BEACH

We're back from our beach vacay. It was probably the best trip we've had in Newport. And the best weather. It was in the high 70's the whole time. This was our 7th year down there. We started going when Winter was 8 months old and Mya just turned two. Now our baby is 3 and life is oh so much easier. So for all you mamas with diaper wearing, psychotic toddlers on vacation, it gets easier. Life just continues to get more doable and more fun with these kids. There were very few are we there yets and only a couple carsick complaints by the time we reached our destination. One of the many reasons we vacation one hour from home. 

Dan likes to get there two hours early just in case we are able to check in early. We always go to a local pizza joint for lunch. As we were slowing down our loaded minivan to pull into the parking lot, a grumpy gus in a nice car shouted at us as he drove past us. We had the windows open because of the carsick complaints so the kids were able to hear him clearly.

It went something like this:

Road Rager: "F#!%iING IDIOT!

Mya: What did he say??

Me: He called Daddy an idiot... cuz he doesn't have Jesus in his heart.

Winter: He said bucket idiot...

Me: Yeah... that's weird. There's the pizza place!

We were able to check in a little early. It didn't take long for the kids to make themselves at home. 

Week days are so empty. One of the perks of renting after Labor Day.

Addie's the easiest one to burry cuz she's so teeny.

Dan insisted we bring the expensive camera. I reluctantly brought it and ended up really loving pretending to be an amature photographer. And it was easier to get good pics of the kids because they didn't even see me taking them. I mostly used the giant lens that takes super far pics. I know it's called something technical but I don't know what it is because I'm just pretending.

There was lots of boardwalk bike riding...

And sand gymnastics.

Favorite Mya comment of the trip:

Wendy: Mya, you are so beautiful with that long hair and those GREEN EYES!

Mya: Yeah, you should see them in the sunlight.

Still love this belly oh so much.

Flying a kite.

I'm going to do something with this picture... maybe black and white. Not sure. There are some awesome filters out there. It'll be fun to test them out.

This one too.

Newport Beach is kind of close to the Higerds now so of course we insisted they visit. Mari took this one. Swimsuit model James is by far my fave in this pic. 

I took this one. And in a matter of seconds, all the faces are different. They are all such fun little people. I still can't get over how many babies we carried in our bellies.

And we always love it when Uncle Bill and Aunt Karla join us. 

For the first time, we rented a little boat and ate lunch while cruising around the marina.

The girls were not happy about having to wear life jackets but they tried their best not to complain... well not really. They complained a lot. But they still enjoyed it I think.

And everyone got a turn to drive.

This guy hitched a ride for a while.

And we saw seals. Laziest animals on the planet.

Oh here's Brittany. Mya's creepy doll. She is always winking because one of her eyes doesn't work. She was a thrift store purchase. I feel like I've mentioned her before. Can't remember. Mya insisted we bring her on the boat with us. I like to take pictures of her and send them to my friend Elizabeth who thinks she's incredibly frightening. She's an 80's child. All those doll horror films will get to you after a while. 

My mom always joins us on our trip. The kids adore her, especially Angus. Whenever he's upset he goes to her instead of me. It's kind of nice. And when he needs someone to help him in the bathroom, he calls for Grandma. 

They love this lifeguard tower. It says, "KEEP OFF" but I guess they don't really enforce it. 

Dan likes to make sure the kids get plenty of exercise while we're there. I totally had my money on Mya but Winter won twice in a row. 

I take SO many pics at the beach, just trying to get a few perfect ones that I can frame and end up overdoing it a little. But whatever. They are so fun to photograph.

The big girls had so much fun boogie boarding together this year. That's pretty much all they did in the water.

Angus doesn't like the water much. It's a bit cold for his taste.

Addie mostly looked for baby shells and danced around.

Mom's on the phone and doesn't seem to notice that Addie is standing on her.

Grandma opens her bible and studies the book of Job while Angus studies trucks.

The girls brought two weeks of classwork with them on vacation. This is Winter's daily journal. She actually did pick up a bird. Twice. Against our constant threats of harsh punishment and warnings about bird diseases. I don't even know how she was able to catch TWO pigeons. Winter has always been drawn to birds. Since she could waddle as a toddler. I told her she must have been a golden retriever in her past life. When she sees a group of birds she must run to them and chase them. 

And Angus did bite her. Hard. It was a first time offense but he got in big trouble. 

Our friend Ashley joined us for the first time. She's one of our favorites so we were super happy to have her.

Speaking of favorites, this delightful sister of mine traveled the furthest. It took her 3 hours and we're so glad she came.

She took these pics.

I like to wear this shirt to remind people that sharks are out there and they are not your friends.

Wendy helped Mya with her homework...

And also convinced her to do an extra credit project for science. Dan bought some giant shrimp down at the dock so Wendy figured, why not look it up and draw a diagram of all the parts of the shrimp. Mya does not like creatures of any kind. It didn't help that Dan chased everyone around the house with it earlier. But she agreed anyway. 

Winter loved holding the shrimp of course. 

She turned it in to her teacher and he was super impressed. He didn't give her extra credit though. Oh well. But we all learned a lot. For instance, the shrimp abdomen is on its back. Weird huh. 

Dan cooked it up and Mya didn't mind eating it. She loves her some shrimp. 

This was the highlight of Angus's whole trip, and possibly his life. He got to check out a giant wheel loader. 

The nights in newport aren't bad either. Dan took this one. 

And I want to frame this one because it's where we've spent so many vacations together as a family and it's a cool pic. But I can't decide which filter I like better. Actually I like the first one but I'm sure Dan will prefer the second. 

I've learned so much this trip. The shrimp abdomen thing and also how acceptable it has become to wear a thong bikini to the beach. I have seen far more tushies than I care to. But I also learned that taking pictures at sunset is not the best time. I totally thought the lighting would be great. Not so much. Still cute pics though.

Dan and I celebrated 10 years of marriage on September 14th. 

Now onto fall things like shopping for halloween costumes and the perfect pair of sweatpants. Heading to Trader Joe's tomorrow to count the number of pumpkin items they have for me this year. Happy pumpkin shopping to you all. 

Paradise

I skipped a Wednesday of blogging. Not sure anyone except Wendy noticed. On Friday she texted me, "Where the hell's your blog?!!" Such a sweetheart that one. I only had one pic and not much to say so I thought I'd skip a week. And that's going to happen from time to time, Wendy. And now I have words to share. So here they are.

I think so much of my mood depends on how balanced things are. Like when I'm home too much or out too much. Or when I've been with the kids too much or by myself too much, (not that that ever happens). Too much healthy food or too much junk food. I like to alternate between yoga classes and boot camp classes at the gym. I think we need to balance things out in order to maintain a healthy mind and body. Just an observation for the week.

I've found that I feel way more sane now that the kids are back in school. See, balance. They are at school half the day and home half the day. With peers half the day and parents and siblings the other half. Balance.

And speaking of balance, Dan climbed up to the 2nd story to wash the windows and spider webs etc. Angus said, "Daddy is yoooo high!" Addie matter-of-factly replied, "Yeah he'll probably fall." It makes me nervous every time Dan does stuff like that, even though he literally does that for a living. Ya know, climbs ladders and sprays stuff with a hose.

Another conversation I overheard:

Angus - You mad?
Addie - Yeah cuzza you!
Angus - Oh... Wanna play trucks?
Addie - Ugh of course! 

I'm glad they were able to work that one out =)

Dan took this one. They always smile for him. They never smile at me when I say smile. Maybe they fear him more... 

Here's another one he took yesterday. She said she was a cupcake queen. I guess I can see that... I laughed so hard when she fell down the stairs in slow motion saying ooooooh nooooo.... heeeeelllpp!!  Priceless. Don't worry she didn't get hurt at all. She was wearing 5 floaties.

My sister and her family have been going through their entire house donating stuff they don't want. They donate it all to me because I like free stuff, I like to sell stuff and Wendy and I are the same size. In clothes AND shoes. I know, it's awesome. This wedding dress was in the bags. I guess they got it from a thrift store for a costume or something. Winter discovered it and was immediately in love. 

Winter: What's in that bag?

Me: No

Winter: Is it a dress??

Me: I don't know, don't take it out.

Winter: It's a dress! Take it out!

Me: No

Winter: Please mom! (pulling it out)

Me: Ugh fine.

Winter: Oh my goodness I LOVE IT!! IT'S A WEDDING DRESS! CAN I WEAR IT?! WHO'S IS IT? IS IT YOURS?? I HAVE TO PUT IT ON! (trying to get into the dress)

Me: It's not mine. No, it's way too big. You can't wear it. 

Winter: Help me mom!

Me: Ugh okay.

Winter: It's soooo beautiful. Can you save it for my wedding??! Take a picture!

I held the back tight and took a picture. This was one of the happiest moments of her life I think.

The whole family one by one got the stomach flu last week. Well except me of course. And Winter never got it for some reason. She's usually the first to get sick. I love this pic. Dan is totally loving snuggling with sleeping Angus regardless of his expression.

I read a book to Angus the other day and realized it may have been the very first time. It's possible I've read to him before because he kept asking about a truck book. Actually Winter likes to read to the kids so it was probably her.

I got my hair did on Tuesday and am pretty happy with the way it turned out. I always am. Love my hair girl. I got the usual. Highlights and a short cute A-line bob. I came home and Angus ran up to me then backed up and asked, "Mommy what you do?" Addie asked, "What happened to your hair?!" Dan asked, "What color is that?" I checked the mirror and still thought it looked cute. Then I picked the big girls up from school and Winter also asked, "What happened to your hair?!" I replied, I got it done, like it? Mya commented, "Ummm I like it when you have it back in a cute little bun." I guess no one likes change around here. 

 Winter does things a lot of the time that frustrate us. But we can't get too upset because she's not trying to disobey or do anything bad... most of the time. She just has ideas that aren't the best. Like Thursday right before bed, she decided to give the dogs a shower with the hose in the backyard. We rarely bathe the dogs so she was just trying to make them smell better. Unfortunately, she didn't use soap so they just smelled like wet dirty dogs. But it was getting dark and they needed to come in the house but they were soaking wet and smelly. So they had to sleep by the back door blocked off from the rest of the house. Not a great idea but a nice thought.

Saturday morning Dan let me sleep in until like 9:00. I know, I'm ridiculous. And he's wonderful for doing this on a regular basis. I LOVE sleeping. Love it. One of my top 5 things to do for sure. Anyway, so, I woke up rested, walked downstairs to the crazy that is my life and just smiled. I thought of that country song, Just Another Day In Paradise by Phil Vassar. Listen to it if you like country. But don't watch the video. It's cheesy. Now you're going to watch it. Okay do whatever you want. It's about how life can look nuts and messy and things rarely go perfectly, but it's exactly what he's ever wanted. I totally agree. I wouldn't change a thing.

The house was all cleaned up when we went to bed. All the toys were put away and all the dishes were done. And yet, when I came downstairs, there was already a pile of dishes in the sink and the floor was covered in toys.

There were so many sounds happening at the same time. My just woken up self, moving in slow motion to the coffee maker, really noticed all of them right away. Addie and Angus were having a conversation about shopkins and tools. But they were literally yelling their words. Because when you're kid #3 and kid #4, you yell your words.

I turned on some music to kind of drown out the noise. Didn't really work but it motivated me to empty the dishwasher. Dan was playing with a toy train because he didn't have trains as a kid he says.

The TV was on in the background playing Angus's YouTube videos about trucks and tools. And twitch was making his old man noises. He gets these hairballs or something stuck in his throat and makes the worst noises every 30 seconds until it goes away. It sounds like an 80 year old smoker gagging. Lovely. But with all the noise and mess I still looked around and had a moment of total happiness and appreciation for our life that morning. Probably because I slept in 'till 9:00. I hope you can take a moment today and appreciate the little imperfect things that make your life awesome.

Happy Labor Day friends.

P.S. It's time for our annual Newport trip so I won't be posting for a couple of weeks. But there will be lots of beach pictures on the next blog. I'm so excited not to take a stroller and a pack 'n' play this year. We're going to have more room in the van. I guess I'm excited to hang out at the beach for a couple weeks too.

feel good stuff

Winter and Mya remind me a lot of my sister Wendy and me. Winter is definitely the Wendy in the relationship. This is so something she would have made me do. Here, put this bucket on your head and see if you run into anything. 

Angus loves picking Addie up from school. He demands that she hold his hand all the way to the car. 

Mya was baptized Sunday at the church pool. She's been begging us for about a year now to be baptized. What an awesome moment for her proud mom and dad. She wanted Dan to be the one to do it. He did an awesome job. He was made for this dad thing. It's an amazing thing to watch. And Mya is such a shining light for Jesus. She amazes me and teaches me daily what it looks like to be a Christian.

💗

oh happy day

It's our first baby's 9th birthday today. Every time August 15 rolls around, it takes me back to that crazy delivery filled with so many scary and exciting new parent moments. It's so fun to watch her become more and more her own little human with each year. 

This year Mya wanted to have her party at Rockin' Jump. I was so happy to hear that come out of her mouth. I hate throwing parties. It gives me anxiety and I become a cranky frazzled person the weeks leading up to it. This was THE easiest party I've ever thrown. We went to Vons and she picked out cupcakes and Rockin' Jump did everything else. Even though she couldn't invite all of her friends, because that would be like 3 car payments expensive, she had an awesome time. She even made her own party favors. Edible necklaces made with peachy O's, gummy life savers and fruit loops. Addie is modeling hers below.

It's the most wonderful time of the year. It's the first day of school.

It's Addie's first day of TK. She's never been to preschool so I'm really looking forward to hearing all about how she does in a classroom setting. I'm really hoping she doesn't yell at her teacher. But I know she'll be her favorite for sure. Addie is super excited. Winter and Mya are looking forward to recess and not so much the rest.

Happy Wednesday!

home stretch

I'm craving structure and routine at this point. I'm sooo thankful for our community pool. We've had a few swim play dates and we've spent lots of pool time with the neighbors. But I think we're all ready to do something else now. I have just a few pics this week.

I'm so thankful that Dan doesn't mind having the kids all over him. I mind. Very much.

This is Winter's fanciest dress. And heels. Why not climb a hill.

Addie and Winter pretended they were dogs for like an hour. They just stayed on their little doggie beds and Mya gave them food and water. It was nice... until Angus let Otter and Twitch in the house and they ate all their dog food (Raisin Bran).

Mya is obsessed with videos of life hacks. She saw this one the other day and it's actually a great idea. Cupcake liners to catch popsicle drops.

Our neighbor gave us this racetrack for Dan to put together. It's super loud and it makes the kids noisier than they already are. So we let them play with it for about 5 minutes at a time then turn it off for an hour or so. 

14 days 'till school starts

They like to compete for the biggest smoothie mustache.

I told Angus to go get ready for bed. He came back like this. I assume it's because he’s good at taking clothes off but sucks at putting them on so he just grabbed the easiest thing.

Excited that dad let him help paint the new wall where the fish tank used to be.

Trucks need walks too. It's been difficult to get out of the house recently because it's been a billion degrees out. We play for a little bit before 9AM when it gets hot and around 6PM after it's a little bit cooler. And from 9-6 we hang out inside and the kids play (fight mostly) and I do laundry and dishes (yell at the kids to stop fighting). Sometimes we go to the pool where the kids fight some more. But at least it's a change of scenery. 

Twinsies. I find these two lying in the exact same position all the time. It's kind of weird. If I were twitch I would not lay my head anywhere near Otter's butt. But that's just me. 

One last visit to the Higerds' before school starts. We went on a few adventures. One dad, two moms and 9 kids. Gabe thought we looked like a very fertile polygamist family. I think it's the first time they've used all 12 seats in their beast van. We were happy to help them break it in.