I'd Like to Dedicate this Song to Colby

"My Feet Hurt" by Kristen
(Colby and I are having way too much fun with his new "Songify" app!)
He made this one for the next time Reid gets in trouble:
"Reid... Come Here" by Colby

That's Right. I Got a Mommy Van.

With plans to bring home a third baby in a few months, it was time to get over my mommy van stigma and say good-bye to my beloved 4Runner.  After borrowing my mom-in-law's 2010 Toyota Sienna XLE Limited, with its soft leather interior, smooth wooden steering wheel, comfy bootie warmer and life-saving navigation system, I learned that this mommy van business could be quite... nice!

Unfortunately, I got used to driving the Lexus of minivans and after weeks of Craigslisting for a 2004 or later version of this van, as my mom puts it, I developed champagne taste on a beer budget.  While realizing that we couldn't get what we wanted at the price we were hoping, Colby started looking at other options and came across a listing for an old Toyota Previa like this one (except it had 22" Lexus rims??).  We had a good laugh as he went on about how awesome it was and asked me if I ever had a car that I felt uninhibited to beat the crap out of.  I had to remind him that it would be our family car and I wouldn't get to enjoy the... luxury... of hitting random objects as I felt the impulse.  The joke became less and less funny to me as I sensed him becoming more and more serious about the Toyota Previa option.  Previa... isn't that a pregnancy condition where the placenta blocks the birth canal??  I started to get a real sense of my own vanity as I envisioned how mortified I'd be to drive a bubble van, even if for only a year or so, until we could afford what I really wanted.  He tried to sway me with Dave Ramsey references, reminding me that this would truly be "living like no one else", but I didn't want to talk about it anymore.

By the following morning, I was almost completely over it.  I told Colby that if this was what he thought we should do, then I would go with it.  Of course I had a condition... I would need a Dave Ramsey bumper sticker or two as an explanation for why I was caught driving this thing...

But Colby said never mind.  He had changed his mind.  I give up.

That was when this van sort of fell into our laps.  Friends of the family offered this '99 Nissan Quest to us for only $3,350.  We couldn't pass it up and drove it away after seeing it for the first time.  We decided that, instead of spending $14k and settling, we would stick with this for a year or so and continue saving for my Lexus of minivans.  

This is the pretty side.  The other side has dents and, well, a bit of a hole in the bumper from the teenage daughters' driving lessons.  It's sort of like Two Face from Batman.  The inside is immaculate though.  Leather interior, clean as can be, with no evidence of raising kids in it, not to mention meticulous maintenance records.  The best part?  Being fully loaded, according to 1999's standards, it came with a removable console with a VCR... that's right, a VCR!  The console is about 1.5' x 10" x 1.5', while the color screen is a mere 5 inches, lol!  The kids think it's awesome...  and we think so too, in a nostalgic kind of way.  :)

Who Doesn't Love a Man in Uniform?

My brother, the Sergeant of Security at Stoneridge Mall was featured in the San Ramon Valley Times recently as he escorted the San Francisco Giants' Director of Photography & Archives as she carried the World Series trophy to the mall's grand court.   That's him on the left, so if you see him wheeling by on the security segway, be sure to say hi!

Young Married?

When the wives in our young marrieds group at church were getting together to share wedding albums, I became inspired to dust off my box of wedding photos, empty photo album and unopened scrapbook embellishments.  Then I remembered that I don't like to scrapbook.

I then spent a few hours scanning nearly two hundred photos to create an online photo book only to decide the image quality sucked.

Next I took the film in to convert it into digital images, meanwhile questioning my sense of belonging in a young marrieds group since I'm sure none of those wives have any wedding photos on film.  Two hundred seventy-one dollars (and some explaining to Colby) later...

...Six and a half years after the big day, I finally created our wedding album:

Click here to view this photo book larger

Oh, and I never made it to the album-sharing event.

Out with the Gold & in with the New

As a new Gold Buyer for Aurum Strategies, I was so excited to be invited to Keller Williams Realty of Antioch's Saint Patty's Day Pot o' Gold-themed office party fund-raiser!  I had a blast writing a total of $2,272 in checks to the employees for their unwanted gold and raised $114 for their company's charitable organization, KW Cares (thanks, ladies!!).

What is Aurum Strategies?

Aurum Strategies is based in Houston, TX with over 150 reps across the USA.  As “The Original Gold Party” people, they offer top dollar for your gold.  So be the first of your friends to host the only party where you & your friends make money instead of spend it!

How Does it Work?

At Aurum Strategies, there is no formal presentation, no pressure, and no selling. We are buying broken and unwanted gold and silver jewelry. So basically, guests drop in for a "Fun Ladies' Night Out / Happy Hour" and leave with more money than they came with. An average party of 10-15 people yields $2,500-$3,000 to your guests and $250-$300 to you as the hostess.
Where else can you have a party where the attendees get a check, the hostess gets a check and everyone leaves happy? 

During the party I walk you and your guests through all of the tests that I perform to determine the payout for your gold and I do this right before your eyes.  So don’t send your gold in and get less for your unwanted jewelry than you deserve.

EMAIL ME if you're interested in hosting a party with me!

Hosts earn 5% of the total checks written at the party or 10% for your favorite charity, (not from your guests’ checks but from Aurum).  

To June with Love, Ward

Kim & I channelled our inner Martha Stuart meets June Cleaver when we hosted our retro Christmas table for this year's Women's Christmas Dinner at our church.  It was Kim's vision and a lot of my kitchen, topped with Ronin's retro t.v. nightlight! 

Olive's B-Day

For Olive's second birthday (last Wednesday), we continued the family tradition of dinner at the Olive Garden.  There wasn't a table big enough to accommodate all 15 members of our family who came to remember her with us.  Even her grandma, grandpa & great grandma came from Southern California to be there.  We felt loved to say the least.  

I found these beautiful, seasonal olive wreaths made by the Lindsay Olive Company which we gave as early Christmas gifts to our family that evening.  As an added bonus, proceeds from the wreath sales benefited Meals on Wheels, a group that delivers meals to those in need.  They're supposed to dry beautifully.  Plus, they smell delicious!  

One of the waitresses asked my step-dad what our family was celebrating.  Her eyes began to well up as he shared Olive's story.  She was so touched that she asked us to email the manager with it to be included in their newsletter, which features different families and their different reasons for gathering at the Olive Garden.  Kinda cool, huh?

Ist das Wienerschnitzel?

I found my first gray hair the day before I turned 28.  That's ok, though, because Colby really went all out for my birthday.  He's usually resistant to my "birthday month" belief, but this year he seemed to get it.  

It started with ammmazing seats to see "Wicked", compliments of mom & dad-in-law (thanks, guys!), followed by an unusual, yet delightful dinner at Suppenküche, a charming, little German restaurant on what happened to be the first day of Oktoberfest, a festival of which we are now big fans, and finally, a memorable dinner the following weekend along with japanese-style karaoke with a bunch of my favorite people at a sushi bar in Dublin called, Amakara, where my brother served us.  I'm spoiled.

My Extreme Makeovers: Then & Now

then.

 

now.

It is my firm belief that every girl should get to have Bettie Page bangs at one point in her life.  And now it's my turn!

Just Call Me Rosie!

Today is Ronin's last (full) day in his ten-ton cast (pray he doesn't need a new one tomorrow!).  While I'm reaping the benefits from carrying around his extra weight over the last two and a half weeks, I imagine picking him up without it will be similar to the sensation of grabbing the nearly empty carton of milk from the fridge when you expect it to be full and it goes flying.  Hopefully we won't be back at the hospital for another cast as a result of me accidentally throwing him through the ceiling.

This One's for the Moms

Ok, moms.  During your kid(s) next nap time today, I highly encourage you to find a quiet, comfy corner of your house.  Sit down.  Recline if possible.  Then slowly turn the dial on your baby monitor until it clicks into the "off" position as you read the first chapter of my friend, Wendy Hagen's book-in-progress that gives a far too realistic portrayal of motherhood.  Enjoy!

Excerpts from the Book

Help for the Motherhood

Husbands, you'll enjoy this too.  Just don't forget to send it to your wives... Unless of course, you don't have kids and are wanting some.  Then maybe don't.  =)

Pin-up Mama

After 3 babies in a row, I am in the midst of reclaiming my body and I've got my eye on the prize: This Vargas Halter Bikini from Anthropologie.com.  After Reid ravaged my body with stretch marks galore, I never thought I'd wear a bikini again until I found this retro pin-up style suit that ought to cover all the right places and look cuter than any other two piece out there.  I've got three pounds to go before I reach my pre-REID weight (!) and with some toning, the beach is mine!!  

Then I'll just have to find some of those way-too-short, high-waist wool trunks circa 1940 for Colby, like this yellow pair here.

A Bit of Gore

In case there are too many cute pics on my blog, here's a bit of gore to add some balance.  While organizing some photos on my hard drive, I came across these ones from an incident that took place during one of my blogging breaks.  

One late evening last December, just a couple weeks before giving birth to Ronin, Colby and I would be found having a silent argument in our kitchen.  It consisted of him becoming increasingly irritated at the fact that I had avoided grocery shopping for approximately a month and was messing around on my computer instead of making dinner for him.  (I had been filling my big, fat pregnant self with snacks constantly throughout the day, so I wasn't hungry.)  His anger crescendoed with slamming cabinets, etcetera when everything he went for was either empty or had gone bad.  Realizing he just might starve if I don't step in, I closed my laptop to throw some pasta together for him.  

I don't recall handling the knife in an angry manner while trying to cut through the frozen sausage, but I could be mistaken.  I just remember putting my weight into it while holding the handle in one hand and pushing down on the blade with the other when it slipped out of my greasy grip and off the counter.  It felt like a blunt hit on the top of my bare foot, so I thought it was the handle that had hit, until I looked down and saw the white meatiness where a drip of blood formed and slowly began to drip down to my toes.  Colby rushed to my rescue when hearing the obscenity of obscenities yelled from my mouth, which I don't even remember.  He sat me down, cleaned it up and got me to the ER where we spent hours in the waiting room hungry and apologetic.  I ended up chickening out of the stitches that the doctor suggested (ironic, I know, after three unmedicated births) and went home with steri-stitches -a bandage that unsuccessfully held the wound closed.  On top of the reopening of the cut, I think I did some nerve damage too because I still have a numb area from the cut to my big toe.  

The Cut:

The Culprit:

Mom's New Hairdo!

You can't really tell from this angle, but it's an A-line, and is quite short in the back. My hair was down to my mid-back and I don't miss it one bit. I feel like a sexy, Euro-mom!

Big Ma's Big Secret

Ok, so Reid endearingly refers to Colby's mom as "Big Ma"... Big Ma recently came across this childhood photo of herself and brought it to Reid, asking, "Reid, do you know who this is??" Reid matter of factly responded, "That's Big Ma when she was a little boy!"

Welcome Baby Faith!

Congratulations to our friends Kim & Darren on the arrival of their new baby girl, Faith Cara Joy Rogers! Kim and I shared due dates, however, while you can't tell by their sizes, Faith came nine days later than Ronin. Here are Ronin and Faith meeting for the first time outside their mamas' bellies: