the patino family

We're In Utah!

2012-02-03T20:26:00.000-08:00

Well we've arrived! We got to SLC on Monday night around 7pm. Our adventure was a long & rough one. We are recovering this week while still trying to accomplish things. We will be staying with our friends The Shaws for a few weeks, until we move into a rental of our own. I'll go over a bit of our trip in another post on my personal blog.

I'd like to thank all our friends in Marysville for helping us get out here. Especially the Peters & Faupula families for helping pack & load us & also feeding us several meals. Our Young Men were also amazingly helpful whenever we needed them.

Also Thank you SO MUCH to Mom & Dad & Nana & Papa & Mimi & Pa & Katie & Galen too!!!

Thoughts on "The Run To Feed The Hungry" 2011

2011-11-26T11:06:00.000-08:00

Signing up with a team and having VIP Parking is the only way to go!
Unless you run the 10k which starts 25 minutes earlier, there is little chance of actually "running" the 5k when surrounded by nearly 28,000 people. Especially if you bring a jogging stroller & get stuck behind ALL of them.
Since when is denim proper attire for a run?
If you bring your kids please teach them basic common race courtesy...like not stopping directly in front of someone!
Tree at the corner of 48th & H...GORGEOUS!
Child running with parents, then diving into piles of leaves. Hysterical!
Just because a race is held rain or shine, doesn't mean running with an umbrella is appropriate. That means you run IN the rain.
LOVE the costumes!
Thank you Schools Credit Union for water bottles with sports caps!
Any race worth a darn passes out bananas..which it did, so YAY!!!
The VIP tent needed to be 5x's bigger!
An actual photo backdrop for the team pics would have been nice.

Do I sound like I'm griping? Overall we had A LOT of fun because of our friends we were with. Plus we supported a great cause. But considering the amount of people & width of streets...not sure I'd do it again. For a lot of our friends this is a Thanksgiving morning tradition and I'd like so find one a bit smaller.

Catarina Avery Patino

2011-06-17T14:39:00.000-07:00

Catarina Avery Patino

May 1st 2011 @ 0524am

5lbs 11oz, 18.5in long

Going home on May 9th (5lbs 4oz):

The Baby Name

2011-02-12T18:20:00.000-08:00

Baby Bradley Herbert Patino is being named after 2 relatives. Several people have made assumptions. Mostly right, but several wrong. Here are the peoples info that the new addition is actually being named after. Since people seem all inquisitive about why. People are mostly wondering why Herbert....so here ya go.

Bradley was my cousin. He was just 3 years older than me. Brad died in 1998 after a battle with cancer. Brad & I were pretty close. He was a totally awesome guy & our little guy should be proud to be named after him.

Herbert was Jesse's Paternal Grandfather (Baby Bradley's Great Grandfather). Herb died in 2003, but Victoria & I were both able to meet & get to know Grandpa before he passed away. Grandpa Herb is one of the most influential people in Jesse's life. He made good choices & was a true family man.

Its a.....!!!

2011-01-22T10:02:00.000-08:00

Sorry this post has taken so long.
The holidays turn us into busy, busy bees. You all know how that goes.
Most people have already heard but I figured we should announce it here too.

In mid December we found out that what we suspected for 18 weeks was true....ITS A BOY!!! (Yes only 1.)
Bradley Herbert Patino will be joining our family in mid (to late) May!!!
(The due date was questioned because he is measuring a bit smaller.)
His full name has been pre-determined since 2003. There is no changing it. Both names hold high significance & are family names.

We are totally looking forward to the blue & green addition to our house.
Stuff with trucks & planes & sports themes. Monkeys & dinosaurs!!!
I've got to admit I'm making the quilt & bumper-pads for the crib myself....because Jesse & I picked out the material ourselves. Its all airplanes. I'll post a pic soon.

I am now 24 weeks along (on Sunday). Only 16 weeks to go!!!
Thats crazy right??? Thats only 4 months!!!

30 Days of Thanksgiving

2010-11-10T07:33:00.000-08:00

Nov 1st - I am thankful for the cute texts my husband sends me between his college classes. I miss him during the cold mornings, but they warm my heart.

Nov 2nd - I am thankful for long, relaxing, hot showers...because cold ones stink!

Nov 3rd - I am thankful for kids who love me & give the best snuggles. (Bellas first words this morning: "I love you. I want my Daddy.")

Nov 4th - I am thankful for my oldest daughter who helps keep me sane & babysits her sisters like a pro.

Nov 5th - I am thankful for an overwhelming amount of planning skills & an obsessive ability to organize. Its sort of a sick talent.

Nov 6th - I am thankful for a strong stomach.

Nov 7th - I am thankful for DST. Without the extra hour todays morning meetings may not have been as pleasant.

Nov 8th - I am thankful for our local Super Walmart. Yeah I know lame. But I always get to giggle at someone while I'm there.

Nov 9th - I am thankful for flannel sheets, heavy blankets & window coverings. They all help with a substantially lower PG&E bill the entire winter. When will YOU turn on your heater?

Nov 10th - I am thankful for the United States Marine Corps. 235 years later & they're still the best! Semper Fi!!!

Nov 11th - I am thankful for our military members, past & present. We have everything we do, because of all they have done & continue to do for us. Happy Veterans Day! (I love you baby!)

Nov 12th - I am thankful for breakfast burrito Friday. Time with the ladies is great!

Nov 13th - I am thankful for a shoulder to cry on. Thanks for always being my rock Jesse.

Nov 14th - I am thankful for bagpipes. They are eerily soothing. Motab & bagpipes is even better.

Nov 15th - I am thankful for spicy pork butt cooking on the stove. The whole house smells yummy. Its not your usual November smell...but its still awesome!

Nov 16th - I am thankful for yogurt! Bella loves the stuff & it's one thing she can eat even with her sensitive tummy.

Nov 17th - I am thankful for children who amuse me! Bella just saw a fountain & said "I get naked!"

Nov 18th - I am thankful for the miracle of having another baby. We knew through prayer it would eventually happen, but the journey has humbled me.

Nov 19th - I am thankful for layers...dressing in layers that is. I better be warm during the game tonight & Marysville better kick some booty. Yay for football in the pouring rain! (UPDATE: I almost froze to death! Oh & Marysville LOST. Grr.)

Nov 20th - I am thankful for change. BIG changes headed your way. :D

Nov 21st - I am thankful for our last Sunday in Loma Rica today. The drive has been fun, but gosh darn it, a 2 minute commute means some extra blissful sleep for this preggo!!!

Nov 22nd - I am thankful for barbershop!

Nov 23rd - I am thankful that Victoria turns 12, 6 months from today. Crazy!!!

Nov 24th - I am thankful we are headed to my in-laws & the SNOW!!! 85 miles to go!

Nov 25th - I am thankful for the opportunity to have a gorgeous White Thanksgiving with amazing food at my wonderful in-laws.

Nov 26th - I am thankful for waking up to the smell of bacon...2 days in a row!!! (No Black Friday shopping for this momma...none of the deals were good enough.)

Nov 27th - I am thankful for the Temple!!! Its time to head out to do an evening baptism session with all the adults.

Nov 28th - I am thankful for being flexible & willing to accept change on the fly...most times.

Nov 29th - I am thankful for China Moon. I needed a good helping of pork fried rice & curry chicken tonight. Boy was it yummy!!!

Nov 30th - I am thankful for my brother. I don't get to see him often, but just a few minutes with him is priceless.

Patino News!

2010-10-23T09:55:00.000-07:00

This free slideshow generated with Smilebox

Speech Class

2010-10-20T19:16:00.000-07:00

Jesse started his public speaking class on Friday. I guess the professor is a real wind bag. She likes to talk & talk & talk some more. Mostly about herself I guess. We'll see how this goes. Its only a 2 month course & this was the professor & class that was recommended to Jesse so hopefully it goes well. This now makes our Monday, Wednesday & Friday schedule a bit longer with Jesse attending classes from 9-noon & 3-5pm. His Tuesday schedule is still 9-1015am & 1-3pm. His Thursday schedule is still 9-1015am & 1-4pm. Hes doing really well with his other courses so hopefully this is a good addition.

Cell Phone Drama

2010-09-01T03:10:00.000-07:00

This is a pretty simple post. My cell phone...its pretty much dead. Not talking about the battery here folks. We're talking dead, dead. It started with only being able to hear the other person via speaker phone. Then slowly but surely buttons stopped working. Now its just gotten worse and worse.

You can text me. But I can't respond. I can type up a pretty decent response...but the button to send actually deletes the letters of my text with each push...so that doesn't help. So don't feel neglected.
You can call me. But be prepared for whoever is around to hear our entire conversation...because you're on speaker phone.
You can call me. But be prepared for me to ignore the call because I'm driving or really busy and just dealing with my phone is frustrating.
I've stopped all sms/text updates from Facebook, etc. Yes, I can only get online on an actual computer right now...its weird.
I have alarms set on my phone....BUT I can't change them. Since the buttons I'd need to push are the ones not working.
I can leave my phone OFF...but the setting on my phone makes it still set off the alarm even when its shut off.

I'll be getting a new phone on September 3rd. This is going to be a horrible week. Darn technological addiction!!!

Jesse Goes to College...

2010-08-28T04:27:00.000-07:00

Back as of Monday August 16th Jesse became an official college student. His schedule was a bit flimsy there for a while...but its all straightened out now and lovely. We had registered Jesse for Math 110 on T/Thur nights because thats all that was open and that meant he would have had to stop singing in the Barbershop Chorus down in Sacramento since they practice Thursday nights. BUT....its all fixed so he can keep going! Now every morning Jesse has a class that starts at 9am, so he is out the door on his bicycle by 830am everyday. This is forcing me to get up earlier and have a more regular schedule too...which is a good thing considering I need to get in the swing of things for school starting after labor day.

So if you are wondering about his schedule.....her ya go:

Mondays: Math 110 (Arithmetic for College Students) from 9-950am & History 17A (US History Part 1) from 11-1150am.

Tuesdays: Weight Training from 9-1015am & MCOMM 4 Lecture (Mass CommVideo Basics)1-250pm.

Wednesdays: Same as Monday.

Thursdays: Weight Training from 9-1015am & MCOMM 4 Lab/Studio 1-350pm.

Friday: Same as Monday & Wednesday.

So far he seems happy with his classes. We see him everyday around noonish and have lunch as a family. Then on T/Thr he disappears for a few more hours and the girls and I have our time again. Starting in mid October and running till mid December he also has Speech 1 (Public Speaking) on M/W/F in the afternoons.

Hes also enrolled in another class which has tutoring, study hours & some helpful things. He gets credit for it and actually has a project due but it doesn't require a sit down class time on any certain day.

Oh yeah thats a total of 14 units. Yuba supposedly has a cap of 16 units....but I've also heard thats bologna.

Currently Jesse has his education plan all set up to get his AA in Mass Communications & then transfer out to Chico State and get his Bachelors in Spanish. Although we totally know an AA doesn't get you crud anymore its the only way to get any Mass Communications training/schooling/knowledge/education, anywhere in our area. Mass Comm is a degree that is offered at a very select few colleges. I think we'd have to be back down in San Diego for him to get a Mass Comm BA. Jesse is very interested in Radio & News Production and would love to do voice overs, etc....so this is a tiny little foot in the door in that direction.

He's getting his degree in Spanish, because he'd really like to become a translator and/or a Spanish teacher. We'd also love to travel (~~move cough cough~~) to Argentina or South America at some point in the future. No really. I think it would be totally cool living in Argentina. I'd actually blend in a bit down there and so would our uber blondes, our tall brunette and our all around very tan children. Spain is also an option....Spain would be cool.

Oh, before I forget.....Jesse is really excited that next semester he'll be taking Spanish 3. Jesse challenged Spanish (1 &) 2 and passed with flying colors! Professor Munoz told him he needs to take Spanish 3 & then (instead of Spanish 4) he should take Spanish 20, which is "Spanish for Heritage Students". Luckily Jesse can get a bunch of his BA requirements out of the way at Yuba while he is there, especially the Spanish stuff.

Yeah yeah I know I'm jumping the gun...but we actually know several more of the classes he'll be taking next semester, just not his actual schedule. I think next semester might be a little overwhelming, but he'll push through. He'll have Spanish 3, Math 111, English, History17B & maybe a 5th class also. hmmmm. Luckily he get priority registration as a Veteran so he gets to register almost 2 weeks ahead of all the other students. Yay! No fighting for the class times he wants or having to pick one class over another like this semester.

Ok for now...thats about it.

Happy Birthday Isabella!!!

2010-08-08T01:32:00.000-07:00

Isabella Mackenzie Patino

Born: August 2nd 2008 @ 6:57pm
In Chico, California @ Enloe Medical Center

Weighing in at a petite 7lbs 6oz & 21.25" long

(You weighed nearly 2lbs less than your smallest big sister did at birth!)

(the night you were born!)

You were going to make your arrival on your own time frame.
You were born in the same exact room as your oldest sister.

Your daddy assisted Dr Lazarro with breaking my water since the nurses were not available.

You gave us a few scares.

Then you decided it was time....so you were delivered by the nurses.
You've been a blessing ever since.

(September 2008, after your blessing at church in Jackson, with Daddy, Uncle Booper & Grandpa)

(Feb 2009)

(Easter 2009)

(Valentines Day 2010)

You are the most petite little girl we've ever known. Weighing in @ 21lbs...just recently.
You look a lot like mommy as a little girl. (Petite, hair color & button nose.)
You have pretty much anyone & everyone wrapped around your finger & at your beckon call.
You are the child that everybody loves & everybody has a different nickname for.

Who could resist this.....

No really.....who???

Happy 2nd Birthday Baby Bells!!!
We love you!!!

Taking Up Running (updated)

2010-07-01T14:16:00.000-07:00

Don't freak out on us....its not really RUNNING. Its jogging. We've been motivated by a few friends of ours to start jogging/running again.

Jesse has never been a big "runner"....even in the Marine Corps. The 3 mile run he's always been required to do, well thats no problem. But really anything over that...um, no thanks. In high school Jesse was in wrestling, swimming, football. Since then he's played soccer and even coached for a few years.

I was really active before having children. Track, swimming, roller blading, always riding my bike everywhere, hiking, climbing, rafting and LOTS of dancing....I was always on the go. Ever since having babies it seems I've slowed down. Slowed down, but still moving around...coaching cheer, playing or coaching soccer. Then since our accident I've become nearly stagnant. I'll go thru spurts where I'll pick up the level of activity but it rarely continues. I did stairs for about a month. When we had our gym membership I went regularly for about 2-3 months.

Things need to change!

So Jesse has been running with a friend from church 3-4 nights per week recently. They usually run about 2.1-2.5 miles. Last night (Weds) they went 3.2 miles.

Yesterday I found Jesse on googlemaps.com trying to make a marathon practice/training route. He wanted to try running to Wheatland & back and make it close to a 26.2 mile course. I asked him why and he said "Well the July Challenge is to see who will be the first person to run a Marathon. I think it would be funny if I just decided to accomplish it in 1 day." Uh huh.

So this group of people from church all use Nike+ sensors and post online and "compete" with each other for mileage in a friendly competitive sort of way. Well, via them, I introduced him to nikerunning.com and showed him the "map it" application. We designed a 26.2 mile route and he is out running right now. Hes just past the 7 mile marker and is running as far as possible today. We shall see!

My goal: Run a 1/2 marathon by the "year of" my 30th birthday. So sometime next year.

Update: Jesse ran, walked & jogged 10.3 miles yesterday. BIG accomplishment!!!

Time to get our Nike+ sensors!!!

College Student

2010-06-29T18:57:00.000-07:00

Well Jesse officially starts college on August 16th. Yesterday we managed to get him to Yuba College and he got in with a counselor. You could tell he was pretty apprehensive. Hes 31 for goodness sake. Make sense to me. All the paperwork is in order and the VA $ should pay for everything except books. Eek. I guess the book stipend we thought we'd get via the VA has been cancelled....so onto looking for other options. Heres hoping we'll find some used books.

His schedule will be interesting. Since this unemployment thing happened at a rather odd time, he registered REALLY late for classes. So things were harder to coordinate. Hes got classes 5 days per week, but spaced out really funny.

He'll be going full time and will be taking 12 units. Hes registered for Math 110, History 17A, Speech 1 & AJ 19. He also challenged Spanish 1/2 and is hoping to move into Spanish 3. If his challenge get approved rapidly then we might even register him for Spanish 3 this semester which brings him up to 15 units. Oddly his Speech 1 class is only 2 months long. It runs from October 15th-December 15th so that will be interesting to only have to go 3 days per week, for 2 months.

So for now I think thats about it. Yay!!!

A new color around our house....

2010-06-29T14:54:00.000-07:00

Brown!

Why?

Because its Summer!!!

Brooklyn would like you all to see that our combined heritage DOES come out sometimes. Speaking of heritage...yep, Mexican/Bolivian from one line plus Cherokee from the other. It helps, really.

This is a cell phone pic so she is actually sort of washed out in it, but really?

She went from white & blonde to brown & blonder.

Less that 1 month of pool time.

By the end of the summer can you imagine??? Lets not.

I on the other hand am battling a wicked bruise to my good knee...and it was blue.

I guess thats a color of summer too.

Hey, at least I was trying to be Patriotic!!!

The bruise is gone now...on the top but my knee is still swollen and tender. Its no fun.

Can you believe its almost JULY???

Insane!!!

Patinos Pullets

2010-06-21T02:49:00.000-07:00

We increased our number of female family members about 2.5 months ago. After much familial debate, the knowledge of hard times ahead and the blessing of a large piece of property, we decided to jump on the urban chicken train. Jesse might claim I got a wild feather up my bum. I think it just took him by surprise that I actually purchased the chicks.

FWIW....Its not hard to purchase chicks considering they cost less than $3 each. Its properly knowing what to do with them. So....

I set a small budget and read 2 books. Then I took the girls out one morning while he was at a service project and came home with chickens. I had also purchased a large rubbermaid tub and a few supplies to make a brooder. Then we'd have about "2 months" to build a coop. To save on the materials...I planned on using a lot of second hand and recycled wood.

We added 4 pullets one week (pullet = female chickens under 1 year old) and added another 4 the following week. When we purchased our first set they were already 4 days old. We bought: Nelly, Sally, Charlie & Polly. We purchased the second set when they were 2 days old. We bought: Ebby, Red, Buffy & Jersey.

To make a long story shorter...well we neglected pictures when they were littler. The pictures of them now are about 1 week old. We were sort of scared people would think we were....well, insane. Now all our friends seem to think they are really cool.

I found a coop design I really liked online and thats the basic idea of what I showed Jesse that I wanted. Its a coop with a built in open-air run. That way we don't have to go out every morning and let the chickens in the run or garden. They can come and go from coop to dirt & sun & space anytime they want. The coop took longer to complete than I heard, but I'm so appreciative of Jesses hard work. The roof still needs to be finished, but for now its working very well. It survived about a full week of storms with the addition of a tarp. We used LOTS of free pallets & a good portion of hand me down 2x4's were put to good use also. All we purchased were a few 2x4's to start, chicken wire & hardware. Unless I find some amazing source we will have to purchase the roofing. But thats $30 to keep them more shaded and dry in the storms.

May 22nd the chicks moved into their new home outside. After Jesse received the assistance of 4 guy friends, the coop was moved from our back porch where it was built, to the final location in the garden.

So for now, here are some pics....more stories to follow.

Pullet Paradise.

(2 egg access doors on the coop front, 1 human access door in the front middle of run.)

I'm thinking of painting it...or at least part of it. Hmm. Paint?

Coop section...looking at the "people" access door from inside the run.

Access door open...for cleaning, checking, etc.

4 nest boxes....we purchased chicks for egg laying only!

Jersey = Jersey Black Giant

Red, Ebby & Jersey

Jersey, Polly = Plymouth Barred Rock, Ebby & Nelly.

Red = New Hampshire Red

Nelly = Light Brahma (Shes my pretty feather footed girl.)

Buffy = Buff Orpington, Nelly & Red

I just noticed I haven't gotten a picture of Charlie so I will do that tomorrow. We also lost Sally to heat exhaustion before taking a picture. It went from high 60's and low 70's to low to mid 90's way too fast for her to adapt. Poor girl. She was a favorite. Oh and Ebby ended up NOT being a pullet. Roosters are a no-no where we live. So she...um, I mean he went to live with other chickens where roosters are ok. So we are at the 6 chicken mark right now.

Back in the Day

2010-06-16T01:56:00.000-07:00

Brooklyn was such a ham. Wait Brooklyn still IS a ham. One of her favorite songs in 2007 was "Juicy" and she decided to change it up a bit on a visit to Jamba Juice.
(Remember to mute my music below first)

I'm starting to see more and more of Brooklyn in Isabella....scarey, but at least I know we're in for some FUN times! Entertainment isn't lacking with our girls.

Happy Birthday Brooklyn!!!

2010-06-16T00:42:00.000-07:00

Brooklyn Genevieve Patino

Born: Friday June 11th 2004 @ 0602am

Naval Medical Center Balboa. San Diego, CA.

A Whopping 9lbs 4oz & 21.25in long

(Brand New & very LOVED by your Sister!)

You were born on a Friday morning.

It was a National Day of Mourning due to the passing of President Ronald W. Regan, our 40th US President. That morning was peaceful and lovely.

Your big sister was sitting 3 feet away, sleeping soundly while I birthed you.

Your daddy was in Iraq.

June 15th we took you back to the hospital for a well baby weight check...while we were there the world around us started shaking, Palm trees swaying...violently, car alarms going off. You experienced your first CA earthquake, all while sleeping. It was a 5.2, the largest experienced in 2 decades in San Diego.

You've had your daddy wrapped around your chubby little fingers since forever.

One look into your blue green eyes and its all over.

(Brooklyns 1st Christmas 2004 @ 6 months old)

You've always been into something....or maybe theres a little bit of something in you???

(Dress-Up in June 2007 @ 3 years old)

You, my child, are a Gemini. You are calm one minute and bouncing off the walls the next. You are everybodies favorite platinum blonde. You are Minnie Mouse put into a childs body. You tan so well its obvious where your roots are from. You have NO FEAR! You are the epitome of cute.

You are growing up TOO fast!

(Brooklyn in 2010 @ 6 years old!)

Happy Birthday Sweetie!!!

"Jesse"

2010-06-07T09:42:00.000-07:00

Isabella has discovered her ability to be a little myna bird.

Me: Hey Jesse?
Jesse: (no response)
Me: Babe, can you come help me please?
Jesse: (no response...oh, hes in the garage)
Bella: Jesse help
Bella: Jesse, jesse, jesse, jesse.
Bella: Jesse! Help Mommy!!!
Me: Bella Mommy is fine. Daddy is busy.
Bella: BABE!!! Help momma.
Me: Bella I'm fine.
Bella: Jesse baby. Jesse, jesse, jesse, jesse.
Jesse: (emerging from the garage) What sweetie?
Me: Umm, yeah Daddy can you help me?
Bella: Hi Daddy.

Can you tell what I call Jesse?

SO....Please don't look at me funny if you hear me calling Jesse "Daddy or Papi" at all opportunities. Its not being used "affectionately" by any means...at least not in front of company. Its just the only way we can get Isabella to stop using his real name.

FWIW: We're very proud of her little voice...so if she can say your name (or the name she calls you) feel special. (That means you: Jenny, Liza, Hannah, Dave, Bridget, Markie, Michael, Tori, Brooklyn, Brookie, Nanna, Noni, Poppa, Poppi, Niki, Honey, Anna, Andum, Brycen, Katie, Jonny, Manny, Darrigan, Buddy, Boys, Fifi, Dallin, Braden, Ty, Sara, Di, Linda, Gramma, Granpa, Sister, Anya....& more.)

You Too

2010-06-07T01:41:00.000-07:00

Isabella's vocabulary is pretty crazy. If you tell her "I love you" shes been responding "you too" or "I too" or even saying "love you" for months now. But yesterday we had an emotional little moment. While Jesse was showering and I was doing my hair, I told my baby girl "I love you Bella!"

She responded "I love you!"
Melted mommys heart.

Then I asked her to tell daddy....& she DID.
Shes so sweet its ridiculous.

Happy Birthday Victoria!

2010-05-23T02:45:00.000-07:00

VICTORIA MICHAEL PATINO

BORN: SUNDAY, MAY 23RD 1999 @ 0725AM
IN CHICO CA. @ ENLOE MEDICAL CENTER

VITAL STATS: 9LBS 10OZ, 22IN LONG

(Pretend there is a baby picture here...she was cute, but not digitalized.)

You entered this world after a very LONG labor. (1 full week of induction.)
You entered this world with a head full of LONG jet black hair. (thanks for the heartburn)

You entered this world to a LONG list of people who loved you.

You were BIG & you were LONG!

You always knew how to get your way, no matter how LONG it took.

Anyone could tell you LONGED to wrap several people around your little fingers.

(taken June 14 2003)

Today you are an amazing daughter who almost always accomplishes her LONG list of daily tasks.

Today you are among a LONG list of people who love you!

Today, although I know you LONG for a little brother, are graced by 2 little sisters who love you.

They'll love you for a very LONG time.

We'll love you the LONGEST time possible...for ETERNITY.

Today you will wait a very LONG time, through meetings, church and lessons till we finally let you eat cake!

Today you have killer legs! LONG, LONG legs! Legs for days!!! (see jealous Mommy evidence below)
Monday we will drive...not so LONG, but we will drive & take some new birthday pics.

Today...you begin what I hope to be a very LONG year. Your last year before becoming a Young Woman...sniff sniff...tear.

(taken in feb 2010)

HAPPY 11TH BIRTHDAY SWEETIE!!!

You make your parents feel OLD!!!

The Family Garden

2010-04-26T23:03:00.000-07:00

Last Monday we made the BIG push to "finish" starting our garden for this year.

Luckily, our family garden this year has taken WAY less initial effort to get started...since we had a few raised beds pre-made from last year. Over the winter we do/did let the garden area go a little wild...no pics sorry. But lets just say that Bella could have gotten lost between the fence and the back door. I'm not a "winter gardener" but that will change this coming season. I'll have extra motivation to go out there. You will see that reason soon enough. Anyways Jesse still thought I was a slave driver. I'll admit I was...a bit. There was a break in between storms and there were certain things that needed to get into the ground ASAP!

My barrel of berries...which I know are horribly pitiful and needed to get in way sooner. I also have a barrel of herbs...but no pic.

Another view....

I got the green bean teepee in earlier this year...at least I think its earlier??? We'll see how it does. Bella loves it since I put down softer permeable weed clothe. She thinks its like carpet.

A closer look at the beds...that seem empty, but actually contain A LOT.

Against the 40ft of fence between us & our neighbors we planted Mammoth Sunflowers, Silver Queen Sweet Corn & Red Onions. Then we also have: Red & Yukon Gold Potatoes, Watermelons, Cantaloupe, Tomatoes, Several Assorted Sweet & Hot Peppers, 2 kinds of Squash, Radishes & Carrots.

We put in a pretty lame 1 gallon Emerald Artichoke last year. I wasn't sure I would get anything off of it...or how it would do in our heat. I'm used to arties growing down by my dads in Monterey & Castroville. Well I did a little research and found out to just "let it go" the first year and not harvest anything off of it. Ugh. So I did....and then in February I looked out in the middle of a storm and noticed my artie was the size of a small Volkswagen. I had forgotten to cut it back!!! Seriously it was only 5x5ft and about 3 feet tall....but it was a big guy. I freaked out and hoped I hadn't killed our chances of some good eats this year. Well I bit the bullet and chopped him down to nearly nothing. Less than 2 months later hes almost 4x4ft and already has 5 little babies getting ready for me to nibble!!!

Aren't they cute???

Tomatoes! I have more to plant tomorrow...if I can get to it before more rain again.

People don't realize how much space we have till they look at from a different angle. Here is the garden corner from just off the edge of the patio. 1/3 acre is quite a nice size...and we only use 1/6th(?) of our yard for the garden. I love it!!!

I still have a TON of planting to do. A TON.

Peas, cucumbers, spinach, pumpkins & a few other forms of "winter" squash...and I'm sure theres more. I swear that seed packets multiply or that the girls have them hidden somewhere. We also have some wildflowers to put in.

PLUS keep watching for the special BIG project thats coming soon!!!

Girls Outing

2010-04-26T21:56:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month my friend Anna celebrated her Birthday! Shes a few years older than me...but not too far up there. Shes a good lady. Well she was planning on spending a day with her son the week of her Birthday & a day with her daughter. She invited me to bring one of my girls on each date. Well I wasn't sure what she was going to end up doing with her son, but when she mentioned pedicures for the day with her daughter I knew I couldn't just take one of mine. So, Victoria, Brooklyn and I all tagged along and got pedicures too. We had so much fun!!! Sometimes being a girl IS fun.

Heres me & my girls...

Thanks Crayola!

2010-04-06T10:11:00.000-07:00

The other night Isabella stole one of her big sisters Crayola Markers and began coloring. The problem being she chose to color all over her onesie, pants,lower leg, sofa & then began applying it as lipstick. All in maybe 30 seconds! The other problem being I was cleaning the kitchen, my mom was here for Easter weekend but already falling asleep, Jesse was at work & the girls obviously were not paying attention. She had been upstairs with them and stole the marker and then had come downstairs to scribble "alone".

It was a BROWN Washable Crayola marker. I repeat WASHABLE! Thank goodness!!! Sorta.

Well we attacked the situation with baby wipes and cleaned everything up. Immediately I saw the problem. Redness! This wasn't just "left over" ink. This was RED & starting to puff up. Freak!!! So Bella immediately got a dose of Zyrtec, which didn't help much. We are trying 3 different "allergy meds" to see which one works best. Then I went online to Crayola.com to check if they had an online MSDS or list of possible allergens.

Upon finding the place to look (FAQ's & Questions) on Crayola.com I found this question that another parent asked:

Question: Due to allergies and allergy concerns, can you tell me the ingredients in your products?

Answer: The exact ingredients of our products are proprietary, however, we are happy to provide you with the most common ingredient requests NOT FOUND in products currently manufactured by Crayola. This list does not include Crayola official licensed products. Please check packaging carefully to determine the manufacturer.

Peanuts & Legumes

Shellfish
Fish
Tree Nuts
Eggs & Egg Shell
Milk
Casein
Nut & Nut Oil
Latex*

*Latex gloves are one of the personal protection options requested by and available to our employees for the occasional handling of raw materials and finished goods during the product manufacturing process.

Gluten (wheat flour) is contained only in Crayola Dough. Other Crayola modeling materials, including Model Magic modeling compound, Modeling Clay, Air-Dry Clay, and Model Magic Fusion are gluten free. All of these products, however, are produced on the same machinery. Although the machines are cleaned prior to the start of each production run, there is a slight possibility that trace amounts of gluten from Crayola Dough may be present in the other modeling compound products.

For additional assistance, please call us at 1-800-272-9652 weekdays between 9 AM and 4 PM Eastern Time.

I immediately noticed that SOY wasn't listed. Not good. The hives were still there the next day and to be honest the one on her leg was still obvious on Sunday as well. I not being on the West Coast forgot to call Crayola yesterday until 3pm our time....bugger.

Well this morning I was up early (to greet the twins I am watching today) and I remembered to call. I spoke with a very nice woman named Michelle. I specifically asked about Washable Markers. (I will be calling back about other specific items later.) Upon calling I told her I was calling about "Allergy Issues" and she was more than polite. I told her we had a soy allergy in our home and she said she knew some/several of there products DO contain soy. She pulled up the MSDS on the Washable Markers and they DO CONTAIN SOY!

I know a lot of parents who would be up in arms that the ingredients are not listed. But I understand that they are not for human consumption, therefore they do not have to list all ingredients on the label or possible allergies. (It would be a long list.)

So NO Crayola Washable Markers for Bella. I'll be grabbing the big chunky crayons on my next trip to the store, just for her....after I pull them up on Crayola for the actual name and call them and ask about SOY again.

Paid Vacation?

2010-04-05T10:12:00.000-07:00

Jesse was informed, on Friday upon getting to work, that ALL Security Officers had to report to work for a meeting at 8am today. Of course the rumors began to fly. Oddly they were all true. My hubby pulled himself out of bed at 730am for another meeting on his day off. Thats always our favorite thing to do!

Today WAS the security take-over. All the "old" security guards are getting 26 days of "paid vacation" starting today. The new contract security company "HSS" started working at 8am this morning. The official lay off day is still May 1st. I guess its not actually 26 days of vacation. The guys will continue to get 40 full hours of pay for the next 3 weeks until the lay off day. Same difference....or close enough.

It truly gives the guys 3 full weeks to look for work and take a "spring break" with their families...and accomplish things around the yard/house. On the 30th (or after) they all get to report to the hospitals HR Dept to sign the "severance agreement" and then they'll get that check within 10 days. Then on May 1st, if not employed thru someone else they get to file for unemployment. Yippee....ugh.

Easter Cupcakes

2010-04-04T21:50:00.000-07:00

Brookie was in charge of Easter dessert.

We had "French Vanilla" cupcakes with Lemon Frosting.

Brook insisted on making the cupcake batter Easter egg colored.

Oh and they had to have sprinkles!

These were FUN!!!