Today Livie is 4 years old!! I can’t believe it. It’s crazy to me to think that just 4 years ago she was this tiny, sweet little baby. She was *THE BEST* angel-of-a-child until about 18 months old. Then idk what happened. lol But she is definitely full of spunk and so animated!!! She’s also a smarty. I could tell you all the awesome things she does, but at age 4 it’s not as impressive- except that she was doing it all at age 2. She’s super bright.
I am thankful to be Livie’s mom because even though she drives me insane on a daily basis, I cannot wait to see the person she becomes as an adult. She is so beautiful- her name fits her perfect. We named her Liv Alexandra Manaia. Manaia means “pretty” in Samoan…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIV!!! I love you!!! And I’m sorry Alec got mono and strep so we had to cancel your Princess party this week… 
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This is Alec… 3 1/2 years ago. He lost that front tooth and it took 16 months for the new one to grow in. He was a walking jack-o-lantern!! LOL I’m posting this pic because on Saturday he will be my 2nd TEENAGER. Am I old enough to have 2 teens!?!??! Alec is my sweet, sensitive, loving, not embarrassed to say, “Mom, you’re awesome!” in front of his friends, kid. This morning I jumped on his bed to wake him up and when I sat down on the side he just gave me a BIG hug. He’s awesome. 
Happy early birthday dude.
Have y’all seen the movie, “Pollyanna”? It’s about an orphan girl who touches and changes an entire town because of her attitude. She plays “The Glad Game” where she tries to find something good in every situation- even when it’s crappy. So… things have been pretty frickin’ crappy around here lately, but I’m gonna play the glad game!!
- I am most likely headed to court with the ex, but I talked to the kids a little bit and I truly feel I am fighting for what they want and what is best for them. I talked to one of the best family law attorneys in this area and he thinks I have an awesome chance. His expertise and agreement with me really helped me feel more confident in my fight. Now if I could win the lottery to pay for all this it’d be awesome.
- I had my very first Mary Kay party and it was great!!! The women were fun and totally cool with my dorkiness. The hostess and my really great friend since 7th grade was the hostess and she really worked hard at getting outside orders and getting women there. She rocks. I made good money and built up my self-esteem.
- I have another party scheduled for Tuesday!!
- Tristan had a rad, rad football game on Wed. It was his last of the season. 3 tackles, 2 sacks and he looked super cute!!
- Basketball season is here y’all!! We have atleast 3 games a week and I can’t wait!!!
- I’ll have another teenager in the house on Saturday. Alec will be 13!! I have good kids. I am blessed.
- Sei took off work Saturday nite to go to the Mavericks game with some friends. Although he never takes off work to take me on a date, I am glad that I’m the only one who got to make out with him that nite…. I hope. lol
My baby boy, Taj, is 6 today. I would brag on what a great baby is was- but he wasn’t. But he’s a really cute, cool kid now and is loving kindergarten. He’s excited to have an Indiana Jones party this week. (Thanks to my BIL for the cool invitation pic.)
In honor of his birthday I thought I’d post his new favorite bedtime story. It’s 
awesome and I love telling it to him and laughing with him. It’s from the book “The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales.”
Once upon a time there was a mommy duck and a daddy duck. They had 6 beautiful ducklings and 1 very ugly duckling. People would tell them, “Wow- what beautiful ducklings you have… all except that one.” But this ugly duckling didn’t care. He knew he’d probably just grow up to be a beautiful swan or something.
Well, as it turns out, he was just a really ugly duckling. And he grew up to be just a really ugly duck.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Tajy!!!! I love you. You make me smile.
My great friend, Suzanne, had her baby girl today!!
I’ll let her post the details on her blog since it’s HER baby and not mine. But Mom and baby are doing great. I was so happy to receive the text with the cute, cute pic!! I so wish I was in Utah so I could go see her new bundle!! But alas, I am here in Texas. I haven’t met my new niece and now I haven’t met my friend’s 1st lil girl! But… this is a happy post. So….
Congrats Suzanne and family
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“Mom, I wanna listen to “Cuz I’m just a teenage dirtbag baaaaaby….”
-Taj
“I kissed a girl and it’s yucky. I wish I had listened to Mommy…”
-Me, singing my new version of “I Kissed a Girl” for Tristan
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Heard last nite during the 4th quarter of the Lakers/Nuggets game:
“Tori, you know if they win you’ll get LU-CK-YYYYYYY.”
-Sei
“Man, if they lose I”m gonna have to cut you off babe.”
-Sei
**ROLLING EYES REALLY LOUDLY**
-Me
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Heard everytime I walk in the bathroom… still
“Pee or poop Mom?”
-Liv
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Heard ’round the world and blogosphere:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY NO COOL STORY!!!
I ? ya!!!!
(ps. I mailed your gift late. UPS should deliver it by Monday. That is all…)
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You can go to Reidsupply.com and check out the free cad drawing designs!!! It’s a super cool site and easy to navigate.
So… today is my birthday. My 33rd birthday to be exact. I was born at 11:33 pm 33 years ago. I was a bit oxygen deprived before delivery which may explain a lot. I’m sure the trauma at my birth is to blame for a lot of the trauma in my life. But I was a pretty baby. I’m just sayin’…
—————————-For Mother’s Day the kids and Sei decorated a couple of aprons for me. I needed an apron in a big way, so I was excited to receive them. The boys and Sei went on a father/son campout in Oklahoma on Friday and on the way home they stopped and picked wildflowers for me. So sweet. I ? wildflowers.
(You can’t even tell my butt is totally sore from the x90p legs & back dvd.)
Sei grilled some yum meat for fajitas. I made potato salad (Heidi!!), corn, rice, and Eclair cake- and then we headed to my parent’s to eat. It was a great weekend. I hope everyone had a wonderful Mom’s day.————————————
Thank you, Nancy, for the birthday card and recipe cards!!!
** So… you may have noticed that I added a “Daily Movie Quote” to the top of my blog. When I say “daily” I mean “whenever I remember to change it.” You are welcome to name the movie in your comment or if you clickety on the movie reel it takes you to the answer. Yesterday’s was “We look like bad guys. Incompetent bad guys!” which was from one of my all time faves “The Incredibles.”
** Lately Liv has become obsessed with “boons” aka “Boobs.” She asks me about mine all the time, shows me “hers”, asks to see Isabel’s, talks about getting “boons” when she’s bigger, etc… It’s funny except when she feels me up in public.
** “24″ is stressin me out. I do not like Tony Almeida being bad. 3 more hours left!!
** Our school district is closed for all this week due to the swine flu. I can kindof understand *why* but here’s my questions:
1) What about the thousands on kids that receive free breakfast and lunch? For some kids that’s all the food they get. I know they have a couple of food programs set up to help, but seriously, I worry for those kiddos. I’m dropping some food off at a drop off site today.
2) What about the parents who don’t have sick time or vacay time to take off work, yet their kiddos are too young to stay at home alone? How do they find and afford childcare?
3) Do they really think we’re gonna keep all our kids “quarantined” in the house? I have EIGHT kids here this week including the kids I babysit. If I kept them all quarantined we’d all end up hanging in a closet.
** Wassup with the price and lack of ammunition these days? People are worried about new gun control laws, etc… so they are stockin’ up. Bullets for my .38 are selling out as soon as they come in. I have 5 bullets left. I better not miss.
** My birthday is coming up. When I turned 30 I was really upset. Seriously depressed. But now 1/2 the time I can’t remember how old I am anyway. Is that a sign of aging?
*Today is my lil sister’s birthday. Alexandra- we call her “Ali”- is 15 today!! She is not quite a year older than Tristan. CRAZY. I remember the day she was born. You’d think the forceps would have been sufficient birth control for me. Apparently not. I remember smelling her crib when my parents were out of town (with her and my bro). I missed her!! I don’t sniff her sheets now though… HAPPY BIRTHDAY Lali (as Liv calls her.) Love you! 
* I am stoked for this coming weekend. I have Friday and Monday off and I have some friends coming into town. It’s gonna be awesome to just hang out and PAR-TAY!!
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April is our family’s birthday month. My dad is the 2nd, Tristan’s is the 6th, my lil sister’s is on the 20th and Isabel’s is today!! Isabel was born on April 9, 1999 at 8:22am after 24 hours of labor. Unlike Tristan, her head was not a cone shape and I didn’t have an epidural. She is the biggest of all my babies (beating Livie by 1 ounce) weighing in a 8 pounds 2 ounces, 19 3/4 inches long. She looked like a chubby, hairy, Oriental baby. Too cute!! Alec couldn’t say “Isabel” so he called her “Diddle-bel” which eventually became “Diddles” and the nickname has stuck.
Izzy is shy and not a big talker. She is so talented in so many things. We’ve discovered that individual sports may be her “thing.” She already kicked butt in gymnastics and is now taking karate. After 4 classes she tested and passed for her yellow belt. She really enjoys it a lot! She also told me that tennis sounded fun… She is very sweet and doesn’t like to hurt anyone’s feelings. When she was tired of all the hours she dedicated to gymnastics and didn’t want to miss out on the fun at home she was so nervous I would be sad that she wrote this long letter to Sei and I about how she just wants to be home with us, etc… It was so sweet. When I married Sei, Kelsea and Karlea were almost 3. Isabel was so giving and nurturing and sharing with them even though she was younger. She never complained about sharing clothes, toys, her room, her parents!! And she would just sit there, looking as sweet as can be while people doted on “the twins” and ignored her. Broke. My. Heart.
Isabel is beautiful, athletic and awesome. She is so smart. She has always loved learning and could read and write earlier than any of her other siblings. She loved to use sign and could sign her ABCS in like 10 seconds flat when she was 4. She has always been the child I could take into public and come home with all my hair still intact. I actually cried when she started kindergarten. *sniff* I love you Isabel!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DIDDLES!!!!
