Disneyland again!

Ok, I know what your thinking..."Disneyland, AGAIN!!!???? Like I want to see another post about Disneyland.  How many times have they gone anyway?"  What can I say,  when we get annual passes to Disney, we always get our money's worth. It's a great, short, weekend trip, and we all love it....so why not?  I won't bore you with the details.   I'll just give you the short version.  

My Mom watched Sophia, so the trip was much more relaxing (but she was missed badly).  The kids didn't know we were going this time.  I packed their bags while they were at school the day before, and then Ben and I packed the car while they were sleeping.  Aubrie was a little confused when she couldn't find her favorite PJ's that night!  Ha!  Thursday we had them get up for school like normal.  Then the Lorenzana's showed up right before school with their kids, and them we asked them if we should ditch school and go to Disneyland.  They were so excited!   The weather was great, the lines were good, and the company was GREAT!!!  It was so laid back, even taking time to ride things like the Steamboat!  Can't ask for a better trip!

On the Steamboat!

Some candid"s while in line for Space Mountain

Gotta love these pics of Ethan and Emmy!

Again doing things we never do, and will never do again! ha!

Some classic ride pics!  Can you tell we know when the camera is going off?

Some great shots on Pirates!

The restaurant I have always wanted to eat at....but not with little kids!

Since our Disney annual passes are blacked out every Saturday from May to August, we had to find something else to do.   Thanks to my Mom, I was reminded of the Santa Monica Pier.  What a fun place to take your kids.  We started our afternoon with lunch at a GREAT Mexican restaurant at the end of the pier.  Highly recommend them.  The best enchilada's I have had in a long time.  The kids behaved so well.  We defiantly discovered the best seating arrangement for our children!
After lunch, we walked out to the end of the pier.   Here is the plaque that showed the details to the dedication of Santa Monica as a historical landmark.  Notice the date Aubrie is pointing to.  The month after I was born!

After some family shots at the end of the pier, we headed over to the fun park.  The kids had a blast here.  We gave each kid 20 dollars to spend how they wanted.  
We all rode the famous Ferris wheel.  (Parent's treat:)

Then Aubrie got a little more daring!
Here is the after picture! LOL
Then the kids tried out the rock wall.  Well, Ethan wasn't up for it because he wanted to save his money for other things.  Both kids reached the top!

After the rock wall, the kids played carnival games for stuffed animals.  Just what they needed....NOT!!  We walked out of their with 5 new "buddies", which included two stuffed snakes, and 3 stuffed dogs!  It was actually nice that the games weren't rigged like the fair and that they gave descent prizes!   Yeah for the fun park!!

  After the park, we spent several hours down at the beach relaxing.  The kids  threw a football and Frisbee around, and had fun playing in the sand and running from the waves.  I just had fun sitting in my chair an watching them have fun!  What an amazing day!

The Simple Pleasures of Childhood!

The other day, as  we were eating in the Mall food court, Sophia kept pointing to the Merry-go-round saying, "Fun, Fun!"  After patiently waiting, I brought her over and indulged her.  I was so glad I paid the dollar for the minute Merry-go-round ride.  It made me appreciate how watching your children receive so much joy from the simplest things, can bring so much joy.  If only I could get so excited over such small things again!  Gotta love little children!

Honey?

Look closely!  Can you tell what this is?  Aubrie came in the house this Tuesday night crying and screaming that their were a million bee's outside.  Of course, we thought she was exaggerating, but that wasn't the case.  We casually walked outside to check out what she was freaking out about, and quickly ran back in the house after seeing this.  This is the window to one of our garages.  Aubrie was taking a short cut from the neighbor's and walked right in front of this window!  What a blessing that she didn't get stung.  Apparently a colony of bee's decided that the well of one of our front windows would be a great place to make a hive!  We called our exterminators, and they came early the next morning to remove them!  Luckily they hadn't gotten far into their "hive making", because at that point that is when killer bee's get aggressive!   We were so amazed by this site,  and glad that we could observe it from the opposite side of the window!:)

This Friday,  all the first grade classes put on a special program,  for their Mother's.  All week Boston kept talking about how he was so excited for a special surprise that his was doing for me at school.  On Friday morning, I woke up to Boston coming out of his room with his suit on.  I asked him why he had a suit on and he said, "Because today is the  special Mother's day surprise."  I told him I knew that, but wondered why he had his suit on.  He said, "Because Ms. Kohler told me to dress SHARP!"   I LOVED how he wanted to dress up for me, and didn't care what the kids at school would think!   The Mother's thought it was adorable and told him he looked so nice, and his classmates actually thought it was so cool!!!

So here is the scoop on the program!  

When we got there, the kids left the room and we entered the classroom decorated like this. 

 On the tables were cute laminated place mats that the children made for their Mom's. Here is mine!

 After finding our place, the kids came in the class room, found their Mom, and handed them a flower that they made out of a pipe cleaner and tissue paper.  After they presented their flower, they moved up to the front of the room and started their program.  First they sang several songs, which included handed motions, and tonz of enthusiasm!  See my short video clip ...of course I ran out of memory:(  

After the songs, they showed a video that included all the children saying what they like most about their Mom.  Most of the kids mentioned something about how they liked their Mom's because they made them breakfast.  I was beginning to wonder if they recorded them in the morning.   I was anxiously waiting

 Boston's part of the video, with my video camera ready to record.  When he finally was on, (second to the last), he said, "I love my Mom because she makes me dinner".   Not the longest snippet of video in history! I asked him later about it, and he said there were lots of things he liked about me, but they were taking the video in another classroom and it made him nervous!

After the video presentation, the children presented us with our gifts.  The first one was essay on Me!  Somethings it included was that I liked to eat at Paradise Bakery, and I was a great cook because I make good Spaghetti and Meatballs, and cereal.  Wow, good thing I make good cereal.  LOL  It was a very sweet essay and I will treasure it always.  He also made a Mother's Day card, and presented me with my gift, which was this plate from Color Me Mine.  

What a GREAT gift!   I can't wait to use it!  After the presentation of gifts, the kids served us breakfast.  Boston asked what I wanted, and I told him that I trusted he would pick out something good!  He did!  My plate had a half of a blueberry muffin, a blueberry yogurt, and a Clementine!  That kid knows his Mom!  What a great way to start my morning. 

 I'm so grateful for Boston.  He is so sweet and kind.  I feel so blessed to have such a valiant little boy in my life.  I feel blessed to have all of my children, and all their different but amazing personalities!

  I'm so happy to be a Mom and though some days I want to tear my hair out, I can't imagine any other place I would rather be.  Some days I want to freeze time and keep them small.  But i know I would miss out on so many other fun milestones!  So....  I am trying to soak up every moment while they last!  I thank my Heavenly FAther every day, believe it or not, for the privilege to be a part of their lives.  That's what Motherhood really is ...a privilege!  Not the other way around!