Please Turn in Your Bibles to 2 Hardrive 5:30

If you have the time, say a short prayer for our extra drive (Known affectionately as the E: Drive). It decided to go on some sort of vacation without telling us taking EVERY SINGLE ON OF OUR PICTURES WE HAVE EVER TAKEN WITH IT.

I put all my faith in the healing powers of Priest David at this point-don't really have a choice otherwise.

We Save Flat Soda From the Bottom of the Cans Too...Because You Just Never Know

When my son had his 3rd birthday, we threw him his first "friend party." It was filled with kids and loud music and adults running around trying to keep anything under 3 feet within our picnic area. We fed the kids peanut butter and honey sandwiches. (Nathan has eaten one of these every day since he was 1. If you squeeze his tummy and smell his breath, you will detect the scent of Skippy Creamy.)

Look at those fascinating sandwiches!
Neither of these children are mine.
But they sure are cute, aren't they?

To make the sandwiches not your ordinary sandwiches, we cut them into star and flower shapes. Actually, David pitched in for this one since-in standard Bethany fashion-I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown and found myself flinging peanut butter and cake and party favors all over our kitchen. He made the sandwiches and cut out the shapes and loaded them up very neatly into a big Tupperware container. They were a big hit. The kids totally loved them, Nathan said I was the best mom ever to walk the face of the earth and my friend's son who has a brother allergic to peanuts was able to try peanut butter for the first time. The kid inhaled the sandwiches.

It was a few days-OK, fine more like a few weeks-later when we were cleaning out the fridge that I found it: A big gallon sized Ziploc bag in the back of the fridge. I looked at the contents crammed into the bag and figured part of it must be bread but what in the world is the rest of it? I held the bag up to my husband with a questioning look on my face.

"What is this?"

"The crusts from the cutouts of the sandwiches from Nate's birthday party."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"The crusts-"

"You SAVED them?"

"Well, look at them! Put them all together and they make-like-5 whole sandwiches! We can't throw those out!"

**cricket, cricket**

When I Am With You, I Am Home

Wednesday we packed up the kids and car and drove a couple of hours north to Santa Barbara to visit Kristy and Jeremy. We didn't know what awaited us but we did know that no matter what, we'd have fun. The drive was a smooth one but not because I am one of those amazing mothers who can entertain their children with a piece of paper and the magic of origami. I am instead one of those mother's who borrow the neighbor's DVD player and rent movies from Blockbuster to keep her kids happy. The good news? It works.

We went on a hike our first day there and had so much fun walking on the rocks and seeing the stream and Mommy especially loved keeping her eyes peeled for poison oak. I am an expert on what it looks like by now.

Here are a couple of the pictures.....









Nathan took this one...












Nature called and my boys answered!






Life is not always grins and giggles...even for the Goose.


I made them wait till the camera was ready so I could get the great shot of David and Nathan falling into the water. Darn it, they made the jump.





The next day Kristy and I did more hiking but this time we were hiking on State Street spending all kinds of money. I like that kind of hiking a lot.

Kristy always cries when it is time for her to leave when she is visiting San Diego but I don't usually cry like she does. (The family joke: I am dead inside. I kind of am :) ) But leaving HER was hard. She was crying, I was crying and even David teared up. It was perfection being there with her. Seeing her life, her apartment, her table at the coffee joint she always sends me camera phone pictures from. Everything was as it should be and leaving only messed it all up.

Being with my sister is like being home.

What I'm Reading

One hippo all alone...
Calls two hippos on the phone.
Three hippos at the door,
Bring along another four.
Five hippos come over-dressed.
Six hippos show up with a guest.
Seven hippos arrive in a sack.
Eight hippos sneak in the back.
Nine hippos come to work.
(Are you ready?????)
All the hippos go berserk
(Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!)
All through the hippo night,
Hippos play with great delight.


It is my great delight and greatest joy to have this book be the book I have read, re-read and re-re-read every day for the last 3+ years.
Happy Mother's Day to you all.

I Will Always Love You Han Solo.

You've heard how 40 is the new 30?

...brown is the new black?

Well, Kurt Russell is the new Harrison Ford.

What I'm Watching

Even though I think Shane is a bit of a-pardon the expression- douchebag, I am realy glad he got to hang out with his son. That's one last person he has to e-mail on his Blackberry on the Tree Bark Network. (All Exile Island minutes free!) Kudos to Terry for letting him go.

But Shane is still a douchebag.

Because to Get Anywhere in Life, You Really Gotta "Put Yourself Out There"

David and I have a mini photography hobby that occasionally brings a little extra money into the House of Zab. One day we may make it more of a side business but for now, we do family portraits for our friends, pictures for our church events and provide the world with an endless supply of photos of The Short One and The Shorter One.

We decided to enter a couple of our family favorites in the Del Mar Fair-wait, the name is different now. God forbid people think the fait isn't in San Diego. It is now the San Diego County Fair. Whatever. Anyway...we will see if anything comes of this whole thing. At the very least, you San Diego people might be able to drop by the various tents and see our photographs live and in person. Cause if you read this blog, it isn't like you don't have Zab pictures already clogging up your Inbox.

"Due to Weather Conditions, Superman Cannot Fly Today" by David Zabrosky

My amazing brother-in-law used Nate the Great (AKA The Short One-now that my big dinner theatre production is done, I finally remembered their names) for a photo shoot for school and he needed Nathan dressed up as Superman. It was hilarious to watch Crazy Uncle Jeremy attempt to give direction to a determined 2 year-old who skipped his nap that day. David photographed the whole process.

"Beginnings" by David Zabrosky

This was my finger being held by our sweet Lucy Joy (AKA The Shorter One)

Train of Thought" by Bethany Zabrosky

One of our favorite places to go is the San Diego Railroad Museum and Nathan was given a stool to sit on by one of the old men in the background of the shot. He sat there, perfectly still for the longest time. I wanted to let him sit there as long as he wanted but his sister wasn't really "down with that" so we had to move on. But I love how much the picture says without seeing Nathan's face. And, amazingly enough, it was captured by my camera phone.

Untitled by Bethany Zabrosky

I am frustrated that I couldn't come up with a good title for this one. Especially because this moment captured one of the greatest days in my life as well as my son's. We went to see Thomas the tank Engine in Perris, CA. and this is us riding Thomas. Nathan once again, sat so still and watched "the world" (the backyards of the local Perris, CA. homes) go by. David and I wisely left Lucy Joy with a friend so we were able to drink in the excitement of our son. It was an amazing day.

We will see what happens...