Thursday Scoop

I just picked Carter up from school and can conclude that California kids are weird. OK, that wasn't fair. They simply don't see much weather out here. It is overcast and rainy today. Everyone seems very confused. Kids were screaming and laughing (with delight you see most often from tourists at the Disneyland fireworks show) each time a bolt flashed across the sky. It was all around awesome.

And, speaking of awesome......I finally got around to asking our neighbors for permission to post pics of their kids on da blog. This is the darling family who helped us move in. Seriously. Who does that?!

Here are Lainey and Jessie. They are two peas in a pod loving all things Princessy.

Here's the rest of the crew during Kelly's visit. You can see her, too, jumping off the skateboard. So cool! This family has 2 boys and 3 girls. They're a ton of fun.

Have I mentioned that we have lots of critters in these parts? Lizards are the kids' most recent fascination.

Poor unsuspecting reptiles. Someone should warn them.

Beach day.......could they be sweeter?



Our little darling hi-jacked a sand castle and made it a home for her kittehs.

Nice.

This delighted Meow Meow.

Carter started a football game on the beach. He's so shy. Punkin Jack tried to keep up with the big boys.

Lainey and I took a walk to the jetty and saw this cute couple. Totally Blake and me one day.

We're in love with Oceanside beaches. Wide open and beautiful.



Saw a surfing event nearby.



Lainey fed the crabbies handfuls of sand. I don't know.

Me and my girl.

Get down girl, go ahead get down.

Been experimenting with the sun in pictures....



Returned from our walk to find Jack missing us.

And, Daddy acting silly.

And, we're back home. Lainey needs a bike trailer for all her babies. And, kitties. And, puppies.


We're excited to go to Harbor Days this weekend. Click here to check it out!

Bits and Pieces - Updated With My New Do!

It's different from "Scoop". Because it's about other stuff......not the Starnes fam. Mostly.

I saw The Town last night. Really a good movie. Jeremy Renner is awesome. AWESOME. And, Ben Affleck is certainly coming along in his directing. Violent and tough to watch at times, but an awesome film. (Yall should use the word "film" more often because it makes you sound like you know what you're talking about. Critics do it all the time. Trust me.)


Have you seen this greatness?

Awesome with a capital A. Love the kid sitting next to him, too. Awkward.

Borrowed this video from Kelley's Breakroom. Straight up wacky.

And, finally, I'm t-minus 1.15 hours from getting my hair cut off. Like, all the way off. No more pony tails. No, I'm not suffering from heat wave dementia.......I've been wanting to for a while.......but am certainly feeling like this right now:


Coco just cut all of her hair off and now I am, too.

Damn. I wish I had done it first.

Back soon, bloggies!

And.......drumroll, please........



I feel sassy and cute. This is the straight version.....always a must at the salon b/c I can't really do it myself. So, it will be curly from here on out. A bit longer in the front and stacked in the back.

I'm so trendy. Who knew?

The Boys Of Fall

The temperatures here in San Diego are improving. Should be back to normal in a few days. Normal meaning, highs of 70's and 50's at night. Just the way I like it.

I'm missing Fall in the Midwest. Nothing like it, peeps.

Found this recently.......certainly helps me get excited for football. (and by that, I mean preparing the food and enjoying the drinks)


My two teams are doing well.

Yes, Reggie got hurt. He texted me as soon as it happened. No big deal....he'll be back soon enough.


And, how about the all mighty LSU Tigers?

Look at that stadium. Such a beautiful thing, isn't it?


I can almost hear the roar of the crowd as the Tigers take the field.

How are your teams doing?

A Letter

Dear California,

This is very disappointing. As is this. We moved here to escape extreme temperatures. 113 degrees? We don't have air conditioning in our house. Most people don't who live this close to the water. It's usually not needed. USUALLY.

I understand that our family relocating here brings with it a certain risk for strange weather.

Examples:

2006 Christmas Blizzard in Denver - shortly after we moved there from Fort Worth

2009 Snow Fall Records in Kansas City - shortly after we moved there from Denver

While I can accept the fact that we throw off the earth's axis a bit as we move around the country (our kids are loud, we have a hard time blending in, etc), even this is ridiculous.

Please, for future episodes, can we lean in the other direction? I'm thinking snow on the beach. Yeah. Sign me up for that. Let's really shake things up out here.

Sincerely,

Casey in California (as long as this crap doesn't happen again)

Weekend Scoop

"It's finally summer time in California!"

Merrilee texted me this yesterday as we were sitting on the beach. And, it was hot. Like 85 degrees hot. So, yes, we're having a heat wave. Lots to learn about this part of the country!

Jack is loving his train table set up outside. Hard work, peeps.

My good friend, Kelly......pledge sister in Delta Gamma.....came to visit on Thursday. We took the kids to the beach while Carter was in school. Little ones jump waves. So cute.

Kelly and the punks....

Blake made us a fabulous meal. In addition to these lovelies, he made jalapeno burgers. He dressed each burger with slices of cream cheese, bacon and roasted jalapenos. YUM.

We drank wine and played outside with the kids.

Kelly and me. Love this girl!

She read to the punks before bedtime.



Pa arrived just before bedtime and read to the kiddos, too. He had a quick trip out here, so we got a second visit from him!

The children went to bed and then we sat outside enjoying the weather and catching up. So much fun having him here.

Lainey has found a new way to carry Sassy Kitty around. Poor Meow Meow. All these kitties taking her place.

In other news. I got in a wreck on Friday. Seriously, what is going on here, people? Are the Gods of California telling us to pack it up and move on? Not my fault.......but still have to go through the repair process. Ugh. Little ones were in the car, too. Totally shook me up.

Lainey received these cute light up runway heels from my brother, Cody, and his wife, Jody. She LOVES them. Can you tell?

I took the kids to the beach yesterday for several hours and let Blake take a break. Somehow Lainey got in the car without shoes. Good thing I had my Ergo! Right, Coco?

Oceanside has beautiful beaches and it's easy to park and walk to them.

College football on the beach....USC in this case.

More hand holding and wave jumping for the punks. Love this.

Beach reading.

Blake played football with the boys. Our little star.....

Time to go. We lasted 6 hours and I have the sunburn to prove it.

Finally, here is a video of Lainey and her birthday present from Caroline. She requested I video her opening it......now I see why!


Carter is a church with neighbors and we're enjoying a lazy Sunday morning at home. Beach this afternoon. Hope you're having a good weekend.

Question Of The Week

I do not like skinny jeans. Girls can pull them off, but I don't care for them on boys. Guess who loves them?

Carter.

He's been dying for a pair and I avoided them like the plague while school clothes shopping. This Friday is "twins" day and he and his new friend have decided on these jeans. A clever way for Carter to acquire such a fashion? Possibly, but I don't think this act was premeditated. Most kids seem to have a pair and Carter wants to fit in.


So, for the first time, we're faced with the age-old-issue of giving in to "fads" or sticking with our taste.

I want to raise independent thinkers, so I welcome Carter's input and hope we can always find middle ground in this department. There are some things we won't be flexible on......but this one seems innocent enough.

I'm torn with wondering 2 things.

***Are we turning into lame parents since we don't care for this style?

***When is it appropriate for parents to say "no" simply because of a conflict of taste?

Giveaway Winner And Random Stuff

First, the winner of the painted picture by Lance: Carrie Darney. Yall who didn't win can blame Blake because he drew the winner. Carrie, email me for Lance's info!

Second......the random info. Seems like all of my posts are turning into "Scoop". Lots going on!

Carter started 4th grade here on Monday and I was brought immediately back to Summer School with Mark Harmon. Seriously. Breeze way through the middle.......they hang their backpacks outside......the school is "campus style" with classrooms opening up outdoors.......the cafeteria is outside as well. It's very "California" compared to what we're used to. (Cam and Erin, no snide remarks on our fascination with your gorgeous home state. We're newbies. Give us a break.)

Carter on his (second) first day:

We arrived and walked around prior to meeting his teacher. Saw this in one part of the campus and Carter immediately remarked, "Oh, Dad is going to be in heaven. It will be like bowling when he plows through these!" Awesome.

After his first day, I loaded up the kids to meet him after school and we ventured out toward the beach. Of course, 2 minutes down the road, I heard this odd noise.......then later on noticed the PSI on my front right tire was doing drastically down. Damn.

We've had our fair share of car repairs recently......including tune ups to prepare for the drive here.....which lead to $450 work on the Volkswagen. No complaints.....that car has 125K miles and we've never done a thing to it besides change the oil, rotate tires and buy new ones. So, it was time. Add another $850 for an oil pan and gasket after it nearly broke down 10 miles shy of our arrival in Oceanside. 1687 miles.......total journey.....and it decides to start leaking oil as we're driving into town. Again, no worries......this car has been a total gem and these repairs usually arrive much earlier than they have for us.

Add the Volkswagen drama to Blake puncturing the Suburban's tire in the school parking lot and then my flat tire......I'm over it! That's 3. Nothing else can happen.

Carter's over it, too. Don't judge. He's witnessed all of these messes and most of his classmates have, too.

Lainey seems to be over it, but she doesn't know.

Jack was more concerned with the preservatives in pretzel goldfish. Can't blame him.

Our darling little one doesn't understand my incessant screams of bloody murder......suggesting she not touch the ground with her hands or any of Daddy's tools.

Proof....







The good news is that all 3 kids can change a tire now. And, Blake's got it down (with help) to 35 minutes. Not bad for an old guy.

Lainey's most efficient thus far. We're doing drills in our spare time. Safety first!

Since we were in the downtown area, near the Waste Management dump, I kicked back in the folding chair and watched all of this go down. See? Nothing phases me now. We've been through it all. The drive cross country, the car trouble, Blake and me being home together since May 15 (!!!!!!).........it's all gravy at this point. I'm numb. So, why not just kick back and watch life unfold?

Anyway, we made it to the beach. And, our yahoo children spent more time on the damn playground than in the sand. Note to self: Do not take kids to a beach with a playground. The ocean is their furthest point of interest. Save the sand clean up and walk down the street.

In house news......Statue Kitty has been moved around and around and around. She's not always left in the most flattering of poses, but she's getting a lot of attention.

Help needed: Blake doesn't want to do the collage above the fireplace again. The armoire is cluttered and he thinks it will look junky. So, tell me what you think we should do. We're up for anything! Comments, email, etc......doesn't matter. I'm out of ideas.

Here is the other part of the living room......so happy we can fit our desk again.

Kitchen is done. And, our first custom piece of artwork......bought from a friend of Caroline's years ago......is hung again. Love it!

Carter has been calling people left and right from the back yard giving them verbal tours of what he sees. Love to see him so happy with the house.

Lainey got a new lovie from Donna for her birthday. Her name is Sassy. She, too, used to be white.

She got Sassy on Friday. Today is Tuesday and Sass looks like she's been through a war zone. Such is the life of being Lainey's favorite.

Awkward. I constantly find her kitties in all sorts of compromising poses. They're hugging, of course, but it makes me jump a little each time I come upon a new connection.

Sassy sometimes lives in a bird cage. I don't know.

Finally, we Skyped tonight with our KC neighbors, Dalton and family. So much fun. We're loving California, but missing the old 'hood!


Got a question for you peeps tomorrow.......stay tuned!