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Good Things
01.12.09

Good Things

‘Bright eyed and Blueberry’ Jamba Juice AND being able to get through the grocery store with my two year old because she has one as well. More of it ends up on her shirt than in her mouth but at least I’m not plowing people over in the aisles trying to catch my little curly headed girl as she runs away from me.

A clean house and garage after recovering from Christmas craziness and travel.

Target sacks. Best garbage liner you can find. They’re much bigger and stronger than the regular grocery store sacks. My mom and I judge whether or not it was a “good Target day” based on how many extra sacks we are able to convince the store clerk to give us. My mom is the master. She has been “moving her classroom” for four years now.

New Christmas toys! My girls have been so content to stay at home and play with all of their new stuff. Almost a little too content. They have been protesting leaving the house, getting dressed, and having their hair done. So much so that I have just given up on it! Here they are riding around the neighborhood mid-day in their new Barbie Jeep with wild hair and pajamas still on. Oh well…they’re happy! (love that they take their kitty cats in the back of the jeep on each ride)

Automatic pencil sharpeners

Fun Date night. We explored “Little Italy” in downtown San Diego Saturday night and found the best little Italian restaurant. Good food with good friends!

Sunday walk with my family

Speaking of Sunday walk, we are finally enjoying Fall… in January. The Seasons are so messed up here! In October when you want a chill in the air and colorful leaves, we’re sweating in our Halloween costumes. In January when it’s supposed to be “hole up in your house by the fireplace” weather it’s warm and the leaves drop. Then in June when everyone else is at the pool, “June Gloom” sets in on the coast leaving it cloudy and cool. Through it all the temperature only varies by about 10 degrees. Takes a little getting used to…but I love it!

Jack Johnson. I’ve loved listening to Jack Johnson lately when we are home just cleaning and doing our thing. Mellow, happy music – it just seems to set the right tone. I’m hoping that playing music in the house more will help me keep one New Year’s goal – less TV. (For the girls of course. I’m not giving up any of my regularly recorded programs.)

Speaking of regularly recorded programs, I’m loving The Mentalist. I developed a slight crush on Simon Baker in Devil Wears Prada – had to check him out in this Fall’s new drama.


Ellie’s Saturday morning cartoon of choice these days is Smurfs. Takes me right back to my childhood and I find myself still captivated with Brainey’s brains, Smurfette’s cuteness, and Papa Smurf’s infinite wisdom.

My new Teacher’s Plan Book. Not teaching again… just had an “ah ha” moment and realized it works great as an every day planner with room for to-do lists on the side.

Phone calls with my mom. My mom and I each set a New Year’s Goal when we were together over Christmas that we weren’t going to talk to each other on our cell phones when driving. Even though I use my earpiece (California law you know) it’s still dangerous. And there’s the fact that when talking on my cell phone while driving I’ve been known to miss a freeway exit…or two or three. So my mom and I had a good laugh when in the first week of January she called and we were both in our cars…and of course HAD to discuss something. We’ll try again next year mom!

Love my little Picassos!

I’ve heard some buzz about picking out a word each year for a New Year’s goal…a word that describes what you want to focus on for the year. I’ve decided that my word for 2009 is going to be “ACTION.” I’m great at planning, making lists, and thinking about projects I’d love to do, but not so good at just diving in and getting them done. SO…this is going to be my year to complete things I’ve been planning to complete for quite a while now. Wish me luck!!! ***Nice that when I told Kenny my word for the year he had a VERY different meaning in mind. This is a G – rated blog so I won’t go into details. :)

xoxo, Erin
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Ramblings
01.08.09

New

New toothbrushes
New clothes to wear
New air, water, and vacuum filters
New goals
New lip gloss I’m loving
New toys for the girls to play with
New pictures that need developing
New workout mix on my ipod
New trips to look forward to
New pedicure (sandals year round here!)
New church time
New appreciation for my husband’s job in this down economy
New red barn calendar
New energy efficent light bulbs
New projects percolating in my mind
It’s a New Year!

xoxo, Erin
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Christmas
01.05.09

Party’s Over

Monday morning. Kenny’s back at work. Ellie’s back at Pre-school. Addison’s watching Barbie Island Princess with blankie and thumb in mouth. And as for me…time to tackle the house. Vacation is definitely over! I have a mountain of Christmas to put away and still haven’t unpacked from our trip to Utah. Dishes, laundry…YUCK. Why do Mondays often feel like this? Especially the Monday after Christmas break. Double YUCK.

New fun folders I’m using to help stay organized this year

Don’t know if I’m quite ready to take these down. I think I’ll leave them up a bit longer. :)
xoxo, Erin
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San Diego fun
01.04.09

GO CHARGERS!!!

Where can you go to see great fireworks, get chills singing the National Anthem, eat WAY too much nacho cheese, hug and celebrate with random people you’ve never met, and scream louder than you ever have? A Chargers playoff game. Kenny and I just got back from the best game we have EVER been to! The Chargers played the Colts for their first playoff game here in San Diego and the crowd was absolutely wild. It felt like a party the second we arrived at the stadium. The game went into overtime (17 to 17) and then the Chargers scored and won the game. What a rush!!! Our voices are gone and we are flying high. GO CHARGERS!!!

Just arriving at the game…
Kenny likes to be plenty early to see the players warm-up. He has his binoculars in hand and his mini radio with one earpiece in so he won’t miss the game commentary. He takes this very seriously. :)

I love the pre-game ceremony. I always get goosebumps seeing the flag, singing the anthem, and hearing the jets fly over head. They also had amazing red and blue fireworks.

Game time!!! At first I was just excited for a date night and some nachos (love football food!) but by the end of the game I was a die hard Charger fan!

The scoreboard at the end flashing WE WIN WE WIN WE WIN!!! Qualcomm was such a party of people screaming, dancing, hugging and high fiving that I didn’t want to leave! I’m so hoping they win the next game so there might be another playoff game here that I can go to. I had a total blast tonight! K – so I guess I’m starting to understand my husband’s football obsession a little more. Just a little. :) GO CHARGERS!!!

xoxo, Erin
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Christmas
01.02.09

Christmas Highlights…

{CHRISTMAS EVE}



My parents came to us this year for Christmas and it was great being with family in our own little home. On Christmas Eve my mom always makes our traditional Christmas cinnamon roll to eat Christmas morning. This year the girls decided they wanted to make their own to leave out for Santa.

Ellie set up her cinnamon roll along with milk and cheese (cheese is for Santa Mouse – a favorite Christmas story) and also made a tower for Santa out of her blocks. When she started laying it all out on the floor by the fireplace I asked her what she was doing and told her to set it on the table. She said “Mom! Santa comes down the chimney. This is where he will see it first!” Oh yeah….duh.

Just after Santa arrived!

Addison when she first saw everything Santa left…AND Addison after she tried on her Barbie Diamond Castle dress and decided it wasn’t long enough. Always a little drama when my two year old is involved!

feeling much better

Ellie was so excited about her castle and Tinkerbell dolls she just wanted to play instead of open more presents.

That’s a wrap!

{THE WEEK FOLLOWING CHRISTMAS}
A few days after Christmas we headed to Utah to spend time with more family and friends…

Heading out the door. Girls always do lots of shopping while the boys…

watch lots of football. My husband and brother during the Charger/Bronco game. Can you guess which team won? :)

Fun with family (new coats for Christmas!)

Fun with friends (we always enjoying hanging out with the Robisons!)

And of course our traditional 84765 Christmas lunch get-together. These are my best friends from High School or I should say from my entire childhood (minus Liz and Mern…missed you two!). We Santa Clara girls all grew up together and will always be close friends. Now that we’ve scattered and live far away from each other we make sure to get together each year after Christmas to catch up. We somehow manage to pick up right where we left off and laugh at how we haven’t changed a bit over the years. Except for our hairstyles. :) Love you guys!

Happy New Year Everyone! Bring on 2009!!!

xoxo, Erin
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Christmas
12.21.08

BUSY…

ATTENDING HOLIDAY EVENTS:

(Getting ready to watch the play of “The Grinch” at the Old Globe Theatre in Balboa Park)

(Playing on the rides before the play at the Balboa Festival of Lights)

(Heading to a Christmas party)

(Fun at Kenny’s firm party)

(On our way to a neighborhood Christmas party)

(After another neighborhood Christmas party – LOVE my neighborhood!)
PREPARING GIFTS/TREATS FOR FRIENDS/NEIGHBORS:


ENJOYING CHRISTMAS LIGHTS:


VISITING SANTA:

(Dancing to Christmas music while waiting in line to see Santa)

(It’s not a trip to the mall without a ride on the train)
HELPING AT ELLIE’S PRE-SCHOOL:

(Decorating Christmas cookies)

MAKING CHRISTMAS CARDS:


{Merry Christmas Everyone!}

xoxo, Erin
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Birthdays
12.16.08

Happy Birthday Car!

Happy Birthday to my cute sister Carly! She’s 30 today. Welcome to the 30’s Car! So far they haven’t been too bad. Here’s a fun mini trip down memory lane…

Now you know why my kids pose so much. The apple doesn’t fall too far. While I may be the one posing however, at least my shorts aren’t up to my chin. :)

I love this picture (think we’re in a hotel room?) because we are reading Sweet Valley Twins. Remember those books? They were the BOMB and Car and I worshiped them! Yes, I’m the one with the pasty white legs. Carly and I look and act completely different. She is 21 months younger than me but has always been taller and tanner and older looking (thighs I would kill for!). The looking older thing always bugged me when we were little and people mistakenly thought I was the little sister. Now that we’re BOTH in our 30’s…payback time!!! :) Ok Car – you still have the tan skin. And the thighs.

Skiing Brian Head with mom

College Graduation (Car – I know you’re going to complain about your left eye in this picture. Sorry. I couldn’t get the “red eye” tool to work on that eye for some reason. Still wanted to use it because I like the picture. I’m laughing right now because I know how bugged you’ll be. My blog – remember!) :)

Mean game of Poker

Christmas 1998

Car’s Wedding

Soon after Claire (Car’s baby) was born

Car with my girls (Addie left & Ellie right)

More of Car with Ellie


5 Things I love about Carly:
1) She is FUNNY. There is no better way to say it. Carly is just funny. Her sense of humor is hilarious and she can have anyone laughing in minutes. Everyone who knows her loves this about her. Car and I don’t talk without breaking into laughter at some point. Doesn’t matter what we’re talking about. She and I have so many private jokes and know each other so well that we sometimes laugh just looking at each other.
2) Car knows fashion. She has always been on the cutting edge of style (even in Elementary) and while she used to NEVER let me borrow clothes (unless I swore I’d tell everyone in the halls at school that what I was wearing was a Carly original), she has loosened up a bit. ;) I now call her with any and every question about what to wear and how to wear it.
3) Speaking of calling Car with any and every question….another thing I love about my sister is that she knows how to handle me. I am extremely indecisive. It’s something I hate about myself, but I can’t change. I really struggle with making decisions (big and little) and Car is always there to rescue me! I constantly call her and drive her nuts asking if I should do this or that…buy this or that…then return this or that. She laughs, teases me, tells me I’m making her crazy…but in the end she helps make my decision for me, spends an hour assuring me I’ve made the right decision, and the next day when I call and tell her I’ve changed my mind – she understands. My mom and Kenny refuse to put up with this, but not Car. In the end she is always my ‘go to’ girl. I do have to say though that I payed her back for all of this by making a pretty important decision for her a few years ago: YES! You have to go on a date with Shawn Hazen. The rest is history. :)
4) Carly has been an AMAZING Aunt to my girls. She flew out to visit after both of my girls were born and has been a big part of their lives ever since. She loves them, plays with them, and always makes them feel special. Ellie adores Aunt Carly and gets so excited to see her. I love the way you love them Car.
5) Carly is just plain impressive. She is independent, career oriented, extremely intelligent, a great people person, beautiful, witty, and now she can add “amazing mom” to the list. She has always been there for me and I don’t know what I would do without my sister. I was so excited when I found out my second baby was going to be another girl. Sisters. Just like me and Car.

Happy 30th Carly. Love you so much!
xoxo, Erin
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Christmas
12.06.08

Fun Mail

I’m not a fan of the mail. Who wants to deal with bills and coupons? Other than the occasional thank you note & my favorite magazines (Creating Keepsakes & Real Simple) I don’t much care for the mail and it is Kenny’s responsibility to get the mail each night, sort through it, and deal with whatever needs to be dealt with. Except in December of course. :) Is everyone else as excited as I am to be getting Christmas cards!? So fun to see pictures of all of your favorite families and plaster them all over the wall in a great big collage. We started sending Christmas cards out when we had Ellie and I have loved the process every year. I especially love making my cards (although I enjoy it more the years I start working on them BEFORE December as is the case this year!) The two years I didn’t make my cards were the years I had a baby under one (no explanation needed). Since I plan to make my blog into a book each year (family scrapbook) I wanted to include pictures of our past Christmas cards. So to those of you who have received these cards, sorry if this is a bit redundant! (You can skip past this post.) If you haven’t received a card from us and would like one, let me know and I’ll add you to the list! Of course then you’ll also have to send one of your cards to me. :)

Gotta go…Kenny and I are watching “Fred Clause” while I work on my cards. Isn’t Vince Vaughn great? Love him. Love Christmas cards. Love this time of year. (Have I mentioned that yet?) :)

{2004}

{2005}


{2006}


{2007}

{this poem was fun to work on! Click to enlarge it if you care to read about my husbands obession with the Chargers}

xoxo, Erin
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Christmas
12.04.08

Good Things

It’s December!!! I have a to-do list a mile long right now (as I’m sure everyone does this month) but blogging just sounded more fun than most of my to-do list. Besides, EVERYTHING is a good thing this month. :)

I’m so happy my girls are feeling better! The week before Thanksgiving they both got the stomach flu. Addison had it the worst and was sleeping so much I was a little worried. You know something is wrong when your two year old just wants to lay around. Luckily they recovered just in time for turkey. Addison is up to her usual tricks and all is well again.

I came upstairs the other night to find Addie sitting in the dress-up drawer in her Minnie Mouse ensemble. The bedroom floor was covered in dresses as it usually is. She loves to change from one dress into another. Such a girl!

Ellie is my little Christmas angel. She is a total mini-me and LOVES everything about this time of year. We’ve had so much fun decking the halls together. When she was a baby I bought a little “baby’s first Christmas” Santa hat for her. She gets so excited to pull it out every year with the Christmas stuff. Here are some pics of Ellie in her hat…

{Ellie – 11 months}

{Ellie – 2 & Addison – 7 months}
I called Ellie to come downstairs because it was time to leave for gymnastics Tuesday morning and this is what appeared in the kitchen ready to go. :) She wears the hat all the time! She even slept in it the other night.

Listening to Christmas music (especially the Chipmunks…I love the Chipmunks). I took the picture above yesterday. Addie was down for a nap so Ellie and I turned on the Christmas music and I cleaned and decorated while she colored Christmas pictures. Such a fun afternoon.
A nap with football on (isn’t football the best thing to nap to?)

Conversations with my husband. Kenny is the king of sarcasm and it seems we rarely have serious conversations with each other. Typical conversation…
Kenny: “Erin you have got to watch your Verizon minutes…do you know how long you’ve talked on the phone this month!? 1700 minutes. That’s about 30 hours you’ve wasted on the phone!”
Erin: “Sorry babe. I was talking to my boyfriend in Spain. He loves my voice and just can’t seem to get enough of it.”
Kenny: “He better be a Verizon user so I’m not paying for those minutes.”
Staples. I love Staples. All kinds of school supplies and organizers. Such a fun store.
Just the last few days it has finally cooled off a little and we turned our heater on. YEA! Heaters smell like Christmas. I love the smell and sound of the heater. Hopefully San Diego will stay in the 60’s for awhile and I can pull out my turtleneck and boots I’ve been dying to wear. It finally feels like Christmas in San Diego. Lights are on all the Palm Trees. :)
Speaking of lights…our outside lights are up and the yard screams Christmas! We put so many up this year (in addition to our big Frosty, Candy Canes, Rudolph, reindeer, and sleigh) that our house lights up our whole street! Kenny was such a good sport to help me – he doesn’t share my enthusiasm for outdoor lights. Thanks again babe. The girls and I get so happy when it gets dark and we can check out our lights.

New Christmas tree this year! It doesn’t look too much different than our old tree but there is a big difference in the amount of time we spent putting it up! Our old tree (which used to be my parents’ tree) was such a pain! We had to put it together branch by branch and the thing was HUGE. The girls would get all excited to decorate the tree and then six hours later we’d finally have it assembled with lights. By then we were all so sick of it we weren’t in the mood to decorate. Well not this year! First thing on my December to-do list was to buy a new tree and we found this one at Costco that I loved. Just the right size, branches are attached, lights already strung. So much easier to put together! Next year…time to buy new decorations? The snowman decorations I’m using are also old ones of my moms, but I don’t know if I can part with them. They remind me of too many Christmases growing up. Good memories. :)

Family movie night! Watched Barbie’s Christmas Carol all together in the play room. The girls loved having Kenny and me watch the whole thing with them. Of course half way through the movie they started playing with toys and it was Kenny and me who were glued to the tube. We’re suckers for any feel good Christmas movie…even Barbie apparently. Can’t wait to watch our favorite (aside from It’s A Wonderful Life of course)…The Family Man. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a must see for December!
Speaking of good movies…went to Twilight last weekend with friends. It wasn’t as good as the book (what movie ever is?), but I still loved it. I really liked Edward and Bella in it. Some of the Cullen family I wasn’t as sold on (Rosalie and Jasper???), but overall they did a great job sticking to the story. Now I want to go re-read the books, but I can’t let myself get sucked into that world again. It’s a world where nothing else exists and my family suffers. Fun to see it on the big screen though!

My girls came down the stairs like this a few days ago. They told me they were off on a picnic with Rudolph and had to get away from all the bears and hot lava that was coming (once again). These nightgowns (courtesy of grandma) are their new outfit of choice when we’re hanging at home.

Gilmore Girls re-runs. Man I miss that show.

LOVE Weiman Stainless Steel Wipes! Makes cleaning Stainless Steel appliances such a breeze. Great for all those little fingerprints. :)

Got my first Christmas present of the season! My cute friend Ann brought over a bucket of treats with the movie Elf. Her husband dressed up like Elf for Halloween and I felt so out of the loop because I hadn’t seen the movie yet. She made sure to fix that. :) We watched the movie and loved the treats. Thanks Ann! Such a great gift – made for a fun December night with my husband.

(Ann and her husband and little boy for Halloween. How cute are they!?)

I love Ellie’s pre-school! Before I sent Ellie to pre-school a couple of years ago I spent forever researching schools to find the best fit for her. I absolutely love the one I chose. It is such a fun, cozy environment with great teachers and amazing learning opportunities. I feel so good sending her there and can’t wait for Addison to start next year. I took this picture in front of a house Ellie’s pre-K group built when they were doing a unit on architecture. They are always working on something fun and have been doing a lot of neat holiday projects. Good times. Love Ellie’s pre-school. Love my girls. Love this time of year. Lots of good things!

xoxo, Erin
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Fun with Friends
11.28.08

Our Thanksgiving

Happy Turkey Day everyone! How stylish are we!!?? Because Kenny is so busy at work we weren’t able to travel to be with family this year (missed you all!). Instead, we spent the day with friends and had a great Thanksgiving. Angie brought these ever so festive hats to get us all in the mood. What am I thankful for this year? That we don’t have to adorn ourselves in these beauties on a regular basis! :)

Here are the pilgrim women after SLAVING in my kitchen all day. Oops! You can see the Claim Jumper sack and box behind us. Secret’s out! We had our meal catered. FABULOUS! The food was delicious and the only work was setting the table and warming things up. I’m thinking a new Thanksgiving tradition is born!

Of course it wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without LOTS of football. While Ellie colored, Addison scored brownie points with daddy by putting on her Chargers dress to watch the game. The other night she came in the living room and shook her head and said “daddy…are you watching your flapball show AGAIN!” I feel your pain Addie.

Hanging out at Angie’s

After Thanksgiving dinner at my house (and a short break for naps) we headed to Angie’s house for round 2. The kids played and made gingerbread houses while we enjoyed pie.

Parents are stuffed and exhausted…time for a movie for the kids so we can chat! Great end to a fun day.

(Bring on CHRISTMAS!!!)

xoxo, Erin
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