The First Day of First

This is the 4th First day of school for The Phi.

Pre- School

K-4

K-5

1st Grade

And this is me crying like a baby because my girl is growing up so damn fast. 

Thank goodness we had that second baby. She is crazy and wild enough to curb my desire for more babies.

The Phi woke up super excited. Before she went to eat her breakfast she hugged me tight and bounced up and down saying "school school school". 

We were on time. (let's see how long we can keep that up!) And she kissed Lou bye.

I made her take one last picture with me. I hugged her so tight and started to tell her to have fun and good luck and how much I will miss her but I started to get chocked up and my voice was getting all wobbly. So I squeaked out an "I love you". 

# of first days of school= 4

# of first days of school where The Phi cried= 0

# of first days of school where I cried= 4

Then she grabbed her "Victorious" lunch box and her new owl messenger bag (Thanks Aunt Crissy!) and she (with Schmonkey hidden safely in her bag) skipped off. Ready to start 1st grade.

Good Luck my Phi. 

You will be awesome. 

You will kick first grades ass.

Because you rock school like a boss.

Promises Promises

A few weeks ago we spent a beautiful day at Big Bear Lake. All day Joey tried to convince The Phi to go on the Alpine Slide Ride with him. It took her all day but she finally agreed. We headed over and got there at exactly 6pm, when they closed. After seeing the ride The Phi really wanted to go and after Joey had talked it up all day he made a promise to The Phi. He promised he would take her back to ride the Alpine Slide before she started school. This place has special meaning to Joey and I.

Last Tuesday found us back at Big Bear Lake and at the Alpine Slide Ride.

They bought tickets.

And hitched a ride to the top of the hill.

And then down they sped.

She will never forget this day.

 And she will know that her Daddy keeps his promises.

A Beautiful Sight

The afternoon sun was coming through the blinds. I walk into my room to see my baby sitting quietly flipping through a book.

My loud and rambunctious baby was quiet and still.

I love that I am raising another lover of books.

Links!

Head over HERE to read a recent article I wrote on "Stranger Danger!"

Then head over HERE to check out The Phi's new web-series "The Sophia and Family Adventure Show"

You will thank me come Christmas time.

The other day I was at Rio Ranch Market. It is like me new favorite store these days. While looking for a garlic press I can across (stop laughing Joey) this...

I immediatley sent a picture to my Mom saying "I just cut your tamale making time in half!" She responded with "Buy me two of them. Serious".

So I did. My Mom and Pops make tamales at home AND my Mom and her sisters make all the tamales for the family Christmas Eve celebration. They have always used the complicated and time consuming traditional practice of using the back of a spoon. (Really I don't know how tough this is to master. I can remember spreading masa on husks with a spoon as a kid!)

So this contraption is suppose to make the task of spreading masa a breeze. But really I can't sell this better than this video can.

So let me warn you before hand about this video. This is Sandra Vasquez and she invented this amazing product. BUT she says the word masa in the most annoying way possible. And she says it 50 times in this video. I know. I counted. (Plus I kept thinking about Mario Lopez and how he did not like his baby-momma's first name so he calls her by her last name, Mazza. But since he is all super-Latino when he says it, it sounds like masa.)




Was it just me or was Sandra really turning quite bitchy towards the end there. It was almost like she was totally annoyed with me and was fed up with having to demonstrate over and over again.

Anyways she claims to have made 5 dozen in about 7 minutes. Now lets do some math. At my Nana's house they make about 40 dozen tamales in one day. So by my calculations it should take them 56 minutes to spread masa on 40 dozen tamales. But WAIT! I bought 2 spreaders so really it should only take 28 minutes!!! Less than half an hour people!! To spread masa on 480 husks. With that barbaric spoon this would have taken all day!

So here is what my Tia's should do. If they each get a spreader they can have 40 dozen tamales done in about an hour. Filling and folding included! So with all that extra time they should book a spa day. After so many years of hard spoon spreading tamale making they deserve some pampering.

Summer Jams

It seems that every summer has a soundtrack. I can remember those awesome summers when my sisters and I would hang at the beach everyday and we would make mixed cd's.  Now when I hear Story of the Year I am taken back to 2003.

So what have we been rocking out to this summer?

First I am in love with this song. Mostly because after watching "The Voice" I have figured out just how extremely sexy Adam Levine is. I mean seriously, he is the perfect combo of pretty boy and manly man. He has the high pitched voice and skinny jeans and the hairy chest and tattoos. Anyways this song is a good "dancing in the kitchen" song. It was also a good reason to give The Phi another lesson in music by explaining that the song goes "Moves like Jagger" NOT "Lose My Swagger". And telling her who and what Mick Jagger is.




Thanks to my God-daughter Lili this song will always remind me of summer 2011. From the moment we got to Bass Lake Lili constantly talked about how "Everyday I'm Shufflin''. And let me tell you, this 5 year old can shuffle. Everyday.




This has by far become Lou's favorite song. When it comes on she cannot resist the urge to clap and dance.



Now I use to pretty much only listen to R&B and hip-hop and rap music. My musical tastes have changed over the years but once in a while a hip-hop song or artist will catch my attention. Nicki Minaj was one of those. She is such a bad-ass rapper. I love her crazy weird style and this song is awesome. I have had a softness for songs about bass every since the "We like the cars, the cars that go boom" by L'Trimm



You can't seen to run fast enough to get away from this song these days. It is on every radio station all the time. It is a super fun song but the video makes it better. So funny and so high school.



This song is just for me. We dig some Lady Gaga in our household, but this song I fell in love with. Love the bluesy vibe. The video is all kinds of weird, but what else do you expect from The Gaga.




So what songs are going to remind you of Summer of 2011? What are you listening to these days?

I tried to imagine...

When we took this picture you were in my belly probably the size of the lemon. We had no idea what you would look like or how you would change our lives. All we could do was wonder.

Those empty little shoes, handed down from your big sister were just waiting for you. Even before you were conceived those shoes were waiting for you. We knew our home and our family was not done.

And today you literally filled those shoes.

The little person we were waiting for all those years. You are more amazing than we ever could have imagined.

Post WANtrum

So my parents held the first ever WAN (grandkid edition). They took 4 of the 5 grandbabies to Legoland.  It was a super awesome day for all the kids. Filled with popcorn, pizza, lemonaid, candy, rides, gifts. You know just general spoiling. They all came back with giant smiles on their faces.

My parents and the kids all spent the night on Friday and after a nice breakfast my parents and the kids headed back home. As they were leaving I told The Phi that she was going to have to take a bath. She immediately started crying. Her skin was starting to get really rashed out and she was itching like crazy. I knew she had not had a bath the night before.  The crying got worse and I asked her to go to her bedroom. Once she was done crying then I will take her a bath. After awhile she came into my room, still crying and asking to postpone her bath. I told her no that she needed a bath and she had already wasted so much time that we had missed the library end of summer party.

And then...

She lost her shit.


For the first time ever we had to deal with the pounding on the wall, the crying, and the screaming "BUT I WANT TO GO" and a few "I WANT TO GO NOW!"'s thrown in there. All together it last maybe 10 minutes, but it felt like hours.

So how did I handle it? I completely ignored her. I made Joey ignore her. Then when it was over I explained to her that what just happened was called a temper tantrum and that it was how baby's acted and I would not accept that kind of behavior and if it happened again she could say good-bye to her playroom and all the toys in it.

What happened I like to call a post-Wantrum. According to my Mom The Phi is not the first to experience this. My Mom has her theories about them. Here is what I think happened.

The Phi had spent the night before Legoland with her cousins at Chuck E Cheese. They stayed up late and woke up super early. The day with my parents was filled with fun, rides and really anything her little heart desired. Then she came home and I told her it was time for a bath and reality mixed with exhaustion and disappointment that the fun was over combusted and we had ourselves our first temper tantrum.

Here are my thoughts on the whole thing. The Phi is a good kid. She gets good grades, doesn't get into trouble, listens to Joey and I and is even helpful with Lou. She deserves to have days like my Mom and Pops gave her. All the kids deserve it. And you know what, my parents have been damn good parents who have worked really hard and they deserve to spoil their grandbabies.

The situation made me think about the Charlie and Chocolate Factory movie. I want The Phi to be like Charlie. See all the other kids were brats and when confronted with all their hearts desire they became even brattier and ended up kicked out in horrible ways. Charlie was the good one and he ended up with the whole damn factory.

We try to teach our kids how to deal with disappointment and bad times, but I want my kids know how to deal with the good times too. Sometimes in her life she is going to have some really good times. She needs to learn how to take the good and take the bad, you take them both and there you have, the facts of life.
I want The Phi to be able to enjoy the good times without the backlash of reality.


So it took over 6 years for The Phi to have her first temper tantrum. I am really hoping that it never happens again. Because I really don't want to pack up all those toys.

Lou needs an Agent

About a week ago my friend Yvonne texted me and asked if I had seen the new trailer for the Spy Kids 4 movie because the baby reminded her of Lou.

So I checked out the movie poster.

That baby does kind of look like Lou!

Lou could have totally made this movie!!

I mean I look just like Jessica Alba and Joey is a spitting image of Joel McHale so our kid would totally fit as their movie baby. Duh!

But really, someone get this kid an agent asap!!

Imagination

I always thought The Phi was one of those kids who just lacked imagination. She was not one to play pretend, or set up elaborate back stories for her Barbies. Except for Schmonkey. See Schmonks (as we refer to him) has been The Phi's since she was in the womb but for over 4 years he stayed in the stuffed animal bin. When I was pregnant with Lou, The Phi found Schmonkey and they have been inseparable (except the times she leaves him places and we have to frantically run through Target looking for him) since.

Schmonkey is one interesting character. According to The Phi the following statements about Schmonkey are true:

• His full name is Schmonkey the Monkey Bass Lake Lerma
• His birthday is July 16th and for some reason only turned 2 this year.

• He is very accident prone and has broken almost every bone in his body. 
• His Grandmother's name is Sarah and lives in New Orleans. Schmonkey takes trips to visit her often.

• He is very afraid of all Targets. When we go to Target he stays in the car.
• He eats once every hour.

• He hates waking up in the morning so The Phi lets him sleep in as long as possible.
• How to Train Your Dragon is one of his favorite movies.

• He often vacations in Mexico. Most of his vacation trips are exactly 8 hours long.
• His nickname is Greg but only his monkey family calls him that.

• His body temperature runs at 205 degrees and today is heading to Antarctica for a short vacation.

Loumaggedon

So it begins....

Really it began a few weeks ago. I just didn't want to admit it. Then a friend stopped by the office and asked if Lou was walking yet. I told her "No". Then to make a liar out of her own Mom, Lou walked from the copy machine to the conference room table. A good 15 steps. My friend just says, "I call that walking"

So here it is.......





My baby is walking and our lives will never be the same again.

Modern Technology!

I swear kids are learning how to use all these crazy gadgets so young. Heck I didn't even have an email address until AFTER high school. Ugh I am old.

Anyways Lou at the age of 1 has figured out my Kodak Zi8 camera.

Observe.




I predict this kid has her own iPhone by age 2.

A day in the life....

This ol' blog here tends to focus on the exciting stuff we do around here. So For prosperity sake I thought I would give you a little insight in what a "typical" day is like around these parts....

7:00am- the alarm on my iPhone goes off and I drag myself out of bed and into the shower.

Next it is time to slap on some make-up. Yes that is a caboodle and no you can't have it.

So this is as good as it's going to get when it comes to my mug, so now that I am presentable it is time to wake up the monsters.

The Phi snug in her Spongebob bed. She sleeps on the edge because all the books, magazines and dozens of stuffed animals take up about 75% of the bed.

Lou tends to sleep in the corners of her crib. Usually just the flick of the light switch wakes these two up.

Just like everyone else in the family, Lou is NOT a morning person.

New diaper, new dress and hair combed. One down! One to go...

Slathered in lotion and hair pulled into a bun we have 2 kids ready to go.

Grab the diaper bag and the lunch pail and we are in the car headed to the office with 6 minutes to spare. Good thing I live 4 minutes from work.

This is my first day back at the office after a week vacation. I expected my desk to be a disaster area but was pleasantly surprised to find it fairly neat.

Time to feed the kids. This morning it is pancakes at Mom's desk. It is usually pancakes at Mom's desk.

For the next 30 minutes or so the kids get to watch some cartoons on Netflix while Mommy gets work done. Thank goodness for the split screen option on Windows 7!

Then Lou is freed to roam the office. On this particular day she got into a trash can and ate a yogurt cup. I have no idea how long the cup had been in the trash but by the evidence on her mouth she got a good snack out of it. Now I just hope she doesn't get sick from old yogurt.

Nap Time! This is Lou at nap time. Please notice the lack of napping.

Then in a game changing move the electricity goes out. Here are the girls in my office in the dark. After waiting 45 minutes with no power we got the okay from the boss to head out. It was starting to get hot in the office!

So back in the car by 12:11 and heading home.

At home we all have some lunch. Here is the boring sandwich I had packed for me. The girls ate equally boring sandwiches.

Since the power outage threw my day off I called The Phi's dermatology office to see about rescheduling her light therapy appointment. No dice.

With Lou down for a nap (with actual sleeping this time!) and The Phi happily in her playroom (no TV as punishment for lying to me the week before) I was able to catch up on my shows.

Without T.V. The Phi was apparently bored to sleep. Al Bundy style.

While the girls are sleeping Joey gets home and up next it is a mad rush to get the girls into the car and out to The Phi's doctors office for her light therapy. The Phi is inside this refrigerator looking thing with the blue lights on. This session was 26 seconds long.

After light therapy we need a quick Target trip. First some Starbucks to get me through the rest of the day. We shop for Ronin's birthday gift and then head out back to our neck of the woods.

Dinner is Taco Tuesdays at Rio Ranch Market. This is our now usual Tuesday dinner and oh man it is so good. Even though we are essentially eating dinner in the middle of a grocery store.

After dinner we head out to the park and unload the blankets and chairs and settle in for Movies Under the Stars. We are really excited to see Rango!

10:00pm. Home from the movies and time to get the girls to bed. Teeth brushed, stories read, and foreheads kissed.

Time for me to get the lunches ready for the next day. Yup I am making myself another boring sandwich.

Then it is off to bed, exhausted and happy and ready to do it all over again tomorrow.