Rat Pack's Revenge

My trip to Las Vegas was FANTASTIC!! It was HOT though. I arrived and it was 113. So the first thing I did was get the a/c going in my parents place. Then Gayle and her sis Aileen came and picked me up. Gayle looks the same as when were roomies in college (thus affirming that 10 years could not really have passed). We headed to the Luxor for some dinner, and then they took me to see Blue Man Group. The highlight of the show was when a Blue Man spotted us, and I leaned to Gayle, and said, "He's coming for you." Thankfully for Gayle, he only chose to stand on her chair and dance. I had such a good time heading out with some 'women' instead of some 'girls'. LOL. I was in bed at 10, but I still felt like I was living it up. The next morning we started at one end of 'the strip' (Mandalay Bay) and made our way all the way down to Wynn. We went into Mandalay Bay, then Luxor, then skirted through Excalibur before going into NY NY. Then we hit M&M world to get some presents for my girls. It was about lunch time then, so made our way through Aladdin, then crossed over to Caesars. Had a nice lunch before hitting the Forum shops. I did a LOT of shopping, but the most expensive thing was a gift for the stay-at-home-Daddy, Jeremy, so it's all good. ;) Then we crossed back over to the Venetian for a gelato and finally made our way to Wynn. It's a beautiful place, and I would have loved to have had more time to walk around it. They had a beautiful waterfall, that goes into a pool type thing. I would have loved to have gone into the restaurant there to listen to the water and watch. But we needed to meet up with Aileen so I could head to airport. We met Wynn's right hand man (which is Aileen's boss), and then I headed to the taxi line to go home. It felt good to get back to the NW and 60 felt fantastic after the 110 we were walking around in. Jeremy loves his wallet, and the girls loved their M&M toys. I felt great yesterday morning, until the Rat Pack's Revenge struck. Too short a trip I guess.

Leaving FOR Las Vegas

Keira just threw a harmonica in my face, Cassidy tried jumping over her sister, laundry needs to get done, and dishes too. I can not wait to get out of town for 2 whole days!! I'm going to get a book and read it uninterrupted. Or maybe take a nap on the plane. Will I miss my girls? What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!

A steel trap I tell you

I took Cassidy to piano class the other morning. Afterwards we walked past the candy machine and she told me she wanted the red candy. I told her no because she wouldn't like it. It was spicy red candy. And she started fussing at me, "No, it's not. It's good." "How do you know?" "On the second day Aunt Kathy was here, she gave me that candy." So I actually looked in the machine and there were the pack of Red Vines!! I can't believe she remembered that!! So I put in the change and bought the pack!

5 more minutes, Mom

Cassidy has decided to start staying up late. The last 3 nights hse has moved her bed time back to 9 pm. UGH! I think it's a pain mostly because she IS tired, and so we deal with fussy 3 year old for an hour before she finally falls asleep. This weekend it wasn't so bad, as she slept in a bit, which allowed Jeremy and I to sleep in. Well, I decided to wake her up early today to try and reset her clock. I opened the blinds, rubbed her back and said, "Time to wake up". Cassidy mumbled a bit, rolled over and said, "No wake up. I wanna sleep in like Daddy." I had to laugh.

Spontaneous Applause

I am NOT a business woman. I have no desire to sell anything. I don't like to be sold to, so I can't stand trying to push something on someone else. Hence, why it is difficult for me to talk about BabySock. I love it, and think everyone will like it, but I would just buy or give one to everyone I know instead of sell it. Not good business sense, I know. Last night I headed off to my Mothers & More meeting. The topic was a take on Oprah's "useful" things. But it was like the white elephant game and had a $5 limit. So I packed up a BabySock (order yours now for $29.99 at BabySock.com, use link to right and enter coupon code 'ecard' to save $5) and headed to the meeting. I was sooo nervous. I was going to have to explain what it is and hope that whoever picked it didn't have 9 year olds or something. I had one of the biggest packages and as Magic Erasers and stain stick were getting passed around, it sat. Oh, I started to get even more nervous. The woman next to me (whom I took a meal to when her daughter was born last December) said she was going to take it. Phew! Only one more person before her, and someone else picked it up. She seemed to be pleased just by the look of the fleece and then I had to go into the story of blankets getting kicked off, no one else had a product that would work, 2nd baby, used my hand stitched one again, decided we needed to make them and sell them and we launch on Sept. 1. I finished and amazingly, they applauded!! I mean, applause. Spontaneous Applause. I couldn't believe it. And as with white elephant gifts, you are supposed to steal, and it got stolen by the woman next to me, and then it was stolen from her. Other people want it too! Last night was good for my business soul. Made me feel more confident about success. In the parking lot after the meeting I spotted the woman who had the BabySock swiped from her, checked my trunk and had a pink one. Gave it to her, and she gave me a hug and told me she would tell everyone about it. Maybe I'm not so bad as a business woman.

Pot-Smoking-Hippie-Moms

I had 2 totally different days yesterday, so I decided to give each part their own time. I met up with my friend Shawna and her 3 boys (ages 4, 2 and 5 months) at a local park. Cassidy was pretty beat but she had dance class in an hour, so I wanted to keep her awake and exhaust her so she would go to bed early. Shawna's boys are, well, boys, but they are well behaved. They listen to their Mom and only seem to push each other. Some other ladies had gathered in the park too, a group of hippie looking women were having lunch. (This isn't a deregotary term, just a description of clothes and hair.) One of the "hippie-mamas" took her toddler boy off into the bushes to pee. Which, I have seen at other parks without restrooms, but I am pretty sure this one did have them, but I let it go assuming they might be locked. But about 5 minutes later when the same boy is in the play area picking up and throwing the bark, and no one is doing anything, I start to grumble. Especially as he approaches Cassidy and throws it right in her face. I storm over, and the boy sees the look on my face, and started to bee-line it to "hippie-mamas". I used a stern voice, and even while he ran told him that it was not okay to throw at people. The Mama was nowhere to be found and so she failed to parent in that situation. (Yes, she's on trial here folks. Keep reading.) Not another 5 minutes had passed and he is back with a stick. Not so much a 'stick' as a BRANCH off a tree that some other boys had been destroying. He brings it into play area and starts waving it around, and sure enough heads toward Cassidy again. This time I was on my way before he hit her, and arrived shortly after. The "hippie-mama" finally witnessed the event as it was not 5 feet from her luncheon. "Hippie-mama" apologized for her son, and told him in a sweet voice, "See, you made the girl cry. It's not okay to hit with a stick." I asked how old he was, 2. Then she was off again. I was a little surprised as she didn't try to make her son apologize. It was then I started to refer to the group as "Pot-smoking-hippie-moms" since I figured they all must be high or smoked it durning pregnancy to let their kids abuse others with little concern. Then it happened, the final straw. Shwana's 2 year old didn't want to share and was shoving with his brother. She pulled them apart and told the 2 year old he had to wait (difficult for any 2 yo). When he started crying she told him he would have to "go sit down" if he didn't stop. Well, she had to pick him up and put him on a bench. Of course, he tried to get up and she put him back, told him no, and crying continued. It was about this time, I notice 'hippie-mama" looking on and shaking her head at the scene. As if a toddler crying from punishment was worse than George W. getting elected again. I try to be open minded when it comes to other parents style of raising their kids, but I just had it with this lady yesterday as her son repeatedly terrorized my daugter and she stood back and did nothing and then 'judged' someone who I think is doing a good job raising her boys (who have yet to hit, throw or in any way assault my princesses!)

Theme Song

This weekend we went to one of my favorite places in the world, Stupid Prices (which is an outlet for Costco Home). It and Ikea are at the top of my list right now. Point being, that we found a great dining room set, which is good news for all those coming to my place for Thanksgiving this year. I thought it was going to be served on our dining room floor, but we know have table and chairs. Phew. While there, we browsed the TVs and other electronics and found a great Yamaha keyboard that has about a million things that I will never know how to use. But for the price and with my 10% off coupon it was quite the bargain and seemed perfect for Cassidy our budding musician. Well, she loves it, as does Keira. They quickly learned that it will play songs that are already recorded. And their favorite is the Theme to Star Wars. Cassidy asked what the song was about, and we told her outer space, so now when she plays it she will spin and shout, "I'm a planet!" Every time I walk into the playroom the Theme Song seems to start up. I now expect it to start when I walk into the grocery store.

Time for sleep

We had our friends Robyn and Jen out for a visit this week. It has been a crazy week! We found out that the BabySocks would be ready on Friday, Jeremy flew to San Jose for 1 day, and Keira was up the entire night before he left crying. Needless to say, we were exhausted for most of the trip. So Friday we picked up the BabySocks! Woohoo! And Saturday it was time to take Robyn and Jen to the airport. I took Cassidy hoping that she would fall asleep on the way as she had been moody and acting fussy. At one point she asked me if she could play with Play-doh when we got home. "No," I said, "becasue after we drop Robyn and Jen off at the airport, you should fall asleep on the ride back." "I will NOT fall asleep!" "We'll see about that." And I hit play on the Dido CD. Not even 5 minutes later she was out.

Sing us a song...

She's the piano girl! Cassidy started taking some piano lessons a few weeks ago. The first week, she practiced every day and the tune had some words, and she was great. The next week, she practiced 2 times, the song had no words, she had no interest. This week, the words are back, and she has been practicing no problem. This morning she actually sang the song while she played it. I knew she was a musical genius!!

Drunken Baby

Last night we decided to grill, and having had a rough day with the girls, I looked into the fridge to see what could ease my mood. I found a nice cold Mike's Hard Lemonade, and headed outside. As always, the girls wanted to share my drink. Keira was the only one, as Cassidy was too busy playing in the sand. Well, I thought she would have a sip, taste the alcohol and be done. Too bad you can't taste the alcohol in those things. Keira kept screaming for more sips. I let her have another, but as I was talking to Jeremy working the grill, when I looked back it was to her tilting the bottle back all the way. Oh my! I'm not sure how much she gulped down, but she wasn't interested in eating (so not Keira) and just laughed all through dinner. At least she's not a mean drunk!

Gone Fishin'

Today my Mother's group met up at a trout farm to go fishing. I had to wake Keira up early from her nap (which is no easy feat, and not one worth doing I dare say) so we could make it in time. I had to endure traffic and fussing from the back seat until we arrived. Then it was all the girls could do to contain themselves. Cassidy had no problem understanding holding the rod, and Keira had no problem wanting to help out. She would grab the rod any chance she could and dip it in the water. I think she was more interested in 'spearing' the fish. We felt a few tugs as bait was nipped away, and then, we hooked one. I asked Cassidy if she felt the tug, and she nodded yes. We pulled out a good sized (okay, it was about 7 inches) rainbow trout. I wish I could go back in time and have her pose with the fish, but at that point I was looking for the employee to come and remove the fish. I think Cassidy and Keira will be good fisher women, but I never did develop the stomach for it.