Practical...? Not a chance!

So my life it a little crazy and you would think that I would do anything possible to make it easier right? SO NOT THE CASE! :) I discovered that I am a shallow girl! Luckily not in my people picking and/or relationships but in stuff! I am like a small child...I love the bright shiny things. My purse is so pretty...(sigh)! I love it but it is the most inconvenient thing I own. This purse is like a black hole. It takes me 10 minutes to find my lip gloss. Good luck calling my cell if it is in the bottomless pit that is my purse...I will never find it before you hang up. Mostly I keep it in my pocket for just that reason. I know I should just switch to one of the 700 other purses I own but I just can't give it up! My change purse (that I also love and goes so well with the purse) from DSW always spills my change. Yep...right into the bottom of above mentioned purse. That is also not helpful. If I didn't love my non-change holding wallet (yep, goes with the purse too) so much I would get rid of it and switch to another one. My wallet also doesn't hold everything else I need yet still I keep on using it. I don't even like the person who gave it to me anymore (luckily I picked it out on my own so while someone else paid for it I still consider it my own since it was my idea...right?) but I LOVE it....shiny red croc (fake of course)!

I just think how much easier my day might be without any one of these three things. Nope, I won't let them go just yet. They may be difficult but I still love them. See...I can hang on to a relationship...HA! I have never carried the same purse for the length of time I have this one.

I can't even begin to comment on the shoe issue...I'm a slave! :)

On a side note - Tonight was our first night of FULL ON BASEBALL! Both boys had games at the same time...same park...different fields. E lost but had a great game as pitcher and N's team doesn't keep score but he got to be the catcher...so cute in all that gear. The whole fam came out to see them tonight so they had huge cheering sections. It was AWESOME! I am not a baseball fan but man I LOVE watching my babies and screaming like a crazy lady. GO TEAMS!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!

Today my little man turned 8! :) Poor baby didn't have a great weekend but seemed to have a really good day.

He got sooo sick at school on Friday and had to miss his parade and first baseball game of the season. He has had many others and really needed to stay home and rest. His float won the division so he got a new medal to show off. Today he was much better! His party isn't until next weekend so today was an "E decides" day. :) He picked our lunch spot and the movie - Monsters v. Aliens...3D style. ICEE's and candy to go with the movie and then a trip to the game store to spend a little $$. Dinner was his choice too. Now he is playing with the present he got from his mommy and brother. Too bad tomorrow is school/work day.

Even with a sick older brother, N really enjoyed his first day as a player! Parade, Opening Day Ceremony and his first official game! He had a great time (until he realized he would not be on the ground to catch all the candy being thrown around during the parade). I rode in the float to help with making sure no little monkeys jumped out or threw candy at any one's head. I had my poor flip flopped feet stepped on more times than I can count but it was so worth it!

Friday night was spent finishing the floats and candy shopping - ever looked for a big bags of candy with no nuts and not processed in a factory that processes nuts? YIKES! Saturday was one long day but it was AWESOME! My babies are growing up too fast. I was so sad that E didn't get to participate but he took it better than I expected. I got my first sunburn of the season! Yes, sadly it is the first of many. Saturday night I crashed! I was at A's house and couldn't seem to gather much energy..luckily soaking in a hot tub and having a glass of wine does not require energy!

I currently type this while listening to E & N sing into the Wii (trying so hard not to laugh), sunburned, tired and buried under a pile of laundry that I did not get to this weekend. The best part? I DON'T CARE! :) I love that I got to spend my weekend covered in paint, chasing five year olds in cleats and wearing stylish 3D glasses (yep, we stole them! - If I have to pay $3 more for the movie the glasses are mine!). I am so tired I can hardly believe it is not yet 8:00!

Monday...please take a vacation and come around in a couple of days? And to J...if you are reading this Cesar Chavez day is NOT a holiday...get to work lady! You better be ready to show up at the gym! :)

Random...again!

Nothing but some more random thoughts about the week. :)

We had a really good/crazy/busy/fun weekend. Friday night was practice for N and then my niece and nephew spent the night with us. Friday after N's practice I took said niece to the Galleria for her birthday present. I always buy her stuff from LUSH (our favorite store) but this time she got to go and pick out her own stuff...she LOVED it. I also got to run in to W&S and get this pan I have been dying for. It probably isn't normal to be so excited over a pan but I was. It is a stove top waffle pan. It makes seven little waffle shaped pancakes. I used it first thing Saturday morning and the boys loved it as much as I had hoped and it was totally fun to cook in. The rest of Saturday was errands and more baseball and then that night was the big birthday party for my niece. She turned 12 and told everyone at her party that my present was her favorite...this was before she even opened any other presents yet...so cute! Sunday the friends and fam came over for a candle party and we all had a blast and a couple bottles of wine.

Monday was a Monday. Work was a little crazy but then I met up with J at the gym and worked out (and whined..ALWAYS) and then banged my knee...HARD! Today it is bruised and it hurts (enter more whining).

Tuesday was busy! I had a Dr. appointment that ran long and I promised E & N the new Star Wars movie so I stopped by Target to pick it up and guess what else I found? A NEW BLUE OCTOBER CD (I can't wait to listen to it) AND A WII FIT! The actually had one in stock. We have been wanting the FIT forever and now with baseball cutting into the gym time I am hoping it will help me get a little more exercise during the week. The boys were thrilled with the movie and the FIT. We got home from E's practice a little late so no playing it tonight but I am sure we will make up for it soon.

My baby will be eight in a few short days. I can hardly believe it. I remember when I was pregnant with him and now watching him grow into such a good little man. I am so proud of the little person he is..even when he is a monster. I worry that I don't do enough to show him how to be a good "man"...since I am not one. He gets good influences from his grandpa and uncles but I just wonder if it is good enough? Mommy hasn't picked such great men (I'm 0 for 2 in that department) so she has decided to give up on that prospect for awhile in hopes that what he and N get from family will be enough for now. Either way he will always have a mom that loves him to pieces and is always willing to play catch and watch boy movies. I wish I didn't also have to try and like bugs and lizards..YUCK! N is younger and I think gets a lot from his big brother. They are the best little monsters in the world!

Opening day for Little League is this weekend and we are AMPED! Parades, opening ceremonies, games...bring it on! Don't forget the sunflower seeds...WOOHOO! Today also felt a little closer to summer...did you feel it? :)

Family Friday

I am a huge fan of Friday! Yes, it is still a work day (yep, I am there right now! D don't tell on me..PLEASE!) but I feel like we get up and out of the house to accomplish what we must do and then we get to go off and do what we want to do.

Today is such a beautiful day! Work has been ok (yesterday my boss bought me Starbucks in the morning, took me to lunch in the afternoon and brought me two different kinds of candy in the afternoon - if had hadn't also brought me a mountain of additional work I might have thought he lost his mind), I got to take my friend to lunch for her almost birthday, N has practice this evening and we have a crazy weekend ahead of us but still I am full of optimism that it will be great.

I very much enjoy my kid free Saturday's and the chance to be an adult to hang out with my friends, have a margarita or two, shop and so on...but nothing compares to my kid weekends! We are free to do whatever we like as a family! No early bedtimes, no homework (gosh, I sound like a little kid!). Friday night we usually get dinner out (nothing fancy but we like to sit down and talk about the week) and then hang out at home. Saturdays are usually pretty busy with errands, cleaning and all - but still no early bedtimes. Sunday mornings are the BEST! I usually cook breakfast - pancakes and bacon if they get their way and then we will snuggle in my bed watching cartoons while I read the paper. I will admit that last Sunday N and I consumed a large quantity of Cinnamon Toast Crunch while watching Ratatouille in bed..I do believe I still have crumbs and the sheets have been cleaned. E will usually wander off long before N does. Since the weather has been so nice the afternoon usually brings us to the awesome park by our house and the occasional walk to our local Starbucks. My lovely children have never, ever said no to a weekend trip to Target or Starbucks. On rainy weekends we watch movies or the boys will put puzzles together. They LOVE them - we have lots glued together and hung on the walls in the playroom. The Wii gets pretty regular use on rainy days too.

I can feel summer coming..can't you? I can hardly contain my excitement...nothing beats a weekend in summertime! Swimming, Little League games, playing outside, riding bikes, longer days...(heavy sigh of joy)! I usually feel so ready to take on a new challenge in the summer..it is invigorating.

Rain or shine..weekend here we come! :)

Adjusting???

Well, we are all still trying to adjust to the time change and our crazy new schedule. Ethan is loving baseball practice and Noah can't wait for his games to start. Our audits are over and now we get to enjoy the task of responding to all the inquiries from the DOI and the carrier..I can hardly wait! I am still trying to find time to get to the gym - bat wings are relentless! I feel like if I move my arm to fast I might knock someone out. I am actually the only one who doesn't seem adjusted. (See below)

It sounds like Ethan had a small asthma attack at his dad's this weekend and for some reason wasn't given his medicine? He seems to be okie dokie now (other than this terrible cough). The asthma thing is relatively new for us. His first attack was last summer and ended us up in the emergency room for several hours (sitting in the ER alone with a kid that can't breath is terrifying!). We had some additional tests taken and all attended an asthma management class and then it seemed to go away. We did the maintenance medicine for several months and then his doctor suggested we ween him off just to see if it was asthma or a result of a lung infection he had. No symptoms, no issues so I thought maybe it was a misdiagnosis...guess I was wrong. Back to carrying around his rescue inhaler. It sounds like it is allergy induced (also new) so it will probably only be an issue during the spring time. It just scares the heck out of me when he starts having trouble breathing..heart attack here I come!

Question of the day: So is it possible to be bored and under stimulated while being totally stressed out and busy? I have all these things going on in my life with work and the kids...we are never home! Work is stressful and I feel like I am not doing a great job managing the schedule/housework/homework/life and that bothers me a lot! Not doing a good job isn't really an option for me. No back-up plan here! Still, I feel restless and slightly bored at times. It seems crazy to fall into bed totally exhausted and still feel like I want to do something bigger...better...that I NEED to do something? We typically leave our house at 6:45 in the morning and return sometime after 7:00 to accomplish homework, dinner, playtime and bed. I have no idea where I would fit this "new item" but I still feel like I want something (maybe it is just to be better at what I need to do?)? What could it be and how do I find it? HELP...anyone? :)

Tomorrow both of my babies get Trimester awards at school. I get to take a late lunch to go cheer them on. I love it!

We should all be sleeping!

We should all be sleeping now but we aren't. I can still hear E & N laying in their beds talking about all things important to little boys. They are having trouble with the time change and I am too busy dreading/worrying about what tomorrow will bring.

We had a busy weekend (friends, sleepovers, a million baseball practices) and the boys didn't get much sleep so I had hoped tonight would not be a problem. They rode their scooters to the park and we played for almost two hours and then came home and played some more - bubbles and more scooter riding. They took a long hot shower before bed and none of it seemed to work. We sat down and had a chat about our busy week ahead. They promised to get up each day with no fights or whining. At no time did I actually believe that would be our outcome but at least it gives me something to remind them of. E does pretty good in the morning but my little N is not much of a morning person when it comes to school days. Give him a Saturday and he is up and ready to go at 6! :)

I almost never miss my alarm but I am one of those that worry when the schedule is different - it will be the one time I don't get up. Early trips to the airport, early office days, first thing in the morning appointments or field trips. Tomorrow is a day that I MUST be on time and fully functioning. Everyone that knows me knows that I can't be late...I'd rather be 20 minutes early than 5 minutes late so it is unlikely that tomorrow will be a problem. BUT....I can't seem to shake the nervous feeling that settled over me when I left the office on Friday night. I made sure that everything was perfect for our audit team (all 12 of them). The files were organized, the room all set, computers working properly. My boss even called this afternoon to let me know that he stopped by the office today and everything looked great. Tomorrow is a day when I will be the one they direct their questions at. Questions that I have been able to answer for years and yet tomorrow I feel like I will surely say the wrong thing to the wrong person and some how that will be the end of us. Realistically I know that I will probably not be the downfall of my company (I hope) but usually the people that come into our office for our semi-annual audits are people we know - I answer their questions for a week and feel confidant that what I am telling them is exactly correct. This time is different. These people don't know us or understand how we run our business or why we each hold the position in the company that we do. D will have her hands full tomorrow with the NY audit team and I with the DOI audit team. She will be faced with a barrage of financial questions and I with underwriting questions. I have already promised her Starbucks in the morning in hopes that it will be the shining light that gets us to the afternoon...after that is any ones guess!

Kids!

I no longer wish I had four kids! Oh wait, I never wished I had four kids..what was I thinking. :) A & N are moving this weekend so I have A & H with me. I picked them up after school yesterday and took all four to N's little league practice and then out to dinner at McDonald's and then we went out for ice cream. It can really take a long time for four children under the age of 8 to pick the kind of ice cream they want as well as what they want mixed in. The poor guy let them taste every kind they asked for (he got a big tip). Some made choices that sounded good enough to eat...others not so much. Bedtime finally arrived around 10:00 when the settled in to watch a movie.

This morning they prank called their poor mother while I cooked the bacon and then they ALL got to help make the french toast - that was entertaining. :) E & N both had practice at the same time today - thank goodness it was at the same park and sunny outside. As I ran between the fields for two hours A & H played in the middle - I am one of those crazy people who must be able to see all little children at all times. After two and a half hours at the park we are home and they are eating gummy bears and watching TV. I am exhausted...they are not.

I secretly love that A & H do not wish to go home (even to their new digs)! I know it isn't me they want to stay for but to continue to run around in old Halloween costumes and destroy every room they can get their hands on. Not to mention the cable at their new house hasn't been hooked up yet and a new I Carly is on. OMG! They cannot miss it! Good thing they live a short driveway from their Nana and she has cable - disaster averted.

So, while I may not wish to have four kids I surely love these four to pieces. They really have been so very good and I will miss them when they go. I also know that E & N will be instantly bored.

Random

Today is just a bunch of randomness that I thought I should put to words (so I don't forget all the fun stuff and start whining again):

I FOUND IT! My most favorite wine in all the world - Cakebread! M and E asked me to meet them at Cost Plus tonight since they were having a white wine sale. I do love my whites and with everything going on at work I figured I could look around a little - what would it hurt? I don't think I have ever looked at their wine. After a few minutes of looking around I saw it. Of course, not on sale but it didn't matter. My friend A and her husband G are moving to a new house this weekend - WOOHOO for them and I have mentioned it to her a few times so I thought if I bought two I would have one for her. I hope she likes it as much as I do.

My first of many baseball meetings was tonight. E's team didn't have a coach or manager so we had to figure that out before we could get the team ready to go. He has practice on Tuesday (our only free night of the week) and Saturday (same time as N). E is on the White Sox and N is on the Red Sox. I am so excited to watch them play.

Much too funny - So a couple of weeks ago A's aunt S (whom I think is so nice) had a candle party and she invited me and the boys to attend. She called last night to tell me they were ready and I missed the call. I had caller ID for her home number so I called today and her message is THE BEST! Her husband is hilarious. Later I called back and got to hear it again and then said husband picked up the phone. S wasn't home for me to pick them up but he and I actually chatted for a couple of minutes. He really is funny and a very nice guy (if he wants to be). We joked around a little bit and then he gave me her cell phone number in a way I have never been given a number before. I laughed several times on the way home just thinking about it. :)

Tonight is also our ice cream night. Every Wednesday I take the boys to ice cream. This time my little nieces Z & M got to come. They are just the cutest little girls ever. I was so glad to see them. We also ran into some other friends and their three kids (and another on the way). I am sure the shop owner was so glad to see us and our pack of kids go.

My friend MK is having a little trouble at home - Hope things are better. Love you and all your little people. :)

Well - just a few short hours until I have to face the nightmare at my desk..I can hardly wait. Starbucks here I come!

WAIT - I forgot to post about my concert tickets. I LOVE concerts and we have tickets to see Coldplay and on Saturday we all hope to get tickets to see No Doubt...what a rockin' July we are going to have. YIPPEE!

Overwhelmed?

I am not one to admit defeat but I am starting to feel as if I might lose my mind very soon. I just need to make it to 4/1 and life might just go back to whatever craziness we consider normal.

Here is my week so far (I know most would look at this and think it really isn't all that busy):

WORK - We are going to be audited at work...not by one company but two! We will have 12 people swarming our office in just a few short days. I think the prep work might kill me so I may not have to worry about surviving the actual audit. I have all of my normal work to do plus this. As I type this blog I am signed into my work computer checking emails. My company was recently purchased by another co out of NY so we are also in the middle of "integration hell" and it all needs to be up and ready by 4/1...seriously - are these people all nuts? How do we do all these major projects at the same time? I mostly feel sorry for D & N (D you know from prior posts and N is our IT manager..I swear he may quit at a moments notice). Of course I feel sorry for me too. God created Starbucks and wine for weeks like this. :)

HOME - Both of my lovely, wonderful sons signed up for little league this year. YEAH - N is old enough and so excited. I LOVE going to the games and cheering them on. I really don't like baseball unless it's one of my boys! So I get a call about 20 minutes ago that E will have a team meeting tomorrow night - thanks for the notice. N's coach called over the weekend and his practice schedule is set - Friday nights a 6 and Saturday's at 2:30 - gosh, thanks you for hacking my weekends to pieces. I should get E's info tomorrow so I will see how to squish this in with or normal activities - work, gym, church, school, more work, family, friends, chores. UGH! :) I so wish that PT dad wanted to be more involved - I could not imagine missing one single moment of E & N's lives...they bring me more joy then I could have ever imagined but it would be nice if he could take care of some of the work. Most of my friends have already heard my horror story of taking E to by a cup last year...seriously - I was at a total loss and most of the men in the store thought it was hilarious.

I am so thankful that I love my crazy life and all those in it. I love that the boys are so involved in school, sports and church and that I get to see them every day of my life. I actually love going to they gym and I really do like my job very much...I think the stress of trying to keep up and do everything the best way possible is making my head spin a little. I mentioned before my great friends and family. My parents are great! A & N, M & E, MK, MG, D..what would I do without them...I hope I never find out! :)

I guess this post is a little whine and a little gratefulness. When I started typing I thought it would be mostly whine...since I did a lot of that today (just ask D) :) Well...back to work!

Vegas baby!

I have been to the bright lights of Vegas several times in my life and got to stay at some amazing hotels. The only catch was they were mostly business trips. Well, not this time! :) My very good friend M lives in Las Vegas with her husband and four adorable kids - 2 girls and 2 boys. Yesterday was her birthday so I decided to fly down to see her for a couple of days to celebrate. I flew in early Friday morning and we went straight to an amazing out door shopping plaza. The only thing I can compare it to is The Fountains @ the Galleria except this one was three times the size. The Old Navy reminded me of a Nordstrom - cute displays, very helpful staff and tons of selection. Needless to say - we SHOPPED! We had a great lunch and got to catch up a little. We talk or email each other several times a day but it isn't the same as good old face to face contact. That evening we went to dinner and just got to hang out some more - you are never at a loss for things to see and do in Vegas. I spent the night at her house and then got to hang out with the kids - too cute! OH - I forgot to mention the built in trampoline in the backyard...SO FUN...and no trips to the emergency room for me. I had to fly home yesterday since my babies were going to be home early Sunday morning from PTD's house.

McCarren airport has a Carvel's. We only had one in great Sacramento for a very short time - too bad they didn't have a fudgey the whale. Even without Fudgey it was still one of the best trips.

Since I know M reads this sometimes I just have to say again - Thanks for having me. Love you and HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Tell my new friends I said Hi from California. :)