Disneyland!!

I finally got all of my pictures transferred so I can write about our Disneyland trip. But my computer is still being really slow so I won't be posting too many pictures. I will give a brief Travel log of what we did.

We left early Sunday morning hoping that the kids would sleep most of the way so we didn't have any bickering. I also planned ahead and had "car bags" for each of them and a little game. When we reached a certain mile point then there was a new activity brought out or a treat or a movie. They really liked it and it helped to space things out. Unfortunately, I did not go to sleep AT ALL the night before we left and so I slept through most of the mile points!

We stopped off in Vegas on the way there to have a picnic lunch. Since it was the Sabbath I wanted to make sure that we did something to honor that. So we stopped to ask directions to the Las Vegas Temple. The first person I asked did not know what I was talking about. I kept saying, the big white building. With a gold angel on top. The Mormon Temple. She says, "oh I think I know what you are talking about. I drove past it once when I was on 'such and such' street." I looked it up in the phone book but it didn't have an address. So we go outside and she asks one of her coworkers. He was this nice black guy who again, didn't really know what I was talking about. "Oh, is that the place where people go to get jobs?" Uh, no!So I start explaining again and he finally figures it out and gives me some directions. "So, you're mormon huh?" "Yes I am!" "John Smith huh." "No, that was Pocahontas. His name is Joseph Smith." "Oh, ya, Joseph Smith. So Joseph Smith see Jesus huh." "Yes he did. Well, thank you for the directions. Bye!" I could tell he really wasn't interested in me answering his questions anyway, so thought it was ok to pass up this opporunity.

We finally found the temple after driving around for a bit and one more stop for directions. Fortunately this guy knew exactly what I was talking about. We ate on the lawn outside the gates of the temple and then walked around the grounds afterwards. Very pretty grounds. Because we woke the kids up and put them in the car we were all still in our PJ's. Not the most appropriate attire for the temple but it was ok. The Spirit was still there. After that, we hopped back in and drove straight on to California. We stayed at this nice place called Comfort Inn Suites and had a kid suite. It was awesome because it had a little adjoining room with bunkbeds and a tv separate for the kids. The main room had two queen beds and the tv and bathroom and all of that. The kids loved having their own room. Monday we pretended that it was Emma's birthday because her birthday was on Monday this year and that's why we were going. So we got her the birthday pin and had lunch with the Princesses at Ariel's Grotto. You get your picture taken with Ariel and then go up to the restaurant to eat and 4 other princesses come to your table while you are eating. We did this for Maddie's birthday and Emma just thought she was in heaven! She was hoping that there would be different princesses this time, but alas, they were the same. She still loved it!

Then she had the whole day to pick the rides. We spent most of the day in Fairytale Land riding the teacups, dumbo, carousel, pinnochio and all of those rides. Olivia was surprisingly good and loved all of the rides. Nate loved the rides and loved being with his dad.

Everyday was pretty much the same. One of the kids picked all the rides and we enjoyed going on them again and again. I had "snack bags" for each of the kids that we packed with drinks and snacks every day. Each morning I laid out various snacks and let the kids choose what they wanted. We took snack breaks periodically and some days we packed lunches. This saved me a lot of money! It also helped the day to go much smoother because kids were happy and fed.

Our favorite rides were, The Buzz Lightyear ride, the new Toy Story ride at California Adventure, the new Ariel ride, teacups, the Swings at California and many, many more. When we first went to Disneyland a few years ago, several people told us that it wasn't as kid friendly with the rides as Disneyland but I think our kids almost preferred to go there. We spent one day at the beach and the kids had a blast. Nate doesn't remember the beach last time...he was only 8 months old after all...and he loved having the waves come up and splash him. Livvy loved the endless sandbox and spent her time digging and running to the ocean...and back to the beach...and to the ocean...and back to the beach. We found lots of cool sea shells and played in the ocean. We were the only ones in the ocean for most of the time so that was nice to have the beach to ourself!

We saw all the night shows and they were really cool. It is so amazing what Disney can do with lights and water! The kids loved Fantasmic because it has water shows and real people and dancing. The firework show at the Castle was phenomenal and the World of Color show at California Adventure is awesome!

Nathan was in seventh heaven. Not only did he have is real life hero, his dad, there to play and spend time with him 24/7, but he also got to meet his action hero, Buzz! We searched and searched for him. Finally we found him. We stood in line forever and then when we were the third people in line they tell us that Jessy is on her way and will be taking Buzz's place. When we were second in line we see Jessy coming. There was no way we were going to miss this opportunity to see Buzz!!!! So, when it was our turn Jason just shoved Nate right up there and Nate just gave Buzz a big hug. We bought a toy story cap for Nate and so Buzz signed it and then we all got our picture with him. Then Jessy came up and they traded places...but not without a kiss for each other first. The kids thought that was so hilarious! Phew! we saw Buzz...barely!

Emma wanted to see Tangled and we saw her a few times walking on the street but we didn't get a picture with her. We got one of her but not with her. Emma really wanted her picture with Minnie, which we got! Maddie got her picture taken with Jessy and Livs...well she liked the princesses (real people) but she wasn't keen on getting to close to people in costume. She loved waving and yelling their name but she didn't like standing to close to them. Jason loved his picture with Sully and I of course loved taking the pictures!

We had a lot of fun together as a family and that is what is important. We didn't have too many meltdowns or crying fits. Nate had the worst one that resulted in us getting kicked off the carousel, but other than that we were good. I love spending time with my family and having these bonding moments. It makes it so much nicer, fun and it makes me excited to go back! Of course, who wouldn't want to go back to the "Happiest Place on Earth!"

Emma is 6!

Emma has finally turned 6! She has been waiting for this birthday for three whole years! When Maddie turned 6 we were at Disneyland and Emma was 3 at the time. She told us that she wanted to go to Disneyland for her birthday too. So, thinking that we had 3 years to plan and save we told her we would go when she turned 6...she has been constantly reminding us ever since. In fact, that year when she turned 4 she kept telling everybody that she was 6 so she could go to Disneyland. We kept our promise, but that's another story for another day. Emma was born on September 5, 2005...Labor Day! What an exciting Labor Day it was too. She was tiny, weighing in at 5 pounds 13 ounces and looked like an old man to me. I know that's not nice for a mother to say, but she only had hair around the back side of her head. But we loved her anyway. Now, six years later she is a bright, musical, imaginative, artistic and creative child who also likes to boss people around! She loves princesses and Barbies, dancing and playing dress-up. She is an all around Girly-Girl! This year her birthday was on Labor Day again. We celebrated her special day by going to a little pond in our area and spent the day swimming and fishing.

I think this picture makes her look like a swimsuit model with her stance and the strap hanging down. Jason caught the first (and only) fish of the day on his first cast...just like he said he would. He threw it back and I said, "didn't you want to keep it?" "Why? It's so small." "Well, what if you don't catch anything else?" He gave me this look that said, "Please. Me? Come on!" It turns out that this really was the only thing he or anybody else caught that day. We invited our family and friends to come and spend the day with us. I think everybody had a great time!

Afterwards, we invited everybody over to our house for a BBQ and cake and ice cream. We had good food and lots of family and friends there to celebrate with us. Em wanted a Mario Kart cake with Princess Peach and a small I-Pod cake...wait...what?!?! She's weird. She has been so obsessed with Mario Kart lately. I just about died because as we all know I am not very good with cakes. I decided that I would just make a sheet cake and make it a racing course. I thought of using rainbow colored foot by the foot as the road to make the "rainbow road" course and I found some fun Hot Wheels cars and some little trophies. The idea in my head was fantastic! The execution?...Didn't happen. We had way too much fun at the pond and I didn't make it home in time to make the cake. It took a long time for Em to decide if she wanted me to make it or just buy one. Turns out that NOBODY does a Mario Kart cake. So, in the end we went to Walmart and this is the cake she picked out...Barbie.She wanted Happy Birthday Emma! With a 6 on it...I told you she's been waiting for this birthday for a long time! It was a pretty good cake and the Barbie's dress lit-up. Cool! Emma and her cousin Tyler are fortunate enough to be 3 days apart, Tyler being the oldest. We didn't get to celebrate Ty's birthday, however, because Jason's father had a severe heart attack that day and we were all so worried. I felt bad about Tyler having to miss his party and come to a big bash for Emma so we combined the birthdays. I think he had fun. They each had their own cake and we sang to each one and let them blow out their candles together.

I hope the kids had a fun day because I know I did! We are so happy to have our little Emma in our family and I look forward to seeing which one of the many things she will choose to be. Currently she wants to be a mom and a dance teacher. She keeps asking me if she can be a mom and something else too...I keep telling her she can be whatever she wants to be. She asks, "then why are you just a mom? Don't you want to be something else too?" Yes, I do...but for now, being a mom is just fine with me!

My Favorite Day of the Year...BACK TO SCHOOL!!

I love my children and I love doing fun things with them...but I love it when they go back to school! My kids enjoy school and being with their friends all day. Plus we all enjoy the structure that school brings. I try to keep a consistent schedule during the summer, but that doesn't always work out. For FHE the night before school started this year, we went to a park called Highland Glen. It is this awesome place that has a pond for fishing and feeding ducks, trails to walk, and a little playground. We took up some pizza for dinner... Then watched the ducks and tried a little bit of fishing...

We ended our night with a little bubbly and a toast. We toasted to all of the fun things we did that summer and then toasted to what we looked forward to with the new school year... Then we went home and did Father's Blessings. Emma was so excited to have her first "official" back to school Father's blessing. This year Maddie is in 3rd Grade at Shelley Elementary. Her teacher is Mrs. Larsen and she is very nice. Maddie is really excited to learn cursive this year!

I love Shelley because they make the first day of school so special for the kids. Last year the kids walked into the school on a red carpet and all the teachers were dressed up in fancy clothes ready to make the kids feel like a movie star. This year they had an arch of balloons, some fun music blaring in the back ground, and the teachers all had pom-poms and mega phones to cheer each student as they walked into the school...

Maddie saw her teacher from last year as the first person to cheer her on and gave her a big hug. There was a fun little sign hanging up on the doors for the kids to see...

I usually don't cry when I drop my kids off on the first day. I usually am doing cartwheels all they way back to the car! But you just can't help getting a little misty-eyed when you feel the love and kind energy that radiates from the teachers when they do special things like this. It makes me feel proud, happy and at peace to know that my children attend such a good school!

Emma did not get the big fanfare that Maddie did but she was too excited to care anyway. After waiting for 3 whole years (and I'm not exaggerating that) Emma FINALLY gets to go to KINDERGARTEN!! Emma misses the deadline by 4 days and so she had to wait a whole year to go to school. I think it will be better for her in the long run though. Because our ward all goes to different schools (anywhere but Greenwood!) Emma doesn't see any of her friends at school. But this year 3 of her friends from the ward we used to live in are in her class! So exciting. Emma doesn't have a hard time making friends, but it's always fun to have friends in your class. My mom has a tradition of taking the kids out to lunch and school clothes shopping when they go to kindergarten. Emma loves clothes and shoes! They had a great time and Emma couldn't wait to model her favorite outfit and shoes on the first day... She bugged me every second of the day, "is it time mom? Is it time to go to kidnergarten yet?" Even when we got there and got out of the car she said, "can I walk up to my class now? Is it time for kindergarten?" She couldn't wait to be in class. No tears for either of us today! Em's teacher is Miss Lyons and she hopes to learn how to read this year. I don't know about you, but for me the first day of school has a certain smell to it and a certain feeling in the air. Even now for me as a mother I still feel that excitement in my stomach and smell it in the air. I love the first day of school!

Happy Birthday Nate!

My sweet little Nathan celebrated his third birthday on Friday the 12th. He has been looking forward to this day for months! The whole month of July he kept telling us it was his birthday. We told him his birthday is in August. August 1st he reminded us everyday that it was August. He has been eyeing the large Buzz Lightyear at Walmart for like 3 months and wanted it so badly. We planned to get it for him for his birthday. Every time we went to Walmart he'd ask if he could go look at his Buzz Lightyear and then he'd proceed to carry it around the store trying to give me his best arguments to try and make me buy it. He kept saying, "Mom, it's August now. It's my birthday." Waiting twelve more whole days nearly did him in! After his birthday last and for every day since then, he told me he wanted a football party. So, I had planned to make a football cake and little cupcakes and have a sports theme, but after this obsession with Toy Story and Buzz Lightyear, I shouldn't have been too surprised that he wanted a Buzz Lightyear birthday. I did my best to make a rocket cake...the cake itself was delicious. I made a pound cake from scratch!! It turned out perfectly and I was so happy. I thought to myself that this year could be the year that I actually make and decorate a cake myself and have it be perfect...nope, I was wrong! The frosting is all homemade as well and that just may be my problem. I used a buttercream frosting. The colors came out pastel instead of bright and vibrant like I wanted and my pastry bag (aka a ziploc bag with a hole and pastry tip) split right as I was frosting. Curse you frosting!!! I just need to break down and buy an actual pastry bag, but that's for another time. I used licorice for the red stripes on the wings and ended up just outlining the whole rocket with it. Lame!! I did, however, find some really cute Toy Story candles that had Buzz and the aliens. So at least that worked out! I used pretzel M&M's to go around the cake and two unfrosted cupcakes for the rocket boosters. It looked like, you know what, but it was delicious! I made some little cupcakes and because of the cake disaster I didn't have time to frost them the way I wanted to either. I tried to make them into the little aliens. I used the white candies in good and plenty for the eyes and cut them in half. One of my better ideas rather than trying to make them out of fondant or something else crazy. Nate loved all of his presents but there were a few things that he was hoping to get and anxiously awaited to see what each gift was in hopes that some of these wishes came true! He has learned to ride Emma's little two wheeler and he just zips around the neighborhood. The girls have bike helmets but he doesn't. So, birthday wish #1... A bike helmet!! My parents gave this to him and in their infinte wisdome gave him one with lights in it so we could see him. He wore it around the house and while riding his bike. He doesn't like that he gets all sweaty though. The kid has so much dang hair that when he takes his helmet off he's sopping wet...really gross! A few months ago his cousin Ashton have him some hand-me-down shoes that my son just instantly fell in love with! He lovingly refers to them as his "blue shoes." He loved these blasted shoes so much that he tried to weasel into wearing them to church and he slept in them every night! This kid is so fanatic about his shoes and clothing. Anyway, he wore them to death and there were so many fights about wearing them because they had holes in them. They were so awful looking. I didn't want him wearing those things to church! People would think we were extremely poor because my son wore shoes that were hanging on by a thread-literally! I finally had to get him to throw them in the trash. We had to make a big deal about it and have a little ceremony. We said good-bye and threw them in the big trash can outside so he couldn't retrieve them later. You'll notice in the picture on the blue can is a pair of Jason's shoes. Yes, we had to have the same ritual for him! He kept gluing his soles together and it was really irritating...so Father and Son said good-bye to their beloved shoes together. For weeks afterwards Nate kept trying to look in the garbage can to see his shoes and constantly asked about them. Every time we went to Target he asked if we could buy him new shoes. So, birthday wish #2...

Grandma Childs gave him his beloved blue shoes! He immediately took of his new favorite "brown shoes" and put on his new shoes. He squealed with delight when he opened them and let out a big sigh once those babies were on his feet. Livvy swooped down on the opportunity to put on his discarded brown shoes. She loves to wear any pair of shoes that are not hers! Nate's dear Nursery teacher surprised us with a visit and brought him a book for his birthday. She is the sweetest lady and it was so nice of her to come on his birthday. He loves his book and always remembers that his teacher Sis. "Bacon" (Makin) gave him a book for his birthday. Well, now the moment he's been waiting for... Birthday Wish #3 (drum roll please)....

Ta Da! To Infinity and Beyond!! Buzz Lightyear!!! He has not left his side and sleeps with Nate in his bed and goes in the car and would come to church if Mom would let him. Nate was so excited that I got a littly misty-eyed to see his eyes light up and his squeals and his big huge smile. Despite my ugly cake disaster I think my son had pretty good birthday. I love you Nate Dawg! Happy Birthday!

Our Last Hurrah!

I've been so busy with church stuff and not feeling well that my children haven't had much of a summer vacation. So I tried to do something really fun for them the last day before school starts. (well, the weekend before it starts)

There is this new pond in Cedar Hills that is really fun and even has a "beach like" effect! Part of it is roped off for swimming and the other part is for fishing. I let Maddie and Emma each invite a friend that they don't normally get to play with and we headed out and had a picnic lunch and swam all afternoon. I got fried!!! I'm always so careful to make sure the kids have sunscreen on but I guess I only thought about putting sunscreen on me and didn't actually do it!

We had so much fun that Emma wants to go there for her birthday. I'm up for it!

I want to order one pizza!

I am several months late in posting this, but it needed to be posted nevertheless. Maddie's second grade class wrote and produced an opera. From start to finish they all worked hard and put on this magnificent opera! I was so very impressed! It's called The Pizza Mess. There were a lot of things I didn't understand (like, what were M&M's doing at the pizza parlor eating pizza??) but what an accomplishment. Fortunately for you the video is too long, otherwise you would be watching it! The basic story line is that a pizza parlor catches on fire and the M&M's are melting. Maddie was an M&M and did a fantastic job! She also helped a little boy with Downs Syndrome get across the stage and helped him know when to do things. It was a very proud Mommy Moment for me! The teacher in her infinite wisdom made all the kids a CD with the Opera on it...so we listen to it every once in awhile...and again...and again...and again....

This is Travis, the boy that Maddie helped.

The kids did all the scenery. They had a teensy bit of help from the parents but the majority of it was all done by the kids-painting and all!

My little M&M!

Maddie and her teacher Mrs. Robertson

New Car

A few weeks ago I got into a little car accident...you don't need to know the details (because they are embarrassing) but the important thing is that I'm ok. My Ford Expedition on the other hand...not so ok. It got totalled. The guy said that I hit it just in the right spot to do maximum damage for a not so big hit. So, we were without a car for a few weeks and that was pure misery. Especially because it was during the last few weeks of school. Anyway, we got full value on our car which was actually a money maker for us because the value was more than we paid for it. So we had a nice down payment to put on our new car:

Our Chevy Tahoe! This is a great car and even better than our Ford Expedition! I was so bummed about losing my car because it was awesome and a great vehicle...but I like this one even better! I hope we have this one longer than 6 months this time! :)