Wrestling

Pin It Now! Have you wrestled with you kid(s) today? I highly recommend it.

Elijah is "The Dominator Traumanator Basketball Dominator" (Guess who made that up?)

I am "The Mominator"

Photos by Lydia

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Stylin' Saturday #18

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Don't just wear the wife beater. Use a marker to do it up right- "So it looks more like a Michael Jordan jersey." Pin It Now!

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Wish the Tooth Fairy did Dental Work

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Check the state of affairs in Elijah's mouth. Had two teeth pulled and lost two others. Check out this lonestar bad boy tooth that is taking up the spot of the missing four. Where will the other three fit? Or rather, who will pay for them to fit? Pin It Now!

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Hollywood Days - My Friends

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This is Part 21 of my story!

If you've followed my story you know that I moved down to Hollywood to be on "The New Lassie" when I was 14 years old. When I first moved to Studio City to begin filming the show, I didn't know anyone. I jumped right into filming everyday where I was surrounded by adults. With the exception of the kid who played my brother, Will. He was 10 years old at the time. On weekends I would fly back home or family/friends would fly down and see me. After a few months, I began to attend some different charity and publicity events where I was able to meet some kids my age. That is where I met one of my good friends Christina Nigra. (The actress from "Out of this World" who I featured in the Part 19 post). We didn't hang out a ton outside of these events, but it seems we were always going to the same ones. Another one of my good friends during this era was Carol-Ann Plante. She starred on the television series "Harry and the Hendersons," which also filmed at Universal Studios. Al Burton was also the executive producer of her show and we shared a lot of other crew people in common. We buddied around at Universal as well as at various events.

This post is dedicated to Christina and Carol-Ann.


We were... fashion forward, trend setting, stylin' fools. Okay, maybe we were just fools. But we had fun together. We didn't go to bars or fancy restaurants. We didn't get drunk together, didn't smoke and didn't show up late for work. Imagine that.

On the left is my friend since 4th grade, Sara. She came and visited me a lot and went to various events with me. Then Carol-Ann. Then Lindsay Price, who was another one of my good friends during that time. Rounding out the Mom jeans picture is Christina. I cannot remember what this charity event was for, but I think it was in the San Clemente area.

Far left, Alyson Hannigan, Brian Austin Green, Carol-Ann, Me and Jodi Peterson. Jodi had a reocurring role on Lassie as my best friend. Still a dear friend of mine today.

I met Mark Paul Gosselar when we were partners on the Russian Swing in "Circus of the Stars." He and I became really good friends. A post about him and Circus of the Stars to come. Including clips from the show because I am high tech like that now. (Shiloh sets up the xbox to feed through the video camera to the computer and somehow it ends up on my screen.)

"Where are they now?"

They are both are wonder Moms. Or desperate Moms. It's really the same thing. Christina graduated from UCLA and attended law school at that fine institution. She practiced law until she started birthing children. She recently has gotten back into acting. Check out her website.

After my acting days I lost touch with Carol-Ann. But thanks to Myspace, we found each other again. Carol-Ann is a beautiful mother of two and a musician.

Thanks girls for the wonderful, healthy memories!

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I heart San Francisco

Pin It Now! Shiloh and I had a date in San Francisco!!! Actually, it was someone else's date (their wedding), but we got to participate. Shiloh performed the ceremony and did an excellent job. People kept telling him he could "do weddings" for a side job. If the real estate market doesn't pick up here soon... anyone want a hot guy to marry them?

Ava and Ari stayed with the kids. Yesterday's post featured the drama leading up to our departure to the city. Once we made our escape we had a wonderful, kid-free time at the wedding. We sat next to my parents and cupcakes. Cupcakes that stared us and called out for us for 4 hours until we were able to finally rescue them.



I could hardly sleep days before the wedding. Not just because Jordis woke up because of her fever or because my cats use the litter box in the middle of the night and it sounds like someone is trying to break through a wall. No, I was restless because I was so excited to freely boogie on the dance floor at that wedding. And freely boogie I did.


Shiloh loves to dance watch me dance at weddings. Because he thinks I am so awesome ridiculous. Free entertainment - it's what I do.

Thanks to the parents of the groom, we got to spend the night in the Monaco hotel. They even paid for the $50 parking. The next morning we slept in until 8am, had breakfast with my parents and walked to The Coffee Bean. Even though it was 40 degrees outside, I loved my ice blended mocha.

We returned home to "I still have a fever" Jordis and "I now have a fever" Lydia. Elijah remained unfevered and greeted us in his Michael Jordan get up for the 20th day in a row.

I love my life. It's full of twists and turns and nearly unbreakable glass. I have a husband who thinks I am hotter today than I was yesterday (early onset of dementia?) and children who like to cuddle with me when they are sick.

Today embarks a new phase of my life. As of today, I have a kindergartner.

They say that time flies when you have little kids. I think that's a lie. But I'm sure when my kids go off to college, get body piercings in Mexico or decide they want to go into full time bird watching, I too will perpetuate that myth. I will see a vulnerable, desperate young Mom who has changed her fifth blow out diaper of the day, cleaned up cat throw up, spent 4 hours trying to get a child to nap, spent 45 minutes encouraging her kids to get their shoes on, made two trips to the doctors office and gotten 5 hours of interrupted sleep. And then I will say to her with a sweet smile,

"Enjoy every minute of it because it sure goes by fast."

Until then - the days go by slow and the years go by fast. And I'm lovin' it. Even when it sucks

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A Comedy of Errors

Pin It Now! Friday started like any other day. Me waking up and realizing that I had forgotten to do something the day before. Like transferring the $40 worth of food (chicken, salsa, beans) from the crock pot into the refrigerator. "It's okay - it's only time and money. Something that we all have plenty of these days." I reassured myself as I said goodbye to the failed burrito components.


An hour later Jordis pulled the pyrex casserole dish out of the cupboard and onto the floor. According to the Pyrex webiste, "This bakeware was not only sturdy, it was nearly unbreakable, eliminating the hassle and cost of replacement. " Jordis was looking to challenge the "nearly unbreakable" part of that statement. Well done, child.


Fortunately, no one got hurt, except my schedule as we were supposed to be packing up the car and heading out to Lydia's ballet class. Instead I was vacuuming and mopping the entire house - because you know how broken glass travels. Three days later, I am still finding shards of glass throughout the house.

We picked up Ava (my babysitter/helper) on the way to ballet. The plan was to drop her, Lydia and Elijah off at ballet so I could run to Trader Joe's with Jordis. I was hosting a baby shower the next day and needed to get some stuff. When we rolled up to class I saw another kid's grandma. And then I saw all kinds of friends and family going to watch their little ballerinas. Normally, nobody gets to watch the girls get their groove on. This was the last day and I knew they were having a tea party but...
"Mom, today's the last class so all the parents get to watch. And you're supposed to invite family and friends, too."
"Elijah, how do you know that?"
"Because they told us that on the first day of class."
Huh, sounded vaguely familiar. I called Gma "What are you doing right now? Are you at the office? Can you come down to the community center for Lydia's ballet extravaganza...5 minutes ago?"
She came. I threw Trader Joe's out the window and was thoroughly entertained by the "dancers" and all of the princess underwear hanging out of the leotards.



Fortunately, my mom stayed with the big kids and me and Jordis ran to TJ's after class. Then we went home for lunch. Third child then took her "first nap of the day" in her "second nap of the day" time slot. Meanwhile, I burned the sugar nuts I was attempting to make for the salad for the baby shower.

After Jordis awoke we headed to Babies R Us to pick up the group gift for the baby shower. When we got home from wandering aisle to aisle at "Mom's Nightmares R Us," where they were out of everything on the registry, I noticed that Jordis was warm. Because that's what fevers do to people. The thermometer confirmed it. (I have take Jordis to the doctor whenever she has a fever because of her Kidney Reflux.) So I loaded all of my kids (and Ava) into the car and headed to the pediatrician. Wanted to be sure to get there before closing. I called them on the way. Sorry, they could not fit her in. She would have to go to the after hours clinic that was 45 minutes away and not open for another hour and a half. Dropped off big kids at Ava's house, grabbed a High Tech burrito and went to the doc.

Doc checked her. She didn't have a fever. Doc said if she didn't have a fever then she definitely did not have UTI (which is the concern with Kidney Reflux because it can cause kidney damage). No need to cath her then. Back home.

Up until 12:30am making a new batch of crockpot burritos and preparing stuff for baby shower. Looked online and found moms who had kids who had UTI's with an "off and on" fever. Huh, sounds like it could be a UTI with a fever that comes and goes. That night and in the middle of the night and in the morning Jordis did have a fever in the 102 range.

Saturday morning I went back to the after hours clinic and this time they had to cath her (sad). Good news - no UTI. Bad news - was supposed to be at girlfriend's house at 10am to prep for 11am shower. Also was supposed to pick up balloons, stop at store and several other things that morning. Life happens. Kids happen. Fevers happen. Crock pot operator errors happen. Thankfully, others picked up the goods for me, Shiloh wrapped the group gift (and did a WAY better job than I ever could have) and I got to the shower at 15 minutes before it started.

After the shower I left the kids (yes, including my fever ridden daughter) with Ava and her Mom. My Dad picked me up and we headed to San Francisco to meet up with Shiloh, 150 other people and $50 hotel valet parking.

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Stylin' Saturday #17

Pin It Now! Nothing too exciting here. Just the usual from Lyds. Fashion rule #1 - don't match any tops, pants or shoes.


Elijah's fashion tip for the week? Simply wear the same outfit day after day after day. Until your Mom finally rips it from your secret hiding place in your room (in his "special" nightstand compartment) and washes it. Then put it right back on again.

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Switchfoot Boy Recovers

Pin It Now! Do you remember this video of Elijah the Switchfoot fan? Shiloh went to a Switchfoot concert without him. I knew he would be bummed. I knew his reaction would be classic when we told him about it. I knew that CPS could not arrest me for this.



For those of you that wanted to report me to CPS and were worried about the long term damage caused by this footage... I think he's gonna be okay. And I think his sister is hilarious.


For the record, we did take him to a Switchfoot concert when he was two. We even had to drive four hours to the armpit of the world BAKERSFIELD for that concert. He got to meet the whole band.

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Hollywood Days - Growing Pains Clip

Pin It Now! The moment you all (two of you) have been waiting for...

The rose ceremony, big reveal, "welcome home hagen family" from last week's "Guess Who This Is?"

Here is the pic once again:

On the left, the white bride is my buddy, Christina Nigra. She played Evie's best friend in "Out of this World." She was one of my closest Hollywood friends and I still keep in touch with her.

Next to her... I think it is Bobby Jacoby AKA as Billy Jayne, William Jayne, Billy Jacoby. Keep 'em guessing Bobby Billy. And even still, I am not sure if that is him. I feel like that was his name, but then when I look up his pics on the internet it doesn't seem like the same guy. Maybe along with his name changes he got some "work" done. Oh Christina or Carol Ann, can you help me out here? If it is him, he sure was HILARIOUS in "Just One of the Guys."

Girl in blue, borrowed dress - hey, that's me. And next to me, as Shannon and Courtney Keller Baugh guessed first, is Brian Austin Green. Nice work girls.

And for this week... here is a video I uploaded to youtube this week. Some of you have seen it already via FB and twitter. It's a clip of me guest starring on "Growing Pains" with Leonardo DiCaprio. We rehearsed for 3 days and then taped it in front of a live audience on the fourth day. He was actually sick the week we did the show. You would never know it, right? This was right before his movie 'This Boy's Life," which shot his career to the top. And right after Leonardo and acting classes together at Diane Hardin's acting school. And that class is another post...

More clips and tidbits to come... including my experience with the man I thought I was going to marry, Kirk Cameron.

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Star Wars Helmet for the Homeless

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Elijah and I were cleaning up the playroom living room . I asked him where he wanted me to put his Clone Trooper helmet since is it so huge. Then I said, "You're not really into Star Wars much these days. How about if we give this to someone else?"

He said, "Okay. Let's give it to a homeless person." Bless his heart.



Food? Shelter? No thanks, but I'll take a Clone Trooper helmet.

I didn't want to crush him so I said gently, "Well, I don't know if any homeless people are going to want to cart this around."

A light bulb went off in his head, "Let's send it to Anthony in Kenya!" Another practical idea. The kid really has a heart of gold.

If you know any local homeless or poor people that are looking for a helmet that says "Cover Me!" "Sir - wer're taking heavy fire." "All clear general." "All units - fire at will!" "The mission always comes first sir!" "I'm on my way." "We've got you've outnumbered!" "Green light. GO! GO! GO!" "I've got a baaaad feeling about this sir." "Copy that sir." "All gunships holding at a safe distance."
... let me know. May the force be with you.

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Women's Bible Study

Pin It Now! September 2nd begins the Women's Fall Bible Study at my church,
Cornerstone Fellowship in Livermore. We will be doing a book study on Debbie Alsdorf's latest book "A Different Kind of Wild."

There will be worship, live teaching time and then small groups. Wednesdays mornings 9:30am-11:30am or Wednesday nights 7pm-9pm. Free awesome childcare.

A word of caution - I will be team teaching this study with Debbie and Heather Muncy. We all represent different age groups and have different styles (although I am not sure I really have much "style") so there should be something for everyone. Debbie and Heather are gonna rock the house. I will probably mess up the house, but you know it's gonna be fun. I am so excited to share what God has been teaching me lately! The first chapter I will be teaching on is called "Wild Women Live in Process, Not Perfection."

If you are a Mom with young children, this is the study for you. The homework is pretty light - read one chapter a week and answer some questions. And you are encouraged to come whether or not you did your homework.

I am in a small group with other Moms which has been awesome. We can relate on many levels and you never really know who will show up from week to week because of sick kids, major meltdowns, school events, no sleep the night before, unexpected mishaps, etc.

If you wold like to be in a group with other MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) just indicate that when you register. If you are not a MOP, but you get a kick out of milk/pee stained shirts or half awake, memory challenged chicks... then indicate that when you register. Make sure sign your kids up for that free childcare. It is a separate registration from the Bible Study.

Regardless of where you are at on your journey of faith, I guarantee that you will be encouraged and challenged. OR you can have your money back and all three of my children.

See you on September 2nd!

Email me or post a comment if you have any questions.

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I have no style for you

Pin It Now! I have no Stylin' Saturday ensembles to post today. You know I am not one to dress my kids all messed up just for the post. I mean, they usually do that enough on their own. Oh wait, Elijah did a "make your own headband" the other day because he is a basketball player (in a nightshirt). Trendsetter.


But I would like to announce that I started tweeting on Friday. It's a crazy world out there. But if you want to stalk my tweets...

On another note, we had a great trip to Hume Lake last weekend. The strip started out with a bang, I mean, drizzle. In the car seat. Thank you Lydia.


As you can see, it is absolutely gorgeous up there.

When we were driving there we asked Elijah what he was most excited about. "Soda. Cause I don't get that very often." Lydia enjoyed her first soda (chocolate soda) there. Until she got a stomach ache after drinking half of it.


The kids also enjoyed catching frogs (pic of our friends' kid),


finding a lost puppy,


watching the blob competition,


hanging with the Brown family,


the gorgeous cabin we rented,


and the belly flop competition.

We were blessed to hear our friend, Chris Brown (not the rapper), speak at the Ponderosa Chapel. The first message he gave may be one of the best I have heard in my life. I wish I could link you to it. Here is a link to some of his other sermons from his church in San Diego if you are looking for a great podcast.

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Losing Baby Weight

Pin It Now! If you have been wondering, "Hey Wendy, how do you hold on to those last 5 pounds of baby weight?" Here is my response:

"Hume Lake. Milkshakes. Every day I was there. Four days in a row. Ten ounces of ice cream. Three ounces of whole milk. So worth it."

Here's to holding on to that baby weight as long as I can. Because it is really just trying to "melt off" just like "they" say it does. But no, no,no. I won't let it.

And once again, if you have not checked out chapter one of my book in progress...
Target audience = Moms. If you are of the male variety proceed with extreme caution. Pin It Now!

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Hollywood Days - Who is This? Answer

Pin It Now! I have not posted this week because I was here with the family. It was awesome. More on that later.

But for now...
I appreciate all the attempts to figure out who these guys are. You all failed and you should probably be ashamed of yourselves. They are "The Boys." You might remember their songs "Crazy," "Lucky Charm," or "Dial My Heart." Just dial my heeaaaarrrrt. Anyone?

Since we just got back from Hume Lake and I have been busy working on stuff for my book (please check it out if you have not already) ... you're going to get another "guess who this is."Because it doesn't require much time or thought on my part. Two things I am short on lately. Actually, I have been short on "thought" ever since I had kids, but that's another post altogether.

I would apologize for the cruddy quality of this photo being that I didn't even scan it - just took a picture of it. However, I think you all need a bit of a challenge (since you were so successful last week). Do you know who any of these people are? And girl on right in white is still my friend. So to her I say this - you are not allowed to guess yourself. On second thought, she is in "the black hole" right now. I would actually be impressed if she knew who she was right now.

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Help for the Motherhood

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I spoke to the MOPS groups at my church last year about “Taking Care of Mom.” During my talk I used the phrase “totally desperate mom.” After I spoke, Debbie Alsdorf came up to me with excitement and said, “You've got to write a book about this stuff and it has to be called ‘Totally Desperate Mom.’"
The seed was planted and the vision was cast for this book. But at the time I was pregnant with my fourth child (have one in heaven) and could not really see straight. Still can’t, but I have a lot more chapters of desperation now and have begun writing this book.

Debbie has told her publisher about me, but right now they are not taking on newbies. I think this may be the case with many publishers, but at this point I don't want to wait around and find out. I don't plan on submitting to any publishers and have decided to go the self publishing route. I know there is somewhat of a stigma attached to this because anyone (i.e. people who have no writing skills, personality or common sense) can self publish, but there are a lot of benefits as well.

Before I go an order a bunch of books (5000) I wanted to do a little experiment. Almost everyone (except my Dad and half of Shiloh) is telling me not to order that many - only 7% of all authors (even published ones) sell that many. But my naive self says, "Five thousand? Really? That's not that many." Keep in mind - it is way more cost effective to order 5000 offset printed books rather than ordering them on demand in smaller quantities. Of course, that's if you can sell them...
This is where you come in. My true friends. Who will stand in the gap for me? Who will come pay my bail when I am in prison? Who believes that children are our future? Who will commit to buying some books from me that they will sell or give to other people?

I am looking for 50 crazy valiant people who will commit to purchasing 10 books from me to sell/give to people that they know. If you don't like the book, you can give it to people you don't like or make your kids read it when they are in timeout. It's a versatile book. I would sell the books to you for $10 each + the cost of shipping (unless you live locally). This is not an official pre-order thing so I won't be repossessing your car right now or anything like that, but I wanted to get a feel for who would be in on this gig besides my Mom and Dad. Please email me or post a comment if you are willing to participate in this shenanigan. If I could get 500 books theoretically sold right away I would be more prone to go with the big order and break the SPGC (self publishing glass ceiling).

The book will not be out for about a year. I only have two completed chapters, (yet to be professionally edited) but I have the proposal with the chapters I am planning. Here is the content overview:
I will share relatable stories and experiences from the various stages of motherhood – from just before pregnancy/adoption up to the kindergarten years. And the manic meltdowns (from both mother and child) in between. In addition, I will have a section that suggests how to take care of Mom… so she has less mental breakdown days and the fortitude to take care of her little ones. Rather than a book of wisdom from a woman who has survived motherhood (as have her children), this is more like a comic book from a Mom who is currently knee deep in dirty diapers and light saber fights. Trying to survive. Throughout the book I will weave in spiritual encouragement and some practical tips of things that have worked for me.

I have posted my first chapter "Welcome to the Motherhood" here. Be warned that the target audience is psycho pregnant ladies or Mothers with young kids. If you are a male, especially a male without children, beware. This might be more info than you can handle. I know that no one will plagiarize this chapter (except maybe Dave Sanchez because he is jealous that I am tied for the lead in our Fantasy Formula One League) because... well... who really wants to take credit for my opening story?

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A Beautiful Wedding in Tracy?

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We had an awesome weekend that began with a wedding of two of our dear friends, Kevin and Trisha. Kevin is a Bruin alumni and one of Elijah's best friends. His now wife, Trisha, is also dear to our family. She loves our kids and we love her.

They got married at a beautiful property in Tracy. Yeah, you read that right. A beautiful property in Tracy. It exists. Sorry to our Tracy friends (like The Francis Family), but even they trash their homeland.

Elijah and Lydia were in the wedding.

On Thursday night we attended the rehearsal. Lydia had grumpy bugs and did not want to walk down the aisle. I asked the kids what kind of bribery they wanted to not ruin the wedding. Elijah quickly responded, "Two dollars!" (He is saving up for a Michael Jordan jersey). Easy enough.

"Lydia, what do you want?" I asked knowing full well that it would involve pink, princesses and/or ponies.
"Three dollars!" she exclaimed as if she even knew what three dollars was good for.
Wow. She's brighter than I thought.


She was in a good mood the night of the wedding and performed her flowery duties (although she only tossed one petal) accordingly.

I can't say the same for little Josh, one of the other ring bearers. He ran back down that aisle screaming for his Mom. She must not have offered him three bucks.

The theme of the wedding was "All You Need is Love." Jordis enjoyed reading the program during the ceremony.

I classed Elijah's outfit up Elijah's wedding attire by writing on his wife beater with a sharpy.

And as usual, we got a family photo where all parties were smiling and looking at the camera.

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