January Instagrams

London turned six months old!  Which really means I for me, I can take her to the gym.  Yay for me, not so much for her.  She was not a fan at first, but is getting a lot better.  Still at this point, her sleeping was hit and miss.  We introduced solid food and it took her a long while to take to it.  She is so sweet and always happy if she is on my hip.  I've learned to do a lot with one hand.  

I love it when I find Von has put himself down for the occasional nap.  I miss the days where he used to take a three hour nap everyday.

Or when I find him reading to himself.

Or holding his baby sister's hand.

Visiting Dad

We found out the first week of January that we were going to be relocated to the Central Coast for Ian's job.  He is now running a building in Lompoc, and after a weekend of looking all around the area, we settle on living in Orcutt.  It's a small town just south of Santa Maria and an hour north of Santa Barbara.  It is definitely the country, not our Southern California like we are used to.  There is no shopping and restaurants are few and far between, but we finally got into a house and we have a back yard for the first time ever.  There are farms everywhere and lost of greenery.  It's a much slower pace, which is nice for a change.  Ian was gone a total of six weeks before we officially moved, so one weekend, I took the kids up for a visit.  Ian was working one day we were there, so I took the kids to Alisal Ranch in Santa Ynez.

The kids got to feed the animals, brush the horses.  It was rainy and muddy, and I only packed one pair of shoes for each of them for the entire weekend, so every step they took I just cringed.  It was SO muddy.

Our little bunny trying to fit in with the locals.

It really is so pretty here.  This picture doesn't do it justice as to how green it is.  The hills are almost fluorecent.

And then there is Pea Soup Anderson's.  Apparently, they are world famous for their pea soup.  We shared a bowl and let's just say, I'm not running back any time soon for another.  

Ice Skating

For the month of January, the kids took ice skating lessons once a week.  Von was such a champ!  No matter how hard he would fall, he would get right back up with no complaints.  After a few lessons he finally "got" it.  

I love the "Frankenstein" walk!

Luke took lessons with Addi too.  Addi actually had a harder time with the lessons than Von.  She was in tears from falling so much the first lesson and didn't want to go back.  But by the end of the month, she was doing great.  It was a good lesson learned.  

December Instagrams

This was our second year of doing "The Elf on a Shelf."  Addi has become a total skeptic.  She told us she thinks it is really just Ian and I hiding the Elf (smartypants).  So, one night I went out into the kitchen and realized our elf was missing from the place we had hid it.  And then I realized, Addi had snuck out of her room and re-hid the elf.  So Ian and I started searching, high and low.  It was no where to be found.  Add had tried to outsmart us and it was working.  We finally found it tucked away in the Christmas tree (duh!).  We hid it again, this time up high, way out of reach of Addi's little hands.  The next morning, she woke up to find the Elf missing from her hiding place.  She told us that morning, that she had touched (and major no no in the "elf" rules) and re-hid the elf.  When she realized that the Elf was hiding out of her reach, she said that because she touched the elf, it had to hide extra good.  The rest of the month she was a believer again.

London was on a napping strike, oh pretty much since birth.  She would fight going down everyday.  One day, she exhausted herself so much, she fell asleep in her Bumbo.

One of the reasons we were so sad to leave San Diego was Addi's school.  This year she had the greatest teacher we could have asked for.  She actually set up Von his very own desk in her class room and she would leave work on "his" desk for him to do each morning at drop off.  Von loved it, as he really associates himself as one of Addi's equals.  He thinks that her friends are his friends too, and really has no concept of the big age difference.  This picture, he was actually kind of mad.  Ryan, one of Addi's good friend's was kicking his chair and he was getting ready to throw down.

Ian's work Christmas party was one to remember.  We spent three days in Pasadena, and on the first night, we saw Donny and Marie's Christmas show in LA.  Marie's son is married to Ian's bosses daughter, so we all got to hang around after the show and meet them.

Addi on her seventh birthday!

And London turned five months old!

Oops!

I snapped this pick while we were waiting for Addi to get out of school.  I love my Von.

New Years

We celebrated New Years Eve with a little silly string at home with the kids.  Addi actually got really sick after all of the festivities and ended up throwing up for most of the night :(  I took videos of each of the kids and asked them some questions similar to their birthdays.  One of my New Year's resolutions is to take more videos of them.  Here is a pale Addi...

And Von...

Christmas

We spend Christmas with both sets of our parents at Ian's parents house.  The kids were so spoiled by everyone.  And of all the toys Von got, his favorite was his "special" Lightning McQueen.  The same "special" Lightning McQueen he got last year for Christmas which was a replacement for the original "special" one that he had lost.  He lost the second one too, and I can only find them on Amazon, so when he loses them it takes me awhile to get around to ordering another.  

The kids also got a Kindle Fire and Skylanders, among many other things from everyone.  It was a great Christmas!

Lou Lou's first Christmas!  She actually slept through the night for the first time too, which was the best Christmas present that I could have received.  Although it was a total fluke, it was nice timing!

The kid's Christmas best for church on Sunday.

London and her cousin Leo.  They are six weeks apart and so cute together!

Von Turns Four!

And this will be the last of the birthday posts...

Love this kid.  He has had a bit of a rough year, not being the baby anymore.  He can be so sweet and then so temperamental all in the same minute.  We all tread lightly around him these days.  I am ready for this stage of his to be over with!

 We celebrated that night with a piece of Claimjumper's Motherload cake.  Yum-O.

The day after his birthday we took a tour of Chick-fil-a with his play group.  Here's a few things about Von at four years old according to him:
Favorite food:  cheese and crackers
Favorite drinks: Gatorade and apple juice
Favorite movie: Ghostbusters
Favorite books:  Little Blue Truck & Little Blue Truck Leads the Way
Favorite place: McDonald's (only because I never let him go there!)
Favorite things to do: play video games, cars and play at the park
Favorite TV show: Aquabats Super Show
Favorte Song: songs by the Aquabats
Favorite toys: Indiana Jones toys

Disneyland

We surprised the kids and took them to Disneyland's California Adventure for their birthdays.  

It was especially heaven for Von, as it was our first time to see Cars Land.  

And then we killed two birds with one stone and saw Santa there too.

It was a great day!

Addi's Birthday Party

I was brave/crazy and hosted a birthday for Addi in our tiny house for 10 kids.  The kids decorated gingerbread houses and played a few games.  And most of all ran around screaming and destroying everything in site.

 I bought the gingerbread houses at Bed Bath & Beyond.  They were surprisingly easy to put together.

The kids ate pizza and per Addi's request I made individual chocolate mousses instead of cupcakes.

Von & Luke.  Notice all of the kids in the background are boys.  She only invited two girls and only one of them was able to come.  It was just a typical day in the life of Addi always being surrounded by boys.

Addi wanted a "pin the pieces on the snowman" game.

Von's final product.  Mostly just a lot of green frosting dumped all over his house.  I think more of the candy was eaten than actually got put on the houses.

 Addi's house.

 Birthday candles...I can't believe that I have a seven year old!

This pretty much sums up the craziness of the party.  Happy birthday Addi!  Here's a few things about Addi at age seven, according to her:
Favorite food: mac & cheese, chicken & ice cream
Favorite drink: lemonade and chocolate milk
Favorite book: Hey Diddle Diddle
Favorite movie: Land of the Lost
Favorite TV show: The Upside Down Show
Favorite place to go: Legoland, Disneyland & the Aquarium
Favorite things to do: Play video games and play outside
Favorite toy: Boo Boo

Catching Up

These last few months have flown by.  A lot has happened.  We made it through the holidays and then found out we were being relocated to the Central Coast area.  Ian is now working in Lompoc, and we are living in Orcutt.  It's about an hour north of Santa Barbara in the middle of nowhere.  It's really pretty, but definitely a big change from our spoiled Southern California living.  So here's a few pictures from November with more posts to hopefully come soon.

Ugh.  This night was one for the record books.  I was at dinner from some girls from my ward and Ian calls to tell me I need to come home, that Addi swallowed something.  So I rushed home to find out what happened.  Ian had put the kids to bed and a few minutes later, Addi came out crying saying that her stomach hurt.  Ian suggested she try to go to the bathroom and as was walking to the bathroom he heard her mumble to herself, "I don't want to go to the hospital...I don't want them to cut me open..."  So he called her back and coaxed her to tell the truth of why her stomach really hurt.  After he had put the kids today, Addi told him she was in her bed playing with a small chain.

She said she was playing with it in her mouth and she accidentally swallowed it.  She was crying, buckled over in pain, so of course we believed her.  And she always has things in her mouth, so I didn't doubt her story when she said she was playing with it in her mouth.  So, I called Jaime to come over and stay with the other kids and at about 9 pm, we headed off to the ER.  We checked in, told the receptionist her story and began to wait.  They eventually took an x-ray and we waited again to see the doctor.  When we finally met with the doctor he told us the news...that she didn't swallow ANYTHING.  There was definitely no metal in her stomach.  I couldn't not laugh at first.  Of all of our kids, Addi always has random things going on with her body that tend to cause us thousands of dollars in medical tests all to find out there is actually nothing wrong with her.  The doctor gave her a really stern talking to and told her the next time she swallowed something he was going to have to cut her stomach open with a big knife to get it out.  So, after a $100 copay and three hours in the ER, we headed home with a healthy kid and a good story.  And the next morning we found the infamous chain in her bed.  Next time she claims to have swallowed something, we will definitely look for it first before heading to the ER.  Lesson learned. 

Addi was able to play soccer again this fall with 3 of her classmates at North County Soccer Park.  She had fun playing with her friends.

London turned four months old!  At this point, she still wasn't sleeping well at all.  She was up at least a few times, if not more a night and not really napping through out the day.  She is a Momma's girl and always wanted to be on my hip.  But she is so sweet, I can't complain.

Jaime and I continued to train for our half marathon!  This picture was taken after our first seven mile run!

This girl LOVES her binky.  I don't know how we are ever going to take it away.

We spent Thanksgiving at Ian's parent's house.  I was able to get away on Friday with London to get my hair done.  She was such a good girl.  I love this pic.