Can you say OUCH!!

To start our Spring Break off right, I thought "Why not get oral surgery??" Silly me!
Actually, as it turns out, Brendan needed his wisdom teeth out and I had some crazy cyst thingy growing in my cheek that needed to be taken out and sent to a lab to make sure it wasn't cancerous - my dentists' words were "It's PROBABLY benign, but we better make sure". Are you kidding me? PROBABLY? Well, I feel so much better thank you!
So, with no school to be missed, Spring Break was the only obvious choice. Everything went swimmingly, no complications, no bad reactions. But let me just bring you along for the ride home with a 17 year old coming out of anesthesia...
Brendan - "I chan taaa"
Me - "What???"
Brendan - "I chan taaa"
Me - "WHAT???"
Brendan - "I CHAN TAAA"
Me - "I can't understand you, you can't talk! Oh, that's what you were trying to tell me..."

Driving down the freeway, I look over to see him putting his cell phone to his ear and mumbling into his phone!
Me - "Brendan, who are you calling???"
Brendan - "I don't know"
Me - "Hang up you dork!"
Brendan - "I'm trying to conversating"
Bahahahahahaha! So I took the phone from him to keep him from embarrasing himself too badly.
Have you ever seen an episode of "Intervention" on A&E? I have, and I sort of felt like I was watching one as we drove home. Experiencing your 17 year old on anesthesia seemed a whole lot like watching the addicts on that show, it was a surreal moment for me as a parent - I pray that I never have to live through seeing my child act that way due to drugs or alcohol!
More conversation on the drive...
Brendan - "I feel like I have Downs Syndrome"
Me - "How would you know what if feels like to have Downs Syndrome?"
Brendan - "I don't know, I just can't think straight, see straight or talk right"
Me - "I still don't know what that has to do with Downs Syndrome"
Brendan - "What are you talking about Downs Syndrome for?"
Me - "Brendan, please stop talking now!"
Brendan - "OK Mommy, I love you! Can I go dirt bike riding later?"

Oh my goodness, I think it's going to be a long day!

A long hiatus finally comes to an end......

I guess I should start by apologizing for my absence. I'm sorry I let life get so busy and overwhelming that I forget to sit down and take a few minutes to reflect on all the little moments that make my life so busy and overwhelming. I have a feeling that it could end up being sort of therapeutic for me, and as busy and overwhelming as my life can get, some free therapy could be just the thing to help me through!

I honestly had every intention of restarting this blog on New Year's Day - sort of my new years resolution. You can see how well I stick to those resolutions! That one didn't even get off the ground! So, here it is, almost April and I'm finally putting paper to pen, or fingers to keys I guess, haha. I won't attempt to go back and rehash everything that's happened in the last 7 months (7 really!?! Wow time flies!), instead I'll begin afresh with updates as often as feasibly possible. And you know what? I'm not even going to get caught up in the whole "Noone's reading this, so why I am wasting my time" issue, because I've come to the conclusion that I need to do this for me, and for my family, and any friends that have even the remotest interest in what goes on at Casa de Tusko.

This is my journey in words and pictures, to peruse through if you like, or to ignore if that's your choice. Feel free to leave comments, suggestions, recipes, funny anecdotes, knock-knock jokes, or nothing, just don't hurt my feelings by leaving me hate mail please :)

Also, I'm definitely thinking I need to update my look, title, etc. Just thoughts in my head.

Alright....here we go!

Happy Birthday Courtney!!

Another year has come and gone already....today is Courtney's 11th Birthday! I can't believe it's been 9 years since this little girl came into my life! When I met little Courtney, she was still in diapers and hardly said 2 words....now she's the loudest one in the whole house =)!

Time flies when your having fun I guess. It's been quite a journey watching her grow up, she's had so many adventures and has gone from baby of the family to big sister two times over! I look back at pictures and can't believe the similarities between her and Hailey - boy does their daddy have some strong genes! =) She starts Jr. High in 2 weeks and now the real adventures will begin!

Happy Birthday Courtney! We love you so much, it's been so fun being your parents! =)

I've been boycotting...

OK, so it's been awhile since I've even sat down at my computer because I just needed a break from it all! After our family got home from a glorious 10 days in sunny Southern California, we spent a week at home having a "Staycation". Rich took the whole week off and we had plenty of time by the pool, doing puzzles at the kitchen table and sleeping in! It was actually kind of nice to get relax time at home. Although I did have 12 loads of sandy laundry to get through, it's all done now, ironed and put away and it feels so good to be back!

I have pictures from vacation that I haven't posted so I'll do my best to highlight. After a fabulous 4th with my sister's family at the beach, we took a couple days to just do NOTHING! We went to the hotel pool, went out for pizza, went to the beach and slept in LATE! It was nothing short of wonderful! Then it was off to the happiest place on earth for 2 days with Mickey and his friends! Tuesday we went to Disneyland and the crowds were down. The big kids were able to do every ride and Rich and I spent the day taking Hailey everywhere her heart desired. She met so many characters and rode so many rides, she was plum tuckered by the time it was time to say goodnight.

Wednesday was our little princesses 4th birthday. We had reservations to have lunch with all the Disney Princesses at Ariel's Grotto that afternoon. We were not disappointed - 5 princesses at once! Hailey hit the princess jackpot! She was in 7th Heaven! So we left the grotto with a MUCH lighter wallet and many happy birthday memories and set out to ride the rides of California Adventures. It was another great day with minimal crowds and once again the big kids rode every ride while Rich and I took Hailey to see all there was to see. They were 2 very long, tiring days, but they were great days!

We had a few more days of lounging on the beach and dinner with family and before we knew it it was time to pack up the 'Burban and head back to the heat!

So there's my fastest summary of Summer Vacation 2009! Before we know it, we'll be back to school! (Yeah! for me!)

I do have so many more pictures of Hailey's birthday, so they will wait for another entry! TTYL!

A day to celebrate...

DAY TWO...

OK, today was a much better day. After a quick sleep (we finally got the kids to stop giggling and talking at about 2am!!!), we headed up the road to my big sisters house in Laguna Niguel...it was a perfectly gorgeous southern California day. We BBQ'd and swam in their amazing back yard before heading to the beach house for some fun and sand between our toes. My brother-in-laws family is always so gracious to let us crash their 4th of July beach house get-togethers and we feel like we're part of the family now! =)

The beach house and the beautiful view!
There was time for football, baseball, board/card games, more BBQ, S'mores, sitting around the fire pit and finally it was time for the fireworks! From the San Clemente beach we had a perfect view of 2 different fireworks shows, San Clemente Pier to the south and Dana Point to the north.
Sisters....SOMETIMES they're BFF's!
My big sister Kim with her first grandbaby - my little great nephew - Dallen!

It was a truly great day and I had plenty of time to reflect on the reason for all the celebration...we are so blessed to live in this amazing country and to enjoy the liberty's that so many sacrificed to provide for us.

They sleep again! Busy kids turn into exhausted kids!

Tomorrow....whatever we feel like!!!! =)

Summer Vacation 2009

DAY ONE.....

Well, Day One got off to a slow start as we couldn't leave town until Rich got off work on Friday =(... so we got the car loaded and hit the road by 6pm. We got to our paradise by the sea at just before midnight. Our arrival at the beach was somewhat anticlimactic....oh well...tomorrow - THE BEACH!!!!

Parker lost a tooth!

FINALLY!!!! Parker has had a wiggly tooth for what seems like forever and today it FINALLY came out! He has worked so hard on that poor tooth, everyday wiggling, turning, wiggling, I can't believe it held on as long as it did! He's so super excited to see what the Tooth Fairy trades him for his FIRST tooth! My little boy is growing up =(