That takes nerve

Hopefully you remember back to the craziness in our neighborhood back in October with the forclosure where the house got stipped - if not, read here. Dude has some nerve and he moved back into the neighborhood, in a rental, right behind his old house. Like the backyards butt up. He avoids all of us like the plague, which is probably good because we wouldn't have anything nice to say. But the icing on the cake? He's got a new ski boat parked out in front now.

On a positive note, the other forclosure on our street sold.

Grrr...

Who takes care of Mom, when she's sick? Especially when she's busy taking care of three sick chicklets. Preschool germs suck!

Really? Like we need this headache

It looks like we're going to court with Nacho's previous employer, regarding the late payment of his final paycheck. He did finally get his paycheck on the regular payroll date, but he is still owed penatly pay for each day he wasn't paid between his last day of work and payday and his old company is refusing to pay that. They were given a notice of the claim, delivered by the Labor Board Deputy, which they decided to ignore so we got notice yesterday they're setting up a hearing date and that the old company will be served papers. Guess they can't ignore it this time, right?

The burden of proof is on Nacho. Do you think an email, an IM chat and a seperation agreement between him and the CFO all saying they are knowingly and willfully breaking the law will be enough? This has been going on for over 6 months now and we just want it resolved, but we've already put too much energy into it to walk away now. Wish us luck!

Happy Birthday Samantha

Five years ago today, at 11:25am our lives were changed forever with the birth of our first child, a beautiful baby girl. Samantha Lynn came into this world after a very long and difficult labor, weighing 8lbs 2oz & 20.5 in long and just as stunning as possible. She was a happy baby, an inquistive toddler and an amazing little girl. How 5 years has gone by already, I'll never know. Five is such a big milestone. There have been others for us of course - her 1st birthday because, as every parent knows, you're so darn happy you didn't break her! Her 2nd because there was a brief, but very scary time during that year we weren't sure she'd make it to see her birthday. But 5? That's huge. That's one whole hand. This is the year that she'll go off to kindergarten. The year she'll spend a good portion of her day away from me. This is hard for me, as I'm sure you all can imagine.

But I see the beautiful girl before me who amazes me each day and I can't help but be happy that we're at this point. She's smart as a whip (too smart a lot of the time), compassionate and sweet and overall loving. She's also stubborn and tempremental (hmm, wonder where she gets that from?). She is graceful and athletic (something she definitely didn't get from me!) She is helpful and the best big sister anybody could hope for. She makes me proud to be her mother.

So it is today, my sweet darling daughter, that I wish you a very Happy Birthday. May your year be filled with everything you wish for. And always now how much I love you.

Somebody slow down the clock

Jack is going to be 3 months old tomorrow. How did that happen? Did he not the get memo that he can't grow so fast? I know in actual time it doesn't go any faster, but why does the time seem to go so much faster with each additional child? Is it because we're more comfortable as parents and so we don't worry over every little thing or because we're busier this time around with all the girls' activities? What ever the reason, I wish I could find a way to freeze time. I love this stage - the happy smiles and laughs which are so rewarding...yet he is still in the same place I left him when I leave a room. I already know in the blink of an eye I'll be posting that he's about to celebrate his 1st birthday. It's one of those ironies of life - with the first one you don't really appreciate the little things because you're just waiting for them to hit those milestones. And it's not until afterwards, you realize just how fast it went. And then you have more children and you realize how important it is to enjoy the little things and it all just goes zooming by you and before you realize it they're walking, talking little people.

I packed away all of Jack's newborn and 0-3 months clothes over the weekend. And while I'm sure he's happy to be able to straighten his legs when wearing pjs again, it doesn't get any easier for me.

(and for those wondering, yes his eyes are still blue!)

So not ready for this

Last night the Jonas Brothers made a surprise appereance in San Francisco. Except we knew about it advance, had been invited to it and declined. The weather was bad, it was late and the girls had school today. I don't think the girls really cared. My mom and stepdad did go however - no, they're not big fans, my stepfather had to work at the event. Talking to my mom and watching the footage on the news last night I'm so glad we didn't go. Those teenage girls are NUTS. I know it's not any different than any other large group, but it was still crazy to watch. They were only there for a minute or so, but these girls didn't care. They were falling over themselves because they got to touch them or see them.

My girls aren't at the point where they are into any one group that much. But I know those days are just around the corner and I'm not ready for the screaming crazy girl stuff. I know every girl goes through it - mine was NKOTB - and I remember hanging out with my best friend Jenn after an All-4-One concert (yes I'm old) to meet them. And I guess as far as a group to be obsessed with, the Jonas Brothers aren't a bad one. So far, they've proven themselves to be good role models, unlike their Disney counterpart Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus, who is not allowed in any form in our house (yes I know we're probably the only parents with that rule).

But as it was I was already stressing about Samantha turning 5. Watching these girls last night, who were not much older than her just intensifies that.

Lu funny

I'm sure this is going to be one of those things where you had to be here to find it as funny as I do, but I'm going to share it anyways.

About two weeks ago, Lu was jumping on the stairs (something she knows not to do) and she ended up tumbling down the entire flight of them. After checking her out and watching her for awhile, we determined she was fine. Obviously that isn't the funny part. Fast forward to this past weekend. We're sitting on the couch watching 102 Dalmations and one of the characters tumbles down the stairs. Lu perks up and starts giggling and says "hey he did that just like I did!"

Yeah, guess you had to be here.