I KNOW you all needed a good laugh.....

Last week it was Trevor's birthday. He turned 7. What he wanted most was for me to make Penguin cupcakes. Piece of cake, right?

So you would think that this:

plus this:

would equal this. Right? Right? Don't they look beautiful? I did an awesome job on these wonderful little penguins!

Just kidding, these penguins are mine. Go ahead, laugh, I did. I called them my poor, pathetic penguis. I warned Trevor that they weren't what he was expecting.

Hey, I tried. I guess, sometimes that is all that matters.

I just hope the kid realizes that I don't have a creative bone in my body and that we should leave this kind of thing to the professionals.

Hope you got your daily dose of laughing!

Happy Birthday Trevor!

Seven years and counting. It is hard for me to realize 7 years ago you were just a little peanut of a baby. You were such a small baby compared to your brother. Sweet, innocent, laid back. A good baby that was happy just being. The first 7 weeks were stressful, we all thought you might need a blood transfusion. Lucky for us all you began to make your own red blood cells and all was good.

Watching you grow, become your own little person, and gain autonomy has been fun, exciting, challenging and very eventful. You went from being completely dependent to an independent little boy. You have grown by leaps and bounds, mentally, physically, and emotionally. I hope that you continue to discover how special you are and how much I love you.

I love it when you surprise me with a kiss or a hug. I love it when you blow me a kiss on the sly, with the hopes that no one else will see you minus your tough guy exterior. It always amazes me how sensitive you truly are, you tend to show the rest of the world how tough and together you are. I just want you to know it is okay to be the sensitive person you are, it's okay if others see your sensitivities....after all that helps make you Trevor.

Happy Birthday Trevor!

Summer is Officially Over

Our tomato harvest party is over, which means that summer is also officially over. ;-(

We (Julia and I) picked these little gems for some tasty salsa.

Julia had the job of making the salsa. She made fire roasted (left), green zebra (top), salsa fresca (right), and a mango-peach salsa (right). They were all very GOOD! Go harass her for the recipes.

Some sliced watermelon. Those didn't last too long. I didn't get pictures, but on the menu we had:
beef and chicken kabobs
2 kinds of pasta salad
fruit salad
rice salad
grilled veggies
possibly more that I am forgetting right now

A bounce house for all the kids. There were about 20 kids here. They all had a BLAST. I don't think mine even stopped to eat dinner.

Julia and Rose, 2 of the Chief Cooks and Bottle Washers.

A shot of some of the crowd. There were more, but they were scattered.

The kids hamming it up for the camera and ready for war. Notice the water balloons aimed at the camera.

Dessert menu:
chocolate cupcakes with butter cream frosting

To Die For Peanut butter cup cookies. I am not allowed to make these unless it is a special occasion. The Tomato Harvest Party counted as a special occasion. (Sadly I will eat them all if I make them any other time.)

Heath Bar, caramel cheese cake (which was the talk of the desserts) and a Key Lime Pie that disappeared before I could get a picture.

Women in aprons!

Grubby little boy feet after a long hard day of play.

Fun was had by all. Our bellies were stuffed full and we are all looking forward to next year's Tomato Harvest Party!

Back to School

Summer is officially over. Today is the first day of school. Luke is in 3rd grade, Trevor is in 2nd, and Adam is starting Kindergarten *sniff, sniff*. Holy smokes.....all 3 kids in school!

Can you tell how thrilled Luke is? He isn't too excited about school starting up, but was even less thrilled that I had to document the first day.

Having them all in school is bittersweet. It means less time hanging out and more time away from home. I am not looking forward to getting up early, fixing lunches, rushing the kids out the door, but at the same time it is good to start school. It is so hard to believe that all of them will be in school. I just hope they all do well and enjoy the year.



What will I do with my time you ask? Well, first thing is to finish cleaning my house and getting the surrounding outside area neat as a pin. We are expecting about 50ish people on Saturday for our Tomato Harvest Party. I also need to do the shopping for the food Julia and I are preparing and then the actual preparation of our menu items. Then I will finally be able to train, really train for the 1/2 marathon in October.....oh, excuse me 2 1/2 marathons I have in October.

The onset of school makes life busy, busy, busy!

Heart Attack

I got a Heart Attack! One of my first bloggy friends sent me a Heart Attack. She is sew talented and I am lucky to get to know her, even if it is one post at a time. Aunt Spicy is a very talented quilter and creator of other sewables. After all she made me this out of her much loved Jennifer Paganelli:



Thank you so much Aunt Spicy. I love reading about your adventures and seeing your completed projects. I love that I get to know a little about you every time I read one of your posts. So next time you are in California be sure to stop by!

Have you seen a Zebra?

Oh, there she is!

Today I am joining The Apron Goddesses with "Aprons, Aprons Everywhere". Here I am enjoying my much neglected cruiser. As you can see it is also pink and black....there is just something about those two colors that remind me of my childhood. Oh, that's it, I had a pair of pajama's this color for years. When one pair wore out my mom would magically have another pair for me. I LOVED them. So when I saw this apron at Carolyn's Kitchen I just HAD to have it.

So come on, join the fun and show us what your apron is doing!

We Went to the Circus

Remember a few days ago I was in limbo? It was all about a trip to Pismo....our last trip for the summer since school starts next week. Well we went on a trip, but we ended up at the circus. After driving for, what seemed like half the day, this is what we found (I took the picture on our way out):

So once we realized that our few days away was going to be a very short afternoon and a long drive home we went into the dunes for a ride.

This is what we saw. There were campers, trucks, sand rails, quads, dirt bikes, tents, etc. from the lower parts of the sand highway all the way to the water front at high tide.

As far as the eye could see it was "wall to wall' organized chaos.

As if riding around in the dunes and making space for your own track with in the confines of caution tape (to claim your personal territory) weren't enough, someone brought in a Bounce House.

This guy was out to make a buck. His truck has the capability to pump out fresh water , pump out water from holding tanks, sell ice, and sell some fire wood. Who needs to go to town when you have someone like that?


Yep, this tow truck was busy too. We saw him and his compadres coming and going, towing trucks out of the place. I wonder how many axles, drive lines, etc. broke down this weekend. You can't read it, but it said Tonka on the front fender. That was the main reason I took the picture. The boys thought it was the coolest ever.

Pismo also had a very large section of beach closed off, which is why everyone appeared to be on top of each other. They are trying to save these two birds, one is the Snowy Plover and the other I can't remember. Apparently they are on the endangered list and lay their eggs in the sand.

As you can see, fun was had by all. Luke and Trevor were busy running their Tonka's through the water.

Adam was busy jumping waves.

This is the sunset we witnessed before we pulled out to head home. The boys had it easy, they got to sleep. Jeff and I? We were up til past 1 AM. I was tired.

I Heart Faces - Silly Faces

I have been stalking I Heart Faces for a while now. I thought this week would be a great week to enter a photo. It is all about silly faces. This is when we brought home some new chicks. Adam wanted to hold one and she started to flap her wings in his face.

Just a Rant

I live in limbo. What does that mean? It will be interesting to see if I can explain it in such a way for you to completely understand.

Jeff's birthday is Saturday.......oh, that's tomorrow. He has told the boys we will be going to Pismo for the weekend starting today. Well, this evening. That means we drive at night when the kids are tired and set up camp. Okay, I can deal with that. Then I hear "Dad says we aren't going til tomorrow." So what is it? Are we going today? Are we going tomorrow? Are we going at all? The answer I get is "Plan on going, but if it doesn't happen, then it doesn't happen."

Great get the kids hopes up and then just obliterate them. Meanwhile I don't know whether I should pack or not. I get "Go ahead and pack and then if we don't go you can just unpack." Just what I want......more work.

Right now he is working on a trailer for all the dirt bikes....that's great.....at least it will be ready IF. WE. GO. In his mind it was something he had to do anyway, so why not act like we are going to Pismo - a reason to get it done. AAAARRRRRGGGG!!!!

It is obnoxious that my social life is held in the balance of his schedule. I can't totally blame him for this, the company he is working for at the moment calls him day to day to let him know if he is needed. It. Is. Still. Frustrating.

To make matters worse, Trevor can't find his beloved dog and Adam has told him that he hid the dog. Trevor is getting belligerent with Adam and harassing him about finding his dog. He is also wandering around the house crying that he can't find the dog and trying to strong arm me into finding the dog. For 7 years I have kept tabs on this little guy and I am at a loss. He is miserable right now and will be worse for the wear if we can't find him before the alleged Pismo trip. What to do? Not sure. Maybe I should leave all the boys home and I go to Pismo. Alone.

16 Days...

It's almost time. The summer has flown by in the blink of an eye. Hard to believe the boys are one grade older, one grade wiser, and one grade cuter.

Luke will be going into 3rd, Trevor into 2nd, and Adam will start Kindergarten. They are all a little excited, but very nervous. We still don't know who their teacher's will be and I think it is giving them a little anxiety. I know they will do well and adjust to their new teacher. It will all work out. My boys are growing......oh so fast. I am trying not to blink, if I do I fear they will be 18 and out of my hair.