Four eyed, brace face...

Poor Jack, the kid can't catch a break. Today he got his first pair of glasses. In the car he promptly asked his sister if she could read the street sign because he could. Really? This is really bad! To make matters worse, Thursday he gets braces! The first step is to admit you have a problem right? Do my dorky kids make me uncool? Luckily my favorite wikihow can instruct you on "How to Rock Glasses and Braces". Thank God for wikihow!

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.

A Sure Sign that You Go to the Strawberry Stand Too Much...

My favorite part about living in Fresno in April, May, and keep your fingers crossed June is STRAWBERRIES! A few weeks ago the lady that works the stand said to me "You're back for more? You like the big ones pick this box, the other box only has small ones." Good grief.

Today I pulled up in my rental car and my new best friend said "what happened to your Mercedes?" I explained that I was driving a rental because I had been in a car accident. Her response "Oh! I like your other car better." Clearly, I go to the strawberry stand too much!

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!

Our Cousin Patrick and his brother... (aka- That Keith...)

Have you met my nephew Keith? He has got to be one of the funniest kids around (or at least Lindsay and I think so). Abby has determined that Cousin Patrick's brother is "weird"!

A few weeks ago Keith spent the night for the first time, it was his preggo mom's birthday present. The kid can't help but to make you laugh. The evening started with Jack's room being locked from the inside to keep Keith from bringing 10,000 LEGOs into the rest of the house and all the kids being thrown outside. Banishment did not hinder Keith desire for those precious LEGOs, he returned to the house no less then 20 times with request of "I need just 1 (index finger up) more LEGO" and "excuse me , please, I need one more". NO GO! After dinner, the older kids swam in the hot tub while Keith attempted to drink the entire thing. Resulting in a hot tub full of barf, and the other kids running for the hills, declaring Keith "disgusting!" Bottomline is that Keith gets blamed for everything. I guess that is the curse of being the youngest cousin.

The latest conversation with Abby about Keith:

Abby- Keith is gross.

Mom- Why?

Abby- Keith eats dog food. (With a look of repulse on her face.)

Mom- Keith is 3, that is what 3 year olds do.

Abby- When I was three I didn't eat dog food.

Mom- (At a loss for words) Abby- Keith sat in the sand and ate dog food like this... (demonstrating Keith enjoying a tasty bowl of kibble) Mom- Do you think he does it to get a reaction out of you? (I realize that at 4.5 she is not going to understand that her cousin is a comedian and he is looking for her to react to his crazy behavior)

Abby- *SIGH* That is still no reason to eat dog food.

Mom- (She had me there) So what do you want for lunch? (I decided that changing the subject was my best bet for winning this argument.)

This week Keith officially turned THREE. What did we get him? A box FULL of LEGO men and his own dog food dish. :)

SURPRISE!!!

Abby loves music. Her repertoire includes the likes of Jimmy Buffett, Avril Lavine, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Ke$ha, and her personal favorite... Taylor Swift. Last night Taylor was in Fresno performing and we got tickets to her sold out show! Abby had no clue until we were on our way to the show. It was awesome! "Oh THANK YOU Daddy!" The highlights were: 1. watching our 4 1/2 year old "Beatlesqe" scream for her girl. 2. watch her just about fall over when Taylor talked about he best friend "Abigail". And Abby convinced that she was most definitely talking about her. ADORABLE! 3. Abby telling us on the car ride home that Taylor most definitely knows her. LOVE IT! All of you Taylor Fans better watch out because there because Abby is her #1 FAN. I wouldn't mess with this little girl and her Taylor.