To Go or Not To Go?

Today I had to answer that question for myself. My house was very cluttered, laundry needed folding, life needed to be organized and shopping and dinner had to get done. All before 2:45pm. So the question was, do I go to the beach and be a little irresponsible, or stay home and get my chores done? It's a harder question to answer than I thought it would be. It's a question my kids are having to answer a lot more lately. As they are getting older their responsibility level is starting to climb and both of the boys are starting to fall short of it. We had a nice long chit chat tonight about doing the job well, not just "getting by". They rush through their chores, homework, piano and everything else in the hopes to get outside and play faster. It has led to forgetfulness and some really shoddy work. Hopefully things will improve.

How did I answer my question?

Beach. It was a lovely day. I had a wonderful time chatting with some friends and enjoying the beauty of La Jolla. Did I get my chores done, yes. Just double timed. Tomorrow's job....Real Cleaning.

Yummy dinner tonight. Stuffed Shells. The kids asked to put this on the regular meal schedule.

Girl Time

On Saturday I drove up to Mortensen Manor to spend the evening my mom and sisters. My little sis was in town for the weekend. We were able to go out to a Thai restaurant and then went to Women's Conference. After that we went back to the Manor and had yummy Cheesecake. We had so much fun chatting that I ended up spending the night because I didn't want to drive home. It was nice to be able to get together with my sisters and mom with no outside distractions. Back to reality. I drove home this morning in time to make breakfast for everyone.

Creative Dating

Part of our "Carpe Diem" theme for the year was better dates for Damon and I. I was tired of always getting a sitter and then planning the whole date and all that goes along with it. So once a month one of us has to plan a date that is centered less around doing "nothing".

Damon had September and the only weekend we had left for a date was our "No Spending Week". This created an even tougher challenge since we couldn't spend money on a sitter or go anywhere that cost money. I gave Damon an easy out and told him we should have a picnic lunch somewhere while the kids were at school. That's what we did. I picked him up from work with a basket full of yummy food. We drove to La Jolla and had lunch at the park at The Shores. It was nice, simple and fun. It allowed us some relaxing time during the middle of the day where we could talk without being mental tired or having the kids running around. We finished off the date, after the kids went to bed, with watching a DVD I checked out from the library. The movie was "We Are Marshall". So good, but sad. We will see what is in store for next month.

A tasty treat I made for dessert tonight that we were able to enjoy while watching the newest episode of Phineus and Ferb with the kids. We all love that show. It's called Chocolate Zucchini Ganache Cupcakes. YUM!

A little out of focus, but it was the best one I got!

Here's What's Cooking

I decided again to try some new stuff today in the kitchen. I should probably not do it again on Thursdays since I am already exhausted from having the kids around all afternoon, but our meal tonight was fabulous. The kids all loved it and when Damon came home from work they all told him how yummy it was. That was music to my ears. It made all the stress of making it all worth it.We had Italian Sausage Rotini with Fried Zucchini and bread sticks cooked in butter and garlic. I am probably going to have to run a few extra miles tomorrow to make up for all the extra zucchini that I ate.

Today was our first official field trip Thursday since school started. We went to the park with some friends. It was finally nice and sunny.

Some Stuff

At the beginning of the school year, which was sadly only 2 weeks ago, it seriously feels like we have been in school for months, we all decided to set some goals. One of mine was to try cooking new things. I am tired of the same things we eat month after month. So the first thing that I made was Apple topped Cheesecake with Caramel topping. It was yummy. Damon was so happy. I am not just making new desserts, but new everything. Stay tuned and see how it goes.

Damon was at a meeting tonight and after the kids had dessert we decided to be a little silly. Here is our version of "Lord of the Dance". We call it "Afualos in the Dance". Enjoy.

A Time to Celebrate

I went up to Utah this past weekend for my nephew's baptism. My siblings were all together for the first time in about a year. It was a fun weekend and a nice break from "normal" life. I left Thursday morning and drove up with my parents. I left Damon in charge of the kids.

> My little sister threw a party for all the September birthdays in the family on Friday night. There are a lot of them. We had a great dinner and as always a yummy dessert.

Saturday morning my older sister and I decided to hike Y Mountain. I haven't done that since 1997 when I hike it with Damon. We had so much fun doing it. It was such a beautiful fall morning. It wasn't cool, but a crisp fall day. You could smell fall in the air. This is a picture of campus from the parking lot. After our hike we walked around campus and the bookstore and got all our favorite treats. Good memories.

My nephew was born September 11, 2002. We were driving around the neighborhood and it took me a minute to realize why all the houses in this one neighborhood had their flags out. It was blocks of them. It almost brought tears to my eyes as I remembered the events of Sept. 11, 2001. It was nice to see so many flags up. It was nice that my nephew was baptized this day to create more good memories.

Damon survived without me, as I knew he would, but the kids were all very happy to see me when I walked in the door. It's nice to get away, but even nicer to get home.

Celebrating the End of the First Week of School

Well, after an exciting and very busy first week of school, the kids and I (sans Rach who is in Utah) went to Red Robin for some food to celebrate the fact that we survived. It is especially significant since we survived the last couple of days without Rach (we miss Mommy).

To everyone else who survived the first week as well, we salute you!

The End & The Beginning

Summer is officially over! I always wonder where the time went. We did not to anything to crazy this year, but we managed to have a little bit of fun.

Labor Day we went to our church's pancake breakfast at the park. I didn't take pictures. It was to early. Afterwards we came home, changed into our swim suits and headed to the beach. We went to Coronado Island. The Mortensen's, Grandma & Grandpa, Jonathan and his girlfriend, Alisha, were there too.

The kids enjoyed the waves, water and sand. We saw dolphins and lots of pelicans. We had a great time and when it was time to leave Jen's car didn't want to go. About an hour later and a AAA visit the surburban made it back. Jen and Damon stayed at the beach and waited for the car to be fixed. I piled 11 people in my 7 passenger van, all seat belted by the way, and got them to my house. It was quite the experience.
We had our special back to school dinner Monday night. It was yummy lasagna. We set personal goals for the school year and a family goal. We did this last year as well. Our family goal this year is Carpe diem. Yes it means seize the day, but for us it is more like making each moment count, living each day to the fullest, getting the most out of life. We will see how it goes. Lily was so excited all day saying, "It's our special dinner tonight", or "I can' wait for special dinner". It was really cute.

Tuesday.... The beginning of a new school year. The beginning of a new phase of life. It should be an interesting year. We managed to get ourselves ready for school and out the door by 8:35am. Damon came with us this year to take the kids to school. We walked all the kids to their classes, took pictures and said goodbye. Yes, I did get a little teary eyed when I hugged Lily goodbye. I couldn't help myself. The kids all had a great day. I spent the day cleaning. I'm still not done, but they boys' room and Lily's room look fabulous! Only 8 weeks til Thanksgiving break!

Last week of Summer Fun!

Summer is quickly coming to its end and we decided to celebrate it by having so much fun we are exhausted by the end of each day.

Monday after an hour of piano we headed off to Mission Bay and went to Belmont Park. We had never been there or to Mission Beach and enjoyed them both. We had unlimited ride bracelets and could go on ride after ride after ride. Mom had to be done after a while on some of the rides. It was such a fun and nice setting. We really do live in quite a unique and fun place. We stopped by this place called the WaveHouse where they have a continuous wave that people can surf on. We also spent some time on the beach. Tuesday was spent working most of the day. I have to have some sort of way to pay for all this fun. Luckily for everyone it is my last day of work for a week. YEA!! The kids played outside with the neighbors and that night we went to pack meeting for cub scouts. Adam earned his Bobcat. Yea! They also got to launch water rockets. They were all in to that. Lily's flew the highest.
Wednesday we had a very lazy morning which was really nice. I could get used to not working at all. Noah had a Safety Patrol meeting at school today and after that we headed up to Escondido to Lawrence Welk Resort. We went with our friends, the Fellars, and played in the pool and the waterslide for a couple of hours. Then we BBQed hamburgers and hot dogs. It was a way fun afternoon.
Thursday found us at the dentist office at 8am. That was way early for us. Everyone did well except Lily. She has a cavity. Poor girl. She was doing so well. I got reprimanded for not flossing better. She has to go back in Sept 13th. After that we came home and got ready for some fun. We picked up our neighbor, had to stop by school to drop off some paperwork and them we headed towards Boomer's! We did a round of miniature golf, rode the bumper boats, where all the kids decided to gang up on me and soaked me. We spent some time in the arcade and then headed to In N Out for lunch. We were all pretty tired after that, but I think we all managed to have a little fun. Friday we had a bit of a lazy morning. We headed to the ice skating rink around 10:30am only to find out that it wasn't open to the public that day. So we went over to the rink in La Jolla and had a lot of fun there. Lily cried most of the time, but really she figured out skating pretty quick. Noah took a while to warm up to it, but managed to not land on his head this time. Adam picked it up and just had fun. I was sweating my brains out and ended up taking off my hat, jacket and scarf. I think it was all the extra support I had to give out. We had lunch at the food court and then got back home in time for Kindergarten Orientation. Lily was able to meet some of her classmates. We came back later that afternoon for class postings. The boys both got the teachers they wanted and I finally was able to put my mind at ease. Damon got home and said he wanted pizza so we ordered some and spent a nice quiet evening together.
Saturday we did a couple of chores and played outside with the neighbors and then drove up to Redlands. We spent the afternoon/evening at Mortensen Manor as well as Aunt Kathy's. We love swimming in the pool and hanging out with all our cousins.

Sunday was relaxing at home until church and then relaxing after church. We made a really yummy dinner with BBQ chicken, potatoes, grilled veggies and rolls. Noah made cookies for dessert.

I still can't believe summer is almost over! One more day!