Jedi Training Academy!

Our last trip to Disneyland (3 Yrs ago) the boys were just dying to get to be a Jedi for the Jedi Training Academy Show. We went to the show 2 or 3 times to try and get them the chance, with no luck. This time it really paid off to have my dad there. He was totally jumping up and down, pointing at the boys trying to get them picked to do it, and they both got up there and had a great time.

Here are the boys before the start of the show. We got there close to 30 min. early so we could be in the very front- thus have a better chance to be chosen.

Nick got picked at the very beginning and boy was he a very serious Jedi in Training, the kid didn't crack a smile the whole time he was up there. I wasn't even sure the kid was having fun, but when it was all over and I asked him if it was fun he verified it was.

Alex got picked at the very end- I was starting to sweat it. I was afraid he was going to be so disappointed if he didn't get to do it also. He looked like he was having a blast.

Here are both of them fighting Darth Vader, that was really cool. They both agreed that was the funnest part.
So they both earned there Jedi Master Certificates and it was one of the highlights of the trip.

Kate and the Disney Princesses!

The cutest thing ever was watching Kate wait so patiently in the worst of all the lines we had to stand in to meet a princess. She was so adorable, she would hug them and blow them kisses and it was the sweetest, cutest thing ever. The princesses were by far the most important thing for Kate. She also had to get her face painted. One our first day in the park my mom and I took Kate to see the princesses and when we left she saw a little girl getting her face painted. Needless to say that was all Kate could talk about that night and the next day, so I promised her that first thing on our last day there we would go get her face painted and we did.

Kate and Cinderella!

Isn't this unicorn mask so adorable, she kept saying to me, " Don't I look so pretty!". Kate you are always pretty your mother.


Snow White and Kate!

Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and Kate!

We even got the boys to go with Kate to see Jasmine and Aladdin. Aladdin asked the boys if they were Kate's bodyguards, It was so cute. Alex was totally not excited about it, but in the end he decided to cooperate. Thanks Alex.

Belle and Kate!
Kate was so adorable with the princesses, it was definitely a highlight of the trip to see her so in awe of them and so excited to give them a hug and talk to them.

Ariel ( the Little Mermaid) and Kate!

Disneyland!!!

Our family went to Disneyland the end of October and had a wonderful time. We invited my mom and dad to go with us and I really think the kids enjoyed having Grandma and Grandpa there. We totally ran them ragged but I think they had a great time. The kids loved the rides and we all enjoyed all the wonderful Halloween decorations at both Disneyland and California Adventure. Disneyland always goes all out, no cutting corners for them.
The boys loved the Grizzly River Rapids and rode it several times. I think they wanted to get as soaked as possible.

We all love the new Toy Story Mania Ride, it was very fun and we all could ride it so that was a big plus. You collect points by playing these 3-D arcade games as you go through the ride. It was so fun, I could have ridden it all day long. We also like to see who could get the highest score. By the end Bryan and my dad were by far the best and they wouldn't let us forget it.

The teacups was Kate's favorite ride and she always insisted they get in a pink one. You should have seen her face it was priceless. She had the biggest grin ever. Of course Dad did the spinning and according to Kate he needed to go much, much faster.

We were also very lucky to have our niece Whitney drive up from San Diego one of the days. We miss her and loved having her spend the day with us.

We enjoyed the awesome Halloween Screams Fireworks show, the Disney parade and the Pixar Parade. I think Kate really enjoyed the parades, you should have seen how cute she was waving at the characters and dancing, it was truly priceless.

The boys got to finally attend the Jedi Training Academy and fight Darth Vader, how cool is that. It was definitely one of their highlights of the trip.

This is a Butterfly!

Here is a very funny and cute story courtesy of Kate.

We were in Disneyland last month (more to come on that) and while watching T.V. Kate and Nick were trying to decide what iCarly was dressed up as in a Halloween Special. Kate said "She is a bee, Nick." To which Nick replied, "No, she is a butterfly!"
While this conversation was taking place my dad was showing my mom this museum information in a magazine and Kate asked my dad if she could see it for a minute.
She took the magazine and said to Nick, "This is a butterfly" ( it was an artists rendering of a butterfly) and then she pointed to the television and said " that is a bee." Needless to say my parents thought is was hysterical and so did I.

My Lego Boy!! Nick!

Nicklas loves, loves, loves Legos. The kid can incredibly assemble 400 piece Lego set completely on his own. I find it so impressive that not only he has the patience to spend a couple hours doing it, but that he figures it all out so easily. Anyway the kid got a ton of Lego's for his birthday last month and quickly put them all together by himself (occasionally his friend Rhett helped) and he needed absolutely no assistance from his dad.

First Days of School!!

This year is a little strange, for the first time all of my children will be in school and all of them will be on completely different schedules. So far it is adding a lot of variety to my daily stay at home mom routine and I am so far enjoying it. Kate goes to preschool in the morning and Nick goes to Kindergarten in the afternoon which allows me a little alone time with both of them. That is so nice. All of them have fabulous teachers and I already know we are going to have a great school year!!











Alex is in the 4th grade this year, I seriously can't believe that I have a 4th grader already. I am feeling little old. Anyhow, he loves school and enjoys getting to see his friends every day. He is very much a social child.











Nicklas started Kindergarten and is really liking it.
He loves going to school everyday and learning new
things. He can't wait to read.








Kate, on her first day of Preschool. She was so excited, she
is glad to go to school like her brothers. It is super cute. Her
backpack is almost as big as her and is a princess backpack she picked out herself.

Palm Springs Air Museum

Following are a ton of photos and memories from a great week long vacation we took with my parents to Palm Springs the first week of August. My parents were kind enough to invite us to come with them and use one of their time shares for the week- it was awesome. We stayed in a really nice Marriott timeshare and enjoyed watching movies, swimming, visiting a couple museums and hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa- it was a fabulous and relaxing vacation. Thanks again Mom and Dad, we had a great time with you and can't wait to go back again.


We went to the Palm Springs Air Museum and it is filled with airplanes from WWII. They even had a small model replica of Pearl Harbor that had lights and told you the order of the attack on Pearl Harbor. It told you the damage on each ship, etc. It was really cool.

Alex standing in front of a P51 Mustang.

This is where the gunner sat on the B-25 Mitchell. A veteran that was a gunner was there on the day we visited giving the tour of this airplane. The space was very tight and you can see that the area the gunner was in was very small, but the glass and metal surrounding him was bullet proof and he could release directly out of it if he had to parachute out.


Kate and her Dad.

The boys got to go inside and tour a B-25 Mitchell. ( No, I do not remember the names of these planes, but Alex does. - that kid has an incredible memory.)

Grandma and Kate looking pretty as a picture.

Swimming, Swimming and more swimming!!!

Palm Springs is very hot in August- every day we were there the temperature was over 110 Degrees. Are we crazy? No way. We spent at least 2 hours a day at the pool (in the pool) and it was a blast. The kids months of swimming lessons paid off, and we all had a wonderful time playing in the pool. Grandpa had as much fun as the little ones- they played catch and did trick flips into the pool while catching the ball. Kate had a great time with the water wings on and her life vest. We really enjoyed just hanging out together and playing. It was my favorite part of the entire vacation - and my kids loved it also. Grandpa getting ready to make a throw.


Kate showing Grandma how she floats on her back.

Alex doing one of his cool trick catches.

Nick with trick catch.

General Patton Museum

As part of our fun in Palm Springs we drove about 45 minutes away to the General Patton Museum- it is literally in the middle of no where, but while touring found out it was where they trained soldiers for WWII. I know this vacation is sounding very much like a history lesson, but I happen to have a 9 yr. old son that is enthralled with WWII. He loves to read about it, watch movies about it, ask his mother who has no clue, dozens of questions about it. You have to take advantage of opportunities to feed the mind at this age- they sometimes are hard to find.

I really enjoyed this museum- it is so interesting to see all the WWII memorabilia- the place was packed with info and artifacts. You can learn so much interesting stuff.

Statue of General Patton and his Dog ( don't recall his name- sorry -Alex probably does).

This map is printed on silk to help withstand the weather. The green item on it is a clicker- the Army Airborne used this device when being dropped into enemy territory. They would click once and if a friendly was near they would click twice.

This is a wall left from a chapel that was at the Desert Training Base here, with

Grandma and Kate posing for me.

Here are the boys in front of one of many awesome tanks they had there on display.

Kate's favorite way to visit a museum.

The USS Midway

The last part of our trip we went to San Diego for the day and spent around 4 hours on the USS Midway- it was an Air Craft Carrier, now it is a museum. My boys thought it was really cool. They had a ton of planes on deck you could check out up close and you could go through the entire carrier and see where the crew slept, ate, got medical care, the mail room, etc. It was awesome. I would highly recommend it to anyone- well worth the time. We could

have easily spent another hour or two there if we had the time.

Above are Nick and Alex getting briefed in the briefing room (remember Top Gun).

Here are the kids listening to the prerecorded tour- you would enter the number for the area you were at and get a detailed tour about it.

Above is a jet all the kids got a chance to sit in.

This is a photo up by the control tower with the plane deck below. Kate was not tall enough to go on this tour and she was very ticked about it. (Luckily for us - my parents had gone before so they entertained Kate while Bryan and I took the boys).

Alex got to demonstrate steering the boat while the tour guide explained all the men that worked in this area of the control tower.

This was a really fun day and it is incredible to see - it makes you very grateful for the men and women that serve in our military and live on these aircraft carriers for up to 3 months at a time.

San Diego Fun!

While in San Diego we took the kids to a San Diego Padres Baseball Game... It was pretty fun-those huge stadiums are so cool. If our kids could have made it to the ninth inning the Padres even won- on a grand slam at that- Bryan and I were way sad we left at the end of the eighth to say the least. We had a great visit with our niece Whitney and her husband Garrett and it was a fun part of the trip.

Nick and Alex watching the game.

Myself and our niece Whitney who lives in Oceanside now!

Whitney and Kate at Breakfast at this restaurant at the end of the Pier- it was a great
view of the ocean- very pretty!




Whitney's husband Garrett and Alex ( you can see the ocean behind them).

Here is a picture of us on the pier. The smudge mark is on every single photo we took

there. I am very sad about it.

Cute Kate!!

Adventures with Kate #4

While we were saying prayers a few nights ago this is what transpired:

Kate was saying the prayer and I was helping her with what to say.

Kate: Dear Heavenly Father.

Mom: Thank you for our many blessings.

Kate: Thanks for our blessings.

Mom: Bless us we will sleep well.

Kate: Bless we will sleep well.

Mom: Bless me(Meaning Kate) I will stay in my bed.

Kate: Bless mommy and daddy they will stay in their bed.

Very funny- huh! She is just too smart for her own good. She looked at me and knew exactly what I meant and yet she had to be a smarty pants and change it around.. This girl is going to cause me much grief--- I can already tell. Thank heavens for all the laughs she provides as well.

Baseball !!

Nick's baseball season just ended also. He loved playing coach pitch this year- much more exciting than t-ball. He never wanted to miss a game or a practice- unlike last year. He is not a bad player when he is paying attention. He can hit the ball rather good and had a few really nice catches and throws to try to get a player out.

He is so cute to watch- I think he could really get to be a good player- he has a really good throw and seems to take it serious enough. Guess we will see if he is still interested come next year. I hope he is.

Soccer!!

So it has been another fun season of soccer. To start off Alex made his first goal, followed by a few more. He has become quite a good little player ( I know I am his mom and so that's not saying much). He gets in there with the much bigger kids and fights for that ball, and his passing and ball handling has gotten much better. He really enjoyed himself and played as hard as I have ever seen him play any sport. I am very proud of him and glad he had such a great time.