Presidents Week

Karissa had a week long school vacation, and James got Monday off for the holiday, and Friday off (he gets every other Friday off).
We spent Monday hiking in Oak Glen. It was a gorgeous day and lots of fun. There was even a little snow and the kids got to climb around in it. The hiking was a little slow because we let Tyler walk part of the way. He didn't want to stay on the path and we kept having to chase him around.

On Friday, we went to Disneyland. We got our "Give a Day, Get a Disney Day" tickets by delivering blankets that will go to needy kids. Disneyland was a fun day. We went on a lot of rides, and it wasn't too crowded. We even bought the kids sugar lollypops (they were so excited!). Tyler loved seeing (and hugging) Tigg-Tigg. (I didn't even know he knew who Tigger was!)

Now before I tell this next part, I have to say, "Don't judge me!" (A friend said this to me the other day while opening the door in her p.j.'s at 3 in the afternoon:)  Anyway, we were so excited to get inside Disneyland, and we had to park over in Gardenwalk and take a city bus to Disneyland. On the bus, we realized that we'd left the diaper bag in the car! We didn't want to go all the way back, so we thought we'd just hope for the best or maybe buy some overpriced diapers inside Disneyland. So, we are going along and the inevitable- Trevor poops. We asked the workers and found out that you can get diapers on Main street and we start walking over there, even though it's clear on the other side of the park, when we see.... a diaper on the ground! Manna from heaven! It's unused, totally clean. We laughed and picked it up. Should we use it? Well, of course, a free diaper left there just for us (Karissa said, "Heavenly Father made someone drop this there for us!")  We went on to our next ride and James and the kids got in line while I changed the diaper. Of course, we had no wipes, but as you mothers know, in a pinch, you can use the diaper and do without. Except at those times when you really need a wipe. This was one of those times. Enough said.
So, I'm standing there, trying to change a diaper in the stroller with a diaper delivered from heaven, but no wipes to finish the job. I said a little prayer in my mind, asking for the Lord to send someone with wipes walking close by me, and I would ask them for one. A few people walked by, but none got close enough. Then, a girl walked right in front of me, with a baby in a carrier on her chest- and she looked familiar. "I know you!" I blurted out. Turns out, she is James' cousins' (Daniel Haring) wife. She had wipes, and freely shared them with me. What are the chances someone would drop a clean diaper right in our path? And that, with all the thousands of people at Disneyland, someone I know would walk by with wipes? I don't doubt for a minute that the Lord was aware of our needs and watching out for us! Even for our little needs like diapers and wipes!

Miscellaneous...

A month ago today I started a blog called Simply Real. You can go check it out: http://simplyrealfood.blogspot.com
It's about food and health and cooking...
I'm doing my first giveaway on there, so enter!
Anyway, it's been pretty fun, and in the first month I've had 1500+ visitors to the site.

I recently won a contest in the Reader magazine. Grand prize was a tv. I didn't win that. First prize was $100 cash. I didn't win that either. 2nd prize was a $50 gift card- oh yeah! I won! I don't know where it's for, but- I won! The contest was to try to figure out the names of the people who advertised with the magazine. It took a little work, but was fun like figuring out a riddle.

We found last night that my brother (Chase) got into BYU-Idaho! We're so excited. He's the fifth in my family to go there. In fact, all of us who have gone to college went there, and all of us who are married met our spouses there. I am sure he'll love it.

Karissa has the week off school. I love not having to get up and be on a schedule. I'm looking forward to summer! It's fun having her around too. Kyle loves having her to play with ALL DAY.

Kyle is 5!

Kyle was so excited to turn 5 yesterday. He woke up, ran into the family room and announced, "I'm five!"  His preschool teacher, Miss Stacey, gave him a balloon, and all of his preschool friends colored him a picture. I cleaned his room as a surprise (he said I was the nicest, most hard working mom). He got lots of phone calls singing "Happy Birthday." Our family went to Chuck E. Cheese and to exchange a toy in the evening.

Kyle at 5:
He has cute little freckles on his nose that you can only see if you look closely.
He loves to invent stuff and make things, mostly out of cardboard.
He wears shorts in the winter and long sleeves in the summer.
He says spaghetti is his favorite food, but he's a good eater of almost all food.
He likes to make collections in the backyard.

Happy Birthday, 5 year old!

B.I.G. expo

On Saturday, our family split up for girl day (with Trevor) and boy day. James, Kyle and Tyler went out for a visit with Grandpa Stan. They went on a bike ride, out for a hamburger and a treat, and had a great day.

Karissa and I went to the B.I.G. (Believe in Girls) event. It was a Girl Scout expo. We were there all day and had such a fun time. Some of the highlights were doing  a yoga class together,

getting our nails done,

making crafts,

seeing the dancers,
and meeting a local beekeeper.

Rollin', laughin' and sleepin'

Trevor officially rolled over for the first time this week. I say officially because he had rolled over before, but only when he wasn't totally flat on his back. I wasn't sure whether it counted as really rolling over or not. But now there's no doubt about it- this boy can roll!

He is also laughing- so cute! James had him cracking up here.
And for the last 3 nights in a row....HE HAS SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!

Snow day!!

We woke up this morning to SNOW! The kids were so excited. They played outside all morning, until it was time to take Karissa to school.

But when we got there, school was closed!

Tyler kept holding snow, until his hands were frozen, then he cried and cried until they warmed up.
Kyle got cold outside. He said, "My feet are freezing! Mom, is there a thing like gloves for your feet?"
I said, "Yeah, it's called socks."
"Oh! Yeah! And tennis shoes...I was wearing my flip flops."
That's my California boy!

All kinds of theft

Lately, I've been having a problem with shoplifting. Somehow, with Tyler in the front of the cart, and Trevor's big car seat in the back, stuff gets hidden and I walk out of the store without paying for everything. The first time it happened, I was unloading the kids and found a candy bar (Ghiradelli 86% cacao- my weakness). Luckily James was with me, so I ran back in to pay for it. Then, twice last week it happened again. The first time I got outside of Staples and found some tape under Trevor's seat. I saw an employee on her way back into the store and asked her to bring it in for me since I'd already put Tyler and Trevor in the car. The very next day I was at Kohl's and Tyler was holding a toy to keep him busy while I shopped. Out at the car, unloading the stroller, I realized that he was still holding the Kohl's toy that I hadn't paid for. So, we all trekked back into the store to return it.
Today I got an email from my bank saying that we had overdrawn our account. What? We just checked it the yesterday. When I went online to check, I found a charge for some kind of theater ticket--$1464! James, is there something you want to tell me? But he was as surprised as I was. I spent some time on the phone with the bank, and it's a protected check card so we will get it all back. In a few days. Or maybe longer. They have to investigate a little to find out who else has been using our account.
Seeing that someone else has been using our money to go to a really expensive show makes me a little angry. At least when I steal stuff, I always go and return it!