Happy Birthday Awburn!!!

Today, my best friend turns 22. Twenty two years ago, on Tuesday, August 25th at 4:55 p.m my life forever changed. My best friend was born. My soul mate was handed to me and my heart quadrupled in size. I think back on the sweet little girl, whose sensitivity, compassion and joy, drew people in. I think back on the timid, laid back, unaware of her beauty, young woman, awed people. I now see a strong willed, independent women still unaware of her beauty. God blessed me with this magnificent person and all I can say is I will, forever, be grateful. She has brought me more joy, love, admiration and happiness that I ever thought possible. And today, on her birthday, I just want her to know that i love her more then she will ever know. I want to thank her for being the grown up when I couldn't be and she is who I wished I could be. My wish for her is that , one day, she will have the awesome experience of having a relationship with her own daughter. Similar to the one that I have with her, because for me, there hasn't been a better gift. I love you Awburn. Happy Birthday, Love Mom.

Summer Cont.: Kalah's b.d

Once we got back from the beach, dove right into getting ready for Kalah's Luau Party. This beautiful girl of mine turned 20 on the 18th and celebrated with a big family and close friend party. Everyone had their Pooka Shells and Leis on along with some brightly colored attire. We had some delicious Hawaiian food (and some not so delicious food) but lots of fun conversation and lots of fun Pina Colada's.
Of course Kalah, making her grand entrance, like only Kalah can, came down stairs looking too cute. I couldn't help but go back to the day she was born: On Monday, July 17th -22 hours prior to her arrival- Awburn and I are at Target (of course) when my water sprung a leak. Went home, called Aunt Laurie, who took me to the hospital. Toby was at a softball game and actually asked if he could stay and finish. ( Needless to say he came pretty quick!) The rest is how I remember it: Contractions started, gave me Demerol to let me and Dr Kramer sleep. Toby went home. He came back sometime in the morning. Dr. Kramer coming in to check on me. Laurie coming by on her lunch hour. Young and Restless playing on the TV. Dr. Kramer coming in to check on me. A nurse insisting on shoving her fist up my crotch. Arguing with the same nurse about using a bed pan. Dr. Kramer coming back to tell me that he will be back to check on me. Same nurse shoving her fist inside of me. Getting an epidural. Dr Kramer telling me its time to push. Pushing twice. Toby telling me that I crapped on the table. Dr. Kramer telling me that we can wait and deliver her at 4:55 like Awburn. (Awburn was born at 4:55 on a Tuesday too.) Me telling him something like " *#@% off" and then him holding up the tiniest, little baby that I had seen. (Keep in mind that she was 7lbs. 15 oz. 20 inches long. Her head measured 13.5 and her chest measured 13.5 but compared to Awburns 8lbs. 1 oz. 20 inches long, head 14 and chest 13.75, Kalah seemed so small.) And, as they say, the rest is history.
Like all my girls, Kalah is truly a gift from God, but there is no doubt that God spared her life in June of '89 for a reason. With each passing day, since and to come, I know that she won't let him down.

LIFE'S A BEACH
I promise that one of these days when Toby and I hit the lotto we are moving to Pismo opening up a RV park. Having a section reserved for "Family Only" and live the life. We have it all planned. Toby and Dickie will be the camp hosts and maintenance people. Laurie and I will run the office and I will be in charge of camp events. Yep, just you wait and see. One of these years you will be making your reservation at "Life's a Beach RV Park".

Didn't get to spend nearly enough time there but had a great time still. Left at 3:oo a.m Saturday arrived about 10 a.m. Left for Avila Beach at 11 and got to the hotel at 4:30. Took showers and realized that I had 2 very fried little girls. Did apply sunscreen but nearly not enough and of course Kalah, my "coppertone baby" INSISTED on using sunoil and fried in it! Went for Pizza at 7:00 and by the time we left at 9:00, Tarin had met her "Summer Love". A 17 year old, mind you, who I thought was 20 and who fell head over heels in love with my baby!!!!




The next morning walked the pier and DJ and Tarin got talked into eating chocolate covered worms







Their faces and the water tell it all.

Pretty much ate, when to the fruit barn,ate, hung out, ate and shopped after that. Left on Tuesday saying "We should've stayed longer", especially when we left and it was only 62 degrees (we even asked them to turn the patio furnaces on as we ate our lunch) and drove back into town with the temperature reading a blazing 113 degrees. That sucked big time!!!

A few more shots of our vacation:

My sweet girls lovin' eachother

and one lovin' her daddy

Toby with hair.

Tarin, Kalah, Dj, Camryn & Cortney

So once again, I find out how easy it is to get behind on these things. I better start with the 4th of July and go from there.



On Thursday the 2nd we went to Seastrand park for the firework show. This is our second year doing this and I have to tell you, I just love it. Everything is pretty kicked back. A band plays and there is always plenty enough food and drinks. Then at about 9:30ish the fireworks start. This isn't a 5 minute deal either. It lasts a good 15 minutes if not more and its all done to music. Last year we lucked out cause our favorite band "Yellow Brick Road" was there. This year was a really good band too, unfortunately I never got their name. They sang a lot of Doobie Brothers, Michael Jackson, Michael McDonald songs. It was Toby, Kalah, Tarin, Tarin's friend, Brandi (my niece) Kylie Jo, Camdyn, Joe and Uncle Bill (daycare kids and their dad and uncle) and myself all there so it was pretty fun. We've been trying to talk Josh, Awburn and Aunt Laurie to join us, but they have yet to venture. Maybe next year. The next morning we left at 5 to head to Bakersfield for the weekend. Had a great time staying with Josh and LeAnn. Went to Crystal Palace for dinner and danced. Kalah had never been so she was happy and of course Tarin loves doing the pretzel with her brother so she was good once she got to do that. Spent the fourth with Dick, Theresa and the gang at their house. Swimming. eating, bbqing, eating, visiting, eating, gossiping, eating and of course the firework show that cousin Andy put on for us. It was a lot of fun but I was exhausted. Came home on Sunday and started getting ready to head back out the next weekend for the beach.

THE MINTER FAMILY TREE

So I am told that you can write just about anything on these bloggy things so I thought I would share the story or our "Family Tree." About 5 years ago there was a little twig that started growing in my planter. I would pull it out and a couple of months later, it would reappear. This went on for about 3 years. Finally I decided I'd put it in KC's side yard and see what happens. With out any direct drip system, to it, that tree grew about 7 ft tall. Well Toby was getting nervous that it was going to get too big so he and his son, Josh, dug it up and pulled it out last April ('08). Well guess what's back and bigger then ever? That's right, the Minter Family Tree. I have taken a piece of it to a nursery to try and find out what kind of tree it is but no one seems to know. We are not sure why it keeps growing, because each time we have pulled it out, we have pulled out the roots and all, but for some reason it grows back. We are not sure what we are going to do with it, but for now it continues to grow and is doing a nice job on shading KC's poop.

GUESS WHAT MISS KANDI GOT????

So got this little pool at Kmart yesterday and the kids had so much fun in it. Amazing what a little water does for bored kids. These are my 4 Musketeers. Katherine, Kylie Jo, Steven and Miss Camdyn. It doesn't take a lot to entertain them (thank God), but they sure enjoyed something new to do.

MY 3 GIRLS

So with the wedding and all that entails coming up, I've been doing a lot of thinking and the other day it hit me that when Kalah comes home, on Wednesday, this will be the last time that all 3 of my girls will be living under the same roof. You figure by the time Kalah moves back, in December, Awburn will be a married woman in her own house. How crazy is that? Where has the time gone? My 3 girls are my life and when I think back on all their firsts and think about all the firsts yet to come, for them, I can only pray that GOD will continue to keep them in his care. I pray that HE will help them remember that they are not sisters by accident but that HE chose the three of them to be sisters. How can anyone mess with that?

To my 3 girls;
"When you find yourself looking for a friend;

When life looks so dark; When you feel that you are all alone;

Remember that there are 2 people who share your blood,

memories and heart and together you have a bond that could

not and SHOULD not be broken. Remember how blessed you are that you have one another. That is my prayer."

Love, Mom.

Last Day at Miss Kandi's

June 5th was our official last day with most of my daycare kids. Due to the fact that I have mostly teacher's kids , I lose a handful for the summer. We had a Pizza/Water Day and of all days it was windy and cold. All week it was warm and perfect water weather, but come Friday it was beautiful but just a little too chilly and windy to enjoy our day. The kids still managed to have fun. It is such a nice break from our normal daily routine, but man does it wear me out. I have 3 off to kindergarten now and about 5 ready to take their place. I am telling you if you know anyone who does daycare send me their number cause I am turning them away left and right. As much as I enjoy the break from my usual group, I sure don't enjoy the cut in pay. (I don't charge for when they are not here.) Every year I tell myself that I am going to be prepared but of course I'm not. This year especially, I need the income with the wedding and all, but so far, GOD has been looking out for me.

Catch up cont.

Continuing with our catch up: Over the Memorial Day Holiday, Toby and I went to Oregon to see Kalah. We had such an excellent time. It was the first time that we got to just hang out, visit and sight see. It is such a cute little town and it is so pretty. I kept asking her if she was sure she wanted to move home in December. (Can you believe I was asking her that?) We went out dancing in their "CLUB" and bbq'd with her friends. Had a game night with her friends. Went antiquing and went to the cutest little lake ever. It was so beautiful. It just confirmed my idea that my past life was in the "Little House on the Prarie" days. I could so see a cabin sitting by that lake. I loved it. When we left I cried even knowing that we would be seeing her in about 6 weeks. Don't know why it is, but leaving her is so hard.

So Long to Middle School

Tarin had her 8th grade dance on May 29th and looked way too cute and way too grown up as you can see. However, nothing compares to how she looks in the bridesmaid dress that Awburn picked out for her the following day. She looks absolutely stunning in it.

So tonight I went to Choir Senior Night at Eldorado High School. Tonight was Janet Tyler's farewell concert. In honor of the occassion she asked her alumni to come back and sing one more song for her. I would say there was about 25-30 students there, going all the way back to 1997. Now Janet hasn't been there that long but I am thinking she has been there for at least 10 years. So here are these "adults" walking up on the stage, getting ready to sing a song they had only just heard and they sung it amazingly. They gathered at 5:00; Were handed out solos; practiced till 6:00 and sounded as if they had sung together their whole lives. It was absolutely amazing.
However, I never thought such a wave of emotion would wash over me as it did. I am watching Awburn up there singing and was taken back to this time, not so long ago, of her crying because she didn't want to go to EHS. Janet was my only saving grace. She pulled Awburn into that choir dept. and gave her a reason to want to be there. I watched this shy girl transform into this confident, opinionated woman.
Then I see Kalah up there with her confidence, when so many others doubted, singing her heart out. Her facial expressions that she brought with her from middle school that stood her out from all the other kids. I see her hair up on her head, because she had just came from soccer practice or a game. But yet she was up there with such composure that you would never have known.
I see both of these amazing young women singing their senior solos and me watching them, thinking to my self, "Where did the time go?" That is how I felt tonight. Didn't know but one or two students up there from this years senior class, (The only reason I recognized them was that they were sophomores when Kalah graduated and one of them was the "Nazi Choir Moms" kid) and yet I am there to watch my daughter sing. The same girl who was begging me to not send her to EHS, singing in the alumni choir, with an engagement ring on her finger, given to her by the boy who stole her heart, whom she met at EHS. It was just really surreal for me tonight. It was an eye opener of what it means when one says "Full Circle".
Of course, this all goes back to the amazing woman who started it all and that is Janet. To her I tip my hat, kiss the ground, bow, curtsy, whatever it takes for her to know that so many of us are so grateful for all of her hard work, dedication, time and heart that she has put into teaching our children. Like so many other teachers, who are molding our future, with so little help and acknowledgment, and yet they still go in, Monday through Friday, with the determination that they are going to make a difference in at least one child's life. I want to thank her for doing it for two. My only regret is that she will not have the same opportunity to do the same for Tarin, who I believe, with all of my heart, would have got the greatest reward from it. I can only hope that Tarin will be blessed sometime in the next 4 years to have at least one Janet Tyler.

Happy Mother's Day to me. Can I just say what a perfect Mother's Day I had? Well let me re-phrase that...it was almost perfect. Kalah not being here was definitely a minus. I did talk to her A LOT today though. Around 11:00 My parent's came over along with my sister's and sister in-law and we had a wonderful brunch. I made my famous (or what has become famous) chicken-walnut salad croissants, fresh fruit and mimosa's. It was quite tasty if I do say so myself.

Everyone left around 2:30 and I laid on the couch and took a 2 hour nap!!!!! It was awesome. Before I actually started falling asleep I was remembering back on a few mother's day from the past and I have to say it made me a little emotional. Here are a few that I remembered:

1. My first Mother's Day, which also happened to be the day after my wedding, laying in the
hotel room and Toby handing me my card and it read "To My Wife on Mother's Day" and
crying.

2. I remembered how excited the girls would be to show me their gifts that they made for me
in school. I still have every little clay dish, flower pot, picture frame and card that they ever
gave me.

3. Leaving the house at 10:00 a.m to start making the rounds. First Grandma Barb's, who
we would surprise with McDonald's and Flowers then head off to Grandma Sharol's for a
BBQ, which I really didn't get cause us Mom's still did most of the work.

4. Going to a movie with the girls and only finding out 1/2 way through that it wasn't an
appropriate movie for Tarin. Quite awkward.

5. Laurie and the girls making a big Mexican feast for all of us Mother's. Which also, sadly
to say, was my Mother in-law's last.

6. And today. For the first time in 14 years I didn't have My 3 Girls with me on Mother's
Day.

I have always said that My 3 Girls have always been my greatest accomplishment. How amazing I think it is that God entrusted these beautiful human beings into my care. How blessed I am that not only do I have a relationship with each of them but also a friendship. Everything that I am is because of My 3 Girls and because of this I will be forever blessed.

To you, my daughter's I say this: "Have I told you lately that I love you? Have I told you there's no one else above you? You fill my heart with gladness, take away all my sadness. Ease my troubles that's what you do." Thanks for making it so easy to be your Mom.