Just a reminder

I saw this on a friend's blog and had to post it. It's really funny and just a great reminder of how truly blessed we are to be living when we do.

Wanted: A reason to celebrate

I need something to celebrate so that I can rationalize going to Cold Stone and buying these little beauties:




Any ideas?

Spring has arrived!

Spring is here in Poway California! I know because a little birdie told me so...a woodpecker to be exact. We have a telephone pole across the street and every year as the weather warms a woodpecker finds his morning breakfast in this same pole. He's been doing it for years. I hear him or her, whatever the case may be, every morning as I'm taking the kids to school. I love it because his peck-peck-pecking announces the arrival of spring and who doesn't love spring?! Time now for my tulips to make an appearance!

That's my girl!

We just returned home from a two day adventure at Disneyland. Shaun is out of town this week and the kids don't have school so we headed up to the happiest place on earth! People have asked me, "Is it hard to do Disneyland with four kids without another adult?" No way. They don't realize I have a secret weapon...Amanda.


She take Mads on rides that I can't, because they make me sick!

She's always willing to sit with Connor, or be a single rider because Sam and Connor can't sit by each other for fear that one will throw the other off the side. I'm not joking.

She stands in line with her younger brother and sister when I can't because Mads isn't big enough to go on a ride. She's just a really good girl. Her brothers and sister are lucky to have her and so am I!

On top of that she sits outside the restroom so that I don't have to drag my gigantic stroller inside, and she ALWAYS remember where we parked! What a girl!



I do have to give a shout out to Sammie who braved our second day at Disneyland with a slight fever and a terrible sore throat, WITHOUT complaining! I have great kids!

Valentines Day

Wondering what Shaun and Nicholle did for Valentines day?


We had this for dinner:



We watched this movie:



With:


We were able to watch a couple of our friends kids so that they could go out. Romantic? Not so much. A lot of fun? You bet!

A Great Day for Connor

Connor had a great day yesterday! First thing in the morning he was awarded a certificate at his school's morning assembly for showing great character! They award two students in every classroom each month. This month's character trait was "respect" and apparently Connor's peers feel like he exemplifies this trait. I'd like to see a little more that respect exemplified at home! Actually he's a pretty good kid and I love him to death! Right after the assembly his school had their annual "JOG FOR YOUR HEART" Valentines day jog-a-thon. Connor's class has been practicing and he had told us that he usually just gets two laps around the track. We believe in bribery with sugar in this family, so Shaun promised him a slurpee if he did four laps at the jog-a-thon. He did 6. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't been there, and got it all on film! He did great! The jog-a-thon was followed by his classroom Valentines party that Mads and I got to attend. As I said, a great day for Connor!

Receiving his "Character Counts" Award.


Here's Connor doing some laps!

Valentines Treats

C'mon, try and tell me you wouldn't want a Valentine treat from one of my kids today!

Lady in red

I'm pretty boring when it comes to the shoes I wear. When I had children I gave up wearing anything that required tying or buckling. It requires so much effort to get kids out the door with their own shoes on I went for low maintenance. All my shoes, (minus one pair of running shoes)were required to slip on. Fortunately, my having children coincided with a move to southern California, where you can wear flip flops year round. My other quirk when it comes to shoes is that I love red shoes. When I walk into a shoe store I am immediately drawn to the red ones. In recent years I have found that not only am I drawn to red shoes, but I feel like I NEED red shoes, not a lot of them, just a pair or two. I'm wondering if it has something to do with getting older and they somehow make me feel younger. You know, kind of along the lines of the Red Hat Society. My most recently acquired red shoes are my red Vans I got for Christmas. I LOVE THEM. The thing with red shoes is you just can't wear them every day. Not only do they not go with everything, but wearing them everyday somehow would make them not quite as special. On top of that, my older girls find them extremely embarrassing. First of all they think I'm too old to be wearing Vans. Second of all, they're red. I informed them last week that since Valentines day was coming up I would be wearing my red Vans every day until then. They rolled their eyes. Saturday night Sam and I headed out to the grocery store. As we were leaving Sam said, "You're not going to wear those are you?" referring to my shoes. "Of course" I said, "They're cool!" Another eye roll. As we were doing our shopping a high school age girl passed us and looked at my shoes and said, "Cool Vans" and then kept on walking. So I guess I really am as young, hip and cool as I think I am. Of course, the "cool" comment from the teenager is probably negated with the fact that I went to the Vans store to buy my shoes with my 61 year old father, who also purchased a pair. (His weren't red.)

Long Live the 80's!

I saw this on someone blog and thought it was so funny. I am definatly a child of the 80's!

You know you grew up in the 80's if...


1. You've ever ended a sentence with the word "PSYCH!".
2. You can sing the rap to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and can do the Carlton dance
3. You know that "WOAH" comes from Joey on Blossom
4. If you ever watched "Fraggle Rock"
5. It was actually worth getting up early on a Saturday to watch cartoons.
6. You wore a ponytail on the side of your head.
7. You got super-excited when it was Oregon Trail day in computer class at school.
8. You made your mom buy one of those clips that would hold your shirt in a knot on the side.
9. You played the game "MASH"(Mansion, Apartment, Shelter, House)
10. You wore stonewashed Jordache jean jackets and were proud of it.
11. You know the profound meaning of "WAX ON, WAX OFF"
12. You wanted to be a Goonie.
13. You ever wore fluorescent clothing. (some of us...head-to-toe)
14. You can remember what Michael Jackson looked like before his nose fell off and his cheeks shifted.
15. You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the only female smurf.
16. You took lunch boxes to school...and traded Garbage Pailkids in the schoolyard.
17. You remember the CRAZE, then the BANNING of slap bracelets.
18. You still get the urge to say "NOT" after every sentence.
19. You thought your childhood friends would never leave because you exchanged handmade friendship bracelets.
21. You ever owned a pair of Jelly-Shoes.
22. After you saw Pee-Wee's Big Adventure you kept saying "I know you are, but what am I?"
23. You remember "I've fallen and I can't get up"
24. You remember going to the skating rink before there were inline skates.
25. You have ever played with a Skip-It.
26. You remember boom boxes and walking around with one on your shoulder like you were all that.
27. You remember watching both Gremlins movies.
28. You thought Doogie Howser/Samantha Micelli was hot.
29. You remember Alf, the lil furry brown alien from Melmac.
30. You remember New Kids on the Block when they were cool...and don't even flinch when people refer to them as "NKOTB"
31. You knew all the characters names and their life stories on "Saved By The Bell," The ORIGINAL class.
32. You know all the words to Bon Jovi - SHOT THROUGH THE HEART.(I actually have this song on my i-pod, sad, but true!)
33. You just sang those words to yourself.
34. You still sing "We are the World"
35. You tight rolled your jeans.
36. You owned a banana clip.
37. You remember "Where's the Beef?"
38. You used to (and probably still do) say "What you talkin' 'bout Willis?"
39. You're still singing shot through the heart in your head, aren't you

Long live the 80's!

FHE-Valentines style

I don't know how it is in all of your families, but in our family we don't express our love to each other nearly enough! So I decided that for FHE we would make Valentines bags that we could leave notes in for each other. The Valentines Fairy (AKA mom) will also visit each night until Valentines day and leave them a little surprise. They were all thrilled by this idea as you can see by the picture! So far it has been a success. Here is a sample note that Connor found in his bag this morning:

"Dear Connor, I love you. Make sure your hands aren't in your pants. Great job in baseball, I can't wait to watch you! By the way I don't care if I would have to sleep with you in your underwear! Did I just write that?! Love,Sam ( We had issues this past week at the hotel about who had to share a bed with Connor. No one wanted to because he sleeps in just underwear! Shaun drew the shortest straw!)


The finished products!


We topped off the evening with these tasty treats, homemade oreos or as we lovingly refer to them in our family "homeoreos"!