Beach

So on Friday Jailyn played hookey from school and we went to the beach.  Of course Friday it decided to be cloudy, cold & overcast, but I had been telling the kids we would go to the beach all week so we went for a couple hours.  I didn't think they would want to go in the water because it was cold outside but they did!  Jailyn ( my little fish) was stripping down to her bathing suit while she ran across the sand to the water & she didn't leave the water until we left 2 hours later.  Marcus was a little afraid at first so I held his hand while we stood just to our ankles in the water.  The water was actually really warm & he eventually let go of my hand & started running around in the water.  They both had a great time.  

Every time I go to the beach I think of my dad.  Especially sitting there watching the kids play & splash in the water, laughing & smiling, because that was one of his favorite places.  It's hard to believe it's been 10 years since he's been gone.  I'm still not to that place where April 22nd(the day he died) passes me by without a thought of what that day is but this year I didn't remember until the day before & with every year the memory of that day hurts a little less.  His birthday is coming up on the 16th of June, maybe we will make another trip to the beach that day!

Love you all!!!

Nat

KIDS......

UUUGGHHH!!!!  Oh my god kids can be sooo frustrating!!!  Don't get me wrong I LOVE my kids!!  BOTH of them despite what Jailyn says but she is sooo much like me I want to scream!!!  She's 7 going on 17 and she has such a sassy little attitude & she's too smart for her own good!!  She was grounded for a week for lying to my face 3 days in a row about her room being clean and when she finally gets off on Saturday it only took her a whole 24hrs to get grounded AGAIN!!  This time it was for her manipulation of her brother.  First we were in the car & hte kids were watching a movie, well Jailyns headphones were out of batteries so she (knowing her brother does just about anything she asks) suggests ever soo sweetly to Marcus "Hey lets trade headphones!!  That'll be fun!!" Of course he does and she just smiles away while she lets him take the dead headphones like she did nothing wrong!!  Marcus of course figured it out right away & was pissed but of course he didn't learn from that.  So the next morning when Jailyn tells Marcus he should go wake up Daddy @ 7 am on Sunday to make her breakfast he happily does!  well JR reluctantly gets up & makes them eggs & bacon but when Marcus goes upstairs without eating ( because he wasn't hungry he doesn't like to eat that early) JR yells @ him telling him that if he woke him up he was going to eat!!  Marcus comes sobbing upstairs to me to explain( of course this WHOLE time Jailyn sits there letting Marcus get in trouble knowing it was her idea to wake him up).  So needless to say she was grounded AGAIN until Wednesday! It's been almost 2 whole days without being grounded!!!  I wonder how long she will last?!?  Believe me I know Marcus is NOT perfect!!  He gets in his fair share of trouble too but this blatant manipulation and even get me started on the MOUTH!!!  It just hits sooo close to home that the whole what goes around comes around saying seems to be really ringing in my ears as of late!!  All I have to says is: 

1) God help Jailyn if she has a daughter!!

&

2) I continue to have a new found appreciation for all the CRAP my mom put up with from me!!

That's all my venting for now!!!

NAT

I'm a slacker...

as my dear Speck pointed out to me I have been slackin on the posts.  So here we go.

- Easter & spring break.  We had Easter at our house this year again.  It was not however without drama ( what family get together ever is).  It started when about 3 weeks before Easter when we were TOTALLY broke(what else is new) that our oven stopped working.  We had a guy come look at it & he said he couldn't fix it.  Well I managed to get by cooking with the stove top which still worked ,the crock pot & my new George foreman but I was not going to be able to cook the ham in any of those so it was now the Thursday before Easter and we had to go buy a new oven.  Thankfully it came in time and it worked!!!  Then of course there was an incident with my mother in law and my aunt which resulted in my aunt driving all the way back to hemet after she just got to my house and from what I hear she's still mad at me!!!  UHGGGG!  But despite the drama & the economic difficulties of the Easter bunny we had a good day. We ate, the kids played with my cousins and as far as I could tell everyone who was there had a good time.  We went to my Grandmas in Desert Hot springs for 2 days and of course we went on the 2 days that it was 50 degrees outside so the kids couldn't go swimming :(  The day after we got back we went to Legoland with my mom.  It was perfect weather for that place.  Sunny but not to hot!!  The kids LOVE that place!!  It was crowded because it was spring break but the longest line we waited in was 45 mins. the rest went pretty fast & we got on everything we wanted to do.  Marcus is finally tall enough to get on all but 2 rides now so he had a blast!!!  It was a busy spring break but it was fun!!!

-Angels game with Daddy!!!

So as I've mentioned before most Thursday nights are "Mommy's Night Off".  I leave when JR gets home and he usually takes the kids to eat then they come home get ready for bed & watch TV.  Well Last week JR came home and told the kids to get ready to go he was taking them to an Angels game.  Needless to say I was a little shocked!!  He didn't have free tickets or anyone going with him, he was just going to the game by himself with the kids!!!  I was soo proud of him for making the effort especially since I knew the kids would get bored after the 1st 1/2 hour and would be constantly asking for everything!!  Which they did but it was a good memory for them and it was free hat night so they all got Angels baseball hats!!!

-Mothers Day

This year mothers day was Bonnies birthday too so we combined the 2 celebrations.  We originally were going to go to dinner at a restaurant but every place was going to be packed so we decided to do dinner @ my moms house instead.  It was mothers day so my mom & I didn't want to cook & since it was her birthday neither did bonnie which left it to the guys so.... BBQ it was!!!  We ate & had homemade strawberry shortcakes for desert & just hung out.  The kids played football in the front yard with Bonnie & Chad.  It was a nice relaxing day!!  I got to sleep in until 10 am, JR brought Jailyn to her church class and brought me breakfast in bed back!!  I also got a massage GC!!!  Massages, Good Food & Sleeping in!!  Mother's day ROCKS!!!!

-Jailyns Play

Well after 3 months of rehearsals and constant singing in the house from the time she got up until she went to bed Jailyn finally had her performances. She was in 7 shows over the 2 weekends 5 of them as her "lead" part as a daisy.  At first I was worried going into the 1st week of shows because she had rehearsal until 9pm every night that week, then a show Friday & Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.  Then the next weekend she had a show Friday Morning & Friday night.  Saturday afternoon & Saturday night!!  But she never did anything but smile and dance & sing.  She just LOVED it!!!  She would leave after the shows @ 10pm and she would be talking a mile a min and just on cloud nine!!!  We are hoping to be able to afford to sign her up for the summer show because she wants to do it, but like everything Jailyn does it's a little pricey.  :(

Well I think this is long enough for today!!  Be sure to check out the posts below this one because I posted like 4 of just pictures!!! I will TRY to be back soon!!  Love you all!!!

nat

Jailyn's Play Alice in wonderland.  She was a bee, a card & a flower

Playing football on Mothers day!!!

Angels game with Daddy on Mommy's night off!!  He thought of it all by himself folks!!!

Spring Break 09- GG's house & legoland

Easter 09 our house