FREEDOM

Freedom for almost four and a half days! When to eat, where to go, when to wake up, who to talk to....it goes on and on. I took every advantage possible with my vaca away! All of these pics. make me laugh because they are each of just Kent or me... kind of hard to get a good pic. when it's just us there! This is at Carlsbad beach, the first night I was there after we walked on the incredible trail along the beach.

On Friday, we went to Disneyland and CA adventure all by ourselves! I thought I would feel guilty being there without the kids, but I got over that pretty quickly. It was amazing how much we did in such a short amount of time (no kids + no crowds = lots of accomplishments). We had a great time just spending time together and being able to talk without screams or little voices interrupting. We did spend alot of time talking about our adorable kids and how we missed them, or the funny things they have said or done.

On Splash Mountain!

Kent wasn't too impressed with the Matterhorn. I have to say it was alot cooler in my memory from when I was a kid. It has become a little outdated.

Love, LoVE, LOVE this ride!! It has to be the best one there... Tower of Terror, it's a must if you get to go to CA adventure! There's no other ride like it (besides at MGM in Orlando).

This was a spinning car ride in Toon Town, I think Kent may have been feeling a little pukish, otherwise I don't know why he is making such a funny face. (I had to ride in my own,

separate car because my tummy couldn't handle the spinning).

This is another goofy picture because I was trying to get in quick and beat out all the little kids who wanted to drive the car. :)

No one will believe this.... but this is in front of It's a Small World. We waited the longest in line for this ride. Crazy! The only reason we went on it is because they said it had been updated and changed. It has, I could see some changes, nothing drastic, and I can't say it was worth the 25 minute wait at the end of the day.

This was at the end of the ride where you have to wait for 15 minutes to get out of your boat. There was a girl ahead of us with her baby, who was one year old and there on her first B-day (crazy, I'm sure she was loving every minute of it), anyway, she was trying to take a pic. of herself and her daughter and I thought she was going to drop her baby out of the boat. I offered to take their pic. to prevent something drastic from happening. She in return, offered to take our pic. This is how it turned out....I look crazy and Kent looks, I don't know what...weird, high, in a daze, confused, disappointed that we wasted an hour of our lives on this ride....

The next day we went on a road trip through all the little beach towns North of San Diego. It was so fun! This was in La Jolla (pronounced LA Hoy- ya). I liked to say La Ja-la just to embarrass Kent.

Sea lions or seals, I don't know what the difference is, frankly, all I know is that they have to be one of the laziest animals in existence. It was amazing, they just laid on the beach, flopped 3 feet and stopped for another 20 minutes before contemplating if they wanted to move 3 feet again, or not. It is a hard life!

We ate at the best BBQ place here. I wasn't even hungry, but I managed to eat all my lunch and felt sick for the rest of the day. But it sure was yummy!

We continued South to Mission Beach. We did a lot of walking, which was nice. Tons of people were on the beach, swimming (60 degree weather), biking, playing volleyball and running. I would like to think I would be skinny if I lived there and could be outside playing all day!

After our long day of hanging out at the beaches, we went back to the hotel and hung out at the pool. We then mozzied on out for a late (7:00 vs. normal 5:00) dinner. Does life get any better than this?

YES, when you get back home to three little munchkins crawling all over you with hugs and kisses! I called on my way home from the airport as I was just pulling out of the parking garage. (30 min. from home). By the time I got home, Brayden said, "Did you get stuck in traffic? We've been waiting forever!" All three of them were sitting on the couch waving out the window when I pulled in. What a home coming, I felt very loved and missed! I missed their little voices and squeezes too. They seemed to change so much in the short time I was away. Thank you again to everyone who made this trip possible. I really appreciate everything you did!

"All by my big self"

I have to thank Eliette (my cousin's daughter for the wonderful quote).

Here I am in San Diego, all by my big self! What to do with myself? Kent is working today and I slept in until 9am! I just finished a wonderful breakfast in peace. The food was hot, it stayed on my plate (no little fingers grabbing or asking for some), and I got to watch a little bit of the news. Who knew so much was happening in the world today? :)

I passed a door at the hotel and saw this "business room." I thought I would check my e-mail and blog a little in peace and quiet. It is weird.....

I just wanted to say THANK YOU to all of my helpers who are watching my kiddos. This re-charging weekend wouldn't be possible without you! There's a whole slew of you: Rebecca, Shelbi, Kelcey, Grandpa Chris, Grandma Phillips and Grandma Wagener.... I love you all! My kids, especially Brayden, have really been looking forward to their special time with you. Have fun and give them lots of hugs and kisses from me!

I do miss my morning snuggles and hugs! But I am going to be good and enjoy the time I have by myself and with my wonderful husband! Pictures to come soon....what will we do now??

Lins, I am going to call you right now! I hope we can catch up!

CPS.... Is that you calling?

This is my life.... I know I have had a ton of posts lately, but it is cheap therapy for me. I can look back and laugh at my crazy kids. Today was the second day in a row that I attempted to clean my house.... this is what happens when I try to be productive! I really do watch my kids.... Look at that evil smile, she knows exactly how naughty she is! She said, "draw face, draw face, ha, ha, ha."

She used a "washable" crayon, which apparently gets gummy if you suck on it. It was like charcoal.

Dani thought this was great. I was deep cleaning my fridge right in front of her and I turned around and she was already done coloring her face. She is so quick and sneaky!

Ellie didn't think it was so great, she looked at Dani and said, "Oh no, face dirty, wipe!" She went and got a towel out of the drawer and tried to clean Dani.

Dani didn't want anything to do with getting cleaned up and Ellie was very upset about the whole thing! D really didn't like it when I had to SCRUB the black off.

Goth girl OR bearded pirate?

Up the nose...update!

This is for you Mom...... sorry I didn't get a chance to call you back. I talked to the triage nurse today and she told me to monitor Dani. She said to watch for a fever, sinus pressure or sinus congestion. I told her she seemed fine and didn't have any symptoms. She reassured me that I probably got everything out. If she starts having symptoms I have to take her to the Sacred Heart ER where they have a "peds. (pediatric) zone." They have a cat scan and x-ray machine etc. for children. This is great to know, I'm sure we will be there at some point in the future!

Fun-Filled weekend.... I did IT!

As I am typing this my body is aching and exhausted. But it is such a good thing! I had my first outdoor soccer game of the session! It was so fun to be out on the field again, and it was perfect soccer weather. Warm, but not too hot and sunny. On top of that, I scored a goal! One of the guys on my team got fouled in the box and only girls can take PKs. (Penalty kicks). Who knew, anyway he chose me to take the shot! I was so excited, PKs used to be my favorite, but that was a good 12 years ago. I got super nervous as the ref. lined everything up and people were staring and waiting. But I got it right into the corner! It was so exciting for me.


Not only that, Kent and I got to go on a date last night and had a wonderful dinner and 3 solid hours without interruptions. It doesn't get much better than that.

Then the night before, on Friday, I went to the sewing class I signed up for a couple of weeks ago! I had been really looking forward to it, it's something that has been on my to-do list for a year now. One of the girls in my twins group organized it, so there was five of us at this cute little shop. The owner has sewn for 40+ years and started her own business 18 months ago. I can't say enough wonderful things about her. She was so nice, helpful, friendly and had more patience than I ever thought possible. Check out her store at www.thetopstitch.com She has the largest collection of Amy Butler fabrics in the NW! I had no clue what that meant, but now I am in love with all of the Amy Butler stuff! We made a purse out of one of her patterns. The class was scheduled from 5:30-8:30, but we didn't walk out of there until 10. I was tuckered out! There is so much attention to detail for sewing (this may be why it could possibly not work out for me as a hobby). I did LOVE it though... I really want to make more cool stuff, I bought more fabric to make this same purse all by myself. I am going to borrow my Sis-in-law's sewing machine and see how I do! My friends Meghan, Amber and Kathy have really inspired me! I hope I can start cranking out projects like you! :)

This is the purse, by no means perfect, but it should work! Before I left for my class Brayden asked, "Mom if your purse doesn't work can you still bring it home so I can see it?" He was quite proud when I showed it to him the next day and it hadn't fallen apart and there were no holes in it! I am not very good at taking pics. of these things. But you get the general idea.....

More random stuff from last week....

This is Brayden's visor he made at school during his "beach party." I was impressed that he could do such a great job of putting all the letters backwards on his visor. He now spells his name backwards with all the letters having a perfect mirror image. It is quite impressive and his teacher says it's totally normal. When is that supposed to be fixed??

Eating more Easter candy with his cool visor.

These are my new favorite hats that the girls actually love to wear. They look like such big kids with them on, and so sassy too. (D's is backward)

Ready to hit the town.

Ellie even wears hers during breakfast.

Snuggles with the Cousins

A little bit of a struggle to get everyone involved.....6 kids four and under.

Ellie was being especially helpful and didn't want to sit on the couch! :) Dani and Ally were ready to go though.

The BOYS! Bryaden, Owen and Keegan!

This is the best we did. Dani, Ally, Ellie, Brayden, Owen and Keegan

A few nights ago, we had a speech therapy night while the guys had their Dad's night out! Sarah brought the kids over and I worked with my niece and nephew while she tended to all the kids. (I get the easy part of these arrangements). By the time I went back upstairs, the night was quickly coming to an end. All the kids had their jammies on and they matched! I had to take some pics. they were so cute!

Easter with the Phillips' (part 2)

A week later I am posting part 2.....it was a crazy week. Look at the previous post for an explanation of some of the craziness... After we had Easter morning at our house we headed to Grandma Phillips' and Grandpa Chris' house for Easter dinner. What fun! MORE Easter baskets and lots of egg hunts. The kids had a great time, I was exhausted by the time we left. YAY! A chalk egg for the driveway!

Lots of cool stuff in these baskets too.

Grandma Phillips modeling the ears!

A kazoo! (This item disappeared earlier in the week, I think it will def. be a toy that goes back and STAYS at G-ma's house).

Ears on Ellie.

Ears on Alexis.

YAY for Bun Buns!

Thanks for a fun evening G & G!

Up the nose anyone????

My darling daughter is always keeping me on my toes! For a few days, I thought she was just dirty and had a stinky diaper crack. I bathed her a few times, and she still stunk. Then I sniffed a little closer and thought, eeewww she has bad, rotten, milk breath. I brushed and brushed her teeth. Nothing....still stinky to high heaven. (this is over about two days). Then I figured, hmm she must have an infection between her lip and nose, it's a little red and she has had a runny nose FOREVER! I put some neosporin on it, but STILL stinky. A few hours later I see kleenex hanging out of her nose. I lie her on the ground, after retrieving my tweezers and pull a couple strips out. They were dry, and not at all stinky. I thought, well this should be an improvement. Kent came home from work and complained about how stinky she was. Poor girl, how sad is that?? I lie her on the ground a few hours later and see a little white chunk in her nose. I go for the tweezers again and pull out a few little balls of wadded wet mucousy kleenex. I couldn't believe how bad they STUNK! Then I checked again and I couldn't believe the size of the wad of kleenex that was shoved up there. It really was unbelievable! Kent just observed in awe. I got a huge ball out, and I think that was the main culprit of the smelliness! I could smell it from across the room. So icky! The reason I am blogging about this is because has anyone else had the pleasure of dealing with this??

My mommy brain has been on overdrive all weekend, paranoid that Dani is going to get some kind of brain infection.... since I pulled that all out (and I keep checking for more, but there hasn't been any yet) she hasn't smelled at all.....

I am planning on calling the Dr. in the morning (Monday) but I don't know that there's much they can do. Has anyone heard of anything horrible happening from something like this?

Easter with the Phillips' (part 1)

Our Saturday was jam packed with Easter traditions. First we made our sugar cookies.... still quite the experience with three little helpers. Kent suggested we not do this again until they are older. :) Through the whole process at least one child was on top of the counter "helping."

Notice the flour EVERYWHERE! It just got worse from here.

Time to frost, onto outfits number two.

YAY for frosting!

Everyone took a sample taste at one point.

I got smart and decided to dye eggs while the girls were napping. We didn't have enough hands to cover all the dye cups, eggs and spoons! Plus, B got some fun time with just us!

Brayden putting an egg tattoo on.

Dad and Brayden having so much fun! Kent was thrilled because we got TWO different blue colored dyes, but no purple. We had lots of blue eggs to choose from!

Before bed Brayden asked if we could leave a carrot for the Easter bunny. I said, "Sure, check the fridge." Luckily there was a nasty old carrot and a limp stalk of celery. The kids were THRILLED, it was the funniest thing ever. They waved their nasty veggies around forever before putting them in their buckets for the Easter bunny.

YAY for nasty vegetables!

Elizabeth

Danielle with her celery.

Brayden with a carrot AND celery!

Easter morning! Checking out the buckets, making sure she didn't get something better!

Ellie got into the chocolate first thing!

Dani on her way to hunt for eggs!

Brayden excited about his bucketful of eggs and treats!

YAY for egg hunts and the Easter Bunny!