Chick Magnet

The Young Women in our ward adore Alex. Last Sunday they combined with the Relief Society for class and Alex was passed all around the girls. He is quite the little chick magnet. This picture is from the Pinewood Derby a couple months ago. I didn't hold him the entire time. He is such a little flirt!

All Played Out

This picture is a couple months old but it just cracks me up. If the boys aren't tired enough when I put them to bed they will be sneaky and play for a couple hours. I don't mind as long as they are quiet and stay in their room. One night they played forever and I thought they would never go to bed....then I found this. They are so sweet and best buds. Even Jasper was exhausted from the playing.

Whoopsie Daisey

So, I may have even forgotten that I have a blog with how bad I've been lately. You know when you get to that point when you are so far behind on posts that you don't even want to blog? That is me. I still have a trip to Washington to blog about, Easter, yada yada yada.

I have a good excuse for being a slacker though. I had to get my appendix out three weeks ago. It was very last minute and threw us for a loop. I had a harder time with the recovery than I thought I would (it hurt!!! I may do a whole post about it...idk). I am so grateful to my wonderful friends who helped with the boys, made me food, and in general relieved lots of stress.

I am also beyond grateful for my Mom and sister, Jennie, who dropped everything and came for a few days to help out. We mostly just hung out on the couch (I wasn't the greatest hostess), but it was so fun to visit! I still can't lift more than 20 lbs which has been close to impossible with three little boys.

In other news.....It is summer vacation! Adam's last day of school was Friday. It has been in the 70's and perfect everyday. I love me some summer! Last Saturday I had a garage sale with Tamara and Joy. It was SLOOOOW and we didn't sell to much, so we are going for attempt numero dos in a couple weeks. It feels so good to get rid of junk. I sold our dining room table that we had gotten for free years ago, which means that hopefully we can get a new one soon. (hint hint Mario)

I promise to catch up on some random posts soon. I know it seems silly to go back so far and play catch up, but I really want to have this blog as a family journal. If you get bored reading it....whoopsie daisey!

H is for Hen

It is mid May and our Co-op Preschool is still going strong. Tyler, who will be 3 this summer, has learned so much this school year. He can now trace his name and recognize it. He can also trace and recognize several of the letters and numbers. He can sing along to the alphabet but can't quite do it on his own yet. He can also count to 12 and knows all the colors. He is even starting to color in the lines and cut with scissors.

These pictures are from when we learned the letter H. I told them the story of "The Little Red Hen" and then we made cornbread and learned about helping. It has been so fun to be a part of his education.

Randomness

I am so far behind on my blogging. I have our trip to Washington to blog and lots of little adventures at home. Sometimes when I am behind I just don't blog because I feel it has to be a huge catch-up session. So, I am going to skip everything for now and go back later. I know, totally living on the edge! So here are some random thoughts for today:

-Yesterday Amy and her adorable family came to visit for a couple hours on their way down to California. I love living off of I-5! It was so great to see her. I hadn't realized quite how much I had missed my bestie!
-The weather has been lovely, which is wonderful, but it also means that today I HAVE TO get our yard in order. I hate being THOSE neighbors.
-Our vegetable garden is doing awesome so far!
-I made homemade chicken broth for the first time last night. It reminded me of Thanksgiving night cousin sleepovers. TURKEY SPRAY!!
-I think Good Luck Charlie on the Disney Chanel is my favorite show. This is either a testament to how lame I am or how bad The Office has been lately.
-Alex is going to be walking any day now. He will stand up in the middle of a room but will laugh and sit down if you look at him.
-Tyler has been SUPER clingy. He will be 3 in a couple months and is way to old for me to hold all day.
-Adam is reading like a pro. It is so exciting! I hope he keeps this love of reading.

Now I am just procrastinating doing the housework and then the yard work. Peace!

Exhausted Much?

One morning Alex decided to wake up at about 4am and roll around in our bed wide awake trying to play for hours. I was so tired that I just laid in bed half asleep trying to make sure he didn't fall off the side. Finally at 7:30am Mario got up and put Alex in the excersaucer while he got ready for work. Low and behold this is what he found when he got out of the shower. Seriously kid?! Sometimes all I can do is laugh at the joke that motherhood can be sometimes.

Brotherly Haircuts

A couple weeks ago I went to go buy soil and plants for our vegetable garden with Tamara. I came home to see three cute little boys with freshly cut hair. Mario had done it without telling me, which was really nice, but I was so sad to miss Alex's first haircut. Oh well! I got out of sweeping up hair. He didn't take any pictures so I only have an after shot. But how cute are they? I love my boys!

Cub Scouts and Cars

A few weeks ago I took our Cub Scout troop to see the cars at Lithia, Mario's work. They had a blast! It was a little crazy but Tom did a great job of showing them around. The boys loved the cars and had fun!

Pre-Easter Celebration

Our friends were going to be out-of-town Easter weekend, so we did a little pre-Easter Egg Hunt the weekend before. We had hid 12 eggs for each kid at the church building. All the boys (yes, every child there was a boy) had their eggs within minutes. Poor Tyler, however, took ages to find his eggs. He just didn't understand what was going on. Every time he found an egg he would sit down and open it to eat the candy. Finally the other kids went and found the eggs for him to put in his basket. It was pretty cute.

Terrible Twos

Yes, that is Tyler eating Macaroni and Cheese out of a pan. The other day he asked for Macaroni and Cheese for lunch. I made it and he refused to eat it. He started crying in little kid gibberish and I had no clue what he wanted. Then I finally figured it out that he wanted to eat out of the pan with the wooden spoon. Usually I would never let him get his way after throwing a fit, but we were running late to get Adam from school. He won this battle for sure. All I could do was take a picture.

Gas, Weddings, and other Randomness

-Gas is expensive....like really, really expensive. Yuck!
-Bin Laden is DEAD!!! I can't believe I am actually celebrating someones death, but he was such a deplorable person. Thank you troops!
-K, I'll admit it...I LOVED the royal wedding this weekend. Kate Middleton is gorgeous. It is a modern fairytale.
-Kate Middleton is now my fashion icon. Is it so lame that I want to dress just like her? Probably, but I don't care!
-Church today was wonderful. I love my ward so much. They really are my Medford family.
-I get to go home in a couple days!!!! I can't wait to see my Mom and Dad!
-Life is pretty dang good. For reals.

French Fry Face

Doesn't this picture make you want to reach into the screen and pinch his little cheeks. I just want to smoosh him! We went to In and Out Burger in California and Alex was feeling the fries. That's my boy!

In the (Jelly) Belly of the Beast

I'm going to blame this title on my complete lack of sleep lately. On our drive how from San Francisco we went to the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield, CA. Mario thought I was crazy for wanting to go there, but we all agreed that it was well worth the stop. You have to wear a hat and they bring you through the factory to see how the Jelly Beans are made. Then you get a big bag to take home. All for free! It is a really fun atmosphere and completely worth the stop. We all had fun in the car eating the Jelly Bellies and guessing the flavors. Adam freaked out when he got a coffee one. The kid cracks me up. Biggest bonus of all: We got to see lots of awesome Ronald Reagan memorabilia. It made me think of my dad!

San Fran Photo Dump

I took a whole ton of pictures on our quick trip to San Francisco a couple weeks ago. I wanted to write more but I have so many new pictures and stories to tell. I've decided to just post a few of my favs from S.F. and move on.

My boys eating million dollar Ben and Jerry ice cream on the Waterfront. I swear, every time you eat something there you spend $50. Oh well!


Tyler loved the horse at the Muse'e Macanique'. The whole place is full of little coin operated games that are very old and mega creepy.


Adam and Tyler found their pirate buddy.

Ginita and Adam standing in front of the sea lions at Pier 39. They are so smelly! It was neat to see such huge animals out in the wild.

Alex and I over Pier 39. I know it's a tourist trap, but I love Pier 39. We shopped a little and had some amazing clam chowder in a sour dough bread bowl and, of course, fish and chips.

The kids did a great job and we all had lots of fun! We almost blew away, but that's San Francisco for ya!

The Pacific Ocean

I adore the ocean. The pure expanse of it amazes me. Mario and Ginita appreciate a nice warm beach, but I think even a cold one is lovely. We only spent a few minutes on the beach because it was very windy but the kids still managed to get sand in every imaginable bodily crevice.

Me and Ginita


The Fam! This is one of only a few family pictures that we have. I love it!


Angel Alex


Tyler and I are gangstas. The whole wall was pure graffiti. Classy.

Don't you want to just smoosh him?

Major Slacker

I have been so bad about my blog lately. Life is busy. Really busy. I have pictures to post and stories to tell. But instead I am going to watch "The Office" since it is Steve Carrels last episode. Then in the morning I am going to watch William and Kate's wedding. See, I am busy with very important things.

Overheard

Adam to Tyler: "When I get to 5 you are in time-out! 1......2.....3....4.......4 1/2......4 3/4......"

(Adam is looking over my shoulder and just READ what I was writing! He is learning so fast. And apparently he knows fractions. Or maybe I am too lazy to actually give a time-out, so I count forever. Regardless, I need to stop writing embarrassing things about him, because he will find out.)

Once again, Adam to Tyler: "Don't go in the garage. I'm pretty sure I heard a bomb in there."

(My kids are obsessed with the garage lately. I'm not sure what the big pull is. And in case you were wondering, we don't actually have a bomb in our garage. That I know of.)

Scenic Drive around San Fran

While in San Francisco we decided to take a scenic tour around the city. All we had to do was follow signs that led us through the touristy parts of San Francisco. Sounds easy, right? Nope! A 40 mile drive took about 3 hours. We kept losing the path and having to find it again. Mario got very good at driving and I got good at reading maps. We could totally do the "Amazing Race" now. Thankfully the drive was lovely, if not long. We found some nice gems that we never would have seen. Like this building:

I think it's a Fine Arts Museum. Gorgeous, huh?

Full House...Rice-a-roni....Golden Gate Bridge

What's a trip to San Francisco without a cheesy picture of yourself with the Golden Gate Bridge in the back ground? CHECK!

Discovery Kingdom Memories

The Rides

Poor Tyler wasn't tall enough for a lot of the rides but he had so much fun on the ones he could ride. There was a little mini-roller coaster he got to go on. I have never seen him so happy in my life. It was adorable. He kept screaming, "WEEEEEE!"

Adam was able to go on a lot of rides. He barely made the 42" cut off, and I mean BARELY. He is a little dare devil. He wanted to go on every ride. Ginita and I took him on a huge roller coaster that spins in a circle at the same time. He was by far the youngest kid in line. I was nervous about him riding but he was sure he wanted to do it. While on the ride he looked like he was going to cry. I turned and told him that whenever he got scared just scream like he was having fun. After that he kept yelling, "WOOOHOOOO, YEAH!" It was hilarious. That night at the hotel he said that he still felt like he was on a ride every time he closed his eyes. I think he was a little motion sick. He is still talking about how much fun it was to go on such big rides.

It was so fun having Ginita with us. She is an adrenaline junkie and wanted to go on all the big scary rides. I got tricked into going on "Medusa" and "Boomerang" with her. HOLY COW! I have never been so scared in my life. I seriously almost barfed, but that's the fun trying to escape, right? Mario, Ginita, and I were able to take turns going on rides with each other, watching Alex, and going on rides with the kids.

Good Times!

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

Last weekend Mario and I packed up the kids and Ginita and headed to San Francisco. Our first stop was Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. It was a blast! It is a theme park/aquarium/zoo. We watched a water show featuring a dolphin and an Orca whale. They were amazing. Watching the whale dance was our favorite part. Adam and Tyler wanted me take a picture of the birds so they could show Papa. They always think of Papa when they see birds. Tyler and Adam with Odin the tiger. We also got to see the real Odin, which was really cool. I hadn't realized how huge tigers are.

We didn't spend too much time looking at the animals. The park is just so big. Next time we go we'll spend two days for sure.