Fun Park and Fannie Goat

I have been cleaning out the kids' closets and rooms and organizing everywhere! I told Brian I am psycho-nesting. LOL As usually happens when organizing, things have to get worse before the get better. It is starting to drive me a little crazy having boxes of stuffed animals and toys in our master bedroom. But the girls' room is not set up yet, so I don't want to move toys, etc., etc., etc., back in until it is ready for that stuff. The kids were watching Madame Blueberry (Veggie Tales) the other day and I just had to laugh about her with all her stuff, thinking about us with all our stuff! ;) We have thrown a lot away and also put a lot in the garage to possibly have a garage sale next year (I know, last year I said no more, but this would be a BIG garage sale!!).

Having toys in the master bedroom is such a new thing for Lauren (though Brian and I are not crazy about having the dollhouse, stuffed animals, Little People, etc. in our room!). But she's rediscovering toys. This week it was the Fisher Price Little People barn and amusement park. We actually have a book about the same FP amusement park, with the same FP Little People in the illustrations, and they call it the fun park (hence my title...). I collected Pampers Points when Julia was a baby, from all the boxes of diapers we bought her. They had a program going on where you could get free toys, depending on the number of points you collected, and one of our free toys was this fun park.

I took all these pictures yesterday. Lauren said the Little People blonde boy was Austin and the black-haired Oriental girl was Lauren. She was also making these two horses kiss. Mmm-mwah! Not exactly sure why they were kissing...




Just a couple cute close-ups



A funny picture: my view looking down, these days... ;) Julia asked why I took a picture of my foot.... I had my 34-week doctor visit today and all is going well. I'm always thankful for the non-eventful appointments! Brian and I figured tonight it costs about $10 for me to drive up to San Luis Obispo and back. Just one trip to the doctor! Yikes! We stopped at Vons to get a few groceries afterwards, and noticed their cheapest gas is $4.21/gallon!! And that is pretty much the lowest price in the area, +/- a very few cents.


Lauren reading her Bible story book. Although she said she was reading about Hama and Antonis. Not exactly sure where she came up with that either.




Julia only has 9 1/2 more days of school! Last night was the second-grade play. Three classes performed Three Nanny Goats Gruff, based on the Three Billy Goats Gruff story. Julia was SO excited for the play to come. She reeeeeally wanted the part of Fannie Goat, because Julia said it would be her first *long* solo, as Fannie had to sing a whole song. Well, she got the part! The kids had to very loosely audition. There was only one girl solo part and one boy solo part. Mrs. F told Brian last week at Open House that Julia did an excellent job singing her solo (during practices), and that she had perfect pitch, "which is not always the case." :) Well, it wouldn't have been the case with me. But Julia does have a very nice singing voice and *did* do a wonderful job at the play! I asked if she was nervous, and she said she wasn't. She sang clearly and "out" and completely on key.

The kids who were goats (most of the chorus) were supposed to wear white shirts and blue pants tucked into white knee socks or soccer socks. Weeeell, we are rule followers (first born mom and dad and daughter and all...:D ), so that is what Julia wore. You can see some of the other kids interpreted the costume suggestion a bit differently. ;) Of course it all turned out just fine, though, and the play was very cute.




Tomorrow Brian plans to take the van in to get smog-checked. I want to clean the carpets as they are getting really nasty! I told the kids this afternoon that I plan to clean them, and Austin said, "Yeah! Look at all those dirty spots!" Hee hee. I agree, and spots on the carpet really annoy me! Before we had the carpet cleaner I would go around and clean *every* spot or spill by hand. Do not like to see them!

Mother's Day, Hot Days, and Today

The Saturday before Mother's Day Julia and I went to the Mother's Day brunch at church. Julia was so excited to go and kept calling it a teaparty. A week ahead of time she planned what she was going to wear. She said she had to wear a fancy dress, and chose her Easter dress. She also told me I had to wear a pretty dress. I told her I didn't have one that would fit my big tummy and she told me I had to wear a skirt then, no pants!

Brian took this picture of the kids and me after church. He took 60!! =/- to get about 3 good shots! Also, we went out for lunch at a Mexican restaurant, Old Juan's Cantina.


Cards and gifts: Julia was sooo excited about the Mother's Day present she was making at school and had me open it Friday night at dinner; she could not wait! It was the pillow here. The kids had to draw with crayons on the fabric, then their teacher ironed the drawing and sewed the front and back together. The kids had to stuff the pillows and whipstitch them shut. I asked Julia if the picture was of her cleaning the cat box. She said no, that it is me doing the laundry! :D I could tell she'd drawn our fireplace with the candles, etc. on the mantle, and wondered about the cat box. Laundry does make more sense, as that is where I fold it! She also made the pop-up card at school. She gave me the petunia after church--the kids had decorated the cup and the little people sticks. She made it look like herself. Austin gave me the lily and MMMMMMMMMMM paper with those doily triangles from Sunday School, and he made the card at Cubbies. The paper flowers are crafts Julia had Austin and Lauren make one day!! And Austin made the other MMMMMM card that day too. Brian gave me a digital picture frame, but it had to be returned as the screen was damaged. The best gift from him was having him paint our main bathroom! It looks SO much better, and so pretty. I just love the color! Pictures of that to come soon.


Last Thursday - Sunday we had a heatwave. It was very, very, VERY hot, in the 90s!! I felt like I was drinking, drinking, drinking all day long and still getting some swelling. It was just so hot! Finally Monday was cool and I could get my ring off again. ;) Friday the kids went in the pool and sprinkler. They loved it, except for Lauren who didn't want to get water on her head. She liked the pool ok.






And of course some ice cream to help cool everyone off.


Silly kids--said they were going on a trip to visit Grandpa and Grandma. Lauren was driving them all, or at least trying... Julia is sitting on the back of the car here, and you can only see Austin's elbow sticking out b/c he is trying to help Lauren move the car by pushing it!


Saturday I went to an all-day scrapbook event at church. It was a lot of fun, and I got a lot done! My friend Teri brought this Bitty Baby doll to give to Lauren, as her daughter doesn't play with it anymore. Lauren looooves Bitty Baby. She named it Baby Emiwy (Emily). Lauren was hugging her and said, "Mmmm I wuv Bitty Baby! She is my favorite toy!" (For now anyway...) This afternoon we made pudding for a snack, and I told Lauren she had to eat her apricots from lunch first. I told her I was putting her pudding in the fridge until she ate them up. She told me, "That is NOT a good plan!" (Though it sounded more like, "Dat is NOT a dood pan!" :D She was quite serious, too! She did eat the apricots and soon got her pudding.


The other day Austin was drawing pictures and asked me how many legs a starfish has. I told him they have five, and he continued the conversation, telling me, "Jellyfish have 200 legs!" I asked, "They do?" He replied, "Yep! The Bible says so!" Then today he was hungry for a snack, after the pudding. I asked him if he wanted some nuts. He asked, "Like tissues?" I said, "Pistachios?" And indeed, pistachios are what he wanted! At bedtime Austin told Julia, "I felt the baby kicking today." He had, while we read stories at naptime. Julia said, "Oooh, I bet that hurt you...", a bit sarcastically, as I think she was jealous! He replied, "Nope. It felt like bump, bump, bump..."


Austin and Lauren played outside in the dirt this morning. They had fun constructing things with the garden stakes. Austin made this "A for Austin". When Lauren heard that, she right away said, "I make an L for Lauren!" And she did.


Not exactly sure what this is. Julia saw this picture when I was going through them earlier and asked Austin what it was, a teepee? He said he didn't know either! Quite the contraption, anyway.

Three!

Lauren turned 3, May 6. Since Julia's birthday, Lauren has said that she wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese for her birthday! Julia and Austin joined in dancing with ChuckE for free tickets. Yeah!! More tickets!! They understand what that means... Lauren started dancing and then started crying and left the group. I think she was intimidated by all those kids... ?


Twisting with ChuckE. And Lauren with her tickets.


Lauren opened her presents Sunday afternoon and we did her cake after supper. She chose a bunny cake this year. We had to get the same Betty Crocker cake book from the library for her to look through. (It's tradition, after all...they can never discard that book!) All the kids like looking through the cake book, and sometimes Austin and Lauren even choose it for their bedtime story, though it is not a storybook at all! Lauren wanted a chocolate cake, and the mix makes two layer. Each bunny is made from one layer, so that is why she got two bunnies. Julia said their names were Happy Bunny and Hoppin' Bunny. Hee hee


I took these last Tuesday, on her actual birthday. We went for a little walk down to our neighbor's house where there are lots of pretty roses and other flowers. Then she (surprise there!) wanted to keep taking pictures, so we did some more on our front porch.


Austin was peeking out the window at us. He'd gone to the doctor this day for his Kindergarten checkup and booster immunizations. They gave him a car for being so brave. :) He had to have 4 shots, one was a TB test, and he just said, "Ow ow ow!" for the first three. But the last one hurt, and he burst out crying! :( Julia and I told him how she cried for that one too, and the nurse says it is the most painful, which is why she saves it for last.

Austin is learning more and more numbers, figuring out there are many, many numbers! He has chosen 200 to be the largest number he can think of, and uses it when he talks about a huge amount of something. For instance: While walking through the park (on different days), he says, "There are 200 pinecones in the tree! And, seeing the park man mowing the grass, "There are 200 grass in the lawn!" Then, discussing Lauren turning 3, and how she'll be 4 next, "After Lauren is 12, THEN, she will be 200!" On and on it goes.


Lauren was doing "May Sue" here: "May Sue--clap clap-- May Sue--clap clap-- May Sue from Alabama, something something Louisiana, Sitting in a rocker, Eating Betty Crocker...." (And that is all *I* know of May Sue) Julia brings home these little ditties she learns at school, and teaches them to Lauren. It's pretty funny hearing Lauren repeating them!! May Sue turns into May Too, and Eating Betty Crocker turns into something like Eating bunny crackers. :D

Big Boy Room

We got Austin's room all put together. It was just white before, nothing had been done to it since we moved in 4 years ago. I didn't take "before" pictures because we started moving stuff out before I thought of it. Brian and I both said that Austin's walls were the in the *worst* shape of all the rooms we've painted! Dings and scratches, etc., many many of them! The color is Sherwin Williams Ecru, and we had Home Depot color match it and used their Glidden flat scrubbable paint. The color looks different in all of these pictures. Which is it really most like? Well, take your pick! It changes with the light!

Looking in the doorway of his room. He is now using the double bed that was in Julia's room. I kind of wanted to paint it red, but then thought not much of it really shows anyway, so white it is, for now.


Bedding is from Company Kids. Austin chose navy blue sheets and a navy blanket (from Penney's).


View from the corner between window and bed.


We had this shelf for years; I'd stained it brown and planned to display birdhouses on it in the master bathroom of our old house. However--I never liked how the shelf looked, nor several of the birdhouses! But I kept the shelf and repainted it red when we were plannin Austin's room. Brian and I made the pegboard coat rack to go underneath it. The red paint is the first red I'd chosen for our dining room when we painted it, three years ago. It about scared me, on the wall! Too red and too bright for that room, and Brian ever-so-nicely agreed to repaint it a better red! :)


Austin's map painting. One day we were walking through Target, on our way to check out, and he saw a stack of these painted canvasses. He was fascinated with it, asking me where people live (in other states). Now that it's on his wall, he still asks me about where places are. On the back of a cereal box there was a picture of SeaWorld Orlando, and Austin asked me where that is. He led me to his room and asked where Florida is! And, how long would it take to get there?.... :)

Queen of Hearts

Last Thursday I took these of Lauren. She and Austin were playing outside. He was wearing a Lightning McQueen shirt, and I asked him if he was Lightning McQueen. He said that he was, and, "Wauren is the Queen of Hearts......because she has hearts on her shirt." :)

The day before as we were driving north to a doctor's appointment, passing the ocean on our way, Lauren said, "Dere's de ochean! I tee de ochean!" Then, a few seconds later, "Dod made de ochean. And Dod made de tees. And Dod made de tars!" Austin had been quiet up to this point, but then pointed out seriously, "Wauren. God did not make the cars." They had to both consider this for awhile, and we discussed how God gave people the ideas to make cars. It's fun to almost be able to see the wheels turning in their heads as they process things!

Easter, Snow.....the Last Month.....

And we start off with a volcano! Going back several weeks now, to the middle/end of March... Julia had to make a volcano for school for a science project. The kids could make it look however they wanted, and use any materials they wanted, it just had to have an area to pour in the vinegar and baking soda for the eruption. I helped Julia put a baby food jar in the hole we cut in the bottom of a cottage cheese container. She did everything else herself: building up the mountain with wadded up newspaper and masking tape, painting brown one day, painting red lava another day, and adding the "tree" and rocks. She brought it into her classroom and her teacher said it was beautiful! That night we drove south to stay with Brian's mom, so we could fly out of Ontario with her the next day, to go to Washington.

Saturday before Easter we colored eggs with Grandma and Grandpa. We had so much fun and had lots of dye left that we ended up coloring raw eggs too! I think only one got cracked...Lauren dropped it lightly... Thankfully it didn't break all over and make a mess!

Easter Sunday we went to church with my mom and dad. That afternoon Auntie Colleen brought over tons of candy-filled eggs and hid them outside. We were glad the kids could have the egg hunt outside, as it had rained earlier in the day.

Monday, 3/24: Cousins Luke and Kaitlyn came over to play. Lauren and Grandma refilled the plastic eggs used the day before, with more jellybeans, and all the kids had another egghunt! Grandpa gave all five of them tractor rides. They're all wearing borrowed hats from Grandpa and Grandma here. It was lovely weather, but soo chilly with the wind blowing!

During the week we visited lots of people and just hung out at my mom and dad's too. Friday it snowed! That was something interesting to tell people back home: Easter and snow in the same week! You will see we came to WA somewhat unprepared; there they are, wearing borrowed hats again, and socks on their hands, and then borrowed too-big gloves from Grandma when the socks got wet. At least we'd packed jackets, but no hats and gloves! The kids loved the snow!! Although this is one of the few pictures of Lauren happy in it. She didn't like the snowflakes on her face and went back in the house after just a few minutes.

Austin and Julia stayed out quite awhile and built two little snowmen and also had a mini snowball fight with just the two of them.

Friday night, 3/21, we went to their cousin Annika's birthday party, and then celebrated some more at Chuck E. Cheese the next day. Sunday was church again, then Monday, 3/31, we went out to my dad's cousin's place where the kids could ride horses. Cousins Alyssa and Annika were there too. They all had so much fun!! Here Austin is on Beauty, and Julia is on Joy.

Uncle Doug leading Lauren and Alyssa around on Joy

Annika and Austin on a swing

We returned home the next day, 4/1. It was another full day of travel; we left around 9:30 a.m. to drive to Seattle to return our rental van and fly back to Ontario. We ate dinner with Brian's mom at McDonalds, just quickly, before driving home. We pulled into our driveway about 11:30 p.m. when Austin threw up, still in his booster seat in the van! :P He didn't seem to be sick, as he was fine the next day. I think he was just extremely overtired! We all had to get up bright and early the next morning for Julia to go back to school. I had a doctors appointment the same morning.

The next day, 4/3 I unpacked and did laundry. Julia had a Student Recognition Assembly that afternoon, to mark the end of the second trimester. She received a very special award this time. They have several "Character Counts" words (such as honesty, kindness, etc.), where each is the word of the month during the school year. Just one child from each class gets awarded for one of these words during the year. One word this trimester was "Responsibility". Julia's award says it was given to her for being an outstanding example of responsibility. Her teacher wrote a personal note on the back, saying, "Julia has been an outstanding example of Responsibility this Trimester. She is responsible in both speech and in actions. She can be counted on to do her best at all times and to honor her word. She has earned this Award!" Of course we are proud of her for doing well academically, but in the long run, I think showing she has good character is even more important!

Friday 4/5: I cleaned the house and ran Austin and Lauren to their doctor, as both had oozing green gunk in their eyes. With company coming that night, I didn't want to go the weekend wondering if they had pinkeye! It ended up they both had ear infections! Neither had complained about their ears hurting, but the doctor said they both definitey had them, not just being on the verge... They'd had colds in WA, and either were hanging on to those, or maybe caught new ones. Whatever, somehow the ear infections came from those colds.

My cousin Randy and his wife Judy, and their daughter, Abby, arrived Friday evening. They stayed with us for the weekend. Our kids were SO excited to have Baby Abby come, and eagerly hauled out our baby/toddler toys. The toys kept on coming, and coming, and coming out... I have visions of what my house is going to look like in about a year.... ;) Saturday we all went to the Avila Valley Barn, Fat Cat's for lunch, and then to play in the sand at Avila Beach.

Sunday we went to church, then to Pea Soup Andersen's for lunch in Buellton, then on to the La Purisima Mission. It's been several years since we'd been to the Mission, and it was very interesting to go through again! We saw a snake just off the path, and it made me leery to go walking through any longish grass! It didn't rattle though, and we *think* it was harmless. Still... Austin was glad to push Abby in her stroller. Here he is with that little cutie, enjoying each other's company. He liked making silly noises and faces at her to get her attention!

Tuesday 4/8: We had our third ultrasound for this pregnancy, to see how our baby is growing. We had the same doctor, and she said the choroid plexus cysts on the babies brain had disappeared. She said baby was growing well, in fact was measuring 2.4 lbs., and 4 days ahead of schedule. Oh, and we asked, baby is still a girl. ;) We call her "Baby Sister", as no name has been chosen. I made a list of names, and Brian and I have discussed them the tiniest little bit, but we have not decided on any one in particular.

Here are a couple pictures of Baby Sister. She was facing down/back for the longest time, but Dr. N did manage to get this profile shot, on the left. You can see where her nose is, that is an elbow by her mouth/chin, and then little fingers on the end of that, towards the left of the picture. On the right is a front view of the face. You can see two arms there too, but no fingers from this angle.

While the kids and I were gone in WA for Spring Break, Brian painted the family room. You can kind of see the new color here, a pale gray blue. I plan to take more shots of the room when it is a little more put together! We assembled the cabinets, and I've arranged them almost how I want. But I need to put some things from the kids' rooms in them too. And the kids' rooms are turned upside down right now! Saturday the 19th Brian painted Austin's room, so all his furniture and toys were moved out into our room and the girls' room. Now his bed and dresser are back in and their room is a disaster. His is almost put together again, and I plan to take pics of it too. Anyway, these were from a week ago. Our two little honey bees. ;) And Austin joining in on the fun. :)

This little girl is almost three! But not quite. ;) She is very much into making crafts these days. One of her favorite things to do is to glue. I cut out a bunch of pictures from magazines and old calendars for her, and she has the best time making collage after collage, gluing the pictures. She has a chocolate pudding face, as that was the afternoon snack for this day. In the second picture, Lauren said she was a "tiwre dirl" (fire girl). Don't those princess shoes complete the ensemble?!

Recent Lauren sayings: 1) Brian and I were moving Julia and Austin's beds into Lauren's room, and she was sooo excited! She kept exclaiming things like, "My woom wooks diffwent! It wooks nice in here! It is tute (cute) in here!" She was so glad to have them move in with her and did her best to tell us how excited she was. 2) Discussing baby names: "Maybe we name the baby Reeea". Later as we walked from school: "My name is Reeea. I am ReBA!" And she insisted her name was Reba for a few hours there.... 3) Driving home from Awana and listening to a CD, with a song about heaven playing: Suddenly Lauren pipes up somewhat wistfully, "I not doe with Dod. (go with God)." I asked her, "You're not going with God?" She replied, "Noooo.... I not tell Dod no...." I am wondering how much she has been picking up on our conversations, and what exactly she is thinking about! Julia and Austin have asked Jesus into their hearts, and they both know Lauren has not and will ask about her, "What about Lauren? Will she go to heaven?" What we have been telling them is that Lauren doesn't understand yet, but that she also has not said "No" to Jesus.

And yes, that is dinner in the background. Friday I had to bring a meal to some friends who had a new baby, and here is our portion. I made BBQ shredded pork in the slow cooker for sandwiches, Confetti Cole Slaw, and Chocolate Chip Cheese Bars. Some of you might recognize those last two recipes!

Saturday we had such a busy, busy day! We all (and I had considered getting a babysitter but didn't...) went to Santa Maria to look for bunk beds for the girls. We went to three furniture stores and have decided which set to order, which I plan to do tomorrow. We hit Home Depot to get ClosetMaid wire shelving supplies to redo the girls' closets to maximize the space in there, and then off to Wendy's for lunch. It was a hot day and we all (except Lauren didn't want any) got Frostys to help cool off!

Sunday after church (and lunch at Baja Fresh....yum). It was another hot, hot day, I think it got to 95!! Got to take those pictures of the girls in their matching clothes while the oldest still thinks it's fun to match Little Sister! ;)

This weekend was the Webkinz Extravaganza. If you spent $10 at a participating store, that store would give you a free Webkinz (to the first 500 people, until they were gone). Beverly's in Santa Maria was participating, so after bringing the meal to our friends with the new baby, the kids and I stopped there. I have no problem finding $10 of pretty things at a craft store! ;) The kids got to each spin the Wheel of Wow they had set up, and each one won a prize. I let Austin choose the free Webkinz, his very first. He absolutely loves his new frog, whom he named Hip Hop.

Saturday while we were all in Santa Maria, the kids ever-so-sweetly talked Daddy into stopping at Beverly's again, so I found more pretty things to buy, all scrapbook stuff this time. Well, I underestimated my total, and I was only loosely estimating to begin with, and ended up with $25 to buy. The cashier said we could get two free Webkinz since the total was over $20, and in fact, if I wanted to buy $5 more we could get three more Webkinz! Well, we didn't add anymore to the total, and this time Julia and Lauren each chose a new Webkinz. Julia picked a leopard, and Lauren chose a striped kitty. They also spun the Wheel of Wow again and got more prizes! I had hoped to sneak all the free Webkinz in my cart and save them for Christmas/birthday gifts. But Julia is too observant and caught on right away to how it worked: spending $10 and getting the free Webkinz. No more secrets once she knew what was going on. At least the morning started out good for the kids--they enjoyed that stop much more than furniture and closet organizer shopping!!

Here is Austin with Hip Hop, and wearing the visor he made for a craft a church. They learned about Jonah, which I think is why they decorated with sea creatures. Last night Austin had one of our Chocolate Chip Cheese Bars, and he said, "Hip Hop and I like black food with black flies in it..." Meaning the chocolate chips in his bar were flies!! Though the rest of the bar was certainly not black! You never know what he's going to come up with. ;)