Top Ten Tuesday

Top 10 Things to Celebrate this Week...

1. Shawn and I will celebrate our 10th anniversary on Thursday, May 31st.
2. We leave for Cancun in 25 days!!!
3. We only have 12 days of school left until summer vacation.
4. Our end of the year party for work is Friday-beach theme, my favorite!
5. I may actually be losing some weight after many WEEKS of going to the gym.
6. Pirates3 came out this week- I luv Johnny and Orlando-yum
7. There is a new Pirate themed Survivor type show staring this week.
8. My favorite summer shows are staring soon-So You Think You Can Dance and BigBrother.
9. I am almost done with an anniversary mini-book I am making for Shawn (really for me).
10. Mason is one more year closer to Kindergarten!!!

Poor Baby

I stayed home today with the boys. Jaxon has a fever of 102. He feels lousy and clingy, which also makes Mason whiny and clingy. It was one of those days where you don't feel like your body is your own because there is constant contact with one or more of your kids. It wears me out and runs me down. So I'll be off to bed early and hope tomorrow brings health and harmony to our household. We'll see...

Memorial Day

Protectors of Our Country

You honored our country

By fighting for our freedom

You gave your time,

Blood, Sweat, Tears,

And lives

To keep ours.

When we were afraid

You gathered yourselves

And left for us.

You left your families, so unselfishly

While we embraced ours.

You left without knowing

If you would ever see

Your friends,

And family, ever again

When we asked

You came.

We thank you

And will forever be grateful

Written by Wendy Wirth 9/11/02

I found this picture and poem on the internet yesterday. It touched me. I am so sad,frustrated, and angry by the war and the administration. I just want these fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers HOME now. Until then, they remain in my thoughts and prayers.

Open House

Jaxon had his Open House at school on Thursday. They performed a few adorable ocean songs and then we went to check out his classroom. One of Jaxon's best friends is Maile, also known as hula girl as she knows how to hula. Mason and Devon kept themselves occupied in the classroom library. I had to snap a picture of Jaxon and Mrs. Ryan, as this was my Kindergarten teacher many years ago. What a special year this has been for the both of us!

The Jungle

Yesterday we celebrated Mason's upcoming 4th birthday. There were 8 kids and twice as many adults, since I decided not to do a double party this year. I have always had the kid party first, then invited the family over after for a second party to avoid having the grandparents, aunts, and uncles in the mix of party games and screaming kids. Well this year, we called and booked the party, sent out invitations to everyone, and showed up for the festivities. I didn't have to clean one bit of my house, cook one ounce of food, put together one cuter-than-ever party bag, or decorate one corner of my house. It was birthday party heaven. Sorry kids, there may not be any more house birthday parties for a LONG time.

Anyways, the party was a blast. We let the kids roam the jungle for about an hour. Then, we were corralled into the Monkey Room to enjoy pizza, soda, and cake. We had a lovely Birthday Hostess, Janell, who served the food, cleaned up the plates, cut the cake, helped Mason open his gifts, and neatly packaged them up for us to take to the car. I actually got to sit and watch (and take pictures) of Mason enjoying his day. After the party room, we let the boys go play some more. After Grandma and Nani donated a generous amount of tokens, we had many video games left to play. So coins in hand, we spent another hour riding motorcycles, shooting balls at a clown, slapping alligators on the nose, knocking the airhockey puck around, and basically floating in video game nirvana. After hitting the prize booth (man is it hard to spend 760 points) we headed back to Oakley, with sticky, sweating, exhausted, smelling (but gloriously happy) boys.

In honor of Mason's day, we let him pick out our dinner destination. To my joy, and Shawn's horror, he picked Panera. So, we ended our evening enjoying soup, sandwiches, and salads at one of our favorite eating spots. What a perfect day!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! We've had a fantastic weekend at the Culcasi home. Well, atleast I did! Friday night I went scrapbooking and the boys stayed at Nani and Nanu's house. Saturday we signed the boys up for soccer and Shawn and I went to lunch. Last night we had dinner at Michelle and Geoff's to celebrate Mother's Day with Mom. We had a great time. The kids played in the hot tub. Today we went to brunch at Shawn's Grandmother's house. Then we came home and I watched an entire movie without being interupted. Miracle! Looking forward to spending the evening with my little guys.

Top 10 Tuesday

Top Ten Things I SHOULD be doing right now:

10. Laundry (does that ever end???)
9. Typing the minutes from a meeting this afternoon.
8. Catching up on research for work.
7. Emailing myAuntie Jo who emailed me twice this week. (Hi Auntie!)
6. Making Mother's Day Gifts
5. Going through a pile of papers and mail that are stacked up on the counter.
4. Reading the stack of magazines that are piling up.
3. Drinking water.
2. Painting my toe nails.
1. Going to bed early so I can go to the gym in the morning.

But instead, I'll just continue to sit here on the coach playing around on the computer!

National Scrapbook Day

Yesterday was National Scrapbook Day. Marissa and I usually participate in some sort of crop this weekend, but time got the best of us (plus the fee is now $60 at our regular hangout) and we missed it this year. So I woke up yesterday and declared it a National Holiday in my house. I sat at my table, logged onto CreativeKeepsakes.com and did my very first on-line crop. I am proud to say that I completed 3 out of 4 of the challenges. I didn't do the last one because I didn't care for the topic. Oh well, 3 layouts is pretty darn good on a Saturday morning with two kids and a husband at home. So here it was I came up with...the layout challenges were 1) EveryDay Beauty; 2) Use a Beautiful scrapbook supply; and 3) I am Beautiful (the hardest one). Wish I could upload my layouts better. I'll have to work on that. It was fun and has inspired me to start that All About Me scrapbook and also to remember to scrap the everyday things in life as well. Ali Edwards is my scrapbook hero.

Never Been Happier!

OK, I just sat and watched my son's biggest dream (so far in his 7 years) come true. He has been asking for this haircut for 9 months. I promised he could do it in the summer, but I got brave tonight. I asked the lady to cut the sides of the top first so we could see what his hair would look like this summer. The plan was to keep cutting after our sneek peak. Well, the closer she got to finishing the New Do, the bigger Jaxon's smile got. He had to keep forcing himslef to stop smiling, but it just kept creeping out. I wish I would have had my camera with me. Why did I decide to finally clean out my purse this week??? I have never seen him so happy! On the ride home, he kept checking himself out in the car. Thanks for the memory, Jaxon!

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Wednesday Weather

The rain is back, and I do not like it! Just yesterday I was walking around campus happy as can be with the sun shining and my capri pants on. Today it's all about boots and a sweater. Yuck! Let's hope it doesn't stick around long. I mean, I know we need the rain, but c'mon...it's May!