Clarissa is 3

Our little princess has turned 3 and we celebrated with a princess party at AZ Air Time ( a fun trampoline place). This time we really just had the  cousins join us. I found an awesome deal on Group on and this place was super nice and accommodating letting my bring a cake and decorations without having to pay the outraged party package fee!

I started the day by spoiling Cissa and myself to a pedicure (and manicure for the birthday girl). She was in heaven! Later that afternoon we celebrated at her party with pizza, cake and presents. It was easy and simple, just what I needed to finish off our birthday season around here.

Clarissa is quite active and mischievous. She will still color on anything but paper if you don't watch her (I have my walls as proof). She is a HORRIBLE eater and eats baby food most nights for dinner. She likes pizza and Mac and Cheese (I think those are the only 2 non "junk" food things she eats). She will eat some fruit, but still very picky about it (pairs are her new favorite). She can down candy and cookies like a pro though! She's starting to want to do things herself, like dress herself and go potty alone, and I'm not complaining about it. She just gave up her bottle for milk (as of a week ago) and can be very stubborn at times. She talks A LOT and loves to sing and dance.

We love you little girl, and are so grateful to have you in our family!

Disneyland

Last year Cory and I planned on taking a family trip to Disneyland for the kids' birthday this year. We went small on their birthday parties so we could save up for a super fun "vacation". We left Phoenix Monday afternoon and got to California for dinner. We enjoyed dinner at our hotel with Cory's mom, sisters and nieces and nephews, who had already been in California since the weekend. The next 3 days were filled with intense park adventures, little drama, lots of fun and sun! It was great to have Cory's side of the family there. They definitely helped watch and entertain our kids. Christopher still talks about Disneyland everyday and we've been back for a few weeks now.

We decided we wanted to do 1 park per day, so day 1 was Disneyland. By far the most crowded of the parks, but still magical, although I have promised myself to NEVER go back in July! My highlights were the Indiana Jones ride (our very first ride of the trip) and watching the fireworks at night. Clarissa loved seeing Cinderella's castle although we never got to see her. We only saw Aurora, Tiana, and Sofia the 1st (who we saw on our 2nd day), but the lined were so big that we didn't get pictures with the princesses. I know, I'm a mean mom. I'll stand in line for a ride, but not to meet characters.

 

Drew had a constant smile on his face!

 

Love seeing Christopher's excited face!

 

 First ride I took Clarissa on.

  

This was a long day, and the kids were troopers.

Day 2 was spent at California Adventure. This day was hotter, but the park was not as crowded, which meant more rides and shorter lines. My now Clarissa had caught on to the idea of going on rides so anytime the big kids went to a ride she couldn't go (which was most of the time) she would start saying "rides, rides, rides..." over and over again until we found something she could do. I love the Bug's Life 3D movie and the boys really enjoyed it too. Clarissa freaked out and screamed the minute "bugs" starter flying her way. Christopher's favorite was California Screaming (their biggest rollercoaster) and Drew was pretty bummed he wasn't tall enough for that. He didn't complain much once we found Goofy's rollercoaster for him and Gabi to go on while the taller kids went to California Screaming.

 Christopher on California Screaming for the 3rd time!

 Bugs' Life Theater

Day 3 was spent a Knott's Berry Farm. My this day we were all exhausted and tired of standing in the sun. They had good rides at this park and an awesome kiddy section with a Charlie Brown theme, we just lacked energy and enthusiasm to really take full advantage of it. Cory and I have decided that we won't do 3 parks in a row again. I would like to try 2 park days that are actually split up with a break day because even 2 days in a row is exhausting.

We had great plans for Friday that included stopping at the outlets on the way home, but we were all so tired that we just drove straight through in a hurry to get home. This was definitely a vacation you need a vacation from!

 

The kids were so exhausted the last day, that going to sleep came easily! 

Drew is 5!

My sweet Drew turned five last month. I call Drew my little angel. Now, I know that if you look at his behavior he's far from an angel, but it's the small little things he does almost daily that make him MY angel. He can get really mad and fight with Christopher often, but yet he will always stick up for his brother and try to keep him safe. At times when I'm frustrated with Christopher's disobedience and defiance, Andrew is the first to intervene and try to make both parties happy. He'll give up the captain chair in the car, share his treat, whatever it takes to get Christopher calmed down and me not mad (yelling) anymore.
Andrew's a great friend. He makes new and loyal friends rather quickly. He's still super into superheroes. This year he wanted a Skylanders party. I've been enjoying decorating the kids' birthday cakes this year, and am pleased with how it turned out.
Drew is a great cuddle bug and LOVES to be tickled. He is NEVER the first one to get out of bed, even if he's the first to wake up. He just stays in his bed and waits for a sibling to wake us up. Granted he's a great sleeper so he's usually woken up by his brother or sister. He's easy to put down for naps (on the rare days we do them) and he's by far my fastest eater. Even when he doesn't like dinner, he still scarfs it down pretty fast without much complaining.
I love you my Drewzinho and hope you have a fabulous 5th year, and that you adjust to kindergarten well. Cissa and I will miss you while you are at school!

San Diego

My parents spent a couple weeks in town back in June and we took a little weekend road trip to San Diego. I had never been there, and I absolutely loved it. Can't wait to go back, specially now that we are dealing with the nasty summer/monsoon season here in Arizona.

The kids loved the hotel we stayed at. It was right on Mission Bay, so it was. Ice to take walks on the beach after breakfast. They had a full hot breakfast buffet each morning. Nothing like waking up to a great view and having amazing food ready for you each day. The kids loved the hotel pool and their arcade room. Cory and I decided we would skip Sea World and just do beach and site seeing.

On day one we swam in the morning. I had to jump in the pool to rescue Clarissa with clothes and all. The kids went swimming and I left Cissa's floaty in the room. They had a really shallow kiddy pool that she would have been just fine in, had she not crossed over to the deeper side. I guess that's what I get by doing lifeguard duty fully clothed. Later that day we visited the USS Midway, Coronado beach, and took the Belle boat from our hotel  across the bay. We really packed our day full.

Day two we started off with swimming and packing up our stuff. After we checked out I was determined to rent a Surrey bike (a bike that looks like a little car and seats 8 people) and go for a family ride. I remember riding one of these as a kid and loved it. I wanted my kids to get the same experience. There was one minor difference, this time around the bike was filled with 4 adults + 3 kids. Definitely more weight to pedal! We had a blast though, by far the highlight of our trip. We laughed so hard and totally made a fool of ourselves. We had lunch at the Fish Market, great view and beautiful view, and the took a paddy cab around the area (Christopher's request). We visited the Mormon Battalion museum right before we left. Clarissa fell asleep on the way to the museum. She was so exhausted that we pulled her out of the car, put her in the stroller, visited the Mormon Battalion for 1 hr, put her back in the car and she didn't wake up until we were off driving, crazy!

Christopher is 6

My "little" guy turned 6 this month. We celebrated with a really low key swim party at my in laws just for the cousins. We are going to Disneyland this year so we told the kids that we are doing small birthdays. He wasn't too happy about not being able to invite his whole class to a large event, but was happy in the end with how things turned out. He wanted a Minions theme so I tried my best to keep it small with somewhat of a theme. He's going to summer school right now, so I order cupcakes and put minion toppers on it for his class. He was excited about that.

 

Drew and Cissa eating his school cupcakes in the car. 

 

We let the kids pick what they want to do and  eat on their actual birthday. He chose to go to Wet'n Wild and then Sweet Tomatoes for dinner. The waiter were nice enough to make him a smiley face Sundae and bring it out with a candle so we could sing to him. He LOVED it!

 

Party time at grandma's house!

End of School Year

We've been busy these last couple of weeks. Drew officially graduated from preschool. It's sad to see him leave such a fun group of friends. He's the only one moving on to kindergarten while the other 3 kids have 1 more year of preschool. Clarissa gets to join his friends at preschool next year, which is totally crazy. These little guys have been best friends and having playgroups since they were 1. In fact, one day at preschool Jacob forgot to take a jacket so he couldn't go out to play. The other 3 kids decided to stick with J and stayed inside with him. That's how close they are. They are all together in the same primary class so they see each other a lot.

 

The week after school was over we bought season passes to Wet'n Wild and have been taking the kids there a lot. It will be great to have passes to the water park so close to home this year. Last year we bought passes to one close to Cynthia in Mesa, and the long drive just made it inconvenient to go all the time. I've also been taking the kids to some splash parks to try to keep cool.

Christopher has summer school this year. It goes till the end of June. He was excited to finally be able to take cupcakes to school for his birthday.

Last, but not least, we decided to participate in our ward's talent show this year. I don't know how exactly I came up with the idea, but somehow I ended signing us up to do a family dance. I choreographed and we danced to the 'Gummy Bear" song. It was a blast. Drew and Clarissa were super into it. Christopher just about refused to dance but we forced him on stage anyways.  We all had simple gummy bear costumes. Totally embarrassing but definitely memorable!