it's here

The school year is pretty much over. Tomorrow is the last day of school. It's fine. I'm fine.

Dan usually works a lot in the summer. So I am with the kids a lot. All of them. All day. Obviously I love them. So much. Individually. With breaks. Like school. And having a few minutes to myself. In the summer, it's just me and them, all of the time. And so far, being a parent in the summer isn't as fun as being a parent during the school year.

Okay I feel like I'm complaining and maybe I need to explain. Especially if you don't have kids. Or your kids are grown and you totally forgot how physically, mentally and emotionally exhausting they were when they were little and you only remember them as cute, sweet and uncomplicated without all those hormones and you're one of those people that say, Oh just enjoy every minute. It goes so fast. Let me just remind you that 3 year olds have the 3 year old version of hormones where they like to scream and fall on the floor because they need to ride their bike at 5:30AM or eat cookies we don't have for breakfast or they hate clothes, especially pants and need to be naked when they leave the house.

I've thought of a little analogy if you will.

Let's say you are a hiker. You're like a really good, in shape hiker. After all, you've been hiking daily for about 9 years now. You love those hikes to waterfalls and those streams you pass occasionally. And you absolutely love hiking up a mountain to get that amazing view at the top. And you plan on hiking for the rest of your healthy life because you LOVE it. It makes you feel alive and it makes you feel like you.

BUT. Occasionally you come across a gnarly part of the trail that causes you to breath really heavy and stumble on rocks and you wonder why you started hiking in the first place. It's too steep and all you see is dirt and bushes. Then gnats start following you. And you are SOOOO thirsty but you've run out of water. But then the brush clears and you see that amazing view again. Another hiker gives you some water and you are reminded why you love hiking. And so you keep going.

Parenting is like that. And summer is like that awful part in the trail where you run out of water and you're tired and it's too steep. But then school starts again and you are reminded that you do love being a parent. You just need some water and a view. (Some sleep and 5 minutes without people needing you)

And the hardest part about summer is the pressure to go do fun things with your kids while also shaping them into little decent human beings (hopefully) while making them read and do math so they don't fall behind in school. And there is no one helping shape them into decent human beings, like teachers, because they are taking a VERY WELL DESERVED BREAK. However, I'm wondering why the year round school idea fizzled out so quickly. That was big in the 90's. What ever happened to that?

Okay I promise that is the last time I complain about summer. Well... I will try not to complain anymore k?

Anywho...

I made a list of things for my kids to do so they don't sit around and watch TV or play games on the computer or fight all summer. I'm kind of excited about some of them. I'm making an awesome treasure hunt for them. It's going to rhyme and everything. Mya and Winter are at the prime age for most of this stuff. Addie can do some of it. I have fond memories of making collages with my aunt Debie during the summer. My sister and brother and I made forts out of chairs and sheets and pillows all the time. And my cousin and I used to make dance routines to Madonna songs. So fun. I have big plans to watch movies with the big girls during nap time or after the littles go to bed. And eat popcorn of course. This is my list so far. I plan on putting them on those giant popsicle sticks like they do on Pinterest. That way they can just pull one out of a jar and do it.

1. Scavenger hunt
2. Bake something
3. Make a collage
4. Write a letter to a friend/relative
5. Build a fort
6. Paper mache
7. Make puppets and put on a puppet show
8. Put on a fashion show
9. Make up a dance routine
10. Hide and seak
11. do a puzzle
12. play a board game 
13. Movie and popcorn
14. make friendship bracelets
15. have a breakfast picnic somewhere outside
16. hide something and make a treasure map
17. print out coloring pages of their favorite things and have them color them.
18. paint pictures

That's all I have. Feel free to use my list of ideas if you have girls! If you have boys, I'll borrow your ideas in a couple of years. 

And now for the random May pics. 

Rain boots when it’s dry out. PJs at 4PM. The bar is low with the fourth. 

Going to do some yard work.

Yard work is hard work. Omg I didn’t even mean to rhyme but that worked out so great 😀 

They are fighting, crying and wrestling over a lego train.
Angus is missing pants. Addie's missing a shirt. Again. The bar is low. 

Angus: I wuv ma ayee (I love my Addie)
I complain about these kids but I totally dig them too.
They make me looooose ma mind. But they melt my heart daily.
That’s like the definition of being a mom I think.

Selfies with Addie.

She's still learning.

I took the older girls out to lunch and thrift store shopping. They got to pick out 5 dresses each which is like $20 at the thrift store. We went to Community Thrift in Glendora. A gold mine for girls' dresses. They actually picked out like 20 but we narrowed it down. It's fun hanging out with these two. They are old enough to behave (for the most part), but young enough to keep it super silly and giggly. Especially after some sugar.

Dan has taken it upon himself to help Mya improve her money counting skills. He thought Monopoly would be a great way to practice math and introduce her to real life. You know, mortgages, utilities, jail... 

He didn't expect to get SCHOOLED. And he HATES losing. 

Mya is such a showoff when it comes to crafty things. A talent that hasn't really blossomed in her mom... yet 😀

We went to visit and congratulate a dear friend on her new engagement. Mya took it upon herself to make flowers and a vase out of tissue paper, a water bottle and washi tape. Whattt? Amazing. She even asked me if we had craft wire. I told her I didn't even know what that was. But I actually had some and she found it. 

Something I'm loving these days is the best podcast ever, The Lazy Genius. Okay, this is the first podcast I've ever listened to, but I'm sure it's the best one out there. Mari told me I should listen to it. I always listen to Mari. She was right as always. It's awesome. This lady totally breaks down anything in life and makes it sound simple, doable and easy. And she's funny and lovable. I feel like we could be best friends. So if you're a parent and you're kind of freaking out about summer, listen to her summer series. You can click here or use your podcast app. I lost mine and had to find it on my phone. One of my kids put it in a random folder. But everything is okay now and I can listen to podcasts.

Amie's random tip of the week:

A sweet mom at church shared a coffee tip with me at the Ladies' Tea at church. Haha kind of ironic learning about coffee at a Tea. Or is it? I'm not really sure I understand irony. But, this is a great tip.

She told me that if you use one of those reusable mesh filters instead of the paper ones, it makes the coffee taste better and you can use less creamer in it. She actually has started drinking her coffee black.

Here's why. The mesh filter allows some of the natural oils from the coffee beans to go into the coffee pot. The oils take away some of the acidity and bitterness from the coffee and make it taste really smooth and great! The paper filter doesn't allow those oils in.

So I bought myself a mesh filter from Target and what do you know? She was totally right. I use less creamer and I'm loving the taste of my coffee. That must be why restaurant coffee always tastes better. Maybe they use mesh filters. Thanks Gillian if you're reading this!

parks beaches and summer anxiety

Addie said to me yesterday, "You're the best mom ever. And do you know what the great news is? You had four babies! Angus, me, Winter and Mya!!" 

How sweet is that. She also yells at me regularly. She may be bipolar. We will have to wait and see.

Addie's new thing lately is pretending that her character's name is Jesus when she's playing barbies or baby dolls. And I'm not really sure what to do with that... 

Dan told Addie to go get dressed so she could come with him to the nursery to get some plants. She chose the very fanciest Christmas dress in her closet of course. And pink cowboy boots. (not shown) Mya and Winter used to do the same thing. Actually Winter still does. I'm really going to miss having a four year old girl when Addie turns 5 in November. Four year old girls are my very favorite. I'm thoroughly enjoying her spicy attitude and nonstop hilarity. 

Addie and my nephew Ethan are 4 months apart. They love each other so much and have the best time together. My mom took this awesome shot. Framing it for sure.

The poor dog didn't even try to get to her bed. 

I went to Newport with my mom Friday. Just the two of us. Somehow we were able to get away from all the people who need us, for a whole day. Both of us consider the beach our happy place. We went out for lunch then walked around Balboa Island and went in the little shops and pretended we were thinking about purchasing the overpriced clothing and nicnacs. We got a scoop of ice cream. (mom got sorbet) We went for a bike ride on the bike path. I talked her into renting one of those awesome grown up tricycles. Then we went kayaking in the peaceful harbor. It was such a nice day. Before we knew it, it was time to go home. But we decided we would definitely make it something we do more often. Isn't she just too adorable? 💗

I just realized that I have her nose. 😊

The anual San Marino Firefighter pancake breakfast was Saturday. The kids look forward to this all year. Addie calls it the pancake party. And it totally is. They have a bouncy house, a bouncy slide, pony rides, a petting zoo and of course pancakes with tons of syrup. 

So summer is just around the corner. I don't really get anxiety about anything really. But, the thought of summer gives me anxiety. I've been planning my summer for the last two months. I'm actually not joking. Things for the kids to do. Ways to get rid of them during the week. (Camps, grandma's, the gym etc.) Please let me know if you would like to borrow one for the day. Winter is super helpful with little ones and Mya loves to clean! Addie is nonstop entertainment and Angus... well he's cute.

I came up with a list of things to do that they can choose from when they are bored. Mya is really the only one that follows me around when she'd bored so it's mostly for her. I'll be posting it next week probably. The kids are out of school May 31st. Pray for me. Seriously.

disasters and stuff

Angus still struggles with not spilling his bowl of cereal. Daily. It's fine. He just moves over to the dry chair and keeps eating.

This is my room. MY room. (Dan sleeps here too) But how could I get mad coming into the costume explosion with Addie yelling, "MOMMY!! Look at MEE! I'm rainbow dash! Right Winter?"

This is Angus uninstalling the baby locks himself. With a drill. Why not?

I remember doing this when I was a kid. They had fun looking in the mirror behind them and pretending their two little butts were one giant butt.

We fell in love with Max's in Azusa when Dan and I were dating around 2007. It's pretty cool that Max and some of the waitresses have watched us get engaged, married and then quickly grow into a family of six. And we've watched them grow from a tiny little hole in the wall into a giant successful restaurant with two locations. We love it because they have two enormous booths that fit all of us in there. So we eat around 4:30 to make sure one of them is available. Okay we actually love it because they have the best margaritas that make dinner with the kids a little more enjoyable. 😁

The girls always get so excited about open house and showing us every single thing they've done in the classroom. Dan and I took turns ooohing and aaahhing at their artwork while the other one made sure Addie and Angus didn't destroy anything or eat all the cookies. 

All the kids in Mya's class chose their future career. Mya has about 8 careers in mind. She chose pianist for her picture... I guess we should get her back in piano lessons if she's going to play professionally. 

Mya's teacher is into colors and technology. She's energetic and fun and Mya loves her. 

I don't know why Addie and Winter chose this sign for their picture. They both wake up before the sun every single morning. 

Shout out to Winter's teacher, the amazing Darla Elder who is one of my favorite people on the planet! We were SO lucky to have you teach Winter this year! Do people still say shout out?

Winter always impresses me with her artwork. I love her story below because it starts out with "My Mom is the Queen." 😊 

And speaking of the King. I had to take a picture of him in his happy place. Cleaning the garage. Well maybe he doesn't enjoy cleaning it as much as he enjoys seeing it so clean. He came in and said, "Okay the garage is clean!" What he really meant was: Okay I just spent an hour cleaning the garage. Don't mess it up while I'm at work. I rolled my eyes and told him that it's my mission in life to mess up his clean garage. 

Our marriage in a nutshell. 💓

Dan's occupation and his over-the-top planner ways have come together to create a bit of an obsession with being prepared for natural disasters. This is Dan's "THE BIG ONE" corner of the garage where he has planned food, water and supplies for the big earthquake that is "definitely happening soon." Not just any food, the top rated best tasting, longest lasting food they make out there in the crazy disaster preparedness world. It expires in 20 years. He also bought special water that lasts a couple decades as well because it's in a can instead of plastic. So if you're close by and you are hungry or thirsty when the big one happens, come on over! 

We went camping on Catalina Island over Mother's Day weekend with some family and friends. I was anxious and worried about it but it went really well for the most part. I wish I took a picture of Dan with his giant overloaded dolly with all of the camping equipment. A snarky bystander commented, "Isn't there a limit to how much you can take on the ferry?" There is and we definitely brought the max allowed. I rolled two giant suitcases stacked with sleeping bags and Mya and Winter also brought a big bag each. Angus walked beside me and Addie toted a little rolling suitcase.

We almost lost Addie when she walked beside the ramp instead of up the ramp to the boat. She almost fell into the gap between the dock and the giant boat. She had one foot off the dock when one of the boat staff caught her just in time and redirected her to the boat. It gave the poor guy a minor heart attack and Dan and I decided maybe I would just watch the kids while he took care of the luggage. 

The ride to the island was THE bumpiest giant swelliest ride I've ever experienced. I was surprised the boat didn't capsize. I think we all were. BUT we aren't boat people so maybe we're just wusses. Dan, Winter and Addie spent a lot of time by the open door to the deck where the fresh air came in. They get pretty bad motion sickness and there was a lot of motion happening. But we all made it to the island without puking, miraculously. 

I arrived in a frazzled state from Addie's near death and the fear of us all drowning at sea. But the beach beauty slowly calmed me down.

The kids had an awesome time with very minimal fighting and tons of running around. 

I was worried about the littles waking up in the middle of the night but they were out cold all night both nights. 

Dan and I took turns kayaking and paddle boarding with the big girls. Addie just wanted to play beach barbies and Angus decided he "no like that boat." He didn't like it when I went out on the paddle board or kayak either. He would say. "You no like that boat mommy. You hang out." 

It was a TON of work but so worth it. And the ferry back home was so smooth and all the kids slept. Probably because we gave them all dramamine. 

random may stuff

As I mentioned in the previous post, Dan and I went away for a few days. We had a great time in Newport and it went too fast as always. Here are some pics from our weekend together. (Actually it was a Monday through Wednesday because we hate crowds)

For the record I don't eat lobster. They are bottom feeders. But the bib was fun. And I didn't want to be rude.

And here's a random video of Angus. I like it because he thinks he's jumping super high and he's barely getting off the ground.

Here's a confession that may comfort you if you get slightly road ragey but normally you're a nice person like me =) It's okay.

I honked at a car in front of me the other day that would not turn right. Yes the light was red but there were no cars coming. I looked around for pedestrians, emergency vehicles, anything that would keep this car from turning right. Maybe he didn't know that he could turn right even when the light is red. So I honked. Nothing happened. Then the light turned green and he turned right. What an idiot I thought. Then I saw the sign that read, No turn on red. Ugh, I'm a jerk.

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Question: Why did This Is Us end in March? That's two months ahead of schedule. Not okay.

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Amusing things I've heard around the house lately:

Mya: Mom am I healthy?
Me: Ummm yeah why?
Mya: Cuz I want to live till I’m 100.
Addie: I’m so excited to die!!! 
Mya: What?
Addie: Yeah cuz then I’ll go to heaven and heaven is SO FUN!!!

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Addie: (looks outside) Mom, I just want to pee on the grass. 

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Putting Angus to bed. 
Angus: Mommy I wuv ma peepee.
Me: I know buddy.

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Dan to Mya: All you ever want to do is play video games. Can't we just snuggle and talk?

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Mya moved into Angus's room and she couldn't be happier. No more annoying younger sisters that keep her up at night with their silly shenanigans and nightlights. I found this sign on her door. Glad Angus is allowed in his room...

One of Angus's favorite hobbies is making toy smoothies. (It's not plugged in)

There are probably 100 dolls in our house. Literally. They are everywhere.

This is Mya and Winter pulling Addie's "dogsled." They told her not to pedal. She wants to pedal. She's wailing as they pull her down the street.