Tanaka Farms

We had a busy weekend. On Saturday I went to a baby shower for Tracy Ventura. It was at a Tea House and it was lovely. It was like a tea part for grown ups. So fun. Jenny and I talked about taking the girls sometime for lunch. I think that they would love it. I also thought it would be really fun to get all the girls in the family together (like mothers, grandmothers, sisters, aunts, cousins, etc.). Wouldn't that be fun. Anyways, the shower was a lot of fun. Good food, good games, and very good company. While I was at the shower Matt took Emily to a birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese. They had a great time there.

On Saturday afternoon, we went with my sister and family to Tanaka Farms. It is a pumpkin patch with tons of other fun things to do there. We picked vegetables out of the ground (carrots, onion, radishes, green beans, etc). I've never done that before so it was great. I felt like a farmer. Then we took the kids on wheelbarrow rides around the huge pumpkin patch. They had a pumpkin launcher that was really cool. They would take a pumpkin and launch it way up in the air into a hill and try to hit the target. Really cool. The whole experience reminded me of Roloff Farms. You would know what I was talking about if you watch Little People, Big World. We also did a corn maze, petting zoo, hay mazes, and all sorts of fun things. This pumpkin patch was huge and really a great time for the kids.


Emily running through the hay maze

After completing the corn maze

Hehehe.....

The kids picking vegetables

Emily and Amanda on a wheel barrow ride

The weekend just kind of flew by but we had a great time. I think that it's all catching up with me. I'm kind of feeling a little cold like today so I'm trying to take it easy. Jack also sounds like he's coming down with something. Hopefully we'll get some rest and it won't hit us because we have another busy week ahead of us.

Apple Pickin at Rileys Farm

Family Picture

I'm finally getting around to posting about our adventure to Rileys Farm for a day of apple picking and LOTS of hiking. We (my sisters family and our family) headed out around 10am and did a little caravaning in the minivans. hahaha... :-) It's in Oak Glen, which is quite a drive away. We got there and it was a little colder that I had anticipated. We threw on our jackets and went on an adventure through the apple farms for a few hours. I was thinking that the apple farm was going to be big but that is an understatement. This pace was HUGE! We walked, and we walked, and we walked some more. There was a ton of different things to do. They had hay rides around the farm, a petting zoo, a civil war reenactment, picking of other fruits (strawberries, raspberries, pears, pumpkins, etc), a place where you could make apple cider, a bakery with fresh backed apple treats, and a couple places to eat. We fed the goats hay and watched them make apple cider but mostly the day was spent picking apples and enjoying the beautiful scenery around the farm. The kids loved it. Emily had a blast the entire day. Jack just loves being outside so anything outside makes him happy. And both my kids always have a ball with their cousins. Emily enjoyed picking the apples off of the trees (ripe or not ripe) and Jack enjoyed picking up the apples off of the ground (mostly the moldy, bruised ones) and then taking a bite. Yuck, I know. After a few hours there, the kids got cold, tired, and hungry. It had started to rain so that was our cue to head home. It was fun. We will definitely do it again next year.

Cousins

This was as good as I could get of the 2 of them under an apple tree


They loved pickin apples







Feed goats hay

I'm back...

I'm back. It's been a while since I've posted a blog so I thought I'd fill everyone in on my last couple of weeks. First I'll start with Emily's accident last week. Last Wednesday (a week and a half ago) Emily was jumping on her bed like a little monkey and I asked her to sit so we could read books before bed. As she went to sit down, she hit the pillow the wrong way and did a major flip out of bed and hit her ear on the side panel of her bed. As she fell to the floor she let out an enormous scream and started crying very hard and holding her left ear. She finally settled down and I looked at her ear and couldn't see anything wrong, except it was a little red. We went on to read books, sing songs, say prayers, etc. Her mood changed instantly after she fell out of bed. That night was rough. She was in pretty severe pain. I asked Matt if I should take her into the ER but he said she would be fine. My advice to all moms is to listen to your conscience. That is why God gave us one, trust it. Anyways, I didn't listen and went through a pretty miserable night. She woke me up for good about 6am telling me she needed to get up because she had goop in her ear, which turned out to be blood and goopy stuff. I was freaking out. I took her into urgent care at 7:30am. They sent me to the ER because they thought she might need a CAT scan. Spent a couple of hours in there. The ER doctor did a very thorough exam and came to the conclusion that she did not need a CAT scan and that he was pretty sure that she ruptured her ear drum during the fall and bruised the side of her head and ear pretty bad. They also said she had a really bad otter ear infection. Strange coincidence?! Then we went home and she started getting the chills. Her temperature went up to 102 degrees and I was like what is going on. Called my doctor and they wanted to see her right away. Went in and they thought she had an inner and outer ear infection so they gave me oral antibiotics along with the ear drop antibiotics. That poor girl didn't smile for days. She was in severe pain for 3-4 days and then it started to feel better. Last week started out as a great week but on Wednesday night it flipped very quickly..... That was a lot of doctor visits all in one day.

Let's see, what else happened this week. Mostly the same old. Emily finally made it to preschool more than once this week. She actually went 3 times and had a great time. She is still having a hard time adjusting to it but she really enjoys it when she's there and loves her teachers. That I am thankful for.

We went over to my grandparents house on Tuesday for part of the day. It is always so good to hang out with them and my kids just love being around them. I am thankful that my kids have their great gaga and papa. We had lunch together, played outside on their swing and with their outside toys, and the kids helped them water the plants. Gaga made them cookies and the kids made a mess of their house. It was great fun!

Papa and Jack watering the flowers

Emily and Papa watering more flowers

Thursday we had a play date with Jenny and Maggie and Jenny and Maddox. That was a lot of fun and all of the kids played really well together.

Friday, Matt got off work early so we headed to Disneyland. It was kind of busy out there that night and it was nice to have my mom with us.
More Disneyland pictures



Emily (our little mommy) taking Jack on a walk. He did not enjoy that.

Saturday was a busy day. I'll do a separate post about our fun outing to the apple farm. Then this evening Stan and Ivy came over for pizza and playtime with the kids.

So that's what's going on in the life of the Doerrs. Hope that everyone is doing well. Sorry for my long post. I used to be so good at scrap booking and putting pictures into albums but I can't find the time to do that anymore so this is my little scrapbook of all the events going on in my life. This blog is more for me than anything else. It's an easy way for me to keep track of current events.

A well needed night out!

Wooohoooo......... that is the words that came out of my mouth on Saturday night. We had been planning this night for a couple of weeks so when it finally came, I was really looking forward to an evening out without the kiddos. No highchairs, no food all over me, no screaming or crying, no feeding anyone else except for myself... oh, how wonderful. We rarely get out without the kids but when we do, it's usually to a wedding or just the 2 of us (which is great too). So this was a rare treat that we are definitely going to do more often. We started the night off with an almost 3 hour! dinner at the Melting Pot with our good friends, Mike and Becky. Dinner was fantastic. Matt and I had been there a few times but this was Mike and Becky's first time and I have to say we were all very pleased with the scrumptious food. We were giddy the entire night and really enjoying our freedom. We had great conversation and laughed a lot. After dinner, we went across the street to the Improv. I laughed more and harder that night then I have laughed in a very long time. We really enjoyed our night out without the kids (we didn't get home until midnight) and it gave us a chance to have adult conversation with good friends. I really think that it is important for parents to be able to have some time away from the kids and to take a deep breath. Life with kids can get chaotic and it's nice to take some time out for yourself. But of course we did miss the kids very much but we knew that they were in very good hands with our parents. It was a break well needed, especially for Becky and me!






























And for our final course, chocolate fondue......YUM

Maggies pancake birthday party

Last week Maggie had her 3rd birthday. Jenny wanted to do something low key for her birthday this year so she had Emily over for breakfast and play time. It was a lot of fun. Jen made mickey mouse pancakes for the kids and they got to decorate them with lots of sprinkles, whip cream, syrup, and yummy stuff like that. All the kids were a little under the weather so you could tell they weren't feeling all that good. It was hard to get Emily to smile for the pictures because she wasn't feeling so well but this was the best I could get. We love Maggie to pieces and I'm pretty sure that these 2 will be trouble when they get older. I'm hoping we have many crazy stories of the two of them like we have of Jenny and I.

Sea World

We finally made it to Sea World. We've been talking about it all summer but couldn't find the time. We went last weekend and had a great time. I always forget how cool Sea World is and how much there is to do. My kids sleeping was really off that day so I knew they would be done early. We got there when it opened and headed home around 3pm. We saw lots of sea animal exhibits, watched the always impressive Shamu show, fed and pet the dolphins, played games to win stuffed animals, and played in the huge Elmo exhibit (where they had rides, a huge rope maze, jumper houses, sand/ beach area, meet and greet Sesame street characters, etc). We had a coupon that allows us to go back for free before the end of the year so we're definetly going to try to make it back there. Emilys favorite exhibit was the wallus. We found it really funny that she keeps calling them walluses because she talks so well that she rarely ever mispronounces words. We keep correcting her but she keeps leaving the r out. And Shamu, what a show. It is amazing to see these trainers in the water, telling these killer whales what to do. Emily has added Sea World to her prayer list at night. That means she likes it, a lot!
Matt and kids at the Shamu show















Watching the Beluga Whale















Feeding the dolphins















Playing in the Elmo exhibit

Blakes b-day party

Okay, so I have a few current events that have happened in the last week. The first one was over a week ago. I'm a little surprised my sister hasn't blogged this one yet but she seems to be slacking off a little in her blogging efforts. It's like she's busy or something :).

We always have a little birthday party for everyone in the family. They are very casual and fun. It's usually at my parents house and it includes my parents, my grandparents, my sisters family and our family. We do dinner (whatever the birthday boy/girl wants), cake, presents and since they've gotten older we've started doing games with prizes. This time it was Blakes 8th birthday. Oh my, he is getting so old. I remember when he was born. He's such a sweet kid and has a lot of energy. The theme was Star Wars but the cake was Indiana Jones (special request because he wanted the characters on top of the cake to play with- only kids can be that creative). It was a lot of fun. We played lots of games and my sister made up a really cool treasure hunt and at the end they each got a bag full of treasure (toys). They loves it. Here are some pictures from the day.

Giggles.... hehehe

I have lots of posts to do but can't find the time to download pictures so I'll just share something that's been on my mind. Everyday I look at my life and feel extremely blessed. I have so very much to be thankful for. My husband works hard and loves his family, I get to stay home and care for my 2 beautiful kids, we have a very close extended family that we know loves and supports us, we have wonderful friends, and most importantly we have a God that has taken care and provided for us richly. A friend of mine recently said in her post, what's not to love. And that is seriously how I feel.

But this is not where I intended to go with this post. What I really wanted to share was something I can't take a picture of. I guess I could take a movie of it but not a picture (and I know little about computers and downloading movies so I'll stick to pics only). One of my very favorite moments in each and every day is watching my kids laugh together. There is nothing better than seeing your children make each other laugh and the love that they share together. It warms my heart to see them break out in the giggles (which usually turns into the hiccups for Jack). I can remember when Jack was really little and Emily would make him laugh with her silly faces or random words or songs. Oh how I could just listen to laughing kids all day. It reminds me of when I was young. I was a happy kid and loved laughing and singing and being silly. I hope that my kids will grow up enjoying life and not take things too serious. I know that this was a random post but hey, it was on my mind so I thought I'd share. Just another one of life's little treasures that you hold in your heart.

When It Rains, It Pours

We actually had a pretty bad week last week. It was one thing after another with Emily. My poor little girl doesn't just get sick, she gets REALLY sick. She's had a few non-critical health issues that we've been dealing with the last few weeks and the day after Labor Day, she came down with a cold. A cold, not that big of a deal, right? Wrong. In years past, when she gets a cold at this time of the year it only means one thing, lots of visits to the ER and it almost always turns into bronchitis. Emily has been a very sick child ever since she's been born. She literally was sick every other week for the first year and a half. After she turned 1 things started to make sense. She had (and still has) bad eczema, she has bad asthma, and more recently we had her tested for allergies and what do you know, she's allergic to like everything. This sort of all explains why when she comes down with a common cold, it turns ugly very fast. Since this is our 3rd year of dealing with this season (September thru April) we have become sort of pro's at this stuff. We have almost everything that they have in the ER so that we can try to treat her at home. Hopefully making less trips to the ER then in years past. I will tell you what though, it never gets easier. Asthma attacks come on so fast and so strong. One second she can be okay and the next second her lips are turning blue and her eyes are rolling back in her head and you realize that she's not getting enough oxygen. It is truly terrifying to see my daughter like that. You only understand the severity of it if you have been around it and have seen it. When Emily gets sick, it breaks my heart. It's not like when the rest of us get sick. It's much, much worse. She has to be on so many medicines and breathing machines. We now have an Allergy and Asthma specialist that we see and he is awesome. Besides being a great doctor and great with Emily, he has really helped me understand how to deal with asthma and allergies and get a grip on it. She is starting preventative medicine to help her through this cold season and we are hoping that this will work and make it an easier next few months. We are hopeful and have heard great things about it! Please continue to keep Emily in your prayers. She is recovering from a long, hard week nicely but she had a tough ride this week.

Labor Day weekend

I've been meaning to blog for a while but I've had a lot going on. So I'll start back from Labor Day weekend. Had a great weekend. Full of many fun events. Friday night we went to Disneyland with some of our close friends, the Billingsleys. We stayed out way past the kids bedtime (left around 9:30 or so) but they recovered from it okay. Here are a couple of cute pictures of Van and Emily (her hair was a little crazy that night). We'll have to get some pictures of Jack and Ava together next time.


Matt and the kids at Snow Whites wishing well

Saturday morning we went to McKayla's birthday party at a park in Brea. We had a great time. Isn't she adorable....

Emily and McKayla

Emily and Maggie playing together at the park

USC football has finally started and my husband couldn't be happier. It's kind of refreshing to hear football playing in the background all day on Saturdays. Don't get me wrong, I say refreshing because Matt really enjoys it and by Saturday I've had enough of Mickey Mouse and Little Einsteins playing in the background. But it is really annoying and frustrating to have him glued to the TV and have to fight with the TV to get his attention. Nonetheless, a fun time of year of my husband and my side of the family. They are all big, die-hard USC fans.

GO TROJANS!!

Saturday evening we had a goodbye potluck for Adam and Megan. We are sad to see them go. They are delightful people and they have beautiful kids. We wish them well in Clovis and know that they will come to visit soon. Here is a picture of Emily and there 2 girls at a recent playdate. They loved dressing up when they came over.

Kemberlyn, Emily, and Adrienne
Monday (which was Labor Day) was another busy day. Bryan and Matt spent most of the day hiking (in Trabuco Canyon) and the kids and I went over to Stan and Ivy's house (my in-laws) to go swimming. Late afternoon, we had a BBQ at our house with the whole family. It was a busy weekend but a lot of fun!

Bryan on the hike

My Papa and Jack (his great-grandson)

The girls LOVE their watermelon

The guys watching the UCLA game