BECAUSE WE JUST DON'T HAVE ENOUGH TO DO...

...meet...

...GENERAL CUSTER!!

Yeah, we kinda like him.

WAX MUSEUM TIME

I just dropped Walt Disney off at Ani's school.

(Shhhh. It's really Ani.)

HALLOWEEN

Time to dig through the costume box.

Brothers painting sisters' faces...(an everyday occurance, right?)

Sugar time.

A DAY AT THE MOVIES

Somebody had a very special day.
A day etched forever in my memory.

It was Cass. On the 24th. Her birthday.
Fourth birthday.
Four years old.
Sniff. Sniff.
First, the decorating of the cupcakes.
Then, a day at the movies.
Watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.
(AWESOME!)
Then, Where the Wild Things Are.
(NOT SO AWESOME!)

Then, cupcakes and presents. (and maybe a little dinner)
Then, hugs and kisses, and of course a book.
(or two, or three)
Then, bedtime.
Then, it's possible mommy shed a tear or two while
reliving the moment four years ago.
I love you my Cassie.

RANDOM CAR CONVERSATION

Cassie: "Mom, why do you call people lucky dog?"
M: "Because lucky means that something good happened to somebody when they didn't think it would."
Cass: "But why do you call them lucky dog?"
M: "Because it's just a thing we call people who are lucky."
Cass: "But why?"
M (wondering myself now): "I'm not sure. We just do."

Pause, while she processes this.
Cass: "We could call them lucky hippos."

HE WILL MAYBE KILL ME, BUT...

...Not really, cuz secretly, inwardly, Mart loves to be on stage....so for the pleasure of our viewers, this is what he was doing that last night of our cruise.

And just so you don't miss the funniest parts, my favorites are at
1:13
1:26 and
1:58
I almost peed my pants I was laughing so hard.
(Remember while you watch this that the ship didn't tell him anything
that the dancers were doing - it was all improv.)
My Mart is officially hysterical.
Enjoy.

THE CRUISE SHIP

The world's best best best waiter (we miss him every day!)...
Mario.

Yeah - this is towels - every day we came into our room and there was a new "animal" towel waiting for us - this was my favorite one.

Cass really bonded with Mario. He was so sweet to her -
he would have her fruit and nuggets waiting for her every day when
we came into the dining room - and would pour her a big cup of
chocolate milk - and ask her which color of crayon she wanted that
day and then, pull from his sleeve whichever color she requested.
He was great - and it broke my heart when he told us about the three
kids he has back home (in Guatemala)- that he sees for only 4 weeks every six months!!
We were lucky to have him and hope to keep in touch with him.

Here's a video of Josh and Darien doing karaoke one night - so great!

And one more video of Cass and Macy
dancing with Mario in the dining room - they did
this every night. We love it!

PUERTO VALLARTA

Puerto Vallarta ROCKED...Mart and I were especially excited to
hit this stop because this is where we honeymooned, so we have great
memories here. This time, we took Josh and headed in for the
"Extreme Outdoor Canopy" adventure. Wow - if you ever have a chance
to do this or any excursion with CaboAdventures or VallartaAdventures
don't hesitate - it's worth every penny.
First off, we headed across the bay in a motor boat.

Next, we were loaded into one of THESE trucks and
driven across miles of tropical forest - BEAUTIFUL!!

Look at the mountains behind us!! Sheesh - could it be more beautiful???

Then came the awesome mule ride to the tippy top of the Sierra Madres.

...where we finally began our descent...

...in a number of different ways

SO SOOOO much fun!!!

After the excursion, we grabbed the girls and headed back into town. We just HAD to take them on one of the rickety old buses through town - what an experience!
Also, Mart and I wanted to revisit our honeymoon hotel - and the AWESOME Mexican food joint across the street - where we enjoyed some great food.

Then we headed to the hotel beach for an amazing Puerto Vallarta sunset.

Gorgeous!! We love Puerto Vallarta -
it will always be a special place for Mart and I,
and now for the kids too!!

MAZATLAN

Mazatlan was definitely not our favorite stop. I don't know if there are nice things to see or not - but we sure didn't find them. We had planned to shop but after about 1/2 hour we realized there was nothing there for us - so we headed to the beach to try to make something of the day.

We decided everyone would go parasailing!!
We weren't prepared for the beach - so this is how Cass ended up after about 10 minutes.

And this is how the rest of us ended up:

Even Ani got to go - though she had to go with one of the guys.

Mart got some nice shots. It even looks like a nice town from WAY far away!!

Bye Bye Mazatlan!

CABO

This is the very point of where the Pacific Ocean meets the Gulf of California -
AWESOME!! It's where we spent our entire day - and what an awesome one!

A closer look - on this side of the beach is the Gulf - on the other side is the Pacific Ocean -
Josh spent some time over there - body surfing (without a life vest!!) -
He didn't bother to tell me that until AFTER....of course.

This is the exact beach where we spent our entire day (we chose it for the shade from that rock in the morning) and we had amazing weather.
Somewhere on that beach are the sandals which Josh left behind.
RIP Josh sandals.

We started out the day with a little boat tour of the area - wow -
these rocks are so much more amazing in person -

It was nice of our ship to hang out and wait for us don't you think?
This is called "Lover's Cave" - according to the natives - they say two people go in, and three come out, therefore - Mart and I avoided it like the plague. :)

This is called "Window" to the ocean - you can see why.

After the tour - came the fun - beach beach beach - Here is where she landed -
and here is where she was ALL DAY.... SHE LOVES THE WATER AND BEACH

And I love me some baby butt cheek!!

I love this shot - it shows exactly how she was all day.

This is Amber and Curtis - our friends that went with us on this trip.

My Ash - she's so cute!

Somewhere out there among the snorkels is my Ani - and her friend Mal - and underneath them were like thousands of crazy awesome beautiful fish - wow. SO FUN!!

Last but not least - Mart. His first snorkel.

Ahhhhhh....

I guess a day in the sun leads to pink cheeks and watermelon. So, SO great.

RECIPE FOR A PERFECT SIXTEENTH

Ingredients needed:

One amazing kid - seasoned and marinated (for sixteen years) in a mixture of: good times, the occassional "tough" time, 3 sisters, a mom, a dad, lots of family and great friends, tons of love, laughter, tears, and joy:

One creative sister - if you're lucky you'll find the kind who knows lots about decorating (houses and cakes! - Thanks CINDY LOU WHO):

One awesomely decorated cake:

TONS of delicious food:

Don't forget AT LEAST 30 Sobe's!! - (HUGE HIT)

A pinch of great decor! (Thanks again Cindy)

About 25 wild and crazy friends(Give a teenager a broken pinata and a whistle from inside- and see what he makes of it)One over-zealous mother, and one "good sport" dad...

Mix all the above together, and shake, with a little bit of loud music, and......Success!!We love ya Josh.

Oh yeah, and just in case you need a little extra boost, see the


Optional ingredients below:

COMING TO MY SENSES

Five of them.
Taste, sight, sound, touch, and smell.

Today, (while soaking in those rays), I forced myself to focus on one. Sound.

And here is what I heard in a mere forty minutes:

The snap of my blanket as it fell over the grass.
A dog bark..
Somewhere down the street, a TV set with a spanish station blaring.
The buzz of a curious fly.
The flutter of the leaves on my Pin Oak in the slightest of cool breezes.
Far, far away - a siren.
The quiet hum of some sort of contruction machine somewhere in the neighborhood.
The slide of someone's window opening.
From my upstairs window, the buzz of the dryer.
Ginger's *snort* sound after sniffing in the air.
A bird quietly chirping.
The thup-thup of an army helicopter a little ways away.
The sound of the garage door opening, and footsteps in the kitchen,

..and

Ani's voice. "Hi Mom!"

My favorite sound of all.

KILLIN' TIME

Can't really remember the last time I had 40 minutes without something PRESSING to fill it, but here I am! Cass down for her nap, laundry done, bills paid, house (somewhat) clean, piano stuff done, and wow - 40 minutes until Ani comes home from school!

Dare I get a book and read more than three sentences without interruption?

Could I think of practicing a piece on the piano?

What about finishing up that wool piece I started last month?

Maybe I'll water the flowers in the front yard - and the dry spots in the lawn?

Perhaps, just sitting on a blanket outside, in the sun, soaking up the last few rays of warm weather?

Hmmm...

So many possibilities!

AN EVERYDAY MORNING

I get to watch this first thing every morning...

It's a beautiful thing.

FALL HAS ARRIVED

And that is exactly what we did last weekend!! In the form of...

Peaches!

Strawberry Jam!

Peach butta

and Peach Leather!

Thanks JerryLynn!!

...THAT'S ALL FOLKS

10 days later.

Diet over.

'Nuff said.

DIETING

I've been on a diet. Thanks to this.

I want to prepare myself for the upcoming cruise.

Dieting SUCKS.

No sugars - I'm serious. None.

No starches. - Yeah - none.

As in, no potatoes, corn, carrots, bread, cereal, pretty much ANYTHING, sweets, etc.

This is tough.

BUT, I'm done with the "detox" stage - and I think I'm gonna make it.

In the meantime, I'm working on the list of things I will be munching on as soon as I can call quits to this diet.

The list, as of this morning was:

Brownie (s)
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Butterfinger (I don't know why that sounds so good.)
Loaf of Homemade Bread
Peppermint Taffy
Mint Truffle

...and today's addition...


Mashed Potatoes.

Eat well all you lucky UNDIETERS.

Eat well.

IF...

If we hadn't gone to Lagoon last Friday, maybe I wouldn't have packed (and I do mean packed)up a stroller with food, a cooler, blankets, extra clothes, my camera, and my purse.

If I didn't have four kids who were getting into that stroller for the food, cooler, blankets and extra clothes, maybe it wouldn't have been a big disorganized PILE in the basket of the stroller by the end of the day.

If Josh wouldn't have (at that last ride) put Cass up on his shoulders, and if she wouldn't have rested her little head on her hands on top of his head, maybe I wouldn't have wanted a snapshot of that.

If I wouldn't have been distracted by Ani and Mart and Ash talking to me (all at the same time, I might add...), maybe I wouldn't have carelessly tossed the camera back onto the PILE.

If I wouldn't have casually tossed the camera back onto the pile of stuff in the basket of the stroller, maybe it wouldn't have fallen out of the basket as we left the park.

If I wouldn't have lost my camera, maybe I would have been able to take pictures of the girls as they left for school this morning on their first day of fifth and eighth grade.



Oh well.

WHAT I FOUND IN THE KITCHEN TONIGHT

We made a quick run to the store after dinner last night, and the last thing I said to Ash before leaving was, "Please finish up these dishes before we get home."

When we arrived home, the girls were all in bed, and this is what I found in the kitchen...

Just in case you can't read the little note
next to the dirty dishes in the sink, here's a close-up...

...and this is what I replaced her note with...

This is the life.

POTTY TRAINING

We've been potty training the past two days - with great success, I might add, and Cass is so proud of herself - wearing "big girl panties" and all...

Several times during the day, she will come to me, for various reasons, and say, "Mommy..."

My response has been, "Yes my sweet baby?" (pathetic, I know).

Which has stopped her in her tracks the last two days and caused her to reprimand me with,

"You mean, BIG GIRL, - not baby..."



"Yes, you're right.
Big girl."

*sniff sniff*