Friday, July 30, 2010

Kentucky

I am in Kentucky with my mom. My cousin is getting married tomorrow.


This is the farm where my cousin is getting married. It's beautiful. More tomorrow. I am going to bed. I was up at 3:00 am.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Thursday, July 29, 2010

A Jewelry Making Fool

I went to Macy's today for new black capri pants. When I got home, I made some jewelry.
I made these three necklaces. The black one has two vintage earrings attached to it. The green ribbon one has a pendant made from a scrapbook embellishment glued onto filigree. The circle one has a vintage brooch attached to it.
I made two bracelets. One is braided ribbon with charms, and the other is stretchy with purple and silver beads and more circles.

A close up of the pendant.
This one is my favorite.
I LOVE these earrings. I got the pair for $5.00 at an antique shop in town.
Circle necklace.

This brooch is really pretty too.

I am really irritated right now. We have these neighbors, and they have a boy the same age/grade as Riley. When we moved in, before Riley started kindergarten, the boys played together. Their son has always been a little wild, and undisciplined. In 4th grade I had to have a little "chat" with the mother, because the kid turned into quite a bully. It was very dramatic. She knows her kid is manipulative, mean, and an ass. She told me all this herself. We had become friends. Well that friendship died because I spoke the truth. He stopped bullying Riley though. So it's been quiet. We don't speak. Their kid is an ass and the biggest bully I have ever encountered. I've since learned that his parents are too. Bullying is a learned behavior. We had an issue this past school year, with his little sister and Quinn. She said some things about Riley that are not true. It seems she didn't dodge the bully gene either. So tonight, we are sitting here and our doorbell rings. I go to it and nobody is there, but the other neighbor boy (Quinn's friend is on our grass). I asked him what he needed, and he said our bully/ass neighbor and his bully/ass friend rang the bell and ran. Their bikes were on the front lawn. It pissed me off, so I waited until they came outside, with their hands over their mouthes laughing and asked them what they needed. Huh? Huh? That was all I got from the ass. I told him not to ring our bell if he didn't need anything. He blamed his friend, but not real convincingly. I then came inside and sent an email to bully mom. I can't stand that kid. I would not allow my child to do such things, and neither of them would even consider it. I wish these parents could see the path that their child is headed down. They have drugs, violence, and legal matters ahead if them. Oh well, not my problem. I know how to raise my boys.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Um, Surprise!

We had two important appointments today. First up was Quinn's annual appointment with the endocrinologist at Stanford. The doctor has decided to wait another year, to decide what to do about Quinn's tiny size. Next year he wants to recheck Quinn's growth genes to make sure they are working properly. He talked again about growth hormone injections. I am not wild about that idea. Although there really aren't any risks associated with the injections, I just don't want to change the person that Quinn is. I worry that subjecting him to daily injections would take away his spunk. I don't really want to mess with nature. Right now he's happy in his body. He's healthy, and he's big on personality. Quinn was super excited that he didn't have to leave any of his blood there. Next year. The doctor (and Kevin and I) think he's just a late bloomer. We hope. I know his size doesn't bother him now, but trying to think forward to high school, and girls, he may feel differently. It's confusing. We will worry about it next year. He's grown 6 cm since our last visit, and his weight is proportionate to his height. He's right about the 1% line for height and weight. He's 44.5 inches tall, and he weighs 41.5 lbs.
After the doctor, we zipped over to Valley Fair to get Quinn's Lego pieces. The mall was full of Smart Cars. I LOVE this yellow one! It matches a boy I love.
Next big appointment: Riley's orthodontist appointment. This is the "before" picture I took, and there is no "after," since the ortho did not put braces on. It seems Riley's lower jaw is growing faster than his upper jaw. We knew this already, and the ortho put a palate spreader in, to try and increase the upper jaw. It worked, really well, but the lower jaw is still growing faster, and now the left side is growing faster than the right, so the center point of his teeth, no longer lines up. Braces would not do any good at this point as he may have to have this fixed surgically, when he STOPS growing. So the ortho told us to wait another year (this is a theme for our family today). Next year, if the growth has slowed, he will put full upper and lower braces on to avoid the surgical procedure, but if it grows too fast, no braces then either, and maybe not until Riley enters high school. That's also confusing. Needless to say, Riley was pretty thrilled to leave without braces on his teeth, and I'm pretty happy to look at the braceless smile.

To celebrate our crazy appointment day, we went to Target. While there, we came across this giant dog bone. I wonder how long it would take Maya to chew this thing up? I didn't buy it for her. I thought it would make her sick, as she doesn't know when to stop eating-does any dog? Look at what a sweet smile Riley has!

No appointments tomorrow-whew. I do plan on making a trip to Macy's for nice, black capri pants. Exciting?

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Jewelry

I feel like all I did today was eat and make jewelry. I had lunch with a friend at the Prolific Oven. It was very yummy. I had a turkey, cheese, and avocado sandwich. I had dinner with another friend at PF Changs. I also had a yummy blue drink with dinner. In between, I made some jewelry.

The top one is long. It's made from paper beads which were made in Africa. It's long so I can wear it as a necklace, or as a bracelet wrap. The bottom one is made with my assortment of different shaped sequins. I like sequins. The middle one is the second bracelet I have made like that. It's just a leather cord bracelet and I have to thread the bead string through the bead and around the cording, and hold it together while I do this. It's tricky. I like that look. Macy's is selling some by Fossil right now, and they are asking $36.00!!

The boys spent the day with their Legos. Legos are big news around here. Tomorrow we are headed to Stanford (Lucille Packard Children's Hospital), for Quinn's yearly appointment with the endocrinologist. He's small. The doctors are concerned. Quinn's worried they will want to take blood. I feel fairly certain they will want to take blood. We will go to the Lego store afterward and buy him the 14X14 gray Lego board he wants-the boys are building some kind of Jedi Training Academy. Wish us luck with the doctor and being able to find that board. OH, and then Riley gets braces tomorrow!!! Pictures to follow!

Monday, July 26, 2010

Quinn Riding His Bike

Nothing much going on around here today. I had a cut and color and lunch with a friend. Kevin worked from home, and the boys hung around and cleaned their rooms. I spent the rest of the day trying not to fall asleep on the couch. Here's a video of Quinn riding his bike. He's ridden it every day. He can turn around now, and he's really fast on the bike. It kind of scares me.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Sunday at the Park

We took a walk to a newly renovated park today, sort of near our house. We decided to make a family event out of it, and we took the dog. That dog loves to walk, or rather pull us along. She's funny.
This park has always been here, but they had a pretty pathetic playground previously. Oh, ignore the lovely gang related graffiti on the sign. Lovely.
The new structure is pretty cool. Quinn is at the top of this really strange slide-he had to go down with his feet over the outside edge. Weird. He said it kinda hurt too.
Proof that Riley is home from camp! He doesn't really like me taking his picture.

Isn't this a cool structure?
The boys are standing on these little circular platforms.
Rock climbing.
Rock sitting.

Maya doesn't look like she's having much fun. She likes to walk, but she doesn't like to stop for awhile.

I am finished quilting my quilt! I just need to do the binding, and it will be finished! Yay me!

Testing Testing 123

This is a test to see if I have added 6 (SIX) pictures (not five), to this post. Check me out...It WORKED! Thanks Valerie!! She called me up today, and told me what to do-she ROCKS! What better way to celebrate than with more Disneyland pictures. Aren't you lucky?
Quinn, arms in the air, on Big Thunder Mountain.
Walt and Mickey. Thank you Walt Disney for Disneyland. We love it so!!
The inside of the big Mickey sorcerer's hat, at the entrance to the Disneyland Hotel.
Quinn's cool light-up light saber. May the Force be with you.
The Mickey Fun Wheel at DCA.

The Matterhorn and Nemo subs, Disneyland.

Yay! I'll be back later for today's REAL post. Thanks again Valerie.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Exciting Saturday

Riley and his dirty clothes, got home safely today, around 2:00 pm. He came home with a horrible cough. I am not sure when it started. I know Kevin got a call from the cubmaster's wife that Riley had a cough and they gave him cough medicine. I'm not sure what day that was, this week. If he's still coughing on Monday, we will go see the doctor. I guess he didn't sleep so well-because of the cough, and he didn't care too much for the food, but other than that, he had a great time. They hiked, swam, earned merit badges, had free time, etc. Now he's home, and right back to being mean to his little brother. All is right with the world.
Quinn had a big day today too! He learned to ride his bike without training wheels (finally). Here he is putting his pedal in just the right spot so that he can take off. I guess Kevin took the training wheels off and Quinn got on the bike and rode it, with little assistance. We've known for a long time that he was ready, but Quinn didn't believe us. He spent this evening playing with the neighbor kids, riding his bike, showing off. All is right with the world.
He has some trouble getting started, but once he's on, he just rides and rides and rides. I'm not sure he can really turn right now. He'll have to practice that at the end of our court, where it's big and fat.

Go Quinn! He needs a new helmet. The monkey helmet is getting kinda small.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Today

I was sort of productive today. I didn't clean anything out or anything, because my TV is working again. It was in some kind of funk yesterday, all day, so I cleaned out closets. Kevin got home from his Toastmaster's event and promptly fixed it. Oh well. I can't reach the damn box anyway. I am short. Today I worked on my quilt-the one I started last summer. My plan is to finish quilting it, and then work on the binding, and get it all finished. It can't be that hard right? Maya and I are going to love that quilt. She loves the one my mom and the one my MIL made for me. I think I may make her a tiny one, with scraps.
I am super happy with the colors in this quilt. I am just sewing straight lines. It's thick, but it's a lot easier than I thought it would be. It's also big.
Quinn and I made a trip to Michael's. We bought modeling paint (on clearance for $0.49) so that he could paint some of his Lego Clone Troopers. He saw something on Youtube where people have painted their Clone Troopers, and he was dying to try it. He made them look old and beat up. I'll take a picture tomorrow, when they are dry enough to put together. He's rather proud of himself. I'm glad, because I wasn't looking forward to trying to scrape that paint off.
I got 3 of the 4 cases I ordered for my new 4G iPhone. I don't have the phone yet. It should arrive on August 5, the day my mom and I return from Kentucky. I bought the white one and the dotted one from DS Styles. The black one, and a blue one that's still coming, I got from eBay for $2.99 and $3.99 plus free shipping! Score! Once I get the phone, I will take advantage of Apple's free bumper.

Here are the girls in their Mickey Mouse ears! They are a little small. I may split them up the back, so that they fit better. They are keychains. I took the keychain parts off.

Riley is due home from Scout camp tomorrow. We are all looking forward to his return. Kevin got an update from the cubmaster's wife. Riley earned his rifle merit badge. Apparently it's kind of difficult to get, but he did it. We are very proud.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Jedi Training Academy, AKA My Last Post Today (I Promise)

Be prepared. There are 4 posts today! I had to make up for the 3 posts I missed due to cruddy internet and being tired. You will NOT hear from me again until tomorrow. I promise. Anyway, Quinn did the Jedi Training Academy at Disneyland. It's a show which involves audience participation. The boys always like to watch this show, but neither one ever wants to participate. Quinn told me he wanted to do it, so we went over for the first show. We were 45 minutes early, and got a prime location. I had Quinn wear his cool hat so that he would be noticed. It worked! He got chosen!!
Quinn, super excited that he was chosen (along with about 20 other kids) to participate in the Jedi Training Academy, with a "real" Jedi Master. He also scored a prime training spot on the stage.
He was also pretty thrilled that he got a blue light saber. Doesn't he look professional?
UH OH! It's all fun and games until Darth Vader arrives to test the new Jedis.
Darth Maul arrived as well!! Well, he's just pure evil.

Quinn got to battle Darth Maul. I am happy to report, he won!!

He got a certificate at the end of the show. He was so excited about it. It was pretty awesome.
If you want to see the rest of the Jedi Training pictures, CLICK HERE.

Disneyland, Our Last Day

Quinn and I stayed at the Castle Inn. It was ok. The internet sucked, the pool was too small, but everything else was ok. It's no Hampton Inn (we are really into Hampton Inn these days), but it served its purpose. It would have been nice if it were a little closer to Disneyland, but we survived-and got lots (and lots) of exercise. We spent Wednesday at Disneyland, heading for home at 1:20 pm. You would think that would be a great time to be on the freeways. Nope. Traffic was red all over the place, and it went on forever (according to my app). I was in the parking lot, AKA Interstate 5. It was just crawling along, so when the exit for 101 came along, I took it. It moved, but was slow through downtown LA, and then in a few parts. It was slow again just after Atascadero-I found out later that Justin Bieber was playing a concert in Fresno last night, so the backup for 46 (to Fresno) was largely due to that. Once I got in the left lane, I flew past everyone trying to go to Fresno. We got home at 10 last night, tired, but happy to be home. Maya was happy to see us as well.
This is our hotel, the Castle Inn and Suites on Harbor Blvd.
This is the real castle at Disneyland-Sleeping Beauty's Castle.
The Finding Nemo ride. We didn't ride it this trip. The lines are amazingly long. If you want to ride it, then you have to do it first thing in the morning, or be prepared to wait an hour-or more.

Michael Jackson???

Quinn and I had a very good time. It was hot (well except for today-it was overcast!), and crowded, and many people are clueless. We got soaked on Pirates of the Caribbean-we may as well have ridden Splash Mountain. We got stuck in the back row of a leaky boat. The seats were a puddle, and there was at least 5 inches of water on the floor. My shoes were soaked, and Quinn sat with his feet up, on the edge of the seat, the duration of the ride. I complained about it to the Disney employee when we got off the ride. We got to see an awesome World of Color show, and we got to spend some quality time together. Now we are anxiously awaiting Riley's return from Scout camp on Saturday.

Disneyland Day 3

Day 3 was not quite as hot as Day 2, or the first day. That first day we arrived, it was SUPER hot outside. It's hard to deal with crowds, and lines, and the heat. We took lots of breaks sitting in the shade.
This is Quinn on the Astro Orbiter. It's like Dumbo, but with rockets instead of elephants. He controlled how high or low we flew.
After we got our fast passes for the World of Color show, we rode Toy Story Mania. That is one of the best rides. It is so cool. Tons of fun, and they even updated one of the games you play, to include characters from Toy Story 3. Outside of the game is this big action figure toy box. That's what Quinn would look like if he were an action figure.
We rode Mulholland Madness, at DCA. This one is one of Quinn's favorite rides. I am getting used to it, but it still freaks me out. It's a roller coaster, and you are in this little 4 seater car thing. It whips around all of these turns, which make you feel like you are on the exact edge of the track, and you are super high. It freaks me out. We rode it twice, because the line was so short.
Check out those big balls! We were about to cross in this one section when the Disney employee asked us to move aside as "big rolling balls" would be coming by. Yep. Super cool. This is part of the Glow Fest going on at DCA every night. I really liked the Glow Fest. It's loud music, and dancers, and lights-a lot like a dance club.

After waiting in a big line to enter DCA in the morning, and then another lengthy line to get a fast pass, and an hour and 15 minute wait for the show to begin, the World of Color show was SPECTACULAR! It's lights, video, lasers, and lots and lots of WATER. That image is being projected onto water! This makes the Bellagio fountain show, in Las Vegas, look really sad. If you are going to Disneyland, make sure you get over to DCA to secure a fast pass for this show. It's awesome!

Disneyland Day 2

The hotel had really cruddy internet. I had a post all planned, my pictures chosen, but it was super slow on Monday night, so it didn't post. I figured I would try again on Tuesday night, but Tuesday night there was no getting internet at all. I hate that. Anyway, so that's why I haven't blogged for three days. We got home late last night, and I was too tired, and too fried from the traffic, to post. I slept instead. Lucky you though, because I will make up for those three days today.
This is Quinn on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, on Monday. He LOVES this ride. It is pretty fun. It makes me nervous as there have been problems on this ride-people have died. Granted, I believe it was the fault of the people in at least one of the incidents. You just can't stand up on a moving roller coaster. Anyway, I trust Disney, but this ride still makes me nervous.
We were finally able to score a picture with the Lego Woody. You would not believe the crowds for pictures with him! This is in Downtown Disney, in the Lego store there. Both boys love this place. It's funny too, because we have a Lego store at a mall near us-same exact thing, but they go nuts for this one. Maybe it's the fact that sometimes their very generous grandparents are there to purchase stuff for them?
Quinn and I walked all the way through Downtown Disney, to the Disneyland Hotel. I love this place! It's so nice. Isn't that giant Mickey sorcerer's hat cool? Quinn loved the swimming pool. He kept saying, "We have to stay here next time."
This painting is in the lobby of the Disneyland Hotel. As you can tell, Quinn did talk me into something from the Lego store-but it's just three little men that he built himself, and a keychain.

The Matterhorn. Quinn loves this ride too. I like it ok, but it's super bumpy-like a bobsled. The Yeti inside is cool, but not quite as cool as the Yeti inside the Everest ride at Disney's Animal Kingdom, in Disney World.

I tried resizing my pictures to see if I can add more than 5-I couldn't. I had an awesome picture of Mickey's hat, from the inside. I tried to upload all of my pictures to Flickr this morning, but they changed something, and I can't seem to select all of the pictures at once, to upload. I would have to put them in one at a time. Frustrating. I am having some technical issues today.