Zoo Time!

Today was the much awaited zoo field trip. I was quite excited to be chaperoning Max and Jesse on their first ever field trip. I have fond memories of going with Damien. Sadly, those years of elementary school field trips are gone. To my dismay, the kids were not split up into groups with parents. Max and Jesse went with their own classes, in two separate directions. I spent the whole time chasing their classes down to get a picture with them looking at an exhibit or just enjoying the experience with my boys. I found Max's class the most, took a picture, then ran off in search of Jesse's class. I wouldn't find it, so I would try to find whatever class I could, just to stop wandering around like a lost parent. In the end, I got to sign the boys out, we went back into the zoo and did a few things together, but at that point they were done and hungry. If field trip day is like that again I will have to choose one kid to spend the field trip with and then switch for the next one. I can't run back and forth again. Sadly, with budget cuts, even that arrangement will be hard (since there aren't very many field trips anymore). The day was nutty, but worth it. Guess I should have asked if they were breaking off into groups. I just assumed they were (like in years past with Damien). Oh the things you have to think of when you are a mom of twins!

Coming off the bus...the ONLY time their classes were together! 

Arm was too short to reach the sting rays

Bird Show with Max

After taking this picture (below) I told myself, "I need to go and find Jesse's class cause the day is almost over." I say bye to Max and start my quest to find them. No luck. Later I find out that his class was there, they are even in this picture I took! Right in the upper left corner! Jesse even saw me leaving! I told him, why didn't you stop me? I was going to look for you!!! 

Oh the joys......

Reptile House 

Loved being able to hang out with them at the zoo FINALLY!

In front of the new exhibit under construction

Dino Dig

From the looks of things, looks like Jesse had a fun filled day :)

Berry oh Berry!

As I mentioned in a previous post, my friend had given us some of her Mom's berry plant. We planted it and it has taken off. It's a boysenberry plant (a sort-of hybrid between raspberries and blackberries and it is the thornless kind). We were told it takes about a year for the plant to produce any fruit and it will usually only be a few berries the first year then each year after that it starts being more.

I don't know what to think, since my plant is starting to get berries.....

They do look almost ready and we haven't had it a year......

Here are some more coming....

It's kind of exciting!

Mother's Day 2012

This year Mother's Day celebrating starting on Friday night with a date night with the hubby. I used a Deal Saver coupon that I bought and we headed over to Colorado Grill for some delicious burgers and steak fries. Earlier that morning we had heard that Farmer's Market in Old Town Clovis was starting up, so we went there to get some strawberries, cherries, and nuts. We topped off the night with a trip over to Target to try on an outfit at Target that I had been eyeing for weeks now. Definitely different for me, but I like it, and so does Mike :) An added bonus, Mike let me get the movie The Vow! Lucky me! Lucky husband who gets to watch it again with me :) I was spoiled, and had a great time with my Honey. He takes good care of me. Here is the outfit......

Saturday morning, there was no rest for the weary, it was time to make breakfast since my Mom was coming over. I made waffles, eggs, and sausage. And as a surprise, I bought one of these......

We've had this in years past and my Mom has always brought it. This year I treated! It was soo good! I also had fun teaching the boys what a Kiwi was. They picked one up at Vons when I was buying the fruit tart and Max said, "This is hairy." I laughed and showed him the cut up Kiwi on the tart, telling him that's what it looks like on the inside. And not to worry, you don't eat the "hairy stuff".

It was a nice breakfast. I am so thankful for my Mom. She has truly done a lot for me, and gone through a lot. It was nice to do something nice for her.

After Mom left, I spent more time in the Kitchen prepping for all the eating that we were going to continue to do this weekend. Mike's parents were coming over for a bar-b-q. We ate chicken, corn on the cob, potato salad, and I surprised everyone with this......

A strawberry cream pie drizzled with chocolate! I put candles in it and we sang Happy Birthday to Mike's Mom. A little belated birthday celebrating.

Sunday morning we hurried to get ready to take some Mother's Day pictures

My Mom came to church with us, so of course had to get a update picture with her!  

If we hadn't done enough eating, we went over to my friend Areana's house for a yummy dinner. We 

bar-b-qued a tri-tip, and I made my Mom's famous cherry chocolate cake, to add to the feast. We ate GOOD! They had bar-b-qued chicken, and carne asada. She made her first ever potato salad, and her famous beans and rice. We ate it all with warm tortillas, pico de gallo, and home made chili. The table was literally covered in food and plates full of food that everyone was eating from. Someone said we should eat in shifts....I don't think anyone could wait to eat all that goodness. So it was standing room only! We ate with  Areana's family as well as her husband's. We've known them for over a year now and have gotten very close with them. They love our boys, offer to babysit often, open their home to us...in a way, we've become like family and it is nice.

Max and Jesse love asking my friend's husband to do their hair!

I enjoyed my weekend with family. I am a truly blessed woman. I had a heavy heart with recent circumstances. I am truly learning the love of a mother, and all they go through. I am thankful to my Mom! I am being shaped and refined into what my Heavenly Father wants me to be. And that is one painful, humbling, joyous, process.

I WIN......No I WIN!!!

Everything in our home that you can imagine is turned into a competition. With 3 boys....the competition is FIERCE! Here are a list of things the kids "race" to see who gets rights to the coveted first place crown:

*Getting out to the car to sit in the middle-front seat. (Highly popular spot in the van). 2 can sit there, but over time, one has been banished to the back since they can't keep their hands off each other. Now they willingly keep this arrangement. Sometimes I say, you both can sit there, but they will say no cause the other won't leave them alone. So hence the race EVERY TIME we go somewhere. We even have to switch off and take turns of who gets to sit in this seat.....good grief!!

*Getting out of the car when I drop them off at school. They will push and shove up to the front seat to give me a kiss then scramble out of the car, cry over who has to close the door, cause they want to be first to the cafeteria for breakfast. Then they will see a friend who is getting to the cafeteria first, and cry for me to hurry cause so and so might finish their breakfast before them.....

* Any BINGO game at school (many tears have been shed after a loss)

* Bop-it (and it repeats the high score EVERY TIME you play and that only intensifys the desire to beat it). Jesse is the Bop-it master. He just walks around "twisting, flicking, pulling, spinning, and bopping". Right now the high score is 46! Amazing!

*Who gets their food served to them first at dinner time

* Who buckles up first in the car

*Who gets their hair styled first

*Who gets kissed by Dad first when we drop him off at work

*Then the usual bike and scooter races

*First in line at school (they love to be line leaders)

* Finishing classwork assignments first (they try to beat other kids). I notice this mostly with Jesse

*Finishing dinner

* Wanting high scores on Kinect Sports Games. (They will restart the game if they are loosing).

* Getting the most Easter Eggs!

*Getting dressed at night after showers

*Who is first in bed after family prayer

*Who gets kissed goodnight by Mom or Dad first

This is all I can think of at this time. I am sure this list will change as they get older. I try to encourage that it doesn't matter if you win or lose, what matters most is that you have fun or did your best. I don't think they hear me :(

No one races to be first to take a shower though?!

The right kind of guy for me

Many people will say that, "They are the luckiest girl in the world cause they married the best guy ever." Well, I am not here to say that, but what I am here to say is I married the right guy for me and here are some reasons why......

I am a sensitive person, and Michael is highly in tune to my feelings both good and bad, happy or sad. I need that and I love that about him!

He wants me to be happy and 99.9% of the time, he gives up what he wants for the good of the family or our relationship. (Not because I force him, or that he is a push over, it is just he is wanting to do good for others, especially those he loves and cares about).

To illustrate his sensitivity, the other night I was complaining about how it took me a half an hour or so to warm up in bed so that I could fall asleep. It was looking like it was going to be another cold night. I went to grab another blanket, and came back to find him under the covers on my side of the bed. When I asked what he was doing, he said, "I am warming up your side of the bed." I climbed into bed as he scooted over, and instead of lying on cold sheets I was wrapped in warmth! I just love my Honey! Then we laughed as he vocalized how cold his side of the bed was :)

I love when he combs my hair. This morning he grabbed my comb and stood in front of me and combed my hair. Such a tender moment!

I struggle a lot with my self confidence on MANY levels. He hasn't cured me, but I am little by little starting to believe more in myself and in divine qualities I do possess, because of his tenderness, consistency, even firmness when I don't believe in myself or let the children "walk all over me". I find myself counseling with him more, which is helping me to believe in myself, not live in "mommy guilt land" and when to "draw the line" in parenting. I am slowly starting to say and do things that will hopefully make a difference in our home. Things I really struggle with doing on my own cause I am figuratively stuck in my ways, some of which are doing more harm than good. This has been with a lot of trial and error, since we both have come into this with weaknesses. But, now I am really learning HOW much I need him, and love him. Looking back on this week and these past 7 years I am starting to learn what the scripture means, "Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord." How refining this experience has been. He is really helping me with my weaknesses in a way that no one or thing could ever do. Together with the Lord's help, we are on this journey facing whatever life throws our way, both good and bad. No gift Michael could ever compare to the gift he is currently providing by truly being my Helpmeet.

A Good Friday!

Friday we celebrated Easter at my parent's house. Mike bar-b-qued some tri-tips on his new bar-b-que and we headed on over for some good ol' fashioned Easter fun. The pictures are a bit of order so bear with me.

We had an Easter egg hunt. We counted the eggs prior so we didn't leave any behind for the lawn mower (not that it has ever happened before..........wink wink). We counted 96 candy filled eggs!

Jesse checking out what he got.

In the end, Damien got 35, Max 31 and Jesse 30.

In this picture Max didn't want to be in it, instead he wanted to sit and count his eggs.

Max proud of what he found.

Giving some clues to my VERY competitive boys

We let Katelynn start first and boy that was not a popular arrangement for Max and Jesse. They were certain that Katelynn was going to get ALL the eggs. We held them back as long as possible and then they were off......No worries Katelynn was no competition for these boys, she found her few and sat and ate the candy while all the mayhem was going on around her.

We tried to hide the eggs in "hard" places. But, Damien has been doing this for about 12 years now and knows ALL the hiding places in Grandma's backyard. The trampoline and swing set added a change of pace...

Tried out some bubble making.

Egg dying.....of course

EWWW......

Learning from the Master.....

This year we tried a new technique, we used a rubber band and wrapped it around the egg....it added a cool affect.

Freshly done!

See that full cup of yellow egg dye? Yeah, it got knocked over.....

Mark carefully observing his Uncle, wishing he could be apart of the Easter fun!

Upon prior approval, I ditched the traditional bunny cake for these....same idea and fun to make.

Happy Easter!

I wanna GREEN thumb!

Yesterday we got to work around here and we got our garden started, among other things. Below is our garden (obviously). But per a Sister's request, I will label the squares.

From top left to right we have: Watermelon, empty, cantaloupe, and cucumber.

Middle row: Jalapeno, cilantro, and maybe something else?? ((oops)) we'll find out later :)

Final row: Cherry tomatoes, radishes, empty, and Big Boy tomatoes!

We have our viney plants growing along the back row so that they can grow up our "lattice" worked pretty good last year. Hoping for a watermelon this year. Last year it got as big as a cantaloupe then cracked along the bottom before it ripened :(

Here is my first potted plant :) and transplant. My friend gave me some berry plants that she brought from her parent's house. (Need to ask her again what type she gave me). I took them home, put them in my garden until we got a new home for it. While there, it grew pretty good. When I got the plant, it was just twigs, since February it has gotten leaves and a lot taller. We are hoping to get some berries off it someday. Never grew one of these before, so we'll see how it goes. So far...looks good!

In the front of the house, we planted some flowers. Hopefully they survive! Among our flowers we planted two strawberry plants. Again, this is new for us. So, we'll see how they turn out.

Strawberry!

We are novices at this whole gardening thing. We have had successes, and some major fails. But it is fun!

We seeded the grass and spread some manure.

It is nice to finally have grass in the front after having rock hard dirt there!