My Foot In My Mouth: November 2015

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Psychic monkey healing, and other things I forgot to blog about

I don't think there's any saving my blog at this point.

Remember when I used to write funny stories and rants? Remember when I was witty? Yea. Those were good times. I knew when I went back to work last year that this blog would be low on the totem pole of priorities and some of my creative juices would run dry, and sadly I was right. So even pulling up this page is a bit depressing for me. By now my "followers" are bored of me and my sporadic posting. The only reason for even sharing anymore is to make sure I have something to print at the end of the year. The family blog books will be fought over one day (because I'm too cheap to print out more than one a year), so I gotta deliver despite being in this weird private place of not wanting to share much.

So to sum up our lives since August, here's what's gone on in a nut shell.

AUGUST

In August, they went back to school. We were all bummed.

Taylor's first day of 4th grade and Corinne's first day in 1st.

Then, we went to Universal Studios for Gas Co.

employee day.

"It's so fluffy I'm gonna die!"

Taylor met her hero.

SEPTEMBER

Then, soccer started and life got busy with three practices and two games every week on top of 2 hours of gymnastics, softball and photo shoots. But it was fun. Not the part where we had to wake up at 6:30 every Saturday, but the rest of it was actually enjoyable. Corinne was her aggressive, speedy self on the Pink Pixies, and Taylor was an awesome defender for The Minions. I turned into the crazy screaming mother on the sidelines that I swore I would never be. The season is over for Corinne, but Taylor has a few more weeks left.

And I've been taking a million pictures. This is the busiest I've ever been with photography. I even shot my second magazine spread for Doterra magazine. Kinda cool. I can see my photos getting better, and I love that. There's so much to learn, though. I can't imagine I'll ever get to a place where I feel like I've mastered this wonderful, expensive, and difficult hobby.

One day I bought Corinne a hat, and she loved it as much as I hoped she would and insisted she model it for me. I know this doesn't sound like a significant life event, but look at her! So cute i can't stand it.

In September, Aubree Nicole Szabo was born. I'm not ganna lie. I like telling people her full name, because I get a little teary when I get to the Nicole part. I was even in the room when she came into the world. It's something I'll never forget. I have two kids, obviously, so you wouldn't think I'd be so shocked at the whole pushing part of the process. But I had C-sections and never quite made it that far in my own labors. So when she started to really make her way out, I was struck with these conflicting feelings of wanting so badly to meet her, but also strangely upset that this little alien was causing my sister so much physical pain. It was bizarre. And my sister is so tough. SO much tougher than I am. I was in total awe of what a bad ass she was and how focused she became when it was "go time". I almost forgot I was supposed to be documenting it with my camera. I really only got a few good shots in between being paranoid, worried, elated, and awe struck.

The perks of having an aunt as a photographer.

Corinne was smitten with Aubree. She immediately wanted to babysit, and she wrote this to-do list. Wacking up the baby is always very important.

OCTOBER

And before we knew it, it was Fall Break. Which was a random week the kids had off when I still had to work. So feeling guilty for missing out on the whole week together, I took advantage of my measly two days off and did something with the kids on a whim.

It went like this.

I found out there was an animal sanctuary close by where animals are basically trained for movies and rented out for parties and events. "Sanctuary" might be stretching the truth a bit. When we pulled up, it was more like a house with some cages and open space that housed a variety of sad looking animals. I'm fairly sure the animals hated living there and would probably rather be in the wild, but like I do with most of the world's injustices, I turned the other cheek and pretended everything was as it should be. Because I was there to fulfill a dream and play with monkeys!

I didn't tell the kids where we were going, only that it was something EXCITING! Something they've NEVER done before, and would probably never do again! When we pulled up the dirt driveway, they were convinced we were going horse back riding and seemed really excited. "If they're excited about horse back riding, they're going to LOVE playing with monkeys," I thought. When we sat down and I explained to them that we'd be spending an hour with two monkeys, they were slightly put off. I'd go as far to say they were even a little disappointed. Maybe even scared. I was annoyed, as I so often am in these types of situations that you build up only to be disappointed. They should have been elated. I was doing this for ME THEM!

But after the adorable monkeys came out and we actually got to play with them and hold them, the kids perked up. It was a dream come true. I've always had a fondness for these funny creatures, and I was in monkey heaven. I'm fairly sure the monkeys picked up on my vibe and gave me the most attention, because they intuitively knew that I was the most emotionally invested member of the group.

When the kids went back to school and they had to write about what they did on their Fall break, Taylor wrote about going to Chuck E. Cheese. Corinne wrote about going to Magic Mountain with Wes. Their once in a lifetime interaction with monkeys was a small footnote in their essays. Regardless, I will never forget my monkey friends and the psychic, healing love they sent my way that day.

20151004_101902.mp4 from Nikki Pollard on Vimeo.

She's so disappointed it's JUST a monkey.

October was also when I took my annual trip to Palm Springs with my Simi Valley ladies. It didn't disappoint. Between playing Cards Against Humanity and Stephanie singing a hilarious version of LaBamba in a karaoke bar, it was the most fun I've had in a long time. I needed it. I needed to laugh so hard that I cried. It was exactly what the dr. ordered, as it always is.

Taylor turned 9 in October, too. Nine. Nine years old. Nine! It felt like a really big birthday to me. She's that much closer to turning 10, which is a double digit, which is a HUGE deal.

We celebrated the heck out of her birthday, like we always do. She deserves it. She's truly a sweet and special soul. She has the kindest heart of maybe anyone I've ever met. It was so nice seeing her spoiled by all of her friends at her movie party, and to see her face light up at Medieval Times.

15 kids at the movie theater. I'm not afraid of that!

Before we knew it, it was Halloween. Our absolute favorite holiday of the year. The girls picked out their costumes way back in Sept., and were adorable as usual.

Right when we thought October couldn't get any better, Taylor and Corinne both won first place in their respective categories for the Reflections contest at school. Taylor took first place in her division for photography, and Corinne took first for both literature and art. They were psyched!

November

And here we are in November. It will be Christmas before you know it. I don't know how I feel about the time flying by so fast. Friendsgiving was wonderful. I truly have a wonderful tribe of women around me.