Don't visit us

We have had the winter illness sweeping our house lately...ugh...first Cooper had about 4 hours of throwing up and then he's all better. The next day, Kendall gets diagnosed with bronchial pneumonia...but she's better except for the ever present runny nose....living in the valley allergies? Then, poor Spencer started feeling feverish and coughing up a storm on Sunday. (my sweet guy riding the bull! He did very well!)He's been out of school all week, sick. Today he was diagnosed with bronchitis and ear infections and needs an inhaler now..ugh...poor kid. so don't visit us right now. Seriously need to disinfect everything!!!! I've been feeling a little yucky, but hey, mamas can't get sick, right???

However, Spencer did have a bright spot today...he lost a tooth! His first! I pulled it out since it was literally hanging in his mouth sideways...so tooth fairy is coming tonight. I've been learning from my friends that she doesn't leave 50 cents anymore, like when I was a kid! How much should I leave him? $1? $2? My friend Shelly's son told her that he would take a credit card when he lost his first tooth! Hahahaha! Our kids are not so innocent anymore, are they? I've learned to put my phone away when Cooper told me the other day he needed to text his Grandma!

Sorry about the pics...haven't downloaded any from my camera in a while..on my to do list! But i love the one of Coop and Kendall...playing in a box together, happy! Love those moments!

Sometimes....

....you find a blog that speaks to you, that is REAL, and makes you feel better about not having the perfect house, the healthy home cooked meals every night, and a fun craft/learning activity several times a day for your sweet children....thank you so much, Kim, for introducing me to your hilarious and real mom friend (who was also a child star....and shares some some interesting stories!) and read this post right now!!!!!: http://hagenhoopla.blogspot.com/2010/02/unattended-homework.html

February

Wow, where is time going??? Already halfway through February! Enjoying the warmer weather we've been having...the boys are playing outside with the hose...little Kendall is napping. I'm actually waiting for her doctor to call since we had a xray done this morning. She's had a lingering cough for a while so I took in her in finally this morning.

(Edited: Doctor just called...she has bronchial pneumonia...poor baby girl!!! She's going to be fine, just needs some meds...)

What have we been up to this month??? Spencer was Student of the Month this month! Cooper sitting with Spencer's class for some of the assembly. That will be him next year! Waaah!!!!Congrats!!! Valentine's Day...Cooper's valentines (bags of candy hearts attached)....I was in co-charge of his school's Valentine's Party. It was such a fun day being a mommy!!! I had a lunch date with Cooper, then went and volunteered for Spencer's classroom party. We made necklaces, one of the projects I had planned for Cooper's party that morning.

Kendall had a party, too...but Daddy went to hers!

Trying to be crafty! Made this silhouettes of the boys! (Kendall's picture didn't come out right...need to finish hers). Simply took a side view of the boys, enlarged to 5 X 7, cut them out, painted them black with craft paint and voila! Cannot take credit for this...but can't remember where I found it either!

Cool blogs: I daily check http://www.howdoesshe.com/ Check the archives for some awesome ideas!

http://www.simplymodernmom.com/ She has this great post about Project 52, date nights! Check that out!

Also, I"ve been cooking! I love being home (off work this week!). Last night I made the Pioneer Woman's Ranch chicken. SO delish! Anything with bacon has to be delish!This recipe is not in her awesome cookbook, but you can find it at her site. www.pioneerwoman.com

Reading! Finished The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins last night. Wow, that was a page turner for sure...didn't really want to read it because I thought it would be too science-fiction-y for me, but it was a great read. Now I need to go request the second book in the series from the library! (Have I mentioned how much I love the library??? We have access to all the books from Bakersfield to Merced!)

What have YOU been up to?

Disneyland!

Last weekend, we decided to take the boys for a surprise visit to Disneyland! They were so excited when we told them. Joe and I were so excited, too! It truly is the most magical place on Earth! The lines were so short! Hardly anyone was there! And the sun was shining...hallelujah!

Small World and Splash Mountain were closed, but everything else was perfect! Spencer's favs: Space Mountain (at night) and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Cooper's: the Rockets and Star Tours. We missed Kendall a lot...but she had fun staying with her Grammy one night and Grandma the next! I don't think she missed us at all! Well, maybe a little....(I hope!).

Family Time

Last weekend, we went to the bay area to spend time with Joe's extended family (and missed visiting with Kim and baby Samuel, who were in Hawaii....jealous!!) Anyway...Joe's cousin Andrew is joining the Peace Corp, (here he is with Nana and Grandpa)and he will be stationed in South Africa. He and his family (here's Aunt Karen and Uncle Steve)flew down from the Seattle area to visit with Nana and Grandpa and us! There were about 25-26 of us. The kids had a blast running around (Nana and Grandpa have stairs-which my boys love!). It was fun to talk and catch up with everyone. Andrew and his sisters are in their 20's, newly graduated, and have all kinds of exciting things going on(Katherine and Liz)...med school plans, pre-school teaching, Peace Corp...it was nice to visit! Andrew will have a blog of his experiences, so when I get that address, I will link it in case you are curious. What an experience! So thrilled for him! And here's the Lepere family and Nana and Grandpa. I have to get the group shot from Cindy...she took that one!

We've had some wild CA weather lately....rain, rain, lots of wind, even thunder and lightning...I know we need the rain...but I need some blue skies...maybe this weekend! We are going to try to escape the rainy weather and take the boys for a special surprise this weekend...stay tuned!

Snow Day!

So we finally went and had a snow day! After all, the snow is only a little over an hour away! Poor Coop-middle child-has never even seen the snow and he is 4! But we made it....excuse the many clashing colors...since we aren't snow goers on a periodic basis, we had to borrow boots for 3 of us and snow pants for me! I actually have ski pants from my back in the day ski days...about a handful of them, ha! But, anyway, thought it might be warmer in snow pants! Well, it was so warm up in the mountains, we actually began to regret our thermal layers and lost the coats pretty quickly. Here are some pics of the fun day...in reverse order, I forgot this is how they load and I'm too lazy to switch around!
Ended the day by playing near Pinecrest. The lake is totally dried up and covered in snow! Fun!

Our snowman....

Not our snowman...

Mama and sweet girl!

Daddy pulling the 3 at Pinecrest.
Someone realized she LOVEd sledding and how dare you leave her!!!!

Cooper's creative shot of Joe and me....future photographer?

Whee!!!! On the sledding hill outside Longbarn!
My *3* sweet kids! LOVED the snow!

Heading up the hill!

Spencer

The boys really wanted to make snow angels!

What a fun day! We can't wait to go back. We also went to Dodge Ridge so the boys could see people skiing and snowboarding! Joe is taking Spencer soon for a snowboarding trip. Both of them CAN'T wait! When are we going back????