A New Sheriff in Town: Carnival Style

The kidlet's behavior has a hit a low around here. Parenting books are piling up on my nightstand. So, we're trying something new in the house today. Due to previous Sundays that have ended badly, I'm up for a change. I pulled out the roll of carnival style tickets I bought six months ago at a garage sale and started up "The Ticket System". Doesn't that sound official? Today my plan is to get everyone bathed, clothes picked out and bags packed before noon. Then I'll serve lunch.(That sounds much more formal than it really is.) Then, we will brush teeth and finally put on clothes. ETD for church: 12:45pm PST. They will be rewarded with tickets to be redeemed for fabulous prizes at a later date. Will it work? I'm not totally sure. But, maybe I won't be crying and/or screaming on the way to church today.

P.S. Booked tickets for anniversary trip to NYC last night! Can't wait! Details to follow....(should I be nervous we're flying on 9/11? No!!)

Family Feud

We have a divided family. My vote is for
any day of the week. Mark claims to have found a superior yogurtier. I think it's all hype.
Notice, I can't even figure out how to get their logo centered and enlarged. They probably have some copyright law that prohibits using their logo for blog posts. I think it's all fluff and no flavor. It's just snobby Hollywoodized, over priced, pseudo-eco-friendly fro-yo if you ask me. And I consider myself an expert, with a quite distinguished resume to back me up. What's your vote?

The OC

Friday was "Take Your Family to Work Day" for Mark. Actually, he tried to go to work and we followed him into the car. Then we wouldn't leave so he just took us with him. Luckily, he only had a couple of stops to make. He took Abs into one of his spots. The rest of us hung out in the car, thank goodness for the DVD player. After work, it was off the Discovery Science Center. We've always thought it looked interesting, it's a huge cube shaped building you can see right off the freeway a few exits before you get to Disneyland. It's reallly great place. We had a blast.

It's the Taco Bell Discovery Science center, so the food court only sells Taco Bell and Pizza Hut food. Perfect for us! Our kids actually devoured the food.

Mark's lying on a bed of nails. This freaked the boys out. They wouldn't even try it.

Abby loved the huge dinosaur, she's showing us how she loves to slide down it's tail.

My future plumbers. They had a big Bob the Builder exhibit.(James pointed out that it was for little kids, but he enjoyed it anyways.)

Abby working on building a wall.

David working in the workshop.

James flying an airplane.

The boys tried out the wind tunnel, that's a 78.3mph wind storm. I wouldn't get near it, hate to mess up my hair.
We bought an annual pass, so it looks like we'll be checking out the Bats in October and the Magic School Bus exhibit on the spring. Hopefully, this will pacify the kids desire for Disneyland passes.

4th of July

I realized this morning that the 4th is my favorite holiday. It doesn't get any better than this. Early morning pancake breakfast at the church, the annual Waterfield Laurels parade, a long nap, swimming and food at Mom and Dad's house with the Birds, Tylers and Wimmers, topped off with a double fireworks show viewed from the front lawn on blankets. Seriously, I couldn't ask for anything more. Abby ready for the parade

Lauren and Abby, both almost looking at the camera with smiles...



Peace brother!


Abby and Lauren conversing with the little man.


The rock. The lids love climbing this rock. This time it was Minnie, James and David. This is also the viewing spot for the fireworks show. We could see Poway and Rancho Bernardo shows. RB had the best, hands down.

Granny taught James how to roast the perfect marshmallow, here he is practicing with his buddies.

Bike Ride at Lake Miramar

Road trip! (Literally) Today's summer calendar activity was a bike ride at Lake Miramar. We hadn't been there in a long time, but not much has changed. It's still 5 miles around. And, it's still dang hot in the middle of the day. The kids were all lubed up with sunscreen and we were off. James kept riding ahead and turning around to come back and see me. David stayed close and I pushed Lindsay and Abby in Laura's trailer stroller. Laura rollerbladed ahead to keep up with the older boys. I wish I'd got a picture of her on rollerblades. She's definitely a pro!

Hostile Takeover

Yesterday I agreed to let David use the desk in Abby's room for his own. This began a massive movement. Here's the latest maneuver of David's. He is convinced that he is going to change Abby's whole room into his own. He is "making the girl's room into a boy's room." And he is serious. (He told me exactly like that.) Do I let him do this? The room is technically vacant right now since Abs is in the closet in the boy's room. She's been there ever since Nana came to visit and I've seen no reason to change her back to her room. Maybe that's since it would require disassembling the crib to get it back into her room. So, should I just let him take over her room and officially keep her and James together? Of course this present all sorts of decorating dilemmas. I actually am kind of spurred on by that to be perfectly honest.He's told me that we need to paint the room blue and put some boy pictures on the walls. I told him it's a lot of work to do that and he said it's not work for him. Oh my. Would it be over indulgent to give him his own room? He's the only child in this house that seems to care so deeply about having his own space. As I am writing, he is moving stuff into her room. Maybe the decision is being made for me. At least, I've got to find a way to use this as a bribery tool. Maybe I should make a reward chart and get some really good behavior out of him before he attains the reward. This is how my mind wanders...
Any advice from the pros out there????

Happy Monday!

I love having something fun to look forward to on a Monday. And, what can be better than going to lunch with some girlfriends without our kiddos?!
I had to post both pictures because I'm laughing at how we all look almost indentical in both pics except for Liz, who was winking at the camera for this one. Too bad she'll never look at this!

Thanks Michelle for organizing this little celebration for me. Especially the part where you let us bring all our kids to your house for babysitting. You're awesome!! What a happy memory to add to my happy memory bank!!

Cub Scout Camp-Oh the drama!!

Who would ever guess that James would not like Cub Scout camp? What's there not to like? There's art and crafts, fun with fellow cubs, candle making, marbles, flag football, archery, fishing, pocket knifing...
Everyday was grumpy day at camp for James. Apparently he was bored. (see me scratching my head?) David, on the other hand, begged to go in James's place every day. We snuck him in for one day of sibling camp where, you guessed it, he acquired a camp shirt and wore it every other day, at home.

"I'm not your Highness, I'm Abigail"

(direct random quote from Abby today)

Car Wash Flashback

Michelle reminded me of the good old days when she told me about the SofSpra on Poway Road. Seeing as I was over in that part of town for Ab's swim class, I made a tour de Poway. After Floaties, we hit the library. (I definietly prefer to our CMR one.) Then it was on to the SofSpra. What a cool spot! (Oh, I'm pathetic) How could I have overlooked it for so long? I let James take over the camera and he captured some good shots. Pretty sweet job for $3.00 and 5 minutes of my time.




I'm loving the turbo vacuum cleaner, Abs wondering what the heck I'm up to...

Gotta reward the kids and myself with a trip to McD's a little further down Poway Road. Great people watching, if nothing else. Gotta love the city in the country.

You Give Multiple Personality Disorder a Good Name

In David's own words:

"Joseph Smith, getting ready to build a temple in St. George" (blueprint in his right hand)



"Blue flag t-shirt guy"



"Football man in the winter"(what's with the sword and shield?)



"Awesome Padre player" (he finally made it on the big team, after being being booted from lesser several teams, "the Sitnkbugs" being my personal favorite)



"Stormtrooper Jedi guy" Is this an oxymoron? I'm very Star Wars illiterate, but I don't think this one sits well with the fans... Sawyer gets a kick out of it nonetheless.

David's working all sides of his personality lately. I like to think of him as a diversely textured child. I never know what he's going to come up with next. I really hope this is a phase he is passing through, mainly because my obsessively cleanly side is cringing at every outfit portal that he creates. Every character he becomes requires a complex set of accessories and they all have specific places that he houses them, throughout my house. I'll survive, right?