11 days of this?

today was the first day of 11 that we will have bobby home with us. his fabulous boss gave him the day off today just because, monday is labor day, and then he had planned to take 5 days off to be with the kids and to help take them to school on the first day. so we kicked off his vacation by going to the beach. we do not go often, i really don't know why. the kids love it, i love it. but it was a chore getting everything to our spot; five beach chairs, a rolling ice chest (an awesome thing to have, unless you are dragging it in the sand), a beach bag, five towels, jordan's ginormous harry potter book, three children and of course my camera. i think we were the only family on the beach without an umbrella, have to add that to the pile next time.

it was touch and go at the beginning. ok it was really stressful. bobby had a work call at 11:30 and we got to the beach at 11:28. jordy lost a tooth in the car, bloody. everyone was dragging something til we found the perfect spot, ok the closest spot. bobby's on the phone and carrying chairs, towels and sofia. and i'm dragging the ice chest, dodging frisbee throwers, volleyballers and birds. but once we were settled it was great.

jordan could live in the water. unfortunately we were sitting in front of the only spot in the ocean with a rip current, but he loved just sitting on the shore and getting wet.


sofia wanted to just run into the water. but we held her back. everytime the water hit her she would squeal with delight.


andrew did touch the water, once. but he was content building sand castles and digging.

we saw dolphins and a sea lion. we were all excited about that. and just being near the water was calming and refreshing and about 20 degrees cooler than in the valley.

so all was great. bobby and i talked about coming back again next week, until . . . a seagul ate half of sofia's sandwich. andrew rubbed his eye and got sand in it and cried hysterically because he couldn't open them. i'm pouring water on his face and trying to get him to calm down, but then realized that the tears would help get the sand out. so we were encouraging him to cry, without the yelling and screaming that sounded more like we were hurting him rather than helping him. we pack up and schlepp all the stuff back to the car to get to jordan's swim practice. bobby is carrying all kinds of things and then he goes to pick up sofia and he pulls her arm and she starts crying, hysterically. he rushes her to the car. i'm walking with andrew who has both eyes closed but still carrying our blanket and i'm pulling the ice chest with the beach bag, and carrying a beach chair and jord's enormous book when the ice chest gets hooked on something and falls over . . .twice. i kid you not. oh and did i mention the car keys were buried inside the beach bag so bobby could not get in the car. i imagined what we must have looked like walking across the beach. i wanted to cry and laugh at the same time.

andrew finally got the sand out of his eye, sofia's arm is ok and jordan has his tooth under his pillow awaiting the tooth fairy's arrival. and we still want to come back next week, because life is made from memories like these.

baby bret

just got permission to post this photo of bret and bobby. thanks michelle. and it's funny because since sunday sofia has been wanting me to hold her like a baby. i love it!!

visiting

so the summer is winding down and we have spent a lot of time the last few days visiting.

had our friends the fraziers over for dinner on saturday. great to catch up again and have the kids together. we've seen them a few times over the summer which has been great. both fraizer boys spent the night at our house. 4 boys, one toddler and only two adults. the odds were stacked against us. no, we all did fine. it was the first time andrew had a friend sleepover so that was exciting. they were chatting and giggling until 11 pm. the next morning april greeted us with some starbucks, yummy. jordan has been missing owen since he left. i truly think they will be friends for life.

sunday we finally met baby warner. his name is bret and he was only 9 days old. there is nothing like holding a newborn in your arms, the smell, the peacefulness, so sweet. ok don't get any ideas. i didn't get that feeling of wanting another. trust me those feelings are long gone. anyway, we had fun visiting with michelle and derek and keith, their toddler. they are having some major work done to their house. it is going to be awesome. can't wait to see it.

monday the boys visited with grandpa bob who took them to the kidspace museum. sofia and i stayed home. after the museum they went to toys r us for "the end of the summer splurge." legos, of course. gotta love grandparents.

yesterday we tried to stay cool. it really was 108 in the valley, and you felt it the second you walked out the door. so the kids spent the day in the house watching harry potter movies.

saturday we will visit the godlewskis in irvine to "meet the steve." he will be the new addition to the brockett clan when he marries bobby's cousin sara next summer. looking forward to some fun in colorado.

bobby has next week off so we'll be at disneyland for a few days. we're staying at the grand californian. love that hotel. that's our end of the summer splurge. some time together to say goodbye to summer. looking forward to that.

for the next week and a half, i'll be working on getting back into some kind of organizational state. once school starts things will come at me at 100 mph and if i don't have a plan in place i may just lose it. tons of paperwork from all three kids coming home everyday, i'll have to have laundry clean and folded in drawers, i'll have to have stuff for lunches and snacks, materials for projects and special events. i have been doing some research online for schedules, calendars, filing systems, and lots of note cards and post its. i hope i can survive.

hope you all stay cool. see you soon.

it's a new day

here's what's going on:

-there is a lot of dancing going on here. after the concert yesterday i've been blaring, sorry mom, the ipod tunes. i really need to get more michael buble because the kids are getting sick of the same cd over and over. actually andrew's favorite buble song is "Fever" so we play that alot.

-jordan is having a sleepover tonight with his friend owen, who is visiting from sacramento. he is staying at his grandparents house.

-had fish tacos for dinner. bought tilapia, already breaded at costco. yummy.

-daddy and andrew are playing a game.

-sofia is dancing like neil and sabra from "So you think you can dance" our favorite show.

-my friend michelle had her baby on friday. it's a boy!! over 10 lbs. no epidural. baby and mommy are doing fine. can't wait to meet him.

-today is our godson/nephew's birthday. happy birthday danny.

-went to the california science center with the kids yesterday. what a great place, so much for the kids to do and it's FREE.

-excited to watch "top chef" tonight. in case you didn't know, i'm a reality tv junkie.

-grandma sue came to visit today. thank you for giving me some time off to get some errands done. but she went home with our home phone handset in her crochet bag. guess who put it in there? hint: she's has big brown eyes.

i think that's it for now. i'll try and post some pictures soon. maybe after i get the boys haircuts.

till then.

we're still here

i know it's been a while. we've been busy. lots going on and no time to write about it. yes i am blogging at 12:20 AM. just got back from the michael buble concert at the greek theatre. amazing, incredible, fun. love him. love his music. i went with my sister and we just had the best time, well except for the parking. but so glad i went.

maybe i'll have time to blog tomorrow.

Good Monday Morning

we are having a good morning here. jordan is on swim practice vacation until friday, so we were able to just hang out this morning and play. had a good weekend.

saturday we were invited to see the "Go Diego Do" live show at the kodak theatre in hollywood. my good friend juliet had two tickets, so andrew and i had some mom and me time. i wanted to add more adveture to the day by taking him on the subway. it's just one stop from the universal station to hollywood and highland. once i finally figured out the ticket machine we were on our way. four minutes later we were there. easy. the show was alright. lots of singing and dancing and spectacle. and boy were we happy that baby jaguar got his growl back. andrew has never been the kind of kid that talked back to the tv in these interactive shows. and he really does not like to sing in public. so he did his own thing silently. i wanted to get up and mambo but i didn't want to block the little kid behind me. afterwards we had lunch at johnny rockets. then four minutes back to our car and home again.

saturday evening we had a visit from the frazier family, minus daddy rex, who we missed. owen and jordan have been friends since preschool and our families became friends because of that. so it was great to see them and have fun together again. we feasted on sushi and cheeseburgers and ice cream cones. owen brought over the coolest paper airplanes. the kids were amazed and i think pretty disappointed with the airplanes that i have made them in the past. loved spending time with this family. miss them so much. can't wait to see them on their next trip to LA in a few weeks. we've already booked a sleepover.

yesterday morning was beach day. met our friends at this restaurant right on the beach. literally the tables are in the sand. great for families because the kids can play in the sand while the parents chat. the conroys and the warners were there. my friend michelle was able to make it even though she is going to give birth to her second baby any minute. she looked beautiful with her round belly but ready to get going on the birth. hopefully i will be able to share some pictures of the new little one soon. and the best thing is that they don't know if it's a boy or a girl. they already have a little boy named keith. wishing her a safe and pain free delivery.

then at the last minute we decided to go to duarte to be with my family for the afternoon. my aunt was visiting from ensenada and we wanted to see her. had a very hot afternoon at my other aunt's house while the kids enjoyed the pool. sofia was jumping in yelling "cannonball". she was even trying to swim on her own. all i could do was hold my breath each time she went under water and moved her legs. every single time she came up with a big smile on her face and said "more".

so it was nice to have this morning to take it easy.

hope you had a good weekend.

One Dollar

That was the prize money this morning from the tooth fairy. Of course before putting it under his pillow, he wanted to know if the tooth fairy was a girl and is there more than one. Yes to both, but I had never really thought about it. Not sure how he feels about the dollar. And quite frankly not sure what he did with it. He just came into the room this morning and said, instead of a tooth, I got a dollar. Then he says, "is two alot." Was he asking for more? To be honest if it wasn't for the earthquake at 1 AM that made us jump out of bed, I'm not sure the tooth fairy would have remebered to put anything under his pillow. At that time of night, the choices were $1, $10,or $20. She decided not to set his expectations so high on the first one.

Then this afternoon while having lunch Andrew and I have this conversation:

Andrew: Mama, were you a kid in the 70's? (yes, this is Andrew asking me this question)
Mama: Yeah, why?
A: Were you black or white?
M: What?
A: Were you black or white?
M: Andrew I have always been this color.
A: You mean brown?
M: Yeah I guess. Why?
A: Because you told me and Jordan that in the 70's black people and white people could not be together.
M: Hmm, that was in the 60's. And people don't change their skin color.
A: So you'll always be brown and I'll always be tan?
M: yes.
A: Good than we can always be together?
M: Always.

And he moves on in life. Thinking and wondering about the most amazing things.
(I did have that conversation with them but it was prompted by something we saw on tv. They also know what a mortgage is, how escrow works and way too much information on why you have to pay for things.)

Is there something different about me?

Andrew asked me that as he walked out of his room holding his tooth. It's been wiggly for a while now, so today while eating an apple it finally fell out. The tooth is the tiniest thing. Wonder what he'll get for it? Tune in tomorrow.

Family Time

Made it back from our trip to Kernville safe and sound. Left on Wednesday with Sue and the kids to Wofford Heights to spend some time at the Dake's house. We brought books and toys and just wanted to enjoy some quite time with family. Andrew and Sofia took a while to warm up to the dogs but by the time we left, literally, Sofia was petting them and calling them by name.

She also made another friend.



The kids had so much fun running around the property, climbing rocks and playing. Sofia would walk to the front door and say "bunny rabbitts". We did spot a few one morning hanging out in their yard.

Jordan, and I, became addicted to the Sudoku game that Becky brought. I've never played the real version but this was fun. Different colored animals and 36 spaces. Bring it on!! Frustrating? Sometimes. More challenging, made my brain work hard. The kids got to help grandma make Christmas decorations out of her collection of beads. Nothing like a grandma and an aunt to keep the kids entertained while Sofia and I took a 2 and a half hour nap. Thank you.

Jordan spent a lot of time reading. He finished reading the 2nd Harry Potter book on Thursday, but had to wait for Bobby to bring him #3. He had the most interesting poses while reading. Some even looked like yoga poses.

Andrew really enjoyed Cranium Conga. We love all the Cranium games. He has an interesting imagination and stumped us many times with his unique answers. We also had a chance to see HAIRSPRAY at the local movie theatre. Great, fun movie!

Of course there had to be an injury. At bedtime while Sofia was belting out her rendition of the A-B-C's, she came crashing down on Andrew's head. He ended up with a swollen, black eye. Ouch.

Here's a pic of Sofia making us laugh while she ate spaghetti.


We were so happy to see Bobby on Friday. We don't usually spend a lot of time away from each other so this was odd for us. Spent the rest of the weekend at his dad's place and got home Sunday night Now it's back to business. A little over a month before school starts and we have some things to get done. Backpacks, lunchboxes and folders. Plus check my inventory of polo shirts and pants for Andrew.

We are around the next few weekends with outings here and there. I am looking forward to the Michael Buble concert in a few weeks. We have a couple birthday parties and breakfast at the beach with our frineds. And yes, we are squeezing in one more road trip. Taking the kids to Disneyland the week of labor day. Hoping to stay at the Grand Californian for a few days to celebrate the last days of summer, as a family.