5 signs you have a kick-ass neighborhood like ours!

1. There are tons of kids your child's age to play with.

2. All of the adults are fun, kind, good parents, and watch out for the other families and their kids.

3. You have neighborhood dinner every Wednesday night. And the kids play for hours.

4. You can call one particular neighbor and she almost always have what you forgot at the store. Ok maybe 3 particular neighbors... LOL

5. And number 5- you and your family have memories about your neighbors that will last a lifetime and you can't imagine a better place to live.

Sniff sniff-Love you guys!

How fun is this?!

At the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach

You must go!!!

Sharing...uggghhh

Sharing is such a weird concept when you are a parent. What can be shared? Under what circumstances? When is it unfair to share? Who has to share? Oh man!

For instance, at the beach. We bring sand toys, Irelyn doesn't play with them but instead runs into the water. A little boy, 14 months or so, comes over to play..which is fine by me. The mom doesn't ask which is fine also. But then, the little boy takes our shovel goes to another part of the beach and then it is finally returned half and hour later. Hmmm fine I guess but Irelyn was looking for it so that starts a whole other situation. Then the little boy and a girl now manage to come get our sand toys and begin bringing them over to their towels one by one. Hmmm- neither mom intervenes or does anything... Irelyn wants her stuff back...so I go over to get them and the mom looks at me and says "Well he doesn't know any better." Of course he doesn't that's why he has a mom.... to teach him that stuff. So then I get dirty looks the rest of the time at the beach for being selfish! LOL

I have kind of always had the rule that you don't play with other kids stuff at the beach, park etc because it's theirs. And it's hard to keep track of too. You all know that when you bring toys to a park you always end up minus 1. It's practically a law that 1 of whatever you bring is left or taken at the park.

More rambling to come...

Stuff....

Only 3 more days until Daddy comes home! Geez-It can't come soon enough.

First I want to start off by saying that Carino's is the craziest restaurant. There were 4 of us for dinner and we entered at 5:30, ordered after our waiter finally came 15 minutes later, and we left the restaurant at 7:30. Ridiculous?! I think yes...and it wasn't crowded. When Irelyn's mac and cheese came she blurted out "Finally!" Our poor waiter...It was seriously forever!!

This has definitely been the summer of cousins. Irelyn has had so much fun and we have done so many great things.

So here come the pictures-

Go to JoAnn and get these bird houses. With your coupon they cost less than $3. And they are a great craft for the kids.
Excuse the underwear

Productive day...

I woke up this morning and since it was so cool out, I decided to stay home for a few hours and do some housework. 4 huge trash bags of stuff!- It doesn't really look like I made a dent though :( but it's a start. I already took it to Goodwill so it's out of here! It feels so good- I'm hoping to do some more tonight...


Yesterday my sis and I took the kids to the concert in the park. It was so fun to sit there and actually listen to the music. The kids did a great job entertaining themselves..Irelyn and Kanaya had a great time dancing too. I took a video but it turned out really blurry so here is a pic.

I'm losing it!

You know how I lose stuff all the time? Well, today was no exception. I'm working on my organizing but I'm not quite there yet. Geez, after 15 minutes I finally found what I was looking for, in one of my piles of course, but I just wasted 15 minutes! I've got to get organized. Some of you are super organized...Any tips for me?

Photo Friday...

Irelyn(being a kitty) and Lauren

Watching the butterfly- see it?

Why I love summer...

Since I was a kid, I have loved summer for the same reasons as everyone else- school is out, vacations, free time yada yada... Most of my summers, past age 11, were spent traveling for soccer tournaments and family vacations and after that, "summer free-time" became less and less each year. This summer, for some reason, seems really special though. Maybe it is because Irelyn completed her first year of school or maybe it is because she is now old enough to truly enjoy the long days of summer. Either way, I love waking up each day with a fun day planned, not having to take a shower or put on make-up, staying gone all day and getting sandy, and coming home just in time for her to go to bed and for me to relax. There is something so nice about enjoying these long days together. I hope you are enjoying your summer just as much as we are :)

Stop waking up...

at 5:45am! Seriously, what is going on? Two days in a row, Irelyn has come into my room at 5:45. Totally awake and ready to talk. Both days I have told her to go back to sleep. Yesterday she did and today she just layed next to me waiting for me to turn on Backyardigans. I'm soooo tired...

On a happier note, I saw my friend Becky today. I'm embarrased to say it, but we haven't seen each other in 2 years. Where did 2 years go?? Anyways, it was so great to catch up. Irelyn is very excited about her new best friend! She came over to me and whispered that she liked talking to Becky. She even convinced Becky to give her some of her ice cream :)

Looking back...

For the past few hours, I have been cleaning and organizing pictures to get ready to finish Irelyn's scrapbooks. Her scrapbooks are one of the things I am planning to complete while George is out of town. Along with cleaning out the fridge, organizing the cupboards and pantry, cleaning out my closet...the list goes on and on. I'm thinking I will accomplish maybe one or two of these "to-do's" but whatever. Anyways, I came across this picture of Irelyn. She was almost 2 years old. I just LOVE it. My friend Becca took it, along with several others, and I absolutely love the way she captured Irelyn's happiness. She is such a happy little girl full of smiles and laughter. Thank you Becca for taking this picture- I will treasure it forever.

Here is another one of my favorites from my friend Jen. This was on Irelyn's 3rd Birthday...she looks so young to me and it was only a year ago. I just love the artistic touch that Jen added and Irelyn's sweet look... I could go on and on adding pictures, OK one more. This one just makes me laugh. As soon as Irelyn was able to walk, she had a soccer ball at her feet. This is her at 14 months old dribbling the ball. She was learning how to step on top to stop it and although it looks like she is going to fall she actually didn't. LOL

awwww...

We just finished watching George's interview on TV and after the interview Irelyn leaned over to George and said "Great job being on TV Daddy" and patted him on the head. Awwww.. Good Luck in Arkansas Daddy! Bring home the National Championship.

Some Soccer and Some Sprinkles...

We spent part of the day at the soccer fields today- Irelyn loves pretending she is the one in the tournament. She got all dressed up in her gear but she ended up mostly playing at the park. George's club has their tournament this weekend- here is the link for those of you that follow his stuff. http://www.e7sports.com/orgs/sfc/ We also went to Sprinkles since we were already in Newport/ CDM. Irelyn LOVED the store, she couldn't believe her luck!!! She chose the chocolate cake with vanilla frosting and chocolate sprinkles. We picked some up for the rest of the family and $19 later... seriously crazy but soooo good! http://www.sprinklescupcakes.com/

George and Irelyn at our picnic

I still don't understand how to get my pictures where I want them or in the right order. Do I upload them first and then write? Or write and then upload? I know there is an easier way to do this. Uggghhhh...

George and the Slammers

There is a cool video of George's team on the US Youth Soccer Website. The video is from when they were in Hawaii and it interviews George and his two goalies. There are also shots of the team playing. The video will air on Fox Soccer Channel on Sunday morning as part of a Youth Soccer special show.
http://championships.usyouthsoccer.org/regionIV/ Then on the right hand side it says U15 Girls Slammers FC- click play.

George leaves Sunday to compete for the National Title again this year. He is flying to Arkansas and competition starts on Wednesday. Good Luck Slammers!
To follow the team at Nationals- http://championships.usyouthsoccer.org/

The Walking Waffle

There is a store at the Spectrum called The Walking Waffle.... Of course we had to go check it out. It such a funny but YUMMY idea! Everything is on a stick! On their menu they have waffle dogs, which is like a corn dog but it's a waffle, some dessert waffles with whipped cream sprinkles etc., regular waffles with syrup but on a stick. They also sell any kind of cookie you can imagine. Irelyn ended up getting a turkey waffle dog. She ate it all so it must have been pretty tasty. Such a funny store but kudos to the one that thought it up! :)

Henry's

Every time I go to Henry's, I'm reminded why I don't go to Henry's! Geez- they never have half the stuff I went there for, the shopping carts don't work, the produce sometimes stinks... the only thing that saves them is the fact that their produce is relatively cheap. I walked out of there with 3 bags of veggies and fruits and only spent $14! It's good to only spend $14 when a trip to the store usually costs me a lot more than that :)

Happy Monday!

Good Morning! We had the BEST weekend. George and I went on a much needed getaway to San Diego. We stayed at Seaport Village at the Manchester Grand Hyatt. Wow- it was amazing. Great food, beautiful weather, awesome hotel(stay there if you go to SD), totally relaxing...but it went by too quickly. We were happy to see Irelyn when we picked her up and the first thing she said to me was "I forgot what you looked like." It's funny how 24 hours seems like forever to a kid. We got her some nailpolish that changes color in the sun so she loved that. It is pink inside and purple when you are in the sun.

I can't wait for our next getaway :)

View from our room

George and I

Time with Family

We had to much fun last week when Trevor, Zac and Lauren came to visit. We played games, went to the park, swimming, soccer fields...you name it we did it. The boys enjoyed the soccer camp and a one on one training session with George. I hope you all had a great week.

Trevor

Irelyn, Trevor, Lauren, Zac

Irelyn, Kanaya, Lauren

Irelyn, George, Lauren

Zac

Thursday morning...

I'm feeling so tired today. I need some coffee but I'm out! I really like the Jose's coffee at Costco so I will probably go buy some more of that. You get a huge 2 lb bag for $9 I think. Try it :)

This past year has been so crazy- I feel like nothing I plan ever works out. It is so weird, pretty much if I say "yes" to something, you can count me out. LOL I know part of it is George's schedule. A typical day for him is leaving the house at 7am, coming home for an hour around 4, and then out the door again until 8 or 9pm. It leaves us all exhausted and scatter-brained. I need to get better at my planning though... or just commit to nothing and go with the flow (this is what I usually do.)

You've got to play this

This is a must play game. With good friends of course...try it. Lots of laughs!

http://www.loadedquestions.com/loadedquestions-adult.html

Far from a neat freak...

Most of you know that my car is usually a complete disaster inside. I always clean it out and then vow to never let it get that messy again. I've been doing a little better lately but after not being able to fit 2 extra kids in my car today, I realized it was time to clean it out. So...20 minutes later- it looks great! I filled a Nordstrom bag full of clothes and shoes and 8...yes 8...bowls and forks. Ridiculous I know!!! I'm a pack rat by nature. It's a habit I can't break. Please help keep me on the right track of keeping my car clean and neat!!

The end of a great weekend

I love the beach! We spent 4 hours there today and I am absolutely exhausted! It was such a beautiful day and we got some great family time in.

We've got a very busy week ahead. Irelyn's cousins, Trevor, Zac and Lauren, are coming this week for the boys to attend the Slammers Soccer Camp. They love soccer and think it is so cool that George coaches. They really enjoy learning from him. Lauren and Irelyn will probably play princesses all week. The girls love when they dress up in their princess dresses and they go to the top of the stairs. They then yell "Announce us!" and someone has to announce them(usually me). My typical announcement is something like "Announcing the beautiful, sweet and kind Jasmine and the enchanting Belle." Ridiculous huh? It's just like the Princess Faire at Disneyland and they are both obsessed.

I hope you all have a great week.

Finally a day off

This is the first day in months that we have had a day off together as a family. Nothing to do, George not out of town or at the soccer fields, no where we have to go...what are we going to do with ourselves? First of all, we tried to sleep in. We only made it until 7:30 :( I think it is going to be really hot today so we will probably just lay low and relax. Irelyn likes to go to Lakeshore on Saturdays to do the free craft so we will probably do that. Sometimes we make the Saturday rounds to Lowe's, Lakeshore, and Michaels. Free crafts at all the stores, shopping for me, what could be better?



Now this is summer! Watermelon!!!

Irelyn and Olivia.

Irelyn is really into making up words and she always has a very descriptive meaning to each new word. A few of her faves are yak, spoodanifle, and hinna missa.

Last night, Irelyn was convinced that Olivia told her she had a "bloose tooth." We tried to tell her that she probably said "loose" but Irelyn never thinks she is wrong so she didn't believe us. So all night she kept asking if she was going to have a "bloose tooth".

Cameron, Olivia, Irelyn

Happy 4th of July

I have some time right now because both of my kids are napping...haha I know I only have one kid but you all know what I mean :) Anyways, Happy 4th of July- I hope everyone has a safe and fun holiday. We've already done a lot today and it is only 3pm. We will continue our celebrating this evening in Costa Mesa where it is LEGAL to do fireworks... Yay! I'm just going to post some recent pics, enjoy.

Kanaya and Irelyn at CA Adventure

Electrical parade

Hudson, Rylee and Irelyn having dinner

Ice Cream man came!

Irelyn and Mommy

I've learned from the best... Cameron's Shower

A few weeks ago we(meaning my mom and her friends and their daughters), threw a baby shower for Cameron. My mom and her friends always go over the top, never missing a detail, and are just amazing! The daughters(about 6 of us) have been helping throw these parties since we were little that now we know how to do it too...well not quite as well. But we managed to have a great shower in 110 degree weather. All the food was sooooooo yummy and Cameron enjoyed it and loved her gifts. She is having a little girl due around August 9th.

Chicken stuffed phyllo, pilaf, roasted asparagus, and a cute little carrot rose garnish

Strawberry salad with yogurt balsamic dressing

Cupcakes and lemon sorbet for dessert

Jenelle, Cameron, Amy, Me, Julianne

These are some of the peeps I grew up with(minus all the boys since this was a baby shower)- Almost every Holiday was spent with them. Vacations etc.

I'm still figuring out this blog thing- whenever I add a picture it never ends up where I wanted it to! I'll keep trying...

Updates...

It has been a while since I have written, so much has been going on. Irelyn finished her first year of preschool...yay Irelyn. She also turned 4 last Friday. We took her to Disneyland that day and she ate Mickey pancakes and danced at the Princess Faire. She had a party at Chuck E Cheese's earlier in the month with some family and friends. We signed her up for AYSO soccer which will start in the Fall and we are looking into her trying some gymnastics this summer. Right now, Irelyn is having a great time swimming at Gaga and Papa's almost every day. We have been going to the beach a lot and really enjoying the summer!

A few months back, I was offered a teaching job at RHL preschool for the Fall 3 mornings a week, and it was too good of an offer to pass up. Irelyn is already there anyways and it will be good for me to get back to teaching.

George just returned from some busy soccer traveling. First, he went to Hawaii with his GU15 team to play in the Regional tournament. Which they won(not surprised) so now they are going to Arkansas in a few weeks. Directly from Hawaii, he spent a week in Washington running the Northwest Soccer Camps. He loves going up there and when he goes again in August, Irelyn and I will get to go also. So, we have Daddy home for a few weeks and then the traveling starts again...