I'm a movie star.....NOT

This morning at 10:30am, I was on the Judge Joe Brown Show.... We had a mini viewing party at my work. Some guy on the first floor was nice enough to let us take over his TV. He only shows stock market junk on there and who really wants to see that depressing stuff right now anyways? Here are some clips and pics...enjoy! You'll have to watch them to find out what happened!

Brooke's newest habit!

Isn't it cute when the discover their voice? Of course it is. Brooke found her voice about a month ago and started doing a very low, monotone sound with her voice open. It kinded sound like the Grudge when that scary thing would pop out, but cuter because it was coming from Brooke. That lasted for about a week and a half or so. Then she started spitting, but in a feminine way of course. Well, that lasted for another week and a half or so. Well, now...she is screaming! It was cute for the first half of a day, now it is so piercing! Its cute that she has learned something new, but I am pretty confidant that any neighbor within a half mile radius hates us. Here is a video for your listening pleasure. I am sorry it is so dark...I was standing over her and in the way of the light. Stupid me.

TOO close for comfort!

As if it isn't bad enough that we have to prepare for the alleged "BIG ONE" that is supposed to hit California any day now and crack off a piece of Orange County into the ocean....we now have to deal with fires. The fires started early Saturday morning, but seemed pretty far from anyone we knew. We all went on with our days as if everything was going to be okay. As the afternoon went on, we watched as the fires got closer to Anaheim/Yorba Linda. Well that is where Mark's mom and dad live, so we started to get a little nervous. Ken and JoAnn had left for Temecula earlier that morning and found out about the fires and started heading home. Unfortunately, the freeways were all closing because the fires were so intense. They had to get re-routed all the way through La Habra - basically several hours out of their way. Around 3:30pm, Mark received a call from his friend Darren, to let him know that another fire sprouted up about 2 blocks from his parents house and in Darren's words he told Mark to "get his parents s@#T out of there"! Mark and I packed up the kids and dropped them all off at our neighbors house in hopes we can get to their house and get the animals and some pictures. Meanwhile, Ken and JoAnn's neighbor, Pat, packed up the animals and got out of there. By this time, their street was on mandatory evacuation. Their other neighbor, Jim, stayed behind and was giving us constant updates. He stayed with another neighbor, who was an ex-fire fighter. All the while, Ken and JoAnn are stuck on the freeway trying to get home. At this point, we all feel a little better knowing the animals were safe, but Mark and I continued our journey to hopefully pack up some valuables. We got to a main street that was back up for miles, but fortunately, Mark knows a super secret way around it. So we started a treck through a neighborhood in Villa Park and successfully reached another road that would have led us through to their house. However once we turned right onto this road...we were quickly greeted by police officers who detoured us around to right back were we started. We asked if we could go through if we lived there (Mark still has his parents address on his drivers license) but they said DENIED! There was nothing left for us to do, se we turned around and headed home. Ken and JoAnn ended up staying at our house that night with their dog, cat and bunny. By around 8 pm, we learned their house was out of harms way. PHEW! On a sad note, the apartments that Mark's sister, Courtney, used to live in was burned to the ground. Fortunately, she moved out in June. Though there were alot of homes lost and the fire continues to burn, our family was fortunate and dodged the fires.

Carlie's end of season party!

Carlie's soccer team, Quicksilver, met for the last time on Saturday to have their party. This was by far, the best group of girls that Carlie has played with. She had alot of friend on her team and made several more. We all met at Bil Barber Park and had a potluck. There was everything from cupcakes, to pizza to fruit. It was all good.

Great job Blue Raiders!

Josh's team made it to the Championship game which was played this past Saturday. The opposing team made the first goal in the first quarter. Then we made a goal, then they made two more. By half time, the score was 2-3, them. In the fourth quarter, we tied it up, 3-3. The Blue Raiders were getting more aggressive than the first half, which was good. Finally, with a little more than two minutes left in the game, the other team got a penalty kick. Talk about an intense moment! Unfortunately, they made the goal and we lost the game 3-4. All the boys received a trophy for second place and they get to play in the Mayors cup in December. Take a look at the video below for the penalty kick. INTENSE!

Oh, the sweet smell of formaldehyde in the morning!

Josh was lucky enough to disect a frog in school. His teacher got a great picture of it. Out of all the things I miss in school...disecting things is one of them.

Quicksilver - A Rough, but solid, Finish

Carlie had her last game last night. They were playing for third place. Unfortunately, they lost 0-5, which puts them at 4th place...which still isn't bad considering there are 12 teams. Carlie did great and pulled off a handful of goals this season. We are super proud of her and how aggressive she has become. Way to go #12!!!

Brooke's first attempt at cereal!

This past Saturday was Brooke's first attempt at eating solids. I have been waiting for this moment for a long time. I think it is so cute how they open there mouths and make funny faces the first time they taste something. Anyways...after a trip to Target with Brooke, we came home with rice cereal, spoons with the rubber on it and of course....the Bumbo. The Bumbo is probably one of the greatest inventions ever. We got a pink one and she sits in it so cute! (See pics for description)Brooke did pretty good, but I don't think I can describe in words what a cute experience it was...so here are some pics.

Drum roll please!

Lately everyone has been asking me how much Brooke weighs...well on Thursday, she had her 4 month appointment. She weighed in at 17 lbs 6 ounces....she is in the top 98 perentile of her age group. She is 25 3/4 inches long, which is in the top 93 percentile. Pretty much...she is a big and healthy girl. We got the okay to start giving her cereal in the morning and then in a month, we can begin giving her veggies and fruit. I can't WAIT. We are starting tomorrow morning! Don't worry, I'll post pics.

WE DID IT!

Mark and I have been looking for a new place for the last 8-9 months....not aggressively, but still looking. We love were we live, but we new we would need more room for Brooke. I would say we have looked at about 20 houses. Our hopes were to stay in Woodbridge, but alot of the houses in our price range were out of our area. However, on Wednesday, I did my usual check on Craigslist and typed "Woodbridge" in the search. Well, a place popped up...3+den. It was perfect! I immediately emailed the landlord with the usual questions...is it still available....do you take a pet...how much is the security deposit! She responded fairly quickly and favorably. Before you knew it, we had an appointment to check it out. Everything looked great! Thursday we took the kids to see it and fill out the application. Now, here we are Friday evening, only three days later, and I am happy to say that everything is approved and we have officially given our 30 day notice! Now that hard part begins.....packing and moving! Do I hear moving party? Here are some pics!

Soccer update!!!!

Both Carlie and Josh are in the playoffs. They had their first playoff games last Saturday. Unfortunately, Carlie's team lost 0-5. However, Josh's team won 5-0. Josh's team was currently in 3rd place. Last Saturday's game was against the first place team, so it was HUGE that they won. They play again this coming Saturday at noon against another 1st place team from another division. Carlie has another game tonight. I beleive if their team loses, they are out of the playoffs. Hopefully that won't happen. More updates to come after tonight's game!

Halloween!

We had a fun halloween, however, it was a very busy one. We all dressed up this year. My work had a costume contest...I won third place! WOO HOO! Mark had a pizza eating contest...he didn't win, but came very close. His Pizza Roll Method didn't quite work as he had hoped. Mark dressed as Duane Peters (google him), I went as a nun, Carlie went as a baseball head, Josh went as a scary biker dude and Brooke was a skeleton. I took some pics, however, Carlie didn't keep her costume on long enough to get a pic of her. Also, Josh got really hot in his and ended up in his old costume, so the pic you see is of his last year's costume. After my work party, we went trick or treating at The Landing (by our house) with April (Troy Palamalu), Camryn (Cowgirl), Brett (Scary Pervy Guy), Bretty (Scream), Maddie (Scarecrow), Christian (Scary dude) and Maddy (Baseball head). That place is CRAZY! You can't even drive down the streets...it is SO crowded. But it definitly makes for a fun Halloween.

Pumpkin Patch

Last week, Brooke went to her first pumpkin patch. We went to the pumpkin patch by Irvine Valley College. Considering Josh already had a pumpkin and Carlie really didn't care, the only real reason for going was for pictures. So....here you go!....and yes, I was one of those crazy moms that took millions of pictures, hoping to get a little smirk from a baby.

MUD RUN!!

My work decided to participate in the October's Mud Run at Camp Pendalton. I signed up earlier in the year, while I was still pregnant. I figured I would have the baby late june/early july, recover for 6 weeks, then train for 2 months. Well, I had the baby, but the training never happened. I must say...October 18th snuck up VERY fast. The mud run is a 10k and considering I still get winded going up my stairs...I was scared! On the morning of the 18th, I woke up at 5:00am and fed Brooke...poor baby wasn't ready to wake up yet. Then we picked up April at 5:45am and off we went to meet the rest of the gang in Aliso Viejo. We met at 6am at Starbucks then followed each other to Camp Pendalton. We arrived around 7am and had to park in this huge parking lot and then take a bus up to the race area. I managed to get another quick feeding in for Brooke before the race started. At around 8:50am, I was at the starting line waiting to embark on this dreadful run. They had music blasting and there were about 4,000 people running. At that point, my only goal was to finish the race within the 2 hour and 45 minutes time they alloted. Finally the race began and all these people started running, well, there were so many, that everyone was walking. Eventaully the crowd started spreading out as all the crazies sprinted ahead. The first thing we got to experience was a fire hose spraying us all down. This would have been something I welcomed at mile 4, but considering I had only ran about 50 yards, it was pretty miserable. The water was FREEZING! And it wasn't a light spray either...it kinda hurt. They proceeded to spray us all down another 3 times within the first mile. It pretty much sucked. Then we had to go through a little river crossing. My feet were completely under water. By this time, I am tired and trying to figure out why in the heck I am doing this. You could imagine how I felt when this 70 year old man in a full white suit and tie went jogging past me. I figured I am here and worst case scenerio is that I do this for 2 hours and 45 minutes. So I kept going. There were some up hills that I walked. I found it hilarious that some of these crazies go flying past me as if there was a million dollars at the finish line and then a few yards down the road, there they are, off to the side walking and trying to catch their breath. Then they sprint off again, then stop to catch their breath. I am pretty sure I had a much more enjoyable time than they did and yet we finished at the same time. IDIOTS! Anyways, after going over two 5 foot walls, through tires, a muddy tunnel, army crawling through a mud pit and running up a steap hill as they shot water down the hill...I finally finished. Total time - One hour and fifty five minutes! WOO HOO! Key word...FINISHED! I will definately do this again next year...except this time I am going to actually train!