Happy Fathers Day!

Just a quick note to all the wonderful men I have known in my life, whether you be a husband, father, brother, cousin, brother-in-law, grandfather or friend, this day is to celebrate you and all that you do, from working so hard to provide, to providing comfort and patching up skinned knees, to encouragement and to support and being the best cheerleader ever - you guys are the real rock stars of the world. My life has been made better just by knowing you and I am grateful for all that you do!!

So whether you spent the day golfing, relaxing, BBQing, getting a massage, hanging with your family or friends or just plain sleeping in, I hope your Fathers Day was everything you wanted it to be - YOU DESERVE IT and then some!!

XOXO from J, A and K!!

It's never too early...

...to start thinking about the holidays and what is a "good" present and a "bad" present.

Just click on the following link. So worth it!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Twivg7GkYts

I hope you enjoy the clip and get your laugh on for the day!!

The Joys of bubble wrap!

Just had to share this with the world!

The jumping went of about another 10 minutes!!
Her calf muscles must have been on FIRE!!

Is that WATER or something ELSE falling from my ceiling?!?

This is a question I never want to ask myself ever again - seriously, not ever!

Here's what happened. Last week we had the girls bathroom re-tiled. We had to check for a suspected leak in the shower plumbing, so why not just redo the tile that we didn't like in the first place, fix the problem and put up something we liked better. I should mention that the job gets done not by our contractor, but by someone he works with and trusted to do a good job. (that's another issue, but not for now) So, the job is finished, bathroom gets reassembled and is ready for normal use...

Flash forward one week - I am going about my normal mom duties while also working on painting the downstairs bathroom. I am also watching another little girl for a neighbor, and our contractor is here, because what do you know, the toilet in the girls room and the master bathroom were backing up/acting up at the same time and we thought it had something to do a stupid tile being stuck in the pipes.

See apparently while putting up the new tile, a small 2x2 piece of tile fell down the toilet hole in the floor pipe thing (don't ask for the official name if you get what I am talking about) and the piece of tile WAS NEVER PULLED OUT before the toilet was put back together and sealed up for use.

So we called our contractor and explained what was going on and he came out and had been here for about 2+ hours, working on clearing out the tile, etc. He found the blockage due to the tile and got it pushed out . . toilets reassembled (again) and everything put back together. Not a big deal right, everything is fixed . . . right - well that's what I thought and oh was I wrong.

So our contractor leaves, and I go back to painting the bathroom, K and her little friend are playing in the family room, and I decided to run upstairs to throw in a load of laundry (you know multi-tasking as all moms usually do) and that's when all you-know-what breaks loose. K starts screaming and so I run downstairs to see her standing directly UNDER a waterfall that is pouring out of my ceiling. It is coming out of the recessed lighting holes, right above were the girls bathroom is located and I can't even begin to share all of the thoughts that were going through my mind in that moment. Lets just say it hasn't even been 10 minutes since our contractor has left. . .

The next 10 minutes consists of all of the following:
*Me calling our contractor and telling him to get back here as there is water coming out of my ceiling,

*Running upstairs and then downstairs (to the basement) to shut off ever possible water source I can think off - at least 3 times.

*Telling K and her little friend AT LEAST 5 TIMES to stop standing directly under the down poring water.

*Getting every single towel in the house to try and soak up the water that has already fallen

*Grabbing the biggest bowls in the house to try and catch the water and prevent further damage to hardwood floors, carpet.

*drying off two very wet little girls!

*Calling A and telling him to get home RIGHT NOW!

The picture I took doesn't even begin to share the shear amount of water that was coming down (guess it was moving to fast to be caught on film) but you get the gist.

LUCKILY - the water was clean water, not something far worse!

LUCKILY - our contractor was able to come back and fix the problem and stop the water from coming out of our ceiling

LUCKILY - dry wall dries out and it out of pre-existing holes and didn't cause the ceiling to fall down.

LUCKILY - little girls dry off pretty quickly.

Can you tell I am trying to see the positive in all of this?

K on her 3rd birthday!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

My little baby - you are growing up way too fast. It doesn't seem like you should be turning 3 already, but here you are on your birthday, loving every moment and telling everyone you meet that today is your birthday and you are 3!!

Can you please slow down just a little bit? I don't think I am ready for you to be quite so independent and grown-up. You have always been the best little snuggler in the world, and I love how you still like to just run up to me and hug me whenever the moment strikes you. Know that my arms will always be open to receive one of your "big squeezes" any time.

You have more spunk and attitude in your personality than I think should be about to fit into your little body and yet you are the sweetest, most lovable little thing I know. I love how into your dress-up and playing you get with acting out whatever little stories are playing through your head. Your imagination knows no bounds and I hope it never stops growing.

I love how much you love your mom and dad and big sister. Your laughter and smile can brighten even the worst of days. You telling me and your dad how much you love us to the moon and back right before you fall asleep is the best way to end the day.

I love how you are ready and oh so willing to strike a pose and smile your biggest smile for the camera whenever I turn it your way. You are finally fully potty trained (which is the best birthday present you could give to me) and oh so proud of being such a big girl.

I just have to share how 2 days before your birthday you were "practicing" how to blow out birthday candles with your PB&J and the pretzels which were your "candles" just so you would be ready for when it was time for the real birthday cake and that you came up with this idea all on your own. Your imagination truly has no boundaries. I think all your practicing paid off.

Happy Birthday K!!

I hope your birthday wishes come true!!

2 cents

Just my thoughts on our new presidents speech given to congress the other night...

While I can appreciate that you have speech writers at your beck call who have probably spent hours, days, if not weeks and maybe even months helping you come up with your speech . . . and while one might also give you credit for being a really good public speaker (...the title of "one of the best in our history" is still up to debate... sorry to burst your bubble local channel 2 news anchor) can I make a couple of suggestions...you know - just little "take away points" from a single American citizen.

Instead of more flowery words and promises of recovery and restoration of our great nation, can we please get down to the dirty business (yes, it will be dirty and ugly as all hard work ends up being) of actually mapping out a strategic plan for how we are going to fix the problems that we as a nation are facing? The time for talking and talking about what we are facing is past. We all know on some level what we are facing, some more worse off than others.

Now is the time for some action...so maybe even a rough outline as to what steps are going to be taken to get our economy back on track would be appreciated. I don't mind if things here and there have to be tweaked and changed around, because lets face it with huge problems there is no way you can account for every little scenario, but let's get this show on the road... lets get going....enough with the pretty speeches and the pep talks - we are ready for some action. Maybe you already have the outline in place and are just now ready to share it with the public, as of yet, but soon would be better rather than later. Just so we know that you are really on this one. I guess you could say it's important.

Also, one part in your speech really bothered me. Mind you I am really paraphrasing here, but to say that we are no longer going to tolerate behaviours from corporate executives (or anyone for that matter) that result in massive market and company destabilization going forward, is a lot like telling a bank robber that even though we know you stole a lot money and still have in your possesion all that illegally obtained money -> just know that we won't let you do it again!! This seems to be missing a pretty big point. How about we go about it from the stance that since you (the deceitful, dishonest awful "people") who stole/defrauded/embezzled* (*feel free to add in your own word if mine aren't doing it justice) all that money and then still walked away with your "golden parachutes", we (the United States of America) are going to take it ALL back and use that money to get our economy back up and running. You know, give it back to the people/companies etc. you defrauded, so that we can try and maybe recover just a little bit quicker.

Seriously, does the concept of seizing funds that these people gained through illegally/ deceitful means mean anything. Our government could (and should) do it to a drug cartel or to any organized crime unit who blatantly profits at the expense of others, why not take away the funds from the people who knew what they were doing was wrong (on so many different levels and in so many different ways) and made off like bandits??

Think about what all those millions (if not billions) of $$$'s would do if put back into the economy and not just hanging around, sitting in some CEO's or CFO's bank or off shore account. Atleast, it's a start!

Also, I am so NOT down with continuing free handouts / benefits / whatever - to anyone. Sorry, this is my opinion, but I work hard for everything I have as I know my family and friends and neighbors are doing as well, and if you think I am ok with you giving free money to people who AREN'T WILLING to lift a finger and get whatever they need to become an American citizen (for some that is the 1st step) and/or getting the training, education, or whatever it takes for them to become a contributing member of this nation, then that is where we may also differ in terms of opinion.

So, again just my 2 cents, but I for one and ready to see some action points and get away from the talk and talk and talk . . . and talk . . . guess you can say I am an action kind of girl.

It's just the way I am . . .

This post is for you, little sis!

Ok - I know technically I can't call you my little sis anymore, because we are all grown up, but I read your comment on Facebook and it made me realize that I need to be better about keeping my blog up to date, becuase it does let you and everyone else in the family, as well as my friends who don't live close by, into the fun, little, every day things we go through. So thanks for the friendly reminder to update and I promise to try harder!!

So where did I leave things - oh yah - A and I went to San Francisco for 10 glorious days without the kids to celebrate 11 years (gasp) of marriage. We had the best weather on days 1, 2, and 3. Seriously it was 70+ and sunny with the clearest skys. Of course, such good weather couldn't last and the rest of the time it turned to typical January San Fran weather - which translates to cloudy, misty and cold! But we didn't let it stop us or get us down.

We purchased the city pass and traveled around like a full time san fransican. Muni, Trolley cars, walking - we did them all. We even walked (or should I say hiked) up to Telegraph Hill on one of the days with good weather. The views were amazing.

We did Fisherman's Wharf, the Boudin Bread Factory, Ghirardelli Square and the Chocolate Factory (free chocolate - need I say more), China Town (right before Chinese New Years - it was insane), the De Young Museum of Fine Art (the picture of the girl in the yellow dress was made of glass, but it looked so fragile - it was my favorite piece.).

We went to the California Academy of Sciences, watched the Sea Lions and did all that there is to do at Pier 39 (see the video of Aaron at the Aquarium below). We took a Harbor Cruise which took us out to the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz Island. We also went to the Palace of Fine Arts and walked around Fort Mason and all over the Marina District. Talk about a place with views. There are some amazing homes in S.F., it's just too bad you have to be a millionare to live there.

The only thing we didn't get to do was because of the weather, and it was to bike across the Golden Gate Bridge. My sister C and her husband did it on thier trip to S.F a whileback and raved about, so I was a little bummed about not getting to do it, but I got over it really quickly with the rainy and freezing cold weather. The picture of me and the GG bridge doesn't even do justice of depicting how cold it was and I live in Utah with snow - I know cold!

We also ate at some of the best little sidewalk cafes in Little Italy, had the best Indian food EVER, ate more clam chowder and sourdough bread than I want to even think about. I totally wanted to get one of the lobster sourdough bread loafed but not at $20. But still it's the cutest thing ever.

We took in an Irish pub during a very heated football game and ended up getting into a political discussion with two business men from Canada (of all places). I know more about socialized health care and what some Candians really think about our government that I really need to know.

We even took in a comedy show "7 Sins" by James Judd. It was seriously the best one man comedy bit, I have heard in a while. It was at a little theater in the Tenderloin, and I now know why it is called the Tenderlion and it's not the best place to hang out after dark. "Get into your defensive clusters now!!" -> If you are in the area, go see the show and you will know what I am talking about.

We honestly enjoyed every moment we were there!!

We also went back to where our happy married lives officially began. Aaron proposed to me at the Cliff House restaurant overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It has been totally redone in the last 10+ years, but it still has amazing views and it was fun just to go back and remember the moment and celebrate that we have made it this far, even with the ups and downs life has thrown at us.

So now were are back to our normal lives. Our two little girls missed us like crazy (yah, we really missed them too) and school has started back up for me, I am also still working part-time and being full time mom. It keeps the day pretty full, but I am managing to keep my head on pretty straight about it all.

So what's up in the next upcoming months - well . . .

For Spring break we will be taking a family vacation. Avery won't let us go anywhere again by ourselves until we have been somewhere together as a family. She already knows it's all about balance. We don't know where we are going or what we will be doing. ** N & B - are you guys available for us to come visit?? It's our turn!!

There is the 1st Official Leach Family Reunion - Summer 2009 - DON'T FORGET!!

**I hope you enjoy the little clip of Aaron at the aquarium.

BTW - my new camera ROCKS!!