vegas pics

JR and the kids in front of the Christmas tree at the Mandalay Bay Hotel Marcus is pouting because he just broke an ornament on the tree.

Marcus in front of the aquarium in the lobby

Kids pretending to be dolphins at the dolphin habitat

The only picture of both of the kids smiling and looking at the camera out of 100 I took this weekend.

Marcus picking his nose in the dolphin habitat

JR and the kids in front of the lions at the mirage

Jailyn in front of the white tiger cage

one of the dolphins doing a flip !  I just thought this was a cool pic!

The kids at the Belagio Atrium

Kids pretending they are scarecrows at the Belagio Atrium

Jailyn at the MGM before the Jonas Brothers concert

Jailyn and I at the concert practicing our self photography!!!

Vegas!!!

So I know it's been awhile but there hasn't been too much going on so I didn't really have much to write about!  This weekend however we made our 1st family trip to Vegas.  This was the longest car trip we've ever taken with both of the kids together.  They did pretty good I packed them each a backpack with snacks and toys and coloring books and crayons and we used our car trays so they could eat and play without us having to pull over.  The ride there was relatively smooth all things considered.  The reason for our trip was the Jonas Brothers concert that Jailyn got 2 tickets to as a birthday present from JR and I.  The concert was on Saturday night so we drove out on Friday morning.  We didn't do much that first night we got in about 3pm we relaxed, ate dinner and hung out in the room.  The next day we went to the Mirage and saw the dolphin and lion habitat.  That was fun the dolphins are cool and you can get soo close which the kids thought was cool.  After that we went to the Belagio to say hi to JR's aunt and we went top the Atrium to take pictures that place is soo cool it was all set up for fall.  That night was the concert at the MGM.  Jailyn and I went to the concert and JR and Marcus went to the M&M factory and the tournament show at the Excalibur.  The concert was LOUD and LOONG!!!  It started at 8 pm and we didn't get out until 11:20pm.  All the screaming tweens and some (surprisingly) screaming adults really wore on my nerves but Jailyn had a good time so it was worth it!  Vegas with kids is definitely a different experience.  More expensive I think than if we had gone by ourselves that's for sure.  I think the amount we spent on souvenirs outweighs the amount we would have spent with more free time to gamble.  Still a fun trip overall and I'm glad to be home!!  I'll post pics in a little bit.

Jailyn's 7th Birthday party

Well this year we wanted to do something a little low key with only a few friends and since the rule at school is if you invite 1 kid from class you have to invite all 20 of them we decided school friends were out!!!  So instead we invited all the girls from Jailyn's soccer team and a few close friends.  We went to shakey's because Jailyn loves their fried chicken!!  The girls had a good time playing arcade games and running around being silly!!!  She had a great time and I didn't have to do much work!!  It was a good day and she got all kinds of things that she really wanted!  I unfortunately forgot to take pictures until the very end so we don't have that many!!  

Jailyn opening her secret journal from Auntie Bonnie

Reading her own birthday card!!  She's getting so big!!!

Showing off one of her presents!!!

She was soo funny she had all the girls surrounding her while she was opening presents but she would tell them to get out of the way so she could pose for pictures with her presents!!!  That's my little ham she just loves the camera!!!  Take care everyone!!  Love Ya!!!

Halloween 2008

Well our Halloween was good this year!!  We have a little tradition that we started with some friends 3 years ago.  Our friend Chelsea's birthday is on Halloween so for every year they get together at her house and have pizza, go trick or treating and have cake.  So for the last 3 years our family and some other friends have joined them and all the kids and adults hang out and go trick or treating together.  We have a good time especially since Halloween was on Friday this year so we didn't have to rush to get the kids in bed for school the next day.  Jailyn was Elphaba (the wicked witch of the west) from Wicked, and Marcus was Spider man.  They looked really cute!!!  They got WAAAAY too much candy but they had fun!!  Hope you enjoy the pics!!!

Bonnie Chad and Marcus Trick or Treating

The Boys and the Dads we take this picture every year in front of the same house. It's cool to see how big they've gotten!

Us before we go trick or treating

Marcus, Jack and Eli

Madi, Jailyn and Brooke

My little Spider man

The wicked witch

My babies all dressed up!!!

Hope you all had a great halloween!!  I'm going to post some birthday pics from Jailyns party next!!!  Take care!!  Love you all!!!

pics pics and more pics!!!!

Jailyn with her silver certificate at her competition

Jailyn on the uneven bars

Waiting for her turn on the vault

Jailyn driving cars in Legoland

Marcus driving at legoland

Jailyn and Marcus on a ride at Legoland

Legoland again

Jailyn at her gymanastics performance they were India

Missing her 2 front teeth!!!!

Did you miss me?

Sorry I've been slacking big time!!!  You know how it goes.  Anyway I'm back with lots to talk about.

Jailyn has had ALOT going on lately.  She lost her other tooth up top she looked sooo cute!! (All pictures in blog to follow this one)  Her soccer team has been on a MAJOR winning streak they've been doing soo good in fact that my little defender actually got to play forward a couple of times and has scored a goal at both of her last 2 games!!!  She also competed in her 1st gymnastics competition this past weekend.  The way it works is they are competing to get a certain score 32.4 out of 40 overall and if they get that score they get a gold certificate, anything below that is silver.  If you get 3 golds you move up to the next level.  Jailyn was really excited, she loves her gymnastics team!! She competed on the vault, the balance beam, the uneven bars and floor.  She scored a silver 29.4. Not bad for her 1st time.  She looked soo cute!!! And of course the biggest news for Jailyn is that she turned 7 years old on Tuesday!!!!  I can't believe how big she is!!  I swear it feels like just yesterday that I was bringing her home from the hospital on her 1st Halloween!  I know you hear it all the time but the time REALLY does FLY by!!!  She was very excited because she got tickets for the Jonas Brothers concert from JR and I.

Marcus on the other hand has had a pretty uneventful month.  Just alot of the same old stuff for him.  He is insanely jealous of Jailyn getting to loose her teeth and is constantly asking me to check to see if his are loose too.  He has also been really into the whole I'm a big boy thing.  We went to the grocery store the other day and I put him in the front of the cart (the baby seat as Marcus likes to call it), we were going through the store and a little girl his age passed us in her moms cart.  She said to her mom "Look at the baby"  Marcus was HIGHLY offended!!  He spent the next 1/2 hour in the store telling anyone that walked past him he was not a baby!  We ended up behind that little girl in line to check out and Marcus looks at her and says " Hey you,girl, I am NOT a baby!!!  I am a big BOY!!!  My mommy makes me sit here!  I 3 I a BIG BOY!!!  You hear me girl?"  The mom was looking at him and I apologized and told her he is very sensitive about the whole baby thing right now.  I was trying soo hard not to laugh!!!  Needless to say he fights with me every time I try to put him in the cart now, but It's just sooo much easier than yelling at him through the ENTIRE trip to stop running, jumping, climbing, hanging, grabbing everything!!!!!   He also has a new nickname you can now officially call him "PIGPEN" like from the  snoopy cartoons the little kid that walks around so dirty he has his own dust cloud.  Marcus from a very young age could find the nearest dust/dirt/mud spot within a 10 mile radius like he has radar for it or something!!  I used to be able to get him to leave it alone though but those days are gone!!  It's like a compulsion or something the dirt just calls his name and he can't stay away.  When we go to soccer practice on Mondays and Wednesdays he'll come wearing for example a red shirt and jean shorts white socks and black shoes with tan skin, and he'll leave in head to toe GREY!!  and when I say head to toe I mean that literally.  He has soo much sand in his hair that I have to wash it 3 times and comb it out in the shower and I still don't get all of it!!!  He's such a BOY!!!

On a family note we all went to Legoland ( Thanks Speck and Mike for the tickets) on the 19th.  It was a Sunday so we were afraid that it might be packed but it wasn't bad at all!!!  The kids had a GREAT time although alot of the rides you need to be 40 inches tall and Marcus was like 39 or even 39&1/2 inches so we had to have him stand on his tip toes for a couple of them.  He LOVES roller coasters!!  Or Rolldercoasters as he calls them.  Jailyn had a good time too! She was old enough to go on some of the rides by herself this time which she thought was cool!  It was a fun family trip!!!

Well I think I'll go and post some pics.  I'll try to be back next week with some Halloween and Jailyns Birthday party pics.!!!  I LOVE you all!!!  Take care!

P.S....

Jailyn lost her 2nd tooth on Saturday!!!  Unfortunately the tooth fairy took Saturday off ( JR was supposed to stay awake and put the $ under her pillow but he fell asleep).  She felt bad about being a day late though so Jailyn got another $5 for her tooth.  That darn Tooth Fairy!!!  hehehe!  That's all for tonight! I promise!!!  Love you guys!!!

Nat

Showing off her missing tooth!!  The other one is not going to be far behind!!

WICKED

Yesterday Jailyn, My Mom, Bonnie and I went to see WICKED at the Pantages Theater in LA as an early birthday present to Jailyn from JR and I.  It was GREAT!!!  I had already seen the show in NY back in December and LOVED it!!  When I got home I started playing the soundtrack in my car all the time and Jailyn being a quick auditory learner (like me) soon knew all the words to her favorite songs and which track they were on the CD.  She watched some clips I found on You Tube and really wanted to see the show.  So we bought her the tickets and they were WELL worth the $.  She LOVED it!!!  She spent almost the entire show in awe of what was going on on the stage.  She was lip singing her favorite songs and acting them out with hand and arm gestures.  After one of her favorite songs she started clapping enthusiastically with her hands high above her head in the air.  She even jumped to her feet at the end when the 2 main characters came out on stage.  I loved it this time in a very different way because I was loving it through her eyes, her expressions and her true excitement and joy for the experience.  It was a GREAT day!!!

Jailyn in her new outfit ready to go to the show!

Jailyn and I before the show

Jailyn, Auntie Bonnie and Grandma before the show

All of us at the Pantages

Jailyn and Auntie Bonnie inside the Theater

pics from the girls weekend

After a day of the family pass time SHOPPING!!!

All of us at dinner

Aunt Dawn Alicia and my Mom

Grandma and Aunt Debby

Me and Aunt Mary

JR's weekend

Well I thought I'd start this weeks update with a tale of how JR's weekend went without me.  On Friday he only had Marcus because Jailyn was with her friend (that I will get into in a minute too), so that went well he took Marcus to Chuck E Cheese to have dinner and play.  Saturday however he says from the minute she woke up Jailyn was being a brat and giving him attitude ( I don't know where that attitude problem comes from I tell you).  He got another break that afternoon because my sister and chad took them to a birthday party for a couple of hours.  He did have to feed them dinner that night but he just went out with some friends and their kids.  Sunday they stayed inside and around the house.  So it was a pretty uneventful weekend THANK GOD!!!  However when I walked in the 1st thing Marcus says to me is " Don't ever go anywhere with Grandma again.  I don't Like staying with Daddy.  He's bad."  The room wasn't clean and Marcus and Jailyn looked like they needed a bath but at least they were all in one piece!  Jailyn's attitude however seemed to be a constant problem.  I called my friend on Monday to see how she was with them at Disneyland on Friday.  Her exact response " She was a pain in the butt.  She didn't listen at all."  I was so embarrassed!!  I wanted to Kill her!!  So needless to say she's grounded until friday!!!

I had a good weekend!!  It was nice although a little nerve racking to be away from the kids and not have to deal with the day to day for a little while.  We went shopping on Saturday and I fit into (comfortably) a size 10 jeans!!!  I was a size 20 back in January when I started!!  I was soo excited that I was dancing in the hallway of the dressing rooms.  We also went and saw The Women it was a total chick flick!!  It was fun!!

 That's about it for now!!  I'm going to go get my camera then I'll post the pics from our girls weekend!  

PS  Wicked this Sunday we are sooo excited!!!!

Before I go...

Marcus in his Karate Gi

Jailyn in her mexico dress from auntie bonnie

marcus and leilani playing in the back yard

aren't they cute!!!

Just a quick update before I leave for a girls weekend at my grandmas.  I'm down another 1.4 lbs this week so I'm almost to 40 lbs. Only a 1/2 lb left to go!!!!  Jailyn is still having fun at school.  We started homework this week but it's stilll pretty much review from Kindergarten so we get it done pretty fast.  She's getting to be a really good reader (even though she claims she doesn't enjoy it) she reads about a chapter a day from her Junie B Jones book.  Marcus is doing well too.  He enjoys having Leilani around during the week to play with although we are having a few issues with sharing Mommy's time with another little kid.  But nothing bad!!!  That's about it I have to go finish getting everything ready for this weekend.  I pray that JR can handle them for the weekend by himself.  I've never left them with him this long before.  I have left him hour by hour instructions so hopefully he'll be fine!!!  YIKES!!!  

9/11

I was just reading a friends blog as she recounted her memory of this day 7 years ago and I thought I would write about mine.  I was 7 1/2 months pregnant with Jailyn and working as a receptionist at an Escrow company we were all just getting into the office when my boss ran in and turned on the tv in the break room and told us all to get in there a plane just crashed into the World trade center towers.  Like most I'm sure that watched it on TV I thought at first that it looked like some kind of action movie stunt not real life, but as I watched people jumping from windows hundreds of feet from the ground to save themselves it hit me this is REAL!  This country, our country, my country was being attacked in broad daylight in the most dramatic and visible way.  I remember thinking that this shouldn't be able to happen here.  We weren't living in some war torn 3rd world country this is the USA we were supposed to be unstoppable!!  We never left that back room that day all of us to stuck to the TV waiting to see what happened next and I think a little afraid to be alone.  I remember being soo scared for Jailyn this little Innocent child I was getting ready to bring into this world, thinking until that morning that I could keep her safe and realizing in that moment that was impossible.  I remember crying for those who were there or lost someone that day ( as I am right now while writing this) because I could not even imagine the pain for them so connected to it if mine so far away was this great.  

I was thinking of all these things just this morning in my car while dropping kids off at school.  A radio station was playing a country song written about 9/11 and I started to cry thinking about it again.  I thought to myself if 9/11 had never happened how would my life be different today I would still be driving kids to school and thinking about back to school night tonight but I wouldn't be crying in the car to God bless the USA on the radio and I wouldn't be fearful every time someone I love steps on a plane.  Those are just small effects but it goes to show that all of us no matter how far from NY that day 7 years ago changed us ALL!!  My prayers for safety, love and healing to you all and to everyone who was affected by 9/11 on this day especially we should all stop and think and pray!!!  All my love.

nat

Yeah!!....

So I went and weighed in again today and I'm VERY happy to say that I lost all but .4 of what I gained in the previous 3 weeks!!  I was down 4.2 lbs. today and am at a total of 38lbs total so far.  Although 38 is a # I have seen before I still feel better knowing I'm back on the right track!!!  So excuse me while I celebrate!!  YEAH ME!!!!  Now let's see how long I can keep this momentum going hopefully all the way until i"m down to my goal which is 138lbs.  I'm currently 166.6 lbs so that puts me at 26.6 lbs left to go!  Also I completed my first week as a working mom on friday!!  The little girl I watch is super sweet and really easy going.  She's even made marcus a better napper which I LOVE!!!  So far soo good and of course the little extra cash is always GREAT!!!!

Jailyn and Marcus are both good!!  Not much new going on with them.  Just getting into our back to school routine!!  We have Back to School night for Jailyn tomorrow and then the dreaded homework starts!!  AUGH!!!  Hopefully she won't put up a fight about doing it an it's stuff she can do pretty easily!!  Well that's it for now>  I don't have my camera near by so no new pics today.  Sorry!!  Love you all!!

nat

So feel free.....

.. to call, text, or email me and tell me to GET OFF MY LAZY BUTT whenever you want!!!!  I finally went into Weight Watchers for the 1st time in 3 weeks and faced the music on Wednesday night!!!  I was prepared for it to be bad news (although secretly I was hoping by some miracle that even after all the pigging out and no exercise of the past few weeks that I would get away with only gaining like a pound) so I wasn't too surprised when she said that I had gained 4.6lbs!!  YIKES!!!  Like I said before I'm just really loosing my motivation lately so Please don't hesitate to tell me to get my butt going!!  I'm half way there and i'm really struggling!!!  More to come at a later date!!!  Love you all!!!

nat

Jailyns First day of 1st grade!!!!

Jailyn in front before school

Jailyns new outfit!!!

Jailyn, Madi and Brooke before school

Jailyn at her desk

I just love this one of Marcus eating an Ice Cream bar after dinner the other night!!

Well she is officially a 1st grader now!!!  I can't believe how fast she has grown up!!!  She picked her outfit out a week ago when Auntie Tee Tee took her school clothes shopping.  She loves the leopard skirt and the belt!!!  We put her hair in sponge curlers last night so it would be curly this morning!!!  She looked soo cute!!!  She didn't want me to stick around in class again this year so I didn't get to hear much from her teacher but she seems really nice and back to school night is next week so I'll get to know her better then.  She said she had fun and that her teacher was really nice, so that's good and so far no homework yet!!  Yeah!!!! I start my new job tomorrow watching Leilani so I will let you all know how that is working out soon!!!