Random

I forgot to add this picture of Jim and Elizabeth to the slide show.



Here are just some random but cute pictures of the kids.

Last weekend we had a pre-Easter brunch and Easter egg hunt with the kids and married folks in our complex. We had yummy fruit salad, juice and breakfast burritos and the kids had such a great time getting all the Easter eggs that were all on the lawn and such. they also received a packaged craft to make an Easter hat at home and bubbles. The kids were in Heaven and I think all the adults had a great time socializing and watching them play together.

Frosting

As a treat, I gave Isaac a small bowl of Vanilla frosting and some graham cracker sticks. He doesn't get this very often and was so excited to eat it. So excited in fact, that when I left the room and came back, he was feeding Elizabeth the frosting!!! EEEK!! Of course, she LOVED it and he got such a kick out of feeding her with it. I couldn't help but take a picture of it and then tell him that Elizabeth shouldn't eat the frosting but that it was so nice of him to share with her.

30 Things to do before Turning 30

Not this July but July 2011 I will be turning 30 years old! I sure don't feel old enough to be 30 and I am not quite sure that I act it as well. I hear that the 30's are great but I just think that it is one more decade closer to your 40's. I am a bit apprehensive turning 30 and feel like the world will end when I do. When you are in your 20's, I feel that our society views 20 somethings as care free persons able to make mistakes and change career paths with out looking down upon. However, once 30 hits, you are expected to have a solid foundation in life and be moving on up in the world. I know that none of that really applies to me since I kinda turned 30 a few years ago when I decided to get married, have kids and drive a mini van but I still am struggling with it. Never in my life have I ever struggled with getting older and now it is hitting me like a brick wall. So to ease my pain, I took the idea from my friend Jenna and made a list of 30 things to do before I turn 30 to help ease the pain. I guess I should start doing these things when I turn 29 this July but since I have 2 kids and a husband in school, I am giving myself a few extra months to accomplish my list. As I accomplish a task, I will blog about it so hopefully when I do turn 30, I will have a great blog about how happy I am to embrace it. Here is my list.

1. Run a 1/2 marathon (preferably the one in Disneyland)
2. Make something crafty
3. Eat a bowl of Chili at Barney's Beanery
4. Reach my goal weight of XXX (I am not bold enough to say it but I will say that I would be 45 lbs lighter)
5. Have a dinner at the London West Hollywood
6. Submit family history
7. Eat a breakfast at Swingers in Santa Monica
8. Buy some yummy gourmet food at the San Francisco Ferry Building market place
9. organize a family reunion
10. Go to the San Diego Temple
11. Take the kids to the San Diego Zoo or Wildlife park
12. Read the New Testament
13. Bake cookies with Isaac
14. Go clothes shopping for...ME!
15. Spend the day in Solvang, Ca
16. Take a trip to Hearst Castle
17. Build a sand castle or sand sculpture
18. Have a Mom and me day (talking about my Mom)
19. Go for a hike
20. Eat a Sprinkles cupcake
20. Have a Dad and me day (talking about my Dad)
21. Make a cake from scratch and decorate it with...fondant
22. Go on a yacht in the ocean
23. Have an Isaac and Me day
24. read a "classic" novel
25. Have a Jim and me day
26. Be the 1st one to ride on Splash Mountain with Isaac
27. Visit a light house
28. Participate in a mud run
29. Attend a live taping of a TV show
30. go on a 30th birthday celebration vacation w/o the kids
**31.** just like you sometimes put an extra candle on the cake for good luck, here is my extra candle: Visit Angel island

NorCal

After having Julie stay with us for 3 weeks, the kids and I hoped on a plane and headed for the Bay Area to visit family for 2 weeks. During that 2 weeks we were able to attend a couple of family birthday parties, go to a baby shower, swim, and collect family history information. We also had fun outings with different family members like going to the zoo, catching a ferry to San Francisco, play at the park. It is always so nice to go home and visit family and I know that the kids enjoy it too. Jim stayed back in Malibu for school, but we updated him daily with our fun adventures. It is definitely more difficult flying solo with the two kids, but worth it to see the families.

Julie

For 3 weeks Jim's sister, Julie, came and stayed with us. It was so nice having her here not only to visit, but to have a helping hand with the day to day tasks of maintaining a home and raising children. I often wondered if what I experienced with Julie here, is how a lot of Moms here feel with nannies.

While she was here we went to the beach, saw a live taping of the Ellen show, went to Disneyland, saw a couple of movies, did the Hollywood tourist thing, ate at Pinks Hotdogs, visited the Santa Monica Pier plus more. We also just hung around the house and went for walks and played the wii. Jim and I also took advantage of her while she was here and we snuck off for a couple of dates with out the kids which is always wonderful.

We had such a great visit with her and the kids loved her too.

Cute Kids

Dangerous Wands