A Little Girl's Dream Come True

In the beginning of November, Piper and I enjoyed a fun day at Disneyland together.  I wanted to take her one last time with me before she turned 3 and while she was still free.  John came home early from work, picked Brody up from school for me, and helped him with his homework.  All the while, Piper and I rode lots of rides, met many princesses, and ate yummy food.  It was the best Mommy/Daughter date!

 

Pretty in Pink!

Of course, we had to meet Rapunzel again.

Piper was still very shy, but she loved every minute of it.

We stood in a very long line at the Princess Academy to meet the princesses there.  Piper fell asleep just before it was our turn to go in.  I luckily got her up and she was ready and excited.  We first met Snow White, but Piper was too scared to get too close.  Snow White was so nice, so she felt a little bit more comfortable.

Next up was Jasmine and Aladdin.  As we waited for our turn, she says to me, "I don't want to meet Aladdin".  She was pretty scared of him, so we only talked to Jasmine for a bit.  We didn't get a great shot of all of us together.  My battery decided to die just as we were talking to her.

Lastly, we met Tiana from the Princess and the Frog.  I luckily was able to quickly pop in my other charged battery to get some shots of Piper with Tiana.  Piper, still shy, surprisingly walked right up and went to give her a hug.  She was a very nice princess and Piper wouldn't let go of her.  It was too cute. :)

The merry-go-round is still one of Piper's favorites.

Once we met everyone and went on everything we wanted to at Disneyland, we walked over to California Adventure.  Piper wouldn't leave without going on the Ariel ride and Toy Story, but we also tried out something new.  We met Russell from the movie Up, which was really fun.  Piper was in awe since she loves that movie.  The whole area around is like an outdoor camp.  There were a lot of things that Brody would have loved to do like a zip line and lots of things to climb on.  They were all little bit too old for Piper, so we didn't try any of those.

We ended up spending the whole day there, which I didn't expect to do.  We also shared a corn dog together.  My favorite food in the park.  I hadn't had one in a long time, so it was a nice treat and kind of like a last hurrah for a long while.  So sad!  It was a wonderful day, though, and I am really glad that Piper got to meet some princesses while they are her favorite thing right now.  So looking forward to the many more fun times we can share together!

Halloween 2011

Halloween this year was eventful.  After the Jog-A-Thon at Brody's school, the kids and I came home and got cleaned up and ready for the evening.  Our neighborhood holds lots of fun block parties and this was no exception.  We met over in the late afternoon in front of Carly's and Jackie's houses.  The kids had lots of fun playing with their neighborhood friends and seeing all their funny costumes.  We enjoyed pizza, lots of salads, and lots of Halloween treats.  It was a good time. :)

Waiting for the fun to begin and the food to arrive.

Piper and her friend Claire.  Claire is a little bit older and Piper just adores her.  They share their love of Tangled, princesses, and dress ups.  Piper wants long hair just like Tangled and Claire.

Here is Brody with Claire's older brother Jack.  Brody and Jack have the same funny relationship.  Jack is 7 and Brody just adores him.  He thought Jack's Harry Potter costume was the coolest.  The Neptune's are a great family and we just love hanging out with them!

The best dressed guy there, actually the only guy dressed up there.  This is our neighbor Eric and I thought this was a real costume until he let the kids rip it all off of him at the end of the night.  He made it all of paper mache and painted it.  That is real talent.  I'm still amazed.

Junk food, sugar, junk food oh my!  It was only the beginning too. . .

Frosting face, that's a nice look for you Piper.

A group shot of all the kids.  This is roughly about the amount of children you can see on any given day playing outside from 3 to 5.  It is always so much fun!  Don't hate us, come join us! :) 

Once it started to get dark, it was show time!  A quick pic before heading out.  Ahh, my sweet, beautiful princess and scruffy, old pirate!

Piper was ready to go!  It was her first real trick-or-treating experience.  Daddy took the kids out first and went to half the neighborhood, and then we switched and Mommy finished it off.  Brody was so excited and decided to start running from house to house with his friends and to not stay with the group.  He got lost at one point and, luckily, it scared him.  Things changed after that and the kids couldn't move to the next house until all the little were done with a house. 

The kids got so much candy.  Piper couldn't even hold her bag.  Brody got tired and we ended things early before getting to all houses in our neighborhood.  Some neighbors were very generous, giving out full candy bars and McDonald's toys.  Have to remember those houses for next year!  It was a good night, but as expected, a late sugar-filled one.  Glad another year is over and the candy is out of my house!

School Fundraisers

Since school is new to us, I have been learning about the amount of fundraisers that are held, which seems to be many.  I guess they all happen in the Fall mostly, so that isn't too bad.  We participated in a few so far and had lots of fun.  Back in October, his school held a family lunch on the field with the In N Out truck.  Parents brought chairs and blankets and met the kids on the field.  The food was delicious, of course, so I am sure that was incentive for people to participate and it was pretty packed.  We sat with friends from church and Brody felt pretty special that daddy was able to be there too. 

Brody also participated in his school's Jog-A-Thon.  They held it on Halloween, which I thought was a pretty smart idea.  Brody got a monster shirt to wear for the event from asking Mom and Dad and the grandparents for money to sponsor him. 

Before the kindergarteners started running, they warmed up with some fun stretches and silly dance moves to the song Monster Mash.

Moving like a mummy to the Monster Mash song.  Anytime the song came on while running, the kids would stop and start acting like mummys/zombies.  Here is the school mascot, the Hawk, keeping the energy and excitement alive.

Now he is embarrassed we were watching him.

Here is Brody at the start of the race running hard (his head is just below the balloons).  He ran with friends, Thalia and Elijah.

Slowing down a bit.

Forget it, I'm done running.

Way to go Brody!  John surprised Brody by showing up to see him run.  We thought he would be excited when he saw him while running, but he totally dissed John instead.  Man, he is already embarrassed by us!  Here is the only acknowledgement John got after the run.

Playing it cool and hanging with friends.

The kids all got oranges and water to drink after.

Then they headed over to see their class poster.  The kids loved their having their faces cut out and made as spiders.  I tried to get a picture of Brody's, but the kids were covering it.  His is in the bottom left corner.

First try at a class picture.  I had a to take a few others, since the child on the far left wouldn't stop smiling with an orange in his mouth.  Whose child is that anyway? :)

 

Awe, here is one, ready for the yearbook.

More Halloween Fun

The week before Halloween, I took Piper to meet our friends at our library's storytime. It had a special Halloween one and let the kids come dressed up in their costumes.  Piper loved it and wished she could come like that all the time.  The storytime here is really great.  The women who put it on are amazing.  They are very animated and do several stories and songs with the kids and then, at the end, they always have an activity for them to do.  This time the kids made silly pumpkins out of oranges, cloves, and stickers.  They were very cute and smelled great too.  Also, this time some organization donated candy bags for all the kids.  She was one happy girl.

 

The next night, my neighbor Lindsey and I took our kids over to watch the Halloween show at this  house we had heard about.  You sit in the comforts of your car, turn on a certain radio station, and then enjoy while the lights synchronize with the music.  I have to say I wasn't expecting a lot, but it was pretty awesome.  They did all sorts of songs ranging from scary to fun and a lot of the classics like Thriller, Nightmare Before Christmas, Monster Mash, Rocky Horror and such.  The kids were scared at times, but dancing at others.  The pumpkin's face would move as it sangs songs, ghosts would pop out of graves at times, and the over all mood was there.  It was all very fun.  I'm sure we'll visit it again next year if it is still around.

Primary Program and Then Some

I forgot to post about the Primary program we had in October, so here you go.  Brody had two lines to say and memorized them before they even started practicing.  That was the easy part.  The hard part was actually getting him to say them.  His friend Avery was positioned to say hers just before him so he would follow her up.  That was a great move on the Primary presidency's part.  During practices he did great (I caught a glimpse of him one time and he talked nice and loud into the microphone), mostly because he didn't have parents watching him.  We were hopeful.

On the actual day, we were nervous that he would be nervous and not want to say anything.  His first and only program last year didn't turn out so well.  John forcibly took him up there and then he shrugged in his seat the whole time, refusing to sing, hoping that no one would see him.  He has come a long way since then.  But in order to not repeat history, we decided that a good bribe was in order.  He picked a candy bar of his choice that he could eat once we got home from church if he did the best he could do on his part and tried not to be shy.  He picked peanut butter M&M's and was very excited about the prospect of eating those.  He told many friends and his primary teacher about his prize.  The primary program started and he went up to sit in his seat without being shy.  He quietly sang most of the songs, but still he stood up and sang!  Then it was time for his part.  He got up and waited until the other kids were done with theirs, and then stood up on the stool with his mouth right to the microphone and said, loudly and proudly, "In August, I had my birthday and I turned 8 years old!  That means I have 2 years and 10 months to prepare myself to be baptized!" (With lots of emphasis on the bold words)  It was very funny and it was the first laughter from the congregation.  He didn't seem to notice and turned around and went right back to his seat.

He did such a good job and we were so proud of him!  This year he has grown a lot in overcoming his shyness.  I think a lot of it is because he had done things once already, like prayers, talks, and singing in church.  He always has a hard time if he has never done something before, as are most people.  In his case though, he just refuses to do it.  He still hates to say hello, goodbye, and thank you's to other people sometimes, but you can tell he is growing up and getting better at it. 

Today he sang in church with a small group of kids to the whole congregation.  They actually sang with a part of the ward choir's musical number.  That same number was being played at the "Let Us Sing Thanksgiving" put on by the RSM Interfaith Council that was held in our building this year during the 3rd hour.  They have it every year and it changes location each time.  They have leaders from the different religions making up the council speak and each religion has their own musical numbers.  I wasn't able to attend as I was helping in nursery with Piper.  John sat with Brody while he waited for his chance to go up.  Both times the group sounded great.   Brody sang softly and mumbled the words while the girls carried the number.  Then the first time, while he was up waiting for the song to be done, he decided picking his nose would be fun.  He saw us motioning, "Stop!" and then thought it was funny and put his whole hand in front of his mouth to hide doing it, when it didn't in fact hide it, it just looked worse.  Thankfully, that song ended and he got to sit down.  He didn't do it the second time, but apparently the other kids were the show stoppers and making funny faces to the audience.  That is what you get when kids have been sitting in church for 3 hours.  Too funny. :)

John's Birthday Weekend

We celebrated John's birthday the end of last month.  He turned the big 34! On that Friday night,  our babysitter came over to watch the kids and John and I headed out to dinner.  He had no idea where we were going, so I tried to throw him off a bit and made him pull into the temple parking lot thinking we were going there.  Once he realized that wasn't where we were going, we were off again to our destination.  Truth is, we had a lot of time before we needed to be at our reservation, so I was just buying time.  We headed to Newport Beach and along PCH to the restaurant Pizzeria Mozza. It is Mario Batali's restaurant and we had been to the one in LA, but hadn't gone yet to his new location here in Newport.  Here is what the outside looks like, courtesy of the web.

You have to make reservations far in advance and the only time I could get for that Friday was 8:15.  That was a pretty late dinner for us, but it seemed like the party was just starting there.  The older crowd was already eating and leaving and the single crowd was just coming.  It is also valet only.  John and I love pulling up in our old Accord while surrounded by luxury cars.  We always apologize to the valet guys for having to even get in our car.  They probably don't care, but still.  We were even wishing we had the van instead.  It is sad when the van is the nicest car you have. :)

So, we pull up and were a bit early, so instead of waiting inside, which looked packed, we decided to take a walk and check out the Ferrari dealership next door.  They had very nice looking Maseratis outside and we realized that you could get a 5 year old used one in pristine condition for about $60K.  I guess no one wants to be caught dead in one that old even if it only has 15,000 miles.  Crazy.  Then we walked back to the restaurant and chatted with a nice couple from Irvine that was waiting too.

The last time we went to the restaurant, we got seated at the bar, which we loved because you could see the cooks making all the pizzas.  This time we were seated in this little cozy, low lit, romantic outdoor setting. It was much quieter then the loud bar scene and it was perfect.  We both ordered appetizers,  I got a salad, and John tried the meatballs.  They were melt in your mouth so good.  Then we got our own personal pizza.  John got this one again.  It is kind of like a breakfast pizza with potatoes, bacon, and egg.

I went for something different and tried this one with bacon, leeks, scallions, goat cheese, and garlic.  It was a great choice.

We were both pretty stuffed by the end and took some to go.  Afterwards, I was planning on going to a movie he wanted to see, but instead we decided to just go home and watch something there.  It was already a late night.

The next morning, the kids gave John a birthday present and didn't wake up until 7am!  That is great for Brody as he is always up much earlier than that.  We got dressed and ready for soccer and then opened Daddy's presents. 

First up was a pasta spoon.  I know this seems funny, but we have been wanting to replace our old one that broke, and I found one just before his birthday.  He didn't have much to open, so I thought I would just wrap it up for him. 

He also got his favorite Trader Joe's chocolate-covered almonds from the kids.

And to go along with his big gift of great seats at the Kings game in December for him and me, he finally got his Kings license plate holder.

A dress shirt, money,and iTunes gift card from my parents.  That iTunes card was all used up after literally five minutes of getting it.  He definitely loved it.

The kids made him cards/envelopes for him.

Piper found this purple air freshener for his car.  Now it smells like berries all the time :)

We also opened a few cards from loved ones which he loved, Aunt Janie, Aunt Carol, his parents.  Thank you all!  It was a great start to the morning.  Then it was off to soccer.  Brody played a good game, so that made it even more fun.  Here he is getting ready to kick a corner kick.

And waiting for kick off.  He looks like his famous uncle right here.  They have the same stance.

I am a happy and proud soccer mom wearing his pin as pictures came that day.

After soccer, we got Brody cleaned up and then went to lunch at John's favorite, The Hat. We shared some things and it still was too much food.  I hadn't had pastrami in a really long time. It tasted great and even Piper loved it.  We were all amazed.

After lunch, we took the kids to see Puss in Boots.  It was worth seeing, entertaining for young and old.  Although, our youngest and oldest decided to konk out for a while through it.  Brody and I thought it was great though.

We came home and sang happy birthday to Daddy and had some ice cream cake.  John asked for a red velvet cake with vanilla ice cream this year instead of his usual.  It turned out great and we all loved it.

John shared his birthday night with our ward's Trunk or Treat (what a good man!). We got the kids ready to go and then took a few picture before.  Piper was Rapunzel from Tangled with her friend Pascal the chameleon and her trusty frying pan, just in case there are any bad guys wanting to take her candy.  So cute Piper!  Oh and Piper is the short haired Tangled when her hair gets cut off at the end of the movie.

Brody playing his part as the tough pirate Captain Jack Sparrow.

We showed up late since we were not going to eat and went straight for the games.  The kids did the ring toss.

"I got stickers Mommy!"

We stood in line with our friend Ashley for a game.  We see Ashley everyday as we pick her up for carpool to school.

They played the fishing game.

And found some fun prizes on the end of the line.

They had a parade around the cultural hall to show off the costumes before awarding prizes to the best ones.

A few of our neighborhood friends came too, Nomar, Leila, Brody, Avery, and Piper.

Round 2 for the fishing game. Some of my old Activity Day girls, Hannah and Danielle, were helping with the games.  They loved to see the kids reactions.

Piper did you get little pinwheels?

Another game, another prize.

Trunk or Treat time!  Piper nicely walked with Daddy around to all the cars while I stayed at our car handing out candy.  Brody was long gone running from car to car several times.  He got way too much candy.

Piper saw her favorite Nursery leader Sis. Ramsey.

She was also very polite and soft spoken when asking for candy.

On Sunday, we had rib-eye steaks, potato casserole and broccoli for dinner in honor of Daddy.  It was a jammed packed very fun weekend for all.  The kids love their Daddy and I love my husband and we are all glad to have him in our lives.  Happy birthday John!  Hope you had a wonderful weekend!