Our little loves<3

Aren't they cute?

It was hard enough to get a good shot with these two wild ones...I don't know how the Cham clan got all SEVEN in a good shot!

Aubrey Uncensored

This is the real deal folks....
...our face painting, headpiece wearing, cookie eating, hair messing, baby doll pushing lovable, huggable girl :)

She's loves painting herself in the bathtub.

I bought this in Mexico thinking it would come in handy for a costume one day. Aubrey loves her Cleopatra look :)

This is what she looks like about 3 hours after I get her ready. Her bow has been ripped out, she's traded her shoes for mine, and she's trying to give her doll a ride on the trike.

Mommy was putting away Aubrey's laundry after her bath and daddy gave her dessert.

mmmm...chocolate chip cookies!

We sure love our cRaZy girl :)

A YEAR....yesterday

I started this blog a year ago, yesterday. What a difference a year makes :)

Justin would say it's become a bit of an obsession since then, but I like to think of it as a hobby. It's a place to connect to other moms, friends, family and sometimes just a place to daydream, be inspired, or write about something as simple as my day, or as complicated as my feelings. It's a journal....with pictures. A timeline of a WHOLE year of Aubrey's life. My life. Our lives.

While Anna was here, she was talking about printing her blog for her year anniversary of blogging. I thought it was a great idea, and although I haven't done it yet, I would like to. I found this cool website. Does anyone know of any others?

Too much fun!

Of course, there isn't such a thing, but if there was, I think we would have officially accomplished it over the last two days.

My cousin Anna, her hubby Kurtis, and their two kids Maggie and Dallin have been staying with us. Kurt is a beekeeper (with my dad and uncle) and comes down here for the Almond season. Anna decided to bring the kids for a visit and of course a trip to Disneyland. Unfortunately, they went today and I'm a little worried about the weather.

We did enjoy the beautiful weather we had on Sunday and yesterday though. Considering the weather up where Anna lives is supposed to have a wind chill of -20*, I pretty sure they all enjoyed the sunshine. We started off Sunday with a visit to the park to play on the toys. Aubrey was napping so she missed out. Then, my dad came down from Porterville and brought my lil' sisters with him. We decided to ride bikes to the park by our house for another round of playing. The weather was beautiful and it was fun to get out and soak up the sunshine. Then, we all went to Christy's for a big dinner of enchiladas, tacos, rice and beans. YUM! And finally, we finished the day of with a super fun bath. Yesterday we headed up north to the Tulare outlets and my dad's house. The ladies and babes went shopping while the men and big kids headed over to my dad's. We got some GREAT deals at Osh Kosh and Dally-boy and Aubrey had some bonding time over a yummy lunch at Togos. Then, we were off to my dads for some paintball and outdoor fun (I know, didn't I learn my lesson the first time I went paintballing?). Christy and Chinalyn stayed inside with the kiddos while Anna and I joined everyone else for some paintball. I liked it a lot better this time because they made the course bigger (there are even towers you can climb into now) and we decided to play with limited balls (50). That way people had to shoot for accuracy and couldn't just keep shooting like wild banshees. After the paintball adventures were done, we brought the kids outside to play on all the toys. It reallly is like a playground because my dad installed all the old toys from my sister's school. Last night, we did some last minute shopping while the kids were in bed and Anna got packed up for their journey to Disneyland and home.

Today, I'm adopting Lorie's PJ Monday, but I'm making it PJ Tuesday and I trying to recoop from all the fun :) We're really sad that Kurtis and Anna don't live closer :(, but we had a GREAT time while they were here.

Enjoying the fog

One of the many benefits of being a teacher is enjoying fog delays! Now, I know that all you readers who live where it snows are thinking to yourself, "fog delays??, they actually delay school because of fog?". Yes we do! ....and I happen to be lucky enough to work in a district where 100% of our students are bussed in (well there is one little boy who lives across the street, but his mom works in our district office so he doesn't count). Not only do we get to enjoy the extra prep time with few or no students, but we don't even have to come until "it is safe to travel"...which is usally around 9:30 Ü To take full advantage of this extra time, Christy and I took the kiddos to Bagels and Blenders for some breakfast. It's was such a nice, relaxing morning! It's funny, though, how on a fog delay you feel like you have to do something with that extra 2 hours. On a regular day when we were both home (like on the weekends), we would rarely think to get up and get ready early so we could go to breakfast ÜWe're looking forward to my cousins from Washington arriving tonight for a couple of days. We even got the guest/craft/junk/ everything room cleaned out for them! So fun!

Good Mail

Saying goodbye to the month of December is always depressing for me. Not because Christmas is over, but because the mailbox is lonely. Of course, the usual bills and junk mail grace it, but who wants bills or junk mail to keep them company? I continue to check the mailbox for the occasional "Happy New Year" card, but considering January is half way over, I've given up on even those.
I am still looking forward to the arrival of this super cute swimsuit I bought Aubrey off of ebay (for a mere $.99 w/ $4.00 shipping), but really what I want is GOOD MAIL. Not necessarily to receive it (although that would be fun too), but to give it.


When I first started reading my cousing Anna's blog, I quickly discovered her cousin Melanie's blog (see links on the side). One of the first posts I read was about her good mail. I still don't quite understand it, but to the best of my ability, I'm guessing it's kinda like secret pals, just not secret. I've been wanting to mail some for a while (and I actually did mail one to Anna's little girl Maggie back in September), but I've been slacking ever since.

So I start again, I'll be sending out some Good Mail packages soon. They won't be anything big, just a little something to brighten some days and keep the mailbox company :)

Missing Teen- Former student

Some of you may have already seen this news story.

Chris is a former student of mine and he has been missing from his group home since Christmas Eve. I was shocked and saddened to hear this story. Please pray for him. He's so young and the world can be a scary place. Pray for his safe recovery and that he'll receive the help he needs after he's recovered.

Shop till you drop!

I've always loved to shop, and I particularly enjoy a bargain. Unfortunately, I don't feel like I get to shop much anymore...well unless you count grocery shopping and the occasional run to Target. I've been noticing how raggity all my clothes are starting to look. All my jeans are shredded on the bottom from walking on them and I feel like I've had most of my stuff for like 5 years. Don't get me wrong, I have plenty to wear and I'm greatful for what I have, I just need an update.


Since having Aubrey, most of my shopping is for her. Even today when I went shopping for ME. I ended up buying myself one shirt and I bought Aubrey a dress, shirt and a pair of jeans. None of which she really needs. I'm still on the hunt for myself, so if you spot any great sales, let me know. Speaking of good deals... If you have a little girl and you like the look of Pediped's, Marshalls has these cute Pediped look-alikes called PolkaTots for $14. They come in sizes 1-4, and Aubrey is in a 4, so I had to miss out. They look something like this.

My other observations about shopping:

We need a new mall in Bako. I mean, should I really feel like I need a bullet proof vest every time I go in our mall? It is ridiculous how ghetto it is! Everytime I go there, I make this observation and yet I go back. What is my problem?

Pointless post, I know. I just had to get something else up instead of the nasty snot picture :)

Sick.

not sure if you can tell how sick she is in this awful, blurry picture

(ignore the cookie around her mouth)

Unlike the Shel Silverstein poem, our girl really is sick. Swollen gunky eyes, green snot streaming down, fever, nasty sick! It's awful. I feel so bad for her and I'm sure she feels bad too. I think she's even losing her little voice. She wakes up in the middle of the night not sure of what she wants. She's just miserable. You know the "can't breathe through your nose, see through your eyes or suck on your pacifier" kind of sick. And what do I get from the doctor..."give her saline drops, motrin and some perscription eye drops". But doctor, can't you make it just disappear? Isn't that why you're here? Let's hope it goes away soon.

Rub a dub dub

Two babes in a tub!

Do you think they were having fun?

Lost in LOST

I've wasted away my life for the past week watching all 6 DVDs of Lost season 3. That show is sooo addicting. And the cliff hanger at the end of the season...what the heck is that about? Who died? How is Jack's dad still alive (he tells the other doctor to call his dad down there to see if he's drunker than his dad)? Who does Kate need to hurry home to?

I guess that's why they call it a cliff hanger. We can't wait until January 31st.

If you haven't got hooked, you still have time! Go rent the DVDs.

Daisy Mae

I was at Strawberry Patches a couple of weeks ago and spotted the cutest jeans hanging from their display line. I really wanted them, and I was hoping that they would go on sale during their big SALE. Nope, of course not, so I was forced to buy some of the fabric and try to replicate them. I would never even think of using this fabric if I hadn't seen the display, but I love the jeans.

I bought the little pair of Old Navy jeans at Goodwill for $3.25. I had to take them in along the leg because they were baggy boy jeans, but they were cheap and I liked their denim wash. I stayed up WAY too late last night working on them(12:45), while trying to finish up disc 4 of Lost season 3. I've felt groggy all day because of it. You know the bored, tired, not sure what you want to do groggy. I think they were worth it though :) I think they're baggy enough that they'll last through a couple of seasons, as pants for now and eventually capris. I also made cute daisy bows to match.

SO FUN!

Ringing in a new year!

...and what a BEAUTIFUL start to the new year we've had. I think it was about 65* today with a slight breeze....I mean ABSOLUTELY beautiful.

Of course, I have not an ounce of energy to go outside and enjoy it. We should take Aubrey for a bike ride or plant a bunch of late bulbs I bought at the grocery store, but instead we're watching Lost and football games. We did make it over to help Justin's grandma move some furniture and then she treated us to Olive Garden---YUM, but that doesn't really count as enjoying the outdoors. Hopefully this weather is a sign of the beautiful year to come.

It seems time passes more quickly each year. Maybe it's because life just gets busier or I'm getting older. It's a good reminder to value each day, each moment, because they pass all too quickly. That's my resolution this year, to really try to relish the small things. I want to spend more time noticing, enjoying, appreciating all the blessings that God has given us. Sometimes I feel like I let the days slip away with worrying about things like cleaning or organizing. I want to live in the moment more...if that makes sense.

Here's to a GREAT 2008!

Oh and here are some pictures of us ringing in the new year with Megan, Jason, Kurt, and Alisha. Aubrey also woke up because of all the fireworks so she joined us from about 11:30-12:30.

This is what you do when you're too cheap to buy Guitar Hero.

DANCE, DANCE, REVOLUTION baby!