Random Thoughts of the Day....Wednesday

It's Wednesday and I haven't posted in a short while so I thought I would post.  It's been hectic over here in Casa de Cavinder land.  For starters, we have family in town for a couple of weeks.  This would include Elijah's uncle (same age as him), the wife, and my Goddaughter, Willow.  They are residing in our office as that is the only place we have available, so computer time is limited.  Sigh for me since it's my summer addiction.  I have about a week and a half left of break and that sucks.  This summer flew by!! Sunday is my brother's wedding so we are getting all the final details for that.  Elijah and I are both in the wedding and Audrey is one of two flower girls.  My aunt is coming in from California and I CAN'T WAIT!! I miss her even though I saw her just a few short weeks ago!  It will be good to have her back for something other than a tragedy.  I have decided on the theme for Audrey's birthday party....pink ladybugs.  I went with Melinda to Party City so she could pick up some final stuff for Tan's b-day (Happy birthday buddy....I love you!!) and I found the stuff for bug's day. I figured I would buy it now since school starting is always a bit chaotic.  I got her shirt in from ETSY.  Let me just say...C-U-T-E!  If you ever want an embroidered shirt stop on by to the "Sassy Squirrel."  She did a great job with Audrey's shirt.  I am now in process of making Audrey's tutu for it as well.  Pictures to come.  I hope it comes out good.  It is pretty sheer, but I think it will look cute.  Yesterday we went to the Corrales Library for their Tuesday kids night.  They did a story about an Indonesian woman who marries and has a baby, but wants to go back to Heaven, etc.  They acted out the narrations and it was pretty cool!  The kids really liked it and Audrey enjoyed it so much she would squeal.  The little girl next to her didn't really appreciate it as she kept "sssssshhhhhhh"ing Audrey.  Jerk.  Here's some pics of our adventures at the park afterwards. Also included are some photos of the babies helping with the dishes.  Thing 1 and Thing 2 they are!

Audrey swinging high!

Thought it was a good picture..the cameraman...cough cough Elijah cough..not so good.

Slide time!

upside down Tanner, Morgan, Elijah, and upside down Audrey

Tanner says peek-a-boo (sorry it's dark...the settings on my camera were so screwy)

Devil baby ready for the big slide

Elijah, teething Audrey, Brad, and the God baby, Willow

Little helpy helpertons

Hope you all have a fantastic day...my next post will be the bachelorette/birthday party (yes, I am turning 15x2+1 on Friday) and the wedding!!  Cheers!

Growing Up!

I've had a really great start to the week (minus sleeping wrong and tweeking out my neck).  I decided to run/walk at night with the hubby to motivate each other, plus it's cooler and close to home.  We run the trails by our house and yesterday did roughly 3.2 miles! It's nice to get out!  I also had a great time at the pool with my friend Steph and her 2 and 1 in utero kids!  This morning I met up with Audrey's previous babysitter and her kids/my former students at the park.  It was nice to catch up and see the kiddos!  Because I'll be going back to work in just a few short weeks I've been trying to tie up some loose ends.  I know once school starts I will have very limited time to get anything done!  This week I need to paint the living room.  We have family coming into town on Monday and I want it to look nice!  I ordered Audrey's birthday shirt on Etsy, got her flower girl dress and need to pin the back...will do it today!  I also bought some tulle to make her a tutu to wear for her birthday.  Today me and Melinda went to Party City so she could finish getting some supplies for Tanner's first birthday (wow!!) and I got the supplies for Audrey's upcoming birthday next month.  We were talking about how crazy time flies and to think that this time last year we were both pregnant and ready to pop and now we are prepping for their 1st birthdays!  This next year should be amazing!!  We decided to go with a pink ladybug theme since we call Audrey "Ladybug."  I'll post a pic of her tutu once I'm done!  I can't believe it....5 more weeks and my baby is 1!!!

Dear Mom

Happy Birthday Mom!! As I laid in bed last night I drowned myself in tears thinking about you and how you are missing another birthday here on Earth.  July is a month that makes me miss you more!  I know you are safe and happy in Heaven and are constantly near me, but how I want to hug you and lay my head in your lap.  You would be 61 today.  I often wonder what you would be doing, what you would look like, would you still like to read your Danielle Steel books and enjoy a nice cup of tea?  Would you road trip to Cali with us?  Would you have quit your job to stay home and watch Audrey?  I talk to you through my heart each and every day.  I don't always want people to know...so I do it quietly.  I miss you so much and can't wait for a big hug when I come and see you again!  I love you Mom!

Suggestions

So I need some help!  I have maybe 7oz of my boobie juice left and had to buy some Enfamil formula for Audrey.  She hates it.  What do I do?  She's 10.5 months old, which is fantastic for only being on breast milk, but my supply wasn't enough to get her to a year.  What do I do since she doesn't like formula?  Do I try mixing it with cow milk or will she get sick?  Help please!

California Trip Days 6-8

Finally my job of posting about our California trip that happened a mere 3 weeks ago is finally coming to a close.  So on Wednesday of our trip we made it down to San Ysidro...i.e. Tijuana on the U.S. side.  But it is so worth it because the Las Americas Premium Outlets reside there.  We met up with my cousin and one of her kids to do some shopping.  We figured we would be there for a couple of hours.  Um...try maybe 6.  Marathon shopping was so fun and Elijah was a trooper since it's not really what guys are into.  He did manage to get a hat (because he NEEDED another one), a couple of shirts, and shorts.  Audrey made out like a bandit.  I think I bought all of Children's Place.  Oh well...great prices!! I got some cute stuff too and we had a blast!  Here's a look at us after the shopping trip!

Child swap.  I look like a cross between a human and and alien, but everyone else looks good so that's all that matters.

Self portrait of Elijah and Audrey's hair.

On Thursday we traveled down to Valley Center to visit with Elijah's grandparents and uncle (who is younger than Elijah).  We made a pit stop in Carlsbad to do just a tiny bit more shopping and then headed down.  Elijah's grandpa gave us directions.  Bad idea.  He was told to take exit 76.  Well we drove to where exit 76 would be and for some random reason it went from 75 to 77.  We pull over and call and apparently went to far (like Lake Elsinore far)  He asked if we had seen the border patrol station and we did so he he said it's one of the 3 exits after that.  Um, okay.  We ended up finding it...and guess what exit it really was?? 46 to HWY 76.  Big difference between an exit and a HWY.  So then we were told to turn onto Hoosier Canyon, which really was Cousiers (sp) and then turn onto "Desert Rat" which is their mountain one lane dirt road to the top of the hill.  Really it was Deseret.  Uncle Mike said to call him next time!  So about an hour longer than we should have been driving we made it up there!  They have a beautiful avocado farm and nice views.  Not much to do on the top of the hill so we went to Temecula, or as we liked to call it, Teh-meh-ku-luh.  We wandered around old town where I think there was just shy of 50 antique stores in 1 square mile.  Record maybe?  Elijah and Mike got to taste test some hot sauces and we ended our stay at a little place to taste wine.  I enjoyed my H20 and the nice breeze!

The sign reads "Do not touch the water."  We're from out of town, so what do we know?

Uncle Mike is tall...this picture just makes him look even taller and goofier.

Audrey not following the posted signage either.

Elijah letting his "acorns" breath.

Civic Plaza in Old Town Temecula

Tons of street chalk art.  My favorite!

Audrey taking a walk

Fiona's to the left (Mike's girlfriend)

We finished the day with dinner at Pala Casino and a drive home.  Took even longer because the freeway was down to 1 lane a mere 1 mile from our exit.  Sigh. We got home close to 11pm and were slated to leave at 5am the next morning.  I didn't shower because I just wanted to sleep.  We ended up leaving closer to 7:30am after loading up the car, getting ice, breakfast, and gas.  We decided we were going to try and make it the whole way home.  I felt hairy, greasy, and nasty and Audrey had the squirts, but we did manage to drive the 13 hours back to Casa de Cavinder.

We were looking for an In-N-Out to eat at in Phoenix, but never found one right off the road so we stopped at McDonalds where Audrey had her first fast food fix.  Nuggets and apple slices.

Playing with her Pokemon pig/rabbit that she got since she is a boy and didn't deserve the girl toy doll.

Tuckered

Greasy McHoolahan and her prized Moshi pillow.

Our trip was amazing to say the least and flew by.  I was so happy Audrey got to visit her Nana, Uncles, Grandma, cousins, and great Grandparents.  I am so excited to see Nana again in a couple of weeks for the bros wedding!!

On the Verge

So Audrey is literally on the cusp of walking.  She can sometimes walk with only a 1 hand assist.  She still looks like a mini drunk person, however.  I pulled out another push cart for her that I got from one of my former students moms.  This one is great because it's wooden and a little bit heavier and harder to get massive pushing momentum.  This is perfect for Audrey so she doesn't go flying head down into the tile.  It also can be used as a seat (with storage) and has beads to push around on the back side.  Loads of fun for years to come!  Before swim lessons tonight she wanted to push it around so I brought it to the living room.  Audrey's attention span is usually that of a fly, but not with this.  She spent the better part of a half hour making mommy turn it around at the end of the carpet so she could push it the other way.  Sometimes she would fall on her butt and then scream bloody murder because she wasn't walking.  Persistent little child!  I captured her pushing her cart, along with falling, temper tantrum and then getting up to do it all over again.  It's wild to think that less than a year ago I was pushing her out of my tummy!

California Trip Day 5

On the 5th day of our California adventure we went over to Mission Beach/Belmont Park.  I love going here because there are neat little shops, especially Wings which has everything you could imagine for the beach. Swimsuits, shirts, clothes, boogie boards, cups, memorabilia.  You name it.  And it's all really good pricing. I got a few shirts and one for Audrey and her buddy Tanner, a new bamboo wind chime and Elijah got a mug.  Haha!  That's all he wanted...really!  They also have a roller coaster which we didn't go on this year, but we did eat funnel cake.  We were so excited to get down to the water since Audrey loves swimming and this is quite different.  We set up camp and ate our lunch and then it was time to hit the water!! Elijah stayed back to take pictures of Ladybug's walk!

First walk to the water

Almost there!

Taking a break...walking is hard.

This could be in a magazine. Supermodel!

What do you think, Bug??

First wave

I love the water!

California girl....at heart!

Soon Daddy took over beach duties and I maned the camera.  Boy did she love the water, even though it was pretty cold!

My beautiful lady and handsome man!

We had a great time at the beach and Audrey got to eat some sand and play with some seaweed.  She had many onlookers and compliments at how cute she was.  You don't have to tell me that.  On a side note, apparently the beach makes people frisky because as we were driving away I saw a car moving up and down at rapid speed only to realize that some folk (young probably) were doing the nasty in their car.  They did take enough time to put up towels on all the windows so as not to put their lovefest on display. For all that effort, why didn't you just go home?  Oh yeah, twin bed in mom's house is probably not as cool as a car on the street at the ocean. :o)

Planking

The other day I was cruising around Facebook and my sis-in-law posted some pics of my brother laying down on random things at work.  I laughed so hard I almost cried! One she posted was of him laying across an upright tire (he's a mechanic).  It was so funny and her description of the picture included something called "planking."  I asked my husband if he knew what planking was and he said he did.  Apparently it's a "sport" originated in Australia where people lay face down with their hands at their sides usually on random objects and/or places.  We googled it this afternoon and found many funny pictures of people planking. While my bro and SIL were over today we decided to plank ourselves.  Enjoy!

I am no longer a plank virgin. Thank you chair.  You were good.

Tamara planking Audrey's ottoman o' toys

Parental Plank.

Have you ever planked before?  It's actually quite fun and entertaining if you find yourself a bit bored.  I'd love to see your pics!

California Trip Day 4

Finally I am getting to finish my post about our fun trip to San Diego!  This one shall be longer because it includes even more fun!  Day for (Monday) was spent at Sea World with my cousin Renee and one of her kiddos, Colin.  Since she frequents Sea World we followed her lead to all the attractions.  We saw 2 shows...one is the Blue Horizons which had dolphins and some trainers up on acrobat material and diving boards and the other, Pets Rule!  This one is always my favorite because it includes rescued cats and dogs and even a pig, ostriches and a kangaroo!  Audrey slept through this whole show and I have no pictures of that to share.  Here's some of our fun at Sea World!

Checking out the baby bouncer in Sesame Street Land

Colin walking around while Audrey finds little things to "taste"

Super cute cousins

Trying to catch a glimpse of Baby Baluga

Polar Bear!

Hanging out in a polar bear den

These whales are just beautiful

This has to be one of Audrey's favorites at Sea World

Hanging with Daddy

Blue Horizons show

This is what Sea World does to babies

The new Turtle Reef exhibit

Look at the texture and beauty of this sea creature

Shark attack!

Mommy and daughter

School o' fish

Waiting for a dolphin splash

Family photo time

Looking out for Shamu as he entertains while people dine

There he is!

So pretty!

After wandering through all the exhibits and doing the Turtle Reef twice due to sleeping baby syndrome we decided to cool off a bit.  Well, not really us, but the kids!

Peek-a-boo!  She looks so grown up in this picture!

Waiting for the waterworks

Lovin' the water!

We had such a fun time hanging out with my cousin while Audrey and Colin quickly made a tight bond!  I really wished we lived closer so we could have many more family outings like this!