A Great Day at the Races

We have been so blessed to find some awesome friends in our new neighborhood.  Great Christian families with nice kids, wonderful mamas and some pretty decent dads too.  Case in point, Cory and Josh.  We love their kids and have become fast friends with them.  They were kind enough to invite us to join them for La Feliz Guild's Derby Down event.  It was so fun.  Bravo to the Guild, they put on an excellent event!

Unfortunately, Kevin had to go back to work yesterday.  He loves me Josh a lot so he took a quick nap and joined in on the fun.  We had fried chicken, mint juleps (ok, not a huge fan of the mint julep), yummy desserts and we bet on the horse races.  True confessions: I don't get out much and therefore had never wagered on the ponies!  We didn't win any money but it was a lot of fun.
 

So wrong, yet so right.

 When you're a mom, you're a mom all the way....  Look at this picture from Devre's wedding.....

 

Here, take a closer look.

   

What's wrong with this picture? 1) I forgot to put on half of my makeup! 2) Lauren is desperately crying out for help!

Three kids make getting ready for a wedding very interesting.  I would be tempted to categorize that as "not fun"

What's right with this picture?  I got time with my oldest and dearest friend (Haidee. We've been friends since we were six?!?!) at my soul sister's wedding...sigh.  When we were younger and my dad would take us out people always thought we were sisters.  biggest compliment for me.

Look at our first-borns....they could be brother and sister, no?

I'm so grateful that Kevin was there to help with kid management.  One day we will be able to take these little people out in public.  And Lo-Lo and I are both rocking the fur!  

To Devre and Steve

Here is my wedding "speech" for my dear friend Devre and her husband-to-be Steve.

I met Devre almost 20 years ago in Mrs. DeAnda's Spanish 1 class at Buchanan (go bears!).  We were Clark Chieftains and Kastner Thunderbirds thrust together onto one campus.  Knowing that I had to make new friends in this new world, I (very uncharacteristically) introduced myself to the leggy blonde with kind eyes.  We became fast friends but by Senior Year we were inseparable.  We marched right into Mr. Stockton's office and convinced him that we need all of our classes together.  Even the distance can't keep us apart.  Last night our husbands (teehee) described us as far away friends that are very close.  true.

When my oldest son was a little over a year old (he's now six and a half), Dev and I took a trip to New York City.  We spent our time doing what we do best: shopping, eating and talking.... with a splash of wine.  We might have glanced at the Statue of Liberty too.  I will never forget feeling that the trip was a turning point in Devre's life.  (it certainly was in mine, I haven't had a shopping experience like that since then!) We talked for hours about what her future might hold and who her future might hold.  She mentioned her friend Steve and my ears perked up. I knew that there was an itch and I knew that she was going to scratch it.  love.


I have been waiting for this day, Devre's wedding day, since that trip to New York.  It was immediately obvious that these two were made for each other.  I've often described Steve as the male version of Devre.  They are two of the most genuine and endearing people I have ever met.  I am so happy and proud and tickled that they are making this lifelong commitment to one another. 

To Devre and Steve, may your love grow and bloom more and more as each year passes.  And!  For your wedding gift, we give you our second born...... Love you both.

"Take me home with you Uncle Steve."

Milestones from Bad Mommy, you know you love it.

I know what you are thinking, three posts in one day, you better warn somebody.  I'm getting sick (see FB status update for the dets) and I want to make a dent in a grant proposal, so I blog.  You get it right?

I love my beautiful boys.  We had a great weekend and I just wanted to share two milestones.

Milestone #1:  Patrick lost his first tooth!  It has been wiggling for a couple of weeks, much to his consternation.  It finally fell out when we were in the car getting ready to go into the theater to see Peter Pan.  It was very exciting.  Also exciting?  All of the tooth fairies that hand out $10 for one tooth.  And then it is extra exciting to write about it in a book for school so everyone can compare notes.  Patrick got a dollar.   He is now the proud owner of SIX DOLLARS.  I told him to stop betting on the tooth fairy and start reminding me to give him his allowance.  Here's the proud toothless wonder:

This wouldn't be a Bad Mommy post without a bad mommy picture.  Can you see which one he lost?  Look closer.....

And quickly because I want to go home right now....

Milestone #2  SNOW.  This was a Keith Milestone.  My Great Friend Kaidie invited us to her dad's cabin in Shaver for an overnight with her sweet little boy Phillip.  We had such a great time! Amuse yourself with these pictures and know that now Keith is intent on learning how to ski.  "I get da googles and da skis."  On the Silky Side, Keith got so mad when I told Patrick to pound him with snowballs (bad mommy!) he had to take off his beloved gloves and shed his jacket to get to his finger and the silky tag on his pants. 

I LOVE CALIFORNIA.  God Bless it.

A Spooky Confession

Don't tell anyone.... I am not Halloween's Number One Fan. (or number two). I have a kind of take it or leave it attitude about Halloween. I stopped enjoying Halloween when I experienced my first apple bobbing contest. Dry Creek circa 1984. Lots of saliva in the water, Halloween never was the same.

Halloween is really one of those things that the idea is better than the execution. The apple bobbing of course. Eating lots of candy sounds good until you are puking Skittles. The clown costume is a good idea until you are dripping white makeup at recess. Transforming your house to a haunted mansion is great until you realize that you take it down as soon as you put it up. Keeping your porch light on sounds good until the teenagers in jeans and t-shirts come by. Scary music and such is great until the four year-olds come by your house. Oh and don't get me started on the price of candy and the moldy pumpkins.....

Then came Patrick. Really 98% of our Halloween accoutrements were Patrick selections over the last 3 Halloweens. I was of the attitude that a pumpkin always trumps a jack-o-lantern because a pumpkin can stay out through Thanksgiving. So we have been doing some Halloween decorating. It is hard to say no when your kid has passion and imagination. It is kind of contagious. I'm still not one of those parents who dresses up to take their kids trick-or-treating but I did throw a pretty fun Halloween party.

We watched The Sword in the Stone a few months ago and Patrick decided that he was going to be a knight. Then he decided that he would be a Dragon Slayer Knight and Keith would be a Dragon. Cool.



Here are the big boys. Ian, Patrick and Chase


Here are the babies (not really anymore) Ryder, Keith and Ava (our lone girl). How cute are they?!!? This is the best part of Halloween! Keith barked at Ryder the whole time we were trick or treating.



Keith has a serious silky problem. He was convinced that Ryder's costume was a silky. He also thought that since Ryder had his clothes off well....


I bought a lot of candy (three or four hundred pieces of the good stuff). The boys were in charge of the door (Plain White T's) and it was all gone by the time we left to trick or treat. They were generous and there were TONS of kids.


The little kids caught on quickly. Keith tried to run into our neighbors' house (first stop) but after that he got it. He then proceeded to chat with everyone along the way.



By the end of the trek Patrick had divided all of his excess weight among the 5 adults. He was walking up to the door and putting his hands out. We all needed a break before the final stretch.


And that is when we met up with Chewbacca. I guess I always imagined Chewbacca as a Heineken kind of a Wookiee. Turns out he goes for the Nati Light. This is the kind of culture you can only get on Halloween (see why I love it so much?).


We had a really great time. I love that Halloween is over and we can relish the idea of next year. Woohoo! I wonder what Patrick will come up with next year.....