soon it will be Christmas day...

I'm having a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit this year. I alternate between loving Christmas and loathing it. I love all of the obvious good things about Christmas and loathe the crowds, the traffic, the selfishness, the commercialism.

There has also been a lot of loss and heartbreak this year. Robert's Uncle Joe died a couple of weeks ago from the same lung disease that took Robert's father from us and that now is infecting his other uncle. So I don't have to tell you what that does to me, this is a hereditary disease. A friend of mine is going through a brain cancer diagnosis with her 11 year old daughter. As of right now, her future is uncertain. Another friend is grieving for her best friend that she just lost also to brain cancer. Unfortunately I could go on and on. What is it with this time of year? The melancholy just creeps its way in. We haven't had a tough winter here, far from it. The sun is still shining. It is cold but not that cold. My friends back east would call me a sissy and they would be right.

The kids are beyond excited that Santa is coming soon although Santa better hop to it and quick. Those gifts aren't going to wrap themselves! Watching them is all it takes to perk me up, but I still feel for others. That is something I can't stop doing. And as bummed out that I am over Charlie being sick (he has been running a fever for the last couple of days) I sure am not complaining.

So my Christmas cards came from a box this year, and most will probably be late. I may call them, "happy new year" cards. I at least got a photo. I'll leave you with a couple of photos that didn't make the cut.

Merry Christmas and may God bless you in the new year and always.

December begins...

Logan's Candies

Last week we took another, smaller field trip out to this delightful little candy store in Ontario. It was worth the long drive in rush hour traffic to get there. Logan's Candies has been in business since the 1930's, and in their current location since the 1950's. We were there to see how candy canes are made. Let me tell you, if it's not handmade, forget it. I guess I am a candy cane snob now. We were able to try nice warm samples and the boys each got warm candy canes that were still pliable to play with and eat. Here are some photos of our little candy adventure.

Here he has just poured the liquid sugar to let it cool down so he can start forming the candy cane sections.

There are two different lumps of candy. The small one on the left will be the red part of the candy cane. It already has red dye added to it.

Pulling the candy makes it white naturally.

Cutting the canes.....

Making the hooks.....

Aquarium of the Pacific

I think she is saying, "Do you see those seals, mom? They are huge! Can I take one home?"


Today our school group had a little field trip to the aquarium in Long Beach. The price was too good too pass up so we all went. I was a little nervous about taking Audrey because lately she has been very unpredictable with sitting in the stroller. I have had to wheel her out of events while she thrashes about trying to get out of her stroller and other times she sits and enjoys the ride. You can see why I was just a tad nervous, right? Well I am happy to report that she did extremely well. Turns out she loves to watch the fish, or sea lions to be exact. She just ooohhed and ahhhhed her way all over the aquarium. She even dug the sharks. We walked around with some friends of ours and everyone enjoyed themselves. I even go to touch a sting-ray. They feel slimy and rough at the same time. The sea lions were the stars of the show. Everyone loved them the most, they were such hams.
I think we would all agree that our least favorite part was the Lorikeet exhibit. It didn't bother me as much as it did Harrison and especially Charlie but it was a little unnerving to have these birds flying all around you and landing on you if they chose to do so. Charlie made a beeline pretty quickly for the exit there! Audrey just took it all in, such a trooper.

Big Night

I'd like you all to meet Pack 337's newest scout, Charlie. :) He was so excited and has been waiting for this night for a long time. The night where he could finally put on his uniform and go to scouts with Harrison as a fellow scout. He was so cute and so very proud last night. I helped him get dressed and he was silent for a moment almost reverent and he said, "I'm finally a scout." He couldn't wait to show Robert and of course we all made a big deal about his new status.
As if the evening couldn't get any better, at the meeting he even won a contest. He won his very own Tiger pen for winning the Roshambo (rock-paper-scissors) contest! He was so excited that he got up and ran back to where I was to show me. The Cubmaster's wife exchanged a fist bump with him. :)
It was a long evening and one I think he never wanted to end. And Harrison? He was pretty proud to have his little brother by his side.
Happy Saturday.

What a week!

I am tired just thinking about the week that we've had. We started our school year 5 weeks ago, but this week, school officially started with our group and in addition we started another program too. First, on Monday we started Classical Conversations. A little while back I got an email about this from a friend and thought it sounded interesting. The boys and I went to go check it out and while I was impressed, I was not interested in driving to Lakewood every week. I have a friend who was very interested and decided to start her own group and it is literally right down the street from us. So far, I am totally impressed with what the boys have learned and retained. It is going to be tough, I know. Each week they have to memorize a lot of new stuff for the next week. But I already can see how valuable this is going to be. You can read more about it here: CC.
We also started at Friday school yesterday. We have a new location this year and while the parking situation leaves a lot to be desired, I love the smaller campus.
We also started CCD (religious ed. class) on Thursday. This is Charlie's first year and Harrison's third. Charlie wasn't too thrilled to begin with but I am happy to report that when I picked him up he had enjoyed his class. His teacher is a very sweet lady too.
And if that wasn't enough to push me completely over the edge, Harrison had Boy Scouts last night. It is going to be a very busy school year. Charlie is also a scout now, but he hasn't had a meeting yet.
Did I mention that I am also running the 3rd grade book club? Another mom and I are in charge. Honestly, how could I not? We are both so excited, our 1st meeting is the week after next.
Here are the boys on there first day of 1st and 3rd. And just because no one would believe me, here is Audrey in the braids that lasted approximately 5 minutes.

CA fires

images from Yahoo

Fire season has started again although I doubt if it ever really ends here. We are not in any danger where we live, but the air quality is bad. Many people have lost their homes. Two fire fighters were killed yesterday. Please pray for them. One of them was related to a friend of mine. Please pray that our firefighters can get this under control before more lives and structures are lost. And for the person that allegedly set this? I believe there is a special place in hell for them.

summer reading program party and cool art

A couple of weeks ago I took Harrison to a party celebrating the readers for the library's summer reading program. We had fun and it was hotter then hot as usual. The party is in the evening and I always make a point to be there when they open. We walk around for a little, eat and play some games. I totally appreciate how the library has this set up. They give the kids a ticket book that allows them to use tickets for the activities and bounce houses. You must use a ticket for each thing. This results in there not being huge lines for the bounce houses, because let's face it, that's all they want to do. The high light for me is the Schwan's truck which provides the bomb pops. Once a year I have a bomb pop thanks to them. Harrison enjoyed himself and even got his arm painted which surprised me, he usually doesn't go for that type of thing.

Last weekend we went to the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Canyon. It's been probably 15 years since I've been. I love walking around there and Laguna is not a bad place to be. The artwork was really cool and the jewelry was beautiful. It happened to be Beatles weekend so there was a band playing Beatles songs and a few more hippies then usual. I picked up some artwork for the house. You can see the piece I got for Audrey's room here: Sun Dance is the name of the print. You may have to scroll down to see it.

In other news, we started school on Monday. So far so good. I took the boys to the barber today and they got haircuts for picture day which is next Thursday. Fall seems to be in full swing here even though it really isn't. Shhh.....don't tell them!

I've gone private

I finally made the blog private. You know I've been mulling this over for quite some time and I looked at other blogs and decided that I should stay with good old Blogger. I went through my email contacts and added a lot of you. If I forgot anyone please let me know and I'll be more than happy to add them on. Thanks. Happy reading. :)

Corona del Mar

We had so much fun at the beach last week that we went back today. This time we planned for it. We got up early and picked up my sister's family and headed out to Corona del Mar. We arrived around 8:15 and set up our space. Within a couple of hours, the beach was packed. I mean packed. If you look at the picture of the beach in my previous post, that is what it was like today. The waves were out of control too! The Wedge in Newport Beach is to the right of where we were. It is a well known place for body surfers. There usually is an audience of people that stand near the jetty to watch the body surfers. Board surfing is prohibited there because it is so dangerous. On Friday I saw a report on the news that the waves here were spectacular and had turned deadly. Someone was thrown onto the rocks and killed. Did this make me nervous knowing that we were going to be so close and Harrison fancies himself a "surfer"? Yes, I was nervous! The waves today were big and a little out of control, but I was on "mom watch" the entire time. I was right out there with the boys. They took their brand new boogie boards out for the first time. Harrison rode a lot of waves. Charlie was still getting the hang of how it works. They had a blast. Audrey even seemed to like it more than she did last week. Would you believe she didn't take a nap until we got in the car to head home? It was a quick one too because Robert was so loud and was making us all laugh hysterically. So much for that nap. I am happy to report that she is snoozing right now. Better late then never. We are all going to sleep good tonight!

Charlie's most excellent birthday weekend

Charlie turned 7 on Friday, the 17th. Seven! Where did that come from? I don't know. Friday started off on a high note. I let him open one present. We had the family over on Saturday, so he had to wait one more day to open all of his gifts. I think he was happy with this pick, he picked a brand new game for his Leapster2.

He also requested Chick-fil-A for lunch, a request I was happy to grant. The rest of the day was spent playing with his brother while I cleaned and got ready for the party.
Saturday was the big day. Charlie picked Spiderman as his theme. I ordered the cake from Baskin Robbins, and it was good! Saturday was very hot, we had the air conditioning going full force and the house still was warm. His party was fun, he got a lot of gifts. More Lego sets. The thing about Charlie is, he doesn't care if he builds them or not, he just wants to play with them. He is quite happy to have someone else do the work. This is a win-win for Harrison because he loves to build them! I can't decide if Charlie is lazy or smart. ;)


Yesterday we took a totally spur of the moment trip to the beach. We went to Corona Del Mar, a beautiful beach, surrounded by beautiful homes. We didn't go to this particular beach, we were just to the left of it. Look at all those umbrellas! It was the perfect day for the beach.

The boys headed straight to the water. Audrey and I enjoyed watching them, then it was time for her first dip in the Pacific. She did not like it at all. She preferred to sit on the blanket with me and I think it was the first time I've seen her happy to sit still!

a summer update

It's been so log since I blogged, I almost forgot my password. That would have been embarrassing. I am just going to give you a glimpse of what has happened around here. It makes my head hurt to try and write out detailed posts of the events. What can I say, it's Sunday morning and I'm lazy. Ok, so since I last updated here is what we've been up to:
Robert turned 39. We celebrated in high style at Rubys. I think the boys enjoyed it more, Robert is a good sport though.

Maddie graduated from 8th grade. Wow! We all went to her graduation and celebrated afterwards at Canter's Deli on Fairfax in Los Angeles. It was just as good as you can imagine.

After lunch we went to the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills. It is a beautiful place. It was someone's home a long time ago. Here is the information on it. If you happen to find yourself in Beverly Hills, it's worth a visit.



Robert and Harrison spent the night on the USS Midway in San Diego with some scouts from our pack. They loved it. Well, let me rephrase that, they loved everything except the sleeping arrangements. The bunks were very close together, and a bit claustrophobic. Other than, that they loved it. What a big adventure for both of them. Charlie, Audrey and I held down the fort here. We ordered a pizza for dinner and watched my favorite movie, The Gnome Mobile.



And Audrey FINALLY started drinking milk from a sippy cup. She loves it too. I think she is a mini Charlie in that respect. I always joked that with Charlie we should have had some cows out in the front yard to keep up with the demand. She seems to be following in those footsteps.

We spent a quiet day at home yesterday and swam and watched some local fireworks from our yard. All in all, a good summer so far if you don't count a bee sting (Charlie) and swimmer's ear (Harrison). What have you been up to?