Random thoughts

I don't how many of you have just the most random thoughts and then you think, "How did my mind get on that track?" I do this all the time. As I was HAPPILY (note sarcasm) walking into work today, my mind began to wander. Here are just a few of the thoughts I had:

1. I am so cold. Why did I wear flip-flops to work today? Wait, why am I complaining? People are fighting blizzards right now and I can wear flip flops in January. It is great to live in California.!

2. How do I get my kid to stop crying when he cries for NO reason? (Everyone reading this, can you please help me with this? The other day, we put him in his room after he cried for 10 straight minutes for no reason and that still didn't help. I don't want to give into him but it gets so hard when all they do is SCREAM!?

3. I can't believe Heath Ledger died. I swear if he would have met me, we would have been really great friends. (does anyone else think like this?)

4. I know Genise reads my blog so I am going to change my settings so she can leave comments!

5. I am sure some of my friends are having some play/lunch date with other moms and I am stuck at work with 160 hormonal teenagers. How is this fair? (Kasey, you know what I am talking about!)

6. I don't know how parents with a lot of kids are not in a mental institution. They deserve some kind of award. I don't know how single parents do it. I don't know how I would stay sane if I didn't have Sal.

So those are just some of the things that went through my mind today as I was walking into work?

What random things did you think about today?

Congratulations to me!

I have officially become the mother of a child who has hit the terrible two's (and he doesn't even turn two until next month!). The hitting, the kicking, the screaming and the temper tantrums have begun. I guess I can now sympathize with all those moms who have children going through the same thing! Can some please help with taming him now?? Just tonight, he yelled at the waitress for taking away our dirty plates? Are you serious? Then when I told him to calm down, he screamed at me? How do our little angels turn into the spawns of satan?

This face appears so innocent and cute yet if he doesn't get his way, WATCH OUT!!!!!

Looking for a house cleaner...

This one works for cheap!!!

Meet Salvador! He is really good at sweeping the floor and picking up trash. Most of the time it gets in the trash. You might find it hidden later but at least he moved it from its original place. He'll pick up the toys in your house and might even grace you will some entertainment. He can sing you his rendition of "Itsy Bitsy Spider," "The Barney song" or "Popcorn Popping," hand motions come with every performance. He is really good at giving kisses and is more than willing to give you a hug. You can get all of this for the low price of a handful of chesse-its (goldfish will work too) and a sucker (but not the ones with gum in the middle). If you would like to hire him, go ahead and give his mom a call and we will see what we can do!

Is this considered child labor???

Pippety Snipes!

You are probably wondering what the title of my blog actually means. Pippety snipes is a term that Sal came up with in describing certain types of people. It isn't necessarily meant to be mean but you can take it as you want. To us, it means someone who is either one, some or all of the following: a rich person that flaunts their richness, a rich snobby person who looks at you like you should be happy to be in their presence or just a plain, old snobby person! I know that sometimes I can be snobby so I do fall under the category of being pippety snipes sometimes. The reason I bring this up is because Sal and I had the wonderful time of staying at the Bellagio over our Christmas break and we definitely enjoyed all the Bellagio has to offer, including all of the pippety snipes people! I have wanted to stay at the Bellagio for over 10 years and I finally got the opportunity! It was extremely relaxing, very nice and very expensive. I won't be able to afford to ever stay there again, so I enjoyed all I could. Thanks to my mom and sister who watched the boy! We flew to Vegas and it was wonderful because it only took 45 minutes! WONDERFUL! When we walked into the room, the first thing I did was look at our view. I wanted a view of the strip but this was just as nice.

This is the view at night! In the daytime, you could see the mountains! I loved the drapes in our room, because they were automatic. All I did was push a button and they opened up. I find joy in the smallest things. We also noticed that it didn't have one of those cheesy wall air conditioners but it had central air. I don't even have this in my own home! It was decorated really nice and very classy. Then I went into the bathroom. Let's just say when I walked in and turned on the lights, I heard angels singing! It was the most beautiful bathroom EVER! I live in a house that has the smallest bathroom, with a tile shower that has been there from probably 1980. That is why I was in awe of the bathroom!

These pictures don't do it justice! It had a jacuzzi bathtub, an all marble shower with a bench in it, the toliet was in its own room and dual sinks! Ever thing was in marble and even the little extras they leave your (soaps, shampoo, etc...) were super nice!

This is a partial view of the room from the entry way of the room. Just so you know, don't use bubbles in a jacuzzi bathtub. Sal wanted bubbles so we used some shower gel to create bubbles. As you can see, there were a ton of bubbles and that wasn't even half of it. They were oozing over the side of the tub, so we had to but some in the shower. It was hysterical. Before the tub incident, we went down to the buffet and had dinner. I know some of you HATE buffets and think they are cheezy but this one is the best one in Vegas. If you ever go, you have to go try it. After that, we just hung out and watched a movie. The next day, we woke up at 11:00, got ready and ate at the crepery (sorry about the spelling). Some excellent crepes! Then we window shopped at the stores that are way too expensive. Just for fun we went into the Gucci store and I found a purse that was 30% off and it was still 700 dollars! I cannot justify a $700 purse. Then we went back to the room to get ready for our big anniversary night (our anniversary isn't until April but we counted this as our trip because April is too busy with school and work.) We went to dinner at this pippety snipes restaurant called Circo. It was beautifully decorated, had an excellent view of the water show and good food. It was the type of restaurant where the waiter pulls out your chair and puts the napkin on your lap for you! And after every part of your meal, they come and clean the table. I swear someone was in the corner watching us eat because as soon as we finished, they were there cleaning! It was fun to enjoy a fancy, schmancy dinner once in my life.

Notice on the dessert (by the way, which was phenemonal!!) they wrote "Happy Anniversary" in chocolate! Very cool. The last picture is the view of the water show from our table! After dinner, we went back to the room to change to go see Cirque du Soliel's "O"! Talk about the best show I have ever seen. I couldn't take my camera in so I have no pictures but it was so amazing! Half of the show is done on water and they dive into these pools from the rafters of the building and they do the most amazing acrobatics I have ever seen! I was clenching my butt and curling my toes, in hopes they wouldn't fall. Everyone needs to go see it once in their life. We had really good seats. We were in the fifth row from the bottom! It was the best vacation! Short but very fun! The next day, we packed up and left! I wish we could have stayed longer but our bank account wouldn't allow it! I am glad to be back with my son and hope to have another vacation (probably not like this again for a long time) soon!
We tried to take a picture of us before we left for the show!

A crazy and busy 2 weeks!!!

I have so much to blog about because I haven't posted in 2 weeks, so this one is going to be a long one. I have been enjoying my time off from work and more importantly the time Sal has off from school. He finished school on the 22nd and that day we headed down to San Diego for the night, just the two of us. We go put up in this time share in Escondido and it was really nice. It was bigger than my house! I just don't know who would want to buy a timeshare in Escondido. We drove into downtown Escondido and it was fun but really there is nothing and Escondido is about 40 minutes away from San Diego. It was nice for a night, though, because Sal and I haven't been able to really have alone time because of our busy schedules. It was really nice! We went to this really yummy (and healthy) restaurant. Please excuse the double chin!!! After this nice relaxing night, we came home to the craziness of Christmas! Sal's brother, Daniel and his wife, Liz came in and stayed with us. They live in Colorado and only come once a year so Sal and Daniel have been attached at the hip for the last 2 weeks. They are so close and for them to be so far away is really hard for both of them to be far apart. So it has been cramped in our house but it has been fun! Then the Sunday before Christmas, we had Christmas with my side of the family. We went over to my brother's house and had a lot of fun. Of course, I didn't get any pictures of my parents but I did of everyone else. These are all the kids on my side of the family. It took almost five years for our family to add one child to the mix and now after 7 years, we have added five kids, with one on the way! And I am sure there are more to come!
Just so you know, my sister isn't fat, she is pregnant with her fourth child!

This is Sal with his gay lover! Oh wait, that is just Shane, my sister's husband!I die over this little one! Kate is so fun and such a firecracker! She is the most hyper and funny child I have ever met! She is hysterical! This is Julie's youngest, at least until Mallory comes in March!These are my sisters. Julie (brown hair) is my actual sister and Genise (blonde) is my brother's wife! After Christmas with my family, we spent Christmas Eve with Sal's family. They have certain traditions. All the girls have to wear red to dinner, we usually don't eat until 7:00 or 8:00 and we open Christmas gifts at midnight. However, because there are so many little kids and SO many presents, we usually open them around 10:00 and finish around midnight. However, this year, we waited until midnight and it took two an half hours to open them all. Sal has a big family and some of them weren't even there. He has 1 brother and 4 sisters and one sister wasn't there. Then his brother and sister each have spouses and include me, that is a lot of adults. Then total nephew and niece count is 13, only nine were there. It is crazy and everyone has at least one gift!

A picture of all the presents around the Christmas tree! After we got home that night, Sal and I opened gifts from each other. It is tradition. The baby was up until 2:00 at my in-laws and fell asleep in the car on the way home, so he opened his gifts in the morning. I got a coach purse, the Michael Buble and Norah Jones cd, and some clothes. I think I scored. In the morning, the baby opened his gifts (an elmo chair, some coloring books, and bath toys) but his favorite thing was his dum dum suckers that were in his stocking! Why did I buy him gifts? I should have just given him suckers! He would have been fine with that!

Him in the Elmo chair, watching Shrek!A gift he got from Grandma and Pada (grandpa) Gerken. He loves it!

So now onto last night! For New Year's Eve, we went over to Sal's aunts house with his family and some of the aunts and uncles and cousins. His dad is from a family of 10 and only about 4 of the siblings and there spouses were there. I think one time we counted up Sal's first cousins and he has roughly 36 first cousins and some of them have kids. Not all of them were there, only about 40 people in total! But that is still a pretty big family party! We each had to bring something from our house that we didn't want anymore for a gift exchange. I ended up with a towel, that serves as a tortilla warmer and Sal ended up with the best gift of the night, a pair of brand new women's slippers, which ended up going to me! They are so comfortable! There was amazing food and lots of fun! My son didn't go to bed until we left at 12:30! I guess my child is going to be a night owl! He was fighting sleep though. But with the DJ and the loud music, he couldn't sleep! Oh well, like Sal said, it is only one night! No party would be complete without a pinata!!!

or Karaoke!!

Overall, it has been a fabulous week an half. Crazy, but fun! On Thursday, Sal and I leave for our mini vacation to Vegas! We are staying in the Bellagio for the first (and probably last time)! We are going to see "O"! I am so excited I can't wait! I hope everyone had a fabulous holiday and got to spend lots of time with family and friends!