Happy Easter!

Ellie

Maddy

Will

Happy Easter from our wild and crazy bunch!!

Easter 2010

We attended our neighborhood's annual Easter Egg hunt again this year and as always the kids had a great time!

Meeting the Easter bunny

Ellie was one of the "Big Winners" this year and boy was she excited to get a big bunch of surprises!!

Maddy had a great time running all over collecting eggs

Will had fun just sitting in the grass and shaking his eggs--he's easy to please!

I DO like spiders and snakes!!!

I always have to laugh a little when someone comments that my girls are "so girly." I mean sure, they do like all the "girly" things--bows, nail polish, Barbies, polly pockets, dolls, dressing-up, flowers, butterflies, etc... but they also love "boyish" things too---trains, cars, certain boyish cartoons, and to my disgust--all sorts of creepy crawlies!! In fact, until this year, the majority of Ellie's friends were boys, so she doesn't shy away from "boyish" things. She has been know to keep snails and worms as pets. I remember the first time Ellie held a worm when she was a little over a year and when we asked her what it felt like, she replied "like apple juice"--which at that time was her favorite thing in the whole world and from that point on, she can't go into our backyard without searching for a worm to play with. And who can forget her pet snail, "Snailboat" that got away and she cried and cried and cried? When it comes to spiders, snakes and creepy crawlies you can't keep this girl away!

She is a lot braver than her mom--that's for sure! Here she is at 2 years old with a "snake necklace"

At 4 with a tarantula

And today--with frogs, snakes and other scary creatures

Look closely at this albino python--check out its forked tongue--those are Ellie's toes!! GROSS!!!!

Now I think this little Maddy girl is following in her big sister's steps on becoming a snake and creepy crawly whisperer! Just keep them away from me--PLEASE! YIKES!!!

Top o' the morning to ya!!

Holidays around our house have gotten even better this year now that Ellie is in kindergarten--especially the random, one off holiday's that we normally don't celebrate.

On the Monday before St. Patrick's Day, 2 little leprechauns messed up Ellie's kindergarten classroom and left little green footprints everywhere. So, starting that day, Ellie's teacher, Mrs. H, had the kids write in a daily journal to the leprechauns asking them questions and every night those little guys would sneak into the class and write answers and leave pictures in the journals. In one of those journal entries, Ellie decided to invite the leprechauns over to our house for a party...and what leprechaun can resist a good party invite?? So, on the eve of St. Patty's day, those naughty little leprechauns came over to our house for a big ol' party and they made a HUGE mess (funny how it looked like our unfolded laundry pile, but Ellie insisted it was from the leprechauns partying and who was I to get out of blaming my mess on someone else??). They decorated the girls room and hallway with shamrocks, and left a trail of gold coins leading down the stairs and lead the girls to the toy chest where they left a "pot" (which they had borrowed our cooking pot) of "gold" at the end of the "rainbow" (a finger painting they had made for us). It was a fun day for all of us!

The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow

Those naughty leprechauns must have spilt the paint they used to make their rainbow art because they left little footprints on the floor and fridge before they turned our milk...

GREEN!!!

That night I made my first corned beef and cabbage

It was a huge hit!!

Can't wait to see what those naughty little leprechaun's do next year!!

How to survive your 1st Jog-a-thon...

1--Choose a great running partner

2--Warm up with some jumping jacks

3--Give and get a good luck hug

4-- Be sure to stay ahead of the pack

5--Smile and have lots of fun!

An apology letter.....

Dear Wendy's,

Hi. Remember me? the woman who came through the drive thru last week and got you all confused and flustered? First I wanted fries, then I didn't, and you just couldn't fathom our order? And then as I drove down the freeway with 3 overly tired and starving kids, I opened my bags to distribute your very healthy meals only to realize that you still gave us the small fries, but jipped us a double stack? And then I CURSED your name all the way home because the missing DS was for my very picky 6 year old who refuses to eat hamburgers with anything but just plain meat and bun and so I had to give up my tasty chicken sandwich because of your inadequacy to get our order correct? Now you remember me?? Yeah. Well.... I just wanted to say how truly and deeply sorry I am. I was wrong, you were right. And now I feel bad. The missing burger was found today. Petrified and wedged between my front seat and console, but you indeed did give us all 3 of our sandwiches. I just wanted to let you know that I am sorry and I hope that you will still allow us to continue to spend money at your fine establishment and that you will continue to provide our kids with alternatives to healthy meals. ~Alicia

PS Thanks for the free fries!!

I can not tell a lie...

school was out for the week of President's Day and we took total and complete advantage of our beautiful San Diego weather and played ALL. WEEK. LONG!!

Since Mark's work schedule was IN-SANE all week, he couldn't take any time off to be with us, so I knew I had to plan something fun everyday or my kids would go berserk!

So, our schedule looked a little something like this...

Monday~Pool

Tuesday~Beach

Wednesday~Park-- (Sea World got cancelled)

Thursday~Kidsville

Friday~San Diego Zoo

We forgot our camera the whole week until Friday, so we took enough pictures to make up for the missing ones.

Since we don't have passes to the zoo anymore, my good friend had invited us to go with her and her boys and offered us free tickets. Well unfortunately, they ended up not being able to make it after all, but she still gave us the tickets to go anyway. We met up with my friend Amy and her kids. The kids had such a blast together. In fact, they had such a blast, that we were some of the last ones to leave the zoo--an hour after closing!

It is so much fun to see Ellie and Jayme hit it off so well every time we get together. In fact, they were inseparable at the zoo--we couldn't keep up with them! The neat thing is, is that Amy and I were BFF's when we were 10 years old living in Winchester VA!! What are the odds that we would end up living down the street from each other 20 years later?!?!

Maddy had a fun time hamming it up for the camera

And yes...Will really is always this good ;)

These next 2 pics are hilarious. Look at the first--all 5 kids together...nothing too crazy going on...

Then take a look at the 2nd picture...look closely at Jayme's face...then look at David's hand....

PRICELESS!!

The end of a great week!!

After a crazy fun packed week like this, you can imagine how my next week was--catching up on laundry, dishes, errands, phone calls, house work etc....Oh well! It was all worth it. And Mark wants to know if this is a preview of how summer is going to be....I told him maybe, but we'll also be going to Sea World too!

Happy heart day!

Valentine's was so much fun this year! The girls were really into decking out our house with red, pink and hearts EVERYWHERE and getting ready for their parties at school. They were so excited to pick out cards for their teachers and friends. They also enjoyed the little gifts that "Cupid" left in their heart tins at the end of his trail of heart confetti!

Ellie's school had lots of festivities going on the Friday before--a family lunch date, a class party , followed by a daddy/daughter Valentine's dance later that night.

Ellie's kindergarten class--the kids looked so cute--they had made themselves into little Valentines to give to the parents at the end of the day!

Maddy and her friend Amy also got to join in on the fun celebrations!

Getting ready for the daddy/daughter dance. Mark said that Ellie had so much fun--even though she wouldn't let him talk to anyone else--it was, after all, "only a daddy/daughter dance!"

Mark and I were able to sneak away from the kids--(ALL 3 this time!!!!) and go see a movie and get some dinner. It was so nice to just be alone again and enjoy time spent with each other. Happy Valentine's Day!