Coming soon... An updated Blog

We've experienced some changes as a family.

It has been an ongoing goal of mine to update the last (now almost) TWO YEARS of this blog. For a while I figured I would just let it fall to the wayside, having been a great outlet during the few years that I was able to maintain it.

I, Mama B, am on the verge of launching a new business venture. Realizing just how important it is to my psyche, I am now setting aside time to write on a consistent basis. I want to set a good example of record keeping, journaling, sharing and just expression in general for my two littles.

JT has started a blog of his own and while right now it is a chore for him, it is my hope that it can develop his internet and writing skills. Visit him at www.jboo19.com

I'm trying to get a weekend on the calendar to hunker down, order room service, and clack away at my keyboard as I relive the last two years through blog posts.

Looking forward to sharing with you.

We are going in a new direction, towards a future that we didn't expect or plan for; but in the spirit of being the adventurous Booth Ohana that we are, we are rolling with the sometimes painful punches and looking for the light at the end of the tunnel. For more on that, click here.

Oh so Thankful, Thanksgiving 2013

So this year was definitely different. I struggled a little with the lack of tradition.

Wednesday wasn't filled with a crowded kitchen as we chop food and Brina makes pie. BUT, gramma GG was staying with us and she and HeaBug had a wonderful time rolling out my dough and cutting fall themes shapes for pie crust decorations. They even made little cinnamon roll ups with the left overs. 

It didn't work out in the cards for any of my sisters, sisters in law, or nieces to join me for a pre thanksgiving late night movie. But I decided to go anyway. And my sweet friend Cakestina came with and we had a most excellent time getting popcorn wasted (have you HAD the ranch an parmasean garlic popcorn shakers?!) and chatting in the cold parking lot. Catching Fire was awesome!

I didn't make a French toast bake to have post Thanksgiving morning softball game. BUT I did whip up scones and took jam and juice for breakfast at the park.

Our regular field was under construction BUT after a few little detours, we headed to a different park and field.

A lot of our family that normally joins us for the game weren't able to make it. BUT we had super rad friends and their families play and it was at much fun! Gramma GG hit twice and had grandchildren be her designated runners!

I hardly took pictures, made a few new dishes, we ate on paper plates, I had no table and place settings, there were no name cards or flowers, regular immediate family guests weren't present, people (young folk 25 and under) left as soon as possible, we sang no songs, there was no pie herald, we didn't watch White Christmas... 

BUT, we were healthy, safe, comfortable, full, laughing, my Uncle, the patriarch of my Kamae Family was there, Gramma GG, matriarch of the Booth family was there, our bellies and hearts felt full. My older sister and cousin stayed to help get everything cleaned up. 

At the end of the day, just like at the end of everyday, I know that I could fall asleep counting my blessings. Life is good. It's changing, things are different and likely not to stop changing. We can't control what happens BUT we CAN control how we respond.

Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving,

Love us B's

Family Pictures with the amazing Mia Reed

Mia Marisa Photography

Mia has taken our family pictures for 5 years in a row. It is wonderful to see my family grow through her lens. We count our lucky stars that we get to continue this tradition with her.

We take a lot of pictures as a family so when we hunker down for professional pictures, I like to do something more than ordinary. Be it a new and awesome location, a theme with what we wear, or bringing out the fancy threads. This year, we met at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. There's a dress I bought last year to wear to a charity dinner that I didn't end up going to. I hadn't had a chance to wear it and thought it would be fun to theme our pictures around the dress.

I took HeaBug to the salon where she got her first hair trim from our beautiful friend Rose! HeaBug LOVED the VIP treatment.

I got my makeup done by Lucy Starr at the M.A.C. Store in Cerritos. I showed her the dress. I told her she was free to go as dramatic as she liked. I told her where we were doing our pictures. And I sat nice and still. She did a great job, it was definitely dramatic and it kept freaking Mr. B out as we drove up to Santa Barbara. He said it was nice but I didn't look like the regular me (that was the point) and that he likes how I look everyday. Love. That. Man.

We didn't want to have everyone ride up in their nice clothes so we rode up comfy and literally changed in the car in the parking lot. A few elements that I'd originally thought of, I forgot to execute because we were a little frazzled. The light was quickly fading and though it was sunny our whole drive north, the clouds got a little fierce once we passed Sunnylands.

Mia is magic and talent though. This was a super fun shoot.

Love her. Thanks for these.

Happy Birthday Abby and Judith!

My cute little sisters-in-law, Mr. B's younger sisters, turned 11! Crazy how time goes by that fast. My kids love playing with them and they feel like cousins because they are so close in age. The girls get a little kick out of pulling the "I'm your Aunt" card. Hardly works.

For their birthday, we all went to Joe's Crab shack and they each ate GIANT buckets of crab!

Love these two little ladies to the moon. Booth kids rock.

Our addition is done! Expanding the living room.

When we moved into our home, we started a running list of all the things we wanted to do here. We chip away at that list little at a time. One of the big things was that we wanted to do was to push out a wall in our living room/dining room. It just so happened that our friend/contractor became available for our project just weeks before Thanksgiving. So, because we live for occasional spontaneity, we hopped on it. I came home from work/school and found this:

 I have the borderline OCD that I like to refer to as FAUX-CD. I struggle to relax when my house in in disarray. I try to be very organized and I like things to be clean and put away so the layer of dust and dirt that came along with the demo was a little hard to handle for me. Tack on top of that, Mr. B leaving for Chicago for a week in the middle and oh man, I just had to keep my eye on the light at the end of the tunnel!

The flooring in our house is the original 1954 hardwood. Since we pushed out the section of our living room (adding about 60 square feet) we needed to match the wood. Well in 1954, planks were 2" wide. In 2013, planks are 2 1/4" wide. We didn't have the time to wait for a special order so we planed down wood that we'd had at Rock Steady for a job. The guys did an amazing job and you can hardly tell the difference!

We removed 2 floor to ceiling windows and installed an 8ft slider. We also replaced the 8ft wide window by the dining table with one of the same width but it's 2ft higher so we kind of have a whole wall of windows looking out back. It's nice because we don't have neighbors to the back. Our neighbors to the south are blocked by high bamboo and a huge avocado tree and our neighbor to the north is now blocked by the new wall.

It is amazing how just a little bit of space can make such a lot a bit of difference! I'm SO happy with the result!

HeaBug gymnastics Turkey Trot November Meet

HeaBug had the 2nd of three in house meets at her gym. We were very proud of her. She took a pretty hard fall off of the beam and got right back up without crying. She even got the beam award, "Best recovery after a crash". Many of her skills are really improving!