My cute pretend grown up!

Jasmine has found my old discarded cellphone - which incidentally I had kept for her to play with but she wasn't interested until today! She takes it and acts like me - oh how swwet it is! One day she will be horrified to act like me! She opens the clamshell and holds it to her mouth and says, "Hello Daddy, Good morning, I'll be back" and she kisses the phone and closes it again. She even likes to have pants with pockets so she can put her cellphone in her pocket. When we are in the car and I made a call, she is right there with me making a pretend call on hers! What a cutie!

She also likes to do other things her mom does - she likes to vacuum with her toy vacuum and get in the car and pretend to drive. I don't want her to grow up too fast but it is oh so cute to see that she loves to pretend!

Dealing with the crap - literally!

OK - so this is in response to my dear friend Shelly's post about dealing with the crap in her home. Well, she should have been a fly on the wall at my house today - now I am going to tell you about what dealing with the crap really means! There were 2 not so fun things I had to deal with today - Number 1 - a clogged toilet, and Number 2 - a defrosted freezer.
Number 1 - The clogged Toilet
This toilet has been clogged for 2 days - that's right folks, when I got home yesterday afternoon after Lorne had left to go to the airport, I found a clogged toilet full of - that's right folks - crap. and it was not a pretty sight. Well, I was so busy that I didn't have time to take care of it until this evening. The saga begins when I couldn't find the plunger. Now, Lorne thinks these tools should be left in bathrooms - I disagree. They are nasty and full of germs and how many times do they get washed after they have done a dirty deed like unclog a toilet? Besides, not in my remodeled bathrooms will you find a plunger!
Exasperated, I went to the garage to look for it but our garage is a MESS and while I was out there I discovered problem number 2 (more on that later). I picked up some of the trash to make a path for myself and lo and behold - there was the plunger. I went inside to plunge away and within a few seconds, we were clear but the plunger was a sanitary nightmare so I put it outside to hose off later. I was really wishing Lorne was home so he could have taken care of this mess but alas, my husband is gone all the time!
Number 2 - Defrosted Freezer
As I was looking for the plunger, I noticed that the freezer door was open! This is NOT a good sign as it needs to stay closed to keep the cool air IN. Well, I think it must have been open all day because nearly everything in there was defrosted - and if you have ever seen my freezer, that is a lot of food! Well, I had to get to work. So after I put Jasmine to bed, I marched in the garage and began throwing away food that I knew was not going to keep and also was not good anymore now that it had sat in a water puddle all day. My heart sank as I did this - my trashcan is now full of food!
I was able to salvage a few things, and tomorrow I will cook the 3 lbs. of cubed beef and the full ham I managed to save. Some of you may find me on your porch offering you one of the 6 packages of bacon that had thawed!
Needless to say this freezer was a mess so after I took the food inventory I had to take out some of the glaciers that had formed from the last 2 years that I haven't defrosted the thing. I got soaked doing this task but it HAD to be done and if I didn't do it, who would? Well, here is the picture of what it looked like when I was done.

Now, this is what I call taking care of the crap!

Carousel ride

So here are a few cute pictures of Jasmine on the carousel in Springfield Mall (bloody expensive ride - cost me $2) but it was worth it to see how much she enjoyed it. She wanted to ride again when it was over but it was too bad since I was all out of cash!

Mama's Got a Brand New Toy!!

So, today has to be my lucky day. Let me begin by saying that I took the little one to the Dr. about her fainting spell yesterday (they asked I bring her in after I called the nurse about it last night). They checked all her airways, her heart and eyes and ears and decided that she is a fine healthy 2 year old that has a temper and chose to display it in that manner yesterday. Nothing to worry about they said - WHEW!

Well, when I got home, I called Marcia and in the midst of our conversation, she mentioned that Williams Sonoma had the Kitchen Aid Pro 600 Series mixer for $199 (certain colors - among them green) - I almost choked on air - that is $400 mixer I have been drooling over for a few years (even before cake but a lot since doing cake). She said that she had called around to the Williams Sonoma stores in our area and no one had any left - However the W.S. in Old Town Alexandria (the closest store to my house) had a red one on sale for $269 - a still unbeatable price! So I asked Lorne if it was OK and he said, "Go get it" - so off I went.

Well, when I got there they had the red one but they had also found one more green one in the back (did I mention green was on sale for $199???) and so they said I had a choice. Well, let me tell you, I did not care what color it was, it could have been tie-dyed for all I cared. I said I would take the green one for $199 - (I actually spent $209 after tax). But wait - there's more - I also get a rebate I send in for an extra bowl (a $60 value!). I am so excited you all cannot imagine - I have been working out of a 4 Qt. Artisan Kitchen Aid for 5 years and especially with the cake business it was just too small! The poor thing has earned a rest - it will still be a soldier in my cake empire but it won't have to do all the heavy lifting because there's a NEW mixer in town! YAY!!

Now, I get the mixer home just as the phone is ringing and there is someone who got my business card from a coffee shop and she wants a wedding cake and a grooms cake for a wedding in May. I was so excited and then checked my e-mail - a previous customer e-mailed me that she wanted to order 2 cakes for October!

So, a healthy girl, a new mixer (at a steal) and 4 cake orders - nothing can ruin this day! Oh - and also found out my cousin's baby Valentino was born in Hawaii yesterday so good news all around! Can you tell how happy I am?

Not for the Faint of Heart

So we took an enjoyable walk to the playground today so that Jasmine could play with her friends Marin & Kirsten. She became very fixated on the snacks I had brought for her but I knew she had already had plenty to eat for breakfast so I told her that she could drink her drink but the snacks would have to wait until we were on our way home. She kept asking me every 10 minutes or so and the response was always the same. A few time she tried screaming at me and I told her that we could go home if she wanted and she said no, and would keep playing. Towards the time we needed to come home she asked for a snack again and I told her that we would be leaving to go home in a few minutes and she could have the snack then. She screamed NO at the top of her lungs, drew a breath in ready to cry and then stopped breathing. I went and grabbed her and tried blowing in her face and nothing was happening as she turned blue. I started to get really scared and thought I was going to lose her and then another mother (thanks Karen) grabbed Jasmine out of my arms (this was after she closed her eyes turned bluer and her head rolled back into my hands) and put Jasmine over her shoulder and whacked her on the back a few times and after what seemed like an eternity Jasmine finally took a breath and started crying. I don't have to tell you the relief that washed over me and then was followed by sobbing as all the emotion came running to the surface. It made me feel like such a novice mom. But I guess your kid doesn't faint everyday so I wasn't prepared for that one.

Hanging out at the dealership

So I bit the bullet and took my car into the dealership today under duress. My check engine light came on about 8 months ago and I had never bothered to check it out because the dealership was in Vienna and it was a pain to go out there and also because the car seemed to be running fine and going there always takes so much time. Well......Lorne decided I needed to take the car for it's 50,000 service and have them find out why the light was on. But he was a sweetheart and found there was a dealership much closer that Vienna - just off of Backlick Rd before Franconia! So I called and made an appointment. The guy said bring it in at 1PM and I told him I would wait for the car - I had no other way of leaving. So I showed up at the appointed time and about an hour later he came in to talk to me and told me the deal. Seems I had 3 hoses cracked and leaking that needed to be fixed and that is why the light came on. Well, the coat os repair was reasonable and so I accepted my fate. They also did the service. Well, the only thing was that he said it would take 2 more hours after that and I thought Jasmine was going to go crazy.

The guy said they had a shuttle car that could take us to the mall, so off we went. We meandered in the mall for a few hours and Jasmine even rode the merry-go-round. She got mad when the ride was over - she thought she should be allowed to go again - unfortunately mommy was out of money. Well, alls well that ends well, the car runs better (I can actually tell the difference) and the maintenance total was only $440 - so for the first time since buying the car that isn't so bad! But it just took my whole day!

Here's to Peer Pressure!

Jasmine blows some bubbles!
Mom & Jasmine wave hello
They had life vests at the pool for little kids and Jasmine really liked that she could float and feel safe!

Wednesday the 15th, I took Jasmine to the pool for a church organized playdate. After going to the pool several times this summer and having to cope with Jasmine's new fear of water - I wasn't sure she was going to be happy going to the pool. Boy, was I wrong! She had a blast at the pool and after seeing how brave all her friends were, Jasmine did a few things she never did before. She jumped off the side of the pool into my waiting arms and she stuck her face willingly into the water and blew bubbles! I am so pleased that she finally decided the pool was a fun place to be! The past 2 days she has been asking to go back to the pool. Let's just hope I won't have to spend most of next summer convincing her the pool is fun again!

Here's Looking at you Kid!

There were so many people - and we have another picture of all the people behind us! It was the most I have seen on the mall!

A most famous Casablanca scene as seen from my chair! Amazing isn't it?

It was a record breaking crowd at the last Screen on the Green Monday night. The weather was beautiful, not hot, not cold, perfect with a slight breeze and the movie was Casablanca. I for one had never seen Casablanca and I can't say that I have seen it now. Jasmine had fought taking a nap that afternoon and so she was a bit of a handful until she fell asleep and then the movie was more than half over and I had no idea what was going on. The great thing was that we got to spend time with Kevin & Cindy Zarcone and a few of their friends. We ate good food, enjoyed good company and spent some time doing something unique. All in all, I would say it was a great time! Now I will rent the movie to watch it properly!

Jasmine hydrates! I love the cheekbones!

Awww - best friends! Feel the love!

The whole gang - thankfully we had pretty good seats!

Mela-Fun

Sabrina & Kevin - Future Corporate Directors

Build Your Tomorrow Today!

Last Wednesday through Saturday, I got to go to the Melaleuca Annual Convention in Atlanta Georgia. Our good friend Kevin Zarcone, who we introduced to the business came with me. It was an information packed 3 days and we learned a lot. We attended workshops on Financial Freedom, personality types, and many more relating to a Melaleuca business and how to build your tomorrow today. We left with a plan on how to achieve our business goals and ready to tell others about this amazing company, Melaleuca.

The company announced new products, among them healthy foods (Strawberry Cruch cereal, Cinnamon Clusters cereal, Breakfast Cereal bars, organic chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin cookies, and snack organic crackers), a whole new body satin line and mineral powder foundation. They also reformulated some existing products and we are looking forward to trying all of these products out. We were able to sample all the food products at convention and I must say, they taste great.

Sabrina & Nicole Miller

In the large company general sessions, we were favored my speaches from Frank Vandersloot himself and Chris Gardner, the man behind the movie the Pursuit of Happyness. He was amazing and I don't think there was a dry eye in the house when he was done speaking. I got to meet him and also Nicole Miller, the fashion designer behind our makeup line.

Our President and CEO, Frank Vandersloot

Chris Gardner was an amazing speaker

All in all, this was worth the 10 hour drive and lack of sleep. It's time everyone we know give this amazing company and their healthier products a try!

Family Togetherness

Tio Ryan & Jasmine have a cuddle

Sabrina, Natalia & Roman

Tio Robert celebrated his birthday in high style this year. In fact, he is still celebrating! His birthday was July 19th - and we went to take him a cake and have lunch with him. Then, he was scheduled to have a birthday party last weekend but it got cancelled because he was at a soccer game with tickets he got as a birthday present (from my mom). So we all got together this past weekend to celebrate his birthday all together as a big family. It was very fun and nice to see everyone. Fernando was even home for a visit. We did miss Rory however who isn't coming to visit for another few weeks. Also, you will see Lorne absent from the party as he had to go to NYC to entertain an important client.

Grandpa and Roman take a snooze

Ryan, Sabrina & Fernando

Tia Susana, Abuela, Tio Robert & Roman

Campbells vs. Crabs! Campbells Win!

Our next door neighbors, The Matheses have a beach house at Colonial Beach VA which is abour an hour and a half away. Every year they have a party there and have invited us to go for the last 5 years. We have never been able to go but this year we could. They had a lot of good food but we got to do something we have never really done before. We got to sit around butcher-covered paper tables and eat steamed and seasoned crabs that arrived in a cardboard box. Apparently this is something lots of people like doing and somehow we have never done it. After getting a short lesson from a pro - we were on our way to enjoying some delicious crabs. They are a bit of a pain to get at but once you do, the meat is good and from what we have been told, sitting around at a crab feast is more about the conversation and less about filling up on crab. The whole thing was a bit barabric (cracking the shells open with hammers and knives) but a lot of fun!

Lorne digs into his succulent crab!

Sabrina finds a worthy opponent!

Hammering away - trying to find that precious meat!

Jasmine spent most of her time in the kiddie pool out front!

Jasmineisms

As you may have guessed, this blog is entitled Jasmineisms because she has a lot of cute things that she says that we want to share with you. It probably won't sound as cute being written down but you have to imagine it in a cute 2 years old's voice and then you will smile!

Jasmine makes up her own words such as:

• Cocobella (co co beya) - means cereal or granola bar - took me 2 days to figure out what she was asking for and we aren't sure how she decided that that was what they were called.
• Di go go - means chocolate - this stems from last Christmas when she was 18 months old and we had an advent calendar and we wanted her to know it was special so each day when we opened one of the doors, and gave her a chocolate we would sing Jingle Bells which she started pronouncing as Di go go.
• Plus Plus (ploos ploos) - This was something she said for 3 days before I understood she was asking for Blue's Clues.
• Mica - a Jasmineism for the word musica meaning music - she always would say this over and over when she wanted to hear music.
• Cuddlebee - this is a word for laying down and cuddling and we love it when she asks for cuddlebee.
• Bailabee - Baila for dance and bee because that's what we call her.

Jasmine also says some very cute things:

• Bye Bye Good Luck - this is what she says when people are departing. We do not know why she wishes everyone good luck but she does and even wishes the dog good luck when she leaves him.
• Mommy Sit Down - This is what she says when she wants me to sit with her while she eats, plays with playdoh or colors.
  
• Si Yeah - This is what she says to mean yes, the si for the spanish word and the yeah for the American slang.
• Papa Veni Veni (beni beni)- This means Daddy come here and she says this everytime she wants to get out of her high chair or get a hug and kiss from Daddy.
• Seat Belts Buckled - this she says as we put her into her carseat and she says it because the characters on the tv show Little Einsteins say it when they buckle up.
• Mmmm Delicious - she says this as she is appreciating food that tastes good, the first time she said it I almost spit my food out because I was laughing so hard!
• Aww Beautiful - she says this when I do her hair and she likes it or she has on a pretty dress, or most recently when I put on a pretty dress.
• Happy to You - her way of saying Happy Birthday to you and she even sings it "Happy to You"...
• Cow Pasa? - This morning her little cow fell off the changing table and Jasmine said, "Oh No vaca cow! Cow pasa?"
• Sleeping Buddah - That is what she calls Sleeping Beauty on her Disney Princesses nightgown.

More and More movies!

Seems this is the week we watch movies in all the different ways possible. Today I took Jasmine to Kingstowne to see Ant Bully. For those of you who don't already know, this movie theater shows free movies each week (for 8 weeks) in the summer and I only found out about it last week! So I took her last week to see Jimmy Neutron and this week to Ant Bully - next week is the last week and they will be showing Clifford. I will take her then too! It is great - I buy her the $1 popcorn and the $1 soda (she likes Sprite) and she sits in the booster seat and watches the movie. She gets restless during the last 15 minutes but I manage to get her to stay seated! Anyhow today we took Abuela Meme with us and went to Pizzeria Uno for lunch afterwards. None of us had pizza!

Screen on the Green!

Monday night we went downtown for Screen on the Green - an annual tradition we have and this year we have only managed to make it once, but hopefully we will go for the last one in 2 weeks as they are showing Casablanca and Sabrina has never seen it! We went with our friend The Childs. It was a great time - we ate our picnic dinner (which we purchased from Chicken Out) and enjoyed each others company until the movie started around 9 PM. Jasmine was a little restless at first being outside and all and we were trying to get her to sit down. But as the night wore on, she settled and had a nice time. We saw Wait Until Dark - an older movie with Audrey Hepburn being a pretty convincing blind lady.

Jasmine & Ryan cozy up in the same chair!

The Whole Gang!

The cutest part was that after the movie, we packed up our things (chairs, blankets, little cooler) and Jasmine demanded to carry her pink chair. You see, we have special screen on the green chairs (we specifically bought them for this event that we go to yearly - it makes all the difference to having to sit on the ground). She slung it on her shoulder and walked several blocks all the way to the car. It was not cute however when she threw a massive temper tantrum when we packed the chair back into the car and she didn't want to go home and screamed for her pink chair!

Jasmine in her Pink Chair!