Spring Break Already?

Where does the time go? I can't believe we are so close to Spring Break. Tomorrow is my kids last day of school. They have Friday off for Cesar Chavez (who helped the crap pickers, by the way, according to the essay Elise brought home from school today. Ha ha.) Then they have all of next week off, and after that it is all downhill until we hit summer. Sheeesh! I am not ready for Spring Break yet, let alone summer.

We aren't going anywhere for Spring Break this year, so I decided to plan some fun theme days to keep my kids busy and make sure that we don't waste the whole week away in our pajamas doing nothing - don't worry though, I did plan one day for that :-). I've planned six themes for our six days off, and I thought I would share them because then I am more likely to follow through and actually do them. You know how that goes. So here they are, but they may not end up in this particular order. If I wake up one day and don't feel like getting dressed, then that day could become pajama day. And if something better comes up, we might even drop an entire theme. I like to live on the wild side - a little flexibility is good.

DAY 1: OUTDOOR FUN DAY

1. Decorate shoe boxes to keep treasures in, and then have an outdoor scavenger hunt. I think Elise's list will be in words so she can practice reading, and Steven's will be in pictures. Cameron can just grab whatever the heck he wants and throw it on in his box because there is just no controlling that little monkey.

2. Pick up In N Out for lunch and eat it outside as a picnic.

3. Sidewalk chalk and bubbles.

4. Play on the slip in slide and in the little pool.

5. Clean out the car and wash it.

DAY 2: RACE AWAY DAY

1. Hot Wheels Races in the driveway (maybe make a trophy first to award to the fastest car).

2. Bike Parade and Races: Decorate bikes and then set up a course in the driveway for them to follow. Count how many laps they can each finish.

3. Make this Easter Bunny Race Car Treat seen here. Only I will make mine more Gluten Free diet friendly for Steven by using a candybar instead of Little Debbie Swiss Roll.

4. Clean My Room Races: Race to see who can have their room cleaned up the quickest.

3. PAJAMA DAY

1. Watch a "Drive In" movie like they did here in cars we'll make out of boxes like these. We'll make some popcorn, and probably some sweet chex mix to eat while we watch.

2. Build forts inside with sheets and pillows.

3. Make dreamcatchers like these.

4. Have Brinner (Breakfast for Dinner).

5. Change all the sheets and help kids practice making beds.

4. FIELD TRIP DAY

1. Visit my kids' favorite place, Jump 'N Jammin at the Santa Anita Mall.

2. Visit the library for some books and stop off at Library Park for some fun.

3. Walk to 7-11 for slurpees.

4. Field Trip to the basement for some Laundry sorting and clothes washing.

5. GAME DAY

1. Visit Chuck E Cheese for some fabulous games (we have about 50 tokens left over from Steven's birthday to use up so I don't even have to buy any - score!)

2. Play Cooties and Simon Says outside.

3. Twister

4. Hide and Seek

5. Contest to see who can clean up their room the happiest. Prizes will be awarded. Maybe I'll even turn on some music.

6. ARTS AND CRAFTS DAY

1. Dye Easter Eggs

2. Sidewalk chalk (yep, it's a repeat, but you can never have too much sidewalk chalk. Maybe we'll do it on game day too and make hopscotch.)

3. Make T.P. roll bunnies like these seen here.

4. Color the HUGE coloring pages I got at Target this week.

5. Clean up rooms and hang up a cord with clothespins to display their favorite artwork and school work.

Wow, I think that took me longer to type than to plan. And now that I am looking at it all typed up, I am thinking it is A LOT of stuff for one week. Hopefully we get through most of it and the kids have a fun Spring Break. If I like it I may try to plan one theme day a week during summer. And maybe I'll even get out my camera and take some pictures of my kids doing some of this stuff and post them. I have been terrible about photographing my kids lately. And even worse about posting stuff about them on the blog. Maybe this will get me going again.

We Call Him "Trouble"

This little boy is getting into a lot of trouble lately. We moved rooms around a few weeks back and put Elise in her own room and Cameron and Steven are sharing (previously Elise and Steven shared and Cameron was by himself). Cameron definitely likes sharing a room with Steven. So much so that when we put him in his crib at night he stands at the edge looking at Steven, saying things like, "Hey Steven! This is fun! Steven!" over and over. After about two nights of that we decided to set up his portacrib in the spare room and put him down there. After he falls asleep I move him into his actual crib - good thing he is a heavy sleeper! That has seemed to do the trick most nights, except for the night that Steven came into our room about 2am to tell me that Cameron wouldn't stop talking to him. I went in to check and sure enough he was standing at the edge of his crib saying, "Hey, Steven! Steven, what ya doing?" He had to finish out that night in the portacrib in the spare room, but luckily it has not since been repeated.

So, for the most part we had our sleeping troubles figured out, until yesterday. Chris and I were playing a game with Elise and Steven, and Cameron kept bulldozing through it. So when he went into his room, I thought it was great because we could finish our game. Things got quiet so I went in to check on him and somehow the boy was INSIDE his crib. I looked at him and said, "Hey, how did you get in there?" He gave me a big smile and climbed right out. Yep, this little trouble maker apparently has figured out how to get in and out of his crib. He might never nap again! Keep your fingers crossed for me that that won't be the case. It's a good thing he is cute, because he sure is trouble!

Learning New Things is Good.... Sometimes

Elise has been learning to tell time at school. She has been very excited about it and has wanted to wear her princess watch to school everyday. In fact, the first day she wore it to school she announced the time to me on our entire walk to school. She was staring down at her arm while walking and would say, "It's 8:06 mom. It's still 8:06. Still 8:06, in case you were wondering. Ooooh, it just changed, now it's 8:07!" Yep, time announcements every 10 seconds all the way to school. I made the mistake of telling her the bell to line up rings at 8:10, and so when it rang and her watch still read 8:09, she tried to insist that I fix her watch right then before she got in line to go to class because it was obviously set too slow.

Anyway, you get the picture, we have been a little obsessed with time and what time things happen around here. It really hasn't been a problem until tonight. Chris has meetings starting at 6:30 on Wednesday nights and then plays basketball after that, so I am left with the kiddos to myself for the evening. I usually try to sneak them in bed a little early. Their usual bedtime is 7:30, but when your kids can't tell time anytime can be 7:30. So when I announced at 6:50 that it was time for bed, Elise of course looked up at the clock and let me know in no uncertain terms that as it was not even 7:00 yet it was most definitely not bedtime. Ooops, I guess my beautiful Wednesday evenings all to myself starting a little before 7:30 have unfortunately come to an end.

Looking Forward to a Funfilled Year of Disneyland

It has been a while (I think a year and a half) since our last Disneyland passes expired. So, the kids were quite excited when we decided to get passes again this year. Our first trip with our new passes was with almost my entire family, which was a lot of fun. Here are a few pictures from our fun filled Disneyland expedition.

A picture with Christmas Minnie - hooray!

Against the Wall outside California Adventure:

Tea cups make me woozy, so Elise had to depend on her Aunt Kathryn to take her for a spin.


My two brave kiddos riding the roller coaster in Toon Town with Dad and Papa:




More Toon Town Fun:


Driving!:

Toon Town again:

Elise loves jerky (she kind of eats like a man - she is a steak and potatoes, anti fruit and veggie kind of girl). Santa put this HUGE piece of jerky in her stocking and she thought Disneyland would be the best place to enjoy it, so we had to bring it with us. Funny girl.

We love Dumbo. Good thing we had Nana and Papa to stand in as copilots because Dad gets super dizzy on Dumbo.








These two cute kiddos definitely have a love - hate relationship. Oh how I love it when the love part shines through. And how could it not when you're at the Happiest Place on Earth?

A small part of our crew:

Little Miss Fashion

The other day I told Elise to go get dressed so she could go outside with dad. It was cold outside, and she is not always a very good judge of dressing appropriately for the weather, so I specifically told her to put on long pants with a long sleeve shirt. She came back in dressed, and pleased as punch with what she had put on. She told me she wanted to wear a pair of shorter pants, so she put on matching knee socks with them so her legs would be covered. What they were matching I'm really not sure, because they were definitely not matching eachother. I guess they did at least match the blue and white owl on her shirt. Funny girl.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

This morning when we were eating breakfast, Steven said he wanted a drink of water and then looked at me and said, "Chick, get me a drink of water." I was most certain that I had misunderstood him so I said, "What?" And her repeated it again, no mistake about it. It was all I could do not to laugh out loud as I explained to him that we do not call anyone chick and we need to say please when we ask for something. I have no idea where he would have heard that. He is definitely one to repeat everything he hears so we try to be very careful about censoring what he sees and hears, but I guess sometimes kids just pick things up from who knows where. Funny kid.

Rose Parade Fun

Three Cute Kids!

I just love these three little adorable faces! Aren't they the cutest?

Thanks Santa!

Santa was good to these three kids this year. Perhaps too good. Maybe good enough to keep these kids on best behavior until next year so they can have another great Christmas morning. Thanks, Santa.

!

Soccer

Elise's last soccer game was in December. She was actually quite an aggressive defender, and she scored her first goal at their last game. We have signed Steven up for a soccer class that starts this week, so we will see if he takes after his sister and loves it too. Elise will be taking a break from soccer until next season as she wanted to take an art class. I will have to post her picture from the first class sometime - it was quite impressive!