Went to Dom's Party & Came Home With?!

Whew! I am still reeling from the past few days. I was very excited to dust off my camera and take it for a spin. We went to Dominic's amazing pirate themed birthday party (I can't believe the little guy is FOUR!) on Saturday and came home with the newest addition to our family. Caramelle. Initially her name was Marmalade... but then we settled on Caramelle Butterscotch. Okay I know it's kind of lame; it's a work in progress.


My sister-in-law Jamie was super encouraging full of helpful advice. She even took me to their local pet store, before we went home, to gather supplies for little Caramelle. Thanks again Jamie.

Caramelle's sister Autumn.

They also have a new kitten and her name is Autumn. Autumn and Caramelle are sisters from the same litter and now we get to arrange playdates! Needless to say all the boys are smitten with our little kitten! Both Henry and Rhys are constantly bickering over who gets to hold her. I am happy to report that she is getting along perfectly with our dog Kitty. She is just the sweetest little thing.

Sunday was my birthday and it felt like a flurry of constant feasts. Hilary and John arrived on our doorstep bright and early and I wish I could adequately describe the expression on Hilary's face when the boys greeted her at the door with Caramelle. She was blown over and fell fast in love. The same cannot be said of Angele when the scene was repeated some time after. The horror! LOL!

We started our adventure Sunday with mass and then it was off to lunch complete with dessert and singing waiters. Afterwards we went home for a few hours to play with Caramelle before heading out again this time to Third Street and the Pier, and ending the evening at Buca with an Italian feast.








Yesterday my little guy Henry turned 8! You can't imagine how incredible that sounds. He's almost a decade! I still remember when we took him home from the hospital. We had to stop off at the CVS on Santa Monica Bl. and bumped into Tracey Ullman who took a look at Henry and remarked on how cute he was.


We were able to throw a little party for him at school. Hilary and John were soo nice to help me out with picking up the pastries and setting the tables for the third grade class. Thanks again guys! The party wrapped up with dinner and presents!


This was in Rhys' folder from school today. It's a very bad resolution because I scanned it from a very small image; it's originally his school ID card. It's also his school picture this year and now I can't wait to get the set of school photos!

Need I Say MORE?

Twilight HD Exclusive Trailer


If the application does not work click on this link for the
Final Twilight Trailer

Monday Catch Up

Fresh from my morning walk, I came back to messages from people wondering who Ganerda Grul is... well she's a publisher whom my other half (Ken) is helping. You can find out more about her at ganerda.com; the site is still under construction so check back often for updates. Remember: She's shy. She's lonely. She can be found on FB and myspace. She wants to be friends!

This weekend we got a chance to catch 'Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist'. I know I mentioned in a previous post that I didn't want to see anything until November 21, but Kenny wanted some popcorn on datenight so we agreed on this flick. When we went to pay for the tickets the cashier asked me if I had a Student ID! I could have kissed her!!

It was a very charming story. The leads were very cute; I love Michael Cera and Kat Dennings. It was refreshing to see Kat who is absolutely gorgeous and not your typical stick figure. I don't know if I'm getting more prudish with age, but I found the hinted at sexual behavior of some of the kids (granted they were supposed to be about 18) alarming. I had to remind myself that even in the tamer John Hughes films this was the norm. Ah well... it's memory vs. looking at the world through the eyes of a parent.

I have been neglecting my camera lately, but will be looking through my SD card for new photos to post this week. Until then Happy Monday.

PS I was very happy to see the official playlist for the Twilight soundtrack on Stephenie's site this morning. Included in the mix is both Muse's 'Supermassive Black Hole' and Collective Soul's 'Tremble for My Beloved'. I'm pretty anxious to check out the rest of the songs especially 'Bella's Lullaby' and the one song from Rob Pattinson that made the cut.

cheese

Rhys' lovely new earrings.

gasp! sigh.

Photos taken from edwardandbella.net.


Is it very wrong of me to not want to see anything until November 21?

Stephenie included in the Movie section of her site '6 fun facts from the set' the first of which is: 1) While watching the playback from a very intense scene with Bella and Edward, the girl next to me literally slid right out of her chair—I think her bones melted. She also may have stopped breathing for a few seconds, too. I know I did.

Can November come any sooner?!

oh HENRY!

Seems little Henry hasn't been turning in all his assignments, because he hasn't been wearing his glasses, so he wasn't able to see the board to write down his homework. His teacher and I went through his desk this afternoon; lo and behold all the missing paperwork was stuffed inside!

Fall

It's been about 3.5 weeks since school started and I am finally breathing a sigh of relief. They are settling into the new school schedule. It's been a very rough transition for both Henry and Rhys. Henry is just beginning to grasp the new responsibilities that come with entering into the third grade. Rhys is adjusting to the harder task of going from a couple of hours a day to a full day of school. It felt very much like a roller coaster going from good days to worse days. Worse days entailing calls from the school over inappropriate behavior. Yes. I was that mom! And I did not handle it as gracefully as I would have liked. I over analyzed and over reacted, pondering over solutions well into the night. I'm hoping all this work and anxiety is finally beginning to pay off. Fingers crossed.

Decadance

This past weekend felt like a crazy three day vacation at home. Friday night entailed dinner with Angele, and while the boys spent the night at Grammie's house, Kenny and I had a non-movie date night. We were originally going to see something, but couldn't quite figure out what I wanted to see so we spent a quiet night at home instead.

The following day we had a leisurely morning that led to meeting Angele and the boys for breakfast at the Coffee Co. Lolled around all afternoon before heading out to Agoura Hills for Andrew's birthday party. Rhys fell asleep on the drive up, when he finally woke up he was in a great mood and talking up a storm. A few of my cousins commented on what a cute voice he has(!).


Sunday involved meeting Hilary and Angele for dim sum and then some shopping before heading to the ice rink. Kenny has felt an itch to go ice skating for a few weeks now (new to me!). We spent a few hours there. We had to convince Henry that it was a great idea and once he got over his initial reluctance he was easily skimming the ice like a pro. Rhys took to the ice like a little rabbit. He just kept going! And at full speed. He is truly fearless. Picking himself up and dusting himself off he was off again, and again. In the end the boys had a wonderful first time ice skating. It was really exhausting and by the time we got home everyone was zoinked!

Friday

Birthdays

Happy Birthday to Hilary the Best-est Girlfriend & S.I.L ever!
Hope you have a fantastic day.

Last night, September 13, was my mother in law's birthday. We celebrated by throwing a dinner party for her at Buca in Santa Monica. It was the perfect setting because it's a loud and kid friendly place. We were fortunate to have Alston, Nancy, Charlene, Michele, Fred, Lisa along with our usual Muni, Hilary, John, Kenny, Henry, Rhys and of course the birthday girl herself Angele. We happily stuffed ourselves silly and then topped it off with chocolate cake!



September 13 is of course, as all you Twilighters know, also Bella's birthday. It would be fun to hypothesize how the Cullens would have celebrated. I did hear that Forks, WA had declared it Stephenie Meyer Day. We had quite a few Twilight fans in attendance last night and I was so happy to catch up with them. Alston and Michele have already finished the series and agree with me on the addictive properties of the book. Charlene has been too busy at work but hopefully will find time before the film comes out to finish BD. Alston promised that we shall see the movie together and I can't wait!

Lastly I would like to point everyone to the obvious. Ta Da! You are listening to my new Music Box. Most of the songs on this list are songs I've been listening to lately while reading and re-reading the series. I lifted many selections off of Stephenie's official playlists. These selections have now become current favorites and I mixed them alongside other favorites both old and new. Strangely this mix has come together to make up a phenomenal list that evokes scenes from the books for me. I get a sick satisfaction from being able to have these songs on hand at will. I say this because there are a couple on the list that are not available for purchase at least not as an MP3 file. I am eyeing Muse's version of 'Can't Take My Eyes Off You' which I could easily see Edward playing for Bella. Boo hoo.

My first photo montage. I did this a few weeks ago to use as a special Rhys thank you.

Guilty!

A snapshot of Henry's first day of third grade last Tuesday.

Hello again. Yes, it's me. And yes, I've been living under a rock for the past few weeks. I'm still entrenched in the Twilight haze. I've moved onto podcasts and audio files. Needless to say am very excited about the movie and am counting the days.

I've meant to check in well before today, and for that I apologize. The kids started school last week. Though things went swimmingly for Henry, Rhys was another matter. Rhys' first day of school was last Wednesday, a fact that I was unaware of (since I thought it was Tuesday) until I received a phone call from one of the kindergarten teachers about an orientation set for Tuesday afternoon.

Once we arrived for said orientation I discovered that he was not enrolled! Slap to head! I had not been informed by anyone that I needed to re-enroll him since he had spent the last year there for Pre-K. Panic stricken I then spent the next 24 hours trying to keep from tearing my hair out dealing with the school administration and the doctor's office in an attempt to get all the paperwork in order for the start of classes the next day. I felt like I was going to have a stroke and prayed for the earth to open up and swallow me. I hate leaving things until the last minute. You see I tend to get a tad stressed out. Sigh.

So it's taken me about a week to recover, and still I'm having a few issues. One of which is getting used to this new schedule for which I am feeling immensely guilty. These long hours without the boys are so indulgent! This is the second day of their new regular schedule and I'm beginning to plan ways to fill them productively.

I spent a few hours of this morning in the Marina getting the car serviced. I decided to take a brisk stroll since it looked like it was going to take a while. Passed the strip mall and decided to try out the pomegranate blueberry concoction at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Then noticed that Barnes and Noble was open so I popped inside. A few titles that caught my eye were: 1) a cookbook designed around ingredients you can get at Trade Joe's! 2) 1001 Books to Read before you Die! Instead of getting either I left with a new mini weekly planner and the September issue of Vanity Fair with Carla Bruni on the cover. The End.

PS Here's hoping for much needed inspiration for future entries!
PPS I know. I know. Where's the picture of Rhys' first day? I will include an extra special snapshot ASAP.

Rhys Turns F-I-V-E

I can't believe that summer's coming to an end, and the boys are due back in school next Tuesday. Lucky for me I'm practically done with back to school shopping.

We had a very exciting last few days with Rhys turning five. Thursday started lazily enough with the boys occupying their time in front of one screen or another. Late that morning Rhys received his first present (or rather second as we decided we were getting a PC for them since they've been fighting over the other one), a few dozen balloons from great-grandmother Muni! He was so excited as you can see from these snaps I took of the moment.


Afterwards we lounged around snacking until Auntie Hilary came up. We made a date to catch an afternoon viewing of the 'Clone Wars' at Howard Hughes. At the theatre of course we had to supply the bday boy with his requisite popcorn and coke. The boys had a blast, though Hilary and I entertained thoughts of ditching them to sneak into 'Sisterhood'. We just looked at each other and shrugged at the conclusion of the film after realizing that 90% of the movie was one long fight sequence. We concluded the big day with dinner at Islands and home for presents.


Over the weekend we caught 'Walking with Dinosaurs' at the Honda Center in Anaheim. The boys were thrilled.



The dinosaurs were amazing and more than once Rhys became a bit tense burying his head against my shoulder to block out a terrifying maneuver or sound made by the 'monster' creatures. Soon after the intermission I noticed a handful of kids dozing in their seats including our little birthday boy.


It was a little sad that they missed the awesome TRex. This gal was so loud I was shocked she didn't wake the slumbering kids. Rhys woke up soon enough for a dip in the pool and pizza at Aunties!


This is the first year we haven't had a big blow out birthday party. I felt very guilty. Kenny was ecstatic (granted it wasn't his birthday). Ever since we've had kids the spectre of birthday parties and Christmas have loomed like dark clouds upon this house. We have a very extensive extended family and everyone tends to go a little overboard so you can imagine the avalanche of gifts the boys are swamped with every birthday and Christmas. And when you add on top of the new mix all the toys that already live in their room you can imagine how relieved we were to dodge a little bit this time around.... but still what's a birthday without presents?