The return to scrapbooking

Yes, you read right. I have returned to scrapbooking. In all the reorganization of the office/scrapbooking area/baby's room, I realized that I have a TON of really good scrapbooking stuff. Lots of tools, lots of product. It's all gone unused for the better part of 2 years. Sad, really.
And though I know I will be one of those moms who scrapbooks the heck out of her first kid and not the second, I am going to do my darndest to make this second kid a scrapbook for its first year of life.
I took more than 100 pictures of our family trip to Carlsbad and I figured, heck, why not make a scrapbook for Diana for her birthday? In the last year or so, a couple local scrapbooking stores have closed. Sad, really. So, I grabbed my coupon from Joann Fabric and headed to the store for some supplies. I realize now how those local scrapbooking places have gone out of business. The craft stores have taken over the scrapbook market! They have absolutely everything. Crazy. I decided not to go to Michaels because a)they didn't have a coupon that weekend; b) it's always swamped in there and you wait in line forever; c)I wanted to avoid the Martha Stewart scrapbooking collection.
When I got all my products and album (I decided to make an 8x8 album for D)I sat down immediately during naptime one day and got a ton done. I still have the touch and finished it in three sittings. It's awesome and she actually opened it tonight. Matt looked at the finished product the other night and said "This is great! She's gonna wanna sleep with it ya know?" Well, thanks for the ego boost, but that wasn't quite her reaction. While she did love it and carefully flipped through each page, it wasn't the choice to bring to bed.
I hope she shows it off to family that comes over and remembers our great trip to San Diego for a long time to come!

Hide N Seek

We play games with Diana all the time - Chutes and Ladders, Candy Land, Connect 4 (sorta). They're fun and she's good at strategy for the most part (she gets that from Matt).
All of a sudden on Sunday (after an hour of swimming) she decided she wanted to play Hide N Seek. Well, first of all, I didn't even know she knew how to play Hide N Seek; Second, I was a little tired from swimming/playing all morning, etc. It was 15 minutes until nap time and I was getting into chill out mode. When I told Diana that maybe we could play another day, she threw herself into the fetal position on the ground and started crying. Whoa! Whoa! I didn't realize it was going to cause all that drama. Again, I didn't even know she knew how to play.
She went over and asked Matt if he wanted to play and he said sure. All right, if this is a family game, I am up for it.
I am so glad I gave in to the tantrum! Have you ever played Hide N Seek with a four-year-old for the first time? OMG! Oh the giggling that ensues!
I counted and Diana and Matt hid. We played several times so I am not going to recap the entire game. But for the first few times that I was "it", Diana either proceeded to tell me where she was going to hide or giggled the entire time she was hiding and then while she was in her hiding place. Matt and I just laughed hysterically.
While she counted and I hid, it took her all of two minutes to look for me and then she gave up and asked Matt for help. He helped at first, but what good is that going to do. I hid in a different spot each time, with each hiding spot getting more difficult as the game wore on. The last hiding spot was in her bathtub and I just couldn't keep my laughter in as I heard her run up and down the stairs and around the upstairs frantically searching for me. She yelled down to Matt and he yelled back some places where I might be. It was so hard not to just bust up laughing at her poor little lost self. She eventually found me and we laughed.
The very last time before naptime, I was "it". I counted to 20, heard her little feet pitter patter into the foyer and run up the stairs and into her bathtub. I "searched" all around the house yelling "Diana, where are you?" She didn't answer as she had previously in the game and I didn't hear so much as a squeak come out of her mouth. (she was getting pretty good at this game).
I finally checked her bathtub and there she was, peeking around the shower curtain. We laughed.
Hide N Seek is going to be a new weekend ritual at the Borchert house!

It's a Mickey Birthday Party

Though you can't tell from these pictures, we had a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse birthday party for Miss D today. Her actual birthday isn't for 10 more days, but we are busy the next two weekends with other things so this was the date it had to be.
What a great party! We had a good mix of family, friends, different ages of kids and of course, simple food. Matt barbecued hot dogs (because of the Hot Dog dance in Mickey Mouse Clubhouse) and Mac and Cheese (because mice love cheese). We also had cake and ice cream and some small activities. It was really nice and a beautiful day in Vacaville for a party. A little breezy, but that's so unusual for this time of year so it was refreshing...especially for a pregnant lady.
Diana had a lot of fun playing with Uncle Chris, Adrienne, Au Bob, and Samantha and Cailin. There were others in attendance and we loved that they came by to share Diana's big party.



I printed off some coloring pages from Disney.com and we created an art wall (just like would be at the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse) for everyone to hang up their awesome art work!

27 weeks

I can't believe I only have three months to go in this pregnancy. The first thing people ask me when they notice that yes, I am pregnant and not just fat is "When is your due date?" When I tell them September...they say, "Oh, you are going to be pregnant all summer!" No! Really? It's not like I hadn't thought of that. While we did plan to get pregnant, sometimes the weather is not the first thing on your mind when you are in baby-making mode....well, at least not with me. I have a much cuter wardrobe this pregnancy than I did when I was pregnant with Diana and I think a lot of that is due to me being pregnant in a warmer season. I will drink more water, stay cool and put my hair in a ponytail a lot. I will deal, just like a lot of women do. No biggie!
So far, I am feeling great! Everyone tells me I look good and I am very proud that I have only put on a pound a week since I found out I was pregnant. I am still walking on the treadmill (on an incline) 2-3 times a week for 30 minutes and eating relatively good. I do have some not so great for me food cravings every now and then, but I still haven't been to Taco Bell (the Devil) and a little ice cream never really hurt a pregnant lady, right?
The biggest issue I have now is the growing belly and doing my every day activities without much of a core. It's harder for me to give Diana a bath at night, harder for me to stretch after walking, very uncomfortable to sleep on nights when I don't work out and sometimes hard to find a comfortable position to sit in on my chair in the living room. I am figuring it out though.
Oh and the baby kicks a lot at night. Around 9:30 p.m. it tells me to go to bed and then gives me a nice baby massage on my belly as I try to fall asleep. It also wakes me up in the morning with another belly massage. Thanks, kid!
My feet are starting to swell a little too. I am not too worried yet about a recurrance of pre-eclampsia (which I had with Diana) because my blood pressure has been real good (even on the low side) at my doctor appts and the swelling is normal (so says the book) for someone who is sitting at a desk all day.
I tried to go for a walk inside my office the other day to get some blood circulating in my feet and get some exercise. I walked down to the mailroom on the first floor and then back up three flights of stairs to deliver a thank you card to one of the VPs up there. I was out of breath when I got to her office. It was real embarassing. I said "I swear, I am not out of shape!" I don't think she believed me. I went back to my office on the second floor and caught my breath.
I feel real bad when I get home though and I just want to put my feet up and Diana is used to me playing with her or doing chores around the house. We have been sitting still a lot lately and coloring in her coloring books so hopefully she can stick with that activity for the next three months.
She also invented a game that requires me to watch called "The Jumping Pillow Game" where she takes all the pillows from the couches, sets them up around the living room, runs around and touches each one with her feet and then vaults herself into our big chair. I am sitting on the couch during this game with my feet up and as long as I critique her jumps, she's happy. Piece of cake!
I hope I am not jinxing the odds of me finishing this pregnancy on a healthy note, but I am very proud of my progress so far and excited to deliver this baby without the help of drugs or surgery.
Keep me in your thoughts!

Legoland...in photos

As promised, here are (some) photos from the trip. I am going to post all the photos to my SmugMug later tonight. It took me over an hour and a half to go through all these and crop, etc. in Photoshop and now we have two grad parties to go to.

Here are some of my faves:

Diana getting ready to take her first airplane ride:



Diana chowing down on a chocolate covered strawberry at the Badillas house:




Matt showing Diana how awesome water slides are. It didn't work, she wasn't convinced and decided to stick with the kiddie park instead. But this had me in hysterical laughter for days!




Until she got the bravery to ride the roller coaster, this horse ride was her favorite. This was taken at the end of Day One. Can you see how tired my poor daughter is?



And a photo that proves I need to show Matt how to use my camera:




Photos have been posted to my SmugMug, check them out here. Hope you enjoy!

Legoland!

I am going to post pictures this weekend, I promise! But Diana had quite an exciting time this week on our family vacation to Carlsbad. Her first airplane ride, three days in a hotel, visiting the Borchert-Badilla clan in SoCal, two days at Legoland...it was all a great time. There were many more firsts along the way, but they require photos to go along with them so stay tuned. Just know that we all had a great time and in about three months, we will have another adventure! :)

Don't judge a house by its pests

Ever since Matt brought home about 50 cardboard boxes from Solano last year (OK, it wasn't 50, but it was a lot)due to him having to clean out his storage facilities, we have seen some not-so-friendly cockroaches out by our garbage cans and sometimes in our garage. Matt brought a lot of the boxes back to school in the last 6-9 months and we are Solano box free now. But, the cockroaches are still around. They must have laid eggs or something. I haven't seen a lot, but one is enough for me. I feel like I am living in the ghetto or something. It was the last straw this morning when I brought the newspapers in to our room to read with my breakfast and upon opening it, was greeted by a crawling cockroach. Matt jumped so high that if he jumped any higher, he would've gone straight out of the roof.
Once I got rid of the little creep (the cockroach, not Matt), it was back to normal, but Matt wasn't quite himself. We have our regular pest company coming out on Monday to further survey the situation but something has to be done this weekend.
Matt took Diana to school later that morning, went to work, ran some errands and headed back home. He had set out some cockroach traps earlier in the morning and when he returned home in the afternoon, the traps caught two roaches. Argh...they still exist.
He texted me and said that our weekend project would be re-organizing the garage, getting rid of all the cardboard boxes that we have and putting their contents in plastic storage bins. Great. That's exactly what I want to do when I am 25 weeks pregnant and three days away from my first vacation in more than a year and a half.
It's gotta be done though. I said that I would go to Target after work and get the storage bins. They wouldn't all fit in my car though so I needed backup.
Who could I call? Dad. Yes...Chris? Sure. He gets off work the same time as me, is coming through Fairfield anyway and can meet me at Target in no time. My wonderful brother in law agreed.
I called him later to tell him that I think we can storage bins cheaper at Wal-Mart and to meet me there instead. After a huge sigh (which I completely understood) he agreed.
We found storage bins in no time...and they even had wheels! Score! We each grabbed five and rolled on out. And boy were we loud. Wal-Mart is a busy place, but of course everyone is so focused on getting what they have to get, it's not a loud place at 4:45 on a Friday. We made a huge commotion with those stupid rollie bins. Then, to add insult to injury, my brother in law decides to start skipping through Wal-Mart to attract even more attention to ourselves. As I grabbed my stomach to prevent the urine from leaving my bladder because I was laughing so hard, I looked around and realized that, oddly enough, no one was staring at us. Was this normal Wal-Mart behavior? I guess so. I moved on to the checkout line, paid and we left. I was then stopped abruptly by the woman at the exit who asked to see my receipt. Do so many pregnant women try to steal 10 storage bins? Seriously lady. Chris proceeds to yell "Make a run for it!" Oh, thanks, that's helpful. She gives me the all clear and we head to the car where Chris again skips to the car, well ahead of me.
I am sure I will post this weekend with an update as to how the re-organizing of the garage is going. It's quite an adventure around our house lately.
Stay tuned!

Voila!

As the Little Einsteins would say: Mission Completion!
Even though I know that maybe deep down inside, Matt can see 100 things still that need to be worked on. It took a lot of urging on Matt's part for me to get rid of a lot of things, re-organize things and really become an adult and start cleaning up but we got it done.
As the Wonder Pets would say: What's gonna work? Team work!

So, here are photos from the finished project which is now the baby's room/office/scrapbooking room. I seriously think it would've been easier to buy a new house and just start all over again. Se la vi!



This is the closet. Diana's dresser now becomes the baby's dresser and we moved it into the closet because that's the only place it fits. Matt said that if we have a boy, someday this office will strictly become his room because Diana and a boy are not going to share a room. I agree, which makes the downstairs area a lot more cluttered.

Princesses Attack

The princesses have attacked Diana's room. Well, in a matter of speaking, at least. Diana got a big girl bed today. I just checked on her five minutes ago and she is still napping in it...hasn't fallen out yet.
Thanks to Gramma V and Grampa D for putting it together, although Gramma V insists that there was nothing to put together. Then why, Gramma V, did it take over an hour and a half and why did Grampa D have to go over to his house to get his electric drill because Matt's wasn't working right? Hmmmmm...?
Anyway, Diana is set until she leaves for Stanford in 14 years. This is the forever bed.
It was quite an adventure putting it together. I had nothing to do with it. It was all Gramma V and Grampa D. They even kicked Matt out of the room after a while and he did some other chores around the house.
Some of the highlights: While bringing the biggest box inside, poor Grampa D got his feet caught underneath him and he fell into the bush in our front yard.
When the box finally made its way upstairs and into Diana's room, Matt opened it and there was a cockroach inside. Sheer panic ensued, Raid was brought upstairs and we got rid of the nasty creature quickly. All order was then restored.
I did my wifely duties and ran out to Subway to get sandwiches for the clan who were very appreciative after a tough morning of work. Here are some images of the new bed:





Gramma V also hooked Diana up with a new trash can, new area rug, new hamper...you get the idea.



Gramma V had to try out the new bed. I admit I am looking forward to sitting in the bed tonight to read books before bed time. No more floor for me! Yay!

Swim Lessons

Diana's first week of swim lessons was awesome!
She was always very eager to get in the water, not one tear was shed and we think she's the next Natalie Coughlin. OK, just kidding about that part.
The class is a little more advanced for her level, but that's OK. I would rather have her challenged than doing something that's too easy. They are using a kickboard, learning to swim freestyle and even spend the last five minutes of class jumping in the water. For some reason, Diana felt the need to hold her teacher's hands when she jumped in. I was shocked by this because she NEVER does this at our pool here at Dream Street. She's always done it by herself. Hopefully this week she get a little more brave and trust that her teacher will, in fact, catch her.
She really loves it and even remembered her teacher's name all week, which is a miracle for Diana. We are looking forward to week 2 of swimming this and seeing how much more improvement she can make.

This is Diana learning to float on her back. She doesn't like water in her eyes, so her eyes are always closed the tightest they can be.



She was really good at using the kickboard and made very big splashes.



After she jumped in the water, she looked at her fingers and said "Mommy, I got prunes!" The other moms thought it was adorable!

Long distance Mother's Day

My mom went to Washington, D.C. for vacation so she spent Mother's Day jaunting around our nation's capital. Good for her, I say! I talked to her yesterday and she was having the time of her life.
Meanwhile, I was online tracking the status of some flowers I ordered on Thursday from ftd.com that were supposed to be delivered to her hotel on Saturday. FTD didn't let me have them delivered on Sunday even though their website advertised differently. That's OK...Saturday is even better, I thought. She can have a two-day Mother's Day. By Saturday night, they still hadn't been delivered and my order status said they were going to be delivered on Monday. Huh? What? Monday? That's not going to work. I paid a lot of money in shipping to have them delivered speedy so she would get them on Saturday. Not happy with FTD at this point. I consulted my husband and sister who said I should definitely call FTD and see what was going on.
I checked the tracking number on Sunday, even though I knew they wouldn't be delivered and I knew my mom was still flowerless. So, first thing when I got to work on Monday, I called the customer service number. Their on-hold messages made excuse after excuse as to why I was going to be on hold for so long and why they wouldn't be able to do this and why they wouldn't be able to do that. Geez. OK already! I get it, you're lame!
After 22 minutes of being on hold, a woman finally got on the line and I told her my predicament. She asked me if I would like to cancel my order. Uh, no. I told her I wanted some sort of reimbursement for the shipping since you guys didn't deliver when you said you would. She said because of the high volume of orders placed on the holiday...blah blah. Basically, they didn't realize they would be so busy on Mother's Day. LAME!
She offered a 20 percent discount on the shipping which would be credited back to my credit card. Sweet deal, I guess. I would rather my mom just get her awesome flowers at her awesome hotel on her awesome vacation. She will get them today...hopefully. If she checks out of that hotel before the flowers get there though....I am going to be one mad pregnant lady!
UPDATED (3:15 p.m. PT)...Flowers delivered, Mom very surprised and happy. And there were more flowers in the vase than were ordered so I guess FTD came through.
UPDATED (11:25 a.m. 5/13/09)...Mom decided to tell me that when she got her flowers, four of them were wilted. The next morning, three of them were wilted. I called FTD and got a full refund for the flowers. Never using FTD again!

Beaming with pride

Moms are always beaming with pride about their kid(s). I am no exception to that rule. This has been a busy/hectic/crazy week. Matt stayed home for two and a half days with a really bad cold that turned into pink eye (sorry, Matt), Diana started a new sports class on Monday, she got evaluated in a new class at KinderCare and had a dentist appointment this morning. Lots going on.
The sports class (I will post a picture later) was OK. It's called Tiny Tots Olympics and they rotate the sport they play every week. Because of a scheduling gaffe by me, she will only take part in this class three times instead of five, because she has swimming lessons next week and the week after. Oops.
The first week of Olympics was basketball. Score! Something she's familiar with. She grabbed a basketball and must have shot 25 shots before the class started. At one point, she made four in a row and had a smile on her face the entire time. It was awesome. She did the stretching exercises and the up and back run to loosen her little muscles perfectly. Then the drills started...
Passing was good. Diana and I passed the ball back and forth and she had some great bounce passes. Then...dribbling. Let's just say that my daughter wants to be the shooter and not the point guard. We will leave it at that.
Diana visited the Preschool B class this week to get evaluated by the teacher to see if she's ready for the move to the bigger class. Since she was fifth on the list to get moved over to the class, according to age, they had to see if she was academically ready for the challenge of the new class. To make a long story short, she passed with flying colors. The "homework packet" starts next week and we couldn't be more thrilled! This is a huge step for Miss D and us and we are so excited about all that she is going to be learning and experiencing in her new environment. I feel like kindergarten is right around the corner.
The dentist this morning was awesome as well. Six months ago, she was crying, screaming and refusing at every turn. Today, she sat in the chair (with me, of course) and opened her mouth to let them look at and count her teeth. She didn't let them clean her teeth yet, but the dentist and hygenist both said that was fine. Her teeth looked great and they can tell she takes good care of them. She even got to wear these colorful sunglasses while sitting in the chair to protect her eyes from the light. How come I can't wear those?
Upon leaving, Diana asked if she could have some stickers. Well, of course! The hygenist took her over and gave her four Barbie stickers, a new pink toothbrush, a picture of her teeth to take to share day tomorrow and some other things. All in a cute little bag with teeth on it. She was beyond THRILLED and PROUD!
I was beaming with pride. I can't believe how fast she's growing up. I don't know how my mom is dealing with me becoming a mom again...I am her little one, for crying out loud! :)

THE project...no pic though

I have been working diligently on the office/baby room. I have thrown stuff away, re-organized spaces and made a very large garage sale pile. I am motivating myself by remembering the show "Clean Sweep" on TLC which I watched religiously while I was on maternity leave with Diana. I love that show! I don't have any pictures to share tonight because I have been working on taking over the Solano blog for Matt and exercising. My brother in law and father in law (no relation) are pressuring me to put a photo of the room on the blog because I don't think they believe I have been working on it. Trust me, I have. I sucked it up and put all my purses in a storage bin. It's just waiting to be moved down to the garage (which Matt has to do because it's too heavy).
A few Christmases ago my dad gave me a series of four black and white pictures of him and my mom at a masters swim meet three years before I was born. I have always been in love with those photos and I had Matt put it up in the house this weekend. Now, I can see it every day and it's not sitting in the closet collecting dust anymore. There's just a couple more things to get out of the closet and we (I) will be close to done. Diana's new bed has been ordered by Gramma V so the pressure is really on now. Diana reminded me tonight that we have to bring the changing table up from the garage. You think she's excited? yeah!
I will get a picture up soon. I promise!

Hey kiddo!

I have been looking forward to today's ultrasound for quite a while. The only other one I had was when I first found out I was pregnant at 9 weeks and that came as a shock because the baby wasn't so much of a pea as it is when most people find out they are pregnant.
So, Diana and Gramma V came with me to Sacramento today for the Baby Show. I had to go to Sacramento because I requested genetics counseling because of the medication I take for epilepsy. I did that with Diana too but went to Oakland for the ultrasound. Nothing against Oak-town, but Sacramento is much more convenient.
Anyway, the Baby Show went well and we got lots of pictures to take home. Diana was a little freaked out I think because she wasn't too conversational (she was also very tired from being up the previous night with a little sicky tummy). But she told Au Bob later that "we got to see the baby on the TVs" so that was encouraging.
The doctor said the baby looked really good and we don't have anything to worry about as far as genetic defects. Not that it mattered and not that I was worried, but it's good to hear.
The best part of the appointment was the ultrasound tech, the doctor and the genetics counselor saying that it was easy to get great images because I am so thin! OMG! If I am glowing for the next 20 weeks, that's why! THIN? I have never been called that in my life. So awesome.
Here are a couple pics of Baby Borchert...Enjoy!
Here's the baby "blowing a bubble." It's the embilical cord, but they were going to take a copy of the picture and put it in their wall of fame. Cool, huh?


Here's the baby looking at its big feet saying "Whoa!"

Valuable Reading

When I went to pick up a copy of a book that I ordered earlier this week at Borders, I noticed a Newsweek magazine that I just HAD to have. The cover story was about finding a cure for epilepsy. I picked it up and as I waited in line, read a few paragraphs. Very interesting reading. Later in the afternoon, after Diana went down for a nap, I read the entire thing - an editorial, an article about a neurologist in New York and some of his patients and a senior advisor for President Obama whose daughter had suffered with epilepsy for more than 20 years.
All enlightening. If you don't know much about epilepsy, I highly recommend picking up this week's copy of Newsweek magazine and taking the 10 minutes to read the three articles in it. It's got some very staggering figures about the number of Americans who struggle with this disease, and the many people who even die from it. I was especially encouraged by the editorial which stated that while many people know someone with cancer and jump out to help that cause (which is great) by donating money, walking in a walk, etc., the signs of an average person with epilepsy aren't as apparent so we don't run out to donate money to find a cure for epilepsy because we don't think it's that common of a disease.
If you don't think you know someone with epilepsy and are thinking that this is a random post...it's not. You DO know someone with epilepsy...me!
I am not asking you to donate money or log on to one of the many "find a cure for epilepsy websites." I just want to make sure everyone is informed about epilepsy and understand what it's all about. 10 minutes, read the articles. I promise it will open your eyes!

THE project

It's coming along. This picture is not indicative of how the room is coming along. It's a mess I know. This was about a week ago and I didn't want to leave out any steps because I promised to give a blow-by-blow. Plus, I saw my brother-in-law for the first time in forever last weekend and he politely reminded me that I hadn't put up a recent picture of THE project. He walked into the room and said, "Whoa! What happened in here?" He was expecting a disaster and it wasn't that bad.
The photo below is the room as of today. Mostly, I just have some cleaning up to do and then we can start bringing in the changing table and moving some other things around. You can't see the closet from these pictures, but I did some work on that as well. We, er, I am going to have quite a garage sale in June.

Easter Weekend 2009

What a great weekend! It was a time to remember a loved one who is no longer with us, spend some valuable time with those we may not see every day and celebrate a fun holiday.
The weekend started on Saturday morning with Matt and Diana coloring Easter eggs. Matt may not be the craftiest guy but he sure does take a lot of pride in being the one in our family that colors Easter eggs with Diana, decorates and bakes cookies, carves the pumpkins, etc. I love it and I definitely don't mind being behind the camera to capture all the father-daughter moments!
After the Easter eggs, we headed up to the local Dream Street park to take part in the annual Easter egg hunt. The community leaders put thousands of goodie-filled eggs all around the park for the kiddos to grab. Diana was a star this year. She was ready to go and did a fantastic job looking in every nook and cranny for the eggs. After that, Gramma V, Grandpa D, Diana and I headed into Sausalito to catch the ferry boat into the city. It's an Easter tradition for three years now to take the ferry to San Francisco, have lunch and remember Nanny. It was a great time. I must say that I had the best hamburger I have ever had at Neptune's at Pier 39. I know I am pregnant and all, and that may sway my decision-making a bit, but holy cow (pun intended) it was great!
We got home late Saturday and recovered from the busy day with a quiet rest of the evening. (for those wondering where Matt was...The Masters was on this weekend and he didn't remove himself from the couch).
On Sunday, Diana woke up to find the Easter bunny left her quite a few goodies in her Easter basket. She was most excited about all the plastic eggs he left her and about the candy (that she can't eat). It's very colorful though. She later discovered her love for jelly beans. :)
The family came over for a great breakfast cooked by Matt, Diana hunted eggs in the backyard and we played around the house the rest of the day. We had quite a lot of fun playing with Diana's new bubble collection that we used up in all of an hour. It was awesome weather, but we came back inside and did some projects around the house.
We were most excited to get a visit from Uncle Chris, who stopped by when he got off work early. We haven't seen Uncle Chris in a really long time and it was great to have him around again. Things haven't changed...he still cracked jokes, turned Diana upside down and hung her from her ankles and made himself right at home. We wouldn't want it any other way.
In the baby world: The baby has been having parties in my belly over the last week. It's been a lot of fun. The baby definitely likes its space because it moves around the most when I bend over at my belly when I am on the computer at work or something. I have an ultrasound next week (where I will NOT be finding out the sex of the baby) and have a regular checkup tomorrow. I have been really tired so not working out as much, but when I do have energy I try to hop on and do a run-walk for at least 30 minutes. It's not easy, but I know it'll be worth it in the end.
Check out pictures from the weekend here.

Leader of the Pack

It's been interesting to observe Diana at KinderCare lately. There are definitely girl groups and boy groups. I don't see a whole lot of girls playing with the boys and vice versa. The girls play in the home living area and the boys are usually doing their own thing off somewhere else in class. This is definitely not something set up by the teacher, but very interesting to me.
Diana has developed friendships with all the girls in her class. Where it used to be just one girl has now turned in to a friendship with about three or four other girls. One day when I went to pick her up, all the girls yelled out to Diana that her mommy was here. "Thanks, girls," I said. Sometimes they go get her jacket for her and another day they gathered up her Cabbage Patch doll which she brought for Share Day and all the clothes that were strewn across the room. Very helpful, I thought.
Over the last week, the friendships seem to have grown and blossomed a bit more. The other day, every girl in Diana's class gave her a HUGE hug before we left and some even kissed her (so gross, I know). Diana, normally shy before and unwilling to say goodbye to any of her friends, returned the hug and even waved through the door when we left.
Matt and I talked a couple nights later and he said that he watched her for about five minutes the next day (not knowing about the departure hugs that occurred). He was amazed at how much of a social butterfly Diana is in her class with the other girls. She showed them her homework and they talked about their outfits, he said, to one another.
He thinks she's the leader of the group, but I think that she plays with everyone fairly and treats everyone the same instead of getting into clicks and the sort. At least I hope so.
It's very fun though to see her open up and socialize and have these little friends. We have no idea who these girls are, where they live, who their parents are, but Matt thinks it would be a good idea to invite them to Diana's birthday party in June.
I see where he's coming from, and Diana has said that she wants to invite them all, but again...I have never met their parents. Who am I to invite strangers into the house? I don't expect them to bring a present for my kid who they don't even know. Diana talks about her friends at home, but do the other girls talk about Diana? Do the other parents know of this "Diana"?

THE Project...Week 2

By first look at the picture, you can't really see much difference than the first week of cleaning the office, right? Well, trust me, there's a big difference. I have sorted all the bills from the past...ahem, nine months; and am ready to disassemble the table formerly known as my scrapbooking table.I am going to try to have Matt do it, but we'll see how lucky I get with that. Once that's down, I can start to put together the new Ikea bookshelf that's still in a flat box in the back of my car. (Matt just mentioned that he would like to get in the office to do the taxes on Sunday so yipee! I have a goal of trying to get all this done by Sunday).
I am typing this on my knees because the chair has some scrapbooking supplies on it. I have one minor purchase to make from Amazon for some of my scrapbooking supplies (Crop in Style PSB Binder--unless someone has one they want to part with for less than $20) and then I can start to put the desk together and reorganize this office.

Wish me luck.

On to Soccer

Diana started Just for Kicks soccer class today. It's an eight-week class for a half hour each that teaches the fundamentals. They do some kicking drills and just work on kicking. They did a lot of that. It was great. Diana was awesome. I was most proud of Diana during ballet on the days when she really listened to her teacher and followed instruction and didn't get influenced by the other girls who were off running around and doing her own thing. She's in a soccer class now with 3-4 year olds, boys and girls. While it is a Mommy, Daddy and Me class, Matt and I stayed behind for the most part and just let her do her soccer thing. She listened, she kicked the heck out of the soccer ball, she got a great workout and most important, she had fun! She had a huge smile on her face after we left...and that was even when she realized that she had some fans there - Grandpa D recorded the whole thing on video (in addition to my standard picture taking), and Gramma V and her friend Linda stopped by on a covert mission to spy on the little one in her class. It was a great way to start the morning!
Here's some photos from the class...Enjoy!

This is Matt putting her cleats on.


This is Matt and Diana warming up.


More warming up.


Diana scoring on an open-netter. :)


I think I need one more barrette next time, Mommy.


Is there anything better than seeing your kid smile so big?

Gramma V, the rock star

I have preached over and over how awesome my mom (aka Gramma V) is. She helps us out with Diana at the drop of a hat and supports my sister and I and our families 100 percent. She's just awesome. I could go on and on, but she truly is the best lady in the world.
Today, I am not the only one to believe that. My mom was named California Adult Education Adminstrator of the Year today. I don't know the name of the organization that named her that because when her secretary called me this afternoon, I was in tears and didn't hear. I will update this when I find out for sure.
The Fairfield-Suisun Adult School is such a special place to my mom. She's been there for a very long time and it's a very dear place in her heart. She works extremely hard and this award comes as no surprise to me. She's the bomb! It's nice to know that someone gets rewarded for working hard and truly caring and being passionate about something.
I hope my mom gets recognized by the school district, the local community and other organizations for this honor because it's truly deserving. The number of people she's touched in her time at the adult school is humongous and the list will keep growing!

Congrats, Gramma V! We are so proud of you!

THE project

The baby that's cooking in the oven has inspired me to get down to work and do some home improvements. No. 1 task is the office, which the baby will share after it's grown out of the bassinet which will be in our room for the first couple months of its life. Eventually, we would like Diana and the baby to share a room, but that's not going to happen until the baby is sleeping through the night. There's no need to deprive Miss D of a good night's sleep.
Anyway, I am going to shame myself by posting a picture after day one of work in the office. This was taken Monday night, but it was mostly after work that was done Sunday night (for all of 1 hour and a half). I know, it's not a lot. But this task is monumental. I am a) a pack rat; b) a slob; c) suck at putting stuff (i.e. paid bills) away. Go ahead, judge me! I pay for it later...like now.
I have months of bills to sort through and file away not to mention all the scrapbooking stuff that has to be organized. I have to disassemble the big table that used to be my scrapbooking table and bring that into the garage (OK, Matt will bring it into the garage). But this is my project. Until I am done, he's not allowed in here. Mostly because I know he would have a heart attack if he sees the mess I am making in here.
I also have to clean out the closet and make room for stuff that matters. For instance, we have team photos from when Matt coached at Hartnell and DeAnza in the early 1990s. Do the math. They have been in some type of storage space since 2001 when we moved in to this house. They have never been put up on the walls. When I asked Matt what he wanted to do with them tonight...he actually suggested we keep them in the frames because he would like to hang them up eventually.
"Uh, sorry, hon...no." This is the baby's room now. Team photos from the 1990s with the scary hair-dos are not going to give my kids nightmares for the rest of their lives. That's what yearbooks are for!
So, here I go. About an hour to an hour and a half every night and I hope to have this project done in two weeks. I will post pics on the progress.

In the meantime, I have to find time to run. I want to do the Run For Good 5K in Fairfield on April 18 with some girls from work so I have to make sure I can still run 3.1 miles without having a heart attack.

Leprechauns Attack!

The leprechauns invaded our house on Monday night...well, I think it was Tuesday morning because the house was perfectly fine when we all went to bed on Monday night. The rascals, one of which was named Angus, left the house in shambles.
They got into Diana's cookies and Cheerios, tore all the blankets and pillows off the couches and played with her dolls and turned the toilet water in all three toilets green.
I have a feeling this is just the start of it all and we are going to be seeing a lot more of Angus and his little friends every year. We will have to be prepared....

Pay it Forward

How it works:The FIRST THREE people to leave a comment on this post will receive a free photo session from me to be used by the end of this year as a gift from me. UPDATE: Please keep in mind that this gift covers the sitting fee only. I will offer all the photos from our shoot to you on a CD for a small fee.
The CATCH is that YOU MUST PLAY TOO! Before you leave your comment here, write a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going (you can cut and paste these instructions).
Then come back and let me know that you are going to play. Then sit back and wait to see if you are one of the lucky winners. I can't wait to see who I am going to be taking photos of!
It's THAT easy!
Remember, only the FIRST THREE comments will qualify.

Good luck!

Chef Pregnant Lady

It's not a news flash that Matt is the chef in the family. He's older than me, grew up in a family where the dad did the cooking, Mom did the baking and just has a knack for it, I guess.
He does the cooking, I clean up afterwards. No biggie.
Well, in the last year, I have been experimenting more with recipes and cooking. Tonight was the big one...a recipe I got off the San Francisco Chronicle Website last week...Penne pasta with meat and sausage. No biggie, right? Wrong. The recipe called for something I think was called cremini mushrooms (I was lucky to find them at Raley's), Brandy (though I didn't use it), marjoram and other spices that I had either never heard of or never used in cooking before and Gruyere cheese (which Raley's also had, luckily).
Preparation took forever and mostly because I grated the fresh parmesean and Gruyere. It took about an hour and a half from start to finish, including 15 minutes in the oven to bake. It was delicious.
I found some plain noodles in the dish to give to Diana for dinner and though she just had a couple, she told me that it was very good. Huge compliment.
This is only a dish I will be making on the weekend, because it was way too involved. And now, being pregnant, I can't see myself standing on my two feet for that long period of time in the kitchen. It made a large dish though so we have enough probably for the rest of the week. Yummy! Yay Angela...you goo girl! :)

What's that smell?

I know what happens to my body when I am pregnant..funny things. I ate and ate and ate some more today. I just never lost that hungry feeling...it was horrible and good at the same time. I ran out of snacks and had to resort to eating the Saltines that my boss gave me a couple weeks ago when I told her that I was pregnant (super nice gesture by the way).
The smell thing started soon after I found out I was pregnant. I was walking over to get tea with a co-worker and as we walked into the common area, there were a ton of people getting coffee, etc. Right as we walked in, I stopped and said "someone has eggs." I am not a big fan of the smell of hard boiled eggs anyway, but this was the strongest hard-boiled egg smell I had ever smelled.
I looked around and sure enough on the counter was a tiny thing of Tupperware with hard-boiled eggs in it. It was closed up so it wasn't like the smell was lurking all over the place. Now, that's some pregnancy nose for ya!
It happened again tonight when I picked Diana up from preschool. KinderCare just has this smell to it. My mom has always noticed it more than I have...though I have noticed it and just grown accustomed to it. I noticed it immediately today when I picked her up this afternoon. There were some other kids in the way so I couldn't really bend down and hug her right away, but I got close enough to get a whiff of the KinderCare smell. I wish I could've rushed her home and tossed her in the bath tub and scrubbed her clean right there and then, but we had dance class. It wasn't until 2 hours later that I had the chance to get that stench off her. And trust me...when she got done, I smelled the clean smell for a while.

Playoffs

Breaking News: Solano plays at Chabot of Hayward on Wednesday at 7 p.m. We lost to Chabot in the semifinals of the Solano Showdown back in December so hopefully we have better luck this time.

Wish good things for Matt and his players!

Conference champs

It's always nice to end the regular season with a win, especially when it's of the 53-point variety. We really didn't know if Matt's team would qualify for the playoffs so to possibly end the season on with a win is something that's never happened in Matt's time at Solano. Sophomore Night was awesome as usual...very classy and professional and the three sophomores had a great time.
About 20 minutes after the win, the girls got the message that Yuba beat Contra Costa, giving us a share of the conference title. Back-to-back champs for the first time since 1998. Awesome! It was a little surreal and bittersweet because there was a very subdued celebration but champs are champs! Matt has done a great job with this team and we can't wait to hear what the playoffs hold for us next week.

Feeling Pregnant

When I was pregnant with Diana, I was really lucky. I didn't have to be to work until 2:30 at the latest so I just sat in bed all morning until the last possible minute when I had to get in the shower and start getting ready for work...which was about noon. I munched on crackers and swore I was going to die from nausea.
I am a lot tougher now (mentally that is)..being a mom will do that to you. I don't have nausea when I get up in the morning, but once I get up and get going it starts. Then, when my eyes see food, it's over. From the time I force down some breakfast until about 10 a.m., it's all nausea all the time. I found a solution this morning...I went to Safeway on my way into work and bought some caffeine free Ginger tea. There must have been 500 boxes of tea and only three of them were Ginger flavored. Of those three, just one was caffeine free. I had two cups of Ginger tea this morning and a couple handfuls of pretzels. By 10 a.m., I was feeling much better. Let's hope this remedy works every day. At least I am feeling pregnant now. I also found out this week that Matt's aunt's birthday is on my due date. That's kinda cool. She's hoping for an on-time baby of course. What are the odds of that, about 1 in 365, right?
In other news: Matt's season gets over on Friday. Well, that is, if they don't share the conference title. It's been a fun season. This team has grown so much and made so much improvement that I am a little sad to see it end. What a great group this has been. I covered two of the three sophomores in high school for several years so it's gonna be sad to see them leave, but happy to see them move on. It's been great to have them as a part of our family for the past two years.
We have been introducing more and more the idea of Diana being a big sister. I bought her a "I'm a Big Sister" book which we read every day. She loves it. I asked her if she wants to have a girl or a boy. She said a girl because "Me and you are girls, Mommy." I said "But if we have a boy, then Daddy will have someone to play tackle football with." She got really quiet. That was not a good thing to say because tackle football is Diana's favorite thing to play with Matt right now. I quickly, and I do mean quickly, changed the subject. I really don't want to find out what sex the baby is, but Matt, Au Bob and just about everyone I know says that I have to find out. Why? I love surprises. We have names ready for both...but I'll never tell. Not for seven more months! :)

Miss Diana lately

Here's our wonderful Diana in pictures...

This is in her pre-ballet class through city of Vacaville...


And this is her running at the Davis Stampede last weekend...

One of 'those' girls

There was a girl in my freshman biology class in high school whose sister got pregnant. I think she was a senior.
She claims that she didn't know she was pregnant because her periods were always irregular. Me being the naive 14-year-old that I was I thought that was crazy.
How do you not know you are pregnant? Doesn't your body go through all kinds of changes when you get pregnant? There's a person inside you for crying out loud.
Well, over the next dozen or so years, I heard many of these tales of this so-called "I didn't know I was pregnant" crap-ola.
I recently became one of these girls. Yes, I am pregnant and didn't know it.
Ever since going off birth control in October (after my half marathon) my periods were irregular...OK, you know what, let's skip the details.
That pregnancy test I took in January after I missed my December period was wrong. I was, in fact, pregnant. Today, I am 10 weeks.
Our baby is due Sept. 8, 2009.
It's all a little surreal right now and we're very focused on this very thrilling basketball season.
When I can start shopping for maternity clothes, I think that's when it will sink in. Right now, the baby is making me hungry all the time. I haven't had any nausea so far...which is great. And I am really trying to stick to eating healthy for the next 7 months.
We have a lot of work to do around the house. The new baby is going to share this very office so we have to convert my scrapbook table into a scrapbooking "area" that won't take up a lot of space. It's going to require some trip to Lowe's and some big time help from Grandpa D and Grandma V.
Diana doesn't fully understand that she's gonna be a big sister, but when we asked her tonight what was in Mommy's tummy she said "a baby." That was pretty cool.
I mentioned to her that getting a little brother or sister would mean she would have someone to share her toys with and play with...she wasn't too thrilled of the idea of sharing her toys. I gotta remember to steer clear of that in the next 7 months.

:)

Good times around here

OK...As I sit here watching a rerun of Friends and waiting for American Idol to come on, Diana is upstairs screaming "I don't want to go to bed!" just 10 minutes after she begged me to put her to bed without brushing her teeth. We did brush the teeth, but this is what happens when she doesn't take a nap at school. Utter chaos and tiredness.
On to our lives. Diana is doing really well other than the occasional tantrum. She's having a blast in ballet class, playing games is one of her favorite after school activities and I am trying to teach her how to read. Tonight while I was drying her hair, I was spelling out some common words for her and she would tell me what they spell: Cat, Dog, Chris, Bob, Mom, Dad, Hat, Bat, Sat, Rat. I was struggling to think of more as she was putting the pressure on "Mommy, more!" I just kept repeating the same ones. (My brain is fried too at 7:15 p.m. Remember, I don't take naps during the day either).
Matt's team is doing well. They won their ninth straight game tonight, up at Mendocino. So exciting. The early reports are that they didn't play well, even though they were up by 19 at half. My contact in Ukiah (my dad) said Mendo cut it to four but we pulled out a 17-point win. Glad we don't have to play them again. Five more games to go. They are still hoping to at least tie for the conference championship but will have to win the rest of their games and get some help. His team has improved so much and they are so much fun to watch that all that doesn't really matter to me. The improvement has been amazing.
Work is going well for me. I am constantly making improvements to our intranet site and getting lots of positive feedback about it. I got called into the Senior Vice President's office the other day and I was really nervous that he was going to lay me off. He started asking me about Matt's job and if he was planning on staying there for a while. I don't think I was sweating on the exterior, but I was preparing myself for the worst. Especially since the SVP was rocking back and forth in his chair and very uncomfortable. He said that he just wanted to check in and see how things were going with me because he doesn't often get the chance to see how I am doing. I thought that was really nice of him...especially since he didn't fire me. I am pretty confident that I am not going to become a casuality of the economy as far as my job goes but you just never know and I have to mentally prepare myself for that.
I got back on the treadmill two days in a row this week and am hoping to make it three tonight. Matt, Michelle, Dad and I are running in the Davis Stampede on Sunday...just the 5K. I am really excited for all of us to run together (well, not literally together, but you know what I mean). Michelle and I are planning on doing the Bay to Breakers as well...myself, very reluctantly. That's a blog for after the race.

Honest Scrap

My sister put me down for this Honest Scrap award so I guess I will amuse her and play along. I am supposed to list 10 honest things about myself. Well, it said at least 10 honest things. I am also supposed to link to 7 other blogs. Not gonna do that because I have a list over to the left of my favorite blogs (which I need to clean up by the way because it was for my reference only and I don't even visit those photographer's blogs anymore).

Here are at least 10 honest things about me:
1. I used to have a belly ring. I took it out when I was a couple months pregnant with Miss D.
2. I did my first half-marathon this October with my sister and sister-in-law. It kicked my butt!
3. I have a huge love for college basketball but am starting to develop a little respect for the NBA.
4. I don't think that the Golden State Warriors will ever be good again.
5. I truly think that Miss D will go to Stanford in 14 years.
6. I am grateful every day that I have a job and it's a job that I love.
7. I am going to keep a watchful eye on our new president and read every article that I can on his daily happenings.
8. I think I am a really good mom.
9. For the first time in years and years, I made some New Year's Resolutions. Though they are not very daring, they are goals that I would like to keep.
10. I can't think of No. 10 so I will mention that my favorite movie is the Back to the Future trilogy. :)

Been a while

As if I didn't already know that I haven't blogged in a long time, Matt actually pointed it out the other night when he opened the laptop to the internet and our blog came up. He said, "You haven't blogged in a lot of years." ('Years' being an expression we have for 'A very long time.') I said 'I know, I know.'
Life has been busy. With Matt's basketball season in full swing, I just get tired and lazy. I haven't been running that much which has probably contributed to my tiredness. I am planning on doing a 5K in Davis on Feb. 8 with Michelle and my dad so hopefully I will be ready. I have a new workout plan on the refridgerator but haven't stuck to it very well.
As for Miss D, she started ballet class two weeks ago. I will post pictures on my SmugMug when I get a chance. She absolutely loves it! And she does so well. She's the oldest in her class, which is mostly made up of 2-year-olds. Because Diana is in a class setting all day, she's used to listening to the teacher and paying attention so she makes us so proud with her attentiveness. We don't get to see how she behaves in preschool so it brought a tear to our eyes the first week of class when she just marched out there and was dancing around. She helps the teacher clean up after each exercise (that's not really surprising at all because she's done that since before she could walk).
Diana is also into the Annie movie and any little girl who was born in the late 70s, early 80s knows the addiction that comes with that movie. Diana is so into it. She loves the singing and the dancing. She thinks Miss Hannigan is silly. Matt is a little worried about the sexual innuendo, but I told him not to worry... she's three, she has no idea what's going on.
Diana loves the music in the movie so much that she sings "Tomorrow" as she's trying to fall asleep and her teacher at school said that she was singing it in school all week.
Diana is just the sweetest little thing. She's really developing into a wonderful little girl!
And curious to boot. The "Why?" phase has begun and the "What song is this, Mommy?" phase is in full swing. I'm surprised neither of us has lost our minds yet, but I'm sure it's not far off.

Matt's team won again tonight. That makes six wins in a row. We have a big week next week. Two more road games, starting the second round of conference and play the two teams that we lost to the first time around. Hopefully we can get some redemption, win the rest of our games and at least tie for the conference title. That would be remarkable!
The team is playing better and really starting to click on the court. Some players have really stepped it up and it's been fun for me to watch.

A Letter from Diana

Dear Daddy,
Thanks for taking me to preschool in the morning. I have fun with you in the morning, getting ready for school and driving in the car with you. I love that you play the music loud on the radio so we rock out. It really wakes me up and gets me going for the rest of the day.
Thanks for being persistent and teaching me how to shoot the basketball in the basket. Even though I would rather play with my easel or anything else in my playroom, I know that someday, I might change my mind and hit the hardwood and the lessons you are teaching me now are extremely valuable.
Thanks for making me awesome breakfasts, especially on the weekends. Those BIG pancakes are awesome and I don't really think it's necessary for you guys to feed me the rest of the day.
Thanks for tackling me because it's going to make me one tough cookie when I grow up...even though I am pretty tough already.
Thanks for worrying about every scrape, scratch, sniffle and cough that I have. It's good to know that you care.
Thanks so very much for letting Mommy do my hair. Enough said.
Thanks for playing computer games with me. I am getting really good at the memory game and I really enjoy the variety in my play time.
Most of all, thanks for working hard in your job because it teaches me good values. And thanks for giving me big hugs and kisses even after your team loses a tough game. It's nice to know that I can always put a smile on your face and that I am still No. 1.

I love you, Dadddy!

On the DL

I had a little accident on Saturday night while getting ready for Matt's game. I was cutting up some meat and grapes for dinner for Diana and me to eat before Matt's game and I cut my middle finger with the serrated knife. OUCH! I had to call my Mommy who took one look at it and insisted we go to the minor injury clinic at Vacaville Kaiser. It was bleeding pretty good and I was really pale and lightheaded from the sight of all that blood. Long story short, I ended up getting two stitches in my finger and updated my much overdue tetnus shot while I was there. I am getting the hang of typing without my middle left finger. I get the stitches removed next Monday hopefully but until then I have to wear this splint for extra protection. Totally annoying. I haven't tried to hold my camera yet but I am pretty sure I should just take a breather from taking photos of Matt's team for the week. So pissed!
Oh well. I hate knives.

Post-Christmas Shopping

So, I haven't posted in a while and I will post some photos from our awesome Christmas but I wanted to get a couple things off my mind before they vanished.
First, did you know that you can do a Google search for coupons online? I might be the last person that knew this, but I just saved a ton of money the other day by getting coupons for Borders and New York and Company. My sister in law (Debbie rocks!) got me a gift card to New York and Company and I stretched it out even further by getting a coupon code for 30 percent off. I got so much more than I would've had I not gotten the coupon. And they are having a fat (or is it phat?) sale right now so I am a very happy shopper right now.
I got a couple bucks off a book at Borders online the other day as well for just typing in "Borders coupon" into Google. There are coupons all over the place. Do it! It takes a couple seconds and it's so worth your time.

The other thing. My mom (Gramma V rocks!) got us "The Cat in the Hat I can do that!" game for Christmas and we played it last night for the first time. So funny! Anyone out there who loves a good laugh and a quick game for the short-attention spanned...get this game! Diana loved it, Matt loved it and I loved it. We will play it all the time.
Diana got another game called Zingo, which is Bingo with a zing! Another awesome game that Diana just loves. It's really fun to be in the game phase with Diana. We have been playing a lot of games lately. I know Matt has been getting a little tired of playing Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders and Hi-ho Cherry-O all the time so it's nice to have some different games to play. Diana has even been trying to play Connect 4 lately. It's pretty funny!

Merry Christmas

I don't believe in saying Merry Christmas to people I don't know well so on my e-mail signature at work, it says Happy Holidays. I don't want to offend anyone and I don't want to hear "Oh, I don't celebrate Christmas because of my religion." But on my blog, I can do whatever I want. And I don't think there is anyone who reads this who doesn't celebrate Christmas.
Here are a few pictures leading up to a Very Borchert Christmas...Enjoy and Happy Holidays! :)
Diana helped Matt make gingerbread men...


Then helped him finish off the leftover dough when there wasn't enough to make a complete gingerbread man...



Matt made plenty of goodies for the holidays. Yes, those are Oreo Balls. All good, all the time. Want the recipe? E-mail me.



Uncle Chris and Au Bob helped decorate cookies. If you read Michelle's blog, you saw that she called it "slave labor"...that was not the case at all.



And finally, there's the annual trip to Candy Cane Lane to see all the awesome lights!



The holidays are off to a great start!

It's worth getting off work later

I took Diana to school the last couple mornings because Matt has practice at 9 a.m. It sucks to have to get off work at 5 p.m. because I don't get into work until 7:45 or 8, but when things like this happen, it's all worth it.
This was a conversation Diana and I had this morning in the car on the way to preschool:

Diana: Mommy, what song is this?
Mommy: This is Jingle Bell Rock
(Silence as Diana is thinking. Even though I can't really see her in the back seat, I can hear her thinking. Must be a Mommy thing.)
Diana: No, Mommy, this is Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree.
Mommy: Oh...(Total shock, embarrassment and a little more shock hits me) I guess you're right. It is Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree. I get those two mixed up.

Do you think we've listened to enough Christmas music lately? My 3 1/2 year old knows the songs!

I'm done

I know I have said it about 15 times in the last two weeks, but I am done Christmas shopping. I may not have something wonderful for everyone, but I don't want to go out into retail hell anymore.
It's raining here today and I had to park clear across the parking lot at Target because Diana HAD TO HAVE these Mickey Mouse wipees that Gramma V had at her house. I know what you are saying..."Why didn't you just tell her that Santa will bring them?" I have been doing that for months now and I honestly don't know why I didn't do that. I must have lost my mind...the rain must have leaked into my brain and caused massive flooding. And then, once inside Target, I walk around like a zombie because it's just a giant sale all over that store. Every ornament is discounted, every decoration is discounted, every freakin' toothbrush is discounted.

I'm done.

When Daddy is away, the girls will play

Since Matt was out of town at a tournament last Thursday and Friday, Diana and I invited Gramma V over to the house for a girls night in. Diana and Gramma V cooked English Muffin Pizzas and then it was time for some art!
I got this idea from Alison over at Parallel Parking. Diana does a lot of handprint art at school and I thought this was a great idea to get some holiday decore around the house for relatively inexpensive. I went to Target earlier in the day to buy the supplies and I had plenty of extras around the house in my scrapbooking room. Diana had a great time "decorating" her tree once she got aggressive with the glitter shakers.


Once we got done with our reindeer, santa and tree handprint arts, Diana wanted to be one with the finger paints...who am I to say no?


It was a great night with Gramma V, Mommy and the kitchen floor. (Don't worry, Daddy, we cleaned up really good!)


Matt came back on Saturday afternoon and we had a restful day around the house. On Sunday morning, we left for Silveyville in Dixon to get our tree. These photos were taken of Diana before she threw the ultimate tantrum. Diana "rode" one of the reindeer, we all went for a sleigh ride with Santa and picked out a great tree.


Diana still talks about the sleigh ride and how "when we went to pick up our tree, we went on a sleigh ride, Mommy!"
Before we left for Silveyville, Diana made sure to tell us that she wanted a little tree. So glad we didn't have to break it to her that we were only getting one tree for the house. We did want to take her photo next to one of the many small trees though...so cute!


And finally, we got to decorating tonight. Diana did a great job. She especially looked forward to putting on the "red bubblegum" decoration that Gramma V bought her at Kohl's on Black Friday. I was really proud of her for not getting frustrated when her decorations kept falling off the tree. She stuck with it and kept trying. After just a few decorations, she got the hang of it and not one fell off.

Is there a reason for everything?

I go back and forth with this question. For instance, I truly believe that God brought Matt and I back together less than a year after we went on a blind date...which led to us eventually beginning to date and eventually getting married. BUT...I believe that things happen for a reason as well. For instance, I believe that things didn't work out at my job in Spokane, Washington, after college because I was meant to be back in California and start my post-college life here.
For whatever reason, someone came back into my life tonight and the timing couldn't have been more poetic. On Friday at Kohl's while shopping, I saw one of good friend's mom's, Denny. My mom has somewhat kept in touch with her over the past few years. They would see each other around town or at different city functions. Tonight, at Merriment on Main in Vacaville (where there are 16,000 people in attendance) I ran into Denny again with her grand daughters. How weird, I thought. She told me that her daughter, Jesse, was just across the way. I haven't talked to Jesse in over a year. We were good friends all through high school and kept in some contact afterwards. We became closer friends when she and her family moved down the street from me when her youngest daughter, now 6, was an infant. They lived there for about a year and a half and moved out of that house shortly before Diana was born. To make a long story short, we lost touch around the time Diana turned 1. She became a firefighting paramedic, I became a mom trying to balance that and being a coach's wife. I admit (and still do) that I have a hard time keeping in touch with friends and being proactive about getting together with girlfriends.
But, for whatever reason (may it be God putting her back in my life tonight or karma or 'things happen for a reason') I saw her for the first time in years tonight. There was a little awkwardness because I feel guilty for not being a good friend. I told her that I would call her and we said that we would get together sometime. I hope that we do. Jesse is a really good friend and her kids still remember me and were really excited to see me. I can't believe they remember me.
I still have a photo of her three kids sitting with Diana on the porch one summer, Diana was little. I think it was one of the last times we all got together. It's on my desk upstairs.
Why does it take something like karma, or Merriment on Main, to bring people together? Why is it so hard to keep in touch with friends that you've had since high school when they live just down the street? What's even sadder to me is how much Jesse still keeps in touch with so many people that I still talk to as well. We still talk to the same people, but not to each other. We didn't have a falling out or anything like that. Her phone number hasn't changed. My inability to make friends a necessity in my life is the only thing to blame. It's sad, really.
There are other New Year's Resolutions that I will make for 2009 (even though I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions) but this is No. 1...Gotta make more time for girlfriends.

Diana's Christmas List

As listed by her mother, me:
Diana loves...notepads, pens, workbooks, coloring books, crafts, bath time, Backyardigans, Princesses, Thomas the Train, Dora, Diego, Mickey Mouse and most of all Minnie Mouse.
Stuff we didn't get her but she would love...the Hot Wheels ramp that's $10 at Target (they were sold out when I did my shopping on Friday), puzzles, fingernail polish that's suitable for a 3-year-old who still puts her fingers in her mouth at times.
We are posting this list because we know family will ask what Diana needs for Christmas. Truthfully, she doesn't NEED anything. These are her interests and stuff she would be absolutely thrilled to see on Christmas Day when she opens her presents and stocking. She's had such a great year that's been filled with milestones. Seeing her grow and seeing her develop interests has been so fun for us.
We are thinking about putting her in a dance class once the new year starts because she really does love to dance. It would be good, also, for her to socialize with some other kids her age outside of preschool. We know that the next year will be filled with even more excitement as she inches closer to (gulp) kindergarten.