So Fashion

When Emma was little she came to me once all dressed up and cute and said, “Mommy, I’m so fashion!”  I loved the phrase and still use it with the kids.  Sabrina has taken to changing her outfits multiple times a day, mostly revolving around (of all things) her favorite pajamas. She has a “snail shirt” and “stripey pants” that she thinks she should be able to wear anywhere.  A couple of weeks ago she brought them with her into the church nursery because we wouldn’t let her wear them and compromised on letting her hold them if she put on a dress. It wasn’t long ago that she would refuse to wear anything but a flower dress, so maybe next will be jeans and a t-shirt. Here are her outfit changes from today:

Outfit #1 Snail Shirt and Red Skirt

Outfit #2 Purple Swimsuit and Stripey Pants

Outfit #3 Snail Shirt and Stripey Pants

Outfit #4 Flower Dress

Outfit #5 Blue Flower Dress

Outfit #6 Snail Shirt and Stripey Pants

And finally, it was bedtime!  She happened to have on the pajamas at the right time!  Wish me luck tomorrow as I pry them off of her and throw them in the washer.  She will follow me around saying, “my snail shirt clean Mommy? My stripey pants clean Mommy?” until they make it through the dryer.

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Citrus

On Saturday we went to the Festival of Flight at Orange County’s Great Park.  There is a huge orange hot air balloon that gives people rides straight up and and down for a view of the area. Unfortunately for us the event was pretty popular and the time slots for a ride were all filled two hours after the festival started.  We walked around and saw the different displays, made birdseed art and got some free frisbees. There was also a place to make a simple kite, but the line was super long, and Sabrina was super cranky, so we decided to pass on that one.  The park was also giving out free frozen orange sorbet in orange peel bowls- yum!

 

 

We also got the lemonade stand and the kids set it up for the first time yesterday. The neighbors got in on it too, and there are plans to try again today… Fun!

 

 

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232 Years Old

We had a blast this July 4th weekend.  It started with the bike parade.  The night before we decorated our wheels with streamers, bead, pom poms, pipe cleaners and stickers. That morning we walked and rode two bikes, a scooter, and a doll stroller over to the community childrens’ parade.

After getting there, Hannah was a bit overwhelmed by it all, and she and Sabrina did not want to take part.

Emma loved every minute.

Hannah sat with Sabrina and observed for a while then she warmed up to the idea and rode her scooter for a while.  Sabrina’s doll stroller stayed in our stroller next to her the whole time.

Hunter was Mr. Cool on his bike.

Emma brought the American Girl on her bike for a ride too.

Hannah was so fun to watch on her little scooter.

Fireworks were banned because of fire danger, so we got party poppers instead.

Pop, Bam, Boom!

That night we went to the church for dinner in the parking lot while some bands of members of the stake played patriotic and popular songs. Then it was off to watch the fireworks show put on by our village association.

The next day, we cleaned out the garage and then decided to try out Hunter’s new kite at the beach.  We tried out a new beach which we heard was fun for families because of the mellow waves and tidepools.  A lot of people had the same idea.  It was packed!  So we weren’t able to fly the kite, but had fun playing around in the sand and tidepools.

Little Corona Beach

Rob and Hannah look for hermit crabs

Emma was great at finding the little guys.

Sabrina was not interested in being near them.

She was excited about finding a little purple shell though.

Sabrina and Hannah made initials on the sand.

Emma, Hunter, and Rob took a walk way out over the tide pools.

Hannah and Sabrina covered Mommy’s legs and feet with sand.

Sabrina made a fun game out of coming right up to the lens for me to take her picture.  I love this one.

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Thanks, I Think

Me walking into Joann’s craft store today:

Holding onto Sabrina with one arm as she is kicking and screaming.

Yelling, “Hannah stop! Don’t walk through the parking lot without holding my hand!”

Holding Hannah’s hand on the left, Sabrina’s flailing body on my right and thinking, “This is going to be a painful trip to the craft store.”

During the shopping:

Making comments like, “that might be fun,” while allowing the girls to put whatever they want into the cart,  knowing that I would have to fish out the rejects just before checkout.

Turning around to see Sabrina’s hands covered in green acrylic paint as she cries and says, “Want to smell it!” I think she thought it was lotion.

Wash her up with a baby wipe and hope that the wet paint on the shelf doesn’t cause too much trouble for some poor employee.

Think that I should clean up the mess my daughter just made, decide not to because I don’t want to find an employee with paper towels to explain the situation to.

Before checkout:

Start purging the random things that Sabrina and Hannah wanted me to buy. This sets Sabrina off again and she is now wailing, stomping, and yelling,  “I hate it!”

Try to play the cool, calm mother saying in a calm voice, “If you stop your fuss, I’ll pick you up.”

She eventually stops so I pick her up and hold her on one hip.  She starts to fuss again after a minute of waiting in line so I put her down again.

Checkout:

The cashier says, “Next please” and I head over with my girls.  (Hannah has been so good the whole trip that I bought her a huge box of princess stickers that I wouldn’t have splurged on otherwise.)  Sabrina is grabbing at my legs and following me still crying loudly.

The lady says to me, “I remember these girls.”

I say, “That’s probably because there was screaming the last time we were here too.”

She answers with a pleasant smile, “yes there was,” and continues to talk about how it’s important to tell them no sometimes.

I finish my purchase and head towards the exit.  I could feel multiple sets of eyes watching me as I made my way out the door.

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Concert, Play, Photo Shoot, Food Storage, Birthday… All In One Week

Monday-Enjoyed a day with no real demands outside of the ordinary routines.

Tuesday– Cleaned out my messy hallway closet so my parents had somewhere to put their things when they came. Nana and Papa arrived for a fun filled visit.

Wednesday-Hunter’s orchestra concert was held in the evening on the Concordia University campus. It is a beautiful little campus with a nice music hall that made our impressive son and his classmates sound wonderful. Hunter has been taking violin lessons at school this year along with half of the other fourth graders. He hates practicing, but hopefully he could hear how well it paid off during the performance. Hunter has great music teachers and we all thoroughly enjoyed the concert. The fourth graders started out the night playing three pieces on their violins and violas including “Shark Attack,”which seemed to be the kids’ favorite. Then the older kids played with some on strings and the others on wind instruments. The crowd favorite was their rendition of “Teddy Bear Picnic” which featured a dozen of the kids playing kazoos. We are so proud of our musician!

Thursday– It was a bright, sunny morning, so my Dad and I decided to go take pictures at mission San Juan Capistrano. It was gorgeous there with all of the gardens and the historical buildings. We had a great time, and I liked to watch him find the best shots and learn more about photography and how to best use the camera and it’s lenses. He had some really stunning photos, and I took a few that I was really happy with too. I don’t often get one-on-one time with my Dad, so it was a wonderful morning.

That afternoon Emma was in a school performance of Annie. She took an after school class and although it was simple (no set, just costumes), we all loved watching her perform in the play. She played an orphan named Kate in the beginning of the play, and Rosie (the Rooster character which was changed a bit to work for a girl) and was of course the best in the show. She really shines on stage and loves to put on a show. She sang her songs well and remembered her choreography in the little dances. Emma’s debut was delightful.

In the evening, my mom and I went to Enrichment night at the church. She was the keynote speaker on the subject of “Creative Pantry Cooking.” She continues to surprise me with her vast knowledge on food storage, what to store, and what to do with it. And I love, love, love her food calculator. She designed her own based on the food pyramid recommendations and it is way better than the old school types that tell you to store 500 pounds of wheat and 50 gallons of vegetable oil etc. She is working on getting an e-book up on her blog with all the information you need to start your food storage from scratch. (As an aside, just last night I saw a report on the news about how our country’s corn supply is being ruined by flooding, so food prices are bound to go up even higher. Start storing now!) Her presentation was fabulous and well received. She was bombarded with questions and compliments afterwards, so I think people really enjoyed hearing the hows and whys of food storage.

Friday-Hunter turned 10. Yes, it was Hunter’s birthday and he has reached double digits. Oh My Goodness! For dinner he chose Costco “chicken bakes”, and I added salad and fruit for the rest of us. He picked a coconut cake and ice cream for dessert and it was delicious. We were lucky that Aunt Jeanette was able to come down and celebrate with us and bring the coolest rocket kite that Uncle Dan picked out for him. We love having Hunter as our oldest son. I can sympathize when he gets frustrated with being the oldest child, because I had those same feelings. It can feel like a lot of pressure when he is expected to do more than the rest of the kids and try everything first. Hunter is really getting into Star Wars now, which for some reason he had never seen before this year. He is always coming up with new inventions and has built quite a few contraptions including an elaborate Leprechan trap, a teeter totter, stores, vehicles, and forts. He is a sweetie, and although he would never believe it, I have a hard time telling him no. He’s just so cute.

Update:

 

 

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Playing Santa Claus

I hesitate to post about this, but in the interest of using this blog as a journal, and because so many people have donated to the cause, I thought I should.

You may remember when I posted on this subject earlier. Sandra is a friend of mine who is so sweet and willing to help others whenever she can. She has many difficulties to deal with in her life, and in January witnessed the murder of her two neighbors. She is, of course, still recovering from the trauma of the experience. She heard screaming and yelled at the man with a knife to stop from her front door. He didn’t stop until he had wounded his estranged wife, and killed his mother-in-law. Sandra and her older son tried to help, but both women died, and the man drove himself to a bridge and jumped to his death.

After talking with Sandra about it on the phone, and knowing that she was not comfortable in her home because of the bad memories that keep returning, I tried to come up with a way to help her. I live too far away from her to drop in and check on things, so I’d have to help long distance. I talked with my mom about my concerns and she suggested we work together as a family to make her home a more pleasant place to be. In spite of her hard work at several jobs, she still struggles financially, and I thought changing her surroundings with some new things might help brighten her spirits.

My mom came across a great deal on frozen cinnamon rolls sold by the case, and we thought it would be great to use them as a fundraiser to get some nice things for Sandra’s home. It wasn’t hard for me to get my friends behind me and we sold more than two hundred cinnamon rolls. Erica and her boys also got in on the action and sold some at a yard sale and to their friends. Some of my local friends also gave me things for her grandson like toys and books, and even a living room rug was donated.

I arranged to meet Sandra for a visit at her home last Saturday. My parents were in town visiting for the week prior and they came with us to deliver the goodies. We drove to her house which is about an hour and a half away. I was nervous because I didn’t want to embarrass her or make her feel uncomfortable. I wanted her to feel that there were people who don’t even know her that care about her, and that her happiness is important to me as well. I wrote her a letter because I was not sure if I could convey what I wanted once I was there with her. She speaks primarily in Spanish, so I wrote a letter in English and used an online translator to change it to Spanish. Along with the letter I included $110.00 that was raised, but had not been spent. She was taken by surprise, and it was a little awkward because she just didn’t know what to say.

I told her about my friends and family that wanted to do something nice for her and she was so sweet saying over and over, “This is a happy day…. I am so happy.” The best part for me was when she asked me, “How did you know I needed these things?” I went for a light answer because I didn’t want to cry, and answered, “oh, I know everything.” But I also explained to her that I had thought a lot about what I could do for her, and shopped with a prayer in my heart so I would be led to the things that would be most appreciated. It was a wonderful visit, and Rob and I agreed that although it was a little awkward for her to receive these things and for us to give them, it was worth it. Knowing that as soon as we left the awkwardness was over, and she could be left to enjoy having some new things to make life more pleasant, and having the feeling that there are so many people out there hoping for her happiness. I think too often we don’t do service for others because we worry it will be awkward, but how much better it is to endure those awkward moments than let someone go unacknowledged.

I have pictures in the gallery of everything we brought to her and our visit. (Except for the rug, I think that one is on my Dad’s camera.) Thanks so much for your ideas, and for the donations I received from you all!!!

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