Missing our Manners

If you don’t know this (I am SURE you do) I have been smitten with Max Edward since the very moment he came into this world. He was such a great baby, an entertaining and easy toddler and has been a pleasure to watch in his first year of Kindergarten.

Alas, he is entering a phase that I am not familiar with and it breaks my heart. My well mannered, sweet little man seems to be turning into an adolescent, complete with back talk and surliness. OH NO! I traveled Monday through Friday last week and I am quite accustomed to the punishment that Pia serves up after I’ve been gone. She is a nightmare in the first few days after I return, but one that I am prepared for. I am only hoping that Max’s current lack of manners and overall obnoxiousness is because he missed me and he will get over it.

He lost his privilege to play Wii over the weekend and is working towards missing his baseball game this week. This is serious! Please pray for his safe return. I’ll keep you posted . . .

p.s. My sweet boy's manners have returned, sort of. I think he's a little overextended right now, like everyone in our house, and isn't quite sure how to handle himself. A little sleep and a summer vacation should be just what the Dr. ordered.

Dancing with the Stars

How much do you love Dancing with the Stars?!??! I don't vote, but if I did it would be for Jason & Edyta. I can't wait to see who wins!!

Where did the month go?

I could be bummed about not having more time to update our blog if we weren't so busy living this crazy, fantastic life of ours. I am not any sort of religious fanatic, nor do I think everything is puppy dogs and ice cream all the time. I MUST say, however, that Ed and I are living a charmed life. It is hectic, and stressful and all of the things a busy life should be, but we are extraordinarily blessed to have each other, our children and our extended family to keep us grounded and sane. The last month has been a blast . . .

FIRST - we got a golf cart!! That is big news at our house. A golf cart in our neighborhood is THE thing. We can take it on any 25 MPH street which leaves almost nothing off limits. So far, we have been to Max's last four baseball games in it, Pia and I cruised to the beach (FABULOUS!), we've been to weekend breakfast and lunch a few times and we just like to take it out and cruise. When we're done for the day, we plug it in to an outlet in the garage. With gas right at $4 per gallon, we are loving that!

We've celebrated three special family birthdays and enjoyed every minute of that. First, we got to see the whole Montoya gang (and more!!) when we celebrated Stacy's fiance' Eric's birthday with a party at their house. Then Max & Pia's beloved Aunt Stacy gave us a good reason for a family dinner celebration at Mario's, our longtime favorite (Thanks, Stace!!) Finally, our wild nephew, Graham, celebrated his 3rd birthday with us and that was fun for everyone! He was the cutest little redhead you have EVER seen when we sang to him.

And Max & Pia's Nana just left for Tallahassee after a long Mother's Day weekend celebration with us. She got treated to Mother's Day tea at Pia's preschool and got to see our baseball star in action. We had a great time around San Clemente and on an overnight trip to San Diego. We went to a Padres game, had dinner in the Gaslamp District and all enjoyed our time together. Max was not very happy when he woke up for the first time and his Nana was gone. For as little as they are able to be together, it warms my heart that he is so fond of her.

The end of May is bringing some business travel for Ed and me and lots of catching up from all of our recent fun. Such is the nature of the beast, I suppose. All of this good stuff is definitely not free so we keep showing up for work and hoping there's a paycheck at the end of the week!! We're definitely counting down the days until we leave for Hawaii! Those are the times that make the rest of the madness seem worth it somehow. Aloha for now

From the mouths of babes

Max plays all of his baseball games at his elementary school. At his game over the weekend, Pia was playing on the playground with her Grandma.

“Pia, is this going to be your school?”

“No way.”

“Don’t you want to be a big girl and go to Kindergarten like Max?”

“No.”

“Honey, why don’t you want to go here for school?”

“If you go here, you lose your teeth!!”

Have a good week ; )

Primetime Television Debut

OMG - my life is so busy right now, and chock FULL of happy moments I could write on my blog for days. But that would be a little self-serving right? My family is far more interesting, charming and deserving of my shameless praise and promotion. But I did have a great time with my Super Great Girlfriend yesterday that I have to share! We went to a taping of The Bachelor: The Women Tell All. We laughed for hours because the whole situation seemed so unreal.

http://abc.go.com/primetime/bachelor/index?pn=bios#t=bachelor&d=84810

It is VERY hot in California right now and it was over 100 degrees in Glendale yesterday when we drove up. The "call time" was 2 PM and we got to where we were supposed to be a little after 1. We hadn't eaten and went in search of a restroom and something to eat. We laughed and laughed because the neighborhood we were in was a LOT different from San Clemente. I was wearing a sleeveless black undershirt and I could NOT put on my jacket because I didn't want to wilt before my primetime debut. So there we are in a Jack in the Box and we've never felt so squeaky clean and shiny white! We are pure comedy together sometimes and this was no exception. Of course we were standing in a Jack in the Box in Glendale together, me in a tube top and her in this gorgeous silk blouse with freshly highlighted, shiny blond hair. Of course!!

So we parked at a church where there was a single posterboard painted with WTE AUDIENCE PARKING. We were being shuttled to the studio! Who knew? We quickly learned how serious they were about confidentiality when we signed confidentiality agreements acknowledging that the show would suffer immeasurable damages if we leaked information and we could be sued for up to Five Million dollars. Needless to say, I won't be sharing with you who Matt picks ; )

After we took a van to the studio from the barrio, I mean church, we waited in line outside for what seemed like a reeeallllly long time. Remember 100+ degrees outside. There were assistants roaming with clipboards and headsets asking people if they were willing to ask a question. Hello, of course I'm willing. I'd love to!!! So I give them my question and push Amy out of line to ask her question, too. It's our big chance to be on TV, right? We finally file into the studio in small groups and they check our handbags for cameras, cell phones, random contraband and pass us through a metal detector. I've been lucky enough in the last few years to see some major stage productions and understand what it takes to turn nothing into something special. The Producers of The Bachelor clearly understand, also. There were a million candles, flowers, lights and monitors in exactly the right places in this empty studio in the middle of nowhere. There were so many flowers that it actually smelled good in the room. Niiiiice

Amy and I were still having fun just being part of this. We would look at each other and crack up for really no good reason at all. About ten minutes into being in our seats we realized that we weren't part of the group that was going to be able to ask questions. Bummer! We were there to be on TV,and we were missing our chance. Well, not so long after that we realized that we WERE going to be on TV. We were sitting right behind Chris Harrison!!! For someone that thought they wanted to be on TV, I did not respond favorably. I was terrified. We sat in that studio for three or four hours and I hardly moved a muscle. I was so nervous and artificial and mesmerized. I am just dreading seeing the episode air in two weeks to see how silly I look as I sit paralyzed behind Chris Harrison the ENTIRE TIME.

The girls filed in - all of whom are incredibly thin and gorgeous. I mean really, really thin and gorgeous. If you need to put your ego in check, ever, I recommend watching a show where you are critical of other people. Then see them in person and realize that it must be absolutely true that the camera adds 50 pounds and washes you out. And THEN realize that you're going to be on camera!! Humbling is not a good enough word. These girls were beautiful and most of them seemed genuinely happy to see each other. Good for them because the rest of the experience for them seemed like it might not have been so fun.

Much later Matt came out. Holy hot! He is very tall, much more handsome in person than on the show, and incredibly witty. I don't have the personality (or the spray tanned, 95 lb body) to be willing to go through what these women went through should I ever not be married to my terrific husband, but I have to say that I think the isolation and hardships might have been worth it to the girl that snagged him. He truly seemed to be genuine and charming and in love with his brand new fiance. Good for her!

We had a lot of fun, I would definitely do it again (in a different seat) and I can't wait to see the final shows air. We got to watch the episode that will air tomorrow night where they go on their exotic dates on Barbados. It's GOOD! You'll especially like his date with Chelsea! If you watch the episode of the Women Tell All when it airs in two weeks be sure to look for us. I hope we're harder to find than it seemed when we were there. Amy is the beautiful blond and I am the statue to her left! I should keep my day job because I don't see this weekend as my big break into television ; )

All I want for Christmas . . .

The Tooth Fairy is coming to San Clemente tonight!

Max had an unfortunate accident at school yesterday that left him with a badly cracked front tooth. He was a brave little soul and I realize now that he wasn't complaining because he was afraid of having it pulled. We did have to make a trip to his Dentist's office, but after some strawberry-scented nitrous oxide and a huge cup of ice cream, he's as good as new!

The crack went all the way through his tooth to the root and was exposing the nerve. We wouldn't have made it through one more day without a problem. We have a plastic tooth container with the four pieces of his tooth under his pillow tonight. Max has assured me that Santa told the Tooth Fairy how to get to our house. Smart kid!! What exactly does the Tooth Fairy bring these days? I guess we'll find out shortly. I need to be sure the Tooth Fairy has some cash. Oh, Tooth Fairy, where are you . . .

Date Night (Weekend)!!

SANTA BARBARA, CA

Ed and I went away for the weekend and it was NICE! I was invited to a Hilton event in Santa Barbara and we were thrilled with the chance to getaway on our own. Before we left I was pretty sure we hadn't even shared a meal alone since sometime in February! Max & Pia were lucky enough to sleepover with their Grandma and Grandpa and we enjoyed some much needed down time. We had dinner, cocktails, more than a two minute conversation and some gorgeous California sunshine. I even read a book! On Saturday we did a downhill (down a 4,000 ft HILL!) bike ride that AND went swimming, all in the same day! When we got home yesterday I almost felt human again. Of course, a weekend away leaves lots of laundry stacked up and a list of chores that were missed. But that's the beauty of a getaway. At least for a few minutes you can forget it all! I hope you and yours had a nice weekend, too.

Who are these children . . .

Have you ever seen that shirt? I remember what seemed like decades ago seeing that shirt and thinking "what a sad unhappy housewife she must be to wear that".

WELL, that was in the days of me being a happy stay-at-home Mom/ sometimes Event Consultant and thinking that every burp and coo from Max was headline worthy. I am NOT an unhappy housewife and I DO love my children, but Man oh Man do they ever stop talking?

On occasion, like today, Pia gets up before I do and starts her day standing on my side of the bed TALKING.

"Mom, are you sleeping?"

"Mom, can I watch a cartoon?"

"Mom, I want some cereal."

"Mom" . . ."Mom" . . . "Mom"

She proceeds to talk all the way through my shower about the dog, her hair, wearing flip flops to school and who will pick her up this afternoon. It's barely 7 AM. I can generally make it through the morning chatter well enough because there are diversions. Getting dressed, breakfast, teeth brushing, hair styles, vitamins, etc.

THE CAR is an entirely different story. Have you seen the auto commercial where the parent straps the little girl in the seat while she is talking and she is still talking after the Driver's door closes and the car is moving? Welcome to a Montoya vehicle. Now Pia's chatter is compounded by Max's ten million questions about every single thing in the world.

"Mom, is today the second Wednesday in April?"

"Mom, can we call Nana when you pick me up from camp?"

"Mom, what are Olympics?"

"Mom, is Pia going to school first?"

We haven't even gotten on the Freeway for Pete's sakes!

I love them, I am genuinely grateful that they are articulate and are curious about the world, but there are days that I truly wish they would wait until they were with their friends to talk about it all! Point of the story is, you definitely do not have to be a sad, unhappy housewife to want to ignore your children sometimes. You just have to have a set of working ears. Not sure if I'd wear the shirt in public, but I can at least understand the sentiment now. Lucky me ; )