Break for Fun!

I completely forgot to put the photos in that last post.. if you want to check them out.. clean garage and messy patio! The yard sale is this weekend and I can't wait to get my patio back! Spring Break was great fun, we relaxed at the beach, played with the kids, had a date and started the garden! Now it is back to the grindstone to finish up work for school! Here are some pics of what we have been up to!

Ella and I spent a fun day together at the La Habra Children's Museum!

She sat on a statue of a Llama and thought it was pretty funny!Let's go fly a kite!

Gavin, taking some time out from his day in the ocean!Trying to pull the plungers out of the tar!Tar bubbling up out of one of the pits outside.. cool!

Peace for Spring Break

Clean Garage

It seems that blogging has not been high on my priority list as of late.. but I am not really sure what HAS! *note: I wrote this a few days ago, but got interupted...

We have been busy, as always... baseball, classes, STILL trying to get the house put back together! I did finally organize my desk and new cubbies...although I need more bins for it before it is officially "finished"..Gavin's room, well.. it hangs there, not QUITE done...it's the ceiling fan, really and that is it. Andy had to wait until his cast was off and then, well.. We cleaned the garage! Unfortunately, we again forgot to take before and after shots but let's just say that before, you could not walk into the garage, but only squeak around to get to the fridge and storage shelves. Now... it is a big, wide, open space that is very organized and lovely to behold! I find myself walking out there to just stand in it and appreciate the order.

The side effect of a clean garage is a REALLY messy patio! We pulled out a ton of stuff to sell at our yard sale in a couple of weeks, including the crib. Yup.. we are done... you heard it here first. I have come to the place where I am o.k. (actually adamant) that we will not have any more babies (other than our godson Alex and any other babies that need cuddling!) Andy has even conceded and is going to be contacting the urologist after Spring Break.

Messy Patio

We were going to start working on Ella's room (and FINISH Gavin's) during our Spring Break, but it seems that the universe has other ideas for us. A friend called yesterday and offered us a campsite at San Clemente State Beach for a couple of days. It is taking some shuffling and rescheduling and some major re-thinking on my part, but we are going! We realized that what we really need, is a break! Time to relax and just be together and so, we are taking it. We will be leaving on Saturday and coming home on Tuesday, not a LONG trip, but just the kind of break that we all need. I will leave the house a mess, the projects unfinished and the laundry piled up on the couch. Oh Well!!!

Today, I am working on paperwork and packing and grocery shopping. Tomorrow I will spend the day with Ella at the La Habra Children's Museum, just the two of us. I think that we will have a picnic too. Friday, the kids and I are sleeping in and getting packed up and then, when Andy gets home we are going to Downtown Disney to have dinner at Rainforest Cafe and Gavin wants to visit the Lego store. He has been doing extra chores and saving his money for something special! Then, it is off to the beach with nothing more to do than relax, chat, eat and sleep. I should probably put a walk or two in there, or I will lose my weight loss headway that I have been making.

I am peaceful, even though I have a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it in I know that if it needs to be done, it will be and that we will have a great time, TOGETHER!! I am thankful to my friend and for the opportunity to be with my family and to spend time with friends, I really do have a most blessed life.

Spring Break wrap up...

I never did finish writing about our Spring Break.... We really had some fun days (mixed in with hard work on the kitchen...more on that in another post).
We went to the Discovery Science Center one day for Bubble Fest and saw a great bubble show with Fan Yang! He was on Oprah and has a show in Vegas and it was really cool....

We also spent a HOT day at the L.A. Zoo! We ended up getting passes because the deal was just too good! Afton joined us and we had a great time trekkin around. Gavin was a bit whiny, but he was hot and not feeling very good. While we were watching the Gorilla's, one of the big males charged the glass right where we were standing, it was a little scary, but very cool. We also got close up with the Giraffes, which was interesting. We met up with my sister-in-law, Jen and baby Jordan, so that was a treat too!

We spent an afternoon relaxing (yes, we DO that on occasion) at "the pool". Andy's parents have a pool and we hung out over there and had a LATE dinner, but were just enjoying the time together and even though the water was a bit chilly, the kids had fun getting wet.

I got to go to an all day scrapbooking workshop! From 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. and I worked on Ella's book, I am going again tomorrow to catch it up and put it away until next year. I am off to do "power layouts" so that I can be faster and more productive.

I will post about the kitchen later, it is "coming along"...

A Day With My Boy!

Gavin and I had our day, yesterday. Boy do I love that boy! I really see how important it is for the two of us to spend time together. We really know how to rub each other the wrong way and we get awfully upset with each other, much more often than I would like. But, on the other hand we adore each other like nobody else does ....

The one on one time was so good because there was no other stress or pressure, just us, hanging out.

I thought long and hard about what we could do together, because I really wanted us to be TOGETHER...not just him, running off and me watching. I finally came up with the PERFECT thing! We went to Griffith Observatory! It was engaging, and old enough for him, and it was something that Ella would NOT have enjoyed, I love space and stars and all of that, and so does he. We had to go to the market first, before we could head out, but even that was really enjoyable, together. We drove out to L.A. and I told him that he could not bring his Game Boy, so we had to talk. We talked about our "favorite things" and he told me of his "plans for the future". (He wants to be the President of the United States, someday, he says.)

When we got there, we had a picnic lunch and then we checked out exhibits and talked and he asked so many good questions! We got tickets for the Planetarium show and had a great time seeing that. We shared a soda at the cafe before heading home. It was really cool!

Later that night, we read a couple of chapters from our latest book and then he snuggled with me to watch American Idol. I let him stay up late..it is Spring Break, after all - besides, I was enjoying the cuddle time! Yeah for one on one with my kids... and yeah for the chance to celebrate them!

Spring Breaks

Spring Break has been really wacky around our house! Andy had his first and he worked on the kitchen, (no..it is not done yet...let's not talk about THAT) next came Ella and now Gavin. I usually take a spring break also to help offset the expense for the church where I work. There is usually a three week pay period around this time, and I just take an extra week off instead of getting the extra money.

This year, I didn't know WHAT to do! I decided to take off a week that crossed over both of the kids weeks off, so I did not work last Thursday and I will not work tomorrow on Tuesday.

Last week I got to spend a special day with JUST Ella and we went to the Aquarium of the Pacific! We had a super duper time and I really loved being able to just focus on her. She wanted to see the sea otters the most and was delighted with their antics. It was really funny though, she got very nervous and aprehensive about the trip and was asking lots of questions about it. When we got there, she did not want to go inside and I noticed that throughout the day she seemed a little lost without her brothers lead to follow.

It was a great day and I am looking forward to tomorrow when I take Gavin to the Griffith Observatory!