Book 'Em, Dano!

Last night we went to the police station for a tour with our girl scout troop. The girls got to meet officers & detectives, tour interrogation rooms, the gym, & the 911 dispatch center, have mug shots taken, get locked in a cell, & even ride in a police suv! They loved it!

Book Club

I brought Emma with me to my Book Club meeting tonight. She was actually really well behaved. She had her own books & headphones & coloring pages. But I guess even those couldn't hold her attention after an hour or so at the end of a long week at school. She ended up knocking out curled up across 2 chairs. It was actually really cute. The days of her sleeping soundly in public are rare anymore as she gets older. I love my little sleeping beauty.

Silly Skaters!

We had the day off from work & school today for MLK's Birthday so Erin, Jen, & I decided to take the girls skating. They had a great time for the first hour or so. But then it just got too too crowded. The skating rink later posted that they had over 1,000 skaters there today! Um, yeah... wayyyy too many people for our little ones to be around while they are still learning. So we headed to the park for the remainder of the afternoon. It still ended up being a fun day though.

Science Fair Day at Lakeshore

Lakeshore Learning Store held a science fair day yesterday so Emma & I headed over there to check it out. We had a great time! Emma was able to experiment with magnets, use mircroscopes & magnifying glasses, create a take-home thermometer to monitor weather, make a volcano erupt, and mold fake snow. She had a blast and can't wait to go back again. Plus, I had a couple coupons so we were able to get a FREE science game for the computer and we picked up a couple "truffula trees" and mini excavation kits. Emma & TJ spent probably 2 hours today working on excavating their gems.

100th Day Celebration!

Today was the 100th day of school! Emma's class had a "100th Day Party" and I was able to take the afternoon off from work to go help out. We played a rolling game dice to count to 100, practiced making groups of 10 base blocks and connecting them to create a 100 chain, and then the kids got to fill a goodie bag with 100 snacks! They went down the table length choosing 10 M&Ms, 10 skittles, 10 animal crackers, 10 pretzels, 10 gummi bears, 10 goldfish crackers, 10 hershey kisses, etc.
Earlier in the week each of the kids was asked to bring in a "100s bag" filled with 100 of any item... pennies, grains of rice, etc. I had looked in the pantry and found a bag of black-eyed peas which I knew I would never cook. So Emma brought those in. Her teacher and I were chatting and Mrs. Blumenthal mentioned how much she had enjoyed the "backstory" of the beans....
Apparently, Mrs. Blumenthal had stated something like, "Look everyone. Emma brought in 100 beans!"
Emma responded by telling everyone how these were "not just REGULAR beans. These were MAGIC beans! That's why they have the black polka dot on the side! I got them from a man named Jack and, if you plant them outside your window, a giant bean stalk will grow all the way up to a giant's castle in the sky!" Ummmm.... Ok. Well, at least the little liar has a great imagaination!!!

Whale Watching

Yesterday Jon & I went out to Newport and went whale watching. This trip was my Christmas present to him and we had a great time. We saw some fin whales (including a momma & a baby) and a ton of dolphins. After whale watching, we walked around on the pier and then headed off to dinner at this little off-the-beaten path BBQ joint I found online. It was so tasty! We had a great day!

Ice Skating etc...

Today was a lot of fun for Emma & I. We spent the morning at Pump It Up with our friends and then headed to Joe's Crab Shack for lunch. The girls loved playing on the playground and decorating their rice krispie treat crabs. Then we headed over to Jen's to play for a bit. I think Emma was getting tired by then because she started melting down. There was a whole lot of "she won't play what I want!"... "They are being meanies!"... and "You're a drama queen!" being hurled back & forth between the girls. But, a friends always do, they worked through it. The giant ice cream shakes from Sonic might have helped a bit there too! :)
Then, in the evening, we headed out to downtown Riverside where we met up with Karen, Todd, Kayla, TJ, & Matthew for dinner, ice skating, and checking out the lights at Mission Inn. It was great... until my camera flew off my wrist and broke. :(

Happy New Year!!!

Well, I forgot my camera so we have no photos to memorialize the date, but we still had a fun New Year's Eve. As has become tradition, we all spent the night over at Tim & Jen's house. We had plenty of good food, drinks, fun, & friends. We played board games and watched movies and just had an all around good time. Happy New Year! Welcome 2013!!!!