Day 317

Getting to bed really late tonight, but today was such a fun day, and I am so thankful to have been able to share some really fun firsts with Joel today!

We started off the morning at a meeting at a school where Connor was tested for his speech and language.  He is finally getting dismissed and is within the average range for language!  So happy about this and so very thankful that speech therapy works!

After the meeting, I took the boys to IHOP and they enjoyed a pancake breakfast and then home.

We headed to my dad's work where the boys got to play for a couple of hours and they had such a fun time running around and watching Sesame Street!  I think I wore both of them out because they both came home and took naps.

After naps, my mom came and picked Connor up for the night and Joel and I headed to a train station.  We boarded the train and went to an Angel's Game in Anaheim.  It was so much fun and Joel had THE best time keeping track of who had a strike or ball and what the score was.  He loved it so much and asked to go back soon...I hope we will get the chance to very soon!

After the game and fireworks, we got back on the train and headed home to the car.  What a fun and much cheaper way to get to the baseball game!  What a fun time to be there with Joel for his first train ride ever and his first baseball game ever!  David met us at the game after he got done with work.

I am so grateful for the wonderful day we got to spend some quality time with Joel.  Also, I got the tickets for pretty cheap and when we got to our seats, it turns out our tickets were at the "Club" level and so the seats were padded AND we had our own waitress to go and bring us food.  It was a REALLY nice time tonight and I am truly thankful for so many happy moments today!  Night all!

Day 316

So sleepy tonight folks, so here are some happy moments via bullets and then off to dream land I shall go!  Have a great night and look for more happy moments tomorrow!

• we went to lunch today with my mom, her best friend, HER daughter Shannon, and Shannon's son.  They live in Florida and we don't see them often, but they are lovely people and it has been so nice to see them every few years.  I had a great time with Shannon one summer in Utah many many years ago.  We became friends that way and we like a lot of the same things.  It was a treasure for her to get to meet my children and spend some time with her today.
• The boys have been begging me for our nanny, who watched them most of last summer while I recovered from one surgery or another, to babysit them.  So yesterday she came over to babysit and the boys were SO excited!  I got to go out and walk around the mall for a bit, and then meet David for a movie.  We saw The Amazing Spiderman.  It was a nice date night with David and I am glad the boys had such a fun time as well.

Day 315

HAPPY 4th of July AMERICA!!  What a very LOOOOOONG day it was today!  We got up at 5AM to go stake our claim at the local park for the firework show.  Then I tried to go back to bed, but too many things were going through my head, like the schedule for making each menu on my 4th of July Menu:

Ribs
Crock Pot Baked Beans
Deviled Eggs
Strawberry, banana, blueberry flag kabobs
Banana Pudding Dessert
Each item takes a certain amount of time to make and prepare and so I kept thinking about which to do first.  Let me just say also that making each one of these was a happy moment for me, because last Summer, there was not a whole lotta baking going on in my house due to my broken arm and broken heart over the loss of Daisy.

This year our family gathered together at our home and my 92 year old Great-Aunt Ramona came as well.  She had such a great time with us and I am so happy she came and joined the family fun this year!  The kids all had such a fun day playing with the neighborhood kids in the morning and then their cousin in the afternoon.

There was a community fair going on all day and my friend Jennifer was a volunteer for the community.  I got to go and spend some time with her and that was so nice to catch up for a bit!

After our amazing dinner and dessert, we headed over to the park to listen to music, visit other people, visit with each other, and let the kids run around.  The firework show started at around 9PM and did not disappoint this year!  It went on for almost 30 full minutes with amazing colors and sparkly sounds!


So here it is 10 pm on a Wednesday night and I am BEAT!  So off to bed I go, but I am so thankful for our nations freedom and all of the wonderful people who fight to keep it that way.  I am so thankful for all of the fun Independence Day happy moments that occurred and I am grateful to be getting some much needed sleep now!  God Bless America!

Day 314

Pretty mellow day today.  I woke up with a migraine, so we kept it pretty low key and at home...tried doing the naked potty training since we were home, but that didn't go so well lol.  So some happy moments and then to bed!  Gotta get up REALLY early in the morn!

• getting to spend time with the boys every day all day...pretty fun AND Joel slept in until 9 today!
• Joel playing with the neighborhood kids and Connor being down for a nap meant that I could take a nap....headache went away for the most part....so nice!
• Going out to dinner with the family because I didn't feel like cooking.  We got a good deal on an Italian Family Meal and the boys LOVED the food and were really good at the restaurant.
• Got to see our neighbors and have the boys play with them...we haven't seen these neighbors in a while, but they are such wonderful people and we spent about an hour and a half talking, hanging out, and watching the kids run around and laugh.  It was a great way to end the night for the kids.
• Getting to talk to Aunt Joyce on the phone while getting the kids ready for bed.  We can talk for up to 3 HOURS sometimes, but I got a great recipe from her, talked about life, her children, and the family.  I love that woman!

So even though today was pretty mellow and we stayed close to home, I enjoyed the happy moments that came my way.  There is something good in each and every day if you look hard enough!  Have a great night and hope many of you are looking forward to tomorrow!

Day 313

Hello and goodbye to Monday...wow today went by quickly!

• Got up and headed to physical therapy and then the chiropractor today...felt SOOOO good after doing both this morning!  Hardly a flare to speak of on Monday mornings post working my arms and hands!
• I spent the morning snuggled back in bed while the kids watched TV and Connor went pee pee in the potty!
• We went to the local pool for a bit that is walking distance to our home and spent a couple of hours swimming around.  The boys had THE best time and Connor and Joel both amazed me with their swimming abilities!  Joel is working on diving down to get a stick on the bottom of the pool, so of course little brother wanted to do it over and over and over (with the help of Mommy) today as well.  Then they did some jumping into the pool, swimming to the steps, and Joel even tried to do a hand stand!  I will be forever grateful for their incredible swimming instructor who worked so hard with them at the beginning of this summer!  She would be SO proud of them!
• I fed my hungry boys some BIG lunches today and then put Connor down for a nap.  I took a mini nap and Joel went outside to play with his group of friends.  They were on the noisy side so I skipped the nap and got ready for work.
• After work we had a nice dinner together and then a beautiful Family Home Evening lesson on the Restoration of the Gospel and Joseph Smith's "First Vision"  I really felt the spirit as I taught the boys, sang with them, and read scriptures with them.  I am so thankful for the scripture that says "Raise up a child in the way he should go and he will not depart from it."  I hope so....all I can do is continue to teach with love and hope the boys feel my love that I have for them.

Well, feeling very sleepy so I am off to bed!  I hope all of you have a great night and had some moments to find happy today!

Day 312

The days are flying by and the weekend is over once more!  Hope all of you had some happy moments happen this weekend!  It has been such a beautiful summer weekend!  Can't wait for the next one to arrive!

So we started off the day today by actually making it to all three meetings of church.  First time in several weeks that we have been able to do this because I have been flaring so badly in the morning that it takes me a LONG time to get moving!

It was nice to see people we have not seen in a while.  I had to get very creative with my 4 year old class today in using up all of the time we had for our lesson.  The lesson plan lasted about 10 minutes today ( I don't know who writes the lesson plans, but I would love to give them a few pointers on writing HOUR LONG lesson plans that are only a page long....yeah....not so much an HOUR LONG there!) so we went outside and walked around the church.  Several other classes had the same idea, and we all got a good smile about the lesson being so short today :-)

After church it was home for nap time.  AFTER nap time, we headed up to Long Beach.  We were heading up there to pick out our puppy!  The family's children were taking naps when we were almost there, so we decided to go and eat first.  Oh my goodness, we found a great restarant to eat and we had a nice meal on the water front! 

After our meal, we headed to the family's home and met all of the little girl puppies.  We took about 30 minutes picking each one up, playing with each one, and watching each one.  I said I little prayer in my heart and hoped that somehow Daisy would lead us to the correct sister.  Well, the prayer did not disappoint!  One of the dogs acted and did some of the exact same things that Daisy used to do.  David even held her "baby style" and she just laid in his arms and licked his nose.  We are confident that we picked the right dog for us and we can't wait to bring her home!  Our Ginger....what a wonderful event that is going to be!

 

Well I hope you all had a great Sunday.   We certainly did and I am so grateful for the puppy happy moments our little family was able to enjoy today.  Have a good night all!

Day 311

WHOO!  So tired tonight but we had fun today!  The day started off with just me and Connor (David was really tired from the nite before and all the fun he had) So I took Connor over to a park and we played for over an hour.  While we were there, I caught a dog trying to run away from its family.  The family was having a picnic at the tables and had pizza and offered Connor some, so we had pizza AND a park play date :-)  It was a lot of fun and when we walked back, Joel and my in-laws arrived.

We hung out at home for a while and then went to a different park to try to fly kites with the boys.  It was a lot of fun TRYING to fly the kites, but they never got up very far!

My in laws watched the boys for us tonight and David and I went out and had a FANTASTIC dinner at a local sushi place.  Then we went to the movies and saw The Avengers and really enjoyed it the second time around! 

It was fun day today and we made a lot of happy moments.  I am so thankful for the area where we live and all of the children that we find to play with!  It is so fun meeting new people all of the time, seeing people that we have met before but not seen for a while, and playing at all of the parks!  We are very blessed and I really appreciate what we have.  Hope all of you are having a good weekend!