rubidoux

*Yesterday morning we decided to go on a family hike up Mt. Rubidoux. Kendall was quite excited when Cam told her she could use his Camelbak (she sure needed it because it was hot!).

*Here is a new favorite snack. I like one grape + one cherry tomato in each bite. :)

*Today we went out to lunch with some friends after church. I've decided Chinese food, despite not remotely healthy, is quite the economical lunch. :) We bought a 2-item platter and both kids and I were able to share it. $7.50 for three people? Nice. :)

*Yesterday I needed the kids to go with me to pick up Chris at the auto repair place. They weren't really excited to go, however they both dramatically changed their tunes when I told them they could bring their piggies. I'll have to keep this in mind the next time I need to sweeten the idea of having to go somewhere. :)

*I love this pic of my sweet 2nd grader.

my office

*This past Tuesday Chris took the kids out to the desert. His brother was staying at a hotel for a work conference and Chris was able to take them to use the pool. They loved it and were quite impressed with the resort. :)

*Thursday was the kids' first day of school. They were super excited. Chris and I split up and I took Cam while he took Kendall (they are on separate campuses).

*So this is my office. It's located at the district's main office, where I'm at three days a week. I share it with a speech pathologist, who is basically my partner in our preschool assessments. Kids ages 3-4 will come and we will both meet with them, evaluate them, and then decide (based on observation and testing results) if they qualify for either speech therapy or a special education preschool class.

My other two days are at the elementary school across the street. I basically do the same thing but with elementary aged kids.

A few things:

1. The white styrofoam cup was my third cup of coffee. I LOVE that my office is right next to the breakroom, which is stocked all day with coffee/creamer.

2. The salad next to the cup was made a few days ago. I've started prepping 2-3 salads at a time. I rarely take an actual lunch break. Knowing my kids get home at 1:30 each day makes me want to be able to leave on time and not work late. Lunch while working always makes the most sense.

3. I use my headphones when I need to really focus and not be interrupted. My go to's are nature sounds and piano hymns (Pandora). I can't do songs with words.

I was super excited because it was time for the weekend!!! 

frosted coffee

*Knowing we won't be the only parents to have purchased backpacks from Costco, Chris came up with a smart idea. He ordered patches off Ebay and now their backpacks will be more recognizable, plus extra cute. :)

*For the past few years, we've had a tradition of taking the kids to the Palm Desert Aquatic Center the day before school starts. Obviously that had to be altered this year due to my work schedule. Luckily the kids were okay with going the weekend before instead of the day. Chris' brother was visiting, so while he and Chris golfed, the kids and I headed out to the 108 degree heat! :)

 Cameron probably spent 80% of his time jumping off the high dive.

Afterward, I had a motherload of a Costco list to conquer. The kids' enthusiasm for Costco has begun to fade as of late, so I bribed them with smoothies (and a latte freeze for me...never been a smoothie fan).

Sidenote: Speaking of iced coffee/frappe drinks, I recently tried Chick-fil-A's, "Frosted Coffee". It was excellent!! It seemed a tad pricey for the size, but it was still fun to try. :)

questions

Where is the most beautiful place you've ever been?
Yosemite

If you could time travel, which decade would you visit?
The 50's

What is the last thing you ate?
I'm eating it right now. :) Frugos frozen yogurt. I haven't had it in months and I've got it three times this week (kids have been at my in-laws all week so we are a bit in, "vacation mode" when it comes to eating).

Favorite TV show right now?
We started, "Stranger Things" on Netflix last night. We are hooked.

Best thing about your week?
Getting to come home from work every day and plop down and relax. Also Chris and I got to go out to dinner TWICE!!! :)

Worst thing about your week?
Missing the kids and having to tell Cam his guinea pig passed away (but we got a new replacement!)

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be?
I have zero desire to travel the world (except to see my sister) :) I want to go to New York and the Grand Canyon.

If you could be good at one sport, which one would you choose?
Running. I really wish I liked running.

What product have you tried and recently liked?
I got Chris a microfiber cooling towel for when he golfs. He let me use it for our San Gorgonio hike and I was AMAZED. That thing stays cool for a couple hours!!! How does that work???

Recent clothing purchase?
I bought this shirt for work and wore it for the first time today. It's so comfortable.

What book are you currently reading?

I honestly cannot remember the last book I read.  However Kendall and I are almost through the first book in the Little House on the Prairie series. We started taking turns reading a chapter a night, however now she has decided she'll do all the reading. :)

What is your current favorite exercise?

My Fitbit has probably wondered what happened to its owner. My steps have been terrible. I guess my once every few month hikes will have to suffice.

lots of cooking

*The other day Kendall was at the quads and Cam was bored. He loves to take his piggie for a walk, so we decided to brave the heat and head out.

*Recently Cam went roller skating with his Sunday School class. Kendall and I hung out while he was gone. I needed a frapp and she needed a sugar cookie in the shape of an ice cream cone we saw in the glass case. :)

*When we went to pick up Cam at the roller rink, the first thing he told us was how awesome it was that he got his OWN drink up and could get whatever drink he wanted and as many refills as he wanted. This almost trumped the fun he was having skating. :)

*On Friday, Chris took the kids up to his parents. He will head back today and the kids will stay up there for the next week. I'm so thankful for his parents offering to do this. It makes me feel good knowing the fun they'll be having while we need to work.

I took advantage of my solo weekend by cooking/baking. We recently bought a freezer for our garage and I'm hoping to start filling it with school snacks and freezer meals to have on hand. I want to lessen the food prep time I do during the week. I was very proud of myself in that I was able to make and freeze:

-Two spaghetti sauce batches- nothing gourmet...just ground beef and canned sauce

-Two batches meatballs- I just mix Lipton Onion Soup mix with ground beef

-Two taco meat batches- ground beef and taco seasoning packets

-Two batches waffles- I add a bunch of pureed spinach to the batter. It does make them green, but I've learned that the taste of the waffles doesn't matter a ton when the kids dip them in syrup. :)

-Homemade Graham Crackers 

-Healthy snack cookies- I lessened the sugar and subbed butterscotch chips

-One batch gooey bars- always good to have on hand

Sidenote: When I texted this picture to Chris, he made fun of me for having cereal in the freezer. In my defense, this is the kids' cereal. They will be gone for a week and I don't want a whole bag going stale!!

*Work this past week went really well. I think I'm really going to enjoy assessing preschool aged kids. They are just so precious. :)

*Despite work being low key and not feeling stressed, my sleep has been pretty bad this past week. I'm praying it's just due to this big transition. I really, really hope it's just temporary. Really.

*I'm on the last season of Gilmore Girls and am excited for the new episodes in November. It is just such a fun, lighthearted, great to take your mind of things, show. :)

new jackets

*I've had a few doctor's appointments lately and so when I saw this I had to laugh. So true!!!

*Yesterday was my first day of school/work. It's nice being there when things are so low key (since so many are still on break) because it's less overwhelming. 

*We went to Costco on Sunday and bought both kids new jackets. These are the BEST. We bought one for Cam last year and it was awesome. They are super warm, but also really thin and comfortable. 

*Today Chris and my dad took the kids to Knott's Berry Farm (my mom is having foot trouble so couldn't join). They had a great time, however it was HOT. They had intended on staying into the evening but ended up coming home in the afternoon. I obviously would have loved to go, but it made me super happy knowing the kids were having a great time since I had to work.

Milkshakes on the way home hit the spot. :)

all i have to say is...wow. wow.

Thursday we took what was (and might be) our longest hike ever. We hiked to the summit of Mt. San Gorgonio. This is the tallest point in Southern California and gave us a grand total of 17.8 miles and 12 solid hours of hiking. Was it an easy hike? Not in a million years!! Was it a good hike? Yes, but it almost did us in and I think I've decided 10-12 miles might be more up my alley. :)

Ahhh...look at those perky and happy faces...not knowing what was ahead... :)

Still full of energy!

We were about two hours from the summit at this point. There is no other word to describe our views other than magnificent. This was also the first of several breaks from here to the summit. While the altitude didn't make us sick, it definitely made the hike much more arduous.

We are about 30 minutes from the summit here. They call this area, "moon rocks" because the landscape changes so drastically from pines to almost desert. I was dead!! :)

The summit!!! What a feeling to finally get there! This sign we are holding is just sitting on a rock. Everyone who reaches the top knows to pick it up and snap a picture to document their accomplishment. Very cool. I can't tell you how surreal it was to be that high. The only thing that dampened our enthusiasm was knowing we still had five more hours down the mountain to go. Ha!!

 I've always wanted to hike this and it was quite a feeling to conquer such a strenuous hike. Would I do it again? Probably not. Like I said earlier, I think the pure length of it was a bit much and we'll probably stick to shorter hikes from now on. :)

We had a nice relaxing day after with just a few errands and Cam's belt testing (he passed!!). Today we decided to make one last hurrah for the summer and took the kids to the beach. We left early and were soooo glad we did. While it was overcast the whole time we were there, we loved missing the traffic and crowds.

We wanted to take the kids to a fun restaurant and while Soup Plantation might not be considered super exciting, it's one of the kids' all time favorites. :)

p.s. Many of you know that our Cam is known for his ultra early morning wake up times. So it should come as no surprise that after waking at 4:30 a.m. for an 18 mile hike, followed by getting to bed an hour later after the hike, he STILL woke up at 4:45 a.m. the following morning. Wow. Luckily he knew mommy wanted to sleep so he occupied himself in his room with Brandy. :)