Strike

Today we took advantage of the fact that Fairfield schools are on Spring Break and that I didn't have to teach my Jr high art class and headed to the bowling alley with some of our favorites. Caden was beyond excited when I told him we were going bowling with Madison and Jack Metcho. He tells me all of the time that Jack Metcho is his best friend.

Jack is the nicest, sweetest boy. Jack brought some of his friends with him and he still took the time to hang out and help Caden. 

Emmeline was in love with getting to see Madison and get to be on her team for bowling. Madison is the sweetest and is going to be the best babysitter ever!  

So thankful that my kiddos get to see Jack and Madison. They are such great influences. I hope my kids have the great brother sister relationship they do. 

And then there was Jackson. He could have cared left that we were bowling. He was just super excited that Wesley was there and that he got to see Auntie Care Care. 

After two games of bowling one of which Caden beat everyone ( have to love the strike followed by a spare) and the second game where  Em got her first strike we headed over for yummy pizza. 3 adults and 9 kids made for a fun time. I can't wait for summer and some trips to 6 Flags with the DeTars and Metchos. 

Happy Birthday Auntie!

Today is someone special's birthday! We are so excited to celebrate Auntie Elizabeth's birthday. She has had a lot to celebrate. Yesterday we went over to see her new house. We all surprised her to see her get her key.

Her house is charming and perfect. It is downtown with prime Fiesta Days and tree lighting parking. It has a detached garage which I am hoping I can talk her into some Teaspoons and Twine storage and it has a bulldog door. The house was meant to be hers. How could she have not gotten the house with the orange door. A former bulldog and bulldog lover needed that house.

Emmeline was so excited to help me make a pillow to take for her house warming and I had so much fun shopping for things for one of her new bathrooms.

It is so  exciting moving, unpacking and finding a place for everything, and DECORATING!!!!

We are so excited for Auntie and want to wish her a very happy birthday!

Recovering

Wow, am I ever thankful for the Baldo's breakfast burrito I consumed at 2 in the morning - not!!! Why does that seem so good at the time? It was nice to slightly sleep in before heading to church to teach Sunday School. I was missing my babies so Daddy picked them up while I was at church and we spent the day resting, playing, and recovering. We had a nice dinner with the kids and then treated them to some yummy ice cream. We were all still a little tired and were in bed early. And yes, Jackson is rocking his pj's. Ice cream was a last minute decision. 

Sports Night

Tonight we had an adult night out and took advantage of it. We dropped off the kids and headed out for happy hour and then to Vaca High's big dinner and auction. We love Sports Night and this year we invited two of our favorites to join us.

The past couple of years the DeTars have been a little busy with newborns and being pregnant but this year they were ready for a night out. We unfortunately were not lucky with the raffle or the auction, but had a great time. I won't even mention how many bottles of red wine we finished and how we were looking around for unfinished bottles on the empty tables by the end of the night.

Oh my it was an advil and greasy food type of night. Nothing a little Baldo's couldn't fix. After staying to help clean up and leaving at 1:30 in the morning we hit up Baldo's. Man has it been a long time since I have been out that late. Baldo's had a line 5 deep in the drive thru and a line inside. Apparently I wasn't the only person needing a little greasy food to ease my stomach and head.
It was great night out and the high school made a lot of money for sports! 

Fresh Air

We have been stuck inside for a couple days with this beautiful weather and going crazy! The twins decided this was a perfect day for a slurpee and riding bikes. I was feeling much better and thought a slurpee was just what I needed for my throat. The slurpee was the first of the season and it was delightful.

Caden and Emmeline enjoyed having a little time with just mommy while Jackson was sleeping inside with Daddy. They have been really good troopers with a very whiny, sick, 3 year old little brother. They spent the afternoon showing off their bike riding skills. Baxter Bear was even with us this weekend and got to ride the bike and have a slurpee.

Baxter even enjoyed a shower and some steam cleaning. I love how excited the kids are over the bear, but this mama is in full germ panic. Don't worry to the next family - Baxter also took a tumble in the dryer the morning he left.

Sharing

My little buddy has been oh so good about sharing the past few days. Lucky for me he shared his germs. While I have loved all the extra cuddles I could do without the coughs in my fact and using my shirt as a kleenex. Who are we kidding - I don't mind it at all. One day they will suddenly learn to blow their nose (who knew this could be such a tricky skill to teach???) and will take care of themselves. Until then I will cuddle with them all they want.
So now Jackson and I sound like  we have been chain smoking for years trying to get it all out. We are a sad mess over here.

Date with Daddy

Today these two cuties went on a lunch date with their daddy. I was so sad to miss it, but from the looks of it they had a great time. Emmeline came home and reported on what a great time it was and told me I was going to LOVE the new pizookie flavor. She said it tasted like butter, vanilla ice cream, and strawberries all together (not sure how she got the strawberry flavor mixed in there, but cute).

Moms Gone Wild

Tonight was our monthly night out with some of my favorite ladies and amazing mamas. We decided to try out Tahoe Joe's happy hour. I happened to grab a table with 5 minutes left of happy hour. Getting anywhere on time or early seems near impossible with our crazy schedule. While waiting for the ladies I ran into an old high school friend that both Chris and I know. I haven't seen Jim since my freshman year in college. It was so great to catch up and it was super funny to hear him tell stories about Chris...Ummm I mean Sandy. I wish the kids were there. I think it would have been so cute for them to hear the stories and to hear that their daddy's nickname was Sandy. Jim happened to be there for work. He is a beer rep for Sierra Nevada - tough job right???? He took off after most of the ladies came to get some work done, but came back to the table later with gifts. I knew Chris would be so sad that he was missing seeing Jim and lets not kid ourselves the free beer so Jim sent us home with some fun Sierra Nevada hats and beer cozies. I think Jim as feeling a little left out in the girl conversation about bedtimes, potty training, laundry, and the dreaded morning routine so he came back to the table with a shot for each of us. Oh my goodness!!!!! It was a weeknight, I'm near 40, I hadn't eaten all day, and it has been at least 15 years since I did shots. We all said cheers and downed it. Needless to say it was  long night. We ended up closing the restaurant and bar hours later after great conversation and making sure we were all okay to drive home. I always love our monthly get together and thankfully we didn't end up getting too crazy and starting a new show Moms Gone Wild.

Monsters in the House

While we tell the kids all of the time that there is no such as monsters, I am not convinced. I am all caught up on the laundry from trip. I know we didn't lose any socks on the trip so where they disappear to is beyond me.  I don't mind laundry except the socks. I don't know where all these socks could do. It drives me crazy to fold all the laundry and have an odd number of socks. I'm convinced there must be a monster that goes into the dryer and takes socks just to see me go crazy. Monster that lives in my dryer, can you please go find another dryer to live in?

Go to Disneyland

This sweet boy is wishing we are back at the happiest place on earth. He is still in full Disneyland mode. He walks around the house and at bedtime he says in the cutest voice, "Mama, we go to Disneyland." When he says it during the day he is always tugging on my hand and pulling me to the door to go. Oh sweet boy - us adults are all still trying to recover from the trip. Next year's trip should be fantastic as Jackson should be just about the right height to ride most of the rides.

Disney Day 3

We were up bright and early for day 3.The kids have been so excited that there was no sleeping in for them. Today we headed to Disneyland for our magical morning. You get so excited when you see you get a magical morning and then you get in line and see how many other thousands of people have it as well - oh wells. We felt very special. We raced into the park and rode our favorite ride Peter Pan. It really is such a sweet ride. It was really fun to ride it with the kids because they have been into watching and playing Peter Pan at home. We even managed to see Peter.

After that I raced over to the Disney Frozen line. I stood in line for 2 hours for not a ride but, for Emmeline to meet her two new favorite Disney Princesses Elsa and Anna. I seriously could not believe it. When I was approaching the front of the line the wait time was reaching 4 hours. Emmeline is lucky the wait time was at 2 because I draw the line after that. So I spent 2 hours waiting for her to spend 1 minute getting hugs and a picture but it was worth every penny. She was so excited and hopefully it was a memory she will never forget.

While Emmeline and I waited in line Jackson went on a ton of rides with Nama and Grandpa. Caden and Chris were on  mission to get for the Jedi training. He didn't get picked for the first show but they stuck around and he got picked for the second.

I'm so sad I missed it. It is all he wanted to do at Disneyland besides ride Star Tours which I think he did at least 8 times. He was even picked to battle Darth Vader. So exciting. Thank goodness for technology and Daddy captured it all so I could see.

After another afternoon of no naps we headed to the castle to see some characters, say good bye to grandpa and Nama, and then to Toon Town to meet up with some of our favorite people. We didn't see Mickey in Toon Town but, I don't think Jackson cared because he met up with his best friend Wesley. Those two boys crack me up. They had so much fun running around and playing together. Wesley taught Jackson to say "cheeseballs" when he is having his picture taken and now I have a camera full of cheesy pictures.

Don't you love the hat Jackson picked out? Totally fits his personality! 
We ended the night with prime seats for the Disney Parade.

While waiting for the parade Uncle Gabe, Daddy, and the twins headed to the Matterhorn. So proud of the kids for trying the big rides. I learned Emmeline is my speed junky. She loved Space Mountain with me and laughed the whole time. After a very long couple of days I was glad Disneyland closed at 8 so I could hit the sack. We had one more early morning left at the happiest place on earth and I had a lot of packing up to do.

California Adventure Day 2

Today we woke up early to beat the crowds at California Adventure. It has been insane at that park since Cars Land opened. One of the big perks of staying at a Disney hotel is that we were able to get into the park an hour early. This was key for the kids to be able to go on the cars ride. If you don't get a fast pass right away you pretty much are not riding it without waiting in a 2 hour line...ummm no thank you! We had a game plan and were ready. Since Jackson wasn't tall enough for the ride he and I hit a few rides and then stood in line to get fast passes for the crew to the racers ride again. It worked out perfect. Everyone rushed to Cars Land and Jackson and I pretty much walked onto any ride we wanted and rode his favorite Toy Story Mania, three times in a row.

We decided to skip naps (not sure if this will backfire on me) and try and get as much time as possible in the park. We hit some of our favorites; Monsters Inc, Muppets, Little Mermaid (Pretty sure we did this 6 times), Toy Story Mania, and the Disney Junior Show. We found a perfect spot to eat dinner and then enjoy the Pixar Play Parade.

The kids had so much fun seeing their favorite Pixar characters dancing right in front of them. We ended in the night in our room by 8 so we could enjoy World of Color in our room. Watching it from our room with the music playing from the television, our jammies on, and the kids laying in their bed right when it was done was worth every penny.

Disneyland Day 1

Today we left our house before the newspaper was even delivered. With a Baldos breakfast burrito, large coffee, and 3 super excited kids we were on the road at 3:15 A.M. headed to Disneyland. The kids were awesome. We got our first are we there yet an hour into the trip. Thankfully after an hour they all fell back to sleep for another 2 hours. After a stop for breakfast and bathrooms we loaded back up and made it to our hotel. The Paradise Pier hotel was beautiful and our view of the park was amazing. While Caden probably would have been happy never leaving the hotel with the arcade and Disney movie viewing, we were all eager to get to the park. There were large gray clouds looming over head so we packed our rain gear and headed over.

We let the birthday boy pick the park and first ride. His ride of choice was Buzz Lighter. He was in awe of the giant Buzz Lightyear. We spent the afternoon hopping on rides and dodging the rain. As much as we wanted to stay up and watch the grand fireworks over the castle I was secretly excited they were canceled due to the storm. We were all exhausted and very happy to be in our beds by 8:00. We are so excited for day 2 in the park.

Happy Birthday Buddy!

Happy Birthday to my funny, hat wearing, dress up loving, oh so strong willed little guy. You are loved so much by all us. The highlight of you this year is starting to hear you talk. You have been saving it all up. You have mastered saying NO with folded arms, foot stomp, and a scowl on your face. You melt my heart when you say I love you and Mommy, I need you. I hear that and I can't help but help you. You sleep in a big boy bed by yourself and wear big boy underwear. Breaks my heart that my baby is gone. You still don't like to eat and hate meat. You are your father's child as you both love carbs. You love strawberries, blueberries, salami, crackers, yogurt, and snap peas. You have a best friend Wesley, who you ask to play with everyday! You love to play Legos but your favorite is trains, firetrucks, and dress up. Your next favorite thing is being a little brother avd driving your brother and sister crazy trying to do everything they are. We love you so much and are so excited to see all the things you are going to try and learn this year. Here is to being done with the terrible twos- let's hope 3 is much easier.

Awana Grand Prix

Today is a super exciting day in our house. We are starting the morning with the very exciting Awana Grand Prix. This is the pinewood derby event that the Awana Clubs put on every year. I have very fond memories of myself competing in the Grand Prix when I was in Awanas. With the big up coming surprise and not being very skillful wood craftsmen we thought this would be a perfect project for them to do with Grandpa. Poor Grandpa probably didn't know what he was getting himself into when he let the kids search the internet for ideas. The result of the search a Wii remote and a bright pink race car. I have to note Emmeline's first idea was a kitty cat mobile with a full on stuffed head on top. We had to draw the line, that seemed an engineering nightmare.

The kids didn't win a heat, but had a great time. Grandpa took note on how the fastest car placed its weights. And there is already talk of Grandpa building a practice track so they can work on cars early, test them, and tweek them. Oh my!
Despite not winning a heat both Caden and Emmeline both came home with trophies. How we managed that I don't know??? Caden won the trophy for Most Christian Message and Emmeline for Most Creative.

Such a fun morning with two kiddos who showed great sportsmanship. Now we are headed home for a Mickey Mouse Party with a big surprise!