California Trip- Part 1 (Traveling)

At the beginning of March we took a trip to California for my brother's wedding!

I took the kids to shopping for their own suitcases. We thought it might help us at the airport if they could push their own suitcase in. Johnny also got a back pack to keep his own toys and snacks in for the airplane ride. Can you guess what is on it?

 

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Monday morning (we were leaving Tuesday) Johnny woke up sick. I woke up to the sound of him throwing up. All day long he couldn't keep anything down. Not even for 5 minutes. In the morning he was kind of playing and acting ok (other than not eating and the occasional trip to the bathroom!) but by late afternoon he was not looking so good. I had to have a friend take Addie to school because just as I was getting everyone ready to go he threw up all over himself! When Daniel got home he took him to the Urgent Care. They said he had a virus. They gave him a pill to stop the vomiting and kept him there for about 30 minutes while Daniel had to give him a dropper full of Pedialyte every 5 minutes. The poor kid was so thirsty he wanted to drink the whole thing! It was a long night and we were praying that he would get better before our trip!

The next day he was doing a little better but I was still so nervous about flying. We packed extra clothes for him and Dia (who had also been a little sick) and got on the plane. Thankfully, everything went fine and we made it there!

I hate packing. Seriously hate it. This was the scene the night before we left. 5 people, 6 bags. Ugh.

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Our flight was at night, I think we took off at 7:30. It meant we were going to get in really late but the plane was really empty so we could spread out!

Addie doing some reading on the emergency procedures before take off.

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By the time we got our luggage it was about midnight. The kids had fallen asleep on the plane and were in no mood to help with suitcases. We rented one of the luggage carts (I didn't know they were $5!). An employee saw us trying to load up all of our bags and asked if we needed help. We said no thanks but the next thing we knew he was walking over to use with a second luggage cart! 

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To get to the rental car place we had to take a bus. By now the kids were a little more awake and super excited to be going on a bus! They jumped on and kept saying how excited they were because they had never been on a bus before.

Good thing the bus was empty because our luggage took up most of the rack!

Daniel must be trying to give them serious instructions here. I don't think they were listening. :)

Did I mention they were excited?

By the time we got the car is was past 12:30 am and we had an hour and a half drive to our hotel. We were all so tired by the time we got there. Everyone went right to sleep!

In the Sink

I try to bathe the kids all together in the tub. I figure water is really expensive here so why fill up the tub more than I have to right? Sometimes though it's just Dia and she is still small enough to sit in the kitchen sink! Here are a few pictures of her just because she is cute and the kids need their own post every now and then right?

LeMay Car Museum

We celebrated Daniel's 30th birthday at the end of February!

We purchased a Groupon awhile ago to the LeMay Car Museum in Tacoma. It was recently built and looked pretty fun. We had a busy morning so we were not able to get to the museum until almost 3 and it closed at 5. So we parked the car, got everyone out, put Dia in the carrier and went inside. Only to find out that the Groupon was for a different LeMay Car Museum! What?! We didn't even know there was another one! The admission to get in without the Groupon was a little steep so we walked back to the car, put everyone back in and drove 20 minutes to the other museum. By the time we got there we only had about an hour to walk around. It ended up not being enough time for Daniel to see all of the cars, but with kids it was perfect!

The entrance to the nice, new, non-groupon museum!

On our drive to the other museum, I got on the website and was reading the history on it. I think this one was actually cooler than the other one because it is old and has history! It was purchased in 1919 and used as a Military boy's school until 1975. Then it was used as a retirement home and convalescent center for the nuns until the late 1980's. After that it was sold. LeMay won the bid because he promised to reserve much of the property as it was!

When we walked in to the front desk area we were greeted by a lady with a familiar voice. After she said hello, she said we looked familiar. Turns out she babysat Addie over the summer when I was working at the Community College a few years ago! Such a small world! It was nice that she knew us though because then they were extra nice and didn't rush us even though we didn't have a lot of time.

So the first room we walked in to (pic. above) was the auditorium. The stage is even still there! We had a tour guide that gave us all kinds of information on the cars and the building.

Then we moved on to the pool area. The pool is under the flooring where Daniel and the kids are standing! In this area they even kept the original shower room (which had a cool pink car parked in it!). The kids liked this area because there were some really small cars, some wagons and boats!

Just their size.

After the pool area we moved on to another room. Here we saw lots of trucks. Daniel's favorites. The tour guide was explaining that this was where the boys would practice shooting! The gun racks were still there and he pointed out all the holes in the walls ans ceilings where the stray bullets went!

Of course Johnny and Addie had picked out their favorite cars. Johnny and a batman car.

Addie and a red high heel car. And Johnny with a creepy guy holding a gun.

I picked out a favorite too. I have no idea what this black car is but it was fancy! And I thought the gasoline sign was funny. How nice would it be if gas was only .33 cents!

By this point the kids were getting bored and there was still a whole other building to see! I sent Daniel off with the tour guide to look at more cars and the kids and I sat in the car.

The other building had rows and rows of cars!

After we left the museum we headed over to Red Robin for some birthday burgers! Yum!! I didn't get any pictures there though. I think Daniel had a good birthday and I am sure we will be visiting the car museum again when we have more time to look around.

Valentines Day

I can't believe I am as far behind on blogging as I am! Valentine's Day was over a month ago and I am just now posting about it. 

I wasn't terribly motivated to come up cute Valentine's for Addie to take to school this year. I almost broke down and just let her pick some out from the store. Almost. Instead we agreed on these cute ones that have  home made trail mix and a printable tag. Yes, I am one of those moms that sent her kid with a bag of treats. But it was just trail mix, nothing crazy!

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After the kids went to bed the night before, I set to work getting things set up. Their bags had been hanging on the backs of their chairs for a little while already. I have to say I was extremely happy that I made the third bag last year when I was making Johnny's. I did not want to have to do that again this year!

Since Addie was little, we've always gotten them balloons!

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For breakfast I made the kids toast and used a cookie cutter to make a heart. (We have been making PB&J sandwiches like this because they love it, so the cookie cutter was already out!).

Of course they were so excited to open their bags to see what was inside.

An Iron Man mask and DVD...

For some reason I didn't get a good picture of Addie with her goodies. She got a DVD and some earrings!

Little Miss got a cute doll! She already has like 10 cute dolls, but this one was too cute to pass up!

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While Addie was at school and the little ones were napping, I got to work setting up the dining room for dinner. Thanks to the Dollar store, we had a festive, fun and cheap display!

They were so excited when they woke up/came home!

My cute Valentines!

After dinner and desert, the kids were super hyped up on sugar. We decided to get the Wii out and let them burn some of it off! First they played Wii Fit and had to jog, then we moved on to Zumba. They kept asking to do more songs! Crazy kids, their dancing makes me laugh!

I recently read a blog post about how holidays have become so crazy and over the top. I totally agree. I can do Christmas, and we do fun things for Easter. But that's about it. This is the first year I decorated like this for Valentine's Day. I am not really in to Valentine's Day myself. Daniel and I don't get each other anything. Although I do love conversation hearts! But I wanted to have a fun, special day for the kids. I want them to grow up knowing that Valentine's Day shouldn't just be about a special boy or girl. Valentine's Day in high school was ridiculous, with everyone carrying around huge stuffed animals and presents. I can't imagine what it will be like when my kids are teenagers! So, I like the idea of having a family love day. They don't need a boyfriend or girlfriend (although I do hope they find someone when they are old enough that will make them feel special on V-Day!).

Ballet and Reading

Dia always has this 'huh?' look on her face.

Johnny is always the cheesy face.

And Addie gives us a silly smile that looks like she is in pain. 

I love my 3 kiddos!

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Addie is working on reading in school. This is not her strong area. When she gets home she doesn't want to work on it and often says "I don't know" when we try to ask her questions (and I don't blame her since she just came home from school, why would she want to keep working on school stuff?). Sometimes she brings home a paper and can read it very well! I'm looking forward to her reading to me and her siblings, even if it isn't for awhile!

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Addie and Johnny are constantly dancing. Addie is obsessed with ballet! I was able to get some video of her. Sorry for the messy living room and all the talking going on. :)

The Good Deed Card

We were having trouble getting the kids (mostly Johnny) to go to bed at night. He would not stay in his bed and stand at the door staring out. It's a glass door so it was pretty creepy when I glanced over and saw a very pale little person blankly staring at me! We were also having lots of tantrums and I wanted a way to get the kids to want to help and be more cooperative. So I turned to Pinterest. I found these punch cards here. I saw a lot of chore ideas but I wanted more than that. I want to encourage the kids to be nicer to each other, offer to help with Dia, clear their dishes after dinner, etc.

 After I printed them all out, we sat down together as a family and talked about love at home and how we can show love to each other. And how to do service and be helpful. Together we made a list of things that are considered 'good deeds' and will earn punches. Since the kids made the list I figured they would be more likely to follow it! We Daniel picked up some jars from Ikea to hold their money and we hung it all in the kitchen!

When they fill up a punch card I give them the option of getting money or a prize. I was originally going to just do money because they are always asking me to buy them things and I always say they need to save their money. Except they never get money so how are they supposed to save it? Anyway, the grocery store was having a clearance sale and I picked up a bunch of super hero stuff for Johnny so I decided on the option of money or a prize.

I was surprised how motivated Johnny has been! He filled up his first card with in 2 days. And the next one like 2 days later! Addie took a little bit longer but she is doing great too! Johnny has stayed in his bed at night ever since we started this. Sometimes I have to remind them that if they want a punch then they need to do the things that I have asked. Often they ask to help me with laundry or dinner. Sometimes I ask if they want to earn a punch by helping me and they say no thanks. And that's fine. I am hoping they learn to want to help and see that it's not that hard to help out a little here and there.

First punch card filled up!

So excited!

Second card.

We will see how long we can keep this up!