Oh Look, Something Shiny!

Anyone else, after painting their nails a beautiful pale shiny color, find themselves acting like a hand model while pouring their nighttime cereal snack in their kitchen with all the lights?











Oh yeah, um me neither. Noway.

Hey! Who left the Kix out overnight?

And This is My Thursday...So Far

I found a hole in both my shirt that I am wearing today AND the new pants I have on. I hope Target will take the pants back-I haven't even had them a week yet.

The errand list today included returning the movie we rented 3 weeks ago to Blockbuster since, even though we have already paid for the whole movie in late fees, it really wasn't good enough to keep.

Mmmmm. I drank 20 oz. of Squirt today at lunch. It was delicious. And the most sugar I have had in a loooong time.

God totally performed a "loaves and fishes" miracle on my gas tank today. I had 1 mile till empty according to the display and at least 2 miles of a big hill to get up Community to make it to the Costco Gas Station.

iPod Playlist for today's errands:

-Every Move I Make...................................................................25 times
-D is For Drums (by They Might Be Giants).................................15 times

The main job we had today was to purchase Cinderella, the Disney version. Because after spending the last week listening to this, how could I NOT??

A Confession

Should I notice you glancing my direction while I am sitting in my car in a store's parking lot, I will always create some sort of pantomimed drama for you to observe and spice up the conversation with your shopping companion. From a tearful phone call to a rant of (silent) yelling to myself to uncontrollable laughter.

You're welcome for making your life so interesting.

Numerous Open Letters Many Containing Heavy Rhetoric

Dear Noggin,

What are you trying to do to my kids with stuff like this? What IS this?
And why after seeing it ONCE are my kids singing to their lunch food?

C'mon Noggin, you can do better than that!

Sincerely,
Mom of Two Kids Who Sing Everything They Hear on TV, Even Obnoxious Songs About Food Happy to Be Eaten

Dear Resident Four Year Old,

What's going on with all the death and dying talk? Why have you decided that WHEN our house burns down we are moving to Texas? And why Texas?
And why did you take me so seriously when I told you that if you don't want to die as a Jedi, you just have to train really hard and now you desperately NEED a LightSaber?
You are freaking me out, kid.

Love,
Mom Who Wonders if She Showed You Star Wars Too Soon

Dear Two Year Old Curly Haired Darling,

What's with all the screaming?
Seriously. Stop it.

Love,
Mommy Who Is Slowly Going Deaf Through Sheer Will Alone

Dear Baby Cooking in My Tummy,

Forgive me.
I drank Diet Dr. Pepper.
And I loved it.
Please don't come out with an extra leg.

Love,
Your Mama Who Wonders if You Should Just Stay Put Forever So You Don't Have to Watch Freaky TV Shows About Monsters Who Have Oddly Long Arms and Visible Zippers in the Back of Their Poorly Made Costumes

View to a Cameraphone

...My Last 10 Cameraphone Shots...

Sleepy Faced Goose...she woke up early from her nap and barely made it through dinner. And that is part of my Vons.com order in the background on my counter.

Mommy and Lucy at Carls Jr. We ate INSIDE! I bribed the kids with fast food so we didn't have to go to our church's Pizza at the Park. I wasn't in the mood to chase 2 kids in the heat all by myself.

We took all 3 kiddos to see Ratatouille...Despite loading the kids up with bags of goodies, we decided that Lucy won't be going to the movies again anytime soon.

My New Padre Cap!

SpiderNate!
There was face painting at my Stepbrother's church where Nathan went to VBS...his cousin Jayden was Spiderman so Nathan joined in too! Best Part? BRILLIANT Mommy let Nathan SLEEP IN THE FACE PAINT. Around 11:45pm when I checked on him, it was all over his arms and eyes and hair. I cleaned his face with about 30 Baby Wipes as he half cried and half slept. Poor SpiderNate.

Butterfly Lucy...Kristen, that's your Diego cup on the counter. I still have it.

My Afternoon Snack...they each absolutely hit the spot. But I don't recommend consuming them together.

Nate the Great's Sunburn...He needed to send a picture of it to Aunt Kristy "so she will say, 'Ohhh, poor Nathan.'"

New Polka Dot Ballet Flats from Target

Reminding David that, Yes. I AM Still Pregnant.

The Difference Between 1974 and 2003 Isn't as Big as You Think

Nathan went to work with David today. It was David’s idea and Nathan has been talking about if for days upon days.
We set out clothes the night before and around 5:45 this morning, Nathan woke me up to show me he was ready.

“See Mommy? I have my shirt on, my pants, my badge and my socks.
But my shoes are downstairs Mommy, don’t worry. My shoes are downstairs.”

Nathan has told me his plans for the future. And while they include the well know plans to marry Alexis, have 2 babies both named Sophia and live upstairs in my room (David and I get to sleep downstairs on the couch), they also include working for Daddy to be “one of his guys.” A plan that Nathan is VERY serious about. So you can imagine how SERIOUS he was when he made sure he collected his work badge, his work folder (a portfolio my mom gave him last year that looks just like Daddy’s) and reminded Daddy that they needed to stop and get coffee (hot chocolate) before they went to the office this morning.

When he came home, Nathan told me all about everyone he met and about a guy who can TAKE HIS THUMB APART!!
I love this age of gullibility. David said he did really well and wasn’t too loud but loved visiting everyone’s cubes and scoring presents form the ladies.

It’s funny, dressing Nathan up to go to work with Daddy doesn’t stray far from his regular wardrobe. For about 2 years now I have been dressing him in polo shirts on a regular basis. It isn’t because I am a Mommy SnootFace but more because Nathan looks SO handsome in polo shirts!

The day I realized this was when I was at Kidsville with Emmy shortly after we discovered the beauty of a big warehouse of toys you can plop your kids in the middle of and hold whole uninterrupted conversations with your friends. Nathan’s interest was not held by the school, the dress up room or the vet’s office but by the ROAD. And the CARS. That you can DRIVE. That day, he spent-I am not exaggerating- 3 solid hours driving his car around and around the road painted on the ground. Poor Alexis couldn’t even use her fluttery eyelashes and beautiful smile to lure Nathan into playing house with her. He had to DRIVE.

I had just picked up some polo shirts for Nathan a few days earlier at a rocking sale at Gymboree and I watched him that day in his blue polo shirt with the blue and green stripe around the middle driving around and around and around. He looked so serious. Like a little commuter. Like a little man.

Like a little….David.

The man of my dreams, who I just so happened to be married to, had unknowingly been reproduced in teeny tiny 2 ½ year old form. I saw what David must have been like when he was that age. I imagined that, if he’d gone to Kidsville back when he was little, David would have claimed his car and driven it for hours only to stop for lunch.

When Nathan was a baby, people told me how much he looked like me, like my mom, like my dad. Not often did David get to hear how much Nathan looked like HIM. And now, as he grows every inch, I see David before my eyes.

So today, when my men came home from work and I made them pose for this picture in front of David’s work truck, my love for Nate the Great Alexander Zabrosky in a polo shirt-just like his Daddy’s-was only confirmed even more.

Ten on Tuesday

1. I wonder how I would react if I was a $10,000 winner on Price is Right...would I be a jumper and screamer? A crier? Would I be stunned? I think I would just want to be sure I made good television.

2. I got new sheets the other day and they aren't as soft as I expected them to be. But they are already washed and slept in so I can't really take them back to Target now, can I??

3. My low of yesterday happened while speeding down the 15 freeway with 3 smoothies in my car and the highway patrol ran a traffic break!! I pictured myself stuck on the 15 South for the next 4 hours FORCED to drink my friends' smoothies to try to stay alive while trapped in my car.

4. The high of yesterday came only 2 minutes later when the officer let us start driving again.

5. I live for the Boston Pops "Pops Goes the Fourth" concert with my darling Keith Lockhart conducting. (He is such a cute and energetic little man!)

6. I miss Diet Dr. Pepper.

7. Why didn't I pay extra for the fridge that does the shopping for me when it is looking empty? I think a trip will be made to Vons.com today.

8. Confession: If I hear your music blasting out of your car, I will harshly and swiftly judge you by the music you listen to and then probably turn up whatever I am listening to. Don't waste your short time here on earth listening to crappy music!

9. Winner of one of the funniest things I heard yesterday: Michelle's son John who imagined the following: Arnold Schwarzenegger umpiring a baseball game. "Dat's a striiiiiiikuh!" "You are owwwwwwwwt!" "Faih Bawl!" (Fair Ball.) You are laughing now too, aren't you??

10. Origins.com is totally awesome. What is even more awesome? Their free gift wrapping. So when you order, say, 4 different of your essential face items (including everybody's MUST HAVE: Modern Friction) then you can have them all gift wrapped separately for free and you get a big box that looks like this!

It's like a Birthday party in a box and then you have a bunch of super cute boxes to give your own gifts in!

OK Disney Channel, Make Sure They Eat Lunch and Nap is At One. I'll Be Back in an Hour.

Well, summertime is upon us. I am starting to experiencing the panic that my Mommy Friends Who Have Kids in School experience each summer when they realize they have kids they need to keep entertained. And while TV is a GREAT babysitter, it really isn't an option for EACH day of the week (maybe only 4 of them.)

I told Carol on Friday that I was going to sell the children, much like Kristen did but she offered a suggestion first. She said, "You need WATER." I gathered a few plastic pitchers, cups, straws (I like the big reusable ones from Starbucks) and a big bowl of ice cubes and sent my two outside where they proceeded to play "Lemonade" for OVER AN HOUR! (Leaving me to stare at my newly taken pregnancy test and wonder aloud what I had gotten myself into.) They poured water in the cups, drank it, spilled it, added ice, drew on the sidewalk and put the ice back in their cups (I pretended that part didn't happen) and they eventually threw the ice cubes at the fence to watch them split apart. It was SO great and the kids made a bit of a mess but it was easily wiped off AND it left me feeling like A Good Mommy.

So, creative thinkers UNITE! This is the place to list your creative, fun, cheap, and amazing summertime activities. We need to help each other out!

Ready.......go!!!

The One Where I Start Counting Down

10. Wait, I can't have Diet Dr. Pepper?

9. Or FETA? What about on my favorite salad? Siiiiiiigh.

8. I am so tired, I can' barely stay--zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

7. Oh I have to go shopping.

6. Ach-oo! Oh yeah, forgot what happens when I sneeze. Great.

5. Are you SURE there are two lines on that stick? There isn't a mistake?!

4. Ugh, anyone got any Rolaids?

3.I am wearing my skinny jeans EVERY DAY till I-ZzzzzZZ zzzzzz ZZZZZZZ zzzzzzzzz

2. I hope the "nesting" starts soon, my house is a mess.

1. Well, here we go! Baby Zab Number 3, arrives February 2008!!

Ruth Bell Graham

Ruth Bell Graham died today.
If there was EVER a wife you wanted to emulate, she was a woman who was strong but also supported her husband as an amazing partner.
The world will miss her but at least she is Home.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19210879/

The Next Picassos? Jackson Pollocks? Dogs Playing Poker?

A few weekends ago, I had all 3 kids with me and no husband in sight. So I filled our Saturday chock FULL of activities to make the time pass as quickly as possible.

Thankfully, David ended up staying home but that didn't mean the fun was going to slow down! Aunt Kristy came over and gave an art lesson in the fine art of finger painting. The twist on this standard pre-school activity? We painted the sliding glass door! This is something my mom used to do for us at Birthday Parties and it was perfect this day too! We painted and filled the window up, wiped it all down and started all over again! It was a beautiful day, the weather was perfect and we had a TON of fun!

Anyone notice in that last picture how Lucy is now taller than Nick? when did THAT happen!?!?

Week of Joy (8 Hours Late)

10 Things that Brought Me Joy This Week (Join the fun!)

10. Date on Friday night with my sweetie. I thought I'd forgotten what he looks like. Know what? He is super cute!

 

9. I get to SING! With THIS MUSICAL GENIUS! If any of you are attending the Saddleback Worship Conference, look for me on stage Tuesday at 3! I think I might ask him if I can bring the shaker too, then I will be both a singer AND musician!

 

8. Thursday Family Dinner @ Denny's...we have been doing this every Thursday night for awhile now and I look forward to it so much! My family, my sister, my mom and my Gma...the kids get better behaved every week too, which is even cooler.

 

7. A GREAT sketch Sunday morning in church! Amy memorized her lines in only a handful of days (saving the day) and then she and Bob put on such a GREAT performance! Woo Hoo!!

 

6. DZ brought me yoooooooooogurt mill. Ahhh.

 

5. 3.5 miles on Tuesday night for training (have you skipped a cup of Starbucks to support me this week? Every little bit helps!)...on a treadmill away from the late night Tierrasanta crazies.

 

4. Having the treadmill tell me I did less than a 20 minute mile even though I haven't walked since last November!!

 

3. Lunch with my Sweet Samoo!

 

2. Pirates 3...

 

1. ...With THIS LADY

 

 

Pass the Secret Please.

I had to cold call some people today with the new job I have.

3 voice mails and 1 live person later I broke out in a flop sweat the minute I heard a live voice.

Now I have to go take a shower.

And I Never Gave Him a Kiss.

Bob Barker taped his last episode of "The Price is Right" today.
From what I read, it was a very special moment and he even took time to say some kind words to his last audience.

His last episode will air on June 15--you won't want to miss it.

I was one of many in my generation who always loved the guy on sick days home from school and then once he gave a serious beatdown to Happy Gilmore, I loved him even more. (Clip rated PG-13.)

As life went on and I got married and became a Very Serious Adult, my morning television watching fell to a minimum. However, once I had Nate the Great, I needed something to break up the Blues Clues haze I found myself occupying.

There it was, almost as if created for toddlers who love "A NEEEEW CAAAAAARRR!" All you'd have to do was turn it on and that sweet pickle shaped toddler body would jump around and dance and yell "Winner, Winner, Winner!" each time someone won. It would make his day!

When I was younger, my favorite game was the Check Game. But it was mostly because I thought writing checks was the COOLEST thing ever. (OK, fine, I still love to write checks.)

Currently, I am a fan of Plinko but since that doesn't count because EVERYone loves Plinko, I am going to say my favorite pricing game would have to be the Clock Game. Especially after Barney's recent appearance. The man knows how to play the game. (HIMYM Fans? Anyone?)

I have to state, for the record that I really really miss Rod Roddy announcing. But the new guy is OK. But I will NOT stand for the new person writing the SLOPPY SLOPPY NAME TAGS! Even if I had a picture of the shoddily written tags, I wouldn't post it. I will just say that to your right is what they SHOULD look like, OK?

I am very glad we got that cleared up.

So lets have a discussion.
Favorite Price is Right pricing game?

(If you can't remember the name of your favorite, click here for a complete list.)

Reason #472 To Stay Alive

Because if I die, THIS is what my kids will look like.

Bewildered, disheveled, inexplicably puffy and holding snowman tissues.
You gotta love it when Daddy is in charge. I also found out that he gave them Pop Tarts for breakfast. No wonder they didn't want me to come home!

In other news, I had a TON of fun this weekend with my girls. We laughed...a LOT. A WHOLE lot. And often it was in public and invited the stares of strangers to which we say: Bring it. Stare Away. You just wish you were us.

The road part was a ton of fun too. Carol and I listened to the music real loud, had the sunroof open and loved the feeling of the fresh air and wind swirling around in the car-WHAT. IS. THAT. SMELL!?

Let me look through my pictures to share. Hmmmm, not that one. Nope, that one is me mooning Liz via camera phone. That one has too much damning evidence in it. I guess I can show you this one. Its of me. And I am laughing. Emmy might recognize the laugh, she has a similar picture of me.

Oh! Here's another one I can show you...on the way home, at one of the border checkpoints we had this on our windshield...

See all the little spots? They are bugs. And right before I had to flash my pearly whites at the adorable Border Patrol men these bugs splatted on my windshield with such a force, it sounded like it was raining. And not even my extra strength, extra smelly windshield cleaner could get it off. Except for a little spot slightly to the right of where I could see so I if I drove while tilting to the right, I could see clearly. I bet the border patrol guys thought I was REALLY hot then!

We had some good tunes for the road and Carol even let me break out a little N*Sync (That's what I said!) for some serious car seat bootie shaking.

Because it's Friday night and I just (just, just, just, juuuuust) got PAID!

From the 8 East to the 60 East...See You Soon Friend!

Today I hit the road!

Carol and I are taking the Sequoia on the open road and making our way to see Liz in Arizona. We are leaving kids, hubbys, houses, laundry and dishes behind. But we will NOT be foregtting the Cheez-its, Diet Coke, iPod or lip gloss.

I should punctuate all of that with: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Somewhere in Utah Dooce is crying.) But that would just be a little too obnoxious, don't you think???????

The three of us haven't been together in over a year, probably two! And when Carol suggested the road trip, I was ALL IN!

You see, when the three of us get together, usually one (or all) of these things happen:

-We compile a $4.25 bill at Denny's over a 6 hour period.

-We are on stage, forgetting lines, making people and ourselves laugh.

-We have laughed so hard that I have had to take multiple hits off my inhaler (a sure sign I am having a good time)

-We end up looking like this.

or this

or this

Who knows, I might have even more pictures after this weekend!

And this is my last Anniversary Blog for this year. I welcome another year of blogging with a new banner and the hopes that you all will stick with me for another year of stories and adventures! (Even if it means moving to a new blog location...here I come Susie!)

The One Celebrating My Blog-tastic-a-versary

Ten of my Favorite Posts Over the Last Two Years
(in no particular order)

Can you guess which ones they are?


The One Where My Son is in U2

The One That Made My Friends Laugh (And Think I Might Be a Little Crazy)

The One About the Future

The One With All the Reflection

The One With My Odd-But Terribly Sexy-Husband

The One That Was the Most Embarassing

The One With All the Cups

The One Where I Believe

The One With All The 007

The One With a Naked Friend

And the whole "The One Where..." or "The One Who..." titles are borrowed from what TV Show I love?? C'mon, this is an EASY one!

Generations

I called my grandma on the phone today.

Its something I don't usually do, but I needed to tell her something and I really wanted to hear her voice.

I am not super close with my grandmother. I kind of have some issues with her...nothing that needs a heart to heart sit down but I certainly let it get in the way of my relationship of her and therefore my contact with her is at a minimum.

Today, my heart was tugged, pulled in one way and another and then changed just a little bit. I sat down and tried to offer the best comfort I could for my friend who lost her beloved grandmother today. She felt so very sad, so lonely for a woman she called once a week. She told me her grandmother would laugh because my friend would say she needed her "grandma fix."

And then I read my friends blog. A beautiful writing in honor of a woman she knew so well and missed long before her grandmother's passing because of the miles and miles between them.

When I called my grandmother today, it was very nice. We chatted, exchanged stories, the kids told her some stories that needed a bit of translation from Toddler Speak. Right before we hung up, I told my grandmother that I would be calling her again soon and that i didn't know why I hadn't made it a habit sooner.

I would love for your heart to be warmed by the beautiful words my friend Lyrra wrote. She was gracious enough to allow me to share it with all of you. Simply click here and if it touched you, leave her a comment telling her so.

Over the last 7 months, 3 close friends have lost their grandmothers. One of which I was close to and I loved very very much. Our time on this earth is fleeting and leaves us only a short time to do our most important work, to make our most important decisions.

I want to make my moments count.

Beware Opera Singing Rabbits

Why does this make me laugh so hard?

 

If you watched that and didn't laugh, then you are watching it wrong.

Empty Nest Syndrome

I remember seeing the two of them in our backyard a lot. They seemed VERY interested in the green hanging planter and I pinned all my hopes of a nest on making sure they wanted to come back. I put birdseed in the planter and scattered it in the backyard.

And so, at the beginning of April, the birds moved in.

They built their nest and I tried to help by placing pieces of yarn and string around on the lattice so their nest would have some beautiful bright colors in it and then I could feel like I helped with the beginning of this family. (And making it obvious to all of my readers that I really can't leave well enough alone.)

We kept an eye on things and only a few days later, eggs! Our Mourning Doves were a Mommy and Daddy Bird now!

We watched that hanging planter every moment we were in our kitchen. We tiptoed in the backyard, we took pictures from a distance began the 2 week countdown till we had babies in our backyard.

It was very early on a Sunday morning when I was leaving for church when it looked like the Mama Bird was sitting differently on the nest. I couldn't tell what was going on but left a note for David to try to peek in if Mama moved.

When we finally got to peek in, our breath was taken away...beautiful, tiny, no longer than 2 inches. Eyes sealed shut and moving very little but they had each other. And they had us to watch. And they had a VERY nervous mother watching us from a nearby tree branch.

We took pictures every day. We watched these two birds grow over the next few weeks in amazement of how from one day to the next they might look exactly the same and then two days later, they look like totally different birds.

One day old.

Six days old.

*Insert Crazy Lady Messing With Mother Nature Story Here*

One week old.

Ten days old.

There was less and less room in the nest. The Mama bird had long been kicked out not unlike when a Toddler has made himself at home in Mommy and Daddy's bed. We could tell the birds were getting ready to fly. They would spend all day stretching their wings and looking around. And it seemed the mom and dad were taking short flights from the planter to the fence and back or from the barbecue to the ground. We came home from running errands one day and didn't see babies in their nest but instead on David's barbecue. You can also mark this as the day that David decided to buy new BBQ tongs.

The next week was like a game of hide and seek. The baby birds were hardly ever in their nest and could be seen on the kids' playhouse, in the "grass" or on the barbecue. We didn't go out in the backyard for fear of scaring the birds and also because you REALLY had to be careful where you stepped or you'd bring a little piece of the birds back inside the house with you.

One day we couldn't find them. I looked all over and in all the small spots they could have squeezed but no baby birds anywhere. We had a long (well kind of long) talk with the kids about how baby birds fly away and ours had gone off to be big boy and big girl birds somewhere else. As the Mama and Daddy birds hung out in the backyard, even they seemed like they couldn't find their babies.

The next morning, the babies were back in the yard. And we think they got busted for breaking curfew because they stayed in the backyard the whole day. Daddy Bird did too.

After about 2 weeks of nurturing, observing and poop-dodging, we went on vacation. The baby birds seemed to only sleep in the yard and Mama and Daddy were not around a whole lot either. We knew that when we got home, everyone would be gone.

The green hanging planter is outside my kitchen window and I find that every time I wash my hands, do the dishes, walk outside to the garage, I look to check on the babies but they aren't there. I can see the sticks from their nest and on occasion I find their feathers in the kids' playhouse. And I miss them. A lot. The little burst of life that caught the attention of my whole family has left to possibly bring the same sort of joy to another family.

I just hope that family doesn't leave their barbecue tongs out.