2nd Haircut

Bobby's 2nd haircut of his 3 year old life. Wow. What a difference. And so blonde...

We're on vacation!!! LOLLLLLL

Fancy pants hotel, Andaz in downtown San Diego. When I say fancy, I mean, not once did I ever have to open a door or even push a button for the elevator (ok that was just at night but still...).

Nice and freezing in the sun on the rooftop of our fancy pants hotel except...NO JACUZZI! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Robyn the photo below is for you - - :)

Dinner at Rei de Gado or something... DELICIOUS! Next time I go, it will be on a day that I dont have to get in a skimpy dress so I can really do some damage to this butt of mine. YUMMMMMY!

Monkey man walking back to the hotel. FUNNY!

James' wife - Kate, and some other brunette I see every now and then...and Robyn :-) 

(Ah ha yes, I feel like I barely see myself anymore! LOL)

Woot woot who's dude? You would think he was 18............

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day our plans were pretty last second - to none really.  We woke up, talked about what we were going to do for about 5 minutes and boom it was done.  We went to church at 10:30 and had to do some birthday shopping (we found out Derek had to go to LA for work at Tyson Chandler's house this week - and I dread doing any kind of toy shopping with the kids so I forced us into doing that as a family) and we needed to pick out a new dining room table so we could figure out where our chandelier will be electrically wired...or kitchen table - whatever you want to call it. Anyway, it was an OK day - the only reason I say OK is because Brooklyn is a ferocious monster when she doesnt get a nap. 

AGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH 

But it was nice because we did pick out a new table fairly easy which I cant wait to receive, our other rink-a-dink IKEA $100 table did the job, but I am looking forward to finally having a nice big family table. We didnt want to have it delivered until the drywall was completed so we held off on delivery for now.  In anticipation of the new table, and other things we will have to pick up, I'm trying to figure out a way to organize a yard sale. We have a ton of junk to get rid of, so I'm starting to plan for that.

Other than that, thats all thats happening over here. Derek is gone for the week - we are hopeful he returns on Friday but possibly expect him to have to stay til Saturday. We shall see...

Have a great week everyone!

The Great Wall of Roed

I think I scared Derek the other day - either that or he was in disbelief and was not about to let me break down a wall. HA That afternoon he snook out of work early and came home to tear down our front wall (that was previously part of the front of the house). Its amazing how much bigger everything looks. We joked about not making a 3rd bedroom because the room is massive, we love having the space. Despite the holes, broken drywall, the fact that it is freezing in the morning and feels like we are camping I'm so excited to be where we are at with this remodel. I have had to take pictures off walls, our fax machine is down, wires are all over the place, the floor is NEVER clean, but it doesnt bother me in the slightest. Here are a few pictures of our temporary living arrangements. So dirty.... but so happy!

Our living room

Where the couches were/drywall that the kids colored on last year - LAST YEAR! Sheesh

The empty wall in the back is where one of the walls to the new bedroom will be - Bobby's room.

Where Brobee is hanging is the window that Mrs. Superman herself took out (that would be moi lol)

Derek, Bobby & Great Granny (Derek's grandma)

Brooklyn's 18 month stats, she weighed 25lbs & I forgot the ounces. I'm not sure her percentile but I rather, let's say, BLUNT nurse (whom I believe hates her job) assured me little Brooklyn could have NON FAT DAIRY. What????? Excuse me? Did you just tell me my 1 &1/2 year old needed NON FAT? Hey lady, suck it. She might be drinking non fat milk but grandpa feeds her a donut to wash it down - chill out. Me and Derek are far from obese, do not worry lady, we will try our hardest to prevent our kids from showing up here at the age of 10 with diabetes. LOL That nurse needs to RETIRE!!!!!!! LOL

Til next time, have a great rest of the week. We will be "camping" over in our neck of the woods for now. 

Window Removal by Yours Truly

Our house is a mess. There's just no way around it.  I spend alot of time doing what I want, then doing what is needed and I need to re-prioritize. My last post about 2 weeks ago was the finale of our entry door. We have so much left to do, and if we continue at the pace we are going we will be 50 when its all done.  I leave most of the stuff that's construction related up to Derek, but I got a wild hair up my butt (or actually maybe more like an annoyed hair up my butt) and took matters into my own hands this morning.  I've also discovered how incredibly strong I am (not bragging but just saying, I've put in alot of time to lifting so I'm taking advantage of my hard work.)

I dragged the kids and myself up to the Ransom Brothers in town (a smaller Home Depot) - they are great!  I get a little annoyed when I walk into a store that is more of a "man's" place - as if... AS IF I dont know what I'm doing! HELLO DO THEY KNOW WHO THEY ARE TALKING TOO! Its not like I parade in there with full make up, high heels and a dress on - no, rather I come in, no make up, Derek's work clothes, (maybe a sport bra if you're lucky) raggedy old dirty shoes, and coffee breath - guess that's not appealing either because they dont want to kiss my butt and help, they just look at me like the walking trash can I am and ask me if I need help - probably to hurry up and get me OUT OF THERE! LOL Anyhoo, I've learned to embrace it and sorta take advantage of it when they offer help - besides, when both kids are running in opposite directions I can't help but request an extra hand or 5. 

ANYWAY

I decided to invest in my own tools since this is some serious work. Here's what I picked up:

Makita Angle Grinder - this baby was only about $40 bucks and can cut concrete and sand wood. NICE! It was a little frustrating to put together - the instructions even appeared to be in a "man talk" but once I guessed correctly I was in business.

Skil Lithium Screwdriver - this little fellow is a handheld electrical screwdriver - came with all the adjustments (the "+" and "-" adapters and a few others, just $32) SO EASY, LOVE IT. Wish I had this sucker when putting together all the baby crap. 

Massive Steel Tool Box - I had to get this thing. I have a few tools that seem to disappear to Roed Construction's jobs and I'm tired of losing them - I need them here for me. You can call me a hoarder, I don't care.

Some extra paint brushes and related tools for painting. I'm on a mission to get this house in shape.

So back to my project... Thankfully we had a random 6 foot ladder hanging out and I went at it.  For the exterior part I took a good old hammer and started swinging my heart out. AWESOME. FELT GREAT TO HIT SOMETHING SO HARD. About 1/2 way through I was sweating, heart racing, adrenaline pumping and then...the kids, they were bored. Out front, out back, right next to me...AHHHH GO INSIDE!!! Juggled them from time to time but for the most part they were ok (I ignored alot of fighting eeekkk they survived dont worry). So then I took my sweet little grinder, and began to cut around the window. I was burning through some wire, and our fire alarm went off from the smoke, I was a little freaked out but just took a break and went back for more.

All together this project took about 2 hours of blood (have 2 blood blisters that hurt like a mother on my hand), sweat and tears (yes honestly some tears, I had some stucco crash back into my eyes - OUCHIE!).

I'm just so proud of myself. I had very little guidance, absolutely zero help in moving and hauling anything.  

Construction aint no joke, but it aint just a man's job either.

Stay tuned...next up - I'm breaking down a wall.

Eggs, Easter, and Everything Else

Alright so we had Easter, I let the kids color the eggs by giving them 1 cup of the coloring and 1 egg at a time. I tried to put stickers on the eggs (non colored ones) but I couldnt get them to stick. Oh well. Kids had fun with it. We went to my mother in laws which would have been in great fun except I had to rush Bobby to urgent care at 4pm because of an ear infection. We missed out on the egg hunt the family had, and barely made it to dinner on time. It was fine though. We were tired from the night before - bad sleep - not feeling well.

Easter Breakfast...

Coloring Eggs..

Jumping on the trampoline...(we were going to get one, but since they are at least $200, I want to wait til the kids are a bit older to appreciate it more. for now, we can go across the street to grandma's to play)

Since Moose passed away, I've been letting the other 2 dogs in the house more often. They are older, lazier, etc., so they are easier to manage. Both dogs (rylee & rocky are 7 years old). Kids are sitting on Rylee..

Since the weather was going to be a nice one today, I renewed our memberships to the WAP/Zoo this morning so the kids and I had something fun to do that was affordable. This is the first year we had to kick down to pay for Bobby to start going now too. At first I wasn't even going to bring the double stroller since I knew if Bobby was going to walk around Brooklyn would want to as well. I hesitated and wised up and brought the stroller anyway because of all the walking you have to do - smart. Not so smart...not bringing an extra change of clothes for Bobby or just putting him in a pull up to start the day because after 30 min of being at the WAP today he had an accident. Completely forgot, oh well.

We only stayed from 9am -12pm, it got pretty warm, and at around 1145 Brooklyn was done and fell asleep in the stroller. Worked out good for the most part, kids are still asleep (well Brooklyn is up but she is cranky so I'm letting her sort her feelings out in the crib right now). I was wiped out too and took a power nap when we got home. Was actually a pretty easy day with the 2 of them - considering all things. Fed the ducks - kids LOVED that, only had $0.50 which we burned through quick. Loved the gorillas, and we made the last stop the jungle gym playground. There's another part I will take them to in the summer - splash park type thing - I just didnt want to deal with 2 soaked kids today. Good time.

FINALLY. Our new entry door is stained, installed and ready to go. We have to have the protective stain (clear coat) added to it, but its done. We were so fortunate, the handle you see was given to us for free (saved us $200 at least). Its not a perfect match, but its good enough considering what we had before - a broken glass, duct tape, no working lock entry door. What a difference. The grid part you see below - on the inside it opens to allow a breeze but still have privacy. LOVE IT.

Moose and the whole sucky week

Bobby: Mommy where's moose?

Me: Moose is in heaven now.

Bobby: up? Up?!

Me: yes bobby, up.

We had to say good bye unexpectedly to one of our beloved dogs, Moose, on Saturday 3/31/2012. All Dogs Go to Heaven (just like the movie says right?) so I know he is running around and enjoying himself. He was suffering from what we believe was cancer, we found one lump, that grew very fast, and then started to break open and bleed, then another lump was discovered about a week later. We weren't going to pursue treatment because of the costs, so inevitably he was going to die, but it still felt unexpected and hurt like crazy. Its gut wrenching to have to do this. I've never been a dog owner, and as most of you know, I love my dogs very much. They were my babies before my human babies. I miss him very much and it breaks my heart still to think he is not with us. I try to tell myself he was "just a dog" but he really wasn't. He was a loving part of our family. We get his ashes back in about 2 weeks.

Moose's story: He was ABANDONED and left on my mother in law's doorstep back in June of 2008 (June 26th if I remember right). Sally's dogs didnt take to him, and ours did, (well, after a little getting used to, they did fine) and c'mon...look at him as a puppy:

We will miss you very much Moose, you will always be in our heart!

And before all of this happened, Thursday my dad, me and the kids were all loaded and packed ready to go to SLC to see my brother. After a brutal nearly 4 hour wait, we were informed that the flight had been canceled. Torturous way to spend a morning. The kids were ok for the first 2 hours, then after that extreme boredom set in and they went BONKERS. Ughhhhhhh never again.

Let's hope this week has a better ending than last!!