memorial weekend

Last Friday we headed up north for the long weekend. The kids had been counting down the days and our time there didn't disappoint. :)

For my birthday a while back, the only thing I asked Chris for was to coordinate a girls day with my friend, Jana. He put it together and let her plan what we would do. We spent a couple hours at a coffee shop, went to the mall, and then went out to lunch. It was SUCH a fun day and I loved spending such a long chunk of time with her. :)

After lunch, she treated me to a few flavors of macrons at a nearby bakery. 

Chris' dad helped the kids build and paint bird houses.

On Sunday we had a BBQ to celebrate Kendall's birthday. She had REALLY been looking forward to this part of the weekend. :)

 Cameron and Grandma W.

Putting together a new Lego Friends set.

Here we are on our last night. To say we ate well there would be an understatement. Five flavors of homemade ice cream will give you an idea. :)

insomnia

*An excerpt from Kendall's bedtime prayer the other night:

"Dear Jesus, thank you for all the things you do for us and all the things we do for you. Some people do things, like buy road atlases. Thank you for the Holy Spirit, and God, and Jesus. They are three, but one. They are also two..."

I was quite speechless. :)

*Today I subbed middle school and had a pretty good day except for the last period, which was one for the record books. Horrible. Horrible. I found it funny that my kids were SOOO into asking all sorts of questions:

-Mom, what did your face look like when you were firm with the boy?
-Can you say what you said exactly in the way you said it?
-Did he cry?

And the questions continued... :)

*I told Chris I was kind of looking forward to his 8:00 softball game tonight because that meant Bachelorette time for me!! I tend to skip the limo exit scenes. Just plain awkward.

*We are going up north this weekend and are giving Kendall a second birthday celebration with Chris' parents. She has requested vanilla cake and I'm thinking of decorating it with strawberries, like the one below. And I, of course, will pluck those strawberries right off my slice. :)

*Story behind the picture: This was taken the day after my first night battling insomnia. The previous night I literally did not sleep at all. I know it's hard to fathom...it certainly was for me. I still am not sure why it started but I struggled with it for about 9 months. I will say that was the hardest, darkest period of my life. Sleep colors everything. I still, to this day, can't read articles about sleep because it triggers thoughts/feelings that I just don't like.

*My new favorite snack: Cheez-it's and pretzels together, in the same bite.

snipits from our weekend

Saturday we took a trip to IKEA. The kids just love it there.

That night Cameron and I had a Harry Potter movie date. I'm so sad that we only have one book left...

While we watched the movie, Kendall and Chris had a date at In&Out. She really needed some sleep on the drive there so she could talk a mile a minute once they arrived. :)

 This morning we went to a different church to listen to a friend of Chris' preach. It was a family service with the kids accompanying us. It was a good message, but got a little long toward the end for the kids. Cameron leaned over and whispered, "Mom, how much longer will this be? No offense to the people that work here." :)

After church we went out to the desert. We brought along Kendall's skates and Cam's bike.

I just finished packing the kids' lunchboxes for tomorrow. I'm starting to REALLY look forward to school ending if only to not have lunchbox duty!!! :)

*Pizza topping: Just cheese. Most all pepperoni is too spicy. The only exception to this cheese preference is the Brando at Gourmet Pizza Shoppe. :)

*Recent recipe tried: (I should also say ONLY recent recipe tried... still in a rut!) Creamy Tomato Chicken Pasta. It was pretty good, but Cam and I actually found it a tad spicy.

*Highlight of your week so far: This morning I woke Kendall and decided that one of my favorite things is to go and wake her. There is just something so sweet about waking up a groggy, snuggled up kiddo. 

*Book currently reading: I'm going to be honest and say that I'm really not reading anything. I can't seem to find a book I like. I guess my answer to this could be Harry Potter. We are hoping to be done with the 6th book this weekend so we can watch the movie.

*What you are doing right now: I'm quite content. I'm blog hopping in the recliner while Kendall watches Princess Diaries. Chris just took Cam to Taekwando. This is Cam's fourth day in a row. I LOVE how into it he is. LOVE it.

*Last clothing item you bought: Well, I didn't buy this, but the kids helped Chris pick it out for me for Mother's Day. They did well!

*Your favorite workout: Hmm...I'm still searching high and low for motivation to actually start working out again. :(

mother's day

I had such a fun Mother's Day weekend. It started out on Friday with a little celebration in Kendall's class. She was so excited for this.

The next day was a special Mother's Day class with Cameron at his Taekwando studio. He was anxious for me to, "Get in shape for our hiking". I told him that one class does not get one in shape, but he was still quite excited. :)

After the class, I rushed home to change and picked up Kendall for our Mother Daughter Tea at church. We had a fun time sitting with my sister, her girls, and my mom. :)

Yesterday we went to Knott's Berry Farm with my whole family. We had gone in December and had so much fun that we decided to go again. The kids had a BLAST, as did the adults.

We ended the night at Portillo's for dinner. We introduced my family to the chocolate cake shake and they (especially my dad!) agreed that it's something everyone should try at least once. :)

our little girl is 6

Our little girl celebrated a birthday this past week. She literally had been counting down the days for a long time. We kept up the tradition of filling her room the night before with balloons. I walked in at 5:50am the next morning to this :)

That evening my family came over. Kendall had requested lemon cake and I decided to do it in the shape of a roller skate this year since that was her number one item on her birthday list. :)

Here she is about to open said roller skates. :)

My parents had brought over a pinata. :)

 It was quite cold outside!

I think Kendall felt very special and celebrated! I seriously don't know what I would do without her. She is the most fun, adorable, funny, amazing little girl. I just love her so much it hurts. :)

p.s. I thought Cameron's prayer during lunch that day was just too sweet and so, "Cam":

Dear Jesus, thank you for my wondrous sister's birthday and that her endless love is never ending.

p.p.s. I finally tried the S'mores Frappuccino. I got it without the chocolate layer (so as not to be too sweet). Verdict? Awesome. I would definitely get it again and probably will before this Happy Hour deal ends. :)

bike ride

*Chris sent me this pic the other day. I must admit it is quite funny, but it in no way will decrease the number of big bows I put in Kendall's hair. I LOVE her bows. :)

*I feel like I'm getting close to working out again. I'm not sure what I want to do, but I do know I want to start something because I would really like to participate in a bike ride my dad recently completed. It was called the Rosarita Ensenada 50 Mile Bike Ride. Yep, my 72 year old dad just road 50 miles! :) He wants to do it again and I would love to join him. However I'm in no where near the shape to even attempt something like that!

Here is his group before the ride:

*I'm debating trying the new Smores Frappuchino. It looks amazing, but almost TOO sweet. I just learned that they are offering half priced drinks from 3:00pm-5:00pm for the next several days (for "Happy Hour"), so I guess it wouldn't be the end of the world if I got one and didn't like it. :)

braces

*Typically dessert isn't worth having unless there is chocolate involved. However I must say that these Lemon Oreo Truffles I made this week for the kids' teachers (May's cookie of the month) were SOOO good. Kendall's teacher raved about them!

*Kendall has been asking if she can let her hair grow long. I love her hair short and am trying to persuade against this idea. When I do her hair each morning I tell her, "See Kendall, right now, if you had long hair, I would STILL be doing your hair!" or, "You would have SOOO many more tangles if you had long hair". We'll see if it works. :)

*Today at Costco Cam found something to use his spending money on...

*I have been in such a huge dinner rut lately. I don't menu plan and each night ends up being a different meal either for Chris and I or all four of us. :(

*We had an orthodontist consultation for Cameron this week. Looks like he won't be ready for braces for another couple years. By "ready", I mean he doesn't need them. We could do the two phase option, but that would be purely for cosmetic reasons. I think he can last a couple more years considering how much the two phase option is vs. the one! 

*I'm still working on our health insurance stuff. I have three solid pages of notes regarding my phone conversations with them. Yesterday I should have written, "cried this call" because that is exactly what I did to the representative. Ugh.