BIRTHDAY BLOG!!!!

I love my birthday. It's not that I'm selfish, but I love my birthday. It's an excuse to do, have, eat what you want (well, in between work and motherhood). Today was my birthday and it was perfect! Here are the details. Even if you didn't want to know them all.

It all started last night when I was giving the girls a bath. I asked them if they were going to wake up and come sing me Happy birthday… to which Kailee looks at me with a look of sheer terror on her face and asks, “Mommy! Who is going to put balloons at your chair at the table and at your bed???” (This is the tradition for birthdays in our house) I said, "Mommy doesn’t need balloons honey." To which she answers, "Well don’t we have some we can blow up?" Ummm… no we are out. BUT! "We did go to Trader Joe’s and you can hang that balloon up okay?" That puts that tragedy to rest. Then I am tucking her in and I read I wish I may, I wish I might… and I asked her what she wished for and she looks at me and says, “Mommy, I just wish that someone would come tomorrow and bring you lots of presents.” Completely serious. I said "Honey, all mommy needs is her girls and their hugs and kisses." To which she answers, "Well, it’s just that all of these people (not sure who she was referring to) know your birthday is tomorrow and they haven’t brought you any presents." To which I explain, "mommy doesn’t need presents, I am just grateful for my great friends and family." She didn’t buy it, but went to sleep anyway.

The not so fabulous night of sleep begins (we have been battling this evil cough/snot nose thing at our house for a good 2 weeks now) the first round of coughs began at 12:30 with Addie. Finally got her quieted down around 3:30am. At which time her sister starts at 4am. I give her medicine and wait for the miracle drug to kick in. nothing. Cough cough cough. Kailee in and out of my room, try the inhaler, vicks vaporub, humidifier (as I set up the humidifier in her room she looks at me and in between coughs and tears, says, “thank you birthday girl” steal my heart little one.) At that point, I got nothing else in my dr. mom artillery. I go to bed to lay and count the seconds between coughs to see if/when it’s getting better and I can allow myself to nod off or if I need to stay awake b/c I know duty is going to call. Then, the stupid smoke detector starts to beep. ARE YOU KIDDING ME UNIVERSE????? Really? I guess the humidifier set it off. Then kailee was paranoid of the humidifier and we will probably never be able to run it in her room again with her knowing. Anyway. At 5am we were all sleeping. Ugh.

8am happy birthday to me! Woohoo! My adorable husband left a singing telegram on my phone. (Sure his roomies got some sort of entertainment watching the filming of said telegram.) The girls stayed home with me (duh… can’t send them off to baby jail with coughs and nasty snot.) My BFF Beth called Kailee and told her to look on the porch… where she found a bag of balloons already blown up, party crowns and horns. She is freaking awesome. Kailee spent the rest of the morning setting up a party for me. She and Addie decorated “goodie bags” (paper grocery bags decorated w/marker). My mom called Kailee, they made stealth arrangements to have a very cool balloon bouquet sent to me later in the day. Voila! There are Kailee’s balloons. Compliments of Beth and YiaYia. You guys are awesome!

I got a very sweet card from my husband, with quite the love note inside, left in my car seat for me to find.

Beth orchestrated a small get together for me in the evening, with my cake of choice (choco brownie cake, Oreo truffle filing and chocolate frosting) Holly Toledo it was delicious with a glass of red wine and good friends!! She also brought pizza and a fancy salad for dinner for me and the girl. (Oh yes, after she watched them so I could go for a solo run w/o the “iron sled” aka the jogging stroller.)

And while the guest were arriving for our little soiree, Kailee diligently passed out more goodie bags for all of us to decorate. When she was finished she filled them w/ candy, birthday horns, crayons (from her own crayon box) and various other items.

So stinking adorable. I am so proud of my little hostess I could cry. Her heart is made of gold. The only thing on that little girls mind all day was making sure her momma had a nice birthday. And I did. I had a great birthday. I am so grateful for my amazing children, my sweet husband and my dear friends. Thank you all!

29 Candles!!! Wow! I praise the Lord for all of the blessings He has poured out to me each year. I can't wait to see what He has ahead for me and my family.

Thank you again to all of you who wished me a Happy Day!

1st Day of Driving!!!

Mike started driving today. He got to go in reverse at 60 mph. And he PASSED. They had to go in and out of cones and he passed. He said it was a blast and a great relief from the norm. For 4 hours they got to relax... no "Sir"/"Maam" etc. They were told to just relax so they could drive. The instructors even played a joke on Mike's roomie... His roomie had parked his car and gotten out. Then they hear over the loud speaker, "Um... cadet, you didn't put your car in park!!" So, his roomie runs after the car, which is moving toward a field of weeds. Come to find out, the instructor had snuck into his car when he got out and drove it away to trick him. It was good comic relief for the boys. We have a 3 day weekend coming up which we cannot wait for!!!

Check this out, it's what he has coming. Look out world. The funny thing is, my first car was the very car he is driving. A white Crown Victoria.

Yup, we made it another week.

Week 5 down, 22 to go.

This one proved to be a bit more miserable then the rest... well really just yesterday and this morning. I think the girls have just had enough of me. They aren't voicing complaints of missing Daddy, but Kailee is being a bit mischievous (lying and putting EVERYTHING in her mouth? What is that about????) and Addie is just pouty. And I mean arms crossed hip cocked to the side, crabby face, pouty about EVERYTHING! Like this morning, I asked her "Addie do you want raisins in your oatmeal?" (mind you, she likes them in her oatmeal 99% of the time, but being that this morning was shaping up to be what it was, I asked to be sure) Addie answers "NO I don't like them!" okay. I do not put the raisins in. Hand bowl to child. She looks up at me and says "MOMMY I SAID I WANT RAISINS!!" Ummm.... no ya didn't. Give child raisins, child is happy. Really. That is all day yesterday and this am. Let's just say, I didn't feel bad dropping the little mood swinger at daycare for the poor unsuspecting teachers to deal with. I did add the disclaimer... "Just FYI, she's been a bit crabby this morning". Teacher just smiles and says, "Oh we'll be fine." SUCKER!!! HAHAHAHA! I mean. Of course you'll be fine, that is what I pay you for.

Anyway, Mike called last night around 7, which is much earlier then usual. After the routine beginning of phone call niceties, he says "I got into a fight today." HUH? "With who?" I ask. "An instructor." He answers. Oh Lord, I think. "It was PMA (physical methods of arrest)" AHHH YES... "I fought my instructor with the baton and it was AWESOME!!!" I can hear the smile through the phone. "AND I got my PT (Physical Training) shirt back!!!!" (They had ALL lost their "pretty" PT shirts the first day b/c they weren't up to snuff in fitness and had to wear plain white t-shirts w/their last names sharpied on the back. They have to earn the "pretty" ones back.) "I was 1 of 3 guys!!!" That was the highlight of the week for sure. We later found that our friend who went through academy took 10/11 weeks to get his shirt back. At week 5, Mike is pretty excited.

He comes home tonight and I am looking forward to relaxing with my man. There are not words for how proud I am of him and for how amazingly blessed we are!

The academy has a blog that just went on line:
http://www.chp.ca.gov/cadet/09-I.html





It has pics, one of Mike when they are practicing marching

Tall guy on the right of the pic, 2nd row.

That concludes this round...

Keep the prayers comin!!

1 month down, 5 to go!!!

The first month is over!!! We made it and we all still have smiles on our faces! We got our first paycheck and benefits started! Hip Hip Hooray =) Nothing too eventful happening. Mike came home Friday night (They made it in by 10:15 - I think they are figuring out the check out deal). Saturday we went down and visited his brother in Pismo at the Dunes. The girls thought it was pretty cool to drive on the beach. They made snow angels in the sand and collected shells. We went home and RELAXED (weird, I know), did some much needed de-winterizing to our gardens and I snuck out to our church's Ladies Night Out for a few hours of girl time. Sunday we went to church, came home packed Mikey up and just hung out. We definitely felt like we actually had time together this weekend. It was nice. It's never enough and I miss my man like crazy, but we are 1/6 of the way done!!! He is still killing it in his classes (got 100% on his last 2 tests) He has 3 tests this week! Send some prayers up for him!

God is blessing us everyday and we are so thankful for what He is doing in our lives and for the friends who are standing by our side to see it happen!

Stay tuned for more =)