Catching up...

I have been a blogging slacker. SLACKER. I am getting started on my Christmas cards and that usually includes a family letter. And that includes an update. And there is a LOT to update.

So this post, is an update, Christmas card style!

Harmony: This girl is busy from sun up to sun down. Band. Reading. Writing. Drawing. Hanging out with friends. She has had so many fun opportunities lately! Playing in the half time show at a UCLA game, going to the Disney studios to learn about art...and of course there are all the band competitions, football games, dances, hanging out with friends, movies, sleepovers...her schedule is tough to keep up with!

Ethan: is getting to be as busy as his sister. He too, is a band geek. With Ben & I having absolutely no musical abilities, we find this odd! I have loved to see him progress in his playing. He took up the baritone last year and has worked his way up, in a little over a year, from beginning band to advanced. He has totally shot up and now towers over me, which he loves to tease me about. He, has a lot of the same talents & interests as Harmony. Reading, writing, drawing & music.

After a year, Connor gave up on the band life! He decided to do something different and it is much more up his alley...yearbook! He has loved walking around the school with his "press pass", taking pictures and using the computer to design pages. He is a "techie" kid and loves anything to do with electronics. Of course he still loves Legos, and designs detailed bases. Mason considers Connor to be his personal slave, and Connor is too sweet to say no!

Ivan: This kid is...fun. He worked hard to prove that he could be safe while riding his bike to school. He has done a great job (even though it still scares me) and loves the freedom of riding back and forth. He has had his struggles at school but we have been working through them. He still loves Legos, pirates and playing video games. He had a rough Thanksgiving break, as his best friend moved. We all took it hard, and were sad to see them go!

Mason had an interesting start to kindergarten...a few of the boys decided to use their scissors to cut each others clothing, lunch bags, back packs etc. Mason ended up with a hole cut into his favorite hat, 2 shirts, and his backpack strap cut. Luckily the kids learned their lesson and we are no longer dealing with it! Mason is, just like his Dad and brothers, a Lego kid. He also loves playing at the park. He is learning to read & write and it is fun to see him learn & grow.

Ben & I are trying to keep up with the kiddos. It is hard to believe how time has passed & how the kids have grown and changed. Ben still travels quite a bit for work. We are currently waiting on our newest set of orders, which will most likely be in San Diego.

So there you have it. Our life in a nut shell.

On band camp, hot weather and Harry Potter

No matter what I try to do to slow our lives down...nothing ever seems to work! We are always BUSY.  But I suppose if we weren't busy, we would be bored...so I guess it is a catch 22.

Harmony, had freshman band camp this week. Since she didn't go last year, and never really learned all the fundamentals of marching, she decided to do it this year. Which means she and I were up and out of the house by 7:30, so we could pick up her friend and get her to camp on time. 8:00-12:30, they practiced marching, were given new music and made new friends with the kids just joining. It was followed up by marching in the parade at the Ventura County Fair.

It has been a hot week (by Camarillo standards) and so the boys and I have spent a lot of time indoors...at least until the sun started to go down anyway! Then out came the bikes, scooters, light sabers, swords and shields. The boys spent pretty much every evening watching the sun go down as they played. I love that even though they are "too old", that Ethan and Connor still get out and play with Ivan & Mason.

Speaking of setting suns, we had the most glorious PINK sunset the other night. I love living in such a beautiful place.

Sunset photos courtesy of Ivan :)

Friday (July 31st) is Harry Potter's birthday! So after dropping Harmony off at band camp, the boys and I headed to Simi Valley for a Harry Potter birthday party. There is a used book store called $5 or less and not only were they hosting, but each child was given a bag, that they could fill with free books.

We had a great time combing through the shelves, reading all the HP signs, searching for the Golden Snitch and coming away with tons of free & cheap books.

Harmony starts school on the 21st and the boys on the 27th. So the end of our summer is filled with one more band camp, orthodontist, optometrist and well child exams. As well as a couple of shots for Connor and getting Mason ready for kindergarten!

Whew. I think I could use a little bit of boring in my life!

Forced family fun

Our family has been pulled in 20 different locations lately.

We have been so busy and have hardly had any time together. At least, fun quality time instead of, "we have to get this,this, this and this done" time.

The usual fall back for us is a movie night. However, with Harmony having really different interests then the boys, the two older boys wanting to watch things that the two younger can't. So, movie night has become increasingly harder.

Same thing with going to a movie.

Thanks to a Groupon offer, we decided on a round of mini golf and an arcade. We hit up Golf -n- Stuff in Ventura.

I am not the best at mini golf, but it sure is fun. We had a blast going to each hole. We didn't keep score which made it more fun, since there was no competing at all. A lot of members of our family do not deal well with competition.

After the golfing we hit up the sweaty, hot and stinky arcade. Ben, Mason and I played a tough round of air hockey, Harmony loved the dance games, Ethan and Connor not only danced but also played Star Wars games. Ivan held onto his tokens until the very last minute. Then used them on Mario Kart.

We were all starving so we hit up Five Guys. We had never tried it before but had heard good things. While the price was steep, we really enjoyed it! Huge yummy burgers and fries. Of course, Mason just wanted a hot dog. Sigh.

It was so nice to spend time together. I enjoyed watching the kids laugh, play, work together, sit together, talk and just be.

I know it sounds dorky or cliché or...whatever. But I love my family & love spending time with them!

Pool perks

We love Camarillo, where we have now lived for 4 years!

Perfect weather, amazing friends, close to family...

Yep we love it here.

We also love our housing. Nice big backyard, really nice parks, awesome neighbors...and the biggest thing? The pool!

We live directly across from the pool. A nice big pool, a baby pool, steam room...

We hold playgroup there, BBQ's, birthday parties, scouts and family night!

Today we had a large turn out for playgroup, and these two loved soaking up the sun! Here is to hoping that they will sleep well tonight!

my blogging history...

A loooong time ago, my family lived in Virginia. Across the country from any family. I started a blog, this blog to be exact, so that our family could keep up with our lives. My husband while deployed, was able to view pictures & read the stories behind what our kids were up too.

Then our family received orders to go to Guam. This blog became even more essential as we were even further from friends and family.

Around this time, I discovered other types of blogs beyond family ones. Homemaking, cooking, organizing, bento...and I wanted to be just like these bloggers that I admired.

I created another blog, Martha Wannabe (as in Martha Stewart) where I shared meal plans, participated in blog challenges, shared recipes and anything homemaker-y.

I tried very hard to keep up with both. I did not succeed.

Slowly this family blog was put on the back burner.

Once our family moved to California, I was able to coupon again. I was getting lots and lots of questions and loved sharing my "scores". So I started another blog, California Clippin' and later to California Cheap Chick.

This past year has been so incredibly busy. Sometimes it is even hard to contemplate how we got through it.

While talking to a friend the other day, I realized just how burnt out I really was/am. I am tired of trying to "keep up with the Jones's blogging style". Would it fun to be an insanely popular blogger? Sure.

But honestly, I just want to be...a Mom again. Not someone who is trying to keep up with others. I feel like the stories of mine and my families life has been limited to a quick facebook post. Our lives can't be described in 20 words.


I want simple. I don't want to worry about sharing my posts on every social media platform in hopes of new readers & comments.

Simplicity. Family life. Success and failures. Family life. Simplicity. MariesHecticLife 2.0

Family Reunion 2011

Day 1

While most people came on Wednesday evening...the reunion "technically" began on Thursday.

How to sum up the first day? Hmmm...
*talking
*laughing
*talking
*eating
*talking
*picture taking
*talking
*playing
* did I mention talking?

I loved being with my family and just...well BEING. We didn't have to do anything special, we just enjoyed being together.

**For those interested, there were a TON of pictures taken. If you want to look at more you can find them on Facebook **

Costume Parade

My gorgeous boys (:

A grumpy Indy

He was actually walking backward to school!

The boys school had a costume parade today.

Ivan, although he has been wearing the Indiana Jones costume for weeks, went as a pirate. I drew some facial hair on him and he washed it off. He told me, "Mom, that made me look HIDEOUS!" Not even sure where he learned that from!

Connor went as Indy instead and threw a HUGE fit. Connor's life is never fair and his complaints were just silly. Once he got to school and got some compliments from his friends, he did much better. For a calm, quiet kid he sure can put up a fuss!

Ethan went as Harry Potter. He sure has grown in a year. It was small on him last year but today I noticed how short the arms on his cloak were. I guess he will have to get something new next year.

Harmony wore the poodle skirt that she got in Girl Scouts last year. She made a very cute 50's girl! I didn't get any pictures of her 'cause we were a touch late getting to school today!