Dreaming of Disneyland

That's what we've been doing since the day we got home...dreaming of Disneyland. I think Audrey told me 10 times on the way home that she is dreaming of riding on California Screamin' every minute! She loved it so much. Who doesn't? That ride is great! And, so is Disneyland...for that matter. We are already saving up our pennies for the next trip. Thanks for tagging along with us Grandma and Grandpa! We wouldn't have it any other way.

What is Appropriate?

I tend to use the word appropriate far too much. For some reason I think my 4-year-old and 6-year-old should know what this word means. I'm not sure if they have figured it out yet, but they sure like to use this word as often as possible. For example...Lauren came in the bathroom the other day while Adam was in the shower. A minute later she told Adam that "tails" are not appropriate. I'll let you figure out what she was talking about. We have now explained to Lauren that it is not appropriate for her to come in the bathroom when dad is in the shower.

Yep, not appropriate.

All I Want For Christmas

On the top of Audrey's list for Santa this year...A Roller Coaster.

You read that right folks. She would like it to take off from the front porch, have several loops and be really fast. It would be very handy to have out front because all her friends could come over and ride it. It could go over the street, no need to worry about the cars running into it in the street. And, it could also go around the house.

We told her that this is probably not a very good gift to ask for, because it's not very possible. But, she still thinks Santa could do it. Hmmm...hope she's not too disappointed on Christmas morning.

Toenails Can Be Dangerous

After dance today, Audrey climbed in the car and announced, "Mom! I cut my wrist at dance today!" "How?" I asked. "With my toenail!", she said. Well. That is something I never thought I would ever hear. Watch out for those toenails. They can be a killer.

The Case of the Missing Cough Drop

A conversation between Lauren and I:

Lauren: Mom, I lost my cough drop!
Me: Where? How? Wasn't it in your mouth?
Lauren: Yes mom, and then it was gone. I didn't swallow it!
Me: Okay, let's look for it. It must have fallen out.

After looking all over the floor, no cough drop was found.

Later that night, (like 2 hours later) Lauren was wrestling with Adam and ran to jump on him...and Adam exclaimed, "Lauren, what is on your shirt!" Lo and behold, we found the missing cough drop. "Oh! There it is!" Lauren shouted...as she pulled it off, fuzz and all, and popped it in her mouth. Mmmm.

All The World Must Know

I was informed by my husband today that "all the world must know" how funny our kids are. While I'm sure everyone's kids do hilarious things every day, I have been charged with the duty of documenting these things. I suppose I will try to do that here, because I can't think of a better place...besides my journal. Which I'm worse at writing in than I am about updating the blog. So...we shall see how this goes.

Today Adam took the girls to Home Depot...their favorite place to go with him besides the gas station...and on the way home, Dynamite by Taio Cruz came on the radio. Those of you who know Adam know that this is NOT his kind of music. The girls went crazy...they know every word. He was laughing his guts out. I may or may not secretly like this song...sorry Adam. I think this might be all my fault. Oh Well. This is the kind of stuff I need to be writing down...and so I am. Lauren knows every word of this song, and she sings it with her hands up in the air the whole time. They love so many other songs, but we'll save those for another day.

A Day of Firsts

Well, well, well. Today was a day of firsts for our little family:

• Audrey finished her FIRST day of 1st grade. Let the record show that her most favorite part of the day was...Recess! Followed shortly by eating lunch in the cafeteria. They had a math test and a spelling test. I was then chastised to never send crackers and cheese for snack again because they get soggy. But, never fear, her peanut butter and jelly sandwich was delicious. Tomorrow we will be trying out school lunch...it's teriyaki beef strip day, and I have it on good authority that these are amazing. We shall see. We shall see.

• Lauren discovered for the FIRST time that she really does love her sister. I think she only told me 5 times throughout the day that it was time to go get Audrey. She couldn't understand WHY she wasn't waiting for her in the car when preschool got out. Seriously, Mom...did you forget her? Tomorrow she doesn't have preschool for a distraction, so it should be a fun day, just me and Lauren.
  

• I realized for the FIRST time, I am going to be really lonely when both my girls leave me for a whole day of school. I sure love those little bugs. Guess I should have another one, if only the husband can be convinced it's okay to be outnumbered...

Audrey and her cute friend from Kindergarten, Karlie.
They were so happy to see each other,
and find out that they are in the same class!
There are only 2 kids from from her Kindergarten class
that made it into her 1st grade class...
because there are 6 first grade teachers! Crazy.

Jessica

Dearest Jessica,

I'm pretty sure you can check yourself off my FAVORITE list!
Thanks for chatting away with me on the phone, for hours on end,
about nothing important.
Thanks for sharing all your amazing design/party/crafty ideas
whenever I'm in need of one.
Thanks for letting me vent about all my petty problems.
Thanks for being a shining example of faith, in every aspect of your life.
Thanks for being my sister.
HaPpY BiRtHdAy!!!
I love you!

Rachel

Shut the front door...

TWO posts in one day? Who knew?

I think perhaps my MOST favorite person may just be in this post. And, we just may be doing one of our favorite activities to do together. Can you guess who my MOST favorite person is? It's some pretty amazing video people. Do enjoy.

Evelyn

Another favorite of mine!



Miss Evelyn just celebrated her first birthday, and boy was it a great party! You should check out her cake HERE. I sure wish I had more opportunities to kiss Evie's sweet cheeks, as she lives in Oregon and all, but I think she is sweeter than sugar and I can't wait to see her again! Loves to you Miss Evie!

Happy Birthday To YOU!

Today is one special day for my favorite #3! It's Sophie Bean's birthday! My niece is adorable, and I fully admit I am partial. I am actually partial to all my nieces, I think they are all gorgeous...BUT today is Sophie Soph's big day and we're celebrating in style. A lunch of pizza and bread sticks, swinging in the backyard, and playing with cousins is a great way to celebrate. Some of my MOST favorite things about Sophie are:

- Her perfectly round head.

- Her dimples when she smiles.

- Her obsession with Lauren, aka Lolo (or as she says it: Doh Doh). This is a serious obsession people. Lolo is all she talks about, or so Christa says...seeing Lolo today may have been the BEST birthday present ever, I don't even need to get her anything! :)

- The fact that she answer's "yeah" to every question you ask her...

- She has the squishiest cheeks, and I love to give them smooches!

Happy Birthday Miss Sophie! We sure love your stinkin' guts!

P.S. I think it's positively fantastic that Sophie gets to share her birthday with one of my FAVORITE authors...Happy Birthday to Dr. Seuss! How great is that?

Audrey

Bet you couldn't guess who my favorite #2 would be. Since we spend almost every waking moment together, it's easy to see why my girls are my favorites. #2 is also a bit sassy, but she's also a tender hearted girl. She seems to get her feel bads hurt quite often, because she takes everything WAY too seriously. She wouldn't hurt a fly, usually, so she doesn't understand "why people are mean". She asked me this just the other day, "Why are people so mean mom?" I wish I had a good answer to that. She's a lot like her mother in this way...at least I think I'm nice. Am I nice? I sure hope so.

Audrey has had a busy, busy week. We like to refer to it as Audrey's week o' fun.

Last Wednesday, praise heaven, we finally lost our first tooth! She's been asking me for a year now when she is going to lose her first tooth...and the day finally came. We had to call almost everyone we knew...grandma's, grandpa's, aunt's, uncle's, cousins. I've never seen a girl so excited. Especially when, nestled under our pillow the next morning, we found TWO whole gold dollars. It was a joyous occasion.

This same week a letter came home from school. "Your daughter Audrey has been awarded Principle's Pride for Patience." Really? Patience? Now, this is not exactly Audrey's strong point at home. But, we're pretty glad she has no problem with this at school! Way to go Audrey. Yesterday we attended an assembly to recognize all the other students that received Principle's Pride in February. It was great...as part of the assembly they had a group perform called Opera Works. They presented the students the basic principle's of Opera, and they performed a small show...The 3 Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf. Audrey was chosen to help with make up for one of the pigs...perfect for Audrey. She loves makeup and all things girly!

Upon arriving home after school that same day, Audrey announced that she was also Student of the Day! Life couldn't be any better! All her classmates drew a picture of Audrey and the teacher assembled it in a book. We spent a while looking at it, definitely saving that one in the memory book.

Holy cow! Best week ever! I love that favorite #2! She's such a hard worker, always wanting to do her best, and cute as a button to boot! Who'll be #3? Just you wait and see.

Lauren

(We love dress up)

Favorite #1 comes in the form of a petite 3-year-old, who is full of spunk and attitude. Miss Independent doesn't want any help from anyone, and she won't do anything unless it's her idea. While these might not be my favorite things all the time...I think they are attributes that will help her accomplish amazing things in the years to come. As long as we teach her how to use them in the right way. Oh, and we need to teach her patience and sharing and gratitude, and the list goes on and on. It will be no easy feat, I'm sure.

In December, Lauren finally decided that she was ready to be potty trained. I admit that I didn't push her as much as I could have, but given the above statement I just made, you can probably guess why. Things have been going really well and we decided that she could make it through the night without pull-ups anymore. So far, we have only had a few accidents...which leads to us doing extra loads of laundry the next day...which Lauren LOVES to help me with. I tell you this because last week Lauren came in my room and saw me pulling the sheets off MY bed. Here's how our conversation went:

Lauren: "Mom, what are you doing?"
Me: "Taking the sheets off the bed so I can wash them."

There was a long pause and then,

Lauren: "Did you pee the bed mom?"
Me: "Nope. (insert much laughter here) We wash sheets regularly, not just when we have an accident."
Lauren: "Oh. Can I help you?"
Me: "You bet."

Pure awesomeness.

Another recent observation:

Lauren was sitting at the table with a stuffed puppy and a bowl. She had the dog's head hanging over the bowl and was chatting away with it, comforting it. When I asked what she was doing she said, "My puppy is going to throw up mom." More Awesomeness. I bet you can't guess what sits next to your bed if you have the stomach flu at my house?

Lauren loves to play with Audrey. If Lauren has slept long enough for Audrey to get out the door and off to school, the first thing she asks me when she wakes up is, "Where is Audrey mom?" When I tell her she's at school she will always hang her head and say, "Awwww." And then proceed to ask me 15 more times where she is and when she will be home.

Lauren is my favorite little helper. She comes running when she hears me loading and unloading the dishwasher. She's in charge of the silverware. If I'm in the laundry room, she's putting things in the washer and dryer for me. Every Friday we empty the garbage's together, and she loves to help me clean the bathrooms...even though I don't love that. Why did they decide to put bleach in Comet I ask you? Maybe all this helping will last? One can only hope...

If you want to know my favorite thing about Lauren, it has to be...her sweet kisses. Really, she knows how to smooch a cheek, and she loves to give them out. They always come with a sweet hug too. It's really quite a treat. You must try one someday...

And there you have it. A few of my favorite things about my favorite #1. Please remember, these are in no particular order. I like all my favorites the same.

My Favorite People

Lately...well, lately life has been a little boring around here. This is the time of year when most people start going stir-crazy, and we are no exception. The weather has kept us indoors for FAR too long, and add to that our extreme frugalness, and you get two bored kids and one somewhat annoyed mother by the end of the day. So...in my bored state, I've been thinking about all of my favorite people...that I get to spend time with, and wish I could spend more time with. I got to thinking that I wanted to document these thoughts, so I'm going to feature my favorite people every couple days in a post. Exciting right? Since only a handful of people read this blog, it's mostly for myself. But, it will be fun to think about each person and their unique qualities and things that make them so likeable...and loveable! Will you be featured? Well, since most of my favorite people are the only one's that read this blog...it's highly likely! Plus, more posts more often right? Please try to contain that excitement. Now, off to think and work I go.

February 6th 2011

The day Adam's dreams were crushed, was the day Audrey and Lauren shouted from the back seat to leave the radio station on a Taylor Swift song. "I LOVE this song! I LOVE Taylor Swift!", they shouted. And Adam hung his head in defeat and said, "I've lost them already."

And, I laughed all the way home...

Don't worry dad, they still LOVE Weezer.

P.S. I don't LOVE Taylor, so who knows where this is coming from?

A Stroll Down Memory Lane

Two weeks ago...

I stepped on a jet plane and flew off to Sacramento to spend some time with my parents. When my Grandmother passed away last November, my mom knew she would have to travel back and help get the house ready to sell. When the time came, she was pretty apprehensive I think. And, rightly so. She moved into that home when she was 3 years old, and didn't move out until she married my dad. That means there were TONS of Memories to sort through...and it wasn't easy.

I went to try and help with all that sorting, but by the time I got there...most of the hard work was done! I think my mom was in need of a desperate break, so after finishing everything on Thursday, we planned to spend Friday exploring some of my Dad's childhood memories, and a couple of my mom's.

Stop #1: Marie's Donut Shop

This was possibly the best stop of the day. Yup, pretty sure about that. This little shop has been around for many a year. It's nothing special, fancy or cutesie like all the fad places these days...but their donuts are to die for. My Grandfather used to take us here to get donuts when we would visit. All the way home he would remind us, "Now, remember, don't tell your Grandma where we went." Grandpa was always sneaking treats, because Grandma had him on a strict diet...yet he never lost weight. Hmmm, no wondering why there. And, apparently we were kindred spirits because he was a maple bar lover too. Feature Donut...the cream filled one...dipped in maple. And, when I say cream filled, I mean CREAM FILLED. Like real cream, and lots of it. I even took a picture to show. Don't be jealous...I ate every bite and enjoyed each one thoroughly. And if you know me, I'm not really a donut girl, but these are not your average donuts.


Marie's Donuts...and THE donut. This picture hates me and rotates when it uploads. I tried everything and I can't fix it...

Stop #2: Muir Woods National Monument

Muir Woods is one of those places where the sheer awesomness of the trees, aka their height, makes you feel pretty insignificant. I have never stood side by side with a redwood or sequoia tree. I've always wanted to, and now I can say I have. They take 2000 years to grow to their full height (Sequoia's take 3000+ years). Amazing. Muir Woods is located across the bay north of San Francisco. If you're ever in the neighborhood...it's worth a visit. There are miles of hiking trails that you could spend hours on...I'm going back one day.



Stop #3: The Oakland Temple

From the Oakland Temple, you can see the entire valley below you...and it was quite picturesque...even with some smog. I had never been to this temple, and it was where my father was sealed to his parents when he was eight-ish (I think) and my parents were sealed to each other. A pretty significant place for our family, and worth the visit. It's already showing signs of spring in California...daffodils in bloom, tulips coming up, primroses looking cheery...and the Camellia bushes were beautiful. I know why people live in California, because the weather is delightful. Too bad there's all that traffic and such.



Stop #4: San Jose

My dad's old stomping grounds. You see, my dad lived the quintessential childhood. He had a group of friends...4 to be exact...and they had some good, clean fun. Bikes, tag, wheelies, mud, baseball, welding, visits to the drugstore for sodas, haircuts at the barber shop, these were the things my dad did. We were able to visit the house he grew up in, which is being remodeled so we walked around the inside too. He took us to the elementary school...and the high school.


The house on Ross Drive (that used to be blue...)


Sartorette Elementary School

I think my favorite stop was the church house. It was one of the last buildings the church built where the church provided materials, and the members donated their time for labor. My grandfather was a concrete contractor, and did a lot of the flat work around the building...you can still see it. My dad learned to ride his bike, backwards, sitting on the handlebars, in the church parking lot (much to every one's amusement). I think there was a lot of crashing involved. He also showed us where he would start doing a wheelie...and how far he would try to go before he had to stop (we're talking miles here people). It was great hearing all these stories, and I'm so glad we went.


The church house and Grandpa's flatwork

We finished the night at a friend's house, one of the 4 I mentioned above. My dad has kept in contact with all of them throughout the years, and it was fun to hear more stories and realize he's exactly the same now, after all these years!

I am so grateful that I was able to go on this trip with my parents. In addition to all the fun we had, it really was wonderful to spend time in my grandmother's home. The smell when I walk in reminds me of my grandparents. There are so many great memories tucked away in that house...the playhouse, fireworks with grandpa, sneaking out for treats, playing with the cousins. I swear I could hear my grandmother's voice saying, "Oh Bill..." Grandpa was always teasing her you know. Although it's hard to let someone go, I am eternally grateful for all the memories that I have to treasure.

Did you know...

...that about one month ago we celebrated Christmas? Apparently I forgot, because I never posted these pictures. Here's some snapshots of our spoils this year. It was another wonderful day spent with our dear families.
(Although SOME of them were missing...you know who you are!!)


New Coats from Grandma Janet


Piggy Banks from cousins Sam, Russell, and Evie


And of course...the best of all...Woody and Jessie from Santa!

Visiting Minnie

Part of our Christmas celebrations this year included a trip to Disneyland.
We tagged along with Grandma, Grandpa, Rocky, Steph and cousins for a
week long adventure. And, an adventure it was.

There is something special about Disneyland.
I really feel like it is one of the happiest places on earth, just like they say.
I could spend all day, literally all day,
in Frontierland, and Adventureland.
I love the atmosphere there,
and some of my favorite rides are there...
Pirates, Splash Mountain, The Haunted Mansion,
The Hungry Bear Restrooms.

Speaking of restrooms,
It's a good thing Disney knew what they were doing.
There are a million bathrooms, and I think we used EVERY one.
After every ride.
But, they are all different, and unique, and clean. It was fun to see them all.
(My personal favorite was the Queen of Hearts bathroom by the Matterhorn)
If you don't believe me, here's proof:
We potty trained Lauren while we were there.
That's how often we went.

Audrey was tall enough to ride every ride except California Screamin',
and there were many tears shed when she couldn't join us on that one.
She LOVES roller coasters,
there's not one bone of fear in her body,
and she doesn't get motion sickness.
She takes after her mother.

If you are making a pilgrimage to Disneyland this year,
you really MUST see the World of Color in California Adventure.
It was amazing. Really.

That about sums it up...and now,
for your viewing pleasure:



P.S. Don't worry, Adam is already planning our trip for later this year,
so please, plan on joining us if you can...we promise it will be an adventure!