glen ivy

March 29
this post has nothing to do with kids. they stayed with daddy all day. i don't know what they did. i know sy didn't nurse and didn't die. okay. about me...
i went to glen ivy hot springs today! my bestest friends went with me! it was incredible. i had a massage, steamed myself, soaked in the (stinky) mineral spa, ate a super yummy lunch, listened to my friends speak kindly about me, was blessed in prayer, relaxed in the hot tub, covered myself in (clay) mud, baked myself dry, cleaned the mud off, felt cleansed and refreshed.
what a day!
THANK YOU hannah, heather & jen! the Lord has truly blessed me with your friendship!

mommy's birthday!

March 28

we had chocolate-chip smiley face pancakes this morning! i really like spending my day with my family and not going off on my own, so today we did some things that were not necessarily my favorites, but turned out really fun. like gardening. :) i always wanted to grow some foods, and i know that the labor is part of the experience, and i've put it off not knowing where to start. but the kids had seeds, so today we planted watermelon and corn. i think we planted way to much in too small an area, but we're all learning together! after planting we went to watch daddy play soccer. i did get to choose my favorite pizza for dinner and we had "brownies" (chocolate muffins) and ice cream. then we played croquet in the backyard and the day was done. i'm not worried - tomorrow i get spoiled!

centennial farm

March 27
parkday goes to the farm. with the first photo i was annoyed that the sign was so high. then i turned and noticed right behind me there was a lower one. hence the group photo.

we saw model pigs and cows, then the real things.

jojo found this yoke and was so excited because we're reading farmer boy (of the little house series) and almanzo, the main character, has just received a yoke from his dad to start to break his first couple oxen. this trip to the farm came at the perfect time, because the boys are really into the book which talks all about everything we're seeing today!
the kids got to see a lamb and goats and baby pigs all born in the last 2 months.
we also saw a bull.
as with every other trip this month, we incorporated our "reader rally". so today we checked out farm books at the tustin, mesa verde (costa mesa), and garden grove west branches. this was the end of the line for us. we've had a great time and i now have several libraries that i'd like to visit regularly that i would have never found were it not for the rally. :)

play all day! crafts and cookies and colanders, oh my!

March 26
today was an all play day - fun fun fun!
this morning we did an easter craft (i was sick the day our parkday group did it together). better late than never. :) we melted crayons in wax paper and put it between construction paper with a cross cut out. it looks like stained glass when in the window.
then we baked chocolate chip cookies.
while baking we went to the neighbors to get lemons. (in our neighborhood, there is no reason to buy lemons, oranges, tangerines, or avocadoes - this is why we planted an apple tree, so we too could contribute - i don't know how soon we'll have enough to go around...)
we made lemonade! yummy! (this is where we use the colanders - mentioned in the post title - to strain the juice for a pulp-free lemonade!) the photo shows the straight lemon juice which we put into a mason jar with the sugar for the kids to shake up. :) they jump around like crazy - on the carpet - and get it mixed well.
then we distributed all the cookies that could not fit in the cookie jar to neighbors. 8 plates in all. everyone loves when the boys make cookies!
i was tired, but the kids had so much fun. yet another fun-tastic day.

bikes & tires

March 25
last night we went to... walmart. sorry if you're offended. jojo required a new tire and tube for his bike. it set him back $15 with tax. the bike only cost $26 to begin with - seems it would have been a better deal to buy another bike. :) in any case...
this morning was grandpa tuesday so grandpa and jojo worked out on the driveway putting the new tire on. it was the back tire so they had to get greasy and mess with the chain, which i could probably have figured out, but really, it was much more fun for my dad.
consequently, the rest of the day was spent on the bike! another great day.

turtle

this is the turtle we found on our driveway after church. she belongs to our next door neighbor, but escaped to entertain my kids for an hour. :) they found out she does like lettuce, especially fresh, wet, romaine. and she will not eat grass when there is lettuce offered nearby.
the best part of the turtle visiting is it brought our neighbor out too, and we'd not spoken at length for some time. her husband passed away 6 months ago. we try to check in on them, but life is so busy that most times we just wave.
today we got to speak for atleast a 1/2 hour and share God's love with her. really this was an incredible easter.

Easter!

March 23 He's Alive! Praise the Lord for the gift of His Son and for this Resurrection Day when we celebrate!
i have to admit, it did sneak up on me. with jojo's birthday, then the triathlon, then the party, then ky's actual birthday, then easter - it got a little mixed in. :( sometimes the traditions of the old testament seem like they'd be a real blessing. it would probably also benefit me to just plan ahead - but oh well. here we are. God is so good!
daddy played drums at UP in fullerton this morning. it was good that it was scheduled because otherwise, we'd have had to decide where to go. lately, if he's not playing somewhere, we "church" at home or the park or the beach. we fellowship with believers, just not on sundays. sometimes i have a hard time with that, but there's no simple solution.
so... Easter...
we took pictures in our own yard before church. when i announced to the kids we would do photos, jojo asked "whose grass will we take the pictures on?" because last 4th of july, we only had dirt and took our photos on the neighbors' lawn. :)
after photos we churched. then i attempted more photos at the school/church. the kids were not really into it. we came home and had naps then an easter egg "hunt" in the backyard.
we had easter dinner with the neighbors across the street and their extended family. we hadn't made plans with our family because we'd been together so much this month! mom & dad made the drive from arizona 4 times! anyhow. it was a blessing to be with the neighbors, our extended family here, and to have fun with them.
part of that extended family, one neighbor, has been in the hospital and had just been moved to a rehab center. we visited friday night and he didn't seem right. saturday morning he was taken to emergency and was basically on life-support all day. this morning another neighbor requested prayer for him and her entire church prayed. we received word that afternoon that our sick neighbor was doing well, he was breathing and even eating on his own! what an incredible answer to prayer! we were able to rejoice with our neighbors on Easter day, celebrating the Lord's goodness, even with those who are not yet believers.

resurrection eggs

March 22
we did a little egg hunt and easter story today. this way they paid attention because it wasn't easter yet. i tried to read a small, short children's easter story several times leading up to the day. like advent at Christmas. it wasn't as big a hit on the fun scale because we were lacking fire (candles).
they did really enjoy the benjamin's box book that we read that corresponds with opening each egg.

ky's birthday!

March 21 for ky's birthday, we had our traditional birthday pancakes with chocolate chip smiley faces.
then we went to kiddie kandids for photos. both her and jojo were due. post photos we visited toys r us to get her gift (a pool) because last year i went in april and they were sold out for the summer! we patronized the westminster library (another good educational video branch). what a bizarre birthday!
we didn't get shots - which we normally do, so dr k's present comes late this year...

too cute

March 20

kiki & ky were just having a ball singing and swinging their legs out on the little table with a popsicle in each hand! we'd stayed at parkday too long to get a nap in and they were both bound to get crazy before long so when they asked for twin pops i said yes. and they were so happy and good through dinner, til bedtime. today, it worked well.

south county tour

March 19

today we went to the pacific marine mammal center and laguna koi ponds in laguna beach. the pacific mmc is where they rehabilitate hurt or abandoned seals & sea lions for release back into the ocean. there were 14 sea lions and 2 elehant seals that we saw. and while we were there they sent the truck out to a rescue. their facility covers the entire orange county coastline. it was fun to see the animals. the kids enjoyed watching them play and i enjoyed the "tour".
the koi ponds are a few doors down and were interesting as well. the fish would swim right up to the kids and almost jump out of the water. (feeding time?)
since we were already down there, we also got some stamps in our reader rally passports. we visited el toro library on the way down, then laguna woods, and laguna hills. my plan was for laguna beach after the mmc, but we ended up down there trying to find food for lunch and were too hungry to stop before lunch then too excited to see sea lions to stop after so we skipped that one. while following our little gps lady, we went down this street that suddenly said "use low gear" (for everyone, not just trucks.) when we were almost to the top, i could not see where we'd be going, but i trust the little gps lady so i went. we made it down, but the boys thought we should not ever try to go up for fear of flipping over (they said). i'm with them!
on the way home, we took a slight detour off the 405 on the way home to visit the fountain valley library and get jojo another one of the amazing burritos we had from taco bell for lunch! he really liked it i guess. it was a fun day!

the red car

March 18
grandpa tuesdays took us to seal beach today. we played on the beach playground then visited the red car museum. it was closed, but it's in a real red car so grandpa told us stories of when the red car used to run and rides that he took on it. we had fun. we'll go back when it's open (only 2 afternoons per month). the red car is right outside the seal beach library so we made a reader rally stop. we planned on doing the rossmoor library too, but it didn't work out. kids need food and sleep. :)

i also got this photo of ky - lookin like her daddy...

archery

we were attempting to go to the nature center this morning, but it's closed mondays. we found an archery range across the street that looked interesting. the guys practicing there were more than happy to talk to us about the sport and even told us about free classes for kids offered. we had fun despite this not being the planned outing for the day.

later that day, sy remembered what we saw and found his own bow (at a different park)

the birthday party!

March 15

we celebrated 6 years of jojo and 3 years of ky today. it was a fun party. normally we do lunch, but with nap schedules more adjustable now, we opted for a 1-3pm cake only party. it was way less work and more enjoyable for all. after all we invited almost 30 kids ages 7 and under and 17 came. our theme was race cars (again) so we assembled and painted little cars
then had cupcakes and opened presents.

and the rally continues...

March 12
i know you want to know. today we visited stanton, garden grove chapman, and garden grove regional libraries. even the librarians are starting to think we're crazy - as they can tell how many libraries we've been to by the stamps in our passports!
stanton shares a librarian with our home library so it was nice to see a familiar face.
we found that garden grove chapman has a ton of videos - many educational ones on specific subjects. we will definitely come back.
garden grove regional is huge, has a separate children's area in the basement with glass doors to have less noise carrying, and has a duck pond outside. the kids enjoyed this one too.

MOPS easter egg hunt

we don't do mops (mothers of pre schoolers) anymore because we live "so far" away. but we decided to crash their egg hunt in the park by my dad's. we were planning on going to brea for grandpa tuesdays but he couldn't do it this week, so we went to brea to crash the party. auntie hannah had really invited us and it was fun to see old friends.

reader rally

feel free to laugh! during the month of march, the orange county public library was having a "reader rally" - a car rally for readers. today we picked up our "passports" at our home library and after completing a task (a coloring sheet) we received a "cypress" stamp. to help the kids understand the "rally" idea, i decided we'd always do 2 or more libraries at a time. so after cypress, we visited la palma where we answered a trivia question and received another stamp.
tomorrow we're planning on going to brea for "grandpa tuesdays" so we'll hit up his library and la habra ("on the way" home).
this whole thing is really a perfect fit for me anyway, as s already calls me a "library connoisseur". we have cards to 3 different ones already (oc, fullerton, and long beach). they all have different books and things. they're all set up differently. and most have some collection they specialize in.
okay. now you're really laughing.

pasadena triathlon!

March 8

i completed a triathlon and lived to tell about!

one saturday last month i saw the ironman in hawaii on tv and thought, "that looks like fun". so i found the pasadena triathlon on the internet. it was 3 weeks away - not enough time to chicken out. it was way shorter than the ironman! i don't plan to ever run a marathon! (it doesn't sound "like fun").

i thought this would be a nice test to see if i liked the sport. then perhaps it could grow into something i can do with one of the kids? it also showed them how hard work preparing and endurance was rewarded. (according to the boys, the mug i received is like a trophy).