Sarah's Quiz

Where do these scents take you?

1. freshly cut grass
2. chlorine
3. fresh cinnamon rolls
4. smoke
5. vanilla mint
6. coffee
7. new car smell
8. mildew
9. dirt
10. fabric softener


1. I can't pin it down. Its like elementary school super early in the morning when my mom used to drop me off before work.

2. An inside pool we got to go to once on tour with Agape.

3.I don't have a strong memory - just a link with Steve getting sick... Steve does not do well with cinnibuns.

4. fire smoke from the 1997 fires (in Newbury Park, not here, though Steve has the same memory from the exact same time)

5. errr yuck... thats just a tease - vanilla from countless cooking of desserts, mint - the bane of my existance especially when mixed and contaminating See's candy.

6. Steve and mornings at DPS

7. the audi...sigh

8. most of our clothes for several years

9. Hume Lake - walking around

10. overwhelming scent annoyance

Family Roles

So Dr. Phil was talking to siblings the other day, talking about how we naturally find a place or a role on our family's... and in this case, the first born daughter had already taken the "perfect" role and so when the son came around that role wasn't available anymore.

SO it made me wonder what sort of roles our kids are already displaying.

Let's see.. Abby's the club girl... ha... just kidding... I think. Oh dear... Right, where was I? Abby. Abby has taken the role of incredible social girl. So far she is enthusiastic about pretty much anything she is a part of (another part of what brought this on was I don't know what we should encourage her most toward yet... art, music, drama, dancing - what will be her passion? not necessarily her career, but her passion). She is brilliant, interested in learning and knowing everything. It's too early to see where she's going - but I have to say I'm pretty confident in the social aspect being what matters most to her.

Jack - Jack will be perfectly comfortable chaperoning Abby in the clubs - making sure no one takes her friendliness too far. But he's definitely got some sort of drive for something else. And already his physicality is just so different to Abby's. I've joked that he'll just ram against a wall until he figures out a way around it if there is something on the other side that he wants. He's relentless and, though totally social, VERY intent on his goals.

So right now I'm hoping the roles in our family are happy roles. I don't care where they find their passions and focus... well I care a LITTLE bit... I just care that they both fit into their natural wells in a fulfilled way.

Proof of Love...

This One's for the Guys

All right boys... and Hazel... I need you to soften me up re: why cars, and how they look, are so very important to you.

Though, normally I would never mention a disagreement (a real one anyway) between me and Steve on the blog, this isn't considered too real because, despite how little I care about the car, I do get the there is something deep down about it for Steve which means I will obviously respect his needs here.

So, since I'm already resigned to loving submission, I want any men out there to affirm why I should feel good about this (not argue against Steve).

Here's the haps. The subaru is apparently all scratched up to heck from our LAST narrow driveway. The buick is scratched on the back (happy Father's day dad!), and now there is a small problem with the thinggee underneath the front that I did just the other day.

Steve wants to fix these things. Subaru is a no brainer... that's Steve's everyday car, and I'm in tune enough with his maleness to understand that it makes him feel like he's walking around with a bad perm and gray hair sticking straight up to drive it around. Even though, I kid you not, I do not see any of these scratches. Much like, I suppose, Steve wouldn't notice the gray hair on me.

The Buick though... that's my everyday car - it is so low low low low low... LOW on my priority list to have the cars look shiny. I appreciate the cars, I do. We're very lucky to have them - but I couldn't care less if they are dirty or scratchy. If it was just that issue, of course whatever makes him happy - but the thing that makes me WANT to protest (I won't!) is that I feel like any number of the other things we've been putting off... say... the plumbing which has the potential to burst at any moment and cause who knows how much MORE monetary and emotional damage is probably comparable in price to fixing the cars.

So, men... set me straight. Go ahead. It'll make me feel better when the pipes flood the downstairs and force us to replace the entire first floor floor.

When the Cat's Away...

the wife will wreck the car.

So Steve's in Alaska (no one tell the ax murderers) and I was a little over-eager trying to get into the driveway last night - and there was some damage. The tire had three gouges (which the guy at the tire store assured me were cosmetic and wasn't worried about it) and the thingee under the front is sort of hanging a tad.

He called this morning, on the ship - everything's going well...

Here, Jack is eating oatmeal and sleeping thru the night. Getting his front teeth. Abby cries in the morning when Daddy isn't back.

I have high hopes for the week all the same. And, sad though Abby's sadness is - I think it's ultra sweet too.

Fantasy Revisited

You know, there just isn't much better for me than getting into a book. Like really getting into a book. Getting into a book to me is different (I think) than most people getting into a book. People who weren't bookworms anyway.

Not that I have any more depth than anyone else. On the contrary - though I gave the "classics" their cursory reads when I was in high school - devouring all things literary - I didn't particularly get into them. I don't like books for how they make me think or issues they make me think about or emotional duress they make me confront. I really only like books that envelop me.

And when I say I like them... I mean I re-read them. More than any of you think possible, I re-read them. Each has a specific scene or arc that, when I'm in the mood for it, I need to re-experience. Sometimes, if it's been enough time for me to be different enough to experience the whole book again I re-read the whole thing - falling in love again.

I know I've mentioned what a huge deal the Harry Potter series was for me. It re-awakened this side of myself that I hadn't realized I'd missed. This obsession side, the book me.

The problem isn't the lack of books out there - nor the lack of good books - its the lack of ME books. I honestly do enjoy almost any mystery novel... if I have some sort of extended time to just sit and read. I get into it... enough. But for the real real thing - that is much more difficult to find.

Is Twilight the real thing? No, not really. But it's close. Don't all go out and read it - it's juvenile... but if you happen to be me, who can be so obsessed with something that I love that can skim over the juvenile-ness... who can ignore the repetitive description, forgive the immature youthful perspective, re-write the hero just slightly in my head, revise it to be the real thing... oooooOh... it's good enough. But please don't come back to me and tell me how awful it is - trust me - there is a reason the movie (which promises to be better than the book) is targeted to 15 year olds. There is a reason I would have to discuss character development with Abby before I would let her read it.


It's not Harry - which is why it drives me crazy when people dismiss Harry as a children's book. Maybe I should be just reading children's literature if Harry is considered as juvenile as Twilight. So...right - Harry is real... Twilight is real- but only the way I see it in my head... and it scratches an innocent itch - a revisionist itch and despite the fact that I have enough against it to write an essay - it's making me very happy. It reminds me how this side of myself gives me such energy and such fun.

It's that same side of me that wants to dance around when I take a REALLY good picture - or paint a REALLY good watercolor... victory is the word that comes to mind. Odd.

Avoidance

I am apparently avoiding this blog like I am avoiding the laundry - except I did a bunch of laundry today... and dishes yesterday... I'm AMAZING.

Hazard

Do not go near my house. It is slowly sinking into the depths of complete insane sloth.

This wonderful thing happened when Abby got sick last week. She finally connected with her room. She plays in her room, has a lovely time - its great and hilarious to listen to as she plays and plays and plays.

However... she has completely emptied every single compartment and niche onto the floor, bed, chair and... did I mention floor already? She's also broken her dresser drawers standing in them - climbing them you see to get something she's never cared about before.

Would she be willing to clean it up? Sure... have I had the time or energy to devote to getting her to do so? Nope.

I guess nothign else is that much worse... it just feels like its the last thing... the house will surely now fall into a pit where slovenly houses live.

What The....

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - the movie I have been waiting for since the BOOK came out... wait... no... since I read the FIRST book... (because we all knew it was coming now didn't we?)... has been pushed back opening from November to JULY ...

NOT cool WB... NOT cool.

I wonder if they are afraid of Twilight the movie.... which I will be camping out with a bunch of pre-teen squeeling girls to see at midnight in December.

Voice Mail Villain

I know I haven't set up my voice mail on my hand me down iPhone.

I don't know how.

So there.

Please leave your message at the beep.


BEEP

Samantha's Miserable Birthday

Actually it was very fun, but could anyone resist that title?


So it started off with a bus trip to the Hollywood bowl:



Then we hiked up to the picnic areas - not at all what I expected but just fine nonetheless.

We ate.... we drank... we were merry





Sarah exposed her bra to everyone trying to explain to a bee that she was not interested in his advances:

Samantha opened her presents, Marysue gave us all cupcakes (and several other groups sitting around us)

Then we went to our seats and saw Les Mis.

Then we hiked to our bus. We were so super cool. People were in awe.

What is the Correlation

Between things around me happening to blog about and my inability to blog?

Had a great time at the Hollywood Bowl for Samantha's birthday where a slightly slimmed down Les Mis played out for us.

Pics to come.

This one courtesy of Megan

Eddie Izzard

There was laughing... there was also starving.

I got tickets to Eddie Izzard's new show "Stripped." Last time I got us tickets I gave birth to Abby three days previous and Dave Cunningham ended up being Steve's date instead.

Oddly enough I think they went on Micaiah's future birthday. Which is mentionable because when Sarah found out we were going (Zoozy & Grandpa were kind enough to babysit) she went on a flurry search for tickets the very day of the event! She's insanely crafty this one: I know - but awesome as she found slightly better tickets for slightly cheaper.

SO Sarah surprised Tim and we all went off in the same car. Steve's super cool route to LA worked until the last three miles where we crawled and crawled down the freeway and street.

We literally RAN into the theatre to our seats - bypassing the tempting bar (we hadn't eaten since Steve was working until the very last minute) and got there only a few minutes late.

Of course, no one told us that these crazy things don't start til 25 minutes passed. As each late minute tacked onto the last I regretted the bar ignoring more and more.

Eddie was great. I laughed hard. He was also a teency bit disappointing in the sense that there was a lot of dancing around when I just wanted him to commit to a bit. Oh well... when you get a standing ovation when you START your show, I suppose you can dance around all you want.

Sarah Wins..

the "taken my favorite pictures of myself" award... she swept both the artsy and candid categories. Thank you Sarah, please leave your acceptance speech in the comments.

(jewelry courtesy Megan Bright) ;)

Sure-Fire Smile

(different song than one on Abby/Jack blog)

The BIG Weekend: Then We Went Home

Sarah and I woke up early for a photoshoot... the pictures of which you will have to wait until tomorrow's photography blog post.

Then we went to a final wedding celebration buffet.

And then we went home.

And then Abby wanted to swim.

And that was it.

I am so cranky today. I feel like there is a whole list of very important things I need to get done that I don't feel like getting done. I feel incapable of my responsibilities and relationships.

I'm anxious about everything and nothing... good and bad and neutral.

I'm attempting tonight to focus on the wonderful things.

Like how sweetly sad Abby is when she's sick.
"Mom!... .... I'm just laying here on the wooden floor.... because the bed is too hot"

Like how Jack gets all emotional when I sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" (he collapses into me to cuddle three times during the song).

Like how easy Jack is to feed and get to sleep.

Like how we don't have ANYthing going on this week.

Like how awesome my pictures are.

Like how I'm loving going on picture adventures.

Like how I'm finally an iphone user. The old one... but hey... I can't be trusted to keep it charged anyway.

Like how Steve got the Firefly ringtone to work on my new iphone.

Like how Steve got me Hot Fudge from Bob's Big Boy for our anniversary.

Like how Steve gets all angrily sentimental when he thinks of Abby getting married.

Like how much like Jack Abby looked as a baby.

Like how my mom is close enough to buy me milk in the morning if she reads this (Trader Joe's organic non-fat - you love Trader Joe's you know you do! And Abby needs vitamins because she's sick!)

The BIG Weekend: With This Ring...

The wedding was not until 3 on Saturday so we actually got to do quite a bit before getting ready.

We gathered at the valet station to wait for our car (and my wallet). Abby and Caiah watched the train go by.
We had a full family breakfast in Coronado (in an attempt to spend some time with Noni who was busy partying). Noni and Auntie got there in time for a bite of food and some good hang out time outside the place.


Abby and I and Micaiah and my mom went shopping for shells.

I walked to Longs to get panty hose. Steve and Abby and Samantha and David went to the pool (I have never seen a less family, more "check everyone out" pool in my life, but it was nice all the same).

Finally it was time to get ready. My mom got the kids ready and took these pictures:And NO I am not saying Samantha was one of the kids she got ready. Samantha was their roommate. Shame on you all.

The wedding was very nice. Personal vows went well, somehow they skipped the exchange of rings, but they got it done afterwards. Everyone was beautiful. Champagne was served before. Blue martinis were served after.

From then on it was party party party. It ended up the ideal wedding from my standpoint. Since the party was going on forever, and we were staying in the same hotel as the event I went upstairs two or three times to sit with Jack, to get a few things I'd forgotten for my mom in my room, to rest my feet and just generally take a break. We brought Abby and Jack down for family pictures and then back up. Then we brought Abby back down AGAIN when the dancing was "free for all" and then back up. (When it was time for Abby to be allowed on the dance floor she strutted on just like any of the party dancers and met with a little group of women - it was SO funny... the girls loved it. She is such a club girl. What am I going to do?) I mean... it was totally my sort of situation. OH and there was a photobooth.



I always love an opportunity for MORE pictures.

The BIG Weekend: Traffic Jammed.

those that started it all:
so here's how it went:


Before my mom moved here, this would have been a day of dread. I had a LOT to do, Steve had to finish up important stuff at work and we wanted to get out of town as early as possible.

Abby had her last day of VBS (which means a little recital half way thru the day). And... well... Jack had to be taken care of as well. OH that's right - he hadn't slept the night before - he was very very fitful the entire night. Beyond fitful. Downright miserable. So Steve and I are working on no sleep. There was a second tooth to show for it though.

The drive went great... til the traffic at the end. Actually there were pockets of traffic throughout, but it was fine until the end. The end was awful.

I don't travel much, but what had to be the best traffic awareness sign ever read:

"Accident at Telegraph. Traffic jammed."

No hope offered, no solution, no time frame for relief. Just. Jammed.

Eventually we got to the Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego. VERY cool decor and general feel. All the staff were friendly in a "hard rock way" like answering the phone "this is Heather, how can I rock your world today?" which, granted did take a while to get used to:. "uh... er... no thanks? I'm looking for room service?"

They have nothing but valet parking which, whilst we aren't totally strangers to such things, we weren't exactly prepared to roll out of the car running and not have ANY access to the car unless we asked them to bring it out. Which takes a while and you tip and its annoying. SO rather quickly I realized we'd left the laptop and the diapers. Okay, definitely worth asking them to get for us. So they run to the car for us an dget them. Great! No problems with service - they were great. So about five minutes later I realized we forgot the kid's luggage. Now, listen... before you all think I'm insane... we had ourselves and my mom in the car - when we got to the hotel EVERYONE unloaded onto a trolly - including Bryan and Megan who got to the hotel at the exact same time... so I thought everything had been grabbed.

Anyway, with tail between legs we asked again - after all the kids are definitely going to need to change clothes once or twice on this weekend. Again, no problems, we're embarrassed but whatever.

Then I realized I left my wallet in the car.

So I didn't mention it and pretended I hadn't.

Next up was the rehearsal party - at the Omni Hotel overlooking a Padres/Giants game. We, of course, showed up decked out in Dodger gear.


Which ended up eliciting a lot of conversation between passer bys and ourselves.







The party was, true to Coleen style, an awesome party in an awesome location with fantastic food. I followed Abby around for the first half (Jack was with Gramma back at the Hard Rock) and then had a nice time not following Abby around after Sarah took Abby and Micaiah back to Gramma as well.

All was good. The family left for a group Pinkberry experience before picking up sleeping kids and day #1 came to an end...