airplanes, beaches and cheese on the floor

April around here has been quite lovely I must say. The kids are back in school. The weather has been nice. The city is opening back up. And California has some of the lowest Covid numbers in the country? Go CA!

Heard around here lately:

"Dad, when we go to the funeral, should I wear my black dress or my hot pink dress?" - Winter

"Usually women cook, but in our house Dad does. He's a good mother-cooker." - Winter

"Mommy, I think I love trashmen more than policemen. Don't tell the policemen." - Angus

"Love you Mom! (Farts loudly) And excuse me." - Angus

Shoutout to Otter, (do people still do shoutouts?) the most patient dog in the world. I couldn't decide which pic I liked the most.

This was the post-Easter candy exchange. It was before 7 AM.

For Angus's mommy date, he wanted to get a donut and go to the little near-by airport and watch airplanes fly over. He wore his police costume for the occasion. And his safety vest.

A lucky bonus. He got to see a trash truck pick up a dumpster. And we waved at a few police cars patrolling the airport so it was pretty much the best day ever.

Otter is just sitting there in case someone feels like petting her. 💗

I took Mya and Winter on a trip to the beach. With them getting older and back in school I felt like it was a good time to have some conversations about things they may or may not know about. I'd prefer they heard it from me than kids at school. I'm a big believer in talking to your kids about anything and everything. Even if it makes me or them uncomfortable. I want them to talk to me about things later so I figure I should start that line of communication now while they are young. It takes an hour to get to the beach and an hour to get back. So basically they were mine for 2 hours. 😊

My big girls have demonstrated to me so perfectly that we all have our own gifts. Our own set of strengths and weaknesses. Mya has always been the nurturing one who handles the basic needs of her siblings. She helps them get dressed, does their hair, opens their snacks and helps them with homework. Winter has always been there to play everything and anything with them. She creates elaborate schools in the living room, plays paw patrol, cops and robbers and is really good at steering them away from arguments with redirection. I love that they are so different and both so helpful.

Mya's putting together a police car thingy for Angus.

Meanwhile, Winter is playing paw patrol with the littles.

Angus's first trip to Vons with me in a year. He was pretty mad that they got rid of his favorite fire truck, police and bus shopping carts that he used to sit in and steer. He cried for a few minutes. But he was happy to lug the groceries around. Yeah, his mask is upside down. That's the way he likes it.

Helping Dad put together that same police car thingy that Mya attempted.

Done. With extra pieces.

One of Dan's best buddies (not pictured) lost his dad so we all went to the service. I had to snap a pic of these stud pallbearers in their suits. These two have been besties since they were 12. 💙

Addie looked pretty cute too. Again, Christmas fancy is always her go-to.

The girls and I got to church last Sunday and someone commented that we were all matching. We hadn't noticed. It's probably my doing. I always encourage denim. It goes with everything.

For the last 10+ years, I've been cleaning up messes. Kids make more messes than you'd think. And when you combine all four of them, most of my days have been spent cleaning up spilled milk, granola bar crumbs, water on the floor by the fridge as a result of an attempt to get water all by oneself, etc. You get the idea. I love it that two of them just clean up without me even having to ask. This picture makes me happy.

I debated on whether or not to put this one in as some are easily offended BUT obviously it made the cut. He said it, not me...

"This is Rhino, no Horny, yeah Horny the Rhino. Hi I'm Horny!" 

"Mom. Why are you laughing??"

Is it just me or are there way more dips on the shelves these days? Maybe I'm late to the party but I'm loving the selection. I often eat the kids' leftover chicken nuggets for dinner so this is fantastic.

My friend Mari recommended this dip and it's half gone. It's a 32 oz Costco tub. Dan had one bite. So yeah, alright. 😉 I eat it with those little packets of veggies the kids bring home with their free lunches from school. They're not going to eat them. Tortilla chips are good too. And I've found myself saying a few times, "You know what would be good with this? Street Corn dip." Mari said she mixes it with cut up chicken and makes a chicken salad type thing. So many possibilities. 

And Dan brought this dressing home one day. Usually, we prefer homemade ranch but this is really good. Their regular ranch is good but I like this one a lot. It's not very spicy. But, then again, Dan says my tolerance is going up so maybe it is? 

Are you sensing a theme in my recommendations? 

I've never been one for food prep but I've been doing it lately. I know that this idea is not new. People have been doing it for decades. But I have to say that when I bring home my veggies and cut them up, they get eaten 100% of the time. There is NEVER any left. And when I don't, half of the time, they don't get eaten and go bad. And that's with Dan going through the fridge constantly and taking out everything that's about to expire and serving it with dinner. 

So, I recommend setting aside like 20 minutes to wash and cut your veggies as soon as you bring them home. You won't regret it. I like to crank up some music, get out the biggest cutting board we have and make sure I have a bowl to throw all the trash in. Sometimes I do it on Sunday afternoons so everything is ready for the week. I even go as far as shredding the cheese. I hate shredding cheese. But the pre-shredded stuff isn't the same. And it has extra preservatives in it. When I do this, I love myself so much for it. I blow kisses at my past self for being so kind.

And if you don't eat veggies, well... carry on. And take some vitamins maybe? You can still prep other things.

Happy Sunday friends! Here's to an awesome week.

 

confessions of a mom on Easter morning

 Every Easter I make a plan to pick out the kids' outfits at least the day before if not earlier in order to avoid the mad scramble to find clean, presentable spring outfits for everyone. Why is it important to look good on Easter, you ask? I blame peer pressure. Everyone else looks so lovely. I feel like the normal wear whatever you want approach just isn't acceptable. 

And despite my plans every year, it doesn't happen. I sleep in, roll out of bed and tell the kids to get dressed. I say "Wear something nice for Easter" and they come downstairs wearing something ridiculous and I tell them to go back and try again.

This year was no different. Mya, true to form, had the perfect Easter outfit picked out a week before Easter. But Addie came down in her super fancy bright red sequence-covered Christmas dress. Angus put on some athletic shorts and crocs and Winter came down in a green Scooby Do t-shirt and black leggings. I sent them all back up one by one. 

That's when things went south. Angus burst into tears because he hates pants. Winter burst into tears because she "doesn't have any dresses that aren't dumb" and Addie was upset that she couldn't wear her favorite special dress. No one had any nice shoes and my hair was NOT cooperating. And the dress I picked out did not look like I had remembered. The hair thing may be what set me off. Hard to say. 

I proceeded to lose it. Yelling at whoever crossed my path, mumbling curse words under my breath and scaring Dan a bit. It was totally my own doing. The whole thing. I know Angus hates pants and needs a conversation the day before he has to wear them which may or may not include a bribe. I know Winter doesn't like any of her dresses and also needs to be warned ahead of time if I'm going to require her to wear something other than black leggings. And I know that Addie doesn't know the difference between spring fancy and Christmas fancy and will pick Christmas attire 10 out of 10 times any day of the year when given the choice. 

And the guilt started to set in because it was Easter morning of all mornings. A time when we remember Christ's resurrection. A good Christian mom would be singing hymns while making breakfast and reminding her children of that glorious morning when they found the tomb empty and the angel declared, "He has risen, just as He said!" (Matt 28:6)

But not this mom. This mom was yelling at her children, stomping around, slamming doors, and grounding them for not being on board when I completely changed up our normal Sunday church attire. Dan, who usually asks for my opinion on his outfit, steered clear of me entirely. He did tell me I looked pretty and I rolled my eyes because I hated my hair and my dress.

Five minutes before it was time to leave, I noticed that Angus had a big smudge of green something on his only acceptable button-up shirt that happened to be white. I'm pretty sure it was avocado from Dan's breakfast but I have no proof of that. Dan did help him get dressed. Sorry honey. I really should never buy white clothes, ever. So I opted for the only other button-up shirt. Navy blue with white stars. Appropriate for Easter? Not exactly. More like 4th of July. Did it match his gray shorts? Not really. But I had no choice. I was running out of time. Easter is a popular service and if you don't get there early, you're way in the back, possibly without a seat and we're front row people. And Dan hates to be late to church.

In a half mad, half frantic frenzy, I pulled all of my dresses out of the closet as the kids were piling into the car, settled on a more flattering dress and off to church we went. One big happy family. On the way up the church steps Winter and I apologized to each other and I un-grounded her. Then, we took a pic in front of the church. 

A true testament to the fact that you really never know what's going on behind the pics on Instagram and Facebook. Lots of people commented on what a lovely family picture it was. I felt like a big phony. Look at me pretending to be a sweet mom on Easter with her nicely dressed hubby and little people. "This old thing?" I would respond to ladies who complimented my dress.

This, of course, is not my normal behavior. I just bring it out for special occasions.

And you know me, I can't help but tell the truth. And I'm thankful that Jesus still loves me, this I know.

pizza and butterflies

It's getting harder and harder to find time to post. I feel like it's been months since the last one and the pics are piling up in my phone. So this post is a bit long...

March was full of big things happening. We used the pizza oven for the first time ever that Dan has been building for months. We got to see the life cycle of a butterfly and actually witnessed it hatching. That may be the highlight of the year for me personally. At least at the top. The kids went back to school on a hybrid schedule and are going back full time in a week. And I turned 40! My mom came to stay with us for 3 weeks and my sis was here for a week. Dan and I and a few vaccinated family members and close friends went to Newport Beach to celebrate me walking the earth for such a long time. And I'm kind of feeling like I accomplished something simply by enduring the last year with most of my sanity intact. A great reason to celebrate.

I don't know how to categorize the following. Just a peek into my life last week:

Monday: I borrowed $60 from Mya. Not the first or the last time.

Tuesday: I pulled out Addie's tooth while eating my breakfast, tried not to look at the blood and sent her to the bathroom to handle the rest herself.

Wednesday: While I was showering, Angus came in to ask me for a mailbox for Christmas. His OWN personal mailbox where he would get his own mail.

Thursday: Angus raked the car. In his defense, there were leaves on it.

Friday: Addie wanted to see what would happen if she took some scissors and made a little cut in her favorite Lion King shirt. To her surprise, it now has a hole in it.

Saturday: Winter sat down to pet the very frisky neighborhood dog and it climbed on top of her and started humping her in the street. She thought it was hugging her and didn't stop the dog until I told her to get up 5 times. With each time, my voice getting louder and me getting more embarrassed.

Sunday: In the front row at church, Angus got really into the worship songs and started dancing. I looked down and he was spanking his butt and grabbing his crotch Michael Jackson style. "Angus! Inappropriate!" I yell whispered. I use that word a lot. The people behind us laughed uncomfortably.

Good times.

Angus found some balloons at the park. 

"I don't know who's this is... but they're PROBABLY six." -Angus

Helping Dad...

That got boring so they decided to look for ducks instead.

Angus is reading a book about police officers to Brian, the only boy baby doll of the house. Bro time.

Getting creative.

We visited our Baker fam in Santa Barbara 💗

We made domino towers. A hidden useless talent of mine. I have lots of those actually.

Angus and Addie went back to school for a few hours a week. This was Angus's first day of school on the actual campus. I made him wear athletic pants he could easily take off in case of a bathroom emergency. Side note. The kids are going back 5 days a week April 12. I could not be more excited. 

I love Addie's profile.

We did drive-through class portraits this year. We literally drove up, the kids hopped out and the photographer snapped their pic and they got back in the car. 

Pizza oven time!

We learned a lot. For one, the pizza oven takes 5 hours to come to temp. 

The kids prefer store-bought pre-shredded mozzarella over the fancy cheeses at the Italian market. 

Angus is lactose-intolerant.

We only need about one-tenth of the amount of toppings we bought. 

The next time around will be much smoother I think. But all in all it went great and the pizza was good.

Winter wore this to church a couple of weeks ago. I like the black and white theme.

I love seeing these neighborhood kids grow up together. They're like family at this point. And it has been a huge blessing in the last year to have a built-in community for them.

Grandma came and stayed with us for a while. Mya changed the sign on her door from her room rules to this:

She and Addie had bible studies every single morning. 

Mom was here for the butterfly transformation too. We camped out and watched two of them hatch. So awesome.

Oh Addie. Mom got this fab pic.

I've been trying to take each kid out once a month and have a "date" with them. Winter wanted to go to Bonelli Park and feed the ducks followed by Yogurtland. Her helmet looks weird because the top fell off. I'm sure it still works right?

This is the most amazing pic I've ever taken. The bread is in the air and the large goose-looking creature is just about to catch it.

Sometimes Angus still falls asleep watching TV. It's so quiet when that happens. If you don't know Angus personally, he's non-stop. If he's not talking, he's singing. If he's not singing, he's making truck noises. At least I always know where he is.

I took a pic on the morning of my 40th birthday to document what I looked like at age 40. I'm not ashamed of the wrinkles and bags. I feel like they're well earned.

Newport shenanigans... Sometimes I feel like I shouldn't post things like this in case anyone feels left out. I would have invited everyone if it wasn't Covid days. We had to keep it small. But I want to include pics because a big part of me posting on this blog is being able to look back at the pics.

Mom did an amazing job of holding down the fort, which included zoom school with Angus. 

They took this the morning she left. It's blurry but cute.

We miss you Grandma! 

Angus said 3 days after she left, "I weally miss Gwamma. I'm already stauting to fowget ha name." 

Mya is doing an amazing job in school this year. This is like the 4th or 5th nomination. Her teachers love her.

She's even patient with her sisters.

Me: How did Addie get so tiny??

Winter: She had a shrinkspurt.

This pretty much sums up Winter and Mya:

Dan: Okay everyone outside!

Winter: Ugh no it's too hot!

Mya: Yay I get to wear my summer clothes!

Angus: Hey Mom?

Me: Yes Officer

Angus: Mom, just call me Angus.

I have a little belt hack if you will. You know how sometimes your belt has a leftover piece that is too long but too short to fit into the next beltloop? I use a little rubberband to fasten it so it doesn't stick out. You just put it on the non-buckle side before you fasten your belt then slide it through after you fasten it. We have a bunch of black little rubberbands for braids and tiny ponytails.

I have a recommendation and a giant life hack. These pistachios are awesome. And the kids don't like them so more for me and Dan. Are you ready for something that will change your life? Well, only if you like pistachios. I like to snack on pistachios at night while watching TV because it takes a while to eat them. For those stubborn shells that don't open, use a shell that you've already opened to wedge it into the stubborn shell. It totally works. No more sore thumbs. Let me know if you try it. It has brought so much joy to my evenings.

Well, that's it! 

Happy Easter friends! Mya made this at church. Love it.