Shhh. . .don't tell Kale I blogged this. . .

BLUE AND GOLD BANQUET

Here's our cake to celebrate 100 years of scouting!

A blue and yellow football!

When Kristopher came in and saw Kale and I stirring frosting colors together for our cake he says this to his brother. . .

"Ohhh Kale only girls make cakes! 

You should wear Kara's apron!"

So Kale showed him. . .

and put on that very apron!

It made Kristopher roll on the ground in laughter!

I was dying as Kale was twirling around the kitchen until Kristopher couldn't breath from laughing so hard.

Now how did I get him to pose for a picture?

He said he'd take a picture if he could stay up until midnight tonight!

"Deal" I said. . .

  (knowing full well that by 9:30 he will come to me and say how tired he is and we'll have a little conversation about how maybe it would be better if he just goes to bed and we'll stay up until midnight another night when he's not so tired)

But he did say. . .

"You better not put this on your BLOG!"

Oops.

I couldn't resist.

Aahhh Yahhh!

So a few weeks ago the kids brought home this

KIDS SMART SAFETY FLYER

from school.

A safety course on how to keep kids safe offered at a local Karate Studio.

I signed the boys up and we went to the safety class.

Now the boys were expecting to learn some crazy karate moves and though the class was great on how to be aware of your surroundings and was very informative on how to react to strangers there was absolutely no karate involved in the class.

I had two very disappointed boys.

However, as part of the safety class they were offering two free weeks of karate classes if we signed up that day.

So I did. . .

And for two weeks four nights a week my boys got to yell, and kick, and punch and not only was it was allowed it was actually encouraged!

The boys had a blast and they even got a free uniform out of it. . .

but baseball starts next week and me not even wanting to attempt  "supermom" status is not willing to do both, let alone afford both so we put the Karate uniforms in the dress up box and have already started cleaning off the baseball cleats!

Happy Valentines Day!

We celebrated with FONDUE!

(don't mind the "girl"  - she never wears clothes anymore - it's a new thing - I've almost accepted it)

I love celebrating with these 4!

They are all my valentines!

San Francisco was "Wicked Fun"!

Kyle and I had a great day in the CITY!

The play was better than I expected. . . It was funnier than I expected!

I LOVED IT!

(I think I secretly want to be Galinda!)

Our trip can be told in 3 pictures. . .

Number 1

(The view of the city off the balcony in our room)

The city was beautiful. It couldn't have been better weather.

We walked around Union Square and actually walked inside stores.

Without the kids that's doable.

I even went in The Container Store - never been there before.

We ate lunch at this little dive - I had a Strawberry Nutella Crepe and it was heaven on a plate.

We ate ice-cream as we walked up and down fun streets.

On our way back to our hotel we stopped and bought magazines and sat out on the balcony and read them for almost 2 hours.

(I don't know how I feel about Kate's new hairdo - and I now know more about the Bachelor and everyone on the show than I care too)

Number 2

(The same view off the same balcony at night)

Then it was time for dinner.

We didn't know where we were going to eat.

That's the fun of no kids. No plan and I loved it!

We found my new favorite Italian Restaurant - Puccini and Panetti!

It was so good!

Then it was off to the show!

And thankfully after the cab ride where I thought I might die - we made it back to the hotel in time to sit out on the same balcony and eat what else but Ghiradelli Chocolates and stare at a beautiful city!

(That never sleeps by the way)

Number 3

(The same view from the same balcony the next morning)

Ya Gotta Love San Fran!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KYLE!

35

NEVER LOOKED SO GOOD!

I LOVE YOU!

We had a "HOT DOG" day!

To celebrate Kara's SECOND birthday we started off the day with our

BIRTHDAY BUBBLE BATH!

AND THEN

We celebrated with a

"MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE HOT DOG PARTY"

(which doubled as a Super Bowl Party)

With all our friends. . .

let's see there's

Kyla

Elise

Olivia

Jackson

Riley

Tristan

Olive

Maggie

and don't forget her brothers

Kale

and

Kris!

PRESENT TIME!

She got her very own rocking chair from Grandma and Grandpa

And her very own instrument set so she can march around the house like at music class.

Along with other great stuff that pictures did not capture!

She is surely loved!

AND THEN BRING ON THE CAKE!

She actually got the concept of blowing candles out and did a great job!

We had a GREAT party with GREAT friends!

And then today. . .

We got together with some girlfriends and celebrated again.

These two were born on the same day

and are best friends.

They are so much alike.

They love all the same toys.

They both had Mickey Mouse birthday parties and can't get enough of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

And - here's the real kicker.

They both HATE nursery!

And here we have the HOT DOG DANCE!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOU TWO TWO YEAR OLDS!

ME and HER in our "2 Year Old Birthday Dress"

ME

1979

HER

2010

(photo taken by my amazing sis in law Sheena)

I had a "WICKED" Birthday!

BECAUSE. . .

I got Wicked Tickets!

I have wanted these for so long!

I've been patient and it's been worth it!

In the morning my kids made me wear a crown - OK it wasn't that hard. I actually love that they think I am a princess!

Here's a run down of my perfect day!

Kyle took the day off work to spoil me so. . .

We went to Breakfast - just me and him. I had the best Strawberry Banana Waffle.

I volunteered at the 100 day of school celebration for the kindergarteners. They had a cake with 100 candles and Kristopher told me that's what my cake is going to look like.

I had time for an impromptu pedicure which was heaven.

We went to dinner at one of my favorite places - Tahoe Joes - Whiskey Peppercorn Chicken - I'm still drooling.  And look at this cake we all got to share!

Then back home where Kyle surprised me with cheesecake!

And because this girls birthday is tomorrow we got her ready for her big day by giving her her 1st haircut!

It didn't go so well!

Can you say DRAMA?

Thanks Grandma for putting up with her because the end result is so cute!

She's ready to turn 2 now!

What I want for my birthday. . .

Is for MY side of the closet to look like HIS side of the closet!

I started a little. . .

  (notice I think there are 6 wood hangers left over from HIS side)!

So for my birthday Marissa and I went shopping last Saturday for 5 hours!

It was heaven. We even got lunch. I know I'll stop. I can sense the jealousy.

I didn't buy much. I came home with 4 shirts and a scarf!

But the real present came when she came over and motivated me to get rid of all this STUFF!

Now this is stuff I have had in my closet that I wore once and don't wear anymore and three times I have tried to purge this closet but each time keeping most of the stuff I don't wear - so it was amazing when Marissa came over here's what happened.

I would pull things off the shelf with a built in speech about how "I don't wear this but I wore it to such and such and I can't bear to get rid of it" and yet before I could say a word Marissa would say "get rid of it" and you know what without hesitation it went in a pile on the floor. No speech about why I needed it. No hesitating to say goodbye. It just went in the pile.

(OK maybe we had a little debate about the long black skirt - but it too is in the pile)

And you know what? I'm not sad. I don't miss any of them.

I'm one step closer to matching HIS side of the closet!

Thanks Marissa!

(don't you all wish you had a friend like her?)