What's for Dinner?

It's probably one of the most frequently asked questions in my house. And sadly, if I answer something that requires more than opening a box the next question is, "Who's coming over?" Okay, maybe it isn't that bad, but I do get that one quite a bit when I am cleaning house or cooking up a storm. Camden has also taken to asking, "What's for breakfast?" as we are tucking him in at night. Do you really need to plan that far in advance for breakfast?
Anyway, the reason for this post is that I was SO excited to get some good deals on a few new cookbooks. I LOVE cookbooks! I can spend hours browsing through them, dreaming of the day that my kids will want something besides chicken nuggets. Hopeful that someday I will have the energy and finances to prepare gourmet meals, and a dishwasher to help me clean up afterwards. A girl can dream, right? I actually love coming up with new recipes too, and hope to someday enter a cooking contest. Unfortunately nowadays they are all shown on food network so I have to wait until after I reach my goal weight, buy a new wardrobe, find the perfect hairstyle that has eluded me my whole life, and possibly get a nose job before entering. Oh wait, and I also have to come up with a winning recipe. Considering the list of other things to do, I think I have time for that :)

Dear Nicholas Sparks

I hope you enjoyed the donation that I made to your film Dear John on Saturday. I want you to know that I have no intention of putting any more of my funds towards your films. I simply do not think that it is right for me to pay you money to make me cry. And to be honest, walking out of a movie with red eyes, a drippy nose, and a soggy tear stained tee shirt simply isn't fun. If you could put some kind of warning on your films along with the rating that states whether or not your characters will have a happy ending, and exactly how many tissues a normal person will need while watching your film, then maybe I will reconsider.

Thank you to my wonderful friends who did not warn me to take enough kleenex to the theater! Come on guys, you know I cry at everything - especially when I see guys crying. However, in honor of this weekends tear jerker, I decided to make a list of best and worst all time cry fest films. Feel free to add your favorites :) In no particular order:
Beaches - classic chick flick, at least 2 tissues
Steel Magnolias - laughter through tears is the best!
My Sister's Keeper - only watch with close friends who you don't mind seeing you sob hysterically
The Notebook - Who doesn't love James Gardner?
Radio Flyer - painful to watch but a good story
Titanic - Not a fan of Leo or James Cameron, but it has to be on the list
City of Angels and Message in a Bottle - my two least favorite chick flicks. If you are going to make us cry, at least give us a happy ending. Will never watch these again!

5 o' clock Shadow

According to my doctors, I have a unexplained dramatic hormonal shift that is causing a wide variety of symptoms. They don't know exactly what it is, or how to fix it, so I get to experiment with different things and take lots of tests. They have ruled out cancer (sigh of relief), pregnancy (which I thought was impossible but apparently not), and menopause. Two of the more unpleasant, noticeable side effects are that I am losing my hair and I am growing a beard. Okay, so maybe not a full beard, but I have all these gross whiskers on my chin. Now I know most of us females usually have one or two annoying little hairs that grow occasionally on our face that are unwanted, but I am talking like 30 on a daily basis. I am getting so desperate I have actually considered shaving. I have tried waxing, which led to a sticky mess, and hair remover which smells so disgusting you would think it would work but it doesn't. I am considering trying Rogaine for women but am fearful of putting anything on my head that would cause more hair growth because with my luck I would end up with 12 inch long eyebrows. Now I don't have a lot to work with in the "naturally good looking" department, so you can understand why this situation isn't ideal. I am fearful that one of these days Matt is going to come home to a bald and bearded woman and run screaming into the night. It's too bad animal rights activists have all but shut down the circus business otherwise I could at least make some money from this situation ;) At least when guys lose their hair they can try and do the comb-over; that doesn't really work for me. I guess I just need to invest in a good pair of tweezers and continue to try and hide my bald patches with a ponytail. Wish me luck!

Catching Up

What a busy week! Full of fun and lots of activities for all. Bennett had his first oral report this week, a presentation on Australia. He has been working SO hard, definitely not the procrastinator that his parents are. He even brought Vegimite for his class to try. Word to the wise, it looks like chocolate but tastes like something you scraped off your shoe.
Kendall lost her first tooth today! It has been wiggly for months and all of her classmates have already lost teeth. She decided to pull it herself - such a brave girl! Very un-Kendall like, but I think she wanted to be in control of her own pain. She is very excited to have her first visit from the tooth fairy tonight - as long as the tooth fairy isn't too tired to remember. Maybe I should write her a note....
KJ also got to go to the American Girl Doll Store in Los Angeles for her best friend's birthday. I think they should rename it the Heaven-on-earth-for-little-girls-and-mommies-store. It is incredible! And incredibly expensive! The marketing group for American Girl must be made up of mommies because somehow in the midst of a down economy with only 3 stores nationwide and outrageously overpriced items people like me manage to save my pennies to buy my daughter something there. Geniuses I tell you, and if I could buy stock in their company I would!
Last but not least we went to Chuck E Cheese today. Normally I avoid that place with a ten foot pole because the thought of all the germies there gives me the creeps, but we lathered up in antibacterial lotion and went for it to treat the kids. The best part of the day was when Camden accidentally referred to it as "Chuck E Jesus". I could not stop laughing!
Hope you all had a great Valentine's, Chinese New Year, and President's Day!

Recent Pics

This picture was taken at Camden's birthday party. Despite the cheesy grin he really did have a great time. I know the cake looks a little like a bunny but it is supposed to be Bolt. Much harder to make than you would think! Eyeballs are tricky! Camden has, of course, already started to talk about his next birthday. We haven't even put away all his gifts yet, crazy kid :)
Below is a pick of the kiddos during STORM WATCH 2010! Isn't it amazing how our newscasters can get so excited over a little rain? Anyway, we tried to head up the back hills of Santa Barbara to find some snow but didn't make it in time. It was still a beautiful drive and the kids had fun, although they keep asking when we can try again. If I could make it snow I would, but that is not exactly in mommy's skill set.

Happy Birthday Camden!

Today is my baby's 4th birthday. I am both excited and sad, kind of a weird mix of emotions going on. I feel like he is getting to the age where I can't really call him my baby anymore!
Whether on purpose or not, I ended up wearing my "maternity" shirt today. No, it is not really a maternity shirt, I did stop wearing those probably 2 years ago. Even though they aren't the most fashionable things in the world they are definitely comfortable :) So even though my shirt today wasn't maternity wear, it did give me that "pregnant" look. Normally this is something that any sane person would try to avoid, but for some crazy reason I didn't mind today. I even thought to myself what kind of responses I might give someone if they asked how far along I was; sad, I know. Even though I am totally content with my family size and love my kiddos to death, there will definitely always be a part of me that wants to be preggers again and have another little monkey. I just need to keep reminding myself of the sleepless nights, throwing up for nine months, whining (which is still heard far too often), and endless diapers. It's hard to remember those things when your kids crawl in your lap and just want to snuggle and tell you they love you!

A Tale of Two Balls

For those of you who normally read my blog you know that it is usually clean, fluffy, family fun. This, however, is an exception. Please be forewarned that the following post will contain some graphic language and subject matter not suitable to young children. You have been officially warned!
Last Thursday I was getting off of the freeway to go to Costco when I noticed the truck in front of me had a pair of testicles hanging off of the underneath of the bumper. Now I know that many people feel it important to plaster their cars with bumper stickers, or some truckers feel the need to belittle women by placing sexual silhouettes on their mud flaps, but seriously when did it become okay to hang your balls off you truck? I have actually seen this once before, thankfully neither time did I have my older children with me. I can only imagine the conversation that would have to occur after that! I couldn't help but wonder why on earth someone would do this, but I came up with three reasonable explanations.
1. The driver/owner did not actually do this, but rather it was a sick (and admittedly incredibly funny if this is the case) practical joke. Only this can explain why he doesn't mind a pair of oversize pale testicles swaying flimsily in the wind behind him.
2. The driver/owner has very low self esteem and is somewhat cowardly and placed the item on his truck so that upon entering and exiting his vehicle he could remind himself that he does have balls and he can face the day. If this is the case, I feel incredibly sorry for you little truck driver and hope that you can find some self help tapes to encourage your spirit rather than balls that hang off of your truck that make you look like you are greatly overcompensating for your own lack of balls.
3. The driver/owner of the truck fears that some day he may lose his balls, and therefore needs to continuously have an extra pair on hand. And, bonus, by hanging them off the back of his truck he knows they will be nice and dry if ever he needs to switch them out.
I wish that I had had the balls to follow this driver and give him a piece of my mind. Maybe I could have borrowed his?