Mama's Lil Helper

Pictures

I should've just put these in the last post, but I didn't, so here they are.

I've been wanting to post pictures of our "view," but it's very rarely clear enough to turn out for pictures.

Except last week. We had several clear days, where you could actually see Catalina Island (literally, the marine layer is so thick on most days, you would never know it was out there). So, try to block out the grocery store parking lot below, and focus on the gorgeous ocean and rare glimpse of Catalina!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

That's about all I can say for us lately. Grant's mom came for a visit. Oh, and Kendall had her first fever for 2 days, followed by a rash, that's apparently Roseola. For those days when she had a fever, she only wanted to be held. I loved that part of it, but hated the part where she was crying, and no amount of holding her made her feel better. Thankfully, she's back to her chipper self.

That's all for now. Just wanted to give people an update on us.

Prison Break

Not that my house is a prison, but I just thought that title was clever.

I might win, "Worst Mother Of The Year Award" for this, and I'm surprised I'm even blogging about it. But I couldn't help but laughing when I saw this (I know that if she had gotten hurt, I would be doing the exact opposite of laughing, but she didn't, so I laughed).

I'm sitting in the living room, doing my internet thing while Kendall's doing her exploring thing. She loves to go in the dining room and play under the table. Well, I noticed that it got awfully quiet, which, as every mom knows, is not usually a good sign. When I went to go check on her, this is what I found:




(Obviously, she's crawling back inside. I wish I had my camera when I first saw her, because she was just sitting out there, checking everything out) I forgot that I left the back door open for Watley (I do that a lot, but usually remember to close it once he comes in. In fact, when she crawled towards the dining room, I even did a mental check and thought I had closed the door). I don't really know how she got out without hurting herself, but hopefully this will be a one-time incident.

It's election time, people!

Forget Obama or McCain. I have a poll of my own:

Who thinks Grant should take a page out of Mr. J's book, and become co-author of my blog?

He keeps bugging me to blog about HIS hiking trip last week. I think he should blog about it himself. He refuses. So, I'm taking it to the blog world to settle this dispute.

Tag, I'm It!

Mrs. J tagged me, but I'm pretty sure I did one of these not too long ago, so I'm asking Grant for help to come up with more quirks of mine:

1. According to my loving husband, I pick things. Like eyebrows or other little things that are out of place.

2. Another one that he tells me is that I watch MTV too much, even though I really haven't been watching it as much lately.

3. When I told him that I don't think the MTV-watching is too much of a quirk anymore, since it's minimal, and that he should probably say that my Bravo-TV-watching is worse, he said that should be number 3. I pretty much watch anything and everything on Bravo. And if you're wondering how I have so much time to watch TV, all I have to say is, thank goodness for DVR. I catch up on everything I miss at night once Kendall goes to bed.

4. I very rarely iron anything. I hate ironing, and will only bring it out if something is really, really wrinkled.

5. Another one from Grant, "I insist on people helping me with dumb online quizzes." His words, not mine.

6. I love cookies. I blogged about this a while ago, but nothing's changed. I can eat cookies all day long.

A Day At the Park

Jen and Maddy, Melissa and Mookie, and Kendall and I had our girls day out yesterday. And what a fun day it was!! We found a totally awesome fabric shop, and then we went to a park for a picnic. The last time we went to a park, was the first time that we all met Jen and Maddy back in May. That time, we went to a park close to Jen's house, and we were disappointed that it was apparently lawn-mowing day.

This time, we went to a different park, but as you can see from the pictures, we're 2 for 2 now with park lawn-mowing days. Kendall and I tried out the slide for the first time. I think I enjoyed more than Kendall did.






Despite the loud lawn-mowing, we still had fun. We're just enjoying our time with Jen and Maddy before they move to New Zealand (!) next month.

Kendall has something to say

Us and Jack

Bipolar?

These two pictures were taken within about a minute of each other...

Sonic

I'm usually not a fan of the Sonic commercials, but this one makes me laugh every time I see it...

Who Let the Dogs Out

Since Mike is wanting me to keep with my muscial titles, this is the only one I could think of that was approrpriate for this video.

Surprise!!!

Grant's brother, John, turned 30 the other day. We couldn't let that go unnoticed, so we planned a surprise birthday party, inviting a bunch of people from his church, plus a couple of friends from work, and Andy and Megan even came up from San Diego! We had the party at our favorite park - Point Fermin, which is this beautiful park on the cliffs over the ocean.

So, earlier in the day, I met John's pastor's wife, Cindy, and a few others at the park to start getting set up. In the meantime, John was getting to our house, thinking he was coming for dinner. Once I came home, Grant nonchalantly suggested that we go to the park before dinner, since it was a nice day out, and it might be fun to take a walk. So, off we went.

After walking the perimeter of the park, we just happened to come across this huge group of people running at us, yelling "SURPRISE!!!" Needless to say, John was pretty surprised.

Once the party got started, Margarit and Lisa suggested getting a pinata, which was a fantastic idea. Nothing's funnier than watching a dizzy, blindfolded 30-year-old man swatting at a pinata!

All in all, the party was a success. Thanks to everyone who helped out - whether it be for setting up, grilling, bringing food, etc - we couldn't have done it without you!

Here's some video and pictures for your viewing pleasure. For those of you who are familiar with my "blogging world," keep an eye out for Megan, from There's Treasure Everywhere, and Melissa from Galloping Cows.

She's Famous!

Okay, not really...but be sure to check Nursery Therapy on Monday to find Kendall's "Adventures and Outings" post!!

It's Just a Phase

...That's what I keep telling myself now that Kendall has decided she doesn't like to go to bed, and makes sure she lets me know about it.

So, to remind myself what a fabulously awesome baby she is, I'm posting this video I took the other night. She pulled up on the couch, and the pillow you see near her was on top of her head. Apparently, that was really funny to her, so she just laughed and laughed. Thankfully, she kept it up while I got my camera - not to the extent that she was before I got it, but you get the idea. Her and I have had a couple of moments like this when the two of us just crack up. I never want to forget these times...

She's a Maniac...Maniac on the Floor!

I found these legwarmers at Target, and I just couldn't resist them.

This is how we do it

I put Kendall in her crib for her morning nap, which was way overdue. After much crying, she was quiet, so I went in to go check on her, and this is what I found...


Don't worry, she's still breathing.

Today

I'm glad I have my camera ready at a moment's notice, because this girl is all over the place! Someday soon, I have a feeling Watley won't be so safe on his little perch...



Oh, and puppies and babies aren't all that different. We used to have a problem with Watley chewing the furniture. Now we have to worry about Kendall chewing the furniture.

Santa Barbara

Well, Kendall and I are home now, but we did so much while we were up on the Central Coast, I haven't been able to keep up with the blogging, so it's catch-up time now.

A couple weekends ago, we went down to Santa Barbara. Because we got a later start than we were intending, we went straight for the food. We're dedicated Fodor's fans, and anytime we travel anywhere, we use Fodor's travel books. They've rarely let us down when it comes to finding good, cheap food. This place, called La Super Rica definitely did not disappoint. We waited in line for about 45 minutes, but it was well worth the wait. Check out the kitchen - they're making they're own tortillas, and there's all sorts of good stuff on the grill.





One of the main things we wanted to do in Santa Barbara was to see the Mission. On the way there, we found this really nice park.






After we left the Mission, we meandered our way through the mountain side, and found the "Beverly Hills" of Santa Barbara - Montecito. Every single house was behind a gate. After that, we found the wharf, which turned out to be quite the tourist spot. About this time, we were getting hungry again, so we consulted the Fodor's, and this is one of the few times that we weren't too impressed with a restaurant they recommended. Brophy Bros had a great view, but neither of us was impressed with the food we got.





After dinner, we walked around the waterfront for a little bit, and decided that Santa Barbara was just lovely, and that it was time to head back to (the not-so-lovely) Santa Maria.

Wine Country

It may not be Napa or Sonoma, but this area is also known for it's wines. We took the Wine Trail, and were able to stop at two of the wineries along the way. The drive is beautiful, and even though we're not "winos," we had fun tasting them and learning more about them.

Foxen Winery (this one was my favorite, because it had a kind of rustic feel to it)






Fess Parker Winery (this one had a beautiful piece of property)