Ditch Day

Collin was excited that I was going to pick him up at 11 from school. He thought it was the "best day ever" even when he thought we were just going to watch TV all day.

Breann, Alaina & Kelsey

My sister-in-law, Kayla, was watching her brother's kids from Utah so she decided to bring them to the beach for the day. I'm so glad she called and invited us - I hardly ever go to the beach, even though we live so close.
Collin catching a few waves on his boogy board.
Milloy, Kelsey & Brett
Kayla brought a couple of buckets, Collin filled one with water, and Kelsey played with it for the next 3 hours.

Collin was getting a little too close while Kayla was working.
One thing Kayla and Tyler always do is dig a big hole for the kids to play in. I would never think to do that but they really have fun. Kelsey was a little sandy - probably because she thought this was a slide.
Queen Breann & King Collin
I asked Collin what caption to put on this picture - he said he didn't know because he didn't like it... yeah, right!
They had even more fun once the water came in and filled in the hole.

We really had a fun time with our cousins! It was fun having 3 sets of brother/sisters at the beach - especially seeing the ones that live further away that we don't get to see as often.

Thanks again, Kayla for bringing them down here for the day!

Family Night

We had a fun time at Wood Ranch with nearly all the grand-kids (only missing Brennan in Hawaii)

Kelsey's just hanging with Daddy
Let's see if I can name them all... Addison, Ellie, Kayley, Karissa, Alaina, Collin, (The top of Kelsey's head), Milloy, Breann, Bret and Grandpa-Great!
I'm glad we were able to see everyone and they are all such good friends!

Kelsey Lends a Hand

Collin was creating dividers for his binder full of drawings. He poured glitter glue on it and I told him to spread it around with his finger, "Mom! I don't want to get my finger dirty." Just then Kelsey went to touch it, Collin stopped her, "Don't touch it! ... Wait a second - let me see your finger..." So Collin used Kelsey's finger to spread the glitter around. He was good though and helped her wash up when they were done.

Kind of gives a new meaning to "finger painting."

Welcome Ari

We've been so excited waiting for baby Ari to come... We had a false alarm Sunday morning when Jessica called me at 3am to come over so she & Mike could go to the hospital but they were back by 5:30... She was finally born yesterday morning - and thanks to grandma coming to visit, I didn't get another early morning call.

Kelsey and I went to go see Ari in the hospital today. Kelsey was so excited she told everyone in the hospital that she was going to see her baby sister!

IZ was K's best friend, then when we babysat Lilly & IZ Collin wrote in class that he had been playing with his cousins... now Ari is K's sister... if Jessica has another baby he or she will probably be my kids' twin :)

Collin had to draw a picture for Ari. We are excited to have such good friends and hope she'll be able to come home from the hospital soon.

Goodbye FHC, Hello YW/PP

In case you haven't heard yet, I have a new calling... I know, I know, normally once you are in Family History it's for life, like the GAs, but sometimes there is a reprieve...

As you may guess from the (copyrighted from lds.org) pictures I am the new Personal Progress Police (I think the correct term is Advisor - but I like to keep with the alliteration :P )

I'm excited to work with these girls - many I know from when I was primary secretary - man, it didn't seem that long ago!

Don't worry (as I'm sure you all are) I still plan on helping in the Family History Center for Sunday School and whenever you have problems/questions about your genealogy. If fact I am almost ready to launch my blog for the new.familysearch.org lessons I've created... But then I always said genealogy wasn't so much a calling as it is an obsession...

It's a little tricky since I haven't actually been in Young Women's since I was a Young Woman - many, many years ago... The program has changed somewhat since then and I'm trying to learn quickly so I can figure out what I'm doing (Kayla-any suggestions are welcome...) We have an Evening of Excellence for next month that I'm trying to make a movie for (so if any of my girls are reading this don't forget to send me pictures!!!) After that it should quiet down a bit - I hope.

Landscaper or Psychopath??

Have you seen this man lurking in your back alley?? I sure have. Now I know why our homeowner dues are so high... This landscaping worker (not sure the PC Term for the gardener here) has been in my back alley - usually with in a house or two of mine - everyday for the past 2 weeks. I was starting to feel like I was being stalked when he was in the empty house across the street for 8 hours straight yesterday!
So I did something I've never done before - I called and complained! I figured at least it was poor management to have someone trimming trees he did two weeks ago and pulling each yellow leaf off the jasmine by hand... at worst I was getting the creeps having this guy (and it was always the same one) outside my window most days!
So the guy from the office called back and confirmed that someone should be back in the alley only once a month for landscaping maintenance (Did I mention that it's just my alley- not even the front greenery) and he would call the supervisor to see what was up.
Ironically he was back the next morning when I was taking Collin to school (I peaked out the upstairs window and took this picture - so stealth, I know) but at least he was gone by the time I picked him up from school.
So make sure to check out my alley the next time you come to visit - it's the most immaculate alley in town!

Pointillism

Collin asked me today if there was a way to draw a picture without making a line. At first I told him no - I'm a math person so I'm thinking about lines with 2 dimensions 3 dimension's... But then he gave an example of just coloring everything and it reminded me of a picture I told him about that I saw in a museum of an old women but if you looked close it was all thumbprints.

Then I told him about pointillism's (yes, I use terms like pointillism with a 6 year old!) I explained about the Impressionist painters and about Monet and VanGogh...

This evening he brought me these pictures he drew of a couple of dinosaurs and their footprints - which he created using pointillism...
So, Rainey, when your art students complain about not understanding terms or homework is to hard tell them about your 6 year old nephew who learned about pointillism and that day went out and experimented with it on his own...

Collin fell...

I was doing dishes/making dinner when I heard someone come in the back gate. Kelsey said it was Dad but I saw Collin there. As I walked over I was surprised to see a stranger with a dog (She looked nice but in my mind I was thinking of all the different things Collin could have done that bugged the woman so much that she had to come tell me personally about it.) She just said, "He fell." As the calm mom I am I just said, "OK, thanks."
Then I looked at him. She kept talking, something about his bike but I stopped listening...
He had blood all over his forehead (I purposely used a bad picture so you wouldn't have to see it too clearly - yes, I grabbed my camera as I was rushing about trying to find a first-aid kit then realizing it would need something a bit more then had to go find it... (Did I mention I hate child locks - in the bathroom I have my medicine well protected with those super-duper locks that you have to use a magnet to get in - but never seem to work when you have an emergency and are ready to rip the door off the hinges... but I digress)
Like most head wounds it looked worse than it was. Luckily Chad came home while I was trying to clean it - in case I needed to take him to the hospital. But he was no help - I was on my 5th cotton swab and his all, "So, how'd you do that with your helmet on?" then noting the hole on his foot, "Oh, and I see you weren't wearing shoes, either." I didn't even look at him, "Not helping!" There's a time for the interrogation - After the blood has been sopped up!
Once it was it went something like this:
(I didn't even ask about the helmet - I know he never wears one...)
You told me you had shoes on, where are they...
How did you crash into the mailboxes?? You're supposed to stay on the sidewalk in front of the houses - NOT in the alley...
Ironically our FHE lesson tonight was going to be about road safety :)
Still, I was pretty impressed he didn't really cry until it was all over and then only a little bit (he whined but he whines about everything from putting on his shoes to washing his hair and everything in between.)
So if you see him this week he may be sporting a black eye and has a scar just about the same place as Cousin Kayley - but don't ask him about it - he's embarrassed (so of course I have to tell everyone in cyberland about it :) I lost count - was that 3 or 4 "bad mom " moments from this story???)

Kelsey's Got a Gun

I don't know who gave K a water gun but she had fun shooting everyone with it at Donavon's party.

Donavon's Birthday

I'm a little behind - but we have to celebrate that Donavon is now a Teenager!!

We had a pool party over at our pool with the cousins...
Happy Birthday Donavon!!!

I Need Chocolate!!

Around 5 pm most days Kelsey shows her twoness. Today she was screaming for chocolate and was making the most angished faces - I figured there were enough of us out there that knew exactly how she felt...

OHS Family Picnic

We had fun party on Saturday with the kids and other teachers at OHS...

All the Scrapbook magazines tell you to get good pictures of your kids by focusing in close so they fill the entire frame... If you've ever tried this you know how hard it is to keep a moving child in a small focus field... I got lucky but might I suggest taking a regular picture then just cropping it how you want it after...






Dad loves the rocking toys...
Kelsey was fascinated with with Ginger's curls...

Happy Patriot's Day

Today at Collin's school we celebrated Patriot's Day with a flag raising ceremony.
The early years (K & 1st) students sang a song about the importance of going out and voting (I made sure to register with my new address so I'm good to go)
Afterwards the students were invited to leave flowers at the base of the flag pole. (my camera ran out of batteries right then, rrr)

We got to school early so I told Collin about why we celebrate Patriot's Day today. I told him about the plane crashes...

A girl in our ward was getting married but they didn't have enough money to send both of her parents out here for the wedding so it was decided that just her mom would come. As a surprise, her friends organized fund raisers and earned enough money to fly her dad out too. Ironically he was able to get a direct flight while his wife had a lay-over... (I think you know where this is going) He was on the 4th plane that went down on 9/11. I explained to Collin how the passengers found out what was happening and overpowered the hijackers so the plane crashed without killing thousands more.

In the program this morning the principal talked about the military people but I wanted Collin to know that you don't have to be in the armed forces to be patriotic. Those people in the last plane were patriotic by protecting others, even giving up their lives. When we go out and talk about prop 8 to people, encouraging them to support it, we are being patriotic. The women who had the booth at school to encourage parents to register to vote, even though we have different political views, were being patriotic. The little kids explaining the Pledge of Allegiance, and singing about voting, were being patriotic.
You don't have to be in the military to love our country. Do something today to make it a better place to live in, for our children and for ourselves.

Of Course I Got Tickets!

I just wanted to reassure everyone that I did get tickets for Collin for the Walking with Dinosaur - The Live Experience.

Knowing I don't have TV my sister, Chris, called a few weeks ago to tell me about it. I immediately got on the Internet and googled it. Most of the tickets were already sold out so we ended up with nose bleed seats but that's all to the good since Collin was a little nervous about live dinos (funny, eh)

I was going to have it be a surprise but after his teacher told him about it I decided to confess that I already had tickets.

Since then I think I've gotten about 3 more phone calls about it - the last one this morning from my sister who is bringing her son to see it in Arizona tomorrow (Sharon, if it's a surprise don't let Max read this...) so she'll tell me how it was. But I wanted to let everyone else know that I did get the tickets for my young paleontologist.

In case you didn't know, Collin is into dinosaurs. The only way you wouldn't know that is if you've never met him. I remember the first time when he was 3 yrs old we were standing in line at Albertsons and Collin started talking to the man in front of us, "I'm into dinosaurs now." He was still 3 when he started telling people he wanted to be a paleontologist (1 in 3 adults didn't even know what that was). He often asked me, "How does everyone know I like dinosaurs?!" "Um, because you tell them?"

He has branched out more to dragons (my influence) and rain forest animals -especially toucans (Costa Rica's influence) but he still loves dinos and demands every book written about them - and if you've ever been to a book store you'll know there are a lot (by the way I don't think I ever thanked Ryan and Kristy for the Life-Size Dinosaurs book - it's awesome) so I've slowed down on buying more - he has more dino encyclopedias than anyone will ever need (he used them for his "research") I'm a book freak so if there is any topic he says he's interested in I get books about it for us to read. I also get DVDs - like the Eyewitness series and take him to museums like Thanksgiving Point in Utah and La Brea Tar Pit in LA. So it's only natural that I would take him to the live show too.

We'll be going to the show at the end of September so it will be awhile before you'll get an update but we will add more pictures from the event - no worries.

Picture Day

For picture day today Collin insisted that he needed to look nice. I tried to talk him into a nice shirt or even just go without a tie (I'm lucky I didn't have a bow tie because that was his first choice!) He was trying to talk me into letting him wear a suit coat, "...and then when I'm done I can stuff it in my ba- ... I can fold it nicely and place it in my backpack to keep it safe."

So, this is the outfit he picked out for himself. Everyone told him how handsome he looked except one crazy girl who shrieked, "Collin! You look like you're going to get married!" Collin just hid behind me until we walked past her.

It's nice to have a son who has enough confidence that he can carry off this look at school ...

I guess it could be worse...

At least we know where Collin got his distinctive fashion sense from... probably from his Grandma, Linda!

You know it's time to get off the computer when...

I've been on the computer now for a few hours - posting (or trying to), creating movies, down-loading pictures, up-loading pictures, sending e-mails... there's so much to do on a computer (at least there is when you're a computer nerd, like me) I notice when I have to get up for something that I've been sitting too long (though I usually ignore that warning) but just now I felt something on my arm. I tried to brush it off, thinking it was a hair but when I looked down I saw that a spider was trying to build a web on me!
So you know when you've been on the computer too long when spiders are spinning cobwebs on you! Sheesh! Good night...

A Blessing of Babies

We had two baby blessings today. First Chad was able to bless his sister's daughter, Addison.

Cate, Tyler, Linnae, Tiana, Matt, Addison, Chad, Andy, Kayla & Betsy

Milloy, Karissa, Collin, Alaina, & Kelsey

Addison Linnae wearing the dress her Aunt Linnae wore for her blessing.

Steve, Kevin, Avarie, Debbie, Carsten, Collin, Bradlee, Micah, Kelsey, Chad & Cate

Then in the afternoon we went to my sister, Debbie's son's blessing. His dad, Kevin, blessed him with Chad, Kevin's brother, Steve, and several members of the ward assisting...

It's great to see these beautiful babies... and I am so fortunate to have a husband who can participate in these ordinances. After Addison's blessing there were testimonies and each time one of the cousins went up Kelsey would say, "Titi's turn!" Linnae thought she meant she wanted Tiana (Aunt Titi) to go up but she was saying that she wanted to go up (she calls herself 'Titi' - not sure why.)

Sipping Soda Thru a Straw

I need your help - I know there was an old song about sipping ... la la la . As I'm writing this a little more is coming to me about sipping cider - Anyway I need the lyrics of any random song/poem so when I scrapbook this I will have the right quote I'm think of but cannot recall.

This was a great photo shoot cuz they didn't move the entire time. I could move their hair out of the way and take as many pictures as I wanted and they just kept drinking (and blowing milk bubbles)
I love this picture cuz I noticed they were holding hands but I still wanted to get the sipping in too.

Tie Dye Party

Our neighbor, Amy, organized a tie-dye party for the kids on our block - of which there are scores!

Collin used lots of different colors on the shirt he tied himself.
Kelsey put on the gloves while she was waiting for me to find and tie her shirt... Look at the concentration!
The end results!

We had a lot of fun and would do it again and again but then dad would call us all hippy-freaks and ship us out to Ojai...JK