Confessions of a Baseball Mom

Wax On.... Wax Off

While I was making dinner a few days ago, I was watching the 40 Year Old Virgin, (which is a hilarious movie if you have been living under a rock and never seen it).  The boys happened to walk into the room during the scene where they waxed Steve Carell's chest.  I have to say that is by far the funniest scene of the movie and I laugh every time I watch it.  Of course, the boys were completely perplexed by what they were watching (and I am thankful it was the t.v. version so that all of the expletives were edited out).  I tried explaining to them the purpose of waxing but I don't think they fully understood the concept. 

Fast forward to yesterday.  I was going to play Pokeno and I was joking that I wanted to win the big money so that I could afford to get my eyebrows waxed.  Jared was so cute today... he asked if I won.  I told him no and he responded with "so you can't get your eyebrows done?'  I swear, that kid is so smart.  After taking a closer look, I decided that a battle with the tweezers was not worth the $8 it would cost to go to the nearest salon.  So, I gathered up the boys and told them they could watch.  I was surprised by how interested they were and by all of the questions that came along with it.  

When we got to the salon, she escorted us to the back room and the boys lined up along the wall to witness this event firsthand.  Jordan was concerned that it was going to be too hot and Jared was afraid my eyes were going to bleed.  I think they were relieved that the experience was not quite the same as it was portrayed in the movie.  And I am hopeful that they have a greater appreciation for the things that women do to be beautiful.  I have made it my goal in life to prepare my boys to be good husbands which includes making their beds, cleaning up their messes and being aware of the price of beauty.  Every time I nag at them, I tell them "you're wife is going to thank me for this one day".  I should note that they still aren't good at completing all of those tasks, but I am working on it.

Sadly, that was the most exciting part of our day.  I have been working all afternoon on laundry and packing.  I can not leave town with dirty laundry or a mess.  When I come home from vacation, it is always overwhelming enough trying to get things back to normal.  The last thing I want to deal with is a messy house.  I think I have done a pretty good job of staying on task.  DS's, DVD players and camera batteries are charged.  Clothes are clean and packed and all of the quilts have been washed.  I think they may be the first time EVER that I have been packed the day before a trip.  I usually scramble around at the last minute barking at everyone to get things done.  But since Lance isn't here (and I think he prefers it that way), it seemed easier just to do it now and save everyone a lot of stress.  I am sure I'll find plenty of last minute things to do anyway, including painting my own nails because I did not win the big money and I feel guilty having them done right before leaving for vacation.

I also wanted to share another page I did this week.  Most of the elements on this page came from Libby's Marco collection.  These photos were taken by our neighbor, Michelle.  I love the one of Jared's pants falling off of his little bum as he was being thrown into the pool.  I guess that's it for now.  Have a good one!

Fun with Cousins

Another week gone... that is the story of my life.  While we were in San Antonio, Lance's sister came in to town with Ashley & Jessica.  Their vacation quickly turned into another vacation for us when we got back.  Every day we went somewhere (bowling, mini golfing, movies) and by the end of their trip, the boys were waking up asking what we were going to do next.  That's the problem with doing so much at home... the kids start to expect it.  And suddenly, playing video games or with Legos didn't sound like near as much fun.  Overall, they had a great time and the boys were sad to see their cousins go.  It's amazing how well they all get along.  And I was glad to see that Ashley is just as pouty as Jordan when things aren't going her way.  It was a competition to see who could be the worst poor sport.  While Jordan probably edged Ashley out in the end, it was a close race.  I can't say I am proud of that but that is my son.  He is a competitor in everything he does.  I guess I like the fact that he wants to be the best at everything.  Unfortunately, he needs to learn that he isn't always going to be the best and he needs channel that negative energy into something more productive.  I have been saying this since he was 6 years old. He is 9 now.  I have a feeling that's never going to change. 

Since their departure, we have been busy working around the house.  Lance's camping trailer was in our garage for the last 2 weeks which was driving me crazy.  Once things are out of place, you start putting stuff anywhere and everywhere because it no longer matters.  I finally told him that if he didn't get it out of there, I was going to sell it.  Remarkably, it was out the next day.  Unfortunately, what started as a minor cleaning project turned into a day long reorganizing effort.  We decided to move everything from one side of the garage to the other and park both of our cars in the double bay.  While it seemed like a good idea at the time, it quickly because less appealing as they day went by.  However, we got most of it finished and it looks pretty good.  We'll see how long it stays that way.

Now we are gearing up for a few trips.  In the next 3 weeks, we are planning to go to Las Vegas to see my family.  It's a fabulous 110 right now there.  Not sure why I thought going to Vegas in July was a good idea but it was pretty much the only time we could make it work.  Then we will be taking a quick trip to San Diego to visit Sea World and hopefully Legoland.  It is 80 degrees there and it will be nice to get some relief from this summer heat.  Then we will return to Las Vegas and leave the boys with my mom for 2 days.  Lance has a trip to San Francisco for work so I am going to hitch a ride with him.  We love San Francisco and we haven't been in 10 years!  To top it all off, I will be heading to Florida for 3 or 4 days to visit with my best friend, Karen and another friend, Ramona.  It's going to be a crazy few weeks but I am looking forward to it.

As soon as we get back from all of our travels, it will be time to start thinking about school and baseball again.  In fact, tryouts are the week after we get back.  I dread getting back into a routine but I am sure after the next 3 weeks, I will be changing my tune.  

On that note, I have some more things to work on around here before we head off.  But I wanted to share this page I did last night.  Our niece, Ashley, celebrated her 11th birthday while they were in town.  I had been begging Libby to make a birthday kit for me and who would have thought the colors she chose would be so perfect?  The kit is called "Forever Young" and it was released yesterday.  Go check it out and support her store!  I guess that's it for now.  Lots to do.... have a great day!

Happy Fourth of July! (one week late)

It is July 11 and I am really starting to freak out a little.  I know I keep saying this but I have no idea where this year has gone.  And the summer if flying by even quicker.  We are already halfway through summer vacation and it feels like we just started!

As usual, it's been busy around here.  I can't imagine what we would be doing right now if we were playing baseball, too!  Last week, we celebrated the Fourth of July with some of our friends and neighbors.  The kids went swimming and then shot off fireworks.  Fireworks are one of those things that you enjoy watching, but hate paying for.  Our friend, Larry, suggested handing the boys a $100 bill and letting them set it on fire... I thought that was funny.  Obviously, it took a little bit longer to light off the actual fireworks, but not THAT much longer.  However, the kids got a kick out of it because they are finally old enough to do it themselves and it's pretty much the only time that playing with fire is acceptable.  It was a really fun day. 

After the fourth of July festivities concluded, we decided to take a quick trip to San Antonio to visit Shamu and his friends.  We wanted to buy season passes for our trip to San Diego in a few weeks.   Oddly enough, it is cheaper to stay in a hotel room in San Antonio for 2 days and buy the tickets there, than it is to get them in California.  Notwithstanding the sweltering 105 high temps, it was fun.  The boys are finally old enough to go to the water park and they had a blast.  They loved all of the slides and the  wave pool.  And when we finished there, we went to watch some of the shows.  They all decided to sit up front and get splashed by Shamu.  I decided that I had to protect my camera from the water, so I chose to sit outside of the splash zone (that had nothing to do with not wanting to be splashed by ice cold water that smells like fish).  They thought it was awesome and loved Shamu Rocks Texas, where there is a LOT of splashing involved.

Now we are back home for a few weeks before we head off to Vegas and San Diego for a little R&R.  I have been working on staying on top of my photos and my new project is getting them put into photo books.  I am in love with 8x8 Shutterfly books and my goal is to make one with all of the pictures I take throughout the year.  I am venturing into digital scrapbooking to add some fun elements to the pages.  Fortunately, my super awesome friend, Libby Weifenbach, is a digital designer and she is kind enough to share her products with me.  Here is a link to her store.  I am keeping the pages simple because my goal is to get all of the pictures on there.  But I like that it combines some scrapbooking elements at the same time.

I am hoping to do a page a day (because I have 6 years of digital pictures to work with).  So, if I can keep up, I will start sharing the pages here.  I am starting on 2009 and then I will work my way back.  That being said, I guess I need to get going.  Got lots to do today to make up for the 3 days we were out of town.  I attached the page I did with our Fourth of july pictures with Libby's "American Pie" kit.   I hope to have Sea World pictures soon.  Have a good one!