We left on Friday and picked up Grandma on the way to CA. First stop, Coach outlet in Cabazon! I've wanted a Coach bag for over a year now but the price tag put the dream on hold-until this weekend! The bag I picked was regularly priced at $358 and was on sale for $146. Thanks Matt! When I consider that it will last 5 times as long as a cheap purse and that I was still carrying around my 'J' initial purse (remember those?) I think it was a sound investment. Grandma spoiled me with a coordinating wallet. I've already transfered everything over and feel like a new woman! Grandma kept Xander occupied in the back seat for about an hour by letting him duct tape each of her fingers. Hey, whatever it takes, right?
We rolled into town and went with the whole fam damily to a Chinese buffet. Interesting. I'm embarrassed to admit that it was my first time actually sitting in a Chinese restaurant-we usually do takeout. I really enjoyed being able to try a taste of the different foods. Most were good. Some not so much. There were bones in just about everything which I am not used to and not being a fan of seafood limited my choices by about half but we had a great time. Brice (BIL) showed up fresh from the Apple store with his iphone. That thing is pretty cool. I took a turn and went to my blog and linked to RQ (of course!) Weird to have it in the palm of my hand. It would be far too dangerous not to mention expensive for me to own one. I had to get a picture of my dad feeding Xander Jello with chopsticks!
On Saturday morning we enjoyed a delicious crepe breakfast at Matt's mom's (our parents live blocks from each other) with Mitzi and Elna (Matt's great aunt and cousin) who were visiting from Utah and Pennsylvania. These two women kept my husband alive when he was in college in Utah. (They fed him on the weekends while he used their laundry rooms.) Good food and good company! The plan for the day was that Matt would stay with his family and attend a memorial service for an Uncle that passed away several months ago. He played the guitar for the service and I'm told did a great job. I took the kids and my Mom drove us out to Long Beach for the
Anime Expo where my
brother had a booth. He is an amazingly talented artist and can do just about any medium. He is best known for his minimalist 'emo' comic strip-Pon and Zi. I was able to line up with his hoards of fans and listen to them gush about his art talent and watch them ask for his autograph. I was very tempted to shout in the middle of the crowd, "Hey, I changed that guy's diapers!!!" but refrained. Jeff sent us home with tons of merchandise-thanks Jeff!
After that, we headed to a beach near the Queen Mary where the kids frolicked in the water and Taylor took a skim-board lesson from Uncle Jared who is only three years his senior. T really looks up to him and I could tell that he was more brave than usual trying out the board not wanting to disappoint his uncle. He actually did pretty good for a first try. Poor Noah took a skim board to the head and bled all over the place. Grandma Judy threw us a towel I applied pressure and tried to calm him down. The bleeding stopped but I still wasn't sure if he was in need of stitches or not. I took him over to the lifeguard station and Lifeguard Brent (first day on the job) cleaned and bandaged him up and declared him good to go-no stitches necessary. Noah was mortified when I brought out the camera. The battery was dead so Aunt Julie retrieved her camera/phone. I'll have to get the picture from her later.
After the beach, we headed to Rubi's for lunch. It's a hole in the wall place in Whittier where we used to live. I think I've probably sat in the high chairs in that place. I ate the requisite bean and cheese burrito and had a chocolate chip shake to top it off. Good stuff and the braces have done their job. I used to not be able to take a clean bite out of a burrito because my teeth didn't line up right. That right there was worth the $!!! It was also nice to not have to wear the burrito home in my grill!!!
We headed back to Mom's, left the kids with my Dad and went for a pedicure. It was my first spa pedicure and was worth every penny. I wish I knew what she soaked my feet in (battery acid?) because they have never been so soft. There's nothing like a fresh pedicure to make you feel like a girl. We went back to Mom's and ate a delicious dinner with Janine (my sister) and Brice and James (my brother) and Faith and their two girls. [If it seems like siblings keep popping out of the woodworks it's because I am one of seven.] We ate too much and then had an impromptu talent show. Grandma put out a match with her mouth. Jared juggled three balls. Julie played the tuba and James played the trumpet which was very impressive since he probably hadn't seen the thing for 10+ years. He even gave the tuba a try and did pretty well. I would have participated but wasn't in the mood to clean out a closet on a full stomach. ;o)
After a quick and action-packed weekend, we hit the road early Sunday morning minus one child. Audrey is staying with my parents for the week since we will be down again next weekend. On the way home, Grandma received a gas-pumping lesson. She is 74 and until this day had never pumped her own gas. Recently, the gas station near her stopped doing full service and she has been driving miles away so someone could pump the gas for her. Not if I can help it! Poor Grandma. I have a twisted interest in getting her to do things that are out of her comfort zone. We have taken her on a hike. She has danced on the Ellen DeGeneres Show...you get the idea. She's a good sport!
J was very kind and gave the kids a great explanation of how the machine works which is pretty cool. I thought that it would be all computerized but it is not. She actually stands behind the quilt and guides a red light over a template of choice (we chose ladybugs, of course!) The machine is a foot or so away from the template and light and mimics the pattern onto the quilt. I might be able to describe the process better after a good night's sleep...;o)
Anyway, the quilt should be done minus the binding (Bless Betty's heart-She is going to do that too!) and tag(will have that embroidered this week) my mid August. We are getting so close-what a fun ride this has been! We spent the drive home talking about all of the things that we did in anticipation of the rest of the chidren which was fun. Granted, with my early deliveries, we only had about 7 months to prepare for each of them!
I decided to try to make Clean Mud (unravel 6 rolls of toilet paper in a large container, cover with water, add 1 1/2 cups borax and 2 flaked Dove soap bars. Let the kids mix it with their hands. Cover when not in use.) for the boys to play in and invited the neighbor girls over to help. It was fun but not so clean. There will be scraps of it all over the house for days. If it wasn't 111 degrees outside, I would have had them do it on the table on the back porch. We may have to do this again in the Fall.
Matt came home from work and wanted to take the boys out for pizza for family night. First we hit the pet store, then headed over to a furniture store that was having a sale. There is a bedroom set for Audrey that I've had my eye on for a while. She has never really had her own bedroom furniture. Long story short, it was on sale and we got two twin beds (one for Audrey and one for MEILI! since they will be sharing a room.), two nightstands, a dresser with a mirror, a chest, and a bookcase for a total of ...drumroll please....$1300!!! It looks white but is really a light wood whitewashed with a cream colored paint if that makes any sense. I really like the scrollwork on the pieces.
When I was 8 years old, my grandparents bought me a matching set of bedroom furniture. It has always been very special to me and several of the pieces are still in the family. In fact, Audrey uses the dresser now but it is on it's last legs. I hope that she and Meili will enjoy this furniture as much as I loved mine.
