Pics are posted from our California vacation

Most of you know that the girls and I just came back from a couple of weeks of fun in the San Diego sun at my parents house. The slideshow of pics is on the right side of the blog.

Natalie, Emma and Dani went out a week before I did with my mom who flew to Texas to pick them up. (Jeremy was working and I was at girls camp.) Before I arrived the girls had gone to the San Diego zoo and the wild animal park (with Grandma Joyce) as well as hit the beaches for a few days.

Once I arrived we continued the whirlwind of fun with Ryanne and her boys and Jen and Rob at Disneyland. Dani loved the carousel and Nemo Submarine ride, while Emma and Natalie had their first tastes of Space Mountain, Indiana Jones, Star Tours and Big Thunder Railroad, which they both loved!! We especially had fun on Big Thunder because the fireworks were exploding overhead as we careened across the tracks. The night was a little longer than expected, because we discovered Ryanne had a flat tire on her van when we were leaving around midnight. We had to wait for AAA to come fix the flat since her spare tire was flat too. But the Disneyland security guard and AAA guy were very kind and helpful despite the late night.

We also did a trip to Old Town, San Diego. It's a re-creation of what San Diego first looked like after it was settled. It was fun and free. We toured the buildings, and watched real blacksmiths at work. And got a lot of fun pictures with the cousins. Check out these rules for schoolchildren and teachers in 1872! Don't think any of us would have made it through one day at school there!

Besides living through the escapades of the Day brothers (if you want to hear about those check out my sister's blog: http://the5happydayz.blogspot.com/), we took in some lazy time at the pool and returned to the zoo another day for a fun afternoon. The girls also had a lot of fun hanging out with the Savannah and Sadie Willis. They are granddaughters of my parents' friends/neighbors. We had a great evening of barbeque, games and desserts with them too.

Well, I think that's a brief synopsis of our fun vacation. Of course we're happy to be home, but sad that it's already over. Can't wait for next summer...!

Missing the Dani"isms"?

I know it's been a long time since you've had a dose of Dani'isms". But don't worry Dani hasn't lost her touch! I've just been too busy to blog her latest and craziest ISMS. But we've still been collecting them:
(Obviously, Jeremy has done most of the collecting.)

• Mom is soooo lucky. She gets Chapstick.
• Dad, your ears wiggle when you eat.
• Dad, look! It's the music truck on our street! (Shhh, she still believes that the truck ONLY plays music.)
• Dad, you smell like you were weeding the garden for a whole week.
• Dad, I'm awkward.
• Bananas don't bounce, they dance.
• Monkey Bob can't eat a banana. He's already stuffed. (Monkey Bob is her stuffed animal monkey.)
• Dad, I'm a twin now.
• Those are clam rocks. They're only the biggest rocks in the world.
• When I was bigger, I used to be like Emma.
• I'm making up a song for my festival. It has a strawberry mountain and an elevator, and lots of lanterns so we can see in the dark, and lots of TVs. (Originally, Jeremy thought she said "vegetable" instead of "festival" - just as funny on a whole different level!)
• On our way home from Cali while flying on the airplane: Mom, I can't talk. There are clouds in my mouth.
• Sophie is a magic dog! She can change into a wack-a-saurus moose! (Sophie is my sister's YorkiePoo. She's pretty small weighing in at only around 2 pounds. I just wonder where she hides her moose costume!)

I know I missed a few, so if any of you faithful readers had a Dani-ism encounter please send them to me!

Latest and Greatest Dani"isms"

"Dad, we don't eat our butts, that's disgusting!!"
Disgusting is her most favorite word of the moment.

"I'm strong enough to ROAST MARSHMALLOWS!"

To Grandma and Rob and Jen over the webcam in response to Grandma's question about the Easter Bunny poop: "No the Whoppers weren't bunny poop, they were squirrel poop!" Umm, really, it WAS just candy!

"I need sharp nails for grabbing things - like my clothes!"

Natalie's "Dynamite" 11th Birthday!

So in an effort to catch up on my blogging here's a recap of Natalie's birthday party from 2 weeks ago...

Natalie seriously considered for a couple weeks what she wanted to do for her birthday. After much deliberation she finally decided to have a Nerd birthday party. Everyone was to come dressed as nerds. And to make sure it was the Ultimate in Nerdy we would watch Napoleon Dynamite and play games and eat food based upon the movie.

Upon arrival Natalie's nerdy friends: Keely, Hannah, Haley, Amanda, and Taylor were ushered to the "glamour shots" studio where "Deb" (Hilary) took their photos. Then we all sat down and learned to make friendship bracelets like the ones Deb is selling door to door to earn money for college in the movie.

Actually many of Natalie's friends hadn't ever seen Napoleon Dynamite so once we got them fed with pizza and "tots" and they were working hard on their bracelets we turned on the movie so they could "get" why we were taking their glamour shots, feeding them tots and making friendship "boondoggles."

As we got to certain parts in the movie that we had planned games based on, we would stop the movie and play the games. First we stopped to go "feed Tina." We had some mashed potatoes made up and we stapled a poster of this llama on the fence outside. The girls took turns flinging mashed potatoes at the poster. It was hilarious!!! I posted the video on the blog to the right. Later we stopped the move again to play Pin the Tail on the... Liger!! (of course!)

When we got to the "gimme some of your tots" scene, we stopped it one last time for ice cream and "tater tot" cake. Don't worry, it wasn't really an overgrown tuber turned tot - it was a cake. (Thanks to Grandma Joyce for coming through on another awesome cake! And for Ryanne for letting us copy her idea.)

The girls finished watching the movie and I headed up to the computer to process the glamour shots so the girls could take them home. Here are the pics of Natalie, Emma and Dani.

So the Nerd Night was a complete success and the girls departed with chapstick, glamour pics, clip-on pens and friendship bracelets of the own creations. Thanks to Hilary and Grandma Joyce for helping out and for putting up with all our hair-brained ideas! "Nerd"alie loved her party!!!!

Easter! Better late than never...

So I'm only a few weeks behind, but I'm finally getting the pictures posted from our Easter adventures. Here's a brief run down of what our adventures included. The weekend before Easter our HOA held an Easter egg hunt and petting zoo. Jeremy played Mr. Mom well and took the girls and camera for the afternoon. (I was laid up with bad allergies and pink eye so I wasn't in any shape to join them.) The girls really enjoyed the animals: piggys, chicks, hens, bunnies and a few others.
I think the egg hunt was fun too. Unfortunately, some of the neighbors' donated eggs sat in the sun too long waiting to be "found" and by the time the kids got to them the chocolate candy had melted. Word to the wise - don't put chocolate in an egg you plan to hunt for when it's over 70 degrees!!!

Easter morning was full of unmelted chocolate "bunny poops" leading from the girls' rooms to their Easter Baskets. As Emma scurried down the hall gathering the poops (Whoppers) Dani stopped to verify the poops were edible. Mouthful: "Mmm, they're not poop! They're just candy!" Dani was also delighted with the "cheeps" (cheap Peeps?) and Emma and Natalie scored with chore points and cash.


After a LONG, and noisy, kids-filled-up-on-too-much-candy day at church, we headed to Jeremy's parents for a delicious dinner with his family. The kids ended the day with a confetti egg fight where no one, or dog (poor Duffy), was safe and all left with confetti in their hair if not in other, um, unmentionable spots.


The following day, the kids were not in school and Paul and Elizabeth volunteered to spend the day with all three of them. They flew kites, went to McDonalds, and finished the day off at InnerSpace Caverns (local caves). They girls had so much fun. Dani still talks about her fun day with "Elizabeth" (I think Paul's included when she says Elizabeth) any time she sees a kite. I enjoyed my day off and even got in a trip to Costco all by myself. (Now that's a thrill only a mother would completely understand.) Anyway, Thanks again Paul and Elizabeth!!