Best Friend Birthdays

This week is Spring Break for the kids. It actually started yesterday so the kids & I hit the zoo with our 1st day off. I asked Justin to take Spring Break off of work so we could do something as a family . . . and he did. Originally our plans were to leave this weekend. But then we found out that Sofia AND Gavin were having their birthday parties this weekend.

If the kids could each name ONE best friend in the entire world, Kenzie would name Sofia and Zachary would name Gavin. So we immediately changed our plans and are now leaving first thing Monday morning for our grand Yosemite adventure.

Today we kicked off the St. Patty's Day festivities by attending Sofia's 5th Knights & Ladies party at Peekaboo Playland. It was a VERY busy party with lots of preschool friends & family that we didn't know. But thankfully lots of friends were in attendance too. The boys battled ceaselessly with blow up swords and the girls ran around crazy in princess dresses.

A great time was had by all and we got to celebrate with Sofia!

The Time of My Life

Today was Green Day at Kenzie's preschool in honor of St. Patrick's Day this coming weekend. Kenzie did it up in true leprechaun fashion!

Santa Barbara Baby

Justin went out of town this week for PyCon in Santa Clara (Python Developers Conference) . . . so Rebecca & I scheduled our 2nd annual girls weekend away with the littles. Last year we tackled (albeit unsuccessfully) Carlsbad. This year we decided to check out Santa Barbara.

I came down with the WORST case of food poisoning EVER on Thursday night. So it was touch & go for a bit whether we would have to postpone. But after 12 hours of being sick, no sleep & a rough recovery day spent severely dehydrated, Saturday morning I was up to snuff & decided to give it a go.

We picked up the Duffields and hit 101 North headed for the coast. It took a whopping 10 minutes on the freeway to get our first "are we there yet?" and "can I have a snack?". But after an eternal 90 minutes on the road, we reached our first destination - Stearns Wharf.

We set up camp on the beach for an afternoon of frolicking in the waves & enjoying the sunshine on the sand. The water was COLD! Kenzie only lasted in her suit for about 10 minutes . . . but the boys splashed in the waves for hours. The kids found several ladybugs on the beach and had a great time observing them.

The boys reenacted the famous Star Wars light saber fight scene for us in addition to collecting & throwing rocks, trying to fill the inlet with sand and wave jumping.

We picnicked on the sand and then had dinner (and ice cream) at a fish & chips place on the wharf. In the late afternoon we rented a double surrey and attempted to take the kids for a ride along the beach bike path. Man was it hard work. We needed a couple more peddlers if we were going to make it very far.

When we were all tuckered out for the day and FREEZING, we headed back to the hotel for warm baths and a movie night. I always forget to leave more time for just hanging out at the hotel. The kids loved it. They jumped on the bed & played hide & seek in the cabinets (except they kept hiding all together in the same place).

Next time I have to remember to work in a couple of hours for wandering around the hotel grounds & swimming in the pool.

Sunday morning we had a sticky breakfast on the patio at the hotel cafe (Kenzie poured her jug of syrup in her lap and we never quite recovered). But after cleaning up we headed to the Santa Barbara Zoo for another great day.

I HEART the Santa Barbara Zoo. It is gorgeous. It is small and intimate and perfect for the kids right now. The play area is a blast! There was this ant hill that the kids slid down for HOURS!

The zoo rounded out what turned out to be a fantastic weekend. We had a picnic on the lawn, watched the dinosaur show, checked out animals, rode the train and then headed home.

Everyone but Zach fell asleep on the ride home. We had a busy, tiring but perfect weekend away! I'm already planning our next adventure in my head . . .

Relay for Life Fundraiser

The Moms Club of Burbank is sponsoring a Relay for Life team . . . and Erica & I are co-captains heading up the team. The Moms Club is donating $500 to the American Cancer Society for our team. And then we're doing a bunch of team fundraisers in addition to our individual team members soliciting donations.

Tonight we had our first group fundraiser . . . a dine out night at Shakey's Pizza. We had 25 families come and we made $150!!! In addition to raising money, we had a great night just hanging out with friends.

You can donate to my Relay for Life cause here. Thanks!

"Look Momma! I can reach the ceiling!"

Pajama Party Part II

Last week Kenzie had pajama day . . . so this week it was Zach's turn. He picked his current favorite jammies (lego star wars) and his 2nd favorite lovie (mean mommy wouldn't let him take Tamarack to school) and off he went for a day of bedtime snacks & bedtime stories!

3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . Blast Off!

Tomorrow starts the Moms Club annual clothing swap. Every year (generally in frustration & anger) I vow I am not hosting anymore . . . and then the next year I find myself hosting again. This year, I am hosting again.

It's actually going really well so far. I was nervous at first because we weren't getting very many drop offs / donations. But today (the final hour) everything poured in. So we will be fine "stuff" wise. Volunteer wise we are severely lacking. But maybe I'm doing better with it because I know in advance that I just have to take care of everything.

So, NOT in frustration or anger, I can say that this is my last year hosting simply because we are outgrowing the clothing swap. Hosting this year is phenomenal cause I'm going to try and sell off TONS of my leftover work supplies. But swap wise I have 2 of the oldest kids in the bunch. So there really isn't any stuff to swap for. Oh well. I am disappointed that my free clothing supply has dried up. But I can't complain. I have clothed my kids for 5 years by swapping hand-me-downs with other moms club moms. I have saved us a fortune by buying very little of what they wear 1st hand (mostly shoes or specialty items) . . . and even some of that comes from the consignment store. So I feel like we've done well.

Today, the kids were left to their own devices for most of the day because I was busy working on clothing swap stuff. And amazingly (other than trashing the house completely), they did very well. I guess that is to say that they played together very well today WHILE trashing the house. They've been playing pretty well together in general recently (knock on wood) . . .

I overheard the kids playing 'space' while I was sorting games & toys today.

M (anxiously): There is a Neblia hurtling through space! We need to save Pluto!

Z (heroically): Don't worry little sister, I'll blast the Neblia with my star shooter and save the planet Pluto

This fabulous conversation went on for quite some time. When Zach took a break to come grab a snack (it's never long before Zach comes and asks for a snack), I told him I really appreciated how well he & Kenzie were playing together.

Me: What is a Neblia Zach? Do you mean a Nebula?

Zach: nah, a Neblia is just a pretend villain. A Nebula is a cloud of gas in space. I've gotta go save Pluto now . . .

Pajama Party

Today was pajama day at Mackenzie's preschool. The kids got to wear their pajamas and bring a lovie to share. My favorite is that Kenzie chose a short sleeve nightgown . . . so she has an entire outfit on UNDER her nightgown in order to not freeze at school.

The kids read bedtime stories & had a great time playing in the yard in their jammies! This is Kenzie with 2 of her classmates. Hannah on the left & Yvette on the right.