Wonderful Wednesday!

I love being off on vacation with Emma. I think TJ loves it too. Even though the kids fight more, since they are together all day, he gets to come out and play with us too. Yesterday we headed out to Rancho to meet up with Erin & Sophia and use one of our living social deals for Pump It Up. The kids were able to bounce themselves silly for a couple of hours and work up quite an appetite. Then we headed over to Victoria Gardens and had a really tasty meal at California Pizza Kitchen. Erin & I planned ahead and brought swimsuits for the kids and they loved splashing in the outdoor fountains (despite the barely 70 degree weather) and sunning themselves on the ground. We stopped in to Children's Place and the Crown bookstore, where we found a few good deals, and then headed home. As we were driving towards the freeway however, Emma noticed that we were passing Bass Pro Shop. She LOVES this store and begged to stop, so we added one more place to our day. Emma & TJ had a blast riding the elevator (or "alligator" as TJ says) up and down "INTO" the fish tanks. Then we spent some time on the party boats where the kids raced each other in imaginary reggattas. Such a cool store. Then it was home for a quick spaghetti dinner and back out the door for Mikayla's softball game. Quite a big day, and it wiped these kids out. Emma & TJ both fell asleep on mine & Karen's laps during the game. Such sweeties. :) <3

Parks & Paints!!

We had a nice time this afternoon. The weather has been great around here lately so the kids and I headed to the park to play. I snapped a cute picture of the little ones. I love the smirk on TJ's face... He looks like he finally found a way to push Emma without getting in trouble!
When we got home Emma asked if we could do a craft. So it seemed like a great day to try out a recipe for bathtub paints! After a simple mix of shaving cream and food coloring, she was ready for an awesome bath! The paints turned out really cute and were a lot of fun!

Vegas Baby!!

I had my first weekend away since before Emma was born and we both survived just fine. I went with a big group of girlfriends to a timeshare in Vegas while Emma stayed home with Karen. We had the best time! We got the penthouse suite and had a private hot tub on our balcony and giant spa tubs in both bathrooms. The one in the master suite was probably as big as my whole bathroom at home! We hit some clubs on the strip and visited Freemont Street, where 2 of my friends did the zipline. The pool area at the resort was awesome too, with waterfalls and waterslides. We spent a good chunk of Saturday relaxing on the chaises, recouping from Friday night, before going out again Saturday. It was great to be able to relax and not be on "Mommy mode" for a couple days, but I sure was happy to get home to my girl again on Sunday afternoon! She ran out and gave me the biggest hug ever and we were both so happy to see each other.

"E" for Emma!

Emma & I had a great time together this afternoon. Her hair is getting longer and thicker everyday and she just loves having me try out new styles on her. So today we did an "E for Emma" hairdo and it came out so cute!!! Then we went to the movies to see "The Secret World of Arietty" (based on The Borrowers). The movie was cute, although I am not a big fan of Japanese Anime. Then we swung through a drive through and picked up hot dogs for dinner, which we took to the park and played until it was time for gymnastics class. It was a fun afternoon and I love being on vacation with my girl!

Come on down!

Yesterday was Tim's birthday. I got tickets for him, Jenny, mom, & I to go see a live taping of The Price is Right. We hit so much traffic heading out there that we almost missed our 8:30 taping, or so we feared. We rushed in at 8:29 only to stand in line for (literally) FOUR HOURS before we got in. And then Drew Carey didn't even call us to "come on down!" We did stop for a tasty sushi dinner on the way home though, so that was fun. They even sang to Tim and brought him green tea ice cream. :) Yum.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Since St. Patrick's day fell on a weekend this year, Emma's class celebrated on Thursday instead. She was good to go in her new tshirt and LOVED showing off her shamrock hairstyle. It was too cute!

Seussical The Musical!

Recently, I came across what looked like a great price on a daily deal site for tickets to "Seussical the Musical" by the Broadway on Tour company. At $14 for a child + adult combo ticket, Karen, Jen, & Erin all bought tickets as well. Then we headed an hour away to Santa Ana for the show. Well.... I think there should be some sort of copyright infringement against local, community theaters using the term "broadway" in their name! Lol. It was a cute performance and the kids enjoyed it, which is what really matters, but the props/ costumes were lacking and it was very obviously not the caliber of a show I was expecting when I saw that it was "broadway"... Oh well, live & learn.
P.s., I included an extra picture of Emma from the back, just because I think her hair turned out so cute today! It was my first time trying an "unending braid" and I think it's adorable!

Sidewalk Chalk Paint!

I came across a neat craft idea on pinterest recently so I decided to give it a try with Emma this past weekend. Sidewalk chalk paint... how fun is that?! We mixed up a slurry of cornstarch and water and then tinted it with food dye. It goes on like paint and dries like chalk. Very cool. :)

A fun weekend!

This was another fun, and busy, weekend for us. I had another vacation day on Friday (thank you SBCUSD budget cuts :-/) so I took Emma & TJ out to have a picnic with Grandma. Then Emma & I went to a dress up party for Samantha's 6th birthday on Friday evening. Emma chose to be Alice from Alice in Wonderland. She was so excited that she even had a headband and black patent leather shoes and tights to match too. Yeah... those accessories lasted about 5 minutes after we got to the party, right up until she saw the bounce house and realized that she couldn't bounce very well in tights! Samantha was very excited about all her gifts. We got her a Barbie storybook & a set of nail polishes. Unfortunately, we were apparently not very original as she must have received about 8 different polish/ makeup sets and lots of Barbie dolls and accessories... If these are what the requisite gifts are these days for 6 year old girls, I think I am keeping Emma 4 forever! :)
On Saturday, we had the walk-a-thon fundraiser for the kid's little league. Check out my fashionista and her little outfit she put together. Gotta love the hat! Then we headed up to Victorville to celebrate Baby Jesiah's 1st birthday. For once, Emma was the oldest kid at the party and I think she got a kick out of it. There was one little 2-year-old girl who just kept following her around and copying everything Emma did. It was too cute watching Emma try to be the little mommy. :)
On Sunday, we went to church and then Karen & I took the kids to see the new Lorax movie. It was so cute! We all really enjoyed it and the best part was.... we got to see it for free!!! I love free. :) I was able to pick up some DVDs for only $5 each at walmart (going in the kid's easter baskets) and each one came with a code to redeem online for $5 free movie cash. Then I found a theater where the matinees were only $5 and wah-lah! A free movie day! As we were walking out, we ran into Jen, Charlene, and Hayden. It turns out they had been in the theater too, but it was so crowded we hadn't seen them. The kids thought this was cool and we all ended up heading over to Jen's house to hang out & play for a bit. What a fun weekend. :)

Bill Carroll

Caption Contest: We Have A Winner!

The Winner is Angela Marquiss who wrote in:

"What helmet? She NEVER worries about 'protection'..."

Read more: http://www.kfiam640.com/pages/BillCarroll.html#ixzz1nz1mSPEN

I won the caption contest. I guess I AM funny. :) So now I guess I am going out to see the show live in studio. It will be cool to see where my dad used to work. Miss ya Dad!

Student of the Month!

Guess who is the Orange Room Student of the Month for March??? That's right. The "spotlight is on... Emma!" She was very proud to get her turn on the wall of fame. We filled out a little paper listing her name, best friends (Baron & Mason), favorite food (sushi), and favorite thing to do (go to Disneyland). Then we were asked to bring in a recent photo, a baby photo, and a family photo. For the family one, I brought in a small one of Emma & I from Christmas and also a group one from the Breakfast with Mickey event at Disneyland, which included Grandma, Karen, Kayla, TJ, and Mickey, along with Emma & I. All the kids keep asking me about it when I pick her up in the afternoons... "Is Mickey really in your family??? Emma knows Mickey???" Lol. She's quite the celebrity!