Becca's Softball Party & The First Day of School!

Sat night was Becca's end of the summer league softball party at her coaches house. We had an absolute blast! Her coaches house is VERY nice and all I could say when I walked in was WOW.......OMG.....It looks like a house that is just for show and decoration ya know, no one really lives in it.......Totally immaculate and everything including the house was so HUGE and decorated so RICHLY that I almost wanted to take pictures of every room..... (no I did not, don't worry, LOL) You should of seen the master bath, straight from the show Cribs on MTV, I swear! Anyhow, we ended up staying way later than we had expected. E was not feeling well and we did not plan on staying long. But we started having so much fun and dancing and karaoke and stuff we didn't get home til darn near 2am. (the kiddies got to spend 1 night at their mom's before going back to school, so we were kiddieless) It was so funny when Coach G and his wife and team mom D did the awards for the girls..... Their team finished 1st place and all the girls received GOLD medals and then Coach G announced and handed the "special" awards for the season. After he was done with all the others, he called up Becca and one of her BF's for years now, Destiny....They are the 2 oldest girls on the team and this is their last year to play for this league cause the are both over 18. So they went up and coach awarded them with 'old people' canes from the party store. It was so freakin funny, I was literally crying with laughter, no one saw that coming......It was so great, I really needed a night like this one!!!!!!!

BACK TO SCHOOL~ K'S FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN,

B'S FIRST DAY OF COLLEGE, V STARTED 11TH, AND J STARTED 3RD....

B and V left too early for me this am so I did not get pic of them before they left....(they did that on purpose) But here are the kiddies, J and K while getting ready and at school.....K was so excited and she did a great job her first day for her first day of Kinder........... and we met J's teacher today too and all went well!!!!!

wrap up- E went to the dr's today, dr wanted to do x-rays and he came home pnemonia in his left lung.........and anti- biotics....... and watch out......his boss is gonna actually have a couple days off to recover..... how nice, huh??????????

anyways....hope all ya'll had a good weekend and are off to a great week!

Favorite Foto Friday.....

~You'd Better Watch Out J~

~if you played along, let me know so I can check out your FFF~

Visit With Friends and Doheny Beach.......

Early last week, the kiddies and I went to visit some close family friends of ours. I needed to get away and my friend D, cut and highlighted my hair for me. YEP....I actually did something for MYSELF for a change...... Believe it or not.... I had a great time socializing and catching up on old times! The kiddies had fun swimming with the kids the kids there and they got to spend some time at V.B.S. (Vacation Bible School) while we were there and they had alot of fun! K brought home corn that she got to plant herself in her class and J brought home some Bible books and lessons that he learned about.

Our camping trip to Doheny Beach was so much fun....

Most of the campsites there are close together but we had really cool neighbors and the kids made friends right away! When we finally made it into our tents at night, the sound of the crashing waves is what we heard while falling asleep. That by itself was enough for me! It was awesome!!!!! My friend, Y met us up there too for some good times! We got there early Friday and set up our tent and stuff and then headed down to the beach for some waves and fun in the sand. The sandy beach was about 100 feet from our tent. Very close and very neat! The kiddies had an absolute blast the whole weekend. We all had a blast this weekend. E got pretty blitzed Sat night and he was dancing around the campfire with the flashight. I haven't laughed as hard or as much as I did like this for a while. Me and my friend Y were having a great time wathing him and singing to the music! The kiddies were full of smores and sound asleep in the tent. We played poker throughout the weekend and even J is learning how to play now. Starting him early, I guess.....

All in all, I could not of asked for more fun! We will definetly be planning on reserving our own spot on the beach for next time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow I have to go down and fill out a bunch of paperwork for daycare for the upcoming year and This Friday, we have Kindergarten orientation and K and I will meet her Kindergarten teacher and stuff. J will start 3rd grade and V will start the 11th grade and my Becca will start her first day of COLLEGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Favorite Foto Friday......

HEY.....I'm back.........

Well, seems like I've been gone forever..... I'm back home now for at least a day then we're off to the beach for a weekend camping trip. Much needed at that, I must say. Although it is a lot of work to go camping, we will have FUN, I'm sure! We got a deal from our neighbor, (gotta LOVE thy neighbors) cause they planned something else and gave us their reservations so it really wasn't planned by us we're gonna do it anyways! E got Fri and Mon off so I said LETS GO!!!!!!

the pageant was so much fun.... becca did sooo good for it being her first pageant. she looked absoulutey beautiful on stage in her formal wear! she answered her question with no stuttering or forgetfulness and accomplished her pivots and turns like a professional model! i was a very proud mom watching and helping her prepare in between competitions..... it was an extremely busy weekend... sat morn she had her personal interviews with the judges in ontario at the sheraton and sun morn we started our morn with rehearsal and then a lunch break and then back for dressing and make-up and hair touch-ups at 2:30pm to prepare for the pageant at 4pm. she did not win anything this time and that is totally ok.... she is not upset at all and then i asked her if she would do it again she said, "probably not mom, i think i'll stick to softball"

~here is a pic of when she did her casual wear routine on stage~

~walking to center stage with the MC~

~standing on stage in pose~

well crap......., i'm having trouble posting more pics right now so i will try again in the AM..... must be a blogger thing going on~ hope everyone had a good weekend and a great start to their week!

Wordless Wednesday.....

weekend updates.......

Thursday night E took K to see GREASE at our city college auditorium. Heather went to with Emmy and a couple of her neighbors. K loved it and she got to spend the night after with Emmy at Aunt Heathers! I took this pic of them before they left! She was sssooo excited!
J spent most of his weekend with his BF Donovan. All day Sat and most of Sun they hung out and went swimming at Don's grammas. I (WE, E and I) ) did a whole lot of nothing ALONG WITH some cleaning and laundry this weekend. It was nice to not have a party to host for a change! I really needed a weekend off! Sun we watched the boys while Heather and Steve went an Angels game with Steves daughter and one of her friends. I went to their place while they napped and then when they woke up, I brought them came back to our house. They had fun playing with Kaylee and with the dogs! Zach and Karl really had fun together!!!!

Next weekend is the pageant and I will be BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!

HOPE EVERYONE HAD A GREAT WEEKEND.....

Favorite Foto Friday....

TOO MUCH FUN!!!

HOPE ALL HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND!

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!

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wordless Wednesday.......

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~

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!

Wordless Wednesday...

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!

Wordless Wednesday......

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!