If you read this... It means You love me. Its LOOOOOOONG

Everytime I think about this blog, I get an ache in my stomach. Like the kind when you know you messed up and you can't really take it back and fix it? Because I am just not on top of this blogging thing as I would like to be. I used to be really good at it! I just keep thinking that my kids are someday going to look at this (if I EVER get this thing made into a book like I have wanted to since I started) and they will think..... "Why are there so many gaps in the story?" So "future AUstin and Zoe".... this is me saying I am sorry for being so inconsistent. I will try to be better at this!

Ok so update on US. Travis is still at Wells Fargo... he got some promotion... I will have to ask him what it was called when he gets back from Frys. But I know he is happy about it! He has been busy coaching the kids in their Wham Basketball season that just ended last week. The gray hairs have started to come in, lol. Seriously. OH YA! In my absence from Blogging I have failed to tell you that I have started my own Pure Romance business. Yes. Romance. Get over it. I started a year and 2 months ago. In my first year I sold $32,640 worth of product and made half of that... and my team sales (I recruited 4 that first year) were $38,073.50. THIS year... 2 months in.... my personal sales are at $16,748.50 and my team sales ( I now have 11 girls on my team) are at $28,179.50... so definetly a good jump and headstart to the year! I am way excited. I'm in the running right now to win my first trip that is FULLY paid for by Pure Romance (which funny enough is to the Phoenician in Scottsdale.... but hey I will take it!).... so cross your fingers for me :)

*I can tell that this is going to run on for awhile... so my feeble attempt to keep things interesting is that I will change colors in the text :)

Ok the kids. Isnt this why we are REALLY here? Austin is in 1st grade at Eduprize Charter School. THere arent enough "LOVE's" in the sentence "WE LOVE THIS SCHOOL". There should be about 2,000 "LOVE's". His teacher is Mrs. Polselli. LOVE her. Austin just got his long hair cut like Justin Beiber lol. The kids (and I) have Beiber Fever haha. He just got done with a season of Basketball. At school right now their Cottage is Sweet Shop. Every Friday they get to cook something and he thinks its the coolest thing EVER. And it is. I didnt cook anything in 1st grade... did you? I didnt think so. He is "like, so the most popular guy in school". Every little girl has a crush on him. And maybe 1 boy in his class.... but thats still under review. They were holding hands at their field trip Tuesday at the Zoo. I found it odd. He probably just really looks up to Austin. He is also in the Blue Diamonds group... meaning the group that can do work on their own, read at advanced levels and is pretty much AWESOME. I get to volunteer about once a week and its fun to see him at school. His teacher at parent/teacher conference had NOTHING but good things to say about him. It was cute cuz he had to fill out a self-assesment page and he totally answered things honestly. He is so honest. REally. ALso, she was telling me that he is just the sweetest and kindest boy she has ever had in class. She said every week there is a student in his class that has to go to Speech Therapy and every week without fail Austin will get up and pack this students backpack for him, so that when he gets back everything is ready to go. She has never asked him to do that, he just has always done it for him! I think that is so sweet. PS its not the boy that was holding his hand at the Zoo LOL! Austin has lost like 8 or 9 teeth. I think I cried when his first front tooth came out. He looks like a boy now... not a little boy :( I love this boy. SUmmer is almost here and he will be doing his Second season of Dive Team... way excited. And again, 1 "LOVE" isnt enough. THere should be about 10,000 "LOVE's" in that sentence :)

Now, Zoe. ZOE ZOE ZOE ZOE. Words to describe her would be SASSY, DRAMATIC, GIRLY, DIVA, SPARKLY, BOY CRAZY, SOCIAL PRINCESS, SCARES MOM TO DEATH, ATTITUDE, 5 GOING on 20. Future Zoe... YOU SCARED ME back when you were little. Lets just begin with what Zoe does right now. She is still in Ms. Christina's pre-k and again... LOVE LOVE her. Best preschool teacher EVER. Zoe worships the ground she walks on and I do as well. She loves SHow and Share on Friday's. Zoe still doesn't say her "R"'s. Secretly, I LOVE that... and openly I say she should probably figure it out soon because she is going in to Kindergarten this July at Eduprize! But really, she has the cutest voice ever. I love her squishy cheeks. This girl by the way HATES to clean and will flop all over the floor screaming why she cant clean her room for hours. Her room is ALWAYS a mess. I am at a loss on how to get her to see that cleaning her room is really a good thing. Nothing fazes this little girl which is why she scares me. Well ONE reason why. I can ground her. I can throw all her toys away. I can take her room away from her. I can say no friends. None of it works. Know how I know? Cuz we have tried all of these. I keep saying that I need to make a reward chart for doing chores, and its kinda like the blogging.. I keep saying that I will do it and I dont. Maybe I wll do it tonight since I am blogging too? Anyway, she has been begging me for skinny jeans for awhile and this week... we bought her some. She has worn them all week so far lol. She has this Barbie makeup kit that we got her for christmas and she applies her makeup everyday. She calls "High Heels", "Hot Heels" and I dont correct her because it is so cute. She loves to wear her "Hot Heels" and bring a purse and wear her fake jewelry when we go out to the store. At school last year she won the "Social Princess" award because that is what she is. Just the other day she said, and I quote, "I am SEXY, I am BEAUTIFUL, and I am the MOST POPULAR girl in school." (Zoe, you are 5... do you see why you scare me?) She currently has 2 boyfriends that I know of... Brannon from school, and Justin Beiber she says is her "second husband". Zoe is an animal LOVER. She came in the house balling hysterically the other day from playing outside with her friends because she missed Tinky :( Tinky was our little puppy that Santa brought us that died about 4 months in. It was extremely traumatic and the kids still havent gotten over it. She begs us all the time to get another dog. We told her we cant until we own our house (we are renting) and they just dont understand why we cant buy it. They think that pooling their money from their piggy banks together with my Pure Romance money will be enough to pay for a house.... so cute I know. Anyway, right now her favorite book is "Barbie: A Pet Vet" and thats what she says she wants to be when she grows up. She also recently finished a season of Basketball with Travis as the coach, and jumped like a cheerleader everytime she made a basket... which was quite often :) We have recently been talking about birthmarks because Austin found his on his leg. Zoe asked me where mine and Travis's was and then she asked where hers was... I honestly have no idea if she has one so I told her that its probably her "crazy toe"... her crazy toe has been an ongoing inside joke between our little family since she was born... and Future Zoe... I hope you arent self concious of those 2 crazy toes because we LOVE them. They help make YOU... YOU. They are so fitting on you. But anyway, Zoe scares me because she is ME when I was a teenager. She is 5. Thats scary. The other day at AUstins field trip we stopped at a park with all the students and the group she was hanging out with decided to sit on the wall and "talk" and "watch everyone else play". It just reminded me of High School, kids loitering and "chilling". Shouldnt the monkey bars be the cool place to hang out when you're 5? Zoe can cry on a DIME. She is that dramatic. She is just like me in almost EVERY WAY lol. I love her guts. LOVE LOVE LOVE. I hope that as she grows older and becomes an ACTUAL teenager, that we can have a close mother/daughter relationship/friendship. I would be devastated if I lost that. I am worried that her little " I am old enough to do whatever I want" attitude will get her into trouble. I love her so much, that it scares me to think of the future... I just want it to stay like it is. She is so special and there are not enough hugs and kisses for this little girl.

I would say that is pretty good for now, ya? Here's hoping that I will be back soon ;)