Santa Baby

Santa got a visit from the sweetest three munchkins this past weekend. Of course, he asked what they wanted for Christmas and here is what they said... with a little help from me. ;)

Rylie (now 4 1/2 months) and Sofia (10 months) visited Santa for the first time. You can see that it was a normal visit.

Easter Weekend - Part 2

I left off here because that post just got too long. On Saturday I helped my sister with a "wedding/moving" yard sale which begin my "so tired can't keep my head up" state of mind.

On Sunday we had an nontraditional Easter. Our church just purchased a prime piece of property in Irvine and we wanted to invite people to come and meet us and spend Easter Sunday eating, playing games and getting to know each other. I had to work with the kids while I complained all day long, I really did and it makes me cringe, about my back and the fact that there wasn't enough Easter eggs for the kids... Oh being a women is hard stuff... men have it so easy. No mood swings would make life so much more easier!

Here are a few pictures...

(My sister with her clown face)


(This is my pastor's dad. He is always the clown but this year his makeup wasn't done very well. He was not too happy with it after kids saw him and ran. It reminded me of a character in the movie Moulin Rouge.)


(This is my little buddy. He's almost 5 months old and the sweetest little guy, Zion. He is a special boy, he's missing his forearm on his right side so I call him Nemo. Just thought I show ya his sweet face... lol)

It's Expensive being a Teacher

It's that time of the year... School Fundraisers.

I teach the most incredible kids at SCWC. I love them and they know it... The whole "I just can't say no" applies here.

What do you do when you see this smiling up at you with a fundraiser book in one hand and a list of what prizes they will get if they sell the most in the other?

You buy whatever is cheapest... or at least I do. When there are 30 kids, you can't afford to buy what you really want.

This is what I got back over the last year.

Magazine Subscription: I think I read one issue and started handing them off to a family member - BAD CHOICE

Holiday Ribbon Organizer: I think this ended up in the trash - BAD CHOICE

Silicon Cupcake Holders: These are collecting dust on my nightstand... why on the nightstand? I have no idea - BAD CHOICE

Girl Scout Cookies: I got these last night. At church. In front of the youth and kids. These were the one thing that I was looking forward too. Obviously everyone else was too - BEST CHOICE

Let me elaborate on this Cookie Phenomenon.

I opened a box to try, mouth watering and ignoring how much fat they contained. Next thing I know, I have hungry teenage eyes staring and begging with their eyes. "Would you like one?" They didn't have to be asked twice. I turn around and there's a sweet little face staring at me, I say again "Would you like one?". Minutes later the little girl who sold them to me ask "Where'd you get those from?" (Really?) I say, "Would you like one?".

Those little cookies barely made it home. Too bad everyone else didn't have radar for a ribbon organizer and silicon cupcake holders.

That, Ladies & Gents, is the joy of being a Sunday School teacher... If you see me with a sign on the corner you know why.

RANDOMNESS - Food, FB, and Cristian

I've discovered this new eatery, Lee's Sandwiches, that is so odd and parts of the menu make me cringe, but it sure is good. When you see an avocado smoothie and a cured pork and pate sandwich... what is your first thought? AVOID

I don't have the nerve to try either of these or their sardine sandwich - cringe. I have found that their Baguettes are so delicious and their mocha smoothies make you want to head to the drive-thru every.single.day.

They have these fruit smoothies that taste like heaven... if you live in California, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona or if you live in Korea, Vietnam, or China - Try one of their smoothies or sandwiches. You'll want to stop by, like me, every.single.day.

As a matter of fact - I will be seeing Lee today for one of those Watermelon smoothies... I just can't help myself.

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I've been so slow at work and spending 99% of my time on Facebook. Whoever thought of this did a good thing... It is so fun to "see" people from so long ago and keep in contact with distant family and friends. Even my kindergarten teacher is my friend on FB! Bizarre. If you don't have one GET one - and if you know my name... haha... we can be FB friends too! =)

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My nephew, Cristian, is a character these days. We went out on Saturday night and he was so entertaining. Auntie Cacky, my sister, kept giving him Maraschino cherries... let's just say he was spinning out of control and needed a candy sobriety test. I caught the evidence with my phone camera...

His first taste of a Maraschino cherry or as he calls it "Candy"

Aunt Cat's Cherry coke made him yell "Mooooooore!"

Bowllickinggood ice cream.

That sums up my exciting, edge of your seat random post - It's all good in my end of the world this week...

Funny Faces Always Bring a SMILE

Phone in hand, I was sitting behind these kids in church on Sunday night.

New Years BASH

I've been going and going since Wednesday. This new years started off with a bang! We had a houseful. My SIL's entire family, minus one sister and her family, came over to share New Years with us and some friends. We had a potluck style dinner with homemade enchiladas, chicken cordon bleu', mashed potatoes with gravy, pasta salad, chicken wings, homemade bacon wrapped stuffed jalapenos, meat and cheese tray, tortilla casserole... not your normal dinner but it was delish!

We played games, laughed, chatted about anything and everything and just had fun. Close to midnight we passed out Martinellis and non-alcoholic champagne and toasted as we counted down with Dick Clark and let off fire crackers which left me jumpy and worried about all the long hair in the room. Yikes.

Around 2PM I, being the 80 year old lady in a 25 year old body, was ready to crash while the kids were still running about. Everyone crashed at our house. Our living room, family room, bonus room, plus two of our bedrooms were full to the point that you had to step over people on the floor. So much fun... that is if you remove the person that snored in my face all.night.long!

My SIL's one-year old niece hammed it up for the camera, I had to share these photos with you...

The next morning we woke up and ate the potluck food again... who needs eggs when there's enchiladas with fresh green sauce. Mmmm.

I am at our Holiday Youth Convention. I haven't been to a youth convention since I was a teenager. I was going mainly to see my brother's band play, but ended up enjoying the music and service for myself. It's so exciting to see blood bought teenagers excited about living for God! Being the forgetful person that I am I forgot to charge JW (my camera) and had to take a pic with my phone. Here is my brother Peter on the big screen leading the band.

Random Pictures and Strange Mail

I was going through my 2 story high pile of mail, really maybe 1 story, and found this piece of mail that could not possibly have been sent to me! I checked the back and I was wrong, It had my name on it... why would someone send this to me? Ha!

Maybe I'll call for a free gift...

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A couple of weeks back my sister and I made dinner for everyone. I made my chicken pasta and she made a salad with her incredible homemade dressing. She treated us all to yummy tuxedo brownies with strawberries....

In case your mouth is watering... you can get the recipe here - Ghirardelli Brownie Recipe.

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A couple of weeks back I went to the park with my nephew... He is so much fun and a happy distraction for me. I can watch him for hours and love to hear him try to form words. He is actually on his way over here to spend some time with his aunties!

Anyway, after he'd exhausted us on the swings, basketball court, slides, and everything else on the playground, he settled down with his water cup, a rare moment for this rambunctious boy.

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This past week at our community group meeting we had the kids make thank you cards for God. This one girl, we'll call her Sally, always tugs at my heart. Her sister and brother have had it hard this year. They've been homeless and now live in a family members garage. Yet, through it all she smiles. She loves Jesus with all her heart and her favorite thing to do is to sing. A recent song that she picked up goes like this, "Faith, faith, faith just a little bit of faith. Faith, faith, faith, just a little bit of faith, you don't need a whole lot just use what you got..." What a testimony she is to me.

She made this incredible card and I just had to share it with you.

"Dear Jesus, I thank you so much for everything."

Disneyland with a Two-Year Old - Part 2

Part 1 here.

By Mid-afternoon we headed over to California Adventure. E-ver-y-one had the same idea. It was packed and hot.

The minute you stepped into the park, you can tell it was pumpkin season. Candy corn ws everywhere.

Candy corn stalks and candy corn cactus!

First Stop - Hollywood

Playhouse Disney
What's more fun this standing in line in the hot sun for 20 minutes? My thoughts exactly. But it was well worth it, the minute we walked into the playhouse, settled on the floor in a massive room full of kids and parents, we knew this was up Cristian's alley. What's better that tool puppets and tigger? It was so cute and the quality of the show was incredible.

Disney Animation Building
I can spend hours in here. When you walk in, the main room is massive, dark and cool and covered with huge screens playing still shots from the Disney animated movies. In the center are plush sofas for sitting.

There are different rooms with interactive attractions that take you behind the scenes of Disney's animation. Our feet needed some rest so the first thing we did was see Turtle Talk with Crush. Crush, the turtle dude from Finding Nemo, interacted with the audience. How Disney does it is a mystery.

In Animation Academy they show how to draw Disney characters with real Disney Animators. Below is a showing of how animation is achieved. This Toy Story setup shows characters that are slightly different than the others. The setup begins to spin super fast... and magic happens.

We headed back to get the stroller and this is what we came upon... not an easy task, trying to figure out which one is yours and how to get it out. We ran into country fall Mickey and Minney as they ran away from the crowd.

Second Stop - Bug's Land

By this time, the weather was beautiful. The sky's were picture perfect!
Cristian is a water kid. He loves showers and baths, he's already in the middle of swimming lessons. The minute I saw the water zone, I knew we had to stop... As you can see below, he l-o-v-e-d it! We continued onto Bug Land and went on a few kiddie rides. Cristian was now almost over the screaming fear of Disneyland.

As we waited for my aunt and cousin to get off the roller coaster I took some pictures of the California sunset. It was the perfect day to be at Disney.

We headed back to Disneyland for the night, along with the other multi-trillion people.

Third Stop - The French Market and Fireworks

The French Market is my favorite restaurant in Disneyland. My parents would always take us to The Blue Bayou or the French Market. Both are located in New Orleans Square. The food is scrumptious and the atmosphere is priceless. The Blue Bayou is a swankier restaurant compared to the other dining places in Disneyland. The inside makes you feel like you are outside. Tables overlook the swamp that is the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. The French Market is located next to the train station with dimly lit lanterns and iron gating all the way around. You stand in line for your food and then sit down to a serenade of Jazz. I ordered Clam Chowder in a sourdough bowl and a Salad with their famous blue cheese dressing. My family is big on blue cheese. We love it! We split this chocolate cake with a white chocolate castle on top.

After a long long dinner we headed over to the castle to get seats for the firework show. By this time, my feet hurt so bad, I didn't care of there was bird poo on the floor, I was going to sit! I sat under this massive flower bulb...

We waited a good hour for the show to start. I took pictures of the crowd all around the circular square that didn't come out very well. The mass of people was overwhelming. No walking space, barely room to sit on the floor and tuck your feet and hands in.

If you haven't seen the firework show at Disneyland you are missing out. This was my favorite part of the whole day. Incredible! I took a long video to post here... It is worth watching!

Part one - Disneyland Fireworks


Part two - Disneyland Fireworks


All in all, it was a fun Disney day with my favorite kid!

October's Rush

October is a busy month around here. Everything seems to be going and going and going... no time for a breather!

I'm working on Part 2 of my Disneyland trip. That will be up shortly. As for now, I had some random stuff to share.

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I just finished Sweet Caroline by Rachel Hauck, the funniest book I've read. After about 3 weeks... I turned the last page. Like I said, no time to breathe let alone read! Sweet Caroline is a must buy, great message. I struggled with the ending, but I understand why the author chose to end it the way she did. Now, I am trying to get my hands on book #2, Love Starts with Elle. I'm told this will fill in the blanks.

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I am in the middle of a costume frenzy... trying to figure out what to be for our Harvest Party on Friday night. The teachers are putting together a party for the kids and their family and friends. Horse rides, games, grilled corn, candy galore and all the other Halloween festivities. I was told by my sweet sister that maybe I should be a horse... not going to happen.

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To get us in the Fall spirit, my co-worker gave me the below candy bag. After reading the label he put on, makes you think twice about eating it!

Disneyland with a 2 year-old - Part 1

I've probably been to Disneyland 200+ times in my life time. Our family had this special connection with Disneyland, my dad, his company that is, made the wheels for the rides and certain little pieces, to this day I don't know what they're called or what they do. There was a time my parents would take us a few times a week just for dinner and a ride, which usually was Pirates of the Caribbean. Rarely have I gotten the chance to go with a kid and take them on all the fun kiddie rides and see all the attractions that are meant for the younger Disney fans.

We had the opportunity to take my 2 year old nephew to Halloween Time at Disneyland. The park is decked out in candy corn and Halloween themed foods. Kids are dressed up and running around like it's a fun zone.

Normally I map out what I want to see and where I want to eat. Since this was his first time at the wonderful world of Disney, I was going to to go with the flow. Cristian decided to map out his own day...



On the way down main street, we stopped several times, not once or twice, several times to take pictures. Because, of course, this was Cristian's first time at Disneyland. I had my camera turned on indefinitely, just in case a good shot needed to be taken. In case he smiled, in case Mickey came out, in case there was an opening at the extra large, massive pumpkin in the middle of the square.

The weather in California has been perfect... not on this day. It was hot! Standing in a 15-20 minute line, outside, under the sun... miserable.

First Stop - Buzz Lightyear Ride

The minute we walked in the cool, air conditioned building, relief! But... Cristian didn't feel the same. He screamed as any 2 year old would do the minute they saw an 8 ft Buzz Lightyear glowing in the dark building. "No, no, no Buzz!"

The ride was just as eventful. Cristian clung to Auntie Cat as Mommy and Cat shot aliens. As soon as the ride was over it was, "No, No, No Buzz, all done! All done!"

Second Stop - Mad Hatter and Dumbo

After buying Mickey Mouse ears, with the exception of me who didn't want to pay $12.99 for a pair of ears that would be taken off minutes later, we stood in line for Dumbo. Cristian rode with me, his little head couldn't see over the edge of the "Dumbo", but he still loved it!

Third Stop - Mr. Toads Wild Ride, Lunch at Village Haus, and Casey Jr.'s Train

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is one of the scariest kiddy rides in Fantasyland. You take a dark trip to hell that all kids just love! Not really. Cristian was no different than I was when I was a little girl, he screamed and tried to crawl out while we held on and assured him that it was almost over while we laughed like crazy people attempting to lighten the mood of flames and thunderings (is that even a word?).

Next... FOOD was calling our name. After standing in line for 20 minutes to get cheeseburgers, we headed over to Casey Juniors train, one of my favorite kiddie rides. By this time, the heat had doubled and we were all ready to get into a cooler zone. As soon as we were off the ride, I ran to the refreshment stand and bought a Diet Coke for $2.75. When you come to Disneyland, you have to remember to pay an arm and a leg for a drink that would normally be $1.00.

(Mr. Toad's Wild Ride)

(Not sure if Casey Jr.'s is scary)

Fourth Stop - The Jungle Cruise

You'd think that being a lover of animals, well monkeys, the little man would LOVE the Jungle Cruise. If you've never been on the Jungle cruise, let me tell you about it. ... I don't remember eve being scared of the animals as a little girl, but that was long ago and maybe I blocked it out. After you climb in a boat that is on green swampy water in the middle of the "jungle", your safari captain narrates as he leads you through the waters past monkeys, hippopotamus, and crazy jungle men... with heads hanging from their fist! The minute Cristian heard the strange "oooeeeeahhhh oooooeeeee" he buried his head and begin screaming. The piranhas jumping on the side of the boat didn't help to calm his nerves.

Would you like a little Jungle Cruise Disney Trivia? The jungle became so authentic that real life massive spiders, were talking spiders bigger than your head, and snakes begin to reproduce and take over the jungle in the middle of the park... true story. As for the ride itself, it's one of the first attractions that was installed when the park opened. The canopy boats were designed by Walt Disney after the movie - The African Queen, which starred Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn. Thought you might find that interesting.

Part 2 - California Adventure... to be continued.

Saturdays Events & Then Some

::Wedding::

I had a busy weekend! Friday night I removed leaves and thorns from who knows how many roses and worked all morning Saturday putting together decorations for a reception. My Pastor's eldest son got married on Saturday, a little bittersweet since he is like a little brother to me. The wedding was beautiful, food excellent and the decorations so chic. He married a beautiful girl that recently moved to our church. Below are a few pictures that I took...

Groom's Cake

My Pastor's youngest - Colton (aka Coco)
Beautiful Bride - Kaitlyn

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::Candy Kid::

My Nephew, Cristian, came over on Saturday night to spend some time with his aunties and Nana. The kid is a riot. He is so entertaining, endless entertainment!

This may be Cristian overkill but I can't help but share his antics that make me laugh so hard i cried.

:Singing with Auntie Cat aka Auntie Cacky aka Nana aka Meow:


Cristian has his own names for everyone. He had trouble figuring out what to call my sister, Catherine. He would say Cacky and sometimes Nana. To make it easier on him, we told him to call her Cat but he kept saying, "meow". LOL

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My mom always has candy in her purse, pockets, anywhere she can hide it. All the kids at church know that Nana will always have candy, "Candy, Nana, Candy?

Cristian found her stash of candied mints and of course, Nana couldn't resist his, "pweee".

:BOOK :
I just finished book three of the Lowlands of Scotland Series by Liz Curtis Higgs. I cannot say enough about these books. I am so late in reading these and wish I hadn't put it off. Incredible story based on the biblical account of Jacob, Rachel, and Leah. If you haven't read these yet, I suggest you click here and buy ALL four. I am waiting for Book 4 to show up on my doorstep...