The year of Silverware

Over five years ago, actually December 20, 2005 to be exact, Yosh and I ventured up to Robbins Brothers to shop for our wedding bands. I didn’t pick out my engagement ring like many women do. I didn’t even know Yosh was planning on proposing at the time, so I never even thought to drop hints of my dream ring…which was a single princess cut diamond solitaire. And oddly enough, that is the ring that Yosh bought for me…so I got my dream ring regardless!!! But getting to actually pick something out myself was so exciting.  We looked FOREVER…and yes I said WE…he was a picky shopper when it came down to his wedding band as well. That night Yosh tried to get me to get 2 wedding bands…one for on top and one on down of my engagement right.  I told him “No…I’ll wait 5 years and work for the 2nd band!”  SO these have been my rings for the past 5 years.

Yes gorgeous, I love them…buuuut…

….the time has come…five years later and boys and girls I have put in my WORK!! haha!! But I’ve realized my fingers/hands are gross and aren’t meant to hold lots of rings. Soooo I got the 2nd wedding band, but instead of wearing it like we originally thought, I got my setting placed onto the wedding band. So instead of having my engagement ring, my wedding band AND my anniversary band, I’ve made my engagement ring and anniversary band ONE ring…   I picked up my ring today..and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

See those are some ugly hands…dear Lord! Wish I had nice soft looking, smooth long fingered hands! lol BUT I’m thankful that they aren’t blister covered from eczema like they were 2 years ago, so I’ll stop complaining!!!

Year FIVE is the year of Silverware (yes I look up those milestone years and try and abide by them!)…so I got MY “silverware”…only thought it was the right thing to do and get Yosh his “silverware” anniversary gift…

Yep I got him a new knife set!!!  He LOVED it!  

Thank you babe for a wonderful 5 years. We have grown soooo much together but no matter WHAT I couldn’t imagine my life without  you. I pray for many many years of a happy healthy life together…and LOTS more babies! haha

Hollywood Baby!

Yesterday I got to experience something for the first time ever…and of course it was all because of Owen. My Dads work (Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department) was doing a fundraiser for the March of Dimes, by group sales of tickets to see Cars 2 at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood. I’ve heard of people going to see movie premiers there but never thought about going myself. The thought of Hollywood Blvd gives me anxiety since I don’t know my way around down there AND there are a lot of scummy people that the movies don’t show you! Basically Hollywood is dirty and dangerous in my eyes! BUT…we brave it for Owen!

    

The memo that came with the tickets said to arrive at the theatre 45-60 minutes before show time,  since it was first come first serve basis for seating. When Dad asked me if we wanted tickets to the 1pm or 4pm showing I said the 1pm…weeks later I realized I screwed myself since Owen usually naps from 12-2:30.  BUT we made it work. Early nap, early lunch (which he wouldn’t eat) and away we went to HOLLYWOOD baby! So we left about 11:20pm…forgetting about the North 101 fwy traffic that is permanently there!!! The 101 and 91 freeways ALWAYS have traffic…and I should have known that! BUT we figured out where the Hollywood & Highland Center was (to park) and literally ran over to the El Capitan.  Incidentally we got there in perfect timing…no fuss, no waiting and I think we still got GREAT seats since I can’t sit anywhere near the front w/ my little motion sickness issue. 

When we arrived I realized that the movie was in 3-D…wasn’t sure if Owen was going to dig the glasses…so I quickly took a picture before he ditched them.  In my frazzled state of getting settled in w/o Owen freakin out (remember my child doesn’t do well in dark, loud, crowded places) I somehow misplaced one the pairs of glasses (which later found in my bag)…So…as the movie started, Owen only cried once, at the beginning when his poor anxiety kicked in…I just reminded him that it was dark and loud but not scary and he was ok after about 2 minutes. Owen’s glasses kept falling off…they were huge on his face. I was thinking to myself “why wouldn’t they have smaller glasses for the kids…wtf”  So Owen gave up messing with his glasses and watched the movie w/o them, and with just a little bit of a blur. Oh well! He didn’t care either way.  Guess what size the glasses were in my purse….yeah children’s size~ I was soooo pissed with myself! Grrrr. 

The movie was awesome, Owen loved it. He also loved eating his lunch which included Popcorn, Fruit Snacks and M&M’s…yep mother of the year award goes to me…I know!! I gave him anything to keep him interested in the whole TWO hours of the movie. Yes doesn’t TWO hours seem long for a kids movie??? I thought so.

Here’s a pic I took a pic of the screen at the end of the movie…of Good Ol’ Lightening McQueen and his Bestie Mator

 

Following the movie we got entrance into this REALLY cool “Grand Prix Event”. They had all kinds of cool free activities for the kids and Owen loved it. If only he was a bit older he would have got to enjoy a bit more…but we did all we could!

They had pictures with Lightening and Mator, a full Lego Lightening. Car building and races, slides, coloring activities, painting a real car, Little push car track, a real car museum and of course a shop of all that cute Cars stuff that every child wants!

 

 

Owen loved being allowed to paint on a car…was pretty cool stuff!!

And craft time…he wasn’t too amused about coloring HEck he does that at home all the time…but it was funny to see the kids that have never been introduced to markers…they went CRAZY!! haha

 

It was a great day and an even greater experience. I know Owen is only 2 and will never remember stuff like this BUT its still fun to do!  I hope we can go down to the Hollywood & Highland Center again, it was nice, new had lots of pretty cool stuff around it.  The only time I’ve ever been down to Hollywood has been for a Tattoo Convention (many many years ago) and when my Irish visitors are here and we DRIVE past it all since I’m too nervous to actually let them out and wonder around the place! HAHA Maybe next time I’ll be a bit more comfortable and go down for a walk around! :)

Nails….and Hair

SO a few days ago I was enjoying my bi-monthly pedicure, which I’ve been enjoying since I was pregnant with Owen…and yes I said bi-monthly! Not because I’m cheap, just b/c I’m lazy and can never seem to find the time to get into the nail salon on a regular basis. I was there thinking about what cool design the lady was gonna put on my big toe =when a BEAUTIFUL pregnant woman walked into the salon. I instantly got so sad. She had the cutest baby bump, which I sooo long for again. ((We are pretty sure chemo didn’t take the baby-making ability away from me, but we are waiting the 2 years of being cancer-free before trying for more babies!!…Feb 2012 can’t come soon enough!)) I loved being pregnant so much, loved watching my body expand and change, loved feeling the little life inside kick and move, I even loved my HUGE swollen feet. Oh the excitement I felt, and the self confidence I had about myself physically was so weird. Yes I was HUGE but I felt truly beautiful during that time of my life. Nice and tight. I was firm, not jiggly like usual. I loved the whole experience.  This girl in the salon was dressed so cute, seemed so happy…and she had such nice hair!!! It was longish, blondish w/ her bangs brought back a bit with a boddy pin….sound familiar. Yes her hair looked like mine did when I was pregnant with Owen. Now I don’t dwell on a lot of the cancer stuff anymore…I still get pissed thinking about some of it from time to time…but I just deal with it.  I know losing my hair sucked…and the growing in process sucks too. Going from long blonde straight hair…to dark and curly is taking a little more transition time than I thought.  I get sad to think that my hair will never be like that again. Everyone always says “it’ll go back to normal soon” or “when its longer the weight will pulll it straight”…buuuut I’m thinking its not. I’m thinking this hair is the new Erin and I just have to get over it!!

So a few days after seeing that beautiful girl in nail salon I decided to see if I was able to blow dry and straighten my hair liked I used to…I was going for the A-Line hair cut look that I had right after I was diagnosed with Hodgkins back in August 2009…like here at my Pre-Chemo party that Mom and friends threw for me!

and this is what I got…

YES…Its finally getting longer…BUT totally NOT the hair line, nice smooth look I once had.  The residual chemo killed hair is still present when its straight. Something that is just freakin’ lingering many many many months after this whole ordeal. I didn’t realize that there were still so many yucky dry bits since you can’t see all of them when its curly, which is how I wear it every day.  Thought this could have been a POSSIBLE alternate hair do from the everyday curly…but I was sadly mistaken. I just think…will I ever go back to the “old Erin”…or will curly be the new me forever??  Guess we’ll have to wait and see…I have no other choice right? haha

Celebrating Dads

Getting to celebrate dads is pretty awesome. I realized though that us American’s totally go all out…and in other countries its just another day. I was chatting with my friend in Ireland, asking about the fathers day celebrations and she laughed at me. She said she went up to see her father, gave him some money for a few pints and that was the end of the celebrations. haha My cousin in Ireland said his 1 1/2 year old son got him up bright and early at 6:30am (which is very early in that country…they start their days much later than us Americans) b/c he had a card for him…and that was it. Geez…you Irish men are missing out. Here is America is usually a huge day of BBQs, Picnic’s and Family Time.

Last year, 2010, we were in Laughlin with lots of our dear friends…The Manley’s, The Harps, The Rowe’s, The Cildermans, The Salmons, The Brokaws, The Crane’s…hope I’m not missing anyone. It was a GREAT huge family trip (pissed at myself for not getting a group pic that trip!)

Yosh’s first Father’s Day in 2009, was a weekend spent in San Diego…again with awesome friends! Gosh look how little our babies were…and how much families have grown in the past 2 years…exciting.

So this year…we celebrated a little bit both days…keeping up with the Father’s Day weekend celebration tradition.  On Saturday we spent the early afternoon together as our family of three. We went to lunch at Red Robin and ran by Robbins Bros (more abou that trip when I pick up my anniversary present next week! teeheehee) before we met up with the Gerke’s for an adventurous game of mini golf a Castle Park in Riverside.  Ok…so its been YEARS since I’ve been to Castle Park…but umm when did it straight turn into a mini Knotts Berry Farm…it was crazy! The feeling of being there brought back youth and gave Yosh the feeling to wanna make-out! haha But man golf with 4 adults (2 of whom are EXTREMELY competitive) and two 2 year olds…was the longest game of mini golf ever. 

 

Addi wasn’t very amused with the whole idea of using her golf club, waiting turns, staying off the course or not throwing other people’s golf balls…was pretty funny.  She was in rare form that day…not wanting to take pictures or play…so she just roamed around! :)

I loved these pics…watching the Daddies play with the kiddo’s…was very cute!

And for the record…Owen had TWO hole-in-one’s!!! Go Owen. I thought he was the next Justin Bieber…but he might just be the next Rory McIlroy (you know that Irish golfer that just won) haha And if I can get my child on tape singing almost EVERY song on whatever Bieber CD my niece Peyton sent to Owen I’ll figure out how to post on here…I swear..it’s the cutest thing ever! He knows most of the words and just LOVES to sing.

Since my parents took off on a mini vacay to Vegas (yes they copied us and stayed at the Luxor for the weekend) we didn’t get to see Grandad for Fathers Day…and I did the Irish thing…gave him some money in a card w/ some sunscreen and told him to have a good time in Vegas and to put $20 on 4 for his grandson.

So we picked up lunch and some yummy pies from Marie Calendars and headed to Redlands to visit my in-laws. It was a busy weekend for them…their wedding anniversary was on Saturday…40 something years…sorry I lost count it was so many!  We hung out, played with Lady (their yellow lab whom Owen LOVES but it is a tad scared of her) and just got to catch up on life!  Was definitely a lovely afternoon.

You like Owen’s “painting” on the shirts…oh that was fun…NOT. JESUS paints, fabric and a 2 year old is one TOUGH activity! Thanks for letting me copy your idea Gerke ;)

Now…I feel like I have more to write BUT Taryn Gerke is here and its Bachelorette time people!! Good Night.