Princess Dress

Eliza got this beautiful princess dress for her birthday. She wore it the Sunday before Easter when we had our ward Easter Program, but since I had to be at church at 8:15 to warm up the choir, we were in a rush and I didnt get a single picture that morning. She wore it again last Sunday and I got several comments again on how cute the dress was and where did I get it. When I would tell them that she got it as a gift from family in Utah, they would all sigh, one lady said, "Of course it came from Utah. It is cute and modest."

Dinosaur Mountain

I don't claim to be a cake decorator, but do have fun playing around with cakes sometimes. Wanted to do something fun for Addison's Birthday cake so made a 9x13 and cut it into three pieces and stacked them. Nicholas and Eliza helped me and it was sure a lot of fun. And with their help also a mess. They were so proud of it, that they kept coming back to check on the dinosaurs and then when we picked up the big boys from school they blurted it out that they had made him a dinosaur cake. The cake didn't even make it until after dinner. One of the dinos must have got hungry as there were pieces dug out of the side.

Happy Birthday Addison

Today is Addison's 7th Birthday. Addison as most people know is our resident turn the house upside down then right side up again child. He is also our goofball! This is one of my favorite pictures of him. It hangs in my bathroom. He was around 15 months old and we were potty training Vincent. Addison thought that seat on the toilet was just so neat and fun.
Happy Birthday My Handsome 7 Year Old!

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Yesterday (yes I am almost caught up!) I got to go on a field trip with Addison's class to Monterey. It was a long day to say the least. We had to be at the school at 4:45am, and didn't get home until 8pm last night. 10 hours of the day was on the bus. Addison enjoyed what time he had there but was pretty upset when it was time to go home as they didn't have enough time to see the whole Aquarium. Our goal is to go back this summer for the day as a family.

Eliza and her hairband

One day I had a Dr. appointment and so Eliza went to her Grandma Joy's house. Since I had to get three boys dressed and out the door to school and Eliza dressed and ready to go to Joy's we didn't have time to do a fancy hairdo. She got it combed and a headband put on. When I got back to pick her up from Joy's she had her headband on like this.

I asked her why she was wearing her headband like that, and she said it fell out so she fixed it and made it look pretty. Okay works for me!

Now Lets Go Find The Eggs!

The Easter Bunny was so tricky this year. While the grandma's and mommy where cleaning up Easter Dinner and the Grandpa's and Daddy where picking up extra chairs and card tables for more room, the Easter Bunny came and hid their eggs and left their Easter Baskets on the front lawn.

Let's Color Some Easter Eggs

Or lets make a mess. Either way you look at it, the job got done!

Swimming Time

Yes my kids are swimming in April. Well they are swimming in a hot tub with the heater turned on, but yes they are swimming in April, while some of our friends and family are still getting snow.

Daisy The Not So Lap Dog

After we were done taking pictures and John got home from work we headed to the coast to my parents house to spend Easter Weekend. My grandma was still living there and she has two dogs. Daisy is a very in your face loving kind of dog and always wants attention. She also thinks she is a lap dog. Addison was petting her and stopped so she jumped up and sat right on down on his lap so that he would get the message she wanted his attention. We all laughed and took pictures.

Ashlee Hoffman Pictures

Here I go playing catch up again!
During Spring Break Ashlee came home from college life in Arizona. She got a new professional grade camera for her photography class and was so excited to use it and take the kids out and take some pictures. Nicholas was being uncooperative at first, but did what he was suppose to by the end. Like always she did wonderful work! She got some great individuals this time.
They are the ones in the side bar and my new top picture. Thanks Ashlee! When are you coming home again????

Porterville Police Dept.

Nicholas' Preschool Teacher called and asked if I could please come on a field trip with them as she didn't have enough parents volunteering which was unusual. So that became another activity for us. When we pulled up in front of the Police Dept. Nicholas asked if that was where Grandpa worked. I told him no grandpa worked at the jail in another town. Still as we were going through the tour Eliza asked several times, "Now we are going to see grandpa?" Just before the tour ended the police officer conducting our tour said that she would see if they had anyone in the holding cells. If they did the kids couldn't walk through but if it was empty the kids could walk through the jail. Eliza in excitement says out loud for all to hear, "Now I get to see my grandpa!" I was so embarrassed and got some interesting looks. These parents and the cop probably thought my dad was in jail and here is my daughter excited about seeing grandpa in jail. There was someone in the holding cell so the kids couldn't walk through but they were able to walk through the booking area and they showed the kids where they take pictures and fingerprints. They asked any of the parents if they would be willing to get their fingerprints done to show the kids how it works. I was towards the front so I said I would and after she ran my prints she smiled and said, "Oh, grandpa is Sargent Sanders. That makes since now why she would want to see grandpa". Glad to know it was cleared up!

Playing At The Park

Knowing that John had had Spring Break two week before and now the kids did, I was going to have 4 kids home all day long! I knew that there had to be some activities in there or my house and I would go crazy (which I ended up doing and so did my house) but it did make a difference to get out of the house. We went to Murray Park with the intention of feeding the ducks and playing at the park, but they have the little lake drained and it completely fenced in so we couldn't even get to the ducks and geese. So we just played at the park for an hour. We had a great time and it was great weather. I got this great picture of Eliza swinging in the swing. She loved it and kept screamin, "HIGHER!"

Nicholas just like he does at school spent 90% of the time at the park on the swing's too.

Saying Goodbye

After we got home from our trip, per my mom and John's request I went into my doctor about my episode at Disneyland. She agreed that all though I am hypoglycemic that was a low dip and when she went over my numbers (I have a blood sugar monitor and check just like a diabetic does) she said that I was having way to many lows. She said it was time to start checking things from head to toe. I had to get lab work done, an echo cardiogram, etc. With the results of all those things I have had two more appointments and now have to go see a Cardiologist at Stanford next month. It was a very emotional two weeks and still is a concern and worry.
Then as most of you know my grandparents were living with my parents so that my parents could help with my grandfathers care. My mom called and said grandpa was taking a turn for the worse did I want to say my goodbyes. It was the hardest thing I did, but my mom held the phone to my grandpa's ear and I was able to share my love for him and say my goodbye's. A few days later my mom called and said that he had returned to his father in heaven. It was very hard to hear as death is hard, but his life was so hard at the end I was grateful to know he wasn't going to suffer anymore. We left the following morning to be with family and celebrate his life. My grandfather didn't want a funeral or any kind of services so we did a family thing. Something my grandpa always liked was McDonald's French Fries with "Ketsup" Yes it was Ketsup not Ketchup. So as a family we had McDonald's with French fries dipped in Ketchup. Then we got some white balloons and all wrote messages to grandpa on them with permanent marker and released them with a french fry hooked on the end for Grandpa to enjoy.
My mom took the pictures that day so as soon as I get them I will post them.

Disneyland

Yes, I am very far behind! Things have been a bit of a roller coaster around our house as you will see as I attempt to get caught up on posts.
So a little less than a month ago we made our trip to Disneyland. Nicholas had preschool that day and the Director Invited Addison and Eliza to come for the day too, so we dropped them off in the morning and John, Vincent, and I loaded the car. We picked the three kids up from school and headed down to Bakersfield to get John's sister from the airport. We had two hours to get to somewhere that should have only taken 45 minutes. I had spent the days prior to our leaving copying out maps and directions to where we were going and on the map of the airport in Bakersfield there was a park a few blocks down. We figured we could get down there and let the kids play for a half hour and then go across the way to the airport to get Anna, knowing we would have a three hour drive from there to Anaheim. We followed the directions on our map and ended up at what use to be the airport in Bakersfield but what has been converted into a flight school. We drove around for awhile until John finally pulled over to ask for directions. We found out that there was a new airport built a few years back, unfortunately the search engine we used for directions hadn't been updated. The gentleman gave us directions and we were on our way again to find road construction and the road he told us to take was closed so John turned (since he had no other choice) with all the other traffic away from where we were heading. After going a little way and finding no place to turn and head towards the direction we should have been going, we finally asked for directions again, to be told we were way out of our way of the airport (doh!) He got us from that point going in the right direction and we finally made it to the airport (Whew!) With enough time for all of us to use the restroom and then here comes Aunt Anna. Guess it was a great thing we left when we did or Aunt Anna would have been sitting and waiting for us.

After getting Aunt Anna we were on our way to good ole Anaheim, through the wonderful, spectacular, awesome, LOS ANGELES TRAFFIC (NOT!). What should have been a two and a half hour drive (we told the kids three since we knew we would hit some traffic) took, FIVE LONG HOURS. We saw two really bad accident, there had been an earth quake that morning that had damaged part of the freeway so that closed a lane or two which made bad traffic worse. It was slow and long going. Kids were tired and hungry. Aunt Anna was really hungry since she hadn't had anything to eat since before she left Utah and John was afraid to get off the freeway and not be able to find his way back so we kept heading towards our motel. We finally made it and were excited when the motel manager upgraded our room at no addition cost to us. We had the largest family suite they had available and it was nice. We had two bedroom with two queen beds in each room and two bathrooms. Very comfortable and room for the kids to move around.
Wednesday morning John and I got up and got ready then woke the kids and headed to the breakfast buffet that was offered by our motel. What great food and was all free! We then headed to Disneyland skipping and so HAPPY to be going. We found right away some of Eliza's Friends (The Disney Characters) and then got on the Disneyland Railroad for a trip around the Magic Kingdom. When we got to Tomorrowland the Train had to close due to a problem so we got off and rode the autopia cars. The kids found that a blast. By the time we were done riding the cars the railroad was working again so we got on and headed back to main street which is where our strollers were. We headed around the park having a blast, riding rides, seeing shows and "friends". Around lunch time I was starting to not feel good, but kept plugging along as we were having so much fun. Addison wanted to ride the Haunted Mansion and so did Nicholas. Vincent didn't want too so he, Anna, Eliza and I went to ride Winnie the Pooh, with the plan we would meet up with John, Addison, and Nicholas at the Hungry Bear for lunch afterwards. By the time we were done riding Winnie the Pooh I really felt bad so was looking forward to getting to the restaurant to sit down. We got there first and found our self a place to sit down and waited for John and the rest to join us. When John got there Nicholas was crying as the Haunted Mansion had scared him. I held my little boy and comforted his fears while John and Anna went to get the lunch. Vincent and Addison started arguing over what ride we would go to next and I got frustrated and told them that we would do our best to get to everything we could to quit arguing. I must have been slurring or something as Vincent looked at me with concern and said, "What is wrong Mommy?" That is the last thing I remember. The next thing I remember is laying on the ground with people surrounding me and telling me to wake up. I had passed out cold. They had brought in two RN's and the EMT's. My head was hurting so bad from where I had hit when I fell. I had recently been diagnosed with Hypoglycemia so they took my blood sugar and it was 46. They wanted to transfer me to the hospital but I told them no that I would just stay on top of it better now learning that walking around Disneyland in the heat you burn off your sugar faster I needed to eat more often. WE had lunch and all the kids wanted to sit either next to me or on my lap. I felt so bad that I had scared everyone like that. After lunch I started to feel better and we still did enjoy the rest of our day! I dealt with headaches the rest of the day due to knocking my head but luckily I had packed Tylenol in the diaper bag so just stayed on top of it and enjoyed the rest of my day with the kids and always had a frozen lemonade or coke with me. :-)! The parade was a wonderful and so much fun as we got to participate in it. Eliza and I got to dance in the street and Addison got to play the drum. After dinner one of my brother David's friend came and joined us for the rest of the evening. My kids were so excited to see MyViet. We rode the teacups together, Star Tours, and watched the Fireworks (WONDERFUL!) Then as a big group went to Buzz Lightyears Astro Blasters. What a fun game to play to end the night. MyViet took everyone shopping since he had a annual pass that gives him a 20% discount on everything we gave him the cash and the kids picked out their treasures. What fun we had even with my miss hap and we are looking forward to when we can go again. We just hope it doesn't take five years this time!