Thursday, April 30, 2009

Happy Birthday, Sebastian



Another year has passed, and now my "big" guy is 3!! He had a great birthday visiting the zoo. His favorite part was watching the monkeys swinging around. But, I didn't get any good pictures of monkeys, so I will have to settle for posting the giraffes, which were one of my favorites!






At Sebastian's request, we had "Pirate" cake. I have gotten into the habit of decorating a cake for the kids on their birthday. A part of me is regretting starting this little tradition as it is very difficult with my arthritis. But, how can I say no? So, here is my birthday boy and his cake.



Here's to another fun-filled year with my crazy little boy!

Monday, April 27, 2009

Just another Monday

The good thing about a terrible start to the day is that it can only get better...right?

My day started with my arthritis keeping me in bed later than normal and Sophia missing school. There was no way that my aches were going to allow me to get up, get dressed, get everyone fed, dressed and out the door before she was supposed to be there at 9. So, a play day at home for Sophia. Not too bad. Yet.

Then, I get a phone call from an investigator who is looking to verify my address because they are submitting my file to the LA county sheriff for process serving. WHAT!!?? She goes on to tell me that I am being named in a lawsuit regarding a credit account with MBNA bank that I had 10 years ago. I am being sued for breach of contract with malicious intent. They are claiming that I have not paid my balance of $227 after repeated attempts to contact me.

At this point, I am totally freaking out! Yes, I used to have an MBNA account, and yes, the last I remember there was a balance of that amount. But, I also remembered that account was one of the debts that we had to pay off when we purchased our house. So, this woman says that I can either pay them to $227 now, and attempt to contest it later, or I contest it in court after I have been served papers. So, I paid it. I probably shouldn't have, and I have a feeling I got totally screwed, but honestly, the whole thing scared the crap out of me.

If that's not enough, while I am on the phone trying to settle this, Vibiana picks up the phone in the other room and starts pushing numbers and blowing raspberries. When I have everything taken care of and I hang up the phone, I look into the living room to see that Sebastian has been playing with baby powder and not only is Vibiana covered (she looked like a ghost) but it is all over the carpet. Yes, it smelled nice, but not quite nice enough to cover the smell of the major accident Sebastian had in his underwear.

If my day doesn't start to improve soon I may just go back to bed and pull the covers over my head.

BTW- I looked up my escrow papers and yes, the debt to MBNA was paid. Now, I have to wait for AV Escrow to find a copy of the canceled check. Then, I guess I have to decide if I am going to pursue this. Blah!

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Potty time - Finally!

Sebastian used the potty! Willingly!!

I have been doing my best over the last few months to encourage him to use the "big boy" potty. He will be three on Sunday and I have been trying not to pressure him too much, but I am really, really tired of having two in diapers. Sebastian, however, has had absolutely ZERO interest. When Darian was on Easter break last week, he tried to help, but my little guy wanted none of it.

We went shopping at Target yesterday, and I took him down the aisle with all of the little boy underwear, thinking I could get him excited about wearing "Diego" or "Cars" or anything. I showed him all the packages with different characters and he said "Yeah, they o.k." When I asked if he wanted to get some to wear, he said "No." As we were leaving the store, he suddenly decided he wanted the Spider-man underwear. Well, I quickly got back over there and let him carry the package all the way to the register. He wasn't interested in wearing them when we first got home, but later in the evening he was more enthusiastic. By today, he only wants to wear Spider-man! I am hoping he has finally reached his turning point. I can almost see the end of the tunnel!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Witness to a miracle

On Saturday, at Sacred Heart's Easter vigil, a miracle occurred. Some people may not have noticed, but many of our clergy witnessed it, and it was "confirmed" at RCIA last night.

A little background - during adult baptisms, the adult is immersed in water. What we have is a large fountain in which the catechumens kneel. Our priest then pours three pitchers (large beer/soda pitchers) over his or her head. I sit up front every year and this is always incredibly entertaining to watch. The water pours over their heads, faces, shoulders and backs. They always come out dripping wet. They never expect quite that much water!

This year, we had one young man who was receiving a conditional baptism. This means that it was unclear as to whether or not he was ever baptized as a child, so he was baptized "again" just in case.

This young man entered the fountain, knelt, and had the three pitchers of water dumped over his head. When he emerged, he was dry. The only parts of him that were wet were his feet and the hem of his robe.

- Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet."Jesus answered him, "Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me."Simon Peter said to him, "Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well."Jesus said to him, "Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed,for he is clean all over;" - JN 13:8-10

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Forehead vs Fireplace

Well, so much for our brunch. Sebastian's forehead fought the fireplace and the fireplace won. Jason is on his way to Kaiser to see if he needs stitches. In the meantime, I now have to figure out what we will have for our Easter meal!

Happy Easter!

Well, the kids have gorged on their candy and are now in sugar induced comas in front of the television. Ahhh, the quiet!

We are headed out to our traditional Easter brunch with Jason's godmother and hopefully the kids will be awake by then.

Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia!!

Friday, April 10, 2009

It's official

We are insane. Why? Well, what sane people would take 4 young children to not one, but TWO Good Friday services? In the end, we survived...barely.

For the first service we trekked down to North Hollywood where Jason was giving a short talk on the last words of Jesus. Jason's talk went really well, despite Vibiana fussing the entire time. Many thanks to our friend Kim for helping to wrangle the other kids while I dealt with the baby. And, congratulations to Kim's husband, Long, who, despite being very nervous gave a fabulous talk.

Once we were done there we headed back up to the AV where Jason was reading at our evening service and I was scheduled as an EM. I had intended to go home between these two services, but the first one lasted nearly two hours and by the time we got near Lancaster there wasn't enough time to get home and back. So, we ran a few errands and then headed over to Sacred Heart. In the end I wasn't needed as an EM since we had so much clergy present, and this was a good thing since Vibiana only wanted "Mama!" Considering the kids had ZERO playtime today, they were fairly well behaved. We were all really glad to finally get home. For the Easter Vigil mass tomorrow night I have already scheduled a babysitter - Whoo-Hoo!