cam's cans

 *There have been a few times in which I've attempted to read through the Bible in a year. Each time, I get behind and I never see it through. This year, with my new love of podcasts, I've started the Bible Recap. Basically I do the assigned reading each night, then the following morning (on the way to work), I listen to the 5-10 minute podcast recapping/explaining the day's reading. Have I been consistent every single day? No. But having the podcast has really kept me relatively consistent because I don't want to get too far behind. :)

*What to do with a rainy weekend? We decided to make it a movie Saturday. In the morning we watched the fourth Indiana Jones. To break up our day, we headed to Red Robin for lunch. Later we watched part of Solo, which we will finish tonight. :)

 

*Cam is on fire with his can collecting. We gave him a goal of how much he has to raise for his new bike. Once he meets his goal, we'll kick in some and hopefully get him a pretty decent bike. 

Once he gets several bags, I drive him up to the recycling center and he goes to work.

Chris made him the most awesome business card. When he passes them out, he instructs his clients to text when they have cans. He then comes to pick them up! :)

home alone

*Last weekend we had one of my nieces over to spend the night. The kids had a blast! At one point, I dumped all of Cameron's Legos out and they went to town. :)

*I've started leaving the kids alone for short spurts of time while I go to the store, run an errand, etc. Friday was the first time we left them alone at night. We were five minutes down the road. My dad recently gave us an old phone they could use. They were beyond excited. Perfect combination. BUT, of all the nights, this was the night a solicitor happened to come knocking. They called us...a bit worried. We told them it was okay and texted them a few minutes later to get the "all clear"!

 

*I've been able to take some nice long walks this weekend...making it easy to binge on my new favorite podcast. It's an in depth look at the family (with six kids) who went off a cliff in California in 2017....only to discover it was intentional. So interesting but so sad.

*Desert day was yesterday. Here we are at Barnes and Noble, before lunch and Costco.

That's all for now!

official cyclers

*Last weekend I surprised my parents with early birthday presents and took them to a Frank Sinatra tribute show out in the desert. It was touch and go all day due to the rain (it was an outside venue), however the night couldn't have been more perfect! Seeing as Frank is literally the only Pandora station playing in my earbuds at work, I knew every song and enjoyed every minute!

 

*Kendall's birthday is in May, however she already has a theme and has formed a committee (our membership is not really an option). We've had two meetings so far to discuss the theme, our roles, and the festivities the party will entail. Here she is conducting our second meeting. So. Cute.

 

*We are now done with two of the four Indiana Jones movies. The kids love them. I must say that a PG rating back in the 80's involved a lot more violence/weird tribal ritual stuff than I would have thought. We actually fast forwarded quite a bit. :(

 

*Cameron's top gift on his Christmas list was a new watch. We were at Justice over Christmas break and both Cameron and I were beyond ready to go. I gave Kendall 10 more minutes of browsing. Cameron made double sure she kept to the time so he set her an alarm on his watch. Ha!

 

*We (Cameron, my dad and I) have officially joined the Redlands Water Bottle Transit Company bike club. We went on our third ride yesterday and had a fantastic time, as usual. Here are Cam and my dad discussing bikes with some fellow members (Cam is saving for a new bike and a large chunk of his computer time is devoted to bike research). :)

 

*This is the scene I come home from work to most every day. Gin Rummy. :)

 

 *One of my favorite times of the weekends are the mornings. Breakfast and Once Upon a Time. Such a nice, relaxing way to start our days... :)

 

 

christmas #2

*Yesterday we got back from a fun few days up north celebrating Christmas with Chris' family. Some highlights:

1. The food arena NEVER disappoints when we are there. Here is Kendall helping grandma make a big breakfast the morning we left.

 

Christmas lunch!

2. The kids got a lot of outside playing time, despite the frigid temperatures.

3. Poor Cam came down with a 24 hour bug, complete with fever and vomiting. Luckily he still was able to enjoy most of the time. Lauren and Kendall made him a card and had everyone sign it. :)

4. Not pictured...one of the best reflexology appointments I've had. Chris' mom always treats my SIL and I to either a pedicure or a massage when we are there. This one was sooo wonderful.

5. Also not pictured...Hallmark Christmas movies! :)

*Tomorrow I'm squeezing in a work day, which will be very difficult to make happen since I'm completely in vacation mode. The two good things are that I'll get a ton done since I'll be the only one in the office, and squeezing a day into my required number makes it so I can get out right around when my kids get out for the summer.

*Today I took Cameron and Kendall, along with the quads, to a park in the desert, then to frozen yogurt. The weather was much more tolerable than here!

*Addicted.

*As I blog I'm watching the newest season of Fuller House. Quite honestly, the cheesiness makes me fast forward through most of the episodes (at least all the scenes with the little kids) and my favorite part of the show is seeing the cute outfits Candace Cameron wears. On or off the show, I would love to have her wardrobe.

christmas so far...

We are about half way through our break so far and have had some fun times. Our first day off we had a piggy-play date with some friends in which we brought all five (combined) of our piggies to the park. :)

Christmas Eve started out with a hike in Mecca. We've been before and it is such a beautiful hike. We were the first ones there, but by the time we headed back down, there were lots of people to wish Merry Christmas to. :)

 

Later that afternoon we went to our church's Christmas Eve service, to my parent's for dinner, then rounded out the night with ice cream at Cold Stone. :)

Christmas morning we started out with stockings, then our traditional Land of Nod breakfast while watching Elf. We stopped the movie midway so the kids could open their presents. My parents later joined us for a delicious lunch.

Yesterday we were able to spend some time with Jen and her kids. Cameron LOVED the ATV. He had never ridden one before and spent the majority of the time on it. Kendall had a blast with Jen's girls, making up plays and riding in the trailer pulled by the ATV. I so enjoyed catching up with Jen. :)

 

Today we are off to run errands and then we'll head up north in a few days to celebrate with Chris' family!

the desert

 *On Saturday the kids and I took a trip to a favorite Christmas destination, Robolights in Palm Springs. I would describe it as a Christmas light display made of strategically placed and painted junk. You either love it or you think it's the weirdest, most disturbing thing ever. Chris does NOT love it...hence it was just the three of us. Ha!

 

*On Sunday we dropped the kids off at Chris' brother's house so we could attend my oldest and best friend's 40th birthday party. Jen rented out a roller skating rink for all of her friends. I had roller skated a few times in recent years with the kids, but Chris had not been in a very long time. He did great! The theme was 70's, and while Chris said we were more 60's...hey...at least we tried!

Jen, three of her sisters, and myself

Chris and I had a Vegas trip on the calendar for a few months. As the day approached, we realized we just weren't feeling it. I have had a busy couple weeks of work and we both decided the desert (and much shorter drive) was much more appealing. So we booked a room and off we went.

When we first arrived, we sat outside our room and watched the few golfers who happened to pass by.

 

We loved the fact that our movie and dinner were within walking distance from our hotel.We saw, They Shall Not Grow Old, which was excellent.

 

After the movie, we walked right next door to The Cheesecake Factory. We took a piece to go...then headed back at the super late hour of 7:30pm!! ;)

This morning I got a lot of Christmas shopping done, which was awesome. We are now back home but the kids will stay one more night with my parents. We are now trying to decide where to go for dinner. I have to work tomorrow and Thursday, then I'm finally off for a good long while. Woohoo!

mission inn bike ride

 *My ear buds stream Pandora Christmas music non-stop at work. Instant mood lift.

 *Yesterday my dad, Cam, and I joined up again with a local bike club for a ride. So. Much. Fun. We started in Redlands and rode to the Mission Inn in Riverside, where we stopped for a snack/coffee break and to take some pictures by the pretty Christmas decorations.

My dad rewarded us (latte for me and cookie for Cam) at the coffee shop (where the ride began) when we returned.

 

*I was able to find a podcast that the kids LOVE! We listen to it in the car or with a snack by the Christmas tree. :)

 

*The kids and I are also well into season two of Once Upon a Time.  I've had to fast forward two short scenes (which actually fostered good conversations as to why), but otherwise it's been a fun series to watch together.

*Last year my mom bought us an advent book that the kids LOVED. She bought us a new one this year and the kids enjoy our reading time every night. I actually get into the story as well. ;)