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.  

October in Instagram

Our little London turned three months old!

We took a trip up to Camano Island.

While we were there we went to the pumpkin patch.

It rained almost the entire time we were there.  A nice change from the 90 degree weather we have been having.  

Erin and her kids came up to visit when we were there.  I've never seen four kids sit so still as they did during "the quiet game."  It was about the only time they were quiet. 

London is big enough for the Bumbo.  It is making our days easier to get stuff done.

We had a week of sickness starting the night we flew in from Washington.  Ian had food poisoning and then both Addi and Von ended up with the flu.

Siblings.

Von had his first dentist appointment.  He was a champ.  Sat perfectly still and luckily had no cavities.

Addi's first grade picture.

I started training for a half marathon in February.  I've been running four or five days a week, 3-6 miles at a time with my milage increasing every two weeks.  This week I have to run a 7 miler.  It actually has gotten easier and I don't dread the long runs quite so much these days. 

A few more Halloween pics.  This is Addi and her little friend Parker.

Von, Luke, Lainey & Addi.

Halloween 2012

Our Catwoman.

Right after school on Halloween, we met up with five boys from her class at the shopping center up the street from us that was having early trick-or-treating.  Von, of course, thinks he is one of them and always gets in on the action.

His best growl.

Flexing his "muscles."

The kids ran from store to store.  They were so amped up as you would expect on Halloween.

We met up for round two of trick-or-treating with Jaime and Dan and the kids in Del Mar.  It is the best place to trick-or-treat around here.  Festive houses, hardly any cars on the road and great sidewalks to get from house to house.

All of these pictures of Von crack me up.  He was so animated.

London wore a little Batgirl outfit Katie had made for McKinley when she was a baby.  Luckily she had passed it on to me when Addi was a baby.

Londie Lou.

Addi and her BFF Indiana Jones.

Von was feeling left out, so he had to put his arm around Luke too.

Adddi and her loot.

She was angel of course, content in her carseat the entire time.

Addi's First Visit from the Tooth Fairy!

Last weekend we were running some errands with the kids and stopped at our usual place, Phil's BBQ. A few bites into Addi's meal, so says, "my tooth just fell out!"

It had been loose for weeks.  The tooth to the right of it is loose too, and in fact, there is actually another tooth already growing in behind it.  Which all we can think of is $$$ and braces in the future.  We were actually at the dentist last week for cleanings, and he said if it doesn't fall out by January, he would want to pull it.  I keep sending her to school with apples and carrots in her lunch, in hopes it will fall out on it's own.  So far, no luck.

She was so excited, as she is one of the last in her class to loose a tooth.  The tooth fairy came and gave her $3!  Generous tooth fairy, right?  She turns seven in a month, can you believe it???  School is going really great for her.  Her teacher asked her to be on the student council and she has lots of friends.  Most of which are boys.  She is playing soccer at NCSP with three other boys from her class.  They practice together at recess and we get together after school with them to practice.  She is just one of them, the only girl in the class that has infiltrated their group.  It's pretty funny.

All About Von

In September, Von and I joined a play group with some of the other moms in our ward.  Last week we made a trip to Bate's Nut Farm to go to their pumpkin patch.

All of the kids dressed up in their Halloween costumes.  Von as you can tell is Batman, although he was not a fan of wearing the mask.

He is our most challenging child as of late.  He gets very angry when he doesn't get his way and seriously yells at anyone who is depriving him of something he wants.  It is so different than the easygoing baby he once was.  It makes me sad.

These days are so good for him.  He always feels so special because he knows he is getting to do something fun that Addi is not.  Typically sibling rivalry.  Ian keeps telling me it's just a phase and that it's due to London's arrival, and I hope he is right and that he will get over it soon.  We can only hope.

The pumpkins there were huge.  I don't know how you would even pick them up.

I wanted some pictures of him running with his cape in the wind.  So he was cooperating, running back and forth for me.  The mask is a bit big on him, and he couldn't see very well and slipped on rotted pumpkin guts.  They were all over him, it was so gross.  He didn't seem to mind luckily.