fun scrapbooking:)

Smile for the camera

Getting all three kids to smile is next to impossible...

Just about as good as it gets

Reality

Christmas Memories

I love Christmas time. I love Christmas lights, trees, snowmen... EVERYTHING! I love the coziness in my home, and love thinking about others. However, I seem to feel a little sad too. You see, I don't talk about feelings much, not to anyone! I guess if I don't talk about my feelings, then I don't think about it as much, but anyway, Christmas time makes me miss my big sister Twana.
Twana was 11 years older than me and was so much more than my sister. She was my best friend, confidant, and always did more than a sister. She was always a mother hen, and took great care of me, from the time I was born until the day she died. Even when I was married and had Ethan she looked after me. She died on June 23rd, 2006. I wanted to share a few things that I love about Twana.
She loved holidays! She decorated her whole entire house, inside and out. She loved giving gifts. She started preparing for Christmas in October. She always spoiled me. When David and I were first married (and poor), we didn't exchange gifts. This drove her nuts, so she bought me little presents throughout the whole year. She would wrap each gift independently, and then in a big box. So on Christmas morning, I would have a ton of presents to unwrap, all from my big sister.
She was an excellent Mom! When she lived in Cowley with her three little kids, I went over to her house everyday. Her house was very crafty, and always smelled good. It makes me sad that her kids didn't get to have her as long as I did.
We talked on the phone everyday. I would call her for the silliest things, and she would call me to tell me all about the kids. The good, the bad, and the ugly. We talked the night before she died. She told me how much she accomplished that day, but that she was feeling like she was getting sick so she was going to bed. That conversation has run through my brain a million times. She gave the best hugs, had the softest hands, and the most contagious laugh. If you heard Twana laugh, I guarantee you would laugh too. She was the most loving person I will ever know.
I heard a song on the radio today, and it made me think of her. I cried. I thought of all that I miss about her, I could hear her laugh, I remember the last hug I got from her. Then I passed by a house all lit up with lights, and I smiled. I know I will see her again, and I know her and my Dad are having a ball together. I am so thankful for the memories that I have with my sister. These memories get me through the hard times, and I am so thankful to know that I will be with her again.

Why never blog?

I have been terrible about blogging, but I have many good reasons.

1. My camera is broken

2. I have been too busy

3. My children, husband, or myself have been sick

...I could go on, but no reasons are never good enough excuses for me not to feel guilty. So much has passed by and I have not written a thing down. My goal for the New Year is to "stop and smell the roses". I get so caught up in running here and there, getting kids where they need to be, me where I need to be, I feel like I need time to sit and observe what is happening around me. I need to really enjoy these moments that are going by too fast. I used to write in a journal about what the cute things my kids had done that day. I might take that up again too. I also am going to get more sleep! I am shooting for 8 hours a night.

Hopefully my next picture-less blog will be soon, I have so much to record. Jenna turned 2, Ethan turned 10, our Christmas stuff is all up:)...

A Mommy and her little girl

I wanted to blog about my sweet little girl so when she is a teenager, I can remember how sweet she was, and that she did love me:) Sometimes I feel like I am raising myself. I look at my Jenna, and see things that I did, I remember liking the same things she does. She is my little buddy. She will play with her brothers for short bursts, but most of the day is spent following me around. This is how it starts:
I get out of bed early in the morning and get in the bath. Yes, I like to relax and take a bath in the morning. That's why I get up early. After the first few minutes, I see a half asleep baby girl, with extremely crazy hair, stumble into the bathroom and give me a big smile. She wants to take a bath too. So she gets in the bath with me to snuggle. She loves me to put a washcloth on her back and tell her its her blanky.
When I am putting my makeup on and fixing my hair, Jenna sits in my bathroom sink, as she has done since she was about 3 or 4 months old (only then she sat in her Bumbo). She watches everything I do, and says "Oh Pretty" all along the way, its like I have a little cheerleader. She plays with my makeup, brushes, and watches, but she loves it when it is her turn. I fix her hair, then she looks over at her bows and says, "Oh WOWS!!!" So I put in a bow and tell her, "Oh Wow! How pretty!"
When I am dancing (choreographing or practicing for Zumba), my little girl is right under foot, trying out every move. We have spent countless hours dancing in the living room together. When she was a baby, I would turn the music on and hold her to dance. She would put her head on my shoulder and be totally at peace.
Piano time used to be my relaxing time. Now as I sit to play, I have a little partner on the bench beside me and adding her KLUNK, KLUNK, KLUNKS to the song. I like to think of it as a duet! I was practicing a song that I was asked to sing, so I was playing the piano for myself, and Jenna was adding her KLUNK, KLUNKS again. I had to laugh, between Jenna's piano and her singing (very loudly I might add), I couldn't even hear myself.
If I am in the kitchen, you can guarantee Jenna is there also. I give her a bowl and spoon for her to stir, but that only lasts a short second. She comes to me and says, "Hold me!" So I usually cook dinner, with her on my hip. And yes, she is getting a little heavy. Clean up time! Don't worry Jenna does not ditch me. She gets her own washcloth and gets busy wiping anything she can.
Whether I am on the computer, talking on the phone, grading papers, painting my nails, pulling weeds... Jenna faithfully stays with me. I am typing this with her on my lap, looking up and smiling at me.
Bedtime is my favorite time with babies. We go in and have prayers with the boys at 9:00. We kneel next to Taylor's bed, and Jenna has to be right next to Dad. If one of the boys is there, she says, "My Spot". Jenna has said her version of prayer since she was about 10 months old. She says the first prayer. She buries her head in the bed, folds her arms, and babbles for a while, then holds her hands out and shouts "MEN!" (amen). She still sleeps with me and I wouldn't have it any other way. She will snuggle with her Daddy, but she waits for Mommy to get in bed to go to sleep. David and I tease her and go back and forth saying "My Baby". She laughs, but ultimately says, "Momma's baby." She wants her jammies off to go to sleep, then she either snuggles next to me or she'll crawl right up on my chest, and I rock her to sleep. It is so precious. Sometimes during the night, I will hear her squirming. When I look over at her, she will peek open her eyes and give me a little smile. When I wake up, she is laying right behind me snuggled to me, I sneak out of bed so I don't wake her. Then it starts all over.
Here are some of the other things I get to hear from Jenna during the day:
Please Momma?
MOM (a million times)
Taint too (thank you)
Brothers NOW!
My spot
Mommy's Pop!
Kitty Cat
Gucky (Lucky, our Dog)
Song, Momma!
Gink (Drink)
NO Mommy!
Don't!
Stop It!
Quit!
I know this stage we'll pass, but I love every minute of it. As I pull up to Marie's in the morning, Jenna used to giggle and say, "Mree" (Marie), but now, she still giggles, but she says, "MY Mamah!" (my grandma). I guess, Jenna has had a little adjustment having to share Marie with Jacob and Paige. It is so funny! When I drop Jenna off, she runs over to snuggle Marie, and says "Bye Mommy." It melts my heart to see her snuggle Marie and know, she gets to be Marie's little buddy for the next 8 hours. My baby turns two in a month, and yes, I will cry.

The harvest is over!!!

I woke up this morning feeling so blessed. Last night, David came home from work a little after 11:00 and woke me up to tell me they finished harvesting the sugar beets. Last year, the crop was frozen into the ground. This year was the ideal year for sugar beets, but I won't lie, it has been an amazingly long month. They have been digging 7 days a week for as many hours as they could possibly handle, starting as early as 4:30 in the morning, and digging until close to midnight. However hard it was on me, I am sure it was 10 times harder on David. We are both taking tomorrow off from work, and spending the day in Billings, a very much needed break!

Sleep?

We often joke that we only need a one room house. Our babies sleep in our bed until they are about 3 or 4 years old. Crazy, I know! But I don't think there is anything better than snuggling with a little one, and they are so cute right before they go to bed. Our boys still love to watch a movie or TV show in our room before bed, and then they sleep on our floor.

So a lot of Saturday mornings I wake up to this:

If you look closely, you can even see Lucky's head underneath our bed. That is getting a little ridiculous! I want my kids to always know they are welcome to come in and watch TV in our room and visit with us. We love to watch Funniest Home Videos, The History Channel, and of course Fox News. My boys actually enjoy our TV shows, so we're lucky.
This is Taylor and Jenna watching TV. I thought it was funny because they were laying the same way, and they looked a lot alike.

My kiddos

I really need to get better at blogging, but my camera has been broken and for some reason that keeps me from blogging. (dumb, I know). I just wanted to take a second to give a brief update on the kiddos.
Ethan started flag football and resumed piano this last week. He goes to football practice every night and has football games every Sat. for the next 3 weeks. He-of course- is loving every minute of it. He is playing running back, wide receiver, and quarterback. Today was his first game and he threw a touchdown pass, and had a few other good plays. His team won, so he was pumped, but it was a pretty close game. I had Zumba class, so David had to get all three kids bathed, dressed, and to the football field by 8:15 this morning. He did great, and Jenna looked pretty cute. I met them there, and got to enjoy the rest of the game.

Taylor, in second grade, broke his arm 2 weeks ago. They didn't have to hard cast it, but he is supposed to take it easy. Have you ever tried telling a 7 year old boy that? He is really taking off reading and is starting to enjoy school. I've had to fight him to go to bed lately because he wants to keep reading. (Quite a change for him). He always wants to have friends over and is very social. He has a lot of friends, and girlfriends, as he informs me (but don't tell Dad, he always says).

Jenna, 22 months old, ALMOST 2!!!! is still her sweet self. She took herself off the bottle about a month ago. She just quit asking for it, no crying or anything. (Which proved my hypothesis correct, that she would grow out of it). A couple times before bed she would ask for her bottle, but didn't cry when we said no. I just got her a drink and she was fine. She doesn't take a sippy cup to bed or anything. She just cuddles, and goes to sleep. She loves to dance, read stories to her baby, blankets, clothes, and yes- SHOPPING! She goes with Mommy everywhere and is so much fun to have around.

Jenna is getting her first hair cut on Thursday. I am kind of scared, but she definitely needs one!

Our crazy life

Sometimes things happen that you have to just sit and wonder how the heck you got into this situation. David and I feel that way, but in a really good way. At the beginning of Sept. I walked into the studio, for my first night of my very own Zumba class. I was so nervous, and I never get nervous! I was literally shaking. Would people come? Would they like it? Is my workout too hard or easy... There was a lot of unknowns. I was putting myself out there for criticism, and I was afraid. I am used to knowing people, and I only 4 people on my list of 28 people.
So the night began and people came, and came, and came... I think the first night I had close to 50 people. It was amazing and completely exhilarating. After class things got insane, the calls for Zumba just kept coming. We had to move to a gym, I had to make a late night trip to Billings to buy a Bose for the new location. By the end of the month there were almost 70 people signed up for the month and there was usually 10-20 drop ins. It is just crazy! The class is so fun, and I am meeting lots of new people.
I am so glad that David and I decided to pursue this goal. I would have never in a million years expected to be adding Zumba Instructor to my already crazy schedule. David and the kids love it as much as I do. My kids "help" me choreograph my songs, and of course David loves to watch. So there are many jam sessions at our house, my kids should learn Spanish with Latin music blaring all the time.
Two nights a week and Saturday morning, I head to class. The kids always get to do fun things with Dad like ride the motorbikes, go shoot BB guns... lots of outdoor fun. No wonder why they don't miss me.
I am so glad that I can share my passion with people, and I hope they get something out of it as well.

My Great Grandma

Most adults can't say they have a Great grandparent. I have been so lucky to have my Grandma Asay in my life. She is my Grandma Jerrie's mom. She is 93, and up until the last month, has been living on her own. She is so independent and always so positive. She came on the family campout at the beginning of August and went on really long 4-wheeler rides with us. She came to Idaho for one week to go to my cousin's wedding, and she can keep up with all of us.

After Idaho she was put in the hospital, and we just found out she has terminal cancer. No matter a person's age, this is still hard. Everyone in our family just loves Grandma Asay. She is the sweetest person ever!

So it is hard for us, but she is so calm and filled with peace. It has been such a humbling and learning experience for me. My Grandma has buried 2 husbands, a son (Leonard Green), a grandson (my Dad), a great-granddaughter (my sister Twana), and many more loved ones. I know she is ready to move on and reunite with so many people. She has not shown any signs of being nervous or upset about her future. She tells us to be happy and just think about her with her big smile. It is hard for us, but I am comforted to know that she is at peace.

I really hope when it is my time to leave this life, that I can do it with such dignity and grace. My Grandma has lived her life in a way that she has no regrets. She has an amazing amount of faith. I will cherish the time we have left with her . I am so thankful to have such an excellent example in my life. It makes me smile to think of my Dad waiting for her and welcoming her home with a big smile and hug. It will be a great day for them.

Grandma Asay and Jenna

My Girly Girl

I definitely have a little girly girl on my hands. She loves to wear my old dance outifts. She loves to dance. It is hilarious. She can really shake it!She loves to have her hair fixed. She has sat in my sink while I get ready since she was about 4 months old. She loves the whole getting ready process. She watches my put makeup on, fix my hair, and she loves me to fix her hair.
She LOVES babies! It is funny how girls just know what to do. Notice the purse on the shoulder?
She wraps her babies in blankets (or towels), pushes them in strollers, feeds her bottle to them, "reads" them books (in her babble language it is hilarious!), and yesterday she was pretending to clip her baby's toenails. I cannot believe how much she picks up. She notices everything!

She even has a snuggle buddy!
It is SO much different having a girl. My boys loved trucks, tractors, and all that kind of stuff. (I have played a lot of truck and "farm"). They would get out their farm rug and tractors and spend hours "farming". I loved doing that with them, but not with as much enthusiasm as . He acts just like one of the boys. (I think my boys always preferred Dad to play) David loves buying his boys stuff that he liked, and David likes to spend time doing "boy" stuff with his sons. I always went with, but now Jenna hasn't been able go on all the adventure walks and BB gun hunting trips. So we usually stay home and do our girl thing. Unless the 4 wheeler is involved, then Jenna wants to ride "That!" (as she calls it)

Now I get to play with Jenna and her babies. She will get her babies and stuffed animals and put them on my bed with her to watch a movie. I can remember doing the same exact stuff when I was little.

Kids are so much fun! I just hope our kids will always like to spend time with us.

My new adventure

Well, it has been such a busy summer. I have not taken the time to blog. But I have something to share that I am very excited about. The first part of August, I became a Zumba Instructor and I am starting Zumba classes in Powell, Sept. 1st. This is how this all started.

I had a couple of friends tell me about Zumba, but I thought I couldn't possibly squeeze anything into my already full schedule. I was running 3-6 miles a day and I wasn't losing the weight I gained with Jenna fast enough. I nursed her for 8 months (and I keep weight on when I nurse) then I got serious about getting back in shape. I lost 10 pounds pretty fast after I stopped nursing. It was summer, so I was running outside everyday.
Well I went back to work and got a bad cold. I was still running, and I worked myself into shingles. (yes, at my age it is possible). So I needed to quit running for at least 6 months. I panicked. Exercise is my anti-depressant, but I was in so much pain I knew I couldn't possibly exercise anyway.
In January, after the prompting of a coworker, I decided to try out a Zumba class. My sister-in-law Serena and I went together. That one class is all it took. I was hooked! I have loved dancing since I was little, but David does not dance. So it is something I had given up, but with Zumba I found that I could still dance and get in shape. How much better can it get?
So I started going 5 days a week (3 times at 5:30 in the morning:) and 2 times at night. I felt weird about leaving my kids at night, but David was so supportive. He actually really likes to spend time with the kids by himself, and they would do fun things together. I lost the last 10 pounds in a couple of months, and felt better than ever. I was able to tone parts of my body that I could not doing anything else. I found that I had more energy and my days were more productive. I looked forward to getting up at 4:50 to get to Zumba, and also loved the two nights I could sneak away and workout.
I have learned so much through this phase of my life. I learned that I do need to take care of myself. When I am away from my kids during the day, I have always felt like I need to spend every other waking moment with my kids. I would only clean or do work after they were sleeping. This was dumb. Everyone helps out around my house now and we all are a team. I am so much happier and I know that has a positive effect on my children. We spend more time playing together and doing this we want to do.
I had a friend of mine ask if I would teach Zumba classes in Powell, and since I am so passionate about it I decided I would. I rented a studio from another friend of mine and spent part of my summer getting ready for this venture. I brought Powell Rec. on board and they will be taking care of the paperwork portion of the class. (I don't have time for that!) I am so excited/nervous for classes to start. I hope people like it as much as I do, and I hope it can make a difference in their life, like it has on mine and the other ladies I do Zumba with in Lovell. I am so thankful for Michelle Croft (my Instructor in Lovell) for bringing Zumba here and for helping my get established with my classes. She is a great supporter!
So here we go! I hope it all works out!

One might ask what I do with summers off,

well here goes:

I water:

I weed:

Then I feel like this:

All Grown up

Jenna is all grown up now. She can get dressed all by herself.

Story behind the pictures: I got Jenna out of the bath and put a diaper on her. I went to change a load of clothes, and Jenna got in my dresser and got out a shirt. She came into the dining room and worked really hard at putting my shirt on her legs. She does have this getting dressed thing figured out pretty well. She can get a shirt on for pants in record time.

Daddy time

David will do anything for his baby girl.

Even hold her baby

and snuggle I've had to learn to love tractors and playing farm, I guess David has learn to love dolls.

18 months

I cannot believe Jenna is already 18 months old. I absolutely love this age. Yes, it comes with its trials, but David and I both think this is one of our favorite stages. At 18 months Jenna:

says many words, and surprises us daily with new words. My favorite things she says is she can sign and say- please, thank you, more, Mommy, Daddy, all done, and eat.

She LOVES animals. She likes to crawl on the ground and act like a dog.

She understands almost everything you say and responds whether you want her to or not.

She loves Horton Hears a Who and Bolt, as soon as we're in the truck she is pointing at the DVD and yelling, "PLEASE MOMMY PLEASE!!!!" It is hilarious.

She is really bad at church!

She is starting to like Ethan because he will take her outside.

She has gone to the bathroom on the potty many times, and loves to say, "poo poo" so she can sit on her potty

Loves taking baths, but not by herself

Loves to snuggle, and yes, she still sleeps with Mom and Dad

Still on the bottle (I know I need to get her off, but I don't want to yet)

Loves to shop, loves clothes, and shoes and will say and sign "PLEASE!!" when she sees something she wants in the store.

She loves swinging and playing outside

Has consumed more dirt than most people do in a lifetime. I cannot believe how much fun it is to have a baby again. She keeps me running, but she is so worth it! We love our happy baby girl!
Macy is spending the summer with us, so I painted a bedroom set from Charles and Amy. I love refinishing old furniture! I have not bought one piece of furniture in any of my kids rooms. I think it turned out pretty cute. Jenna is snuggling with Macy (maybe she'll start sleeping with her)

In this picture, Macy is trying to convince Jenna to stay in bed with her, so far it is working because they are watching Bolt. We'll see how long Jenna she'll last.

Triple fun!

Natalie and Kieley (David's sister and her husband) just moved home after living away for about 9 years. Kieley recently finished school and took a job as a Pharmacist at the Walgreen's in Cody. We are so excited about them living close. Natalie, Serena, Jen Abraham, and I all go to Zumba together 5 days a week, so we get to see each other a lot. Natalie has also helped us out by watching Jenna the last couple of weeks. It is so nice to have family close by. The best part about them coming home is that we get to see the twins more often. Kira and Kindle are three weeks younger than Jenna. They all get along great and are so fun to watch.

We got to watch the girls while Natalie and Kieley moved in to their house. It was a blast. We took all three babies to the park. The twins are so hyper it is hilarious to watch them run around. I was glad to have Ethan and Taylor's help at the park.

A very special friend

I just had to take time to blog about a very special friend. Marie started babysitting Taylor when he was four, and began watching Jenna when she was only two months old. In all this time, I have grown very close to Marie. When I leave Jenna, she is happy, when I pick her up she is happy. Marie is never frazzled or frustrated. She is always calm and she has such a sweet disposition. You may find Marie pushing kids in a wheelbarrow or swing, giving kids rides on her back, rolling around on the ground with them, or giving them "airplane" rides on her feet.

She is truly a blessing in our lives. She is the kind of person that you never want to see hurt. She has been on my mind constantly since the passing her very special daughter. I wish there was something I could do to help her during this time.

Having lost a sister and Dad myself, I know the inevidable pain that one goes through. There is really nothing that can help ease the intense sorrow that you feel. The first year is really hard. You can have fun times and moments of happiness, but there is always "grief in the wings" (as I once heard someone say). Your mind is drawn back to the realization that your loved one cannot experience that happy time with you. I had to work really hard to break this. I realized that my grief and sorrow was not fair to my Dad or sister. I needed to be able to think about them and talk about them without feeling pain. I wanted my children to know of their Grandpa and Aunt Twana. I needed to be able to talk about them.

One thing I relied on was knowing that my loved one were in a better place, and that this seperation is only temporary. A book I read after my Dad died was called, "The Message" by Lance Richardson. This book helped me through a very difficult time. It has been almost 9 years since my Dad died, and almost 4 years since my sister passed away. I still have times that I feel sad that they are not here to share in the happy times of our lives, but overall, I am at peace. It took me a while to get here, but I can talk about both my Dad and sister without feeling the sadness that I once felt. I know that they I will be with them again. I pray at this time for Marie, and that she can feel love and find peace amid the dark times.

Little League Baseball

Ethan stealing 2nd base

Ethan is loving baseball! It is his first year of little league and he is "addicted to it!" He comes home from baseball practice and games totally excited. His coach has been coaching Byron A's for 24 years. He knows exactly how to handle Ethan. Ethan is very hard on himself and gets down when he makes a mistake. Mark knows when to push him and when to encourage him. We are thrilled that Ethan is having such a positive experience. Mark told me he is teaching Ethan things that he normally doesn't teach kids until their 2nd or 3rd year. He says Ethan takes everything he learns and applies it right away. He is super fun to watch. He gets a little cocky (surprising, right!) when he is on base and toys with the idea of stealing all the time! He has played right field, 2nd base, short stop, and 3rd base in games, and has practiced at pitcher and catcher. It is so weird to be watching Ethan play. It seems like yesterday we were watching Kade and Quin play. Time goes by so fast!
Jenna likes to watch her brother play. She claps and runs around and even went in the dugout and gave Ethan a good luck kiss. Right after that, he scored a run!

Spring? (and a little blood)

I am patiently (or not so patiently) waiting for spring to arrive. It has been so cold, and it is driving me crazy! Despite the cold, our crazy schedules are driving forward. Ethan started little league baseball this year, and they practice M-F from 4-6 pm. Taylor started T-ball and that runs from 4-5. Now Ethan started games so he has a 2-3 games a week. It is just crazy right now. Run here and there, that is all we seem to do. Now to to gross part:

Jenna smashed her finger in a door on Monday. I got a call at work from Marie (you know when Marie calls it must be bad). She said, "Jenna got her finger smashed in the door, please come quick!" Marie is one of the calmest people I know, so I knew it had to be bad. I yelled down the hall to Missy (my co-worker) that Jenna was hurt, and call Cherie (my principal) to cover. I flew out the door and was at Marie's in no time. Jenna was hysterical and I rushed her to the hospital. My heart nearly broke as I held her for the doctor to work on her. The good news was it wasn't broken, but it did take some stitches. We've been through the whole stitch thing before with the boys, but they were older. This was absolutely terrible. I felt so bad because she was screaming, "Mommy, Mommy!" But there was absolutely nothing I could do to take away the pain. Here is the aftermath.

Jenna is doing great now, but she is still trying to open doors and drawers, and she caught her pinky in a drawer on Thursday. (No damage though)

Taylor lost BOTH of his front teeth this month. He looks really cute, and is starting to look a lot older.

San Diego

La Jolla Shores

Well I survived almost 5 whole days away from my family. I went on a school trip to San Diego to attend the National Math Conference. I flew out on Tuesday and arrived home last night (Sat). I had never been away from Jenna overnight, and so I was really nervous. This is also David's busiest season so I knew it was going to be hard. My Mom came over to help while I was gone. She was a life saver. She stayed with David and the kids the whole time, ran the kids around, cleaned the house, cooked meals.... I was so glad she came.

I learned some great things about teaching math. I learned that Lovell Elementary is really far ahead most of the country in teaching math. I learned some techniques to teach multiplication facts which I cannot wait to teach my class! Enough about that, now here are some pics of our sight-seeing.

The ocean looked fun, but was really cold!

It would be tough to live in a house like this! Seals on La Jolla beach
We were able to see a lot in San Diego. It was cold the first two days but the sun did come out the last day. We went to meetings during the day and toured in the evenings. We went to several beaches and they all were absolutely beautiful. Coronodo had amazing sand and was very clean and amazing. La Jolla (which we had to take a train and bus to) was absolutely beautiful with rocky ledges and seals beaching on the sand. Last we went to Mission Beach which is the local hotspot. We did a lot of shopping in the little shops, trolley riding, and of course eating.
We could walk right up to this little seal pup.
Beautiful flowers at Coronodo
San Diego was awesome. It was so clean and has a lot of things to do. It would be a great family vacation. I could not believe how much I missed my family and my simple life. It was wonderful to snuggle with my kids and be able to take care of them this morning. I realized I take a lot of things for granted. I am so glad to be home!

Little League and Pinewood Derby

This year Ethan was finally old enough to play Little League Basketball. I don't know who was more excited him or I. I volunteered to coach his team (that was interesting). We had one week of practice and two weeks of games. Ethan did really well. His fundamentals are pretty good, he just needs to work on his "head" game. He gets really mad if he is not making shots, or doing as well as he thinks he should. I am totally not surprised by this because he was this way at 18 months old. The highlight of his season was when he made a buzzer beater at the end of the 3rd quarter in our last game. He was from pretty far out and made it just in the knick of time. It put us ahead by two points, we did however, end up losing but that is okay. Our team went 3 and 3. Pretty good for our first year!

His Pinewood Derby didn't end up as good for us though. We had been so busy David and Ethan didn't have time to turn out the car they wanted so it broke after just a couple of runs. I was proud of Ethan because he didn't pout or anything. Big progress!

Taylor's Birthday

This post is only about a month behind. We have been so busy lately it seems that I haven't had time to catch my breath! I enjoyed this Easter break and I am trying to catch up on everything today. Taylor turned 7 on March 14th. His birthday was on a Sunday so I spent all day on Saturday making his cake. It was my first attempt at decorating a cake. It took me along time, but I was pleased with the results. We had a lot of people over and had pizza and cake. He got totally spoiled. We bought him a little tent. He loves to build forts, so we thought he would really like this tent. They slept in in for a full week before we took it down.

We had lots of fun and are so thankful for everyone that was able to come to Taylor's birthday.