Swagbucks!

I was looking through some old videos and found this.  Lauren and I wrote this song for http://www.swagbucks.com/ 

Hiding places.

Stella is really into secret hiding places and wedging herself into areas and things that she doesn't fit into.  Sometimes I will hear it get very quiet in her play area, when I go to check on her, I will find her between the wall and the bookshelf, surrounded by stuffed animals, reading a book.  It's my favorite thing she does.  We bought her a tent last weekend with a tube on the end and she loves it!  I'm having so much fun seeing the world through Stella's eyes.  The smallest things to me are the biggest to her.  I can't handle how much I love her.

                                                                    Reading in a basket

                                                                 Reflecting in a bucket

                                                                     Relaxing in a tent

                                                                     Hiding in a closet

Stella's weekend in photos!

Catching up!

Don't mind me, I'm just trying to catch up.  Monday was my sister-in-law Angela's Birthday, so on Friday night, we all got sitters and painted the town red :)  We went to Sushi and then to a couple of bars downtown.  It was really fun and one of the first times in a long time that all of us were out together (minus Melissa and Scliminti).  Anyways, here are some pics from the evening.  I love the picture of my mom and dad.

Me, Morgan and my brother Ryan

Me and Ang (the b-day girl)

Mom, Dad, Bro in law Eric and sister Bridget

Orange International Fair

I am a bit behind on posts, but The Slater Sisters played at the Orange International Fair this past Sunday from 4-5pm on the main stage.  The fair was insane! There were so many people there!  We decided to bring Stella, since it was a venue that was age appropriate.  She is teething pretty bad right now, so she screamed all the way there, through most of our set and all the way home.  It was very out of character for her because she is usually in a pretty decent mood.  Poor baby.  I felt like a real rock star though, you know, looking out into the crowd of people to see my girl, red faced and screaming.  Morgan took her for a walk so she wouldn't distract me! We got a great response from the crowd and it was all around an amazing show!

Cousins

Stella just loves her big cousins and I love these 3 together!

The visitor.

I have avoided writing this story for almost 2 weeks now, but I feel ok to talk about it since a little time has passed and I have been to therapy.  We have been dealing with a rat problem!  It started over a month ago when Morgan and I were watching t.v. one night.  I was on the couch and Morgan was on the floor.  He jumped up and yelled "mouse!"  I screamed of course, because the "mouse" ran under the couch where I was sitting.  I jumped from the couch, to the coffee table, straight into the kitchen and sat on the counter.  I called my dad over, in a panic, for back up and stayed on the counter until he got here.  He and Morgan spent 2 hours trying to catch the "mouse" with no avail.  Morgan thought he might have run out the back door.

After that night, we started to notice that our bread was partially eaten and I found a banana nibbled into.  Morgan set a bunch of traps and I tried to block it out of my mind that we had a little mouse in our kitchen eating all of our food!

One night about 2 weeks ago I was out with my mom and sister and Morgan and Stella were in LA at his mom's house.  Morgan came home late and when he walked through the door he saw a huge rat run across our kitchen floor, jump, hit Stella's baby gate, regained his strength and jump over the gate and under the dishwasher.  Morgan pulled the dishwasher out and saw a hole in the dry wall.  He then called me and told me the horrifying news! My body went numb!  I came straight home, packed a bag, grabbed Stella from her crib where she was in a quiet slumber :) and went to my parents house, only to return when ratso was gone.

After 10 days of rat traps, exterminators, my dad smashing Morgan's hand in a rat trap, staying at my parent's house and living out of bags, Morgan and my dad finally caught the rat (I will spare you the picture..gag!) We came home on Monday, disinfected the entire house and bleached all of Stella's toys.

I guess when they remodeled our house they forgot to put the screens back up on the attic entrances. Everything is sealed now, so nothing else will get in!  If another rat does come in, I will run far away never to return.

Oak Glen

I remember going to Oak Glen as a little girl with my family and just loving everything about it.  We would  make our own cider and eat caramel apples.  It was pretty warm up there today, but fall is around the corner (I can feel it!) and I can't wait until the leaves start changing colors and it's a bit cooler!
Stella loved the animals and ran around with some other little girls her age.  I love watching her interact with other kids.  She gets so excited, that it scares them!