Well, Well, Well... I simply have no excuse. 2013 regurge.

One of my friends from high school was talking about standing in the shower and thinking of all the things that had gone on in the past year.  She said "OH CRAP, I better start writing some of this shit down!." That got me thinking. I have blog, and have had one for nearly ten years.  Yes Dear Reader, if you are reading this now, I have had this for ten years this coming September.  I remember I started it because I wanted to talk shit and be able to remember all the adorable things that my children do/did.  
     Everyone has the best of intentions with their first child. They go whole hog, scrap booking and keeping memories.  Then the second one comes and, not so much.
     So, in the spirit of continuity, I will do a regurge.  It's been a long time since I have done one.  now I have to go get my phone and get some pictures of of it to post.  I know I don't have to say that I will be right back, because you don't actually know I am gone, but I will say it anyway, just to be contrary.  
 Be right back.

That took a while.  Not that you know that, but it did.  I got a case of what I like to call "Cindy Smedley Sidetracked" I was making photo collages, because too much happened this year, so I had to consolidate space.  

Of course I like to take silly pictures with the kids.  We all know this.  It's a fact.

Also, I am huge on costumes.  I made Ayman an Obi-Wan Kenobi costume for Halloween a couple years ago.  We got to use it again for Star Wars Night at the Stockton Thunder.  So much fun.  I also made Jennah a bad ass Princess Leia costume, because sewing your own damn costumes is a lost art and also, BECAUSE I CAN.  For Halloween, which is the picture on the right, Ayman was Jack Sparrow, and Jennah was a Pirate Wench.  My mom totally scored a great pirate costume with hat; it was a little small so some modification was in order.  Also, I made him a wig bandanna combo from a cheapie mask my mom had in her costume trunk.  We topped it of with a pirate beard and make up and BOOYAH, Mommy rulez!  Jennah and I had a great time thrift store shopping for her costume bits.  That girl can shop.

We also had a year of fake moustaches and broken right arms.  

So, Ayman broke his arm in August.  He fell off his bike because he hit a curb, because of his desire to be FIRST at all times.  I hope he took something away from that experience.  Jennah broke her arm in early January, (I know it is in 2014, but I am lumping it with 2013 for posterity)  Let me tell you how, dear reader, since this is for you too.  Ayman and Jennah call our bedroom "The Training Room".  It has a big Cal King bed, and the kids wrestle with each other.  Roughly.  They have just always done it.  This time, big brother accidentally stepped on Sissy's arm.  You know how when your kids cry, you can tell from the tone if something is really wrong?  Well, I heard Jennah make a noise of pain. Then she said, "I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna cry.... " It was at that point I threw my laptop on the floor and hauled ass back into the bedroom to see why she wouldn't be crying.  Due to a policy I have called "If One of You Ends Up Crying You're Both in Trouble" they didn't want to tell me a thing.  I waived my normal policy on that night.  Ayman was torn up- he was sad he hurt his sister, and terrified he would be in trouble.  Jennah was cradling her arm and doing what can be best described as Lamaze breathing.  I took her to the urgent care, it was xrayed and splinted, and we went out to the county for a cast the next day.  What a difference, let me tell ya.  Ayman was damn stoic about his broken arm.  He wept silently.  Jennah, not so much.  Ayman had tylenol with codeine the night of the break.  Jennah was asking for pain meds three days later.  She really is her mother's daughter, just as Ayman is his father's son.  Genetics are fun, huh?

The above picture is just so cute.  I picked the kids up from school in December and decided to take them to Panera for some hot chocolate, a cookie and some conversation.  They're adorable.  I am not biased at all.  

     So that is about as many pics as I will post, Ayman turned 10 last year and is in the fourth grade.  His teacher is Ms. Wendt.  He loves to read.  In about August, he started reading the Harry Potter books.  By the end of the year he was pretty much done with them.  Now he is reading The Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.  We went to his teacher conference and he has read, get this, 600k words since the beginning of the school year.  He loves to read so very much.  It warms the cockles of my cold, dark heart. Jennah turned 8 last March.  She is in the second grade, and her teacher is the same second grade teacher Ayman had: Mrs. Ellis.  Jennah's reading is coming along wonderfully. Jennah's big thing is art.  She loves drawing pictures, making jewelry and just about anything that exercises her creativity.  She is a thoughtful and sweet young lady.  I am so proud of the both of them.

     On a personal non-child related note, since September I have lost 48 pounds.  Amr and I joined the gym and I have been going regularly. Between my mom, dad, brother and I we have lost about 250 lbs.  My brother has lost a whopping 100lbs!  It's really awesome. Amr and I celebrated our 13 year anniversary at the end of July.  Time does fly!

Also, if you are just joining us, I do not try to pretend that I am a professional writer.  So please, if you feel the need to grammar/punctuation nazi me, don't. I just don't care.
   
There is the regurge.  Hope you enjoyed it.  I would promise to do better, but I am sure that I won't.

A Birthday Dinner.

Jennah and the customized Cherry Chip cake I made for her.

Ayman, Millie and Jennah with the cake.

Photobomb! (LMAO, Alex)

This is my present. I got her 4 years ago last Thursday.

Well we had a little dinner over at my Mom and Dads house tonight- and a tiny birthday celebration for the girl. No big deal, just dinner, cake and ice cream. She did get some good presents, and loved decorating her cake wit the M&M's. She even let Millie help her open presents. My girl is a great sharer. Well sweetie, Mommy loves you so much, Happy 4th Birthday. *sniffle, tears, sniffle*

Sleepover, Wooo HOOOO!

The pictures run backwards, But Ayman and Jennah had their first sleep over on Friday the 19th. Lilyith, one of Ayman's kindergarten classmates stayed over. It was her first sleep over too. They had a blast, and I took plenty of pictures for her mom to see. The awesome thing is that Lilyith gets along great with Jennah too- she has little sisters so she is just wonderful with her. I would totally do this again. So, if you want, scroll down to the bottom and work your way up. Thanks for reading.

The above picture is Jennah (right) and Lilyith, PASSED OUT. I mean it was only 11:30! Lightweights.

Ayman was not happy about having to sleep all by himself, but dammit, RULES ARE RULES.

Lilyith and Jennah at bedtime. Observe the awesome murals that Ayman and Jennah made on the walls. I was going to wash them off, but I think they compliment the room. NOT.

MMMMMM, Popcooooooorrrrrn

Jiffy Pop is old school but way cool. I remember when I used to stay the night at my Uncle's house. His wife at the time would have my brother, and cousin and I make Jiffy Pop. it always seemed like it took forever to get going and I remember my arm would hurt from shaking it, so we all took turns. I brought that to the table for these kiddies. It was a raging success, if I do say so myself. (and of course, I do.)

For dinner the menu consisted of Chicken rings and seasoned crinkle fries. What part of the chicken do you suppose the "ring" comes from, anyhow?

The kids playing dress up. Ayman is wearing a cape I made for him in ought six, for Halloween. he was Dracula. In this instance he was a ghost, and a wizard. Wonder where he got that, Dad? *coughHarryPottercough*

When we got home after school the kids were sent out to play. It was a beautiful almost spring day and the back yard is so....dare i say, verdant? Right now. They figured out a way for all of them to ride the Barbie Jeep (thanks, Grandma!) It wasn't dangerous at all. Look out Mother of the Year Award, i am owning you! LOL.

Hope you enjoyed that backwards pictorial journey.... Coming soon, the lovely conditions of my probation for the RCB, or "Why You Should Never Ever Be An Ass When You Are Younger And Have a Record to Prove It."

Woooo Frickin' Hoo., CRT some kid pics.

Ayman and Jennah ready to go to the mosque for Isha. so cute.

Ayman is like his mom, digs the self portraits.

Ayman had a friend over for the first time today to play, his name is Nicolas and he lives 3 doors down. They all attempted to play SpongeBob bingo.

Here are the kids rolling in Jennahs barbie Jeep for the first time this spring.

Well, i was notified today that i will be getting my Respiratory license. This should happen sometime in May. I will keep you all posted. Now i am just gonna need a job......

Phillips Farms Fun

OK, so we had a little outing today, with Gramma and Grandpa. We went to Lodi- Phillips Farms to be exact. We saw silly pumpkin scenes, the kids walked through tunnels, made from bales of hay, Mommy spent quality time looking at their chickens and roosters (why do i love chickens so much? Weird) We then rounded it out by purchasing pumpkins. Jennah of course got a "teeny-tiny pumpkin" and Ayman got one he could not even lift on his own. All in all, it was a nice day.

Hay Ayman! Whats up?

Raggedy Ayman

Ayman and Jennah on corn donkeys or something.

Sissy and Brother, standing at the entrance to a hay tunnel.

Pumpkin patch field trip

So, Jennahs preschool class went on a field trip today, to the pumpkin patch. It was alot of fun. She was in a group with her BFF, Rana. Here they are when they just got off of the bus.

There was also a hayride. Since there was a big rain the other day, they didnt take us out to the orchard, becuse they were afraind to get stuck in the mud. We did a couple laps around the parking lot and pumpkin stand. It was cool. It was the first hayride for Jennah and I both. Good times.

There was also a "Planting Station" where the whole class planted Sweet Peas. It is called "learning" Whatever that is supposed to mean....

It was a good day, but a long one. It was HOT. Just two days ago, you would have thought it was the end of the world- or time to build an ark, it was raining so hard; today, 80's. Whatever! A special thanks to Uncle Alex, who endured the stink-eye from Ayman's kindergarten teacher to pick him up. Without that, this trip wouldn't have been possible for me. Thanks, Uncle!

Jennah is a drama queen; funny.

So Jennah biffed it at the coffee shop with Amr and Ayman, and apparently bruised a bone. I took her to the Dr. for xrays and it isnt broken. That is good. However, she is milking the injury. I expect no less from a daughter of mine.

In other Jennah news: she put a leash on the step stool and said it is a puppy. She has named it Shatawny.

She calles Scooby Doo "Scooby Dude", and handstands are hamsticks.

Just so you know.

Ayman doesnt like you to laugh at his stories. Even if they are funny on purpose.

He came in the house from the garage a few weeks ago and told me: "Hey Mom you know why i was shaking? I went out into the garage and the light was off and I was freaking out."

Ok, how do you keep a straight face thru that comment? You don't. I am having a hard time explaining the difference between "laughing at" and "laughing with."

It will make sense some day.

three month regurge...hold on to your hat.

I went into the kid's room to check on Jennah, and found this. 1.29.09

Ayman had a picture he drew featured at The Haggin Musseum That is Daddy, Mommy, Ayman and Jennah.- 2.7.09

In his preschool play, Ayman played the role of the King, in Humpty Dumpty.- 3.12.09

Of course Jennah had to get in the act too; she held a star in "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" -3.12.09

Ok, yes, it has been quite a while since i posted anything to this blog. I just havent been feeling it. Quite a bit has gone on, because, well, it has been three months since i posted. First up- I need to mention that my Great grandmother passed away- She would have been 97 this year, she passed shortly before her birthday. I can't really say that I am sad, she was a tad out of it there at the end, and never got out of bed. I just know that she is in a better place now. She had a long, full life. OK, so there is that.

Lets jump in shall we? Ayman had a preschool play based on the nursery rhymes of Mother Goose. Ayman had the role of the King in the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty. (for the Egyptian family, since I dont know if you are familiar with mother goose, here is a link to wiki) He did just great in the play, and had a super spiffy costume. Jennah got in on the action by injecting herself (with permission from Ms. Sonia and Ms. Sar of course) into the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star rhyme. She did very good as well. This is Aymans last preschool play (I think) because he will be in kindergarten next year. It was Jennah's first play, as she will be enrolling in preschool for the new school year (hopefully, ISA) Ayman had a art exhibition at the local museum, The Haggin Museum, It was really cool. Amr, Jennah, Ayman, Mom, Dad and I all went out to the museum to check it out. I just figured out I dont have the patience to put more pictures in this post so keep on reading.

So, we took a trip to San Francisco on bart. Ayman loves trains right now, so we rocked it on Saturday. The pictures are in order from the one directly above, to the top of the post.

We started our Odyssey at the Dublin/Pleasanton bart station. Ayman really dug on that, especially when I told him that we were going to ride in a loooong tunnel under the San Francisico bay. We disembarked at the Embarcadero station. The weather there was just beautiful. It was nice, sunny and a balmy 60 something degrees. From the Embarcadero, we caught the F line street car. We chugged on that all the way over to Pier 39. Once there, we walked around a bit, looked at Sea lions, (which there wasn't that many of, perhaps they are somewhere else now?) then we had lunch at the Sea Lion Cafe, (mediocre at best ,but the service was just great. Seriously.) After lunch we headed on over to the carousel. I actually got dizzy on it. That has never happened to me before. The kids really loved the ride. After this we mosey-ed on over to have some ice cream, then on to Fishermans Wharf. Side note: The is a bunch of street performers on the way, (if you can call dressing up in all silver, standing on a milk crate, and acting like a robot performance art) Well, there is one dude that takes the cake. He has some mobile shrubbery. He sits behind it real still like, while people walk past on the side walk. Then he scares the bejesus out of anyone walking past. WTF? Meanwhile, across the street there are people standing there watching him do this. Do people actually pay him? They must if he is doing it. Amr told me he has been there for a long time. Go figure. We picked up the F line again, rode back to bart, then on home. It was a nice day. Soon, when the kids are old enough we will go into the city for a weekend, and hit the museum of natural sciences (Newly Remodeled!) and the Japanese Tea Garden. Ok so there you have it. My first substantial post of the 2009.

Totally lazy blog post:Soccer and water fun.

Ayman at soccer pratice....It is kinda funny to watch the kids are interested; kinda.

Jennah shows us her tortilla chip. Look closely in her mouth.

Jennah, showing her Daddy an absolutely fascinating leaf.

Jennah and Ayman love to play in the hose in front of the house. They are supposed to be watering the plants, but it doesn't really end up that way. They get way more water then than the plants.

I put the nozzle on the misty setting. It was totally boring, so it didn't last very long. And that concludes my very lazy, mostly pictorial post. Ayman is in his last week of summer school, i am still plugging along in school myself, and we are moving on September first. Woo Hoo! I love moving, I mean, who doesn't? Packing up all the crap you have accumulated, loading it into a truck taking, it off the truck, unpacking it, getting rid of boxes, settling in. it is totally awesome. Can you detect my sarcasm? Because I am laying it on pretty thick.

So cute

How cute are these two?

Test results not related to Anna Nicole Smith.....

I got a 98% on my first test in Anatomy and Physiology. Third in the class. Woo frickin' hoo!
They also just told us that the top two of the class can do clinicals at UC Davis, which would look very sweet on a resume, I think. It would be a long drive, but it is a huge teaching hospital, I think it would be worth it. I have to keep my grades up though, because my first round of clinicals isn't until January, which gives me a long time to screw up my good start. I am really just looking to finish the course and pass my boards, without having killed anyone in the process (that doesn't look sweet on a resume. But hey, eventually i will kill someone, so i guess i ought to get it out of the way early...hahaha just kidding, kinda.) At least I can sleep tonight. After I study.
Oh yeah, enjoy some totally sweet pictures of my monkeys. Ayman was in a picture mood today, so I went for it. Thank goodness I vacuumed today.














kissy kissy my sissy.













these two are so sweet.