Spring Sprang Sprung

The fields and hiking trail at the end of our street are our hang out. We walk Cole their nearly every day and if he ever gets out, that's exactly where he heads.

Right now it's abloom with the springy-ness that's so pretty. Ashlyn and I took some pics with my phone because everywhere we turned, there were more flowers that weren't there before.

Look closely, teeny tiny purple flowers carpet the ground.

Wild flowery bushes everywhere

Wild Cucumber - very strange porcupine pods filled with white bubbly goo and giant green bean-like pods. Poisonous. They are fun to stomp on though.

Foxtails

Looks like a meadow of wheat

Bee-Lovin' Bush

Rosemary

California Golden Poppy

My Sunshine

Sweet Alyssum

Pink geraniums back at home at the end our walk. I love Spring.

Tis the Luck o' the Irish

The little leprechauns were busy at work this morning whipping up a green breakfast (and they even turned the toilet water green).

Then they really got to work and made Ashlyn's hair into a darling shamrock. All dressed in green, everyone was safe from being pinched.

After school the kids got to cool off with a lime/kiwi/spinach smoothie . . . refreshing!

Batter Up!

If all the other activities weren't enough, going to track practice four days a week, with the first meet being this weekend, Christian is in baseball, which practices twice a week, and now has games twice a week, too.

He's on the Dodgers and has wonderful coaches and a great team. He's learning a lot and improving his skills each game. They won their first two games, and came super close the third.

He earned the 'game ball' at the 2nd game of which he was super proud.

Go, Christian, Go!!

Now I'm off to help John sort more track uniforms. Being president is a lot of work!

A Heart Attack, Basketball, and a Road Show

Happy Birthday Madison!

A good morning started off with her request of blintzes. Then it was off to school, piano lessons, track practice, quick dinner, then basketball practice. (We went out to dinner to celebrate as a family the night before knowing that Tuesday night was way too busy.)

In between it all, her Beehive class came over and heart attacked her room. She was able to see it quickly as she ran upstairs to grab her basketball shoes.

They also left a nice plate of cookies! So cute - Young Women is so fun and she can't wait to be a full-fledged member.

Every Friday night has been spent at her basketball games. Sadly, they never won a game, but have made tremendous progress when compared to their first game which was the first time the team had ever even been on a real court. They didn't know what the lines meant or anything.

This game was super exciting; the team did so well and were neck-and-neck with the other team the whole time. Madison scored nearly half the points and they only lost by 2 points. The last 10 seconds when our team was about to take the shot, the opposing girl ran into our girl, completely barreling into her and knocking her flat to the ground -- then the buzzer sounded. The foul definitely should have been called, but wasn't. It really could have changed the outcome of the game and what a sweet ending to the season it would have been to have won the last game, especially against a high-ranked opponent.

This was Madison's first try at basketball and completely loved it. It was fun to watch her improve and learn. I still have a lot to learn--man! there are a lot of rules in these sports. I don't know how anyone can keep them straight.

Since she made it to twelve in time for the Road Show, they let her practice, which was a lot of fun for her. She invited her friend Gabby to attend, too, which was a great missionary experience for her and they both had a blast!

It was 80s themed, which was like, totally awesome.

All in all, it was a great birthday week - starting with a surprise party and ending with the road show AND being able to stay for the all-cast dance afterwards. Twelve is a big deal!

SuRpRiSeS are NICE

It's an impromptu SuRpRiSe Party!!!

Madison is turning 12 and it's a party year for her (every other year we have a party). She actually didn't really want a party (too much drama) and was planning on just going to Knott's Berry Farm with a few friends. Enter another dilemma: which friends to invite without any getting feelings hurt? Plus, when to go . . . Saturdays are totally booked up and so are Friday nights. Dilemma Dilemma!

We decided pretty much at the last minute (OK a week ago) to throw her a surprise party. She would love it, she's turning 12 - it's a big deal.

I just called the moms of her good friends and they were all totally on board. Many of the girls didn't even know about it until that day. Our own kids didn't even know until a couple of hours before. We weren't chancing the surprise getting blown.

Enter grandma and grandpa . . . my parents usually take the birthday kid out to dinner near the actual birthday. Last year my mom took Madison shopping so she could pick out her own gift and they could have some QT together. Luckily it worked out that my parents were free and could plan the annual event without seeming suspicious.

The only caveat: they had to have her out of the house until 7:00 p.m. The guests were arriving at 6:45.

My mom called at 6:30. They ate, they shopped, they walked the mall, they had ice cream, they walked the mall some more . . . they were done! I told her they had to hold out a few more minutes. Poor Madison was getting bored and probably wondering why grandma wanted her to explain how "Build a Bear" works.

Here are the guests waiting for Maddy - they were all enthralled with a 650+ photo slide show I had going on the TV. (Thanks to AppleTv it was easy peasy).

That was seriously so entertaining!!

Surprise!!!!! She had NO idea! Her expression was priceless and she even teared up with the excitement.

Food, food, and more food. But it was all EASY!

Girls were congregating everywhere. I'm so glad that the day was warm (finally!) so not only can the swampy backyard dry out, but they can enjoy being outside.

We set up a strobe light in the backyard with music blasting - they jumped in the dark with the lights flashing which made it super fun for them.

Lemon Lusciousness.

Hurry and blow out the candles before the letters all melt away.

Another congregation spot and non-stop giggles. Some girls, including Ashlyn, got attacks of the giggles and couldn't stop.

Present time! She got so many nice gifts - her friends all know her well. Books, books, and more books, cute clothes, awesome art supplies (acrylic paints, sketch book, etc.) and this hilarious card we all got a kick out of - the cat starts out totally normal then grows and grows and grows until it fills up the entire card with the funny cartoon face.

We deem this party a huge success. Impromptu is the way to go. There were nearly 30 people there. Only one friend couldn't attend but that's because she had a weekend soccer tournament far away and wouldn't have been able to if we gave a month's notice. Practically zero stress and I made a basket of cool nail polishes and headbands of which they were able to choose on their way out the door . . . easy peasy party, yet with all the feeling of specialness included!

My favorite quote from one of the mothers when I asked if her daughter would be available for the party: "Even it Fatima had other plans, we would change it because we wouldn't miss her best friend's party." So very thoughtful. Then when they picked her up at the end, the dad (who owns our favorite Middle Eastern restaurant Ali Baba) brought us a large box of Arabic sweets called tarboosh. So nice!

!!! CrAzY HaIr DaY !!!!

Today was Maple's CrAzY HaIr day at school in which Christian and Brooke participated. It was way fun planning the 'do and getting ready in the morning.

Christian's mohawk and Brooke's skyscraper - not sure what to call it. It looks a bit Dr. Seussish to me.

She had curls, crimps, braids, and straight and they both had red sprayed on the tips.

It's a rainy day so hopefully it will last!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

I think we should petition to have 3-day weekends every week! I love having that extra time, especially since we don't really have Sunday to get things done.

This weekend was especially nice because today, Monday, Presidents' Day, is probably the first real day off John has had in a couple of years. We planned to take the kids to the snow today and John was with us the whole time without working. I'm sure he checked email a few times, but from waking up in the morning until we got home from track practice at night, we had him the whole day! (OK, confession, during track from 4:30-6:00 he was "President" but still Ashlyn was with him 'helping' so it's OK). This is seriously a first. Brooke commented that he even worked when we were at Knott's - taking phone calls, having to pause to send out ever-so-important emails, etc. -- and that was even New Year's Eve!!

It was a beautiful day and we were so glad to be able to spend it together as a family having fun frolicking in the snow.

It's crazy that we drive 1 1/2 hours to "see snow" when most of the country can't escape it. But it's sure a novelty here and there was plenty of it in the Frazier Park area. It was fluffy, clean, sparkly and deep and the day was crystal clear with a beautiful bright sun.

Sledding fun! Those little disks get some serious speed!

The trees were so packed with snow and it kept randomly falling. It was beautiful.

Snow angels!

Fun building a snowman

And walking along the snow only to discover that it's actually deeper than you thought

A winter wonderland forest

Enjoying the magic of snow

This is Ashlyn saying: "I'm freezing! My chin is freezing and my feet are stinging they are so wet and cold!"

Her turtleneck was packed with snow and so were her boots. No wonder!

Making yet another snowman

and trampling said snowman for dog pile in the snow

Home in time to build a mini snowman out front.

Once there was a snowman, snowman, snowman

And now he's melted, melted, melted

small, small, small.

We stopped at In-N-Out in Valencia for lunch on the way home, then after building the pathetic little guy above, we quickly got Christian to his baseball practice and the girls to track practice.

Then home for dinner (thank you Crock Pot!), showers, family night and bed!

They all fell asleep quickly as they were completely worn out. I'm sure waking up at 6:00 because they were so excited about their snow day contributed to their fatigue.

I consider the day a success, especially since they've all asked more than once when they can they go back to the snow.