The Happiest place on earth!

Last Thursday we decided to surprise the kids with a trip to Disneyland. We did not let them know in advance that we were going so they got up that morning and got ready for school. We then announced that we would be going to Disneyland instead. I think my ears are still ringing from Riley's screams.

We spent the entire day at Disneyland and had an awesome time. The longest line we waited in was 15 minutes and we got to ride our favorite rides several times. We even got to ride the new Nemo submarines, got to see Small World before they close it for 11 mos. and saw Captain Jack on Pirates of the Caribbean. We even braved Splash mountain despite the cold and had a blast. In fact we had such a great time we used our socal twofer pass and went to CA adventure on Friday.

The kids could hardly believe their luck when we told them we were coming back the next day. Of course Riley suggested that we just stay at a hotel. When I reminded her that we had not packed pajamas, toiletries or clothes she suggested we just buy more. Lord I hope that girl becomes a millionaire or marries one. LOL!

So we had a great time at CA adventures also. I even rode the Tower of terror despite my misgivings on that one. A cast member waited with Riley while Scott, Zachary and I rode it. I came off that ride with my legs shaking so badly I could barely walk, but it was fun. Everyones favorite was Soaring over CA which we had to ride several times. Then the kids chose to ride Grizzly rapids, but we declined. So we walked them up and then watched them get drenched. Luckily I had the foresight to buy them each a poncho so they got to ride and have fun without getting soaked. Riley even interviewed the people she rode with each time and told me she met people from Australia, New Zealand and Alaska. I have to talk to that girl again about not talking to strangers!

So it was a great and memorable couple of days. Of course Riley woke up Saturday and asked "where are we going today?"

Picking my battles!

Sometimes I have to remind myself to pick my battles. Like tonight for instance, this is the outfit Riley chose...

We were going to run a couple of errands and then go out to dinner. So why not dress in a new outfit? Notice the lovely scarf, long sleeve shirt with crystal snowflake, denim skirt with matching buttons and adorable tulle on the bottom. So what would be the perfect shoe choice???? Why FLIP FLOPS of course! I reminded Riley that it was very chilly out and that a storm was coming our way so it could start raining. I felt a better choice would have been some warm tights and a pair of boots, but NO the flip flops were staying. So I just told her that if she got cold that she had better not complain to me about it and off we went. So during dinner Riley turned to me and said "mom, I can't even feel how cold my legs are anymore". So did they go numb??? LOL!

AMERICAN GIRL!

We made it to the American girl store today and let me tell you.... I AM HOOKED! I was not really into the whole deal until we got to the store and then I was suckered, big time. Riley and my mom posed for pictures outside and then we were off on our shopping expedition. There are so many outfits to choose from and they all have GREAT accesories. The store is divided into sections with the historical girls section, then the bitty babies and the finally the "just like you" dolls.

Riley decided on a "just like you" doll since Nicki is gone for good. She had lots of fun picking out her new doll even though we were not able to find one exactly like her. The doll comes close and Riley loves her. We ended up buying a ballerina outfit, sporty jean outfit with matching jacket and then a spring outfit. We purchased a matching spring outfit for Riley and it's going to be her easter dress. It's a cute pink skirt and white top. So now we are home and Mimi and Riley are bonding.

I also told Riley that if she takes good care of Mimi and all her clothes that I will take her back to American Girl for her birthday and we can shop and have lunch in the cafe.

Nutcracker

We went to see the Nutcracker today at the Bridges Auditorium at the Claremont colleges. It was my second time seeing the Nutcracker there, but Riley and my mom had not been before. It was a nice girls day out. We went to lunch before the 2 pm matinee and we all had a nice time. Riley was insistent that we purchase a nutcracker to take home and she got a program also.

The boys went to the Bowers museum and saw some mummies, but since we had the camera there are no pictures to share. They had a great time and Zachary earned some extra credit for school.

Zachary's 12th birthday

He had a kind of low key birthday since half the party guests came down with stomach flu last night, but all in all he seems pleased. He has a load of cash in his wallet and what 12 year old boy does not love cash. He got lots of other nice gifts and is loving playing with his new black DS lite that Scott and I gave him. So now I have one year to prepare for being the mother of a teen. YIKES!

Report card day again!

This week was parent/teacher conference week and report cards. No surprises at the conferences which is a good thing. Zachary got all A's and two B's and all 3's (above grade level) which is based on state testing. Here are his teacher comments on the report card... "Not a bad start for Zachary! All 3's and very nearly all A's. Zachary is obviously an intelligent person and excellent student and he can probably achieve whatever grade he desires. I especially appreciate his intelligent contributions to class discussions in science and literature. Let's encourage a goal of all A's next trimester."
Riley is still not on letter grades yet, but achieved all 3's and just needs to work on her patience in class. Here are her teacher comments... "Riley is a fluent reader and her comprehension is excellent. She reads a variety of literature which accounts for her well developed vocabulary. Riley enjoys sharing many interesting facts with the class, especially facts concerning animals. Her STAR grade level reading equivalent is 4.4. and although she reads constantly Riley has only earned 20.6 AR points. She enjoys reading much more than taking tests. Her spelling test average was 99.6% and her math chapter test average was 99%. She has earned the Super Citizenship award this trimester.

We have a new baby in the family

Erica and Ryan welcomed their second child on November 20th. Presley Jane is a healthy little girl and weighed 7 lbs 6 oz. and is 19 inches long.

She and Mommy are doing well after a long labor followed up by a c-section. Big brother Luke is very excited about his baby sister even though "she is too little to play baseball". We are all thankful that they are both ok and looking forward to spoiling Presley just as much as we do Luke.

Wow, sometimes they really do listen!

This week Riley is the star student of the week. She brought home a packet over the weekend to fill out. Telling about herself, likes and dislikes and her family, etc. Then she got to pick some photos, and personal items to take to school to share. She chose to take 3 of her webkinz along and she got to take them out at recess today. So she was telling me about her day and how much she is enjoying being the star of the week, go figure Riley enjoying being the star. LOL! So while she is telling me about her day she mentions that her friend Jennifer throws "lots" of temper tantrums. She said "mom, she throws tantrums all the time. I had to sit her down today and tell her. Jennifer, look last summer when I was throwing lots of temper tantrums my mom told me that I was going to second grade and I could NOT throw temper tantrums in second grade or I would be pulling lots of cards. So you are going to have to pull it together." LOL!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

My little witch was all ready in her costume to go off to school and collect lots of goodies at her Halloween party. Zachary did not wear his costume to schoo, but did wear a Halloween t-shirt, unfortunately he did not collect any cash.

Then this evening with the rising moon, he transformed into a werewolf. Now he is off to a friends' house for pizza and then they are going trick or treating as a group (yes he ditched his parents and sister this year).

HAPPY FALL!

Last night we attended our friends' annual fall/halloween party. We all had a great time. The kids picked out their pumpkins for carving, first thing. The carving became a family effort since both the kids picked out complicated patterns to carve. And of course they did not want to pull the guts out of the pumpkins.
After their carvings efforts, it was on to more fun. Riley had her face painted. They both bobbed for apples and got soaked in the process, but they did not mind a bit. In fact I think that if I want to get my kids to eat apples I need to place a large tub of water on the floor and fill it with apples. Not only did they eat the apples they bobbed for (without complaining about the skin still being on), but they also went back for seconds and ate those apples too.

Then they participated in the donut on a string eating contest, no hands allowed. There was a band for dancing, but Riley chose not to participate in the hokey pokey or chicken dance. When I asked her why she said, "because I don't want to look ridiculous." I told her that she was not going to look ridiculous (what did she think of me out there hokey pokeying?) that it was called having fun. She looked at me very seriously and said "mom, I'm 8 I don't chicken dance". After that they just had fun running around and being kids.

Nine years ago today....

There's a special angel in Heaven,

That is a part of me.

It is not where I wanted him,

But where God wanted him to be.

He was here just a moment,

Like a night time shooting star.

And although he is in Heaven,

He isn't very far.

He touched the hearts of many,

like only an angel can do.

I would've held him every minute,

If the end I only knew.

So I send this special message,

To Heaven up above.

Please take care of my angel,

And send him all my love.

In loving memory of Nicholas Henri Johnson, born into heaven October 21, 1998.

Gone, but never forgotten.

Riley's team won their first game yesterday

Technically they are in a "non-competetive" league, but let me tell you those girls always know which team wins. Scott pointed out, "well they can count and add so of course they know who wins". The girls are great on defense and constantly get the ball downfield, but they just can't seem to get goals so yesterday by the time the team had their third goal all the parents were out of their seats. The girls were beaming and high fiving each other. They were so dang cute. The team mom happened to bring her video camera that day and got it all on tape. I told her it must have been a good luck charm and she had better bring it next week too.
Way to go American Tigers!

Zachary is back from 6th grade camp!

The buses were supposed to arrive at the school today at 11 am. Like all the other parents I was there eagerly waiting for him. The bus arrived 45 minutes late amid rumors of "bad fog" in the mountains and then alarmist parents worrying about the bus crashing. Thankfully, they were just late and everyone came home safe and sound. Lots of the girls were crying when they got off the bus and saw their parents, but the boys had to put on the tough act. Zachary said he had a great time and my normally quiet child has been jabbering non-stop all day about the wonderful time he had and all that he learned. Below are some pictures that he took with the disposable camera that I sent. Yes, he actually remembered to use it!
So all was right in the world for a few hours since I had both my children home, but now Riley has abandoned us for a sleepover at my sister's house.

Busy weekend (part 2)

Today we made our annual trip to Greenspot farms for pumpkin picking, hay rides, horse rides, hay mazes and lots of fun. Luke, Erica and my Mom came and we all had a good time. The kids had fun in the bounce house even though Luke was not sure of it until his cousins got in and started having lots of fun.

Then Zachary took a turn for the horseback rides. Luke wanted to give it a try, but he was too small. Then he told me "I want to ride the pig". What a sight that would have been.

Then we went for the hay ride which was missing the hay this year and instead had padded benches. Bring back the hay!! It was fun anyways and Luke kept telling Riley "hold on Riley, hold on". I told his very cautious mom that she would have been proud. We bought a wagon full of pumpkins including our favorite Cinderella pumpkins which make the best pies and bread. Of course I completely forgot to take a picture of the kids with their pumpkins. So I will have to remember to take a picture of them carving the pumpkins.

Busy weekend

Saturday morning Zachary and I went to our second archery class. We are both really enjoying the class and I love that it's something that just the two of us get to do together. This week we got to spend much more time shooting instead of learning about safety and form. We got to shoot at balloons to pop them and I got 7 bullseyes. Not bad for my second day.

Then it was off to Riley's soccer game. It was a perfect day for sitting outside watching her play and enjoying the view of "our" mountains. Riley got to play defense, forward and then goalie the last quarter. She never let one get by her. She is really becoming quite the soccer player and I love watching her play.

After the game we went to Erica's baby shower. I told Riley the night before that if she wanted to come to the shower then she would have to be on her best behavior. Well, she did a great job and looked so cute sitting and visiting with Kendall and playing with the little toddler girls that came along. She was like a little mother hen to them. She even consoled Kendall when Kendall's mom needed to leave early and Kendall had to stay with her grandma. When Kendall was crying Riley went over and put her arm around her. Then she told Kendall "don't worry, even though your mom is far away her love stretches all the way to you." Awwww.

A big day at our house

Zachary got his braces off today. So of course I had to take before and after pictures. He only had to wear the braces for 10 months and we figured he got off lucky considering Scott wore them for 3 years and I had them for 5 years. He requested a caramel apple to celebrate and I already went to Rocky Mountain chocolate factory and got his favorite grasshopper apple.

Our "baby" turned 8 today.

This is the cake the Riley insisted that we (read I) make. We saw it in the Rachel Ray magazine and I showed it to Riley. I said, "hey Riley isn't this a cool cake and it's got your favorite cotton candy on it". She decided then and there that she needed this cake for her birthday. Those of you who know me well know that I don't bake cakes. Paint a house? Sure! Use my power saw to install molding or baseboard? No problem. Remodel a bathroom? I'm there. Cake baking is just my downfall. I cannot get the friggin' cake out of the pan without making a mess. I'm not good at frosting and I just plain don't have patience for things like preheating an oven, mixing certain ingredients in a certain order, waiting for the cake to cool. I could go on and on about my baking issues. So this was a true test for me and I can't tell you how relieved I was that it turned out and as you can see from the picture below Riley was truly pleased with her cake. Oh, and it was delicious and we did not have a crumb left.
























On to the party details. We had about 20 family members over for dinner which was hamburgers, pasta salad, chips/dip, veggies and dip. All simple and all also requested by the birthday girl (maybe she was making up for that cake request). So the kids all played in the backyard, the men were glued to the USC game and the rest of us sat outside and enjoyed the perfect weather. Then she opened her large haul of presents. Thankfully she got lots of Barnes and Noble giftcards to feed her book addiction and tons of totally cute new clothes. Scott and I gave her a pink nintendo ds which she opened before we even woke up this morning, the little sneak.
Right now she is in her room with her cousin snuggled in sleeping bags with the lights off watching a new DVD on her portable DVD player and having a great time.
All in all she had a great birthday and now I have just over 2 months to get ready for Zachary's 12th birthday, the last one before the big teens. YIKES!

We now have a trumpet player in the house

Lord help me!!! This does not seem like a quiet instrument. We went out today and rented his trumpet, got his music book and cleaning kit. He starts band on Tuesday and will have practice twice a week. He will practice every night at home for at least 30 minutes though. Maybe I should have picked up some ear plugs and tylenol while I was out. At least to get me through those first few weeks. LOL!
Seriously though I'm really glad that Zachary is getting more involved in extra curricular activites this year. He has applied for student leadership, joined an archery class and now band. When he decides to get off his duff he really gets off his duff!

Uncontrollable urges

Riley got her first ticket of the school year. Not bad for my girl, she made it almost 3 weeks. Her ticket stated that she "had the uncontrollable urge to take one of her neighbors chicken nuggets at lunch." So I'm asking her why she did this and it goes something like this

me: Riley why did you take someone else's food?
R: I don't know. I could not help myself. They looked so good
Zachary (yes he had to chime in): Were they McDonald's chicken nuggets?
R: No
Z: Were they cafeteria chicken nuggets?
R: yes
Z: Those SUCK! Why would you even want to take one of those?
me: Ummm, excuse me. Can we focus on the real issue here? Why did you take someone else's food Riley?
R: I told you.... I COULD NOT HELP MYSELF!!
me: Well, what happened when you took her chicken nugget?
R: She got upset and told the proctor. The proctor (insert big tears here) made me go sit at a table by myself for the rest of lunch and then I could not eat anymore because it made me sad.

So hopefully a lesson learned that you don't get to help yourself to your neighbors lunch no matter how good it looks.

Laundry woes

My dear husband who still insists "I don't know how to do laundry". Was sorting laundry today. He told me to come double check the sorting before he put stuff in. Now I will openly admit I am totally anal about how the laundry is sorted, but I figured he has been doing the laundry for a while now and I was not coming to double check it. What was the worst he could do? Put some lights in with whites? I figured he knew enough that there would not be a laundry disaster. Well, think again. I had a pair of pants sitting on my dresser, which to me is a clear indication that it does not go in the laundry. It's not IN the laundry hamper right? It's not even on the floor near the laundry hamper, which seems to be where all of Scott's clothes end up. No, it was clearly placed on my dresser. It was on my dresser because they are nice lined dress pants from Ann Taylor that I wear to work and they have to be dry cleaned. Well, Scott did not interpret their location as I would have and he threw them in with the darks AND dried them on the regular cycle. Aaargh!! I really do appreciate him doing all the laundry, but I am so bummed about my pants.