Monday, September 29, 2008

In Georgia...

Hunter: Mom... will there be food in Georgia?

Stef: Yes Hunter...

Hunter: Will there be food in the refrigerator in Georgia?

Stef: Yes Hunter....

Hunter... now looking around the room, his eyes setting on the penny on the table... Mom, will there be pennies in Georgia?

Stef: Yes Hunter

Hunter: But I can't eat Pennies.... even if I am hungry!
Then he walks out of the room....

Haley's 6th Birthday!

For Haley's birthday... we had a SMALL gathering of family and a few amount of friends... FEW. With moving... I didn't want the stress of a huge party or two little parties... so I combined them.
Carrie made Haley the Diamond Castle for her cake. When Haley saw it she said to me, "Mama, it is just like I imagined it to be!" Thanks Carrie!!! She loved it and it was one of her many highlights of her day!
Look at Haley's tired face! (Dirty too) She had a GREAT DAY!
Haley holding her youngest cousin, Scarlet Rose!
Brothers with their kids...
Grandbud enjoyed hanging with Joe!
Haley got a TON of Littlest Pet shop goodies... She has been playing with them NON-stop! She even puts them to bed at night... cute!


Pin the tail on the Donkey! :)
I have to share one story about this game... Each older kid was blindfolded... OK... well, when it was the small kids turn, we didn't bother blind folding them... When Nick went to put his tail on the donkey, he went right for where it is suppose to go... older sister Kaylee came over to help Nick by telling him to put it on his ear... so he did... seriously... I thought that was pretty funny!











Haley is Star of the week

Haley happened to be star of the week the same week as her birthday! And in Ms Burrows class, Fridays are the day the star of the week brings in a family member to read to the class. Friday was ALSO Haley's birthday... :)
Haley had me read Fancy Nancy!
I dont know if you can tell, but Tara cut her hair.... It is pretty short and when I straighten it, we have matching hair cuts... :)
Below is Ms Burrows reading the Star of the Week's book. It is a book made up of letters each student in the class wrote TO Haley! SOOOO sweet!!!!

Saturday, September 27, 2008

The WHOLE island ... away?

All I heard Jim say today was. "Hunter, if you don't share with Jonah I will take the island of Sodar away." It made me smile (not where Hunter could see...)

On another note...

We had our yard sale today... the one to raise money for our travels to Georgia. Our first costumer came at 515AM. YES.... THAT EARLY... I got up at 5 (dogs barking)... I finally made it to the living room by 515 and peeked out my window cause I thought I saw my dads truck and I thought... wow, my dad and mom came early to help.... then I looked harder (aka, put on my glasses) and saw that it wasnt my dad, it was an old mexican man with a flash light ready to shop!
We did NOT let the guy shop till we were ready! :)

Over all it was a really good day, as far as yardsales go. We were DONE by 1030.

Thank you, those of you who came and helped us out... either by bringing stuff for us to sell or for coming and buying our crap, I mean our treasures.
This is the thank you card Tara made for Haley's b-day! It was yesterday (yes a birthday party and yard sale in one weekend... I am not smart). I will post pictures of her b-day when I get a chance...

AND one final note...
I am sick... :( Keep me in your prayers.... When I open my mouth it looks like I have a pimple on my tonsel... (my left one to be exact). It is NASTY! But seriously... with our move coming soon, I really want to get well fast. AND that my kids dont get this... I havent been to the DR yet... I know what I have and I think I can get better by myself :).... but seriously, if I am not better by tomorrow I will go to the Urgent care...

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Tara's Photo's

We just had our pictures taken by my friend, Tara. (See website under my links)
This is Haley and My feet :) Which set is mine and which is Haley's.... Erin D. This photo is for you :) I am going to get a HUGE one for you to hang in your home :) I know how much you love feet.
Haley turns 6 on Friday... So I had Tara take Haley's portrait
Look how dark Haley's hair is...

Sunday, September 21, 2008

What I am saving my money for


My computer is crap. It is just old. It is slow... It is HUGE.... I it is about five years old... which isnt that old... but we got it for a few hundred... and got the cheapest run down version there was. The monitor is HEAVY and bulky.

Maybe my issues are user problems... FINE... I know I am not the most computer literate gal out there...

Ok...
So jim and I were talking about what we would want to buy if we had money (key word here - HAD). He wants a batting cage.... practical... :).... I want a NICE apple notebook. I dont care how big the screen is :). So now I am saving up my money for a new apple. Just thought I would share :)

How many have an Apple? Do you like it? Recomend it?

Georgia in the Fall

For those of you who don't know yet...
We are moving to Flowery Branch, Georgia.
It is 44 hours from Rancho Cucamonga, Ca.
We are leaving 4am on October the 13th. (Not a friday... monday) :)
We are driving there... ROAD TRIP....
The above picture is Lake Lanier which is about five minutes from where we are going to live.

Why are we moving?
Great question.
Well, basically ... this is something we have been looking into for over a year now, so as it may seem sudden for most of you, this isn't something we are just jumping at at the last minute.
Still haven't answered the question... WHY?
Well, simply, there are a few more opportunities for us out there, we have family out there, so we are going there. :)

We are super excited to jump at this adventure. The farthest I have lived from the home I spent 20 years of my life in is Fontana. I am excited for the experience of living in a new environment... I know there will be struggles and things that I will miss that ONLY california offers...

We will be having a moving sale this Saturday at our current home in Alta Loma, Ca... if anyone would like to pop by and support us. Another way you can support us is just keeping us in your prayers...
- For a safe trip out there and a fun trip out there...
- For our children and their adjusting to all this (Especially Haley)
- For Jim's future job
- God's provision

We will be keeping you all up dated on our journey to Georgia on the Blog... so stay tuned. :)

Thanks for your support and prayers

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Calling all police cars

It was a hot day today, so I had the house all shut up and the air going.... probably like most of you right?

At a quarter to 11 I gathered up Jonah, got my keys and headed out the door to my car. I had to pick up Hunter from preschool. The moment I stepped out of my door I was instantly hit with the sight of at LEAST eight cop cars and TWO motorcycle cops. The cars were all blocking my cul-de-sac and the two motorcycles blocked the side walks on both sides of the street.

Before I found out what happened like every nosey neighbor, I had to find someone to pick up Hunter from preschool because there was NO WAY I was leaving my street anytime soon.
To paint a picture... the eight or more cop cars were scattered across the entrance to our street like the end of a police pursuit or a bank robbery... it was exactly like the TV shows and movies.

Mom... thanks for picking up the Hunt man...

Ok... back to the story

Come to find out. My next door neighbor's 18 year old kid (who has had problems with drugs and has had the police here before- but has sworn he won't do anything against the law again - oops) and another neighbor kid was breaking into the homes on our street. The police caught the little suckers... One of the boys gave me a lovely sexual gesture while sitting in the back of the cop car. (Well, maybe he was giving the gesture to Pedro my 50 year old neighbor).

I kinda felt jipped... I mean... I could have totally seen all the action had my shades not been drawn....

A little scary that it was my NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR. What if it was MY HOUSE they robbed? Well, they wouldn't have gotten much. :)

According to the cops, the boys knew what they were doing... .probably having watched our homes knowing who was home or not. And it was most likely to get quick drug money.

Monday, September 08, 2008

One year old pictures

Haley at one... yes, she got a black eye on the way to the photo place - Sept 2003
Jonah... Who do you think he looks more like? (Today)
Hunter - he cut his lip on the way to his photo... June 2005

Friday, September 05, 2008

Vomit or no vomit... that is the question...

My friend and neighbor, Karla, and I were talking about the flu the other day and the question came up... to have the flu, I always thought vomit was included in the deal... Your thoughts?

Why were we discussing such lovely things... I have been sick the past few days... KNOCKED OUT flat dude! Seriously... Yesterday was the first day I was "well" and I was so weak from it all. My symptoms... high fever, body aching EVERYWHERE!!! and shakes (body shakes). THAT IS IT. It doesnt sound like a lot but trust me... I was out cold. I slept for pretty much the whole day of Wednesday.

This is when I wish I could call in sick. But as a mom you just cant. Luckily I am so blessed by people in my life. Jane took Hunter... she picked him up from school and kept him for pretty much the entire day (like 6pm) Karla came over and took Joe for me for the morning part... and Haley was in school for most of the day.

Wednesday - I was wake and up between the hours of 230 and 330. :) I had court - yes... remember the "California Roll" ticket I got... and I had promised Haley I would pick her up from school all week this week. So, again, Karla drove me with her to pick up the kids and even took my to the court house and waited in the car while I took care of my ticket :).

Later on that day, my mom came by and made me soup... and a friend, and neighbor, Karey, brought me a pizza for dinner. WOW... I felt so spoiled. Thank you my friends for helping me out!

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Not like me

This morning Haley had a hard time going to school. She CRIED... threw a fit is a good term. It BROKE my heart.

She had diarrhea last night and this morning... I am sure was nerves. When I asked her to get her shoes on for school this morning (after I had already PROMISED to pick her up from school) she had a melt down. All of the shoes she had to choose from were dress like shoes (where the back of them is hard and would leave blisters if not use to them). This made her upset. She had blisters and they hurt her feet. So like any good mom, what did I do? Bribed her... I know... I broke down. I told her that her and I were going to go get shoes after school if she could just walk to the car. (Keep in mind that I have Jonah to get loaded up, another neighbor girl to take to school and I am trying to get this crying sweetie to the car so that we arent late).

She finally made it to the car... but refused to get out of it once we got to school.

After physically removing her from our van... and her wearing flip flops... I got her to her classroom... She REFUSED to go inside... she screamed... she cried... she had a super tight grip on my legs.... she would NOT go inside. Miss Burrows had to come out and get her to come inside.

Once inside... I knew she was still crying... but I knew she was ok... so I left. I had to come back and drop off dress code approved shoes because the flip flops were not acceptable. I left them in the office for her.

AHHH

The teacher inside me says... TOUGH LOVE... you need to let her go and she will be fine once you leave... the MOM in me screams to protect my sad little girl. And of course I left asking all sorts of questions like - would homeschooling Haley be better for her personality? - should we have waited to put her in school?

One of my fears as a parent is screwing up my kids... I know, I know... this is ONE DAY! But it is still in the back of my mind.

SO WHAT HAPPENED AFTER SCHOOL???

I arrived early to the school to pick up Haley so that when she walked out of the gate, she could see me right away. She was happy. I asked her teacher (not in front of Haley) how her day was and she said that Haley was the MOST social she has been! She had a great day. Miss Burrows said that she checked on Haley at both recesses and even asked Haley if she was ok... Haley was playing with friends and just having fun. She was one of the first kids to share a project they made in class in front of the whole class.... It was like this morning didnt even happen. PRAISE GOD!

Haley hasnt talked to much about school... not yet. She is not like me at all. She needs time to come home... veg and then on HER TERMS can she talk about school and her day!