Back to Soccer

 Megan's team is the Queen Bees this year so we had a lot of fun getting them dressed up for the Opening Day Parade. This year Joel and I got a little more involved. He is coaching Ethan's team, The Strykers, and I am team manager (which is a fancy name for team mom) on Megan's team. It has been a lot of fun for the whole family. Poor Austin is just bummed that he can't play until next year.

Back to School

 Ethan, my big 3rd grader, seems so grown up this year. Even walking around campus the first day I realized, he looks like one of the older kids at school now. He is such a smart kid and so well mannered I just love being his mom!

 Megan started Kindergarten this week and it could not have come fast enough. She has been ready since she got her shots at the doctor several months ago. She did great her first day and is already making new friends.

 Austin was so disappointed when he did not get to stay at "Megan's Kindergarten". He did get a new backpack and notebook and we have been having school at home, but it's not the same. He is going to be very ready for school in 2 years when it's his turn.

 We had a great summer together but it is time to get back into our routine. No, I didn't just send them off by themselves... we walk to school together every day. Besides, walking to the school 3 times a day makes it real easy to get 10,000 steps on my pedometer!

I got to go into Megan's classroom the first day because they have a meeting with the parents the first hour while this kids do outside activities. It is their "back to school night" since they don't participate in that event with the rest of the school. What a ham you are Megan!

We Made It!

 Although it broke my heart to leave my sick babies, I knew they were in good hands. This was my first time on an airplane since I was 11 years old, so it was a whole new experience for me. I was a little nervous, but plastered my face in the window for 2 hours watching the the tiny cars and trees below. By the way, I have now seen the top of Mt. Shasta, and no longer feel the need to climb it... that was easy!

 Joel and I did a lot of the fun tourist stuff like a cruise around the harbor. It was a cool, over-cast day (typical for Seattle) but we loved every second. The cruise was beautiful, and we learned a lot about Seattle and it's history.

 After our cruise we walked the pier and had dinner at a famous fish and chips joint right on the water. It was yummy!

 Here we are at the top of the Space Needle. You can't go to Seattle without visiting the Space Needle right? We went just before sunset so we could see out in the daylight and then watched the sun go down. It was neat to see the sky grow dark and the city light up.

We drove by the temple on the way out and it was beautiful.

Since this was a working trip for Joel, that I tagged along on, I had lots of time to shop. We showered the kids with gifts when we got home. Clothes, toys and cheesy Seattle souvenirs.

Getaway for 2... one week prior

When we took our kids to Disneyland for the first time they all woke up sick 2 days before we were to leave. We put off our trip a few days to recover. For the 4th of July two years ago we went to Sunriver, OR for a long weekend and Austin got the stomach flu on the drive up. Megan got sick the next day. For our 10th anniversary Joel and I wanted a little getaway in Cambria (where we spent our honeymoon) so we dropped Ethan and Megan off at Grandma's for the night. They both had terrible colds. It never fails, when we go on a trip, the kids get sick. This time was no exception.

Joel and I have been planning a trip to Seattle, WA for the past 2 months. It is all arranged, plane tickets, hotel, rental car. Grandmas coming on the train the day before we leave... all set, one week to wait.

Monday- Ethan wakes up with a sore throat headache.
Tuesday- There's no fever, nothing to worry about, he can shake it by Sunday.
Wednesday- Everything seems fine until he wakes up in the middle of the night in screaming pain. His head, throat, ear... can't sleep, can't settle down. When I try to check his throat, he pukes.We thought about urgent care, but it was 4 am and we figured it would be faster to make an appointment with the doctor in the morning.
Thursday-Joel leaves for Oregon. Take Ethan to doctor to rule out an infection... just a virus.
Friday-Take the dog to the groomers, find out he has fleas. Pay an arm and leg for grooming, flea bath, medicine, and carpet cleaner. Put the kids to bed and spent the rest of the night cleaning the carpets, blankets, pillows, rugs, car and anything else the dog may have touched. An hour later, Austin wakes up with a burning fever and throwing up. After a few hours of rocking, he settles and seems much better in the morning.
Saturday-one day before Grandma comes. Ethan and Austin seem to be on the road to recovery, and Megan is okay. Joel comes home from Oregon.
Sunday- Austin wakes up with pink eye, and Megan has a cough. Grandma rides in on the train about 3 pm, aware of the situation, but still willing to help! She's amazing.
Monday- get up and leave the house as fast as we can to catch our 8 am plane to Seattle, before Grandma has a chance to tell us Megan has pink eye now too.

We owe Grandma so much for taking this all on. It's enough work taking care of my kids when they're healthy, it's a whole new ball game when they don't feel well. By the way, no one in our family has ever had pink eye before this.

Summertime

To begin our summer we headed to Disneyland for a few days, as you can see from my previous post. On our way home we stopped in Fresno to see the family since my oldest brother and his family were in town visiting. It was a lot of fun having all the grandkids together.

Happy Father's Day! Joel is such a wonderful father and husband. We are so lucky to have him. We celebrated his day with gifts and good eats!

So, after we got home from our vacation we got an email from a Ward member saying they were looking for a home for this cute little Toy Poodle. Uhhhh... well not that we were looking for a dog, we knew we needed to do something to get our kids over their fears of... well... things that move. Willie was the perfect fit for our family, so we took him in. I have to admit, when I told the kids we were going to meet him, Megan burst into tears and Ethan ran to his room to list the reasons we "should not get a dog". After about 15 minutes with him, they were in love.

 Ethan was able to attend Twilight Camp for the first time this year and thought it was the greatest thing ever. He is young and ignorant, but I am glad he had so much fun. He got to experience a lot of new things like archery and BB guns.

I signed the kids up for swim lessons for the first time ever. I guess I should not have waited so long, but since we don't have a pool, I didn't see the point. Well, they hated it. By the end they all made progress, and since Austin was in a "mommy and me" class, he had a lot of fun. But honestly, Megan and Ethan endured it and, that was it. It was the longest 2 weeks of my life.

Joel was traveling on his birthday so when he got home we celebrated both his and Austin's birthdays on Saturday. I can't believe how big he is getting, Austin is growing so fast too!

We had a great 4th of July. We started the day off at the parade in Old Town Roseville then headed over to the park for a picnic. We didn't mean to, but seem to have started the tradition of buying something new for the house on Independence Day, last year was the TV for the living room and this year Joel and I got a new bedroom set. (Finally, I have been looking for so long! It is beautiful. I will have to post some pictures later.) When we got home we BBQ'd  and played with fire in the street. Between our fireworks and our close neighbors, we put on quite a show.

Disneyland 2012

 We just got back from an amazing Disney vacation. The parks were incredibly busy (what were we thinking... holiday weekend!) but always loads of fun.

 There were several attractions open this year that were not last time we were there. The kids loved exploring Tom Sawyers island and we even found a pirates treasure in the end.

 Austin was good about finding a place to lay down and take a nap when ever he felt the need. We were were in line for Pirates of the Carribean when Joel nudged me and said, "uh... is Austin awake?" He slept through the whole ride, thank goodness! I can only imagine his reaction waking up in the middle.

 We played two days at Disneyland and one day at California Adventure, with a day at the beach in the middle. Austin was asking to go home after day two, but was asking to go on more rides at the end of day four. The kids were all troopers and had a great time. I wore my pedometer and tracked about 20,000 steps per day at the parks. I can only imagine how many steps that meant for the kids.

 The Disney Junior show is one of our favorites at CA Adventure. Megan is not too sure about the "characters", but this was a safe way too see them.

 We got to see World of Color for the first time also and it was wonderful.

We all fit into one tea cup and after about 6 trys, Joel was able to get a shot of the whole family. Now it is one of my favorite pictures from our trip. Here we are at 8:30 PM on our last day. How are these kids still going? We had so much fun, we are already planning our next trip... although I think it will be a few years. Hotdogs are expensive here!

May

Happy Mother's Day!

  My kids (and hubby) spoiled me. Notice I am the only one who had time to get ready that morning.

Open House

Second grade is quickly coming to an end. We are really going to miss Ms. Anderson, she is an amazing teacher! Ethan did a dinosaur project, above is his model.



Tiny Vikes Graduation

Megan did it! She officially graduated preschool and is ready to start Kindergarten.

We celebrated Megan's 5th birthday with a little tea party. She invited 5 little girls and we made crafts, ate a fancy little lunch and decorated cookies. It was lots of fun. Take a look at that watermelon, do I love my daughter or what!


Ethan is so excited to be in Scouts. At his first Pack Meeting they made scripture cookies. Megan and Austin joined in the fun as well.

It is fun to be the mom because dad does all the work and mom gets the credit during the awards.