Seeing old friends

It is amazing how when little time passes for children it is like a "lifetime ago"

The boys and I travelled North to San Bruno where we lived a year and a half ago to see old friends (many of who Mason has long forgotten about :( and Gavin has only met once or twice). We attended my old Mother's Club holiday party at the Coyote Point Yacht Club. We had picked up my girlfriend, Jenny, and her daughter, Resse. Mason and Reese have been buddies since before they could walk. It was so cute to see them greet eachother with a hug and play like they just saw eachother yesterday.

We all attended the party and had a fabulous time. They had an Elf who made the kids things out of ballons then did a little story/ magic show. It was AWESOME!!

The boys had a super fun day and and both took a rest on the way home, which made for a peaceful drive.

THANKS GIVING MADNESS

Since Joe works retail the possibility of us going to be with family on Thanksgiving is slim to none, unless I decided to split the family and leave him home alone on "the day to give thanks." I don't see that happening unless retail completely takes over the retail world and he has to work, even then I love him too much to leave him.

This year we had the same plans as last year cooking a nice dinner for the four of us: however, my family decided since we cannot come to them, they are coming to us! I was super excited when I found out the news!

My sister, Heidi, her husband, Tony and their three children Kenzy (10.5), Chaz (8.5), and Caden (5) arrived on Wednesday early evening. My boys were over joyed they house went from calm to wild in minutes..no wait seconds. We had a nice visit and there was so much excited in all the kids it was fun to be with that kind of energy.

My parents arrived Thursday morning (9:30ish). Joe cooked the turkey and everyone else helped while the kids ran and played.

That night my sister and I went and stood in line at Target for the BLACK FRIDAY madness it was loads of fun. My mom came and joined us at the end. We had a good time standing in the cold. I told Kenzy about it the next morning and she thought I was CRAZY!

I explained to her we were in a LONG LINE  for two hours. There was about 200 people ahead of us and 300 behind us. At 11:58pm the line started moving slowly they let 30 people in then waited a couple seconds before more could come in and as we made the turn to the front of the store it just seemed surreal. It was super bright (we were on the side of the building and there was not a lot of light compared to the front)! There was a bunch of people waiting for the line to go in, so they could get in Target. Some had video cameras, camera phones, and others were taking pictures. It was funny people were cheering so we cheered back. Nothing like making a super long wait FUN! My mom ALWAYS says it is important to just have FUN! And, fun we had :)

Love for Grandma

After The Veterans Day Parade, we (the whole family minus the dog) went to Sacramento to visit Grandma Rosie and Uncle Dustin (U D). Anyone that has been around Mason KNOWS he can be a "little turd" when it comes to Grandma's and Papa too. He just has an attitude and he doesn't seem to care if they are around...well he does and doesn't.

It has always been VERY hard for me since I had so much love for my Grandma. I miss them both so much and think of them all the time. I tried not to get too upset or push it since I know The Grandma's understand. When my mom and dad came the last time. He was sweet and read books with Grandma and was sad to see them go. So Grandma Rosie was the final test.

He was OVER JOYED to be going to Grandma's and U D's house. I was so please to finally see the joy and love in his eyes that he has for family. His eyes sparkled when they played. In the morning he has so much joy to "wake up grandma" it was the icing on the cake for him as his little voice says, "good morning, good morning."

When we left, Grandma gave us a kitty sending the kids over the top with joy!!! Who gets to hold the carrying cage handle on the way home with the fight with Mason and Gavin as kitty rode the long 3 hours back to Hollister. She made it safe and sound.

Mason CANNOT wait to go back to Grandma's and U D's to visit. When I told him they were coming to visit the week after next, his response was, "Mommy are they going to stay for a very very long time to play." I think I crushed his heart when I responded with, "probably just the weekend."

THE JOY OF A GRANDMA'S LOVE

VETERANS DAY

THANK YOU TO ALL THE VETERANS!

Honnoring our soliders past and present is something that is often not the top priority of many children in America. I would like to change that for my boys. Although they are still young, I hope by the time they are old they will understand just how special these men and women are to each of our freedom. I KNOW children do not understand "freedom" yet, but in time...

When Mason was 2 on Memorial Day (2010) while living in San Bruno CA I took him to Golden Gate National Cemetery and we set out on serch for my great uncle whom I never met, but is burried there. The feel of walking on the grass with all those flags was a feeling of honor to know those men and women gave up their life to allow me mine.



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This year for Veterans Day a friend of mine who is also a Veteran and is a member of the MOMS Club organized us to walk in the Veterans Day Parade here in Hollister CA. I gladly jumped on board. We made a sign that said: " MOMS CLUB support our veterans"  and gave a list of names of members family members who have served. We decorated our strollers (for me the boys bikes) in red-white-blue.

our group consisted of three veterans 



I wish I would have taken a picture of the sign

The parade was awesome. I am so glad our town has such pride for our country. I was worried about who would show up because it was cold and a little wet. BUT backing out for us was no option the LEAST I felt I could do was to walk and say thank you rain or shine. It started to pour half way thru the parade, but the boys had a great time and Lil' G feel asleep in his buggy car at the end with rain pouring on his head it was a sight to see.

 We were wet, but proud to be an America!

me and my boys

lil' G was loving!

Mason rode his bike the whole way about 2 miles!



Mason and The Phone

It is normal for Mason to talk on the phone to Daddy at work the conversations are brief, but often (at least every couple days). I have started telling M in the last few months, "If you wanna talk to Daddy at work, you call him" I have Joe's work on speed dial, so it is not too difficult you just press "3" and "send" however once LOWE'S automated system picks up there are many options you can choose from "0" gets you to the operator and then you MUST ask for JOE SAULS. M has had difficulty in the past with the associate understanding his little three year old voice, so I taught him to say, STORE MANAGER since it is easier to understand. I think that people at customer service are understanding him better or just know who it is, because he is getting faster and getting through to Daddy.

I love to listen to him when the associate says, "How may I direct your call?" M will say as deep voice as possible "Joe Sauls....JOE SAULS STORE MANGER" he then always gives a little giggle and smile.

My silly little guy

Anyways, the other night I don't know why maybe it was getting up early, or not sleeping much the night before because little G is teething, whatever the reason...I WAS TIRED! I put G to bed and M was being chatty. I finally shipped him off to bed and called it a night. I usually sleep with my phone on my night stand. Well this night I had no trouble falling asleep. Once I was asleep, M realized he could not sleep and came in got my phone and called Daddy who was working until 11pm.

J was talking to M for about 10 minutes and then asked him what he was doing? M response, "looking for a lolli-pop" J proceeded to ask where I was M replied, "Mommy is in bed sleeping and so is baby G" J talked to him and told him to go to bed and that he would be home soon. M called him a few more times...once to say he could not sleep, another to ask when he would be home and finally to see if Dad could fix his broken truck in the garage.

I guess the people at J work where getting a kick out of M calling. I personally don't mind that he called I just wish he would have been sleeping so he was not so tired the next morning.

the joys of children

HALLOWEEN TIME

 I honestly have mixed feeling about Halloween. I LOVED it as a child...dressing up and CANDY!!! Really, what kid would say no to a whole bucket of candy? Joe explain to me last night it is a day of the dead...we are honoring the dead and scaring off evil spirts that is why we dress up scary...I say it leads to nightmares and cavities, but what do I know. So let the traditions start and carry on. We went for a walk with our friends Chris and Anne (and their boys Liam and Logan) to Severinsen Street to see all the AWESOME decorations. It was a beaitiful warm night to walk and we had a good time.

 

GREEN WORKS!

I LOVE FREE STUFF

If you are looking for a new cleaner..check this out!

I couple months ago on one of my online group sites there was a offer to try Green Works, so of course I signed up...FREE  who can say NO  to free? not me.  Time went by (okay like a month) and I TOTALLY forgot about signing up when a BIG BOX arrived for me. I was thinking aww did my hubby, Joe order me something or my Mom? I opened it to find cleaning supplies!!! Not the trial sizes you normally get, but the big normal size bottles. A laundry detergent, cleaning wipes and a all purpose spray. I was in HEAVEN! I love to clean. This stuff works awesome. I am a vinegar/lemon juice/ and borax lady, so I have not bought many all purpose cleaner in YEARS. I am truly amazed at how well it works and it is SAFE for the little people in my house (and me too). It is not antibacterial, but I believe we are too antibacterial...that is a WHOLE other subject.

After using the FREE product, I posted my thoughts on the online forum and they asked us to introduce ourselves and they would send us a coupon for more free product. YAY!

So, I picked up another bottle of my new favorite all purpose cleaner.