Sun Soaked

 After working in the yard yesterday morning we spent the rest of our day in the water.

It was one of those nice relaxing days where not enough sunblock was applied, too many chips eaten, and lots of catching up with friends we don't see enough.

And of course the mermaid tail was brought and I think before the day was through most everyone had to try it on and take a swim.  A good friends daughter was cracking me up when her mom was taking a picture with her wearing it she said "can you just order it now, on your phone".  Just a tad excited/impatient to have her own I guess :)

Ones of these days I'll get better about taking pictures of the adults.  I think we were just too busy eating.  And talking.  And not applying sunblock.

Just Love

I have no awesome Southern Californian Beach pictures (but I will soon :) or crazy stories of my kids (although I am sure I wouldn't have to think too hard for that one), just a typical boring breakfast photo from this morning and a heart full of gratitude.

I am grateful that I get to do what I've always wanted to do, be a mom.  I am sure there's not enough money in the world to pay someone to take my kids, they are SO much work.  There's also no way anyone would think they were as brilliant and love them like I do. But to me, getting to spend mornings and afternoons, time helping in their classroom, weekends and soon all summer makes me so giddy.

They are growing up right before my eyes and my heart literally doesn't know if it should be happy or break. These 3 are every thing I've ever wanted.  To have the connection I do with them is the greatest gift.

When I was younger I had this vision of crafting all day with my kids and them listening to me and us just being so happy.

I am not sure what I was thinking because I don't craft, and things are physically and mentally a lot messier than I ever imagined.

But it's also so, so,so, so much better.  I love them.  I have fun with them.  There's no one I'd rather be with.

Second Hand Lions

I am so glad Emry is getting into photography and I've convinced her that candid shots are much cooler anyway.  Like this one............

Ahhh, how is it possible to love a boy so much?!  On our drive home from church yesterday the girls were ganging up on me saying Ethan was my favorite.  Since it's not in good taste to be honest about those things I tried to plead my case by telling them all the great things I do for them too.  But truth be told they had pretty solid points.  Guess I'll have to reign in the baby talk, the catering to him, stop myself from crying every time he says 'I love you Mom' which awesomely enough is always!, hanging on his every word and trying not to melt at just the sight of him.

The subject of this post is not Ethan, but it's easy to get sidetracked when I think of that sweet mug.  So moving on to our other deals.  Emry got 4 cute little summer shirts, clockwise from top L $1.40, $3, $2, $1.40.

Whaddaya know, here's that sweet boy again.  I'll put his scrumptious face up any chance I get. All of these shirts were $1.40 each.  I love that I found him 2 more button up shirts for church, it was getting to be slim pickings every Sunday.  And by that I mean he had one shirt that was getting too small and then we lost it so for a few Sundays we got very creative.

Oh it's fun to have to have your own blog and ramble on and on about how much you love your kid.  What? ........... everyone stopped reading?!?!

Fine, here's the grand total - $17.60 

I am off to clean Ethan's room, organize his Lego's and make sure the kitchen is stocked with his favorite foods.   Aaaaarghhh, somebody stop me!!!!!

Bigger

My kids are literally growing right before my eyes.  I see it everyday and I don't like it.  When they were babies I couldn't wait for the next milestone -  crawling, walking, talking -  it was all so exciting.  But now I am done with them changing.  I am done with them outgrowing my arms and running towards something bigger and better.

I admit I was (am?) weirder than most parents.  I watched my babies sleep.  I didn't like to get babysitters (much to Glenn's dismay), I didn't send them to preschool because heaven forbid they should learn something without my being able to witness it.

Of course I would get frustrated at the disaster that was my house, but when Glenn took them to the beach for a few hours so I could get some work done, suddenly it didn't matter anymore, I wanted to be with them.

When you have a baby, or 3, so many moms and grandmas smile at you and say "Enjoy them while they're young, they grow up so quick".  I got really good at smiling at them, truly appreciative of the attention they were giving my little ones, but I would hug my chubby baby harder while inwardly thinking, "what do they know, my baby's not going anywhere".

Turns out they knew a lot.

I knew realistically there would come a  day when they'd all be in school, but I didn't think it would happen so soon. 

So now my house is spotless.  Groceries are bought, dinner is prepared, laundry is done, the dog gets attention, I actually get dressed instead of wearing workout clothes all day and I've had time to broach this new fangled thing called a computer and start a blog.

I guess I am all sentimental because we watched a few hours of home videos on Sunday afternoon.  My kids can't get enough of their younger selves.  I love watching them dance around (dancing figures into about 95% of our footage) and truth be told I love watching me.  My clothes are thrown together, my hair is in a ponytail, I have no makeup on and should have been running from the camera.  But I didn't.

I am glad I didn't because I am always so happy in those videos.  Happy that Emry is jumping naked on the trampoline.  Happy that Lila is pretending to be a cat in her dress-ups.  Happy that Ethan is dancing to a singing frog.  I can hear it in my sing-songy voice and see it in my eyes how much I truly love those little kids.

And no matter what trials and angst may lie ahead of us, I am glad they have proof of how much I relished in them.  All 3 of them.

But I still have many more memories to make, so slow down already.

A Great Day

After  a morning of cleaning bathrooms I thought my kids deserved an afternoon at the beach.  We enjoyed the bit of sun that was out but truth be told they're going in regardless of the weather.

They jumped waves, collected seashells (that are all over my front lawn right now), did acrobatics, and took a walk with their Grandmother & I up and down the beach.

All along Oceanside Pier are Fishermen, one was kind enough to let Emry hold a small Octopus he had caught in his net before he threw it back in the water.  It made her day!  I told her she could cross that off her bucket list, once we write her one.

Ahhhhhhhh, they're so cute. 

My mom bought us dinner at a dive my kids love called Angelos, Glenn always stops there after surfing.  I salivate over the onion rings, but this place is a tad too greasy for my taste.

My kids are watching wrestling on a T.V. above them.  It's my nightmare come to life, they're eating greasy food and watching violent television.  At the same time.

On the way home they read their favorite comic books, 'The Far Side'.  They read these over and over, they just love them and surprisingly they get a lot of the humor.

Just a little preview of what's to come this summer.  Life is always good in SoCal.

Pop Up Carnival

Monday afternoon found us in the mall parking lot at this little carnival.  My kids had seen it a few days before and were dying to go.

Emry convinced me to let her go on the caged ferris wheel.  Her exact words were "Mom, you know I am a thrill seeker", and she is, that girl will try anything.  At a regular amusement park I'd have no problem, but at a creeky, touring carnival, yikes, I held my breath the whole time. 

They had a blast riding all the rides, but watching them was just as fun.

Be Mine

 I have to admit I can be a little too carefree for my own good.  Glenn & I have been married almost 17 years and sometimes the night before our anniversary he'll look at me and say "We're not doing anything for each other, right???"  This same question is sometimes posed before Valentines Day, Christmas or our birthdays.

But now that we have kids, it's all about making a fun, magical, holiday experience for every major holiday, & I have to admit I like it.

The kids wake up on Valentines morning to a small gift.  This year Emry got a dozen gel pens (she wanted them) Lila got pencil toppers called 'squinkies', and Ethan got some glow in the dark stars and silly string.  They also received some chocolate covered strawberries I made at a church function the night before.

Upon seeing this lego creation in his room Ethan said, "The heart is really impressive".  Haha, that boy cracks me up.  He is also such a love, he told me "I love you" yesterday at least 50 times.

I did set a plate for Glenn and make him some strawberries as well, and he did get me a sweet card, a chocolate bar and some spending money,  Simple and perfect.

Some women may not appreciate this card, I thought it was funny. 
 

I had bought some nice steaks to grill that night but at the last minute we decided to join our friends for Thai food.  It was so good and we had such a fun night.

It ended with running to Emry's middle shcool at 10:30 pm to pick her up.  She had been on a field trip since before the crack of dawn to a little place called Disneyland.

Between the little ones coming home with shoeboxes stuffed with sweet Valentines and candy, Emry's adventure and Glenn & I's night out, It was the best Valentines Day yet.

ShortCut

Emry chopped off her locks last week.  I didn't want her to, but she insisted she wanted it off her shoulders and out of her way.

I've told myself for years that all I truly want for my kids is for them to live their lives based on what they want, not others, but I didn't expect the 'other' would be me!  I love braiding, curling and twisting the girls hair into all sorts of crazy fancy funky do's, but I guess that's kind of over for the time being.

The reaction to Emry's hair was interesting.  They were all along the lines of "Cute.  But why'd you cut it?".

The psychology behind long hair versus short is fascinating as I got to thinking about it.  I know that whenever I see a girl with super short hair there is some envy that rises to the surface on my part.  These girls always seem confident and sporty, fun and carefree, like they have more important things to do than deal with their hair.

Every few years I cut my hair off to a chin length bob, then cut bangs, then layer it, then grow it out, then repeat the whole process.  Right now I am in the growing out stages, but I am actually dying to cut bangs, so who knows what's in store.  I have to admit I look forward to the day I am old and can for the first time get a really short Demi Moore in Ghost style cut. (Obviously I can do that now, but with my full cheeks I highly doubt it's the right look for me)

Looking around at all my friends and family members daughters I realize one thing - they all have long hair.  Emry has the shortest hair by far of all her friends at church and school.  But you know what?  It doesn't even faze her.  I don't think it even occurs to her to follow the crowd or do things like others.

I got my way after all.

Naughty by Nature

Today was one of those days we were holding our friends baby in church and I found myself thinking how adorable it would be to have another baby, my daydream even went so far as to smugly think twins would be super fun. 

That was before we arrived home.

Our church goes from 9am-12pm, so from noon on we have ALL day to spend as a family, which is usually great.  Usually.  Arriving home the kids thought it the perfect time to be their silliest, loudest, most obnoxious, mischievous, messiest selves.  They even went so far as to annoyingly act like children!!!  It took me a few minutes to remember they still are, so luckily I didn't lose my cool and in an even tone directed Ethan in cleaning up a full glass of spilled chocolate milk, untangled his hair from the hand blender he genius-ly turned on in his 'long haired hippie' hair (as Glenn calls it) and explained why playing with a long stick while jumping from couch to couch, table to chair wasn't the smartest plan.

I tried to read in my bed, oh how silly of me, what was I thinking?  They all joined me and Lila insisted she had to read my magazines as they are all extremely fond of Oprah's favorite things issues.  (Good thing Emry plans on becoming a doctor as Oprah's doesn't like anything under $500)  They then decided to have a party in my bed and went on to take apart the entire bed.

I could go on and on about these punky kids, the state of my home right now, and the aftermath that only human tornadoes can create.

But you know what?  It was okay.  It was all okay.  It was even fun to see my kids who spend so much time doing homework and chores, reading books and scriptures, paying attention at school and being reverent at church to just be silly and wacky, to let loose and act like 2 year olds.

It brought back so many great memories and reminded me to have patience because as immature as they were today, I know every day that passes is a small punch to my gut, a reminder that I can't stop or slow down their march away from me.

Cleaning and organizing, mopping and rearranging can be done tomorrow.  I know the chocolate milk wasn't thoroughly cleaned up.  I know church clothes are still on floors and dressers.  I know the mess isn't cute in the least, it's gross, it makes me uneasy, I have to talk myself out of taking them to task. 

Yes, they are big enough to clean up after themselves, but sometimes I can do it.  I can toast them a bagel in the morning, pack their lunch, kiss them goodbye, watch them walk down the street their backpacks heavy on their shoulders and then I can turn around, crank up the soft rock and go to town cleaning.

The mess will still be there, it isn't going away.  As for my thoughts about adding more kids to this mix?

What thoughts?

Just Us

Christmas 2012    (Clockwise from back left) - Glenn, Al Zamora, Mom, Dad, Jeannette Mitchell Roberts, Marie Mitchell Wallwork, Margo Mitchell Zamora        

I have nothing and everything to say.  There's a whole lot going on in my head right now.  Good things, frustrating things, things I just need to work the heck out.  I'll get there, just have to decipher it all before I can put coherent thoughts together.  So for now I'll just post all these crazy photos that don't belong anywhere except in a post about nothing.

I am thinking Ethan took this at Walmart.  In the 'Intimates' section. Nice.  Not sure what Lila is doing, saying or yelling.

 Two weeks ago the kids and I awoke before the sun to take my dad to a Dr. appointment.  After dropping him off we hit up a very ghetto 7-11 for some breakfast.  (from left)  Yogurt and granola brought from home in a recycled yogurt island cup for me.  Cup o' Noodles for Emry.  Hot chocolate for Lila.  Naked juice for Emry and Lemonade and the cough drops for Ethan. 

Emry has never been one for eating a typical breakfast.  She'll eat pasta, avocado, or a tuna sandwich.  She's rad. 

We had many hours to kill during my dad's Dr. appt.  so we spent a few hours at the Fontana Chuck E Cheez.

 One of the (many) pics that didn't make the cut for our Christmas card.  

Shopping at the mall.  Ethan doesn't like shopping, and why yes that it his Halloween costume which is part of his regular outfit rotation now.

 This was taken after Ethan wanted to take a picture of us in a photo booth.  I said "What?!?!"  Why spend $3.50 on photos when I can take them with my sweet iphone for free.  Well besides whatever monthly fee Glenn pays.  So no, I guess not at all free.

Picnic at the park.  They're playing hot potato with a ball that shocks you.  Fun.  Notice there are no adults in this picture.

 I took the kids to Yogurt Island only to realize it was.........."FREE"!!!  We hadn't been in weeks and I swear it was just karma for being a devoted yogurt island lover that we happen to go in the 4 hour block where in celebration of their 5 year anniversary the yogurt was on the house.  Sweet!!!!!!    Mine is clearly the one on the bottom.

Ethan Glenn, Glenn, & Lila Glenn.  It's just fun saying Glenn so many times :)

They are reading up on the addition to our family,  Elf on the Shelf.  We have a million gazillion books in the house but I swear if one kid is reading a book the other two always want to read it too.  It's annoying and endearing at the same time.

Awwwwwww, I am such a proud momma.  Not proud enough to be at the actual award ceremony (forgot) but proud enough to break out the iphone camera when I worked in his classroom later on that day.

Emry doing a science experiment from a kit she got for her birthday.  The other day Ethan got a nosebleed and Emry started talking about red blood cells & coagulation and I kind of zoned out at all the big words she was using.  I wouldn't be surprised at all if Emry grows up and cures cancer.

Lila and her Grandma Wallwork.  We've finally finished off the last of the 300 pounds of oranges we brought home from Fresno.  I actually had to BUY oranges at Costco the other day.  How annoying.

I texted this pic to my best friend Shauna to say "hey look I am wearing the dress you got me for my birthday years ago, thanks, I still love it".  She finally got the pic a week later.  We're like dumb & dumber when it comes to our cell phones.  Once I finally figured out her correct cell phone # we actually managed to have a nice text conversation.  I am sure we'll do it again in another couple of months.  Love you Shauna.

Fall Carnival 2012

Saturday was the kids School Carnival.  It was a beautiful day and I took Ethan, Lila & 10 dollars on down to join in on the fun.

Last year I was room mom for Lila's class & was in charge of our booth for the carnival. It was so nice to just show up and have fun this year with no responsibilities.  We ran into some friends who inspired my kids to.......................

..................eat sugar.  But really, they need no inspiration for this.

We spent time with their cousins Nathan and Kiera.  They won candy and little toys and thought it was a great day.

And it was.

 

Easy A

I am bragging, so be it.  I am extremely happy with the grades my kids are earning.  How can I not be pleased when Emry freaks out if her grades dip below an A-.

Truthfully though I know our Education system is flawed and I know that good grades don't tell the whole story.  But what I see at home, and what I see when I help in the classroom is that of earnest kids.  More important than just getting everything right my kids truly love to learn.

When I wake Ethan up in the morning he sleepily asks what day it is, when I tell him it's a school day he says "Oh good, I love school."  Ethan also informed me he' the teacher's pet and has been in every grade.  He's also smart enough to realize I am the only person who appreciates this information.

They are curious and love figuring things out.  Whether it be a magic trick, how to make a flexagon, turning my home upside down with all of their campsites/forts/wonderlands, etc. or guessing how a mystery book will end.  The library is sacred to them and they love being there among all the treasures.

Ethan & I were doing a brainteaser the other day and we needed the name of a 5 letter snake with 2 d's.  I refered to our resident reptile expert and Emry thinks for half a second and says "Adder".  Huh?  Who knew that your child knowing information like that could make you so proud.

I may not have provided them with all the latest and greatest technology, but I think I've done something better.

They have an imagination.

And while straight A's may not always be a part of their future, I hope they never stop trying to figure out the mysteries of the world.