Monday, Wednesday, Friday

It is pretty crazy the things we do for our children. Yesterday I took the kids to preschool and then checked in at 8:30 to get my number for preschool registration that was taking place the next day at 8:00. Yes, I typed that correctly the next day and mind you these are the same two who already go there and they were on the wait list since they were 4 months old.
They changed some rules and now you only have to stay on campus you don't have to sit in line. Second, your number must be with you on site at all times. There were frequent checks by Miss Margaret that we were all following the rules. It ended up being a beautiful day. I was able to pop open the back of the cSn and sit and get some report cards done. My bestie stopped by with a cute visitor and a Starbucks treat. My Dad brought me a delicious sandwich. I ended up chatting with another mom who was all doing the day shift and then switching off with her husband. We ended up making it a party. There happened to be a load of sand that got dumped for the playground in the parking lot so the kids when they were finished with class came and hung out. We had a little baseball game and BBQ in the parking lot. One dad was pretty brilliant and brought a motorhome. We really made the best of it and had a pretty fun night.
Daddy took the nightshift and managed to stay in the motorhome. Papa came by early to switch off so Daddy could get a shower and coffee before finishing off his shift.
At 8:15 I got the all important text that both kiddos got into the M,W,F morning class - SUCCESS!
Few notes for next time:
Bring lanterns or flashlights it gets dark fast .
Plan to BbQ with some of the other families. It was a fun way to get to know the other crazy parents who will do anything for their kids.
Bring a phone charger.
Last talk to the guy next door of the school and see if you can pay him $20 for the day to tap into his WIFI.

It was a blast and I think I found my new profession. We have this down. People can pay us to stand in line for them.

Lunch Date

Today we had a special lunch date my parent's with some extra special people. My brother, his wife, and my sweet niece came over for lunch. My mom cooked up her AMAZING and I am sure not on my GET READY FOR ARUBA DIET fried chicken. What is unbelievable is that us girls were so busy cooing and passing the baby that I haven't managed to snap a picture of her on my phone. She is beautiful and it is the sweetest thing to see Jon and Rachel as parents.

Code Brown

Unbelievable in all my 4 1/2 years of giving baths I have never had a "code brown." I learned this term from Tiffani and her experience at swim lessons.  It made me laugh when she would tell me about it. Well it is not so funny when it happens to your kid and at your house. And of course it had to happen on a night when Jackson actually is enjoying his bath and decided to sit down. Ugghhhhh.... Jackson is such a stinker (Ha - I guess literally he was a stinker.) He doesn't let a day pass without making me chuckle.

3 Day Weekends

I love 3 day weekends. Sad to think that it is back to reality tomorrow while Daddy gets to stay home for the rest of the week. I am beyond jealous. We ended our long weekend with a fun play date with a few friends from preschool. It was nice to see the kids play with some of their school friends and I really enjoyed chatting away with some really sweet moms from school. Huge topic of conversation is the upcoming preschool registration for next year. I need to get my act together and get a schedule set up for us to camp out. Lucky us we have lots of family near by that perhaps we can bribe to camp out for us or take turns watching the kids.
I ended the afternoon with a great coffee date with a dear friend from junior high. Isn't so cool that so many of us stayed close by and have stayed connected? What is even cooler is that we have kids that are close in age that can hang out together! I am so amazed at my dear friend. She is so strong and I know she will tackle this next phase of her life with grace, strength, and beauty.
I have to share a project that I am working on. While I should be working on little man's second birthday that is 2 weeks away - YIKES, instead I was working on a little bedroom makeover. I figure the kids had their rooms redone or spruced up it was my turn. While we don't have much money it is amazing what you can do with a few cans of spray paint. I spray painted our bookcase, in the process of painting a new desk, and scored for a great deal to vintage/shabby chic nightstands from Katie. Katie finds the best furniture! I am thinking I want to paint our dressers because I am not seeing new furniture in our future, but it will need to wait until after the birthday.
It was a pretty productive and fun weekend, but now it is crunch time to get ready for our Sesame Street party.

Camouflage

Jackson has a few new favorite games. He loves playing peek-a-boo and hide-n-seek and he is very good at both. Most kids his age giggle or say something when you come looking. Jackson is skilled at being stealth and very quiet. He in several instances has scared me because I couldn't find him. Today he did a superb job of hiding in the bushes. One round he even sat down and covered his legs with leaves. What a tricky little fellow, he already knows how to camouflage himself. I was able to take a quick snap of Jack Jack as he was being sly in the bushes.

Happy Valentine's Day

It is hard to believe that it is already February 14. Wow, this month is flying by!
Today Em and Caden headed off to preschool to have a fun party with their friends. Emmeline was so excited that she could hardly sleep. We spent last night finishing up Caden's valentines for his friends. They turned out pretty cute! Jackson was a lucky sucky and got to spend the day with his favorite Cair Cair and Bri Bri.
After a long day at school we enjoyed a simple dinner of heart pizza and salad and valentine gifts from mommy and daddy. I am so blessed to have four of the cutest valentines around.

Disney Day 4

Wow, we survived 3 days at Disneyland with 2 four year olds and a cranky sick almost 2 year old. We were so thankful that Uncle J and Aunt Cory were with us to help. They left early this morning with our suitcases and it was us flying solo with the kids. I was slightly nervous, but we had a fun day planned.
We headed into the park and hit up my favorite Peter Pan. We stayed in Fantasy Land and rode the rest of the rides and Alice in Wonderland which we didn't have a chance to ride the other days. The sky above us was getting very dark and I was getting very nervous. The forecast did not show any rain early so I sent all ponchos home with Uncle J and Aunt Cory earlier.
We managed to make it Toon Town to meet Mickey and play in all the houses in Toon Town. It was cute to get some pictures of the boys playing. I have photo of Caden when he was little at the very same piano that Jackson and Caden were playing at today -PRECIOUS. After our visit with Mickey the sky was not agreeing with us and the rain came down. I am thinking Toon Town is cursed. That is the same place we were when it poured the other day.

 We found some cover for our strollers and hopped on the Disneyland train. We had the sweetest conductor and we rode the train round trip. It was a fun ride and I was able to ask the conductor so many questions about Disneyland. Just as we were getting off the train the rain stopped and it was off to Pirates. After Pirates the boys and girls split up and I took Emmeline to her SURPRISE! We managed to book an appointment at the Bippity Boppity Boutique. Emmeline was treated to her own fairy godmother who did her nails, hair, and make-up. It was precious and made this mama want to cry. It was adorable listening to the godmother talk to her and ask her questions. At the end the big reveal included a magical mirror that made magical twinkle sounds and a fairy dusting in the hair.
While the girls were being dusted in fairy dust the boys went to Jedi training. Poor Caden was not picked. He did really good about not getting picked this whole trip. We are going to have to read up on tips to get picked for next visit.

We said good-bye to Disneyland and headed to Downtown Disney for one last meal before we hit the road. We were excited to have some extra special visitors. JD and Rachele were in town staying with Amanda. So sweet Callen, Amanda, JD, and Rachele met us for lunch. We enjoyed a nice non-fast food lunch before we hit the road for long drive. We timed it perfectly and Jackson was asleep this time for the Grapevine. In fact all three kids were out before we even got out of Anaheim. It was a magical trip. It was so nice to share it with so many friends. The kids and me included can not wait to go back.

Disneyland Day 3

Today we were up and off to California Adventure. We wanted to beat the crowds and score some great World of Color Fast Passes. We took the twins last year to see the show and it does not disappoint.
We lucked out and the crowd was in line to get fast passes for the new Cars ride and we took advantage and went on California Soaring. It became a new favorite for Caden and Emmeline. While the others were busy soaring over California the little guys enjoyed playing hide n seek.

After Soaring we headed under the sea and rode the Little Mermaid ride. It was a favorite with Emmeline and a favorite of mommy that it never seemed to have line. After indulging the princess into a little sea adventure we took the crowd to Toy Story Mania. The night before the ride broke down on us and we ended up with some group fast passes. The crowd headed to the mania and had a blast. The crowd seemed to all still be sleeping or STILL in line for Cars so the Uncle J, Aunt Cory, and Uncle Gabe hopped on California Screaming. Emmeline was so disappointed that she was not tall enough to ride. We discovered on this trip that she is very much a dare devil.
We made our way to Cars Land which is AMAZING and sooo crowded. We lucked out with some fast passes and since Daddy rode it the night before it was my turn to ride today.
After waiting for about 20 minutes in line it was race time. Uncle J, Caden, and Mommy raced Aunt Cory, Emmeline, and Uncle Gabe. The ride was pretty amazing, but I could not imagine waiting in line for 3 HOURS like some of the people were.

So excited to be going on Cars!!!!

After a much needed corn dog we headed back to the hotel for naps. We wanted to make sure that the kids had a good nap so they could handle World of Color.

It really is amazing how well the kids napped in the hotel room. After a 3 hour nap we made it back to Disneyland just in time for the parade on Main Street. We lucked out and the Medina scored an AMAZING spot for us to watch. We took advantage of the wait to capture some photos of the kids and take our Reporter photo. I totally forgot to bring the paper like I planned, but Alyssa saved the day. I can't wait to send in the the photo.

 The parade was magical. The kids loved it. It was precious to watch Jackson get so excited about all the characters and floats. It made the trip!

 After the parade we split up and Caden hit - you guessed it Star Tours and then we met up at Autotopia. Emmeline has been begging for us to take her on the Mater Horn. After seeing it was going to be an hour wait in line and Dad telling her we didn't have an hour wait she had a "magical moment." A worker saw the lip quiver and the tears and worked some magic. She moved them to the very front of the line. It was very magical for her and Mommy is now worried that she is going to bat her eyes and do her lip quiver every time she wants something.
After the magical moment we headed over to California Adventure to endure a very hard hour wait until World of Color. Trying to keep tired, cranky kids entertained in a small waiting area filled with a ton of people is no easy task. The horrible hard wait was worth it. The show once again was amazing and the kids were in awe.
After the show we fought the crowds to head back to the hotel just in time to catch the end of the fireworks show at Disney. It was a magical day and night.

Disney Day 2

We were up early  and ready to hit the park for day 2. Daddy sure knows how to plan a trip. He scheduled a yummy breakfast with the characters. It was much better than Goofy's kitchen from last year.



Ready to hit some rides afer a yummy breakfast



After the breakfast Caden and most of the crew minus the little ones hit up Star Tours. I am curious how many times we will go on this during this trip? I am thinking we may need to start paying people to ride on it with him - once was enough for this Mommy.

After the crew was done Mommy and Jackson along with the DeTars headed over to Toon Town for a little fun while the others waited with excitement for the Jedi Training. On our walk over the skies in Southern California did not like us very much. While they say a drizzle keeps the locals away, hail and pouring down rain makes for a soggy crazy day at the park. We managed to dodge the rain for awhile in Roger Rabbit's Toon Town ride to come out and find our strollers filling with water. Thank goodness I sent Daddy out early to grab some ponches otherwise we would have had a huge mess. So we came up with a new game plan to dodge the rain and headed for every indoor ride we could find. We hopped on Pirates and while the twins had gone on the ride last year, this was Jackson's first. He was not sure what to think, but gave it a clap at the end.
After Pirates and visit with Princess Tiana we headed back for naps so we could make it for fireworks.

It is amazing how well the kids napped in the hotel. I really thought it would be a disaster and that they could be antsy to go back to the park. I had to struggle to wake them up to make the parade.
After fighting to wake them up we find out that the parade is canceled due to rain. So we headed over to California Adventures for some fun and check out CARS LAND!

Cars Land was amazing! The rain was kind enough to stay away so we could see a super fun Pixar Parade. Jackson still was not feeling 100% and wanted to be with Daddy, but he lit up when he saw all of his Pixar friends.

Parade Time

We managed to keep the kids up to watch the fireworks. I almost missed them because Jackson and I kept going on the Buzz ride to distract him while Daddy was on Star Tours AGAIN!

We mangaed to come out right when it was starting. The fireworks in Disneyland are magical. Watching Tinkerbell fly over, hearing the music, and see the lights on the castle. There are no fireworks like it. It chokes me up when I hear the Disney song playing.

After a long day we headed back to the hotel. Caden and Emmeline were out on the way back, but Jackson was like the Energizer bunny. Nothing like a litle ice cream at 9:30

Disneyland Day 1

We survived the long road trip and headed over to Disneyland with a few of our favorite people. Uncle J, Aunt Cory, and the DeTars were all their for the first day at Disney. And of course with a big group I thought we needed matching t shirts for our trip. I am not sure everyone was so  excited about our "vintage" mickey shirts.

We quickly headed into the park right when it opened and headed to our favorite area Fantasy Land. We headed on to the Peter Pan ride for Jackson's first ride. It is my FAVORITE ride and it received a applause when it was done. The kids were troopers and rode all the rides in Fantasy Land before we headed over to the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster ride. We knew this would be a hit with Jackson's infatuation with Buzz.
After, beating the Evil Emperor Zurg we talked the twins into riding Space Mountain. Emmeline was a huge fan and we probably ended Caden's dreams of becoming an astronaut after riding on the ride. He was less than thrilled with it.

In line for Space Mountain!

In an effort to get Caden to fall back in love with space we headed over to Star Tours. It became a new favorite. The boy would have stayed on that ride all day. Our favorite line from the day came from Caden when he got off the ride. With his chest all puffed up he said, " I am so good at EVERYTHING." Wow - talk about an ego boost.

Ready to ride Star Tours


After a long day at the park it was time to meet up with some good friends for dinner. The Medinas were joining us the next day at Disneyland and they arrived just in time for dinner. We met up at the ESPN Zone in Downtown Disney. And we were spoiled. We lucked out and got a private room! It was just what we needed. A room with a huge table, glass walls so we could view the large television and a television in the room. There was plenty of room for the kids to run around while the adults relaxed with a few adult beverages. After dinner it was off to bed so we could wake up early and have breakfast with the characters!

S-U-R-P-R-I-S-E

Since I went back to work full time we have been telling the kids that Mommy and Daddy are working so we can take them to Disneyland. And today was the day that we were able to surpris them with a visit. We loaded the kids up on a roadtrip and did not tell them, but rather gave them clues as to where we were going. The clues were pretty obvious but no one guessed it! When we finally arrived at the park Emmeline said, "I knew it, I was just too scared to say it." Sooo cute!
I am hoping to upload the video here soon. It was sweet to record their reaction.

Walking pneumonia

Poor little guy has been walking around with pneumonia and the grown ups feel like the walking dead. We have been running around like crazy trying to keep him separated from his brother and sister. He wants nothing to do with being caged in our room alone. Trying to contain an almost 2 year old is EXHAUSTING! Besides the runny nose I would have no idea he was so sick. What a trooper he is. Between the corralling and cuddling I have been busy packing for our trip. To say we are excited is an UNDERSTATEMENT. Now we just need everyone to pray, cross fingers and toes that no one else gets sick before our trip. Still can not believe the kids don't know that we are heading to the Happiest Place On Earth!!!