Bella's On TV!!!!!

For all those asking for us to post Bella's commercial.....here s a phone recorded version.....pardon the audio....

Almost Christmas!

Ok Ok....yes. There are fifteen days left till Christmas and its a good thing because we just started shopping today.....nothing like waiting till "almost" the last minute. Things around the place are crazy as usual. We're settled.....but we're not. There is the occasional, "hey where is my.....". Maybe we'll get to the last few boxes this week. On the job front.....Im going to work for Mactech Engineering on Monday. Ill be double timing it still doing the sales and design portion of the landscape and pool gig...but decided it was time to re-enter the world of traditional employment. Bring on the 9-5 ! I have to commute to LA for training for the first 2-3 weeks. We're trying to figure out the best way to do that with one car. Hhhmmmm? Stay tuned.

Oh....and heres a pic from the archives. Bella's first fishing trip.

New Home and New Family Pics!

We are almost settled into the new place. Finally got around to taking what is probably our first official family picture in like 4 years. Better late than never. Moving was a tough one. I got bit by something....all signs pointing to a black widow...and so right after we got it all over here I got really sick for four days. Wow, what an experience. I take every chance I can now to squash any little eight legged friend I see. Josh took good care of me and made great Jambalaya to help speed the recover. We are officially working on a new cookbook....maybe Christmas of 2009. Bella's commercial is running on several channels. We've had a lot of people report that they've seen it. We're so proud of her. Brax is finally done with Pop Warner Football, his last year. We're still trying to chose a high school for him. Its not easy. He's getting so tall, we now see eye to eye. Now that we're settled Ill do a better job on this blog thing.....promise!

Iron Chef Night!

Ok....I started this week...and Im already sorry. We decided that Saturday night is iron chef night. Each family member gets to select 2 ingredients and then mom gets to use all of them in Saturday nights meal. This week I had; Bella: lemons and onions, Braxton: Chicken and Potatoes, Josh: Garlic and cheese and Me: Shrimp and asparagus.....so......we had chicken stuffed with pesto and provolone, breaded and baked. Asparagus with lemon, galic and Shallot (close enough to onion), bacon wrapped shrimp for apetizer and italian seasoned potatoes. Pretty easy and it came out great!

Now, I think the kids got the idea because next week my list is: Crunchy taco shells, tator tots, artichoke hearts, mint, spaghetti noodles, ground beef, black olives and eggplant. Oh boy....Ill come up with something...Will report back. Off to watch Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3D!

Trick or Treat

I think the first indication that perhaps you should stop trick or treating may be when you become taller than the people handing out the candy. But, nonetheless, Braxton went anyway. We cut Bella off at one street's worth because she'll try and eat it all today! Still house hunting....Happy Halloween....

Recovery

Ok Ok Ok.....I forgot to say that Josh's surgery was to repair a ten year old hernia. Hockey! ugh......It was time to fix it. Was becoming a problem and could have gone bad fast......So, off the the hospital for a two hour outpatient surgery.....oooppps, wait. No, they kept him for a day! Pour guy had never been under before and had some anethesia issues and a high pulse rate (120) So, after 36 hours he was back home. He's sore, bruised, swolen and wigged out on vicodin but recovering as expected. He had a nice roommate, a 90 year old gentleman that talked with him all night long. He actually looks like he's had a c-section with a 4-5" incision accross his belt area. They glued it nice and tight, no staples or stitches.

For Sale....and sold in 1 day......

Well...after an exhausting ten month battle with Wells Fargo we've officially decided to sell the house. Wells Fargo, in their infinite wisdom has decided that this economy is "fine" and that it can still support a seven thousand dollar mortgage payment. Ha!~ Loan Modification? No! Restructure? NO! So, we sell.

Found a cool rental that we like and hope to see it Saturday. Speaking of rentals....how about a one bedroom apartment for $1800 a month? Yep....you heard me correctly. The rental market has gotten wind of the move out rush and rates are way up...one bedroom 1800, two bedroom 2100 and so on and so on. Oh well what can you do. We found a cool condo that's actually the same size as our house. Stay tuned

Happy Birthday Braxton

Brax turned 13 last friday! We celebrated last night at dinner at Macaroni Grill with his Dad and Brenda. Josh heads into surgery in the morning. We've got to be at the hospital at 5am.....gulp. The Santa Ana winds are here. First 08' night of high wind and we seem to have already lost a tree. Will assess the damage later and see if we can save it. And...best of all....high winds mean allergies are here. Sniffle Sniffle

The most recent Pool !!!

So...Im told that I NEVER put pics of our work up...so heres one of the most recent pools completed. Wish it was in my back yard!

She says she's a GOTH girl.....

Bella got dressed this morning...and yes she dressed herself isn't she fashionable....She then announced to Braxton that this was her "Goth" outfit. Ok....moving on....Josh's surgery has been scheduled for next Tuesday the 14th. We check in at around 530am and should be there most of the day. He gets to look forward to two months of recovery time. Yuck. we'll keep you all posted

Are you ready for some football?

Well......Today was a "not so good" football day. Braxton lost and I almost got into a rumble with an obnoxious fan from the other team. I was prepared to go to jail....it was a win/win.....I would've been able to punch a guy out and spend a quiet night in jail with a hot meal and a t.v.

The Fabulous Miss B

Wow...where to start with an explanation on this little girl? She's busy! She's a new first grader. She loves her teacher and is very over excited about homework! Shes now lost her top two and bottom two teeth. The top two were a casualty from a decision to go head first off the couch. The bottom two have fallen out this week. We're waiting to see her first national commercial. It should begin airing within the month!

Braxton

Braxton

Braxton is half way through another exciting season of gut wrenching pop-warner football. I say gut wrenching because they either win 30-0 or they lose 0-30. He's the quarterback so I cover my eyes a lot! He's busy getting settled into 8th grade and is about to become a teenager. I cant believe it. We're trying to decide where to send him to highschool. We have at least four choices! Ugh. Its like deciding on a college.

Trying to figure this out!!!!

Launch of the family blog. This means I actually have to take and then post photos. We'll see how that goes