The things they say

Went to Avila Valley barn with the family today. We were going along on a hay ride when Lexi started tossing the straw everywhere. She was throwing it in people’s hair and off the side of the wagon and annoying the shit out of just about everyone. When she threw some down Mateo’s shirt, that’s where I drew the line. I told her to knock it off and make it better. When I turned a couple minutes later to check her progress she was shaking the crap out of her brother. So I asked her what the heck she was doing. “I’m getting the gay out of Mteo” she said. Somewhere in the mix of the day she had thought hay was pronounced gay but I had to just let it ride because this was, of course, my feather boa loving, high heel wearing, make-up obsessed son that had been hiding in my closet earlier in the morning that she was referring to. Oh the things they say!

I am beginning to realize that my son was born with a built in alarm clock. Every morning he wakes up before six thirty, rain or shine, six o’ clock bed time or 10. What I want to know is where the damn snooze button is.

Say Cheese

Ok, we needed some pictures on here, far too texty for my tastes...



This is as close to Ruben smiling as we are going to get....



Mateo might be a bit excited in this one!



Lexi - Hammin' it up as usual




Mateo with the pose that keeps him from being murdered sometimes...



Lexi - goofy as usual...







I'm trying to teach Mateo to cheese it up...

So, I’m sitting here, eating a cookie, wondering why the hell I am so fat. This is the part where I throw in a nasally, “its not faaaiiiirrrr!!!!”

Silly Mom - pockets are for Crazies!

In the car this morning, Lexi leans forward from her car seat, shouting, “Here Mommy! Heeerrreee!!”
I look back to see her arm outstretched with her forefinger and thumb pinched together.
“Here Mommy, I have a coin for you!”
I looked at her, so excited about her imaginary coin but was too tired too care much so I replied, “Oh, Thank you, Honey. Can you put it in your pocket for me?”
She reaches down to see her dress and says back, “I don’t have a pocket, Mom!”
“Can you pretend you have one?”
“No! I can’t because that would be crazy – really crazy, Mom!”
So the imaginary coin is completely acceptable but an imaginary pocket to put it in is crazy?
Now you understand why I was too tired to care! This kind of logic exhausts the crap out of me!

Today was a completely wasted effort – no comedic relief, no dramatic climax, no fulfilling ending – if I truly am the director of the movie that is my life – can I just delete this scene to not waste any valuable screen time?

Mike, Mike, and Mike

So, Ruben and I went to the STP concert the other night – yea, I know, you know that already but there is more to tell.
That night we were sitting in our seats, waiting for the music to start and in walk six of the craziest guys I’ve seen since my sorority days. There was Matt, John, PJ (or DJ or SOMETHING J) and three other guys that seemed to be straight out of American Pie. DJ (I’m just going to pick this and run with it) had to be the person Adam Herz modeled Stifler after – I mean he looked, sounded, and personified that character.

These six guys were clearly thrilled to be at the concert and when the seats filled in front of them, they started to introduce themselves. Well, Michelle and Mike were first to break the ice. They were from Fresno or something and were quite the chatter boxes. After that came Alicia and another Mike.

These grown men acted like they had never met two people with the same name. They were SO EXCITED that they had two Mikes in front of them.

So, Ruben gives me a glance and a “I’m about to cause some trouble” smile and I nod, knowingly.

DJ turns around and asks our names and I introduce myself as Alli and Ruben, puts out his hand and says, “I’m Mike”

I swear, I would’ve been shocked if there was a pair of dry pants in that row of boys. Three Mikes in one tiny space was more than they could handle. For the rest of the night, these guys could not get over the three Mikes and we could not get over their excitement.

I wonder what they would think if they only knew…

The Ways We Belong Together

The other day (7/20 to be exact) Ruben and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. As a present, my parents gave us money to go out to dinner so, being that every dollar I get these days goes to something responsible, I forced us to enjoy the money and go out. We went to the Apple Farm in San Luis Obispo. Neither of us had been there in our adult life so it seemed like a nice choice. Normally, during dinner, we would casually talk about our days until an uncomfortable silence would set in and then, for the rest of the evening we would be pulling teeth from one another to get conversation going again. That night, that was not a problem.
Part way through dinner, we were talking about pet owning and Ruben said that I was a bad pet owner. I said, “Look who’s talking!” – he has a ferret that he never plays with.
“Ferrets are supposed to be loving and cuddly”
and he said, “So. Are. You”.
Way to be mean on a nice night out! Were we not supposed to be celebrating our love for one another? I swear!

That’s about when I swatted his forehead with a spoon covered in vanilla ice cream.

I think it was the best date we’ve been on in a long time.