Visit from Grandma Lauralee

The kids had Spring Break at the same time. My mom was able to come visit- we had a lot of fun. We wish we could see her more often, way more often. The kids loved having her around- one more grandma to spoil them- they loved it.

Golf

Did a little miniature golf with our little buddies. The last shot was my favorite part of the day!

Dear Fish Number 4

Dear Fish #4-

You will be the last fish adored by this household. So far you have been man handled and sloshed around- I change your water faithfully and almost poop free- and fed. Please don't die- well not for a little while-until E is tired of you- then- by all means- please die.

Love,
Me

Beach

We went to the beach over our little Spring Break- perfect beach day. Elliott hasn't ever LOVED the beach- he tolerates it- and then when it is almost time to go he starts to really enjoy himself and the water. Happens just that way- EVERY TIME!

We were out at the tide pools scouting for treasure and creatures. Out of the blue Elliott takes my calculator out of his pocket and says:

I just need to weigh some of these fish for a second.

What the heck?

He has recently started to really use his pockets. He takes things from everywhere. So far he has pilfered from- school, Shelly's house, and Grandma's house. I am waiting for the day he decides to use the pockets to "borrow" something from the store.

Disco

Give the first one a few seconds to get into the dancing. Enjoy!

Our New Pets

Meet our new pets. Well- let's just say we are down to 1- meet Pluto (named after the planet).
We started out with Pluto and Polly. We got home with our 12 cents each fish and our $20 bowl, rocks, food, etc. put the little ones into their bowl and within- oh- minutes Polly was floating. Woops. Elliott was a little shocked so we went and got Penelope (all named by Elliott) and 2 days later she was dead too. Woops, again.

Pluto is going like 2 weeks strong. Elliott loves the fish. He has asked these two questions multiple times:

Can I please just get him out and play with him and hold him?

This summer when we are swimming in the pool can we take Pluto with us and play in the pool together?

So sweet. They are way more work than I thought too. I clean the bowl every few days or it stinks and gets cloudy. Ergh, pets. I am not a pet person.

Nature Day

Elliott and I have been enjoying our beautiful weather. I LOVE living here! Right in the middle of our little city we have this beautiful Nature Center- you'd never know it was as big and beautiful as it is- we love going there and can spend hours playing in the little creek, looking at the flowers, following lizards and going into their indoor center. It is awesome!

For the love of Star Wars....

When is it appropriate to hear your 5 year old say-

"Assassin"

I guess when it is accompanied by "Droid".

Assassin Droid

Something I hear multiple times a day.

Karate Boy

Elliott got his first stripe on his belt Friday last. We are proud of our little Karate kid. This has been a VERY good thing for him. Boost of self confidence! Way to go El-dogs!

Beautiful Weekend

Weekend last was so BEAUTIFUL here! It is February but the weather was a perfect 70-80 degrees. The crew above went on a 7 mile bike ride- all the kids did the whole ride. We were so proud of them. I had my trusty steed- the Zip bike- thank heavens. But with E still on training wheels I got plenty of pedaling in on my own- which was awesome too. It was a great Saturday- great day.

I LOVE living here in California. Years ago, someone asked me why I would want to live in California. Where to begin....- let's start with the weather- you can probably tell just from the pictures why I'll start there. I'll touch on other reasons another day!




On Monday we took the kids out fishing. It was really fun. They had a great time- we caught puny little mackerels but the kids didn't care- they were loving every minute of it- until it came time to touch the fish. They weren't too into that! It was another beautiful day and I loved every minute with these guys.

Sensing a theme

This is how E plays Dart Tag. He doesn't want to get hit- so he suits up. Craig got the Dart Tag from Elliott for Christmas and we have been trying so hard to get him to play it with us- finally after Craig and his brilliant plan to suit up- we have a dart tagger.





Elliott and Craig out scoping their hunt in the backyard. To me it looks like way more of a gun than a pellet gun. *No animals were harmed in the shooting- just a metal target thingy. However, I wish the neighbors porch light were harmed.

Dear Valentine's of mine....

I am the luckiest lady in the world.

My two guys-
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Max's visit....

Elliott's preschool has a "Star of the Week" each week of school. There are so few kids that they end up being the star multiple times throughout the year.

When they are the star they get to take home a bucket (in which was conveniently placed empty right by me the other night when I had the flu and I vomited in it- Thank You Max.) with a few changes of clothes and hats and a little book to write down the adventures you had together.
Elliott really could care less about Max. He takes him right out of the bucket does like one thing with him and then discards him the rest of the week.

Played a game of football and then he decided that Max needed to go to sleep- and was that way until I moved him. All of his stuffed animals are always sleeping. Funny kid!

Burrito- no good.

If you know my little guy- you know that he is one of the most cautious people. He takes his sweet time doing everything- he does NOT want to get hurt.

Well, we have this game called Burrito. Pretty self explanatory- wrap him up tight in a blanket like a burrito and Craig throws him on the sofa and rolls him around- he rarely gets up and goes anywhere- however night before last he decided to get up and walk away from Craig, he was laughing so uncontrollably that he biffed it big time. He was wrapped up so tight he had no hands so he couldn't catch himself. Man, it was a bloody sight. I am not used to this stuff.

The best was Elliott's comments during the action:

Ow- ooooooooooo am I bleeding? I'm bleeding, mom, dad I'm bleeding. When is it going to stop? I'm bleeding.

He was way more concerned with the blood than the actual pain of smashing his face right on the wood floor.

Karate

That's what he said-

Today two of E's best:

After- literally ripping the toilet paper holder out of the wall- whilst throwing the worst fit I've seen in months Elliott yells at me:

I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm repenting.

Then after loosing some serious media time- (note: he has been battling some sort of stomach something- so the "belly" has been on the mind heavily...) he says:

My belly feels like watching a movie.

Then later- knowing I have a little sewing project in the works:

My belly feels like sewing.

Seriously- he works it like no other. He did not get to watch a movie. He did get to sew!

Preschool Outing

We had a little preschool outing to ride the ferry- back and forth and then do a little beach clean-up. It was awesome- there was hardly any trash. Yes, I know it is January- so it's a given that there wouldn't be as much as in, say August, however, there wasn't much- it was great. Isn't it beautiful? We have had such nice weather the last few days. I LOVE the rain- but love a good sunny day after the rain. Hopefully we'll get a little bit more of both in the next week or two.

Do you ever pity yourself?

Do you sometimes find yourself pitying your mere existence? That possibly there must be more in store for you? That you can't possibly live another day as yourself? Annoyed at the hand that was dealt to you? Why in the world would I have chosen this...- type of scenario?


Well, I do. If you can't admit that you do this once in awhile- you're in denial.


I have found great comfort in following a life of another soul- one who has WAY MORE on her plate than I- one who humbles me and makes me remember the GREAT PLAN that is this life. She is truly amazing- one day I shall meet her and I will have a MILLION things to talk with her about.

So if you ever find that you feel as I have- why don't you explore HER great journey and put yourself in another's shoes- then decide if you'll trade your existence for another.

I KNOW that our trial are custom made- they often, TOTALLY SUCK but they are ours. It all comes down to how we choose to live through them.

I just can't help myself-

These are the newest little additions in my life!

No- they aren't mine- I can only wish at this point in my life for this to ever happen again for us- but- close enough. My sweet friends Karlea and Don have been so blessed to adopt these little twin babies! One boy- Ian and One girl- Isla. They are SERIOUSLY perfect- SERIOUSLY- PERFECT. I inspected quite well- perfect little toes, fingers, perfect round heads, perfect little 6 pounds of perfect baby. Did I say that they were PERFECT???

I'm lucky enough to have such a good friend who shares the same life stories as I do. Adoption is a miracle. Those around us know and have seen the miracle but there are very few that get to have it happen to them and live the life- Elliott gets to grow up with close friends- Matthew and Conner (Karlea's other little boys) who have also been adopted. (Matthew is actually why we are in the Karate class we are in- to be with him.) I am so very blessed to have met and gotten to know Karlea- well before we too would adopt- I had no idea- but I KNOW she was put into my life way ahead of time to be there for me and help me through something that I could not have gone through without her. I consider she and Don and her little ones Matthew and Conner- and now Ian and Isla some of my most treasured tender mercies in my life. It is unexplainable how blessed I am and how well taken care of by my Heavenly Father I am.
So, if I have no more little ones- I rest assured that I get to spend some good quality time with these two new little miracles.
Even Elliott is stoked for them- it is amazing how at 5 years only he grasps little parts of how lucky we are as a family to be together and have each other.
Yesterday- WAS A GOOD DAY!

Christmas- I'm a little over it!

I have somehow lost my Christmas photos. We got a new computer and I feel like I am re-learning everything- programs seem to have changed. I'm sure it's me. Anyway- It was a really lovely Christmas. Elliott was sick but other than that it was beautiful and special. Sorry- however, I'm sick of Christmas posts and I imagine so are all of you!