This Is It

Field Day

 

FIELD DAY

i spent the morning with max at field day. (or fun, water-filled day as i like to call it) i followed him and his class around while they carried water from here to there and over their heads. they played musical chairs, stacked jumbo cups, threw basketballs into garbage cans and carried a ball on a toilet plunger. and enjoyed a short break while they ate otter pops. the kids seemed to be having a great time and i guess that's all that matters (they have no idea what they're missing - tug o' war, the long jump, races and ribbons - haha) max was a gentleman when he gave his towel to one of his friends that didn't have one. and then cody did the same with his towel. they thought they were pretty cool. when the class came in for a break, i came home. after lunch, they came back out to do more activities, like shoe fly, ball bouncing and water limbo. his favorite from the day was getting to pass the bucket (with holes in it) and sponge over their heads. which resulted in lots of soaking wet kids. i'd say it was a successful day, he enjoyed himself a nap after school. 

may 03, 2013

April 22 - April 28

04.22.13 | monday  madi had an orthodontist appointment after school today. of course, she left her phone at home and then text me from her friend's phone that she was staying after. i let her know she had 20 minutes and she took about 25 minutes to get out. i guess she had to get some paper from one of her teachers. ??  mixter got put right to work when he got to grandma's work. shredding papers. kenzie had volleyball practice that night and i had to take max to get his basketball pictures taken at king putt. when darric got home just after 8:00, the two of us went to home depot to look for a washing machine. we did not want another he (high efficiency). we found one that we liked, but they wouldn't be able to deliver it until thursday. i could NOT wait until thursday to wash my clothes. on our way out, we spotted a washer that was a floor model on sale. it looked like it would work, so darric ran home to get his truck and we paid for it and left. unfortunately, we didn't have the drain hose, so darric couldn't hook it all the way up tonight. it was enough work trying to get the old one out of the laundry room (with wet clothes and water still in it) and the new one out of the back of the truck.

04.23.13 | tuesday  i was still having trouble getting back into the routine. i didn't want to do anything. especially since there were dirty clothes all over the place that i couldn't wash. we did have a meeting at jodie's house. kobe stayed out of the kennel the whole time and did good. that evening, max and i went to home depot and the lady gave us a hose out of one of the other machines (ours was supposed to have one), we got dinner and came home. darric hooked up the washer and ran an empty cycle. it sounded good. and sounded even better when there were clothes in there swishing around getting nice and clean. 

04.24.13 | wednesday  we (1825) were invited to the opening of cafe zupas tonight. i was so excited when i found out it was right around the corner from us. jen wasn't able to go, but me, my mom, jodie and posie all went. the food was really good. i got the bacon avocado panini, cauliflower soup (i have heard great things about it), the rocky road brownie, a slice of bread and their chocolate covered strawberry. they had little giveaways going on while we were there. mostly for people tweeting, facebooking and instagram-ing. we didn't win anything. but, we had a good time and enjoyed the food so it was worth it. mackenzie watched max, quincy, beckam and piper while darric went and watched madi at gymnastics. the kids were all sitting nicely on the couch watching tv and eating popcorn when we got back. i'm thinking we should have stayed out a little later. 

 

04.25.13 | thursday  today, jude went in for her last surgery. her second hip replacement. kenzie and i took max to his basketball practice that evening. the coach let one of the new kid's little brothers play, while one of the other kids on the team had to sit out. max was one of them. yes, he did volunteer, but he shouldn't have been given the option. that made me so mad. when we got home, we worked on max's family project that is due tomorrow. we got to decorate a butterfly. we used purple and gold tissue paper and tried to do the lakers logo across the front. it didn't turn out like i was hoping. you couldn't really even tell it said lakers. (i tried)

04.26.13 | friday  went to target this morning to get madi some snacks for her road trip tomorrow and snacks/drinks for max's basketball game tomorrow. i also grabbed a $50 disney gift card for madi to take. that night, we all went out to dinner with the daytons and bertrands at marrakech. it was quite the experience. low tables, lack of utensils, belly dancers. the food was good. as you can tell by the picture, the kids kept entertained with their electronics. when the belly dancers came out, max and darian weren't too sure if it was ok to look at them or not. kobe wasn't too happy that he got locked up in his kennel, so he surprised darric with a pleasant surprise when we got home. stunk up the whole house.

  

04.27.13 | saturday  we were all over the place today. darric took madi to the school at 3:30 this morning. to take a bus ride to disneyland. then later he went over to dave's to help with some car thing. i took max to his basketball game at basic at 10:30. max played two of the quarters. he got the ball a couple times and passed it right away. i told him the next time he got it, to run all the way down and try and make a basket. he listened, but his shot was short. we're improving. after the game, the newer family started to get snacks out. i was so ticked. i just heard the chick ask someone at the last practice when she had snacks and they told her the last game. she apologized to me and asked if i wanted to just switch and bring them to the last game. (uh, yeah. we'll see about that) some people are so stupid. we picked up lunch on the way home. mcd's and cafe rio. then darric had to take kenzie to her tournament. me and max went and watched her first game. they did good, but ended up losing. since me and the mixter missed out on our friday night fro yo, we treated ourselves to a midday dessert. we had french dip sandwiches for dinner. and at midnight, madi called and woke us up to come get her from the school. i volunteered darric to go.

Right Now...

 

Right Now

○ kobe's enjoying his two cups of blue buffalo
○ madi's finally sitting down to her homework
○ captain america escorted me to the mailbox and i'm about to open my first birchbox (first since signing back up)
○ my first load of laundry is spinning in the new washer (all my new clothes from snap are in there - hopefully it works right)
○ the harlem shake is on repeat on the tab in max's room.
○ darric and kenzie are at volleyball practice. 

it's 6:10 pm on april 23, 2013 

April 15 - April 21

monday | 04.15.13  dropped kids off and went to get my oil changed. they said i could get my smog check up to three months early, so i went ahead and got that done too. went to wal-mart to get a few things, like capri suns, cereal and snacks for my trip. ran to the bank to get some cash out. then went to the target on green valley to kill some time. got some licorice nibs because they didn't have any at wal-mart. then i went and met jen at the district and we went to downeast. i returned some jeans and she got a few things. then we came home. it's disney week on 1825 and the disneyland subway art seemed to be a big hit. after receiving several requests for a disney world one, i changed a few things and added that on there too. as i was putting a link on twitter, i noticed some people were posting about the boston marathon. come to find out, two bombs went off towards the finish line, killing three people and injuring over 100. so crazy and sick. later, after the kids were all home, i ran to target for pajamas in case we go to the pajama party at snap. i tried to pick something that (hopefully) no one else will have on. i grabbed some dog food and then dinner from samurai sams. and then kenzie and darric rushed off for volleyball practice. ** darric went in for his mri this morning. he got one for his neck and one for his head (each were 45 minutes spent in the machine) and a lovely charge of $1100. 

tuesday  04.16.13  dropped off kids, grabbed a starbucks and waited in the cold to get my car washed. then ran to trader joes to get groceries for the family. later, i ran to target to get a different shirt for my pj's and went out to the mall to look for shoes with jen. my mom met us out there too. kobe did good all day, free in the house. all the doors were locked and the pantry was tied up, but everything looked good when i returned home. that night i packed everything while darric and kenzie were at volleyball practice. darric says kenzie is finally getting her hitting down.

 

wednesday | 04.17.13  startled awake this morning at 4:00 because kobe took off after duke, flipping his bowl of food over on the way out of our room. i really wished those two would get along. i  think i was able to fall back asleep before my alarm clock went off at 5:15. said good-byes to everyone, dropped madi off at student council and went to get jen. and after a stop for sonic drinks, we were off. (jen drove my car again) just before cedar city, we saw snow everywhere. it was pretty until it started coming down on us and we couldn't see too far ahead. jen got us safely through, only to come up on some more again and then again once more. i was sick of the white stuff. we were about 13 miles from our desitnation, when we noticed we only had 9 miles left until empty, so we had to make a quick stop. while i ran inside to use the restroom, darric text me to see if we were getting gas. he's following me on the find my friends app. i kinda like having him along for the ride. ;) not too much longer and we got to our first (official) stop... chick-fil-a. tauni and kaelin met us there for lunch. it was good. we went to target next. (so grandma could do a little spoiling) then we came and checked into our hotel. and killed some time walking around in the cold, checking instagram and spying on people out our window as they arrived. our roomie for the night, desiree (36th avenue) finally arrived and we met up with brooke (all things thrifty) and made our way to dinner. we were going to go to cafe zupas, but they were already closed. so we went to texas roadhouse and made it ten minutes before they closed. luckily, they let us in. we came back to the hotel and then ended up going back out to walmart with mandi (vintage revivals) to get her a printer. jen wanted to get moo moos to wear to the pajama party. desiree was considering it. but, after trying hers on and walking around the store for a bit, she decided against it. we eventually made it to sleep that night.

 

04.18.13 | thursday  jen and i went and picked kristen duke up from the airport and swung by chick-fil-a for an early lunch. we came back and went to registration. it wasn't as nerve wracking as last year. and it was pretty nice to know a lot of the people there. as we were coming downstairs, our friends had arrived. shelly, landee, shauna and courtney. at 1:00, we attended our first class, "basic blogging tips for online success" with amy (idea room) desiree (36th ave) and sarah (thrifty decor chick). we didn't really need the class, but we wanted to make sure we had a seat for the next class... "pinterest power" with jamielyn (iheartnaptime) and heather (whipperberry). dinner was at 6:00. chicken, potatoes and salad. they did have a bar open that served soda and different lemonades, but they closed it as dinner was arriving so we didn't get much. the keynote speaker was ron finley. he's an artist, clothing designer and he plants gardens on vacant land so that people can walk by and enjoy the food he grows. our group went over to jcw's afterward. we must've been way earlier than we were last year, because the place was packed. it didn't help that they had a radio station there either. we got a booth and i got my snickers shake, so it was all good. when we finally left there, i requested a drop off at the hotel because my stomach was hurting. it was giving me problems all day. i curled up into bed and was out shortly after, while everyone else was hanging out at the pajama party. *at some point, we rode with shelly and the girls over to the barn and we got to see the art on the car windows. the back said "snap or bust" and one side had "orange blossom limo" and our side said " proud sponsors of eighteen25". i thought it was pretty dang cute. :)

04.19.13 | friday  jen and i made a run to starbucks for breakfast. then we came back to the 10:30 class, "advanced monetization" with becky (infarrantly creative). jen and i were invited to have lunch with the people from lowes. desiree was too. we just ate our lunch while they asked everyone questions about how they can improve working with bloggers. we listened. at 1:30, we attended the "collaborating with brands" taught by kate (centsational girl) melissa (the inspired room) and mandi (vintage revivals). we sat in the front row. i stayed in there for the next class with landee. it was "branding for bloggers" with becki (whippycake) lisa (moxie pear) and lara (less cake). jen went out to talk with brooke and court regarding switching our blog over to wordpress and changing it to a dot com. they decided we should, since only 10% of our traffic was coming from google searches. i think it was about 70% that was coming from people searching eighteen25 on google. 5:00 was dinner. it was buffet style. and after dinner, was the queen bee market. i did a little shopping. bought a horse picture in a frame, a number 5 (from a shop called evie ivy) and some more earrings and a bracelet from hoop-la. a large group of us went over to jcw's again. it was packed in there, so we had to wait for people to clear out before we could all sit by each other. when we got back to the hotel, we noticed a bunch of people in by the pool. jen dared shelly to do a cannon ball. and it didn't take her long to accept the dare. she would have ran straight in, but we slowed her down trying to get our cameras ready. and still, neither one of us managed to get a photo. (just an after pic) we got jen's masks out and decided to hang out by the elevators, trying to scare anyone we could. then when brooke and mandi joined up, we visited a few rooms too. mandi almost got beat up upon entering one room without knocking. it was pretty funny, after they realized it was mandi. good thing people like her. we ended up with a room full of visitors that night. desiree, the lollyjane girls, kristen duke, heather, shauna, courtney, landee, shelly, jamielyn and lindsey (better after). we chatted until about three in the morning. there was a little drama/misunderstanding in desiree's room, so she came back in with us.

 

04.20.13 | saturday  breakfast in the hotel lobby. then we hurried over for the 9:00 "quick & easy editing with photoshop elements" taught by jessica sprague (i won the bragging rights over jen for pronouncing her name right). she was so cute. at 11:00 we went to the "how to make google love your blog" taught by court (brooke's brother). it was kind of hard to follow along because everyone kept asking questions. there were salads and cookies for lunch. we grabbed them and went over to the barn to eat with mique and some other bloggers that we didn't really know. the lowe's challenge was going on. ten teams had different supplies they had to build something with. when we left there, we went over to the sponsor room because we hadn't been yet. we put some vinyl on a cup at the expressions vinyl booth and won $10 gift cards from world market. by time we got to the 2:30 class, it was already full, so we sat outside the room and visited with mique and desiree. our last class of the conference was at 4:30, the "object photography" with caroline (armelle) and lindsey (cafe johnsonia). my stomach was still bugging me, so i was just ready to be done sitting through quite classes. we went down to the cafe, along with shauna, courtney, landee, desiree and mique to enjoy some of their yummy fries and fry sauce. dinner was at 7:00, so we had a little while. we had more chicken and potatoes. there was no way i wanted to sit through the night's key note speaker with my stomach acting crazy. so i ditched it and headed back to the hotel and climbed into bed. i think at like 10:30, i woke up to people talking across the hallway. and then an alarm started going off out there. it wasn't that loud, so i figured it wasn't too important. after peeking out the peep hole, i figured out that someone burned their popcorn in the microwave. a few minutes later, jennifer and desiree showed up. maybe to get the room key, i don't remember. i went back to sleep. *desiree stayed with us tonight too. 

04.21.13 | sunday  we got up, got ready, had a bagel in the hotel, said good-bye to desiree, checked out, went and said bye to tauni, kaelin and chris, got gas, sonic drinks and jumped on the freeway. we stopped in cedar city and grabbed arby's (jimmy johns wasn't open). it was about 3:00 by time i got home. i wanted to get started with the laundry, but the washer refused to work. luckily darric had done some laundry while i was gone, so the kids will have clean clothes for school. madi couldn't wait for me to dig in to my swag bag. there wasn't anything too exciting in there. max did have fun with the mailchimp hat though. we ordered pizza for dinner. *landee's dad passed away today after battling with pancreatic cancer for the past year and a half. so very sad.  

(the "welcome home mom, we missed you" sign that max and madison made for me.)

April 08 - April 14

 

monday | 04.08.13  it was sprinkling this morning on the way to take madi to school. i had no wiper fluid, so the sprinkles were just enough to smear dirt across my windshield. i felt bad for sending max to school again in shorts. it was pretty chilly out. i let him sit with me in the car until the bell was about to ring. then i went and did a little bit of grocery shopping at wal-mart, when i came outside it was raining pretty good. good enough that my windshield got clean. and cold enough that i didn't want to go to trader joe's to finish up my shopping.

tuesday | 04.09.13  awburn trimmed my hair this morning at 9:30 at her salon, xpression. then i went and met jen at the galleria. the only thing i got there was a new fossil phone case. because darric had my debit card still from getting me gas last night. hate when that happens.

wednesday | 04.10.13  darric's 37th birthday today. we're no longer the same age. i went to trader joe's for the rest of the week's groceries. at 11:10, i got to have lunch with the mixter in the courtyard. i picked up mcdonalds. the librarian was out there and came over to tell me how good max was doing in library. she said his class comes in with the autistic kids and max helps them out a lot. that made me happy to hear. we went inside and did some shopping at the book fair. he got a "big nate" book, an eraser, a bookmark and a "regular show" poster. posters are thicker than they used to be back in the day. he went back to class and i came back home. after i picked up max and kenzie (madi stayed after AGAIN - this time was for her clay class), i went to the tanning salon. it's been a long time. the girl at the front desk told me i looked like julia stiles. it's been a long time since i've heard that. i ended up getting sunburned on the half of my body that hasn't seen the sun in about four years. i guess that 12 minutes i was in there, was a wee bit too long. i ran over to ulta next. had the girl at the clinique counter find me the right foundation. i got some powder too. and some serum to hopefully fade the brown spots on my face. along with some purple eye shadow the girl suggested for my eye color (which i ended up really liking). then i ran back to the hair stuff and grabbed some sexy hair stuff that awburn used on my hair. after dinner that night (chicken enchiladas), me, darric and max went to home depot to look around. we checked out the envirotiles and looked at the patio furniture. out in the parking lot, we were looking at the trees and plants and max decided to pick up all of the ones that had fallen over. i think he felt bad for them. we had carrot cupcakes, from trader joe's for dessert, to celebrate a special someone's birthday. he got some new shorts, max made him a necklace out of twine and washi tape. he also made him some cards. madi gave him a card too. gymnastics was last on our to-do list today.  

thursday | 04.11.13  back to the mall today. i went to kohls for a shirt and tillys for some jeans. then over to downeast where i exchanged a shirt for two under shirts and a necklace. kenzie had an extra practice tonight and max had basketball practice. 

friday | 04.12.13  took an outfit back to target and got some jeans. went to the boulevard because the jcpenney had the shoes i wanted in my size. they didn't open for another 30 minutes when i got there, so i had to kill time walking around the janky mall. it did bring back memories of when crystal and i used to go there. back then it was usually for a cd or something from charlotte russe. when the store finally opened, i got my shoes and 2 cardigans. and two pairs of flip flops for both of the girls because they were only $1 each. next, i went out the the ghetto's mall (meadows - which is less ghetto than the boulevard) to meet up with jen and help her pick out some outfits. even though i'm never much help. i left a little later than planned so i had to rush home. traffic didn't let me rush too much. when i got home, kobe's kennel was a mess and the house stunk. i'm guessing the cheese he stole off the counter last night caused some diarrhea. we went and waited for max and kobe barked at me half the time. he was not feeling well. i was going to save the mess for darric, but i couldn't stand the smell. so i very carefully took the tray out of the kennel and hosed it off (so not easy because the tray kept shifting and everything would run to one end - kenzie thought it was pretty funny). then madi and i carried the kennel out and i cleaned that too. only to come inside to see that kobe had thrown up (mostly water because he drank a ton of water) in the kids' bathroom and in the hallway. i laid some towels down and left it for darric. at 3:40, i took kenzie over to the avis by lowe's. we waited until her entire team and coach arrived and they loaded up into a big van to head to california for their first travel tournament. one of the dads was driving. i wasn't too happy when i first heard that, but since he used to live in california and is used to that traffic, it gave me some relief. they didn't leave until about 5:00. i received a text from her just after ten that they were at the hotel and that they watched the disneyland fireworks. she got to room with her friend kate, taylor and kyra. which i'm sure she was very happy about.

 
 

saturday | 04.13.13  max's basketball game wasn't until 10:45 today. and it didn't even start for about 30 minutes after that. the game went a lot better this week. everyone had their fair share of play time. max still never attempted to make a shot. but that's ok because he's figuring out the game and still having fun. we came home, max packed and darric went and dropped him off at the dayton's for a sleepover. mackenzie was playing in her tournament all day. she text me to let me know they won 2 out of 3 games. and then she sent me a picture of her lunch, chick-fil-a. darric and i went out to linner. we didn't know where to go so we decided last minute to try out republic (right by us). there were only 2 people in there, at the bar. and we got the lunch menu after seating ourselves. i guess that's what you get when you're there before 5:00. i tried their grilled cheese/tomato soup and darric got a meatloaf sandwich. we weren't too impressed. so madi and i (she wanted to stay home) went and got dessert at dairy queen. and around 7:45, kenzie sent a text letting us know she was almost home. so darric swung by and picked her up at the avis. and she told us all about her trip. like, how they got the key to their room and when they went inside there was stuff that belonged to other people. so they got a new room.  

 

sunday | 04.14.13  max came home from his sleepover. then him and darric went to dicks for a new hat.  

April 01 - April 07

wednesday | 04.03.13  this morning i dropped off the boarding pass invitations i did for my mom's work. swung by nothing bundt cake to pick up the 1825 birthday celebration gift cards that they do for us every year. grabbed 3 little bundt cakes to enjoy during our meeting today too. first we threw together a quick teacher appreciation gift using them. jodie ordered us jason's deli at like 9:00, so we would get it in time for lunch. they take forever. darric had his appointment with the neurologist today. they are going to schedule an mri after the insurance approves it, i guess. he got some more pain meds and muscle relaxers. madi had gymnastics and max got to come with us. they just practiced their routine the entire hour. kenzie and darric got to go preview the high school. kinda hard to believe kenzie is old enough to be going to high school next year. i picked up the home/business turbo tax at office depot today (it's expensive) and that night, darric got our taxes done. i was a bit nervous because of my taxes, but i guess it wasn't too bad.

thursday | 04.04.13  met jodie and the kiddos out at the bread store for lunch today. then i had to pick up 2 5x7's at costco. they weren't ready yet, so i walked around the place and looked at their camping stuff and noticed i could have bought the turbo tax there for $20 cheaper. then i ran by michaels for some cardstock and ribbon and that afternoon i put together tomorrow's 1825 blog post... birthday badges. that night max had basketball practice. the boys are all getting better. can't wait for their first game this saturday, already!

friday | 04.05.13  madi stayed home from school with a stomach ache. her and kobe hung out while i ran to target to return an outfit, then to the bank to deposit some checks and over to the mall where my mom and jodie met up with me. i got a few things from jcpenney. some green capris, a denim button up shirt and another button up shirt with birds on it. then we had lunch at red robin. and we quickly did some shopping in the gap. i got a pair of shoes, a shirt and cardigan. then i went straight to the school to wait for max. first stopped at circle k for a drink and their fountain machines were down. ugh. kenzie and i went to aaron brother's to get jesse a frame for her birthday. then to look for a pair of shoes at famous footwear. they didn't have the ones i was looking for. then over to target for kenzie to spend her gift card. i found another outfit, that i might end up bringing right back. we'll see. *kenzie had a competition in yearbook to come up with a theme for next year's book. on thursday, it was down to her and her friend markela. then she texted me this morning that she won with the theme "2014 amplified". her teacher got her a $20 target gift card. in p.e. today, she ran the shuttle run and got the best time in the 8th grade with 9.20 seconds. madi holds the 6th grade record with 9.65 seconds. she ran it yesterday. 

saturday | 04.06.13  max had his first basketball game this morning. most of the boys were playing for the very first time. the coach's son and the new boy (which i believe might be their friends) played the entire game, while the other 6 boys took turns. the two boys that were in the whole time were usually the ones with the ball, running it up and down the court and forgetting to pass to any of the other players. hopefully that changes. and hopefully the ref starts saying something when the other team takes the ball from our player's hands. you're not supposed to do that. that evening, darric's family came over to celebrate darric and jesse's birthdays. dan made chicken fingers and jude made sour cream potatoes. and for dessert, she made two cakes. a german chocolate and funfetti.

sunday | 04.07.13  darric was up and gone before 7:00 to go have breakfast and then go to the drag races with everyone from his work. the kids and i went over to my mom + dad's at noon for lunch and a family meeting. they had some news to share with us. dave joked that my mom was pregnant, jodie was hoping they were taking us all on a disney cruise and i was just hoping for disneyland. haha. they have decided to move back into the 1825 house. not sure how i feel about it, but if the decision makes them happy, then i'm happy about their decision.  

Easter Sunday

i woke up in the middle of the night and caught some four-legged jelly bean thief in the front room. max had left them out on the end table. the thief also attempted to steal kenzie's bag of cadbury eggs. so the easter buckets got moved to the kitchen counter. at 7:11, i received a text from madi... 4 minutes?... can we get up now? darric and i rolled out of bed and let the kids unpack their easter goodies. they all got robin's eggs, pack of gum and a little chocolate bunny. kenzie also got a dress, shirt, necklace, bracelet, softlips, 2 mushroom pencil sharpeners and a little bag of mini cadbury eggs. madi also got 2 pairs of shorts, 2 shirts, softlips, 2 mushroom pencil sharpeners and eiffel tower earrings. max also got two super hero bobble heads and 2 shirts. i think they all enjoyed their chocolate bunnies for breakfast.

at 11:30 we headed over to visit with grandma and grandpa carter for a little bit. she made the girls new foot pillows with animal print toenails. and max got a little basket of easter goodies. then at 1:00 we went over to jen and dave's. josh, awburn and paisley were there too. and grandma becky. grandpa was home with the flu. and a little later, jodie and her family came. we ate... ham, potatoes, macaroni salad, mac + cheese, jello salad and i brought a veggie tray and spinach dip. while we were eating, there was a basketball game on and i guess one of the guys landed weird on his leg and broke it bad. i refused to watch as jacob, dave and josh rewound it on the dvr. after eating, we hid the eggs. well, some of us did. darric just kinda rolled them onto the grass. ;) kenzie hid the eggs for the second round and put a big stash of eggs behind the house. she took piper back there to find them, but the rest of the kids caught on and followed them back there. it's always funny to watch the kids run around looking for the last egg that might be hiding somewhere. even when their baskets are so full, they can't fit another egg inside. before we left for the evening, madi had to show everyone her round-off back handspring. she probably did it ten times. and then darric wow-ed us all with his round-off. thank goodness he didn't attempt the back handspring. 

Spring Break

DAY ONE | 03.25.13  i went and got the grocery shopping done at trader joe's. then jodie came over and dropped off beckam and quincy so the kids could all play while me, jodie, piper and posie went to target to get our easter shopping done. kenzie made chicken nuggets for the kids (her own recipe) and they all seemed to enjoy them.

DAY TWO | 03.26.13  ran to wal-mart for a few things. then me, madi and max went out to the cheap theaters, along with jen, jodie and all the kids (minus the cool teenagers). we saw the croods. from the previews, the movie didn't look all that great, but it ended up being really cute and a bit of a tear jerker. when we left the theater, i took my kids to old navy for some easter clothes. that night, i went out to dinner with jodie, jen, my mom and posie for jodie's birthday. we ate at maggianos. 

DAY THREE | 03.27.13  we found out jacob had a game this morning (him and mason have games all week long), so we hurried up and got ready and was out at foothill high school by 8:30 to watch. after that, we went to jen's house and jodie arrived shortly after and we tried to craft but didn't get much done. jen showed the girls how to make a fort under the broken trampoline. 

DAY FOUR | 03.28.13  while madi and max were getting ready this morning, kenzie and i ran to target to do some shopping. we got some clothes and a couple other things. then we came back, fixed max's hair and left to pick up grandma becky. then over to the new children's museum. we took one of the last parking spots in the parking garage and when we got up to the line, we spotted the meltons inside so we got to cut up to the very front. it was packed inside that place. we headed up to the third floor and got to exploring. the kids painted pictures, did some exploring in the mystery town, got jobs at the costruction site and the mechanic shop (madi worked at the animal clinic), went to the bank (where piper worked for a bit) and did some grocery shopping. whoever was supposed to be stocking the shelves in there, was not doing a very good job. they played in the water world for a little while and then ran around the ship and castle. there were other exhibits that we walked through and through all three floors, there were slides and different things to do on each level. it was all fun, but with it being so dang packed, it was hard to get to everything.

when we left, the line to get in was four times as long as when we got there. i think they were at their full capacity, so they had to wait for people to leave before they could let more people in. we were all starving. it was way past lunch time. we took beckam with us and went to farmer boys over on eastern by grandma's house. beckam ended up staying the night. madi and i had run to michaels because her and kenzie both needed stuff for projects. i got myself some sheet protectors and 8.5x11 albums to put all of my old scrapbook pages in. i went back later that night with kenzie to get two more albums. we ran to bath and body works too and we got some new wallflowers. pineapple orchid is my new favorite scent.

 

DAY FIVE | 03.29.13  ran to albertsons this morning to get stuff for this weekend. came home and cleaned up the house. then, at 11:30 we left for the arroyo grande ballpark. (after swinging by sonic) mason was playing today and we got there just before the game was starting. jodie and her kids were there too. we were right by the park, so the kids came and went from there and only really hung out with us long enough to enjoy popsicles. mason's team won by one run (i believe). we left after the first game and swung by sport's authority to get some camping chairs. when we got home, we got to boiling some eggs. we tried the method we've seen on pinterest where you get the water boiling and then turn the heat off and let them sit for 10 minutes. it didn't take the kids very long to dye each of their own dozen. we used kool-aid again this year. the colors just seem so much more vivid. kenzie wasn't too excited with how her eggs turned out. her and max did experiment with painter's tape. i dyed one egg red, after drawing x's all over it with white crayon. madi drew a few pictures on her eggs. like the man on a cliff, a heart, a man saying hi and a mustache. we ended the night with frozen yogurt.

DAY SIX | 03.30.13  i woke up at about 7:30 to make the broccoli salad for today's event. me and the kids left the house at about 10:15 to swing by target for sunscreen and then over to circle k for drinks and funyons and then over the hump to pahrump. (at least we got to go out of town for spring break - even if it wasn't the trip i had in mind) andrea invited us all out to her dad's place for a bbq and egg hunt. darric was having a bad headache day, so he stayed with kobe. heidi and her two little boys were out there. jodie and her kids brought my mom out. jen and grace. sandy, steve, ryan and sophie. rex and betty. grandma dee. andrea, anthony and the boys. and chris. along with a couple others i didn't know. the dirt hill was still there, which made all of the kids very happy (and dirty). we ate. anthony bbq'd hamburgers and hot dogs. steve made a yummy fruit salad. mom brought her macaroni salad. grandma made potato salad (with and without onions) and a 16lb ham that ryan learned to cut with just the right amount of thickness. grandma also brought her brownies and steve made carrot cupcakes. there was a pinata which max knocked apart. and then we hid the eggs for the hunt. rex had chickens this year that were a little confused by the colored eggs they were finding in the yard. we put all of our extra whoopie cushions (from valentine's day) in some eggs, but i think max and piper ended up finding most of those eggs. madi ended up with $18 in change and max got $0. the first part of the party was nice and cool with the sun hiding behind the clouds, but then it decided to peek out and warm us up. it still wasn't too bad though. we drove back over the hump with more dirt than i would have liked to bring with us. and after swinging by sonic for drinks, we came home and showered. all of us had one. and we ordered rosati's for dinner. 

March 18 - March 24

• madi got in to get her broken bracket fixed. no more frozen snickers for her.

• max had his second basketball practice. he is doing better than last week. he's picking things up. now if we can just get two of the other boys to pass the ball every now and then, he might get a chance to make a basket.

• max took in the reese's pb eggs to his teacher on friday. we did the same thing using cadbury eggs and snickers/twix eggs on the 1825 blog.

• we were all excited for the school day to be over on friday, because that meant the start of spring break. we celebrated with getting (the kids) chocolate dipped cones from weinerschnitzel. 

• saturday, i took the kids and madi's friend, ally, to the district for the easter parade. it was a little chilly out. there were three bands in the parade and then characters mixed in between. the bunnies were ok looking, all the characters were kinda creepy looking though. jodie was going to meet us there, but matt had her car keys. they did come later, when the parade was making it's way back down the street. we were in downeast shopping. they had some really cute stuff. i ended up getting 2 shirts, a cardigan and 2 necklaces. kenzie got a shirt and dress (for easter). max went with the meltons and they went and had lunch. when we were done shopping/eating we got pictures with some of the creepy characters, rode the little train thing and talked the kids out of standing in line for balloons and face painting. we had to bribe them with sleepovers, because not even an ice-cream bribe was working. quincy and beckam came home with us and that night we watched the kid's choice awards. the kids had pizza and darric and i got port of subs. and for dessert they had ice-cream and we popped some popcorn. and then there was lots of screaming/chearing going on. ally had gone home for a little bit, but came back to watch the show with us.

• sunday, after me, max and beckam went and picked up some krispy kreme's, darric and i went out to dicks to get him a new heart rate monitor. it's an early birthday present. quincy and madi did make up and the boys played the wii and they all ended up out back playing and getting some sun.

March 11 - March 17

 

 

• madi stayed home on monday and that morning, we took her to grandma's office to get a few braces put on. this is just phase one until some more of her teeth come out. she picked orange and green bands. she was pretty excited about them, until the soreness kicked in. so we busted out some pain medicine. i ran out to hobby lobby and found the clear chalkboard paint i was looking for. i picked up cafe rio for the two of us and headed home. then we got to work on our to-do lists. (that's what we bought the wood for yesterday) kenzie had another 5:00 practice. i'm not a big fan of the 5:00 ones. have to rush to get dinner done so when darric pops in the door, we can eat. 

 • wednesday darric got to go with brian to the unlv mountain west game against airforce. (during work) 

• mixter had his first basketball practice on thursday. he was a bit nervous at first and didn't want to go warm up before practice started, so his dad said he'd pay him $1 for every basket he made. i think he owes him $5 now. good thing he didn't count all the ones he made during the practice. there was one kid that showed up 30 minutes late with his grandpa. i'm pretty sure the grandpa had been drinking and he made comments to "nathan" the whole time he was there. he told us afterward, that he was rough on him because he loves him so much. the kids played 3 on 3 and it was pretty entertaining. but, by the end, they had it figured out a bit better. max did really good tonight (didn't get mad once) and was super happy the rest of the evening.

• friday, i had to go pick up some more prints from costco so jennifer, jodie and i arranged lunch at great harvest again. jen and i ran over to jo-ann's after to look around. beckam came with us too, because i was taking him home with me for a sleepover. he talked the entire time we were in there. and most of the time i had him. max was pretty surprised when he opened the car door and saw him sitting there. beckam got his school shots today, so he had to show off his band-aids to everyone. we went and got our friday night fro yo after dinner. it always cracks me up to see what topping combos the little kids pick. max had pecans & pralines yogurt topped with lucky charm marshmallows and beckam got banana foster's yogurt with mini peanut butter cups and sour gummy worms. 

• saturday, i took max and beckam with me to grandma dee's and i helped pull weeds with jen, mom, sandy, steve and ryan (and sophie). it was chilly when we first got there, but warmed right up. we got there a little after 8:00 and ended up staying for lunch. pizza. the next day (and a week after) my hamstrings were so sore. mainly my left one.

• sunday was st. patrick's day and most of us enjoyed a bowl (or two) of lucky charms. and that was about all we did to celebrate. the kids and darric did wear green. i didn't know where my green nail polish got taken to, so i had no green on. that afternoon, darric and max went to tommy's birthday party at some lazer tag place.