zoo dentist haircut birthday thanksgiving week

This has been a packed Thanksgiving break week. Monday we went to the zoo with friends. Me and two kids got in on my friend's pass. And the other two got in on a nice stranger lady's pass behind us. I didn't get many pics of animals and kids because I was so busy counting heads everywhere we went. I only lost Addie for a few minutes. Addie had a doctor appointment that afternoon but really wanted to see the hyenas clear across the entire zoo before we left. I would never go to the zoo without another person telling me how to read the map. Reading zoo maps is so not my thing. We managed to find the hyenas which were actually African painted dogs but they look just like them. After we saw them, we were cutting it close to get back in time for Addie's appointment so we booked it back to the car. I put Angus on my back and walked super fast. Mya pushed Addie in the stroller and ran behind me. As we were exiting the zoo, there was a person wearing a giant blue Elmo looking costume waving to everyone as they left. Maybe it was cookie monster. Mya is still very much freaked out by people dressed as characters of any kind. She didn't see Elmo/Cookie until she was pretty close to him and screamed, backed up and ran waaaaaay around the scary blue character. Winter lagged behind but made it back to the car in time to get in before I left her. 

This is Angus riding "da bown hussy." 

We moved to a different hussy because the first one didn't go up and down.

Winter wore leopard shoes, leopard pants and a leopard top for the occasion.

This guy climbed to the very top of the fence. It made me wonder if he could escape if he really wanted to.

Well done Ryan. I don't even attempt to get that many kids to look at a camera.

Tuesday I thought I'd challenge myself and take all four to the dentist followed by haircuts for Winter and Mya. I don't think Angus remembered the last time he went to the dentist but he was very excited. It started off badly. They all got x-rays. Angus hopped in the chair first, very excited to see how it all worked. He gagged on the first few plastic things they stuck in his mouth to get those back molar pics. And on the last one, he puked. And cried loudly. So he understandably waited to go last for his cleaning. Mya still has a fear of puke so she had lots of questions about why Angus threw up when the lady was trying to get an x-ray. She didn't know about the gag reflex. The good news is nobody has cavities hallelujah. I'm always worried because I never watch them brush their teeth so I have no idea how well they're doing it. I'm sure they skip it sometimes. So I'm thankful for Dan's good teeth genes. The guy has never had a single cavity and rarely goes to the dentist.

Mya got a trim and unicorn gel.

I love short hair on Winter. 

Wednesday was Addie's birthday. Someone gave us gift cards to Chuck E. Cheese so we went. It was a rough few days for Mya with the character at the zoo, the puke at the dentist AND Chucky. After that we came home, opened presents and Addie helped me make her cake. She had an awesome birthday. We are taking the family to Great Wolf Lodge instead of birthday parties for Addie and Winter this year. Worth it.

Yesterday we celebrated Thanksgiving with family in Santa Barbara who we adore.

Who does extra credit assignments on her Thanksgiving break? Mya does.

I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving. We all have so much to be thankful for. 

I'm thankful for you.

pre-birthdays and holidays

It's almost that time of year when all the kids are two years apart. Addie is almost 6. They will be 4,6,8,10 for 3 weeks. Addie is counting the days. She gets more excited about her birthday than anyone I know. Nothing really spectacular is happening that day. But I promised her pancakes for breakfast and a birthday cake that she gets to help me make. Chocolate cake with pink icing and rainbow sprinkles. Someone gave us gift cards to Chuck E. Cheese (so sweet) so we might do that. Oh and there will be a few presents. The big girls bought her presents with their own money. I'm so proud of them. Winter didn't have much to spend so she was annoyed that everything is SO EXPENSIVE at Target. She never noticed before haha.

Addie got some new glasses this week! A few posts ago, I talked about how she occasionally gets sick and does a puke, sleep, rally. Well it happened again last week and I was pretty sure she was experiencing some type of migraine because it is always proceeded by a sudden headache. Dan and I were slow to realize this because neither of us has had any experience with migraines.

She has a doctor's appointment Monday but I thought I'd do some research in the meantime. And by research I mean consult my favorite Facebook group, "The Sorta Awesome Hangout." It's a group of ladies all over the country that listen to the podcast, Sorta Awesome. I've asked so many random questions of that group of ladies and received so many helpful responses. There are thousands of members and they are all so lovely. It's probably because most of them don't live in California, sorry just saying. People from other states are always so nice.

When I described Addie's symptoms, I received MANY helpful responses and tips such as vitamins, foods to avoid and glasses she can wear in the classroom. She often has headaches after school and one of the ladies in the hangout group mentioned that her son's migraines were triggered by the overhead lights in the classroom. I went straight to wondering if I should start homeschooling her but then I kept reading. There are actually blue light blocking glasses she can wear to prevent the headaches. I bought some on Amazon that minute. She picked them out. She's now wearing them at school and keeps them in her cubby. I may get another pair for the computer at home.

This is her showing Auntie Wendy her new glasses on Marco Polo, best app ever.

Lots of things annoy me. Like LOTS. I feel bad for Dan because he gets the brunt of my attitude. 

He has used the same alarm clock for many years. It has an extremely loud wake up beeping sound. It doesn't have a radio option, or any other option besides the loud beeping that wakes everyone up. And he snoozes once so we've been able to enjoy it twice each morning that he has to get up and go to work. I've tried to convince him to use his cell phone but he doesn't trust it. After me complaining excessively, he bought a new alarm clock that plays a lovely musical sound that wakes him up but lets the rest of us keep sleeping. I don't know about other marriages, but in ours, I just keep bugging Dan about something until he handles it. Love you the most Honey! I know I'm spoiled.

Angus saw the tiny box and asked if it was a new microwave. He's been begging for a new microwave since our old one broke. I've explained several times that we are not getting a new one. We don't need it and I don't trust microwaves. He misses being able to have warm milk in an instant. Now he has to wait 10 additional seconds for it to heat up on the stove.  

Soccer season is over. It's only 8 weeks long but the littles were happy to be done. It's a lot of running for them. They usually play half of a game and ask if they can sit out the 2nd half, especially Angus. I bribed them with the end of the game snack every time so they'd keep playing. Sometimes Angus would just sit down in the middle of the field and take a little break. I guarantee they'll be super excited to play again next year though. The big girls love it. And Winter scored her first goal minutes before the last game ended. She was elated.

I like our little church league because they emphasize the importance of good character and sportsmanship just as much as skill. And they would do mini bible studies with the kids after each practice. I'll miss the Thursday evening social hour when all the moms would sit and talk about life while the kids practiced. That was my favorite part.

Annual Friendsgiving with old friends. This started as a group of friends from high school and we've picked up significant others and a few other favorites along the way. Some of these lovely folks I've known for over 20 years. Thanks to Melanie for hosting a beautiful Harry Potter themed night.

This is Addie with one of her favorites. When you live life at a 10, you hug at a 10.

This was so random I had to get a picture. Winter decided to sweep and the littles followed suit. 

And it rained. We were playing outside on a warm afternoon and all of a sudden giant raindrops fell out of the sky.

Mya received two awards Thursday. I was supposed to be there to watch her receive the awards and clap and take pictures. Somehow I missed the memo. She forgave me because I have a pretty good track record with that stuff. She made honor roll (go grrl) and I'm not sure how she received a perfect attendance award. I think it may be a mistake but that's cool. We'll take it. I'm not sure I'm a fan of the perfect attendance award. Some parents get over concerned with achieving perfect attendance and send their kids to school sick. Don't do that parents.

This is what happens when we stay home on Saturday mornings. This is 11:00AM.

These are my two food recommendations this week:

I picked this up at Vons and it's actually really good. I'm an almond milk person so I appreciated it.

I found this at Costco last week. Their soups come and go pretty quickly so they may or may not have it. It's in the deli section. It has a tiny kick. Delicious.

Happy Thanksgiving week! We all have so much to be thankful for. So much. My thankful thing this week is kind of silly but I'm sooo thankful for my bed. I love it so much. It's big and cozy and now that the outside temps are dropping I'm really enjoying every second I spend under the covers. If you didn't know this about me, I'm really good at sleeping. I slept in until 9:00 this morning. I decided to get up when one of my neighbors started practicing the drums.

Noviembre

Fun fact. I speak Spanish very well. Actually I don't speak very much Spanish. BUT I can read a sentence in Spanish and pronounce it perfectly, even if I have no idea what it means. It's one of my useless talents. In case you think I've misspelled November, that's how you say it in Spanish, hence my random Spanish anecdote.

On to Noviembre things:

Dan took Winter to Hume Lake last weekend for a Father/Daughter retreat. Originally he was going to take Mya but she came down with a fever and sore throat the night before they were supposed to leave. Good thing we have more daughters! Mya was fine with it by the way. She felt pretty sick so she didn't feel like taking a road trip up to the mountains anyway. She'll go next year. Winter was more than happy to fill in.

Dan forgot his beanie but Winter was happy to loan him her extra one.

Winter painted his nails during a race of some sort.

This was her reading nook.

Her first experience with a ropes course. She went for it like she does most things in life, with no fear.

If you haven't been up to Hume Lake, you really need to add it to your places to visit.

She loved playing gaga ball? I think what's what it's called...

Midday nap.

They both had an awesome time.

And back at home:

Costco cart tetris is not my thing.

The girls wear necklaces to church. Angus throws a fit if he can’t wear his special blue mardi gras necklace too. Thanks to whoever gave that to him.

At home, we go up and down our stairs all day long. I will avoid a trip upstairs at all costs. So when Angus needs a shirt and there’s a perfectly good one down stairs, he’s wearing it for sure, even if it’s not his. He actually refused to take it off for the whole day.

I went to say good night to Addie and found her like this. 

Warning: Many words ahead...

Over the years, our parenting has become a lot more verbal than physical. A lot more mentally and emotionally tiring instead of physically exhausting like it once was. Don't get me wrong, I still fall into bed every night, but parenting my kids these days requires a lot more thought. 

And I'm not even talking about homework, which is getting pretty hard by the way. They are growing up and facing some hard things with friends and peers. The big girls come home from school every day with a story about friend drama, or something mean that a boy said to them, or a new bad word they've never heard and want to know what it means. I find myself constantly trying to find a way to encourage them and teach them something from what has happened. I never know what they are going to ask me. I never know what kind of advice they are going to need that day. It's exhausting to say the least.

One of them was told by kids that used to be her friends that they now find her annoying. One of them was told by some boys at church that she isn't very good at soccer. Sometimes they are in tears. Sometimes they are in a bad mood for the rest of the day. I remember going through things when I was around their age and just keeping them to myself. For whatever reason, I didn't want to tell anyone when I was hurt or angry. Maybe I felt that it was embarrassing or a weakness. I'm not sure.

So my thankful thing this week is that my kids are willing to tell me what's going on in their hearts and that I'm able to meet them at school every day and talk about it with them when their emotions are raw. The minute they get in that dark gray van and those doors close, they are safe. They can let those emotions out, happy or sad. I'm thankful for open lines of communication I've somehow managed to create. Sometimes I feel like my being a stay at home mom is not benefiting my kids because I'm always tired, always craving to get away, and always making them feel like they're making me crazy. BUT MAYBE my always being around makes them feel like they can talk to me. I'm going to go with that.

Every mom has a certain age where they feel comfortable. We never feel like we're totally rocking it but some of us do great with toddlers, others infants, and others are good with teenagers. I feel like I might be a good tweenage mom. I'm not bad with infants either... when they aren't mine. I just love sleep so much that it's hard for me to go on 4 or 5 hours a night. Tweenagers aren't a walk in the park because of all the explosive emotions that come out of them at random times... well girls at least. But I like that they listen to my advice. I like that they like to hang out with me. I like that I can teach them things. And I like the chores they are capable to doing if I'm being honest. But most of all, I love that they light up when I throw a few complements their way.

Sooooo, transition your brain to practical things now! Sorry, there's just no great segway here.

Since the seasons are changing, I thought I'd offer a couple of  fashion tips I have learned: 

1. The 90s style is back whether we like it or not. I have all of these normal or long shirts in my closet. I don't really want to cut them all in half so I can wear them with high waste jeans. So last year I started tying my shirts in a knot on the side. It's super cute and versatile. You can tie the knot as high or as low as you want. 

2. I also like to take a button up the front long sleeve denim shirt and put it over a sun dress and tie the bottom in a knot. That makes any dress fall appropriate, especially with boots. It also allows me to take off that long sleeved shirt around noon when it gets hot in SoCal. I have a few button up the front shirts I've found at thrift stores. They always have tons.

And now switch your brain to food:

Cheese tip: This is not ground breaking. You may already do this. I hate pre-shredded cheese you buy at the store. It tastes rubbery and dry. They actually add extra preservatives to the shredded bagged cheese FYI. So I always buy a block and shred it myself. If you have to shred cheese, do it over a paper towel. That way you can easily transfer it to a plastic bag or container. I usually store it in a plastic baggy. It's super easy to transfer it if you wrap the cheese in the paper towel like a taco, put half of it in the baggy, then slowly pull the paper towel out of the baggy. For an environmentally friendly version, use a hand towel and transfer into a storage container. 

Here's something cool I found at Costco. I've been looking everywhere for the receipt because I'm not sure on the price. But Costco is always super reasonable. If you can't tell, these are little plastic stemless wine glasses. We host a family Christmas party and our guests always get crazy out of control so these are perfect. Kidding. None of our guests have even come close to breaking a wine glass but these are so cute and festive, and people don't have to be careful with them. I grabbed them immediately with a big smile. The checkout guy scanned them and then looked at them suspiciously. I exclaimed, "Aren't they so cute?!" But he explained that he thought they were glass but they were way too light for glass so he did a double take. Whatever. They're cute.

Okay! Thanks for sticking with me to the end. Happy Friday. I hope you all have a great weekend.