Happy 2nd Birthday Jenna!

In April we celebrated another birthday-Jenna's! It's hard to believe that she is already 2 years old. The day she officially turned 2 she potty trained. She took about 3 days and was pretty much good to go. I'm so thankful. She stays dry at night, tells me when she needs to go, and  (when she isn't being stubborn) will go on demand. Unlike the other kids, I haven't worried about going places with her and wondering if she would have an accident. It's been WONDERFUL! I thought it would be so hard because we are always so busy going places, but she learned quickly and it hasn't been an inconvenience at all.

Anyway, on to the birthday stuff! Jenna has realized that she LOVES birthday paries. She loves to sing "Happy Birthday" and she LOVES to blow out the candles. We had an early birthday for her when Chris' parents were here. The next morning she was begging for "Happy Birthday, again" and I was busy getting the kids off to school and told her "no more birthday, we're all done." Well, Chris came downstairs and she went right and asked him. He said, "OK" and got out  the cake, put the Winne the Pooh characters back on it, along with some candles and everyone sang "Happy Birthday" again. She was thrilled! In fact, when she said, "again" we did it again, and again, and again. Too cute.

Then, a couple days later the girls thought we needed to do something on the actual day (like Jenna knew any better), so she got ice cream with a candle then too. Once again, we sang "Happy Birthday." It has taken a few weeks, but I think she has finally quit asking for us to sing!

Here is a photo of her with the Mentos she got for her birthday. Her favorite gift, actually. She thinks they are gum (which she swallows too) and will happily munch until the package is gone--if we let her!

Jenna is really an amazing kid. She follows her sisters' example exactly (not always a good thing) and thinks she is so grown up. She LOVES to go to nursery and LOVES to play with other kids. She will remember their names and call out to them and say "HI" no matter how far away they are or how much older than her they are. She is just a social kid. Wherever we go, she will survey the crowd and find some stranger to befriend. (yes, a little scary) At church, she loves to find someone (anyone other than mom) and curl up on their lap. I don't know why she won't sit and be quiet for me, but she willingly does for other people! Last Sunday I saw some grandmas sitting together, who Jenna has not yet visited, trying to get her to come sit on their lap. It didn't work, but I was touched that they too wanted to share in the love she gives.

Jenna loves the water and loves to jump on the trampoline. She knows just who to ask to push her on the swing and she doesn't hesistate when they come over to our house to ask them to do just that! Jenna also loves to cuddle (just not during sacrament meeting). We love that. She thinks video games are great (calls them "beams") and will sit and play wii or DS even when she really isn't able to control anything.

The kids love to get her to sing "Old McDonald Had a Farm" and listen to her animal noises like "moo moo" and her long drawn out "Baaawk."

Jenna has learned to defend herself (though sometimes a bit roughly) against her sisters. They don't like that part, but they do love her for everything else. We're so thankful to have "girl #4" in our family!

Happy 10th Birthday Brianna!

While we were in Oregon, Brianna turned 10! I can’t believe my baby is in the double digits! I remember my dad making a big deal about it when I turned 10. Crazy!

She really wanted to go sandboarding for her birthday, but the rainy weather pretty much nixed that idea. So, we went to see, “How to Train Your Dragon” and made yummy cheesecake to celebrate. For gifts she had already gone shopping with me and picked out some purple plaid Vans, some skinny jeans, a pair of denim “skimmers” and a shirt. She is in 4th grade and has started taking note of the things kids are wearing and is wanting the popular fashions. My girl is growing up!

A few weeks later, delayed by the unexpected event of the previous post, she had a slumber party with a few of her closest friends. I took them to see, “Percy Jackson and the Lighting Thief ” and then we came home to pizza, cake, ice cream, karaoke, and lots of jumping on the trampoline and staying up late talking!

Brianna is just a great kid. She works so hard in school to earn perfect scores on nearly everything and is really enjoying playing the piano. She can be so serious sometimes and quiet. But she certainly wasn’t at her party. She had a great time. I loved seeing her laugh and have a good time with her friends. I’m thankful to be her mom!

A New Calling for Chris

Well, partway through our vacation in Oregon Chris started getting messages from the Stake Executive Secretary at church. He said that a member of the Stake Presidency needed to meet with him right away. Our curiosity was immediately peaked! Chris called back and said that we were in Oregon and couldn’t be home until Sunday. The reply, “When on Sunday?” “Sunday Night” I’ll let the Stake President know.”
We hear nothing until on the way home Chris gets a phone call from the member of the Stake Presidency asking to meet with him as soon as we got into town, even if it was late. So, we rolled into town at 7 pm on Sunday night (school the next day) quickly changed our clothes and headed to the stake center with all the girls in tow. They were amazingly cooperative after having had such a long drive!
Turns out, a new Bishopric was called that morning, minus one. Chris was asked to be the 2nd Counselor that night. They let it slip when the callings were made in sacrament meeting that the 2nd counselor was out of town and that call would have to wait. Everyone immediately surveyed our large ward to note who was missing! You can imagine the speculation that spread throughout the next week!
So anyway, a new adventure for us. Chris’ parents made the trip out the next weekend to be here. His dad ordained him a High Priest. It was such a wonderful experience to have them there. We really appreciated their efforts to make the last minute trip.
The good news is, the girls are already used to Chris being gone at night, so the transition has been no big deal for them. So far, we’ve experienced many blessings from the calling and are so thankful for the opportunity Chris has to serve in this way.

JUMP FOR JOY IT'S SPRING BREAK!

The view from the Cape Perpetua West Shelter. Someone took the photo for us and missed the coastline, but doesn't that family look great? :)

The kids had a week off, so we headed up to Oregon for a long overdue visit to Grandma's house and the beach house. Chris says it was the best family vacation we've had in a really long time. It really was great. The long drive was actually ENJOYABLE! The kids were good, Jenna was amazing, and we didn't feel exhausted when we were finished. Even with the huge delay getting over the Siskyou's, the road was closed for a few hours, and the flat tire we discovered the morning after we got to Oregon, the travel was just FUN! Sounds weird, but it really was.

Well, I do have to admit that we broke the trip into two days. One day Chris worked in the morning in Oakland. So, the kids got the luxery of swimming in the hotel pool a few times. They just love to swim and Jenna discovered that she still loves to jump in!

I enjoyed watching the girls "explore" once we got to my parent's house. It had been so long since we had been there that Courtney didn't remember it at all and McKayla really didn't either. They kept opening doors and saying "Where does that go?" Mark, Shari, Madilyn, and Chloe visited on Easter while we were there. My girls really love seeing their cousins. That is one thing they have really missed out on in their life is living close to cousins. So, they always treasure the visits they get to have.

The cabin was great! We had a huge wind and rainstorm the first day. At one point we all even backed away from the windows because a HUGE gust of wind and rain hit, coming right off of the ocean. Then, almost as fast as it came, the sky was clear, the wind was gone, and the rain ended. I just love Oregon! One of the days we were out geocaching when we got caught in a major hailstorm. Poor Jenna started crying because she was riding in the backpack and her face was just getting pounded. We pulled her out and covered her up. But the rest of us kept saying "ow, ouch!" all the way back to the car! McKayla was a trooper and let me snap her photo!

Here's a photo of Jenna along our favorite trail near the cabin showing off the geocache we found.

The most unique part of our trip was finding all the floats along the beach. We started by finding some huge ones, and then when Chris was down with the girls they found a small glass float! So, that became our focus the rest of the week--get down to the beach and find the glass floats before anyone else does! We did some asking at the Cape Perpetua visitor's center and they said that there had been some earthquake activity off the coast that loosened some debris on the ocean floor. That combined with the offshore winds brought the floats in. One day we saw tons of them out in the ocean, but the winds weren't blowing the right way so they never came in.

Here is a photo of our "booty!"

One of the days we headed up to the Marine Science Center. The kids got to see the octopus get fed and change color as a result. They thought that was really cool. Even Jenna totally understood what was going on and kept telling us, "Eat crab, mouth, see?"

We managed to get a warm day and the girls enjoyed a refreshing dip for their toes. Jenna decided to just take off her pants all together. It's great to be a toddler!

All in all, a wonderful wonderful wonderful trip! The girls are begging to go back again soon!

Annual Father Daughter Dance

This year the theme was a 50's sock hop. I immediately thought, "Poodle Skirts!" I showed the girls pictures of them online and asked if they wanted me to make them one. They said they did, so I went about my skirt making plans. As the dance neared I began to get fearful that my girls might be the only ones in them. I asked them if that would bother them, "no." So, the skirt making began. It was quite easy and VERY CHEAP! It only cost me $15 to make all three of them and I still have a ton of material left. Even better, it only took a couple hours to make them all.

Well, they got to the dance (and so did I--yearbook editor/photographer/salesperson/everything) and I was SO GLAD I made them skirts. Not everyone was in them, but the majority of the girls were. It was so ADORABLE. Here are just a few shots of the dance. They aren't my kids, but they show how cute all the girls looked. I was feeling nostalgic and I didn't even grow up in the 50's. I thought about how much things have changed since then and kinda wished it was still like that. They had so much fun dancing back then. Swing dancing is just good clean fun and the girls were modest.

Anyway, a very fun night complete with root beer floats. I'm so glad so many mom's rose to the occasion and dressed their little girls up. A great memory maker.

Fun at the Park

Our whole family took a trip to the playground the other day. I'm sorry to say, this doesn't happen nearly as often as it used to. We had a great time and were pleased to discover that the "trek" to get there is so much easier than it used to be. We can all hop on bikes and ride down without anybody slowing us down. The kids are all great bikeriders and Jenna enjoys her seat on the back.

Brianna was jumping out of the swing, so Chris and I decided to give it a try for old times sake. We actually had fun, but realized that our bodies can take the beating like they used to!

Here is a picture of the girls with their dolls. Jenna wouldn't cooperate. Her doll kept getting thrown on the floor somewhere! That seemed a whole lot more fun at the time.

Fun at Christmas

We had a busy and fun Christmas break. The girls had three weeks off and Chris took off two weeks from work. For the first time, we actually stayed home while Chris took vacation time.

We spent our time enjoying Christmas festivities like baking yummy treats, looking at lights, watching movies, etc. But, we also enjoyed some day trips unique to Southern California. We went to the San Diego Zoo 4 times and went to Disneyland 3 times. These kids are spoiled! Really, Chris and I enoy it as much as they do. The girls always seem to get along well and the day is just truly enjoyable.






The girls really wanted a santa hat, so on our way to the zoo one morning we stopped off at Walgreens and let them buy themselves a hat. We bought one for Jenna too. Don't they look cute! We have a picture of them on this same polar bear statue from one year ago. They have grown up so much! It is a tradition we have whenever we buy annual passes to take a picture at the beginning and end of the year at the same spot.




Jenna is a really good fake sleeper. You tell her to go to sleep and she closes her eyes just like this. Unfortunately, she doesn't usually fall asleep. She starts to smile and giggle.


Jenna discovered a LOVE for tigger! We were waiting for the rest of the family while they went on Splash Mountain and Tigger was actually standing around (without a line) and she got to see him. We DON'T wait in lines to see characters. The kids just aren't into that. While we waited, though, Tigger was right there and Jenna couldn't get enough of him. We started walking away and she turned around with her arms stretched out and while waving her fingers said, "TIGGA! TIGGA! TIGGA!" The only character she has really connected with! The great thing about being the fourth is that when we got home I dug out 3 Tigger toys I had stored in a cupboard. She was in heaven!





Another part of being #4 is getting to wear a leash. I never thought I'd actually get one. But, this girl will NOT stay put for anything. She actually loves to wear her "backpack" and begs for us to "walk" her. Hilarious. She didn't take the thing off all day. Though, sometimes she wanted to "walk" herself (hold her own tail/leash), which kinda defeats the purpose, but generally she let us hold it and she was happy as could be.

Did anyone else have one of these dolls as a kid? This one is called "My Child." I just looked online and found out they are "highly collectable!" Hmm, maybe I should take it back? nah!

I finally opened up a box of my old dolls. I had a bunch of "my friend" fisher price dolls with tons of outfits and shoes to match. The amazing part was that I had a blond, a red head, and a brunette! I didn't give them to any particular child, rather I just gave the whole box out to them all. They all gravitated towards the one that matches them and asked if it could be "theirs." I said, "Sure, if you all agree." They totally did. For several days they brought theirs dolls wherever we went. I loved it! Totally took me back. I wish I would have gotten them out sooner!

Note to self: I need to get a picture of the girls with their "My Friend" dolls!

Playing with Photoshop

I got a new version of photoshop for Christmas. I was playing with it while I waited for some pictures to upload to the yearbook website I am working on for the school. It isn't perfected, but a quick trial. These are some pictures the girls had taken at our family photo shoot that I cut and layered. Jenna was holding our hands while we helped her jump, so I had to take Chris and I out of the picture. But, it still left her hands messed up. My girls looked at the photo and suggested I make her hanging from the ceiling (like the monkey that she is). Perfect!

The Christmas Spirit

The Christmas Spirit

I love this simple video. Take a moment to reflect on the true spirit of Christmas.

Family Pictures

We were really overdue on getting some new family pictures taken. But, we finally did it and they turned out great! The kids personalities were captured so well!

Courtney Turns 5!

Courtney turned 5 in November! We celebrated by heading to Disneyland. The kids all got to go on a date with mom or dad to a theme park this year for their birthday. Well, we were thinking of getting Disney passes anyway, so we all went as a family. Courtney and I spent most of the day on our own, but we met up with the rest of the group as well. She was SO HAPPY to finally be 5 years old.

We stayed for the Christmas Fireworks show and the snow made from soap bubbles, which the kids always love. Courtney got to pick out a souvenir for her birthday and she chose a baby aristocat wrapped in a blanket and a giant lollipop. She was VERY tired and fell asleep before we even left the parking lot!

A Lot of Catching Up to Do

I know that somehow I've managed to totally neglect my blog. All I can say is, I've had other things keeping me busy. I really don't have a moment to sit and work on it until about 10:00 at night and by then all I want to do is sleep!

Anyway, here is a recap at the major events of September and October:

For Labor Day weekend we decided to spend some time in San Diego. We stayed on Coronado Island at the Marriott Resort there. The view was magnificent and we really enjoyed the boardwalk. We also spent a day at La Jolla Cove snorkeling. The kids loved it, though the water wasn't exactly tropical and McKayla came out a little blue!

The kids were really excited to rent a surrey one morning. It was fun, but mostly because we went "off-road" a bit and almost a tipped it a few times!

For Halloween we got REALLY into the spirit of things. The kids just LOVE the spooky stuff. So, we turned our front yard into a graveyard. We made gravestones, dancing ghosts, spiderwebs, and even had a green spotlight, fog machine, and scary noises playing through a stereo to add to the ambiance. The girls picked out a really scary mask for Chris and they all had a blast scaring trick-or-treaters. Chris hid and jumped out at people, McKayla crawled around the lawn near the caution tape and growled, even Jenna wandered around the yard growling! We had some kids who were too scared to come! We had over 150 pieces of candy and only gave one to each person and still ran out!

Our scary costume choices: Brianna-vampire, McKayla-werewolf, Courtney-witch, Jenna-Jack-0-Lantern.