Family Time

Saturday was a great day, we spent the entire day together having fun and getting our exercise. Brett and I took the girls to Mission Hills park with their bikes and scooters.
Mikayla loved to ride her scooter and is getting pretty good at it. The only problem was having to fight Brayden for it, he loved it too and wanted to ride it just as much as Mikayla did!
Haley was able to get good practice on her bike and is becoming quite the rider on training wheels of course. We are hoping that by next year at her bike rodeo at school she will not need the training wheels.

Haley had the same problem as Mikayla, Brayden wanted to ride her bike as well. Here he is chasing Haley on her bike, he was screaming "bike, bike, bike"!!!
This was the final straw and he threw himself down on the ground in a rage! He was not happy!

Now this is much better, Brayden finally got to ride the scooter, he loved it. We had a hard time getting him off it!

After the park we went home, got cleaned up and went over to Sunset Station for a nice family buffet and bowling! This was fun and exciting for our family because it was the first time we have taken everyone to a buffet and bowling. The girls loved the buffet and getting to go up and pick out their food. But the best part was the bowling, it was so much fun, we all loved it. Bowling is definitely going to be something we do again and again and again! I am not good at all, but it is fun. Brett is pretty good so he likes making fun of my lack of expertise, luckily I can handle it and have fun despite the fact, I stink at it!!

Thanksgiving Day

This Thanksgiving was a nice one. We had the big turkey dinner at our home with Grandma and Grandpa, Mema and Pop Pop, Aunt Tammy and Uncle Ryan, Sydney, Cara and Cameron. I am counting this as my first Turkey dinner, I did have one other attempt, the first Thanksgiving after Brett and I were married, but that turkey did not even make it to the oven. At the time I did not realize that a "fresh" turkey could be frozen solid! So, now that I have learned that lesson I took on the turkey once again. This time with some success!






We set up a kids table and an adult table. The girls loved having their own table. They did a great job of trying everything even though some of the things were not what they would have normally choose.



After a great dinner and allot of football watching we sat down together to play the money game. A game that was taught to us from family on Brett's side, and is now played at most family gatherings. I won't get into all the rules of the game, but everyone starts out with three dollars, and then you roll the dice to see if you get to keep your money, pass some to your neighbor, or put it in the pot. The dice gets passed around the table until their is only one person with money left, that person is the winner and gets all the money in the pot!! We played the game three times and the three winners were; Grandpa, Pop Pop and Brett. What happen to the girls, next time it's all us, girls!


What a fun thing it is to gather around with family and enjoy each others company. I am so thankful to live around family. I am so thankful that my sister and I are able to live so close to each other and have our girls grow up with one another. I am thankful for a Heavenly Father that blesses us with families, that we can be together forever. What a perfect plan, to be able to be with the ones we love most forever. I am thankful for my husband, for the many ways he puts his family first. I am thankful that I am able to stay home and raise our beautiful children, see their special spirits, and have my faith grow by watching and learning from them. The pure faith children have, the desire to learn, to choose the right, and the unconditional love in their hearts, I want to be more like that. I am thankful for the Gospel in my life, that I don't have to raise my children without the help it brings. Heavenly Father's plan is simple and perfect and without it I don't think I would be able to deal with all the things life brings.


We were invited to a pilgrim party yesterday. It was very fun, their was crafts for all the kids to work on. One was a turkey basket that turned out really cute. On the basket each child had to write 4 things they were thankful for, here are Haley and Mikayla's 4 things

Haley

1. Jesus
2. Temple (Haley loves to sing the song, I Love To See The Temple)
3. Mom
4. Family

Mikayla

1. Special time with daddy
2. Family
3. Friends
4. Food (that's my daughter!)

Fall into Swimming

I signed the girls up for indoor swimming lessons for the month of November. Haley was on track break and they love to swim, so I thought this would be a great way to spend some of our free time. These pictures were taken on the last day of class. They really loved their classes and want to continue with more lessons. So it looks like we will be swimming in Winter too!

Mikayla was a little funny in the beginning, she had what we call a melt down on the first day of class. She reverted to a baby and would not go in the water and started crying, the whole nine yards. I was so frustrated with her, I could scream. All the instructors were babying her and

coddling her, giving her all this attention. They wanted to put her in level one because they thought she was scared of the water. Scared of the water, what, she can swim like a fish, almost as good as Haley! So I was like OH NO, she is not going to be in level one. I walked over to the pool and talked to the instructors and the manager and explained that even though she is only 3, she can swim and putting her in level one was a waste of every ones time. They left her in level two, but she did not let up and ended up sitting with me the entire first class, I was so mad at her. After a bunch of threats and lectures she agreed to go to the next class without any problems and she did, she had no more problems and was easily one of the best swimmers in her level two class. I think all the instructors were surprised when they finally saw she could in fact swim, and that I was not just trying to be this overbearing mean mom!

Brayden ate crackers the whole time. Luckily it was his snack time, the crackers were the only way I was able to keep him from running off and slipping all over the place. Although he did manage to find all the puddles around the pool and lay in them, yuck!

Las Vegas Fire Station

Today was a special day for the girls. We were invited to participate in a service project/playgroup. What we did was bring a early Thanksgiving dinner to a fire station and in return our children were able to get a full tour of the fire station and fire engine. It was very hands on, everyone was able to climb in, try out and explore.

It started out a little rough, when we arrived at the station the firefighters were out and no one was there to let us in and receive the food we had brought. I think their door bell was rung a million times by all the kids that were there. Every time I turned around someone else was ringing the doorbell with no response. We waited outside the fire station for about an hour, maybe even a little longer. When the kids had all the waiting they could handle we decided to take them to a near by McDonald's for some food and playtime! Funny thing was as we were driving to the McDonald's the firetrucks passed us on their way back to the station! After we were finished eating and playing we headed back to the station for our tour. It was great, the firemen were so nice and great with the kids. Haley was a little hesitant about everything, but after her little sis did it, and it proved safe, Haley was ready to try. They got up in the fire engine, toured the station, looked at all the tools used by the firemen and even used the air compressor gun which made allot of noise. But the best time for my girls was when one of the fire fighters pulled out the fire hose and let all the kids take a turn spraying the water. They were able to shoot the water as far as they could and at one point I think someone almost got one of the cars driving by on the near by street. The water sprayed very far and the girls loved watching it, Haley actually ran under a little of it as if she were testing it to see how wet she would get. Of course, being the mean mommy that I am, I put a stop to that right away! She did not get that wet, and she was not the only one that tried it, if only it were summer!!

Brayden had fun too. He did not want to get in the fire truck but he did love being around the water. He also loved "hanging" out with the firemen, he was chit chatting with them, he gave them high fives and even let a couple of them hold him. Hummm, do we have a future firefighter on our hands!?!








It was a great afternoon, a little longer then planned, but well worth it. We left with a bunch of goodies too, suckers, coloring books and stickers. Thank you to the firefighters that spent a couple of hours of their time with my children, I know they will not forget it. Okay, maybe Brayden will not remember, but hopefully he will like to look back at the pictures and know that he had a good time too!!

The Wheels on the Bus...

Haley had her first field trip and her first bus ride all in the same day, November 3, 2008! The Kindergartners went to The Thomas and Mac, to see a show. The Thomas and Mac is the Theater at UNLV, the kids got to watch a puppet show. It is quite a ways from the school so the bus ride was a good one. Haley had been waiting for this since the first time she heard about it. Up until the morning they went she did not really even care where they were going, the only thing that mattered to her was that she was going to ride in a School Bus! Her excitement can not be put into words and I think a little nervousness too, but she tried hard not to let that show. When I picked her up from school that afternoon she said the bus ride was fun but very bumpy, and that the puppet show was good too.

Me, being the silly mom that I am, was at the school in the morning taking pictures as Haley got on the bus. Their were about 3 other moms taking pictures too, so I was not the only one. But I was one of three that did not leave until the "wheels on the bus" rolled away! Mikayla started crying when the bus went away, she has not had a problem dropping Haley off, but she didn't like seeing her sister get taken away on a bus, it was kinda sad to see. I know, weird, but it was sad. Must be a first time mom thing, and sister thing! Next time we will be more emotionally prepared!

California Trip

Haley is out of school the entire month of November. It is her first track break. She was so excited to have a track break, I think it means she's now a "big kid"! We went to California for a week to visit family and friends. We didn't have BIG plans, just a week of relaxing and playing! We did go see High School Musical 3, I loved it, but I'm a Musical girl, Brett was not as impressed! Haley and Mikayla loved it. We have already downloaded a few of the songs and the girls love to show me their rendition of Sharpe, Gabrella, even Troy and Chad!



We love Fall in California. Leaves, leaves, and more leaves! Not too many leaves for us to play with in the Desert!!


Some other fun things we did while we were in California:
Have a "camp out" in a homemade fort, built by mommy!

Have a picnic at Shamel Park. Tammy and I use to go to that park to play when we were little. We had our swimming lessons in the pool that is still there. It has been updated a whole lot but it has so many great memories for me. I love going there whenever we visit. Brayden had his first enjoyable swing ride. He usually screams, cries and wants out, but for some reason this time he actually had fun and relaxed.

My mom's neighbor Celia brought over her new puppy "Bella" and the girls fell in love with her.

We went to Victoria Gardens for the afternoon. Victoria Gardens is a really nice outdoors mall in Rancho Cucamonga. When we lived there I use to take Haley and Mikayla there allot. There is a playground and a train and allot of really neat shops and resturants. We went to dinner at Lucille's, a barbique joint that Brett loves. The weather was beautiful which made the day just perfect.

I took Mikayla to feed the ducks at Fairmont Park in Riverside one evening. We had a bag of old "duck" bread to throw out to the ducks, but when we got out of the car to walk towards the water the ducks began to charge us angrily yelling at us. I have to say it scared me to death, I thought we were going to get pecked to death. They looked mean!! I grabed Mikayla's arm and ran back to the car. When Mikayla finally realized what was happening she was scared too and started crying, she barely made it up into the car when the ducks and geese arived. We rolled down the window and threw the bread at them from the car where it was safe!

Waiting for the Toothfairy

So, Haley has had this loose tooth for weeks now and every time she would wiggle it she would freak out. She was not worried about loosing the tooth, she was worried that it would fall out in her sleep, or that she would not know it fell out and she would literally loose the tooth and have nothing for the Tooth fairy. This tooth has been wearing on my patience, so when at McDonald's Haley started worrying about her tooth I was like not again, "stop whining". She was very insistent that I wiggle her tooth, and for a while I blew it off. All at once I saw a look of sheer panic come over her. I put my finger in her mouth and wiggled the loose tooth almost out of her mouth, it was hanging on by a string or two! We were now in real panic mode, she almost broke down in McDonald's. She winced and whined the entire drive home, all the while trying to wiggle her tooth out. I gave her three choices; one, she work at getting it out and get it out, two, she let me wiggle it out, or three, I take her to the dentist and he would get it out. She decided that she wanted to be the one to get it out, so when we got home she went right to work. I had to change Brayden's diaper and put him down for a nap so I asked her to not pull it out until I could get a pic. I honestly didn't think I had much to worry about, she was so scared about it hurting. I didn't think she would actually get it out. There were two screams in about 2 min. the first was one of pain and tears, the second was one of joy and excitement, it was that fast, the tooth was out and I did not get my picture. She was just thrilled that the tooth fairy was going to come.

I screwed up, I did not give my daughter enough credit. The night the tooth fairy was to visit our home I only had a 1, a 5 and a 10 dollar bill. I wanted to give Haley 2 dollar bills for her tooth, just so she would have two "paper monies" (that's how Mikayla talks about dollar bills, so cute). I ended up putting the 1 and 5 under her pillow thinking she would just look at it as 2 "paper monies". Later when I had a 1 dollar bill I would just switch it for the 5. It sounded like a good plan at the time. Around 6 am Haley came in my room singing "the tooth fairy came, the tooth fairy came!" "Look mom I got 2 dollars" she told me with so much excitement. Then she calmed down and was staring at the money, it was like a light went on in her brain and she perked up and said "Oh My Gosh, look mom their is a 5 on that dollar" She dropped the money and held her fingers up to help her add 5 + 1. When she got her answer she had a great big smile on her face and said "the tooth fairy brought me 6 dollars!" oops... I guess I'm not switching out the 5 for a 1 now!

A Cowgirl Birthday Party

Mikayla and the Birthday Girl, Abby! Yesterday we went to Abby's Birthday Party, she is a friend of Mikayla's from preschool. It was a great party with pony rides, a petting zoo and a jump house. Mikayla had been waiting for this party for 2 weeks. She was so excited to go and to actually be the one invited, usually it is Haley that is invited and Mikayla tags along. This time Haley was the one tagging along, but they both had fun, and Haley ended up knowing some of the older kids there. The favorite seem to be the jump house, Mikayla and Haley were in it almost the whole time. The petting zoo was the least favorite with my girls. They would not even go over by it so I could get a picture.

Thank you Abby, for inviting us to your birthday party we had a blast!