it there. My mom had not been there since she went with Ty & Hailee years and years ago, so I think she had a good time too. It is always so nice to go to places even if you have gone before because it is really a different experience. Different for my mom this time because she went with my kids and us. Brian, the stinker, did not go with us. He says he has been there before. This is true. He went to school there 50 years ago!! That was hilarious to me. I wonder how much it has changed?? haha. Derek could not remember the last time he was there, and as mentioned before I had never been there.

Of course, it was full of history. Derek and I compare it to the old churches and plantations back east. However, back east has a much older, albeit new world, history than here. I MISS BACK EAST! The walls of the Mission and old cemetery drew me in and the lily-pads were a huge hit with the kids. Thanks mom for going with us!

Since it was family day for my mom's side of the the family we met the rest of the family down the street for lunch at Ricardo's. Our family is getting smaller and smaller out here in Cali! Now that my Aunt & Uncle are getting divorced, the death of my Nannie, Poppie basically bed ridden, and my sisters back east....well, it just stinks. We make the most of it though! Next time I am sure Jo and Ken will be here and my Uncle can join us because he had a gold tourny to attend.

Oh well! Anywhoo, Mexican is always a hit with us! The harpist that played next to our table was beautiful and the food was pretty good. We did not have a drink, but my Auntie Deb & Brian split a pitcher of rita! Things are-a-changing! After walking around the Mission and having lunch 1.5hrs late we were STARVING! Good thing I was hungry and ate quickly because we had to leave fast for Drew's baseball game! We had another busy, busy day!

No Kiddies!

Friday morning my mom called to ask, "can we have the kids from tonight until Sunday?" Say what!!!!!!!!!! Heck yes! Mommy and daddy were having an unexpected weekend alone. What should we do? Wine party, dinners alone, and sleeping in was on the list.

I had some things planned for the weekend, so it was awesome that the parents wanted them as long as they did because it saved me some $$ on babysitters! Plus, they took the kids to my mom's side of the family's family reunion in Irvine. I am so happy there were able to see everyone and everyone got to see their cutie-pie faces even though Derek and I could not make it.

So what did Derek and I do with our many hours without the kiddies?

#1- WINE PARTY! DeAnne and Ryan set up a wine tasting party. There were 6 couples that brought two bottles each and an appetizer. I am not sure what I was expecting, but I loved how DeAnne and Ryan threw it together. It was really like a wine tasting, but with a twist. We had to rate the wine and whoever got the highiest score won a prize (prize part we did not know about). It was nice to get a little dressed up, have no kids, drink some good wine (a few really bad one's too), eat my stuffed mushrooms, and have a few really good laughs.

One good laugh was when Bryon and I were posing for a picture because we both gave each other wines a high mark. Mine was 'Pancake' from Trader's, his was something (my other wine, 'County Fair' something was gross!). Anyways, we were posing for a funny picture leaning back to "pretend" to take a swig of wine and BAMM...there was more wine in my mouth which I did not expect! Choking and laughing followed...oh and me just finishing the bottle that way! There was not really that much left, but it was funny.

Then Bryon took the bet to drink the "DUMP" bucket. He made $35 dollars!

Then he got all "Townhall" on us, which was funny!

We were home by 10pm, Derek in bed for his very long day of work the next day and I got to sleep in then off to...

#2- Memorial for Jimmy. This was a sad day for DeAnne and her family. Her older brother, Jimmy passed away from organ failure on the 11th. The memorial at Angelo's was a very nice celebration of his life. He had a ton of friends, a wonderful ex-wife, and a loving family that misses him dearly. I only have fond memories of him. DeAnne & Ryan's wedding, us going down to Laguna for DeAnne (21st)and her mom's birthdays, when Terri had her 50th birthday, and of course countless birthday's and holiday celebration during the 16 or so years I have known the family. He had a smile that would draw you in and his height made you want to just hug him. He was just a very nice guy.

He was a very sweet guy that ended up loving his frosty type beverages too much and died at 42 from it. If you know anyone with any sort of addiction please bring it up to them. It won't hurt to do it.

**I chose not to go to the reunion to do this**

#3- dinner with Derek and then outside with the girls on the street! No kids outside to look after, no husbands to bug us (every once in awhile Derek would come out), and no mess to clean up. Just a group of girls chatting the night away. Really it was almost dawn when we went to bed! I do not like to make new friends anymore, but these gals are really great and I never have to "go" anywhere or have playdates or get dressed to see them. They are fun and real!

My bed felt really good on Sunday night after the kids came home, we went to Drew's game, picked up some Chinese, and bath time was done. Yes, my bed felt really good indeed!

Tackle It Tuesday!

I open the frig this morning and Drew goes, "wow mom we have a lot of food in there!" I reply with, "no not really, it is all just not put away correctly." I have been meaning to clean the shelves and so on in the frig but have not had time to do it, so heck, why not today!

**I must bring up that my frig does not smell and all of my food has not met the expiration date!**

Update...

Doctor, Doctor

I have been to the doctors more in the past week than the first part of the year! My kids never go, they are never sick enough to. We go for check-ups and that is pretty much it. And people gave me crap for not nursing my children!!

Personally, I love the fancy office with the TV, two computers, and a skylight thing. My kids like the scale! It is a nice digital one that lights up just enough for them to see the numbers change. I told Derek, I hope the girls never mind weighing themselves. I got on the scale and went, "ouch!" Never-mind that!

So, check up for Lil, flu shot for Lil, flu shot for Bubby & Mo, an appointment for me (yikes another scale), and tomorrow a flu shot (I was a little sick so have to go back). Derek gets to go next week. Good thing we do not have to pay a co-pay every time, these are all preventative appointments. We pay way too much money to be charged!

Current weight;

Lilly- 30pds
Emma- 40 pds
Drew- 49.5pds.

Almost 10pds apart each, too funny! Drew was cracking up until the needle popped out and the big boy just melted! Em started screaming when Drew did and Lilly just stood staring. When all was done Lilly said, "I am big momma, I no scream when I got my shot." That was true she did not. When she got her flu shot she looked at the needle, looked at the nurse, then looked at me. One minute later...let out a huge scream and that was it. Pretty good flu shot year for me:) I think it helped that right after Drew and Em's we went to Party City and got their Halloween costumes!

Eagle of the Month!

This boy! This boy, this boy, this boy! This boy got Eagle of the Month for the second time at school! This boy, who Derek though was going to be head back in kinder last December has made his momma and daddy proud! This sweet boy worked his butt off and then it clicked. Academics were smoother the last few months of school and this year he is flying through math and on the alternate spelling list. Not only does he get tested on 'got, rat' but 'happen, what, upon.'

We are just so proud of our sweet little boy. It also does not hurt that he has a great smile!

Last game of the year!

The last night game for the Angels was on the 26th of Sept and one for the Lee Family Record book! I took ALL of the kids by myself to a game! Yes, all by myself. Derek ended up working late for the last night game of the year and if it had not been for that then I would have still had Lilly go to grandma's the last game I would have brought a friend to tag along.

So I sucked up my anxiety of big crowds, forgot about the awning that would be over my head, reminded myself that the shake of the floor would just be kids jumping from one step to the next to, and of course....knew I would have exactly one beer to help numb my thoughts just enough. We went, in no rush at all, sat in one of the usual sections we sit in (this time on the 1st base side with the opposing teams wives, yes funny), the kids got some candy (I got that beer), we stayed just for a few innings (it being a school night), and then headed home. It was the right amount of time for me to be there with the kids. We got to see Trout hit (we really want one of those Trout hats they are selling) and yell CHONE when Figgins (a past Angel) got up to bat. I even saw a girl from high school and said hello.

Even though Daddy was not there it was fun and I can not wait for next season to come around!

Cody!

I miss this little man so much! He is 5 months now! I just can not believe how cute he is! Auntie loves you Cody!