disney food bucket list part 1

Friday the girls and I are going to Disneyland after school! We can not wait! We love Disney, also we have a Disney food bucket list.  This is only a small part of it:

Poison apple glow in the dark cup!  We are definitely getting one of those this week!

Mickey Macaroons

beignets

candy apple

corn dog

So this one is a (?) I normally wouldn't go out of my way for a corn dog but this corn dog has it's own facebook following and it's supposed to be awesome.  I don't know.

monte cristo

lobster roll

Rob went to the doctor.  He doesn't have anything seriously wrong, it's muscular so it should heal well with rest and meds.  Yay!

Ethan had soccer practice yesterday.  Hannah and Grace had cats practice and piano and voice lessons.

I went visiting teaching.  I am exciting about my route.  My partner is cute and fun and we visit 3 very nice sisters.  I love so many things about the programs of the church. I am not always a great visiting teacher but it is wonderful to make friends with the sisters that we visit, visit with and are visited by.

Today is scouts and young women.  I am serving dinner at the homeless shelter and it's 90 degrees outside.  That's kind of warm for the last day of September.

Also I paid some bills.

Bunnies and birds and every day bummers

I subbed 7th grade science yesterday. It was an interesting day.  Not interesting = good. I will go back to middle school though, the day went quickly.

Rob's back is still bad, that is stressful for all of us. We want him in tip top shape and feeling good. Today he sees a doctor  so that's good.

Yesterday we also met with Hannah's counselor. She was very disappointed because previously she had been told she could graduate early because she had so many credits blah blah blah. Turns out that yes if she doesn't want to go to college she could skate on out but if she does she has 5 more classes to take next year. I was sad that she had another big disappointment but also glad because I definitely wasn't ready for her to fly the nest, and I don't think she really is either.

We have lots of pretty plants in our yard. This lantana is my favorite. The hummingbirds like it too.

For FHE we continued our killer bunnies game from Sunday night.

Then we piled in bed for some dancing with the stars.

Weekend

We had a good and busy weekend.  Saturday I went to women's conference with Nellie.  It was wonderful. We had workshops and lunch and a musical fireside.  My favorite talk was on having confidence, given by the wonderful Joanie Swindlehurst.  I love her! She has long been dear to my heart and such an influence for good in my life.

How to Be Confident

C courage  2 Timothy 1:7

O optimism D&C 61:36

N name/family "every man or woman is a  quotation from their ancestors"
            Ralph Waldo Emerson

F failure failure is a success if we learn from it. 

I identity  I am a child of God

D determined "if you are going through hell, keep going" Winston Churchill

E education D&C 109:7

N now "now is the best time to strat becoming the person we want to be"
               Pres. Uchtdorf

T trust Proverbs 3: 5-6

pioneer girl

Rob held down the fort while I was gone.  He took Grace fishing in the morning (they didn't catch anything).  Then they went to Ethan's soccer game.  We won.  3-0 and Ethan scored the first goal which was super exciting.  He doesn't usually score.  He is a great keeper and a great mid, but that means he rarely takes it all the way to the net. Then he took Grace to Catherine's birthday party.

In the evening Hannah went to a party with Sawyer.   The rest of us watched the women's broadcast.  It was really good.  I love Pres. Uchtdorf's story.  We can not wait for conference weekend coming up!

Today we had the primary program practice.  Also Rob got called to be the gospel doctrine teacher.  He had to leave right after the sacrament because his back is so bad today.  Hopefully he'll be better soon but right now he's a crookedy mess :(

I love to see the temple

Another week has come to a close. We have lived here 2 months.  It's starting to feel like home.  All the kids are making friends.  Hannah doesn't even hate it here anymore.  I am sure this has nothing to do with handsome Sawyer and their growing friendship.  There are things I don't like and things I do like.  One of my favorites in the sky at night.  So gorgeous.

Today we went to the temple.  It was a lovely evening there and the kids survived.  I remember once lamenting to Pres. Volk about how far and how stressful the drive to the DC temple was.  He told me if I wanted my children to follow me there I needed to make a well worn path for them to see.  Good advice.  This is closer and a little less stressful but still far enough and the traffic is bad enough.  I wanted to go today for the stake RS temple night but E had practice, and H wasn't feeling well, and....  I remembered PV's words though and so assigned Hannah to walk with E to practice and back, and she felt better, and everyone survived.  So there you go, we had a great experience and I am glad we went.

Also I hope no one else gets sick. And I need to buy a book shelf and sell a chinchilla.  It's for sale on craigs list, as well as our electric dryer (brand new).  Hope they both sell.

Stomach bug

We've been sick. Ethan started it off, now Grace and I have it. Throwing up & the other end, fever, no fun. Hopefully Rob and Hannah won't get it too.

Sierra isn't sick but she instagramed this pretty picture and cheered me up. I'm looking forward to her visit soon. Sure love that girl!

Ziva isn't sick, she does keep me company in my new bed. So excited to have a new bed. We never have had a new one and it's so exciting and pretty.

a saga involving a rodent, a girl and the worlds worst mom

Today Ethan and Rob were both home.  Flu and bad back respectively.  R worked from home, which was fine.  E mostly slept or read or did his homework.  I think he'll go back tomorrow.
I picked up Hannah from school and she had to go get a shot.  One we were missing.  That took awhile but we got it done.
She is also meeting with a counselor to get lined up for graduating this year.  So crazy.  I don't know how I feel about that.  Well I do actually I don't want her to go.  She is so fun and we have a great time together.  I will miss her so much and feel jipped out of a year with her at home.  On the other hand baby birds leave the nest and I want what's best for her.  I am not sure this is it but we're going to start down the path and see.

So the chinchilla.  Worlds worst pet.  It is SO messy.  I sweep chinch poop up every day from multiple rooms, Grace's bed room smells like the elephant habitat at the national zoo and even though she worked for 2 hours cleaning it last night I still had to go in today and clean another half hour.  I am pretty tolerant of messy build up, particularly in the kids rooms, but I can not abide this.  I feel bad because we couldn't move the gerbils or fish.  We loved the gerbs they were awesome pets.  The fish I was neutral on.  In Grace's mind I moved my pet and not hers.  She had us over a big guilt barrel and so I agreed to the chinch.  I had no idea the mess.  So we told her today that we had to return Peter and she could pick another more suitable pet.  I even gave her an extensive list with options on it.
She could get a beta, a hamster or a venus fly trap.
She would like a cat or a dog or an elephant or a rabbit or a ferret.  I thought leasing a horse would be a great idea.  She said not.  We went to the pet store to look at replacement pets while she spends a last couple days with Peter.  She thought a ball python might be awesome! or a finch! or a guinea pig.  I agreed but Rob did not.  Then we went to Target with nothing settled but a furious girl who pitched a fit, kicked my seat, cried in the aisle, asked for everything under the sun and informed me that I am the meanest mother in the world and that she will never forgive me.  To which I replied fine.

It was a great night.

I do love my dog but I don't want two.  Cats.  No I don't like them but I would get one if that was the only problem.  Val and Michael are both very allergic and I hope they will visit sometime. So no cats.  Also a lot of other people are allergic, cats are very divisive that way.  We like to have people over a lot.  So no cats.  I'm good with a snake.  R hates them.  I am good with a small rodent (but not a mouse or a rat)  Birds are messy too.  And they live a long time.  Frankly I'd be fine with an elephant under the right circumstances.  Life in the antelope valley is not the right place though.   Grace has a running list of injustices and times when I have been mean or unfair or unreasonable.  It'll save her a lot of time when she goes to therapy as an adult.  She can hand over the notebook and they can read through it together.

In other news Grace and Hannah both got parts in cats.  So awesome!

Also we got Age of Ultron. I can't decide if Thor or Captain America is my favorite avenger.  But I will give it some thought :)

I love the Sabbath

a quote I like, has nothing to do with today :)

Today is the best day of the week.  Unfortunately last night Ethan was sick.  He threw up about 10 times in the night and has a fever today.
Rob stayed home with him and the girls and I went to church.  Unfortunately Rob hurt his back while we were gone and now we have two boys on the couch feeling poorly :(

Anna brought us "the world's best mac and cheese" and salmon from Seattle.  For dinner tonight we had the mac and cheese and chicken.  It really was very good.

We had some face time fun!  While we were talking to Dani and the girls J called and we had a fun multi user conversation.  Love those cute kids of mine!

Tonight Hannah and I went to a wonderful fireside that honored people in the community that exemplified family values.  The Sunday Night Singers performed and they were amazingly awesome.  The families honored were so sweet and inspirational.  I saw lots of people that I knew from before and it was fun to say hello!
I also ran into Becky Nichols brother and sister in law.  They were very sweet and it was very nice to see them.
It is a small world!

poor sick boy and the comfort dog

Saturday

We had a soccer game this morning. It was sooo hot. Ethan made some great saves as keeper and also played well as mid. We won 3-0.

Today is dress like a pirate day. If you dressed like a pirate at Krispy Kreme you got a free dozen donuts. We made some costumes out of paper and fabric scraps and headed over for our free 3 dozen!!

Hannah went on a double date with Sawyer and Shelby and Jordan.

She also had try outs for cats. 

It has been a busy day!

Last day

Everyone woke up grouchy and still tired this morning. Too much fun syndrome. After we got the kids out the door to school the boys requested Mickey Mouse pancakes. For the record Anna makes it with cool whip but chocolate eyes were "ok" too.

I did some cleaning and they did some fighting. I separated them, D watched Big Hero 6 in the living room and J watched 

Wild Kratz in my room. We were ready to hit park #3 by 9:30. 

Before we got to the park there was a go-gurt accident in the car. While we were at the park there was an accident of another nature and there were lots of tears and wailing.

Eventually we went to the mall (I needed new fall soaps) and the little sith lord got new pants on clearance. Then we went to the indoor play area. It was lame but the boys liked it fine. As luck would have it I have been driving around with a bag of clothes that we need to donate so I found a tee shirt to cover nak*d buns.

On the way home we stopped at the store. Then has Mimi club, then picked up the kids.

Finally it was nap time!

After school J and G went in the clubhouse with pillows and laptop for some more Kratz brothers.

And now Ethan is at soccer, Hannah is at Shelby's and the boys and Grace are taking another polar bear plunge. Anna is coming back tonight. It's been so fun to have the boys! They will be happy to have mom back though. 

fun fun fun til the sun goes down...and then some

We spent the afternoon playing.  The boys watched Hotel Transylvania.  When the kids got home from school Deo took a nap and Grace and J swam, then we all went to the park by our house.

big boy!

For dinner we had pizza and R took G to audition for CATS.

biking fun

Ethan played driveway basketball with Joneaux while Deo rode his scooter and we ended the night with some hot tubbing fun.

It's been so fun.  When I was a mom with young kids I tried to be fun and interesting and creative and patient.  Sometimes I was and sometimes I wasn't.  Thank goodness I had littles before pinterest and facebook.  It would have been the death of me.  Even so it was just too much.

One of the great things about having young nieces and nephews and of course grandchildren is you get to go back and do it a little better.  The time we spend together is limited so I can muster up the energy to be pretty great fun. That's what family is all about.  I am thrilled to take the boys for a couple of days and spoil them and love on them.  It reminds me of the sweetness (and the work) of the toddler/little kid phase.  It's great for all of us.  The girls are really good with the kids.  Ethan is too but he tires of the commotion.   It's good to serve and adjust our schedule to someone else's.  It's good for the kids to know how many people love them.  It's good for the parents to know they are safe and well taken care of. 

When my kids were little Val and Anna were teens and even younger.  They often baby sat for the girls, and played with them, and loved them and were great examples to them.  I am glad to return the favor.  This is definitely something that modern families miss out on, those close extended family relationships. There is a lot of joy therein.  

Exotic Feline Breeding Compound

We took a little field trip to see the wild cats. The boys were pretty excited. J wanted to see a puma and D wanted to see the gift shop. We got there right when it opened and saw the cats coming out. It was nice and cool and we were the only guests there. This was good and bad. Good because we had a great view of the enclosures. Bad because the volunteer security guards  enforcers docents had a good view of every rule two rambunctious boys broke.

ready to go

Deo loved the peacocks and the cats. J got to see a puma and we saw jaguars and jungle cats and leopards. The tigers weren't out but the gift shop was open so success! A great outting!

Sitting on statues: against the rules. As is climbing on the fence, running, making noise, eating gold fish crackers....

Happy boy with his new tiger train!

Lunch break!

starting with the oreo is just fine when you are with your aunt!

Flashback

These boys were such delightful companions all day. We get up early, 5am, and I hoped we would be quiet enough that they would still sleep. Joneaux didn't wake up until I got back from taking Hannah to seminary. That was still pretty early!  Deo did sleep until I had to wake him to hop in the stroller and walk Grace to school.

We got everyone off to school and then I "let them" pick a movie so I could clean up and shower. 

Around 9 we headed out the door and went to Apollo Park. An old favorite. The lunar capsule was gone:( and the play equipment was different but we had a great time. The weather was perfect. The boys were complete monkeys, the geese were mean and we saw airplanes land and take off. What could be better?!

We stopped for lunch on the way home. Anna told me they love in-n-out. Nope. J even refused to order. Oh well no one was starving. 

Deo took an afternoon nap. J played Legos and dragons by himself so quietly for two hours! I couldn't believe it. He's a smart little guy and very funny. It's fun to have him around, he reminds me of Ethan when he was little. Deo is a snuggler and a giggler and just enough baby that it melts your heart. He's sleeping in our room and I love waking up and peeking over to see him laying there so angelically. 

These two little polar bears braved the chilly water for some diving and swimming fun. It's nice for Grace to be the big kid and she played patiently and happily with the boys all afternoon.

We had Mimi club. We read "no girls allowed" the Bernstein Bear book about the boy cubs building a fort that Sister couldn't go into and then Sister building one that the boys couldn't use and then in a surprise twist ending Mama stepped in and helped them see how much better it is to share. Then we built our own super cool fort.

J loves E. They played tic tack toe.

Tonight we went to the scouts court of honor. I only took one picture because it turns out that 2 year olds need a lot

of attention at courts of honor, oh yea.

The house is a bit of a tornado but we had a lot of fun. 

Nephews!!

We get to keep the two little tow heads for a few days! It's part of the silver linings, we get to live relatively close to family. 

They got here in the afternoon. We hung out, discussed our plans for the week, ate spaghetti, went swimming, watched "how to train your dragon" and read five stories before prayer and bedtime.

I'm looking forward to a fun week! Love these little dudes!

Rob took the girls to a Cats (the play) audition prep. They both hope to be in it.

Ethan had, for literally the first time ever, a considerable amount of homework. 

Another highlight of the day was chatting with Tara. She moved this spring and we commiserated with each other about the challenges of leaving a place you love, and kids adjusting (or not). Love her. It's such a blessing havering awesome people in your life: little nephews, old friends, new friends, kids, moms, the whole gamut!