Thursday, April 30, 2009

Old Friends and New Babies

Last weekend I did something I never do. The Phi and I went out of town without PR Dad. It takes a lot to get me to do that. But look at this face.......



Yea I would have driven across the country for that little face. We spent a very nice weekend playing, eating out, painting ceramics, catching up with Aunt Sam and getting to know Baby Eli.

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Aunt Sam and I lived together for a few years back in our college days and have been friends since 1991. And boy do we have stories. Life is so different for us now but it felt good to be under the same roof again. Even with the 2 new additions. We talked a little about old times and talked shop. And by shop I mean motherhood of course.


We walked the kids to the park and Baby Eli enjoyed his first swing. Aunt Sam waited a long time to have Baby Eli, and she is the kind of person who was made for motherhood. Watching and helping her with Baby Eli reminded me how much work babies are.


And watching Baby Eli smile, yelp and giggle. And watching The Phi read to him and fuss over him, reminded me how they are worth all the work.


We had such a great time and I really really hope that we can do it again very very soon.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Hugs and Helmets

Last night when we stopped to fill up for gas I noticed a young homeless girl sitting in front of the doors of the store. She had a giant backpack a paper cup of coffee and one of those "homeless, anything helps" signs made out of cardboard on her lap. She looked scared and anxious. As I looked at her through my side mirror I saw what she was anxious about. There was a Sheriffs car with the door open and large uniformed man was walking up to her. I could not hear the exchange but I could see it. The officer stood over her and spoke to her. She replied without looking up at him. He pulled out a pad of paper. A citation? I hoped not. I hope that on the piece of paper he ripped out of the pad and handed to this homeless girl was not a ticket, but a phone number or address of some place nearby where she could get a place to sleep and a hot meal. I like to believe that this officer was as kind hearted as these police officers in Denmark who instead of handing out tickets to bicyclists without helmets, where handing out hugs and free helmets.





I grew up scared of authority. But I like this. I like seeing police as the good guys looking out for our safety. Not people to fear.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

An Amazing Summer

While we were in Santa Barbara a few weeks ago the weather was amazingly gorgeous. Really we had no other choice but to go to the beach.


See me and the beach have this special connection. I love it. I love sand on my feet I love the smell and love being in the water. There was a summer back in like 02 or 03 when my sisters and a few cousins and I didn't work and spent almost everyday on the sand, surfing and bbq-ing, fire pits and blankets. It was one of the most amazing summers of my life.

The first time I took The Phi to the beach when she was old enough to get into the water she wanted absolutely nothing to do with it. She didn't like the sand and you couldn't get her near the waves and I was heartbroken. I wanted my daughter to have the same love for the ocean.


I am happy to report that the beach is growing on her. She had a blast making sand castles with her Poppa and even got her little toes in the water with me.



Just her toes. Anytime the waves come closer she screamed like a girl and ran.

We walked the wharf and enjoyed the day.


And I was happy because I had visions of me and The Phi with our wet suites and surfboards walking to the shore and having another amazing summer.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Primos

My Mom is 1 of 9 kids and my Pops is 1 of 6. So just with some simple math you can safely assume that I have A LOT of first cousin. I do. A Lot. Like somewhere around 50 first cousins. And with that many kids there is a lot of them close to your age. My cousin Patty is 28 days older than I am. That's almost like being twins! I grew up in the same town and for awhile went to the same school as Patty. We probably saw each other an average of once a week when we stopped going to school together. She has always been one of my best friends. She is an amazing human being and is The Phi's god-mother. I loved having my cousins close and growing up with then.

The Phi has only 6 cousins to date. 3 boy cousins on her Dad's side we see about 3 times a year despite the fact that they live close-ish to us. And 3 on my side. Angelica, Lili and Felix. All my sister Cari's kids. Angelica is almost 10 and Lili and Felix are almost 3. (yes Twins!!). Angelica was my only niece for a long time and we had a lot of years together just her and I so she will always be so special to me. Lili is my god-daughter so our course she is special to me. And Felix, he is our little man. The only boy in the family and is very special to me.

They are all at an age now that they really have fun playing together. They are starting to form memories that will stick with them. When we took Angelica home after spending the week with us my sister suggested we head to the park for a little while. Perfect idea. They got to play together, in the same place. The main reason I have this blog is to keep my friends and family updated on us and what we are doing. The Phi is almost 4 but we are still first time parents who put all kinds of videos of thier kid singing and saying jokes up. Lili and Felix now know that to see their cousin Day-day they go to the computer. To them The Phi is an internet sensation.

I hope that despite the distance the kids will be able to grow up together and be a big part of each others lives. Because Cousins, your older cousins and younger cousins, are really the best. They are like friends and then some.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

He Is My Sunshine


He Is My Sunshine, originally uploaded by Punk Rock Mom.

One night away and I miss my Baby!

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Happy saturday

The Phi and I are spending a lovely Saturday with Aunt Sam and Baby Eli. We had a lunch of the best sandwich I have ever had. Went and paointed ceramics and now we are at CPK ready to have a nice dinner. Hope you are enjoying your day as much as we are.

Friday, April 24, 2009

First headache

The Phi pointed inbetween her eyes and says "Mom it feels like there is a little man in my head bonking me and it hurts". I think she just got her first headache.

Elissa* Lerma

Open Casa

Last night The Phi's school had an open house. Much like the the chaos that was back to school night, this was also a bit unorganized. I did get a chance to talk to both her teachers about her progress. And I was a bit worried. See The Phi at home by herself is HI-larious. But imagine when you are trying to get 20 kids to eat lunch in 30 minutes and one of them is doing this....




This is what The Phi does instead of eating. I swear this kid is a drummer in her soul!

Yea not so funny then. At home though it is video worthy. So I was afraid that I was going to get....

"she is disruptive"
"She says butt-crack way more than any 3 year old should"
"the fake farting has gotten really old"



Instead her teachers told me that The Phi is a joy to have in class. She is respectful and social. She knows to walk away when someone is being mean or not behaving. She is great at sharing and is an all around good kid. I was one very proud Mom.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

We were totally Hanging Tough

So now that the apology is out of the way I can tell you a little bit about The Phi's first concert experience. First thing, if you ever get tickets for the Santa Barbara Bowl and you are in section AA, DO NOT think you are all bad with good seats. You are a loser with seats at the top. We were losers. My Mom and sister were in like L and had great seats. Right before the show starts and if the place is not sold out (and it was so not sold out) they let you move down. Since PR Dad was getting a tissue from the bathroom when they told us we could move. I resisted the urge to ditch The Phi and RUN to the front of the stage. Since we had The Phi with us (and practically the entire Section AA to ourselves) we stayed put.

First up was the Jobbowakeez dance group. You know those guys with the masks from America's Best Dance Crew. They were great. Great music mix and totally fun to watch. They even did the "single ladies" Beyonce dance.

Then the magic started. After a very funny into talking about how after 15 years they were back! The boys emerged out of smoke and holy crap I was 13 years old again. I will admit it. I screamed along with all the other 30+ year old women in the audience. They performed mostly old songs and a few new ones. I was surprised to find out that I knew every lyric to every single song they played. Even when Jordan and Joey performed one of their solo songs. EVERY SINGLE WORD!

Now that the boys are all grown men the playful banter hit new x-rated levels. At one point Donnie (of course Donnie) sniffed some panties that were thrown on stage and then basically invited the audience over for an orgy. There was talk about "balls" of all kinds and even some curse words were thrown around. There was some covering of The Phi's eyes and ears.

During one song they 5 ran into the audience. And yes they stood on the sound equipment right near Section L, right next to my Mom. Here is a shot from Mom's cell phone.

04-17-09_joey_mcintyre




Oh and about cameras and the SB Bowl. I am one of those weird rule following people. So I checked their site and it said NO CAMERAS so I didn't even bring the Nikon, but everyone had a freakin' camera. Everyone! We even saw the ushers taking pictures of some concert goers. So yea I was a bit pissed about that. I probably could have brought the Nikon and imagine the pictures I could have got.

The Phi had a good time. She insisted she wear a dress and since it is an outside venue she got cold. She had on her sweater and her Dad's sweater around her legs. We got our groove on during some dance break and they played Lady Gaga "Just Dance". Joey McIntyre even did the "single ladies" dance. And of course we waved our hands back and forth during the finale of Hanging Tough.

The concert was a lot of fun. The music took me back to a much simpler time in my life. As sad as this sounds The New Kids on the Block were a big part of my pre-teen / early teen years. Getting to experience that excitement again and to share it with The Phi, Joey, Mom and Elaine was awesome. It was like getting into a time machine and visiting 1990. When my days were spent writing notes to Jessica about how we are going to meet and marry Donnie and Joey.

And I have to admit it, those boys still got it. Jordan even did the whole slow song, wind machine open shirt thing and damn boy. You have aged well. And I was not the only one to think that they boys have become sexy grown men. As we were hiking back to the car after the show (oh and the parking at the bowl sucks!) we walked past 2 girls and we heard one exclaim loud and clear.....

"If I see Donnie Wahlberg I am going to rape the shit out of him"

PR Dad, Elaine and I just started cracking up!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Apology Letter

Dear Mom and Dad,

Please accept my deepest apologizes. See last week we took The Phi to her first concert ever. We took her to a New Kids on the Block concert. She had a good time. Too good of a time. Since then she has demanded to listen to the New Kids on the Block song "Single" over and over and over and over again. It has been only a few days but it is driving me slowly insane. Then I realized that this is a sick form of punishment. Punishment for 1989-1991, which I refer to as my "So in love with NKOTB I should have been committed" phase.

I cannot even being to imagine what you both went through being forced to listen to the Hanging Tough cassette blast through those giant stereo speakers I use to have, all day, everyday for years. I made you play it in the car and even forced you to make a music video at Universal Studios of the whole family singing and playing instruments to Hanging Tough. (Cari and Elaine, My bad) And Pops, I will never be able to pay you back for taking me and my cousins to the NKOTB concert at the forum. It must have been 2 hours of torture that you will never get back.

So please accept my apology and know that karma has taken care of punishing me. The Phi rode her tricycle and sang "The Right Stuff" for over an hour yesterday."

Love,
Elissa

P.S. Jessica if you are reading this I suggest you write your Mom and Dad a letter too before Elias finds an old tape also insist on listening to NKOTB 24/7. I am telling you that karma can be a real bitch.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Geek Love for my Prose Hos

So it is no secret that Girls Gone Child is one of my favorite blogs. I also follow her on Twitter and a month or so ago she
sent out a tweet to see if anyone was interested in an on-line twitter book club that she called "Prose Hos". Of course I was interested and headed over to our library to pick up the first book for the book club, Geek Love by Katherine Dunn.

I had no idea what to expect from this novel. And really I do not have the imagination or just plain warped mind to have ever imagined what this book was about.

In this story geek is not a nerdy dude who loves computers. Instead a geek is a different kind of social misfit. This book tells the story of Oly, a middle aged albino hunch back, and how she came to be. The story is about a family. A family who's matriarch and patriarch played with drugs and toxins to purposely have "circus freak" children. A mermaid boy, Siamese twins, the hunchback albino and the youngest who can move things with his minds.




A lot of this story was hard to read. Very disturbing images painted into your mind. After reading the book and digesting it for a few days I came to the conclusion that the core of this book is about family, love and the desire to fit in and the even bigger desire to be different.



This is not a book I would have ever normally picked up and even though I will never be able to go to a carinval ever again, it was a good read. A bit difficult to get "into to". It took me about 3 weeks to finish but once I hit the middle I found it hard to put down.

Head over to Twitter and search #prosehos to see what some of the other Prose Hos have to say about Geek Love.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Spring Break at the L.A. Zoo

Our big trip out last week was to the LA Zoo. I had not been there in probably over 25 years. Last time I was there the entrance was the one from the opening of Three's Company. Looks totally different now. A big Zoo with lots to do and see.



We had a great trip and a great week with Angelica here. I was afraid that with The Phi being almost 4 and Angelica almost 10 they would not have a lot to do together, but The Phi Adores Angelica and they always seem to find some thing fun to do together. And I love having her with us. I feel like I miss so much so getting to spend a few days every year is awesome.

And can I tell you how nice it was for The Phi to have someone to play with. They played in her room for hours! I even got to take a bubble bath without anyone walking in on me!

LA Zoo

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Weekly Wieners

Enjoying our last day here in Santa Barbara and on this trip the weather has been amazing. Last time we were here I packed us shorts and we froze. This time I packed us jeans and we broiled! Happy Sunday!

For more weekly winners please visit Sarcastic Mom


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Introducing the Kids to Roscoes



At the beginning of the week we took a trip to our super secret drop off spot where my sister dropped off my niece Angelica to us for the week. And where we introduced the dreamlets to the genius that is chicken AND waffles.
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LA Zoo

Mid week we took Angelica and The Phi to the LA Zoo. (Thanks again for the tickets Aunt Tawny!) You never know what you may see at the zoo. Here is a rare sighting of the usually rowdy Phi-aptomos in a very quiet and thoughtful mood.

(photo by PR Dad)

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Angelica 9 1/2

Angelica and bamboo. Her hair looks purple in this light! Haha that was the joke of the week. Her hair is purple!

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Family Portrait

We do not have nearly enough family pictures so while at the zoo I gave Angelica a very quick tutorial on my camera and let her take a few of us. She did such a great job I used this one for the new blog header. Thanks Angelica!

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Doing a play

On the last night the girls had a blast playing dress-up. Well Angelica put on a play with The Phi as the main character with a lot of costume changes. I am pretty sure Roo (the dog) was the prince that The Phi married in the play.

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And always the silliness..........................

Easter 09

This week with a peep!

Friday, April 17, 2009

The Athletic Ones

My family is not athletic. The closet we are to athletes is my youngest sister who use to dance. We did not play AYSO soccer or softball. It just wasn't in is. Luckily is was just my immediate family because a lot of my cousins are not only athletic, but talented athletes. Last week my cousin Gabriel text messaged me to let me know that he was going to be playing in a soccer tournament in my neck of the woods. YEA! Family, coming to my neck of the woods. We love that so of course The Phi and I were was excited to head out to a game.




See I told you she was excited!


My cousin right before the game.
His number is 13 and The Phi kept saying "Go Number One Three!"


Action Shot


You better believe the Paletera was out in full force.


More action.


The Phi thought hitting a soccer ball with your head was hilarious


The Athletic One!


Thanks again Gabriel for inviting us out. We had a blast, and not only because there was a snack bar!

Thursday, April 16, 2009

A Little Girl Named Madeline

Last week the "mommy blogging" world was shaken by the death of 17 month old Madeline. See I read mom blogs everyday and many of the blogs that I read wrote about Madeline, her parents and the emotions they felt about this little girl. I read more blog posts and through them got to know a little bit about this little girl and her family. I watched videos and read stories and cried and cried and cried. I cried for Heather, Madeline's mom because just the thought of losing Sophia makes my throat close and makes me cry. I do not know how Joey and I would ever be able to pick ourselves up and go on. The Phi is our whole entire world. Just like Madeline was Heather and Mike's world.

I find myself lately hugging The Phi longer and more often and just studying her face. I find that I have more patience with her mood swings and realizing more than ever that Sophia is a gift. Being her Mom and Dad is an honor and Joey and I are blessed to have her.


Rest In Peace Little Madeline. You have touched so many people. You have made be a better Momma to my daughter and I thank you so much for that.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Change of Plans

So originally our Easter was going to be super mellow. Joey had to work so we were going to just have a little Easter Egg Hunt for The Phi on his lunch break.



Following the Bunny Tracks to find her basket........

And no Easter is complete with some Peeps.

Since we had no plans there was no need for me to go out and stress over buying The Phi an Easter Dress. Thank goodness. But every little girl really should be dressed up for an Easter Egg Hunt. So to the dress-up bag we go.

She totally has her Moms (lack of) fashion sense.

A lonely Easter Egg hunt for one.

Then Joey called to say he was getting off work early and our plans changed. We were able to make it to a family get together for a few hours. The Phi was more than thrilled to play with her cousins.

Even if it meant she had to take off her giant dress to play on the swing set.

Monday, April 13, 2009

"Like my own personal brand of heroin"

Finally saw the movie. Finally. I got it from Netflix and immediately put The Phi down for a nap to watch in peace and quiet, with no interruptions. I kept the computer off and even refrained from knitting while watching. I just watched a movie. I don't know the last time I did that.

The books were good and the movie was good. (of course not as good as the books) I felt really captured that deep, otherworldly, passionate and completely desperate relationship between Bella and Edward.

Let me tell you, the 13 year old in me was swooning. The way she fell "unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him. " It plays on that idea of dying for the one you love.

The feminist in me did not like how desperate and clingy Bella became so quickly. She talked tough to her friend and told her to ask a guy out, but Bella was the typical damsel in distress.

Anyone else out there have an opinion about the movie?

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Weekly Wieners


And this week the weekly winners are back and they are bad! For more please visit Sarcastic Mom at www.sarcasticmom.com.
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2 years

2 years
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Coloring Easter Eggs

Coloring Easter Eggs
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mural

The Phi and a mural
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hair combing

Sharing a secret with Mom
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Gaby Jr's Soccer Game

Saturday we got to go to my cousin Gabriel's soccer game.
His team won and we had such a great time!
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And Always The Silliness.......

Gaby Jr's Soccer Game

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To you and yours.......

Happy Easter

Dirt Road Diary- Berdoo Canyon

It had been awhile but Joey recently convinced me to head out on an off-roading adventure. Mostly because the San Berdoo trail ends inside J...