Chuck's 30th Birthday at Disneyland

We spent a few days at Disneyland celebrating Chuck's big 3-0. :)

Our first ride was It's a Small World. We figured we'd do the gentlest ride first. Kimberly loved watching the little people come out of the clock and dance around.

Both kids really liked the carousel.

And, they both really liked the Casey Jr. Train.

Climbing around in Toon Town

When Chuck took the kids back to the hotel for afternoon naps, I got to do my own thing. One of the afternoons, Mary Poppins was greeting people. It was so cute to see her go bouding across the street with her umbrella up just like in the movie. I totally would have gotten my picture with her if I had there were someone there to take it. :)

It's just not Disneyland without a giant sucker. It took Patrick all of about 5 minutes to finish his. I think when I called his name he thought I was going to tell him he had to put it away, hence the look.

The castle was beautiful all lit up and covered in "snow".

Patrick insisted that we go on the carousel a second time so he could ride the bench.

Meeting Lightning McQueen. After we took the pics, he asked why Lightning didn't talk to him. Then he said it was probably because Lightning didn't like his name. How sad is that? Hopefully in the new Cars Land they're building there will be a talking Lightning McQueen.

Riding Flick's Flight. Chuck and I were feeling sick after spinning, but Patrick loved it.

I opted out of this spinning ride.

On our last day, we met up with my cousin, Jaime and her family. It was fun to see them again. Kimberly and Kelsey are 3 weeks apart in age and so cute together. I wish they lived closer so we could hang out more, but we'll be back since we got annual passes.




Hugs.

Cousins with Mickey on the California Adventure "C".

Much Better

Within about 12 hours of starting the Z Pack, I felt much better. Well enough in fact to still go to Disneyland for my 29th birthday. Yay! My parents watched the kids while we did a day trip to Anaheim. We had just been to Dineyland last week with the kids for several days over Chuck's birthday. It was fun to do all the non-kid friendly stuff like leisurely walking through the shops (I got a free gift card for $70 since it was my birthday and I already had the annual pass), going to dinner at the Blue Bayou and riding together on Soarin' Over CA. We even caught part of the snow and lights show at It's a Small World and the fireworks over the castle. This is the first year either of us has been at Christmas time and the decorations, music, special shows, etc. are all beautiful. I'll have to add pics later from Chuck's phone. We took a few.

Still Feeling Terrible

So, I'm still not over this cold. It's been over 2 weeks now since it started. Now it has moved on to sinus pressure that's causing a sinus headache. My cheeks feel bruised like I've been punched in the face, and my teeth even hurt. I'm calling my doctor tomorrow because I'm starting to think it may be something I'm going to need antibiotics to kick. I'm pretty limited on what over the counter stuff I can take to relieve the symptoms. And, Tylenol does nothing for me. No Fun.

What are you doing in June?

We're having a baby. :)

Funny Foto Friday- What's wrong with this picture?

No, she wasn't even screaming. Just laying there watching a movie.

Here's what I got the camera out to take a picture of. They were actually sitting quietly together watching a movie without fighting or hurting each other. Definitely picture worthy.

She has my crooked smile!

Sickies

I think this is one the longest stretches I've gone without posting on my blog. We're all sick here. Kimberly's had a runny nose for the past 2 weeks, Chuck started his cold last Thursday, Patrick's had his since Friday and mine started yesterday. We're just taking it easy. We've watched Beethoven way too many times now. And taken long naps. Patrick was a little confused when he woke up from his nap and it was dark out. He totally thought it was morning. I'll admit, I was a little disoriented too when I awoke in the dark.

Not Totally Done, But Getting There

Our front room is taking forever to finish. Ever since Patrick put a pin inside my Bernina earlier this year, I have been hesistant to bring out the sewing machine when the kids are awake. And, since the remaining projects all involve sewing, the project is going at a snail's pace. I've yet to take a picture of the room during the day with the curtains open or one of the whole fireplace wall or tv wall (maybe I'll remember to do that tomorrow), but here is the nightime before and after:

Before:
After
Before:
After: The shelves on either side of the fireplace are going to get cabinet doors put on them so you can't see my fabric and books, and I plan to make cushions and pillows for the two seats.

Before: We sold the china hutch so we could move the furniture into a more cozy grouping by the fireplace.


After:This wall will be the family photo wall.

Before: We decided to part with the shutters. Although I love the charm, we're really liking the openness of the windows without them.



After: This loveseat is going. I'm hoping to find a small secretary desk for my laptop for this corner, and a round black drop leaf table and two chairs to put where the couch is.

Anyway, that's what I've been up to. There is still a lot left to do. Make throw pillows, hem the curtains, recover the backs of the couch cushions (they're an ugly rose pattern that doesn't go), new area rug, hang photos, find a table and desk, etc. At the rate I'm going, that ought to take me a few more months to finish. :)

A Young Romantic

Patrick was snuggling with me in bed on Saturday morning when he so charmingly complimented me: "Momma, you have a beautiful nose; it's like a shark."

Lions, Monkeys and Apples

My best attempt at getting a picture of the two of them together.

I'll bet you didn't know that monkeys eat lizards, did you?

Trick or Treating with Daddy

Caramel Apples

Red Hot Candied Apples

So Long

We said goodbye to our classic 1955 Ford F100 project truck this week. We'd had the truck since 2002. The first few years, we did lots of work on it, but it has just sat for the last 3, so it was time to say goodbye. A guy from Ohio saw it on craigslist and came and picked it up. We were glad to hear that he plans to keep it original like we had intended to do also. It will be nice to have all that newfound space in the garage. We moved here with the truck, so we've never known the garage without a big truck in it.

Funny Foto Friday: Doggie Sleepover

Gracie had her first sleepover with her friend Misty. My parents had their house tented last week so we watched their dog for them for a few days. Gracie did surpsringly well having another dog on her turf. Gracie is not really known for getting along with other dogs (though she does go and visit Misty often at my parents' house). She's definitely not the dog park type and doesn't like little dogs that come in her yard and sniff along her fence. She nearly ate the last little chihuahua that tried that.

No More Jungle Book

Since the last rain, we've been dealing with ants coming in every few days. They keep finding a new point of entry. This morning, Patrick saw a trail of them on the floor near the pantry and said, "What's that?" I said, "Oh, they're ants. I need to get out the spray and clean them up." He responded with, "No, I will lick them up" as he gets down on all fours tongue out ready to start feasting on them. Of course, I told him no and he said, "Why not?" "Because we don't eat ants." "Yes we do; they're tasty." "Who do you know that eats ants?" "Bears eat ants, and I eat ants."

Craigslist Find

Last week I came across this great oil painting on craigslist. It's the first paiting I've ever owned. As soon as I saw it, I fell in love. I know nothing of its history. The guy selling it knew nothing. He really didn't want to part with it but needed the money. Actually, it's the first time I've bought something off craigslist where the person said to call them if I ever wanted to sell it. I promised to put a note on the back with their number just in case, but I don't see me parting with this one. I love the colors, the buildings and people, the reflection off the walkway like it has recently rained and the way the impressionist style of it leaves some things to your imagination. I know nothing about the artist L. Smith and can't seem to find anything online about him/her. I'm acutally hoping that maybe someone will come across this post and know something about this artist. I'd love to see other paintings by L. Smith.

Climbing

Last week, I was vacuuming the front room when I heard glass clinking together in the kitchen. I knew Patrick was in his

room so it wasn't him, so I headed for the kitchen to see what Kimberly had gotten into. I scanned the floor but didn't see her. Then I heard the sound again and looked up. Here's what I found:

Good thing the candle wasn't lit and that she kept her balance getting up there. She was quite proud of herself and as soon as I set her down on the floor, she proceeded to climb back onto the bench to get back on the table.

Early Potty Trainer?

Kimberly is showing signs of being easy to potty train when the time comes. She peed on the potty a couple months ago. She grabs her diaper and says "dirty" when I'm changing her. And just now she brought me a diaper and said, "Need, need." And, sure enough, she had just pooped.

Dreams

Patrick has started remembering his dreams and retelling them. This morning he said,
“I was hiding in the pool with my little doggie, because I was fighting with the dark.” He also woke up the other night when he fell out of bed. He said that a monster was chasing him.

Potty Talk

Patrick is still working on going poop in the potty instead of his pants, so there is always lots of talk about poop around here. Which as you can imagine can be pretty funny.

Here are two things Patrick has recently said:

"Mommy, the poop said it wanted to come out, but I told it, 'no'. Then it said it didn't want to come out."

Yesterday after pooping the tiniest little poop in his pants we were in the bathroom changing his pants and (in hopes that being familiar with seeing his poop might help him to do it in the potty) I asked him if he wanted to see his poop before dumping it into the potty. He said sure. He bent down with his nose nearly tocuhing it and says in the sweetest baby talk voice ever, "Awh, you're so cute."

Funny Foto Friday- Laughter is Contagious

Expiration Date

I have an unopened half gallon of half and half sitting in my fridge. It says it expired the end of September. Am I crazy to think it might still be good? I meant to make ice cream out of it, but it got lost in the back of the fridge. :( Everything I've read online says to smell it and if it smells fine, then taste it and if it tastes fine, it should be fine. But what about that odd chance that it turns your stomach after the fact? I'm not sure I'm brave enough to try it. What would you do? By the way, it is dated Sept. 29, so it's 15 days past date.

It's Pumpkin Time

Funny Foto Friday- Hiding Place

Fall Fix-Ups

We decided that this year we'd pack as many camping trips and vacations into the Summer as possible and save all of the house projects for the Fall. So, here we go. First order of business was laying brick for our trash can pad. Now that it is out of the way, we've moved into the house to redo the living room.

When we moved in 5 years ago (hard to believe it's been that long. . .), we had no extra money, so the front room was just pieced together from what we already had. The walls got painted with a very thin coat of a leftover gallon of green paint from our last place and the curtains were made from some fabric I already had. They were the only two pieces of fabric that were big enough and went with each other color wise, so burgundy curtains it was. Not at all my favorite or even something I'd choose. The cafe rods were the cheapest I could find and I've hated them since the day I bought them. There were very few things I actually liked about our front room:

1) The weird pineapple/pumpkin light I salvaged from the rafters in my grandparent's garage (which, btw, most people hate, including Chuck).

2) The corner windows and big picture window. They let in lots of light and being on an inside corner at a bend in the road, there's a great view down both directions of the street. My only complaint is that none of the windows in our front room open so ventilation is an issue when it gets really hot outside.

3) The pass-through fireplace that goes between the living room and our master bedroom. It's fun and unusual.

4) The pocket doors into the kitchen and hallway because we can use the front room as a guest room when needed. I think our couch is actually more comfy to sleep on than our bed.

About 6 months ago, I found a piece of fabric at Beverly's and fell in love. I knew as soon as I saw it that it would be the inspiration piece for my new living room.

So, this weekend (with Chuck and the kids banished to the back of the house), I started painting. After painting the walls a light tan color it became evident that our old wood paneling and red brick fireplace just did not fit in with the new look. So, we've decided that we're going to paint them!! I can't wait to see how it will look in here. It's definitely getting to have more of a cottage look and feel to it rather than the outdated '50s look.

Here's the room right now: The walls have been painted, but the paneling and fireplace still need to be primed and painted.

Smile

50/50

Last night we celebrated my mom's 50th birthday (50 days after she turned 50). I couldn't pass up the opportunity to do a party theme staring 50/50 bars. She was doubly (is that even a word?) surprised because we turned what was just going to be a family BBQ into her party and then to top it off, we invited friends and extended family to join us for dessert. It's a good thing she decided to go home and shower between going to the pool for the afternoon with the grandkids and coming to the BBQ. :)


Happy Birthday Mom!!!

The pics are in backwards order, so if that matters to you, start at the end of the post and work your way up.

Artist in Residence

Patrick got to use the real easle for the first time do some watercolor painting. He loved it. After each brush stroke he'd smile and say, "Oo, hoo." He picked that one up from Kipper.

Speaking of Kipper, Patrick usually watches one episode a day of it. If you're not familiar with it, it's a British cartoon about a dog named Kipper and his friends, Tiger, Pig, and Arnold. In addition to saying "Oo, hoo", he also says, "Let me have a go", and calls Tiger "Tiga". It's just about the cutest thing ever when he asks if you'd "like to have a go on the swing after he's done".

Backpacking to Ten Lakes in Yosemite

We camped the first night in the Valley. It was super crowded, but we got a great spot right by the creek so it was pretty quiet.I took a nap in the hammock. Ah, nice, no kids to tend to.

That night Chuck took me out to dinner at the Awahnee Hotel. I felt pretty funny climbing out of a little backpacking tent in the dirt wearing a little black dress and high heels. And, I definietly got the looks walking through the campground to the restroom. :)

The food was great. We had Pork something or other.

The dining hall is beautiful. There was a pianist playing the whole time. So pretty.

Starting out on our backpacking trip. We ended up doing the Ten Lakes because our first two choices the trail quota was already met. Only ten backpackers a day are allowed on the trail we took. It was nice feeling like we were the only ones at the lake.


We set up camp at Lake 2. That afternoon, we hiked over the hill to Lake 1 and went swimming. Day 2, we did some cross country hiking to Lakes 3, 4, 5, and 6. We saw Lake 7, but didn't do the hike all the way down there. I'm still not really sure what happened to Lakes 8, 9, and 10?

Half Moon Meadow

Our first glimpse at Lake 2 coming down off the ridge.

Lake 3.

Lake 5Lake 6


Lake 7

The brook trout were beautiful with their spots and red fins. Chuck probably caught 20 of them. It was fun to watch him fly fish for the first time. It's much more entertaining to be a spectator with fly fishing than spinners or bait. Especially since the water is so clear that you can watch the fish swim over and take the fly. We were going to keep this guy and eat him for dinner, but after stringing him on the line, we just couldn't bring ourselves to eat him when we had brought plenty of other food to eat. We're such softies. :) So we unstrung him and let him go.

Chuck fell in the lake while fishing. And, since he likes to pack lightly by only bringing one shirt, one pair of socks, etc., he had to wear my shirt, socks, shoes, jacket, etc., while we dried out his clothes by the fire. Here he is sporting my green shirt that I wore on day 1. What a good sport though, he even posed for a picture.

Lake 4 had lots of fish and some deeper pools.

In the background is Lake 2, the lake we camped at.

Raining on Lake 2.

Here we are all packed up and ready to hit the trail home. It had started raining around 1 am and didn't let up until around 10:30am after we had hiked about 3 of the 6 miles back to the car. So much for a 40% chance of scattered thunder showers. Packing up in the rain is not very fun. Thankfully it was our last day so we weren't stuck with wet gear for another night though. We did decide that we need to come up with a rain solution for our tent, since it really isn't waterproof. We were damp by morning, but the temp was still pretty warm, so we didn't get cold at all.

Slow Learner

It happens every time. I really should know better; I am such a lightweight when it comes to caffeine. I had a Pepsi at lunch, a Cherry Coke at dinner and Doc's Java ice cream for dessert. :) I went to bed around 12:30pm and fianlly gave up on trying to fall asleep. On the bright side though, I have done some great brainstorming for home improvement projects. I wish I had discovered caffeine when I was in college; it would have really helped with the all-nighters.

Funny Foto Friday- Way too fun

The original of this pic and the story behind it are actually funny on their before messing with them. I'll share more when I blog about our latest backpacking trip.

My favorite.

I hope you laughed as hard as I did at these. Now, go make your own. And, please share them on your blog so I can laugh too. :) http://www.pichacks.com/create.php

Lake San Antonio

Patrick went on his first tube ride and loved it. Chuck did some single skiing and wakeboarding
We watched a huge tanker plane land on the water.