Five...Four...Three...Two...One, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Okay, and where is mom? She is standing in line to get apple fries and popcorn. Yes, I missed the huge lego brick drop at midnight (6:00pm kids standard time). And, I stood by myself with the apple fries and popcorn to watch fireworks. When they were finished and I found Pete and the kids, Lauren with tears in her eyes was so sad because I missed everything. Ugh, I felt horrible. As we ate apples and walked to the car, they realized that it was only 2009 at Legoland and that we still had six hours until the real new year. I hope that everyone had a safe one and I look forward to stories and pictures.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAUREN!!

Two posts in one day....Are things starting to slow down??????

Well, the day started off with homemade crepes (made by me). Then a quick game of Rock Band and showers. We headed out to Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate Lauren's birthday. After playing lots of games and collecting almost 1000 tickets, the kids cashed in all the tickets (I think they each got a piece of candy and a plastic dinosaur) and we headed out to the bowling alley! One quick stop at Target to see if they had any good sales. Didn't see much but did grab a huge bag of m&ms that would later spill out in the floor of the car. I won the first game, Peter won the second. We all had a great time! Lauren was thrilled with her new Acer laptop, and a new wardrobe for Baby Alive. Now that both kids have their own computer, I should be able to use mine more. No more sharing ;-)

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth....

Geez, December has been a busy month for me. Where did I leave off? Christmas Eve we took the kids to Build a Bear Workshop. Riley made a monkey and Lauren made a cat. For Christmas Riley got Rock Band, So there is no "down time". When things slow down, someone always comes up with the idea of playing and one person can't make up a band. So, before you know it, TMFB (The Munson Family Band) is all jammin out in the family room. We did manage to pull away a bit and we headed out one day to see our local natural history museum. Pictures are proof.

Going Buggy......

Well, back in the day we practiced our Christmas songs and put together a sweet little story about a baby in a manger. Well, times have changed and it appears that public schools have taken Christ out of Christmas. As a matter of fact, Christmas or holiday couldn't even be used in our class party invitation. We are having a "winter party" the last day of classes before the "winter break". Okay, back on track..... Lauren had her "winter play" last night. It was titled "Going Buggy". It was a cute little play, the children were dressed as butterflies, bees, lady bugs, crickets, and a few other types of insects. Lauren had a small part and played it as if she were on Broadway (haha). She is so theatrical. Enjoy the "holiday performance photos" they are mostly of her....

Happy Birthday to me.....

Today was a trip to The Nutcracker by the City Ballet.... Two hours with no talking or singing, just dancing.....I wasn't sure what to expect from the kids. Pete's been wanting them to have this culture of performing arts for a few years now. I just didn't think that either one of them would sit through it. This year I lost the battle and it was settled. Pete was taking his Munson family to the Nutcracker for my birthday. The plan was that we were getting dressed up and sitting in the best seats in the house. Everything was fine...we made it downtown, valet parked the car and headed to our seats (amazing view, just four rows from the orchestra). They did it! I can't say that they loved it....But, THEY SAT THROUGH IT!!! BTW, I think that Lauren's finger is going to be fine. She is trying to hide it the best she can in the pictures. Poor girl.

Mom, Santa isn't real.....

How many years can you get away with "Well, if you don't believe, he won't come?" We headed out to the squadron Christmas party yesterday. I had forgotten how much fun this could be for a small child. Lauren was excited and couldn't wait to see what Santa had for her. Riley couldn't wait to see what he had for him but wondered where the gift really came from. The funny part is that I didn't buy the gift. The squadron supplied the gifts and I didn't know what he was getting either! The kids were thrilled with their gifts. Riley got a glow in the dark action figure, and Lauren got a velvet color it yourself puzzle. Riley played with his action figure most of the day and even carried it up to bed to see it glow. Peter wasn't with us, he had a flight to Arizona and we picked him up at North Island last night. BTW, when we went to go pick up Peter...I thought I would take the kids in the NEX to look around and when we got out of the car, I slammed Lauren's hand in the door. She has a broken finger. It was horrible, I had to unlock the doors to get her hand out. Enjoy the pictures from the party.

Peter J. Munson...I really am sorry!

Never in my life did I think that I would ever be married to an author. Three years ago when Pete was working on his masters degree he decided that he would write his thesis on Iraq. What better subject for a student studying the middle eastern region. Some of his teachers were intrigued by the subject and thought that it would make a fantastic book. Well, he and I both knew that writing a book is something that takes time. Time is something that he didn't have a lot of. After the thought of him writing a book and a good laugh, the subject was dropped. HOWEVER, he started coming home a little later, staying up a little later, and spent some of the weekend closed in a tiny little office in our home. I remember him coming to me and saying, I think I am going to write the book. Still laughing, I said great, and good luck. I seriously thought that he was wasting so much of his time, my time, and time that could be spent with the kids. Even though he really didn't spend that much time away from us, I still thought any time working on this "book" was wasting time and even nick-named him "time waster". Well, I think I owe him a huge apology because, the book can be pre-ordered at Amazon. It will be on the stands at bookstores (still not beliving this) in June.

San Diego, it just keeps getting better!

I thought that living in the middle east and traveling to Paris for Christmas was the best way to spend the holiday....well, I think so far this year we have trumped that. We headed out of San Diego for the day and drove up to Big Bear Lake. Let me just say....WOW! We went to a huge tree farm 8,000 feet up in the mountains, cut our own tree, and even stopped to have a snowball fight (it was COLD and 45)before heading back to Rancho Bernardo (it was warm 70s). I've got all my shopping done and the house is decorated to the MAX. I've got my cookie recipes in order and I'm ready for Santa! Hohoho!!!

Time for a new blog....

Well, let's see...Halloween came and went. Then we had Veteran's Day. We went to Mt. Soledad to pay our respects to those who served and died. It's an amazing place, very beautiful. You can see so much of San Diego from there. Here are a few pictures from that day. Michael Martino, we are still thinking about you, and missing you every day!

Dip for brains....

Okay, this is a good one for any grade. This was my second year using this creation. The kids LOVE it! I just couldn't wait to show it off again this year!
BTW, it's a veggie platter with dip in a cabbage (skull).

It's the great pumpkin.....

Well, we are back to being a family of four. We were up bright and early yesterday morning heading to the San Diego airport to pick up "the dad". From there it was over to Escondido to watch Riley's hockey game. They tied the game with a score of 2-2. We came home for a little rest and headed out to Temecula to visit Peltzer Pumpkin Patch. This was great! Lauren got to ride a pony, we all got to pet some chickens and some goats, had some ice cream and picked out our pumpkins! Lauren got a good one. Riley's well, no one really checked it over and it had some soft spots. We topped it off with dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings! It was a fantastic day and we are all very happy to have daddy home!

Hot Pink.....

Well, it was one year ago that I called all my friends and family from the middle east and said that my little girl had broken both bones in her arm. I couldn't believe it and I was so sad. They flew us to Dubai and put her tiny little arm in a cast for about 8 long weeks. I missed giving her spa days and letting her swim in our giant tub. I remember the day that We went back up to Dubai to get the cast off. The big saw cutter thing scared her to death and I was sure that she would NEVER WANT TO EVER BREAK HER ARM AGAIN. Well, guess what??? If you haven't heard already, SHE DID IT AGAIN almost a year to the date. Here is Lauren sporting her new hot pink cast. Yes, it does read "Don't do this again" Love, Mom. Next year in October, BUBBLE WRAP!

Happy Birthday Riley!!

Well, My baby is 9 years old. I can't believe it. It's amazing how much joy he has brought and continues to bring to my life. He did fantastic with our move from over seas. He's getting settled here in San Diego and is playing ice hockey for the second year. Yesterday he went to get spacers in his teeth to prepare for the braces he will have the next 18 months. For his birthday, he got his first laptop computer to help with homework and hang on club penguin with his buddies. His sister continues to be her loving self. She is playing piano and has a wonderful teacher. I can't believe in one month she can play three songs by memory! Here are a few birthday pictures...

I think we are almost there.....

We've been in San Diego for two months and I still have just a couple of boxes to unpack. Can you believe that?! There is so much to do here. We have ice hockey, piano, gymnastics, clay, drawing, and girl scouts. Those two or three boxes might not ever get unpacked. I don't even know what's in them. I've got a hunch that it's nothing important. I would like to know where my mickey mouse waffle maker is. I don't think it's in the unpacked boxes that read "master bedroom". But, with TMO you never really know. I'll keep you posted on that one. The house is coming together....I'll post pictures as I complete a room. I have a lot of furniture on order so it may take a while.

We've landed on San Diego.....

We spun the wheel.....and managed to not land on a LIFE space for a baby or twins, hit a Pay Day and we are headed to San Diego. Now, if we only had a house and a car for the kids and the dog.

I've been house hunting online for the past three weeks. As soon as a "good" house comes available, someone snatches it up. Because of the time difference between the middle east and the west coast, I don't see the postings until the next morning....by then, they have already shown the house and signed a lease. I'm headed out there towards the end of June and I just pray that there will be a house for us to call home for the next couple of years. Trying to find a house in good school district is like hoping that you land on TV game winner and you you collect $95,000. There is a chance....but you try not to get to excited. There are other people playing the same game.