Kelsey Turns One!

Yesterday we celebrated Kelsey's first birthday!  It was a little sad for me since my baby turned one, but the other kids all thought it was great fun.  We had Dave's parents and brother and sister over so it was nice to have a little family party for her.  It was so fun to watch Kelsey get so excited as everyone sang Happy Birthday to her.  

I just made a little "Spring" cake for her, and put it out in front of her....
She had no problem digging in, and thought it was very tasty!!
By the end she had managed to get cake all over her.  I was smart and didn't have any bright colored frosting to make too much of a mess. :)
So when she was done it was time to put her in the sink to clean up.  She always loves to take baths, and the sink is the perfect size for her!
The kids had made her this Birthday crown for her to wear on her special day.  She didn't leave it on very long, but we managed to get some shots of her in it....
Then Tyler helped her open her presents her uncle and aunts and grandparents had brought.  Aunt Tami and Uncle Bill got her this cute pull along Pluto.  I think Kyle is the one who is benefiting from this toy, he loves to pull that thing along.  Kelsey isn't quite walking yet, but I'm sure she will soon, and then she can drag Pluto around the house, too.
It was a great day, and I still can't believe my baby is one.  I think I'm still in denial.  I'm so thankful for you, Kelsey, and for what a great baby you are.  Happy Birthday!!

Fun California Trip!

I've been slacking on the blogging lately, and it's because we went to California for spring break.  We had a great time visiting Grandma and Grandpa, and got to do some fun things while we were there.

First we took a trip down to the Oaks Mall.  This is the mall I grew up going to so it was fun to go and see all the work they've done on it.  And they're still doing this big renovation.  They're putting in a Nordstroms and a nice big theatre.  It will be fun to see when it's all done.  We got to visit the Easter Bunny while we were there, and he even gave the kids some fun bunny ears.  (Don't you love the mystery hands holding up Kelsey's ears...:)

Then on Tuesday and Wednesday we got the chance to go to Disneyland!!  We used to have season passes when we lived there, but now we don't get to go as often.  The kids were glad to be back!  We even got to go on the new Finding Nemo submarine ride, which was really cool!!
At California Adventure we saw a fun parade they have there.  We sat right by the entrance to where the parade was coming out!  It was great seats!!
The kids loved wearing their mickey ears, and Tyler was excited because his Uncle Bill won him this cool dolphin at the arcade!  We met up with Dave's parents who happened to be in town also, and his sister and husband were there, too.  The kids got pretty spoiled between the new pins their aunt and uncle bought for them, and the present grandma and grandpa got them.  
It was so nice because my sister lives about 30 minutes from Disneyland, so she came and picked up the two little ones on Tuesday morning while we were at California Adventure and kept them overnight and then brought them back Wed. around noon, so we got to hang out with the older ones for a while.  It was nice to be able to ride the rides and not have to do the child switch thing.  Plus the kids loved the extra attention from mom and dad!  

When we had the little ones come, Kyle saw the rockets and couldn't wait to go.  I had Kelsey and she ended up loving it!!!!
Here the kids are on the Splash Mountain ride.  Tyler always gets nervous about the big drop, but he loved it!  

We took Kyle on the Matterhorn ride for his second ride and he did NOT like it one bit!!  He was a little nervous about riding the rides after that, but he did it.  The kids all had a great time, even though the parks were a bit crowded with Spring Break.  Good thing there are Fast Passes on lots of the rides to avoid waiting in too many long lines!

On Friday, we spent the day at the Park with my two brothers and their families.  It was a beautiful day, and Kyle loved taking this bike up the little hill, and riding down fast!  I love his face in this picture!!  There were lots of other kids there, too, and Kyle started giving the other kids rides on his bike.  He is getting to be quite the tricycle rider!!
While we were at the park Dave took some of the kids on a nature hike.  They have a really cool botanical garden nature trail.  It's so fun for me to visit this park.  It's just down the street from my parents house, and I have lots of fond memories from this park!  It was fun to see Tyler playing in the creek I used to catch tadpoles in when I was a kid.  It really is a great park!
And of course Kelsey spent her time collecting all the shoes.  I don't know what it is, but she sure loves shoes!  We better watch out!
Jessica and Ashley loved spending time with their California cousins.  Here they are with their cousin Amber.  

We had such a nice time on our trip, and always love to visit Grandma and Grandpa.  Thanks so much for the fun visit, and letting us stay with you.  We love you!!

52 Blessings #11

This week I am thankful for SPORTS!  I am especially grateful for the local recreational teams, and the opportunities they give our kids to play and learn sports.  Dave and I grew up playing sports, so of course we give this opportunity to our kids, and thankfully they love it!  Tyler just started flag football, and had his first game on Saturday.  He loved being out there, and is excited about the season.  He has never played before, so he is working hard to try and learn the game.  Football is pretty confusing, so I'm sure this will take some time.  It's actually really cute to see these little guys out there running around, most of the time clueless.  But I'm sure by the end of the year they'll get the hang of it!  Go Lions!!!

52 Blessings #10

This week I am thankful for disposable diapers.  I know this is something we don't always think about being grateful for, but with 2 kids in diapers I don't know what I'd do without them!!  I often wonder how people did cloth diapers.  I guess that was all they knew.  But now we are spoiled, and we have the convenience of "wrapping up" those little treasures, and throwing them in the trash!!  I know that disposable diapers are not "environmentally" the best, and to those of you who do use cloth diapers, way to go and more power to you!!  But for me, these things are a lifesaver, and I'm sooooo grateful for them!!!

A Productive Week

Well, I can't believe it's already Friday! This week has just flown by, and I think it's because I've been so productive. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not tooting my own horn about how productive I am because I'm not usually like this. I do enough to get by, then I like to play. But the last couple of weeks I've had this organizing/de-cluttering bug going and I've loved it!!

One thing I've done that I love is to get rid of the shoe mess that piles up in the laundry room by the door to the garage.  I saw this shoe rack at Costco that you can configure however you want.  I made it tall and thin, and I put this in the corner just when you walk into the laundry room from the outside and I've LOVED it!  Now the kids find their shoes easy, and there is no more big pile of shoes!  

I don't know where the motivation or energy came from, but bring it on!! (No, I am NOT pregnant!) We cleaned out Ashley's room, and got that painted last Saturday!! (In between going to the kids 4 different sports games!!) I'll post pictures of her room as soon as we finish the chair rail in it. So then this week I've been working on kids clothes and baby stuff. Kelsey is just growing so fast and I can't keep up with the different sizes she's growing into! With 5 kids, the whole clothes rotation thing is a BIG job! I'll clean out a few of the kids drawers, and then feel like I'm in good shape, and then turn around and there is another kid whose drawer is oozing out clothes that don't fit! So, I think I'm almost done organizing kid clothes. Horay!! How is your kid clothes organizing going???

52 Blessings #9

Tomorrow is Dave's birthday so I thought this would be a great week to say how thankful I am for my wonderful husband!!!  I was one of the few lucky to have found my Mr. Right when I was only 13 years old.  Dave and I were High School sweethearts, and this year will be our "20th" Anniversary for when he asked me to "go with him".  (Remember how guys used to ask the girl to "go" with them?)  People always ask me how it lasted and how we got through High School and stayed together.  I always tell them it is because we have always been such great friends, and that is how we built our relationship from the beginning.  He is my best friend, and I'm so lucky to have married such an amazing man!!  There are MANY things I love about this man, and here are some of them....

Dave has such a wonderful spirit of adventure.  He is always up for anything.  He loves to do anything that involves the ocean. (surfing, snorkeling, boogie boarding, etc.)
Dave's dream is to live in Hawaii.  When we were in Hawaii last December, we met a couple who lived there, but were originally from the mainland.  They decided to retire there.  Dave kept talking about how cool that would be, and I kept telling him we couldn't live there because it would be way to far from the kids. :)
I love how active Dave is.  He loves to PLAY with the kids.  He's always out playing baseball with Tyler and Kyle, shooting hoops with Ashley, coaching Jessica in soccer, or rolling around on the floor with Kelsey.  He is such a fun dad and I know the kids love this about their dad!!!
Dave is very motivated.  He completed his 2nd marathon last October, and the amazing thing is that he did all the training for it on his own!!!  (I could never have done that!)  When he puts his mind to something, he just does it.  He is a hard worker, and I'm grateful he has such drive and determination!
Dave also knows how to relax and have fun.  Being with Dave has always been fun, and I've been so blessed to have had so much fun with him over the past 20 years!!  

Happy Birthday Dave!!!

Summer's Coming!!

Friday was a warm day, and the kids were out riding scooters with the neighbors.  Tyler loves to go down and play with his friend Hannah.  It's so nice having friends close by for the kids to play with.  So they were riding around when all of the sudden the next-door-neighbor's sprinklers came on.  Tyler saw a great opportunity to cool down, and decided to start running through the sprinklers.  I happened to be talking to my neighbor a few doors down, and looked over and saw all the kids running through the sprinklers with their clothes on!  It was pretty funny, and I had to go and grab my camera.  The sprinklers stayed on about 10 minutes, and then shut off.  My neighbor happened to be home and said "I can turn them back on for them if you don't mind" so I said sure and they got to play a little longer.  It made me realize summer is just around the corner!