October 2014, Month in Pics

Haven't posted a damn thing on this blog, but not because I've been sitting on my a$$!

So many things happened this month.

Our vacation to Punta Cana.... of course I took A LOT of pics.

Pumpkin Patching and Vampire Children....

 

Pumpkin Carving and Halloween.  This was the year of the SPIDER!

And oh yes, how could I forget, my other babies; my nails, which finally grew too long for me.  




And Tater spent the month building fat reserves for the winter, building Legos and custom kitchen cabinets, and celebrating the Giants World Series win!  Go Giants!

Good bye October!

-Shirley (Mama-Ruff)

Sept 2014, Month in Pics

September is always a special month for me because it's my birthday month!  Now, it's become even more special because it has officially become my family's "crazy birthday" month, where me, my husband, my cousin, and now my little niece's birthdays are all celebrated.  So there was a lot of birthday time this month!



 To prep for their cousin's very first birthday, I put the Ruffians to work.  It paid off with a fabulous, new growth chart!  And speckled, gray wood stain on my deck, but what can you do?!!!!




And apparently I was very hungry this month (even though I should have been stuffed with all those cakes!)

And the nutrients from all that cake food helped me grow out my nails, which in my opinion is the best birthday gift ever!



And then there were our day-to-day shenanigans, if you will:




And I guess although I love September so much, some of us feel that October 31st can't come any sooner!

And that was September 2014 in an Instagram nutshell!

Shirley (Mama-Ruff)

Where I'm At (An update and Instagram pics)

These past few months, you've been able to find me on Instagram (@simplyshirley08), but not on this blog.  Although we've been having a good time, living life as shown through the pics below, I still didn't post here very often.  All it took was one big loss (Qori), for me to go on somewhat of a hiatus on this blog. I didn't want my written thoughts to wander too deeply into a depression.

I've been meaning to get back to blogging and find inspiration in other things, but so far all I have are half-written posts that never made it out there. 

Where am I at in my head and heart now?  Well - deep down inside I'm starting to feel truly better about Qori's passing, but many times still I miss him dearly.  I think I'm almost at a place in my heart where I can truly start to write genuine posts again without being a Debbie-downer.

So I'm starting with some baby-steps in an Instagram compilation post that I've let stack up for the past three months.  Here's what we've been up to in April, May & June via Instagram pics:

I hope you are all doing better than I have been lately! -Shirley (Mama-Ruff)

March 2014 - Month in Pics

I'm exhausted from March.  It started with a horrible time change!  (Daylight savings kills me as a working mom!  And it kills my sleeping logs in the morning too).






And the activities in between the rain:  parks, the zoo, hiking, searching for 4-leaf clovers on St. Paddy's Day, and restaurants where Tater tried oyster!



And of course, the Ruffians lived up to their names this month.  As in every past month.....



And Qori's health is doing well and he's with us all the time (rain or shine).



I couldn't hold my hubby at bay anymore, and we bought a Wii console for the kids.



And in between the madness, Hubs and I managed to spend some quality time together!



And I found out that I'm not the only Mama at my house after all!  Meet "Melinda" and her ruffians eggs!  How much you wanna bet those 2 eggs will be two hyper-active boys?

Welcome to the club...... Melinda.

I'll pray for you......

How was your March?

-Shirley (mama-ruff)
Instagram: Justshirley08

February 2014 - Month in Pics

Each day that has passed, I intended to post, but as usual I got caught up matters of life and paying the bills - until lo' and behold: the month is over and all I can do is an end-of-month, Pic-post.  So here goes:

My February started off slow enough, and San Francisco got some much needed rain.  We took Diego to see the thing that matters most in this world, animatronic dinosaurs!

Valentine's Day was remarkably pleasant, but it spurred what I have referred to as "Puke-fest" by the end of the day.  Diego got Mateo sick, then Mateo got me sick, and the viscious domino effect continued.  I basically bathed in puke for days.  The very next week after Puke fest, we traded in the old, still puke-soiled BMW (aka. Seniorita BMW) for a new (pre-owned) 4-Runner (aka. Senior 4-Runner) and were off to Lake Tahoe to break Senior in with a road trip!  Hubs referred to the BMW as "Seniorita" because she was high maintenance and not aging gracefully!

Just before we went on our road trip, Diego got a cold and then got Mateo sick, and then got my husband sick and the viscous domino effect continued!  Despite the spreading virus, and lack of good snow (I guess the rain was not good enough!), we made the most of our trip to Lake Tahoe.

And to give you an update, this week Diego is battling major and painful constipation.  I seriously hope that Diego stops starting trends as of NOW!  No wonder I haven't posted in a few weeks.  We're one big, infested family!!!!!  Thank goodness computer screens aren't contagious!

January - Month in Pics

I've worked on and published two years worth of my blogs recently using Blurb.  Looking back, I really liked these monthly recaps of pictures, so I think I'll keep it going.....

January 2014 caught the tail end of my inlaws' visit to the US. It was also an eventful month for Diego, as he learned to push himself on a swing, BY HIMSELF!, he learned how to write a "0", and he celebrated his 4th birthday!

It was also an unfortunately eventful month for Qori as he was diagnosed with a terminal nasal sarcoma.  I'm still adjusting to this news, but trying to stay brave.  Qori is now on meds, and I'm trying my best to ensure that he is comfortable and having fun as long as he is still with us.

Other than that, I've been on a health kick trying to eat more healthy and be more active, and trying to keep up my nail hobby.  I've been trying to add variety to my cooking and some things I tried to cook this month were Roasted Tomato Soup, cooking more seafood like Halibut and Jumbo Prawns, and getting creative with one of my favorite Peruvian appetizers, Causa (pictured below).

I bought a Fitbit pedometer and reached a 10,000 daily steps goal by taking Qori for a full morning hike and then walking half the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge at night.  I'm supposed to do this DAILY?!  Wowza!

How was your January?

-Shirley (Mama-Ruff) [instagram: justshirley08]

June 2013 Recap: Instagram and 1 Second EveryDay Video Style

Wow!  I thought I'd neglected this blog for a couple weeks, but man!  It's almost been a month!  I guess all my free time (what free time?) is being taken up planning for my sister's baby shower (I bought a Cricut machine and it's been a highlight of my month.  Man!  I'm such a crafting loser!).   I've also been fighting a war on ants in my house (they're cray-cray!)

So June was filled with lots of weekend outings from a trip to Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, to a benefit concert at AT&T Park, to visiting Lemos Farm, and ending with a trip to Lake Tahoe.  But to get the real scoop on what my Ruffians have been up to, watch the video below, won't you?  It's an iPhone app my sister turned me onto. 1 Second Every Day.  And I thought it was perfect to start adding to these month-end recap posts!

The beauty and simplicity of it is why a video obsessed girl like me loves it and hates it.  I found my self instead searching for "5 seconds everyday", or at least "3 seconds everyday", because 1 second everyday just isn't enough.  No cigar.  It just wouldn't be the same.

If you make anything with the app, please share with me.  I love to see what other people create!

-Shirley

April 2013 Recap: Instagram Style

 

The month of April started off with left over Easter eggs & exciting Auntie news for me (to be blogged about later), and then it ended with a new ride: Ruffian style (and I'm not talking about the boat or the horse!)

How was your April?

-Shirley (Mama Ruff)