Buzz...

Merry Christmas!!

I have missed you! 
I hope that you are making wonderful moments with your friends and family like I am.

I am looking forward to spending more time with you in the New Year.  Until then, well, my holiday hiatus continues while I eat pie, then go to the gym to work off the pie... play with my kids, then hide the toys without volume control... make lovely meals presented on lovely tables to serve to lovely people... lovely lovely lovely... 

Be back soon!!
X's and O's

My Theme For The Week:

And I just love this one...

"We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us."

-Scholar, Joseph Campbell

It's All About the Ice Addiction...

The hundreds of naughty late-night runs to Sonic...

The gallons of Diet Dr. Pepper consumed...

(Be honest - Diet Dr. Pepper does not truly capture the essense of  "The Original Taste That I Love So".)

What keeps us running out at 10:38 P.M.

on nights when we really should be sleeping

because tomorrow is a holiday which means no school

which means all kids at home

which means I will need energy

and therefore sleep...

What keeps us running out to Sonic

paying for AND drinking soda that I do not love

on nights like tonight

is crunchy ice balls.

And large red straws.

But mostly the ice balls.

(I come from a lineage of notorious ice-chompers.)
(We promise not to do it if we are out to eat with you.)

I chug down soda after soda as a necessary evil to get to the ice.

Sonic + Ice Balls = Genius.

I would give up my car if I could have a freezer that made ice like Sonic.

I wouldn't need it anymore because perfect little ice balls would already be in my house 

(chilling every drink and not just bad soda)

negating any need for late night Sonic runs.

Is there a 12-Step Program for my ice addiction?

Happy Birthdays!

Two people I love are celebrating today!
You know who you are.

I Love you!

Love, Me.

Tricked-Out for Treats!

Happy Halloween!

Our family is still recovering from a weekend of sugar highs and subsequent crashes.  It is a lovely thing when Halloween  falls on a weekend.  I don't feel the need to pin disclaimer notes to my childrens' backpacks for what their teachers are about to experience...

For Example:

**Teacher Beware!**

Kids + Holiday + Sugar + Lack of Sleep + School = Disaster

I would keep my children home after holidays like these, except for that teensy part of me that considers these times payback for randomly scheduled half-days and teacher development vacations.

Ah well, this year we all got off easy. 

About The Costumes:

Grandma Loree decided to have a "Choose your own costume" theme party at her home, where the kids got to assemble costumes out of stuff she had "around". 

I am big enough to admit that I did not even need to see the costumes and I was already a little scared.

I am also big enough to admit when I am wrong.

(This time.) 

(Don't get used to it.)

The home-grown costumes were GREAT!

Have a look-see:

Secret Agent J

Dancing Queen:

My Mini Wahine.

Grandma Loree:

I thank you. 
My pocketbook thanks you.
Yay for grandmas!

Isaac adhered himself to this little lion costume during a trip to Old Navy a couple of months ago:

Little Lion

And I, I opted for the cop-out of diving into my dance gear for a costume. 

I love that I have several feet worth of hair, fake eyelashes, and flamenco roses at my daily disposal around the house. 

Note to self: Authentic flameco shoes are not designed for walking miles and miles while trick-or-treating with the kids.

The night ended with an intense round of commodity trading. 

.

Also, there were the customary parental fees and losses.

Especially Tootsie Rolls and Laffy Taffy which I convinced the children would cure my aching feet. 

(Okay, they weren't wholly convinced.)

(But I actually did feel better after eating a pound of Tootsie Rolls & Laffy Taffy.) 

(Try it.)

Do You Hear What I Hear?

The angels are singing!

The Amber Alert I issued on my camera has led to her safe return!

(Just stand up and happy dance with me for a moment...)

She is currently in the hands of the authorities (um... coordinators of my last dance competition...) and will be returned safely home in no time.

There are no suspects in the case, but she is completely unharmed in every way.  In fact, the authorities found her, "Jane Doe Camera", wandering the hotel ballroom alone and confused and unable to communicate.  It was almost AS IF she had been left sitting there wallowing on the ballroom table all along...

Hmmm...

Three Is A Magic Number!

Yes it IS!

It's a magic number!

Isaac

my baby

"The Caboose"

turned three today.

He will board a bus headed for preschool for the first time this Tuesday.

Wearing a miniature "Lightning McQueen" backpack.

He actually has refused to take the backpack off since I purchased it last week, so I guess I won't have to work too hard at getting him ready for school.

One of the magical (and I dare say, charming) things about 3-year-olds

is that the concept of ownership

(aka "MINE!")

becomes understood.

So...

because it is indeed charming

and also downright entertaining

I bought one of those cute Little Tykes shopping carts for Isaac for his birthday.

Now he is circling the house with all his other gifts and worldly posessions loaded up in the shopping cart like a homeless baglady.

While wearing his miniature Lightning McQueen backpack.

He has been doing this for hours.

He is happy as can be.

If you even look his way he walks around to the front of the shopping cart - blocking it from view and he warns "No Touching!"

And we listen.

Because "No Touching" = "I am happy and  P.S. This is Mine...  Breach the perimeter of mine-ness, and I will turn from darling dimpled birthday boy into The Incredible Hulk on Catnip

and unleash on you my ultimate wrath."

I will miss this age.

"Bag Lady Baby"

Happy Birthday, Baby Boy!

My Theme For The Week:

"The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it."


-Michelangelo

The Cat Chronicles

This is a story about Anti-Pet Family #1

(Or so we used to be called.)

(By our own selves, that's by who.)

The only reason we don't use that term anymore, is because we actually have a pet.

Introducing:

 Pumpkin

A cat.  Who lives with us.  On purpose.

It is absolutely ridiculous that we have a cat,

and,

as I peel her off from around the top of my head

(where she frequently - and mistakenly - thinks she belongs)

I will tell you WHY:

It is ridicuous that we have a cat because we are the self-declared anti-pet family #1.

That's why.

Now I'll tell you HOW we came to have a cat - a much better story.

HOW Anti-pet Family #1 became the owners of a cat - I'll break it down into 2 parts:

Chapter 1: The only reason we have a cat is because someone gave us a fish.

On Sundays, the youngest of our children attend a nursery meeting at church, while we adults attend Sunday school classes.

Cute lessons are taught in the nursery about love, gratitude, and other niceties...

One particular unsuspecting Sunday, the cute lesson of "I am grateful for water" was taught.

As a token of water gratitude learnedness:  The even cuter idea of giving each teensy child a little water-filled baggie with a living breathing goldfish swimming around inside was executed.

(This had to sound like the cutest idea in the world to someone - but wait,

let me ask you - Is a goldfish not a pet?)

(Cough! Hack!)

  Exactly.

So, little Christiana -18 months old at the time- walked out of class with a big smile, and an even bigger surprise - As in:

SURPRISE! YOU ARE NOW PET OWNERS!

Say wha??

Who amongst you could look into the eyes of an eighteen month old angel who is proudly holding up (with both chubby little hands) the most wonderful thing she has clearly ever seen - and break her little heart?

Not I.

How much trouble could one little goldfish be?

Well, I'll tell you:

One $40 goldfish home

$10 worth of goldfish home decor complete with muti-colored rocks and a sunken pirate ship.

1 Bubbling goldfish oxygenating contraption
and goldfish food.

Oh, and did I mention (not more than 24 hours later) :  1 dead goldfish.

That's right.
Muerto.

THAT is how much trouble one little goldfish can be.

And THEN, 
I, the new pet mom,
engaged in the covert operation of quickly capturing the floating fish corpse with the little green net to make an emergency 9:58 PM run to Petsmart for goldfish twin #1.

And THEN,
not a week later,
it was time for ANOTHER stealth run to Petsmart for "Slicky" twin #2 (because now the goldfish had a name, but was just as departed).

When the time came (and it came soon), we decided to leave our dearly departed Slicky twin #2 (goldfish #3) publicly floating, because 3 fish in one week was flat out pathetic, and it was time we came to terms with that. 

And also because I was afraid of getting reported to PETA.

Chapter 2: The only reason we have a cat is because she is not a fish.

Nobody can hold a fish. Nobody can snuggle with a fish.

The fish has no way of letting you know that it is actually appreciating your company - so I was absolutely dumbfounded at how quickly all of my children declared their love for this creature.

It is unfortunate, but apparently "pet" has a designated area in the young child heart, and once it is filled it can never be left empty again. Three children with empty pet hearts was too much for even Anti-Pet Family #1 to bear.

Enter: The internet.

Enter: This picture:

Yes. 

Cute.

Exit: A boatload of cash.

Enter: The cat into our home.

Because cats are hardier than goldfish.

The End.

Land of the Lost

Drats!  

I must officially issue a missing persons report on my camera. 

Because there are not missing cameras reports.

And my camera is missing.  (Did I mention that?)

And because my camera is one of my loved ones.

She (my camera who is now a "she") has been missing sometime between 72 hours and 2 1/2 weeks.

Sometimes I don't keep close enough touch with my loved ones.

Ask anybody.

They will tell you.

Repeatedly.

And over and over again.

Because it might be true.

Oh yeah, back to my camera...

She is missing, so I am sad.

And pictureless.

Also dwelling in Land of the Lost:

1.  My natural haircolor.

2.  The toothfairy.  (She has forgotten to come for my daughter's tooth 2 nights in a row now.  Slacker.)

3.  My only housekey.  (Thank goodness for garage entry.)

4.  The "loser" who ate Joey's leftover fish taco.  (Tee Hee.) 

*(In the "loser's" defense, I am sure that person was really famished from working out at the gym for an hour and a half and was too tired to even make cereal and had sore feet.) 

(I'm just saying...)

Goodbye, Galaxy.

Hello, Friend.

I'm back!

I have been crazy busy gluing my world back together after taking a weekend off a couple of weeks ago...  We'll start there...  Prepare for some rambling.

"No fake eyelashes and glitter in our world."

My sister in law reminded me as I began my descent back into reality.

(From my weekend at the Galaxy Dance Competition!)

A crying shame if you ask me...

(Especially the eyelashes

which I had become quite attached to over the course of a rather glammed-up 72 hours.)

I admit, returning from the world of glitz, glamour, ballgowns and rhinestones is an adjustment. 

One moment I get to play the role of bedazzled dancing queen

(In my own mind, that's where.)

(I am quite imaginative.)

the next moment -  I am back to over-tired, over-scheduled mother and wife.

(No imagination required.)

(Cheesecake optional.)

I spent the weekend at the Biltmore.

I came home to the aftermath of WWIII.

While I was away, other people combed, sprayed, and rhinestoned my hair and did my make-up all weekend.

When I got back, I spent a week working the rats nest out of one of my daughter's uncombed heads.

The Biltmore had beautiful grounds filled with shiny happy people.

Back at my house, I could not locate the laundry room because of the tragic clothing avalanche.

And...

The refrigerator had been emptied.  That was too bad because I hadn't eaten in days.

And...

Empty toilet paper rolls adorned every restroom.

(Did I mention at the Biltmore my toilet paper roll magically replenished itself daily with no effort on my part?)

Nevertheless, I am glad to be home.

(That is the politically correct thing to say.)

(The truth = I WILL be glad to be home - once home resembles home again.)

(I will even be glad when it resembles my actual real home and not the souped up, peaceful, spotless, heavenly version I dreamed it to be during my uninterrupted sleep at the hotel.)

P.S.  It would not be very nice of me to overlook what good sports my family were to tolerate my leave of absence.  When I returned home the house was still standing and the children were all alive. 

Minimum requirements satisfied.

Curious about how things went? 

Peek at the RESULTS. 

(You'll have to scroll down to Montoya.)

I Miss You, Too!

Busy week for me.

I wish I was actually at the beach.

I would write "I miss you" in the sand just for you.

Then I would run right into that water.

I never check to see if the water is cold when I am at the beach...  because it just doesn't matter.

I think that is because I am from southern California.

When I ran into the water in San Francisco I was sorry.

Really sorry.

And practically frostbitten.

 I guess the temperature of the water matters sometimes, and it would be good to check things out before I fling my entire body into the water.

Nah.

I will be back soon.

Coming Soon:

30 Days Update

New House Pics

New Adventures!

Oh, and I may or may not be dancing this week.

My Theme For The Week:

"Good is the enemy of great."

-Author,  Jim Collins

Attention: My Music Buff Friends!

Yeah - I'm shouting!

You need to know about this:

I have stumbled across a website that allows you to print the first page of sheet music for free.

Also, the website provides a downloadable sheet music Player/Tutorial that will play your selected music for you while you watch along. You can speed things up, slow things down, whatever it takes to get you through a tough spot, etc. You can even raise or lower the key and print.

There is sheet music available for just about any type of instrument.

Why I love this - and think you might too:
I am able to play this game with my children:

"I will get you the first page of any song you love and want to learn to play." (For FREE!!!)
"Once you can play the entire first page, I agree to buy you the rest of the song."

1. My children always have music they love on their music stand.
2. By the time I pay for sheet music, I have a child fully commited to learning the piece (because they already love it and are dying to have the rest). AND I can print it right out for $4-$5 without ever leaving my home.
3. If your child (or you) reach a rough spot - use the player! It is AWESOME!
4. As soon as they knock out the piece they're working on we're back to #1.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this!

(Have I mentioned how much I like this website?)

Here's the website link for MusicNotes.

Go now, and play.

Then, come back and let me know what you think.

You will thank me.
You're welcome.

Labor Day Fieldtrip

Just the girls.

My ears were pierced when I was an infant - for this I must thank my mother, as I am quite certain I'd have lived without ever piercing them if left to my own devices.

(Not into the unnecessary poking with sharp things.)
(Love earrings, though, so thanks Mom.)

I did think about this when my girls were born, but one look at their perfect little chubby faces, and I had to default to the "no unnecessary sharp things" feelings. I figured when my girls were ready the topic of piercing ears would come up, and I promised myself and my chubby babies we'd go when they were ready.

*

Well... they were ready today.

*

A "before" shot in the classic moose pose.

Adriana "before".

It takes only nano-seconds for Adriana to identify and select the largest diamonds available. Christiana opts for the ever predictable PINK ones.

It is genius that they pierce both sides at once... if only they could have also pierced both girls at once...

One Happy Girl.

One Nervous Girl.

A few tears were shed.

Christiana was unlucky enough to have one of her piercing-machine-things jam up on one side which required an extra thirty seconds of OUCH! to undo and a second try...

1 Lollipop + 1 Look in the mirror later = 2nd Happy Girl.

"After"

(Just so you know, I was very brave.)

Arizona Rain.

It's such a treat to get a good rain in Arizona.

"Good rain" = Rain that you can play in.

No thunder yelling.

.

Or lightning threatening to electrocute you every 45 seconds.

. Just

Nice.

Good.

Rain.

Challenge Update:

Oh... you thought I forgot, didn't you?
NOPE! The challenge continues!

Here's what I've been up to lately:

Day 11. Cycling

(Well, if you can classify attaching a bike trailer to my daughter's bike -mine had a flat tire- and accompanying my son on a leisurely bike ride to his Boy Scout meeting at church as cycling...)

(No blasphemy intended to my triathlete friends.)

Basically, I rode my daughter's flowery beach cruiser around the neighborhood with Isaac in tow for a half an hour.

(And, I must add, bikes without gears were not intended to tow bike trailers, so this was actually quite a workout - and that is why I am choosing to call this cycling and not "riding my bike" - and not because it actually wasn't my bike.)

(Kinda... only with a bike trailer...)

Day 10. Zumba!

Down and dirty booty-shakin' aerobics, ladies.

Read more about it HERE.

I can count on one hand the number of times I have sweat this much, and that is saying something.

P.S. There was a token man in the class of maybe 50 - 60 women.

I bet they pay him well.

Day 9. Belly Dancing!

Oh YES she DID!

Courtesy of Shimmy on FitTv.

Day 8. Jumping

Don't laugh...

Jumped rope.

Jumped Jacks.

Did Up-Downs.

Oh, you just try doing this for half an hour straight, then we'll talk.

(Remember those calves you wanted?)

Day 7. Core Class

K, if I had been able to just balance myself on that monster globe of a ball, then MAYBE...

Yeah, not so much.

This class should be titled "Beginning Acrobatics with Large Awkward Ball".

Note: Regretting the "no repeats" rule here, because I am dying to try this again.

I think I can... I think I can...

You're all caught up my friends.

Now, how about some ideas please?

Did you not SEE that one of my days was JUMPING?!

Help a girl out!

Kiss My Waistline Goodbye...

(No. I am not pregnant.)

The Cheesecake Factory

Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake

is

back in season!

Buen Provecho!

Days 5 & 6:

Day 5 I Ran.

(( ...snore...))

It's still a little (LOT!) hot to run outside, and treadmills make me feel like a hamster.

Then again, knowing that I do not have to run for another 25 days just may qualify this as the best run ever.

For the record:

One fact I cannot deny is that running works. When I do run, my body lets me know it has worked both inside and outside for my good.

Also for the record:

Ipod has changed my relationship with running.

Seven or eight songs into my run I had satisfied my 30 minute minimum, and I hadn't even noticed. A miracle.

Day 6: Yoga!

I am headed for my SIL Diane's favorite yoga DVD.

She has warned me a couple of times about the effectiveness of this particular DVD, and that I might want to go easy on it.

The problem is that I don't know how to do that, and I routinely ignore such warnings in search of painful evidence that my body has done some serious working out.

I usually regret this later when I realize I did not need quite so much evidence, but here I go again...

P.S. Thanks, D, for the idea!

(And the DVD loan!)

(AND, again, for lunch yesterday - on YOUR birthday!)

Namaste.

Day 4: Variety Workout Challenge

My biceps are screaming at me about the abuse from kickboxing with "Jean-Paul".

No matter.

The challenge continues...

Today: Basketball.

A little trash-talkin' is good for the soul.

Unfortunately, it did my ball game no good whatsoever.

Loser

Winner