What do you when is raining and the husbands are working late. . . . .

Hang out at Shaylyn's house all day and night! The end of February, we held a "Sister Wives" day.  We call it that as an inside joke, but the only comparison is a ton of kids, 4 moms, and 1 husband that always comes home at a decent hour (4pm- all our husbands are pretty jealous of Marc).  We usually end up hanging out at the Johnson house, since they have so many fun things to do and pretty much just because they have the most kids.   It was a great day to be stuck inside with friends.  We had a fun-filled afternoon playing.  The kids made a train that went around the whole house. First there was Tyler being the conductor, then Braden, Brinley, Gavin, Brody, Piper, and baby Kayla.

These kids have been having fun together since they were babies.  It has been so fun to see them grow up and continue to be friends. 

For some of these get-togethers, we all contribute food to share and enjoy dinner together.  This time we stayed later and had Family Home Evening.  Here are the kids waiting patiently for it to start.

The kids loved playing the games for the activity.

And especially loved their Oreo dessert.

It was a fun and relaxing day and night for all of us.  It especially reinforced how fun family home evening can be (I must not make it too fun sometimes).  Ever since then the kids have been excited to do it the way the Johnson's have theirs.  Thank you for your great example! 

Also, the sister wives thing, I get it!  Not for the obvious reason of course, but for the practical duties around the house it is wonderful.  Wish I had a few more me's around that the kids didn't tune out or say "no" to.  :)

Cousin Time

Back in the end of February, we got to have some of our Brown cousins come visit us!  I watched Preston, Lucas, and Kate one afternoon while Tyler and Kristi got to pick out flooring for their brand new house.  Our kids were so excited to have them all here.  After a lot of playing at home we walked to our neighborhood park, played some more, and rested with some snacks.

Baby Kate was so good.  She is such a good content baby.  Piper and I loved keeping her company and getting our baby fix.

After the park, we enjoyed some Otter Pops on the sidewalk.  The perfect treat!

Then Brody tired to convince Preston that wrestling is the coolest thing to do.  Not sure if he liked it or not.  It is Brody's favorite thing.  The boys in our neighborhood are always tackling each other and wrestling on the lawns.  Oh, how we love boys!

After John came home from work, we took our families out to dinner at our favorite pizza place, Oggi's.  It was a late night for our kids, but lots of fun for everyone.

President's Day

Holidays are so much more fun with kids.  All the fun arts and crafts they come home with.  I went to school to pick up the kids to start our President's Day vacation and this is what I found. . . .  a bunch of Abe Lincoln's!  There was a lot of excitement in the air between these two, Brody and his friend and fellow carpooler Ashley.  These two act, play, and fight just like siblings.  Here's some of the happier moments.

Brody with some of his friends, Thalia, Julian, and Russell.  These are names I hear very frequently around our house.

We did have a long weekend, but stuck around for most it.  Other than Disneyland with our friends on that Friday, we only had dental appointments to go to on Monday.  This was Piper's second time going to the dentist, but it was her first time getting xrays.  She was a super star, she did so awesome!  Didn't move a muscle, no tear was shed and wasn't scared at all! 

Way to go Piper!  No cavities for this girl (or Brody for that matter) and it looks like she is going to have a good set of teeth ahead of her.  Him on the other hand, we'll wait and see. . .

Disneyland With Friends!

Yay for Disneyland with friends again!  It has been a long time since we have been able to go with friends.  Too many kids along with rising pass prices have caused many of us to not be able to go together.  It was so wonderful when my friend Shaylyn got her passes back.  We went up the Friday of President's weekend since school was out for our district .  We drove together, which made it so much more fun for all of us.  It was a pretty crowded that day, so we stuck to rides and attractions with short lines.  

Riding the Railroad: Braden, Brody, Tyler, Brinley, and Piper.

And baby Kayla of course!

We went to the Innoventions building in Tomorrowland, which neither of us had been to before.  It was pretty fun for the kids and had some cool things to see.  The kids checked out some bugs under magnify glasses.

 And got to drive.

A big part of it was a high tech futuristic house you could walk through and experience.  This was one of the bedrooms with your own big TV and Xbox Kinect set up to play.  They had a pretty amazing digital mirror that would show you the weather and among other things that I can't remember right now.  Brody and Braden had a great time playing with the Kinect though.

Even Tyler tried to join in.

We waited far too long for Winnie the Pooh, but the kids still had lots of fun.

And had lots of silliness.

We left at dark, grabbed some Wendy's for dinner and had more fun all the way home.  Love Disneyland with friends!!

Valentine's Day

The kids were very excited for Valentine's Day this year since they were more aware of what it meant.  We opened gifts first thing in the morning.   We got the kids some things from the dollar aisle at Target while Grandma Pitta surprised them by sending some heart candy. They couldn't have been happier.  I surprised John with a lap desk for his computer so he could comfortably sit next to me on the couch while he works.  It was something I knew he wanted, so he was very excited to get it.

That morning, I helped out in Brody's class for the Valentine's party.  His teacher had four stations set up for crafts and games and we had to rush through just to finish it all.  I helped the kids make animal-decorated cloths pins.  It was a bit crazy in the beginning, but then I got it under control and organized by the end.  I had like two seconds to figure out what we were doing before I had little hands grabbing at everything.  It all came together and the kids had lots of fun.

Continuing the tradition, we had our annual Valentine's party with friends.  Piper and I went after I came home from helping with Brody's party.  With Brody at school, it was so different this year with only one child participating.   I really had no one to watch and could talk freely with friends.  My baby is not a baby anymore and it is weird and sad too.  She didn't need much help from me either filling up the bags with her valentines.  She was quite the pro.

Some of our friends, Emma, Lucy, and James.

She was so cute, she comes up to me and politely and shyly says, "Can I have this Mommy?"  This is typical of her in public, but at home she does not hold back and can be a little sassy at times.  It's amazing how different her and Brody are.

"Look what I got Mommy!"

Now time to get all that sugar out of your system!

My Birthday Weekend

Another year, another birthday.  This year was the big 33.  Nothing really "big" about it, but the kids were definitely excited for it.  Piper loved saying, "3-3, just like me!"  That 3 year old loves pointing out 3's.  It was a great weekend. I especially loved it even more that this was one of the first times that John wasn't crazy busy with work.  He has lots of time to think of me. :)

So, since my birthday was on Sunday, I naturally started out my Saturday by sleeping in and going on a nice run while John took the kids out to get some last minute birthday surprises.  That afternoon I picked up our babysitter and we were off to the movies.  Here's one reason I love a February birthday: going to all the chick flicks for Valentines.  John can't say a thing and I get to see exactly what I want while sitting right next to my man. 

The Vow proved to be another great one, full of romance and lots of Channing Tatum :).  It was especially great that it was based on a true story about a family from Ventura, practically my hometown!  After the movie, we drove to Corona Del Mar for a dinner at Bandera.  This was our first time there.  We like to take the kids on drives down the coast and we pass by this place along our way.  We can see through the window the delicious rotisserie chickens cooking away as you pass and it always appears to be packed with many people waiting outside.  The reviews were good and a few of John's coworkers raved about the place.  We were told to get the chicken and ribs combo and we did.  It also came with a delicious coleslaw and some pretty awesome cornbread that they are also known for.  It definitely lived up to the hype and we would go back in a second.

After our wonderful date, I came home to these beautiful flowers.  I was so excited; they were gorgeous!  Apparently, they were supposed to be for Valentine's Day, courtesy of the youth fundraiser, but showed up a few days early.  I didn't care because I always feel these two holidays always run together for me anyway.

With early church on Sunday, we hurried to get ready and, when I came downstairs, John and the kids had my presents all ready on the table for me.  They just couldn't wait for me to open them.

The kids got me Breaking Dawn.  Thanks kids!

My parents got me just what I had been looking for, stainless for the bathroom.

And some beautiful earrings.  Thank you Mom and Dad!

John found this wonderful card where as you open it the man moves closer to his women to give her a kiss.  It was cute and the kids loved it even though Brody was a bit embarrassed about the kissing part.

Enjoying my other cards, Thank you Jane and Joe and Aneta and Lee!

My big surprise was from John who got me a renewed Disney pass and an adults only day at Disney courtesy of Aneta and Lee.  It definitely was a total surprise since I thought we weren't renewing again.  Thank you John!

The rest of the day was great as well.  I got sung to by the Jr Primary, John made all the meals that day, and I got to talk to my family and read all the many birthday wishes.  Thank you all for a wonderful weekend!  33 is looking up!

Mother/Daugher and Father/Son Outings

The beginning of February, John wanted to take Brody on a Father/Son outing to a Kings game.  While they were gone, Piper and I did our own little Mother/Daughter night: we did a little shopping and got some dinner.  We went to Cafe Rio for dinner and a few Targets to look for a stool I wanted.

Loving her free quesadilla!

She also realized she has a talent and new love for balancing.

While we were out having fun, Brody was having a blast.  This was his second Kings game.  His first one was when he was 2, so I'm sure he doesn't remember that one.  Pretty much he was mostly excited about all the food you could get there, but he did enjoy the game too.  He loves whatever his Daddy loves.

Here's the view from their seats.  Brody is a member of Bailey's Buddies, the LA Kings kids club.  The kids get free tickets to certain games when you are a member.  This was one of those games.

The Kings won on a goal with less than one second left, which ended up being a bit controversial because replays later showed that the clock had stopped briefly for no reason, giving the Kings the extra time to score.  Even so, according to John, it made for a very exciting ending.  After the game, they stopped at one of the street vendors so Brody could have a famous bacon wrapped hotdog for the first time.  Brody downed it; he loved to so much, not leaving much for John.  Man, that kid. . .