Time to Slow Down

This message was made clear in two different ways by both Taylor & Cody these last few weeks. First from Taylor in a conversation she had with her teacher on Monday. It went something like this.

Ms. Sheena: Hi Taylor, did you have a nice weekend

Taylor: Yes, Sunday was awesome!!!!

Ms. Sheena: Really, what did you do on Sunday?

Taylor: Nothing, absolutely nothing. It was perfect.

And a picture of Cody from that same weekend. All tuckered out...

These two events made it quite obvious that it was time for One Busy Mommy to slow down and let the little ones catch up. Bring on the relaxation!!!

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

Princess Taylor is 6

On May 4th my Princess turned 6 years old. It's been a few weeks since this happened and while it gets a little each day it still is unfounded to me why time has to go so fast. On one hand it seems that the past 6 years have flown by on the other I try to imagine life before Taylor and it seems a world away. My Princess means the world to me and each and every day she amazes me at the young girl she is turning into. Almost a little too much at times, but really that is only the beginning, people have told me wait until she reaches her teenage years. Eek!

Posing with her cake at her party

Getting started on her presents

Taylor in true Taylor form, need I say more

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

Cody's Weekend with Grandma

A few weeks ago Cody got to experience his first "hotel" weekend with Grandma. Taylor and Grandma Brenda (GB as Taylor likes to call her) started this tradition a few years ago when Cody was just a little guy. Taylor lives for these special weekends where GB takes her to a hotel and they get to spend the night having fun, shopping, eating, and just escaping for a few days.
Cody's hotel night was at the Sheraton Universal. The day started off with Cody charming his way into a room with a view and an upgrade to the VIP level complete with free food. When my mom called to tell me this I was so excited for the two of them. After the two of them got checked into the hotel they headed out for a day of fun in the sun at Universal Studios.
I was for sure my little guy would have a blast, I mean I love the place so why wouldn't he. Wrong, wrong, wrong. I was very wrong. My Little Guy hated the tram ride. Too much scary stuff for one little boy. Maybe in a few years he will change his mind, in the meantime it looks like the season passes I was contemplating are out the door.
My mom and Cody spent the rest of the day hanging out and doing some serious shopping. Part of "hotel" weekend always seems to include an even advanced level of spoiling my GB. But since it's not every day mommy let's it slide and even more so because the kids love their one on one time with GB. They are only young once right, at least that's what I keep telling myself.

The "tourist" shot in front of the Universal Globe Waterfall

Getting ready to take off on the tram ride
Cheese crepe a.k.a Quesadilla to Cody

Big giant bed all to himself and one of his many newly aquired toys from the weekend

What happens with Grandma, stays with Grandma, except when Grandma comes back with evidence. Up past his bed time...eating candy and drinking soda. Now I know why the kids love Hotel Weekends so much

Milk and a banana for breakfast, he loved his coffee cup

The view from the room, they overlooked mommies office

Cody had an awesome weekend and now talks about the next "hotel" night with Grandma and what he wants to do.

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

Home Depot Workshop=Parents Required

At a local festival they had the Home Depot Workshop set up for the kids to make a fire truck. Of course every kid wants to get involved, get a cute orange apron, and give it a try with some tools just like Daddy. The problem though, these projects are not the easiest to put together and required some serious parent help. So the kids each got their kits and set out and watched mommy and daddy put together their fire trucks.

Staged photos, Cody never used a tool the whole time

Taylor tried for 5 seconds and got nowhere
Finished product

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

Dinner: Teppanyaki Style

Jeremy had never been to a Japanese Steakhouse before and recently we had been talking about how the kids would love it. After a few times planning to go and it not working out on a whim we decided to give it a try. The kids had a great time watching the food get cooked right in front of them. And the cook had a fun time giving a show for the kids. It was not the cheapest meal, but good food, fun times, and the kids enjoyed themselves so it was worth every penny.

The food getting started on the hot plates

Flaming Onion
Taylor is a pro with the chopsticks

Cody amazed at the fire

Taylor and her favorite dessert

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

Watch Out Babe Ruth

Here comes Taylor, t-ball extraordiniare. Yes, I had to dig all the way back that far to be able to include a name that was worth Taylor going after the fame of. I mean who else was I going to use?
Pete Rose, nope.
Barry Bonds, not likely.
A-Rod, never!!

Taylor started T-ball practice 2 weeks ago and with a little more practice she will be ready to be in the big leagues.

Back to reality. She has a good time playing and hits the ball occasionally and catches it sometimes too. She has mastered the art of running to 1st and 2nd base but likes to skip 3rd and run straight home. Nothing wrong with taking a short cut as long you get the end result, right. But there is still time and really what matters is that she is having a good time.
Taylor's first game is this Saturday, wish us luck.

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

Tag, I'm it!

So a long long long time ago....well not that long but back in January. My friend Kylee tagged me on her Blog. I set myself a reminder to make sure I answered the tag and here we are almost 3 months later. Without further ado, here are the rules.



1. Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer
2. Select the 4th picture in the folder
3. Explain the picture
4. Tag 4 people to do the same

First off, I typically don't store pictures on my computer, I keep them on CD's. So I wasn't sure I would have a picture to share. But I did come across 6 folders with photobook pages in them, the 4th one happened to be from our cruise last April. I can't believe it's been almost a year since we sailed off on a week of pure bliss. This picture was taken on one of the formal nights all dressed up and ready for a night on the ship. I still remember this night like it was yesterday and will treasures those memories forever.

Now it's your turn. I tag...Steph, Kimmy, Brandi, and Stacey.

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

You Grab a Line...

I'll grab a pole, honey...Now that I got that song stuck in your head, let's move on.

A few weeks back my Pops decided it would be fun to take the kids fishing. Now you need to understand that when Pops decides something it means it's going to be all out. Here is a great example.

I think hey, let's go pick up 2 kids fishing pole kits and hit the park.
Pops thinks, hey let's go pick up 2 kids poles, a pole for me, a new tackle box, gotta have a fishing license, bait, weights, and a million other disgusting looking fishing things.

See the difference. Simple versus Complex. But I've learned it's easier to just go with the flow when it come to Grandparents.

The day came and this weekend we headed out to the fishing hole. Which for us means a park a short drive away that has a giant lake in the middle of it. Taylor & Cody were super excited for this day to come, they had both spent the past 3 weeks casting their poles in the front yard. We got up, got ready, and headed over to Pops house to pile in the truck.
As soon as we pulled into the park we knew it was going to be a quick fishing trip, just didn't realize how quick it was going to be. The wind was blowing, but not unbearable so we decided to make the trek across the park and find the perfect fishing spot.
Pops baited up Taylor's pole and she cast out in the water and waited for a fish to bite.
Cody cast out his line as soon as we stopped at the water's edge. Yes, with the cute little red play fish and no bait on it. Then he reeled it right back in and cast out again. Part of me thought I should correct him, put some bait on the end and explain the art of patience. But he was having too much fun reeling in his fake fish over and over so I let him be.
About 10 minutes into the fishing adventure Taylor caught a nice piece of branches from a tree.
The wind started to pick up, my chair tipped over, and my Dooney purse was mere inches away from dropping into the lake.
It was at that moment I realized this fishing thing was not going to work, the wind won and we shall try fishing another day.

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

Vegas Bound

Ok, so not right this second. But in just a few short days we will be headed for a much needed few days away and what better place to rest and relax....the fast paced world of Las Vegas. Right, so maybe it's not the ideal situation to necessarily rest and relax for some. For me and my family though it's perfect...and...perfectly needed. We are not the type to want to just sit still on vacation, we have to be amused and entertained constantly. I plan to stay away from technology though, which is where the rest and relax comes in and just enjoy the sights and sounds the kids and the family.

Food & Fun...Here we come.....in a few days. Can you tell I'm excited?!?!?

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

Pippi Longstocking

Who would have thought that one name would make a little girl so happy. Taylor is smitten with Pippi Longstocking. It all started a few month ago when on a whim I searched for Pippi Longstocking on YouTube and came across a bunch of short clips. Taylor was sitting with me that day and saw them and from that day Taylor had one thing on her mind, a freckled faced red head girl, Pippi Longstocking was coming into our world. I went on the search for a DVD and came up empty handed. Really, no stores feel the need to carry this in stock, my mom went everywhere, and trust me if it's out there my mom will find it. My search of course turned to the one place that never lets me down, eBay. We got the DVD last week but didn't have a chance to sit down and watch it until yesterday. And now the total count of times Pippi was viewed this weekend in its entirety is 4. Yes, 4 times this weekend both Taylor and Cody too sat and watched Pippi from start to finish.

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

Rose Parade Float Viewing

Not many people live in Southern California and have the opportunity every year to take a short drive to see the floats from the Rose Parade. Ok, maybe that statement is not completely true since there are a ton of people that live in Southern California, but my point is that since we are here, so close to this once-a-year opportunity we should definitely take advantage of such an awesome sight…2 miles worth of floats decorated completely in stuff of “natural materials”. This year was going to be the year we took this trip. The kids were not exactly sure what to think but once we got there and they found out we would take a school bus to get to the viewing area they were very excited. This would be the first trip for each of them on a real school bus.

It was a bit cold which provided for some drama with Taylor. My Little Princess did not want to wear her jacket because then nobody would be able to see her gold sequin shrug. I did let her take her jacket off for a quick pic in the bus which resulted in a giant smile.

But as soon as we got to the viewing area and were back outside the jacket must go back on which created for some pretty interesting pictures: One upset Princess and One Crazy Cody.

The float for the princesses complete with a tiara was the one sure fire way to get a smile on Taylor's face.

Cody was head over heels for the Sesame Street float.
The day was awesome though, the floats were beautiful, and it makes me want to watch the parade now that I have seen the floats in real life. What it made we want to do even more though was go to the actual parade. I will add that to my list of things to do.

And it seems that many other people had the same idea as we did as the day wore on it turned into a sea of people checking out the once-a-year opportunity.

I’ll add another post with the pictures of the floats…I took a ton and had to narrow it down best I could.

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

Loving the GPS

I ended up getting Jeremy a GPS this year for Christmas and today was the first day we took a big trip since Christmas to be able to put the system to use. My question now is why didn’t I break down and let him buy one back when they first came out…those GPS thingies just create humor when in use for more than one reason

- The street pronunciations are something else…makes me want to drive around endlessly just to continue to here the nice voice coming from the GPS butchering street names that comes out of her mouth
- Making Ms. GPS freak out when we go against her directions is totally worth getting lost….why on earth Ms. GPS thinks it’s ok to just stop dead in our tracks and make a U-Turn on a busy street with a median is beyond me
- Ms. GPS informing us when we are going a simple 10 miles over the speed limit by yelling “Caution”…caution? what caution? caution is actually going the speed limit in CA and getting run over on the freeway
- Taylor insisting to take the GPS out of the car and throw her out of the window because she is making her crazy. LOL! Then further explaining to everyone in the car that mommy can tell daddy where to go instead of the talking thing

All in all though even with the quirky street names, illegal u-turns, and speed control we are totally lovin the GPS and the adventure it now provides on our drives.

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

Bed Time Tonight...Rough but Funny

The kids are fighting bedtime tonight very much!! First off Cody insisted on having a sleepover with Taylor. He wants Taylor to sleep on his top bunk while he sleeps on the bottom. Sure why not, there isn't school tomorrow let's give it a try. I went into Cody's room helped get Taylor all set up top and let both Cody and Taylor know the rules. It's sleep time so no talking or getting out of control. Let's start the clock for how long this will last....3 minutes and I here commotion coming from Cody's room. They are jumping on the bed, having a good old time. Sleepover...over!! Taylor goes back to her room.
Fast forward 30 minutes...
Cody comes in the living room and I can here Taylor whispering in the hallway "coaching" Cody on what to say. Cody insists he is scared and needs Taylor to sleep in his room.
Taylor then walks in the living room and makes it look like she was sleeping...you know the eye thing, make myself look sleepy...everybody thought it worked as a kid, but mom knows better....and asks what's going on? HA! She knows exactly what's going on.
I take both of the kids back to bed, again, tuck them in.
Fast forward 45 more minutes....
Cody is finally asleep and Taylor is still fighting it like crazy, but I think she may be giving in. Most likely because her Little Puppet (aka Cody) has fallen asleep.

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!