in the land where everyone speaks english! well, in theory ;)

so i made it safe and sound (well, to california at least!). apparently my flight stopped in new york (which was totally not on my itinerary). and i had to catch a connecting flight to san francisco. and now i'm hanging out at the USO for the next few hours (which is totally AWESOME by the way :) my flight was pretty uneventful. no complaints other than the fact that it's been a really long trip. my flight to california was delayed by about two hours. but again, being that i have a really long layover here, no complaints; makes the trip seem shorter?
anyways, no pictures. however, i did want to take pictures of all the insane people wearing flip flops or heels. seriously? who travels like that? that's just something i don't understand!!
okay. that's all i got for you tonight. i'm super tired, but i think i'm going to chill out and watch some movies that i downloaded onto my ipod. thank you technology!!
i'm already missing those monkies at home and of course my markie!

my sister is cooler than your sister.

i just got these adorable little cupcakes in the mail! the two on the end are washcloths rolled up as cupcakes!

i know.

i know.

you're jealous :)

i can't believe it's not butter...

*wee*

yay! we are going out tonight.
okay. sort of going out.
it's a going away at the base club.
that counts, right?

geisha love.

i love love love! how this blanket turned out. i think this fabric is just too cute for words! :) i made it for a baby shower that i went to today, and let me tell you; my sewing machine was being more tempermental than a cranky woman! *lol*

but it did get finished, and i think the girl liked it.

i can't wait to get to the states and stock up on a bunch of fabric!! i like making these little blankies :)

what i learned today...

don't be a hater aren't you jealous??


and this is where i learned it:

http://sayssimpleton.blogspot.com/2007/09/using-strikethrough-font-in-blogger.html

courtesy of one of my favorite blogs: whiMSylove :)

he's a little train lover :)

brandon and olivia share a room. they have a set of bunkbeds, and brandon's on the top bunk and olivia sleeps on the bottom.
well, this morning i heard olivia stirring, so i went up to get her. while i was up there brandon was laying in bed and staring at the train picture mounted on the wall next to him (he was facing away from me.) and he starts talking. and this is what i heard, "chuga chuga, choo choo..." "all aboard... chuga chuga choo choo..." "time to get off, chugga chugga choo choo!"
it was making me laugh, so i had to share!

ready for that vacation...

i tend to post mostly pictures in my blogs for two reasons:
1. i figure that very few people care about what i actually have to say and only visit because of my beautiful beautiful children...
and
2. because being open, honest, and vulnerable sucks. it normally comes back to bite you in the butt, and nobody likes walking around feeling naked and as if everyone knows their deepest and darkest thoughts.
so that being said, feel free to psychoanalyze me and judge me.
here are my confessions for the day:
1. parenting is hard. really hard. even on the days that it's easy, it's still hard.
2. enjoy the baby years. you know, those annoying sleepless nights, where you walk around feeling as if you haven't bathed in years, and wondering when you will eat something other than chicken nuggets and hot dogs. no one tells you that those AREN'T the hard years. there comes a day when you have to release your children into the world. not as adults; but as children and preteens, and you can't protect them from other people's views and values or opinions.
3. today i feel worthless and like a terrible mom. i know that everyone has these moments, but none the less, it doesn't make it any easier to deal with.
4. no, i will not tell you why, or admit to you the things that make me feel so terrible and vulnerable.
5. i know that tomorrow is another day and i will forget feelings this way completely... until the next time.
and lastly.
6. i miss my friends from high school. i have lots of great and wonderful friends now, and am not complaining. but when you're grown up, friends are so different from the friends who knew you growing up. something about being a kid makes it easier to be who you really are. the older you get, the more masks you wear. this kind of makes me sad. kind of really a lot.
okay. done now. next time i will be more cheerful.

Just one more thing.

As if Easter Sunday isn't a big enough reminder that we should be thankful for our lives. Sometimes other things happen to remind us to count our blessings! Today, I'm just extra thankful that my brother is safe, and would like to remind you all to say a little prayer for Cops and Military members who fight every day to keep us safe. More on this later...

skate photography

Happy Easter from the Trail's

you never know who will be knocking at your door.

so there's a knock at my door and my kids tell me that someone is there for me (i was upstairs cleaning brandon and olivia's room). so i go downstairs and there's my neighbor from across the street w/ my daughter in a wagon.
turns out, olivia escaped from our house and was across the street playing in her carport. but that's not the best part. her son (who's like 6 or 7?) found here there and put her in the wagon and brought her to the park to his mom...
so... because we can't lock our door w/ a key from the inside, and there's no safety chain (like we had at our old house) i now have resorted to putting a baby gate outside our front door. any other suggestions? i don't even think we can add a latch because our door is metal. annnoyyying. if it weren't for the danger factor, it might even be funny.

things olivia can say, which we laugh at.

NO, NO, NO... (which she normally says in three's)
Mine!! (which she normally says clutching said item and running away)
binky. (pacifier for the rest of you out there.
WaWa (michael; this is how brandon said it too *lol*)
Booger. (she says it in a sing song voice)
poop. (this too is one of her sing song voice words)
and my absolute favorite is when you ask her a question, she looks up and you and grins and says, "YEAH!!" it's adorable..
okay, resume. it's probably funnier in person. but i'm a mom, so of course anything that my kids do is cute.

we <3 self portraits :)

fun friday; an afternoon in pictures.