Grateful

My week started out pretty rough. I was in a lot of pain and was feeling pretty bored with Andrew out of school.  Thankfully, things have gotten a bit better as the week has gone on. It seems very appropriate to write about what I am grateful for right now:

• We love the pool in our neighborhood and swim in it as often as possible
• The weather here is pretty near perfect.  Every single day.
• My long walks in the evenings by myself. Alone time does me some good!
• Our neighborhood is awesome. I love getting to know it. 
• Babysitters charge so little here. The 12-year-old that babysat my children this week who has a babysitting certificate and is CPR certified informed me she charges $2 an hour. (That's how much I charged as a teenager) The most anyone has ever charged is $6 an hour. Nice! We should be able to afford to go out OFTEN at those rates. 
• Tom doesn't have to work too long of hours here. He's normally home by 6:30 PM. 
• Our yard is getting replaced this week. 
• My kids have made a lot of friends. 
• Madeline calls everyone she plays with her "best friend". 
• Madeline has two 10-year-old girls who come over regularly to play with her. I think it's super cute. 
• Madeline LOVES to pray. If we even say the word "prayer", she will start praying. You can often hear her saying a prayer along with whomever happens to be praying, even at church. 
• Since Madeline has decided she loves to pray, Andrew has decided he loves to pray too. They even fight over who gets to pray. That is exactly the kind of fighting I like. 
• I am going to a physical therapist and chiropractor in hopes they can take care of some of my pain.
• I love, love our house. I really do. We will be working on it for a long time to come, but it's a very fun and fulfilling project. 

What are you grateful for today?

Weekend Visitors

One of my favorite things about living in Southern California so far is the number of visitors we get. Needless to say, I was excited to get a phone call from our friends from Northern California on Thursday who wanted to come visit for the weekend. It was so fun to see our friends Annie and Dave and their cute little family! Thanks for coming!



Mitchell, Dave, Tess, Annie, Luke, Madeline, me, Andrew and Tom (Yes, Andrew is in the picture. He's holding up his hand that says, "Don't look at me". )

So, who's coming down next? ☺

Welcome to the Jungle!

Try not to be too jealous, but this is our backyard after trimming the bushes.



Do you love it? (o:

 This is the backyard before we removed the ginormous deck and pond: (we almost didn't buy the house because the deck took up the whole yard)





I know our yard is currently very jungle like.  Someday I'll show you a finished backyard. It could be awhile. (o:


Scary Parent Moment

The other day as I was taping Madeline's room in preparation for painting, Madeline walked in and announced she needed to go visit her 10-year-old friend, Jesse and walked away. I didn't think much of it until I heard our front door close. I immediately stopped what I was doing and walked out the front door, but didn't see Madeline. I started walking towards Jesse's house, which is just a few doors down from us, but was surprised I still didn't see Madeline. At that point, I ran to Jesse's house and Jesse's mom said she hadn't seen Madeline. Then I had to start asking all of our neighbors with kids and NO ONE had seen her, but everyone came out to help me look for her. At this point I started to panic and ran home thinking she must still be at home, but she wasn't. Then full panic mode hit at the very moment my neighbor drove up with Madeline in her car and said Madeline was out walking at the neighborhood greenbelt. WHAT???? I was so relieved to find her, but horrified she had gone to the greenbelt by herself. Are you kidding me? My 3 year-old baby thought it was ok to leave the house by herself, barefoot, and walk to the greenbelt (about 1 1/2 blocks away). Needless to say we had a very long discussion about why what she did was NOT ok and she promised to never leave the house again without an adult. Time to put a triple lock on all our doors or maybe even an alarm.

My sweet, mischievous little girl

Thank goodness for helpful neighbors!

Before and After

Isn't she a beaut? She looks just like 4 others in the house. )o:

The old and the ugly fixture

The new pretty, modern light



Madeline and Tom admiring the new lighting

 And the only issue now is that we have 6 more outdated light fixtures that look even worse now that we have a new one in. One project always leads to another and we love it! (although it is draining our bank account faster than we'd like haha!)

Our Week In Pictures

Andrew was "Star of the Week" in his kindergarten class and had the opportunity to take Curious George from his classroom to our home this week.


Andrew giving Curious George a piggy back ride




Madeline dressed George in a tutu and crown. Both kids thought that was pretty funny.

My kids play at the playground after school everyday. Madeline has become quite popular with the other kindergarten kids. How could she not be with hair like this and upside down sunglasses:


Do you see the crazy difference in hair length between the two sides? Madeline holds and twists her hair on one side all the time and is therefore lacking in hair on that side. I hope she has normal hair someday.




Madeline with her kindergarten friends Aiden and Amy

Now here are the rest of our pics from Legoland on Saturday. We had a great time!

Bonding moment for Tom and Madeline



Madeline was scared of a lot of the rides, but she liked the boats.



I wasn't surprised that the water area was the favorite area of my kids.



After the water area, both kids were pretty worn out.

Aren't they cute?

And our 8 hour play day officially ended with Madeline zonking out in her stroller.

Did I mention the reason we went to Legoland was because our very kind neighbors gave us two tickets for free? We have really awesome neighbors! Thanks Monte and Susan!

Mini-Vacation

Today we went on a whirlwind vacation:


New York City




San Francisco




New Orleans




Las Vegas




Washington DC

 What a trip! Now we are all exhausted and need to go to bed early.

Can you guess where we actually went? (o:

Philosophical Ponderings

Here are some comments I've heard from my kids lately: 

Andrew   " Did you know I would already be in second grade if we hadn't moved twice?"(Uh oh!  At this rate, if we moved a few more times I could end up in second grade again soon!  ) 

Madeline as she cries " Mommy, I am just having a really bad day today."
(What can I say?  I guess the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree sometimes). 

Madeline after playing with several 6-year-olds on the playground after school turns to me grinning proudly and says,  "Mommy, did you know I am not 3 anymore? ME: "Oh really? How old are you?" Madeline, "Ummmmmmm...I guess I am still 3. Darn it."
(I honestly think she thinks she's the same age as all the kindergartners. )

Andrew   "Mommy, what happens if someone kills someone else in heaven? Can you die again?"
(It led to a discussion about heaven, eternal damnation, and hell, except of course I used the words darnation and heck, because I'm that kind of mom)

Oh how I love the minds of my children.

Wallpaper Math

2 layers of wallpaper + a couple layers of paint + 1 wallpaper steamer = perfect understanding of why the previous owners painted over the darn wallpaper in the first place.

1/8 of Madeline's room is done and I'm not sure we will progress any further. Give me my paint cans.

Wallpaper SUCKS!!!

Random Tidbits

I've had so many picture posts lately that I decided it's time for a real update:

• We got some new windows. It was necessary to replace the patio doors on the 2nd level after we removed the deck. (o:
• Madeline finally learned how to get out of her crib. Thankfully, she's old enough to get out safely.
• Tom is in Chicago for work
• We discovered painted over wallpaper in Andrew and Madeline's rooms. Even better, we discovered a 2nd layer of wallpaper under the painted over layer in Andrew's room.
• We've had to start locking our computers in the morning after discovering Andrew playing Plants vs. Zombies before 6 AM on more than one occasion. I have no idea how he survives on so little sleep.
• Andrew lost another tooth in the night.
•  I've had a major flare up this past week and have barely been able to eat anything. I've read a lot of people eat baby food with my condition and decided to try some of the most edible looking kinds. I haven't found any I like at all. Yuck! Any suggestions on easily digestible foods? (low-fat, low-fiber)
• I can't convince myself to take the medicine the doctor prescribed because of the unbelievable list of short and long-term (neurological) side effects plus it can't be taken for any long period of time, so what's the point if it can't provide long term relief anyways?
• My plan is to figure out a way to make my diet/exercise routine somehow work. I don't know if it's possible, but I am going to try.
• I get to go to physical therapy again for my back. Hooray!
• I really want a family member to move close by! Please?!
• Decoupage is fun and very easy. I'm making some cute things for Madeline's rooms. (pics coming in a couple weeks)
• We love our neighborhood. There are so many great families that live close to us. We never knew any of our neighbors in NorCal, but we've met almost everyone within a couple blocks of us here.
• We love our ward, but aren't sure where we fit in yet. I sure hope I make a good friend soon!
• Tom and I both received callings. Tom will be in the Young Men's organization again, which he is super excited about. I haven't been officially sustained yet to my calling, but let's just say it's a calling I had recently for a long time. (o: (Hopefully that means it won't be too stressful for me, since I can't handle stress at all)

That's enough for today. Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

Our window replacement. There is no longer a door that leads you out of our second story to the ground!

More Fun!

The last of our guests left today and it was so sad! My house is way too quiet! We had so much fun while everyone was here. Between our frequent trips to the beaches, we also went paddle boating, biking, bowling, and did a lot of laughing and reminiscing about our childhood.

Lincoln and Madeline getting ready to jump onto the couch together. These two were hilarious. They spent a lot of time arguing over silly things like who spilled the milk. Madeline asked why Lincoln can't just live her forever.

  

Madeline showing off her pretty brown eyes




All the girls and Lincoln




Paddle Boating at a park in Orange




Our paddle boat




Our super cool, super big bike (4 of us pedaled) Don't try to go uphill in this baby!




Andrew actually smiled and posed for a picture




Madeline's excitement while bowling






Mom swinging-doesn't she look happy?




Grandpa giving Madeline a kiss goodbye

 Please come again soon! We already miss everyone so much!