Disneyland 2010

Sorry, here is a long line of pictures. I know it's lame to have so many but it's my blog and I like pictures.

Some things to remember:

-Kate was the perfect age to visit Disneyland. She was so excited to meet every character and was not afraid to give lots of hugs. Here speech improved dramatically the two days we were there. She had no problem telling us were she wanted to go and what she wanted to see. She says her favorite ride was the "Ladybugs". I loved having a child her age to make the park Magical.

-Grayson was finally old enough to ride every ride. I thought he would love Indian Jones, he thought it was still a bit too scary. His favorite rid was Pirates of the Caribbean.

-Lydia rode every ride she could, but only because I made her. She cried before riding Thunder Mountain, but it ended up being her favorite ride.

-The kids and I have vowed to NEVER ride Hollywood Tower of Terror again. Jared was sure they were old enough to ride. He promised they wouldn't get scared. I rode the ride with them while he watched Kate and Clair. I wanted to kill him. If they don't have nightmares for months it will be a miracle. I don't even know what happens on the ride I was too busy trying to control my freaked out kids. They were bawling and yelling the whole time. We were strapped down so all i could do was hold their arms and yell in their ears it was going to be okay.

-There was an earthquake in Southern California and they had to close down the rides early the first night.

Los Angeles Temple

Our Day at the Beach

Sweet Clair mooched a strawberry from another group.

She had a hard time eating it with all the sand.

She eventually decided she didn't care.

The water was too cold to swim in, but the kids could spend a whole day in the sand.

Our friends live a few minutes from the beach, I'm very jealous.

Visiting the Ray's

It's become a tradition to visit our best friends the Ray's in California each year when school ends. As always we had a great week. They were so nice to share there home and food with the six of us. They let us jump on their tramp and swim in their pool. Most of all they never acted like they were sick of us.

The kids especially love spending the night in a tent in the back yard.

Jared had a fun night trying to control a sleep walking Kate several times.

THANK YOU MAGGIE AND JASON! WE CAN'T WAIT FOR NEXT YEAR.

Not the Same Thing!

I usually carry a few boxes of this stuff in my purse.

Recently I bought a new six month supply of contacts. They also come in a small rectagular box and can be found in my purse. It may be hard to tell the difference but one does cost a significant amount more than the other. In fact I've needed new contacts for over six months but kept putting it off because I hate how much they cost.

There is one other difference. One is full of gum and the other is full of little packages of water. Apparently when you don't find gum, it's also fun to rip open the packages of water and throw them around. You know, just something to do while your waiting to find something else to destroy.

I salvaged what I could, but was not a nice mommy for a few minutes.

Our Drama Queens Time to Shine

Last week was Lydia's class play. She had a special part and did a fabulous job. She loves to act and sing so this was a big deal to her. In the days leading up to it she would tell me who was forgetting their lines and what they were suppose to say. I couldn't believe she could remember everything.

The night before her first performance, she got sick. I didn't think she could do the performance, but Lydia being the brave girl she is didn't want to let her class down. After throwing up her breakfast, I ran her over. We said a few prayers that she wouldn't throw up in front of the school, and she did the program. Immediately after it was done she went pale again and we ran to the bathroom.

While getting ready I kept asking if she was going to be okay, she looked awful, but she kept saying, "this is going to be awesome."

She was feeling better the next day, for her second performance. Unfortunately she had some wardrobe problems, but was so calm about everything and worked it out. Of course, I was dying and wanted to run on stage and help her.

Once again I'm glad that our school gives my kids the opportunity to do the things they love.

Gardner Village

The girls all went for a little shopping trip to Gardner Village over the weekend. Not only did we have a fun time, I got some great Clearance buys.

Kate went crazy feeding the ducks her popcorn.

You would think she had never seen a duck before.

I'm a sucker and let them have a pony ride too.

rough week!

Our week didn't start out so great with the snow storm that hit monday mourning. Not that the snow wasn't bad enough, but it caused our favorite climbing tree to fall to the ground.

This limb, the one my kids are always climbing, it snapped. We all sat in the mud room looking out in shock. My kids even cried. Grayson was really upset. He spent a good deal of time in the tree.

We also lost our phone for the day as the line was ripped down by the tree. We are hoping we can save the rest of the tree, our home just wouldn't be the same with out the apricot tree. I was really upset seeing all our new flowers under the snow, but they survived.

On tuesday we realized Lydia has strep throat AGAIN. When she finally told Jared that her throat hurt it was so swollen that it was almost completely closed up. I was gone so he rushed her to the doctors. When they asked her why she didn't tell anyone that her throat hurt she said, "I didn't know my throat wasn't suppose to hurt, my throat always hurts." I think her tonsils will be coming out soon.

Kate and Clair have both been pretty grumpy all week too. Every time I think I'm going to take them in they instantly seem fine and I decide to wait a little longer.

Look at this cute face, she couldn't possibly be sick.

Turning 6!

Lydia celebrated six last week.

She designed her cake, mom made it.

She opened some presents.

She wouldn't stop hugging the "real" makeup from Pa Pa Jerry.

She loved her zhu zhu pets.

And blew out her candles.

Art Showcase

Last weekend our elementary school held their annual art showcase. It is my favorite event at the school, all the walls are covered from floor to ceiling in children's artwork. Our schools main focus is on the arts. My favorite part is to look at the 5th and 6th grade projects, it's amazing what they are able to produce after years of practice.

Grayson proudly showing his art board. My favorite piece was his self portrait.

Lydia with her self portrait. I know I'm biased, but Lydia's and her friends Olivia's portrait were the best.

Lydia with her art board. The picture in the top left corner was on all the flyers and posters advertising the art showcase.

I'm so grateful my kids go to a school were there is so much emphasis on what I think is the best part of school.