white witch

*Last night Chris and I were watching an episode of Parenthood where one of the characters leaves for college. We both found ourselves thinking down the road and how SAD, SAD, SAD we will be when our kids move out. Sweet moments like today seemed that much sweeter. Cam decided to display two Lego sets and have neighborhood kids vote on their favorite. Next to him was Kendall, who decided to sell/trade some of her toys. Love it.

*Today I subbed 5th grade and they told me I looked like the white witch from The Chronicles of Narnia. Hmmm....not sure if I'm supposed to be flattered. :)

*Our family has officially discovered Moose Tracks ice cream. I might have had it when I was a kid, but I must have forgotten how yummy it was!

*The kids and I had dentist appointments a couple weeks back. I am downright angry at the outcome and too embarrassed to write how many cavities Cam has. The fact that I still brush his teeth (yes, I know he's a little old for me to be doing it) is what is so maddening. The reason I brush them is so cavities wouldn't be an issue! Ugh.

another hike!

This morning Cam and I introduced my dad to Cactus to Clouds. We also wanted to extend our hiking time in preparation for the 10 hour hike to the tram Cam has planned for the future. However, he might be rethinking that length of hike after today. :)

We hiked four total hours. While he had a great time and always insisted on being the leader, he was pooped by the end (as were we!). When we finally reached the bottom he said, "Um....I'm not quite sure about hiking to the tram". :)

When we got to the bottom, my dad treated us to Starbucks. An iced coffee and a chair to sit in really hit the spot! And my boy really deserved that huge chocolate chip cookie. :)

Chris and Kendall enjoyed a nice morning filled with breakfast at Panera, browsing the toy aisles at Target, and a board game marathon. :)

ms. gaby

Right after Cameron turned three years old, he began attending a preschool class which, to this day, we feel made more impact on his development than anything else. His teacher was named Gaby and she was and is our angel. The progress he made while in that class was amazing and I don't know if he would be where he is today had it not been for her and her staff.

We try to visit Gaby once a year. Today we went to see her and Cameron was quite the chatter box, which she loved. He told her everything from his love of hiking to reciting his testimony from his baptism. It was so neat to see her and we will continue to visit her for as long as she is around. :)

numbers

3: Hours I spent last week on the phone trying to get our health insurance figured out (still haven't). I'm so fed up I want to quit...but I can't because it's health insurance, afterall. :(

1: New hike we tried today (the kids had the day off). I didn't want to brave the 90 degree heat in Palm Springs, so we found one in Moreno Valley that was actually pretty fun!

0: New recipes I've tried lately. Dinners have been boring.

2: Seasons of Gilmore Girls I've completed. Man, I love that show.

4: Number of toppings I always get when we go for frozen yogurt (Butterfinger, Oreo, Reeses (cups), cheesecake)

2: Number of times I'll go to Legoland this year. The first was with my sister's kids and I recently found out Cam's class is going for a field trip. In all honesty, I really would prefer not to chaperone, but he is excited about me coming. I also am looking forward to the drive with just the two of us (and glad we don't have to ride the bus that whole way!).

1: Movie in a theater I will probably see all year...and I'm certain it will be Jurassic World. I'm SOOOO excited.

40: Minutes of homework a day Cam now has to do completely online. He loves that it is on the computer now, but he would much rather HE choose the ratio of math to Language Arts, instead of it being equal. :)

Sidenote: After our hike today I asked Cam if he thought he could sit in the car without putting his dirty shoes on the back of the front seat. In a completely serious tone he said, "Mom, I think that is a challenge an 8 year old can take on". Ha!

birthday

Yesterday was my birthday. I wanted a relaxing morning of not doing things like food prep, cleaning, etc., so I decided to go for a walk since it was such a nice day. 

Later I met my mom and sister for lunch at a darling restaurant in Yucaipa called Granlund's.

That evening we dropped the kids off at my sister's for a cousin slumber party. Chris and I then headed out to dinner to officially celebrate. 

We had such a nice night and the kids had a great time. I was worried about my kids' ungodly wake up times, however they did a great job at staying quiet, especially considering Cam was up at 5:00am and her girls didn't wake until 6:30am. :)

music

This morning I was cleaning the kitchen floor (hate!!) and decided I needed a little music. My go-to for cheerful music is my Pandora station entitled...yep...Debbie Gibson. Haha! I love 80's music and putting her as my "search" for Pandora gets me loads of great stuff. :)

I got to thinking about what I listened to pre-Pandora. These four albums probably rank at the top as far as how many hundreds of times they were played. :)

This was a favorite of my family.

This takes me back to college. :)

This was another family favorite and played over and over and over.

This just has great 80's music.

Currently we listen to:

Car with kids: KSGN (Christian radio station) or old VBS CD's.

Car without kids: Dr. Laura podcasts

At home: Pandora's Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin "stations"

tackling the hike

Yesterday morning Cam and I went on the same hike he had done several weeks back with Chris (Cactus to Clouds). He often talks about doing the entire hike (10+ hours all the way to the top of the Palm Springs tram). After running into a couple gentlemen on the trail who were actually going all the way, they encouraged Cam and told him they felt he would be ready in two years. After that pep talk, Cam talked of nothing else. :)

I must say that if we really are going to tackle this hike in a couple years, I might need to get back on the exercise wagon. Wow, did I huff and puff yesterday! :) I also told Cam we need to build up to it and keep increasing our distance each time we go (we are set to go again in a couple weeks with my dad). And lastly I want to find people who have actually done it and ideally have one of them accompany us.

This sign doesn't exactly ease my concerns about it. :)

This hiking book (where we first discovered the hike) accompanies many of our outings...like to dinner last night. :)

a few food things

*My sister and mom cannot understand how I can keep a Costco sized bag of chocolate chips in my pantry without demolishing them. For some reason, despite my love for dessert, chocolate chips just don't do it for me. What ARE hard for me to keep around (and so therefore are usually non-existent at our house)?

Just plain, non-flavored pita chips are deadly.

I'll make myself a cup of hot chocolate purely so I can spray A LOT of this on top. My Skinny Cow concoctions practically double in size by spraying this over the top.

Yogurt covered pretzels are just too yummy. We buy them on Winco trips.

*On Easter I made an ice cream pie. I decided to experiment with the crust and tried a chocolate chip cookie crust. It was SO good and such a yummy change from regular Oreo or graham cracker.

*Today we went to Costco. I had decided we needed a break from Pirate Booty (that could actually go on my, "can't keep around the house" list), however I caved and bought something a little too similar, Boom Chicka Pop (kettle corn). Quite tasty. :)

*Opal apples (best apples ever) are on sale at Staters this week.

easter

Friday night was a very special night. Our church had a baptism at their Good Friday service and our little guy got baptized. He had practiced his testimony a lot and did amazing. He was clear, loud, and it was so meaningful to hear his sweet voice talk about when he became a Christian. It was especially neat to have my parents, Chris' parents, and Chris' brother's family all in attendance. :)

Right after Cameron came out of the water, I was waiting by the side with a towel. As I was wrapping it around him he said, "Well! There is no turning back now!!" So Cam. :)

Easter morning started by going through our Resurrection Eggs (plastic eggs with verses and small symbols inside telling the story of the crucifixion and resurrection). The kids were really into them, which was neat to see. :)

After getting them in their Easter clothes, we headed off to church.

After church we went to my parents' for lunch. We had a great time sitting outside. The kids got into a "zone" inside and allowed us to talk for quite a while. :)

p.s. On an unrelated note, whenever I sub I always love getting fun texts throughout the day to keep me going (especially when I have little stinker Jr. High kids!). Yesterday Chris took Cam/Kendall out to lunch and I got this text:

"Kendall just had some soda and burped. It made her eyes water and she said, "Daddy, that was a dangerous burp!"

vegas getaway

We got back from Vegas yesterday and had a great time. We did exactly what I was looking forward to...eating out, shopping, reading, and sleeping (one morning I slept in until 8:00!!!!). :)

The first night we went to our favorite, The Cheesecake Factory. We always like to go to the one in Caesar's Palace because it's fun to walk around beforehand.

We got a piece of cheesecake to take back to our room. I think I've decided that the Oreo Dream Extreme is officially my favorite dessert of all time (that is a big deal to move to the top of MY list!).

On Thursday I dropped Chris off at a golf course while I went shopping for a few hours. It was fun to take my time and go into any store and spend as much time as I wanted there. Mid-way through I stopped at Starbucks and read a magazine I had stashed in my purse. It was such a relaxing time and I even got two super cute shirts from Old Navy! :)

That night after dinner we found a frozen custard shop (wasn't too impressed) and headed back to our room. We had brought along our Roku box so we watched an episode of Bloodline (yikes...quite addicting) before heading to bed.

I must admit that I get a tad anxious anytime we leave the kids because I just don't like to be away from them. However once we are to our destination and I hear what a great time they are having, I have no problem relaxing. :) It's also fun to get texts about the fun times they are having, like going to Oak Glen for lunch after school one day. :) Thank you, Debbie and Wayne, for taking such great care of our kids!

And the icing on the cake of our mini vacation? When we returned I discovered Chris' mom had deep cleaned a ton of stuff in my kitchen (inside and outside of my cabinets, toaster, etc.) as well as did some major weed digging and flower planting. Wow. :)