Just dance

Honesty is the best policy

You know those parents who never complain about their kids or the struggles of being a parent? Yeah, I am not one of those. And I laugh at the ones that are. What are they hiding and what are they trying to prove? I am a mom of two toddlers and at times, I DO feel like a failure. I wouldn't think it would feel normal to feel otherwise at times. How else should I feel when I have a two year old who seems defiant and a one year old who is into everything? That is the stage they are at and I have to accept it and embrace it. That is part of parenting. I need to practice patients. BUT there are those struggles, and I will be the first to admit I struggle and I am not ashamed of that, that I seek to other parents for advice or suggestions. We have entered the terrible two stage and on top of that, we have a co-sleeper who beats us up in the middle of the night. So we signed up for parenting classes. It isn't going to hurt to get extra advice or hear what other parents with children our kids ages are doing. Class is going great and we are learning a lot from an infant/toddler Specialist and Parent Educator. It is very interesting and it reminds me of everything I forgot I learned in childhood development (psychology course) in college. I didn't really need to know that stuff back then right? ha

Well cutting to the point of this post. There was one man in class tonight that really annoyed me. Annoyed doesn't even begin to describe him. He was telling a story about a woman he saw at a stop light with what looked like a 3 and 4 year old in the back seat. She was screaming at them. He just couldn't understand what could be so bad that a parent was screaming at their children. "Seriously, what in life is that bad that she had to scream at them? It can't be that bad" I am thinking to myself (oh is there something wrong with me? I yell a lot). Then the instructor giggled and said, "sir, I promise you will be that parent one day for some moment." BUT no, he kept going on how he could never yell at a child. I seriously wanted to walk over and smack him across the face. Scott wanted to slash his tires. Lets back up. He is also the man who said last week he expects to come home to a clean house and dinner ready on the table. Yes I would love to have a clean house all of the time and dinner on the table is nice but not always possible. I was probably the woman he saw at the stop light. I probably just got hit in the head with a sippy cup full of juice almost knocking me out and the cup rolling under the brake pedal and me thinking I am about to kill us all because I cannot break. Yes that has happened. And yes, that was probably me screaming. There is your reason.

I laugh at those parents who do not admit struggle or say they don't lose it every once in a while. You wouldn't be normal in my eyes :) I love Dr. Laura. And I will share her trick that works when you feel at that breaking point. And don't tell me you never feel that way! Turn on the radio and dance. That is why Scott, or should I say William, got me an iPod. For those moments when you get so stressed out, just crank it up and dance. The kids love it and it releases that frustration! It works.

Disney Live!

Talk about being spoiled. Farmers Insurance Group (Scott's employer) owns a box at the Nokia Theatre and one at the Staples Center. Obviously the CEO and all those big wigs get first dibs at the events but every so often, you can get tickets to attend some pretty good concerts and such. Our good friends, The Boes, scored us some Disney Live tickets while Scott and I were in Mexico. Along with having box seats, we also got VIP valet parking which was sweet. Thank you Farmers and Greg for getting the tickets :)

It was really fun. The boys were super excited the entire time. The funniest part was when we were leaving. This is Harrison too tired and deciding to take a nap on the lobby floor. No, this was not a temper tantrum. He had a smile on his face and just needed some rest. He soon rolled over to his back and laid there all sprawled out thinking he could actually rest there. He had good reason. We had to skip nap time today.

Bye Bye Nana

Well the time came to say good-bye to Nana again. Two weeks went by fast. We did a lot while she was here. We went to the L.A. County Fair, A Pirates Festival, hiking, the tourism day (I like to call it that), etc. She saw the "Hollywood" sign, Scientology building for Celebrities (yes it is called that), walk of fame, Wax museum, Hollywood Guinness book of Records, Rodeo Dr, Robertson and of-course introduced her to Sprinkles Cupcakes. There is more but too much to post about. The boys had a great time with her and William told me today, "where's Nana? I miss her." It was nice getting away to Mexico while the boys had someone to play with. I miss her already.

P.S. Yes you are reading the sidebar correctly when you see we are in the triple digits. This heat is horrible!

My Fear

We all have fears of some sort, right? Well you all know that I have blogged about my fear of reptiles. Scott and I have been to Mexico several times. We have never been to a resort where there are so many reptiles (mainly lizards and iguanas). The first day I thought it was kind of cool to see these huge iguanas. I wasn't a fan but it made the resort look cool. The resort we stayed at is a 5 star resort. It was very beautiful. Everyone was so nice. The food was fantastic. Well after the first day, I hated turning around to see a bigger iguana than I had a few minutes earlier. Sometimes I wondered if there were as many iguanas as people :) But I was on vacation and it was nice. I could ignore it.

Well, Wednesday night as we were getting ready for bed, I saw a nice large lizard run across our room floor and under our bed! Don't freak out I was thinking to myself. I told Scott to catch it and put it outside. After rearranging all of the furniture, no luck. The lizard was in the bed somewhere. Of-course I could not go to sleep thinking about this thing. We requested a new room and they accommodated. But this is where my ONLY complaint of the resort comes in. The front desk said, "oh Mr. Archer, you want to upgrade rooms, yes?" Scott said no, just the same type of room would be fine. Well all of the sudden, they didn't have any rooms with King beds and told us "it won't hurt you." So knowing my fear, Scott said it would be ok and we would take a double bed room. Yeah, I know what you are thinking. Double beds on vacation. Yes, understand my fear of reptiles. But it just made it that much cozier to share a smaller bed. So we move rooms and all is good. So Thursday night, we are getting ready for bed and what do I see? You guessed it. A lizard climbing on the wall, to the ceiling, back and forth. My heart sank and my stomach dropped. We switched rooms for nothing. They live here and that includes in the bedrooms. And of-course we couldn't catch that one either. So I knew I just had to go to sleep. Scott fell asleep pretty easily while I cuddled up to him (like he was going to save me if it came on the bed) and I prayed myself to sleep. Yes, prayed myself to sleep. "Lord, please don't let the lizard come over here, please don't let it come in the bed, etc." I pray before bed every night anyway but this was a prayer that didn't stop until I fell asleep. See my fear is horrible. I seriously feel like I am going to have a heart attack. Yes I cried and my heart feels like it is pounding out of control. And I was shaking in fear. I have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and this didn't help. I don't know why and I can't get over it no matter how much I try to psych myself into thinking, "what is the worst that can happen?"

Slideshow

One of my favorite conversations on vacations

I was hungry so I told Scott I would meet him at breakfast. A very nice male waiter took me to my seat and wanted to have a conversation.
Waiter: "Lady, where are you from?"
Me: "California"
Waiter: "So like Texas?"
Me: "No Southern California"
Waiter: "Oh so like Colorado."
Me: "No California is a state itself."
Waiter: "Oh so you can see Colorado from California?"
Me: "Mm, no."
Waiter: "oh so like 4 hours."
Me: "Uh, yeah sure."

Mexico

Back to reality. It was such a nice relaxing vacation. Probably the best birthday present ever :) We had such a great time. We didn't do any site seeing or any exploring. We just ate, drank and laid out at the pool. We had very nice dinners and attended some shows and danced to the local bands. Some may think that isn't a vacation (someone made that comment to us at the airport) but it definitely was exactly what we needed :)

We ate at an Italian, Japanese, French and Mexican restaurant. The French was both of our favorites. The shows were fun. It was funny to see them do a Michael Jackson tribute but it turned out quite well. It is nice to be home but I am having withdrawals- ha.

Church picnic

Still going non-stop. After church, we had a nice church picnic. Lot of great food and swimming for the boys. Here are a couple pictures of the boys playing with the other kids.

Better than Venice Beach?

Ok we are back from Mexico. I will work on that post next. Since we got back (Saturday morning), we have been on the go. We like to do new things. We always seem to find something going on in the local newspaper. We saw an ad for a Pirates festival with children's games, food, etc so we thought it would be fun to check out. It was but little did we know that we were in for a surprise. I always thought Venice Beach had the best people watching but I have to tell you that this came pretty darn close. We felt like outcasts being one of the few NOT dressed up as pirates. Or in character. There were pirate bands, belly dancers, fire throwers or jugglers, a reenactment of some fight and a knife swallower.

Of-course it wouldn't be a festival if one of the kid's toys for sale weren't a flask, right?

And do you think there is a point where one should NOT be a belly dancer or wear an outfit like this? You would think so but there were plenty of women in apparel where the only thing covered were their nipples. And it isn't a pretty site to see a 300 lb belly hanging out. And they weren't in the show!

It was interesting to say the least.

Stress?

I think my most stressful moment today was when I couldn't reach my drink from my float. That really sucked.

The good life!

Ahh paradise! We are having a fantastic time. I just wanted to make a little post before dinner. We pretty much laid out at the pool all day today. The food is fantatic so I'm sure we will couple back a little heavier-lol. I actually went to the fitness center a little bit ago and would you believe that I was the ONLY one in there?!!! I guess I should have listened to Scott when he said, "you aren't supposed to work out on vacation."

Check out this guy! There are lizards and iguana everywhere. I thought I saw a huge one this morning and every time I see a new one, it is so much bigger. Here are a couple pictures from today.

My view laying out.

Oh and last night.

Thanks Nana for watching the boys. Hopefully they aren't being monsters-ha.

L.A. County Fair

We went to the L.A. County Fair today. It was fun. We went last year too. Look at how much the boys have changed in one year We rode the bumper cars and carousal, visited the dinosaur exhibit, ate a lot of food, people watched and had a great time.

My mistake...I gave the boys a cupcake:

Can you tell it was red velvet :)

The petting zoo was the all time favorite. We spent a LONG time in there. It was very entertaining. Both boys had to hug and kiss every animal. Harrison counted them. Well he can't count yet but that is what you would think he was doing since he was going around to every animal and touching them and moving on. Like a game of duck, duck, goose.

When it was time to leave, Harrison had to say "bu bye" to every animal.

My one complaint was the gamers or carnies. Luck was definitely on our side. We landed 5 balls in the little cups so we got to chose a few prizes for the boys (stuffed bees and frogs). That was nice. William and Harrison both love basketball so Scott decided to play one of the basketball games. If you make the basket, you get a basketball. So Scott bought two plays (one for each boy). As luck had it, he made BOTH shots. The carnies were impressed but mad. They only let him have one prize! Scott argued with him. Finally the guy said, "ok you are right." So Scott picked out two balls. Then to top it off, the carnie took one away and said, "no, only one or you can have a big blow up ball instead." Of-course I jumped in and explained how rude the guy was being and that is was ridiculous to pay for a game and not get the prize if you win. Anyway, we ended up walking away mad and with only one prize. I'm still a little upset. The boys will just have to share...if that's possible.

It was a good day. Fun had by all. And the boys are sleeping good now:)

The Big 3 0 !

What an amazing day! There are no words to explain how blessed I feel and how lucky I am! I have the most amazing family. I woke up this morning to beautiful flowers and breakfast. Just to back up a little, Scott wakes up every morning at 4am!!! Yes, 4am! So I don't know what time he got up this morning to make sure there were fresh flowers for my awakening and breakfast ready. Of-course I had to warm that up since I get a few more hours of sleep than him each day :)

After breakfast we went to the park to play. And (continuing from the earlier post) the boys went through Nana's suitcase :) Then we headed to the mall to ride the train and play in the play area. Oh and shop of-course. Mom bought me a cute new Victoria's Secret swimsuit (I'll show that off later-ha).

Then Mom, A.K.A Nana, took us out to a very nice Italian lunch. Yummy! We headed home and rested for a little bit. Scott came home and made dinner. He grilled out ribeye steaks and vegetables. And then he brought out this amazing cake! Seriously, have you seen a prettier cake?! Love it!!!!!

Then I got to open presents-always fun. Scott popped open a bottle of bubbly and sent me on a scavenger hunt. He is always so creative and makes it fun. He sent me all over the house with clues and gifts. As if my day wasn't great enough, I got cards from family, so many phone calls , emails, text messages and facebook messages from friends and family, some new clothes, an ipod from the boys (for when they drive me crazy and we need to dance), and the final present was found in my swimsuit drawer.....

Tickets to the Riviera Maya, Mexico. In a black portfolio I found passports, travel tickets, itinerary and hotel information (can you tell my husband loves marketing?). I seriously have to brag on my hubby and tell you how great he is. He called my mom over two months ago and asked her to come out over my birthday. Obviously she had no problem with that. He had this planned that long!!! And how they kept it a secret is beyond me. I knew my mom was coming out but I thought just to visit. Scott is always so good to me and I am so blessed but he always amazes me at how he takes care of me and treats me like a princess. He makes every day special for our family. I am so lucky. And to have my mom here tops it off. A fantastic birthday with a great family. 30 Rocks!