biola

Today Chris had a meeting at Biola, where we both attended and met.  The kids and I tagged along and explored the campus during his meeting.  I cannot believe how it has changed since I was there.  I'll be honest and say I teared up a few times as the kids and I were walking around.

My four years at Biola were beyond amazing.  I have some of the best memories there with the most wonderful and fun friends.  It's also quite surreal to think back to the first time I saw Chris, goofing off with his roommate at an orientation meeting :)  To think if I had only known back then that I would one day marry that guy I thought was so funny!

So while I wouldn't trade my life now for anything, it sure was cool for me to go back in time and remember the carefree life where the words "kids", "mortgage", or "responsibility" weren't even in my vocabulary. :)

Here is Chris with the kids in front of the baseball field where he spent countless hours and had many wonderful memories of his own.  We were hoping to get down to the field, but you can see it was being worked on.

To make the most out of the drive out there we ended our time with a picnic at a park with a friend and her kids.  Overall a very fun day. :)

a couple of firsts for kendall

Kendalls' first 1st:
Yesterday morning we went to Bracken Bird Farm in Redlands.  The kids LOVED seeing all the birds and especially the goats and turkeys.  Last time Kendall was pretty timid, but this time was her first time letting the goats eat out of her hands. :)

Kendall's second 1st:
Later that afternoon we took the Kendall (and Cam) to her first movie in a theater.  We saw Brave and she did awesome!  She sat still all but the last 10 minutes. :)  As for the movie...I wouldn't say it is Pixar's best, but the kids liked it. :)

My mom came with us and accompanied us afterward to Weinersnitchel. :)

Chris left dinner a little early to go to bootcamp at his gym.  After we were done we headed across the parking lot to where he was.  The kids enjoyed peeking in the window at daddy lunging and sprinting away. :)

free fun

If you live near a Bass Pro Shop and want a fun activity, head over because they are now having family  camp days.  A few days a week they offer cute crafts, toy bow and arrow practice, and of course the carousel (and sometimes a little fishing pond where the kids can catch a live fish).  We had a fun time there today. :)

low key saturday

This morning Chris had to get up on our back wall to cut a tree branch down.  Cam had some fun giving him some leg exercises. :)

Later we packed a lunch and headed to a park in Oak Glen.

Afterward we went down the street to a cute little gift shop/bakery.  This cookie looks amazing, doesn't it?  We decided to all split it, seeing as it was literally the size of my hand.  The kids loved their share.  Us?  Not so much.  It was tasteless and dry.  Then I saw the sticker date which read June 23.  I was irritated that they were selling 6 day old cookies.  :(

Here is Chris researching movies for us to rent.  We couldn't find anything so we are going to try out the first episode of "The Newsroom" on Hulu (normally it's on HBO, which we don't get).  HBO can have some pretty dirty shows so hopefully this isn't on par with those. :)

*Today during Kendall's nap I told Cam that I was going to do a workout DVD for 20 minutes and I gave him some activity sheets I had printed out to work on.  He was very intrigued by this exercise his mom was doing and decided to move his work station into the room I was in so he could watch me.  Exercising, turns out, is quite amusing for him to watch. :)

*Tomorrow is our last day for Camp TLC.  I have SO enjoyed my time teaching and the kids have been in heaven each day in their class.  I don't think I could ever truly get into cupcake decorating simply because it would be too stressful for me to do them for adults.  Kids are MUCH less particular about their horse that is supposed to be brown and white, but ends up with an orange neck/head. :)

*Dinner tonight was a mesh of leftovers:
Kids: Cheese pancakes, chicken, veggies
Kelly: Cheese pancakes, veggies mixed with pinto beans
Chris:  Costco Orange Chicken (a favorite of ours)

*I wish there was a yogurt that had less sugar than the regular kind, tasted good, but also didn't have artificial sweetners (for some reason I can taste that aftertaste in yogurt especially).

it's a 10!!!

I recently saw a segment on the news about healthy kids' snacks.  One of them was popcorn that you make in a brown lunch sack.  We tried it today and the kids enjoyed the prep as well as the final product. :)

Tonight's dinner included chicken sausage, salad, and the YUMMIEST Cottage Cheese Pancakes!!!  The recipe actually has sweet toppings (syrup, fruit...as you can see in the pic), but I changed it up and sprinkled a little cheese on top so I could serve them as a side.  I altered it a tad by cutting the butter down to 2 tbls. and using half whole wheat flour.  I thought they were so gooey and yummy and felt they deserved a 10.  The kids devoured them!!

*It was such fun to get back to the kids this past weekend.  We drove up Friday and spent the night before heading home Saturday.  To say they had a good time is an understatement.  They had a BLAST and we are sooo grateful to my in-laws for making their stay so special.

*Today was the first day of Camp TLC at our church (kind of like VBS).  I'm teaching a cupcake decorating class and had a really fun time doing it.  While I love to bake, I've never really gotten into the decorating aspect of it.  However it's fun to realize how simple a lot of these designs really are once you just try them. :)  Today we made these hamburger cupcakes, which turned out soooo cute!

*Tonight's dinner:  Stir fry (brown rice, broccoli slaw, chicken, almonds, broccoli, teryiaki sauce)

*Cameron's questions REALLY stump me sometimes:

-What happens if the world is upside down?
-Is lava bad?
-Why is fire hot?
-What if a hole never ended?

Hmmm....  :)

*Reading American Wife right now.  I think it's going to be pretty good.

*Looking forward to tonight's Bachelorette.  So glad she dumped Ryan last week!!  Can't quite figure out if I like Doug or not.  Sean is still #1 for me and Aire is #2.  Jef seems a tad immature for her and not ready to be a dad.