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I found these awesome melamine dishes last month and was so excited that I grabbed them immediately!

I’ve since discovered that Orla Kiely made these exclusively for Target, and only a limited amount, so they’re not only incredibly adorably patterned, they are also fairly rare. The best news is, because they are melamine, they will (hopefully) be able to withstand my kids’, er, roughness with their dishes, plus it’ll be cool to ask James to set the table without cringing as he’s carrying the plates from the kitchen cabinets to the dining table.

The bad of these is that melamine is not microwavable. Big bummer for those quick meals, which almost made me turn to Corelle, but I mean… how could I absolutely ignore these great designs!!

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I forgot to mention in my last post that Chris, James, and Logan found an abandoned dog at Littlefield/Shultis park in mid February. It was cold and we knew that it would rain so Chris called the local shelter and after finding they were closed for the day, brought her home until we could figure out what we would do.

She did have a collar on so I immediately thought of the unfortunate family that were most likely at that moment frantically looking for her, hoping she was okay and safe. It had already started raining at that point so as an alternative to making “FOUND DOG” posters and hanging them outside, I logged onto craigslist and posted the “found dog” notice under the “pet” section. Not even an hour after posting, I received a phone call.

The man said he “knew the owner of the dog” and that she was most definitely abandoned at the park. The owner’s house was apparently in foreclosure and she and her family, in having to look for a new place to live, decided it was best that she let the dog run loose at the park in the hopes that someone will eventually pick her up. He told me she didn’t want to take her to the animal shelter because she’ll just end up being euthanized.

So in the end, we decided to just keep her. She was just too sweet a dog to let go and it was sad that her last family ran out of the means to take care of her. And while I feel bad for their current predicament, I still think it would have been nicer to at least have taken the dog to the pound. That way she’d at least have shelter and food for a time, and would still have a slight chance of being adopted out to a good home. My husband said it much better in his blog. Look for it in the paragraph titled, “Economics” (yes my husband sometimes structures his blog posts in sections, lol).

And if you haven’t guessed already from the title of this post, we named her Zoey. Well, Zoey Alleyne Deschanel, but just Zoey for short. We actually went through about a half dozen names, the first one that I blurted out being “Olive Oil” because of her long skinny legs. Chris really liked that but I didn’t want to think of how ridiculous I’d feel having to call out for her in the back yard, saying “Olive Oil, come heeeeere!!”

Oh and I forgot to mention she is a Chihuahua and Miniature Pinscher pix, also known to other owners of this mixbreed as ChiPin or MinChi That means that would also make her a MexiGerman, or a GerMexican, lol. Well, you can see she looks sort of like “Santa’s Little Helper” from The Simpsons here:

He was our try for a girl, but oh did he surprise Chris and me on the day of my ultrasound! Logan is our spunky, dimpled, smiley little boy… James’ little brother and best friend… our mini gymnast, our little daredevil…

But today my baby boy isn’t so much of a baby anymore.. today, Logan turned two years old!

We had a wonderful birthday party yesterday, and with the help of our awesome family and friends, we celebrated our sweet little Logi Bear! And tonight, we’ll be continuing the celebration at Chuck E Cheese

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Happy Birthday, my sweet LogiBear!!

We took James and Logan to their early Christmas present two weekends ago: to ride on the Polar Express Train for a round trip to the North Pole!

The drive to Williams, Arizona was, well, definitely not a short trip. And I must admit, I was a bit worried how the boys were going to be on our first family road trip. But, they did just fine, and we had so much fun showing them the sights and sounds down the 40 and Route 66.

The Polar Express Train Ride was something I’ve been wanting to do since James was two, so I’m really glad that now both brothers were able to enjoy it. We stayed at the Grand Railway Hotel in Williams just for that weekend, and when they tell you it gets really cold in the desert during the wintertime, you better believe it!

Well, regardless of the weather, Williams was still a beautiful sight to see:

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Chris’ parents came along too

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I love this shot of Chris and Logan…

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I really wanted to take this sign home with me

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Family Pictures!

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And in the evening we go for the train ride…

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They had hot chocolate and chocolate chip cookies for everyone…

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Logan couldn’t drink his because it was to hot, so Chris got a bit greedy….

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So the tradition is, all the kids show up dressed in their jammies, just like in the movie. You can see how some of the adults have fun with it too and dressed up for the occasion

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The ride ended with the best part: meeting Santa!!

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Oh but let’s not forget the bell Santa gave to every child who believes!

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Well I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with their loved ones! I sure did… ate too much of course but loved every minute of it! And Christmas is just right around the corner!!

My baby boy has turned a BIG boy age of 6!! We are heading off to Disney today to celebrate and I’ll for sure have some super fun photos to share afterwards

Happy Birthday, James! I love you!!

*edit 9/22/08*
Some photos are up on facebook http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=159648&l=7fbb3&id=600685561

The Canon EOS 5D Mark II full-frame DSLR

Please pardon me while I drool.

Sometimes I’d like to buy one for James. Because time is going by faster than I’d like it to, and my Chubby Jubbers (apparently I’m not allowed to call him that now), is growing up faster than I’d like him to.

But I know it wouldn’t be fair to want him to stay a baby forever. I know long gone are the days when he would willingly let me put a plumeria flower on his head. He has years ahead of memories to make, happy and sad days to share, and I will be proud to be a part of many of them.

One such milestone happened today! His first day in the first grade, in his brand new school! And of course I had to snap some photos in the morning before dropping him off

He wasn’t *too* excited to be posing for me saying, “It’s too early, Mommy!”

Here’s his “ok, that’s enough” face lol

But he let me take just one more…

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…because even though he will inevitably grow up, I’ll always have these photographs of him as my baby Jamers to treasure for as long as God will allow me to.

And even this morning, I think I had more butterflies than he did, as we entered his classroom and said good morning to his teacher. And as I hugged and kissed him goodbye, he said, “It’s ok mommy, I’ll see you later again when you pick me up!”

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(P.S. And for those who are wondering from the blurred out spots in some of the photos, yes we put him in a private school. And I know some of you have voiced your opinions against them, but in all honestly, Chris and I are working our butts off to put him there and we couldn’t be happier. We started checking out schools in our neighborhood when he started in Pre-School. That was two years ago. And if you saw the over crowding, the horrible teacher to student ratio, the drop out rates (going into Jr High!!), and the lack of parent involvement in the public schools in our address range, well…. hopefully you won’t look down on us parents too much about our decision in our son’s education.

It was a priceless feeling that I wasn’t unsure or scared dropping him off at his brand new school as I headed out to work. I felt he was safe and secure and that he will learn in an environment we’re blessed enough to put him in.)

and crazy and carefree is what you get…

take flight;; reveal your selfish wings…

it’s all very suntastical

I hope you all got out and voted today… I know I’m proud to rock my sticker

Happy Birthday to the Loganator… who turns the ripe young age of ONE, today
I seriously am still trying to grasp the reality that a year has already passed by… it seems like I just came home from the hospital carrying this little dude in my arms, and now he’s walking around like a pro.

(I created these announcements and sent them out to everyone)