Good Bye 2009

It's been fun... really.. 
we've had some issues this year (which we won't get into)...
but overall, it's been a good year...


A little Christmas re-cap.....

opening my necklace from Drew

furthering his obsession...

Christmas morning with the love of my life..

my gift to the king of the world...

playing games.. the perfect end to a great day... 

From our family to yours.. Happy New Year!!

Getting Ready for Christmas. . .

one of our favorite traditions...

decorating our little tree. . .

Stocking time. . .

gotta have gingerbread men. . .

tree decorating at Molles Manor . . 

time for ornaments . . .

the naughty boy giving Santa his list . . .

80 at 27

So I've decided that even though I've technically been 

alive for only 27 years,

I am actually about 80... if not older

Over the last 6 years I've realized that my need for sleep is HUGE...

anything less than 8 hours and I'm miserable..

useless.. cranky.. sore.. tired.. and somehow restless.

About 99% of the time, Drew and I are in bed at 8:00pm..

 if not a few minutes before

(yes, both of us... together.. in my bed...that's a whole different blog)

We climb into bed, read a story, then it's time for a little

 "Roseanne" or "Golden Girls" while I tell Drew about 

50 times to close his eyes and go to sleep...

Then around 9:00 I actually fall asleep...

and I'm not up again until 6:00-ish... 

5:50 if I don't hit the snooze button a few times

I love to sleep... 

I love just laying in my nice warm bed

with the best blankets ever watching TV..

I love being lazy...

I highly doubt this is what other 20-something single mothers 

are doing on a daily basis...

but who cares?... not me!!

But what officially makes me 80 instead of 27, 

is the fact that not only do I do this on nights when 

Drew is home.. 

but it's also the same thing I do when he's

at his dad's for the night... 

or for the whole weekend...

80's really not so bad... 

wonder what it'll be like to be 90..

Grandma Went M.I.A.

Last night at 9:37 my phone rings....

My frantic grandpa is on the other end 
saying my grandma is missing...

After almost an hour of searching... 
(the police and all 10 of her children were notified
 and came rushing over)
we found her...

Sound asleep on one of the 10 couches they have in the "Big Room".

**Yes, my grandpa checked that room even before he called me.....

So if anyone knows where I can buy "Grandparent Low-Jack"

I'd really appreciate the info. . . .

Sick Days

Little man has been sick for the last couple days.... 
Migraines... upset stomach... fever.... and minimal energy (until last night when he danced to about 5 MJ songs and demanded to be recorded through his entire "performance"... yes, he's a DIVA..)

*please excuse the bad photo quality, it's from my phone

During our last couple days of staying home, our activities have included the following:

*endless movies

*brownies (a proven remedy... kinda)

*snuggly time with the best blankets ever

*a trip to the doctor

*gatorade

*2 crazy puppies

*a trip to the park.... ya, i know

*a trip to Toys R Us... if that doesn't cure a kid, I don't know what will

*a very adorably hilarious MJ performance by my little Diva

*and adding to his ever growing Christmas list....... 

 It is November 6th and my son's two page Christmas list now contains 32 items..

 I'm debating just wrapping up my credit card for him for Christmas... 

Moving Forward...

The time for change has come.... 


But first, here is an adorable picture of my little monster on Halloween.

Drew was with his dad this year for Halloween so I didn't actually get to see him... *Heart broken Mama over here* but I  was sent a couple pictures. Drew wanted to be a werewolf from the "Thriller" video for Halloween. Sure the make up was cool.. and having hair glued to his face was neat... but the only thing he kept talking about was the fact the he was gonna have the jacket... boy did he want that jacket. 
I missed my little man on Halloween.. but I'm glad he had a great time. 


***** Now, in other news.......


I've decided to move forward...
Now I completely dread cleaning.. of any form.. so I avoid it at all costs...
however; the time has come for some mental and emotional "house" cleaning.

I took the time to do some reflecting..and over thinking.. this last couple weeks.. 
I realized that since I had Drew six years ago I had changed a lot in my life...
I changed a lot about the way I lived and the way I thought.. and surely, the way I felt...


But I also realized that I hadn't changed enough...
in one way in particular, I was still the girl I was at 19... and I don't want to be anymore..


I chose a way of life.. a way I would interact in most relationships I had with people in my life... and it worked for me.. at that point in my life.. and even for the last 5 years or so.... 


but not anymore.


I want to move forward... 
now I'm not even sure of exactly what I mean by that... but for starters, it means removing people from my life that will prevent me from becoming the person.. the mom.. the woman.. that I want to be.

There is one person that I knew I had to start with... all the rest would be easier.. 


This man had been a part of my life for almost 8 years... he's played a role that couldn't possibly ever be named... maybe that's because it was more like 15 or 20 roles... but to me it was one.
This is a good man... with a good heart... 
He allowed me to be myself... always.. encouraged me to find myself.. learn more.. be completely honest at all times... not once did he ever try to hold be back from what I wanted or needed.


We both chose to lead lifestyles that were untraditional and went against what most of our friends and families believed. . . it's what connected the two of us though.


I don't have a single negative word to say about this man.. however; this is because I believe that people treat you how YOU let them.... and this is the reason for my need to remove him from my life.
He's played the role that I've allowed him to ... the role I asked him to play... but I no longer need someone to play THAT role in my life... and unfortunately there's no way he could play any other. 
That was his role... 

Change is never easy... this one certainly hasn't been.... but necessary and easy don't always go hand in hand... 

So I'll be moving forward.... and cleaning house... *not literally, let's not get carried away here

I'm looking forward to this new life... waiting to see what's behind the next door in life I choose to open.

4 INCHES.... YA RIGHT!!

I am an extremely low maintenance chick...


I don't get my nails done anymore . . . 
I don't go the the tanning salon. . . 
My shoe collection consists of about 5 pairs of flip-flops, a pair of tennis shoes, 2 pairs of FAKE Uggs, and a couple pair of slippers. . .
I rarely buy new clothes for my self ( I'd rather buy cute stuff for Drew)... and when I do it's always something cheap from Target or Khols. . . 
and last but not least... I hardly ever get my hair cut. . . 


But there is another reason, besides being low maintenance, for the lack of hair maintenance.... 


I absolutely LOVE having long hair. . . .

Not that I ever actually do anything with it.... it's never really "styled"... rarely do I put the effort into curling it. . . honestly, majority of the time it starts out down and straight, and about 10 minutes later it's pulled half back.... then about an hour later it's all pulled up into a big mess in the back of my head.. or a ponytail. . . because I hate having my hair touch my face... ever . . .

So since it was just getting a bit too long... I decided it was time to trim it... maybe even CUT it a little. . 

Last night I was finally brave enough to go to the butcher  hair stylist. . . BIG MISTAKE!!!! 

I explained my hair issues to her (I've seen the same "hair chick" before about 3 or 4 times) . . and then she pulls up her records and says "it's been 31 weeks since you've last been in"... um, ok.. what does that have to do with anything?... she says the average time between haircuts should be 8 weeks.... 

Well, in my opinion, twice a year is just fine . . . I LOVE my hair long!!!

So I ask her how much she absolutely NEEDS to take off to get rid of the damaged and split ends... 

she says about 3 inches, but she'd like to cut 4 since I go so long between cuts. . . . 4 inches

I agree . . and let her get to work... practically holding my breath the entire time... seriously... 

and when she was done I stood up, grabbed a hand mirror and turned around... 

now I knew I wasn't gonna be happy... trimming my hair at all bothers me, so I was already prepared for disappointment... however; I was not prepared to be shocked. . .

4 inches... does that look like 4 inches to you????

Now I haven't been brave enough to actually measure it. . . until now. . . give me a sec..... 

in my weird, random, ruler down the back of my head, measuring technique... I just came up with about 10 inches.... 10 freakin inches!!!! ok, in her defense my measuring technique may not be 100% accurate, but you get the picture

I now officially have short hair. . . . 

Boo =(

Randomness

The last couple weeks have been a bit chaotic for us, with Drew's birthday and all. . . 


And as much as I love my baby's birthday.. I sure am glad it's over and I've got another year before we have to go through the chaos again. 

This weekend we did some family stuff and just tried to relax....

Drew built a "monster" at Lowe's. . . watching a 6 year old use a hammer and nails is always entertaining. . . but I have to admit, he's pretty good.. no injures so far . . .

Then we went to "Village Venture" in Claremont for the first time (it usually falls on the day we have Drew's birthday party, but since I'm a bad mom this year, we were free to go)... 

And that night we went to "Avon Bingo" at Doreen's. . .

(My little multi-tasker decided to try to play his DS and Bingo at the same time...)

It was a good night with family and great food...

And Sunday we rested....

We stayed in our PJ's till noon watching cartoons and playing with the puppies...        

the only time we left the house was to go watch "Where the Wild Things Are" (BIG mistake... scared Drew... Big Time)...

When we came home we got back into our PJ's.... played some video games... gave the dogs a bath.. and continued resting... we spent the night watching Spiderman on the couch with the best blankets ever.. and the puppies....

It felt SOOO good to do nothing after weeks of doing EVERYTHING....

But now it's back to normal.. ever day chaos... but I love it..

***This week I've decided it's finally time for a haircut... I absolutely LOVE my long hair.. but after seeing this picture I realize it's gotten a bit out of control.... Hopefully tomorrow I'll be brave enough to let the hair lady take off a couple inches... or maybe just an inch.... 

6 years...

Yesterday was my baby's birthday . . .


My little man is officially 6. . . .

This years birthday was different for us in a few ways. . . .

Due to the severe lack of funds in our house, we won't be having a traditional "party". . .

Instead we took cupcakes to daycare on Tuesday for a "party" there. . . 

And yesterday I woke my baby up at exactly 6:26am (the time he FINALLY came into this world) and he ate a birthday doughnut in bed. . .

I took the day off and spent the day in his classroom with him, also taking cupcakes for a little

 "party" there. . . 

Unfortunately I had to share the day with his dad, so after school I dropped him off there. . . 

(and you can only begin to imagine what a miserable night I had without my little man on his birthday)

And tomorrow night we will celebrate his birthday with a couple of his friends and their mom's at Chuck E. Cheese. . . 

Drew... I want to thank you for giving Mommy the best six years of my life... 

I was on this earth 21 years before giving birth to you, but not a single second of life before you even matters. My life began on October 21, 2003 at 6:26 am in that hospital room in Fullerton, when the placed my 7 lb. 6 oz. incredibly amazing baby boy into my arms...

You are my Son.. my moon.. and my stars... and I am so proud of the wonderful person you are becoming. You have Mommy's attitude and eyes... and you completely have my heart.

I love you my son... Happy Birthday baby boy...

In 6 Days . . .

In 6 days. . .

I will be the mother of a 6 year old. . .

Time sure flies when you're holding the 

love of your life in your arms. . . 

**Please excuse the HORRIBLE picture quality... these are old pictures of pictures.. 

It's Raining.. It's Pouring..

OK, so it's not technically pouring...

but it's officially raining in Southern California...

and surprisingly I'm not complaining yet. . .

See, the thing is, I HATE the rain.

It's cold.. it's wet.. 

I've never been a fan of the rain (I'm a summer girl, through and through)

but for some reason it's not bugging me too much.. yet

Maybe because we had such a freakin HOT summer...

I've actually been enjoying the cooler temperatures lately..

However, I could do with out the rain.. 

 If we didn't actually NEED the rain, I'd be ok if it never rained again.

Sounds like LIFE to me...

This last week and a half has been filled with ... well, I don't really even know what to call it.

Chaos.. sadness... hope... laughs... frustration.. dirt... and kids

This adorable little angel is Mr. Anthony... a child that I would LOVE to adopt... 

His mother is going through some difficulties in life and so this little man is currently staying with 

a friend of mine... but I would love to make him mine.

He looks just like my munchkin did at that age... and he's such a sweet kid that deserves so much

better than he's been given in life so far... 

So the week started with some sad family news that I won't discuss in order to avoid the guaranteed tears that would come from it... 

Then we stumbled upon Anthony's situation and dove right in to help out.... 

There has been ZERO cleaning done in over a week.... and the 2 terror dogs are continuing to tear things apart.. apparently they're under the impression I enjoying cleaning up their disasters.

Upon finding this adorable new apron from Drew, we decided baking was in order... 
A friend of mine was in town from Virginia for the weekend so that required a trip to the dreaded AV to stay at my sisters and visit the friend's family... 

After sitting in traffic for 3 hours, we make it to the AV just in time to watch the last 10 minutes of my nephews baseball game, then head over to my sisters.... 

When my 2 nephews and my son get together there is always tons of fun... yelling and some tears.. 

The boys showed off their costumes... but some how bad Auntie only managed to get pictures of my little man dressed up in some gladiator armor... 

The next morning we took the kids to Lowe's to build a little project... that didn't take nearly long enough... so with the extra time I squeezed in a very unnecessary trip to Target... 

We went back home and let the kids be kids and play outside for a few hours while Sis and I took a much needed nap....

And that night I finally got to see my bestest old friend Ms. Tem.... (how I forgot to take any pictures of her and I is beyond me...)

Sunday morning we went out to Vasquez Rocks... one of the munchkin's favorite places on earth....

We did some rock climbing.... and by that I mean the kids climbed, I whined and complained about the weather and the fact that I was doing something physical, and my mom, sister's husband, and the kids uncle tried to keep up with the kids and make sure they didn't tumble off a cliff... 

***I am an EXTREMELY protective mom... so you can imagine how crazy I was while the munchkin is running around climbing everything in sight without the slightest bit of fear.. I swear he was on a mission to give me a heart attack... 

After the horrendous Rock Climbing adventure... we ended up at a pumpkin patch (after much begging from Sis)... 

So we wandered through pumpkins.... strolled through the corn maze.... ate some junk food ... 

and checked out the scarecrows... 

And then finally, once Sis had satisfied her need to experience Fall, Drew and I were allowed to go home... 

It was a good end to an eventful week.... I was exhausted.. but the munchkin had a great time and I got to see my crazy nephews that I don't see nearly as much as I'd like to... 

Now let's see what we can get into this week.... 

who knows, something might actually get cleaned in the house.... but I won't hold my breath

Wordless Wednesday

My Nephews.. Jake & Justin

I've Decided . . .

I've decided it's time....

Time for me to win the Lottery. 

This whole Monday through Friday, office job thing just isn't cutting it anymore.

I've got MUCH better things to do with my day. 

There is soooo much shopping out there to be done. 

There are clothes, picture frames, toys, sandals, and gadgets that

are just waiting for me to buy them. .

 but I can't since I'm stuck in this office. . . .

Oh, and because I'm not rich!

and then there's that poor beach. . . .

just sitting there waiting for me to come and lay on it's nice warm sand. . .

and get burnt tan in the nice warm sun. . .

before cooling off in the filthy ocean water . . . 

How can I possibly spend enough quality time with myself nature if I'm stuck in a boring office all day?

This is definitely a tragedy.

And let's not forget the Betty Crocker thats dying inside me... 

there's not nearly enough time in my day as the district administrator "office chick" to bake all of the cookies, muffins, 5 tier cakes, crepes, bread and brownies that my little handles are capable of producing. 

I've got a recent apron obsession that is just going to turn into a collection since I don't have the time to put them to use at their full potential.

And last... but certainly not least... and actually the VERY most

 important reason for my need to win the lottery..... 

Quality time with the love of my life. . . 

I'd love to walk my son to his classroom every morning instead of

 dropping him off at daycare...

I want to volunteer in his classroom 3 days a week, be president

 of the PTA, and be there for every field trip....

I want to pick my son up from school everyday so he doesn't have to go to daycare.. again.. 

I want to be able to have the maid clean the house while Drew's at school so we can have more time to play when he comes home...

I want to be able run errands while Drew's being a little first grade genius so that he     doesn't  have to go from place to place with me after school...

I want to be able to get his homework done with him by 4:00 so that he can help me make dinner instead of throwing in a frozen pizza because I don't have time to cook...

I want to be a mom... full time.. 24/7... 365... 

not an office chick that does her best to be both...