Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

Miss Lucy Fern is now a very mobile lady! She can roll from back to tummy to back! All the way across the floor if she is in the mood. It is shocking to me that she is doing this already. Hopefully this does NOT mean that she will be crawling soon. They start getting into everything then. It is so nice when you put your kid down in one place and they stay there. Lucy started her tummy to back rolling while we were at Disneyland. I kept seeing her on her tummy and then back on her back but I just assumed that one of the boys were rolling her back over. Finally I saw her do it though. Of course then I had to pay special attention to her because she was on the bed in the hotel room and almost rolled right off a couple of times. Something about hotel rooms though, I just never know where to put them. The floor never seems clean enough but the bedspreads.... ewwwww. I think I have seen too many black-light demonstrations with them to be comfortable with that either. Anyway, here's to a mobile little girl!

De-Lurking Day!

Basically it means “A special day celebrating lurkers, and exhorting you to muster the strength and bravery to click on that comment button and end the deafening silence.”

Today it’s time to come out of the closet and express yourself in my comments ;-) I know you’re out there, so cross that boundary and make me feel proud and fill up those comments. Say it out loud: hi I am ... and I am a lurk-aholic ;-)

Please Please Please! If you have never commented do so for me now! (The people I know read this blog are exempt unless they choose to re-identify themselves with a comment) I know you are out there. I LOVE! that you read my blog. I would love it even more if you let me know who you are and possibly how you stumbled across me. It is very special to me that I look at my feed and see all the different states and countries you come from. If you have a blog of your own leave the address. Maybe you will make it to my wall of links (not a challenge, don't know that many people with blogs) and I can start to lurk on yours too!

Think of it this way, it will be a present for me and I LOVE presents!

Disneyland Visit 2008!

Well we are back! It was an eventful week in super sunny southern California but I will try to break it all down for you. Thursday morning broke and Eric, the kids and I were all up and at them ready to go on our latest adventure. We made a quick trip to pick up Eric's dad (he was driving our car back for us) and off we headed to the airport. This trip we were flying JetBlue. Let me just take a quick minute to give JetBlue a plug. They are awesome! It was the quickest, least problematic check in we have ever been through AND! the seats are huge and leather and they have little TV's on the back of each one with tons of leg room. I don't think Eric even felt cramped and he always does. Anyway, back to the trip!

After going through the icky TSA check point (I know they are necessary, but seriously could they be more complicated with kids!) we made our way to the gate. I stopped to get a snack and the boys sat down to help me eat it. Just as we finished our meal Zane started shrieking that he was wet. How could he possibly be wet? He hadn't spilled anything on himself. But sure enough he was wet. Super wet. His diaper had leaked and this mommy had nothing new for him to wear. Why would I? We had just dropped off our luggage. A diaper it was for that boy! And let me tell you he was awfully proud of it. Off he stomped through the whole airport in a tank top, diaper, shoes and socks. And when I say stomped I mean it. It was like he was marching to draw as much attention to himself as possible. I was embarrassed but no one else seemed to mind. There were several smiles from strangers as they walked by though. I am choosing to believe that they were sympathetic smiles. Like things like that had happened to them too!

We had a problem free flight to Long Beach airport, picked up the rental (free upgrade, sweet!) and headed to the hotel. Got all checked in and then headed to Costco. Eric and I are cheap travelers. I refuse to buy all our food at the park. I think I would croak before I got the credit card bill! So, we got food for our breakfasts and lunches and decided to just buy dinner at different places. Hit the pool and then hit bed. Traveling is a lot of work with three kids and we wanted everyone to be good and rested for the trip to Disney in the morning.

In preparation for the trip, we had purchased a City Pass for Southern California. This meant that we we spending 3 days at Disney and one each at the following parks: SeaWorld, San Diego Zoo and Universal Studios. I knew that I would have mutiny on my hands if we went anywhere other than Disney first so off we headed. As soon as we entered the park we found Goofy. Andrew and Zane were thrilled to meet him.

After wandering around and riding a couple of kiddie rides I insisted that Lucy get to go and meet the princesses. She was quite enthralled with Snow White. Andrew on the other hand was not. For some reason she freaked him out. He was just fine with the other princesses though.

Two sweet boys with Sleeping Beauty!

There is so much I could tell about the trip and I am just going to try and hit the highlights! The boys loved the parades. The Pixar Play Parade at Disney California adventure was the favorite. Lightning McQueen was in that one so it had an advantage from the start.

Here Zane is checking out the parade the first night we were there!

We had awesome (or horrible) weather while we were in California. It was hot! And I don't mean "oh, look at the wimpy Western Washingtonians" hot, I mean all Californians run for the air conditioning hot. I think that the first three days we were down there the temp was in the 100's. I don't care who you are or what temps you are used to, that is smokin' hot to be out in all day. The kids were really good about keeping their hats on though. We only ended up with some minor sunburn on Lucy's legs and Andrew's shoulders. Let's not talk about Eric and I though. Sunscreen didn't work as well on us.

After the fun first day at Disney we hit up the other three parks. Brief run down.

SeaWorld San Diego: Shockingly not as good as SeaWorld Orlando. The animals hadn't been as trained and performed fewer tricks. Plus we had to take Lucy out of the stroller for literally every single attraction and carry her. Strollers were not allowed in any of the exhibits. Also, could someone please invest in some palm trees for that park. It was scorching hot out and there was NO SHADE!

San Diego Zoo: A bust in comparison to the Woodland Park Zoo. There was little variety of animals and the park is incredibly hilly. They do have a bus that will pick you up and take you up the hill so that helped and there is a cool SkyTram that you get to ride. Even I liked it and I am terrified of heights.

Universal Studios: Best park next to Disneyland. The rides were great for Eric and there was a fantastic Curious George Play area for the kids to play in. Note to anyone who is curious. Jurassic Park is not intended for 4 year olds that are sensitive. Andrew went on it and was fine with the 84 foot vertical drop at the end, not so fine with the shrieking dinosaurs that preceded it. Plus, Universal Studios has these wonderful fans that mist and blow on you all over the park. You can cool down anytime by just standing in front of one. Wonderful since it was still in the upper 80's the day that we went.

Our last two days of the trip we spent at Disney. They boys had an awesome time and Andrew really enjoyed most of the rides. He didn't care for Pirates of the Caribbean but he LOVED Space Mountain and the Matterhorn. Crazy kid. I can't stand roller coasters but he loved them. Zane also seemed to like every ride he went on. Eric is going to have some buddies for the roller coasters in the next few years! That will be good though since I refuse to get on them!

Our last day in the park we went and had breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen. The food was great and the characters were fun. Unfortunately my mom called toward the end of breakfast to let me know that my dad had passed away. If you are interested in more info on that check out my other blog. I will write more on it there. The kids went to see the electrical light parade with Eric that night too. They had fun.

Finally we headed home! I had two super exhausted boys and a little girl that I think is totally confused about what a real nap in a crib is! I think the next time we go we will spend the whole time at Disney. The kids seemed to like that the best and it certainly was the most little kid friendly. The next week may be sketchy with the posting but I will let you all know how Andrew's birthday goes!

MICKEY Here we come!

We will be gone for the next week! Can't wait until I get back to share all the pics! Mickey here we come!

We're going to DISNEYLAND!

Today we told the boys we are going to Disneyland in two days. We purposely did not tell them any sooner because I knew they would be so out of control excited they wouldn't be able to handle it. Eric asked Andrew if he could pick any where to go on vacation where would he want to go. Andrew said Mexico. Hmmmmm...... maybe all this travel is somewhat of a bad thing. Then Eric gave Andrew three options: England, Antarctica or Disneyland. (Places that Andrew has never even heard of for the most part) This time Andrew said Disneyland. Then we said we were going. Andrew said yeah! but that was about it. About 5 minutes later though he started getting excited and asking questions. Then he and I went to Target to get some stuff for the trip. Finally, we got back home and pulled out some suitcases to start packing. Andrew looked at me and said, "Was daddy kidding about going to Disneyland? Or was he serious?" I told him he was serious and now he his REALLY excited. I guess Eric needs to stop the teasing! I have a huge headache from all the excited boy questions but we are going to have fun in just 2 days! Once we get on the plane I think Zane will start getting it too. He has a tendency to not worry about things and just go with the flow as long as brother is excited about them. Hooray for vacations! It seems like forever since we took one and I know I need the break!

Bye Bye Crystal

Today we had the very sad task of taking Crystal to the airport for her to fly home to Hong Kong. She said goodbye to the boys last night (we had to be at SeaTac at 5!). She will be missed!

Can't get enough of them!

Today I found Lucy sleeping like this. She loves her toes and feet. I try and feed her, she plays with them. I give her a bath, she plays with them. I guess she just can't let go. Probably a good thing that I don't have her in shoes yet. I thought it was cute though. Gotta love those baby toes!

Happy Birthday, Congratulations, We'll Miss You!

Yesterday we had a party for Crystal. It was a "Happy Birthday, Congratulations, We'll Miss You" Party because she is leaving us on TUESDAY! I can't believe it. I feel like she just got here and now she is leaving. There were a ton of high schoolers at our house and I couldn't help but laugh. It was super reminiscent of my own high school giggly-ness. My mom thought it was funny that I was rolling my eyes. Apparently I was just as giggly.

Crystal wanted a flag cake so I did my best to make her one. It turned out super cute!

Crystal and the presents.

All Crystal's friends brought her birthday presents. (her birthday is the 19th but we thought she needed an American party before she left!) They all did well buying small things for her to take back. I am getting ready to help her pack up all her stuff. Hopefully we will get it all to fit. I had her buy some of those vacuum bags to help squish stuff down. That should help! Now we just need to keep her from being in tears for the next two days and we will be fine!

Bone Dry!

This morning my Zane woke up bone dry. That was almost 12 hours of no peeing! Eric went to go change him and he was dry. We rushed him to the potty, since it was an almost guaranteed success, and he went potty! I was very excited. He is so ready to be potty trained. It is just his stubborn self that is keeping him from it. Soon, soon I will only have one in diapers and I think it will be a glorious thing!

More feedings for Lucy

Tonight Eric took the reins and fed Lucy. He is not super fond of feeding babies. They are too messy and he spends half his time making sure that their face stays clean. I, on the other hand, do not care how messy they look by the time they are done as long as the food made it down the hatch! Lucy is kinda tricky to feed right now too. She keeps her tongue pressed against the roof of her mouth most of the time so you have to wait for her to bring it down to put the spoon in. It takes a little patience but I figure she is still learning how to eat. She is quite fond of her cereal at this point and now is sleeping through the night. Partly because of the cereal and partly because I finally admitted that she wasn't hungry in the middle of the night, she just liked me. Lucy wanted to nurse for about 30 seconds and then fell right asleep next to me. You would think this wouldn't be a problem except that I usually fell back asleep within the first 15 that she was nursing. :) So, she was spending a lot of time in bed with me not needing to. End result: Lucy got to cry it out. It started early this week when she woke up at 10:30. I KNEW she wasn't hungry. How could she be? She had eaten cereal and had nursed WELL at 8:00. I made her cry it out. She lasted 30 minutes and then dropped back off. Three nights of random waking and crying and now I have uninterrupted sleep until about 4 am. Then I figure she may be due if she wakes up. Sleep is beautiful. I can't believe how much I missed it!

Floundering no longer!

After a full year at the flounder level (preschool 3), Andrew now is ready for advanced preschool swimming lessons. He spent a whole year working on his skills and now he is ready to start the endurance portion of them. It is amazing to me to see my little guy swimming like a fish in the pool. He adores diving under the water to get rings and jumping off the diving board. If the whole class is going from the middle of the pool to the wall he is determined to get there first. It makes me feel a little bit better about all the time we will be swimming in the pool this summer. Last year I felt like he knew just enough to drown himself, this year I know that he will start floating on his back if he gets scared. Not that I plan on letting him swim alone or anything. I just won't feel so panicky when he is in the pool. I can concentrate on making sure Zane and Lucy don't drown! Andrew will start swimming lessons up later on in the fall because he is going to play soccer in the fall. His teacher figured that would be just fine and that he shouldn't regress. By then Zane should be in lessons as well. Lots of fun!

A Bird Dog perhaps?

Check out what I caught Calvin doing lately! He is the goofiest dog. I think he is looking over the fence at the cats next door. I went out and checked what was keeping his interest and all I saw was a cat in a basket with one lazy eye open like "I know you are there but I will not concern myself with you" He also tries to jump from that spot over our fence into our neighbors yard. He has yet to accomplish it but he keeps trying. He often proves how much like Houdini he is! Never in my life did I think my 70 pound dog would be perched up on my deck railing like a little bird. Now I just hope that Phoenix doesn't learn how to do it too!

Graduation Day for Crystal

Last night was graduation for Crystal. There was over 400 students graduating last night. It was a very long ceremony! I think when I graduated from Central there was that many students as well. Our family sat in the second level (the first was packed) and we were just above the row that Crystal was in. I was impressed with my telephoto lens. It got some good shots even from that huge distance.

Getting the diploma!

The happy graduate!

It was a very long night. We didn't get home until 10. Lucy was crashed and the boys were totally whiny but they made it. Then Crystal got to go to her all-night party and got home at 6 am. I don't know how that went yet because she has yet to emerge from her room but I am sure that she had a good time! Now she only has one week left and we will have to say goodbye. :(

Kid Friendly Home Brew!

Today we made our very first batch of home brew root beer. Eric got a home brewing kit for his birthday this year and Andrew has been after us since then to make some kid friendly brew. The batch makes 4 gallons of the stuff so hopefully it turns out tasty. We all tried the mix before it went into bottles and if you can imagine hot, flat root beer you will about have it. (YUCKY! for those of you with little imagination!)

Our batch yield

Filling recycled water bottles with the concoction.

One bottle cappin' boy!

One more very excited home brewer!

Now the hard part begins. The waiting. It takes a week to allow for the carbonation to begin. Hopefully we got the mix right (sugar to yeast) and the filling level right. If they are wrong I could have a huge mess on my hands. The bottles are sitting in the garden tub in Eric and my bathroom. Since that is where all of our home brew does it's work we are naming our little family company a "Bathtub Brew." We will let you know how they all turn out!

Your Opinion Please!

OK Folks! I am entering a contest for pictures of someone reading. Please let me know which photo you like the best. I realize that I shouldn't poll opinion this way but I am confused. Also, I did take pictures of Zane too. They just didn't turn out as well. He was more wiggly and didn't understand that he was supposed to be looking at the book. Anyway, just "comment" your vote. I will let you know which one wins!

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My Handyman Eric!

My garbage disposal has been broke for almost two weeks now. NOT FUN! Today we went and got a new one from Sears. Eric, my wonderful handyman, installed it for me tonight.



It was more work than I thought it would be. I (stupidly enough) thought that you just took the old one off and put the new one on. Presto chango done! WRONG! You must manually switch the electrical plug from the old to the new. That was the part that took the longest. Also, have you ever seen the inside of the tube that goes from the disposal to the drain? NASTY! I think Eric took 10 minutes snaking it out with a hanger. Yuck, Yuck, Yuck! He has a stronger stomach than I. I think I would have thrown up! He did use latex gloves while handling it though. I think that was the only way he could deal with the slime. Traditionally, he has a weaker stomach than me.

My old nasty broke disposal.
(Notice the pipe, YUCK)

My new pretty and clean disposal
(soon to resemble the old one I am sure)

I would have lived without a disposal altogether but it was getting to the point where I couldn't even use that side of my sink anymore without a lake forming. So Eric fixed it. I love it that he can do things like that. I would have had no clue. Hooray for my Eric!

Groceries for Lucy

Lucy started eating solids today. Although I think I was more into it than she was. Lucy is quite particular. She refuses all liquid except mommy. However, I thought that maybe she would take cereal because she is very intrigued when other people are eating. Apparently it looks like more fun than it is. She spit out every bite that I put in her mouth. (Don't worry, I do remember that this is normal behavior). I think that maybe she choked down the equivalent of 2 spoonfuls. I just need Lucy to eat. She was up every two hours wanting to nurse last night. Plus she has a cold and sounds really congested when she nurses. We will try again tomorrow. I would love to sleep. Sleep, sleep, how I have missed you!

Two Wheelin'

As though our day had not been exciting enough, we decided to add one more big event to it. Andrew learned to ride his bike without any training wheels! (although the learning is still in progress) We were out playing with bikes and I asked Andrew if he wanted his training wheels off. He said yes so I took them off. (Yes, I did use tools. Hopefully his tires won't fall off) Then we started the work to get him able to go. He has really good balance so I figured that would only take a little bit to get the hang of. I was right. The balance isn't the issue. Pedaling is. He forgets to pedal and when he does remember he forgets to steer and he ends up running into things. Someday all the pieces will come together I am sure. Then watch out! He will be ready to go!

Andrew did a great job riding but toward the end he got tired and his balance got off. Even when he fell (for the most part) he was having too much fun to cry. The last run that we did Andrew crashed into the truck in the driveway and smashed his face against the hub cap. That was a big cry and the end of riding for the day.

Eric was a little bit peeved that I had taken the training wheels off without him being there. He was busy putting brakes on my van and got home just minutes after I started working with Andrew. So we got some pictures of the first day of riding. Otherwise there wouldn't have been any. It is hard to be photographer and bike balance/runner at the same time. One thing or the other was bound to get forgotten. So it is good that Eric got home when he did. He will get to work with Andrew more on the bike in the next few days I am sure!

Mobility for Lucy

Bust out all the railings! Lucy is officially mobile! She just rolled over from her back to her tummy. She had a little problem getting her other arm out in front of her but she was very content once I helped her. A new era has begun. Andrew was very proud of her. He had to pose with her for the picture! I almost don't know what to do. A child of mine hit this milestone on time!?! The boys both sat before they rolled. Lucy has always been a stickler for the details though. It wouldn't do to roll early or sit before rolling, just like it wouldn't do to be born even one day early!

The monster under the bed

The last few nights Zane has been talking about how he has a monster under his bed. He is so cute. He looks like he is about ready to cry and tells me there is a monster under his bed. Then he tells me that the monster is hungry. It apparently wants to go to McDonald's. Finally, the monster wants to go to his Miss Cyndy class. It is quite a busy monster. It is cute though. Mr. Monster doesn't stop Zane from going to bed on time but he certainly wants to chat about him every night.

Could this be the monster under Zane's bed?

(Sorry, couldn't think of a better time to use this goofy picture!)

Zane the Brilliant? part 2

Ok, so I know that I may be a little bit biased but Zane is once again showing his brilliance. Today we went to church. As we were dropping off Zane in the nursery the ladies that were working it informed me and Eric that Zane knows how to spell his name. They were going to spell his name on one of his papers and he told them which letters to use. He also spelled the word truck. Now how in the world does he know that I wonder. Never have we taught him to spell. The only time I even recall spelling the letters for his name was when I was telling Andrew how to write it. I can only speculate how he figured it out. Crazy huh?