He is his father's son...

And his father is HIS father's son...

Jack. This boy is going to give me more gray hair than I care for. What happened to my sweet boy who aimed to please? He turned 9, that is what happened. The one thing that I still have going for myself is that I have a pretty keen Mommy Spidey Sense that knows then the little angel if up to shenanigans (most of the time). 

In the past 3 weeks he has driving me crazy with Halloween candy stashed in his backpack, contraband snacks from the pantry, throwing away his retainers at Panera, losing his wallet at the school carnival, and the latest was leaving his retainers in his desk at school right before Thanksgiving break.  Bottomline is that the kid is LUCKY!!! Not very smart, but very LUCKY.

Examples-

• Remember the movie Parenthood when the kid leaves his retainer at the pizza joint and the mom and dad go searching through garbage for the $400 retainer? Every parents' worst nightmare. Jack is so lucky he threw his retainers away, him mom called the restaurant to have them pull the garbage bag, and upon our return the store manager had already found both retainers and had them soaking in a disinfectant... unbelievable- he didn't even understand what that man had done for him.
• After being told at least 20 times not to take his wallet FULL of money to school, Jack loses his wallet at the school carnival. Not only does some kid return it to a teacher, the kid returns it to JACK'S TEACHER, who recognizes the wallet as Jack's because he takes it to school all the time. No money missing.
• On Saturday, Grandma asked him about his retainers. On Sunday, his mom asked him about his retainers. On Monday, his mom finally told his dad that she doesn't think the retainers are at home. Sure enough they weren't, Jack insisted that they were in his desk at school. This morning, as if the school district was paying the custodian to wait for Jack to come back to school to get his missing retainers, she opened the building, and his classroom so that Jack could retrieve his retainers that were safely stored in his desk.
• The icing on the cake... upon picking up my children from Campus Club at 5:45 PM today, Jack informed me that his glasses were broken. The LAST thing I want to do the Tuesday before Thanksgiving is go to WALMART. You ask why WALMART, because that is where Jack's cheap father insisted on going to get Jack's glasses, they are insured by WALMART, we have used the insurance on these glasses to its fullest... I must go to WALMART. FYI- Lucky Jack. We were in and out of WALMART today in 10 minutes. UNBELIEVABLE.

Jack, his father, and his Papa they all are this lucky, it is freaky. While a normal person's parent should freak out, require that they buy a new retainer, or miss out on wearing them for 9 days, the 3 of them would never have the same consequences as the general public. All I can say is he is the apple does not fall far from the tree.

Remind me to tell you about the 20 checks endorsed and ready to deposit that Steve left on top of his car when we first got married. LUCKY!

Nature...

Friday night Steve took the kids to Red Rock State Park for a little overnight adventure sans Mom. They had a great time in the great outdoors- eating all the junk food they could stomach and staying up really late (a treat that they miss now that school has started again).

Steve discovered something new about both kids-

• Jack- "Nature scared me."
• Abby- "I love nature."

All- American Weekend...

There is no better way to start Summer but with an All-American Weekend. Jack and Steve spend Thursday and Friday night at Boy Scout Camp at Shaver Lake. Jack's first real sleep over camp experience! He even had good things to say about the food (Steve did not)!

On Saturday morning they rushed home to collect the RV, Jack's "redesigned" soapbox derby car, Abby, and myself to head to Tuolumne for the Northern California Soapbox Derby Championship. We traveled to Tuoloumne last year for the same race. Tuolumne is a great little town with an awesome grocery store (which allows us to park there for the weekend), a Logger's Jamboree (the perfect small town festival complete with carnies, sno-cones, loggers, and almost as many exposed tattoos as a NASCAR race) and of course, the soapbox race. Jack did really well and finished 6th place AND received "Best in Show" for his new red car with yellow flames- named "Jack in Black".

What a FUN weekend!

Let SUMMER begin!

Mama's sick...

A Type A Mom's worst nightmare. But while Mama's sick the kiddos and hubby shall play... Sunday was spent completely indoors (a sin considering that it was Memorial Day weekend, but understandable due to the fact that it was about 30 degrees outside, which should be another sin). More cartoons, than I care to know about were viewed. The only person who go out of their pajamas was Daddy-O, because he couldn't handle the thought of living in his pjs all day. No one ate a single fruit or vegetable, in fact Mama has NO CLUE what was consumed during that day. I am not so proud to admit that I let my 5 year old watch New Moon with me (PG-13- YIKES) and that we both kind of liked it. Daddy (the germ phobe) disappeared for a couple hours as have 'time to himself"- aka- not catch whatever I had. Dishes didn't get put away. Garbage was barely picked up. At bedtime, Abby told me that it had been "the best day" because she got to do whatever she wanted and stay in her pjs all day. I think it was my worst.

Happy Anniversary...

11 years! That is like the new 25, right?

Steve is a hard one to shop for. He is the guy that buys himself whatever he needs, unless it is sock and underwear, which do not seem like very thoughtful, sexy or loving gift ideas for a wife to give her husband as an anniversary gift. Socks and underwear are birthday gifts- DuH!

With my renewed blog-stalking addiction, I found a cute idea for a simple and kind of cheap anniversary gift from A Toddler and A Teenager blog. I have found my new favorite thing! We both used Leo Reynold's flicker website to cut and paste the letters and numbers that I needed and applied them to a PowerPoint slide. When you are done instead of saving it as a PowerPoint you save as a jpeg. Now you are ready to upload to wherever you print your photos (I sent mine to Costco), I printed a 5x7, 8x10, and 11x14 (I wasn't sure what size would look the best). Ultimately, I used the 11x14 which actually measure 9x12.

I think it came out pretty great! I think Steve was impressed with my talent.

Derby Days...

Something that we look forward to all you is the Fresno Firefighters Box Cart Race.

Who wouldn't?

When your morning starts with DONUTS...

Some as BIG as you face!

Making kids cry...

Making kids try new things...

Seeing old friends...

Making kids smile...

Box cart races... simply the best!

Be patient as I attempt to learn my new favorite thing... Picnik- photo editing.

Reasons...

We live in a place that is freezing in the winter and hot, hOT, HOT in the summer. I love where we live even if it is hot, it isn't a big city (there is no Nordstroms- not that I know how to spell it, nor to I wish to shop there) and it isn't such a little town... (fortunately I am not 2nd cousins with everyone in my neighborhood). While most people who live in the northern portion of the US would never dream of travelling here, I love it! Mostly because of the Hot Hot Hot.

I {heart} summer!

The reasons I love summer-

1. a new reason- Kindle. My Mother's Day gift. I can read any book that I download within seconds without a trip to Costco or Target.

2. Pools. I lived in Fresno for most of my life without a pool- CRAZY! 3 years ago we finished our pool build project. I love the sound of the water falling on the rocks.

3. My life is complete when I am tan... my dermatologist is going to hate me next week for my tan lines but my whole persona changes when I have a tan. Oh well!

4. I like to get my hands dirty... from March 15 to August 1, I spend my evenings planting flowers, pulling weeds, and waging combat on backyard pests, specifically SNAILs! AGH!

5. Cigar smoke. On a good night Steve smokes one cigar in the backyard, my oncologist will curse me for this one day but for now it is one of the smells of summer.

6. Tequila! YUM!

7. Parties! Suddenly everyone is ready to come out for a party in the summer. We love to entertain, it is my hobby.

8. XX. Dos Equis. our favorite beer to drink while sitting around the bar on a summer evening.

9. Happy Hour... at Sonic. Half priced drinks with the best ice in the World!

10. 12 ft of blow up entertainment! I am looking forward to my newest piece of summer fun... an outdoor movie screen. My kids will never know about drive in movies... they don't exist anymore! What they will know along with text messages, cell phones, and instant books, movies, and music, is movies projected on their very own movie screen in their backyard.

By the way, the kids have been informed that their mom and dad will be "snow" birds after they leave the nest.

Gifts...

The best Mother's Day gift was the proclamation from Abby as she threw her training wheels in the dumpster-

I don't need these

STUPID. PLASTIC. THINGS. ANY.

MORE.

The second best gift was a whole day to sit around drinking ice tea made from my new ice tea maker, while reading my new Kindle. Yes, I know I am lucky!

Under the Bridge Downtown...

Can you remember the place, time, or situation where you and your significant other were the happiest (ie .... most in LOOOOOOVVVVEEEE)? I can. I will sleep under it every night.

And no, I have not become a homeless person. And I have not moved to New York City. I bought the photo for Steve for Valentine's. So romantic.

I think we just need a little daily reminder of the places that make us happy.

The Most Magical Place on Earth...

Freezing! A first tooth... lost down the drain! Daddy to the rescue!

Super Dad building sandcastles!

THE KITCHEN SINK!

A WHOLE can of WHIPPED CREAM! Notice the triple chin action on Mom!

SHARKS!

New friends!

TV Dinner.

A New Favorite Ride.

Old Favorites.

First Class all the way! Thanks Dad!

After 9 fun, sometimes whiny, other times wet, and a lot of the time cold days is in Orlando we are back. We had a fabulous time after the kids adjusted to the 3 hour time change, we bought a stroller, and allowed them to eat the "Kitchen Sink" and room service. It was nice to travel just the 4 of us, and in some ways was more relaxing than any Disney trip we have been on before- hard to imagine Disney relaxing!

Scared Heart...

Diet is a bad word at my house during the holidays, but after a traumatic holiday photo session it was apparent that Mom and Dad Kuhtz needed to do something... and 6 weeks of gluttony (2008 and 2009) was not it. Enters the Sacred Heart Diet... 7 days of soup, things that I will eat, and the guarantee of rapid weight loss. I don't know why I hadn't heard of this before because this is a diet that I can do and not feel deprived, seriously anytime I felt like eating I eat carrots or a bowl of warm soup (my favorite winter treat sans the slice of warm bread). Here is how it works: Make the soup, one pot will last 2 people at least 3 days of meals (lunch, dinner, and occasional snacks). Recipe: 1 large can or box of beef broth 2 cans of tomatoes- I like the organic 2 cans green beans- drained 1 large bunch of green onions, chopped 1 bunch of celery, chopped 2 lbs. carrots, chopped 2 green peppers, chopped- I used red, yellow, orange too! 1 box Lipton chicken noodle soup- the directions say 1 package but that didn't taste right to me Chopping is quick if you don't worry about how pretty they look, I like my chucks big. Salt and pepper. I added cilantro, jalapeno, and hot sauce. Start to finish the whole process takes me about 15 to 20 minutes, that includes the 10 minutes it is supposed to boil. The Week: Day 1- As much soup as you want and fruit Day 2- As much soup as you want and veggies, baked potato with butter once during the day, I added green onion to mine. Day 3- As much soup as you want veggies and fruit. Day 4- As much soup as you want, veggies and fruit. Bananas and skim milk. Day 5- Beef and tomatoes- this is weird. We just ate soup like day 3. Day 6- We cheated... it was Saturday. But is was supposed to be 10 to 20 ounces of beef- gag! One steak please! Veggies. This is a great day to eat out for dinner, how easy is it to find a steak and veggies and ask for no starch! Day 7- Brown rice and veggies. Eat soup at least once... we cheated... how can you resist pizza and Crumbs cupcakes? The Rules: NO SODA! You can drink sugar free juice, coffee, tea, and LOTS of water. Corn is a no-no. White beans no can do. The Result: Steve lost 12 pounds. Rachel lost 8 pounds by Saturday. My pants fit better, I feel better. After cheating for 2 days I do not feel bloated or gross like I usually do. No sodas or bread (pizza and cupcakes don't count) in a week and I feel great! I think this is a great diet to get you started on your real diet. Very doable especially this time of year when what we mostly eat it soup. We are planning to continue this week until Thursday and then figure out what our next step will be next Monday. The Holidays (candy, bread, parties, alcohol, etc.) kind of make it are to stick to the diet bandwagon. Wish us luck!

This week...

I am so glad it is the weekend again! It took long enough to get here. This week pretty much ran me over like a freight train. It went like this- Monday- work, work in Abby's classroom, dance class, pick up Jack, do homework, Cub Scouts, TV, bed. Tuesday- work, ..... I can't even remember the rest of Tuesday... I know it ended with dinner out because I couldn't do one more thing, TV, and bed. AND IT WAS HOT (the temperature, not in bed, get your mind out of the gutter)! Wednesday- (this is when it gets good)- work (it is getting really busy with October 1st only 2 days away), lots of phone calls with old men that have no business working let alone operating a computer and me trying to assist them- annoying, Steve left for an overnight business trip that was not clearly communicated to his wife or children, homework with Papa while I worked SOME MORE, dinner, early to bed for the kids so that I could catch up on hours of DVR'd shows. Thursday- bed, work- dealing with more computer issues, more angry agents, training, paperwork, realize at 2:30 Steve is not going to be home until 9 pm- AGHHHHH!, start daydreaming about my fictional trip to Maui- by myself!, get to the bus stop... no kids, realize it is Thursday- intervention day, run to school to get Abby and wait for Jack, grocery store, home, dinner, work, Surprise! Steve is home early, the guy took the hint that I was passing the buck to him when he got home to find me eating outside with a glass of wine, and the kids inside doing... what? ok! ... I don't know what they were doing, Steve put them to bed, watched TV, bed Friday- Don't even get me started about Friday... I pray that next week is better.

Beach Bums!!!

Pictures from our recent trip to El Capitan State Beach. Beautiful! El Capitan Beach. Refugio State Beach

Jack learned to play Black Jack.

Camping food is the best!

One more trip marked off of Max's Bucket List.

We stayed at the greatest campground on the planet!

(so says the lady who was done most of her camping in racetrack parking lots).

Daddy's Girl...

This morning Abby told me that she was pretty sure that her fifth birthday party would be a "pony party". I told her that her "pony party" would be without the main character... a pony. I know I am a mean mom, I would have totally done it if Jack asked for them at his birthday. The problem is timing... or better put THE TIME OF YEAR! July in Fresno is not known for its horse riding temperatures.

I was pretty sure that I had convinced her that a nice indoor tea party with fancy dresses and food would be fun or the old standby - a pool party, could be a nice alternative. Abby was having none of that especially when Daddy came in and told his little princess that "of course she can have ponies" at her party. Thanks a lot! I guess I better start looking into one of these...

When 10 years feels like 20...

It is something to be celebrated... Right? 10 years of marriage is a long time.

But Steve and I belong on the "Not so Good about Telling Each Other What We Really Want" List. Our Anniversaries have gone something like this.

Year 1 (Feels like Meter- 2)- Romantic dinner at Bass Lake and the purchase of our first DVD player and DVD "Braveheart", I vaguely remember falling asleep about 20 minutes in.

Year 2 (FLM- 4)- Newborn baby, Post-partum tears, Mom, Dad, AND baby go see Spider Man, Mom and baby lasted 55 minutes.

Year 5 (FLM 10)- Pregnant, hot, uncomfortable... quick night out to the movies to see... Episode 3... YES! a Star Wars movie for our anniversary.

Year 7 (FLM 14)- Totally surprise trip to New York City, tickets to Wicked, dinner at Nobu. AMAZING!

Year 8 (FLM 16)- Repeat performance to NYC! Romance is in the air! Burgers and beers at our favorite bar under the Brooklyn Bridge- it doesn't get better than that.

Year 9 (FLM 18)- Forgettable... because I can't remember what we did.

Year 10 (FLM 20)- No trips to Maui. No dinner plans. No babysitter. I am thinking about buying a Blu-ray player and Star Wars and Spiderman Boxsets... romantic right?

Like I said neither one of us is very good about saying exactly what we want.

What Happened to April???

I cannot believe it is May 1st! Whatever happened to my favorite summer anticipation month? Why do I find myself not so "bloggy"? Here is the rundown of April 2010...

1. Cousins spent the night. Jack and Abby spent the night at the cousins.

2. Fresno couldn't decide if it was Spring, Summer, or WINTER! For every one day of beautiful weather we had no less than 3 days of wind, rain, and hail to follow.

3. Jack turned 8 with great style. 2 parties on 2 different days.

4. We saw Taylor Swift.

5. The kids swam.

6. Steve raced.

7. I worked.

8. Steve worked.

9. We won BIG (not really) money at Chuckchansi.

10. Our house was broken into.

11. The kids went to school.

12. The kids and I went to the new indoor swap meet.

13. I started my 3rd diet of 2010.

14. I "facebooked".

15. The kids and Steve went to see "How to Train A Dragon".

16. I worked on Junior League stuff.

17. Our brand-new, fresh out of the box computer came and promptly died. No pictures, what's the point in blogging.

18. We started the assault on the Kuhtz Snails 2010. I think the snails are winning.

19. We celebrated Keith Callahan's birthday.

20. The kids went to karate.

21. My sister, Lindsay announced that she and Kevin are expecting another baby in October.

WOW! quite the month! I guess I know why it went by so fast.

When do Moms get some love???

My husband fancies himself a race car driver, as do 4 or 5 of his dorky friends. While I like to make fun of his midlife career switch, I do envy him for having a hobby that lets him do some that he loves with his friends. For the record this is HIS hobby not mine. But for some reason so far for 2010 I have spent 3 entire weekends in less than 8 weeks camping in a parking lots, listening to dumb stories about the last race (and the next race), making sandwiches, cleaning up after "The Race Team", not to mention the countless hours I spent discussing and planning for these events (oops! I mentioned it). Granted I was there with my BFF, Sara but still not the way she or I would choose to spend several rainy and cold weekends.

So amidst racing, Sara and I came up with a plan for a "Girls Weekend" away. Nothing extravagant but a relaxing weekend away where we don't have to cook, clean, or worry about having the proper rain gear. April 16 to 18th was to be the weekend. Guess where I am now??? Sitting in my kitchen, yelling at the kids to clean their rooms AGAIN, wondering when is this mom going to get her time, and worrying about the budget. Where is Steve??? Camping in a parking lot, eating God knows what because I haven't stepped foot in a grocery store in at least a week, happy as a clam, drinking beer, driving cars, and telling the same dumb stories to the same dumb friends. LUCKY!