There is nothing which is more necessary and more precious in the experience of human childhood than parental love.... nothing more precious, because the parental love experienced in childhood is moral capital for the whole of life.... It is so precious, this experience, that it renders us capable of elevating ourselves to more sublime things--even divine things. It is thanks to the experience of parental love that our soul is capable of raising itself to the love of God. --Meditations on the Tarot

I know.. I know....

It's been like foreva. And a major holiday. Well, let's see, the kids were out of school for the week of Thanksgiving. This entire week has been minimum days for parent teacher conferences, which means that Declan has gone to school in the morning instead of the afternoon. I'm not a morning person. The days that Teagan had preschool I drove back and forth to the school 3 times. Whew.

Greg has done a few more house projects, like adding shelves under the stairs. I actually took pictures so I could post the before and after, but the after part isn't done yet.

Another 'lost' dog made his way to my house. It was a little boston terrier, who Greg called "Spaz" and Declan called "Sebaz." Luckily "Oreo" did make his way back home, but he spent the night here. That was good times. Declan and I made a big "FOUND DOG" sign that we're just going to keep since all lost dogs come here. I'm sure Oreo won't be the last.

That's it for today, as I just realized the snack I packed for Declan's backpack is still sitting on the island in the kitchen.....

Applehill.... mostly pictures.

While Greg and Bart tasted wine, I played with the kids on the beautiful yard at Boeger Winery. Maren was enjoying scooting all over the place. I had to take her socks off when they got soaking wet and freezing. She had a wondrful time, and I fear she is going to wear the bottom off all of her pants. Greg calls her "Scooter McLoop."

You know you are an adult when this is how you think...

So I have this long email all typed out to send to my girlfriend V, and then suddenly it's gone. Poof. I was going to attempt to give her a giggle or 2 at my expense, and give her the blow by blow of my morning thus far. You know, the life of a stay at home Mom. Well, go grab a drink, and I'll see if I can remember that far back...

6:50 - Teagan gets in bed with us. Wiggles and squirms.

7:00 - Greg's alarm goes off. He gets out of bed, turns on the light in the bathroom (blinding me) and then goes downstairs (grrrr).

7:20 I can't take Teagan's wiggling and squirming any more so I get out of bed. I plan to get in the shower after brushing my teeth and putting my contacts in, but Greg gets in before I can.

7:25 - Here comes Declan

7:46 - Greg needs me to find a notary in the area (it's a long story...) so I take the kids downstairs and proceed to look for notary.

8:00 - We go out to take the carseats out of the van, and fold the seats flat.

8:06 - I notice 2 dogs wandering around across the street, of course because all lost dogs find their way to my house eventually (that is where Hamish would have ended up Cheri!). I recognize these dogs from our neighborhood, I've seen them at the park. Collars, but no tags. I proceed to spend the next 20 minutes attempting to capture and leash these 2 dogs who were rather enjoying their newfound freedom. I tie them to the tree in the front yard in case their owner happens to be driving around the neighborhood looking for them. I get a blanket for them to lay on and a bowl of water to drink. Then I decide to make a "LOST DOGS" sign to hang on the tree so that no one thinks I just tied my dogs to the tree in my front yard.

8:30 - I warn Declan and Teagan to stay away from the dogs as I don't know if they've eaten today, don't want them munching on one of the kids (who by the way have been unsupervised for the last 20 minutes). I leave the front door open so we can keep our eye on the dogs thru the screen door.

8:33 - Maren is up, so I get her breakfast going.

8:35 - Milo and Otis notice the dogs out front, bark like mad and Milo craps the entire way to the garage. good times.

8:36 - Begin the pick up/disinfect process of said poop.

8:37 - Wash hands and resume Maren's breakfast.

8:47 -Notice that one of the dogs has backed out of her collar. Is running loose again. I go tighten her collar a smidge and coax her back to the leash. I think she is insulted.

8:55 - Sit down to write email to V - the rest is history.

And now, as I sit here I begin to think. Maybe I should have just let the dogs wander on. I mean, I would want someone to get my dogs if they were on the lamb. But things like, what if one of the dogs gets hurt here, or eats a non-diet food while here. I mean the dogs look like they enjoy their chow. What if one is diabetic and eats a non-diabetic dog bisquit or something, and then the owner sues us. The UPS guy brought a box while I was in the shower, what if one of those dogs would have attacked him? And then he sues us??

Then I start to wonder when I got *so* cynical? When did I truly start to believe that no good deed goes unpunished? Let's just hope that I can figure out a way to return these dogs to their owner...

I am saying a prayer for you My Friend!

This post is for a very dear friend, who is suffering a broken heart today.

I'm so sorry...

God Asked the Feline Spirit

God asked the feline spirit "Are you ready to come home?"

"Oh, yes, quite so," replied the precious soul. "And as a cat, you know I am most able to decide anything for myself."

"Are you coming then?" asked God

"Soon," replied the whiskered angel. "But I must come slowly My human friends are troubled For You see, they need me, quite certainly."

"But don't they understand?" asked God,"That you will never leave them? That your souls are intertwined, for all eternity, That nothing is created or destroyed, It just is... forever and ever and ever?"

"Eventually they will understand," replied the cat, "For I will whisper in their hearts - that I am always with them I just am... forever and ever and ever."

— Author Unknown

The Scooter...

So this is how Maren chooses to get around (second to being carried of course!). I've been trying to get video of her whistling too, because this girl is not a 1 trick pony (*phews!*). Guess I don't need to worry about her burning the knees out of her pants, it will be the tootie! She's pretty proud of herself though, and that is all that matters!

Today was the big field trip to the pumpkin patch on the school bus day. Bless these little kids hearts, they were so excited. Declan couldn't go to sleep last night, he was up until 10:45! I went to take pictures of them getting on the bus. Once they were all sitting I got on the bus to take pictures and you couldn't even see them sitting in the seats, their little heads were below the seat backs!

Here they are lining up to get in. Declan is holding hands with his buddy Ian, and the little dude in the striped shirt behind them is another friend Mateo. Declan and Ian got on the bus together, but were separated once on the bus... I'm guessing they were a danger of getting wild. Hmmmmmm.

The windows are pretty dark, but Declan is sitting in the window directly above the "L" of "School" You can see his noodle, and he was waving like crazy to us. He told me he cried when the bus was leaving though because I wasn't going too *cry*. This is the first time I haven't gone with him to anything. My little dude is growing up....

Here is the fence down the side of the house. We're going to put pavers down and bring the garbage cans out instead of in our back yard. Aren't we thoughtful, conscientious neighbors?? =)

This is the front of the house. The new lights and the fence from the front. I think it's sad we've lived here for 10 years and are just now doing things we could have been enjoying all along. Oh well, what can ya do?

We've got a shed coming for the side yard, which needs leveled and pavers too. Then who knows what is next. The lights look really nice at night, and it's cool the kids can play out in the driveway after dark, because now they can see!

A few more fun photos!

I took the kids to the community Halloween festival on Saturday evening at our local tennis club. They were so excited to dress up and go out. I bet they think that was Halloween. Declan wants to be Spiderman again this year (good for pocketbook, bad for scrapbooks). Teagan is a Carebear (no clue which one this is... please post if you know!). And Maren is a princess, of course! Here is the Loop troop:

Greg has been busy with 'projects' every weekend (I think he likes having an excuse to get out of the house and go to Home Depot and Lowe's alone...). He's added coach lights to the front of the house, and this past weekend we put a decorative fence up on the side of the house. I'll go take some pictures and load them here for you to see. We've also met maximum capacity of the overhead storage he did over the summer in the garage. I'm on my constant organize and purge crusade. Man we have a lot of sh!t. =)

A Little of this, a little of that..

I took Teagan on her preschool's field trip to the pumpkin patch. It was a nice little group of *quiet* kids. Nothing like last year, when Declan was there with his preschool friends. I'm probably going to end up being glad I'm not going with the entire kindergarten class next Thursday. I pity the families that happen to go on that same day, but I digress. I did volunteer to do a class scrapbook for his kindergarten class, and I'll have no pictures to scrap from the pumpkin patch trip.... maybe I'll be able to help out at the party they have in the classroom....

Here are the girls, in their matching 'sparkly' shirts from Nana.

Maren was pretty interested to meet another of her brethren (I joke that the kids are billy goats - everything goes in their mouths). She thought she saw some resemblance...

The girls with their pumpkins.

Declan and Teagan are going to "Boo" a few neighborhood friends, so we made a few little bags with Halloween goodies in them to put on their front door. Declan *loved* putting them together and is so excited to give them out. I think we'll take a walk this evening and do it. I took a pictures of the bags...

We went to the Dollar Store last night to get things for the Boo bags, and swung by Taco Bell for a good nutritious dinner. Once Maren got ahold of the cup, there was no getting it away from her.
This is what a baby enjoying root beer looks like:

This is said baby after someone finally got the cup back.

Now, I know what many of you are thinking. Your appalled that we are giving the baby soda. Let me be the first to say none of the others got soda this young. Your thinking her teeth are going to rot before she even get them. But it hasn't ruined any of our teeth!

Can you believe that 13 yrs ago

Greg and I got married??? It was our anniversary on the 5th. We went camping in Colombia for the weekend... in the rain. And the batteries were dead on the camera, so I don't even have proof. But it was FUN! Our site was PERFECT and the set up was great. I would have actually scrapped the photos had I taken any. Colombia is an old gold mining town that has been turned into a state park, and is basically a museum. Most of the buildings are open so you can walk through the town on a self guided tour.

The kids are in the school groove. Teagan's preschool class is going to the pumpkin patch next week, and Declan's class has a field trip coming up too. One where he will *gulp* ride on a bus. He also lost another tooth while we were on our way home from camping. Little bugger got $5 from the ill-prepared tooth fairy. I'd like to make a tooth fairy pillowcase, or pillow to hang on the door knob.

Alright, that's my update for now...

I know I am slacking on the blogging.

Honestly, right now it just seems like 1 more thing that I need to do. It's been kinda low on the list, obviously.

Today is Billy's birthday, so HAPPY BIRHTDAY, I love you!

The past few weeks seem to have flown by. I'm confident we are the first house in the entire neighborhood to already have our Halloween decorations out. We did them the weekend before last.

We went to a Health and Wellness fair in Folsom that same weekend. Maren was adorable in her chocolate brown dress from Nana. They all enjoyed a ring pop.... including the baby. Infact, whoever said that something was as easy as taking candy from a baby, has obviously never tried to take something away from this baby.

There was a bounce house for the kids and a little train to ride, and free admission into the zoo. We enjoyed being outside in the beautiful weather. Unlike this past weekend....

This past week I was doing my best to initiate some playtime for Declan with his little friends from school. I've been feeling badly for him lately. He wants to go play at a friends house, and we just recently discovered that 2 kids in his class live on our street. I invited the kids here to play in hopes of Declan being invited to theirs as well.

In a 24 hour period I had 4 different kids here to play. Somehow they all still had energy, I could not hang. I was exhausted. It paid off though, on Friday he spent the afternoon at one friends house. On Saturday the other little friend came over to invite Declan to get ice cream, and they ended up taking Teagan too! It was silent in our house for about 2 1/2 hours. It was wonderful.

But now the ball is back in my court, and I'm still trying to recover from having all those kids here. Oh boy.

With the weather turning cooler, Teagan needs fall clothes, so we got a few new pairs of jeans for her. She overheard me telling my girlfriend Venessa how there were 4 different styles, I told Teagan to pick 2, and she came home with 3. She had to hurry and model a pair for me to take her picture to send to Venessa. Venessa always take pictures of the kids with her phone, so Teagan must rememeber and relate the two.

Here is her first pick of jeans, a straight leg, dark wash, with bling in all the right places.

This girl likes to shop, I mean if all I had to do was put something in the cart and it magically comes home with me, I'd probably like it as much as she does too!

Maren Rocks the Saucer.

She likes it best if the saucer is half off the rug, then it 'feels' more dangerous. She actually rocks all the way to the TV, which is really great, because there are buttons on the TV. Most everyone knows that the Loop kids are all professional button pushers right?

We are getting into the swing of our new schedule. The kids love going to school, in fact, Teagan is sad on the days she doesn't go. After I drop the kids off I try to get Maren down for a nap. I have great plans for what I'll get done in that 2 3/4 hours.... but I must be getting old and slow, because I never get as much done as I think I will. It works out that I pick Declan up before Teagan, and he loves going to the preschool room he went to last year to get her. Her little face is always so happy when she comes out too, she is loving every second of it.

The weather is finally starting to cool off. We've got several outside projects we'd like to start working on. Since we've got the pop up in our garage, Greg has been parking the car in the driveway. This freaks us out, as we realize it's only a matter of time until someone does something to it. We'd like to put a shed down the side yard to make some room to *hopefully* park in the garage. I'd also like to plant flowers this fall, it's been a couple of years since the house looked pretty.

I also got sad news that the scrapbook store that had been hosting 'Scrap Camp' is closing their doors. This means no scrap camp =( I totally thought that was going to be a part of my life forever. A couple girlfriends and I are going to rent a house in Tahoe and try to continue the tradition. And speaking of scrapping, I am trying to actually finish the close to 2" stack of layouts that needed something done to them.

I feel like I'm beginning to come out of this hazy fog I've been in for the past year. I haven't completed anything I've started in over a year and it's been driving me nuts.

Can we go there again please.....

It's currently my favorite temperature out: 77 degrees.

Shouldn't I be driving this????

We Went to the CA State Fair!

Lysol dip anyone?? =)

I was *supposed* to go to the Back to School night at Declan's school AND my book club meeting but totally forgot..... It was record breaking temperatures, which cut down on the crowds, so I was way okay with it! Teagan wasn't as interested in the rides as Declan, so he got to go on some big boy rides with Greg. Here are the boys (note: grandparents may not want to look...)

I think Greg figured we spend about $65 on drinks and food =0

And I didn't even get cotton candy.

Here are some more fun photos:

Teagan walking Peppermint Patty, the super cute horse!

Playing the in the corn.

Yes, Maren put a piece in her mouth... it was in there for a really long time too! I think she took it out for some of the mini donuts....

Don't be fooled by this sweet face, she is a total complete horser. She takes after her brother and sister, in a family of horsers.
There was a petting zoo (my favorite part!) and they had 2 kangaroos!!! They are as soft as a rabbit, totally cute too. Bambi tried to eat Teagan's shirt, but I skeered it off. There were also newborn pygmy goats - talk about sweet.

Another cool feature was the Bats, Cats and Rats exhibit. We missed the bats, I was disappointed, but they had a sweet Himalayan (thought of snagging it for you V) and a tiny little Sphinx (bald) kitty. So this morning, Declan and Teagan did a 'Ants & Spiders" exhibit in the living room. They drew pictures and set them around and Declan (the curator) gave the tour. I'll upload the video - there is a lot to learn about 'poisonous hornet spiders' It's a hoot!

A Last Minute Change of Plans!!

Guess who started Preschool today?! Yep, Miss Teagan did, thankyouverymuch! She was so ready to go too. So, she gets her own post today in honor of her being such a big girl. Take a look at this little chic will ya!

Are you all waiting to see if Maren is standing in front of this tree in 2 years?! LOL, this school is going to know the Loop's. Anywhoooo, Teagan will go 3 afternoons a week, while Declan is in kindergarten. You know what that means, right? 1 kid. ONE CHILD people. So now I can finally crack out that box of Bon Bons, and kick the feet up.... =)

Happy 1st Birthday Maren & 1st Day of Kindergarten Declan!

Okay, I think that today earns me some Mommy crying rights! My baby is 1 and my big boy started kindergarten. I have been MIA for so long, and have so much to post that I don't even know where to start. So how about some pictures of supa cute kids? =)

We all went in this morning to sing "Happy Birthday" to Maren. I think she liked it, although she wasn't quite sure what was going on.

This first picture makes me laugh, I can't believe it either, Maren!

She was the most "experienced" of the kids when it came to eating cake on their first birthday.

Some of the loot.

Then we got Declan ready for his first day of kindergarten. He was so confident and brave... Mommy was brave until he was in is classroom.... I cried all the way to the car. And after I got home. Greg said he should get a picture of that, but I wouldn't let him, I'm not a 'pretty' crier.

Look at that little DUDE!

Look at the thumbs up! He was so excited.
Well, Blogger has been giving me fits doing this post, taking me over an hour to upload these photos, so I'm going to hit the hay and try to do more tomorrow.

Do you like Kangaroos? Do you LOVE kangaroos??

Well, even if you don't, you HAVE to check out this scrapbook kit from Scrapbook Sussies: http://www.scrapbooksussies.com/CoraRoo.html

Now tell me. HOW cute is that????

Okay, I'l be back to update about our 'vacation' later.....

Here She Is....

Here are the pictures we took yesterday... There she sits. What's so scary about her?

Had the hitch installed while we got the walk through at the dealer. Yep, now my van really is Mommy Bling with her accessories and all! I was thinking of all the options to get to cover that hitch plug when the hitch is gone. I'm feeling something rhinestone.

Officially the length of a schoolbus. Still can't believe I don't need a special license to drive it. Or at least a license plate that warns others just how dangerous I am.

YIPES. Do I look as scared as I was? I'll go take some pictures of it in the garage. It's large.

Well lookey there.... who'da thunk it?

http://www.zanyzinnia.com/info/designteam.html

I'm so super excited, I could barely keep it to myself! I can't wait to get this kit and just scrap my heart out! I'll post a link to the Zany Zinnia gallery as soon as it's up.

We picked up the trailer today, and if it wasn't past my bedtime I would put the pictures up. I'll try to do it tomorrow....... =)

Needless to say, I need to take 'Backing Up a Trailer 101' as it seems like I am *literally* driving a school bus. I'm kind of surprised that you don't need a special license... just sayin.

The 3rd Birthday ParTAY!

Teagan had her birthday party at Gymboree yesterday. She had a blast, and I'm pretty sure all her friends did too. At least I hope they all ran some of the extra energy off! Almost everyone mentioned staying inside for the past week due to smoke from the fires surrounding the area.

Running on the 'candle'

waiting... patiently... look at how cute all these kiddos are!

YUM, nuf said...

Guess who graduated to the inflatable duck tub?

We're busy trying to finish up the garage so we can put the pop up in there. I should get out there to take some pictures of that too, since Greg has practically killed himself over the past few days installing overhead storage. You know what amazes me though... is that I drive through the neighborhood and some people have NOTHING in their garage. How is that? Maybe we could keep some of our stuff there?