Big Bear trip and Matts b-day

I'm back and going to try to catch up a bit. Let's go back to May. May is always a busy month for our family. We have Mothers Day, Ivy's birthday, my dad's birthday, my grandma's birthday, brittany's birthday, and memorial day. So the weekends fill up pretty quickly.
This Memorial Day Stan and Ivy asked us to go to Big Bear with them for a little weekend getaway. I really don't take the kids anywhere over night because they aren't good sleepers but I decided to attempt it. While it turned out better than I expected, it was still a rough night of sleeping for me and Jack. We came up on Sunday and stayed through Monday night. We had a great time. We went to see and play on Stan and Ivy's property that they own (huge piece of land). That was a lot of fun for the kids to run around and collect pine cones and rocks and "treasures". We went into town a couple of times and walked around, shopped, and ate. We went to Big Bear Lake and walked around, skipped rocks and the kids LOVED it there. Ivy and I took Emily to the park and the fire station. We also hiked around the back of the cabin. It was a really great time and I can't wait until Jack gets a little older and sleeps better so that we can do fun stuff like this more often. The kids had a WONDERFUL time with Grammy and Papa and got lots of one on one attention from them. Thanks Stan and Ivy for a great weekend!! We made a lot of fun memories.

At this cute little park we went to

Rock climbing behind the cabin we stayed in

On Stan and Ivy's property



For Matt's birthday we had a family birthday party the weekend before and on his actual birthday he took the day off to go to, none other than, good old Disneyland. It was actually really fun and we got free Disney cash! Here are some pics of the day.
Emily made daddy a picture frame for his b-day

Mothers Day, Brittany the hairdresser, & Summer Fun!

Wow, I don't even know where to start. I don't know if I should go back to Mothers Day or if that's going back way to far. Anyways, I guess I will only because it was one of the best weekends I've had in years.
Mothers Day felt extra special this year for some reason. I felt really grateful. Some days come and go and you don't think much about them. But this year I felt thankful and SO, SO blessed to have these 2 wonderful children. I could not have asked for better kids than Emily and Jack. They have brightened my life in so many different ways and taught me how to love so deeply. They both are so different and love ME so differently that I truly feel the bond and relationship with each of them is unique in its own way. I thought, as most moms do, that I would never be able to love another child more than I loved Emily. But that's not the case, you do. You find that you have so much love deep in your heart to give. And although I love my husband and children differently, I love them all deeply and wholeheartedly.
This year was the first year that Emily was in preschool and made Mothers Day gifts with her teachers for me. She picked out a basket full of flowers (which of course were pink), made a bouquet of flowers (out of tissue paper and other art stuff), and did her foot prints with paint. When I opened these gifts on Mothers Day, my eyes filled up with tears. They meant so much to me and I knew they were from HER heart. She was so proud to tell me about how they made these and that she picked out these flowers just for me. It was very sweet. We have all given those handmade presents to our parents for different occasions but to be on the other side of that and be the one receiving them, that was an awesome experience. Those are the precious moments that I thank God that I am lucky enough to be blessed to even have children.
The day before Mothers Day, they went and got me breakfast and sent me on my way to have a 90 minute message. MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE THING! It was 90 minutes of relaxation. Then on Mothers Day they got me really sweet cards and were GREAT all day long. We also spent Mothers Day celebrating our moms too. Overall it was the most fantastic weekend. My heart was overjoyed.

I think I'll just finish this blog with a bunch of randomness. As some of you know, Brittany (Matt's youngest sister) is going to cosmotology school in Texas. She was recently home for a visit and Matt decided to have her cut his hair. Now this is a big step for Matt. Brit has been doing my hair for a long time but Matt never EVER goes to anyone except a professional. Let's just say he was surprisingly impressed. She did an excellent job. I actually thought it looked better than Supercuts or Fantstic Sams has done. It's kind of fun having a hairdresser in the family.

It's finally summertime and I'm lovin it! I love the warm weather and playing in the water and all that fun stuff. Here are some recent pictures of the kids playing in the water and some fun recent playdates.



For one of our recent playdates, Jenny K, Jenny M and I decided to lug our 7 kids to Yogurtland. The kids loved going on a little walk and especially LOVED the yummy yogurt. Minus a bunch of branches in our walking path, it turned out to be a success. In the pic below- Emily, Jack, Jackson, Maddox, Joe, Delaney, and Maggie and Jenny M.

Playdate at beckys last week. Jack and Ava riding in the caddy together. I just love Ava. She's my little squishy girl. I also just love her little personality.

This is only a small portion of my updates. I'll be back soon with our Big Bear trip, Sesame Street Live, and Jacks new hobby- watching the trains at the train station. Lots of fun has been had in the last month.

Finally a big girl bicycle

So Emily FINALLY got a big girl bicycle. I know that it's more of a birthday or Christmas present kind of toy but we really didn't want to wait until August to move her up. She has a nice princess tricycle but was definitely outgrowing it so we thought it was time to make the move up. A few weeks ago we had a garage sale and she sold a lot of her own toys (which was super hard for her) but we told her that she could use her money to buy another bigger toy. About a week and a half ago we took her to the toy store and let her pick out which bicycle she wanted. She fell in love with the Dora bike. So we got it! She was so proud that she bought it with her own money and it really made her feel like a big girl. EVERY DAY since we bought it, she tells me how much she loves her bike and thanks us for it. Then after she says thank you, she stops herself with saying out loud, "Wait, no, thank me. I bought it with my own money."
Here are a few pictures of her first day riding her new bike. She got right on it and was a pro. Since then, she's taken a couple big spills but nothing major. She gets right back up and keeps going.
Daddy put the bike together and he was so proud of his little girl. When we go on bike rides, she always wants Matt to walk by her so she doesn't fall. It's so interesting to me that they feel more secure and safe with their dads.

Our first Angles game this season

I really enjoy Angels games but it never works for my kids sleep schedules to go. So we don't make it to many of them. My dad got some tickets for a game a couple of weeks ago and asked us if we all wanted to go. Unfortunately it was a Sunday afternoon at 1pm., right in the middle of Jacks nap. Matt decided he would say home with Jack and let Emily and I go with my parents. We all had a great time and they won! I'm pretty sure that Emily's favorite part was the cotton candy and peanuts. But I actually enjoyed getting to watch part of the game without having to entertain a child. It was a very nice and relaxing day!

Fun at the Spectrum

My kids love the water. We spend so much time out in the backyard either running threw the sprinklers, water balloons or playing with the hose in the mud (ugh). We've also made it over to our condos pool a few weeks ago (still a little chilly). Here are some pictures at Irvine Spectrum the other day.

Easter and all that fun stuff!

So I know I am super late on this post but we've been busy. So here are all our Easter pictures. My mom had all the grandkids over to dye easter eggs. This was something we grew up doing with our grandma so it is a special tradition. The kids were having a great time but we did have one minor problem. After the kids were done, Blake decided he would mix the colors together. He's a boy and likes doing boy things (like experiments) so this seemed like a good idea to him. He accidentally spilled the blue dye all over my moms almost white carpet. It was a disaster. It took my mom hours of cleaning to get most of it out. There is still blue dye in the carpet but most of it came out.

The day before Easter Chelsea and I took the kids to a couple of Easter egg hunts. The kids had a GREAT time and Jack even won a huge easter basket full of stuff and a big stuffed easter bunny.
That evening we met Stan and Ivy for dinner. After dinner we came back to the house and they brought easter bags with lots of goodies for the kids. Of course, the kids LOVE the fun gifts. There favorite being the giant lollipop!


On easter morning we did our usual easter baskets. Emily set out carrots and water for the easter bunny the night before. Matt and I nibbled on them to make it look like a real bunny was here. When she woke up in the morning, the first thing she did was go check the carrots and water. She couldn't understand why the bunny nibbled on the carrots but didn't eat them. She was thinking that the easter bunny missed our house. Kids are so funny. :-)
After that we went to church and then over to my grandparents house for an afternoon full of yummy food, easter egg hunts, good family time, and games.
My parents and most of the grandkids. We couldn't get Lauren in the picture.

I love this picture of Matt. I can't remember what he was laughing about but I love seeing people laugh. It brings a smile to my face.

We haven't taken a picture with just the 4 of us in a LONG time.



Papa, Emily and Amanda playing checkers

Pictures from the easter egg hunts.

Easter Party at Preschool

Emily had another holiday party at preschool and once again a great time was had by all. She got all dressed up in her pretty new Easter dress (1 of 2). The morning started out with a school wide parade around the playground. All of the classes had made Easter hats and then the parents come to watch them parade around in their hats. Very cute.



After that, we went inside for some fun activities. They made bunnies and dyed eggs. Matt happened to have the day off (which was so nice for Emily) and he got to help Emily with her crafts.

Each class then went out to the play yard and had a visit with the Easter bunny. Emily went right up to him and was lovin on him! Jack was really nervous and didn't want to get closer then 10 feet away. But he had chocolate and Jack couldn't resist. After about 10 minutes of trying, I actually got a picture of the 2 of them with the Easter bunny. I would have taken them to the mall to get their pictures done with the bunny but I really thought it would be a complete waste of time. So this will have to do this year, no mall picture for us.

After that they came inside and had an Easter egg hunt around their classroom and then on to the party. They had some delicious food and had a great time.


Spending the day with Emily at school really made me proud of her. She has come SO far since we started her back in July of last year. She's really a good girl and has learned how to follow directions very well. She is very patient, plays well with the other kids, listens to the teachers and just all around really enjoys school and learning. I really like her preschool and her teachers and appreciate the great :-) deal my sister was able to get me.

Disney On Ice

Last weekend Matt and I took the kids to Disney On Ice- Disneyland Adventure. I had been to a Disney on Ice when I was young and I remember loving it so I thought that Emily would really enjoy it. Most of it centered around the Incredibles but it they had all the Disneyland characters which my kids, of course, LOVED. I had bought the tickets a while ago and forgot how good they were. We were about 6 rows up from the ice. So the show was right in front of us, but we were cold. We had a lot of fun together!