jealous much??

Today Charlotte was watching the TV (honestly when ISN'T she watching TV!) and a commercial for some Shirley Temple DVD's comes on and she immediately says "I don't like that girl! Turn the channel! She's better than me and i don't like her!" I asked her what she meant and she said that Shirley Temple tap dances better than her but made sure to add "but I'm cuter than her!!" We are so humble in this home;)

So its been awhile...

I cant believe its been since august that i last posted! Well, we've had a couple changes as many of you may  know. Rick got a job with border patrol, had to leave for training for 6 months and i was left to fix up the house and pack myself. YIKES! The whole experience taught me that I'm stronger than i know. I fixed up a house by myself, worked, took care of the girls, and packed a 3400 sq foot house all in a matter of 6 months! Makes my head spin when i think about it. I never thought I'd leave beautiful San Diego or my friends and family but here i am living in Arizona. I miss home like crazy but surprisingly it's not nearly as bad i thought it would be. I think that might partly be because i know the goal is to get back to San Diego (hopefully sooner than later!!) and I'm not gone for good. Also i drive back every 6 weeks to work and get a quick home fix;)This experience has made me think that EVERYONE should live away from home and family and their comfort zone, at least for a little bit. Never thought i would say that but honestly it kind of feels like an adventure! Of course I wish our adventure could be in a COOLER more exotic place but hey it is what it is. I really feel like its been a huge growing experience and made our little family closer than ever because all we have is each other! Rick loves his job I love getting to be mommy (although i admit i DO at times miss work and getting that break!!) the girls are doing great and love their new puppy so all in all i would say that right now life is good and i couldn't be happier!

This Old House

I wish that i had taken some before and after pictures just so you could really get the full effect of how far this house has come but alas i did not. But for those of you who have been to my house before you know how BAD it truly was!! Lets just say i basically did not like my house for the first 7 years i lived here but now that its done i LOVE it. Its so pretty and inviting now and of course now that its done...im leaving it:( All i have to say is whoever rents it better love it and treat her well!

So there she is (minus a few of the rooms). I still have a couple of minor things to fix but its pretty much done. We've come a long way baby;)

makeover

before:
observe the long luxurious locks which almost reached her chubby tooshie


after:
the devastation:(

this is what i found on her floor

she keeps telling me she looks ugly and her hair looks like a boys so heres to hoping she never tries to give herself another haircut!!

Dancing Queens

Its that time of year again...the Del Mar Fair! My girls performed again this year and both did such a good job. Charlie danced to the song from Sleeping Beauty and Zippity Doo Dah and Sophia danced to Under the Sea from the Little Mermaid. Their favorite part of the whole thing? I let them wear a little bit of makeup and they feel so grown up and pretty;) I think their pretty cute if i do say so myself!

Rats with wings!

I HATE seagulls! While at the beach yesterday one of them nasty creatures swooped down and grabbed my half eaten sandwich right out of my hand and flew off with it! I felt a little silly when i jumped up and started chasing it because really like i was going to eat the thing now. But if i couldn't have my sandwich then neither could he! So next time your at the beach guard your food with your life!!

family pictures

We recently went and took pictures with the whole fam bamly and i'm SO happy with how they turned out:) I LOVE the color combination! If anyone is in need of some family pictures i would HIGHLY recommend giving Heidi Robbins a call. She was AWESOME! She did a great job and was very patient with our crazy group;) Thanks Heidi!!

These were just a few of them there were SO many to choose from!

cheesy;)

Isn't that just the cutest face ever?!? Oh how i love this boy;)

my kids play on the freeway

This past weekend they had a grand opening for the 52 freeway where it connects to the 67 which i know sounds kind of cheesy but we decided to go check it out. They had free shirts, food, entertainment, and activities for the kiddos. It was crazy crowded! Apparently no one in east county has anything better to do than to go hang out on the freeway. We got some fun pictures and I cant wait for the freeway to finally open since it will make my twice daily drive out to Sophia's school SO much faster!

were you scared?..no..do you want to ride again?..NO!..

I took Sophia on the tower of terror at Disneyland. She claimed she wasn't scared but i think this picture shows otherwise;)

well maybe not as scared as the kid in the corner!!!

Fancy Charlie

Charlotte is pretty into the Fancy Nancy books right now so we decided to throw a Fancy Nancy birthday party for her this year. It was crazy but i think the kids had fun so that's all that matters, right?? We had super cute decorations thanks to my mother and sister Michal. There were sunglasses, bead necklaces, and feather boas because you just can't be fancy without those. We had TONS of candy and tasty cupcakes so what better way to work off all that sugar than with a jumper in the back room. It was perfect! All in all i think everyone had fun but note to self DO NOT schedule to do a wedding the morning of a birthday party EVER again. I was pooped! Charlotte had a blast with all her little friends and it really was fun planning a Fancy Nancy party:) Thanks to everyone who came and helped Fancy Charlie celebrate her birthday this year!

charlotte paige

three years ago today you came into this world. you were so eager to be here that you came out all on your own. even though the nurse told me not to push and wait for the doctor you had plans of your own and without any pushing you popped right out. you've been happy just to be here ever since. i love your smile, your cute freckles, and how your always trying to make me laugh and smile. i love how you always take mommy's side when daddy's teasing me, and how you try to make funny faces and be silly to make me laugh if you think you've hurt my feelings. it makes my day when you tell me "mommy your my best friend." your a sweet, happy, fearless, spunky, and fun little girl and i can't imagine my life or our family without you! happy birthday charlie paige i love you with all my heart baby girl!

Bulletin Board

I was recently called to be the primary secretary and as the secretary part of my calling is to decorate the bulletin board. There's a website i got the basic idea from but of course i had to embellish! Thanks to my sister Michal who helped me out with her nifty cricut (i seriously need to get one of those!) and my sister Whitney who spent most of her day off helping me put it together. I was skeptical on how it was going to turn out but i think it turned out pretty cute if i do say so myself! See for yourself;)

Bbrrrrrr!!!

This year for Thanksgiving my family and myself and my girls all decided to go to Utah. We enjoyed visiting with family and friends, playing in the snow, playing with cousins,and seeing the sights. While i enjoyed my visit to the snow there is no way i could ever live in it, man is it cold!! This California girl can't handle temperatures in the 20s! My aunt Jeri or aunt "Jeri Fairy" as my girls call her, was kind enough to open her beautiful home to us and make us feel welcome and at home. We had a lot of fun but there is no way i will be making that drive with my girlies by myself again any time soon! But it was definitely worth it to get to spend time with my dear family i love so much and don't get to see often enough:)

On a random side note one of my favorite moments of the trip was when we were on a tour of the beehive house and the sister missionary giving the tour asks "does anyone here play an instrument?" and Charlotte says "I do." She asks her "what instrument do you play?" Without hesitating Charlotte says "the banjo!" The child doesn't even know what a banjo is! I know its probably one of those you had to be there moments but it was stinkin hilarious!

Happy Birthday Anna!

Last month myself and some girlfriends all went up to Pasadena for my friend Anna's 30th birthday. It was fun to spend the day with some of my favorite girls, do some shopping, eat way to much food, and best of all do this with NO kids! We also were in the studio audience for the Jay Leno show. It was fun to see how much work goes in to putting on a show like that. The guests were Garth Brooks and Mike "the situation" from Jersey Shore. We went to the melting pot afterwards and it was delicious. Thanks Michelle for planning such a fun day and Happy Birthday Anna, love you girl!!

Halloween

So can i just say i LOVED Halloween this year?!? The girls are both at such a fun age now and totally get into all the festivities. Between dressing up for school parties, trunk or treats, and trick or treating these costumes definitely saw some action. I have to say i was kind of disappointed this year that Sophia wouldn't let me talk her into what i wanted her to be and REFUSED to dress up in a theme with her sister. It made me a bit sad because i had it all planned out but she wanted to do her own thing this year :( But that's ok because i think her costume was PERFECT for her, and thank goodness she didn't pick something like Hannah Montana or something as equally obnoxious!! (sorry if that's what anyone's kid was!!) She sure made one cute Cleopatra! So Charlotte dressed up with her cousin Noah instead. They were the cutest Superman and Supergirl out there! If you asked Charlotte what she was for Halloween she says "A SUPERHERO!!" We had a blast this year and can't wait til next year! Sophia already has her costumes planned for the next 3 years;)

You ARE Mine!

So can i tell you how much i love this little girls freckles?!? I pretty much think their the cutest thing ever. And you know what i think it's funny that as a child i HATED my freckles with a passion. So i think its interesting that the thing i hated about myself as a child i adore on my daughter. Maybe it's because my girls pretty much look nothing like me and this is the one thing i can look at and think, "oh man there is a little of me in there!" :)

Baby Boy

Grant Thomas Brashear
Born October 6, 2010
8Lbs 9Ozs
He's just perfect and we are going to be best friends, we've already had a talk;) I'm so happy for my sister and her little family and I'm excited to get to love on a brand new baby!

My "new" bathroom

so for those of you who have had the unfortunate opportunity to witness the nastiness that was my downstairs bathroom let me take this moment to apologize and hope you have not been scarred for life. and for those of you who have not experienced it for yourselves count yourself lucky. all i can say is it was BAD. you can tell because there is no way in you know what i was going to post the before pics! now im not saying its perfect by any means but dang does it look better! im VERY proud of myself. i did most of it by myself including the peel and stick flooring. (ok rick helped me a bit but i did most of it!!) now im sure your thinking peel and stick is flooring for dummies erin! yes it is but this girl is definitely a dummy when it comes to home projects! but i must say i think it turned out fairly decent. so im very happy with my new bathroom and no longer do i close my eyes when i go in there and get out as fast as i can. now i look around with a sense of accomplishment and ponder what my next project shall be :)

adams ave

Its been awhile since i posted and since nothing too exciting comes to mind and the most interesting thing we've done lately was the Adams Ave street fair i thought I'd post about that. I've decided this is now my favorite street fair. So fun! Its pretty decent in size with lots of neat treasures to be found. And my favorite part is its not too crazy crowded (trying to maneuver a stroller has made me detest crowds!!) I didn't really get many pictures because the girls were not really into posing because of the heat but i did get a picture of each of them with their umbrellas they got. It was the best $3 i ever spent, kept them happy! Its also fun to people watch there for sure. Lots of interesting characters. Such as the guy who used the port-o-potty right before me and dropped his stash of weed on the floor. I chucked that thing all the way to the back of the tank!! He was standing out there waiting to get in when i was done. Good luck with that one buddy;) Hahaha! The girls loved it. They both got balloon animals and their faces painted. I bought a really cute necklace and found so many other things i wanted but alas i restrained myself. Oh well, there's always next year, right?!?



Charlotte showing me her booger. Why is my kid so gross?!?

Sophia posin it up!
Crazy Charlie!