What a TRIP!

So our trip to Vegas started off a little "differently" than usual. Sammie and I left Saturday morning and were making great time. We stopped for lunch in Barstow and then jumped back on the freeway expecting to arrive in Vegas around 2:00. Well as I drove up the freeway ramp, Sammie started yelling, "MOMMY, I have an eraser in my nose... get it out!" I couldn't imagine what she was talking about but then it all became clear. I pulled off the freeway into a deserted spot and looked in her nose. Sure enough, she had a bright pink piece of eraser in her nose. It was from our school carnival the day before and it was a Disney princess eraser shaped like a lipstick with a delicious scent. Well, a piece broke off and she was smelling it and decided to put it in her NOSE! I couldn't get it out so I called the Dr.'s office who connected me to a nurse's advice line. They advised me to go to the ER because if she inhaled the eraser, it could go into her lungs which could be dangerous and she would need surgery. GREAT!!! So, thank goodness for my navigation system. I programmed it to find the nearest hospital which was backtracking about 11 miles in Barstow so that's where we went..
Sammie got admitted to the ER after I filled out a bunch of paper work. At the top of it was marked "semi-urgent". We had to wait about an hour or more to see the PA and she came in and said the eraser probably wasn't even in there anymore since Sammie was sitting there calmly. She kept sneezing and sneezing and her nose was running profusely. I told her that Samantha had a high pain tolerance and that I was pretty sure the eraser was still in there but she said sarcastically "we'll see". Well, after she looked in the WRONG nostril, and didn't see it, I told her to look in the other side and sure enough, she saw it. Then she disappeared for another half hour and said the doctor would be back to take it out.
Meanwhile, there we are in BARSTOW Community Hospital which is like being in Wal Mart. The element of people was quite interesting.. The doctor finally came in and he was wearing soccer slides and socks. He introduced himself and then said he'd be right back with his "hook" so he could remove the eraser. Well, his "hook" was an unbent PAPER CLIP which he proceeded to drop on the floor, drop in the sink and then finally pick up and place into Sammie's nose ( no, not sterilized) while I held her arms down, the nurse held her head still and another nurse held her feet because she was KICKING the doctor. He got it out quickly and then the drama started. She cried a bit but they gave her ice cream and she was fine! She was a champ! We had to wait to be discharged from the hospital and finally after a total of 3 hours, were on our way again. I think Sammie learned her lesson!




We had a good time while we were in Vegas. We went to the splash pool in my parent's community. It is a shallow pool with sprinklers and different fun water things for the kids. There is also a slide but Sam is too little for it still. Here is her own version of "get ready to go swimming".


On Monday we went on a tour of Anderson Dairy which is the only dairy in Nevada. It was a lot of fun and very interesting. They had a movie with a lot of history about Las Vegas long ago. We got to tour the dairy and see how they fill the milk cartons, where they make cottage cheese and see the giant freezer. There was a cute show with talking farm animals. When the tour was finished, we got free ice cream! This ice cream was SO delicious! It was fresh and creamy like nothing i have ever tasted. It hadn't sat in the freezer for very long and wow was there a difference! YUM!

The highlight of the trip was my first ROYAL FLUSH ever!! I don't usually play poker but every once in a while I do and am always hoping to get a royal even though the odds are that it shows up 1 in every 40,000 hands played. I always wish and wish but never has it happened until Monday night!!!


My dad and I went to this "dive" of a casino called the SKYLINE. It is a locals hang out and the average age is senior citizen. I was definitely the youngest, hottest chick in the place.. EEEKKK
Most of the people are in walkers and can barely see to put the coins in the machine. Yes, some of these machines are so old you have to feed the coins by hand. Anyway.. My dad and I sat down, I put in my $20.00 and was playing nickels for about 15 minutes. I was looking at the pay schedule thinking about how much each payout was. I said to my dad.. "How much is 8000 nickels?". He said, "Oh, it's $400 but that's if you get a Royal Flush, and you won't get that so don't worry!" And a few minutes later, that's when I got Jack, Queen, King and Ace of Spades. I held them all and then hit the draw button and then POOF, the 10 of spades jumped right in there and I got it! I was sooooo excited I was jumping all around in my seat and all the old fogies looked at me and I said, I never got a royal in my whole LIFE and they all smirked and said "oh, it's your first one, you have to share with everyone". They were just kidding but anyway.. I won $400. I gave my dad $100 and I shared with Brad too when I got home.
Our drive home was much better than our drive there!

Scrappy Stuff

Just thought I'd share some scrappy stuff. I cleaned off my scrappy desk the other day too so now I can actually sit down and work there!
I love scrapbooking, just never get enough time to do it! If my desk is cleaned, though, I am more likely to sit down and work on something if I get a chance. I feel so much better looking at a clean workspace.. ( I have tons of stuff to go through but that is a SUMMER project) For now it is tidy and workable!!
This is a just a quick post. I'll leave you with this thought.. A friend posted this on her blog and I thought it was sort of thought provoking.. So make a comment and finish this sentence... I was ____________in high school. My first answer was I was naive in high school and my 2nd answer was I was a cheerleader in high school.. So there's 2 random things about me.. Tell me what comes to mind when you think about high school.
Have a good day!

So Happy!

Sammie started horseback riding lessons. We stopped by Rocking T Ranch last week to inquire about summer programs for her age group. They told me they only do private lessons for 3-6 year olds. I asked them if they thought she was ready and they said they had an opening for a lesson and they could try her out to see if she was ready. She had a lesson that day and they said she is definitely ready!!! The kid loves horses and loves to ride! Her trainer's name just happens to be Alyse. She is wonderful with small children. Sammie rides for 1/2 hour. She is learning how to tack and groom as well as ride. She rides bareback with only a saddle pad so she can work on balance and be able to feel the horse better as she squeezes to give commands. She is doing great!! Here are some pics of her on Biscuit. As soon as she gets on she has the biggest smile on her face! She is so happy!

Open House

Tonight Sammie had her first Open House at preschool. Her teachers worked really hard and did a wonderful job. Each child got to take home their memory book of all the projects they had hanging up in the classroom throughout the year and photos of field trips, and special events. It is adorable. ( I can appreciate all the work that went into it being a scrapbooker and a teacher. ) They planted bean seeds, did graphs, learned about insects, made a garden and learned about how plants grow. They even had a harvesting center in the classroom( see picture above) and could practice what they learned. There were fresh berries and jam from their garden served to the parents to taste. The kids tasted potatoes and yams in class and graphed which one was their favorite. Samantha liked yams better. We had a good time walking around the classroom looking at all the things the children made and learned about the last few weeks. The best part for me was being able to appreciate it and not having to "do" it this time. It was nice to see Open House from a "parent" view rather than the "teacher" side of it like I normally do. Sammie was so excited about Open House. She talked about it for weeks so she wanted to wear a "pretty dress" tonight for this special occasion.
Anyway.. this is just a quick post for now.. check back again soon because I have lots more to share!

You're the reason I'm a mom!

I was so afraid to be a mom. I love kids, I was just scared of babies, and having a baby of my own. Becoming a mom is be the best thing I have ever done in my life. I treasure every day I spend with Samantha. I love being with her and watching her learn and grow. She makes me laugh and makes me cry. I love my job as a Mommy. It is the hardest full time job I have ever had and the best job I have ever had. My job is never done and even when she grows up, it won't be done, as I have learned in my adult life. I dedicate this post to Samantha who is the reason I am a mommy. I hope to teach her and guide her so that she can grow up someday and enjoy being a mommy as much as I do. Sammie, you are a joy, and here are some things you do that make me smile:

1. You said that when I take a shower, I look like a mermaid in a waterfall.
2. You tell me "Mommy I love you, you are my best friend", at random times throughout the day.
3. You ask me to be your horsey and we ride around the house. You use your jumprope for my reins and when you are done riding, you pick my hooves, feed me carrots and tell me "good girl, horsey."
4. You light up a room when you walk in and make others smile too.
5. You love animals, you are curious and you are kind.
6. You have a sense of humor.
7. You have a sense of direction! (unlike me)
8. You love to clean out the "fuzzies" between your toes when you take off your socks, and the other day I asked you if you were "looking for treasure" and you quickly responded, "yep, found some". I love how quick-witted you are!
9. You tell me that I have a sparkly face and sparkly hair and a sparkly eyes.
10. You are you!

Happy Cinco de Mayo

 
 
 
 

There was a big celebration at Sammie's preschool today for Cinco de Mayo. The De Anda family who own several local taquerias (and show horses as well) came and brought taco lunch for all the kids and teachers. I helped set up the tables and they also had a pinata. The highlight of the day was the show horses who danced and pranced around for the kids to see. At the end of the show, they were putting the horses back into the trailer and I brought Sammie over to see the trailer and the horses. I heard them talking in Spanish saying to each other, "Look at that little girl, look at her boots, look at her horse." (she had a stuffed horse in her hand) They asked if she wanted to sit on the horse and she said, "oh, yes!!!" so they put her up on Diego the horse and I took her picture. She was thrilled! Those were gorgeous horses.

I am a little late on this post because I told you to check back in a few days to see how much money I made at the garage sale at the Scrappin' table and that was 2 weeks ago so here is your long awaited update... I made about $300 in store credit which I have been having fun spending! I got the "Clip it up" system and I LOVE it! I will post some pics in my next blog entry so you can see how fabulous it is. I am new in the blogging world and don't know how to "link" things yet so what I will do is send these pics to Michelle L.,the owner of the Scrappin' Table, because she is also my friend and then you can go onto the Scrappin Table link on my blog and see them there if you want to see them sooner than my "few days" until I post again. She will probably put them on her blog. The clip it up is AMAZING. I can't believe how much stuff fits on it and if you know me, you know how much scrapbook stuff I have and ther is STILL room on it. ( I just hope I don't BREAK it.) I broke my closet 3 times because there was "still room" on the rod to hang more clothes.. I guess I just don't learn... If there is space then I will fill it up! Anyway.. I will fill up my clip it up and hope that I will be more productive in my scrapping because I can see everything I have so easily.

Now, the 3rd important thing to share today is the DURAN DURAN concert from last night. OMG! It was fantastic! A big thank you and a hug to my friend Christine who surpised me and treated me to the ticket so we could go to the show together! She has been a fan since she was 11 and I have always enjoyed their music as well. They were great in concert. It was fun to see them live and to "relive" all my favorite 80's songs too. They played a nice mix of their new and old songs. They played at the NOKIA theatre in LA and we went with her sweet friend Lisa too. She lives in Hollywood ( right next to the Hollywood sign which I proudly snapped a pic of) and knew of a fantastic Italian restaurant to have dinner. It was super yummy! It was fun to meet some of Christine's other Duranie friends as well. I felt like a teenager again going to a concert even though the crowd was mostly my age. ( some younger, some older)
We got home really late and were quite exhausted. Poor Christine had to work today. She was really tired! ( Too tired to send me the pics tonight so check her blog tomorrow for some good Duran pics!)

Finally!

Okay.. so I am finally updating my blog. I know I have been gone for a long long time and many of you were about to give up on me but I'm back. I have just been super busy and had a lot going on and every time I wanted to sit down and update my blog, I just always had something else I needed to do. Anyway.. I will just give you a little summary about what we've been up to and then I'll be back in a few days to share some more.
I want to explain this picture first... We collect Webkinz and have a bunch of them now. We love to go on the website and play the games. I bought Brad his own Webkin for his birthday because were fighting over whose turn it was to log on and play the games so now he has his own account.. Anyway.. They have a "Pet of the Month" and for April it was this Pink Poodle. If you buy the Pet of the Month and register it you get extra bonuses online and can play special games, etc. Well, when I gave it to Sammie, and stepped out of the room for a minute, she arranged this circle with her other Webkinz and then said, Mommy look, they all want to see the Pet of the Month. I thought it was so funny. She loves to arrange her animals and have one in the middle with the rest surrounding it. Silly kid!

Okay.. on to more exciting things ( I'm sure you don't think Webkinz are as exciting as I do) Even though we found the "Crown of Wonder" which is very tough to do. You have to collect 30 jewels from anywhere in 6 different mines.. I digress.. Back to my last few days..

I went scrapbooking at the Oasis to support Christine and Autism Speaks. What a great event! I had a lot of fun, won some fantastic prizes, and spent time scrapping with Christine, Donna, Jennifer, Janet, Annie, Susan, Joann, and even met a few new people! Everyone enjoyed themselves and not only were the goodie bags and prizes wonderful, the money raised went to help a special cause for kids with Autism. I am also participating in a walk next
Saturday for Autism Speaks. If you are interested in donating to that, here is the website: www.walknowforautism.org

Today was another Scrappy related day. I participated in the "Table Sale" at the Scrappin' Table. A big thank you to Michelle for having it so well-organized. She has a great store if you haven't been there yet, check it out! The link is on my blog under "my favorites". There were a lot of people at the beginning and then again at toward the end of the sale. I can't wait to find out how much money I made on my "gently used stuff". I worked really hard with the help of my dear friend Jennifer and her 2 daughters to package up all my stuff to sell. Michelle will have our totals this week so check back to find out how I did. We get to have store credit so I will sure have fun spending that!









Well, I can't have a blog post without a picture of Sammie and a horse of some kind. Here she is at Irvine Park, hugging a pony. We went there a few weeks ago with Donna and her kiddos. They had fun feeding the ponies carrots, riding ponies, riding the train, and playing in the park. It was a fun day just relaxing at the park.

Well, I am off to bed now. It is late. I will be back soon. I just checked to see when I started my blog for the first time and it was March 20, 2007 so Happy Birthday Blog! ( well a little late but I haven't been here in so long) It was one of my goals for the year and I have been better with my other goals of not buying scappy stuff, exercising more and losing some weight. This one should be the easiest one of all of those goals and it has been the one I neglected. I guess 3 out of 4 isn't bad. I should be able to do this no problem. we'll see...
I'll be back in a few days.. Say hi if you were here!!