Sunday, July 30, 2006

Weekend updates.......



Fri night, E and I went to have some time to ourselves at Franks Bar & Grill, had some beers and dinner and then we went over to Judi's ( a friend from work) and we did not get home until 2:30 am. It was nice to have some adult time but I am really paying for it now.....

Sat morn, we got all of David's stuff moved into storage and his mom and dad are now on their way back home. I really hope that we stay in touch with them and are able to see them again.... and just so you all know, we have adopted David's dog, Karl. He is a purebred Cocker Spaniel and he has adapted well here in the last few days. He and Lexi are getting to know one another and are becoming friends!




J & K's b-day pool party went great on Sat. (talk about another SUPER busy weekend) This year we combined the two cause we have had so much more stuff going on and finances are tough, I'm sure ya'll know what I mean. (Thanks Papa & Nana for letting us have a pool party at yur house! ) We had BBQ hot dogs and hot links, nachos, chili & cheese, tortilla wraps, fruit trays and cake and ice cream cones! Nana bought the huge super slide you see in these pics and let me tell you, IT WAS A HIT!!!!!! The kids had a ball on it!



Everyone had a blast and the party went on into the night with us adults sitting outside by the pool hanging out and stuff.

The kiddies got a lot of nice gifts and we thak you all for coming and for the awesome birthday gifts this year!!!!!

Today, Sunday, Becca and I had training class for the upcoming pageant. It went great and she has a bit of practicing to do because this is her first one but I know she will do fine! She (we) now have bit more sponsor $ to come up with and we need to finalize her outfits for the competition and we'll be set to go! It's getting more and more exciting as we go! For all that have had sponsored so far, We thank you very much!, We could not have done it without you!

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Favorite Foto Friday....(& then some)

This pic is from Becca's game Tuesday night.....This Tues night game was their FIRST loss of the summer season. Thats ok ladies, you'll gettem' next time and they did... Tonight, (thurs) they won with a score of 7 to 0..... YEAH! Becca pitched the whole game, she is getting better and better every season! It is a bit blurry but it's hard to get GOOD action shots, ya know?

Another thing I DO NEED to mention is TGIF!!!!!! This week has been extremely long and tiresome. We had a little memorial for David last night here at our house with his parents and his 'California Family', (us) We had lasagna, salad, garlic bread and jello pudding. His parents will have a ceremony once they get back home to NJ. They leave on Sun and Sat morning the guys are gonna get all David's furniture and stuff from his house moved into storage for them and we can deal with that at a later date. His Mom and Dad are ready to get back home and family there are missing them and I'm sure wanting to see them too. They will truly be missed and I hope we stay in touch. I went through a bunch of pics and scanned them all and Heather helped me put songs on it and I played it for them and everyone else that was here last night and they really enjoyed it. I only found 55 pics for this dvd, but i know I have more, and i chose 2 out of the 3 songs for the dvd as some of Davids favorites from our days. The Love Shack, B-52's, I Just Can't get Enough, Depeche Mode and then for the last song we did When I Get Where I'm Going, Brad Paisley & Dolly Parton. We burned a couple extra for them to take back home with them for family and they know that if they need more, we can make and mail them some more.

Yesterday and the day before, I spent attempting to explain to an almost 5 year old what it means when you die....... Yeah.... We have been around and around with questions and more questions and with the best answers I feel appropriate to be given. Once she (K) finaly realized that David had passed due to a severe illness, she wanted to know where HE went, what happened to his BODY.....(ok, i've had enough) K has only known that her Papa (my dad) passed from being very sick and this was two years ago and and I wasn't able at that time to explain to her the whole "why do people die" thing. so now, she wants to know EVERYTHING.... She does love going to Church and she knows about God and Jesus and believes in Heaven, (along with them thousands of questions that go along with it) So yesterday afternoon before our guests arrived, I reminded her that once darkness came, we would go out front and find the first star we saw and that would be our special star of David an she was happily agreed. (due to our current weather, we ONLY found ONE star in the night sky) THANK YOU LORD, BLESSED ARE OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS , IN JESUS NAME WE PRAY, AMEN.

Heather kept the kiddies for me today...thanks much.. cause, YEP, I am a stress basket. Today their day care had a field trip to WILD RIVERS, more that an hour away from home and a huge WATER park at that.....I know, I know, call me what you want. I thought about letting J go for about a day, but that lasted for about a minute..... (he does know how to swim, he's 8, but I just could not allow t.....) and Kaylee, NOPE , sorry, I just was not comfortable with her going AT ALL. She does not know how to swim yet and I'm sorry, but if I'm gonna let my youngsters participate in a water filled day, I want to be the responsible party. I'm sure I'll have many agreements in this scenerio......

(thx heather for keeping my babies in safe for the day!)


This Sat is also J & K's pool party and then Sun Becca has training class for the pageant which I will attend with her... (omgoodness, Do I ever get a break?)
I DESPERATELY NEED TO WASH A FULL LOAD OF WHITES AND DRY THEM, THEN FIND TIME TO FOLD THEM UP AND PUT THEM AWAY. I couldn't find socks for the kiddies tonight for the mornin'.......UUUGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday, July 23, 2006

this weeks updates......


AWFUL WEIRD WEATHER....... This is what our skies looked like yesterday afternoon. This whole weekends weather has been treacherous. At about 110 with thunder, lightning and even some rain, it has been terrible. We have had major power outages throughout our city with power sporadically going on and off all day..... A little scary if you ask me.... I even turned our thermostat up to 80 instead of 78 cause it just cannot cool down. I will be crying when I get our electric bill, I know but gosh, we would be frying and having heat stroke without it right now.... When Heathers power went out, she packed up her fam and went down to our local mall to try and find some comfort but said it was hot inside the mall too. This has been the worst summer heat that I can remember in a long time now.....
Friday night, we had a little surprise party for Becca for her 18th Birthday.....I went in to her work last week and asked her scheduling manager to please give her a shift on Friday to be off at 6pm and he did!!! It wasn't a huge party as we have a lot going on right now and well, you know how finances go. She just had a BIG grad party and now with the pageant, I didn't want to break everyone in my family including E and I..... We had pizza, salad and cake and she was totally surprised too. She actually was startled when she came through the door we all screamed and yelled surprise!!! It was great and yes, as you can see she and I even had a little cake fight......

Last Sunday, we went for Becca's pageant interview and application process. She got the phone call on Monday...She is in! She has been accepted to compete in her FIRST Miss Teen Pageant...Whew....Keep in mind that I am not a pageant mom, I'm a softball mom so we will definetly be learning together.... She is very excited and now we are on the road to getting sponsors before her training class on July 30. The pageant is Aug 13 so wish her (us) luck!!!!

These are a few pics I took before we left






David passed away this past Monday. It was really sad. I think he was ready to go be with his brother who was waiting for him, I'm sure. His parents broke down and all I could do was try to comfort them. I stood behind them hugging them as best I could while they watched their baby boy die. My mom and I took turns comforting them as we all cried and sobbed. Susan, (my moms best friend) was also there and she too cried and tried to comfort everyone as best she could. It was very sad and brought back many memories for me from when my dad passed 2 years ago. We will be having a memorial for David for his mom and dad at my house before they take their sons ashes back to New Jersey with them and prepare to have a funeral with their family there. Please keep them and their families in your thoughts and prayers during this very difficult time....
Here are some pics from years ago of David and me and David with my girls.....

~Me and David~

~Becca and David~

~David and Vanessa taking a nap~

Friday, July 21, 2006

Favorite Foto Friday...


This is a picture of my nephew at the park last year...... I love this one of him!!!!

Hope you all have a great weekend, I have another busy one as usual this time of year!

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Saturday, July 15, 2006

WHEW....IT IS HOT!

Talk about some heat here in So Ca. It is 6:45pm and still 103 outside and tomorrow's high is 107. I went to the gym this am and that is it, been inside ever since. Went outside to get the mail and OMG, it was horrible. E went to the Angel game with Steve today. Are they crazy or what? I am taking Heather out tonight for her birthday. My sis is gonna go with us too. We are gonna have FUN!!!! We haven't been out in a while so we'll have a blast, I'm sure! Tomorrow Becca and I have a pageant meeting to go to. Someone (I haven't figured out who yet) referred her to be consulted to be in a preliminary pageant and we meet with the lady tomorrow at a fancy hotel. We'll go and see what it's all about, she is excited about it and so am I.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend so far and hopefully staying as cool as possible!


Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Sunday, July 09, 2006

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEATHER!!!


Happy Birthday To You,
Happy Birthday To You,
Happy Birthday Dear Heather,
Happy Birthday To You!

I have known Heather now for over 10 years and we have become extremely close throughout these years. Let me tell you, she is one incredible person. I have called her my sister in law for almost 8 years now, ever since her brother and I have been togethwe (even though we're not officially married yet)
We have shared many experiences together and she even lived with us for a while. She has always been there for me and I am here for her. When she lost her son Evan, I didn't know if she was going to be able to pull through, but with all of our support and care she has made it this far and one thing that I know helped her get through thus far was knowing that she had Emmalee, Evans little sister and her baby girl and the fact that her daughter needed her mommy was eminent. I know that you don't ever really get over losing a child especially when it's your own. Like they say, you're parents are supposed to die before their children. This is to be a Happy Day for her but at the same time she has so many memories of this month that she has a lot of down time and sadness. Evan passed away in July and his funeral was on her birthday so how happy could you be on your birthday when you think back to the same day years ago when you buried your son. I know that I could'nt be.
She has been very blessed in the past couple years of her life with her beautiful twin boys and in finding the love of her life Steve. I am so happy for her that she finally has some happiness in her life. She is such an incredible mother to those boys and to Emmy. She has gone through a lot with the boys being so premature and having to deal with so many illnesses with them brought back so many memories for her. I am glad that I was able to be there when they were born and through their incredible journey to where they are at today.
So as we celebrate and wish Heather a very happy birthday, she sits and remembers something very sad and she will for the rest of her life. I just want to say that I love you Heather and I am always a phone call away and just around the corner from ya! I am proud to say what a wonderful mommy you are to you children and we will never forget Evan, he will always be in our hearts and our thoughts.
So now that I know you are crying again, I wish you a Happy Birthday (old lady) LOL and I will be taking you out this next weekend, so plan on it girl!
Love Always, TiTi

The 4th and then two Birthday Parties in 1 day....


We stayed home this year and BBQ'ed and hung out with friends an family. The kiddies had some sparklers and we did some other ones too. We invited David's parents over for dinner and I served them shrimp cocktails and they brought Coronas and limes, then we had BBQ chicken with baked potatos and corn on the cob. I knew that they wouldn't stay long so I made sure that dinner would ready during the shift change at the hospital. David is still not getting better as of today so please continue to pray for him and his family while they go this difficult time. Jay, (David's dad) was having a nice time chatting sports with Eric and it was nice to see that he could get his mind off of things for a little while. David's mom said that this was real good for him to laugh and talk a bit with someone because he really hasn't gotten to since David has been in the hospital.
Christopher loved the popping fireworks and he giggled everytime one went off. We could see the big fireworks from our corner and we strolled down there and watched for a while too.
Hope all had a wonderful and safe Fourth of July!!!!

My nephew Christophers 2nd birthday party was today. My sis had it over at her father-in-laws clubhouse and it was a pool party. He LOVES Thomas the Train so his party was just that. I even made his cake. Isn't it cute! One of the first gifts that he opened was the Thomas carrying case that I bought him and that was it, he was done with gifts. He took off and only wanted to play with the carrying case! His mommy and daddy opened the rest but a couple of them caught his eye. The Little Einsteins dvds that he got he studied like he was reading them, and then they opened this HUGE homemade Thomas blanket he he loved it!
HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY CHRISTOPHER!




~After Christophers party we went to Emmy's party. She had a candy party this year. It was real very cute, her mom had candy decorations and candy games and candy for prizes and the kids got to make cotton candy and they had a chocolate fountain going with marshmellows, strawberries and cookies for dipping. The girls sang to the High School Musical soundtrack and they are getting good already! The the girls got into their jammies and Heather had a total of 7 girls for her slumber party.
HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY EMMY !!!!
~Here are Quentin & Zach enjoying the party and playing with their Uncle Eric~
Heather had the karaoke machine set up for the girls (and her)
This is Emmy and her mom singing one of their favorite songs together.
Aren't they just so cute!

Today is my last day off and it has been wonderful and was much needed at that. Tomorrow I go back to work and the kiddies go back to daycare. We have had a lot of fun between our vacation and the fourth of July and the b-day parties we had to just relaxing and hanging outside BBQ'ing and letting the kiddies play in their pool and on the slip and slide. We will continue our summer fun and we have many more b-days coming up too. Hope all are enjoying your summer so far!

Friday, July 07, 2006

Favorite Foto Friday.....

this is one of my favorite action shots of K jumping in the pool during our vacation, i know it's a little blurry but i still love it!

Monday, July 03, 2006

Our vacation......

Was great! ( I was a little worried at first because our whole drive their it rained off and in with lightning storms, but once we got into San Diego, it had cleared up)
I throughly enjoyed our little getaway. ~day 1~The zoo was our first trip and the kids liked it. J complained a but about it being boring at times and we just reminded that not everything we do revolves around what HE wants to do. (my goodness, can't they just be grateful for what they DO get?) anyways, he got over that and our day with the animals was fun. K loved meeting Pumbaa (from the Lion King, as you can see below, LOL) And the koalas looked like stuffed animals hanging on a branch to me....they are very cute.

Do they all have something in common or what? I LOVE the one of E behind the mask! I could of just left them all there at the zoo since they fit in so well! HEHEHE!!!


~day 2~The day I got too much sun....We went down to the beach and played in the water, which the kiddies REALLY like. The beach kinda scares me cause of the undertow and stuff and J likes to go out far and I'm such a paranoid freak of an aunt and wouldn't let him go out that far. They really had fun though and E took K out pretty far too, far enough to where the waves would knock her down with E right behind her catching her, don't worry, I WAS watching every moment. Then we walked up the pier (which was forever long) and the kiddies were amazed at how people were catching fish and they asked a bunch of questions and watched em bait their polls and cast em out and stuff. It was very hot and even though i used sun block, I still got a bit burned. Mostly on my face and head but not too bad. (I wore ball cap for the rest of our trip) E buried them in the sand and K made friends with some kids that had a lot of sand toys so she played with them for a while too while J and E went out further in the waves!
One of my favorite past times (along with E) was when we got to hang out in the spa-pool at our hotel and relax. Especially after our long busy days, it was really nice to come back and relax in the jacuzzi. The kiddies went back and forth from the pool to the spa too and they loved this time as well. We met many nice people, One of which I exchanged emails with and I'm gonna forward my links to my blogs. She and her god-daughter were there from Albequerky, NM and K and J made friends with her god daughter right away and everytime we were at the hotel or down at the pool, they all played together. (Hi Pam & Hailey) I got several pics of all them swimming and stuff that I will send to them. I also have some of favorite pics over on my photo blog so please check them out if you wish......
~day 3~ Sea World was the best! It was so much fun and we loved all the shows and stuff. The kiddies loved it when they got to feed the dolphins and sea lions. That was really cool. K literally fell overwhen Shamu first came up from the water when the show first started. We sat in the 2nd row (yes, in the SOAK ZONE, and YES we got SOAKED, which means I did not get a lot of pics during this show cause I was keeping my camera protected and hidden in its case the majority f the show. That was fine though, to see the look on the kiddies faces was priceless to me and I will never forget that! Definitely the BEST show there, incredible!
Oh yeah- K was EXACTLY 42 inches so she got to go on everything that Sea World had to offer.....AND she did too~! She is so fearless when is comes to stuf like that but bring up a flying insect and forget it man- she's a big scaredy cat! So we got to go on roller coaster there, The Journey to Atlantis that I also got SOAKED on-Me and J sat in the front and E and K were behind us and we all went on Shipwreck Rapids together that I also got SOAKED on. We made it to all the shows except for one and saw and rode on everything they had. By the time we left at closing, we were exhausted. We had a blast at Sea World! We drove thru Taco Bell and went bavk to our room and went down to the jacuzzi and pool for about an hour and a half before hitting the hay! This only took about 5 minutes after they hit their pillows!
~day 4~ was our 2 hour harbor cruise tour and we had to get all packed up and ready to head home before we drove down to the harbor to board our ship. It was really fun and the kids were a little scared at first and K kept asking if we were gonna sink. We got to see sea lions living in the wild and the coast of Mexico, the San Diego bridge that separated us from Mexico and several battle ships and stuff. Very neat experience. The same cruise ships do dinner cruises and champagne brunch cruises which E and I may do some day by ourselves! We stood on top during pur first hour then we went inside and E and I had a beer and the kiddies got a snack and they danced on the dance floor that they had on one of floors of the ship. They had a lot of fun. Then we walked around Sea Port Village and looked at the pirate ships and several battleship runways and stuff before heading back to the van to head for home.........

One our way home we hit major traffic then we found out that there was a brush fire on the side of the freeway and the freeway had been shut down. It took us over twice as long to get home as it did for us to get there. So we are finally home now and I have started unpacking all the clothes and started the laundry.

Tomorrow I have invited Davids mom and dad over for a BBQ with us for the 4th and they are coming. I think it will be nice that they don't spend the 4th alone. And since during the hospital shift changes, no visitors are allowed, which are between 6 and 8, they can be here with us having BBQ and they won't be but a few minutes from the hospital so they can return to their son after shift changes.

~Thanks to everyones nice comments from my previous post about David and his parents~

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY TO EVERYONE AND PLEASE BE SAFE IN WHATEVER YOU DO!!!

Saturday, July 01, 2006

~HAPPY 50TH GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY JAY & PENNY~

Well, we are home and our vacation was great, but before I continue about our trip I must first share a very special story with all of you. A very close family friend of ours, David is terminally ill and in the last couple months has spent a lot of time in the hospital battling his disease. (I am not going to go into detail about his illness at this time but continuous prayer is requested) David is very close to my mom and when my girls were younger, we were extremely close and he lived with us at times. He was like another brother to me and me and my girls loved him. I have many pictures and home videos of back then which I'm sure you'll get to see.

David's mom and dad live in New Jersey and David has been back and forth from California to New Jersey alot of his adult life and I always knew the name - ' Jay & Penny ' (yea Jay & Penny, David's mommy & daddy) but I never had the pleasure of actually meeting these wonderful people- until this afternoon. David went in to intensive care about 3 days ago and his parents 50th Weddng Anniversary celebration was scheduled for today Sat. July 1st , in New Jersey and everthing was already reserved and prepaid and they cancelled it all last minute to fly to here to CA day before yesterday because their baby boy, David is so sick.

Let me tell you, these people are INCREDIBLE people. I will probably not ever meet anyone like them again. David's dad, Jay is going to be 80 and he is a retired professor who still still student teaches and his mom is not only a fabulous mother and grandmother but a retired nurse and 75 ( i'm pretty sure she's 75, if not, she is going to be 75) and they look absolutely amazing. I have known and heard SO much about them all my life and to finally get to see them in person and hug and kiss em' was awesome!

We surprised them this evening at a local restaurant. They were planning on taking my mom and Susan (another friend of my mom and davids) out to dinner tonight at Market Broiler so my sis and I (along with my mom and susan) decided to try to make their dinner a little more special so me and my sis got there a little early and decorated the table with balloons and flowers and confetti and we got them am edible arrangement fruit basket with chocolate dipped apples in it and a nice bottle of champagne. They had NO idea and when they walked back to our table we started clapping and they were just looking at us like, who are those crazy ladies, then they realized and saw the balloons and flowers and their 50th champagne glasses with their name cards that I made for them at the table and they both (and us) teared up and they cried. It makes one feel good about themselves when you know that you have made a difference in one's life. When Penny finally sat down all she wished was that David was there with us......It was difficult to see them like that. ( that was incredible)

I was happy to see that a few times during our dinner, they both smiled and laughed with us and I would like to request special prayer for David and his mommy and daddy as they continue their journey to their son's recovery.

Penny and Jay: I love you guys and you and David will remain in my thoughts and prayers and I look forward to our many visits that I we will have and share with you David in the future.


( I will be posting updates and pictures about our vacation later on- more important things must always come first)

Love Always, Ti Ti