We're Back!!

After several weeks of life without my laptop, I'm back in business! I installed my new hard drive last night, hit the power button, and was thrilled to see the Windows icon appear on the screen. Once I set up the basics, I logged into Dell Safe back-up online and kept my fingers crossed that after 8 hours of uploading, I'd get it all back.....and I did!! I woke up this morning to find all of my files and programs installed on my computer. Words cannot express how happy I am! It's ALL there!!

So, now for my week in review. Last Sunday we celebrated my birthday with the Mazur family. We had enchiladas and a birthday cheesecake for dessert. They brought me a Kohl's gift card (my favorite!) and a microphone for my Wii so I can rock out to Guitar Hero.....so fun! We enjoyed beer, wine, and MarioKart for what seemed like forever. As always, we enjoyed the company and the boys had fun with their friends.

On Monday I was back to work to deliver performance reviews to my team. I generally look forward to this task as it is a time for me to express my gratitude for a great year. Unfortunately I was down to the wire so I had to cover half of them over the phone....no good! At least my team was very appreciative of my feedback and kind words. After a long day, I received a phone call from the Daycare that little Matty was ill and needed to come home. Upon arriving to the daycare, I found that both Matty and Dominic were suffering from a gastro-intestinal bug and that I would need to keep both home with me on Tuesday. The good news is that I was off.

On Tuesday, we took Dominic to get a hair cut. Since Joshua had removed a large portion of hair from the back of Dominic's head, I knew that Tim would have to remove quite a bit to make it even. Thank goodness Dominic is a good sport, and is rather handsome to boot. He has little hair left, but he wears it well. Dominic had a dentist appointment in Atascadero so we headed that way after leaving the Barber. Since we were in Atascadero, I decided to stop by the Bakery and order Matthew's birthday cake....one more item off the checklist for the big day. Dominic was a champ at the Dentist. He got his teeth cleaned, a fluoride treatment, and a big high 5 from Dr. Cottrell. At least I have one little guy who is agreeable to most anything.

Because the boys were ill and I had to venture to Los Angeles, Jim had to return home from work on Wednesday morning. Our friend Jake was gracious enough to sit with the boys from 6-8am until Jim came home as I had to get on the road. Needless to say he has decided he does not want kids for a long while. He couldn't believe how much work goes into the morning every single day. Jim told me later that Matthew pooped and when Jake changed his diaper, he put it on backwards....yes, the tabs were in the back.

I had a meeting at the Westin Bonaventure hotel on Wednesday and Thursday. What a neat place! The only downfall was that it had lot's of stairs, multiple elevators (I could only take the red circle elevator to get to my room), and a bit of nonsense to the design. I really wish I had taken a few pictures but, oh well. We are rolling out quite a few new things at work in the next 6 months; all of which will make the lives of me and my managers better! I returned to Bakersfield Thursday night and spent the night with my mom. Unfortunately I didn't arrive until 8:30 due to traffic, so I didn't get to visit very long. We will do more catching up next weekend.

I arrived home last night and was happy to see Jim and the boys. I arranged for our babysitter, Kimrah, to sit with the boys so that Jim and I could visit our local Sushi restaurant for dinner. I ended the night at the Mazur's house picking up our Wii (which Dominic dropped on the floor last week so it wasn't working). It got a good bill of health so Joshua will now get to play MarioKart all day today while I am at work.

I hope you all had a great week!

Still Trying to Catch Up!

I have so much to add to my blog, but today is not the day. We've had an eventful week, and have a few pics to share. I promise to add content tonight to catch everyone up. I'm also happy to report that my laptop arrived from the Dell repair center on Wednesday, and the new hard drive arrived yesterday. I think I will be back among the technology savvy people by tomorrow night...YAY! Stay tuned..

Jim Makes the News

For four weeks over the summer, Jim attended a Haz Mat course to certify him in this specialty. Yesterday he was called to put his newly acquired skills to work. Click on the below link to see the new story, and then click on the video to see him in action. You will have to watch a brief commercial before it opens up the news clip. Jim is at the very beginning in his uniform and orange vest walking across the lot with two suited up workers.

http://www.kcoy.com/Global/story.asp?S=9705096

My New Favorite Magazine

I know what you're thinking; another magazine to add to the stack on the table. But wait, this is a great magazine! I ordered a subscription through a fundraiser Joshua's school was having and I absolutely love this one! It has tons of coupons and great recipe's in it, and has articles that pertain to things I'm interested in. I will most definitely extend this one as it is a good read.

Happy Birthday to Me!

For my 35th birthday, we decided to venture to the happiest place on earth for a few days of fun. Unforatunatly, everyone else decided to join us on Sunday making for wall to wall people and a couple of miserable Riggio's. I did, however, enjoy some time with Joshua and Dominic in the Brother Bear Wilderness Playground on Sunday before heading back to the hotel for a nap. Had we remembered to pack our suits we would have hung out at the pool for a few hours. We made plans to meet the Bridges Family at 3:30pm but that fell through when Pam called to report that both parking structures were full and that there was nowhere to park....dang! We had to return to Disneyland either way for Jim to complete his annual pass, so we decided to have an early dinner in Frontierland (which was mighty good I might add - Matthew LOVED the toddler meal of rice with chicken) and hit a few rides. (make that 2 rides; Pirates and Winnie the Pooh). We turned into the hotel early and watched some television before nodding off.

Yesterday we awoke early and packed everything up. We scheduled the Character Breakfast in the restaurant for 7am so we could get an early start. All three boys loved seeing Lilo, Stitch, Pluto, Daisy, and Minnie, and Jim and I enjoyed the multitude of breakfast entrees. I waited only 15 minutes or so in the ticket line to receive my birthday gift....since we have annual passes I received a $69 gift card to use in the park rather than the standard one day pass. We were thrilled to find that we had arrived early enough to walk on nearly every ride before heading over to California Adventure at around 11:30am. Joshua braved the Matterhorn and loved it. I convinced both boys to join me on Thunder Mountain - Dominic cried. I guess we found another ride he won't go on again for a while. Matthew soaked in the sun and fed the ducks with Jim while me and the older boys enjoyed Pirates.

All in all, we had a fun trip and are already planning our return on February 8-9. We will be celebrating my niece's 6th birthday and our annivesary.

Today was Joshua's bi-annual visit to the pediatric dentist. We love our dentist, Dr. Cottrell. He has a really cool office with video games at each station, and TV's everywhere. His staff is really nice, and he is very good with kids. As expected, Joshua was very stubborn during his visit. He refused to open his mouth for the dental assistant when he learned there was "yucky" stuff going in. Dr. Cottrell was quick to calm his nerves and convinced Joshua to let him just look at his teeth this time around, so long as he promised to allow his staff to take X-Ray's and clean his teeth the next time we come in. Joshua received a token and redeemed it for a orange bouncy ball. Someday Joshua will look back and laugh at how he acted at the dentist, until then, we will try to make it a fun experience each time we go.

Like New Again

After realizing that I would indeed need a car seat for Jim's truck, I asked our friends the Mazur's if they still had an extra one. On Sunday afternoon they dropped off a really nice Britax seat. For $30 I found a new cover for it at Walmart, and ordered a new harness and buckle set from the Britax website for $25 to make sure it was in tip top condition. Although I won't receive the harness and buckle for a few weeks, this is what the final product will look like:

So much for Jim's truck. I can't wait to install this one in my Tahoe. Thank you Mazur's for sharing your treasure with us. We will put it to good use!