The things that matter {to me}

Since it's my blog I can make up words if I want to!

My made up word of the day: reflecty

As we were driving home from school today the weather was amazing & I noticed that the tide was way out. I really wanted to stop but the pull of chores & of course Alex needed a snack etc so we kept driving. At home after we took care of snack and I did some dishes I decided that the light was just too good to waste.

As we drove up I was so excited to see the super reflecty sand... I knew it was going to be a good day!

 
 
He drew another heart <3

We were home in an hour & we were both so relaxed! Totally the right decision... reflecty sand is good for the soul ;).
 
 
 

Checking In

Alex is keeping me busy these days, he's a handful mostly in a good way ;) I love all of his little quirks and I'm really thankful for them (well most of them) like for instance his love of all dolls in the shape of babies (not to be confused with real babies... those he's not that fond of). In Alex's eyes all (pretend) babies are stunt babies, they are meant to try out the world in a way that only the small & uber flexible can. These 3 babies were found at Target yesterday and once we got home Alex found this bed that belongs to another toy that became their transportation the next adventure. Quirks are good.

Geoff is still gone. I've abandoned any hope of seeing him here on a regular basis until after New Years. See by the time the boat is done it will probably be time for him to go north to Crescent City to fish crabs which will be most if not all of the month of December (he'll come home for Christmas of course) but the reality is he's going to be working so we'll remain on the weekend track for the next 3 weeks and then all hell will break loose with the opening of crab season... at this point him being here for Thanksgiving is not looking good. Blah... this boat project is going to be fantastic when it's done but it pretty much ate up a most this year of our lives.

Speaking of the holidays can you believe they are right around the corner? Someone carved a giant peace sign into a hill side near the harbor & I am determined to somehow get that in the background of my Christmas card pics... yep it's time to obsess over card photos again... oh joy!

 

Birthday Time

We celebrated a big birthday last week... someone turned the big one one (as in 11).  I made a little birthday picture collage from his weekend celebration. We had presents, a googly eyed monster cake (there's a story there from my family) and pumpkin carving. Presents & pumpkins... Alex's favorite "p" words!

Then on Sunday it was time for the annual tradition of loading up Bum's big pumpkin for the giant pumpkin weigh off here in town (the winner was over 1600 pounds... it came all the way from Iowa). Alex was super into that and that made for some super cute pics to share

Other than that it's been pretty quiet around here.  I hate to bore everyone with my "Geoff's still not home" whining (there's been a lot of that lately) or my work chatter. Alex has been quite testy lately too, not sure what's up with that other than that he's eleven now... 2 years from teenage hood.
  

The beloved patch has opened!

Alex has been dying to go to the pumpkin patch. Daily when we drive by the chatter from the backseat is clear & concise... pumpkin day better come soon! So today because it was early dismissal Wednesday the outing was planned... the boy was ready.

  

 

 

 

There are more pictures here.  We ran, we laughed, we came home with 3 pumpkins (one is already carved thanks to Friend Sasha who was here tonight with Alex while I worked). It was a great day!

Disneyland Update

We had an amazing time at Disneyland! It was not too hot & Alex was soooo thrilled to be there. We rode the Matterhorn at least 20 times LOL which is what he is most interested in. The crowds were more than we were used to (economy shsmonomy) but at least is was under 100 degrees.

Alex really got interested in the pool which was fun since normally pool time is exhausting as he just wants to sprint around & liberate the umbrellas. But this year we put a life jacket & goggles on him and just let him be his own man in the pool. He was putting his face in & swimming all over. He's just good!

I uploaded 28 pics to Facebook, you can click here to see them even if you are not on Facebook.

PS to Erika who commented on my last post & seen us in Disneyland... OMG why didn't you say hi? Do you know what a rock star I would have felt like? LOL  How funny though!

We're off in the morning!

It's the annual famdamily trip to Disneyland & I can not wait! I'm soooooo ready, in fact so organized I'm afraid I've messed up LOL. Alex is already in bed at 8:30 pm because as I explained in my best motherly voice... tomorrow will not come unless he goes to sleep. LOL

I'll try to update from there but it will depend on the ease of the internet access there. Until then, have a good day... I know I'm going to be having one :)

Wishful thinking

Today was not a great day, I'm starting to feel that crush of getting ready for vacation that generally swallows me up & almost makes vacation not fun. I'm trying really hard to keep it all under control but there are those little nagging issues creeping up & threatening to become huge issues. Ugh.

Then tonight when Alex & I stopped by the local corner market to buy milk. While I was trying to find the cash in my hopelessly cute but stupidly organized wallet I came across an old Lotto ticket. I handed the ticket over to the cashier for him to scan to see if maybe just maybe I was a winner. For a split second I thought about the following post Lotto bliss things that I would do:

1) Call in rich & never deal with working again

2) Go house shopping for something new & huge, maybe even a compound so that Lisa could live next door.

3) Buy a new school site for Alex's school & make sure that it was perfectly funded always & that it had room for any kid who needed to go there.

4) Get a full time maid, personal trainer, chef & wife for myself (you know, a wife... someone to swirl about & take care of me like I do for Geoff)

5) Make a permanent reservation at the Grande Californian so that we could go to Disneyland any time Alex wanted to.

Then the machine blinked "Not a Winner" rudely across the screen and I was back in the dirty convenience store buying milk for tonights cream of wheat. Damn that machine, would it have killed it to make my day?

I'm here

I'm just struggling to keep both feet on the ground.  I am also operating on my back up laptop which always throws me (in other words not photo editing because I need to take the hour to set up my actions).  Here are 10 things that are currently on my mind:

1) I wish that work would decide if it is busy or not. I'm either dead or slammed... very little in between. I am not complaining for the busy parts, I just kinda need to make plans sometimes.

2) We leave for Disneyland in less than 2 weeks. I am soooooooo ready for vacation! And to see Geoff for more than 2 days in a row. It will be the first time that we see him for an extended period of time since the end of April.

3) I returned to my step in sculpt class this week... let's just say that I feel every moment that I did not excercise. YEOUCH!

4) Alex is obessesed with pumpkins & when we can go to the patch.  We drive by his favorite patch on the way to school everyday & he looks for the orange beauties but alas it is still dirt. The exciting thing is that they erected the teepee there this week so there is lots of chatter as we drive by.

5) My Disneyland shoe issue is ridiculous.  Why is there only ugly shoes out right now? Or unless you feel like wearing stripper shoes... which I do not.

6) My todo list for tomorrow is scary.

7) Back to school has been awesome. Alex is happy to be back, although sleeping has been up & down as some nights he is too excited to sleep.

8) Loving that I can play Scrabble on my iPhone through Facebook with Lisa. I beat her everytime. Scrabble makes me feel smart!

9) I think I have negelected grocery shopping for too long. There is NOTHING in this house to eat. I must remedy that situation tomorrow!

10) Holy crap how is it September already? In a month I will be the mother of an 11 year old... scary!

See ya again soon! This weekend I'll fix the photo editing problem & get back to business as usual again.

There will be shuffle board on the Lido deck at 10am

Last week I made a serious run for the "fun mom" title. After all Alex only had 3 weeks of summer break so I really thought that I better make the best of it. But to be honest it backfired a little... Alex is now pretty sure that he's on the Love Boat & I am Julie McCoy, cruise director with the mostest. We have 2 more days to get through, that is if I make it lol.

In the meantime here are pics to share from some of our adventures last week:

 

We went to Gilroy Gardens, which was really fun. I love that place!

 

 

Since most of the rides are pretty low key at Gilroy Gardens we let Todd & Alex go on them alone most of the time. Alex thought this was a pretty cool development.

 

The train is a big hit

 

They are definitely getting big!

 

this one made me a little nervous... it was pretty high & went kinda fast.

 

Wednesday we went to the SF Zoo. There were not that many picture opportunities as Alex was not in the best mood. But he does always love to look at the Meerkats.

 

Friday we did the coolest thing! Kelly & I took the kids to the Roaring Camp Railroad in the Santa Cruz Mountains. We took the train down to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, stayed there for an hour & then literally ran back to the train. The train is so cool though! We will definitely be going back, I think next time it will be fun to do the train that does through the redwoods too. I also want to do the Christmas train too.

 

This is Alex waving to people at the crossings, so cute!

 

I thought this shirt for Alex was hillarious. He is in fact, off the hook.

2 more days of being the one woman entertainment committee... wish me luck!

This took my breath away

http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/2009/08/me.html

She posted a picture of herself. If you have read back at all you know that this is huge!  I was so happy to see this today, it totally made my day.

It also reminded me of a conversation that I had with Lisa the other day, she had come across another photographers blog that had a picture of a baby with an unrepaired cleft. She remarked how awesome it was that they had captured that before the babies repair. To be honest that brought back a painful memory of when Alex was a baby just home from the NICU, it was early December & I was dying to send out Christmas cards with his picture on it like all new moms do. I dressed him in his cutest outfit & propped him up on the couch with a teddy bear that he had gotten as a gift.  I took a whole roll of film of him there, he was by far the cutest thing I had ever seen & I was so in love with that little bundle. I rushed the film to the one hour processing & was overjoyed with the pics that came back... he was adorable. But when I mentioned to other family members my plans there was a flurry of phone calls urging me not to send out the pictures because with his unrepaired cleft we might regret later if people held onto those cards. The fear was that someday Alex may get teased by someone if they seen his lip as God created it. I can still feel the sting of the words & even though at the time everyone thought they were protecting Alex it still hurt. I was not brave enough at the time to go against the tide of voices so I framed the pictures in my own home & put them in Alex's rarely seen 1st year scrapbook. But because Nie Nie was brave, I am going share my favorite (albeit tattered) picture from that day... there is nothing to fear about sharing a difference.