Thankful Thursday - Dan

Today I'm thankful for my marriage. I love being married. I think people make it sound harder than it is. I love having a buddy or life. And I can honestly say we are happy. He is why I have not lost my mind with all the kids and the amount of work that comes along with them. He's helpful and he keeps this place running. And we love hanging out together. We compliment each other. Obviously we fight because we're normal, (he wishes I was a bit more on top of things and I wish he was a bit less particular about everything including the minivan) but we know at the end of the day how lucky we are.

Hopefully I'm not rubbing it in for those of you who are spouseless or do not like your spouse. This is simply what I'm thankful for. Everyone is going to have different blessings in their lives. And when we stop to think about the things we are thankful for, there are sooooo many. And I'm so thankful for the blessing of an awesome marriage.

We went out for sushi Tuesday night. It was fun.

she's back

When I started this blog, Winter was 2. She was about a year younger than Addie is now. She was definitely one to push the boundaries. Not a big fan of rules. I had a hard time parenting her for a long time. I remember fearing that she would always be a disobedient rulebreaker. Four years later and I still see that two year old from time to time but she's matured quite a bit. She is actually well behaved for the most part. Still fun loving and sassy though. It shows me that this parenting thing isn't one moment of correction but a series of moments and consistent molding and teaching right and wrong.

One of our favorite Winter stories takes place at the Andersons' house down the street. Winter was around 3 years old. I'm sure I have already written about it, in fact. But I don't want to go looking for the post. So Winter was in the Andersons' garage where she liked to hang out because that's where they kept (and still keep) all the good snacks and the garage door was usually open. (Our neighborhood has always been a place where there are several kids in the street and a few adults keeping an eye out)

And whenever Mr. Anderson was in the front yard he couldn't help but offer poor hungry Winter some fruit snacks. She would inhale them and ask for more. Soon, we learned what she was up to and usually kept a closer eye on her over there.

One day, we were hanging out in the street near the Andersons' as usual and it was time to go home for dinner. Winter was wearing a little backpack that wasn't hers. I asked her to take it off and she refused. She said it was hers. I told her it wasn't, and she said she needed it. We went back and forth and finally she threw it down and headed home. I gave Mrs. Anderson a "sorry my kid is a monster" look and she gave me a sweet "don't worry about it" look as I handed her the backpack. A few seconds later, she called my name. I turned around and she was holding the backpack open and laughing as she took out some fruit snacks, caprisuns and rice crispy treats. That little thief was trying to jack the Andersons' snacks along with the backpack she was stashing them in.

Lately, I've seen that same little girl appear in Addie. Last week I couldn't find her. I was calling her name, running all over the house and finally found her behind a large chair with a bag of cookies shoving the last bite in her mouth. The next day, she got into the gum and ate and swallowed a piece because I started walking toward her. A few days ago, we were hanging out near the Andersons' house. I guess we're creatures of habit. I looked around and couldn't find Addie. I called her name and no answer. Nancy spotted her between the bikes in her garage with a giant bag of M&M's, stuffing them in her mouth as soon as I made eye contact. OMG that's so Winter I thought. Ugh, here we go again.

matching

Sometimes I have to take Angus's PJ's off because they have yogurt or poop or applesauce or all of the above on them. And sometimes all of Angus's clothes are upstairs and all that I can find downstairs is something like this...

Going upstairs requires either carrying my 30 pounder up and down the stairs with me, or even worse, waiting for him to climb the stairs all by himself which takes a good 20 minutes, OR listening to him wail and scream at the bottom of the stairs while I go upstairs without him. How important is it really that his clothes match when he's 2...  I could leave a few spare matching outfits downstairs but who is that organized?

step 2 racing

When all four kids are home and awake, I get scared. The second that one of them starts whining we go outside or to the park or to my mom's. On this particular day, it was right after we got home from school. I think it was a Friday so there wasn't any homework, and everyone was fussy so we went outside. None of the neighbors were out yet.  Mya and Winter decided to push the littles in their step 2 cars which quickly turned into racing. I had to take over and make it fun yet safe. I made a rule of only speed walking while pushing the cars since no one was wearing a helmet and Addie's seat belt is broken. 

Winter had a hard time with this rule and was disqualified many times for running, skipping and hopping. She did eventually stick to my speed walking rule, but it turns out that Mya is the world's fastest speed walker and left Winter in the dust every time. Winter tried to give Addie a big push and let go of the car to win but that didn't work either. Mya won every time. Then Winter cried and was sent home to have a 5 minute time out. Pretty normal.

Sam Diego

Winter is not convinced that it's San Diego. San is not a name. Sam is a name. And so is Diego.  I think she thought we were visiting a couple of dudes... 

So we have some friends, the Olsons, Jim, Cathy and their son Eric, who live in San Diego. We love them lots and visit them when we can. These days it's definitely not as much as we'd like. 

So we headed down for the weekend. We also had Legoland tickets we needed to use before March. So we did that too. We left Angus with my mom to make our weekend A LOT easier and almost relaxing. Jim and Cathy's house had some unfinished stairs with no railing. He would have fallen off of them for sure. And I would have spent the whole weekend holding his hand up and down those stairs. And a toddler at any amusement park is exhausting. Sooo, it was better this way. I did miss him though. We are rarely apart, Angus and me. He did pretty awesome, my mom said. She always says that but I believe her. 

Addie LOVED Kathy. We told her we were visiting our friends Aunt Cathy and Uncle Jim but she called her Gwamma Caffy =) and said about 50 times, "I wuv you Gwamma Caffy." It was pretty cute and Cathy is a Grandma so she wasn't at all offended. She loved them all. She even let Mya and Winter help with the meals which they loved. It was an excellent trip. 

Mari and Gabe and the kids were actually able to join us at Legoland so that was super fun. 

Jim and Kathy's...

Thankful Thursday - 36

Who's havin' a birthday?! This girl!

Well it's finally here. The big 36. Okay, 36 is basically the same as 35. I may start to panic a little next year because 37 is considered late 30's... no bueno. And although 36 may seem young to those in their 40's and 50's, it's older than 25 which is how old I feel like I am. A friend of mine said something about us turning 36 this year and I thought to myself, is that right? Am I going to be 36? Seems a little old... I'm kind of starting to lose track.

I've actually always loved my birthday. I love the birthday wishes, the special attention, the big hugs, presents, cake, ice cream, love it all! Today I loved sleeping in and I'm gonna love ditching my family for some me time. I plan to take my big girls out to the Habit for some birthday lunch and then some dinner with the hubby tonight. I'm not one of those people that doesn't like attention and acknowledging getting older. LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT.

I'm thankful for my birthday this year. It means I've survived another year of being a mom of four. I'm not really sure I remember most of it... That's what the blog is for. I can't say that I did a particularly amazing job but I don't think I messed them up too bad. In fact, I'm kind of proud of the way they are turning out. And they all think I'm pretty awesome so that's something.

But seriously, I have everything I could ever want. (Warning: I'm going to be a little sappy and cheesy for a minute) I have a husband who loves me a lot and I him. We have four amazing beautiful smart children. I have awesome family and friends and a really cool church filled with loving people who have become our extended family. Life is not easy and it's not supposed to be. But I wouldn't change my life at all. Okay maybe I secretly want a robot... who cooks and cleans. But other than that, I wouldn't change a thing.

Happy birthday old girl!

Amie - 1 year old. I love this so much. Check out those cheeks. And those legs. Love it. So fat. 

2 or 3... not sure...

Definitely 7. I remember this day! I had a party at Grandma's house. This was my favorite dress I've ever owned.

I'm going with 10 here...

That's all I could find! Mom didn't have Facebook unfortunately. 

aquarium visit

When Dan was about to propose to me, he thought to himself, Where should I take Amie to pop the question? Ooooh, they have the great white shark at the Monterey Bay Aquarium right now and I really want to see it... yeah, I'll propose in Carmel then we'll hit up the Aquarium the next day. Done. True story.

Some friends gave us tickets to The Long Beach Aquarium last month so we went of course. Dan LOVES ocean life, hence the giant aquarium in our living room. He really should have been a marine biologist or something. He says maybe when he retires from the fire department he'll volunteer at the aquarium... 

Mya is still very much afraid of people dressed as characters or giant animals. She always asks everywhere we go if there will be any characters there. I told her there probably wouldn't be any giant sharks lurking around the aquarium. But do you know what we did see? Someone wearing a giant polar bear costume. So random. Mya's teacher loves polar bears. So Mya went as close as she could possibly bear (haha get it? bear!) and zoomed in as far as the phone would go and snapped this pic to show her. My little weirdo. I wonder when she'll grow out of this fear. She's going to be 8 this year...

Let's pretend that lady is me.

We got to touch jellyfish! They are way more sturdy and rubbery than I expected. 

black and white Feb

This is the only workout I'm able to do these days. I highly recommend it. Great for the whole leg. 

The only time my children get read to is when Winter plays teacher with them and makes up a story that goes with the pictures in the book. Her stories are always better anyway.

She wore my "fwip fwops" for like an hour. I was impressed. It's always fwip fwops or wain boots with her. 

Who has fun cleaning the vacuum? Dan's kids.

Babies are fun cuz they let you stick your finger in their mouth.

Thanks to cucumbers I can say my kids eat their vegetables.

These little buddies <3

Ooooh a boot! And it's just my size.

Perfect. Alright, let's go.

Goofball =)