The "Bird"

It was brought to my attention our little princess is giving the "Bird" in her angelic photo. I didn't even catch it! It's those angelic ones you have to worry about:) Don't worry mom and dad, I was a pure angel in my younger years. I sure hope this isn't a sign of what's to come...

Amelia's first Tiffany's Box!

Thank you Uncle George and Auntie Carol (Straty's Godparents) for the Tiffany's heart frame and Bond. Amelia had such a wonderful time opening her Tiffany's box. She was soooooooo excited about the tissue and wanted to keep the ribbon:) She's such a cutie and a poser! Watch out Claudia and Brooke...her comes Amelia!

Amelia's First Earthquake 07-29-08

Well we had quite the day yesterday. While we were at our new home for the walk thru inspection, the house started to rumble. I looked at Sean our Realtor friend, in thought, what in the world is the inspector doing in the attic? Is that our heating unit making that noise? He looks down at Amelia and I, sitting on the kitchen floor, finishing up her lunch, and says we're having an earthquake, move her to the doorway. He swooped her up and placed her in the doorway. We stayed there for about a half an hour, waiting for any aftershocks. After the earthquake, the inspector walked the property again to see if there were any structural damage to the building or pool. What a great inspection:) The house is sturdy and on great foundation!!! I'm glad at least the house was strong, me on the other hand was ready to throw up. I was sooooo dizzy!!!! Amelia and I headed home and laid down, in hopes the earth would stop moving in my head. I still love the house. The daughter of the lady who had lived there is from NJ. She quit her job last year to come take care of her mom, whom passed two weeks after her arrival. She spent the past year totally remodeling the place. She's ready to go home for the seasons! Her mom loved to garden and hoped I was a gardener. UM NOOOO. I can't keep a fern alive!!! Thankfully mom was there to ensure her she'd upkeep the gardens. Well that was until we were escorted around the yard. Great news...we have an avocado, lemon, plum and orange tree:) We also have a rose garden. I'm seeing Great Yiaya all over the back yard:) xoox Anyway the bad news...there's a pencil cactus in the succulent garden, which is poisonous. I'm not a cactus fan. She's has the vine cactus and some other funky things. It'll be great getting in there and cleaning things up for Amelia and the dogs sake:) Yiaya and Papou need to come decorate their room:) Today has been a very busy day. Amelia and I have been all over the place, some places twice! I just finished painting the kitchen ceiling. The house is a mess, but I do better under pressure. I feel like I'm producing an event and it's crunch time! I can't wait to plug in my smelly plug-ins!!!! That's the icing on the cake:) That is after I finish painting the family room ceiling, figure out those kitchen cabinets and oh clean the house, after finishing packing up things. When that's all done, I'll plant the plants, go get the sunflowers for the tables and plug in my smelly's. Photographer comes Friday!!!! Monday, house goes in the MLS, Friday is the Broker Preview and next Sunday is our first open house from 1pm to 4pm. Keep your prayers going!!! SELL SELL SELL. Appraisal came back on the other place and it looks great. Loan approval check, inspection check...now we sit and wait for escrow to close. Yeah...Praise God!!! Like our pink bathroom:)

More photos of Sunday...

Amelia has the Great Grandma Inez look down. I love the one where she's looking at Grandpa with this look like "what did you do that for?" Amelia is so funny with all of her facial expressions. She's learning to communicate through looks and sounds. So far, she's wondering how in the world she got into this crazy family:) LOL

Whew...the weekend is over and we're pooped!

This weekend was a busy one. Missy and I cleaned the garage and threw a lot of things away in the dumpster we rented, while Straty was going through things in the house. Saturday Bill, Straty and I took out about half of the furniture and took it to storage, so we could properly stage the house. The house looks empty without all of our stuff. Hopefully someone will fall in love with the place as much as we did. We're still going through the loan process on the Central Park house. Keep your fingers crossed and pray for loan approval, inspection, appraisal and the sell of our RSM home. Oh and that us old people survive another move! We just moved and sold our desert house this past spring. We're, well, I'm learning to get rid of clutter. Can't take it to heaven!!!! Sunday we did a little resting. Straty had his softball game and then we headed to our favorite hang out, Ruby's at South Coast. Amelia sat in a booster chair for the first time, mom, Amelia, Auntie Sarah and Jessie took a spin on the carousal, dad made a Ruby's boat and put it in the fountain to see if it would float. Fun day!!!!!

Playing with the Hazel May

Amelia and Hazel had fun playing the other day. Hazel loves her little sister. Both Hazel and Miller love to snuggle with her. I'm not sure how they feel about having their ears tugged and their hair pulled, but they love her so much!

House on Central Park

Well Family and Friends...thank you for all of your prayers and support. It's truly a miracle that we are in escrow with this particular house. After many attempts of trying to buy this home, our determination and leaving it in God's hands, we are now in escrow. Please continue to pray for our family. The stress of getting the loan and of course selling our home in RSM, as well as our sanity. I know this puts a lot of pressure on my poor husband, since he's the finance man. But I trust and know that we wouldn't be doing this if he felt any different. We are a great team, and we'll do whatever it takes for our family. Anyone need to hire an event planner for a weekend event? This is a wonderful house in the most perfect location for our family. Single story for those short legs on Hazel and Miller and close to the dog park! Nature walk, library, lake with ducks and playground for Amelia. Frisbie golf, sports park and wonderful bike rides through the park and to the beach for the family. Fruit trees on one side of the house and shed and grass for the dogs on the other side...Oh and the pool for many family and friends celebrations! Close to family, friends and church. We're so thrilled! The picture of the fence is looking at the rear of the house from the park. That was the day we went to pray if we should write an offer or not. I loved the sun rays casting down on the house. It was pretty cool.

FOR SALE: House in RSM...Baby with an attitude...furniture...

Okay, so the baby is not for sale, but boy oh boy she better shape up. I think she missed her Daddy. Straty came home today from his Golf Tournament that his foursome won!!!! Congrats babe!!!! He came home with a bunch of goodies. Sunglasses for the family, a surf skateboard and so much much more. So, we're in escrow and it hasn't hit me yet that August 21st we'll be moving to HB. Does anyone want to buy a great house in RSM? This weekend we'll be busting our butts to get it ready to on the market. Stay tuned..

Little Miss Muffet

sat on her bouncy beating her orange monkey to death!!! The poor thing, once it stopped playing music, she'd bam bam it until it played again. She was throwing her cranky girl with attitude whine while hitting the monkey. Sometimes she'd hold it in place while the motor was burning with this evil smile!!!!! Oh and then she pulled attitude during bottle time tonight. She was soooo mad that I pulled her out of the bath tub, that during winding down time with the bottle she'd look at me, I'd smile and then she'd fling her head to look away. She'd whine and pop her head to the left. Then she'd look back and stare more like a glare. I'd say I loved her and bam she'd toss her head away sometimes smacking my chin. Lit'l bratt. The next time I got smart...I looked around the room as she looked at me...until that little hand started to touch my chin. My heart melted and I turned toward her. BAM and TOSS!!!!!!!!! OH NO SHE DIDN'T!!! Who's child is this? I don't ever remember having such attitude at 6 months!!!!

Amelia knows.....it's The Grandma's Birthday Today!!!!

Happy Birthday Grandma...chung...chung We love you! You melt little Amelia's heart with all the love you bring into her life, through your songs, your hugs and kisses. We hope you're having a wonderful day in Chicago, celebrating your life.
BTW...I had to post the nude photo of my little S girl doing the flirt and rithing Goddess! She's going to be twirling around that pole in no time!!!!

Amelia a busy girl this week...

Amelia spent the next couple days after her shots resting. On Friday it was time to get out of the house. After a yummy breakfast, we headed to Fashion Island for a little RnR:) We met Auntie Sarah, Laura, Auntie Krista and Drew at Cheesecake Factory for a late lunch. After dropping all the spoons onto the floor, almost knocking over my water and entertaining the gang with her new face expression, we headed to Balboa Island for a quick errand. It was great hanging out and getting a little ocean air. Speaking of ocean air....we have been going back and forth on moving back to HB. We narrowed our desired location to live: 16 houses on one side of a street that backs Central Park. Yeah out of probably hundreds and hundreds of homes we narrowed it down:) We made an offer a month ago on a wonderful home and got rejected. That didn't stop up though, because we made a second attempt, which the selling agent, once again pulled the rug right out from under us. We were shocked and kicked ourselves to the moon and back!!!! Determined we wrote a back up off, if escrow was to fall out. Well it got accepted, but escrow seems to be doing fine. Still determined and in love with the area, I made up 20 flyers and we hung them on door knobs. We want to buy your house! Well 4 people said they had no plans of moving and 1 house (we wanted) was sold, which left us with 11 houses we really wanted. A week had gone by and we applauded our efforts, but thought no-one was going to call...but wait...we got a call!!! I couldn't believe it! Neither could our agent. He laughed at my ivory linen paper, 2 hole punched and hand tied with orange rafia and sealed with a pretty butterfly sticker. No-one would ever think he made them. That's okay, because the owners thought it was a scam. They called and we met them at their house Saturday. It's a 4 bedroom 2 bath with approved and paid for permits for an add on. We decided though, if we got the place we would do minimal repairs and just live in it to see what really needed to be done, if anything. It has a great back yard that backs to Central park. Irma, the wife said their back yard was just the pathway to their big back yard, the park. Their eldest daughter volunteers at the nature center that is 50 feet from their fence. As most of you know, the park is a great location: doggie park, lake with ducks, playground for kids, Alice's in the Park Cafe, Nature Center, Public Library, Sports Center....Need I say more as to why we wanted one of those 11 houses? We aren't getting our hopes up, because they love where they live and are just curious to see what's out there for their family. So send your prayers at 7pm on Tuesday when we present our offer! Oh and if that wasn't enough for this week...we start monitoring fertility. Doc says come September, he thinks the old hag's body is ready for round 2. We only hope and pray we are blessed with another baby hadj. A baby that is healthy and like Amelia, sex and all:) Ok so daddy wants a boy. We'll see what the Lord has in store for us. We won't be adopting anymore dogs or buying any trailers:)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPOU!!!!

Today was Papou's Birthday!!!! For those of you who don't know what that stands for, it's Grandpa in Greek. Straty's Dad. Papou, we hope you had a wonderful day of relaxation over a dinner and movie and celebrated the wonderful and caring Papou and Dad that you are! We love you so very much!!!!!! Papou will someday have to teach Amelia about Putts and Calls. No, it's not golf lango, but Stock trades. If you're lucky enough to receive the family holiday letter, you might have some insight. I'm still learning...I think I'll still be learning for the rest of my life. I still think it's a secret "legal" form of gambling:) XXOXO

In honor of Papou we went shopping for treats. No cherry candies or cashews or chocolate...we went shopping for doggie treats! Hazel, Miller and Indi each had their own doggie truffle for your birthday. Auntie Sarah and Mom stopped off at the bucks for a little pick me up. It was a fun and exciting day in San Clemente with Auntie Sarah. Amelia was a little confused with all the doggie statues. They didn't slobber on her or leave chunks of hair in her hands. She was puzzled. After a long day, she passed out on our way to the car. Love you Dad!

6 month shots

Amelia had her 6 month shots today. She's a trooper!!! We prepared for her shots with a relaxing day. We played a bit, had a yummy lunch with peaches, then had a bath, got a message, took a nap and headed to the doctor with a warm bottle to comfort her when all was said and done. We left the house with the 4 B's: Blankie, Binkie, Bottle and Miss Bunny. We walked into the office where she was all smiles, until Christine walked into the room. Amelia knew what was coming even before we weighed her in! She got that sour cry face and a few tears rolled down those cute chubby cheeks. She laid there though as she got her check up. When the shots came though, the tears started to roll. She didn't scream, she just cried. Mommy shed a few tears too. She was holding my face, starring into my eyes as pain was being inflicted on to her. It broke my heart. Afterwards she snuggled with Miss Bunny and drank her bottle. She fell to sleep. On the way home though she chewed my out! She growled and grunted. I tried hard not to laugh because she was very serious. I explained to her why it had to be done. Before you knew it, she was passed out. She's been on and off in sleep right now.

So, who would have imagined me in an apron pureeing food? I didn't think so....Yesterday we started some new fruits! I did peaches and papayas. The papayas are too stringy for her. She liked the peaches though. I can't believe next month I'll be blending meats!!!! My she's growing. We looked at a house in HB last night and then went to dinner with grandma, grandpa and Auntie Sarah. Grandma is heading to Chicago for the week. The girls said their good-byes in a rocking cuddle:) Have fun mom and Aunt Marcia!!! You girls stay out of trouble...oh, that's impossible with Aunt Stella around:) The three of you are T-R-O-U-B-L-E!!! Love you.

Happy Half-Year Birthday Baby Girl!!!!

So, Amelia is half a year old today....my oh my how she's grown. She's sitting in her bouncey right now watching the birds, sipping her water cup as I do some work. I love when she has poopy pants. She poops and then gets the chills that make her head shake. She's so funny. We love her so and still can't believe she's ours! Thank you Lord!!!!

Amelia hits Rodeo Drive!!!!

And they say blondes are more fun....the redheads headed to LA Saturday! Grandma and Mommy had mini face lifts:) Ok...we had our eyebrows reshaped at the King of Eyebrows...Damone Roberts Salon in Beverly Hills, or is that are Hollywood?? I get so confused. After Damone's we walked Rodeo Drive. We saw lots of bling...bling. We even went over to Oprah's favorite cupcake place, Sprinkles (not sure why). Anyway the line was a block long! Explain why someone would stand 30 minutes in line for a five dollar piece of dried out cake? People were saving the bags! Owell. We also saw a Sex in the City design bride. She had a big ole hat and a wheat bouquet. Auntie Missy and I saw a sexy basketball player, but not sure who he played for:) Amelia saw a Rolls she wanted. "grandmommeeeee, can you buy me that Rolls?" Grandma stated "I would honey if Grandaddieeeezzzz credit card wasn't expired:)" Sorry Amelia No Rolls Royce for you. She'll settle for a red corvette Granddaddy.

SLUGGER misses Auntie Sarah in NYC...

So, my almost 6 month old daughter threw me a right cross right on the nose! Then she grabbed my check with her whole hand! Oh and with a closed fist, jabbed me right in the check! She's started slamming her hand down on anything and everything...BAM BAM BAM! She also hits her bottle out of her mouth, while her head is flying back and forth. She's doing this with her left hand. Does that mean she's going to be a lefty? Today her and Miller were buddies. They played on the bed and then on the floor. She grabbed Miller's eye lid and gave it a good tug. He sighed and rolled over to his other side, after flinging his head right onto her lap. He loves her so. We had Chinese food with Grandma and Grandpa in HB tonight. She had fun flinging her toys off the table, grabbing for Grandma's rice and giving Grandpa kisses. TGIF!!!

We have grapes!

Amelia helped daddy with yard work yesterday. They cleaned up the yard and trimmed back the grape vines. Daddy made greek grape stuffed leaves for dinner. YUMMY! Amelia helped mommy in the garage yesterday. We dumped paint to dry out the cans and then attacked the vacuum cleaner! It's officially cleaned! I love my vacuum. We also did "clothing" yesterday: laundry, iron and cleaned out my dresser drawers, as well as went to the paint store. Today will be another busy day.

Bananas!!!! Y-U-M-M-Y

Amelia ate her first bite of bananas today. She wasn't sure at first, but then couldn't wait for the next bite. Great Grandpa used to make us frozen chocolate bananas when we were kids. Someday we'll have to make them for Amelia.