california freemans

it's time to say goodbye...until next week at least.

2011-09-18T12:05:00.000-07:00

:: photo found here :: The thought still enters my mind. "This would make a good blog post." I would think about taking pictures not for the sake of capturing the memory, but to make sure that I had a picture to upload with my story. When the boys were babies it was easy. Put them down for a nap, write a little, give them a little tummy time, write a little more, start a blog, write a

because I've become a coffee snob.

2011-08-25T09:39:00.000-07:00

When you've been up the night before worrying about your children, a handmade mug from Coronado and fresh coffee beans from Undergrounds (coffeeundergrounds.com) makes everything better. If not better, at least wakes you up to deal with today.

God Bless you, Judy Blume.

2011-08-23T00:00:00.000-07:00

Tonight the Big Cheese and I started reading Superfudge by Judy Blume. I've tried to read some of the "Fudge" books to him before, but he wasn't all that interested. But tonight as I made the voices of Fudge and Peter just to his liking, he "got it." I'd read a funny paragraph and he was laugh out loud and say, "Read that again." It was clear: He had fallen in love with his first piece of

Weekly Column: There's Only One

2011-08-22T00:00:00.000-07:00

:: from coton-colors.com. feel free to buy me one. :: I love living in California. You know I do. But there's one time of year that I do not love living here. Football season. As a matter of fact, it makes me cry I miss game day so much. Do I cry over missing my family? My friends? My home state? Uh...no really. (sorry, everybody.) But sing the first few words to the OU Chant and tears

sunday reminders

2011-08-21T00:00:00.000-07:00

Wanted: Someone with really good handwriting to recreate. And you know who you are (kim frakes). Source: naturallymeashley.tumblr.com via Stephenie on Pinterest

list 15: if I had more time I would...

2011-08-19T00:00:00.000-07:00

:: photo found here :: 1. watch more T.V. If you know me personally, you are not at all shocked by this. I love me some T.V. and wish I had more time to watch. Yes, T.V. makes me happy and I'm not afraid to admit it. 2. would cook better. Not that I'm a bad cook per say , but around dinner time I'll find myself suddenly thinking,"Huh. Wonder what can I make out of marinated artichoke

paying attention: part 9

2011-08-18T00:00:00.000-07:00

When I start to write posts about the Cheese, I always feel like I need to say, "Previously on the Real Housewives..." or something like it to catch everyone up to speed. Instead, just know that you can click here to start at the beginning of the story. So where were we...ah, yes. The medication wasn't working. It was summer break and with "break" being the operative word, we decided to do

shiny, red apples

2011-08-17T20:57:00.000-07:00

Some moms are sad when the First Day of School comes around. I am not one of those moms. Don't get me wrong. I love the unscheduled days of summer. The p.j. days that are spent disregarding responsibilities. But there was something about seeing these backpacks full of new school supplies that made me smile this morning. You might notice the apples. It's a tradition, started by my mother

paying attention: never the exception

2011-08-04T09:13:00.000-07:00

:: the Cheese's self-portrait as an astronaut :: When they say that there's no such thing as a quick fix, they aren't kidding. Not that I was expecting the Big Cheese to be a quick fix. I knew better than to believe that simply giving him a pill would make everything okay. I might have hoped that it would fix everything, but my luck has never been that good. We were one month into taking

it's Norman's birthday.

2011-07-28T00:00:00.000-07:00

Okay, so we don't know exactly when the poor guy was born. Or where he was born for that matter. I mean, we don't even know what kind of dog he is. All we know is that he was abandoned in a shelter in south central L.A. and one year ago he came home to live with us. The Monkey wants to know how we are going to celebrate. There's a pet store here in town where you can actually have birthday

Eating the fruit of our labor.

2011-07-27T11:10:00.000-07:00

:: fruit stand in Pike Place Market, Seattle :: You know when someone asks you what you've been up to and you respond with total exasperation about how busy it's been, how crazy? And then you start to listen to what you're actually saying and realize what you sound like because the things that you have been crazy with are wonderful and fun and total blessings? Yeah...that's going to be me here

Weekly Column: Beauty Sleep.

2011-07-08T07:42:00.000-07:00

©2008, Stephenie Freeman I spent most of last night convincing my son that our house wasn’t going to burn down, that there was no need to be scared, and that if any monsters showed up or bed bugs started biting that I was just down the hallway. Not surprisingly, this conversation happened at bedtime in between another drink of water and just one more hug. They say what goes around comes

these are a few of our favorite things...

2011-07-06T16:19:00.000-07:00

we celebrated the 4th in our favorite way--on coronado island doing all of our favorite things. we biked around the island... we met Patrick Mc P, the official canine mayor of coronado... we enjoyed our favorite parade... which included little clowns... and the cast of The Music Man (one of my favorite musicals)... and even some Star Wars characters (the boys absolute favorite)... we

california anniversary.

2011-07-05T00:00:00.000-07:00

Today is what I call our california anniversary. Five years ago today, we moved west. It's been a blessed five years and as much as we missed our family and friends, we couldn't be happier. So much has happened in those five years. More than we could have ever guessed or requested in our wildest dreams. God has been so good to us here. California is now home. However, the way it all started

tradition.

2011-07-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

:: photo found here :: We're off to the beach for the holiday weekend. It's become our new family tradition since moving to California and I must say, it's one of the best traditions that we have. happy fourth of july!

park it.

2011-06-30T11:36:00.000-07:00

I'm a bad mommy. I hate going to the park. I'm not one of those mamas who is good as going somewhere just to sit. And that's what you do when you take your kids to the park--you sit. I'm not a good sitter unless it's in front of the T.V. and Teresa is getting advice from Caroline about how to handle all of her family's drama. I've tried to take books to read, but it just doesn't happen.

is that it?

2011-06-29T23:47:00.000-07:00

You know that commercial that was filmed in my neighborhood a few months ago? Here it is. What's shocking is that they took an entire day to make this, had trucks and trucks and hundreds of people for...this. Why didn't they shoot this commercial in my neighborhood? I have two little boys who would have been PERFECT in the lead role.

paying attention: a hard pill to swallow

2011-06-28T10:12:00.000-07:00

:: photo found here :: The Cheese sat on the kitchen counter. I stood in front of him, a box of Tic-Tacs in my hand. "We're going to practice with these," I told him. "These are a little smaller than the pills that you have to take, so it should be easy-peesey-lemon-squeezie!" I am a mother, proud of my capabilities as a parent. Teaching a 9 year-old to swallow a pill? No problem. 15

paying attention: part 6

2011-06-27T19:53:00.000-07:00

:: photo found here :: I'm not going to lie. I almost started to cry as we walked into the building. I'm not sure the exact reason. We had waited weeks for this appointment and I had woken up feeling the relief that the day had finally come. But as we walked into the building that was labeled The Institute for Neurosciences and Human Behavior I felt my emotions starting to get the best of me

reunited and it feels so good.

2011-06-24T09:46:00.000-07:00

So my 20 year reunion was a great, fun time. No really, it was. I couldn't wait to see all of my old friends: Christie, Kim, Lisa, Karen, Kio, and Amy just to name a few. Everyone looked awesome--just like we did 20 years ago (at least that's what we kept telling each other all night long.) Gone was all of the pretense of high school. Gone was worrying about what your classmates think (of

So much for 3rd Grade. He's got bigger and better plans.

2011-06-09T20:54:00.000-07:00

r.i.p. freddie

2011-06-08T00:00:00.000-07:00

So when we were down in Coronado I got a frantic, early Saturday morning phone call from our friend who was housesitting and watching our dogs. "Steph...I don't know what happened...I let the dogs out last night...and then this morning...I think Freddie was attacked last night. Maybe coyotes. I don't know. Half of his skin is gone. He's just lying there. I don't know. What do you want me to

absent.

2011-06-07T21:49:00.000-07:00

Have you been missing me? Somehow I doubt it. May was a little crazy. Just to quickly fill you in, here's the month in reverse order. The Golfer was gone for Regionals (which they won!) and then the National Championship (which they didn't). They might not have come home with the trophy, but did manage to have this cool pic taken by Golfweek. Before that, the Big Cheese had his Big

paying attention: ferrari brain

2011-05-15T21:58:00.000-07:00

:: photo found here :: It's kinda hard to take a kid to a doctors appointment without telling him why he's going. Especially a bright kid. Especially a bright kid who knows he's not sick. That's when we had the Ferrari Brain conversation. We had talked to the Cheese before about his struggles concentrating. He had even sat in on the first parent/teacher conference where his inability to

happy (belated) mother's day

2011-05-10T21:41:00.000-07:00

Because I am a mother, I am always busy. Because I am a mother, I don't always get things done in a timely matter. Because I am a mother, I sometimes forget to do thing I should. So sorry this is late, but I've been busy being a mother. Happy (belated) Mother's Day to all my fellow Mamas!