the pribyl family

Sunday, May 10, 2009

"Me" holidays!

One thing about my life that I sometimes wish was different was the fact that all my "special" holiday's are all wrapped up within a two week period. That would be my birthday, anniversary, and Mother's day. I honestly don't know if it's easier for Ben to get them all over with and not have to think about it for another year, or harder to find things to do for me. Besides that, Aubrie's birthday happens to fall on mine, too, so things definitely get crazy, busy for me. This year was a good busy! This year our birthday's fell on Sunday. While there isn't much to do on Sunday, it's nice to get the Happy Birthday wishes at church, and an extra good reason to take that Sunday afternoon nap. The week prior was a great build up to my birthday, which I think added to the fact that this was an amazing year for me!

It started off with a temple trip Thursday night. After our session, we had a fun time getting to know the Bishop and his wife over dinner. Friday was Ben's sister's wedding reception. We were able to catch up with some extended family and old friends, while we were there. Before the reception Ben surprised me with an early anniversary gift...diamond earrings. The way he gave them to me was so cute. He had this gun holster on and said I want to show you something. He started to pull out something black, so thinking it was a gun I started to get pretty irritated. Then I realized it was a box. He got down on one knee and opened the box! It was so romantic and sweet. Thanks sweetie for a wonderful 13 years of marriage. Through the ups and downs it's all been worth it! I LOVE YOU!!

Saturday morning I spent hiking and having breakfast to celebrate another friends birthday, and Sunday afternoon was spent with lots of old and new friends as we celebrated a friendship with a family who would soon be moving. So though those things didn't have anything to do with me, I was perfectly happy spending time with friends.

Saturday night we did celebrate my birthday and anniversary with the Lorenzana's. We started with dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Michelle had thoughtfully put together a bunch of Kelly Green (my new favorite color...step aside yellow) gifts. My favorite was a Vera Bradly make up bag, which she went all over town looking for:) After dinner, we went to the movie, "State of Play". It was a nice relaxing evening with good friends.

Monday continued the celebrating. Michelle and Erin (along with help of other great friends) pulled together a birthday luncheon. The food was great, the gifts were thoughtful, but most of all it was great to be surrounded by so many friends. I really didn't realize how much I needed it, until the lunch was over. I feel so blessed to have so many caring people in my life.

While I was at my luncheon, Ben was helping me make Aubrie's birthday special. I had coordinated with her teacher to make sure the kids didn't' bring their lunches and to find out what pizza they liked best. Ben showed up at the lunch room with Pizza and drinks. Of course, Ben always goes above and beyond duty, and he also showed up with bags of candy and a Pokemon card for everyone. Aubrie was the star of the day! I think everyone should feel like that on their birthday!!! The boy from church, that is also in her class at school, brought Aubrie a birthday present. It was so cute of him. He gave her a necklace and bracelet. She was so shy about it, she forgot to say thank you. I love to see these cute, innocent crushes. It's the teenage years I'm worried about. haha Aubrie's birthday party will actually be this Friday. I have started holding it over Father and Son's camp out. That way the boys aren't here, and the girls can stay really late and do fun "girl" stuff!

So today marks 3rd special "me" day.... Mother's Day! Today I felt especially grateful for the privilege I have had to give birth to and raise 4 amazing children. Though I have many years left in the "parenting" years, I know that they will be out of the nest before I know it. I just hope that I can love them and teach them well enough that they will come back as friends. The little irritating things they normally do didn't seem to irritate me as much today. I saw through different color glasses for some reason, seeing things more through their eyes, and enjoying things more. Life gets so crazy, we seem to forget to sit back and enjoy the ride!

Today Ben made sure my day was special, by making breakfast, a great steak dinner, and making sure that I got to relax. Thanks sweetie for making my day a good one! I'm glad I'm the Mother of your children!

Saturday, May 9, 2009

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!