The Disney Store is Closing!

  Okay, so last night, Kat (*my sitcom neighbor) calls and is all like, "The Disney store in Thousand Oaks is closing, everything's on sale, what do you need...." So guess where I went first thing this morning?  I couldn't possibly pass up the chance that there might be fantastic deals awaiting me at the mall.  So then I was like sneaking stuff to the register for future birthdays.  I love that 2 & a half year olds are so easily distracted that you can actually buy their presents right in front of them.  Anyway, good times all around.

And good times were had this weekend, it was my birthday, I turned 32.  Here's 2 signs that I'm getting old.  First of all on Friday night a couple of my girlfriends and I went to dinner.  The waiter was like staring at me for a minute, and then he said, "hey do I know you, you look familiar?"  For an instant my ego kicked in and I thought, is this young kid honestly trying to hit on me?  But then that bubble was quickly burst when he said, "Mrs.Leaman right?  I had you in 8th grade for English class, I just graduated from college...."

   Uhh, yeah, okay, thanks.

Then on Saturday night, my bestest and only little sister watched the rugrats for me so that Dan & I could go out on a date.  We went to dinner and then a movie.  We arrived at the theater at a weird time, so we missed Ironman and Prince Caspian and so we choose some movie, The Visitor which I'd heard Regis say was good.  When we gave our tickets to the teenager to rip for us, I ask, hey have you heard anything good about this movie?  He shrugs, and says, "I don't know, old people like it."  Dan & I were cracking up, and guess what?  I loved it, so there it is folks, I'm officially aging....

     Meanwhile, counting down to the birthday that actually counts, Lorelei turns 5 on the 5th, who knew preparing goodie bags could be so stressful?

And speaking of stress, on a serious note, I'm reading a book called Crazy Love by Francis Chan, he wrote this great reminder for us:

  Worry implies that we don't quite trust that God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enought to take care of what's happening in our lives.

   Stress says that the things we are involved in are important enough to merit our impatience, our lack of grace towards others, or our tight grip of control.

 

* footnote: When I refer to Kat as my sitcom neighbor, what I mean is she's like the neighbor character in a sitcom that comes by every day.  She compares herself to Erkel, but in her defense, I compare her more to Ethel on I Love Lucy, except thinner, prettier, and far more stylish.  Hmm, I guess that makes Chet Fred Mertz.

What a Week!

                         Morgan, Tatum, Lorelei, Darla, Noelle, Carly, & Maisy

                                           Head, shoulders, knees, & toes.....
                                                    Swinging rocks!
As you all know, it's a crazy time of year; birthdays, graduations, end of year stuff, etc.  Anyway without exception, the craziness has begun around here.  This week marked my last week of teaching classes (until September rolls back around), and the last week of the Maciel girls watching my girls!  They've been coming every Tuesday for the last THREE YEARS to watch my girls while I teach homeschoolers.  They started when the twins were 6 weeks old, and they've been amazing.  Darla cleans my house (even though I tell her not to), her girls entertain my girls, and they are always cheerful and energetic, far more so than I ever could be.  As most of you know, I'm not a mushy type of person, Darla was all teary and reflective over her bond with my kids, and how the time has gone by so quickly, and I was like all, "yes, 3 of my 4 kids will be in school next year, only 17 more years to go and I'm converting their bedrooms back to an office and a guest room...." But in all seriousness, thank you so much Darla.  Your family was a great blessing to mine over the years!  Oh, and I'll never forget that day when I felt really sick and you came over and looked at me and said, "Are you pregnant? And I was going to cry because I couldn't fathom raising my then one year old twins while being pregnant and sick and miserable, and I looked up at you with tears in my eyes, and you were practically giddy with joy.  All you could say was, "Yes! I'm the first one to know."   Did I mention she's a little on the competetive side?

Anyway, following that on Tuesday, we had the Thursday end of the year preschool show, and Lorelei was awesome (as awesome as you can be when doing the chicken dance).  Friday kicked off park days for the summer, it was freakishly cold, but Morgan loved the swing, and hey we did a bunch of other stuff, but if you're like me, your attention span is waning, so I won't bore you!  More later....

Hot Stuff & I'm Sorry Carol

Okay, first of all I'd like to begin by stating the obvious, it's been really, really HOT here.  I thought I'd mention that because I've noticed that hot weather is like the price of gas; everyone's got something to say about it.  So yeah, it's been hot, and as a result I was kinda grumpy the past few days, and I think my poor Lorelei had heatstroke today because she had a fever and was really lethargic.  But don't feel sorry for us, we're all okay.

Uncle Darin and Auntie Carol (Dan's older sister) flew out from Washington on Thursday and stayed with us 2 nights.  So here's the amazing thing about Carol.  When I married in to the family, she had 4 kids under 4 just like me (set of twins included, except she had 2 boys & 2 girls).

Anyway, in those early years, Dan & I would fly out to Washington, and I'd see her with all of her little toddlers running around, & I'd think to myself, how cute, and then I'd ramble on to my other in laws about me, me, me, my teaching job, my new clothes, me, me, me, etc.  At the time, it never even occurred to me to offer her any kind of help with her kids, nor did it ever occur to me that her life was probably really, really hard, and stressful.  

So here we are, a decade later, her kids are all now wonderful, sweet, independent teenagers, and I now am living the life she once lived; buckling car seats, wiping noses (and other body parts), refereeing fights over baby dolls, and lugging strollers through our local zoo.

So let me now just say this: Carol, I'm so sorry that I was so incredibly self absorbed!  I never could have imagined what you were going through, but the Lord has graciously changed my life so that I could be HUMBLED and finally grow.  Five years ago I would have said that my heroes were Kelly Ripa and I don't know... contestants on Survivor.  And even though I still have to say, I really do love Kelly Ripa, Carol, you are definitely my present day hero.  I now realize how much you have sacrificed and all you have done to love and teach and home school your kids.   You rock, and we had a great time this weekend with you guys.

Disneyland '08

Okay, so we did the obligatory Disneyland trip.  We took the 3 older girlies, and left Morgan at home with Mimi & Papa (Thanks Mom) for a 2 day trip, day 1 in Disneyland, stay the night at Sandhya's house (Thank you Sandhya), and then day 2 at California Adventures.  So here's what I came away with:

The Good: Cream cheese filled pretzels, got to go on the new Nemo ride,

California Adventure was mellow, saw our old friends, good weather, short lines, 

Lorelei giggling on the rides, the twins taking their picture with Ariel, and Auntie Bethie coming to help!

The Bad: Overpriced ice cream sandwiches, Noelle got her head stuck in the bars while waiting in line for the Dumbo ride, and carting around strollers on the trams.

The Ugly: At the end of the day, the girls loaded into our beloved mini van and simultaneously threw off their crocs.  The smell was truly devestating.

In all we survived, and I'm thankful we got the twins there before they turned 3 and are still free - yippee!  Sandhya and her husband Brad were so gracious to host the FIVE of us after they just had their 3rd baby (beautiful Asha) only 7 weeks ago, and the girls were absolutely awe struck over everything.  Lorelei really was the best age for it, almost 5, but the twins did like it too.  Anyway, we're grateful we got to go, now back to the grind - 2 more weeks of the classes that I teach to go, and then summer break!  

Killing Time....

So today, we had our carpets cleaned, and as a result we were sort of trapped in my bedroom and my backyard.  Fortunately, the girls napped while the carpet was drying.  Meanwhile, I still had a lot of extra time in my room today, so I sort of wasted a bunch of time online, and was inspired to share my online discoveries with you:

     

    I. FELLOW BLOGGERS: I loved checking out my fellow blogging friends' sites.  These are some things I discovered.  

a. GUILT TRIP --- Thanks to Sara Garate who actually posted all of these lists about all the reasons she loves her husband, why she married him, and how great he is because apparently it was his birthday this week.  Well, all I can say to that is thanks  for making me look bad.  Dan's birthday was this week too, and I basically just got him cake.  He saw your blog, and was like so what do you have to say about me?  But of course, I can't make a list now because it would look like I was copying you, so whatever. (Babe, you know I love you...I plan on hanging out with you again in 2025, 

when Morgan the last of our beloved children is 18 & moves out. Seriously, let's start a countdown) 

b. FUNNY STUFF ---- Checked out Kelly Keller's blog, she referenced a blog called Stuff Christians Like.  For those of us who have grown up in the Christian world, trust me you'll laugh.

c. INSPIRATIONS ---- Elisha Larsen writes of her journey to adoption, Jen Oswald writes of coping as a new mom while her husband leaves for Iraq (loved the paper chain countdown), and Baby Reese on the Kostjuk blog is finally off her ventilator.   Reminders that life is hard, but God is so merciful.

II. SHOPPING ONLINE

a. ETSY.COM ---Awesome home made, super unique and artistic stuff.  I almost bought a hand sewn alpaca and wedding invitations.

b. BABYSTYLE.COM ---- I rarely actually buy, I usually just look browse, and covet.

c. REGISTRIES --- I so love that I can buy both baby & wedding gifts online, all I need 

now is for Starbucks to somehow begin a delivery to your door service, and I'll never 

have to leave the house again.  Why wouldn't I want to leave the house you ask?  My 

answer FOUR CARSEATS!

Oh, and about my picture, I thought that perhaps that would help explain why I had to get my carpets cleaned, even though, they're only a year and a half old.

Dan's Birthday

So yesterday was the big 39 for Dan, and I just had a few friends over for cake and coffee.  Thought I'd save up all my big party ideas for next year when he turns 40 ---- ahh youth, so fleeting.  Anyway, we had fun, Auntie Bethie drove out, Kat & Chet our neighbors came, Denny and Rebecca, and the Stimer clan.  It was fun, and most importantly I am currently typing out this blog on our new computer which was Dan's birthday present.  The screen is massive.  I don't really get why, but hey Dan's happy with it, and I probably won't see him much for the next few weeks because he'll be fiddling around with this thing.  Meanwhile, I think I'm going to eat some carrot cake for breakfast, turns out a lot of people don't like carrot cake, so it looks like we'll have leftovers for days... 

Wonder Woman

You may assume that the title of this post is Wonder Woman because Lorelei went to a Super Hero themed birthday party this weekend. But no the title is actually self-congratulatory for coming up with the outfit itself. When we got the invite, Lorelei was puzzled because in our house full of girls, we only have princess costumes and tiaras to dress up in, she didn't even know what a super hero was really. But thanks to the internet, I was able to upload a picture of Linda Carter in her super awesome Wonder Woman costume & Lorelei was quickly sold on the idea. However, then arose the problem of creating the costume itself. I used to say that I would never be one of those moms that centers their lives around their children, but who was I kidding? I spent a ridiculous amount of time searching the web for a red leotard, scouring Michaels for shiny gold ribbon, and then searching every kid's store imaginable for a bathing suit bottom that was navy blue with stars on it, can you believe I found one? I still can't. So was it all worth it, umm look at the picture people! Linda Carter step aside, there's a new blue-eyed brunette in town that wants your job, and when she finds out that an invisible airplane is one of the perks, they'll be no stopping her.