Jack Stephananopolis......Its Stephan...Jack Stephan

So our house is old.

Which means the plumbing is old.

So old that when a simple home repair like fixing a leaking shower faucet has to be done, you drive all around town looking for a part.

A part from a company that is no longer in existence.

So instead of a quick fix you are forced to call a plumber to re-do the whole thing with parts from this century.

And $300 later the faucet of your old shower doesn't leak anymore!

Yea!

I've Made it!

So I take my camera almost everywhere with me these days. I shoot anywhere from 300 - 1500 pictures a week. I love it and finally I have made it. I got a call from my BFF Sam to tell me that 2 of the photos she had seen on my Flickr from a recent zoo trip were perfect for little Eli's room. She had them printed and framed and put them up in his jungle themed room!



And just because he is so freakin cute, here is Eli (now 2 months old!) in some PJ's I bought him kicking it with his BFF Train Bear.

What Kind Of.......????

So you all know that stereo-type that kids about The Phi's age ask "why?" a lot. Well The Phi being the exceptionally strange child that she is, has her own version of the "Why?" Instead she constantly says "What kind of.....". For instance if we are going to the store this is how the conversion goes...

"Where are we going Momma?"

"We are going to the store little Dude."

"What kind of store?"

"Target."

"What kind of Target?"

"The normal kind of Target."


"What kind of normal Target?"

and so on and so forth

Lately her questions are becoming more complex and well..... more difficult to answer. While shopping at Home Depot the other day she was happily sitting in the race car shopping cart and then she asks...

"Momma, why do people have to pee and poop everyday?"

I stared at her and did what any good Momma would do, I delegated the answering to her Poppa. So she asked him and he gave her the 3 year old friendly answer.

"Well, after our body is done using the food we eat it has to move it our of our bodies by peeing and pooping."

His answer satisfied her curiosity and then I said,

"That was a good question The Phi, why did you ask it?"

"I gotta go to the bathroom"

He Never Looked So Good

So our dog Roo has been with us since he was 6 weeks ago. He has been our family pet for 5 years now and never in those 5 years has he ever been professionally groomed. My youngest sister Mercy works for a vet clinic and LOVES dogs. Even smelly dogs like our Roo. She has taken him under her wing and has set up all his shots and vet exams and everything. She has even paid for them. She is his honorary dog-mother and if Roo could talk he would only speak of his undying love for Mercy. So now that his shots are up to date we took him to The Phi's most favorite store ever (petco) for a spa day.

Here is what he looked like when we dropped him off.........

Yes this is the Mr. Buck-A-Roo Fantastic that you know and love (?). Long fur, all matted and smelly. I have attempted to brush this guy and he was bathed the day before. Oh and when we walked out of the store The Phi's face fell and these ginormous crocodile tears came down her little face. She was so sad that we were leaving Roo behind. I told her that we would be picking him up in an hour and that he was going to be bathed and a hair cut, like a spa day. In her little sad wobbly voice she asked me...

"Mom, is he going to get to wear a snuggy robe?"

"of course baby, he will get to wear the snuggiest robe ever".

About an hour and a half later as we stood in line to check out our books from the library they called to tell us that Roo was ready to be picked up. And holy crap did he look different!

Seriously, this dog as never looked so good.
He even smelled good!!!

Thanks Mercy for everything you have done for Roo. We appreciate, but he appreciates it more. Don't I have the best sister???

(alright sisters! Don't get all pissed Cari!)

iheart faces.....black and white

This week's theme is black and white.

he said "you may kiss the bride"
and he did
and we all cheered

for more iheart face submission please visit
iheart faces

the fine art

The Phi is a ham. She is a true little comedian. She lives to make people laugh. Now she has the whole physical fall out of chairs or run into polls funny down but lately she has shown an interest in jokes. So being the encouraging parents we are we have begun teaching The Phi the fine art of joke telling....

as you can tell she has some work to do.

Mondays

Dude I usually have no problems getting to sleep. I am out like 5 minutes after my head hits the pillow. This happens 6 out of 7 nights. Monday -Saturday no problem.

But come Sunday night, every Sunday night, I cannot fall asleep and when I do I can't stay asleep. Its awful and makes for horrible Monday mornings.

I can't figure out why. I go to sleep at about the same time every night but Sundays just get me. And this morning didn't help when someone called my phone at like 6 am. (seriously now late night or early morning calls freak me the f'out). Then The Phi decided to wake up like 15 minutes before the alarm.

But the bonus was that I was on time to work!

Weekly Wieners

Wow another week and February is almost over. Crazy!

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Part of a flickr group I am in. Mission24. Every week we are given a mission and we have 24 hours to take and post 2 photos. This week the mission was "edge". This is me standing on the diving board over my rain filled pool. About a 10 foot drop. My heart was pounding after this shot!

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So go on, go on, go on, and take it, take another little piece of my heart now baby

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An unwanted Valentine

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Graffiti

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My super star of the week blowing bubbles on the first nice day we have had in awhile!

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Floating On....Floating On...

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The winter backdrop to our everyday.

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.... and always the silliness!

for more weekly winners please visit Sarcastic Mom at www.sarcasticmom.com

it gets your right there

You know how there are certain types of commercials or movies that just get you right there. Right in the heart and make you instantly all weepy.

Well there are 2 types of music that really get PR Dad. They are both powerful and played with emotion.

One is drum lines. Yes I know half time is game time.

And the second type is mariachi music. There is a chain of restaurants out here called Pancho Villa's that offers decent food and a great live mariachi show. We had not been since The Phi joined our posse so a few weeks ago we headed out to see how The Phi would like some live and in her face mariachi music. She is not found of loudness and we really were pretty dang close to the stage and after we sat and ordered the music started and just like her Poppa, The Phi was......

well see for yourself.......

totally memorized.

She stared like that through every song and clapped like a crazy person after each one.

But this was the song that stuck with her. The one she asks to hear over and over....

I try to expose my kid to traditional Mexican music. You know get her in touch with her cultura, her roots, her brownness and this is what she walks away with! haha gotta love it.

Student of the Week

About a week or so ago The Phi's teacher asked that I bring in 5 pictures of The Phi with her friends and family, but not tell her about it because she was picked as an upcoming student of the week. So everyday after that I kind of hinted when I picked her up.

"So anything exciting or different happen today?"

Little did I know that when it happened I wouldn't have to ask. On Thursday when I picked her up she jumped out of her chair saying "Mommy, Mommy I am student of the week!" She was beyond excited! She showed me her super star sticker and the giant bubble wand prize she got too. In the car she told me about how they asked her questions and they showed off her pictures of her and her friends and family.

We are so happy because she is so excited, but The Phi, you are the super star in our lives every single day!

One of those survery about me and PR Dad

Middle Names?

Daniel & Raquel.

Joey’s middle name came from the Elton John song called “Daniel”. Apparently his Mom was a fan but she claims it was before he came out of the closet. Uhh I have seen the pictures of Elton John in the early 70’s and really did he need to say it. I think the feather boas said it all. My name is loosely from my Grandmother Rachel.

♥ How long have you been together?
5 years

We met in 2003 and were friends for most of that year. Then by the end of 2003 we were together.

♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating?
hmm a few months I guess

♥ Who asked who out?
I told Joey he would be my boyfriend by Christmas. And he was

We were really good friends and there was this point where it went from just wanting to hang out with him to needing to have him in my life in a bigger way.

♥ How old are each of you?
31 & 35

♥ Whose siblings do/ did you see the most?
Mine.

I have 2 younger sisters and he has 1 younger brother. Even though my siblings live further away we still see them more.

♥ Do you have any children together?
one wild and crazy kiddo

You all know her as The Phi

♥ What about pets?
Mr. Buck-a-roo Fantastic is our dog. We have had him 5 years

Joey claims to have no love for Roo but every morning they are both asleep with Roo right at Joey’s feet.

♥ Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
being away from our family = no babysitting = no alone time

Trust me this is tough. We can only see kids movies in the theatres because we just can’t seem to be okay with The Phi watching rated R flicks. We always have to eat where either, pizza or macaroni and cheese is on the menu.

♥ Did you go to the same school?
No way. I went to Moorpark and he went to some school in Covina

♥ Are you from the same home town?
No. I'm from Santa Paula/Moorpark and he is from Covina/Fontana

It’s like we grew up in different worlds

♥ Who is the smartest?
i am the book smart one and he is the street smart one. I graduated from UCSB and he graduated from the school of hard knocks!

I may have a degree but believe me he is the more logical one. There are some things he comes up with that are just brilliant and sometimes so obvious!

♥ Who is the most sensitive?
me, unless we are listening to mariarchi music then he is all weepy

Blog post coming soon about this.

♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple?
dude, where don't we eat out, but lately I guess the buffet at the casino

Or the Basino as The Phi calls it.

♥ Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
Hawaii

We honeymooned in Oahu and it was freakin spectacular.

♥ Who has the craziest exes?
totally me.

Not really crazy but still pop up once in awhile. We saw Joey’s ex-wife in Wal-Mart once that is about it.

♥ Who has the worst temper?
neither of us really ever get mad.

I am serious we don’t.

♥ Who does the cooking?
Me all me

Well when there is cooking happening.

♥ Who is more social?
Joey is so quite that he was once mistaken for a mentally retarded person. So the answer is me.

That is a total true story.

♥ Who is the neat-freak?
I am the neater one, but Joey is the clean freak.

I pick up things but he get all deep clean when he cleans stuff

♥ Who is the more stubborn?
Joey

When he sets his mind on something there is no chance in changing his mind.

♥ Who hogs the bed?
Apparently I steal covers, but I will never admit to this. It is all just an accusation at this point. Until I have evidence I am not buying it.

♥ Who wakes up earlier?
I have to, because I have to be at work at 8 and because he drives a motorcycle I have to take The Phi to school everyday. Yea convenient I know!

♥ Where was your first date?
we had a psuedo date where we hung out in Huntington Beach. We saw Tito Ortiz in an elevator.

It wasn’t an official date but just a “hey lets meet up and hang out”.

♥ Who has the bigger family?
me duh, I am the Mexican one.

But believe me, his family is not small at all.

♥ Do you get flowers often?
since we have been married just once for Mothers day.

Before that he brought me flowers once when we were dating and then again when I was in the hospital after I gave birth to his offspring.

♥ How do you spend the holidays?
In the car driving from family to family

♥Who's more jealous?
He won't admit it but certain bans on certain places make me say he is the more jealous one.

I do have a small streak though.

♥ How long did it take to get serious?
i dont know about 5 seconds after we kissed

Even before we kissed I knew that I would fall in love with Joey. I knew that I wanted him to be in my life forever.

♥ Who eats more?
mmmmmm......... him

But sometimes it’s a tie.

♥ Who does/ did the laundry?
I use to do all our laundry, but then he complained about how I folded his jeans and I stopped doing his.

See back when my parents were first married my Mom attempted to make homemade tortillas and Pops made fun of their shape. From then on we always had store bought tortillas. This stuck with me and when he complained the days of me doing his laundry were over.

♥ Who’s better with the computer?
me, teaching Joey about email is like teaching The Phi about email.

By that I mean it is frustrating and difficult.

♥ Who drives when you are together?
Joey always drives

In my old age I have developed a hatred for driving. I would rather sit back, sing some tunes, and watch the world go by.

iHeart Faces

This weeks theme is.....

wonder

There are times that I look at her in wonder
because this little perfect creature is mine.

for more entries please visit .iheartfaces.

...and gifts too!

As if the heart shaped pizza wasn't enough we all got to open gifts too! The Phi of course received two gifts. I bought her this Disney princess magnet paper doll like thing, and PR Dad bought her the Rainbow Dash pony that she asks for every single time we are at Target. She was a very happy camper. The Phi gave PR Dad a cute card where she wrote her whole name, legible for the first time! For each other PR Dad and I got all computer geeky with our gifts. I bought him the neoprene case for his netbook. Since his is 10 inches (that's what she said) the cases are not easy to find in the real world, so I had to order from the inter-web. I also put up little Valentine's cards around the house for him to find that morning. (since he had to work and we stayed snuggy in our beds). Each card said " you are the _________ to my________" You know like the Mork to my Mindy, the Lucy to my Ricky, the Patrick to my Spongebob. And then in his card I told him that he was the George to my Wheezy. PR Dad gave me a funny card and a 4 gb memory card for my camera! Awww not romantic but I was very excited. I have doubled my photo taking capability and I love making photos and I love that he knows that and encourages it.

So what did you get for Valentine's day?

She has shown an interest in......

Valentine's Day, originally uploaded by Punk Rock Mom.

make-up.

Weekly Wieners

Happy Sunday! Hope you have tomorrow off! This week of course it about Valentine's day celebration and about l-o-v-e!
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Man this kid adores her Poppa

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We picked up The Phi at her school after her Valentine's day party. She came home with a giant heart filled with cards and candy.

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Then we headed to Oak Glen to play in the snow. It is our annual Valentine's Day thing. We normally head to Big Bear but with storm we just had we didn't want to chance not being able to get up the hill. It's so crazy how all this snow is only 15 minutes away from home!

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I always wear the wrong shoes!

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Yes he is laughing and it has been captured in a photograph

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I don't remember that last family picture we have taken. This one came out great except for that dang mail truck. Grrrr.

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Then we went to a bowling alley. At first The Phi was not into it until they gave us this ball ramp. Then she LOVED it. This made PR Dad very happy. He too loves bowling.

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Here is the heart shaped pizza we special ordered for Valentine's day. The food was good the service was extremely horrible.

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......and always the silliness!!

for more weekly winners please visit Sarcastic Mom at www.sarcasticmom.com

Happy Valentine's Day

And head over to Photo Bliss to see my article on photographing couples.
Most of you will recognize the couple!

And I leave you with one of those 'when loves goes bad' songs.
Arson for Love by My2Dads
I can't stop singing this song.
And I my be a bit bias because the lead singer/ ring leader is Uncle Matty
check them out at www.myspace.com/my2dads

Arson For Love.mp3 -

and the winner is......

Congratulations Dale Doback!

I will send over to you instructions on how to pick your prize!

And I want to thank Eden Fantasys for hosting such a fun contest!

An early Valentine's gift

The other day I was sitting at the computer (shocking!) waiting for PR Dad to get ready to leave somewhere. I had on my old school New Kids on the Block t shirt on. Totally old school and totally vintage. Then the phone rang. It was my Mom. She was in the car reading the Independent magazine and called to tell me about an upcoming concert at the Bowl. Tickets for New Kids on the Block were going on sale that day at 1pm.

Holy crap.
Mom called, I had on the shirt.
It was a sign fo-sho!
My New Kids on the Block concert going days are not over.
I had one more show to go to.

So at about 2 pm that day I called up ticketmaster (damn them and their fees. seriously how do 2 $30 tickets cost me over $100) and purchased 2 tickets to the NKOTB concert. (The Phi is free still). I could not pass up seeing them one more time, or having NKOTB being The Phi's first big concert. So who is the other ticket for? Well believe it or not the other ticket is for PR Dad. Yes he agreed to go with us.

I love him....

Now before you get all "damn he is whipped" keep this in mind

• the tickets are part of my Valentine's Day gift
• someone needs to be there to take care of The Phi if I either rush the stage or pass out from scream crying.
• He is a big fan of America's Best Dance Crew and the Jabbawokeez are performing too.
  

So I am trying to play it of, but I am kind of really excited about it. Gotta get my pegged pants ready!

The Bird and Egg Museum

So last weekend we had a very rare Saturday together and our original plans fell through so we had to come up with something to do. Since it was a rainy day we decided to hit up the San Bernardino Museum. We pass by it all the time and had never been. Really this place should be called the Bird and Egg Museum. It was room after room of stuffed birds and eggs. Seriously.

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We did manage to find a room of mammals where The Phi fell in love with a porcupine. She asked to take a picture with it. She never asks to take a picture. And people do you know how tough it is to find a plush porcupine?

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Kind of cool, and kind of scary.

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The had a separate little area with live animals, where The Phi got to pet a big brown bunny...

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and watch spiders do whatever it is spiders do....

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and listen to the ocean in a conch shell.

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There were a ton of stuffed owls and I liked that part.

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Looking at even more eggs.

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We learned that The Phi and a full grown penguin are about the same size.
How stinkin' cute is that!

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We went together. That's all that really mattered. New things, new experiences together.