T-Ball & Chairs . . .

Last night Little Man had his first T-Ball practice...


We have both really been looking forward to this since they initially announced sign ups in December.


Then a couple weeks ago (right after "The Storm") I found out some news that made me LESS excited about the whole T-Ball thing... 
Drew's dad is coaching Drew's team.... BOO!!!!! 


It really isn't a huge issue or anything... 
It's just that for the last 6 years... 365 days a year... 
I have been the Mom.. completely in charge and with full knowledge of EVERYTHING going on in my son's life...
But now with him coaching, he is the one who gets informed about baseball and then has the responsibility to inform me and the rest of the parents.. (which already isn't going very well)

Drew is the one in the red helmet

Practice went ok... and hopefully things will only get better..

I loved watching my little monster hit the ball and run the bases... 

He's just the cutest little thing EVER (it's a fact, seriously, ask Obama)

But I do have two other issues... 

Drew & his uncle Danny

One: It was FREEZING out there.. brrrr!!!! 

and I do NOT do cold very well AT ALL... 

Two: The "coach" made his girlfriend the Team Mom..... 

(umm.. shouldn't you have to BE a MOM in order to be the team Mom??)

That's a whole different issue.. which for once I have chosen to just ignore.. instead of doing paperwork, bugging parents for money and being at every game early and staying late, I have the luxury of just being a Mom... showing up on time with my son, watching him play ball, then taking him home right after.... 

So now that T-ball has officially started, I am officially BUSY... 

with practices during the week, games every weekend and all the fund raising activities, we are BUSY.

But in a very good way... 

**In other news...

about a month ago, I saw this adorable wooden blue chair at the thrift store that I had to have.

When I first saw it I loved it, but I couldn't figure out where I would put it in our house, so I passed it up and moved on with my shopping...

About a week later I went back to the same shop and my little lovely chair was still there..,

So I knew it was meant to be, paid for her and brought her home.

I put the chair on my front porch since I still had no clue of where else I should put it.

After about a week I decided I liked my lovely new porch chair...

the only problem was that I now needed one for Drew (I can't sit out there all alone..)

Lucky for us we found a mini lovely chair at another thrift store a few days later...

Now I'm ok with them being different colors.. I like the contrast... 

However, the munchkin has other plans for HIS chair...

brace yourself..... 

Drew wants to paint MY his lovely chair RED. . .

Not happing buddy... Not on my watch... 

Picture-Less & Kid-Less Weekend

Another one of my LEAST favorite weekends... 
A weekend without my Drew... 


No kisses or cuddling...
No video games and ice cream...
No playing catch or chasing the dogs...
No little dances or hilarious LOOKS...


It was definitely a productive weekend.
Mom was here and we got the house (well, most of it) cleaned and organized..


Had dinner with my grandparents Saturday night..
Lunch Sunday with the Pizzo-Brackett family....
And did some very unnecessary shopping last night. 


Kid-less, but productive weekend...


Can't wait to pick my little munchkin up as soon as I get off work today!!
My arms are literally aching to hold my baby boy.


XOXO

Cleaning Weekend

Cleaning weekend has officially arrived...

Mom is on her way to my house as we speak... 

But this is no ordinary cleaning weekend...

This isn't simply laundry, sweeping, and dishes...

This is "Literally empty EVERYTHING out of the house, clean from top to bottom, and then put only the necessary stuff back" weekend.... 

I am not a fan of cleaning AT ALL.. not a little bit, not sometimes, not kinda-sorta... NOT AT ALL!!

But, this is also the present I asked my mom for for Christmas. 

See our little house has a story behind it, a few actually, but that's for another post... 

My house sits on my grandparents property, and is one of 8 houses that they own... they literally own the first 8 houses on our street.. it's kinda weird when I think about it like that, but it's been that way since before I was born, so I'm used to it. And Drew and I are lucky enough to rent our little 2 bedroom house from them and live right next door to my grandparents... 

Well before I moved in, my sister and her husband (at the time) lived there with my little nephew Justin. And before them, my mom rented the house. 

Ya.. I know.. 

Well when my mom first moved out, she was moving into a home that her then fiance owned and that house was already completely furnished, so my mom basically just packed up her clothes and a few extras and moved out... 

Leaving my sister to move into a pretty much fully furnished (towels, dishes, magazines, furniture.. the whole deal) house. Which was great for her since all she had to bring along were her clothes and my nephews stuff. 

Then in September of 2003 I moved into the house with my sister and her family (again, a whole different post)... and in October I gave birth to Drew... so now there were 5 of us living there.. more than a little cramped. 

Well my sister decided that marriage of hers just wasn't working for her so she ended that and sent her husband packing (YAY!!!)... and along came husband #2 (and father to my 2nd nephew). Once she found out she was pregnant with my 2nd nephew, she decided it was time to move out (since I was showing NO sign of getting my stuff together and getting out... hey, I was happy, Drew was happy, why  should I go anywhere?.. ya ya... I know... )...

 So my sister goes to move into her future husbands house and since his house is already fully furnished, once again everything except the clothes and my nephews stuff, got left behind. 

So in February 2005, I received a fully furnished house to rent…

Just Drew and I in our cozy little house…

Seriously, all that I brought into that house were my clothes and a few boxes of old stuff I wanted to keep, and of course everything that Drew owns has been purchased while living there.

Now, 5 years later, it’s time to clear out the old….. clean it up a bit (there’s actually a major remodel scheduled for my house this summer)… and try to avoid buying anymore new stuff that we really don’t need….

My new motto really should be “Save, Don’t Spend”… I highly doubt that will ever happen, but it’s worth a shot.

My mom comes into town this afternoon, and we will be tackling this huge project together. My mom is a professional cleaner and organizer by nature. I swear there is probably Pine-Sol and storage bins in her blood.

I hope you all enjoy a nice and relaxing weekend with your families…

While I spend mine sneezing from dust and sweating from emptying the never ending closet… all while trying not to miss my little monster too much…

XOXO

Field Trip Time

Wednesday Drew's class went on a field trip to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach and of course I went along. 

Drew had only been on a school bus once before (on last years dreaded kindergarten field trip)...

and Drew is not a fan of buses.... AT ALL...

So we start off our morning with him crying on the bus because he didn't want to go... 

and just as the bus is about to leave he decides to make one last try at a get-away and announce that he REALLY needs to go to the restroom... NOW.. (his entire class, including him, had just gone right before we got on the bus)

So I take him off the bus and into the restroom... (while 4 first grade classes are waiting on buses.. ya, we're THAT family)... 

About 10 minutes into the trip, he finally calmed down and pretty much accepted the fact that he was stuck and now officially going on a field trip... 

It was an hour and a half bus ride.... tons of traffic... with about 50 first graders on our bus... ya, tons of fun. I swear I must have heard "how much longer?" at least 289 times... two kids almost got car sick... and not a single one of them thought that actually staying in your seat was a good idea... 

But once we actually got there... gave the munchkins some lunch.. and brought them inside the aquarium, we had a good time. Of course they all loved everything they could touch. Sure the fish were neat to look at, but who wants to stare at a fish when you can touch a starfish?

Self portraits are ALWAYS necessary

This field trip was definitely an experience... 

There were kids every where... with their own little agendas, trying to take off in different directions, all wanting to look at different things... luckily they all managed to stay together and we didn't lose anyone..

Hopefully by next year my little angel will be used to the bus a little... 

or maybe we'll go on a field trip within walking distance... 

Lovely Weekend...

Such a good weekend with the love of my life... 


They say "Every day should be Valentine's day if you really love someone"... 
and I agree.. and am lucky enough to spend (practically) every day with the love of my life...


Saturday we got up bright and early to do something this little munchkin has been begging to do for over a year (ok, anyone that says I give this kid everything he wants is crazy..., it took a year of begging for me to break down and do this one)....


We went fishing.... 

We went to a local park that has a lake that's stocked with fish every week so I figured our chances would be pretty good... 

Now fishing or anything outdoorsy besides the beach just isn't my thing AT ALL... 

But Drew being the professional fisherman that he is (he's fished once with his dad about 6 months ago)...

decided he would take charge and handle it all. 

This kid is NOT the most patient child in the world... waiting just isn't fun when you're 6 (or 27 if you ask me)..  so he would throw his line out there, wait about 10 seconds, and reel it back in and do it again... over and over and over again.. for 3 hours straight.

Needless to say, we didn't catch anything... but we had a good time... 

Unfortunately for me Drew want's go back there again... probably more than once..

Sunday was Valentine's Day and I got to spend the morning with my 2 loves....

 

Drew and the Beach

It was such a beautiful day in Balboa... 

I absolutely LOVE the beach.. and after all the yucky rain and wind we've been having, it was the perfect place to be!

Now the weather was beautiful.. sunny and warm... 

the water, however; wasn't so nice.. it was freezing. 

But not to Drew.. that kid kept running in and out of there.. 

chasing waves and pretending he was a water bender (way too much of that Avatar cartoon in our house)... 

We went to the marina for lunch... and took a trip through the museum.... 

Our Valentine's dinner plans did not go as planned at all... but I promised Drew I'd make it up to him real soon (FYI: John's Incredible Pizza is the busiest place on Earth on Valentine's day).

Hope you all had a LOVELY weekend.... 

XOXO

The Storm of 2010

2010 has started off as a storm... 

First, there's the fact that there's actually been a few real storms here in typically sunny California...

Then there's the "Life Storm" that occurred....

and still hasn't fully gone away. 

I am not a fan of storms. I'm not a fan of rain AT ALL real or metaphorical.

2010 has brought some thunder... and not the good kind, boy do I miss the good kind some days..

I seem to have lost control in this storm... 

I'm a mom... a single mom... so I am used to having complete control 24/7/365...

Maybe 'Lost' isn't exactly the correct word for it.. 

The control has actually been taken from me... by horrible force...

This storm is draining me... 

physically, mentally and emotionally...

As much as I hate this stormy weather here in So. Cal.... it does seem to fit my life for the moment.

But just like every storm... the rain must come to an end...

and at the end of the rain, there is always a rainbow. 

Lucky for me, I get to hug and kiss my personal little rainbow on a daily basis...

This storm sucks... the real one and the metaphoric one... 

But my rainbow gives me a purpose..gives me hope..and more determination than any storm could ever possibly posses. 

There's no storm in the world that is stronger than the determination and undying love and devotion of a mother. 

Good luck storm... cause this Mama is just getting started at fighting back. 

Tooth Fairy

Last night I got to be the Tooth Fairy for the first time ever.... 

This stubborn little tooth had been loose for 5 months!!

I knew the thing was ready to fall out any time now... and I was worried that it would fall out the next day at school and I'd miss the whole big event so I told Drew to just pull it out. 

He played with it for awhile.. wiggling it in every direction he could.. and then finally, with a little tug, my baby's first tooth came out. 

He was pretty surprised... didn't really know what to think.. but he was so proud of himself for being the one to pull it out because Mom was already threatening to get the pliers..

Congratulations Drew!!!

And after the tooth was safely placed under his pillow... 

and my baby bear was fast asleep.... 

came the hard part... Tooth Fairy Time!!

Normally it wouldn't be such a big deal, just slip in when the kids asleep and take the tooth and leave some cash.... 

but no... not in our house.

Drew sleeps with our too little chihuahuas Frankie and Brady...

And Brady likes to bark whenever he hears a noise or sees anything or anyone (even ME) at night.

So as soon as he heard me come close to the room, he starts yapping.. LOUD.. 

luckily the little man didn't wake up and I was able to complete the mission.

The tooth fairy left $5.00 for this tooth... Drew was pretty excited... but then asked if he could pull Frankie's teeth out so he can get more money... awww... gotta love how the 6 year old mind works! 

First Time For Everything

Last weekend was Drew's first trip up the mountains to the snow.

We weren't exactly dressed properly ... but we had a blast. 

It was a great day up at Canyon Ridge Lake and we plan on going back there very soon.