My "baby" is 9 today

It has been brought to my attention by Riley that this year is her "last year in the single digits" and then her dad chimed in with "and she is half way to 18". Are they trying to depress me? I want my baby to shrink back down to three so we can repeat the last six years all over again at a much slower pace.
She has made me feel a bit better by reassuring me that she plans to buy a house as close to our house as possible so she can visit me on the days that she does not work and while she is working I can watch her kids, Jack and Annie. I would love nothing more than to have her close.
So Happy 9th birthday my baby girl. I love you to the moon and back!

A little pre-birthday tea

Today we went to American Girl place in Los Angeles for tea to celebrate Riley's birthday. My mom, sister Kathy, nieces Erica and Presley and Riley's friend Jennifer all came along. The girls had such a GREAT time and so did the adults. We spent hours shopping and eating. Riley got Mimi's hair styled in the salon and she bought a bunch a new outfits for Mimi, several books and the curlique daybed and bedding. Thanks to all her generous relatives giving her cash or gift cards to AG. We did not get home until almost 9 so most of it is still in boxes and we will sort through it all tomorrow. At least Riley will have a motivator for cleaning her room because otherwise Mimi's new bed will just not fit.

Making the most of a bad situation

Since I did not get to make the trip to Boston this week I tried not to have a pity party all week and just make the best of it. Scott was already off work for the week since he was going to play Mr. Mom and we did things together. Nothing exciting or that out of the ordinary, but it was really nice to spend relaxed and unrushed time with him. We had many lunches out while the kids were in school and we went to see Burn after reading (which I don't recommend). He even watched the chick flick, Made of Honor with me (I really liked that one). We went to Panera for breakfast one morning and had my favorite spinach artichoke souffles and then wandered through Barnes and Noble for hours. My niece and I went out for Mexican food, margaritas and pedicures one day too. It's these little luxuries that I rarely indulge in so it was a nice week.

I managed to polish off the first three of the Twilight series and I'm shocked to say I love the books. I have always had an aversion to vampires thanks to my brother, Skip, deciding I should watch a vampire horror flick with him when I was only 6. Thanks, Skip. So to my surprise Stephenie Meyer seems to have cured me of my phobia and sucked me into the world of werewolves and vampires. If you have not given Twilight a try I highly recommend it.
So tomorrow Scott goes back to work and I will try to catch up on things around the house before I go back to work Monday. SOMEDAY I am going to get to Boston especially after spending the past few weeks really researching what there is to do and see.

It's soccer season again!

Riley played her first game of the season today. She spent most of the game playing goal and did a great job. She only let one goal get by her and the Mean Machines won 7-1.

I managed to get a few shots of Riley on the field during the last quarter when she played forward. I could not take pictures while she was playing goalie because it stresses me out. Isn't that ridiculous? I am on pins and needles when she plays goalie though because she gets so upset if she lets a goal get by her. I just can't take that kind of pressure. LOL!

She had a good last quarter too and her team was proud of their first official victory since we now keep score. So it's just the start of the seaon and they are having a good time. Her coach from last season even came over and cheered on her team which we thought was very nice.

GIRLS RULE!

I think I have finally proven to my husband that women are the superior sex. The background on this is that Scott had to have his pinkie toenail removed today. He dropped something on it long ago and apparently it killed the toenail and it just never got better. So this morning I was asking him how they go about removing it and if it will come back or will he just have nine toenails for the rest of his life. So the conversation went something like this:

Me: Will the toenail grow back or will you have a naked toe the rest of your life?
Scott: The doctor said it will grow back, but it will take nine months?
Me: Nine months huh? Gee, give me nine months and I can grow a HUMAN BEING. It's going to take you nine months just to grow a toenail and a pinkie toe at that! I guess that proves who is the superior sex. LOL!
Scott: Hmmm, I got nothing. I guess this gives me a new appreciation for the miracle of life.

So yes, I will be wearing the Queen tiara for the day. LOL!

A little flashback

My friend, Shari, sent this picture to me today and it brought back such great memories. Zachary is on the left and her son Alec is on the right. I just loved seeing this picture of them together when they were so little. Alec is two months older than Zachary and considering that both these boys will become teenagers in the next few months it's nice to look back on the early days. I love that they are still fast friends everytime we get together. Now if I can just get them to wash MY car next time they are together. LOL!

T -15 and counting....

only 15 more days until I leave for my trip to Boston with my best friend Debbi. I can hardly wait to see her and Boston. We planned this trip late last year and at that time it seemed like it was eons away. Now I've got to start to think about packing, what the weather will be like while I am there and what items I need to get before I go.

So far on the agenda is the duck tours, JFK presidential library, Freedom Trail, Newport R.I, Salem and Marblehead and anything else we can squeeze in.

We survived another first day of school

The kids started school today. Riley is entering 3rd grade and had a great first day. She is rather disappointed that Mrs. Riley will not be her teacher even though I tried to explain that a "Riley" being in Mrs. Riley's class might get confusing. My girl can be stubborn when she sets her mind to something and all summer she was hoping to be in Mrs. Riley's class.

Zachary was off to Jr. High and it's a whole different world. I used to walk the kids around the corner to the elementary school and then leave for work. Now he has to be at the bus stop by 7:40. So his friends walk up to our house and then they walk up together. He has to leave 30 minutes before the rest of us. Luckily he is the morning person. I don't know what we will do when Riley reaches Jr. High. I will probably be pushing her out the door in her pajamas. LOL!

Weekend getaway

Yesterday we had a quick getaway with our friends. Shari's ex-husband offered to let us stay the night at the hotel he runs. It is not even out of town, but we all figured it would be a fun night for the kids and would give Shari and I a chance to catch up. Shari and I have been friends for about 20 years now and our kids have been friends since birth so it is always a good time for all. The boys had tons of fun in the pool and occasionally tormenting their little sisters.
The girls took to hotel life like fishes to water. Our little divas could not get enough of the hotel amenities.

Our 16th wedding anniversary

We celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary this weekend along with my niece and her husband who were celebrating their sixth wedding anniversary. We had a great weekend. We spent two days on Lake Mohave. The first day we rode about 40 miles up the lake to see Hoover Dam. We got a few miles away and when we stopped for gas we found out that we could not get close enough to even see the dam. Apparently they are building a bridge near the dam so they can divert traffic off the dam and onto the bridge. I'm sure a post 9-11 security issue caused this, but unfortunately that meant we could not get close so we decided to turn back.

The views along the way were worth the trip anyways. There were some awesome canyons that we went through and when it got too hot we just stopped and jumped off the boat into the lake. We spent the entire first day on the boat. Then on Saturday we found a nice cove, anchored and floated on rafts and tubes all day long. Erica and I made the best drinks, parrot bay rum and pineapple juice. YUM YUM. I highly reccomend these, but be careful they are dangerous.

Saturday night we had a nice dinner at a steak house overlooking the river and then Sunday morning it was back home to the kiddos. Oh and these are the only 3 pictures I remembered to take our whole weekend.

Sleepover fun

Last week Riley had her first ever "friend" sleepover. She has had many cousins sleepover but never a friend. The girls had a blast. I kept forgetting to take pictures, but I did manage to capture a few.

They made mini pizzas for dinner and then had a blast playing the wii. After that they made hot fudge sundaes and watched a movie. Then they listened to music in Riley's room and had a pillow fight. These were all things on Riley's "sleepover agenda". When I told them it was time for bed they complained "but we did not finish everything on our agenda". Her dad told her to stop scheduling her fun. LOL! They had such a great time Jennifer did not want to go home in the morning when her grandma came to pick her up.

Ice cream for dinner

We have started a new tradition in our house. Once a summer we take the kids to have ice cream for dinner. I did not clue Summer (my trainer) into this little fact as she was measuring and weighing me today. This information was on a "need to know" basis and she does not need to know. LOL! So we went to our favorite ice cream place, Bert and Rocky's Creamery. All the ice cream is made right there and SO GOOD it's unbelievable. Zachary got a waffle cone with Debbi's double devil's food delight and Riley got a waffle cone with peppermint ice cream. Scott kept it simple and got two scoops of blueberry cheesecake in a cup and I opted for a jr. size vanilla with hot fudge and whip cream in a cup. It was delicious, but now Scott and I feel sick. The kids are fine, not a complaint among them. Apparently 38 is too old to be having ice cream for dinner.

My life as a SAHM

Since July 2nd I have been off work since my mom went back to Nebraska and Iowa for a family reunion. We did not have a vacation planned, but since my mom watches the kids I took off work while she was gone. We did not do anything special, we just enjoyed the summer days. We went swimming, to the water park, hung out at home, played yahtzee and uno and just had fun. We were just starting to get into a routine. The result is that I am very VERY sad about going back to work tomorrow. Normally I don't mind working since I really like my job and I always tell myself that I work during the kids school hours, but I wish I had summers off. I just had such a good time with the kids these past 10 days and now I have the blues. Zachary told me today that he liked it better when I am home with them. Then when I was tucking Riley in tonight she hugged me tight and told me how much she was going to miss me tomorrow. Granted, she is my "drama queen" but I still felt awful. I wish I could be home with my kids everyday.

Planning ahead

I was on the computer today and decided to check out the American Girl website. Ever since we went to the American Girl store last December Riley has insisted that she wants to go back to the Cafe for her birthday. I just went to the website to check out prices, times, etc. and then I noticed the website says "now booking reservations through January 2009". Holy smokes, is this like some of those Disney World things that you book 9 months in advance? Did we miss the boat? Am I going to hear my daughter complain in 30 years how her 9th birthday was ruined because she could not go to the American girl store? Alright, so maybe I am being a tad dramatic here.

I did go ahead and make reservations though just to be safe. The woman I spoke to told me that I should just make the reservation for the maximum number I thought would attend and I could always change it later. So we will be having tea at the AG store on September 27th. Riley says Mimi can hardly wait. Not so surprisingly Zachary has declined our invitation. LOL!

Our little equestrian

Riley has really been loving her horseback riding lessons. She has learned lots of new skills, how to trot, has graduated to a large horse and even rode out on the trails.

The horse she has been riding lately is named Star and he even has a star branded on him. I don't get to see all of the lessons now since they ride off onto the trails and I can't see her most of the time, but she has had a great time.

Our Independence Day

Well, even though the day started out rough we ended up having a nice holiday. After Scott got home I managed to take a quick nap which did wonders for my tolerance level. I just don't like getting woke up at 5:30 in the morning. LOL! The fireworks show was great and the kids had a good time. Riley had fun in the bounce house and the giant slide. I loved the Bert and Rocky's homemade ice cream. It beats all other ice creams, hand down. The kids even ran into their cousins and we did not know they would be there. So they had fun running around together. Poor Riley got a nose bleed right when the fireworks started, but luckily she used to them by now so she just sat back with her tissue and enjoyed the show.

Lord give me patience, please

We have had a rough and rocky start to our Indpendence day. It started at 5:30 am, yes 5 friggin' 30 am. When the kids got up for some unknown reason and decided to play the Wii. This would have been fine except that they were bickering back and forth or cheering the whole time. Then Scott kept hitting snooze on his alarm clock. So I finally gave up around 7 and got out of bed. I decided that I would go outside and water my vegetables before it got too hot today. Well, when I got outside I discovered that Myla (my mom's dog that we are dog sitting for 10 days) had dug up all of my hydrangeas. So I spent then next 1/2 hour replanting and hoping to salvage my hydrangeas and cleaning up piles of dirt. During all of this I hear Riley SCREAMING and I mean SCREAMING at Zachary because he kept winning at Wii sports. So I sent her to her room while I finished cleaning up outside. When I came back inside I went to her room to talk to her. She told me to "get out" which did not help the situation. After a long talk a few apologies she is now grounded from the Wii. She is not a morning person and I'm not quite sure why she got up so early today, but I have a feeling that it will not be a good day. She was mumbling earlier that it was the "worst day ever" and if she keeps it up that may be true. I just keep saying "Lord give me patience, Lord give me patience".

Viva "Lost" Vegas

Yes, Riley calls it "Lost" Vegas and I don't want to correct her. The kids have been asking to go back to Las Vegas since we went 3 years ago for my brother's wedding. So we finally took them back and had a great time. Riley was VERY disappointed that she is still too short for the roller coaster at New York, New York. Maybe next time she will make the cut.

I think the highlight for all of us was the baby tigers at the Mirage. If you look closely past Riley's reflection there is actually a tiger cub in on the other side of the glass pawing at Riley. They interacted for a few minutes and it was priceless. The cubs acted just like kittens, playing with stuffed toys and pawing at Riley on the other side of the glass. I could have watched them for hours.

We had three days of swimming, floating in the lazy river and walking, walking and more walking around the strip. The kids had a blast in the arcade at the MGM and got to see the lion there also. I got a pastry at the Paris, yum yum and we all loved the forum shops at Caesar's Palace. At the end of it all you can see the kids were worn out, but sad to be leaving. Scott and I would like to go back and enjoy the more adult side of Vegas, shows, drinks and ritzy restaurants for dinner.

Giddy up!

Riley had her first horseback riding lesson today. The horse she chose was named Marygold. She was small and sweet and perfect for a first lesson. Riley chattered away to her teacher about how she had ridden one other horse in Texas and his name was Snoopy, but she has ridden lots of ponies. Today she learned how to mount and dismount, the names of the horses parts and equipment, starting, stopping and turning and even some safety tips. She can hardly wait until next Saturday to do it all over again. She says that next week she is going to ride Star, which is the horse her teacher rode this week. We will see!

6th grade graduation!

Today was Zachary's sixth grade graduation ceremony. He did such a great job this year and throughout his elementary school years and we are so proud of him today. To cap off his time at VGS he came away with a Math Award, Writing award and straight A honor roll. He also received the President's education award for obtaining honor roll every trimester from 4th-6th grade and scoring advanced on all his state tests.

I even managed to hold it together and not get teary eyed until the end when they had the slideshow of all the kids and one of the 6th teacher's played Home by Chris Daughtry on his guitar.