time, where'd you go?

I walk slower than Dan. But he walks fast in general. At church I slow down even more. I take a deep breath and appreciate the blessing it is to be there. The campus is gorgeous. And we usually see deer hanging out. But I also love seeing my church people. They are happy to see us too, and they know my kids' names. Many of them have watched us grow from a family of two to six. We get to drop off all four, one by one to their classes where amazing volunteers continue to tell them about how much Jesus loves them. 

Dan and I have been attending Church of the Open Door for about 10 years. I was pregnant with Mya when we met one of the pastors who happened to live down the street from us. The rest is history. It has become such a huge part of our lives, and many fellow church goers have become like family to us over the years. They have prayed with us and for us through every hard time and thanked God with us through the happy times. There have been so many prayers for my babies as they grew in my belly and continued prayers as they have grown outside my belly. What a blessing.

In 2008 when I was pregnant with Mya, they started building a Target just half a mile from my house. I cannot tell you how excited I was for that store to open. I dreamed of walking the aisles with my sweet little baby. I even told myself I would walk TO target with my baby in the stroller. I actually tried that a couple of times but it didn't work out very well. I couldn't fit enough stuff in the bottom of the stroller. I've probably spent more time at Target than any other place (besides my home) in my life as a mom.

I went to Target with Addie a few days ago. As she sat in the front of the cart making dinosaur noises, I got a flashback from when she was a baby. The worst baby to take to Target. She used to twist around in her seat belt in the front of the cart and get stuck backward or manage to get out of her seat belt and stand up. And when I would put her in the back of the cart, she would throw things out. She was the absolute worst. Many times you would see me walking down the aisles with Addie in the back of the cart throwing bananas or bread on the floor while I held the eggs in one arm and picked up stuff and put it back in the cart with the other, just trying to make my way to the check out without losing my mind. Many times I would pick her up out of the cart and try to hold her so she couldn't destroy anything while I slid my credit card through the machine. She would of course push buttons, cancel transactions and make me sweat like I had just run a mile.

Fast forward five years. We have come such a long way. She no longer throws things out of the cart thankfully. Now we are working on refraining from asking mommy for everything in the store.

This is how she looks walking into the store because she doesn't trust her mouth.

I've had this picture on the fridge for years now. Winter 2, Mya 3. Man they were the cutest. Winter was such a stinker and Mya was so patient with her and they loved each other so much. Of course they fought and made me crazy but I don't see that in this picture.

I'm not sure what happened to the time but now they look like this. Winter 8, Mya 9.

And this guy. This guy is getting big too.

I love my kids the most when they just get out of the bath or when they're sleeping. There is something about a clean little kid that just makes me want to give them a big squeeze. Probably because most of the time they are kind of stinky. Dan likes to brush the girls' hair when it's still wet. Addie kind of hates it.

Angus is examining his feet to see if he needs a bath.

Now he's trying to convince me that he does indeed need one.

They are always smelling their feet. Why. Just today we were driving back from school and I hear Addie say, "Eeeeeeeew!! Angus smell my feet!" And then he did. And then he too said "Eeeeeeww!

Also heard in the car: 

Addie: Play the Spanish song! (Despacito)

Angus: No baby yak do do!

Addie: No the Spanish song!

Angus: NOOOOO!

Me: Okay no music since we're fighting.

Addie: That's fair.

Angus: Yeah das faya mommy.

And we drove home in silence. Just kidding there's never silence. They giggled and shouted and argued. 

"Hold on Mommy, I'm dus gonna hug da doggy. Ugh! I needa hayacut!" Boys need haircuts way more than girls. Like every two months. I didn't cut Mya's hair 'till she was four. And they say girls are more expensive.

Also, glad he doesn't hug me like that...

Hard not to be thankful for the lovely winter weather we're having in SoCal. It was 70 degrees yesterday at the park and the sky looked pretty awesome. I know it's going to rain a lot the next few days. But it's been pretty nice out.

My friend came over yesterday and I could not get over the height difference between her 5th grader and my 4th grader. She's so tiny.

Some days, all four of them fight with each other all day. And some days they are all best friends, eating lunch together all four on one bench. Even though there are lots of seats around the table. My neighbor friend's teenage son saw the big girls walking Otter the other day and told her, "I'll bet the Wagenbrenner kids never fight." She and I had a good laugh when she shared that with me. They were actually outside walking the dog because I made them leave the house because they were fighting. We've been dealing with SO much of that lately. The bickering, the whining, the unfairness blah blah blah. It drives Dan and I nuts more than anything else. But it's nice that he thought they all get along all the time. 

The last fight was about Mya looking at Winter in the car. I guess Winter felt that Mya was not allowed to look at her OR her window since Mya had her own window on her side of the car. You see what I'm dealing with? So I told Winter that Mya was welcome to look wherever she wanted and if she wanted to look at Winter, it was because she is so gorgeous and her hair is so fabulous. Winter rolled her eyes at me and continued to yell at Mya. Finally Mya agreed to not look at her. So Winter stared at Mya the whole way home to make sure Mya was not looking at her... Does this make any sense to anyone? It's ridiculous. And I feel ridiculous writing it but this is life folks. Life with children. You know when we say to grown ups, You're acting like a child. This is what we're talking about.

I remember constantly fighting with my brother when I was a kid. So much that we made my mom say a bad word which was pretty much like seeing a unicorn. Well there was that one other time when she read Phuket (the island in Thailand) the wrong way and dropped the F bomb loud and clear and Wendy and I were speechless. But yeah, I know it's normal for siblings to fight so I'm not worried. And my brother and I never fight now. We hug and talk about our lives in a grownup civilized manner. So there's hope for these crazy little people.

Oh here's a pic from this week. A love note if you will. 

She was mad at me for sending her to her room. Do you see the broken heart at the bottom? I love her raw emotions. I entered against her will and gave her a hug and all was better. It's nice that she is always down for a hug. Pretty much no matter what.

May you all have drama free Wednesdays. ❤️

O is for organizing

I didn't really make any New Year's resolutions but I did start The One Year Bible. I'm on January 9 so maybe it'll be a two or three year bible for me. I haven't given up on it yet. 

But also, and I feel really good about this, we stopped using our microwave! It's kind of a New Year's resolution I didn't plan. I've been wanting to stop using it ever since Dan did an experiment a few years ago with two plants using microwaved water and not microwaved water and the microwaved water killed the plant in like two days and the regular water kept the other plant alive 'till he stopped watering it. I'm sure you could google it and find out more about it if you really are interested. 

Anyway, so our microwave broke. That's why we stopped using it. I told Dan I want to experience life without a microwave and see how we do. So far so good. Angus still demands warm milk because he's high maintenance but I just heat that up on the stove. It only takes like 45 seconds so that's fine. The timer and clock still work on the microwave thank goodness. It just doesn't heat things up. Our stove clock only displays the first two digits so we can't really go by that one if we want to be somewhere on time. 

Our kitchen appliances are falling apart. They are all pretty old so they've lasted a good while. Our water dispenser on the fridge door broke last week so we're buying water from the store until Dan fixes it. Our dishwasher is barely working. We have to set it on the hottest pots and pans setting and really space the dishes far apart and not leave any piece of food on the plates. It might be the end of the dishwasher. Dan's already fixed it a couple of times. I always assume we need to buy a new appliance when ours stop working but Dan just buys the necessary part and fixes it for super cheap. He's so handy.

I've been watching "Tidying Up" with Marie Kondo along with the rest of the world. It has inspired me in such a good way. I already get excited about purging stuff and organizing so it's not like I need a whole lot of motivation. I don't follow her method entirely by the book though. I pick one area like a drawer or two in the kitchen or bedroom and go through it, get rid of stuff and put it back in an organized way with dividers and little containers like Marie does. I've probably gone through about 1/3 of the house at this point. Aint nobody got time to throw everything they own into a pile in the middle of the room and hold everything one by one and wait until you feel a spark of joy... or not. Not happening. But I do find little Marie super adorable. But why does she always wear black tights? I do have one drawer I dedicated to Marie. It's my Konmari tank top drawer. Everything else in my dresser is folded the way a normal person would fold things.

I love Angus's little boy body. Weird to think that one day he’s going to change and become a hairy stinky man. But until then, I'm going to enjoy the fact that he's soft and squishy and adorable... and kinda stinky.

I got a haircut and blondified...

And this is what I look like when I get out of the shower... It's a little bit of work to make it close to looking like the pic above. 

Dan and I took the littles down by the beach to hang out for the day last Friday. I snapped a few pics after we had an early dinner by the pier and they turned out amazing. I couldn't even see my phone when I took these pictures so they are even more impressive. I accidentally did some crazy photography trick where the sunset and shadows make it look like a black and white photo and it's actually not. Framing these for sure. 

Every time the kids are home all day, it looks like a bomb literally went off in our house. The floor is covered with barbies, play food, baby doll accessories, blocks, legos etc. But they have a blast creating the mass destruction that is our downstairs.

I take lots of pics. Obvi. Dan takes a lot of pics too. He has so many great ones. I had no idea. On his old phone they all turned out blurry and he didn't know how to fix the problem, but on his newer phone they actually turn out great. So I'll have to remember to have him send me his pics regularly to contribute to the blog. 

Here he is duck hunting with the unstoppable fierce beast Otter. 

Hangin' with a few of the kids...

Such a good one 💗

There's a pretty cool bike trail that loops around our "lake" in the back of our house. He takes the big girls every once in a while.

Monday, I was headed out to Costco by myself because Dan was home. He requested I take a kid so of course I took Mya. I had no idea how helpful she would be. Usually I like to try all the samples but I hate waiting for them. I feel awkward and ashamed standing in line for a bite of something. I'll grab one as I go by if it's easy. But Monday, Mya and I divided and conquered. She happily stood and waited for the samples while I shopped. It was awesome. Together we worked our way through the whole store, shopping and sampling. It was super busy because it was around lunch time on a holiday, but the busiest times are when they have the most samples. As we waited in line to check out, she said, "Well that was nice. It was like a little lunch." 

And it was. 

I love the 99 cent store. It is such a great place for coloring books, note pads, dish towels, party decorations and so much more. Angus always asks to ride the mini carousel out front but I always tell him it's broken and he believes my lie and we go in. There's also usually a lady asking for donations for the Salvation Army. I would feel bad saying no to her and donating money to the carousel for my kid. So I just avoid them both. But last time as we were leaving the store a little girl was riding the carousel and he yelled, "It working!!" I was in a hurry so we didn't stop to ride it. 

Yesterday, we went to look for preschool stuff so Angus can start learning his letters. I feel like he's behind in the game. Whenever Addie talks about the letter of the week, she'll say b b boat! Or c c cat! And Angus will chime in with d d police man! And everyone laughs. So I thought maybe he could benefit from an educational coloring book or letter flash cards. So Angus saw the carousel and asked if he could ride it and I gave in. The Salvation Army Lady wasn't there so it was my chance. I probably should be giving the Salvation Army lady a dollar. She's so nice. And she always says God bless!

Did you guys see the lunar eclipse Monday night? Dan and I accidentally watched the whole thing. We like to sit out front after the kids go to bed. I noticed that the full moon looked weird. And then we watched a shadow slowly take it over. Then we looked it up on our phones and found out what was happening. 

I have a random tip everyone may already know about. So, for some reason I often find my hands covered in oil or butter. I'm not sure what I'm doing to get a bunch of butter or oil on my hands but that's not important. I usually try to wash it off with regular soap and it takes a few washes to get it all off. BUT if I use dish soap, it works so much better. Because dish soap is designed to cut through grease. Duh. I can't be the only dummy that has been using regular soap to get oil off of my hands when the dish soap is located next to it... right?

Happy Wednesday!

Wendy's leaving the farm

Dan and I have been in a cooking mood lately. Probably because it's so cold outside we don't really want to leave the house. I made dinner the other day for a friend who came over to keep me company while Dan was a work. I made like an actual meal for the first time in a while. I defrosted some chicken, chopped some veggies to roast, and made a salad and rice. 

Winter saw me cutting the fat off of the chicken and asked, "What are you doing?" I told her I was trimming the fat. "Are you cooking chicken?" She asked suspiciously. I nodded. "Like, all by yourself?!" I nodded. She responded, "Ummm okay." It's pretty rare I admit but I am capable of cooking. I was trained by the professionals on the food network, Bobby Flay, Paula Deen and Rachel Ray. I just let Dan do it because he enjoys it. She loved the chicken for the record.

But I had to share these amazing roasted veggies I made. They turned out great and it was pretty easy and foolproof. It's a lot of prep but you can do that any time that day. I chopped up two carrots (the big kind you have to peel), two medium red potatoes, one turnip and one sweet potato all about the size of a thumb tip. I added a pound of sliced mushrooms and a sliced white onion. After mixing them with avocado oil and topping them with garlic salt and pepper, I roasted them for about 20 minutes at 500 degrees. There was plenty left over because most of my kids were afraid to try them so I ate them the next day for breakfast. So good. The trick is to pick a few things with the same texture so they take about the same amount of time to cook and cut them all about the same size. I'll definitely be making that again. And all of those veggies are pretty inexpensive too. 

Dan made gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches on sourdough with tomato and basil in them, paired with a delicious tomato soup I picked up in the deli section of Costco. Costco has a bunch of fresh amazing soups right now. This is by far one of my favorite meals, especially on a rainy night. Perfect.

We went to visit Dan's beloved Aunt Judy and Godmother in San Diego last weekend (sorry no pic) and stayed with some of our favorite people who also live down there, Jim and Cathy. They're like family and always make us feel super welcome. 

They have two dogs. (One is theirs part time when their son is working or away for the weekend)

This is Missy waiting for Mya to spill.

Their son's dog Paisley followed me around the whole time and growled when any of my kids would come near him. I assume he was a mother of 4 in his previous life. 😊 
Dan gets super jealous when I give other dogs any kind of attention since all I do is yell at our dogs. I would say my top 3 phrases at home are: Why are you crying, You're making me CRAZY, and MOVE DOG. But in my defence, our dogs smell really bad. Otter eats her own poop and Twitch has a scab by his eye that bleeds all the time. Gross. 

And because Wendy is the amazing person that she is, she made sure to take Winter to Disneyland one last time yesterday before moving to Orlando. Wendy's awesome stepdaughter Madison and our fab cousin Lori went with. They braved the rain and waited in super short lines and had an awesome time. Winter fell asleep on the way home from school today, and she cried and said I was breaking her heart into tiny little pieces when I told her to do her homework a few minutes ago. So I'd say she's pretty exhausted. But it was super worth it.

Wendy flies out Saturday. I will miss you way too much sister. 😥

The good news is, I got my hair did today! Addie said it looks strange and Mya asked me why I like short hair. She's growing hers out. Angus smiled at me and told me he loved me and Winter didn't acknowledge the cut. But I couldn't be happier. Dan's going to love it because he loves short hair on me for some reason. 

Mya is and always has been a question asker. I've never been very inquisitive. I kind of just accept things for what they are. The older she gets, the harder it is to answer her questions.

"Where do penguins poop?" 
I told her probably in a certain spot in the snow/ice. When we had fish, they always pooped in the corner of the tank and Wendy's horses and goats always pooped in the corner of the pasture. So I assume Penguins just pick a corner somewhere and that's that. 

"What’s Jesus’s last name?" 
At first I told her he doesn't have one. But then after thinking about it, back in the day, his last name equivalent would have been "of Nazareth." But we don't call him that now.

"Why do people get sick more in the winter time?" 
We had to google this one. I actually learned something.

"Why are there so many different kinds of churches if there’s only one bible?" 
A long conversation about denominations ensued. 

Angus also asks questions all day. But they are a little more ridiculous. 

For instance, yesterday he asked, "Mommy, it fweezing outyide, you wum it up?" 

Happy Wednesday day y'all! Why don't we say y'all in California? I think we should.

killin' time

These two are not easy to raise. They have strong personalities that often collide, causing many screaming matches ending in tears. Every day. BUT when they get along, they are SO flipping adorable. 

Dan was taking down the lights and Winter was "helping" him and asked if she could climb the ladder. So they knocked on my 2nd story bedroom window (I was folding laundry because I'm always folding laundry) and this is what I turned around to. I was not happy. But I was glad that Winter decided to wear her helmet just in case things went awry. He assured me that it was not the first time he'd climbed a ladder with another person blah blah blah. I skeptically asked him if he'd ever actually rescued anyone out their bedroom window because their house was on fire. Turns out he has. Good job honey.

Winter and Mya were so committed to their Guess Who game that they continued to play while Mya was doing her business in the bathroom.

Thursday:

Me: We should do something as a family today.

Dan: We did that yesterday.

Me: We cleaned yesterday.

Dan: And we did it as a family. It was great!

Dan loves cleaning all day. But since we already did that, we decided to get outside and take a long walk to a park. We borrowed our friend's wagon for the littles. We also brought Otter, our 10 year old black lab. Angus and Addie were great. They talked about their favorite ice cream, color, paw patrol character, trucks etc. Occasionally they would yell to the other one, "Are you even listening to me?!" and the other would assure them that they were listening and they'd continue talking about their favorite things in life. 

Addie: My favorite vegetable is carrots! What's yours Angus?

Angus: My favowit wechabow is... ummm...mommy what's a wechabow?

Mya brought creepy Brittany.

It was quite eventful. We encountered a crazy young gentlemen who covered his mouth and asked us where the nearest donut shop was. We pointed in the right direction and he walked past us then turned around to shout a few profanities at our family just cuz. You see, I told you the Metro was bringing the crazies to Azusa. We also encountered a stray dog that looked like a rottweiler mix. Dan had to scare it off several times before it gave up on us. I can't exactly blame the Metro for that one.

My kids love bathing. It's one of their favorite things to do. Addie and Angus ran up to me and asked if they could take a bath.

Addie: Mommy mommy can we take a bath pleeeeeeease??! 

Angus: Yeah cuz ouz feets is yo duddy. Yee? (shows me his foot)

Addie: Yeah, and they don't smell good AT ALL.

Wendy came down to visit one last time before heading across the country next week.

We went to Descanso Gardens to get the kids out of the house for a bit before it started to rain.

Then we left them with mom and headed out to dinner with these fabulous ladies. I always open my eyes really big when I take pictures at night because I assume I look tired. I haven't figured out how to open them a normal amount so I don't look so excited.

And the Higerds came to visit for a little while after some appointments in town. 🧡