Saturday, May 14, 2011

Come meet our fabulous Pediatric Dentist!

We met Dr. Karen  Yee Lo on a field trip to her office when Grace was two years old in a Mommy and Me class at First Presbyterian preschool.  I liked her instantly.  She was fun and bubbly....everything i would want in a dentist.  Not only does she give you the warm fuzzies but she paints your nails as well after you have your teeth cleaned!  I would not let Dr. Karen paint Grace's nails because that was going to be her reward when she stopped biting her nails so Dr. Karen said, next time, have her wear flip-flops and i will paint her toe nails.  Really?  She did!!!  And if you have no cavities, she gives you a gold dollar coin.  She pretty much spoils them and they love it!



Don't you love the Barbie glasses?


Lily is literally gagging on the fluoride that has been painted
on her teeth but has her fake smile going because she received
her beloved gold coin.


Isn't this amazing?
Come on....does your dentist do this? :-)



Checking to see how well Bella brushes her teeth with the
purple disclosing dye.  She got an A+!


Oh, and when you turn 7, you get to play a DS while you are
having your teeth cleaned.


Remember, always brush for at least
two minutes!


3 cavity free girls = Happy Mommy!
My plug:  Dr. Karen is located in Lakewood and practices with her husband, who is my adult dentist, Dr. John Lo.  They are a great team and have a wonderful staff as well.  Go visit them!

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

Yes it was!

My girlies normally sleep in until at least 8 am or later on the weekends.  This morning they were up around 6 am.  I heard feet hit the floor, scurrying on the carpets back and forth between rooms until finally the dreaded sound of our door opening happened and i pretended to be asleep.  More scurrying around, shushing back and forth and then finally at around 6:30, Jeff got up.  HELLO.....did you not get the memo, it's Mother's Day and "i" am supposed to get to sleep in!  :-)  He's gone for about a half an hour and then back in bed to snuggle until we are interrupted by the alarm clock and little girlies again.  This time i could not fake sleep any longer, they wanted me for some reason and it could not wait.  They wanted me to come downstairs for this:

My SURPRISE!



Check out Bella's dinosaur!

We had one of our favorite, i mean favorite, as in, i would claim her as my own, sitters come over last night to watch the girlies while Jeff and i went to the Rotary auction.  Not only did she bring them a strawberry frappucino to share but she secretly had gotten poster board for the girls to make personalized signs for me, from each of them.  Mollee girl, you are the best!  I pray my girls will have a thoughtful heart like yours.  You made my Mother's Day extra special just by being sweet little old YOU!  Felt very loved, even if i was tired. :-)

We then headed off to church and the girls sang at both services.  It was amazing!  Their choir director, Jamie Deering, truly has a gift and i am so glad she is sharing it with our youth.   Of course i wanted to snap a few shots because it was their last performance of the year.  My seating selection was not chosen wisely on my part and Grace figured out i was trying to photograph her.  Even though you can't see her face, i do love these.

Grace and her BFF Anna


My happy girl!

We then headed to Fircrest Golf club for a YUMMY brunch!  Most of the time buffets make money on us but not today!  The girls must have eaten 10 lbs of bacon!  It was that really thick, done just perfect, kind of bacon.  How could they resist?  Yup, they pretty much just rolled us all of there.

Lily pretending to play, the player piano while we waited to be seated.

Look how they brought our strawberries out!

Three reasons for the dignitary title i hold.
Surprise gifts made at school!

My day was pretty wonderful up until now and then the impromptu texting starts for pedicures with the besties!  We all meet up at Gorgeous Nails, get coffees next door and then the relaxation sunk in and well, we had a really great time just being silly girls.  Thank you husbands for giving us the time off for a little rejuvenation and pretty feet!


LOVE you Annie, Rachel and Jenny!

Can you guess which foot is mine? 
My new favorite color:  Chocolate Shakespeare by OPI
Today was filled with so much joy....but bittersweet too.
Ended it with a call to my Mom, who seems so far, far away in a nursing home in California.  Breaks my heart, because i believe this was the first time in my 42 years of life that i did not physically celebrate Mother's Day with my Mom.  And who knows what next year will bring.....
Loving and missing her very much.

And again, even though today was full of so much delight, it used to be a very sad day for me.  It was a day i craved to celebrate for so long but it always seemed to pass me by until May of 1999 when i was carrying our identical twin sons.  My family was so excited for me that they technically considered that to be my 'first' Mother's Day' and i was finally included in the celebrations of that special day!  Sadly, the following month, our boys came into the world too early.  Stay tuned, their birth story will come in June.

Today i reflect on how our sweet precious boys started my journey to Mommy and our sweet precious girls completed it.  Like i've said before, not my plan but it is God's perfect plan for me.

P.S.  Forgot to mention that i got a quick fly fishing lesson from my husband in the street after the girls went to bed and he gave me a hand written coupon good for "Bathing the Girls".  I always do it because he claims it hurts his back.  Do you buy that one?  Isn't he as thoughtful as they come?  I know i am a smart a$$ but i LOVE him!  He's the best!

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

I'm going back to Cabo i tell you!

This rain is making me crave my favorite vacation spot more than ever.
I almost called Cabo Dolphins to see if they would hire me today so i could start tomorrow.....you think i am joking?  I am seriously having a hard time reintegrating back to the real world and this weather has not helped one bit.

The girls and i danced to music but i secretly did a 'rain dance' in hopes that coach pitch/t-ball practices would be cancelled tonight.  Guess my silly little 'groove thang' worked.  I sent a text message to Bella's coach stating he would be my favorite person in the whole world if he would cancel practice tonight.  His reply, "Who is this"?  Mine, "What other high maintenance Mom would send this to you?  SuLee!"  His response, "I figured".  Yeah, i kind of melt in the rain.  Yes, i will run 26.2 miles in it but i won't just stand around in it. :-)

But instead of whining about the rain, i should thank it.  Because of it, i did not want to go out gallivanting around.  I stayed home and finished putting away the last of our vacation clothes....which of course made me a little sad.  I so desperately wanted to slip right back into them and pretend like i was going to walk out the door and be hit by a warm 70 degree breeze.  Instead, i went outside, froze my tushy off and got my camera wet to get a few shots of the fingerprint this unbelievable down pour has left.  See....really, i am not thankful for the rain at all.



Patio




Oooopsies....should have had those gutters cleaned.




Overflowing flowerbeds.


Even the screens are waterlogged....


And look at these sad little feet...should be in the sand and sun instead.


Sunday, April 24, 2011

Cabo!

Twelve glorious days......eleven wonderful nights....= one amazing vacation!  Actually, BEST vacation ever!

Cabo holds a special place in our hearts.  Jeff and i honeymooned there almost eighteen years ago and this was our seventh trip back.  It's guaranteed good weather.  Mid eighties most days and almost always a breeze.  You hardly break a sweat while soaking up the sun.  How perfect is that? 
Every time we step foot off of the plane, because it is open air to get into the terminal, Jeff and always ponder the same thought...."why do we live in Washington'?  We LOVE the sun, we love the heat....we are solar powered.  My whole mood changes and i know it is because of the natural vitamin D, the REAL stuff, it does a body and soul good.

We've stayed at resorts, which we enjoy but opt to stay at privately owned condos rented through the nifty VRBO (vacation rental by owner) website.  Had a lovely 1700 square foot condo that gave us easy access to the pool and lovely balconies that gave us amazing glimpses of the waves that were constantly crashing but also serenaded us to sleep at night.

Our days consisted of Jeff getting up most mornings for a quick little throw of the rod in hopes that one of those fishys in the ocean would like to come home with him.  They were smart little fishys....they opted to stay in the water.  He'd be back early enough for me to enjoy a nice little warm run around the marina and through town.  I would catch the town just as it was waking up.  Shops and the flea market would be putting out all of their pretties for us silly tourists to barter over. Restaurants and cafes grilling breakfast to make my stomach rumble and run that much faster to get home and pretty dark skinned people with big chocolate eyes would greet you with a genuine smile each day.  All those things combined, made my runs pretty enjoyable. 

I'd return, Jeff may have taken the girls down to the pool for breakfast or i would whip something up and then the regimen of sunscreen would start.  Three sweet little naked girlies would line up and i would go to town in hopes that i got those secret places that always almost seem to burn no matter how much block you put on them.  Then we'd head for the pool, comb the beach for treasures, laze around, drink way too many fruity little creamy drinks that had way too many calories in them but were totally justifiable because i had run earlier in the day....Right? :-)  And then our biggest stress of the day would occur.....what and where should we go for dinner.  We always seemed to make good choices, spent way too much money on meals but let me tell you, they were all worth it and tasted so wonderful because 'I' was not cooking them!

We'd walk into town each night and it was a good mile route back and forth and our girlies were troopers.  They enjoyed the nightlife but i think they stuck it out more in hopes that their Mommy, whose heart strings were pulled by those dear little chocolate eyed children selling everything under the moon, would get them just 'one' more treasure to bring home.  Yup, i am a sucker.  For those who know me well, you know i've lost my mind when i spending a $1 on 5 pieces of hard as rock Chicklet gum. :-)

The rest of my narration will be done through the enormous amounts of photos we took.  I asked Jeff, "How many photos do you think we snapped on vacation"?  His response, "You, 250...me 50".  HELLOOOO...we were there for 12 days, 11 nights, and you are married to me....Momtographer-wanna-be!  I shuffled through over 1100 photos!  Don't be alarmed, i will not bore you with all of them but, i will warn you, you will see many. :-)

Adios Washington....Hola Cabo!

First day and she hiding from my
camera already. :-)

Not Lily though!

Favorite thing to do in the pool....
have Daddy throw you in.






Combing the beach with Daddy while
i'm out for a run.

Daily treasures found.  I should have photographed all of the
shells we had to siphon through at the end of our trip.
Probably 10 lbs worth!


First sandcastle.  All we had was a cup
from the bar to use but the girls didn't mind.

One of our favorite eats....The Shrimp Factory.
You can autograph the wall.

No, we didn't buy this hat for Bella.....

But came home with these little gems instead.
No help from Mommy picking these out,
they chose them all on their own and i
LOVE them!

Mario...our bartender and friend.  He has been at the
Terrasol for 17 years!

LOVIN' the beach!

Whales decided to come visit us...
Could you imagine being that close to God's creation?




Fiesta night!  Don't worry, i know you see tequila shot glasses
on the girls....they only had one. :-)

Beautiful ladies and handsome men dancing for us...

Live mariachi music....

And even fun games for the children to play!

Fishing right off of our beach.


Not caught....just dried up on the beach.
Sad little puffer fish....


Tell me, this is not the cutest!

Who are they?  I don't know, but it took
my breath away.....so romantic!


Oh the treasures for Mommy.....



Seriously...i know you think i am a bad
Mommy for snapping this shot but they
saw this little fellow and did this all on
their own.  I couldn't resist.
For those who are wondering, he is a Viagra pill.

Really?  No thanks!

Every little boys dream!


Our favorite place to eat.  You walk through the doors and it
is actually open air.

Amazing freshly made tortillas...


Can you believe a clown found us? :-)

Tres leche....my favorite Mexican dessert!

Lovely walk home from Mi Casa with
our crazy balloons!
The next morning we are scheduled to attend a time share presentation. Now we are only attending to get three free tickets for our girlies to swim with the dolphins.  Mind you, these tickets are $139 a piece, so we thought 90 minutes of our time and a free yummy breakfast for our family of five was well worth it but let me tell you, boy were we sucked in.  We almost signed on the dotted line...but i brought us both back down to reality.
Okay.....it was BEYOND worth it!  We had been warned that because our children were 10 and under they would most likely not be able to swim with he dolphins but they would be in the 'water with them'. 
Friends, let me tell you, this was one of the most amazing experiences of our lives, of our little girl's lives.  After witnessing the encounter, $139 is totally justifiable. even though we will NEVER pay it because we will again and again sit through time share presentations to get this for free. :-)  I almost had tears in my eyes when the girl's dolphin came out to greet them.  They danced with the dolphins, they kissed the dolphins and the dolphins reciprocated and they SWAM with the dolphins!  It was more than we ever imagined! 
We just might have to barter in an encounter for me the next time. :-)
P.S.  Had to sign a waiver that i would not photograph or video tape while we were there.  Otherwise i would've ended up with a total of 2100 photos from our trip.  The dolphin photos were taken by their staff.  I suggested to Jeff we could move to Cabo.  I could work for Adventure Photos and snap photos of the dolphins while he sold time shares. :-)  Good idea...right?


At our free breakfast with their matching dresses i found
on way home from Mi Casa. 

Done with breakfast...on to the dolphins!






Ahhhh....missing th Cabo sunsets....

More shells.....

And our friend Mr. Crab!



Oh and the waves!

Daddy never caught any fish but
Grace found a dead one on the beach.
I know...YUCK!

Locals surfing in the non-swimming beach.
So brave...so dumb...but so cool, all at once!

And cute little tan lines showing on cute little bottoms.

Thumbs up for Cabo!

Since there were no little boys to smooch  on, she had
to settle for Daddy.

And this is what the pool was lined with most days.



Such a lovely sight.  Even though i don't like to swim in
the beach, i do love the sand between my toes.

Learning how to dive....

On our way out.

Photo compliments of Bella.


Dolphins whistles from this darling little Amiga...


Headed to the beach the last couple of days.  We avoid this side of town because it is always full of crazy Spring breakers and loud drunk half naked people but we promised the girls we would head over and it did not disappoint.  We fortunately hit the tail end of the craziness and found a perfect little spot on the beach to be catered to.  We were willing to pay a rental fee for chairs and an umbrella and instead we found a nice server at one of the hotels who offered us to use their beach amenities if we agreed to spend at least $10 in food and drinks during the day.  SOLD!  And even though were not hotel patrons, Martin offered us happy hour each day.  Cabo is so good to us!

When we honeymooned in Cabo, Jeff convinced me to try a jet ski ride.  Friends, for those who know me, i am not a water person.  I don't swim and i am just plain afraid of the water.  But....we were on our honeymoon and i wanted to make my husband 'happy' so i agreed to one quick ride.  We hop on, the darn thing would not start, a wave hits and the jet ski turns completely over with ME on it.  I am submerged and think i am drowning.  End of joint jet ski ride and it hasn't happened again for almost 18 years even with Jeff's relentless begging.  Well guess what?  Your 40's do crazy things to you or else this Mamma did not want to be shown up by her three youngins' and i went for the ride my husband has been pleading for and you know what?  I did not like it at all....i do not like green eggs and ham, i do not like them Sam i am, i do not like them in a tree and i do not like them on a JET SKI! 
But my three girlies enjoyed themselves and so did their big kid of a Daddy!

The girls had an amazing time doing their own version of body surfing.  The waves would take them out and i would hold my breath and the wave was my friend and would bring them right back in with huge smiles on their faces.  But the sand....YUCK!  This is why i swim in the pool.  It was stuck in every crack and crevice ones body could have and boy does it love a little child's scalp.  Seriously took a full day to get rid of the stuff but so worth it!

Here we are almost 18 years later in our favorite spot
and my husband is HOT as ever!






This was a sight to behold.  Pedro had only been doing this
for 15 days and selling for one week.  He whipped three of these
bracelets out in about 15 minutes flat. 


She loves all creatures....

Seriously, didn't even flinch!


This is where the wet t-shirt contests were being held
and lots of b(o)(o)bies were being shown.

Sunbathing beauty....

Where's Bella?

There she is!




I did it!!!!

Our new friends Garrett and Ethan.  Their Mom Heather
watched our girls so i could risk my life for my husband's enjoyment.
What kind of Mommy leaves her kids with complete strangers for
a jet ski ride?   I take that back, we knew them for one day. :-)


Full moon on our last night.

Can you see why we didn't want to come home.
Couldn't you live here too?  Miss you Terrasol!

And this shirt says it all!
If you made it through this whole post...Bless you!
Now start saving your money so you can come with us next time! :-)