**changes**

i guess it's inevitable but these changes are kind of freaking me out a bit. but on the other hand they are kind of nice at the same time. how does that make sense?

i still get up at 6am because i can't stand my kids getting up to a quiet, dark house in the morning. but this year it's a little different because i don't have to spend 10 minutes trying to get my son out of bed to make sure he doesn't miss the bus. when we bought him school supplies we also bought an alarm clock. if he is old enough to drive his butt to school he can get himself up and in the shower.

and that's another thing. he can drive himself to school, he can leave campus during lunch, and he can get himself to and from wrestling practices and meets. i feel sort of sad about that but bailey loves it since i usually had her go get him after practice. LOL

one of bailey's best friends moves to monmouth on sunday to settle into her dorm at western oregon state university. i think those 2 are really going to miss each other. i am so glad that her other best friend will be staying here and going to college with her. i do for see
the 2 of them moving to portland next year and attending college there.

i start school on the 28th. scared...to...death. i am so worried about failing. it's been a long time since i attended classes and had homework. omg, speaking of college. my tuition is $1155. my books are just over $915. it's a racket i tell you. one of my classes had a book bundle that is $198. one of them is a book that i have. the exact one...not a previous version. this book is shrink wrapped with another book that i have but is a 7th edition whereas the new book is a 9th edition. i am pretty sure they just ripped out a page and called it the 8th edition and then did the same frickin' thing for the 9th edition. i might try asking the instructor if what if have is sufficient since i could really use that $198. here's my schedule:

• Monday 9-10 10-11 12-2 2-4:30
• Tuesday 9-10 10-11:30 12-1
• Wednesday 9-10 10-11 12-2 2-4:30
• Thursday 9-10 10-11:30 LOVE Thursdays!
• Friday 9-10 10-11 12-1
• Medical Terminology & Body Systems
• Editing Skills For Info Processing
• Formatting
• Typing Speed/Accuracy Development
• Word Processing: MS Word
• Business Orientation/Medical

please have my family forward my mail to the nearest mental hospital. oh, and come visit me at Christmas. LOL

around here we are getting excited for the holidays. bailey is dying for me to unpack the halloween decorations. that is her favorite holiday. cj's is thanksgiving since my mom is the best cook in the world. i think mine is christmas. i like the homey feel of it and how it isn't just one day. i got some rockin' christmas decorations last year in california. danea took me to a christmas store that was AMAZING. it's almost worth a plane ticket down just to see it this year. i should have take pics. maybe i can talk danea into going in there and taking some. ♥

i keep bringing up that Danea and her family need to come here for a visit. she agrees and then kind of moves the conversation on to a new subject. boo. i am going to keep trying. i miss that girl so much. have you ever just wanted to move to be by someone? if it wasn't for my mom i just might do it. there is no way that i could ever be away from her. ever.




























i also think i could live by my good friend sara i think we would get along great but there i no way in hell i would move to arizona. she would have to move to PoDunk as she so lovingly calls it. i know she loves seattle so i think she would live in PoDunk just fine.














bailey and her friends got to go to the David Cook concert at the oregon state fair. she loved it and even converted one of her friends to become a fan. ahem..becky.



















and we experienced Voo Doo Donuts for the first time. we first heard of it on the show Man vs. Food . bailey and her friends went to the zoo so while they were up there they brought donuts home. cj made sure she got him a glazed donut that was as big as his head. somebody told me that they sell day old donuts in a 5-gallon bucket for $5. score!
















i guess that's what's going on here. i hope all is well with you.

peace.

**what's up**

with me?? not too much. i am just hangin' out here in california at danea's house. and i am updating this blog on my laptop. which i hate. typing on one sucks. i am very glad that i have a keyboard that i plug in to it at home. and a wireless mouse. i don't know how people do it. blech.

why is it that almost as soon as i went to bed on the first night i was missing my kids terribly? i guess you just don't realize how much kids can effect every thing you do. oh, and what else am i missing? my dogs. what's up with that?! to hear my kids tell me, the dogs miss me as well. a little out of sorts. what cuties.

i felt bad leaving cj. he started getting a cold on friday night and it just continued to get worse over the weekend. when i woke him up monday morning to say goodbye he was in full-swing "i feel like shit" mode. his coughing was terrible and he sounded awful. i felt like a bad mom getting on the shuttle to the airport. he has had a couple bad days but sounded better when i talked to him tonite. his dad was at the store getting more nyquil. what sucks about it the most is it was finals week and there is no way he could stay home. he has been a trooper. i am glad tomorrow is the last day of school and it's only a half day.

bailey and her friend kelsie headed out this morning on their post-graduation road trip. their first alone. they are in newport living in my mom & dad's motorhome. mom & dad keep the motorhome parked in the park at the marina from may through august. it's all set up and ready to enjoy. that thing is amazing....better than the average hotel. the girls are going to have a great time. they have some stuff planned to go do while they are there. i love that they are getting away and be on their own. the girls will be home on friday night. she has been keeping me updated so i can worry a little less. lol

some random CA stuff:

• i think it's hot. danea and jeff don't
• asa has grown so much since i was here in december. he has been so cute.
• odin is such a cutie. he is so alert and strong. when you hold his hands he pulls up.
• danea is still getting meals from the mom's club so we haven't cooked monday or tonite. there is a meal coming on friday, too.
• i made lemon blossoms today. i think i might try changing the lemon pudding that is in the cake part of them to raspberry. i will make danea dunk them in the glaze since that is what i hate the most.
• danea helped me with my blog. we still have a couple things to change. i say we like i have anything to add to the process. lol

well, i guess i should head to bed.

peace.

**it's been awhile**

...since i saw you. how ya' been? i don't check in that often since there isn't much going on here at the ponce home. we tend to be a boring bunch. wrestling is over so cj is home a lot more which means we have more teenage boys around. that's always entertaining.

cj got a car. he will be taking his driving test in 2 months so he is driving his own car to practice on since that will be the one he will drive for the test. his car is a 2003 Dodge Neon. it's bottom basement for sure. manual windows and locks. i don't remember the last time i have been in a car where you had to 'roll' down the windows. it's very clean and no dent with pretty low mileage. i think all in all we got a good deal. he is thrilled so that is good.

bailey takes a "Health Occupations" class this semester. each student spends 2 days shadowing a medical professional at 3 different locations. she spent her first 2 days in the women's center where women give birth. the man she was following asked her if she had ever seen a live birth and she of course said no. she wasn't supposed to go into something like that but he pulled her into a room where a woman was just giving birth. she got to see the whole thing. what an amazing thing for her. when she got home and told me i asked her what she thought she said "i have a whole new level of respect for you". cracked me up. love that girl. her second 2 days were at a rehabilitation center and her last 2 at an urgent care center. i think it was a great experience for her.

we are getting her ready for her senior prom. she found an amazing dress and phenomenal shoes. they are half a size too small. boo. she is getting her hair done in an up-do by my friend Missy. her date, Derrick, is a really nice guy. he works a Safeway and we talk to him all of the time. i am anxious to see what he is wearing. i sure hope i get good pictures.

cj ended up having a rock concert to go to the same day as the prom. it was a struggle to find a way to get him there since there was no way i was going to miss getting her ready. plus, all of her friends are getting ready here as well. we worked out a ride for Cj and his friend Paul to get to Portland for the concert. whew.

as usual, i found some amazing pictures that i want to share with you. this man draws pictures of animals on his hands. they look amazing. what talent.













































i thought i would post this picture in tribute to my best friend Danea. she is going to have her second baby boy on monday, april 13th. i know she is very uncomfortable at this stage of her pregnancy but this picture shows how amazing this late in the game it can be.






















and since i love animals here are a few to make you smile.


















well, that's all i got for now. have a very blessed and happy easter.

















peace.

**to finish off the week**

this christmas turned out to be a quiet one for sure. definately an adjustment. i guess that was to be expected. it was nice though. cj got his itouch that he has been bugging me about for months. now i don't have to listen to that. bailey got one of the new ipods in a cool blue color. of course books, dvds, and itune cards rounded out the rest.

i got this:













and this:


















dear sweet anne made me the most amazing painting. i can't express how special this is to me. it is one of THE most thoughtful gifts i have ever received.


















the poem reads:
...in this home
we do second chances.
we disagree.
we do mistakes.
we do "i'm sorry's".
we do loud...really well.
we do hugs.
we do family.
we do
LOVE

i am going to have it framed in black and hang it in my living room. it's the perfect colors and the perfect fit for our family. it couldn't be said any better.

xmas at my mom's was nice.








































i finally got all of my xmas decorations down, packed awesomely, and stored in the garage. i was kind of sad to see a few of them put away. silly.

we organized the garage to make room for the tables and chairs that i held onto from the shop. my dad had been storing them in his garage/workshop but he was needing the room so he brought them over. plus we are moving cj's weight bench to the garage from his room. he really doesn't have enough room for it in there and his grandma bought new furniture and gave him a great black leather recliner so he is going to put that in there. what a chair for gaming!

mom helped me get all of the new bedding on my bed since i switched from a king to a queen bed. it took a little bit since she insisted that the bedskirt needed to be ironed. why?? i would have just put it on there. hmmm. my brother-in-law came over and hung my tv on the wall in there and that cleared up some space on the top of my dresser. so now my room is finished.

bailey got new bedding for her room for christmas. we got all of that put on and it looks great. we took her room from young-teen to a little bit of an older look. i like it a lot better. it's very pretty and matches her paint colors so well.

we made a huge run to Goodwill. you should have seen the line of cars there making donations! apparently there must be a lot of people getting organized for the new year. it is a great feeling.

so it was definately a productive day yesterday and it kicked my ass but it's nice to have those things done. for the bazillionth time i will say that i still need to get my scraproom cleaned up. i have grand plans and they never get finished. it's so frustrating but i guess there is always tomorrow for that. =) hee hee

so to start the week out laughing here is some fun:

**now that's what i'm talkin' about**

woot! woot!










































meanwhile... in the kitchen i have been really busy preparing sweets for my goodie boxes that the kids and i are going to give as gifts.

























































i have since made chocolate crinkles, molasses snaps, peanut butter balls, and no-bake cookies. today i am going to tackle scotchies and a cake balls. i found the cutest christmas decorated chinese to-go boxes to put the goodies in. yum!


bailey was supposed to have her christmas choir concert on wednesday and thursday but it got postponed until january due to the weather. kind of a bummer since it is special because after at least 5 years of choir it is her last one. i am really anxious to see it. i definately have to get there early to get good seats so i can get good pictures. i always have to take pictures of all three of the girls so i have to have good angles. now that i know what settings on my camera to use for the crappy lighting in the gym i don't have to worry about that. =)

cj had his first wrestling meet last week in salem at McKay high school. there was one scheduled this week at McNary high school in salem but it was cancelled because of the weather. those meets are crazy! there are at least 8 schools there, 3 huge mats, and 2 matches going on each mat. the kids didn't stick to one mat either. they would go to whatever mat was open when their weight class was up. talk about chaos! i got a few good pictures of his matches.





































i got the cutest dept. 56 xmas cats while i was in california visiting danea. we were at Lisa'a Tea Room and in the waiting area there is the neatest gift shop. i have only seen dept. 56 items online so i was thrilled to see them in person. these cats just screamed to come home with me and be displayed next to the funky arrangement that i made. what'cha think? aren't they the cutest?






























danea also took me to an AMAZING christmas store. i have never seen so many xmas ornaments in one place. there were some high-end artificial trees there that i couldn't believe weren't real. each tree was done in a theme or a color combination. i purchased funky ornaments from the circus-themed tree. i shipped them home and next year i will get a small tree to put on my kitchen bistro-style table and use just those ornaments. i love them! this year i have THIS on that table:













i have to hand it to the nursery. they can grow some phenomenal poinsettias. this baby is huge. my mom got ones like this that are white, pink, and marbled. i was too late and got red only. but boy is it pretty.


.......and it's still snowing.


peace.

**yes, he can still hear**

well thank goodness that's over! cj has been waiting to go to the devil wears prada concert. his friend austin, austin's mom susan, cj, and me went to portland yesterday for the concert.

we had dinner at the cheescake factory. what a cool place. we all brought home a piece of cheescake (i brought a piece home for bailey, too). susan and i then took the boys to the roseland theater downtown and dropped them off for this:



i don't know how cj listens to this. he loves it and had a great time. even austin, who listens to rap, had fun. austin just went as a buddy with cj. what a guy!

cj and his dad are headed to seattle on december first for the metallica concert. they are going up via train and spending the night. they are going to have a great time. 2 concerts in 2 months...he is in heaven.

bailey, becky, and kelsie just went to a concert as well. it wasn't nearly as scary. =)


well, i am off to california to see my best friend, danea on december 3rd. her lovely husband cashed in their frequent flyer miles and got a ticket for me. i am sure i will have a few meals to cook, some dishes to do, and i know danea wants me to help her clean her scraproom (again!!). it's so worth it to get to spend time with them. i bet they will want a batch of these as well:

Ingredients

18 1/2 ounces yellow cake mix
3 1/2 ounces instant lemon pudding mix
4 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil

Glaze

4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 lemon, zest of
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons water

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Spray miniature muffin tins with vegetable oil cooking spray. Combine the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs and oil and blend well with an electric mixer until smooth, about 2 minutes. (The batter will be thick). Pour a small amount of batter, filling each muffin tin half way. (I found a small cookie scoop the perfect thing for making them a uniform size).
3. Bake for 12 minutes. (I baked 4 dozen at one time, so it took a little longer--be sure to reverse places in oven for even baking if you cook this many. Also, they come out of the tin better if you cook a little past the golden brown stage so the cake is more firm). Turn out onto a tea towel.
4. Make the glaze while the cakes are baking. Sift the sugar into a mixing bowl. Add the lemon juice, zest, oil, and 3 tablespoons water. Mix with a spoon until smooth.
5. With fingers, dip the cupcakes into the glaze while they're still warm, covering as much of the cake as possible, or spoon the glaze over the warm cupcakes, turning them to completely coat. Place on wire racks with waxed paper underneath to catch any drips.
6. Let the glaze set thoroughly, about 1 hour, before storing in containers with tight-fitting lids.

well, that's all i have for now.

peace.

**sweetnees and sleepyheads**

look what i found! i absolutely love this kitchen!!

sweetness


why is it so hard to wake my son up in the morning? i stand at the foot of his bed and talk nicely..."cj, it's time to get up", "cj, you need to get in the shower" , "cj, you are going to be late". if i start to get pissy or get a "tone" to my voice he wigs and we start off the day in such a pleasant manner. i swear it takes me about 15 minutes to finally get that kid in the shower.

i use to wake bailey up as well but she was easy to get up. open the door, turn on the light, "bailey, it's time to get up", and that was it. i then got her an alarm clock because sometimes mom (that's me...bad mom) might over sleep a little (no, not mom) and then she would be late.

but cj? nope. i have to throw the dogs on him to irritate him, turn his light on, flick his toes, and push on the bed with my knees to move the mattress around to bug him. drives me nuts. if he would just get up when i go in there i could let him sleep for an additional 15 minutes.

here's to hoping it will be better next year when he drives and doesn't have to worry about missing the bus.....

**len and susan suck**

i am sorry len, but you need to get with the times. try to accept something new. this was amazing!



could susan be anymore akward??



and again, len ruins the day. i thought cody did a great job!



i can't believe i watch this show. when it first came out i cracking up. i thought it was so stupid and that it wouldn't last. look at me now, posting youTube videos venting about len! LOL


oh, and dear sweet anne i went and searched out a few more songs from Missy Higgins since i liked the one you posted. i really like this one.



i get my hair cut on wednesday. i think i am going to tweak it a little around the face. one of these days i will get it right. staci is probably sick of me. i love getting my hair done. it always feels so good.

here are a few more of my favorite pics of my "kids". i love them all

(especially mine).

my girls

cj and his best buddy austin

cj and his other best buddy andy

ok crafters, i am going to take the bull by the horns and try to get this craft day scheduled. if we can do a weekday how about FRIDAY, NOV. 14th?? if not how about SATURDAY, NOV. 15th?? same deal the following week FRIDAY, NOV. 21st or SATURDAY, NOV. 22nd. thanksgiving isn't until the 27th so we are o.k. there.


peace.

**sometimes it's too surreal**

i'm now the mom of a son with a permit who is relentless about taking him driving.
i'm now the mom who is having to order the cap, gown, and graduation announcments.
i'm now the mom who regulary talks to her daughter about college.
i'm now the mom relinquishing more & more control of my kids' lives to them.
i'm the mom who loves her kids more than ever.


last saturday the kids and i went to a friends' halloween party. anne came over and did my hair and make-up. she took some pictures for us before we left. she tried to get me to make some 'in character' faces for the camera but i think i just look like a dork.

i like the picture she took of me and my girl.


i thought the girls' costumes were great. now, i will admit that i didn't know who becky was supposed to be. she was 'miss scarlet in the library with a candlestick' from the game Clue. it's obvious that i have never played that game.


a picture of me and my sweet friend anne.



bailey and her friends are headed to a corn maze in salem and cj is going to the west game so guess who gets to play with the lil' trick-or-treaters?? me!! yay!



peace.