orlando

Recently Addie and I took a trip to Orlando Florida for a whole week to celebrate Wendy being done with all her thyroid cancer shenanigans. She's cancer free by the way!! 🌟 I took Addie out of school because she's in Kindergarten and she's ahead of the curve so I felt okay about her missing a week. She was nervous about flying on a plane. And she wasn't sure she wanted to leave her siblings. Who was she going to play with? I was worried about the flying thing too since she gets carsick, seasick and altitude sick. I gave her Dramamine and she was fine. 

Winter and Mya have already been to Disneyland so I was able to convince them that it was fair, even though it really wasn't... Addie got to go to 3 Disney parks AND fly on a plane AND see Florida and Wendy's house. The only thing that made Angus jealous was that Addie got to go up in the sky with the clouds. 

I accidentally purchased the cheaper tickets called super basic economy or something where you are only allowed to bring one personal item that you can put under your seat. You can't bring anything bigger than a backpack. SO I had to pack for a week in a backpack. I borrowed PJs, shoes and toiletries from Wendy and managed to fit my clothes in the tiny bag. Thank goodness Wendy and I are the same size in clothes and shoes. Addie's clothes are tiny like her so she had room for her very necessary lion king toys.

Ready to take off... she looks excited haha. She actually did great on the plane and commented on all the cute little houses and cars when we got up in the air.

Animal Kingdom... My mom was at Wendy's at the same time so that was awesome. And cousin Madison was home from college so we got to hang out with her as well.

This is Pluto doing a trick with Addie's signature book. He flipped it in the air with his nose and caught it in his mouth. Addie was worried that he got it all slobbery but he didn't.

She did this while waiting in line. Trying to be like Rafiki on my shirt pictured below. 

She fell asleep in the stroller which is a first. Addie never falls asleep anywhere but her bed. She's been that way since she was an infant. 

The next day we did Epcot.

My dear friends Mel and Almira happened to be out there at the same time and joined us. So fun to hang out with them.

Addie wanted her face painted.

Melanie so badly wanted to see my face painted so she paid for mine. Addie chose a fox for her and a princess kitty for me. I got lots of stares. I don't know why.

Wendy has learned exactly where all the cameras are on all the rides so she told us all when to smile. I didn't know where the camera was but I tried.

Addie's favorite ride at Epcot was the tram to the car. It was literally 5 seconds long since we parked close but she insisted we "ride" it.

And the third park, Magic Kingdom. I was good with two parks so I stayed home that day. Uncle Mark was off work since it was a Sunday so Wendy made him come. She bought Addie this bell costume to wear that day. She LOVED it to say the least.

This was Addie's favorite ride of the whole trip.

She fell asleep in the car. Another first.

We loved spending time with Auntie Wendy, Uncle Mark and cousin Madison. And of course we loved seeing Grandma Donna. Dan told me to take it easy on Wendy since she just finished her radiation treatment before we got there. But I guess he forgot that I always take life easy and Wendy doesn't, so there is really no slowing her down ever.

We had more stuff with us on the flight back to LA including a bell costume and a giant box with Olaf on it that Addie insisted we take with us. So I stuffed the two backpacks and put the rest in two plastic bags. They didn't give me too much trouble about it though. The lady at the gate said, "You know you have too much stuff right?" To which I replied, "Well a lot of its food." (Lie) She smiled and let us on the plane. 

When we stepped on to the plane one of the flight attendants asked Addie if she wanted to meet the pilots. Addie was like, umm YEEEAH! So she did and they gave her some wings and let her steer the plane for a few minutes. She told them, "My siblings are going to be SO jealous."

All in all, Addie and Mommy's trip to Orlando was a success.

Here's a video at the Animal Kingdom of a giraffe coming up to the jeep to say hello. It was so close I could have touched it.

And here's Addie's first time at the wheel at Magic Kingdom. 

I have lots to be thankful for this time. I'm so very thankful that we got to go to Orlando and the weather was amazing and everything went well and there were no problems or issues. I'm thankful for Wendy and Mark who spoiled us while we were there. I'm super thankful for hubby who took care of the other three kids and dearest Darla who filled in when Dan was at work. And Tim and Jessica who watched Angus while Darla was at work Friday. It really does take a village and I am so thankful for mine.

My recommendation this week is the ride Pandora at the Animal Kingdom. It was AMAZING. One of the coolest rides I've ever been on. You really feel like you are flying. There are no words to describe it really. So if you're ever in Orlando you MUST do it. Click here to check it out online.

And also, I didn't know about the app that you can download on your phone or device before you get on the plane that allows you to watch movies on the plane. So if you're getting on a plane anytime soon, make sure you download the app for that airline when you have access to Wifi.

Happy Saturday to you all!

sleepovers, long walks & dog poop

I haven't really been doing a thankful thing each week but now that life is getting back to normal, I fully intend to. This week, I'm super thankful for my girls' school and the friends that we have there. When Mya was first transferred to Stanton Elementary in first grade we were sad because we had to leave a school where we knew lots of people including neighbors and fellow churchgoers. But then I found out a friend from church was a teacher there and would be Mya's teacher. I was relieved. After that, year after year, more friends came to join us there. Now we have a group of friends that go to our church and other friends that we've made. We really love it and I'm so thankful that we have such an awesome support system at school. We've had awesome teachers too. The librarian goes to our church and took this pic and sent it to me =)

Another friend of Addie's joined the school in January. These 3 besties are the sweetest and tiniest in their class. 

I love that these two always wait for me side by side, smiling and talking. Sometimes they are fighting but they usually save that for the car ride home. And this day they were matching. They are the cutest.

Parenting is full of all kinds of emotions, all kinds of reactions, ups and downs, moments to feel good about and moments you're glad no one was there to witness. I live for those little moments that make me feel good about being a mom. When the kids are getting along and not because they are supposed to but because they actually enjoy each other, it's the best.

Winter doesn't love reading. She usually won't read on her own and puts up a fight when it's time to do her 20 minutes of reading assigned by her teacher. But she loves reading to Addie and Angus, and sometimes our 18 month old neighbor if he's outside. I'll take what I can get.

And here's a little gross reality splashed in with sweet pics. Our dog situation is always a work in progress. I made the decision to keep the dogs downstairs and not allow them upstairs a couple of years ago. Four kids and two dogs was too many bodies waking me up in the middle of the night. Big dogs sneeze big or bark in their sleep or puke occasionally when they've eaten something they shoudn't have. Sometimes they would think they heard something in the middle of the night and both dogs would run down the stairs causing a sound similar to thunder waking up a kid or two. So I banned them to the downstairs with a baby gate.

In protest, Twitch started taking a nightly dump on the floor in the kitchen in the middle of the night. So we cut out the dinner feeding and just started feeding them double in the morning. We figured if they didn't eat at night they couldn't poop at night, right? Makes sense. Nope. Twitch figured out a way to save his poops for 4 AM. So we put out doggie peepee pads and confined them to a small space by the back slider. After a few months, the dogs figured out a way to get out of the confined area and once again Twitch started taking a dump on the floor in the kitchen. 

I bugged Dan for months to put in a doggie door leading from the garage to the backyard. That way the dogs could sleep in the garage and go outside through the doggie door if they felt the urge to do their business. 

Dan agreed to put in a doggie door a few days ago. It took some training but we finally got the dogs to go in and out of the doggie door. It's something they've never done in their lives so it was a little scary for them I guess. Once again, Twitch found a way to show us how he felt about the new sleeping arrangements. He pooped in the garage then exited through the doggie door and barked to be let in the house. AT 2:00AM. He might be smarter than me.

We had a neighbor friend over for a sleepover the other day. It's amazing how you can add one kid to the bunch and everyone starts magically getting along. 

Lipstick and a missing tooth.

Otter is one of the girls ❤️

Recently I've been taking long walks with Winter in the afternoon after homework. It gets us out of the house which I love and we get to hang out just the two of us which she loves. Yesterday she invited Angus. Mya isn't interested in walking more than a block or two so she doesn't join. We brought the stroller for Angus because he has short bursts of energy then quickly tires.

Winter stole my phone and snapped 100 pics. This one isn't too bad.

Yes, Angus is wearing his PJs. Less laundry for me if he wears PJs all day until he puts new ones on at night.

Appreciating the view. Just kidding. They realized they could see Target from up there.

We took Addie's friend home from school last week. While we were waiting for Winter to get out, they discovered the sun roof and quickly became the happiest two little girls I've ever seen. 

Addie handed this picture to me and said, "Here Mommy, I colored this for you."

 I'm trying not to read too much into it...

The girls made a lemonade/orange juice stand and a neighbor kid somehow managed to spill lemonade all over Addie. She vowed to never speak to him or anyone in his family again. A bit harsh but I'm sure she'll come around.

I'm super happy about a new laundry system that I've implemented. It's working so much better than what I was doing. Before, I did all of our laundry together and had to separate it and give it to the appropriate kid to put away. Mya and Angus shared a laundry hamper since they share a room and Addie and Winter shared a hamper since they share a room. Most of my time was spent on my bed separating clothes into piles. 

Now, each kid has there own cute laundry basket they picked out on Amazon so they actually enjoy putting their clothes in them. I do each load separately then I put the clean clothes on the kid's bed that they belong to and they put it away. No sorting. It just goes from laundry basket to washer to dryer to the bed. Easy. So much less work for me. Not sure why I didn't do this before but better late than never. 

This Costco gem isn't new to a lot of you. It's spicy and delicious. They sample it pretty often too. BUT have you tried it hot? Do it. It's amazing. We use the toaster oven to heat it up but the microwave would be just fine. Obviously you need a vehicle for dipping. Pretzels or tortilla chips are my go to.

Another recommendation is this cheese knife from Cutco. It might be my favorite thing in the whole kitchen. I use it for cheese but also for limes, lemons, tomatoes, really anything you would use a good knife for. It's not cheep but I use it multiple times a day and have for about 5 years. So, worth every penny in my opinion. 

I figured something out the other day that I'm so proud of. And the girls were super impressed because they watch these YouTube shows about life hacks all the time. I discovered a hack which makes me like the smartest mom ever to them. I now use a rubber band to hold my jean jacket cuff together. When I button it, I can't roll it up. When I don't button it, the cuff falls apart. Rubber band. Voila!

Happy Saturday!