School Starts

Yesterday was the first day of school for my senior, my 8th grader and my 5th grader.  This was the last time I will take pictures of Alec as he heads off to school.  I can clearly remember his first day of kindergarten.  I had McDonald's waiting for him when he got home.  He ate chicken nuggets and french fries while telling me about his first day of school.  Things have changed.  He left for school today, needing a shave, driving himself, and going out with friends after school instead of straight home to me.
I'll enjoy my last year having all my babies at home, because I know this time is going to be over way too soon.

Summer Happenings...

We have had a summer of traveling and visiting family and friends.  We went to Mexico for the first time to visit Grandpa and Grandma Obering and enjoyed staying in their beach house.  Alec loved practicing his Spanish and I was impressed how quickly he picked it up.  We went snorkeling with tons of seals and fish and it freaked me out, but the kids loved it and had no fear.

We also spent time in Vegas with Susie and her active, fun family (5 kids and a dog).   They also have a boat and live by Lake Mead and the Strip, so it's worth staying with her even though it's a little loud in her home.  She insists on cooking for us and I insist on eating Jack-in-the Box, In & Out, and Del Taco.  She doesn't understand that we don't have those foods out east  (I'd be 300 lbs if we did) so every summer we are like bears about to hibernate as we consume insane amounts of tacos, burgers and curly fries.

We also spent time in Utah and Orange County with old friends, and Chris' brothers.  We jammed in a lot of visits in a month and loved every minute, but are very happy to be home.

Catching Up

Time flies when you haven't blogged for over a year.  I didn't even realize it had been so long until Selena was looking at my blog, enjoying all the pictures of herself and laughing at my poofy 80s hair, and then I noticed how long it had been since I last posted.  So it's time for some quick updates.

Alec is 15 going on 30.  He's now in 10th grade and loving playing basketball for his high school team.  I love watching him play.  He gets his serious game face on, but will still give me a nod when I yell his name and wave.  He reminds me constantly that he'll be driving soon, which brings up my stress level just a tad.  His love of shoes rivals mine, which makes him fun to shop with, but not when he dips into my shoe budget.

Here is Sophia on her first day of middle school.  I was more nervous than she was, but she's adjusted so well.  So far we haven't had any drama that often comes at the middle school age.  She's so independent, and I've had to back off and realize she doesn't want me to do her hair anymore or pick out her clothes.  I did veto her request for adding a splash of color to her hair.  I told her she can color her hair when it starts getting gray and at no time before then.

My Selena is now in 3rd grade, but she's like a 16 year old already.  She's had an exciting year.  This summer she got to see Big Time Rush in concert in Vegas.  Then last month she went to Justin Bieber's concert in DC.  She had the time of her life and I loved seeing her reaction as they took the stage.  She was shaking from excitement.  I told her to calm down, it wasn't like Bon Jovi was performing. 

I think the most exciting thing for the kids the past year has been moving to a new home where they each get their own room and a pool to swim in.  I was so grateful for our pool this summer when we lost power for three days, but kids weren't miserable since they could swim and not be in the hot house.  It also brings friends closer to you, because when they lose their air conditioning in this east coast heat and humidity, they're at your door with a watermelon and their towels, ready to swim.

As for Chris, his highlight was buying a toy he's been wanting forever.  Growing up, his family would go to the lake and water ski, go tubing, and sailing.  Personally, I get nauseous at the thought of sailing, but it's heaven to Chris. 

So his dream came true when he got his boat and he was able to teach the kids how to water ski (some did better than others) and thrash them around as he pulled them on the tube.

 As for my highlight this year?  Well, it wasn't really my highlight, but it was a lot of fun -- I had my night out with the girls as we watched Edward on the big screen for the last time.  The crowd was great as we were all there for the same purpose -- to squeal when Edward said something that made us melt or when Jacob shed his clothes. 

Best Day Ever

There's an episode of Spongebob where he goes around singing the song, "It's the best day ever," and prances all around Bikini Bottom. Well, that's how I felt yesterday. It started out with us attending Selena's ballet recital. She looked beautiful in her pink tutu and danced perfectly. I told her if she smiled the whole time, we'd go out to eat when she was done, so she plastered a smile on her face as she danced. We enjoyed lunch at her favorite Mexican restaurant, which got rid of my guilt for not buying her a bouquet of flowers like the other parents had for their ballerinas.

After lunch we picked up two of the girls' friends and all headed off to see the movie Soul Surfer. The kids were excited to see it, but honestly, it wasn't on my list of must-sees. After the first few minutes, I was hooked. It was such a compelling story and had me in tears the whole time. We all loved it, even Chris and Alec were engrossed the whole time. I don't see how they didn't shed a tear though. When the movie was over and I had finally composed myself, they showed clips of the real girl and her family during the credits, so cue the waterworks once again. I highly recommend it as a family outing, but take tissues.

Then the day ended with an amazing night. Last week I had heard one of my favorite comedians, Ralphie May, being interviewed on a local radio station and promoting how he would be doing one show in DC. I immediately got a hold of Chris and told him we had to go. I love seeing comedians live and wasn't going to miss this chance to see Ralphie. I remember him from Last Comic Standing and loved him then. So Chris and I headed down to DC, got extremely lucky with parking, free and close to auditorium. We grabbed a quick bite at Johnny Rockets and then went to hear Ralphie. We had great seats close to the stage so we could see the sweat on his face.

At one point he did a monologue about relations between men and women and I was doubled over trying to catch my breath because I was laughing so hard. Probably since everything he was saying was true and the way he presented it was hilarious. Chris also was tearing up, because he was laughing so hard. The show was over two hours long. His stamina was amazing, because after standing that whole time, he said he'd be in the lobby and sign anything we wanted and take as many pictures as we wanted. I was so happy that I brought my camera.

When we went out to the lobby, there he was, all sweaty and smiling and being so nice to everyone. When it was my turn to get my picture with him, I had butterflies. I had planned to tell him how funny I thought he was and how I've been listening to him for years. But instead, as I walked up to him I just blurted out, "Hi, I love you!" Yes, that's what I said. He was so nice and said, "I love you too, beautiful."

I wanted to say more, but just stood there tongue-tied as he signed my ticket and posed for a picture. I left there so happy that not only was it a great show, but that I was able to meet him and that he was such a great guy.

Yesterday I felt like Spongebob, so happy from having one of best days ever!

A Birthday & A Championship

I guess it's time to catch up. We've had some depressing happenings and some happy happenings. The depressing thing is that my baby boy turned 14. I know, I'm way to young to have a child that age. He's now a few inches taller than I am and he thinks much wiser. I can't wait for the day when he says to me, "You were right mom, I should've listened to you. It was wrong to talk back to you. It was wrong to roll my eyes at you. It was wrong to say you never gave me anything, even though you bought me so much. You were right to keep me home from those school dances where there was inappropriate bumping and grinding going on. You were right to nag me about not doing my homework. You are the best!" Yes, I look forward to that day. Until then, I will enjoy these teenage years and I will be grateful for my smart, athletic, fun and healthy boy!I do love my Alec and can't believe he's almost a man -- well, at least his upper lip is like a man. I'm dying to get it waxed for him!

The happy happening is this was Sophia's first year playing basketball and her team won the championship. She was so fun to watch. She was so good on defense, because sometimes she got basketball mixed up with tackle football, so the girls she guarded had no chance of making a basket. She's still learning, but fell in love with the sport and can't wait for the season to start again.

Big Apple Birthday

I never knew what a big can of worms I was opening up by buying that first American Girl doll. That first purchase was just the tip of the iceberg, because for Sophia's 10th birthday she asked to go to New York to visit the American Girl Doll store. She even went online and checked on making reservations at the cafe where you dine with your dolls. She also discovered they have a hair salon where they'll style your doll's hair.

So instead of talking her out of it, I made reservations at the cafe, and checked on flights for us to fly to New York. Alec heard about this trip and had no desire to go. I can't imagine why a 13-year-old boy wouldn't have the time of his life at a store that's three stories full of doll merchandise, but he ended up staying home.

The rest of us flew to New York, then took a bus and subway to get to where the store was. But I do have to add that on the bus ride, which was an adventure on its own, I sat next to a heavy-set man who slobbered on an apple, then fell asleep and was snoring. Meanwhile, Chris sat next to an attractive flight attendant and was chatting it up the whole ride. Needless to say, he enjoyed the bus ride more than I did.


Here the girls are right after spotting the store on the right corner. So excited and cold!
The store is right by the Rockefeller Center skating rink. Chris wanted to skate, but it was way too cold for me. Plus I've been ice skating exactly once in my life and wasn't very good at it.
The beauty salon was a little girl's dream. Cute pink chairs for the dolls to sit in and stylists ready to create fancy hairdos.

The cafe was very fancy. The girls were in heaven. They even had all the dolls in seats ready to eat with someone who didn't have their own doll. You could borrow any of them to sit with you.

We didn't need any though, since Selena brought her Look Like Me doll, Sophia now had two dolls. Santa brought her Lanie and for her birthday she chose the new Doll of the Year, Kanani.
The food was really good, thankfully, because it wasn't cheap.

After we left their dream store, we walked on 5th Avenue, which was my fantasy. There were so many stores that I would've loved to go in and set my credit card free, but thankfully for Chris' sanity, this trip wasn't for me. It was for Sophia. So instead of going into all the clothes shops and jewelry shops, we went to FAO Schwarz Toy Shop. Once again, the girls were in heaven.
I got excited when I saw the Trump Tower and asked the girls to pose for a picture, to which they replied, "I don't even know what this is." I guess they don't watch The Apprentice like I do.

Once inside the toy store, they were surrounded by every toy imaginable, and asked for every toy they set eyes on. My favorite part was the toy soldier who was so friendly. He chatted with the girls and spun around with them in a giant kaleidoscope.
Of course we couldn't leave the store without the girls dancing on the Big Piano. They've never even seen the movie Big, which I need to show them now so they can see the piano they played on.

Loving the Lego section of the store.

It was a great birthday for Sophia -- Selena loved it too. At the end of the night Sophia even got to hail a cab. She loved the whole New York experience. They were in awe as they stood in the middle of Time Square and saw all the lights. We showed them where the New Year's Eve big ball drops from that they see on tv every year and they were so impressed.

We flew back home that same day, since they had school the following morning. It was a whirlwind fun birthday trip that made Sophia's 10th birthday unforgettable.

Alec's birthday is next month and he's asking what we're doing for him, since Sophia had such a great one. I told him I'd take him and his friends to the Justin Bieber movie -- he was not impressed.