80's Flashback!!!

Today Marrissa had her first middle school dance. The theme was the 80's. I told her that was my generation. She told me how funny people dressed. She had a good time. I told her she better not have danced with any boys and she said the only time I wish I could have danced with one was when the slow songs came on. She said she was kidding, I guess she wants to give me a heart attack at a young age. OMG, I can't even believe she is already interested in boys!!!
She turned out so cute, she would have fit in perfect back then.

Here she was acting like she was working out. Don't you just love how I got the dog's head in the picture as he was walking by.
Of course she had to get Spike in one of the pictures. As you can see he wanted nothing to do with the picture taking.

Riding bikes

The other day we were riding our bikes and Marrissa feel down in the grass. Spike was just looking at her thinking what are you doing?. I had intended to try to get a picture of the sunset, but I was too late, it had already gone over the mountain.

Clouds

Yesterday afternoon I took these pictures of the dark clouds that I was hoping would bring us rain. You would think we would have got a lot of rain, but not a drop. Can you believe it, nothing. It rained all around us, but not here. It is always like that, the clouds roll in and we get a big dust storm,but no rain. I guess it just doesn't like to rain in Avondale!!! I love the rain. It is so relaxing . The good thing about it is that it cooled down.

My favorite children's book

I just love the children's book Love You Forever. It's about how a mother loves her son through all the stages of his life and in the end how he loves her in return. If you've never read it, you should. It has such great meaning about how we mother's really love our children. It has a song the mom would sing to the boy that says "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be." Now that is love!!! It reminds me of how my own mom loved me before she passed away and how I love Marrissa. There is nothing like a mother's love. This plaque hangs in Marrissa's room. I got the sticker at a scrapbooking convention that Bridgette and I went to last year. I could never find a plaque for it, so we asked Robert's mom and Tony if they could make us one. Didn't it come out beautiful!!! They are very talented you should see the stuff they have made. The only thing I did was put the sticker words on it. But anyway this is just a reminder for Marrissa how much I love her.

Jogging!!!

A few weeks ago I had this idea that maybe if I started jogging I would loss weight pretty fast. Ha Ha. Let me tell you I have never in my life liked to jog or run, so why I got this crazy idea I don't know. So Robert said he would do it too. The first time I jogged I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I'm really out of shape. I would jog one block then walk the next. I thought after I do this a few times I bet I'll be able to jog the whole way. Well it's been about a week and a half and I'm still jogging like the first day I started. I'm coming to the conclusion that maybe jogging isn't for me. I'm still going to keep it up another week or so. Even Marrissa can jog the whole way.
One day after we got back I told Robert to pose for me so I could get a picture of him as if he were jogging. He is such a good sport.

Playing Games

This weekend was a very relaxing weekend. We didn't do much of anything but lounge around the house. It was very nice. One day Marrissa and I decided to play games. I really like to play games. My favorite is scrabble, but my family doesn't like to play it that often, so it is rare that we play it. Here we are playing sorry. Of course Marrissa won 2 out of 3 games. She is very good at games. We also played yahtzee and I won 2 out of 3 on that one. Anyway now our weekend is almost over and it will be back to work and school. Today we are going to go bowling and of course Robert will beat the socks off of Marrissa and I. He is a very good bowler. I just keep thinking one day I will beat him. I just have to practice more. Hope everyone had a great weekend.

My baby girl sleeping

Here is Marrissa sleeping. No talking back and no attitude!!! These are the moments I love. It reminds me no matter how big she think she is, she will always be my baby. I told her I was going to post this picture and she said "I hope I wasn't drooling or anything". When she was laying on the couch she said I'm not tired and 5 mins later she was out. She can be exhausted with circles under her eyes and she will tell me I'm not tired. She has fought sleep her whole life.

Yeah!!!

Marrissa found out today that she made student council representative. I told her it's not all fun and games, it's hard work. She told me "I know mom!" Those are always her famous last words. Anyway we are proud of her.

Grilling!!!

Today Robert is grilling some steaks. We had been wanting a charcoal grill because steak comes out so good on them. So one day Robert comes home with this one he made at work. He did a really good job and it was stuff that he already had at work, so we didn't have to go out and buy one. I'm so glad my husband is so handy. It sure saves us a lot of money. Ha Ha. The steaks came out great!!!

Running for student council

Marrissa decided to run for student council. She had to get 5o signatures and tape a 30 second speech on why she would be a good 6th grade representative. Here she is making her posters to hang around the school. She made 6 of them. There are 11 people running for representative. They vote Friday, so she will have to wait all weekend to see if she made it. I really hope she gets it. I'm just so proud of her!!! I never did anything like that when I was her age. I just can't believe how outgoing she is. I just don't know where she got it. Robert and I were both too shy to do any of these things.

School Project

Marrissa and her friend Taylor are working on a project that's due for social studies tomorrow. They are making a globe with the seven continents. At first they wanted get a balloon and paper mache it, but I'm thinking that is way too messy for me, so I talked Marrissa into letting me get her a styrofoam ball instead. When we went to price them, the big round one was 17.99, that's crazy!!! So we opted for the little one for 3.79. So theirs will be a small globe. They did a good job. They also had to do a report on it. Of course it took most of the day. You know how it can be when girls hang out.

Soccer Practice

I took these the other day when Robert was practicing soccer with Marrissa. Her season doesn't start until the end of August, but he wants to make sure she is ready. She's not so happy about that, but she'll get over it. She really enjoys playing during the season. Right now she doesn't want to do much. She is still in summer mode. I tell her just because it's still hot, your summer is over!!! You better get in the swing of things.

Happy Birthday Bridgette!!!

I just wanted to wish my best friend Bridgette a Happy Birthday!!! Hope you have a fantastic day.
I feel so blessed to have a friend like her. There's not many people who have such great friends in their life so I feel very lucky to know her. She is a wonderful mother, daughter, friend, sister, wife, nina, and many more. So again have a very Happy Birthday!!!

Where does the time go???

Yesterday was Marrissa's first day of junior high (6th grade). I always take a picture of her on her first day of school. Of course she had to have her dog in it!!! I remember the first day she started kindergarten. It seems like only yesterday. I took her to class and she said ok mom you can leave now I'm fine. I thought my heart would break. She actually wanted me to leave. I'm happy and a little sad also. I'm happy she is moving on, but I'm a little selfish and want her to stay little and not have to deal with all the grown up stuff that comes with the teenage years. Maybe it's because she is my only one and before I know it she will be on her own and not need me so much. It is very hard to let your kids grow up and make their own mistakes. I want to fix them all, but I know I can't because that is how she will learn. I just hope she makes the right choices in her life and succeeds and will learn from the mistakes she will make. So now I guess I'm out of the little kid stage and I'm entering the teen years. I hope we both survive!!! This has definitely been a big change for me hopefully it won't be too rough. I just can't help but miss the little girl she was. I wonder if other mothers have felt this way or it's just me. Anyway she has had a great first few days of school and really likes it. That makes me happy. I always tell her no matter how old you are, you will always be my baby girl!!!

Basketball Party

Today we had our basketball party for the team. They were suppose to play their last make-up game today, but it got cancelled because the other team only had two players. The kids were bummed out about it, but at least they had fun at the party. We went to a pool and had pizza and cake. All the kids had a good time. It was nice to be in the pool because it was so hot out today, it was about 112. I'm really looking forward to winter!!! I'm tired of the heat. Anyway basketball is now over. In about 3-4 weeks it will be time for soccer. There's always something going on.

What was I thinking!!!

The other day Marrissa and I were out and about and we decided to go into Joann's. Well as we were looking around I told Marrissa I should try and make her a shirt since I got a sewing machine for Christmas and have only used it a few times. She thought that would be cool, so we went over to the patterns and looked through them. I told her to pick something easy because I've never made anything before. She picked one and we were off. I got home very excited to make the shirt thinking how hard can this be. (understatement) The lady at the store said I would make the shirt by her bust size and it showed a 14. I told the lady that seems really big and she said when you make your own clothes the sizes are different. So I cut the pattern for a 14. That's what the lady said to do and she should know her job pretty good right? Anyway I started putting it together and I told Marrissa it looks too big, but maybe after I get it all put together it will get smaller. Remember I've never done this before and I barely know how to use the sewing machine. Well when I got to the collar it was way confusing and I had to redo the collar two times. After the third time of putting the collar on right I realized it was just way too big. I really don't think that lady at the store knew what she was talking about. Needless to say I quit at that point and put it away. It wasn't looking so great. I had already spent about 5 hours on the thing!!! I would have taken a picture, but it would have been too embarrassing to show. Robert tells me why do you do these things without taking a class or something. I told him I thought it would be easy. I guess I should have someone show me how to use my sewing machine before starting a project, it just might help. I need to learn not to be so impulsive and just buy things thinking I know what I'm doing. So that was just money down the drain. Marrissa did use my scrapes and dressed up Spike. He is really going to have issues thinking he's a girl. She really needed a female dog. In the last picture it looks like he's thinking this is so humiliating!!!

Bowling!!!

Today Marrissa and I decided to go bowling since it is our last week off before school. In the first picture she is being funny. I told her it looks like she forgot how to bowl and is trying really hard to remember. It was a nice day. We even went to burger king for lunch. We really shouldn't have because we are only suppose to eat out once a week which is Friday nights. Oh well what can I say we love to eat!!!

Basketball Duo

When we went to get basketball pictures they gave this one to us free since Robert was the coach. Can you believe we got something free. I'm sure we paid for it somewhere along the line. It didn't come out so great because I had to use my scanner and it doesn't work the best. The team only has 2 games left and then the season is over. Marrissa has enjoyed it, but is really looking forward to soccer at the end of August. At least she will have a few weeks of no sports. I asked if she like to do basketball next summer and she said sure, but I don't want my dad to coach. Go figure. He is always a little tougher on her because he knows what she can do and if she is really trying or not. It was a good experience for them both, but I don't think it will happen again. It was a once in a lifetime thing.

The Chef!!!

Lasanga is Marrissa's favorite dish. A few months ago I told her I would walk her through making it. She did a great job!!! She told me it looks better when it's cooked. I told her all food does. She said do I have to do the dishes? I said of course, do the dishes as you go then you won't have so many in the end. I told her that when school starts she is going to pick a night once a week and she will fix dinner for us. I will get a night off, Yeah!!! She will then learn to start cooking. I told her she will get to pick whatever she wants to cook. My luck she'll choose something very easy like ramen noodles. Ha Ha.

Cheesy Picture

Robert was standing by the grated cheese and Marrissa had the camera and she told him to say "cheese" by the cheese. They thought it was so funny. Sometimes my family can be a little crazy, but it makes life a lot of fun. There's never a dull moment.
Today Marrissa is sick with a ear infection, so we are stuck at home as we were yesterday too. I can't wait til she feels better so we can get out and do something. I finally go back to work in 2 weeks. I can't wait. I guess I'm not one to stay home. Now if the weather was cooler I wouldn't mind at all. We could enjoy the outdoors, but because it is so hot here we have to stay indoors and there isn't a lot to do inside.