Family Fun

Fun day at the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Here are the cousins in front of some huge jellyfish.

We had a great time this weekend with family. My mom, sister and her kids came to visit us. The girls were so excited to have their cousins come to visit. It is the first time my sister has visited this area since we've moved. We went the Monterey Bay Aquarium with everyone on Monday. The picture above is the girls and I outside by the bay. It was a really beautiful day.

From the left: Whitney, Hanna, Emily, Elizabeth, Tatum (on Elizabeth's lap), Abby, Samantha and Grammie. They were sitting in the wave crasher. Spencer, the only boy, didn't want to be in the picture. The water crashing scarred him to much.

Grammie and Tatum enjoying some quiet time in the morning.

My sister and I had to run an errand and when we got this is what we saw. Dan was being attacked by all the kids. He was such a good sport. Sam and Whitney said they were going to pull out his hair and I quickly told them to leave it as it seems to be falling out on its own (Love you honey!).

We decided Saturday to wash our extremely dirty car. There is a lot of dirt in King City and the rain had made our car look even dirtier. The day was not to warm but the kids always like to get their bathing suits on so we can spay them. Sam is trying to get away before Elizabeth attacks.

Crazy Hair Day

YEAH!!!!! The gray is gone. I love being able to get my hair done. She added bangs and a carmel color. I can now celebrate my birthday and not think that I am getting old.

The girls had crazy hair day at school today. In our family, we love the show Pippo Longstocking. We have always joked that Sam should be Pippi for Halloween. Well, today was our experiment day for her Pippi hair. All the kids were looking at her as if she was crazy but she sure looked cute.

Here are all three girls before school. Em and Liz looked like Whoville from "Horton Hears A Who."

The girls must have been excited because I didn't even have to wake them up this morning. Hanna was planning on having crazy hair today but when she woke up she didn't want to. I think it was a case of "not being cool." Other than that, report cards came out today. All the girls did really well. We are proud of their great accomplishments at school. We look forward to a fun weekend. My sisters and her family and well as my mom will be here on Sunday. We are going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium on Monday. We get free tickets through our public library. It is a wonderful place to visit. Dan is not big about taking kids out of school but they at least will check in so the school will get their money. We are considering it a nice field trip.

Does this mean I am old?

This month is my birthday. When you get to be my age it seems to be just another day. I will be 34 years old. A couple of weeks ago, Emily said to me "mom, you have a gray hair." I said that was just not possible and I went on with what I was doing. Then one day last week I was looking at something in the mirror and what did I see....... A GRAY HAIR! I wanted to cry right then and there. I couldn't believe that I had a gray hair. It must be all the stress from all the things going on in King City. Needless to say I am off to the hairdresser tomorrow to take care of the other 5 I found.

Emily, Elizabeth and Samantha were able to attend a fun assembly today at school. Em and Elizabeth's teacher at school had a son in law who is a police officer in Salinas. He brought his police dog to show them what he does. I did bring my camera to take pictures but it was out of battery! The girls teacher said she would email me a picture so when I get it I'll post it.

Dan had a rough week at work. He had to help pass pink slips to the teachers that are being laid off. Things are really rough with the school districts here right now. They are having to cut so many positions just to stay a float. The elementary district gave out 47 pink slips. These are tough times for so many. We feel very grateful Dan has a job and we have our needs met.

Fun Weekend

Every Sunday the kids make a treat to ding dong ditch to people that we know. It is a fun way to keep the kids busy on the Sabbath as well as an opportunity to serve other people. We will usually leave a note with a message from the "mystery givers". Many times the girls are caught but they have a good time. This past Sunday, they decided to ding dong ditch a house in the country. They have a very steep driveway and are in the middle of nowhere (as you can see from the picture). Here is Liz trying to run as fast as she can to get away from the door.

This picture is of the girls running to get to the door. If any of you are "Little House on the Prairie" fans, you would have got a kick out of watching them run. Emily even fell like Grace in the opening part of the show. It was just hilarious. You can tell that Hanna is trying to be all sneaky. They were caught on the way back. They were saying after that they should have just dropped into the big grass to hide. They had a great time.

Hanna is currently involved in 4-H. For those that don't know, 4-H is a club that offers different activities for kids. It is based around the fairs here in Monterey. Many of the kids raise animals to show and sell at the fair. We opted out of doing that knowing full well who would be taking care of the pig---that's right good old mommy. I told Hanna that I didn't want pig poo all over my shoes. Am I a city girl or what! Anyway, she has been taking a dance class through 4-H and they had a performance this past Friday. They did a line dance. Considering they only had been practicing for 2 days they did quite well. In fact, they received a gold medal and a chance to move onto to the next level of competition. It is a good organization for the kids.

Here is Hanna doing her dance.

Last, we had a fun hail storm this past week. Emily was reading to me after school one day and I heard a great deal of noise. We looked out and it was hailing! I haven't seen hail in a really long time. Of course the kids ran out to see if it hurt to stand in the hail. The bummer part of this was that one of the kids had left one side of the car open. The inside of the car was so wet. Thank goodness for leather seats! Did you notice that our grass if finally starting to grow back. When we bought the house, it was brown and ugly. Little by little things come along on the yard. We all had a fun weekend.

Other Events

Yesterday was "Read Across America Day" at the girls school. We were able to go into the girls classes to read. Dan has always gone into Hanna's class and I tend to read in the other girls classes. It is a fun day to promote reading. There are many parents who are unable to come to read during the day because they work. PTO decided to provide and opportunity for families to come back to the school at night for an "Green Eggs and Ham" event. The kids were able to make a hat, eat green eggs and ham and be read to by different people. Being on the PTO board, I was in charge of the event. I am not one that really like eggs and to have to make 10 dozen green scrambled eggs was almost to much for me to handle. I will be happy if I never see a green egg again(of course until next year). The kids actually ate them. I had to tell them that it was only food coloring. I did have a girl come up to me and want to know how to make them. We had a great turn out and everyone seem to have fun.

Emily and Elizabeth started piano about a month ago and already had their first receital. They did such a great job. There teacher is actually a high school student. She seems to a great job with them. Hanna take piano from the music teacher at the high school. Emily was really nervous but was able to overcome that as soon as she sat down at the piano.

Elizabeth tells me that she wasn't nervous a bit. We are proud of both the girls. We hope Hanna will be able to join the receital next year.

Emily and Elizabeth were student of the month for February. They are both in the same class at school. I wonder if the teacher picked both of them in one month to make it easy on mom and dad. Hanna also received student of the month for February but her teacher didn't let me know so I don't have a picture of her. I was super sad that I wasn't there for her. It was out of my control. Hanna's teacher has been preparing them for the state writing test. Hanna is actually taking the test now. She is well prepared.

Crazy few weeks!

I am still not doing very good at this blogging thing. I have had strep throat the past week. I am sure grateful for antibiotics. We have had some fun times these past couple of weeks. I was able to attend Emily and Elizabeth's field trip last Tuesday. We went to the Pacific Grove Natural History Museum. It is such a beautiful area. The picture above is Elizabeth and Emily at Lovers Point Beach after the museum. We were able to talk a walk along a trail by the beach.
The girls were amazed by this eyeball of a whale. Elizabeth mentioned that it was almost as big as her head.

Here we are in front of the museum. Do you see the sick look on my face? That is the day I really started to feel horrible. Thank goodness Hanna was able to care for the girls later that day. It really was a fun day with the girls. We feel blessed to live in such a beautiful area. We may have to drive 45 minutes to get anywhere but it is well worth it.

Another Try

Ok, so I have tried this blogging thing before and have not done a very good job at keeping up. I am going to try again. My hopes are to share with you how our family is doing and the exciting happenings in our life. Having four girls keeps me busy. Between all their activities, I do feel like a taxi but love every minute of it. It may take time for me to learn all the ropes of this blogging thing but I think it will be good. We recently got rid of our dish network for our tv. We didn't realize how much tv was a part of our life until it was gone. It has been a good move for our family. The main reason we got rid of it was to save money. It has brought a whole new element of happiness to our family that we are grateful for. Dan is still very busy with work. It was a good move for us to come to King City. The kids are able to see him a lot more than when we lived in Paso Robles. I do miss the convience of Target but have saved a lot of money the last 20 months! I think that we are pretty much settled into our new house. We love the neighborhood. It is so quiet being out in the canyon. There was a mountain lion sighting here last week. A big change from Southern California! Each day brings a new adventure. We are still waiting and activily seeking a baby to adopt. It has been a couple of years since we decided to try. We thought we would see what happens in 2009 and then make some decisions at the end of the year if we will continue to pursue adoption for our family. We have always felt that it was the right thing to do so it is with faith that we keep looking. The Lord knows what is best for us and that is why I place my trust with Him.