Lulu off track

Since going off track Lulu has become quite attached and needy. I feel bad for when I have to leave her again for the whole day. She is also adopting some old behaviors this month, such as going to the bathroom in the house. I don't know what is going on. Here she is searching for some trouble to get into

Lulu loves to lay on my side so I can rub her tummy. She is just a bit spoiled. BTW, who knew my nose would look so enormous from this angle.

Most of my friends have young children and I am lucky enough to be a part of their lives in one way or another. I absolutely love spending time with all of these kids and think all my friends are great mothers.

This first picture is of Rubie Navarro. She is the daughter of a good friend of mine Julie, whom I was lucky enough to meet in my first year of teaching. We no longer teach at the same school, but I am fortunate that I still keep in touch with her. Rubie has designated me as "the green one". The things that come out of her mouth crack me up.


This is a picture of Gabriella (Ella) Leyva. She is the daughter of Lisa Muller who I credit in getting me my job in Corona Norco. When Lisa went on maternity leave with Ella, I was the one who took over in her classroom. This led to me getting hired the very next school year. I spend alot of time with Lisa and Ella and I feel like one of the family because we are now neighbors. I sometimes find myself bragging about Ella like she was my niece or some other family member.

This one is my actual niece Madison (Maddie). This girl is the life of any party. She will soon follow in her sisters shoes. Maddie loves dancing for Kane Dance Academy also. When she is ten, I fully expect that she will have her own solo for competition.

This is Irelyn Potter. Irelyn has a twin named Miley but unfortunately I was not able to get a pic of Miley on this day. Some might think I am biased towards Irelyn and that is why I do not have Miley's picture, but not true. I do really love them both the same. They are so much fun and I am so fortunate in that I have been able to watch them grow and develop over the year. Just a year ago, they were born prematurely and we all know how scary that can be. Now, they are perfectly healthy and gorgeous as ever.

Just Dance

For those of you who do not already know, my niece Katie is born to dance. She has been a dance member of Kane dance Academy since she was 2 years old. Over the years I have watched her really become a serious dancer. She is a part of the competition team and absolutely loves to dance. Well, just this year the owner of Kane told my sister that Katie was ready for her own solo competition routine. This is almost unheard of for a ten year old. I know I am biased, but she really is an amazing dancer. Today was her big debut. She danced her first solo for competition and she killed it. She had me in tears she was so good. I cannot say enough about her dancing and I foresee a huge future in the dancing field. Oh, I guess I should also mention that she is a straight A student. I am so proud of her and love to be around her because on top of all this, she also has a fun and wonderful personality. I was not able to take a picture of her dancing, but I did manage to steal her for a minute outside. Notice by this time, one of her false eyelashes had ditched her. I forgot, she got a gold medal for her performance, not too shabby for a first time solo performer.

So, Last saturday my Dad's side of the family celebrated Christmas. Yes, a little late, but it was the first time we could all get together. Madison was the highlight of the party and entertained us with her great dancing.

Here she is looking as gorgeous as ever. Everyone always asks me if she has lipstick on, but the answer is no, she is just graced with those beautiful lips.

Here she is bagin her head to "Bohemian Rhapsody" We all know the part, the one Wayne and Garth made famous.

You've Lost that Lovin Feeling.

On the track with "The Year of Carrie" I spent last Sat night out with friends. We went to a new dueling piano bar in Corona called "At My Place". A bunch of us gathered to celebrate Lisa's upcoming bday. Well, if you donate money with a request, the piano players will gladly pull up your bday guest of honor and make their day extra special. In doing so, the piano players were positive that Louise and Lisa were twins. They had them both come up and then asked for about 10 men from the audience to come up and sing to the two ladies. A gaggle of men proceeded to sing "You've lost that lovin feeling" while they sat atop the pianos. I think the girls had a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I was not able to get all of Lisa in the photo, but you get the gist.

My sister and her husband Chris even came out to partake in the fun.

The "twins"

Lisa and me!

The Year of Carrie

Last night was a ton of fun. I decided that I was not going to do my typical- watch movies and sleep- to ring in the new year. No, this is is a whole new year with many things to look forward to. I am titling it, "The Year of Carrie" This is gonna be my year. Just watch. I partied it up last night and I feel like change is in the air. Lulu is in a wonderful mood today, just proving further that this is going to be a great year. Oh, it also doesn't hurt that the Trojans ripped Penn State to shreds. Already things are going great.

Here is Lulu showing what fun she is willing to have today. If you cannot tell, she is jumping in the air trying to catch the flash.

Ellen, from TV

I don't know why I failed to mention this in my last post. The best part of Christmas this year was Madison receiving a butt load of toys. When you ask her who brought all the toys to her, she replies, "Ellen", ask her who Ellen is and she replies "Ellen, from TV" The story is, my sister went to a taping of the Ellen Show. It was the day before Ellen's Twelve days of Christmas and I guess Ellen felt sorry for the audience because they were missing out on the loot. So, she gave every audience member 500 dollars worth of Christmas toys from Vtech. All of the toys were appropriate for Madison's age group, so she was the lucky recipient. She knows who to give props to, in her mind Santa is now Ellen from TV. Katie, I hope I used apostrophes correctly! By the way, the woman with Maddie in the picture is my oldest sister Cheryl.