"Pirates of the Scaribean"

Last week Kevin, Zach, and I went over to the cubmaster's house to help decorate a scarecrow that Kevin's cubscout pack was going to enter in a contest at the pumpkin patch.  Kevin was all excited because of the theme, "Pirates of the Scaribean".  Garrett and I have let the boys watch portions of the first Pirates movie, fastforwarding through the scary parts.  Plus they love the ride at Disneyland, so they were all into seeing how this scarecrow would turn out.  There wasn't a whole lot to do at the time we went so we helped a little and then when we were told that we could leave Kevin was all upset because he didn't get to see the finished project.  So we left and came back a few hours later.....still not finished, but we got to actually stuff one of the scarecrows this time.  We left again with the promise that we could see the final product the following weekend at the pumpkin patch.  So, today we got to see the finished scarecrow and it just made Kevin's day.  He even chose to go to the pumpkin patch instead of Disneyland (as Garrett and Zach went anyway).  I am telling you he likes to see things out to completion!

Helping to paint the boat

A headless Captain Jack Sparrow

The finished product!

Go Dodgers

I wouldn't call myself a baseball fan.  I am not a fan of watching any sport on t.v. really.  It would seem after 10 years of being married to one of the biggest Dodger fans on the planet that I would want to at least watch some with him, right.    Well,  I do like going to baseball games occasionally.  Last night we all went to the 2nd to last Dodger game of the year.  We had really great seats which is always a plus!  It was fun for a while, until the boys got restless....when was that, the bottom of the first inning?  They managed to tough it out all the way until the top of the 7th, with the incentive of getting the magical COTTON CANDY halfway through.  AND we got to see some celebrities.  Garrett was of course hoping to see Alyssa Milano as he has before, but since she wasn't there we would have to do with Emeril Lagasse.  I was excited of course because the Food Network is one of my favorite channels to watch!  Garrett also saw one of his all time favorite Dodger players, Steve Garvey.  The only part I could have done without was listening to the guys behind us who didn't know how to have a normal conversation without at least one swear word per sentence.  Luckily I don't think the boys were listening.  Overall I do enjoy going to a game,  once a year!  

BAM!

Listening In

I tend to be a listener.  Not much of a talker, but listening I can do.  With the boys though, I am usually a talker.  Maybe because I feel like I am talking to nobody, because that is the response I get sometimes!   Anyway, I love it when I get to listen in on the conversations that the boys have, on the occasion that they are not fighting. Here is a conversation they had the other day, so you all can listen in too.

Z:  What happens if we never feed Dodger?

K: Then she would die?

Z:  And then she would go to heaven.

K:  No, only people go to heaven.

Z:  How does Jesus lift people up there?

K:  Because he's powerful.

Z:  But people are powerful.

K:  Yeah, but God is more powerful.

Profound thoughts of a 3 and 6 year old!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

There's a kids songs out by Jack Johnson called the 3 R's, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.  We always have XM Kids on in the car so I hear this song a lot and it's kinda catchy. So that's what was going through my head yesterday when the MOMS Club (the MOMS stands for Moms Offering Moms Support, that's why I keep capitalizing it, not to emphasize that we are moms....) had a big recycle truck come out to one of the moms house and the kids got to climb inside the cab, watch the big claw come out and pick up a trash can, and then a lady was there to talk to the kids about the importance of recycling.  Some of the younger kids freaked out with the trash truck but I think Kevin and Zach thought it was pretty cool.  You know you can pretty much recycle everything these days.  Here at our house I am always taking things out of the regular trash that the boys.....including the biggest boy, Garrett, puts in and moving it into the recycle bin.  It's so easy to do here because you can throw it all into the same can, you don't have to do your own seperating or anything.  So, today try and remember the 3 R's!  (maybe this post was just supposed to be read by Garrett!;)

busy, fun days

I love when we have a full day.  Yesterday, Zach and I spent the morning at a few different places, including Target (my favorite place), the mall (just for the play area), and the park (with the MOMS club).  Zach's time at the park is usually spent sitting next to me half of the time, while eating, or wanting me to follow him around.  It doesn't leave much time for socializing with the other moms!  Then after the park we picked up Kevin and he had a doctor's appointment.  Just his 6 year checkup.  Poor guys hates shots and he had to get one shot, plus a finger prick.  He screeeeeeeamed so loud I am sure the whole place heard him.  But he recovered rather quickly which I was thankful for.  And to top all that off, we had AWANA last night, which went much smoother than last week.  

 Happy Wednesday!

Broil, Boil, and Bake

Anyone ever made homemade bagels before?  That's exactly what we did yesterday afternoon.  After our trip to Panera Bread the other morning I told the boys we could try and make our own sometime.  So we bought some yeast on the way home from church and we went for it yesterday.  I never knew it would take so long.  I guess I didn't read the whole directions to begin with, but there are several different steps along the way, including broiling first, then boiling, and finally baking.   I'll spare you the whole run down, but let me just say we started at around 4:30 and they weren't ready until 6:30.  BUT the boys enjoyed them, they asked for seconds and will probably have them for breakfast tomorrow too.  I even had a little one because what good is life if you can't enjoy the fruits of your labor!!

Kevin couldn't wait to get started.

Zach working hard to make the perfect bagel.

Baking in our new oven! You had to have seen the old one to really

 appreciate the new.

MMMM, Delicious.

Can I have another one pleeeeease!

And, by the way, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.  I got a whole box filled with toys to put out of sight. (Notice I didn't say thrown away because I just can't bring myself to that yet).  I even went into Kevin's room and got some out of there.  Guess where most of those darn toys are from.....of course, McDonalds, and we don't even go there very often!

Only Because You Asked

Ok, the answer is 6 lbs. as of today......I swear I have been eating!

The Dreaded Play Room

When we moved into our house we had this idea that instead of using our dining room as an actual dining room, we would turn it into a "play room".  That way the kids could have all their toys in one room and they would play in there and the rest of the house would stay somewhat clean.  This is the way I imagined it to be.  In reality the play room has in fact become the room where the boys go to when they want a specific toy, they find the toy, and then they go into another part of the house to play with it.  So Garrett and I have decided that we really need to turn our dining room into what it was meant to be used for.  BUT this means we need to find a new place for all of the toys.  What REALLY needs to be done is that we need to get rid of about half of the toys. They just keep getting more and we don't seem to be getting rid of the old.... probably because I am a Trettin!  Anyway, I thought today would be a good day to start because I have the house to myself and I absolutely know that half of those toys would not be missed.  ****And please note, the play room does not always look like it does in the picture.  The boys usually have to clean it up.  Last night I let it slide because I figured it would be easier to go through it if it was already everywhere!

Scrappin'

Yesterday turned out to be the perfect day for staying inside. It rained off and on throughout the day and so Kevin suggested that we get out the scrapbooking stuff, as he often does, and this time I agreed. Both boys worked on their own pages with only a little help from me. Zach liked it for a little while, but he's much more of an outdoorsy boy, so when he was done with one page he was ready to go out back. Kevin on the other hand wanted to keep doing it ALL AFTERNOON. This would have been fine if he could do it on his own, but he wanted me their beside him to help spell and find stickers. I lasted as long as I could but then finally said we had to clean up for dinner!

As you can see, it still turned out to be a pajama day!

This morning Garrett is working, so I think I am going to get the boys ready and we will go over to Panera Bread to get some bagels for breakfast (for them, not me of course) and then head to church.  That's all we have planned for the day.

Hot Tea and Slippers

Finally!   We got some rain last night, and quite a bit.  So this morning it is cool and crisp and perfect for staying in jammies, having hot tea, and wearing slippers.  It's such a change from a few weeks ago when we would wake up and it was already 80 degrees out and the air conditioner would come on at 7:30 in the morning.  I was hoping it would keep raining all day today, but we'll see.

No big plans for the weekend, which means we will probably just stay around the house and see what happens.  Hope you all have a good one!

Friday, Work Day

Gotta go to work today.  I love that I have a flexible job and that I have worked it out to just work until Kevin is out of school.  The morning goes by so fast.  I hope to start posting info on each of the kids I work with, but I have to check it out with their parents first.  Each one is so interesting to me, and they are ALL so cute!

That's all for today, I went a little overboard yesterday, so I figured a short post would work for now.  By the way, I have a million blog titles running around in my head throughout the day, it's become rather addictive!!!

Popcorn, Cheese, and Apples

Growing up my family used to have a Sunday night tradition of eating popcorn, cheese, and apples.  We would also get to eat it in the living room while watching tv!  This was a big deal for me, so I wanted to pass it on to my family.  Only we don't do it on Sundays, we do it when Daddy is gone for a night.  So, it just so happens that Garrett is in Fresno tonight and guess what I made for the boys.....

Zach gets to eat on the couch and choose the movie.

Kevin, although he looks happy here does NOT get to sit on the couch because he just had a major tantrum....

Nothing Better!

Except maybe my dinner, mmmmm.....

p.s. Do you know how many pounds I've lost since Monday???

5:00 AM....Really?

The past few mornings Zach has been changing his morning routine and coming into our room at 5 instead of 6:30...... which is much to early, but being coupled with the fact that he has also woken up in the middle of the night crying because he went pee in his bed has left me feeling a bit tired during the day.  But this morning as he came into our room at 5 AGAIN, I let him crawl over me and he fell back asleep and I was then wide awake.  Seeing as I went to sleep around 9 last night though I felt I got enough sleep for one night and I would just start my day.....I am taking Dodger out for a walk in about 10 minutes anyway (It's 5:50 now!)

Anyway, yesterday we had a fun Tiger Cub activity planned.  Unfortunately our plans were not the best made plans seeing as only two of the Tiger Cubs were there, out of a total of 7 AND the museum we planned on going to was closed!  But we actually still did have fun.  The kids didn't care because we could have taken a walk down to the end of our street and the could find something interesting along the way!  And it was a nice little uphill walk to get to the top where the museum was, so they got some exercise and so did I!  We were at Hart Park, which is just down the street from us, and it is the site of the home where William S. Hart, who was a big movie star in the day of silent Westerns.  We did end up finding one area that was open that showed some of the old tools and things that were used.  My favorite was an old curling iron, that looked, as Kevin described it, like a fire poker that you use in the fire place but not quite as big.  So enjoy the pictures, I gotta take my walk!

Shy or Strong Willed

When I picked up Zach from school yesterday I asked his teacher if he is talking to her at all yet.  She answered, "no, NOT AT ALL".  This is his third week at school and he's still not talking?  At home he is a chatter box and as long as Kevin is around too he is quite a ham.  But in new situations it take a while to warm up.  Like in swimming lessons he spent the whole first week sitting on the edge refusing to do anything that the instructor asked of him.  And, like in his music class he took for a year and a half he refused to participate in the activities, when asked if he wanted to strum the guitar when the teacher came around he would turn the other way.  So I'm wondering if he's shy or more that he's strong willed....I know enough about being both and I think when Zach decides he's going to be a certain way then he's determined to stick to his decision.  He will eventually start talking, but it will definitely be when he decides the time is right!

AWANA

Last night the boys started AWANA through our church, well and I started too because I am one of the leaders.  AWANA is kind of like Sunday School or Vacation Bible School, but it happens once a week, all through the school year.  I originally signed up to help with Kevin's age group, K-2nd, and I thought that would be easy enough because the kids are a little older, can listen, can understand better.  BUT there were too many others that signed up for that same group, so I went over to help with Zachary's age group, the 3 and 4 year olds.  When we got home Garrett asked how it went and I just said, "chaotic"!  Lucky for me I had a great little group consisting of three little girls and Zach.  This age group is not what is unknown to me, I work with little ones too, but the fact is that there were some really, wild, crazy, out of control kids and I was just happy that they weren't in my group!  At the end of the night both boys seemed to have had a good time.  Kevin was in a group with some kids he knew both from church and from school, and he excited because he got stickers and a lollipop.....nice to give a kid this at 8:00 pm right before bed!

By the way, the picture above has nothing to do with AWANA, I just wanted to include it.  This was from our last trip to Mammoth over Labor Day weekend.

My Love Bug

Zachary and Kevin have very different personalities and one of the biggest differences is how affectionate Zach is.  He always wants hugs and kisses before leaving him at preschool, which I guess is normal for most kids....but Kevin NEVER wanted anything to do with that.  What makes it so cute is that he's very much a rough and tumble kind of kid too.  I have a feeling he's gonna be what people call "a great big teddy bear". 

I tried to include a video, but it wouldn't work.  I'll keep trying though and post it later if I can.

Smashing the Fat....Again

I was doing so well, I had lost about 10 pounds and was keeping it off. Then we went on vacation at the beginning of August, and since then it's all been downhill. So I have gained it all back and I decided that today will be the day that I start again. The way I lost last time was following (pretty much) The Fat Smash Diet by Ian Smith. It's pretty much, eating healthy and exercising, which of course everyone knows that's all you need to do, right? For some reason when I tell myself that I am following this specific diet though then I don't feel like I can cheat, whereas if I try and just "eat right" on my own I will sneak more here and there. Anyway, I know it's a mind trick but whatever works.

So to start off the week right I went to the gym this morning. By the way, I have to mention my new love for Mondays. I have a whole morning to myself because both boys are in school. I honestly planned to use Mondays to volunteer in Kevin's class while Zach was in preschool, but when I asked the teacher she said she didn't need help. Imagine that, I would have to force myself to do something just for me! Hence, I went to the gym during my time this morning and I have to share that the class I went to not only wore me out, but it also took me through a nice little trip down memory lane by the music that was played. The instructor played a variety of songs, but when "Jump Around" came on all I could see in my mind were my friends and I in high school jumping up and down like crazy! I actually was smiling to myself while exercising....see it can be fun! Then "Jenny" came on (you know the 867-5309 song) and this reminded me of my church in Chico because the drummer of our worship team actually played the drums for this song. So, see my trip to the gym turned out to be much more entertaining than I had planned on.

But now my time to myself is quickly coming to an end, between the gym and then going to Trader Joe's to buy all the healthy food, I just have time left for a shower. Hope you all have a great one!

Morning Routine

Pat, pat, pat.... Every morning around 6:30 I hear little footsteps come into our room.  Then I feel this 40 something pounds of all boy crawling over me to get into the middle of our bed.  This is Zach's morning routine.  He is typically very good when he gets into bed, laying their quietly and sometimes, like this morning, he falls back asleep.  I, on the other hand, typically cannot fall back asleep, so I get up and make my way to the computer!  I also have to mention the picture I just took of Kevin, because this is Kevin's nightly routine.  About half of the time Kevin sleeps on the floor.  We put him into bed, he lays there for a few minutes, then he pulls his covers down near the doorway and lays there and will usually fall asleep and stay there for the rest of the night.  He also insists on having the fan blowing on him while he sleeps, even when it's the middle of winter!

As for the rest of our day yesterday, we did go to the kid's carnival and the boys had fun.  Except for the fact that by the time we left our house to go it was past lunch time and I had neglected to actually feed the boys lunch.  They were too excited to just go to the carnival and insisted they weren't hungry......so we ended up with a tired, hungry Zachary who was whining unless we were doing something fun to take his mind off of it.  I know, I know, why didn't we just take him back home and feed him?  I knew if we did that I would not want to go back afterwards but the kids would....so we just stuck it out as long as possible.  In the end, they both had a lot of fun, I think!

Trash and Popcorn

There's nothing like starting the day picking up trash!  The boys and I went to the Santa Clarita River Rally this morning and along with a ton of other people helped clean up the dried up river bed.  Kevin wanted to do this to earn a patch for cubscouts, but I thought it was a great idea anyway and we'll probably do it again next year.  That started at 8, didn't get started picking up trash until 8:45, and we were supposed to be across town to sell popcorn for cubscouts in front of Ralph's at 9.  Needless to say, we didn't make it to Ralphs until 10 and so didn't sell much popcorn.  So now, we are back at the house, it's still morning and we've already had a full day!  Next we're heading over to the park right down the street from us where they are having a Kid's Carnival.  It's nice to have things to do!

Visits with family

We had a visit from Aunt Susan and Namie yesterday, who are Garrett's aunt and grandma.  The boys love it when we get visitors and they also get all wound up and run around like crazy when anyone comes over!  Susan and Namie are great, they have been coming up to visit about once a month since Kevin was born, and they live close to 2 hours away.  Namie is the all time trooper, because she is 87 and still goes along with any adventure.  So here are some pics from the visit.  Sorry, no pictures of Susan because she was the one with the camera.  (By the way, I am awful at remembering to take pictures, so maybe posting them here with help me remember).

Disney Freaks

We bought passes to Disneyland last May and have since been going pretty much any chance we get.  My husband is the biggest Disney freak of all and would go every Sunday if I said ok.   Even Kevin, my six year old, has mentioned that they have been so many times that he is starting to get bored with it.  Of course when we do go, we all have fun, but it's just funny to me that I didn't even go to Disneyland until I was 15 and here are my boys saying they've gone too many times!  How sad is that.  But here are some pictures from our latest adventures, last Sunday.

*Notice the boys and their dad all have lanyards which they are now collecting pins.  I have chosen not to join in with this fun (because I would rather spend my money on something else),  so Kevin says I am out of the club!