Some decorating help

Eventually we're going to get around to making a big girl room for Aubrey, so I've been looking at bedding. I kind of like the idea of doing a tree/bird theme, but I'm not sure I want all pastel colors. I also like the idea of having red in her big girl room, but I'm not sure on the bedding.

Here are two options that I like from Pottery Barn Kids:

What do you think? Also, do you know any other websites that have cute kid's bedding? Potter Barn is a bit pricey!

Excited

When I was in high school, I used to be excited about school starting. It marked the start of football games, friends, spirit days and of course school shopping. I remember I used to pump myself up about it by mapping out all the fun activities until Christmas break.

Now the beginning of school usually brings anxiety, an emptier bank account (my school is still on an 11 month pay scale), and transition. Even with these factors, there are a few things I'm excited about:

1. FALL! Last week we got a SLIGHT glimpse of nice weather. I'm EXCITED that fall is on it's way. I'm looking forward to falling leaves, layered clothes and rain. I'm looking forward to visits to the park after 9am when the slide won't burn the kids bottoms. And of course I'm looking forward to apples in Tehachapi. I LOVE FALL!

2. With fall comes Halloween...which means costumes! YIPPIE! I've already been looking for inspiration and I think we're set on a Dr. Suess theme! I'm so excited about the family affair I plan on creating ;)

3. And with Halloween comes pumpkin patches! I know I'm getting ahead of myself because it's not even September, but still....

Okay, I'll get back on track.

4. I'm excited about my new bike. I really needed a bike with gears for pulling the bike trailer, so I got one for my birthday. We ordered it yesterday and it should be in by the end of the week. SO FUN!

5. I'm excited that I only have two kids today instead of three....and they're both sleeping peacefully.

Bloopers, birthdays and babes, oh my!

Thanks to all the bloggers who indulged my little contest with their cute pictures. I included the names of all the last minute submissions also, since I wasn't too prompt on selecting a winner.And the winner is.....

Congrats Carrie! Leave a comment letting me know if you want Starbucks or Jamba Juice.

I have one last blooper from my birthday party at John's Incredible Pizza. This is my cute, big boy having fun riding the dinosaur. :) I'm sure he'll appreciate me posting this picture. All in an effort to make you smile!

Here are some other pictures of the birthday fun. Honestly, it was the perfect choice for a b-day party. Everyone paid for themselves and EVERYONE had a great time!

And last, but not least. We had a little Nascar get together last night. Carrie, Josh, Kurt and Alisha came over for dinner and same racing! Charleigh and Aubrey played really well together and had fun winding down with a Barney video in the "playroom". SO CUTE!

I know, I know

I said that I'd draw a name on Wednesday night. Sorry! I'm not sure what I was thinking when I decided to do a contest on the first week of school. I promise I will do it before Sunday night. I could easily do it now, but that wouldn't make for a very fun post.

The good news is that I've survived the first week back to school, which also happens to be my first week teaching 7th graders (only 2 periods of them, THANK GOD!). I think most of my 6th graders will be really good kids (so far, I only have one who really has done NOTHING) and my 7th graders, well, they're 7th graders. It's been a rough week for Aubrey. She has plenty of fun at Auntie's house, but she misses her mommy and she's really not into this early rising stuff. My days off are spent with both of Christy's kids and Aubrey. Not really a day off, but we're making the most of it.

I promise to SOON post the winner of the contest and some birthday fun pictures.

Tagged...a birthday post about ME!

The lovely Christie tagged me a little while ago, so I figured I'd save it for a special occasion...MY BIRTHDAY! So in celebration of the 28th anniversary of the day I was born...here are some interesting facts about me!

1. I love hospital cafeteria food...and I used to love hot lunches from the school cafeteria too. I have many fond memories of eating in the hospital cafeteria with my Grandma Helen. She would pack salami and cheese sandwiches and we would get mashed potatoes and gravy from the cafeteria after her physical therapy appts. My sister and I still talk about how yummy those lunches were.

2. I think I've mentioned this before, but my love of hospital food probably developed as a young child. I was born with three kidneys, so I had some problems with the whole "waste management" system. When I was three I had a bilateral ureter reinplantation, so I spent quite a bit of time in the hospital. I have lots of random memories from that year.

3. I've stayed the night in a catholic rectory MANY times. My grandma was the house keeper for a priest, so on some snowy nights when it was too dangerous to drive an hour home, we would stay the night. (I lived with my grandma for a while) "Father" was basically my grandpa growing up. He spoiled us rotten, called us, wrote to us, and loved us like we were his own. He was the first special person in my life to pass away.

4. As a teenager, I spent my summers labeling honey bears or extracting honey. My grandparents own(ed) a honey company and my dad owns an apiary that supplies the honey, basically, he's a beekeeper. If we labeled bears, we got a penny a bear. It was REALLY boring. Extracting was a bit more entertaining, but could also prove dangerous. On one particular day, I got stung 7 times in one hand. I even suckered a couple of friends into helping me out over the years;)

5. I've driven home from Cabo San Lucas. Well, technically I didn't drive, but I rode on a bus to Tijuana and then my friend Amy's dad picked us up and drove us home from there. We were supposed to fly home on Sept. 11, and well, we all know what happened on that day. There were no international flights for a while, so after being stranded for an extra week, we took a bus home.

6. I'm not the world traveling type. Don't get me wrong, I think that Europe and Asia, etc, would be very interesting. It's just that I really would LOVE to travel to all the different parts of the U.S.A. I went to kindergarten in Pennsylvania, and really it is SOOOO much different than Bakersfield. There is so much European culture, so many old structure, so much history! I think it would be fun to just take a few months and explore all the different areas of the U.S.

7. I've always been a tomboy. My dad never had boys, so he always bought us boy toys. I had my first motorcycle and BB gun at 7 years old. Growing up my favorite cousin was Travis. We did all the "boy" things together while my sister and Michelle (NEW BLOGGER, YAY!) played house...BORING! Now I have a girly girl who L-O-V-E-S dolls, go figure!

There you go! A little more about me...Barbie (oh, one more thing, Barbie is my real name, not Barbara).

I don't tag anyone, but you can do this if you would like, because well, I LOVE reading about all of my blog buddies.

CHEESE!!!

This is the BIG 200!!!!

I have been racking my brain on what I should do to celebrate. Of course, I knew I wanted to do a give away, because, let's face it, give aways are FUN! Last time I had a give away, it was Christmas time, so it was easy to host a little contest. This time I just couldn't think of anything great. I'm not as creative as Christie, and I'm not as generous as Lorie. I want to make people work to enter, but not too hard. With school starting, I threw around ideas about leaving a comment about your favorite teacher, but Alisha said that was boring (because it is).

Then in my frustration of making Aubrey's b-day invites, it came to me. We always get to see all the cute pictures of each other's kids, thanks to digital photography. You know the ones with a big cheesy grin, or a sweet serene stare. But my kid is no cheeser. I REALLY have to work to get a decent picture. It's not that she isn't cute, it's just that she doesn't like taking pictures, and she has a scowl that could kill!! So, alas, it's time to show those bloopers! They don't have to be of the kids, they can be of you too. Just post at least one blooper (the more the merrier) on your blog by next Wed. and leave me a comment letting me know. If you don't have a blog or don't want to post it on yours, you can still enter by e-mailing me a picture blooper at jt58blue at hotmail.com. I'll put all your names in a hat and draw the winner on Wed. evening. The winner will get their choice of a $10 gift card to Starbucks or Jamba Juice.

Can't wait to see your blooper pictures! Here are some of mine:

This is Aubrey's first professional picture of "the scowl". Thanks Lorie Chambless!

Do you think she enjoyed the 4th of July parade?! Really, she's not crying here just straining to look up at the camera. She just looks plain miserable.

Auntie was trying to get her to smile for b-day invite pictures. Apparently she wasn't in the mood!

And my favorite! Just plain funny!

Back to life, back to reality...

...but not before a VACATION!

Yes, my friends, school starts next week..BLAH..so we decided to end the summer with a BANG! (Well, and Justin finally got a couple of days off so it was the only time we could go.) We went on a fabulous summer vacation to San Diego. We stayed at the this luxurious hotel, thanks to priceline's "name your own price" deal and had a blast!

I'm not a big San Diego vacationer, so our trip was full of several fun surprises. The first being the seaport village located outside the back door of our hotel. It was a great place to start our mornings with a relaxing bowl of ($5) cereal, while feeding the ducks. It was also a nice place to stroll along while unwinding in the evening. In addition to having this quaint little village out our back door, we also were a mere 4 blocks from San Diego's historic Gaslamp Quarter and Horton Plaza. All of these little surprises were wonderful additions to the main attraction...SEA WORLD!


Sea World was a wonderful combination of amusement park and zoo. The animals were great. We especially enjoyed the whale presentation, while Aubrey's favorite were the horses and polar bear. We even got a special treat because my ex-ex step niece Nikki (LOL) is one of the main dolphin trainers and was the main trainer for the dolphin show. After the show she was able to sneak away from her busy schedule to say hi! (**West High friends: This is Debi's older sister) When Aubrey had enough of the animal exhibits, it was off to kiddie land. She LOVED riding the rides and playing in the kid's play areas. She was worn out by about 2:00 each day (tickets are 2 for 1) when we headed back to the hotel.

Our vacation was perfect! I feel rejuvenated and ready to head back to school (well, not really, but as ready as I'll ever be ;) ).

Here are some of the pictures. I want to try to make a slide show and post it later. Stay tuned for my next post. It's the big 200 and there will, of course, be a prize!

The First Dates

**I don't know how, but I forgot a really important event in my last post. I just want to add it before I forget :)**

**A couple of weeks before Justin asked for my number, he volunteered to drive a group of us to a little college group study/ party. He drove his mom's suburban and filled it with a bunch of friends. It was February 21st, 2000 and we were going to have a Bible study and then watch David Letterman's return to late night after heart surgery (the only reason I know the date is because I looked it up on google ;) ). At this point we were just friends, but this was the first night that I thought Justin might be interested too. Though I was sensing his interest, I was still questioning whether or not he was just a flirt. About 2 days after the event I came home from work to find my Bible on my door step with a note in it. It went something like this (I have it, but it would take some digging to find): "Beautiful, You left this in my car the other night. Thought you might need it. ~Justin"

This was my first official "tingly feeling" from Justin. I was pretty sure he might like me because of the beautiful, but I didn't want to get too interested and then be dissappointed if he was just a flirt. A couple of weeks later, was the lunch incident...hence the awkward tingly feeling.**


OKAY fast forward to the number asking. Our college group was planning a snow trip for the weekend following the number asking. Justin already knew about the trip and we had asked if he could drive his parents suburban. Honestly, knowing how he HATES driving out of town, I'm impressed by how willing he was to do this. (Of course, when you've got a crush, what aren't you willing to do?) He called that week, but with school/ work, we weren't able to plan a date. Instead he decided he would pick me up early for the snow trip and we would go grab some food before meeting everyone else to head to the snow. We went through the Jack In The Box drive thru because we were in a hurry. He paid and I felt really awkward. I've always been so independent and it just felt weird to be with such a nice guy. We went and picked everyone up and we were on our way to a day of fun. I sat up front with Justin and it was all starting to feel real.

The snow was a blast, with the exception of one major blunder. Justin, being playful, was throwing snowballs at me when he pelted me in the face! OUCH! I knew it was an accident, but it still hurt and I couldn't help but cry. He felt really bad. So did I. (If it happened now...I can only imagine how angry I would be. But in the beginning, everything, even the bad things, seem so much sweeter ;) ) Justin has yet to live down making me cry on our first "date" :)

The next weekend we went on our first official date to watch the Whole Nine Yards. *Note to readers: On your first date,avoid movies with naked boobs!* It was awkward! But really, I don't remember much about the movie, except the boobs ;) I was caught up in the overanalyzing of a first date. You know...arms are touching, should we hold hands, should I lean on him....AHHHH...the exciting newness of it all! About halfway through the movie he finally just grabbed my hand and I felt tingly all over. Before I knew it, the movie was over and we were headed back to my place for a late night...LOL! (Remember, I'm Miss Innocent, so it's not what you think ;) )

Justin walked me to the door and came in. Easter was around the corner and I had been making these cute cellophane carrots filled with candy for my friends. Justin sat in the living room helping until 2am! I kept worrying about what his parents must be thinking about us, but he assured me it was no big deal and his was out that late all the time (his mom has since informed me that this was a lie ;) ). I think part of the reason for the late night was because we were having so much fun we didn't want it to end and part of it was the fear of not knowing how to end it. But all good things must come to an end and soon our night did also.

As I walked Justin to our front patio, I had major butterflies. Was this it? Was he going to kiss me? What should I do? And then he leaned toward me and gave me a big hug. Whew! I was relieved and dissappointed all in one squeeze. He assured me that a second date was just around the corner.

*******We interrupt this story for an audition from a future

American Idol (ignore my beautiful talents please)**********

Me

I've seen this on several blogs, but wasn't sure what the letters meant so I never took the test. I still don't know what the letters mean (can anyone help with that?), but thought Lorie's results were interesting, so I decided to take it. I think it's pretty accurate, with the exception of the organized thing ;)

You Are An ESFJ

The Caregiver You are sympathetic and caring, putting friends and family first. A creature of habit, you prefer routines and have trouble with change. You love being in groups - whether you're helping people or working on a project. You are good at listening, laughing, and bringing out the best in people. In love, you value harmony and mutual understanding. You will apologize or give someone the benefit of the doubt, if it means getting over a fight sooner. At work, you are good at building relationships and connecting with people. You would make a great nurse, social worker, or teacher. How you see yourself: Organized, dependable, co-operative When other people don't get you, they see you as: Opinionated, critical, and know-it-all

What's Your Personality Type?

A Crush

During our history class, I would often invite Justin to college group. Mostly it was to make small talk, because if you know Justin, you know he’s not a big talker. Usually, he would be working on the nights that we had college group, but occasionally he would make it to the events. We were getting to know each other bit by bit, but I still had no clue what the future held for us. Class ended just before Thanksgiving and around that time Justin was assigned to my college small group. Part of my duties as a leader was to call him and remind him of events, etc.

Meanwhile, I was also leader in the Jr. High ministry. Justin’s little brother Kurt was a junior higher. When I hadn’t seen Justin at college group in a while, I’d ask Kurt about him. Kurt would pass on the news that I had asked about him sometimes and other times I think Kurt just thought I was annoying. I would call with details of a fellowship activity and the message would get lost in translation from Kurt to Justin, or at least that’s the way Justin told the story ;) . Regardless, Justin started showing up to college group more. I guess my nagging paid off.

I think my nagging probably also seemed a bit like I was pursuing Justin. At the time I don’t really remember feeling interested, but this would change as Justin started showing up to more events. One particular event I remember is the Superbowl party. Justin didn’t really know many people, but he was a great sport. He played with the college group leader’s kids and was so cute with them. He was also looking mighty good ;) . He had on a green sweater, jeans and Docs…very Gapish (only now do I realize that anything he wore was not by choice, but because his mom bought it and he wore WHATEVER). This was the first time I think I accepted that I might have a little crush on this guy. (Man, was I shallow….it was all because of the clothes and shoes…well, and he was cute with the kids;).

Justin and I leaning on his truck in front of the house me and my sister rented.

A few weeks later, after church some people decided to go to lunch together at the Oasis. Somehow I ended up riding with Justin and another friend T-squared. We went in Justin’s truck and I sat in the middle. It was kind of awkward. You have to remember I was naïve and REALLY innocent (we’ll get to that later ;) ) Just sitting in the middle felt so…scary and tingly and, well, you girls know what I’m talking about. ( YES, I realize I was 19, but it still made me feel like a jr. higher!) I was his college group “leader” and this was all getting a little weird. After lunch, Justin dropped T-squared off in front of the room where he had to meet at the church, and I got out of the truck to go to my car. It was raining and Justin insisted on driving me around the corner. When we got there it got kind of quiet and awkward and I got scared. I think I said something like, “Well, I’ll talk to you later I guess” and that is when the awkward pause and “…well” came into play. I’m thinking “Oh no, what's going tohappen now?"

He continued, “Do you think I could have your number and maybe we can hang out sometime?”

“Um sure, that would be fun!” (Behind the scenes…”OH MY GOODNESS, is this really happening. This doesn’t happen to Barbie?!?”) And I wrote my number on the back of my clock-out receipt from Café Med (he still has it).

I calmly walked to my car, where I proceed to drive home and call all of my friends.

The Story of Us

Inspired by many of your sweet stories, I really wanted to write our love story, but to me it feels weird to be writing a love story. I have a difficult time thinking that it’s exciting enough that people would actually read it. And what is a love story anyways? It’s not like the movies, but it’s the story of us, how we came to be a family. I just need to remember that this love story is for us, to preserve our memories and share our story with the future generations of our family. I really wanted to do this for our 5th anniversary on July 19th, but I didn’t get to it until now.

The Preface

I wasn’t a dater. I had several friends in high school, but no boyfriends. I was just never the flirty type. I did, however have an obsession/ friendship with Detour Man. Our relationship was one of convenience; basically, convenience for him. I helped him with his papers. Then we became friends and I think we both liked each other, but it was more like a 6th grade thing. He would drive by my house at night in his dad’s low rider and honk. And of course, my friends and I would drive by his house and reciprocate the gesture. We had several classes together also where he would relentlessly tease me. I went to formal with Detour Man my senior year and it went downhill from there. I think that was a little too serious for him, so instead of flirty gestures like honking, he started doing mean pranks. One time he egged my windshield (and a couple others friends) and put dog poop in my door handles. To say the least, slowly my obsession was ending.

*I only mention this so you know how naive I was, and because Detour Man is in the first part of our story.

The Beginning

It all started one evening in the fall. Our church was having a debt-free picnic to celebrate paying off the building. At this point, I was pretty involved in the college ministry and had just begun serving the junior highers. Although I had been attending this church periodically since my early high school years, I still considered myself a baby Christian. My understanding of the Gospel and my testimony were weak, but my faith was strong. I was excited about my new found freedom in God and apparently the leaders of our church saw that, so they put me into leadership. (Looking back, I realize I should have been absorbing knowledge about God, not teaching it.)

I got my plate of food and went to sit near Megan. I don’t really remember how it all happened, but along came Justin, who used to be Megan’s small group leader (this is VERY difficult for me to imagine because Justin is not big on the social aspects of church ;) ). Anyways, at this point, Megan is working at the church and Justin is busy with work and school and really isn’t involved in the different ministries. Megan, being the amazing outreacher she is, invited Justin to come and sit near us. And he did. He sat right next to her, which wouldn’t have been a big deal, but Megan was dating *mistake man* and that was where he was supposed to sit. It was kind of funny/awkward, but it ended up working out just fine. Mistake man sat somewhere nearby and we all chatted away the evening.

This is where the story of us begins. In our conversation, Justin mentioned that we were in the same history class at Cal State, surprised by this knowledge I said that he should come over and sit with us sometime. The next week he did. It was actually an interesting arrangement that Justin and I joke about often. *Detour Man*, my high school obsession, was also in that class. Before Justin came to sit with us, it usually was my friend Brooke, me and Detour Man. When Justin joined the group it became Brooke, me, Justin, Detour Man. I didn’t mind Justin sitting there because I was pretty much over Detour Man, but Justin also knew Brooke… Now that I KNOW Justin, I realize that he socializes by teasing, but at the time I used to think this was flirting. Every day in class, Justin would reach over me and poke Brooke or write on her paper. Annoyed by the flirting that I was obviously in the middle of, I told Justin to switch seats with me. Justin remembers this class differently. He only remembers the time that I asked to borrow a pen during class. Justin is obsessive about his writing utensils, but he graciously loaned me one, not realizing I was actually borrowing it for Detour Man. He still complains about his “lost” pen that I gave to Detour Man.

As I got to know Justin in that class, I can remember looking at him and thinking about whether or not he was husband material. (In the meantime, he was still poking Brooke, so I don’t know where my mind was ;) I was in no hurry to get married, but I just figured I would probably meet my future husband in college, so I better check out all the details ;) In my naïve young mind, Justin’s husband status came down to his shoes and fingernails..LOL. I remember that I really liked his shoes (brown Docs), but thought his fingernails were too dirty (he had a ’58 truck he worked on a lot). Funny that I was measuring husband status on shoe style and fingernails. Besides his shoes and nails, Justin would meet up with this other girl after class to walk to another class. I figured he was taken, and if he wasn’t, he was way too flirty for me.

Justin ( a couple of years before we met) in the truck that gave him dirty fingernails ;)

God had a plan beyond nails and girls. Soon he would move the process along with some help form Justin’s little brother Kurt.