Monday, January 30, 2017
Alex turns two!
This weekend we celebrated Alex's second birthday! The time has gone by too fast for me! Crazy that he is two already! What a cutie!
Winter pictures
We have had lots of rain and it has been so nice! One day I got to school and there was a beautiful rainbow!
Lizzie has become a reading machine and whenever I can't find her, she is with the cats someplace quiet reading! It is so sweet! She has read the first three Harry Potter books and is trying to convince us to let her read the fourth!
A cute comic Joshua drew that is so accurate! Cats are constantly on the counter and could care less when we shoo them off! It is crazy!
Last week was twin day at school and Lizzie dressed up with her friend Gianna. They were super cute together.
Christmas morning 2016
Here are some pictures from Christmas morning. I got the kids Nutcracker pajamas this year and they were good sports about wearing them!
Benjamin Franklin's Birthday Party
Joshua has been busy working on his biography project for his English class. He is doing a report on Benjamin Franklin. I just happened to see in the AAA magazine that there was a birthday celebration for Franklin being held at the International Print Museum in Carson. We had never heard of it or knew if it would be any good, but we decided to make the drive one Saturday and it was such a good decision! The whole family had a great time learning about old printing presses, trying them out and then seeing a show where an actor portrayed Benjamin Franklin and told all about his life. Joshua even got called up on stage to help with an "electrical experiment "! He loved it!
Here is Joshua "grabbing the Devil's tail" as the printing phrase goes. 
Joshua on stage with Mr. Franklin
When we were done at the museum, we drove over to San Pedro and walked around a little and discovered there wasn't much to see there! I did get this fun shot of us standing at the ocean, seeing the snow on the mountains! Gotta love Southern California!
Monday, January 23, 2017
Christmas Break
The rest of Christmas break was pretty low key. We went ice skating, hung out at home and went to see a movie as a family. Vickie took the kids to a movie as well. It was much needed down time for everyone.
On one of Donald's days off, we headed to Universal Studios. We still have passes and in the last few months, Elizabeth has read the first three Harry Potter books. We wanted her to see the Harry Potter stuff again since it now has more meaning for her. We got there right when it opened and went starts the Harry Potter ride, and, we waited in line for an hour and a half! After that we decided just to head home, it was too crowded!
We were back in Simi by noon! We got lunch at In N Out and headed over to the movie theater intending to see a movie and have dinner that evening. When we got there a movie was starting in just a bit, so we bought tickets for that showing. We saw 'Sing'. It was super cute! It was great Donald was with us!
The next day Vickie tried to take the kids to see Moana since it was the "cheap day". Well, when they got there, the movie was sold out! They tried the other full price theater and the guy sold them tickets for the wrong show! They tried to exchange them and it was sold out! She took them for yogurt and took them to see the movie another day!
We also went to Disneyland one day. It was crowded too, but we did a few things and saw the Princess show about Rapunzel. Sarah and Joshua went on a few rides by themselves and we still had fun. Lizzie finally got Jasmine's autograph which was the highlight of the day!
Christmas Day
All the kids slept in to a reasonable time Christmas morning and we had such a nice family time opening gifts. The kids seemed truly excited and grateful for their gifts and couldn't wait to enjoy them.
After opening gifts, we went over to my parents house to have brunch with my parents and Wayne and Jolene. Brenda and Ash were in the middle of moving to San Diego for new jobs so they didn't make it. All the food was great and it was fun to open gifts with the little ones.
Brenda and Ash got my dad this horrible hat! He thought it was pretty great!
After that we went home. Every year I feel pressure to cook a big meal on Christmas Day and this year I said I wasn't going to. Donald warned his mom so she wouldn't be disappointed and we got rolls and ordered a meat and cheese try to make sandwiches. It was actually really nice. Greg and Jackson stopped by and made sandwiches for the road and a while later my parents came over to eat. We waited all day, but Vickie never made it over. I'm glad we saw her in Christmas Eve. Her hip is really hurting her and she can barely walk.
Overall, it was a nice quiet Christmas. The kids were happy with their gifts and we got to see a lot of family!
Christmas
The kids didn't get out of school until December 22nd, so there was very little down time before Christmas. The last few months of school were stress for Sarah and Joshua so I wanted them to spend Christmas break being just kids and playing. Christmas Eve Donald's mom took us and Greg and Jackson to Mission Burritto where it was surprisingly busy. We had dinner then went back to her house to open gifts. The kids loved everything they got and couldn't wait to start playing. Donald even got a Hotwheels race track from Greg which was a hit with everyone!
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Donald's New York
So, 💕Sheila💞 said I should've posted some of my pictures about New York because my experience is a little different than hers. Each morning I would get up, head down to the subway station, righted up north on the west side of the park, and then walk across the park to my conference. This was some of my favorite parts of the trip, because I got to see some neat part of Central Park. At 6:30-7 o'clock in the morning, there weren't too many people around other than the hard-core joggers. And it was brrr cold. Good for walking a mile across the park.
I got to see one of the two ice rinks in Central Park on by Donald Trump. This nice little pond was there too.
I found this little tucked away gem of a waterfall when I took a wrong turn on my normal path over to the conference. The very definition of serendipity!
I loved all the twisting, turning paths going through the park, except for when I took a wrong turn and all the sudden I am looping back on myself. Oh well, it was a fun adventure.
I love that most places you looked while walking around the park looked like a scene from some movie with New York as a central character!
That is Sheila all bundled up on the one day we actually walk through the park together. Doesn't she look cute?
Thursday, January 05, 2017
Christmas programs
The week after we got back was one our busiest yet! There was something every night of the week, plus end of the semester homework and projects. Monday, Elizabeth had her dress rehearsal for the Nurcracker. She was so excited, proud and nervous about the show. The dress rehearsal was in Augours Hills and not until 7:30. She is usually in her bed reading at that time, so very late for her. I'm so glad I went and was able to watch her part of the show because we weren't able to get any pictures of her in her costume on the day of the performance! Her class was the one that come out from under Mother Ginger's skirt and does their dance before retreating under the skirt. She had the whole thing memorized and did such a good job! The performance wasn't until Saturday, it I'll post the family pictures now too. 
She is a bit blurry, it at the time, I thought I was just snapping a picture to send to Donald, but it ended up being just about all I got!
Here she is on stage during the dress rehearsal!
Here is the family shot of everyone who came to see her. I think she felt loved!
Tuesday we hosted Elizabeth's Daisy troop holiday party at our house. That is 14 first and second graders and their moms packed in. Everyone was really nice and I was super proud of Sarah for all the help she gave. She helped organize the girls and read the book for the gift exchange. Everyone was asking if she babysits and saying how helpful she is. After such a hard fall for her, it was nice to see her being so successful, even if it was just for the day.
Wednesday was Sarahs band concert. The concerts just keep getting better. They are really fun to listen to now and the whole family enjoys them. This is the only picture I took this time...
Thursday we had piano lessons since we hadn't had any for two weeks and the Christmas recital was on Friday. All three kids played with Lizzie doing a duet with Sarah. Sarah has been giving Lizzie lessons on and off and Lizzie isn't very interested in lessons, so I have to decide how much more to push. Having the chance to perform was good for her.
Then, Saturday was theNutcracker, and we were so happy to have the week be finished!
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