Japan's Next Top Model

Check it out, its Uncle Al on the posters displayed at a store in Japan.....he's big there with his "nice American body".....

Caught in the act!

My innocent little cherub.....



This is the same child that is usually fused to my leg, she is pretty resourceful when I am not around!

Pics

The Family shot

My girlies

DJ on his scooter

Uncle Al enjoying the scooter

Avery Grace

Emerson Mae

BFFs

Emmy-doodlebug and Baby Bella

separation anxiety

My baby girl loves me and I love her so much, but it is getting exhausting. She is almost 2 years old and there is not a moment in the day that I can be out of her sight for any reason. I try to slip beneath her radar to do something fun like grab a load of laundry, clear out the dishwasher or brush my teeth and she freaks. She screams full strength, her face beet red and tears flowing.....this is without an anticipatory buildup of course. I know that she just wants me to comfort her (which I do) and feel secure ....I get it....but it gets rough for both of us at times.
So my day has many moments of racing against Emmy's need to be with me incessantly and getting the basics done. I do include her in many of the tasks and I spend hours playing with and entertaining her and her sister.....but is it too much to want to blow through a couple of chores without a toddler clinging to my leg?!
Nothing seems to break her concentration on me, not her sister, not her brother, not her Daddy.......hell, even the TV fails to divert her awareness of my whereabouts, she is an unwavering little bean!
I though this would get easier......yeah, not happening.

This too shall pass, this too shall pass, this too shall pass.........

Reflecting

baby-girl can dance!

Faith

I truly believe that we are never far from our loved ones who have passed, I believe that their spirits stay close and we are either open or closed to the notion of communication.
Faith is strong if you trust in it.....to some it is an enigma.....I simply believe.
In stating that, I want to share a strange occurrence that I experienced.......
Friday night, I was getting Emmy ready for bed and playing with her in her room when a familiar scent passed by me, it was my Memere's perfume......she has been gone for 3 years. It was a concentrated, not subtle aroma that passed by me, and I immediately recognized the scent.
Initially, I was confused and looked to see if there was something that would have produced the smell and there was nothing, nothing.
I tried to make sense of it, but my belief is that she was there at that moment, letting me know that she is with me.
The smell of the perfume did not linger in the room, it did not diffuse away, it was just gone after a few seconds....but I felt peace knowing that she was there.

lol

Bring it....

A Multitasking Mom's Observations

4 year olds never, ever stop talking......neverrrrrrrrrrrr.

Almost 2 year olds have the ability to produce deafening sounds regardless of the basis.

One teenager requires more attention than a 4 year old and almost 2 year old.....together.

I have completely surrendered to the fact that I no longer have any personal space.

An almost 2 year old is capable of peeling off large strips of time-consumed, meticulously applied wallpaper, while this multitasking Mom thought child was napping quite nicely.

Never trust a calm, quiet moment....especially if the location of the children is questionable.

Laundry is an infection and I am the antibiotic......daily........forever.

Little kids are sooooooooo very bossy.

I can love, love, love these small people and at the same time want to auction them off on eBay.......

Goldfish and Cheerios laying dormant for months under the couch, (as they have eluded the the Dirty Dyson) to be found by an almost 2 year old, seem to be appetizing and luckily, not harmful to consume.

What takes me hours to clean and organise, takes the small people in my home minutes to happily conquer and destroy.

Children eat and poop nonstop.

Teenage boys eat every, single, thing in the house....I swear, even socks.

Sleeping in to 8:30 a.m. is a decadent luxury that is afforded to me by my loving husband, who is kind enough to sacrifice Sunday morning sleep.......which he does without any complaints.

My calendar is my lifeline.

I hate 5 pm.....witching hour.

I love 6:30-7pm....little ones' bedtimes.

I melt into a puddle after 8pm and become one with a blanket, the couch and mindless reality T.V.

girlie things

I am a girlie girl, I can totally admit it.
I so relish doing my nails, dressing up cute and the smell of yummy perfume.....
but I utterly adore my makeup.
I love it.....all of it, from the products to brushes to the actual application......love it!
In my pursuit of all things cute, I am in no way trying to cover my inner beauty......no, no, no! On the contrary, I am bringing out my inner princess, who is happiest with her fruity tasting lip gloss applied fresh throughout the day.

I am not ready for the day until hair and makeup are done and I do have it down to record time, it never interferes with the morning madness.....go figure!

Its funny because I have had these tendencies since I was very young....and NO, my mother had no influence, she was a natural, hippie chick who remains to be a "minimal makeup wearer," for special occasions of course.
For some reason, I have had this creative thing going and I would express myself by wearing my dance costumes (paired with my regular clothes) as an everyday outfit, create crazy hairstyles and play with makeup that I had to BEG my mom to buy for me.....which she did......again, go figure!! But I have always loved creatively expressing myself through my appearance, I am fortunate that I wasn't stumped by my mother for our fashion contrasts.

So, my love of sparkles, the color pink and lip gloss is falling to my girls, who just seem to love this stuff! When I am getting ready in the a.m., they too like to play with the makeup, they smear lip gloss on their faces and work the eyeliner in ways that I have not seen before....it can get pretty ugly, but its fun. I can't help but have fun with them!
I am pretty sure that they will hate sparkly pink things at some point in their lives, so for now I embrace this stage.....the stage in which I never grew out of.......but did I mention that there was a time that DJ wanted me to paint his nails and I had to track down my tall boots from him on a few occasions. Thankfully, he has grown out of that stage.....I love those boots, I don't want to share.

love this

enough said....

Happy Birthday Dad

You have been gone for 28 years but not a day passes that I do not think of you and talk to you.
I feel your guidance with me and see your spirit in my children.
I know that you have led people into our lives to take care of Mom, Al and me........I am so grateful for the life I have and I know that you are proud of who we are.
I have so many wonderful, vivid memories of you, but selfishly, I wish I had more.
I wish my children could know you, they share the same creativeness that you have passed on to me.
I wish my husband could know you and not of you.
I wish that you could know Al and I as adults, not children.
I wish many things, but I know that there is a reason for everything that happens in our lives.
Today, you are 58 years old and although I had only 7 years with you as my Dad, I am blessed to have you spiritually connected to me indefinitely.
You are my angel looking over me....this I know.



So today I think of you as I do every day....Happy Birthday Dad!

Dirty Dyson

My very loyal domestic bff....

she sees me through the messiest moments in my life, multiple times a day!

Grumpy Pants

DJ is home from school because of a professional day, Emmy did not sleep well at all last night, Avery was up at the butt crack of dawn and I, of course went to bed late last night.......everyone is in rare form today. My house is a complete disaster zone, I feel like I partied like a rock star because of the little bit of interrupted sleep I got last night and I was just able to finally get my teeth brushed before I made lunch for everyone, which they complained about.......awesome.
We are all cranky, bitchy, yucky, grumpy pants today.....

After Emmy naps, I will get us all out of this crotchety house to lift our moods a bit......for Chris's sake, I hope the miserable cloud lifts before he gets home!

Appointment Overload

Pediatrician
Neuropsychologist
Child Psychiatrist
Therapist
Occupational Therapist
School based counselors
Special Education teacher
Inclusion Specialist
Transportation modifications (a.k.a-shortbus)

.....and this is only for 1 kid!

Snowday!

A full house today.....Chris, me, DJ, and the girls are all home!

Weekend Update...

I have officially made the crossover from 34 to 35......its not so bad.
Girl's-night-birthday celebrations on Saturday night and a chilled out, relaxed Sunday made for a perfect weekend. I slept in, ate chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast and got some brandy-new Rachael Ray pans......the orange ones! We had a birthday dinner with cake and ice cream....the kids were so excited all day for my "party" and Avery wore her "birthday party shirt" (a regular shirt that she labeled as a birthday party shirt) to make it an official party....
On top of all that, Chris and John got started with phase 2 of the basement project....finishing off 2 more rooms, so we will have 3 finished rooms in the basement and a utility/storage room.
DJ is so excited to have a new bedroom and I can't wait to organise and decorate the new spaces!
It was a great birthday weekend!

Junkity, Junky, Junk-Drawer

Does everyone have a junk drawer??
I do and I HATE it!
Seriously, how does every insignificant scrap of a Happy Meal toy find its way into this cluttered receptacle of remnants?
What is the purpose of saving sample packs of everything, things that should be trashed from the start because they will be thrown into and forgotten about in this infinite pit of random stuff?
There are various liquids that have oozed and solidified at the back of the drawer, bonding together whatever unlucky loose ends have been pushed back to make room for the new junk.....there are things in there that have not seen light in months.
Broken crayons, pieces of toys, loose change, dead batteries, scraps of paper, hair things, like 5 half used tubes of butt cream....you see where I am going.....none of these objects need to be in this drawer claiming space.

This drawer is simply a place of limbo for odds and ends....

OK, I am off to chuck it all in the trash and try and get some control over this rebellious little drawer of mine.

I so heart Johnny Depp

It all started at 21 Jump street...

Some Favorite movies...














Have to see Sweeney Todd......


All Movies~

A Nightmare on Elm Street
Private Resort
Dummies
Platoon
Edward Scissorhands
Cry-Baby
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare
What's Eating Gilbert Grape
Benny & Joon
Arizona Dream
Ed Wood
Nick of Time
Dead Man
Don Juan DeMarco
Donnie Brasco
The Brave
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Sleepy Hollow
The Astronaut's Wife
The Ninth Gate
Chocolat
Before Night Falls
From Hell
The Man Who Cried
Blow
Lost in La Mancha
Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Happily Ever After
Finding Neverland
Secret Window
The Libertine
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Corpse Bride
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Shantaram
The Rum Diary

Where is her big, black bouffant?

A newly blond Amy Winehouse....not the best look for her.

























I wish that she had a reality show...I'd totally watch it religiously!

hmmmm, another one.....

TMZ.com is reporting that the divorce between Pamela Anderson and Rick Salomon is back on…and that Pamela is pregnant! TMZ doesn’t say how they know this info, but sound quite sure of themselves.
You may remember that Pamela and Rick started their divorce process on December 17, but quickly reconciled. The pair were seen shopping later that day, and then did a fair amount of partying in the following days.
Rick has reportedly told friends that Pamela’s recent craziness is a result of the pregnancy and he hopes their marriage will work out when things calm down. It should be noted that her divorce petition asks for spousal support but not child support.

Wonder what Kid Rock thinks about this...maybe Tommy will be the baby's godfather or MAYBE that crazy magician guy that she works with will be her labor coach!





One thing I know is that she won't be having any KFC cravings.

Taken from the 1991 vault of huge hair....

I really thought I looked cute.....seriously.

I know what you are thinking...... David Coverdale of Whitesnake, right?

What are we wearing and why are we posed like that?.....I told you I thought I looked cute.

Is it odd?

Is it odd that Avery eats bananas with a fork and Emmy eats her cereal and milk with her hands?

Reality Faves...

Kat Von D

Rumor is that she is pregnant....not true!
2nd season of LA Ink premiers tonight on TLC at 10pm....more reality TV love!