Pokey Little Puppy

Yes, Maggie is still with us. (For the time being!) She is finally crate trained, and yes, that helped her finally get house broken (except for the recent 'accident' ...ON OUR BED!) But that seems to have been the last. (Hopefully!) She loves us taking her out for walks, and loves bossing Erika's dog around when he comes over to visit. She still plays really rough with the kids ...ripping their shirts, biting them, chasing them, and many scratches lay presently on the skin as signs of the latest 'battle wounds'. But somehow we still tolerate her. In spite of her separation anxiety ...as soon as the house is empty she goes into trashes and pulls tissues out and tears them to pieces, or our shoes ...which are now all carefully placed up high (least we forget!) I don't think she does anything without a hop, skip, or jumping step. Maybe ...she fits right in with the environment?!

Perpetual Dress-Up!

I sware every time I turn around my children are in different clothes or a different time zone altogether. Pajamas are a pain to take off... church clothes are a pain to put on ...and I've given up on matching ensembles altogether. I just let the kids wear whatever they want. And this is usually the outcome ... dress-ups, dress-ups, and more dress-ups!

Here they are together. (For a while their favorite was Gran'ma Joan's Power Rangers Costumes!) I didn't catch photos of those, but these made me laugh. I don't even know where Keala got this witch costume unless it's Joan's also.

This was the funniest of all! Kai can't sit still without a play-date or some other stimulating activity. And when his friend Carter came over I walked in on them posing as these superheros. What a crack up! Now I just have to show Carter's mom!

California Vacation for Spring Break

Our vacation started Friday night, the 3rd, we stopped for the night in Vegas and set out the next morning for Mandalay Bay's aquarium. Brent let the kids have ice cream first... or was it ...popsicles! (Right after breakfast ...looks like the vacation's already started!)

This was the sting ray pool - look at that cute little yellow fish swim by!

After getting to dad's Saturday night and sharing Sunday with Bre for her birthday, we went straight to Disneyland Monday morning at 8am, parked one car away from Doug! And this was our first ride. (And soon became the kids' favorite.) We had great fun for the next 2 hours till the park started to get more crowded.

The kids loved the rollercoasters! We did almost all of them (except Space Mountain ...mom didn't have the stomach for that)!

Fantasy land was the last place we stopped because we thought the crowds would die down later ...but we were wrong.

Erika met us in Toon Town for about an hour and a half till we all got too hot and tired and the lines were just exhausting already.

Keala did get to see Minnie Mouse though and walk through her house. She and Kai got their Disney Ears, but she lost this headband later in Mickey's house, and it broke my heart but I couldnt' bring myself to fork out the extra $20. Cheap mom! She forgot about it though! phew!

At Aunt Leslie's on Tuesday my kids drowned about a half dozen times till Brent brought these floaties and saved us from severe migranes for the rest of the week! He was so proud of his purchase! A day didn't go by that we didn't sing his praises for those things!

Keala spent more time in the pool than all the other kids put together. About 5 hours a day! Mom doesn't even have a tan to show for it! But I am so thrilled that she had such a good time!

We all had a really relaxing time together and such a good vacation. I was so pleased with how much fun Kai had with his cousins (despite the occasional 'issues'). But Keala was so pleasant the entire week it almost shocked me.

Brent took the teenagers to the Angels vs Redsocks game on Saturday, and was estatic that his team won! We were glad he and his kids got to get out for some 'grown-up' fun too!

This was the memorial the fans had for the pitcher, Adenhard, who died 2 days prior, being struck by a drunk driver in his car in Fullerton. The game was dedicated to him.

We looked for plastic eggs with money in them the day before Easter. It was gran-pa Bill's tradition. But we still made 8 dozen colored hard-boiled eggs, while Aunt Joni brought over another 6 dozen. Each child got their own 18-egg count carton Easter morning! Crazy!

We had so much fun looking for eggs first thing and then finding our baskets-o-love! We had a great Easter breakfast together, then went to church for the sacrament hour, and then spent dinner together as a family. It was a relaxing day (while mom had a tummy ache in bed all day!)

Over all I was pleased with how much we enjoyed our cousins, friends, Aunts and Uncles, and Gran-ma's and Gran'pa's during Spring Breatk - the whole visit was an absolute delight. We even made the drive home in one whole day with only 2 stops! Crazy! But the kids were great! Now to re-coup and get ready for real life - again! (Wahhhhhh!)

Teenagers vs Toddlers

The term "Town Hall" implies a large group meeting. My first experience with this was at American Express when we had large corporate-wide teleconferences, everyone was encouraged to join in a large meeting room to be 'informed' of the latest issues on hand. I noticed Obama did one a week or so ago...

With that being said, our family "town hall" implies only a few of us. (But I still like to use the term.) Usually a town hall is interactive, with everyone participating and sharing thoughtful comments. Our "Town Hall" is like something out of a Jim Carey movie where reality is gone and insanity reigns supreme! At our latest 'group gathering' last night I asked the teenagers what they wanted to eat while we were out of town for the next week, and their response was "food!"

So...Brent and I have this ongoing conversation of "whats the difference between toddlers and teenagers"... and we decided "not much". #1 - they don't hear you when you ask them to clean something up, but they hear you really well when you mention FOOD (particularly desserts or snacks!) #2 They are oblivious to arguments or fighting going on around them, or if the tv is at the loudest audible decible it can possibly go; but if hardly anyone is home or the house is silent they ask "where is everybody?" #3 They respond to questions with ignoring you, or smart-alec remarks: like the example I listed above ...which leads us to... #4Discipline: Most definitely not taken seriously from anyone in the house! (this includes the youngest!) (obviously we are doing something wrong!) #5: Wisecracks, burping, and farting...seems to be a free-for-all in this place.

Heaven help me!