MIA

Sorry I have been MIA, we have been doing lots around the house. Here are a few pictures of what we have done so far:

We finally got new windows first of all, yay!

before:
ugly tint that I hated, thin windows that allowed us to hear the neighbor kids screaming from their swimming pool, let in tons of dirt, heat and bugs and were almost impossible to actually open.


new, lovely dual pane windows that open with ease. Keep all of our air conditioned air in, bugs and dust out!



Isa's room would get so hot in the middle of the day, her new windows are triple pane!

before:


after:


I love these picture windows that we got with no openings, they are beautiful. I love the view out the window, the mountains...and our neighbors awesome pool!



This is my favorite, I love it. We have an antique stained glass piece that we are going to hang in front of it once we get a free minute.



We also had the "cottage cheese" scraped off all of the remaining ceilings. Donovan and I did the rooms that we could reach but our bedroom and living room ceilings were so tall that we were afraid to get up on that tall off a ladder. We hired Metro Painters and they did an awesome job, I highly recommend them. They also painted our master bedroom.

We moved as much into the garage as we could:



Moved all of our bedroom stuff into the master bath. We also stacked a bunch on top of the toilet and it already had a crack in it so it leaked everywhere...but that's a whole different blog!





Our bedroom before:



After:
The walls are a faint blue/green color and we re-arranged all the furniture. That furniture is so stinkin heavy!







I haven't found the right bedding yet and we are ordering 2" blinds for the windows so everything looks odd, but I will update it, you know I will!

Oh, and my wonderful husband installed that ceiling fan, it's the first fan we have ever had in our bedroom, it's beautiful and works so well!

Here is everything from the family room, we moved it all into the kitchen:



Donovan and I slept in the playroom, it was nice! We put our mattress on the floor and took the tv off the wall and put it on it's stand in there.




I didn't get many photos of them actually working on it, we tried to stay out of the mess, but they covered all the walls with plastic.





The floors were covered in dust, Corky had it all over her.



Anywho, that's where I've been. We are still putting things back in their place and cleaning up after all these messes!

TOMORROW!!!

We finally get our new dual pane windows! I am so excited, there will be less noise, less dust, less heat! They will actually open without separating from the frame, they will actually...open! Whoo, lots of exclamation points on this post, can ya tell I am excited? (!) I will post photos as soon as they are done.

this song makes me sob like a newborn baby

next....

1. June 20: car breaks down
2. June 26: our garage door breaks
3. June 29: the master bath toilet broke and leaked water all over the carpet
4. July 1: Donovan leaves his work truck out in front of our house and we got a ticket because it is street sweeping day

When it rains, it pours!

in case you haven't heard

on the way to Vegas last week for my 30th b.day/Donovan's 31st b.day/our 9th anniversary our car broke down! We had to drive over 200 miles in 110°+ weather with no ac! We dropped it off at the Honda dealership the next morning and the mechanic gave us the bad news, it needed a new transmission. It would be $3500 and it would be ready Tuesday, 2 problems with that...the car isn't worth $3500 and we had to leave the next day! We were stranded...we could fly home. We could rent a car. We could buy a car. We went looking in their used car lot to see what they had and we found a cute little 2006 civic with really low miles and a 7 year warranty for a great price! We decided it was meant to be and started the paperwork. The dealership was great, they loaned us a car so that we could leave while they detailed it, they filled the new car up with gas...I felt like they really were trying to help us out. We were so glad to have ac on the ride home! The new car gets about 10 MPG better than the old car and has a sunroof, I LOVE it! Anyway, here are some photos, you knew they were coming, right?

On the way:



Me, sweating my makeup and cute hair off!



The new car:









Donovan, not winning:



Me, won!:




Our dessert, yum!



Here is our gorgeous hotel room, it was more like an apartment, it was huge!







Overall, we had a great time. I can't wait to go back!

phew, it's been a long time!

My computer crashed again, Donovan said he didn't have time to deal with it again and since we bought the extended warranty that we should use it. I hated handing over my beloved to some geek! It took them 3 weeks, they had to send it away to Apple to replace the hard drive and I lost everything but I backed up just about a week before it crashed. PHEW!!!

On a totally other note, I LOVE the Upside Down Show, those dudes crack me up! I wish they had a live stage show, I would totally take the kids. Here's a little clip from youtube in case you don't know what I'm talking about:



I have lots to show and tell but I am off to the mountains today to visit my BFF Sunny, she is moving to Colorado next week. =(

Isa's last day!

Today was Isa's last day of school, she has a little performance on Monday but today was her last official day.

No more tuition.
No more driving 30+ miles there and back 3 times a week.
No more having to pay for her to go in early so I can teach a morning class.

I am so excited about saving money on tuition and gas. Once she is in Kindergarten we will walk to her school, it's only about 1/2 mile away so we will save on gas then too!

Can you see me doing my happy dance?

liar liar

Yesterday we were in a rush and I told Isabella to finish her breakfast and then come up to get dressed. She came up about 1 second later and I asked her over and over if she ate all her food and she repeatedly told me yes. So we got ready and left for our weekly movie. We came back later and while they were eating lunch I cleaned up breakfast dishes and found her breakfast in the bottom of the sink! She lied to me! So I punished her, she lost access to her playroom for the day and her leapster for 3 days and to get it back she needs to eat all her meals for 3 days. Fast forward to dinner we are having salmon and salad, I told her she needs to eat every bite in order to get her leapster back. She came in and said that she ate it all and there on her plate was the bite I just told her to eat all smashed up. I looked at her and asked her if she had eaten it all? YES. I repeated myself...YES. I couldn't believe it! She lied again! And she's not a very good liar, she didn't even try to hide the food. Hello, we have 2 hungry dogs! lol

Any advise?

great blog

http://365daysoftrash.blogspot.com/2008/06/isnt-about-time-to-give-up-on-plastic.html

I try to stay away from water bottles, unless we are out and about and my kids are thirsty. I usually bring water with me where ever I go in one of my re-usable/washable plastic bottles. Going to the gym makes me sad to see every single person with a disposable bottle, the trash cans are completely full of them.

My husband thinks I'm a dork, but I wrote: reduce reuse recycle on my plastic bottle.

feel free to laugh!

I was working with my trainer this morning and we were focusing on my legs. I was stepping on and off a step aerobics step with 4 risers sort of like the gray and blue one on the right:



I was stepping on 12 times with each leg and then 12 with the other and then doing lunges:



Well, I fell! I stepped off the step backwards, my ankle turned and fell on my bottom! My trainer said I bounced (thank you, fat butt!) and then my legs went flying into the air. Luckily my ankle isn't hurt at all, just my behind!

I'm tired, and this is why

This is how our yard has looked for a few years now, it had an old wall that was about 1 foot tall and the dirt came all the way out to where the grass stops. Here is how it looked before:





We built the wall a few months back and then it sat...we have a problem finishing projects!

Last weekend when it was cool we installed the sprinkler system and today we got to do the fun stuff....planting!

First we decided to move a jacaranda tree, it was in a spot where it wasn't visible, it hung over our fence into our neighbors yard more than ours!





Digging wasn't too hard, I pushed the tree in different directions and Donovan got under it and broke out the roots. Then came the fun part! We dragged it across the yard and pulled it up onto the slope. Donovan dug a giant hole (3 times!)



Then we had to get it in and stand it upright. That was seriously the hardest thing I have ever done, I think it weighed like 200 pounds. Ok, I guess childbirth was harder but this was right behind it. So finally Donovan dug the hole big enough so that it pretty much stayed upright.



Isn't it awesome! I hope it survives, we tortured the poor thing.

We planted a bunch but we still need more! We planted a lot of day lilies, Lilly of the Nile, 1 orange tree, 1 tangelo tree and 1 grapefruit tree. We also have an itty bitty flowering plum tree up on the slope too. Next weekend we plan to go buy more to fill in some spots.

Great movie!

What Would Jesus Buy?

It's from the makers of SuperSize Me which we loved.

Here is the general synopsis from their website: Through retail interventions, corporate exorcisms, and some good old-fashioned preaching, Reverend Billy reminds us that we have lost the true meaning of Christmas. What Would Jesus Buy? is a journey into the heart of America – from exorcising the demons at the Wal-Mart headquarters to taking over the center stage at the Mall of America and then ultimately heading to the Promised Land … Disneyland.

Check it out!

I hate this

We went to the Canyon Crest Town Center tonight to pick up our art from color me mine and decided to go to Rite Aid for some cheap ice cream and walk around a bit. It was so sad seeing all the stores that are closing. First were 2 boutiques near Jammin Bread and then Ananda which has been there since I went to the Town Center as a teenager to hang out at See's Coffee. Then I saw it...Imagine That, the greatest bookstore ever is closing. They have such an amazing selection on books and they also had a preschool story time every Saturday morning.

So sad.

fitting

After being told "You will be so pretty...when you are skinny" I am all with the above statement. What makes people say such inconsiderate things?

To speak without thinking is to shoot without aiming

Horseback riding

Isabella was invited to a friends birthday at a ranch today! We both really enjoyed it , being there makes me want a horse!


Here she is riding O'Henry, such a gentle and smart horse.


She lead him really well.


Here she is posing with another horse, I love the sequence of these.







Here she is with her B.F.F. Zoe and a miniature horse.


Grooming:


They fed them carrots but I didn't get any shots of that, I wanted to make sure this didn't happen:


Here is the most beautiful horse I have ever seen, he weighs 2,000 pounds! He was about 6'5 inches tall.



Here he is devouring a whole carrot in 1 fail swoop!


Happy Birthday Chelsi!

LOVE this book!

It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me want a puppy! If you are a dog lover especially, please check it out. I also heard that there is being a movie made about it, I can't wait!

Marley and Me

wii fit

We bought:

wii fit

It is so much fun and actually got my heart rate up! You can slalom ski, do step aerobics, yoga and lots more! Check it out.

I want this:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=11596042

This just makes me laugh, I think it would make my 9 year old nephew Jimmy laugh too, I love that I find the same things funny as my 9 year old nephew!

Funday

Sunday was our funday (now you have the Go Go's song stuck in your head too!), Zach has his beloved choo choo "towing" his cart. I think he will be a tow truck driver when he grows up, he loves towing. Notice when he backs up he says "beep beep beep" haha!



Here is Isabella pulling Zach around the house in the same caart, he was laughing and crying all at the same time! Again, I am such a mean mom for laughing at my kid!

Yum

My favorite new thing! We got this from Costco, I grilled it on my handy dandy grill pan for about 15 minutes and it was delicious! Crunchy topping, flaky inside.

Small?

This is a SMALL drink! When did a small become bigger than your head?

Mother's tea party

We had a tea party at Isabella's school on Friday, we had such a good time! I made her dress and our headbands, I couldn't get the pattern of the fabric to line up right on my circle skirt so I gave up! Oh well, maybe someday.

Here's her dress:



Our matching headbands:



Here she is singing with her boyfriend Michael on the left of her. (kidding, he is not her boyfriend, but she does want to marry him!!)

Zach spotted beetles

they're not just at our house, yay! Here is a photo of Zach on Mother's day, he spotted a few beetles and wouldn't get off this chair for about 30 minutes or more!

annoyed

I normally post photos on here by linking them from photobucket. Well, photobucket shuts down my browser every time I upload photos. I tried flickr but it doesn't have all the cool options that photobucket has. Anyone have any ideas on what to do or another photo sharing site?

beetles?

Anyone else being over run with beetles? We see a few a day, luckily we have only had one in the house. I say luckily because Zach is DEATHLY afraid of them. He screams and starts shaking and takes off running at top speed!! It's actually really funny, I know, I'm a terrible person for laughing at my kid.

it hurts to type

Well not really but anything that involves lifting my arm from my sides is painful. I was putting laundry in the washing machine and my hands were shaking! All because of my new best friend Mandy, my personal trainer. She had me work biceps (with 12 pound weights!) my back and abs. I have never pushed myself that hard in my life. Oh, and I did a plank, she wanted me to go for 30 seconds but I pushed myself and did it for 1 minute! Here is a photo of a plank in case you don't know what I am talking about.



And if you're saying "that looks easy!" TRY it!

my new toys

portable MP3 speakers to use in my bathroom when I am getting ready in the morning, they are as small as an eyeglass case but are pretty loud, and the sound is good! to go with:

my new MP3 player

It's amazing, it's about the size of a 2 tubes of chap stick, holds so much more music than my old MP3 player (a 1st generation IPOD shuffle), it has a clip so I don't have to wear the lame little strap from the shuffle:



It has an FM tuner so I listen to actual adult music or watch the TV's that they have at the gym.

Off to legally download music! =)