Last night

Was weird. And sad. And scary. And makes me a little angry too.
Let me get to it...
So, it's about 8:30/quarter to 9, my kids are in bed and I'm sitting at my dining room table scrapping. It's a nice night so I have my front windows open. All of a sudden I hear a little voice saying "Daddy! Daddy!" It was playful sounding at first. I thought maybe someone was playing hide and seek. But then again the voice was really little. I hear it again. " Daaaaaadddy! Daddy!" I had the thought run through my mind to get up and investigate. But I didn't. I sat in my chair and continued what I was doing. (feeling really guilty about this now) Certainly a little person would not be outside at 9 o'clock at night alone....would they? I can kind of see the street from where I'm sitting and all seems quiet. I didn't hear the little voice anymore and I figured all was well.
About 20 or 30 minutes later there is a knock on my back door...my garage door. I had left the garage door open so the turkeys could have some fresh air. It's not too unusual to have someone knock on my back door around here. We're all pretty friendly neighbors and I thought it was just my neighbor, Mike coming to tell me the garage door was still open. Well, I open the door and to my surprise there is a police officer standing there. My first thought was oh snap. we're gettin busted for having 18 farm animals inside our garage. Yeah the turkeys are still here. But that's another story, for another day. "uh..hi.", I said. "Hi. Do you have kids?" the officer says. "ummm yeah", I say. I'm thinking did Jake leave all his toys in the middle of the street or something? What's going on?? "Are you missing one?", the officer says, "a little girl?" My heart skipped a beat. "no, my kids are both in bed", I say. He asked me if I knew my neighbors very well and asked if I knew anyone with a little girl. It was all starting to click in my head now. That little voice I'd heard earlier wasn't someone playing hide and seek. That little girl was lost. My heart sank. Everyone I know on our street has boys. Lots and lots of boys. And the girls I did know were old enough to find their way home. The officer asked me to walk down to the corner to see if I recognized the girl. There were 2 police cars, a security vehicle and about 20 of my neighbors all standing around gocking at her. I'd never seen anything so sad in my life. This little girl was maybe 2 or 3 at the most. And she was scared out of her mind. I think she'd actually gone into shock. She sat there on the lap of a neighbor and was just sobbing. She wouldn't speak. Wouldn't tell anyone her name. Wouldn't even look at anyone. Everyone was just standing around not knowing what to do.
Something in my brain clicked again and I asked the officer if he had checked every house on my street. There are two houses at the other end of the street that have lots of kids, I hadn't remembered seeing any little girls, but it wouldn't hurt to try. I walked the officer around the corner and showed him the two houses I was thinking of. It turns out I was right. Or well that my gut feeling was right. The officer walked down to the corner with the mom and dad and they were reunited with their little girl. I was a sobbing mess. I felt so horrible for that little girl. She was still so scared but happy to see her mom and dad. I was so glad we were able to find her parents.
Now here's were I get a little mad...The parents had NO IDEA their kid was missing. None. She'd been out alone for at least 30 minutes before anyone found her. And it was probably another 30 minutes before we found them. How do you not know your kid is missing? What were you doing? I thought of the scenario that maybe she was sleep walking or something and woke up and found herself outside. I suppose that could have happened. But she wasn't wearing a nightgown or pj's. She was fully dressed...in a party dress with her hair done and everything. Maybe she fell asleep in the car on the way home and mom and dad forgot and left her in the car? When she woke up she got out of her car seat and out of the car? I guess that could have happened. But I don't know what happened. I don't know the situation. But I know that she was gone for a good hour and instead of the parents looking for her, we had to find the parents. Something about that just doesn't seem right. I know things happen, but good grief.
I'm glad all things worked out. I still feel really bad for not going with my gut and investigating that little voice when I heard it. I keep thinking I should have gone out there. I could have helped her long before she was really lost. Why didn't I go out there? Could you imagine being that little and calling for your daddy and no one coming to your rescue? And being outside all alone in the middle of the night? My heart aches for that girl. I just can't stop thinking about it.
*sigh*
So. That is that.
I went upstairs and checked in on my two munchkins and gave them an extra little kiss. So thankful they were safe and sound in their beds.

Sweet Summer.

I hate watermelon. But my kids love it. I do love to see the juice running down their chins though.



Summer seems to be in full swing around here. We've been going and going for just about 2 weeks straight. Of course we went to Hartland 2 weekends ago and just had a blast. Jake LOVED it. It was kind of weird letting him go and do his own thing. I'm used to having a tight rope on my kids...knowing exactly where they are at all times. But there were tons of older kids and adults all around fully willing to look after him. So I felt ok about letting him do what he wanted. It was also neat to see him be such a good helper and be so responsible for the younger pre-school age kids and at the same time very eager to be with the big kids. He's a pretty good kid, I must say. Pete and I also enjoyed just being together as a family and bonding with friends we don't get to see all that often.
As soon as we got back home and had just finished up all the laundry, we headed out for a field trip with our young children's church/Sunday School group to the Jelly Belly Factory. It was pretty neat for a free tour and I didn't realize just how crowded it would be. I was teensy bit disappointed that we weren't able to take pictures in the factory--I mean, that was the most interesting part! But it was fun anyway. The kids really enjoyed it. Oh and of course they give you a bag of Jelly Bellies at the end of the tour. They LOVED that part! What kid wouldn't?
So Jelly Belly was on Thursday and then Saturday, the kids and I packed up the car and drove to Groveland. Which is about 25 minutes from Yosemite National Park. My mom and Mike were camping there for the weekend so we decided since it's just about an hour and a half from here, why not drive up and stay a night with them? My mom also have friends that live in Groveland so we got to visit with them too. Saturday when we got up there, it was super duper hot. Like upper 90's. So we packed up and headed over to the swimming pool in the community that the friends live in. It was great. Beautiful view of the mountains and golf course...the water was heated to the perfect temp. Jake got right in and didn't even whine one bit. My mom actually got him to swim to the deep end of the pool with a floaty! Amazing. The kid has literally done a 180 when it comes to the pool. So anyway...we'd been at the pool for an hour or so when all of a sudden all these clouds move in. It looked like it was going to rain. I even saw a few lightning bolts over the mountains. A few minutes later, the pool lady comes over the loud speaker and tells us all the pool is now closed for 'chemical treatment'. Huh? yeah right. We'd just packed up our stuff and got in the car when KA-BOOM!!! The loudest slap of thunder/lightning bolt crashed ohhh....about 2 hundred yards from us. Yeah. Scared the crap out of all of us! But somehow funny and exciting all at the same time! There's just something about a thunder storm.
Unfortunately, that crazy weather we had over the weekend sparked up over 800 grass fires in California. You read that right. 800. It's incredibly smokey here. We literally have not seen blue sky, or any sky for that matter, in about 5 days. You can smell and taste the smoke as soon as you walk outside. So we're just praying for the fire fighters to be safe and praying for the peoples homes that are in danger. We're expecting the air to clear out by the weekend...but we're also expecting more thunderstorms in the mountains.
So anyway, this week we're just trying to catch up with laundry and groceries and all that other fun home stuff. I'm hoping to do nothing this weekend but I'm sure that won't happen! As soon as Megan wakes up from her nap, we're headed to the pool!

The Durl.

That's what she calls herself. Or maybe even more acurately....Ba-Durl. Translation: Bad Girl. That would be my fault. Isn't it nice to know how good I am at istilling self confidence at such an early age? It happened by accident. She was getting into my scrapbook stuff...and marking things up with my cool new Sharpie pens. I turned around to see her standing on my chair, pen in one hand and (it still hurts just to type this...) a piece of my brand new Making Memories Pasport collection paper! GAH! So I screamed..."NOoooooo! Baaad Giiirrrl!!" and leaped across the room to save the ever lovin paper. Priorities, people. Priorities.
So now, every time I dicipline her she says "noooo. Baaa duuurl."



She doesn't look so bad here, does she? I'd say she looks rather cherub-ish, don't you think? Despite the funky crop of the photo anyway. The original shot was a self portrait with me holding the camera. I cropped me out of it cuz dang, I just looked too freckley and frazzled and there just ain't enough photoshop in me to begin to fix it!
I just love this girl. Man I love her. She has just been the perfect addition to our family. I can't imagine life without her. She is cherub-ish and sassy, and loving, and sweet, and fresh, and she's got a little fire in her that I just can't describe. Oh, and she's got her daddy wrappped around her finger.

Other Megan-isms:

Dat= Cat or That
Diddy=Kitty
Ah-doe-bop= Otter pop-you know those juicy popsicles? The girl knows what she wants.
Dup= Cup
Stick= lipstick/chapstick or sticker. She simply says "stick"
Haaa Doeee= Heeeellloooo
Waddy= Water
Were Dada? = where's daddy?
Were Jay?= where's Jake?
Mo Meok= More milk
other words she says perfectly:
StoP
FooT
NoPE
SoaP
SiP
She says all kinds of other stuff too. But this is what I can think of off the top of my head.
It's hard to believe she's almost two. It seems in the past month or two she really seems to be growing up. She has so many words now. She can just about put her own shoes on. She buckels her own carseat...well, mostly. And she kisses her own owies. And she tells Jake she's "sar" if she hurts him. And then gives him a hug and kisses his owie.
Here's what she thought of me today, when I tried to take a picture of her in her cute yellow dress.


Already averting the camera and showing off her booty. Nice.

8 years ago today

Eight years ago today, I put on the most beautiful dress I have ever seen.

Eight years ago today, I saw my dad in a suit for the very first time. And I'd never seen him so handsom.



Eight years ago today...I'd never smiled so much in my life. Or cried so much either.



Eight years ago today, I said 'I do' to my best friend. And I meant it.

Eight years later, I love him more. More than anyone will ever know or understand.

Oh yeah...and Eight years ago...He had more hair. And I had less fat. ha ha! ( I just had to throw that in there!)

Why all the pictures?
Because I just found them. Yeah. I seriously thought I'd lost them. All of them. All 400 bagillion of our wedding pictures. I couldn't find them for months. All 400 bagillion of them that I never put in an album. I know. I'm a scrapbooker. What the heck?! Believe me. They're in an album now!

*I've been a bad blogger. I've just been really busy the last couple of weeks and I've let the blogging go. Updates and book give aways to come*

Hartland.

We're home. Here's a little video. Certainly not as classy as Nicoles. I don't know how she does it :)

I know...I'm not in one picture.

I didn't forget.

I didn't forget that I was supposed to post new books up for grabs yesterday. I didn't. It's just that I am a really really bad procrastinator and um....AVOIDER. Yesterday was a classic avoider day. I did absolutely everything I could do to NOT do what I was supposed to do. I really have mastered the technique of avoiding. Even now...I'm totally avoiding packing the car, filling the cat food bowl, and getting the stupid lizard heat lamp at PetSmart cuz the dang kids broke it yesterday. grrr. Anyway.
Yeah we're supposed to be leaving. Like for you know....4 days and all. Yet here I am avoiding the tasks I need to do. Because i LOVE running around like a chicken with my head cut off an hour AFTER we were supposed to be on the road. Because, Dude..... It's WAY more fun to be panicked than prepared....totally.
Talk about being prepared...jeez. Pete came home from work last night around 5:30, took a clue that I was literally going to bite one of my children's head off if they didn't stop freakin GETTING INTO EVERYTHING oh and PULLING EVERYTHING I JUST PACKED OUT OF THE SUITCASE...Megan. Ahem...sorry. And he decided that he better take Jake with him and go to the ranch. Which is ya know....an hour away. But he HAD to get something. So they went. And they didn't get back until 11 o'clock.
SO. This morning Pete rolls over in bed and says:
What time did you want to get on the road today?
Me: Well...there's really no rush. We can't even check in until 3 anyway.
Him: Ok cuz.....(long pause).......I gotta go the ranch.
Me: WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT???!!!!!
Him: yeah, well...I forgot that one thing I went up there for yesterday.

Good Lord.

So yeah. That's why I'm taking the moment to blog. We can't go anywhere without him anyway.

Have a good weekend Blogland!
I'll post the books NEXT Wednesday. Promise :)

Book Winner. And updates.

First and foremost we have a winner for last weeks book giveaway!! I won't go through all the picture hoopla this time. Mostly cuz I just don't have time. But know that all the names were put into a lovely bowl, they were stirred around by some grubby little boy hands and one winner was chosen. Congratulations Chrissy!!! The grubby little boy hands picked you!! Hooray!! Send me your address girl! I probably have it, but send it to me anyways :)
Ok on to updates...
First: The garage sale completely sucked. Completely. Worse garage sale...EVER. I am not exaggerating. I made $15 dollars. $15 DOLLARS! In two days! And that was mostly because my MIL felt bad for me and gave me a few extra. It didn't just suck for me, it sucked for all of us. The grand total was maybe $200 dollars. And that was mostly because the MIL sold a giant air compressor to some farmer dude for $70 bucks. It just really surprised me. Cuz we had GREAT stuff. No, I'm serious. The MIL is retiring from doing daycare in her home for the last 35 years. There was TONS of really great kids stuff. We had 5 or 6 Pack-n-Play cribs. Most of them looked hardly used at all. NONE of them sold. Not one. I also had a really nice baby swing--no one grabbed it. I had a BRAND NEW, NEVER BEEN OUT OF THE BOX highchair that I was asking $10 dollars for and some lady talked me down to SIX. SIX DOLLARS FOR A BRAND NEW, NEVER BEEN OUT OF THE BOX, HIGHCHAIR THAT STILL RETAILS FOR 49.99 AT TARGET. Yes, I am bitter. No, I will not get over it. Ahem...excuse me. I know...I'm not garage sale material. Is the economy really that bad that people aren't even going to garage sales anymore? I would kind of think more people would be looking for deals than paying retail. But that didn't seem to be the case for us this weekend.
Second: Pete cut his leg with a chain saw at the ranch Friday night. Yep. He's ok. Could have been A LOT worse. I mean, he could have cut is whole freakin leg off I suppose. Then we could of gotten him one of those cool wooden legs and pretended he was a Pirate and called him Peg Leg Pete. Kidding. Of course, I'm kidding. He ended up with A LOT of stitches and is probably going to have a gnarly scar. But he's ok, and that's what's important. The man who doesn't know the meaning of "relax" actually had to chill for a couple days and he hung out with us at the garage sale.
Third: We're leaving on Thursday afternoon headed for the mountains! Yee haw! We're going to our church family retreat for 4 days. I'm excited just to go somewhere, hang out with friends and just relax a bit. Here's where we're going. Check it out, it's a neat place :)
Who knew that going out of town for a few days would be such a hassle? I've been running around for the past 2 days doing laundry, making lists, running all over town making sure we have enough diapers, snacks, clothes, dog food, cat food, lizard food, and TURKEY food to last us while we're gone. It's exhausting! LOL!
Anyways, I have more little updates--funny things that Jake and Megan say/do. But frankly, I just don't have time right now. The drier is buzzing and I've got about 5 more things to cross off the to-do's today.
Check back tomorrow for another book RAK and get yer tissues ready...romance and sappiness at it's best.

Do you ever make a decision to do something and then think what the EFF was I thinking like 10 seconds into it?
Kinda where I am right now.
We're having a garage sale tomorrow. Well not here (thank the Lord) but at my mother in law's house. It was Pete's sister, Sarah's idea. She's moving back up to Sacramento in a month and wanted to get rid of some of her stuff. Pete's mom and dad have their house up for sale too so they've got the same agenda. Me? I just had a few things that I was going to donate or just junk and thought what the heck, why not join the garage sale.
I went over there today to drop off some of my things and all of a sudden it hit me. I remembered what a P.I.T.A. garage sales are.
1st-you have to go through all your crap. For me, this time wasn't a big deal. I knew what I was going to get rid of and most of it was already in "donate" pile anyway. But watching the MIL and FIL go through their stuff just stressed me out. Too much junk!
2nd-There's the whole putting stuff out, cleaning it up, and then putting it back out the next day.
3rd-haggling with people. You guys know me and confrontation. I sure as heck don't want to haggle. I'm willing to go down on price a little to get stuff sold. But I'm not going to give stuff away. If that were the case I would have driven it all strait to Good Will.
4th-Getting up early. Gah! It's just a necessity of a successful garage sale. Everyone knows the serious junkers come out early. I really don't mind getting up early. I really like it actually. But I haven't had to actually get up early and get out of the house early in like 5 months. And I don't wanna!
5th-What to do with all the stuff that doesn't sell? leave it in a pile and hope some fairy comes and whisks it all away in the night? That would be nice. Luckily I don't have too many things to sell anyway. So that's good for me. Hopefully it will all go.
6th- and this one really just pertains to me and because I'm in a mood...dealing with 3 kids all day on top of it all. Normally, not a big deal. But these boys (Jake and my nephew Blake) in particular have been driving me up the wall the past 3 days. I'm sure I sound like a horrible mother/aunt/human being right now, but I'm just not looking forward to all day with them. Again.

Boy! I'm just full of positive thinking tonight, no?! Sorry, I'm just in a punk mood. It'll be good. Besides, there's 3 little kittens over there I get to snuggle with all day! oh my. they are SO cute. Pete won't let me have one. He won't let Megan or Jake have one either. I tried all the angles, but he wasn't goin' for it. Boo! At least I get to play with them all day :)
Ok off to wash dishes. FUN!
Don't forget: check out the post below and leave me a comment if you want to be in the drawing for the books :)
happy weekend!
P.S. I'd also like to say Hi and welcome any new readers here. I've had quite a bit more traffic due to the book RAKs and randomness. Thanks for stopping by and don't be shy! Join in, leave commnents and all that! :D

2 For one deal!

For the next RAK I will be giving away not one, but two books! Yee Haw!
This weeks offering is Devine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Little Altars Everywhere; both by Rebecca Wells.



Some of you might recognize the first book as a popular movie staring Sandra Bullock. It was a cute movie, but this is one of those times where the movie just barely skims the surface of a really, really good story. This is probably one of my most favorite books I've ever read. If you've never read it, put your name in for the drawing because if you win, you won't regret it! It's really that good.
Little Altars Everywhere is the prequel to Ya-Ya Sisterhood. This one is good too but on a much different level. Read the Ya-Yas first and then this one. Little Altars goes back in time with Vivianne-the mother in the first story and is basically deep, deep character development. It's a little raw compared to the first story, but it really helps to understand why she is the way she is.
So, if you're interested leave me a comment and you'll be in the drawing. I'll pull a winner next Tuesday. These books are being offered as a pair, but if you are more interested in one than the other let me know and I can split it up :)
Good luck!!

WINNER! WINNER! WINNER!

It's just like your at the carnival...or VEGAS! Or not.
My assistants are both sleeping right now so I thought I better not keep you all in suspense. Cuz I know your just dieing to know who the winner is. So let's just get started shall we?
Here's all the entries:

And here's me spinning them around. We want to be fair, right? Oh! and I got one late entry...Detta, I added you in too!! spin spin spin...

Ok looks like I've got a winner....i had my eyes closed--promise!!

And the winner is........*cue Jeopardy music*......

CHERYL!!! Yeah Cheryl!! Congratulations!

That was fun! I'll post a new book up for grabs tomorrow!

I love animals.

I really do. I'm the girl who would have taken home every kitten in front of the grocery store if my mom would let me. I would have found a home for every stray dog. Right now we have 2 dogs, one cat, 3 fish, a large lizard and um.....18 TURKEYS.
I love animals. I really do.(did I say that already?) But I am SO OVER the flippin turkeys. The thing is...they're huge now. Like 10 times the size they were when I picked them up at the post office a few weeks ago. And hello, they're birds. Birds are...um, messy. Especially 18 of them cramped in the same cage. They stink. They eat like it's goin out of style. They poop in their water, on the water jug and in their food. They are no longer cute to me. Especially because I am the one cleaning that nasty poop water every day.
If I never see another turkey as long as I live, I'll be happy. Unless it's roasted nicely and sitting on my Thanksgiving Table.
The end.

*What a great response to the Book RAK!! The winner will be announced tomorrow!!*