Shoes

Ok, so I know that you've already seen my shoes in previous posts, but I had to share this picture that my sister took for me. I don't have any type of shoe like this (pointy and COLORFUL!) It was so fun to get them and I wore them all night on Saturday, and then at church on Sunday and they didn't hurt my feet at all! Double Bonus!

China Theater

Ok, so is it "China" or "Chinese" Theater? In any case we had a blast! I've never been and it was so much fun to see the stars of the past and present display their hand/footprints. And, of course, my red shoes came in handy on Judy Garland's square and The Munchkins star! Thanks, again, to David for helping us find our way there. Here are some of my favorite memories:

Me with Wimp and Mom by Marylinn Monroe's square

Hello Harry Potter! (And Hermione and Ron)

Ok, so it was amazing to see how huge Will Smith's hands and feet were. We had no qualms about comparing our size 91/2 to his...12?

Ah, Judy. You inspire me!

The flowers were placed here, so I was told, because one of the Munchkins had died.

Sean with the Star Trek square. (He'll thank me later that I made him pose for a picture!)

Ketchup

Ok, so I'm done with the Secret Agent thing. I'm not that successful at keeping it up. My brain is about fried with all that has been going of this weekend.

We picked up David and Karen at David's apartment, then headed over to Ketchup - a restaurant in West Hollywood. It's one of David's favorites. It was really nice. The whole room was lit with red lighting. The tables and booths were all white. The centerpiece of our table was a tall cylindrical vase with one huge tomato inside. There were pictures of tomatoes and ketchup bottles on the walls. It was a fun atmosphere.



(Mom, Karen, Kathy)


(Me and Sean)


(Wimp and David)

The highlight of the evening was meeting up with Ross the Intern from Jay Leno. He was so kind to pose for Wimp and I as David took our picture.
Thanks David!

Visitors!

It all started on a clear Friday night. The traffic was good. The radio played some old favorites. As I sang along with the song I was thinking to myself how lucky I was that bad singing is only illegal on American Idol.

And then came the call.

"We've landed!"

"I'll be there in 5 minutes."

So I headed to the Long Beach airport to pick up my contacts.

Mom and Wimp were right there. We loaded up the car and took this picture to officially start off our weekend. (Don't worry, the red eye is all part of our disquise - actually I just can't figure out how to get it off yet).


After dropping off the goods we went in search of our targets: new shoes.

Success! We got our prize and went back home to get Wimp ready for her date.

The next day was going to be an early one as our little agents in training get up at the crack of dawn.



The next day started with our Southern agent (Aunt Kathy) calling us for Donut orders.

When she came with the sugary stuff we filled up our adrenaline and headed out for a day with just the four of us (in her Mustang, of course!).

We started off getting lost and eventually made it to the theater to see "New In Town." It was a cute chic-flick. Nothing we couldn't handle.

By the movie's end we were famished (or something like that) so we got a quick bit to eat at Johnny Rockets.

After replenishing ourselves we walked around the mall for a bit before heading back towards home.

I took off for a baptism with Sean and the kids while mom and Aunt Kathy went to Walmart (and got lost again) and Wimp took a nap.

We reconvened at 6:30pm to leave for West Hollywood and to meet our next contacts.

Stay tuned....

Muffins

Ok, so it's a sad day when all you can think about is when might be the next time you can go get yourself a buttermilk spice muffin from Mimi's. *sigh*

Math Time!

How many households do you think offer up cheers and excited yells when their parent says, "Everyone come to the table. It's Math Time!"
It happens here. Each one of our kids has a Math Book that holds a page for each number 1-100. During Math Time the kids turn to one page and focus on one number. They learn how to write the number in fraction, decimal, and percentage form. They also learn how to write it in cents (by drawing coins, writing 1 cent, or $0.01), they draw something to represent that number (like 1 star, for the number 1), they draw number lines, write the number, determine if it is odd or even, write number sentences for addition, multiplication, subtraction and division, write greater than/less than facts, and more!

Our kids love this exercise. It is their Number Journal, or Number book, or Math book, depending on whom you ask. They are always asking Sean to pull them out, sometimes doing several numbers at a time.
How grateful I am to have an astute husband who knows that by teaching them in a fun, friendly manner math facts they will learn to love math, appreciate it, and never fear it. They will learn to embrace each new problem with energy and enthusiasm.
Thank you, Sean! From someone who feared math class each day throughout Jr and Sr High school, I could not be more grateful that my children have such a father.

Big Boys

Alex was honored with the task of pointing to the letters as his preschool class named each one (I know you can't see it, but he's holding a pointer). He had a great time. After naming each letter the class recited the vowels and Alex had to point to each one as they continued to go faster and faster: "A, E, I, O, U, Y!" It was fun to watch. He laughed the hardest when he got flustered. I have such a sweet tempered boy!

James has recently learned how to climb up onto our IKEA chair and pull down toys, books, and magazines. Obviously he found the New Era to be worth a second glance. He has also learned how to climb up on the couch, and back down, but he is a bit slow to learn that the arm of the couch/chair doesn't have a couch/chair on the other side.

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.