Noah's Ark at the Skirball

Leah started out the day with a bang. In trouble and not getting to start playing for a whole SIX minutes upon getting in Noah's Ark. As you can see, she's not too happy about it. But hey, it's better than not getting to play at all. 

The other kids got right to playing. We got there right at noon when it opened and it was awesome. It was pretty bare for the first little bit. It definitely got crowded as new groups came in every half hour, but for that first hour it was pretty easy to keep an eye on everyone.

Okay, so you know those little seats they have for kids in some bathrooms. They are usually nasty dirty and/or broken. Well, I took Brandon to the bathroom at some point and they had a nice clean one with a working buckle. So I thought, hey why not strap Carter into it while I help Brandon? It worked for all of one minute maybe. 

(I only took this picture because I thought he looked so cute in that little seat, and I happened to have my camera in my hand.)

Then Carter started to twist out of it. It was a good thing I wasn't the one using the restroom. He'd have been strangled by the strap or laying flat on the floor. Luckily I was right there and able to grab him before he got hurt. I won't be using those seats ever again. Definitely needs to have a five point harness like car seats do.

The kids played so nicely together and were really good about including everyone.

Audrey and Brandon even got in on the fun.

Storytime was cute. Half the kids enjoyed it anyway. (My girls that is. The boys weren't too into it.)

Then we headed outside for a snack and off to play in the rainbow water mister. Leah and Brandon got soaked. Ashlyn just a little damp. Does that surprise anyone? 

A big thanks to Beth for helping watch my girls while I took Brandon to the bathroom a good THREE times while there! It was a lot of fun and I'm sure we'll be heading back again next summer. 

My biggest complaint about this place (although I understand why) is that you can't use strollers inside. It just makes it very hard to watch your baby and still keep an eye on your bigger kids. I'm thinking next summer might be a bit easier. But really, I can't complain too much. He crawled around pretty well and was happy to sit and play with some puzzles for at least a little while. I must admit my arm was pretty tired by the time we left though. He is 20 pounds after all.

(I'm beginning to think I really only need one set of summer pictures on my blog. I seem to repeat my summer outings every year. Haha...Oh well, the kids love it and look forward to the fun places we get to go during the summer that we can't go to during the school year. And hey, at least they look a bit older from year to year, right?)

An EIGHT year old

Today is my sweet little Ashlyn's 8th Birthday. I'm so happy for her and love her to pieces. I must be the luckiest mom out there to get to have her has my daughter. I hope you have a wonderful day Ashlyn and a fun party next week. And then in a month, you will be baptized. I'm so excited for you!

Here are some things you have to say today.

What do you think about being 8? It's cool.

Do you feel different? Not really. Pretty much the same as yesterday.

What's your favorite color? Purple

Who are your best friends? Grace, Lourdes, (the other) Ashlynn, and of course Leah

What's your favorite movie? Kung Fu Panda 2 and Smurfs

Are you excited to start 3rd grade this week? yes, but I don't like homework

What's your favorite thing(s) to do? Play with my American Girl Doll (Julie), play polly pockets and my little ponies. I also love to play on the Ipad.

What's your favorite food? macaroni and cheese

Tell me about your baptism day? It seems exciting and fun. I can't wait but I'm a little bit nervous because everyone is going to watch me. But I get to be baptized with my best friend Grace, so that will be fun.

What are we doing today to celebrate? Going to the Aquarium and then to dinner at Chilis (her choice). Are you excited? (head nod in the affirmative) What are you going to order? Pizza and rootbeer. What do you want for dessert? um....what do they have at Chili's for dessert. Ice cream maybe.

Tell me about the party you are going to have next Saturday? There is going to be a magician and we are going to have a pinata. And there are going to be pet bunnies that we can play with. And balloon animals. Are you excited for it? Yeah.

What's your favorite game on the Ipad? Plants Vs. Zombies. What other games do you like? Doodle Jump, Arno the Hunter, Cookie Doodle, and Angry Birds

And just for fun. You know how people take monthly pictures of their babies with the same doll to show how much they have grown....well, I never was on top of things enough to do that. But I can top them. Here's Ashlyn with a little pink pig that she got when she was born. 

(Ashlyn was actually about 6-8 weeks old in this picture)

And here she is with the same doll today (at age 8). Yup, definitely bigger!

And just for fun, here are a couple of newborn pictures of Ashlyn. She was so itty bitty. Sleeping so peacefully. 

But really she spent most of her time looking like this. 

(And that outfit, yes, it now can fit that little pink pig in the picture above. Ashlyn was probably only 4 1/2 pounds in this picture).

Trying to enjoy,

the last few days of summer before the kids go back to school. Although I must admit that this week has just about done me in. Don't get me wrong, we've had a GREAT summer. We've gone lots of places and done lots of things. The kids have played really well and avoided gobs of TV. But this week I think we are all feeling the drain. The kids have been fighting more....watching TV more....restless more. I think that means it's just about time for school to start. Yahoo for Brandon getting to start preschool next Tuesday and the girls getting to start school next Thursday. We've had fun, but I'm ready to get back into the swing of things. 

Having said that, we have tried to do a few last fun things before our time is out and it's back to routine, routine, routine. On Monday the kids did one of their most anticipated events of the summer. Drum roll...are you ready? They played with shaving cream in the back yard. Pretty funny huh! But they LOVE this. It's not like we couldn't do it every week if we wanted, but something about making it a BIG summer event is all the more exciting. As soon as I said the words, they were in their swimsuits and out back with cans in hand.

This is just a couple of random pictures of Leah being a half human, half monster after church a couple of weeks ago. I thought it was hilarious and I was particularly proud of the fact that I was able to french braid the front of her hair. So that's why I posted pictures of it.

Okay, back to the shaving cream.

The girls looks all nice and sweet in this picture huh? Well actually, Ashlyn was mad at Leah and telling her to get out of the picture because she wanted one by herself. But if I didn't tell you that, you'd never have guessed huh! (ah...the reality of it all. Haha.)

Leah is such a little poser. She cracks me up.

Brandon is showing off his shaving cream on a paint brush. True art at work here!

Tuesday we did a little school shopping and then I snuck away (with the help of a sitter) for a few hours and went to the movies....by myself even...for the first time ever. And while I really enjoyed the movie (Rise of the Planet of the Apes. It was pretty awesome), it was kind of weird to go by myself. Almost uneventful. Like I got up at the end and didn't quite know what to do. There was no one to talk to or be excited about the movie with. SO that night, when my friend texted me and asked if I wanted to see a movie (yes, I know I am spoiled), I said SURE! So me and two friends went out to see "Crazy, Stupid, Love"! It was AWESOME! Totally loved it and would highly recommend it.

Wednesday morning Leah had her Kindergarten Evaluation bright and early. For some reason I was quite nervous about this. I don't know why. I am dying with anticipation to find out who her new teacher is going to be. And after yesterday, I hope even more for one of the two of my favorites. The teacher that tested her was....ok, but less than wonderful. She even asked me, and I quote, "Are ALL of these kids YOUR children?" As if it was a bad thing or something. Pretty much bugged me, which means she will probably be the teacher Leah ends up with. I will try to stay positive about it. *sigh* 

After the evaluation, we headed out with Tina and her kids to the Santa Barbara Zoo. Another must do of the summer. I had a really great day there. I was surprised I wasn't totally exhausted, having had stayed up so late the night before and then getting up so early to get Leah to her evaluation. But the weather was beautiful, the kids behaved themselves (for the most part) and it's always fun to go anywhere with a friend. 

This was a cute "How to Train your Dino" show the zoo put on. The dinosaur was pretty awesome. But seriously, the thing POOPed on the stage. I'm not even joking you. It was GROSS. Now I'm sure it was just clay or something like that, but seriously, no one wanted to see that. And what was even worse was the girl came behind him and WIPED HIS BUTT! My mouth just about dropped to the floor. I don't what they were thinking! 

But besides that, the show was cute and the kids thought the dinosaur was pretty cool!

 These girls were pretty much inseparable. Even to the point that their hands were "stuck" together at the end of the day, and we thought we were going to have to bring the other Ashlynn home with us. (wink wink) 

This picture is cool cuz the lion doesn't even look like he's in a cage. I'm sure he wishes he weren't!

The giraffe's didn't want to much to do with us today. Maybe we were interrupting their lunch.

We bought a couple of cups of food and the kids had fun feeding the sheep and goats. Cheap entertainment at it's best!

Well actually, THIS is cheap entertainment. Riding down a hill on a scrap of cardboard. I think this is the highlight of the day for the kids. It's kind of like the shaving cream. It's not as if we couldn't find a hill and do this every day of the week if we wanted. But something about doing it at the zoo on this particular hill is all too exciting!

Brandon claimed his cardboard and then sat down for a snack.

I love the shot of Ashlynn and Ethan in the background.

Wipe out!

NON stinky flamingos. If you've been to the LA zoo, you understand what I am saying here. Did you know that even their eyes are pink? I've never noticed that before. Probably because I walk past the ones at the LA zoo as fast as I can. Holding my breath the whole time.

Oh and as a fun side note, since my blog has become my children's baby book half the time, Carter started saying his first word while at the zoo. "Uh oh!" It was too cute!

Today we are laying low and possibly heading down to meet up with Paul for lunch at a new little park by DW. They haven't done "Family Fridays" this summer. It's been sad to not get to see him for lunch every week, but with four kids in tow, I can't say it would have been easy. The park will be nice though. 

Tomorrow marks the last day of the week before the week that school starts (did you catch all of that?) We have had tickets to go to Noah's Ark at the Skirball for over a month now. I'm excited to go and hope I can survive. 

Daily Bread

I think this is my new way of accumulating food storage. Freeze dried meals ready to go. Just add boiling water. I sampled a few different companies and liked this companies food the best. It's called "Daily Bread". Pictured below is a 6 month supply (2 meals a day) for 2 adults and 3 kids. I figure with 2 adults and 4 kids at three meals a day, we could make it last 3-4 months. That along with all the random other food storage we have around the house, I think we could last close to 6 months if we had to. Now I just need to get some good powdered drinks (milk and juice, which this company also sells) and I think I'll be good till next year when I make another big purchase. Then hopefully I won't have to think too much about it for 20+ years. Hopefully!

Click on the link HERE, if you'd like to try a sample yourself. Just type in your info and they'll email you to verify, and then send you out a sample.  Plus they seem to always have bonuses for ordering. I got 2 free 1/2 month supplies with my order. Not bad. 

My only complaint is that the boxes are suppose to fit under my bed, which they don't. They are just a couple inches too tall, but I have seen those "bed lifts" that you can get at Bed, Bath and Beyond that raise your bed up a bit. I might have to try those. Either that, or rearrange some closets to make space.

Oh and they even swapped out one of the breakfast items that I didn't want for another item. So they do allow for substitutions. They charged me $30.00 for it, but hey if no one in your family eats strawberry creamed wheat, than it's worth it to pay the $30 bucks to swap out for something everyone will eat. That's the way I felt anyway.

Now hopefully the rest of the food is as good as the sample I had!