Smells like home

After much anticipation we've finally made it to New Jersey!

It's funny how much it's different, and yet the same. We're staying at my best friend Desiree's house til the weekend, and then we're off to the shore house. I can't post pictures yet, but here's a few of my thoughts. .....

The heat was oppressive yesterday, with a heavy humidity. As uncomfortable as it can be I enjoy it because as soon as I step outside I'm transported to my childhood, because well, it smells like home.

We had a summer thunder and lightning storm roll through last night and it made my day. Why? Because it smells like home.

I've visited Wawa several times already, more trips in the future. They have my favorite coffee and snacks and well, it smells like home.

We're headed Rita's water ice after dinner, then to Uncle Aaron's soccer game tonight. Both of which are in my hometown and yup, you guessed it... it will smell like home.

I miss living here so much, California's great and all, but New Jersey.... it just smells like home.

New

Here's a taste of what's new around here...

Tella's new favorite face,

our new favorite treat,

a new swimming pool,

who could resist sharing this one....

a new way to wear spaghetti,

and new charts and new suitcases!

I'm quite proud of my charts. Each day they move a picture of their face closer and closer to the airplane and when it's time to fly away to New Jersey, their little heads get in the window of the airplanes! And as for the suitcases, I searched high and low for a few weeks - scouring the internet - to find cute rolling suitcases for my older kids. Found 'em today at Target. Why didn't I just start there you ask? I sort of did, I just wanted 'em cheaper. No such luck. But I'm quite happy with the find. The kids are too..... they immediately packed their necessities. JD packed lots of animal toys, Capri packed dress up clothes.

There's other new things too.... but that's all you get for now.

The Finer Moments

Life is full of some mighty fine moments, some big ones and some day to day small ones. Life is also full of some not so fine ones.

Let's review a few of my latest finest and not-so-fine moments.

Fine moment #1 - Tella holding still long enough to take a picture with Mommy... even though she took one of her pigtails out.

Not-so-fine moment #1 - when my neighbors witnessed me yelling (a lot, and loud) at my kids while getting in the car to go to church, on Mother's Day. Priceless. I was mortified. I talked to them later and they were very encouraging and totally understood... but still. Not a fine moment.

Fine moment #2 - cute baby enjoying her "Milka".

Not-so-fine moment #2 - When I slipped and fell into the mud at the playground. Fortunately my knee was the only thing that really hit the mud.... but of course I had sore leg muscles from trying to prevent the fall. Yes, there were a lot of people there, and they all saw. No, I didn't see the mud, I was running after my wild one year old who was seizing an opportunity to make a break for it.

Fine moment #3 - Capri picking up live fish and putting them in a bucket. She's quite a girly girl, and can be somewhat persnickety. For example, if I'm eating a salad or watermelon she won't sit anywhere near me. But stick a live fish in front of her and she'll pick it up without issue. Or give her a deep fried meal worm, she loves those.

JD did it too.... & got scales all over his hands.

Not-so-fine moment #3 - when I told my grandmother who just turned 80 that she didn't look a day over 70. Really? 70 was the best I could do? She replied she didn't feel a day over 60. Why didn't I go with 60?

Fine moment #4 - JD doing his hands like that when he talks. He puts his hands like this when he's making a point. I love it, it's the cutest thing to see. The guy is only 3 and he's already making big points with equally big hand gestures. It's gotta be the Italian in him... Italians love to talk with their hands! Ha ha!

Not-so-fine moment #4 - when my cell phone flew out of my hand and landed with a thud on my neighbor's baby's face, giving her a bloody nose. Unbelievable. I couldn't believe it happened. I don't know how it happened. I apologized profusely, she was great about it. I wanted to melt into the pavement and die. It was awful.

Fine moment #5 - Capri wildly splashing through the waves, with reckless abandon. Last summer this was not happening.... she's really blossoming into such a neat little girl.

Not-so-fine moment #5 - My other neighbor witnessed the whole episode I mentioned before from her front window. Great. Double embarassment.

Fine moment #6 - JD with some more gestures. Looking at his handsome face is always a fine moment. Right here he just finished telling me he "went in the water 200 times!!!" That was the third time he told me that. I believe that he went in the water 600 times while we were at the beach for an hour. Unfortunately, I believe everything this little boy says!

Not-so-fine moment #6 - when I ignored the fact that I knew I had pneumonia for about 5 days. Steadily declining day after day ,I eventually ended up in the doctors office where the nurse practically laughed at me for diagnosing myself with pneumonia (I think she thought I was faking it and in her mind how could I possibly know). A test or two later, combined with some stethoscope listening and sure enough I have very bad pneumonia in my left lung. (Take that snooty nurse!) I know it would've been better to just handle it at first suspicion. I just chose denial instead. Dumb!

Fine moment #7 - cute baby clapping her hands at the beach.

Fine moment #8 - my husbands message at church last night. He was on fire and it was fantastic! I'm just so proud of him, and so proud that I get to be his wife!

That's all I care to share about my no-so-fine moments right now- So scroll up and look at the happy ones again while I continue to hack all over my husbands computer. Don't tell him!

Let's make brownies

Daddy said let's make brownies. "Everyone grab a chair and come to the counter." Capri and JD both grabbed one. Before we knew it we saw Tella grab the broken chair from behind the table and push it over. It was way too cute to ignore, so she got in the middle of the other two and participated.

Now I'm not complaining, but this picture shows just how "big" my small kitchen is- you can see the extent of my counter space well. It stretches from Capri on the left to JD on the right. That's it. Again, not complaining. I love my house.

Anyway, here's the preparation. Look at little Tell get her spoon in for a stir!

Here daddy, have a taste! Note Tella taking her taste as well.

Pondering the whole thing....

Everyone else is done, but Tella just had a hard time letting go.

Disneyland

We took a lovely trip to Disney this past week, thanks to the free tickets we got because of our volunteer hours. This trip was a little less stressful than previous ones, more free-flowing and slow moving. We took my parents along, which was great because they chased the baby for us! I didn't take many pictures, I'm not sure why. My mom got some great ones, but I just can't figure out how to get them on here. Maybe I'll share those at a later date. Here's a few to check out for now.

Here's a shot of us & Mickey.....

(do we look weird? I think we kind of do)

Moments earlier Tella had completely shut Mickey down, no hi-five's or hello's for him. Tella pushed him away and just told him "No, No." Very emphatically. She's hilarious. It's like she was ready to take him on, not scared, just asserting herself. The girl's wild. Not that it has anything to do with Disney, but I found her on top of my kitchen table 3 times this afternoon and a few hours later standing on the toilet.... no stool necessary, she just climbed right up. Did I mention she's 15 months?

Anyway...

We made our way to the Pirate Island for the first time, which was pretty nice. No pirates to speak of, but we still had fun walking across the bridges and trails. My dad and I kept saying it sort of felt like NJ, in particular a park we used to go camping at.

The kids saved money in their banks and combined with a little giftcard magic from Grandma & Grandpa they were able to get some new loot (like the pirate reference?). JD chose a new Buzz, a hook, and a pirate knife that he called sword. Is he cute or what?

Capri requested a visit to "Pixie Hollow"..... here's us waiting in line.

We saw Iridessa (whatever) and Rosetta (Capri's Fav) but no Tinkerbell.

We also bumped into Alice, as we always do. Capri has no frame of reference for her, but really likes her. And we literally see her every time. I told her that Alice wants to be her friend. She liked that. She bought tinkerbell and sleeping beauty polly pocket sets with her money. Here she is sharing it with her new friend Alice.

JD liked the Buzz Lightyear ride,

and saw Buzz when we came out of the ride. See him in the distance? JD just wanted to go shopping for his new Buzz at this point.

Every baby loves "It's a small world", Tella was no different. She was dancing and saying "baby" and really enjoyed it. Bad pic of my dad, but oh well... sorry dad.

The only bummer was that I was sick with a cold and kind of dragging. Otherwise it was great. We saw more characters than we ever have, the weather was perfect, not crowded, good food..... it was great. And did I mention that my parents chased the baby the whole time? Thanks mom & dad!!!

And......

While I've got ya, please pray for my MIL Debbie. She is suffering from some complications after having a biopsy done today. She's in a lot of pain and could certainly use some prayers. Thanks!

A Birthday Surprise

Last Saturday was a crazy day. James was gone at a church event, so it was me & the kids again. Capri told me it was Brittany's birthday. As I scanned my mind for any Brittany's we knew I realized it was the Chipmunk that she was referring to. Immediately JD piped in with "It's Alvin's birthday too!" What's a Mom to do with Chipmunk birthdays?? I had errands to run, so I decided as a way of taking their minds off the errands I would incorporate Chipmunk birthday planning items and made them responsible for remembering and finding them. Off to Target we went to select chipmunk birthday presents, snacks, toilet paper, wipes, paper plates, cleaning supplies, etc. Can you see where their list ends & mine begins?

Interestingly, Brittany came down with a fever in the late afternoon and it got dicey as to whether or not she could make it to her own birthday party. I was certain we could count on a full recovery, but before I knew it she was trying to drag Alvin down with her. JD was adamant that he was NOT ill. Fortunately Brittany pulled it together enough to make it to the party.

We had cupcakes (any excuse right?),

Tella ate hers with a spoon. (?)

There were thoughtfully chosen gifts,

a bucket for Brittany,

and some glow in the dark snakes for Alvin.

We ended the party watching an old Alvin & the Chipmunks movie (which they loved!!!) and then I let them stay up really late to watch the Tinker Bell movie that was coming on at 8:30. It turned out to be a very LONG day for mommy, but I had some happy kids.

AND....

I found some funny pictures on my camera from the last time Grandma Debbie came to babysit. Thought I'd share one here....

And I couldn't resist sharing this one of Tella, because it's so representative of what she does on a daily basis. She gets into all our clothes and puts them on herself, or brings them to me to put on. Yes, those are undies on her head. Yes, they are clean. That dress is meant for Capri, Tella was swimming in it. Nevermind my messy house in the background. I was busy planning Chipmunk birthday parties. So there!

Who would've guessed?

Who would've guessed that this guy (my dad) giving us this new toy -

would lead to these people

playing basketball (in our spotless organized garage)

and doing a show,

after a lovely (and free) dinner out?

I wouldn't of!!

Want the backstory? My dad gave us his 3 wheeler, for a reason that I can't entirely recall. Anyway, this nifty little toy caused a major garage overhaul wherein I proved to both James and myself that I am not a hoarder (I convinced myself I was after watching tons of hoarding shows) - though don't be deceived - James did 90% of the work. We now have a spotless organized garage, got rid of tons of our crap we had lying around, and then BONUS my dad took us out to eat at Islands! My dad gave us two gifts! well, three if you count my hoarding revelation....When we got back from dinner the kids wanted to see the 3 wheeler again and it turned into some quality family time in the garage. There ya go.