February Race: Almond Festival 8K...5 miles

No pictures yet....but since this is the last day of February I wanted to let you all know that are following (or care) that I completed my February race today. Nothing like cutting it close.

Bryan and my mini cheering section came with me to Ripon this morning. The rain held off and it was gorgeous out; sun peaking through, overcast and a flat course. The course took us through some beautiful neighborhoods and through the blossoming almond orchards. I think my favorite part was rounding the final corner and seeing Bryan there with the kids. Hearing "go mommy, go mommy" was just what I needed to finish strong.

All in all I finished the race with a 43:16 and I was very happy with that. Especially since it was about 5 minutes off what my goal was for myself. As soon as my girlfriend sends me pictures I will post them.

I will through the invite out there again for next month......we are running in Dublin at the Shamrock Fun Run on March 15th.

I feel so responsible......

My girlfriend called to tell me the news this morning and we could not help but feel responsible. So I had to go online and read it for my self here.

But it is not all my fault, right? I mean Dave Ramsey should have something to do with it since he is the one that has been teaching us to be more responsible with our money. I have to say I was a little shocked when I looked in my checkbook today and saw that it has been since February 1st since I have been to Target.....I have NEVER gone that long.

So my apologies to the Target Corporation.....I promise one day I will be back!

Arenacross with my boys

Last night we took Chris to his dream.....watching Areanacross in Sacramento. Chris has a fascination with dirt bikes and all that goes with them. So we jumped at the chance to take him to see them race live. It ended up being a great night out with friends and all the boys had a blast.

I think the only problem is that now I think we need to start a "Chris wants a dirt bike" fund. He is hooked. I thought he was going to jump out of his seat when the Freestyle team came out and he got to see them doing flips. Another highlight was realizing that they got to high five the rider that won earlier in the night when he was introduce and walked by our seats.

It was a late night but it was so worth it to see the pure excitement and joy in his and his friends faces.

Chris and his buddy Braedon

Me and my boy.....I love the look on his face.

My boys!

Walt Disney World.....help me!

Okay so I need some help from you Disney veteran's out there. In May the four of us are going to venture to Florida for a week to stay with Bryan's family. I figured since the kids will be 3 and 6 in May it is about time we take them to Disney World. Plus Dani keeps asking to go to the Princess Castle.

We will be there on Dani's actual birthday so we are going to take advantage of going for free on that day.....the question is how many days and which resorts? In a way Disneyland is easier because there are just 2 places to go. So I figured I would ask the Disney experts out there on what we should do if we only want to spend a day or 2 there. Plus we are trying not to break the bank on this trip.

Can't wait for your feedback.

Bike Riding Fool

Chris has always been partial to his scooter. He has that thing down. He never really had a huge interest in riding a bike. He has had one for a while, but the scooter was always the ride of choice. Bryan and I never pushed him, but did take off the training wheels a while ago hoping that would spark an interrest. Well on Monday we were at the park with friends and I asked Chris if he wanted to try riding his friends bike. Surprisingly he said yes, hopped on and off he went. I was shocked.

So now we have trouble getting him to NOT ride his bike. A whole new world has opened for Chris and we are so excited and proud of him.

MomFaves......what moms love most

A few months ago my super cool friend Jenn turned me onto a website that her friend from high school started with her hubby..... Mom Faves It is an online word of mouth network for moms to share what they love most. I think we all know by now that when you are a mom if you find something you like you tell EVERY mom you know about it.

Tomorrow is MomFaves offical public launch. I encourage you if you are a mom to check it out and join. It has been so great to find out what other moms are doing and think are great .

Why join?
Moms join to submit, vote, share and discuss mom-valued products, websites, charities, recipes, places, services, activities, remedies, news, entertainment, programs, photos and more.

Check it out!

Robbed at church.....REALLY?

This week is not really going my way........yet I still find that I am thankful for my family and the life we have (I won't even get into why I feel this so much this week, too sad!)

Today while I was at work, mind you I work at a church, my wallet was stolen. I was shocked. Every month we have an all staff lunch and meeting on campus. Well during this time there were two wallets and one whole purse, keys and all, stolen from various parts of our building. I was PISSED to say the least.

Right when Bryan and I are starting to get things right wit our budget and finances thanks to Dave Ramsey, something like this happens. Where in the budget is the money for getting a new license.....or replacing my Coach wallet......or worst yet the tickets for the Wine & Chocolate Festival that Bryan and I are going to with friends on Valentine's Day! URGGGGG! Not to mention the cash that was in there, atm cards and the church credit card. Thankfully we were able to cancel all the cards before transactions were made. I know it is just money and no one was hurt but still.....it all has to be replaced when we weren't really counting on those expense.

All in all today was no good.

Did I mention that when I picked Dani up from daycare she puked ALL over the car, car seat, and herself. Now she has the stomach flu.

Off to go clean puke out of my car.

I love my life :)

ER Trip #1 for 2009

And the winner is......Dani-girl!

I knew that having another year with no ER visits for our family was going to be a stretch....but still I had hope.

We were having a nice day yesterday. Bryan was at training with Rex, Dani and I had a nice morning while Chris was at school and the sun was out. After we got Chris from school we ate lunch and walked down the street to Julie's house to let the kids ride scooters and head to the park. We got about two houses down the street and I noticed two yippy poodles run out of there house and head right for the kids. Chris kept going to Julie's but Dani stopped and started to scream. I had noticed that one of the dogs had jumped up on her but knew that she was not afraid of dogs. I ran to her and she was hysterical. The lady insisted the dog scared her. I looked at her and said, "This girl has two large dogs at home, a little poodle does not phase her"

I pulled down Dani pants and saw that indeed the dog had bit sweet Dani, no wonder she was pissed. At this point I was thankful that it was me handling the situation and not Bryan. # 1 because the dog would probably be dead and #2 because Bryan would probably be in trouble for shooting the dog :) Don't mess with his baby girl!

I spoke with the owners for a bit and they were mortified and did not know what to think. I said I had to go catch up with my other kid, now halfway down the street at our friend's house. I knew where they lived and figured I would call Bryan since he is the resident expert on dog bites. When I called him from Julie's my guess of his reaction towards the events was quite accurate. He was less then thrilled. He advised me that the best place to take her was the ER because they have the special tools to flush out dog bites, plus he wanted a report filed.

So I left Chris with our friend and headed to the ER with Dani. She was in good spirits and was excited to get some cool stickers and the "Big Dr's", that is what my kids call the ER. Meanwhile Bryan left training to meet us there.

With all our trips to the ER it is nice when you get there that all you have to do is give the name and birth date and they pull everything right up. I think it took 30 seconds to register and get all the papers to sign.

Another perk is we make our kids do all their own paperwork now. Very convenient for me!

The waiting is always the hard part. Now I want you to take note of the outfit she is rockin' here. It was Monday so I let her choose her outfit since we never really go anywhere. The choice here was a striped shirt, her fleece apple PJ bottoms, the beloved Hello Kitty socks and her pink and black pirate vans. As you can see she is covered in stickers from the triage nurse and has animal crackers from the vending machine.

Bryan always comes in handy when we are at the ER for entertainment purposes. Nothing makes the kids happier then when he blows up a rubber glove and turns it into a chicken.

Then he even does a little puppet show behind the curtain. It is entertaining to all of us.

Dani was finally seen by the Dr. and it was time for the bite to be flushed out. I was happy Bryan was there because this is not a fun process, and he knew that. They squirted the medication into the bite and then sucked it out. Dani made it very clear to the whole hospital that she was not happy. But once she was cleaned up and bandaged mommy got to hold her and her little world was right again. She will be on antibiotics for the next week and we need to watch the wound.

We did get pictures of the bite but I am not sure if Bryan wants me posting it so I will wait. We did file an Animal Bite report at the hospital. They will follow up with the owners to confirm that the dog is all up to date with shots and vaccinations and then report back to us. I just hope for their sake that the poodles never cross paths with Rex, it would not end well.

So here we are in February;
Er Count '09 Dani 1- Chris 0