stay calm

I try to post on the blog on Wednesdays because Wagenbrenner Wednesdays sounds good. However, it's hard for me to work with a deadline. So, from now on it will be Wagenbrenner whatever day I want. I think that sounds better. 

We are in the calm before the storm of the holiday season right now. The thought of everything I have to get done and check off the giant list of birthdays, christmas parties, gifts, school performances etc. is overwhelming to say the least. But I'm determined to remain calm and not freak out. I'm trying to be super intentional about only doing what is best for our family this December. Some of my favorite get togethers and traditions happen next month so there is a lot of good that comes with the crazy too. 

I really want to focus on getting my kids to think of others during this time of year instead of everything they want for Christmas and their birthdays. We'll see how that goes. 

Addie is obsessed with baby Jesus. She loves reading the story of His birth all year long and she LOVES the little nativity we put up every year. She even plays baby Jesus with Angus. They take turns being Jesus. Mya is not okay with it because she says it is extremely disrespectful to Jesus. I think Jesus loves it.  

I brought home a little figurine of Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus from my mom's recently. Addie found it and squealed with joy. I told her we could put it up on the mantle where we could see it since Christmas decorating time is almost here. It's breakable so I really didn't want her playing with it. She reluctantly obeyed and put it on the mantle. The next day I went out back to fill the dog's water bowl and found this little scene. The temptation was just too much for her.

Soccer season is over. It was fun watching the girls play and I also enjoyed hanging out with the other families during practices and games. I watched the girls take their pictures so I wasn't surprised at all when I got them back. 

She was mad because I told her we needed to take her soccer picture before she could go play on the swings. I appreciate the fact that I always know how Addie is feeling. 

When she came inside from playing Friday afternoon she was crying because our 4 year old neighbor friend Carter was playing with her blue spiky ball. She wanted it back but her dad made her share it with him. She really does love that thing for some reason. After she sat on my lap for a few minutes and whimpered, she yelled, "I’m not even gonna marry Carter now!!!" I didn’t know they were engaged. Or maybe she was considering him for a spouse?

We went to visit the Higerds over the long weekend. Winter is always in heaven when we go down there with all the animals including this bunny below, a tortoise, birds, a cat, a snake and a lizard.

Angus is still kind of obsessed with me. He's rarely very far away. He's watching me blow dry my hair in this picture. Sounds pretty boring to me, but he's fascinated. This is the never ending stack of clean laundry that usually shares the bed with me when Dan works.

Addie had pink eye so I kept her home Tuesday. Dan and I took the littles with us to Costco. I always forget sweatshirts for the kids. It's freezing in there. 

It looked like the pink eye cleared up Wednesday so I sent her back to school. They sent her home Thursday morning so we went to the doctor. She made sure everyone there knew that mommy promised no shots. She told the front desk lady, the nurse and the doctor, "I'm not getting shots today because I just have a pink eye, see?" The doctor looked at her eyes and ears and throat etc. While checking her ears, he said something about seeing Minnie Mouse in there like he usually does. She told him he should say that he sees a T-rex next time because that's actually her favorite, not Minnie Mouse. And then they had a conversation about dinosaurs that ended in Addie singing her favorite dinosaur song complete with hand motions and stomping which I'm sure the doctor was dying to hear. He seemed pretty amused actually.

Turns out she has viral pink eye which means she can go to school since there are no symptoms. This is all new info to me. So we got our stickers (Angus tried not to cry because they were out of paw patrol ones), we got our note and we were on our way. 

I should include more pictures of my husband at work. This may be the first one I've actually posted on the blog. I'll try to be better about that. One engine from his department went out to help with the fire in Malibu. Dan wasn't working that day so he's at work, running calls in the city, thank the Lord. I hate those wildfires. Engine 91 got called to a "train fire" but turns out it was just overheated brakes. Passengers were not happy with the delay but the guys were excited to work on the train. They don't get to do that kind of thing very often. That's Engineer Wag on the left. 

Speaking of excitement, I picked up our advent calendars at Trader Joes this week. In my opinion, they are the deal of the century. A month of joy for 99 cents a piece? Yes please! I'm all about lots of joy for minimal effort and cost. Maximum effort and cost being Disneyland. Minimum being 24 days of milk chocolate for 99 cents. Everyone wins. Even anti-candy Dan is on board with this one. My mom used to buy one that we all had to take turns opening. I splurged and got four.

game plan

Pictures are a funny thing aren't they? I see this and think, wow, how amazingly lucky are they to have each other and how blessed am I to be their mom. But seconds prior to taking it, I was like ohmagoodness please stop the screaming! It's usually Addie and Angus. But it's sooo high pitched. And seconds later I told them to get down before someone got hurt. But what a great picture. Winter's totally fine by the way. It was her idea.

I know most of the time I post my failures and funny things my kids have done. But I've learned a few things about parenting that I'm not sure I've shared with anyone so why not share them on the blog.

I can only think of one right now but I'm sure there are more. I hope there are more. I've learned that I get overwhelmed and frazzled pretty easily. I move slowly and process slowly, and having four little people coming at me with questions makes me start to sweat. Especially when we're out and about. I quickly go from loving happy mommy to psycho snappy mommy.

So, when I take my kids anywhere, like Target, a birthday party or a restaurant, before we get out of the car, I give them the game plan. Dan actually started this whole game plan thing before we would enter a restaurant. Now I do it when he's at work and I have no choice but to bring all four with me somewhere.

We talk about what we are going to do there and what I expect from them. Sometimes I forget to do this but when I remember, things go soooo much smoother. I try not to take all four of them anywhere by myself because that's just asking for crazy town. But if I do take them to somewhere like Target for instance, I tell them we are going in to buy groceries. We are not buying toys. We are not buying clothes. We are not buying treats. They are not allowed to touch or ask for anything. They usually do but I give them a look and then they remember the conversation in the car. I know it sounds pretty strict but if I allow them to ask for things, I have four little people asking for everything in the store the minute we walk in; sometimes before we even enter. And if I allow them to touch things, well that never ends well. Angus has had a meltdown more than once because he couldn't take the red separator thingy home. You know, the one on the moving counter that separates your groceries from the stranger before and after you.

Unfortunately, I learned this little helpful peptalk thing late in the game with the older two but I started pretty early with Addie and Angus. It has been super helpful. And a lot of the time there is some kind of reward like letting them pick out a new fun cereal or a piece of candy when we get home.

There you go. It may or may not be helpful to you if you have little kids. You could always try it out anyway.

So, I have wanted to mention this food tip several times before, and figured that everyone already knew about it. But then I come in contact with another person that doesn't, and wonder just how many people do know about it.

Homemade ranch dressing. Well, kind of homemade. If you haven't had it before, your life may be changed forever. You know, those Hidden Valley packets you can find on the dressing aisle at the store. You just add milk and mayo. And no light stuff. Whole milk and good ol' full fat mayo. I guess whatever you have in the fridge will work. The downside to making it from scratch is that you can't really go back to the bottled kind. It's just not the same. In fact, no one in my house will consume ranch from the bottle. They insist on the homemade kind. And there you have it. Do what you want with that information. It's also a good way to get kids to eat veggies, just like the commercials. Do they still have those commercials?

And one more thing I've been meaning to mention. Have you tried the Marco Polo app? I am loving it. It's basically a video message app. It keeps me in touch with loved ones that I would have no time to call. I can send a video message to my sister during the day when she's teaching and she can send a video message back on her lunch break. I have friends and family all over the place. And I feel more connected to them when I can see their face and hear their voice. It's like they are down the street instead of in another state. And Dan just downloaded it so now he can send videos to the kids when he's at work and vice versa. It just makes so much more sense for us since we rarely have spare time to facetime anyone and when we do, they aren't available to talk. Especially if there's a time difference. Dad if you're reading this, you really should download the app.

I'm late to post this week because of a small emergency that happened Wednesday. Mya collided with a boy at school. Her nose hit his forehead. He has a bump on his head. That's how hard they hit. So, she went to the nurses office and her nose continued to bleed for an hour. They tried to get a hold of me the whole time. I was at a mom's group listening to an awesome speaker so I turned my phone off and put it in my purse minutes before the school called. I usually leave it on the table in silent mode so I'm still able to see if anyone calls, mainly the school. But not that day. Of course not that day.

I still feel sooooo much guilt that they weren't able to get a hold of me. She was just sitting there bleeding, just waiting for her mom who was not answering her phone. They were able to get a hold of Dan who was at work 20 minutes away and he had to leave work and come to the school. I ended up eventually looking at my phone and got to the school around the same time as Dan. I expected him to be livid since not answering my phone is one of his pet peeves and he had to take the day off.

But to my surprise, he calmly told me that it was okay. I was suspicious, like maybe he was waiting until later to get mad. But nope, he remained calm. We've had a few conversations recently about the fact that I do dumb stuff and I will continue to do dumb stuff because that is who I am and he really shouldn't get mad because I'm not trying to screw up. I'm just not built like him. He's on top of everything, and I'm kind of just trying to survive the day without losing my keys... or a kid.

That was the ultimate test and he passed with flying colors. He really is the best. Anyway, it turns out that Mya's nose is not broken, praise Jesus. She's pretty cute and I would hate for her nose to get messed up. It's still a little swollen between her eyes but it should go back to normal in a day or two.

Another highlight from this week: Mya woke up at 4:00AM because daylight savings happened and now everyone wakes up at totally random times throughout the morning because their internal clocks are super messed up. She decided to be helpful and feed the dogs, at 4:00AM. Then, the old dog, feeling full from breakfast, walked upstairs and took a giant dump in the hall. So Dan and I woke up to that lovely smell. Awesome. No pic needed.

Oh, here's a pic of Addie from soccer practice. She asked me why she had to wear pants and I couldn't giver her a good answer.

And one can never be too safe while getting the mail...

Here's Angus's garbage truck. Addie decorated it for him. The lovely sticker is the best.

Addie has been busy this week. She learned how to ride her bike with no training wheels AND she totally conquered the hoolahoop. 

Angus, not so much. But he gave it a whirl. Ha!

dirt, weddings, babies and costumes

Warning: This is kind of a long post...

Let's have a moment of silence for the Dodgers' 2nd World Series loss in a row. I think The Red Sox are a superhuman team with a bunch of Babe Ruths so yeah, our boys in blue gave it their best. Maybe next year guys.

Not sure what happened to October but all of a sudden it's November and time has sped up 3 times faster than it was before, and the calendar is full and I'm just trying to breathe. Yoga helps. Angus calls it yoda.

Anyway, I think all moms with littles should be part of some sort of mom group. I still learn so much when I sit down with a group of moms and talk about our journey on this crazy mom road. It's pretty much a mom support group. Moms anonymous. Only no one would go if it was called that, I don't think.

During one of our meetings, we were talking about how we all have strengths and weaknesses as moms. We were instructed to think of a strength and write it down. It took me a minute or two because it's way easier to think of areas where I'm lacking. But eventually I did come up with one.

I'm good at singing and dancing in the kitchen. I know that doesn't sound like a mom skill but it totally is. When I turn music on and start dancing and singing loudly the kids love it. They love to see their mom be silly when so often I'm serious and stern with them. I turn on annoying pop music that Dan hates when he's at work so I don't hurt his ears. Some of my favorites to crank up these days are Handclap by Fitz and the Tantrums, Groove Is In The Heart by Deee-Lite, (Try not to dance to that song. It's impossible) No Excuses by Meghan Trainor and Something Just Like This by The Chainsmokers & Coldplay. Mya can only hear a song about 10 times before she's sick of it so I'm sure I'll move on to another list of faves next week.

This week was kind of a blur with Halloween activities but we survived and candy is everywhere. Dan worked this year so there are not any pictures of him.

Angus's highlight of the week:

I have been nagging Dan to make a dirt spot where Angus can play with his trucks. Angus begs me daily for some "road" for his trucks. That's what he calls dirt. And because Dan is the amazing husband he is, he always eventually does what I ask him to, even if he doesn't want to. He built a little wooden frame box type thing and filled it with dirt. Look how happy he is.

The girls had me laughing so hard this week. My mom let them have her only Ken doll since she's cleaning out all the toys in her house. So of course they had to have a Barbie wedding. Let me set the scene for you. Barbie and Jack Frost (not sure why they picked that name) are having a wedding. Mya kept calling it a funeral for some reason.

Mya: I'm so excited about the funeral!
Me: Why...?
Mya: Because Barbie's getting married!
Me: Ummm do you know what a funeral is?
Mya: I forget, what is it again?
Me: You have a funeral when someone dies. It's a celebration of their life.
Mya: Oh yeah, that's right.

I think she was confusing the word ceremony with the word funeral. That's my guess.

Here is Jack Frost taking a potty break before the ceremony. Wedding jitters I guess. I love that they pulled his pants down for him.

So Barbie and Jack are having a typical wedding with music (Winter singing) and vows performed by Mya. And I got the job of videographer. But there's a plot twist. See if you can catch what it is...

Surprise! The wedding is also the birth of Barbie and Jack's first baby, Mr. Handsome. Didn't see that coming did you? 

Speaking of Mr. Handsome, have you ever seen a cuter firefighter? Trunk or Treat was Saturday. Dan made the axe. Well I helped. I painted the handle brown. Pretty good. He's been playing with it all week so when it came time to actually carry it with his costume he was over it. I carried it. And his hat. And his bucket. But man, so cute. The older the kids get, the more on top of life I feel. I'm not even close to being where I need to be. (Is anyone?) But I'm definitely making giant strides. For instance, I had all four costumes complete with masks and axes ready to go two weeks ago. Last year we were still looking for costumes the day of Trunk or Treat. Big progress. 

Angus's favorite trunk was the construction one where everyone dressed up as a construction worker and there was caution tape and signs all over it. A very close second was a group of beautiful princesses performing Disney songs. He was mesmerized. I had to tear him away.

I noticed the next day that I pinned Mya's angel wings on upside down. I'm sure no one noticed. I'll be sure to get it right for Halloween.

Mari and the fam came up for the occasion. I miss this crazy bunch. The insanity and chaos of them all together brings me so much joy. 

I kind of have a love hate relationship with most holidays. I'm sure I'm not alone. The kids love it and there are always cute pictures afterward. But the work that goes into it is just more than I have in me. 

As I type, I have a sore throat and I'm totally wiped. Because that's what happens. My body is like, Amie, that was too much work for you. It's fine. I'll be okay. 

I actually thought Halloween morning was going to run smooth-ish. I don't know why. I figured everyone would just put on their costumes and we would head out to the school parade. No lunches needed since it was an early out day. I even put the canned goods the kids were supposed to bring in a bag by the door.

But no way. I had to do Winter's nose and whiskers (for when she didn't feel like wearing her mask), convince Addie to wear her Rainbow Dash costume even though she really didn't want to because it was too itchy, find Angus's fireman costume because even though he doesn't go to school, there was no way he was leaving the house dressed in regular clothes, and I didn't have the time or energy to explain to him why he didn't need a costume. His hat, boots, pants and jacket were all in different rooms of the house of course. 

Mya walked up to me while I was doing Winter's make-up to show me that her halo headband had snapped in half by itself in the middle of the night. My calm and rational response was, "Well you can't be an angel without a halo so you're just going to have to find another costume in the costume box! You have 10 minutes before we have to leave!" She replied, "Ummm can't we just attach the halo wire to a hair clip or something?" I nodded and she found a clip and I was able to attach it in 30 seconds. But then she put her angel gown on and it had several stains right down the front. Even more frazzled, I said, "Well you can't wear a stained gown so you're just going to have to find another costume! You have 5 minutes! What about the bee costume? That one is cute." To which she replied calmly, "Ummm why don't I just put this white feather boa around my neck and it will totally hide the stains." I nodded again. "Yeah that works." 

I'm thankful for Mya. Even if who she is has nothing to do with the way I've raised her, she makes me feel like I've done something right amongst all the parenting screw ups I've made. She was an angel for Halloween because she loves God. I mean come on. She's turning out okay. 

So we arrived at school in the nick of time and of course I forgot the canned goods at home. They are still by the door as a matter of fact. I should bring them to school today... I thoroughly enjoyed the little parade even though I was a sweaty frazzled mess of a mom. The girls looked adorable and Angus loved seeing all the different costumes including several fellow firefighters. One little boy dressed in the same costume as Angus angrily yelled, "Hey that's mine!" 

Halloween festivities continued after I picked the kids up from school. I took them to Downtown Glendora to get more candy. My plan this year was to get as much candy before Halloween as I could so that I didn't have to buy any candy to give out to trick-or-treaters. I did donate a big bag of candy to the trunk or treat so I'm not a totally horrible person. We're just on a budget, and I'm doing so good!

Anywho, we went to get more free candy which wasn't a great idea because it was hot and the kids were starving because they didn't have lunch at school and we had to walk a lot and Angus made me hold him the entire time. He's like 40 pounds. So again, I was a sweaty frazzled mess by the time we got home. But we had tons of candy for the trick-or-treaters. 

We had a Halloween hangout in my neighborhood so I decorated the garage door with stuff from the dollar store so people could take pictures. It turned out super cute actually. And I made a Halloween playlist to listen to while I decorated. I've never really been a fan of Halloween but this year was fun, despite my morning and carrying my giant baby for an hour.

Winter went trick-or-treating with the neighbors because she could not wait another second for her sisters to get their acts together. Angus fell asleep so I took Addie and Mya. Addie quit halfway around the neighborhood. I found out later that Winter dressed one of her dolls up like a unicorn and took two buckets, one for her and one for her doll, and convinced people to give her twice as much candy. Pretty smart.

On to the next holiday, Thanksgiving! 😊 We are planning on going to Bakersfield to see my wonderful sister and her wonderful family. I'm super excited.

Happy November!

old stuff

I think I've mentioned that my mom is getting ready to sell her house. It's the house she grew up in. My grandparents bought it in the early 50's a few years after they got married. It is an old house with tons and tons of memories made by four generations. Sunday, I helped my mom go through the garage. My brother took 4 or 5 loads of crap to the Goodwill. I went through about 100 picture frame collages and removed the pictures in order to toss the frames. It was tedious but I loved looking at old photos of my family. My grandma loved pictures. She kept frames and books of all of her loved ones all over the house. Here are a few of my favorites.

1st grade Amie. I've never been good at faking a smile. I must have been irritated with the camera person. But I'm loving the 80's bangs and that dress. Oh man. 

This is me and my nephew. This is what happens when you grow up a well behaved christian girl. You go off to college and dye your hair black and get a couple of piercings because you can. It could have been worse I suppose. Still not smiling on command. Now I know where my kids get it.

Mom and Dad. So very 1980.They split up when I was little but I've always loved this picture. Looking good guys.

And Grandpa. His name was LaVelle but he went by Bob. Handsome devil wasn't he.

And here he is a few years later, dancing with me at my grandparents' 50th Wedding anniversary party. I have some awesome photos of grandma I will post some other time. I have to look for them. She was a dish.

And here's Samantha the first. There was a second Samantha that they had when I was a kid. We called her Sammy. I never thought it was weird that my grandparents kept a framed picture of their dead dog... a triple framed picture. Now, I am thinking that it was very weird.. Maybe it was a generation thing? Did people take professional photos of their dogs back then? 

We got A LOT done Sunday. Mom worked super hard going through box after box. I mostly just helped her get rid of things she didn't need. I'm not too sentimental and it helped that none of it was mine. My brother hauled it away before she could change her mind.

Mom is a devout Seventh Day Adventist. To SDA's, pork is pretty much the worst thing you can put in your body. Mom knows her bible well and believes that most of it still applies today. So, the passage about how you should throw out your pottery if it touches pork also applies to frying pans and spatulas I guess. Dan cooked some pork sausage in this poor little pan. This was early on in our marriage. He now understands how mom feels about the evil meat. I didn't know she actually threw it out. Well I guess she saved it in the garage in case Dan wanted to cook some more pork in her house? 

We put it in the donation box and left it in the labeled bag in case there were any SDA's or Jewish people wanting to know what had been cooked in it.

The other day, Angus came in the family room crying about a dump truck. I assumed Addie took his toy or something. Turns out he was watching a very disturbing Bubble Guppies episode where one of the guppies loses their toy dump truck in a giant hole in the dirt. I assured him that the episode would probably end well. Thank goodness it did. The guppies were able to rescue the toy and Angus was super relieved. He's so sensitive. And he also loves construction toys.

When I start cooking dinner, (and I use the term cooking dinner very loosely) Angus sits at the table and waits until it's ready. I always tell him it's going to be a while. Sometimes he pulls up a chair to watch and sometimes he just sits at the table until I bring him a plate of food. 

Happy Wednesday! GO DODGERS!!!!

appreciation and pancakes

To all the good people of the world, you don't get enough recognition. So, I wanted to take the time to personally thank you.

Thanks for putting your shopping carts away in the designated spots instead of blocking a parking spot.
Thank you for being a courteous driver, and thanks for slowing down while driving through a residential street or near a school.
Thank you for picking up that plastic baggy on the floor by the trash can and throwing it away.
Thank you for making it a point to show up on time.
Thank you for showing kindness to the mom with the annoying toddler.
Thank you for being patient and not complaining while waiting in a long line.
Thanks for taking pride in your work and doing a good job.
Thanks for re-parking your car when you notice that you're over the line.
Thanks for letting that person with two items go in front of you at the grocery store when you have a basket full.
Thanks for showing respect and kindness to everyone, regardless of their age, gender, race or political stance.
Thank you for treating others like you want to be treated. I appreciate you.

I feel like my tendency is to focus on the annoying things and not so much the good stuff; hence the thank you's above. Feel free to redirect your thoughts this week as well.

On to Wag stuff...

I picked Addie up from school one day and she was not happy. As we walked to the car she yelled, "My friend was talking to me and she SPIT on my leg!" I laughed and asked her to show me where. She angrily told me she already wiped it off. She refused to talk during the car ride, or greet her dad when we got home. She just sat down and faced the wall. This poor little girl just probably has a lot of saliva in her mouth. Hopefully Addie will forgive her or forget all about it. She is her friend after all. 

Friday, the day before it rained all day, it was nice and sunny out so I suggested a car wash. Mostly because an older grandpa looking gentleman at the school commented on all the dirty minivans in the pickup line; mine being the dirtiest. I was super offended. No need to be rude dude. Everyone was probably just waiting until after it rained to go to the car wash. Or they are just like me and cleaning their car is at the very bottom of their to do list, until their hubby politely asks if they can wash the car.... He wasn't home Friday but I'm sure he noticed the dirty van in the driveway for the last couple weeks or so. Well, now it's clean-ish, with lots of spots from the rain. The wind storm that followed Monday morning didn't help matters. But it was clean Friday evening. I'm okay with that.

I have recently discovered I am horrible at making pancakes. I purchased a costco size box of pancake mix, unfortunately. So I have to make lots of pancakes before it expires. It has been months since I bought this mix so basically I need to make 100 pancakes in the near future so it doesn't go to waste. Mya just informed me last week that she actually hates pancakes. What in the world? Why would anyone hate pancakes? Maybe it's just mine. There is actual skill involved that I did not know about. I am determined to master this skill. 

fall confusion

Fall in SoCal is basically what I feel an ideal summer should be. There's usually a high of 80 degrees and it cools down at night and you can open up the windows in the morning and evening. I just feel confused as to what I'm supposed to wear. I'm not complaining. We still have the best weather in the country all year 'round hands down.

Growing up with a very fashion aware sister, I feel like I'm not allowed to wear open toed shoes or shorts in the fall, even when it is 85 degrees out. And because I know the rules of fashion, I really should follow them as a nod to my sister and all the times she spent yelling at me about not wearing black in the spring or boots in the summer. So, lately, I wear close toed shoes, jeans with holes in them to air out my legs and sleeveless shirts because I think that's allowed all year around. Skirts are also a good way to obey the rules of fall I think... Most people in SoCal wear whatever they want because they can. They don't have an inner Wendy reminding them that uggs and sundresses should not ever be worn together. Ever.

Oh but one thing I would like to share is that jean jackets go with everything. Well, they don't really go with jeans but jeans go with everything so there you go. If you have a jean jacket, your dilemma of which sweater/jacket to wear will be pretty much nonexistent. The possibilities are endless. Jean jackets go great with skirts, dresses, pants and they even go over long sleeves if you want to layer. And they are available at most thrift stores for a fraction of the price. Got me one last year and I cannot believe the joy it has brought me.

On to highlights of the week.

By far the cutest age group on the soccer field are the 4's and 5's. They are so entertaining. They rarely know which direction to kick the ball and they usually travel in a pack. 

In the middle of the last game, the coach squatted down to tie the shoelaces of one of the little boys. Addie looked over and saw her opportunity and quickly ran over there and sat down on that squatting coaches leg, which made the coach fall over of course. Welcome to my world coach. 

Addie has a whole fan club over there. As soon as she walks onto the property, several older girls and boys are calling her name. Addie! Addie! Addie! Over here! It's like she's famous or something. Mya gets so irritated. "Ugh, why does everyone love Addie so much?" she says. 

This pic is from last week but it clearly illustrates my words. 

Saturday morning, after we arrived at soccer, Winter decided that she regretted her decision not to play soccer with her sisters. I told her it was too late to join now. All the jerseys had already been ordered and the last day to register was weeks ago. She begged me just to ask and see. I told her she could talk to the soccer leaders and it was totally up to them. And they would probably say no. So she did. Turns out they had an extra orange uniform just her size and were totally fine with her joining Mya's team. She wore heeled boots to the field so we borrowed some cleats and shin guards from a friend who played at 9:00. Her game was at 10:00. I gave her my water bottle and she was good to go. She actually played better than I've ever seen her play. 

We have to pay for one more kid to join which does not help our budgeting goals but I'm glad she decided to play. Kids can learn tons of lessons from team sports. I'm a fan. haha 

Mya welcomed her little sis to the team happily. She's nice like that.

(photo credit - Stacy Thompson)

Mom took Mya up to Wendy's in Bako for the weekend to celebrate her birthday. Her actual birthday was in August but we waited for the first long weekend available so she could spend a few days up there doing all of her favorite things. Baking, painting, thrift store shopping and apparently dress up? Not sure why she's is wearing this or why she brought it to Wendy's... She had a blast though!

The girls are in a harder gymnastics class now. I love to see their personalities come out in the way they face challenges. Mya is so strong. I've never seen any other kid climb up the rope with such ease. And she's a perfectionist in all the different areas and is usually hard on herself. She will often practice at home to get it right the next time.

Winter doesn't have as much upper body strength but she hikes up her leotard to expose her thighs and uses her thigh friction to help her get up to the top. She's usually not hard on herself. You will often find her laughing hysterically at the way she totally messed up her running cartwheel.

Angus is now riding his bike with no training wheels! I guess that balance bike was the way to go. Dan and I realized after Angus started riding with no training wheels that his big sis, Addie, still needs her training wheels... wups, we skipped a child. It's cool, she's not really a fan of riding her bike anyway. And she is smaller than Angus so we are going in order if you're going by weight...

Another first this week, Angus got his teeth cleaned for the first time. He did great. He rarely lets me brush his teeth for more than a few seconds before he bites down on the toothbrush so I didn't have high hopes for the dentist. BUT, the hygienist did sing Wheels On The Bus as she cleaned his teeth so he let her. I don't know if I'm willing to sing while I brush his teeth. But I'm glad the visit went well. She kept calling him Spider Man (because of his shirt) or papa (because that is what people call little boys now) and every time he would correct her. "My name is ANUS!"

touch disease

My iPhone 5s finally died. The technician said the cause of death was the terminal "touch disease." He didn't smile when he said that. I laughed at him for giving me the name of an actual disease for an iphone. I guess it's pretty serious because it couldn't be fixed. But I got a new phone! An iphone 6s. My 5s lasted four and a half years before it got the touch disease so we'll see if we can make this one last forever too. I give all the credit to the lifeproof case. It still looks new. And it has been dropped hundreds, maybe thousands of times with that case on it. I highly recommend it.

Dan and I had the finance talk recently. We have it about once or twice a year when it becomes clear that we are not living within our means. I've been bugging Dan for years to let me meal plan. He's not into it. He doesn't want to commit to a dinner until the day of that dinner and see how he feels. I get it. But it's more expensive to live that way and lots of food tends to go to waste, so he finally agreed to let me plan our meals a week in advance and only grocery shop for those meals. I'm even making the big girls plan their breakfast and lunch for the week so I don't go out and buy a bunch of food they may or may not eat. I'm convinced that we will save hundreds each month doing this. I'll report back with the result in a couple of months.

Buying a new phone didn't exactly save us money this month BUT I did buy one of the cheapest, oldest options so bonus points there. And I tried to save us money by canceling the girls' gymnastics class. They have been ready to move up into a more advanced class for months now but the coach said there were no available spots in the class. So I told her we were going to take a break until something opened up, thinking we would have a few months off of gymnastics payments. But to my surprise, she bumped them up to the next level right then, and I walked out of there paying an extra $30 a month, wups. So far the saving money idea was pretty poor timing with the phone disease and the extra money for gymnastics but I have high hopes for the meal planning.

Sorry this is so boring so far. My life is pretty boring when I don't talk about the kids.

So these two started soccer Thursday! Winter pretty much has always hated soccer and only joined last year because she didn't want to miss out on the snacks at the end of the game. Mya told me Saturday that my snacks were lame and embarrassing last year and I need to step up my snack game this year. I'll take her suggestions into consideration. But gummy snacks are just candy disguised as a snack in my opinion. Angus would totally be playing if he was old enough. He has to wait one more year.

Winter went to a birthday party that was pretty much her dream. The mom hired cosmetology students to paint nails and do hair for all girls who came to the party, Then they had a fashion show for the parents. She was in heaven.

We got haircuts yesterday before gymnastics. This is Winter's gymnastics outfit. Colorful leopard print bathing suit with shorts that "match."

It was good timing having the haircuts before gymnastics. They french braided Winter's hair, something I could never do. 

They were giving out breast cancer awareness pins. Of course Mya took one because it was pink.

Mya was ecstatic to go to gym with fancy braided hair.

And Addie.

Thrift store score of the month. Green dinosaur shoes for Addie. She loves green and she loves dinosaurs. They could be alligators or crocodiles but I told her they were definitely dinosaurs.

She totally loves them. She just doesn't like pictures.