California Video

February 2010 = Lots o FUN!

February brings many things. A few of our favorite things....Annaliese's Birthday for one and Winter Break for two! This year we spent winter break in warm and sunny, balmy and beautiful California. We were able to celebrate Annaliese's sixth birthday with family! Love this girl! Can't believe my girl is SIX!!!

She wanted a cat cake...so a cat cake we made, complete with six whisker candles!

We also went to Sea World...great time! (This was about a week before they had to hold all Shamu shows due to the killer whale attack. Um, so glad we missed that one. Yikes.)


And no trip to CA would be complete without a trip to the Happiest place on Earth!

And a happy time it was!

The rest of the story...

So to wrap up our California Adventure I just have to say...we had a blast! I was a bit nervous for this one. I flew ALL BY MYSELF with the little ones and SURVIVED! (I tried this once before and vowed to never do it again...it was bad news.) The kiddos were great. I sat in the aisle and Annaliese sat in the aisle across from me. The twins sat next to me in the middle and window seats. We kept busy with play-doh, stickers, fancy paper and markers, Richard Scary books, treats and of course...videos. We were on the 6am flight. Did I mention that the kids did great? They were so happy at 4:30am when we woke them up. They were so excited and ready to go! My dad was there when we arrived bright and early in LA and drove us back home. Byron's family had also just arrived on their flight at about the same time so he followed us back to Riverside. FUN TIMES WERE HAD!

HIGHLIGHTS...
*Cousin Corbin's 4th birthday party.
*Fun at THE PARK!
*Fun in the BACKYARD!
*Fun with COUSINS!
*Huntington Beach, playing in water and hot dog roast.
*Disneyland.
*More Beach (Annaliese and Avrie LOVED the water. Adeline, not so much.)
*Annaliese had swimming lessons every morning the week we were there! (She was so brave and determined! What a sweetheart!)
*Survived an earthquake
*Family photo shoot.
*Did I mention, Fun with COUSINS?!
*Dinner at The Elephant Bar.
*BIRTHDAY PARTY for mom!

Whew...all that in one short week. Kermit flew in and joined us on Wednesday night, so we all flew back home together as a family. We took the last flight out...got home after midnight...but we made it! The kids once again did great.
What a fun trip! Can't wait to do it again!

Happy 60th Birthday

Better late than never, right. I'm only a month behind and determined not to get 2 months behind!
At the very end of July all of my side of the family gathered in California for mom's 60th birthday bash. A pirate themed 60th bash, no less. What a great time we all had. Mom is an August baby so all the kids went in together and got her a beautiful peridot necklace and earings. We also put together a scrapbook for her listing all the things that we treasure about her. No pirate party would be complete without a treasure hunt. My brother Byron dressed up as a pirate and helped the kids follow clues around the yard to find different hidden treasures. My kids especially loved that. Annaliese is still talking about it! They also had pirate boat races (raingutter ragata style). My mom's brother's and their families also came for the party. It was so much fun to see some of my extended family that I haven't seen in years!
It was a very fun day! Happy Birthday again mom! I love you!

Disneyland Photos!!!

Time is flying by and I can't seem to keep this blog up to date. Here are some pictures we took from our last visit to California (End of July). We had such a blast. My kids keep asking to go to Disneyland again, as in right now. (Sigh)...I wish we could.

Disneyland Magic

I have always loved Disneyland. I remember as a child not being able to sleep at night I'd be so excited for a family trip to Disneyland - like it was Christmas. The entire park was just magic for me. There are so many happy memories with both family & friends there that going now is a little bit like going down Memory Lane. On this visit much of that same magic I experienced as a child was still there, but this time it came more from being able to watch the faces of these three little ones. I loved how they lit up at every turn! Magic indeed.

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This day ALMOST didn't happen! I had in my mind that if I could sense that the girls weren't going to have a good day that we just shouldn't go & I sensed major tiredness. But we did get there, we just got a later start than we intended waiting for a not so happy camper to take a nap. It actually worked out pretty well. Everyone was napped and happy, ready for the good times to get rolling. Erin, my mom and I loaded up the girls and off we went to the Happiest Place on Earth. We met Corbin and Shannon there and a good time was had by all!

One of our first rides was the carousel. Everyone loved it and Avrie was soooo cute! I'll never forget the way she waved nonstop to everyone as we went around and around! People everywhere were waving back to her! I wish I could have had video of it! Dumbo was a huge hit naturally! Also the Casey Jr. train and Winnie the Pooh ride scored big. Basically everything we did was pure bliss. Small World was closed, dang it, and we didn't make it to Toon Town. Guess we'll just have to go back. =)

The girls did get to meet Micky and Minnie but the pictures were not with my camera. Erin, can you post them so I can copy them please?

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I just can't wait to take these girls back again! There is just so much more to do and see. I can't wait for the memories to come!

Let's Go Fly a Kite...

Looking at these pictures again is making me a bit homesick. We had such a great time in California. One of our fun memories was flying kites at the park with Erin & Romney. The kids just loved it and have talked often about it since we've been home.

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A few days ago we watched Mary Poppins for the first time in a very long time. All three girls really enjoyed it. What's not to love! We watched the entire movie, right to the end where they sing "Let's go fly a kite". Clearly I'm not the only one who has that song stuck in their head. Last night in bed Annaliese was pretending to fly a kite instead of going to sleep. Kermit couldn't resist the opportunity to make her a "real" one. It was so cute. He disappeared into the basement for about 5 minutes and returned with a bright pink little kite about 9 inches tall made out of construction paper and cardboard. He attached it to the end of some long stiff wire, it was like an extra long antena or something that he had in the basement. Now she was really flying a kite and just loved it! The next morning the twins had to have their turn flying it too of course. The wire broke in half so we are waiting for Kermit to fix it. They will be thrilled. Also, they keep asking when we are going to go fly a real kite again. Soon, very soon.

A kite and a slide...what could be better!

Happy Birthday Derek & Cooper!

Our first full day back in California we headed down the hill to visit my brother Derek & his family! Shannon had prepared an awesome dinner to celebrate Derek's 30th birthday & Cooper's 1st. Of course she had a cute beach theme party. All the different food was served in buckets and pails. She had cute little toothpick beach umbrella fruit skewers and Hawaiian-like flowers hanging from the ceiling. Her cakes were adorable & delicious too! Very beachy & a fun party!

Derek is such a cute brother to have! He is a giant with a giant heart. It was a treat to be able to catch up with him a bit on this trip. I loved hearing him tell some police stories about him & his partner Renzo the K9. I love watching him be a dad. I love that he can still make me laugh. Happy Birthday Derek! If 40 is the new 30, does that make you 20?

Our California Adventure

Heading to California for a week in the spring has become somewhat of a tradition for our family. Every spring Kermit has a week long work meeting overseas (that spouses are invited to, but this spouse hasn't been able to make it in a few years...next year? My fingers are crossed!). While he is gone we (the A team) head to California to hang out with my family and the warm sunshine. After Kermit's meetings are done, jet lagged he joins us for a couple days of fun. This year was a blast all the way around! Here are some highlights:

I flew SOLO with the three babies all the way from Chicago to Orange County!!! One twin in a car seat, Annaliese in the middle seat. Me in the aisle seat with a twin on my lap! We were quite the freak show! I packed tons of toys from the dollar store that I had hoped would entertain because they were new toys (backfired), DVD's (thank goodness for them!), and plenty of snacks. All was fine until the last 45 minutes of the flight. Avrie SCREAMED the entire time! Totally inconsolable, arching her back, wailing, tears streaming, everyone silent and staring. Nothing I did to console her worked. When we finally landed it literally took me 30 minutes to get us off the plane with a still screaming baby and all the toys, trash, bottles, etc. all over the floor to be repacked into a single backpack! Whew! But we survived and all the drama was worth the fun we had.

We SURPRISED my mom and dad! They had no idea we were coming! My sister, Erin and her husband Romney picked us up from the airport in a borrowed SUV, because DAD wouldn't let her borrow his new Yukon (ha ha dad, I know you'd have let her had you known where she was really going!) Luggage lost for 24 hours...what else can I say...except we really did have a great time! =) I love surprising my parents! The look on their faces was priceless! One of these days I'll remember to have a camera on hand to capture their expressions! Darn it!

The next day we headed to my brother Derek's house to visit him and his family! Oh...he and his wife Shannon have the sweetest little newborn that we got to meet for the first time. Cooper was just a couple of weeks old! This sweet baby actually made me baby hungry for a second or two! So sweet and ... chub, chub, chub, sweet, chub! Can someone please explain to me how adopted kids can end up looking so much like their parents! Cooper looks so much like my brother! It's amazing! Their other little boy, Corbin was adorable and was so sweet to my girls. Annaliese had a blast with her cousin as he showed off his pet dogs in their backyard.

The rest of the week we basically just hung out at home while everyone went to work during the day. Erin was able to take a couple of days off to hang out with us. Mom took off a day or two also. We went to the mall, visited my brother, played in the backyard, church (and the babies had their first experience in nursery, yeah!), the babies mastered climbing up and down stairs, (double yeah!) what could be better! Everyday was a complete blast for all!

Once Kermit arrived we were able to go to a cool train museum in Perris with my parents and Erin and Romney, and to Disneyland with just Annaliese...Whoohoo! Fun excursions! For Disneyland my mom took a day off work to stay home with the little babies while Kermit, Annaliese and I headed to the Happiest Place on Earth! A happy time we had! We met up with Derek and Corbin there for an hour or two before they had to leave for naps. It was a perfect perfect day. I love Disneyland. Always have. Always will.

It was a perfect vacation all in all....We flew back to Chicago from LAX....another crazy story....Early morning flight, three barfing babies in the backseat of a rental minivan....barely made our flight....but we did make it! The kids were great! We got to spread out over two rows because Kermit was with us....Nobody screamed for 45 minutes...just barfed a couple of times during landing (love you Avrie)! Love all my kids and my husband! Love all my family- wish we could see you more often! But the drama to get to you make great memories too! =)

You can click on any image to enlarge it. (Shannon, I need that cute picture of Corbin with my girls in the ball pool and a close up of Cooper. I'll try getting it from your snapfish if it will let me copy it.)



Relaxing and backyard fun...



At the train museum in Perris, CA

At Derek's house....need pics of Corbin with the girls....coming soon I hope.

At Disneyland....