Allison's birthday

We started a new rule in our house. Every other year they get a birthday party. This was Allison's off year. She chose to go to Disneyland with 2 friends. The rule was they had to be off track and have their own pass. She took a friend from school and then a little boy on Zach's team has a sister that is her age, goes to a different school, but on our same track with a Disneyland pass!!!! They get a long so well and play at every game. So the big day was last Thursday, the 23rd. Grandma Nana came to watch the boys...thank you! We left to get the girls and away we went to Disney land. Aunt Emily met us there for part of they day and we had so much fun. I promised Allison 2 things, 1. to get their faces painted and 2. eat at Rainforest Cafe. The face painting was the first thing we did. So cute! Then off to lunch and then the rides. I was so impressed with Allison. Craig is always trying to get her to go on Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountian, etc. She WANTED to go on them. In fact she reminded me many times to make sure that we go on them. It is so much fun to listne to little girls giggle and talk all day. That is not something I get to listen to often. Our house in more like WWF. At the end of the day we ate dinner at Rainforest cafe. The girls had so much fun and I orederd the volcano for dessert. They LOVED that. If have no idea what it is you are missing out. Order it, you won't regret it! The best part of the day is when we got to the car at about 9:45 and changed the girls into their jammies I discovered that I had left all my interior lights on when I was searching for my cell phone that morning. What an experience that was. Just so you know, you do not need to drag your kids in their jammies all the way back down to the tram to ask for help. If you look next time you are there, there are little emergency buttons ALL over that you can push for help. As I waited for an employee to give me a jump a nice family offered. Thank you to them. After all that I was able to leave by 10:30. Needless to say I was no lomger tired and had no trouble driving home.

Happy 7th Birhtday Allison. Here are 7 things that we love about you:

1. Always strives to do her best.

2. Always a friend to everyone.

3. Always asks me if she can help me cook.

4. Is a good mommy's helper.

5. Loves to smile.

6. Has such a kind heart.

7. I love that she is ALWAYS reading a book. ( I hated to read when I was younger, so that is why I love this attribute about her)

Happy Birthday to you, and you, and you, and you!

Monday the 20th is Craig's birthday, Friday the 24th is my brother's birthday, Sat., the 25th is Allison's birthday and somewhere in all that is our friend Greg's birthday. (sorry Shellie, you know I am bad with numbers) Anyway, we had a family/long time friend "birthday party at our house after church this last Sunday. I am learning how my husband gets a ltitle excited for these type of things. He submitted his "menu" to me that Sat. night. Lets see if I can remember eveything that was on it: fried mac'n'cheese balls, steak with dry rub, bbq chicken, risotto w/vegies, chicken and shrimpo, potato salad, fruit salad, I think that is it. On top of that I made the cake and strawberry pie. Then people brought stuff. We had crockpot beans, ice cream, more fruit, chocolate covered strawberries, cantalope, a cheese tray, and who knows what else. We had oh, 19 adults and 28 kids here. All in all I say it went fairly well! Our friend Greg (who's birthday it was also) stopped by because he had to work. He is a CHP and the kids loved seeing the police car. Here are all the pictures:

Line 'em up

It has just been a whirl wind of activities for us. Last Wed. we had an enrichment activity called in the kitchen with.... Well, this time it was with me and 2 other women. We were asked to demonstrate bread making and freezer jam. So, long story short I was going to have 2 loaves there that just needed to rise and then bake. One we were giving to the hostess and the other whoever won the bread trivia game. I walked into our computer room to look up trivia and found this...


Just in case you can't tell what this is I will explain. I walked into our computer room and found my sweet innocent little boy lying on his belly with his hand on the carpet, trying to trace it with permanent red marker. First thing I did was gasp and then the second was run to get the camera. Needless to say, there was no bread trivia because I spent the rest of my evening trying to get permanent marker out of my carpet!

When Craig got home he did the usual line up when someone has done something bad.


He then pulled Spencer out of the line up and preceded to tell all the other kids that Spencer was the "bad guy" and they were the "law enforcement". It is their job to report all wrong doings to the "police chief" (that's me) as soon as possible. They all just stood there and giggled. Spencer didn't have a clue what he was talking about and had a BIG grin on his face the whole time because he got to stand next to daddy and not in the line up. He probably thought he was off the hook!

Mother Son Dance

Every year our school has a mother son dance. Traditionally we wear matching jersey's and jeans. Zach looks forward to it every year. This year my friend decided she would be the committee for the dance. She did a great job and I would hire her in a heart beat to plan any major party, I just don't know if she would commit!

She had Thunder (from the Lake Elsinore Storm) and Wild Duck (from the Mighty Ducks) come for the evening. The boys LOVED it! Zach even won an autographed puck from Wild Duck!

Funeral

After the funeral we went to a cute little inn where they had a dinner ready for everyone. They had a grassy area with flowers and a carriage. I just thought it was a good spot for picture taking.

Easter

Better late than never right? Here is a bunch of pictures form Easter. We had our ward egg hunt the week before, and then Easter dinner over at Grandma Nana's house Easter Sunday. As I type this I am trying to remember that far back.

Here is a quick synopsis: We have been off track for the whole month of April. The first week was filled with fun. We had play dates and went to Disneyland. AND THEN it hit....THE FLU!!!! It started with Allison and creeped it's way through our house. It seriously took the next 2 weeks for it to finish it's cycle in our home. Then the week before Easter my aunt passed away and her funeral was the day before Easter. The funeral was all the way up by Fresno. Craig had to work, so I packed up my kids (very early Sat. morning) and drove to my brother's house in LA to pick him and his wife up. He drove the rest of the way up there for me while I took care of the kids in the back. Thank you so much!!!! Anyway, on the way home Eli started to say he didn't feel very well (he was the only one of the kids who had not gotten sick yet) and I was starting to fell yucky! We did make it home, but I did not make it throught the night. Needless to say We missed the first part of church Easter Sunday. Poor Eli wound up getting sick that Monday. Phew, that is it and we were all done getting sick!

I digress, so here are the many pictures of the egg hint and Easter sunday:

How do I get the stuff to put in the house?

So we are driving in the car, listening to the kids' music when from out of nowhere Eli says: Mom, when I grow up and get to be a dad how am I going to get a house?

Mom: Well, when you are a dad you are going to have a job and that job is going to pay you money. With that money you can buy a house.

Eli: Well, then how am I going to get all that stuff to put in the house?

Mom: What stuff?

Eli: You know, how am I going to get the kids to put in the house?

Mom: (Oh boy here we go again, I am never going to think that my kids are never going to ask me these questions again! See post about Zach) Well, Eli when you grow up you will meet a young lady and get married.

Before I even can take a breath Allison chimes in: In the temple!

Mom: Yes, you will get married in the temple and because you love each other soooo much, Heavenly Father is going to give you children to put in that house. (Phew, I think I'm done. Good job mom!)

Eli: Mom? Is that how you and daddy did it?

Mom: Yes Eli, that is exactly how we did it!!!!!

Pack meeting

Last week we had a pack meeting and Craig was in charge of bringing the treats. Translation: I needed to come up with something cute. The theme was "When I grow up". I decided to make cookies. Here they are:



As I was finishing up with the cookies my little boy decided he wanted a closer look at what was going on. So, with my back to him he pulled a chair over to the counter and thought it would be fun to taste the food coloring paste. GROSS!!!! Seriously though, how can a mother get mad at a face like this?

camping

Two weekends ago Craig wanted to take the kids camping for a night. You have to know that the last time we went camping as a family we were a family of 3. It sure takes alot of stuff just for one night! The kids had a blast. It was a minimum day, so we were able to leave early. He took us to Anza Borrego. I was familiar with the area, but some how it never clicked that where we were going there was no bathrooms or running water. This is when it comes in handy to have all boys! The kids had a blast and Allison was a real trooper learning how to go to the bathroom out in nature. (sorry the pictures are not in order)

We were a little really to see the desert in full bloom. It really is a beautiful sight to see this everywhere you look.

During our little hike we found this.

On our drive home we stopped at Mt. Palomar. The kids thought it was way cool (their words exactly)

We found a small pond that was full of tadpoles.They had so much fun catching them. One of the big kids would catch one and then give it to Spencer. He was so excited he wouldn't let it go. I felt sorry for every one of those tadpoles that were given to him to hold.

This was just a quick stop along our hike.