Valentine's Day

Sean was so cute! He called me up on Friday from work and asked if I had plans for Saturday night. The whole conversation on the phone was of a guy asking a girl on a date. Actually it was better than that: how many guys will arrange the babysitter for the one they're dating?! It was so sweet!
Well, he "picked me up" at 6pm (when the sitter arrived) and we drove to Outback. The line was horrendously long so we nixed that idea, got take-out instead, then walked over to the mall (where Sean had parked the car - Outback has terrible parking!). We found a little table-for-two outside the Border's Express store and when we had finished eating our delicious meal we browsed in the bookstore until kicked out at closing. We then grabbed a couple of things at Target before heading over to Mimi's to grab a couple of muffins for dessert/breakfast.
On the way home we ran by Blockbuster and rented "Becoming Jane," which we watched once we got home. It was a quiet, relaxing night. I didn't have to rush for reservations; there was no hurrying from one place to another. We could go anywhere we wanted on a whim, just the two of us. It was nice to take it easy for a night and leave our rushing, planned lives for another day.
Thank you, Sean! It was so nice to be with you and breathe!
Oh, and of course thank you for my 1 lb. box of See's!

Field Trip!

Alex, James and I (Hillary) were fortunate enough to join Jane and her 2nd grade class at the Aquarium of the Pacific.

We escorted Jane's friends from 9:45am until 1:15pm. Jane picked the friends she wanted to go with us: Noah, Nathan, and Jorge. In the above picture the kids are posing in front of the giant spider crab exhibit.

A great treat was seeing the diver cleaning the exhibits. She was even kind enough to pose for our picture!

All the kids got a chance to feed the Lorikeets. When we walked into the exhibit I was attacked by two Lorikeets looking for food. The have a good grip with those little claws!

All the kids loved the giant sea-stars. They had a fun time differentiating between the sea-stars (seen in the picture with long, skinny points) and the bat-stars (not pictured, but have wide, fat points that look like a duck's webbed feet).

Boys and Their Toys

James fell asleep on our rug the other day holding this firetruck that he had been carting around the whole evening. We carried him to bed with the truck, of course!

Miracles Happen

Alex is currently in a wonderful preschool program with Sean's preschool teacher, Mrs. King. She is fabulous, talented, patient and kind. We love her dearly. That said, Alex is only able to go three days a week for three hours each day. He enjoys school, but could realy use more of it.

I had heard about a new preschool that offers classes four days a week from 8:30am to 1:00pm, but it filled up almost immediately, so we put our names on the waiting list and, well, waited.

Meanwhile, I had scheduled a doctor's appointment for Alex tomorrow at 2pm in Long Beach at the beginning of this month, and about two weeks ago I volunteered to take a sister in our ward to see her husband in a recovery center every Thursday. Tomorrow the girls get out of school early, so Sean was going to pick them up for me on his lunch break and take them to Shauna's so she could watch them while I was at the Dr. with Alex.

So tomorrow was going to be very busy, but then I got an email telling me that there was room in the desired preschool. It is perfect timing, since the re-registration for his current preschool is Monday. Unfortunately, there is no school on Friday, so tomorrow would have been the only day to visit the preschool and make our final decision to switch classes. I had already had so much on my agenda already, I was feeling very crunched for time. We would have only been able to stay for about an hour before having to leave to pick up the Sister.

And then I was relieved! A wondeful woman in our ward called me up and asked if I had planned on taking said Sister to see her husband tomorrow. When I told her I was, she asked if she could do it instead because she and her husband don't have anything scheduled for tomorrow and she'd like the opportunity to serve.

Oh, the Lord loves me! He knew this was important and that I would benefit from attending the duration of the preschool to make an informed decision. Oh, I feel so blessed!

A shout-out to all who follow the promptings of the Lord, even if it seems silly. I'm sure she didn't understand why she felt so prompted to ask me to give up volunteering so she could, but the Lord does! I hope to learn from this and to always follow the promptings of the Spirit, even if it seems out of the ordinary.

*Just so you know, we aren't abandoning Mrs. King, in fact, we're still going there three days a week. The other two days we'll be going to the new preschool.

My Hero Has Returned!

Last night Sean the Super Hero fixed our bathroom tub and sink. I don't know how he did it except it required the use of his dad's ladder, a trip to the roof, and a miraculous discovery with the snake. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful man saving me over and over again. No more trips to his parent's house for baths, nor washing hair in the kitchen sink. I am so grateful for my husband, and for the blessing of indoor plumbing! I love you, Sean!

Rub a Dub Dub

A broken down tub.
Yep, that's what we have right now. A tub that doesn't drain, and a bathroom sink that feeds off the same pipe. What does that mean? Every time my kids wash their hands the dirty water that goes down the drain comes right up into the tub. LOADS of fun over here! We're so blessed to have given the kids all showers/baths just last night, so at least everyone is clean...for now! Sean is bumming a shower off his parent's tonight. It's wipey baths for the rest of us and hair washing in the kitchen sink! Sean wants to try one more thing before we call a plumber....Guess this means my Super-Saturday session is out. Please! Someone! Help me see the humor in this! :)
*Plumbers still come on Saturday, right?

At Last

Alright, after this post I'll be officially caught up with all postings!
The day after we got back from our trip we gathered once again at the Monroe's house for the continuation/conclusion of Alex's and James' birthday celebration. Alex's great gift was a new scooter (complete with protective gear) from Grandma and Grandpa.
He and James also got new Duplos (fireman and dinosaur),

and James got a singing tree house. To be honest, James just liked ripping the paper and climbing into/onto his present. He's really into climbing these days. The next day he really started appreciating his present, though, as it entertained him for almost 10 minutes straight! (Those with infants will understand this amazing feat). The next day Alex and James visited the doctor for their birthday check-ups. Alex got his Kindergarten shots and James got a flu shot (to which he is still recovering). Poor Alex, though. That day he was so excited to tell Sean that he now gets to go to Kindergarten. He was so disappointed to learn that he still had to wait until September. Every day for almost a week he was then asking if that day was September. Oh, my boy. You grow up so fast!
Sean was also honored when asked to be on the CAHSEE Item Panel Review Committee. He'll be traveling up to Sacramento in April to help write the math questions on the High School Exit Exam for the State of California. We are so blessed for Sean to have this experience! We truly realize the Lord's hand in our lives!

Grandpa Ed

After the redwoods we decided to see another giant, but one of a different nature. He is a giant of a man, one who always has a smile on his face, great stories to tell and is so sweet. We love our Grandpa Ed and were so glad to be able to visit with him and to see that he is recovering, slowly but surely.

Roadtrips and Redwoods

On our way back from Seattle Sean had the crazy idea of skipping over to the 101 freeway to check out the giant redwood trees. It was crazy, but absolutely fun! We had a great time driving through the forest at night, shacking up in Crescent City for the night, then driving back out the next morning. On our way out of town we saw a HUGE herd of elk, just grazing along the side of the road. We stopped the car, right there in the road (since there was no one else crazy enough to get up that early except us and the elk), rolled down the window, and took these pictures. Sean was the one snapping away, and he didn't even have to zoom! Some were only about 10 feet away and it was so amazing!

We continued our drive, stopping a couple of times to take pictures of these huge trees,

as well as a frosty beach (hello! Frost on a beach?!)
where Jane and Alex found treasure,
Paul Bunyan with his trusty sidekick, Babe,

a sighting of big foot,


and a hollowed tree we could walk through.
We were all exhausted, but grateful to have taken the time (about another 3 driving hours) to get back to nature. Thanks again, Sean, for your inspiration!

Wake Family

This is the picture we took the last Sunday the whole family was together. From Left: (back row) Kim holding Peter, Rob, Brad, Christi (aka Wimp), me holding James, Sean; (front row) Andrew, Gammie Wake, Gampy Wake holding Ollie, Alex, Becky, Jane.
14 people and one huge puppy all crammed into one house made for a very fun ("interesting" and "ha ha") two weeks! Thanks, everyone, for such a great time, and for mom and dad's spectacular hosting skills! Shout-out to Kim for teaching me how to make homemade rolls (let's see if I can bring these skills home!); to everyone who helped to watch my kids so we could go to Victoria; to Andrew and Peter, for being such fun cousins and Nephews!; to Wimp for letting us take over her room; to mom and dad for their patience and willingness to let us all be individual families while still a part of their main family (does that even make sense on paper?), for the fun activities, and for being FABULOUS grandparents; to Ollie, who put up with screaming, chasing, riding, hammering, sliding down stairs, being locked out of the upstairs area, and for not chewing up any (of my kids') toys or clothes. We love you all!

Hey, Pali

My great friend from high school, Rupali Giri, is now engaged to a nice guy named Paul. I love it! Paul and Pali. Anyway, we had a chance to get together for lunch while still up in Washington. It was great to see her and meet her fiance. Congratulations, Pali, and good luck with the wedding plans!

Happy 5th Birthday Alex!

Our man Alex turned 5 on December 30, 2008. What a joy he is to our family! His smile, which only leaves his face for extreme circumstances (but is quick to return) truly brightens up our day. Alex opened his gifts at breakfast, then Sean took Becky, Jane, and Alex to the Redmond Pool for free-swim with Rob, Kim, Andrew and Peter. It was a nice, relaxing day.
Alex got several cool gifts this year, including 4 dinosaur books (a duplicate of the one he always borrows from Mrs. King at preschool), a Cars encyclopedia, a new shirt, and a Mariner jacket.

Home Sweeeeet Home

Kim had a fantabulous idea of making gingerbread houses with the kids. She bought the kits and set everything up and we all had a blast. Thank you, Kim, for the use of your creative brain. We love having you around!
Once the walls were up and the roof was on I put icing wherever they told me to while the kids stuck on the candy and Sean took pictures. All of our candy made it to the house, but, of course, it was all picked off by the time I made it downstairs the next morning.

Happy First Birthday James!

For James' birthday on December 26, 2008 we gathered once again into the newly finished dining room for dinner, followed by an icecream cake and presents. He LOVED the cake and presents. We are so grateful for James in our lives and family. He brightens our days and always carries a smile. He's cruising with confidence now, but shows no inclination to start walking on his own. He's so content that he's content just being content. He eats just about everything and was 20 lbs before his 1st birthday to prove it. He has a cute quirk about eating, though. He only takes a small bite of something to taste it, and, if he decides he wants more, will then open wide for bigger bites, and lots of them! He is loved by his whole family, and returns that love in abundance. He loves to show me whatever he's doing, which comes in handy when he is about to put something in his mouth that he shouldn't ("James...show mommy!"). He's more than willing to give smiles, and sometimes gives them even when he isn't in the mood to smile. He's our cutie little stinker-man and we love him to pieces!

The Aunts go marching three by three

Gampy's sisters came to spend Christmas afternoon with us and stayed for dinner and Andrew got their pictures for us. His (older) sister, Jan,
and twin sisters, Patti (with Hillary)

and Kathy.

We haven't all been together since Rob got married, about 8 years ago. We love them all and are so grateful they could join us for Christmas.