WOW! Long time, no post....sorry...

O.k..so I have fallen behind on the blog thing. As others can attest to-I have been pulled in by the ever-addicting Facebook. Besides this, I have been heavily stalking EBAY lately. I guess I just have a pretty addictive personality. I get on a kick and stay there-a LONG while...

Truth is, I didn't have many new pics to post. I find that I take less pictures the older my daughter gets. I know it is sad-but there aren't as many of those "firsts" anymore. Plus, would I be a mean mom if I said she was kind of in an awkward stage? She has an expander on her palette and only two brackets on top teeth but a huge bungy looking band across the top. This is only phase 1-STILL....it is going to be a LONG road. She has my screwed up teeth. When I was litte and had no room for teeth, they just pulled those suckers! So, I am short a couple of teeth. I also never lost any teeth on my own-they were pulled. Well, Dev is just like me. Lost 1 on her own (she knocked it out) and the other 6 or 7 were all pulled. They are just expanding her palette rather than pulling teeth. This preventative method is a little scary because I am afraid she may need a second whole round of braces when she is older.

New stuff:Last month she went away to camp for the first time! Super scary (For me). Just kidding. We were both nervous. She was fine as soon as she got on the bus and got home saying she had a great time. I worried the whole time-mostly about the camera I allowed her to take-such a scrapper.....It was a camp in Simi Valley run by the Jewish Bureau of Education. She missed school on Friday and they came back Sunday afternoon. It was a good practice for longer camps down the road. She slept in a cabin with 12 other girls. They had 2 toilets and 2 showers inside....she didn't think the cabins were very nice though. She isn't much of a roughing-it kid. What if she had to actually camp in a tent??? OMG! Would she just die? She even asked me if she had to use a porta-potty....Hee heee-bet she wouldn't have gone if I had said yes.I will post camp pics-there aren't many...

Also, only time she could get away disobeying the dress code at Irish dance so she wore green for St. Pat's of course....

Spent Purim at temple for a carnival. Took Devyn's friend Grace with. Had a lot of fun. They played games, jumped in a jumper and slide, did the sack race, crafts, dunk tank, etc. They were taking bids to dunk the rabbi. Top bid was like 75$ to dunk her! Devyn dunked a parent. The rabbi would only sit up there so long. But all the money went to charity. In two weeks we have Mitzvah Day at temple (good deeds). We are working at the Hemopet center. We walk retired Greyhounds. The dogs donate blood for other animals, I believe. It has been a rough past few weeks. Too much going on.....

Devyn was in a play today-she was the narrator-25 lines to remember. I will post pics later. She is in a fashion show at Nordstrom's on Saturday and the following week has a speaking part and sings in the choir at temple. Glad to know my child isn't shy.....

December recap and a sickie

WHEW! It has been a while...so, posting some pics from December. Can't believe January is flying by. Devyn's best gift would have to be her pink Dell laptop. She loves it! We were mean and wrapped up the pink mouse-tried to pull it off as "the gift" but she was too smart to buy it. She laughed hysterically and then said "o.k. guys, where is the computer?". Kids these days. Can't be happy with a super cool pink mouse. I mean, not every kid has a pink mouse, right? Besides that, she got a ton of clothes and scarves, purses, earrings, etc. Typical girl stuff and not any of it did she "need". Does anyone feel like their kid is truly a tween now? Sometimes I look at her and think she is a kid still-plays American Girl with her friends, Polly Pockets, doll house, needs mom and dad-sometimes more a teen-wants to dress up, wear make-up, have a cell phone (cuz EVERYONE in 4th grade has one-REALLY???)have sleepovers, is SASSY.....not sure about this in-beTWEEN stage.

New Year's- spent with our friends and their kids, ate WAY too much, played lots of games, talked, and then screamed up and down the neighborhood at midnight(my husband did-along with the huge blow horn he had). Sure the neighbors loved us. Devyn loved Katey's human gerbil ball (see picture)

Now Devyn is sick. Was at a sleepover and they called my husband to come get her. She had a fever of 102. I was scrapbooking, of course. I would have come home too but she was asleep. No point in ruining my scrapbook night, right? This a.m. the fever was gone only to come back after she was moving around more. I hate how fevers do that. My friend said her kids had it for 5 and 6 days. I am glad it is a holiday weekend so we have time to re-coop. She had better recover soon. I can't miss work on Tuesday. Hope everyone stays well!

Cheetahlicious!!!!

WOW! Last night was crazy(if you are 9). My friend and I took our two girls out to dinner-told them it was a "girls night out" (but we had a little surprise up our sleeves). Took them first to Bubba Gump's since Grace (Dev's friend) had never been there. The girls exchanged presents and then were trying to organize a sleepover. We asked them what they wanted to do next. They weren't sure.... SO, we told them we had a surprise but they had to be blindfolded. They held hands blindfolded and giggled. We tried to mislead them "I hear Billy Joel is playing", did you say Devyn had NEVER been to a hockey game?" etc.... and pulled in to the Honda Center. When I handed over my $20 for parking (yes, $20-highway robbery if you ask me) the lady said "enjoy the show". "ENJOY THE SHOW????" they screamed. "WHAT show, we are seeing a show? Is it Hannah Montana???". They took off their blindfolds and screamed. Apparently, they had no idea Cheetah Girls were even playing. It was their first concert. Dev was excited that the Clique Girlz were opening. Not so impressed by them. My friend said they sounded like Minnie Mouse. Cheetah Girls were more tolerable than I had expected. There back up dancers (all guys) were awesome dancers. Some cool things like being pulled up in gigantic chandeliers to be singing in while suspended from the ceiling, dance-offs, cool graphics, etc. It started early (6 p.m.) and we were out by 8:45 so all in all, not too bad and the mommies survived. Was pretty funny when the announcer said "o.k. boys and girls, we will be back after a brief intermission". BOYS AND GIRLS??? UGH. Guess we ARE old. And the mom in front of us was scary-kept going out for a smoke and leaving her kid by herself (maybe 9 or 10 years old?) and coming back with a beer each time. She was up dancing and it was scary too...

Other highlights this month- Devyn went to the Young Chef's Academy for youth group and made pizza and cookies (cool place in Irvine), sang with Choir at the Nixon Library for Chanukah, and went to Disneyland to see the parade and the "snow". She also came home with straight A's on her report card and her first Honor Roll. YEAH! This is the first time the kids are old enough to earn actual grades. Looking forward to two weeks of sleeping in. Have a Happy Holiday!

Happy 9th Birthday, Devyn!

Can't believe it-I have a 9 year old....On November 18th, we went out to Bubba Gump's for dinner to celebrate her ACTUAL birthday. I can't remember ever drawing a birthday out for quite so long. We had her party so early this year, that it seemed like she really milked it. Hadn't been to Bubba Gump's in a long time-went to the new one in the Garden Walk (Anaheim/Garden Grove???). Aunt Mary and Uncle Robert went too! Devyn was thrilled that Auntie M made her all UCLA themed gifts (her future college choice, of course). New jammies, pillowcase, and fleece blanket. So cute! Her teacher at school even gave her a handmade birthday pillowcase-I thought that was really nice. Anyways, hard to believe she is 9. Makes me feel old. For some reason, 9 seems a lot older than 8. Getting close to the teen years-a tween I suppose. Seems like they get an attitude and hormonal a lot sooner these days.... Well, I just have to say this (if you are reading my blog, Devyn). I am amazed to see what you have become so far and look forward to many more wonderful surprises. At 9 you love sleepovers, socializing, Webkinz, your IPOD (stolen from me), your cats and turtles, the Wii, school, reading (which makes me happy), dancing (especially Irish), and singing. You do well in school-and I am happy that you excel in Math and Science-not my two stronger subjects. Is it possible you skipped a generation and got those skills from your grandpa??? I look at your baby pic and you have changed so much. Pretty soon you will be "borrowing" my clothes and shoes. I watch you eyeballing the shoes already.....Happy Birthday, Davidah Malkah ("beloved queen" in Hebrew....)

October Craze

Long time, no blog. I have been soooooo busy. No excuse. That's the truth! I guess it started with the 14 hour Halloween Crop at the Bee in October. I spent a lot of time helping plan games, set up, make food, etc. It was a lot of fun though but exhausting nonetheless. My daughter decided she wanted to join temple, finally. SO, we joined temple, started Sunday school, joined the choir, and got a private tutor for Hebrew lessons. Guess we are in it for the long haul now. Kiss all of my money goodbye. A Bat Mitzvah was expensive when I had one-a million years ago. Can only wonder what it will cost me when she is 13. Maybe this will be in lieu of a wedding. Can I convince her to run off to Vegas when it is time?

Halloween is my favorite holiday so we did it up pretty big. I had the Halloween Bunco AND Devyn's birthday at the house which gave my husband the needed justification to spend a ton of money on Halloween decorations. We went to Treats in the Streets and of course hit the houses on Halloween. Devyn's birthday party was the day after Halloween (early but we wanted to milk the decorations/theme), and we walked the Buddy Walk for Down's Syndrome the next morning. UGH! I was tired.

Back to the birthday-I came up with a Nightmare Before Christmas theme. It was cool AND pretty original if I do say so myself. However, due to Disney licensing, it was also impossible to find party supplies, games, etc. SO, I did everything myself. We had lots of skeleton decorations, black, orange and purple, bones, etc. We played pass the bone (hot potato), the mummy wrap (with toilet paper), drew Jack Skellington on our heads on paper plates,and pin the nose on Zero (Jack's dog. We had strobe lights, blacklights, and a disco ball. The kids danced and screamed. I bought a lifesize cutout of Jack, Sally, and Zero and took a pic of each kid with Devyn. We made cool frames that I had prepped and the kids got to put their pictures in them. They had glow jewelry and left with a cool CD that Ron had compiled. Spooky Nightmare music and pre-teen stuff. I also gave them sparkly notebooks that looked like presents with pointsettia flower pens that I had made. Food was pasta, fruit, munchies and bone-shaped breadsticks that I had made. The cake was amazing though-our friend made a purple fondant covered cake with Jack and black stars. Everything on the cake was edible except the sticks that the stars were on and Jack. I love fondant but the kids didn't care for it as much.

I will post some pics. Sorry for the long blog. Am I caught up now?

Big Bear

Spent last weekend in Big Bear. It was a lot of fun. Spent time with my bro and his fam. Went Friday after work and came back Sunday afternoon. Friday afternoon traffic is not so fun.... Went to Moonridge Zoo where they take in wounded animals and those who have been "imprinted by humans". Watched a 3:00 information and feeding session. Interesting-but gross. Dev was freaked out by the dead rats they placed in the trees for the owls. They threw raw chicken into the Snow Leopard's cage. Bears were great-they ate oranges, apples, and corn-much to Devyn's surprise and pleasure.... The raccoons opened up eggs and sucked the insides out-quite interesting to watch. Went on a pontoon boat on Sunday. Dev spent a lot of time driving-by herself. Emma (age 2) sat in my brother's lap and drove. She kept hitting the horn. Was very loud!!! Can you believe there is a floating bathroom in the lake? You couldn't pay me to use it. We docked for a quick sec for pictures but the smell drove us away-literally. Only bad part about the trip-lack of sleep. I don't do well in unfamiliar beds....

The Orange Street Fair and a baby opossum

UGH! Another sweltering day of performing at the Street Fair! Nothing like peeling off your costume in a small, sweaty tent that smells of urine!!! Devyn performed three numbers at the street fair Saturday morning. I was hoping it would be a little less hot than last year (where one of the grandparents passed out!) But no, the humidity kicked in and it was pretty miserable. Two positives-we can get close enough to take pictures and I can get another use out of the costumes that I spent a lot on. So, the first pic is of Dev dancing Irish, the second is tap, and the third is jazz. I was fortunate enough to not have to dance-apparently the ADULT group (or "old people" as my daughter calls them) doesn't do the street fair.

The next pic is of a 2 week old opossum. It was SOOOOOOO cute. We held it for a half hour and did not want to give it back. I had noticed it by chance when I went to walk at the Oak Canyon Nature Center. The worker had two babies that had been abandoned and she rescued them. I brought Dev back after school (even though my friend thought I was crazy) because I was sure that she would be just as enamored as I was with them-and I was right. Dev went home and called her dad at work to tell him that she wanted the baby opossum for her birthday. No such luck! Opossums get such a bad rap. It was so cute and cuddly-didn't make a peep, show teeth, nothing....I will never look at them the same. Of course, the next day at school there was a dead baby mouse under Dev's backpack and she screamed like someone had been murdered! It was quite a scene. I laughed my head off because the day prior she had held the opossum and he was bigger than this poor little mouse. Unfortunately, her friend pointed out that her schoolwork had "touched" the mouse and so Dev refused to touch her work. I had to go in and ask the teacher for another copy! Strange child of mine-animal lover on her own terms. Might I point out that she also holds the neighbor's pet lizard on her chest under her chin???