The first week back!

Well, the first school week is over. To say I've been busy is an understatement. Life in the house is back to being on a schedule...BOO. No more late night movies and sleeping in. However on a the plus side...sorta depends on how you look at it. Jacob started KINDERGARTEN!!! Oh the proud mommy moment I had walking him to class on his first day. I NOW know why those sappy moms cried when I took their children away from them on their first day. Jacob was great though. He met his teacher and he met new friends and wanted not a damn thing to do with me. Except when I see him at recess and lunch and he gives me a little wink and a thumbs up. He's pretty awesome :) I thought that it would be weird having him at the school for 4 hours in another class and then with me in my class for another 4 hours. But, it hasn't been bad at all. He helps me with my prep work and he tells me about his day. It's great to say the least. Alright enough of me gushing about my big boys first day of kindergarten.

On to another aspect of my life, my own class. When I got my first roster it had 29 kids on it. I went "WHAT THE EFF!!" I got my head around it and excepted and prepped all weekend for them. Then within 3 days my roster rose to 33! I said OK I'm no longer teaching I am wrangling sheep and hoping to GOD that they never realize they out number me and plot to take over. I do have to say that I really have few behavior problems. Academics on the other hand are ehhh they'll improve over time. Right now all that matters is that I survived they survived. There was no PEE, PUKE, KICKING, or BITING only a few tears...some might have been mine.

So there you have it the first week is over. Lets see what the rest of this wrangling...I mean teaching of this group brings me.

This summer has been packed with lots of stuff that I can sorta sum up here but I have no clue where to begin. I started off doing a pretty good job of chronicling some of the stuff we did and then we got busy and I got well...LAZY. So here are some of our activities.

We utilized the heck out of our Sea world passes and went to almost every park between Lake Elsinore and Riverside. We had beach trips and family BBQ's. Then there was Mia's birthday Extravaganza. Our birthdays go together so I kind of canceled mine out so I can stay the same age FOREVER. It also makes it OK for me to go completely overboard on her party. This year was no exception. She had a Strawberry Shortcake themed party with a GIGANTIC inflatable slip and slide. It was RAD!! She had a great time and so did I. It makes me so happy to see her come downstairs the day of the party and see the house decorated. Not only that but I have the most amazingly wonderful family and friends and they make her day AWESOME.

We also go to LA every summer. Jacob has an OBSESSION with space lately. We have gone to the Griffith Observatory a couple times this year. It's free and Jacob and Mia have so much fun hearing about the planets. I have to be honest the first few times I was into it as well. Not this time. I like the views but I'm done with the planets. Does that make me a bad mom? More then likely it does. OH well I'll make it up to him :) Anyways we did lots of exploring and went to a couple of restaurants, Philippe's and the Hard Rock in Hollywood. We also got to see the movie stars walk into the premier of "RISE of the PLANET of the APES". That was fun lots of cameras and security. The kids were kind of pissed they didn't get to see real apes. We had fun and it was an adventure.

The summer has one more week left and then we go back to schedules and reality. I hope this post makes sense it is just kind of bubbling out of my head and I know I forgot a bunch of stuff and I didn't elaborate on details but EHHH what are gonna do?

Vegas Baby

Lats Sunday Isaac and I dropped the kiddos off at his parents and headed to Las Vegas. We go every year as our "grown up" vacation. And EVERY year I cry when I drop my kiddos off...EVERY TIME. After about 30 minutes I'm good and the guilt kind of subsides. So we are on our way bumping Pennywise, Face to Face, Bad Religion and other punk rock music. We were pumped up. We got to New York New York and checked in and began to gamble. Gambling is fun if you look at it the right way. We like the social aspect of it. I know that sounds stupid but really that's what we like. We sometimes (by we I mean Isaac) win and we sometimes (I mean me) loose, but we always have a good time doing it because we are laughing with others at the craps table and drinking. After a few hours we went up and got ready because we had tickets to see Mystere.

I put on these pink sparkly 4 inch heels my mom got me for Christmas. They looked so cute with my little black dress. Isaac was dressed all in black I was in black we looked GOOD. Which is rare for us. :) So we are dressed and ready and getting into the car I realized my dress is a bit short. I tried my hardest not to give everyone a show of my ass but it was kind of awkward. Anyways the show was really good. Lots of amazing feats of strength. There was one thing that just creeped me out. They had a guy dressed as a baby. A really fat creepy guy dressed in a diaper. I did not appreciate whatever it is he added to the show. He was GROSS! After the show we went to a bar and had a "night cap"...or few.

The next day my legs were like Jell-O from my cute shoes. But I didn't really care because it was worth it. Those shoes were cute and fun. I sucked it up and we went to Cesar's. They have a Serendipity restaurant in front with the most massive donut I have ever seen. It was huge and saying "Gwenett you must eat me. I'm delicious." I had to do it. I love donuts and there was no way I was going to pass this baby up. It was so GOOD! I thought it would be dry and kind of BLAH. I'm so glad I was wrong. So after our lovely brunch we walked around and gambled and had a couple cocktails and walked some more. For dinner we went to a restaurant called the "Burger Bar". The burgers were fantastic. I had...I don't remember what I had. :( Because Isaac's burger demolished mine. He had a kobe burger with asparagus and a...lobster tail! It was the best burger ever! After our delicious burgers we went to the piano bar in New York New York. We stood outside watching for a while and then went to the guy to get in. He said I could get in for free but Isaac had to pay $10 to stand. UMMMM what? No that was not going to fly with me. We were just standing by the door and to do the same thing 2 feet over was going to cost $10? NOPE that's annoying. We went and played more games and drank an ice cream shake.

The next day we ate at the Mirage and left Vegas for another year.

While we were in Vegas my kiddos jumped from family member to family member. I am extremely greatful to have such a great family. My kids loved seeing all of their grandparents and a couple of their cousins. My poor nephew Isaiah had to share his bed with Mia. She is a beast to sleep with. He said she would make him rub her back ALL night. If he stopped she would grab his hand and put it on her back. She has done this to me so I feel for him. I don't think my kids were very excited we came home they wanted to continue their trip to all of their cousins houses. :)

Until next year Vegas <3

Sleep

When I was younger (many moons ago) I would sleep 10 hours at night. It was great! I would go to sleep when I was tired and wake up when I wanted too. In college I would go 36-48 hours with no sleep and get research done and papers written without any crabby side effects. However once those 36 hours were up, I had a chance to play catch up on my sleep and would sleep for 12-14 hours. That is probably what made staying up for that long not a big deal. I knew that once it was over I would be able to catch up.

When Isaac and I moved in together our sleep habits were very different. He works all night so even on days that he is home he is still up ALL night and sleeps all day. I would stay up with him as much as I could and then sleep in the next day. It was heaven.

Then I got pregnant with Jacob. All of the books I read and the stories people told me warned me about loosing sleep. I kinda went into panic mode. Then I had him and he was NOTHING like I had heard. All he wanted to do was sleep and eat and eat and sleep. Needless to say he was GIGANTIC. But hes was healthy and happy and he slept. This meant that I slept. I thought those books and people had some crazy baby mine liked to sleep.


Then I had Mia...OH MIA! Mia didn't like sleep from day one. She also was not a big fan of eating. All she wanted/wants to do is play. She didn't sleep through the night until she was 2 years old. She wouldn't wake up to eat she would wake up to play and talk. If she was up that meant that I was up. I had no chance to catch up on sleep because she never really slept. I went from getting 10 hours of sleep to about 8 hours of sleep with Jacob to 3 maybe 4 hours of sleep a night with Mia. I missed sleep A LOT.

So now she is almost 3 and POOF! These last few months she has caught on to our family love of sleeping...sorta. Recently she has been sleeping in until 9:00! Oh how I LOVE this. There is a catch to this though. She...well really the whole family is on vacation mode so we do not have a set bed time. We have been going to bed around 10:30/11. But we are getting a good 8/9 hours of sleep a night. I LOVE it!! Sleep is good it makes you happy. It also makes you pretty from what I hear. I need this sleep. I have friends (that don't have kids yet) that sleep 9 hours a night and have these great witty comments and are focused during the day. I think that it's because they got sleep. It is the cure to everything. You're sick...go to sleep. POOF All better! Think about when you are seriously injured doctor's put you in a comma. What is a comma? A lot of flipping sleep. Now that I am getting actual sleep I do not expect to get sick at all. This is just my theory. I feel happier now that I am getting sleep. It's become my Prozac.



:)

Fun Saturday Night

On Friday my mother in law called me and said that Aarron (Isaac's brother) was going to be in San Diego on Saturday with his band. He works with Air Borne Toxic Avengers as a Roadie. He travels ALL over with them. Before them he worked with Andrew W K. Anyways...She said that he could get us tickets for free! SCORE smiles all around!! Then I went into "crap I need a babysitter mode". As it turns out the tickets were for Isaac and I, his brother Joe and our nephew Isaiah. He's 12 and as tall as I am...maybe slightly slightly taller. He is a GREAT kid. So after hearing the invite list I went hmmm that leaves Jill (Joe's wife) at home just down the street...hmmmm DING insta babysitter. Jill is awesome and she likes my kids which is always a bonus.

Saturday arrives and off the 4 of us go. The band was playing at the San Diego House of Blues. We got so lucky and parked right across the street from it. We went to get our tickets at Will Call and they gave us an envelope of stuff...wrist bands and a couple stickers. After we got our stuff we had time to kill and headed to the sushi restaurant that was right around the corner. Much better then House of Blues food...much better. Aarron met us there for a drink. After dinner we went back to HOB to catch the opening act Mona...something. As we were headed in the security guy took away Isaiah's wrist band and said he was to young for ALL access. BUMMER :( We went in and Aarron went to talk to some people and told us he would be back for Isaiah after the Mona band. Joe stayed on the floor with Isaiah and Isaac and I went to the VIP seating area which is right behind the sound board. We had a straight shot of the stage and big bar stools to sit on with a private cocktail waitress. It was nice...until we noticed the girls in the area with us. Oh brother!! They were the Mona bands groupies and bugged me A LOT. I was waiting for one of them to pop out a boob. They were that excited for the Mona band. I was super happy when the band was done and the girls disappeared. Isaiah also disappeared with Aaron. They went backstage where Isaiah got to watch the show. Isaac, Joe and I watched from our nice seats and everyone else stood around for the 2 hour show giving us the stink eye. The place was packed shoulder to shoulder. Expect where we were sitting. We had chairs and no one blocked our view or wiped their sweat on us. The band put on a good show. Aarron got us a great hook up. It was awesome! Can't wait to see what band he works with next! Is it sad that I'm crossing my fingers that he works for the Foo Fighter's or Bad Religion next?

Swim Lessons

I decided that my little kiddos need swim lessons. They both have no fear of water and have both just jumped in for the hell of it on numerous occassions. Jacob has no problem with his little floaties but, I need him to be able to swim without them. With Mia I would like her to be able to swim but, right now I'm just hoping for her to be able to get her butt to the side. That will at least get me time to get my fat butt in the water to get her.

So I registered my kiddos and got my sis in law Shalyn to sign up Gavin so the cousins could learn together. On Monday we went to the indoor swim lesson. They were all put in the frog's class. This is 4 students to 1 teacher. NO PARENTS Yay!!! I did not want to get my ass in that water or even worse in a bathsuit. We introduced the kids to their teacher and then he told us parents to go sit on the other side. We did as we were TOLD. He had the kids lined up and was taking them one at a time to show them strokes. Looked professional to me. He would get them to the wall and then he had the older ones use their hands to scoot to the stair. I thought OK this guy is smart enough to know that when it is Mia's turn he NEEDS to hold her...I was wrong. That MOTHER EFFer let her go and then turned around to get his next student. Mia looked at him and then just let go and sank!! I ran over screaming MIA. Then that dumbass turned around and went opps. REALLY OPPS!! If flames could have shot out of my eye's he would of been dead. I stood at the edge and watched him like a hawk. I thought I would be able to catch up with Shalyn and my brother about what was going on with my littleest nephew but I was afraid that moron would let the kids sink. The rest of the lesson did go well. Howver when we signedd them up for more lessons we put Mia and Gavin in the parents and kids class. Not a favorite option for me but I was not comfortable with the thought of Mia sinking...again.

Their next lesson we scheduled for a day that Isaac would be home so he could go in with Mia and I could watch Jacob with the teacher. Then that stinker hubby of mine got sick and I had to be the one to go in the pool. :( I dreaded it ALL day.

Grant went in with Gavin and I got in with Mia. Jacob went over to his teacher. At least his teacher was not the same guy as Monday. This time he had a girl and she seemed so patient and nice. I wish they had her on Monday instead of that guy. Isaac came and just watched. I hated being in my old lady to big for me bathing suit BUT I had fun swimming with Mia and Grant and Gavin. I look forward to the fact that next week I get to watch and Isaac gets to swim with her. Even sick his ass is going in that water. I am not putting that bathing suit back on. I am OK with going the rest of my life without putting a bathing suit on again. At least the kids had fun.

Hopefully by the end of the month I will be able to write about Jacob being an amazing swimmer and Mia being able to save herself from drowning. Fingers crossed :)

My Awesome day at the Weenie Roast

Yesterday Isaac and I went to the KROQ Weenie Roast. If you don't know what that is let me explain. KROQ is a radio station and this is a big concert they put on in the summer with a bunch of different bands. This years line up sparked my interest because there were a lot of bands that I REALLY like.


This was the line up for the day:




2:00 Young the Giant
2:30 Foster the People
3:00 Lykke Li
3:30 The Airborne Toxic Event
4:00 Neon Trees

These bands were playing on the smaller stage. Isaac and I sat in the grass under a tree and drank beer and listened to Foster the People and people watched. It was wonderful! It made me think people need mirrors and to know their true size in clothes. Also Spandex is NEVER ok to wear...NEVER!

After Foster the People we wondered around all of the booths. They were giving away all kinds of free stuff. We found the most amazing tent. It had about 20 hammocks, misters, and was shaded. Isaac and I swung in our hammock for 20 fantastic minutes. We were very refreshed and went around to see all of the other booths. We came across the interview stage that had Stryker (a DJ from KROQ) interviewing the bands. He was killing time before Face to Face came out by giving away tickets to other concerts. He would ask questions and basically he gave them to who he wanted to give them to. Isaac and I wanted to see the interview with Face to Face so we kinda pushed, shimmed and made our way to the front. As we were standing there Stryker asked one of his trivia questions for tickets to the Warped Tour. For some crazy reason I knew the answer and screamed it out while jumping up and down like a teeny bop. Ten other people answered as well. But they didn't have boobs and jump around like a fool. SO guess who got the tickets...ME. It was great! We walked around some more and then headed over to the main stage.

This was the line up for the main stage:

5:15 Face to Face
5:45 A Day to Remember
6:15 Cage the Elephant
6:50 Bad Religion
7:30 The Strokes
8:10 Rise Against
9:30 Linkin Park

Notice that all sets were 30 minutes except Rise Against...hmmm. I'll get to that in a minute.

Isaac and I get to our seats with our refreshing beverage. :) And screamed and jumped around and sang along to Face to Face. We had our own two person mosh pit going. We kinda freaked the teenage girl in the Strokes shirt next to us out. Oh well she'll be us one day. After Face to Face we realized we should probably eat since our liquid diet was affecting our sanity. Isaac got food while I waited in the mile long line for the bathroom. However while in line the drunk girl in front of me that poured beer down her back asked if I heard the rumor. I said "What rumor?" She said that the Foo Fighters were going to play as a surprise. I said "WHAT??" I love them!!!! After I went to my seat and blabbed the news to Isaac. The guy sitting behind us chimed in that he too had heard the rumor and he pointed out the time difference in the sets. I crossed my fingers and jumped around and sang some more to Bad Religion, The Strokes, and Rise Against. All the while telling Isaac again and again that 1. I LOVE Bad Religion and 2. I really really really want Foo Fighters to play. Low and behold after Rise Against playing for 25 minutes the stage went dark and a familiar tune began. IT WAS THE FOO FIGHTERS!!!! Everyone went BALLISTIC. It was AWESOME! They played for an hour and Dave Grohl is fucking AMAZING (that's right I said fucking he is that amazing) Then came Linkin Park. They are good but in all honesty they were crap compared to the Foo Fighters. They aren't a bad band but their energy was not the same. It's hard to explain you had to be there. :)

After the concert Isaac and I drove thru Carl's to get a burger because we jumped around so much we needed food. I had the best time!!