Sean is no longer prime...

Ok, I meant, a prime number. He turned 32 yesterday and I'm going to flatter myself by saying he had a great day! We went out to Pacific Star for lunch, then reconvened for dinner at home with the missionaries: spaghetti, garlic bread, salad, a fruit bowl, with cake and ice cream for dessert.

He had already gotten his major birthday present: a Nintendo DS, but he also received a couple of books and two new long-sleeve button-ups from the kids and 3 pints of Baskin Robbins Ice Cream from me. Can we say, "Rainbow Sherbet"? After dinner we went out to Toys R Us so he could spend the gift card he'd gotten from work to buy a case for his DS and a new game, Star Wars- the Complete Saga. We then came home, put the kids to bed, then Sean proceeded to play his new game for almost 2 hours! I mean, really! How could a birthday be better than that?!

On Sunday we all gathered at the Monroe's house for our birthday dinner - tacos (of course!) with strawberry shortcake a la Leslie for dessert. It was so yummy! I'd ask for the recipe, but really! Let's be honest: when would I ever make it?

Thank you, Lis and Kevin (on channel 7), for a great birthday party!

Sean, I'm so glad you stuck around for another year!

Becky's Field Trip

The day after my birthday was spent recovering from my illness at the Page Museum and Tar Pits. It was fun to join her and her class as we learned more about the Giant Sloth, Mammoth, and Saber Tooth Cat.


Becky is third from the right on the bottom row.


Becky was a great sport at keeping James from getting too lonely in the stroller. It was smack in the middle of his nap-time, so he was exhausted! He finally did fall asleep...at the end.
I took a ton of pictures, but the lighting in the museum isn't the best, and mostly all I got were the backs of kids heads.

A New Ball Player

Although I have mixed feelings about my kids ever making a career out of sports, it is fun to see them excited to play them now. At 14 months James tries hard to dribble the basketball and make a basket. He repeatedly tries to throw the ball at the basket, though he hasn't made one yet.

James throws every ball he can get his hands on and he's got pretty good aim.

Want to make James smile? Give him a ball.

Hillary is 29!

Ok, so we have this thing about celebrating an event for an entire week. My birthday week started on March 4. Every day since then, up until my birthday on the 11th, Sean and the kids were showering me with love. I got a new lavender plant (my fave), a strawberry plant, and a flower plant (no clue what it's called!). I also got a pound of See's Milk Chocolate Bordeaux, love notes, and a Cinnabon for dessert one day. My big present (and what I had strongly hinted I'd love) was an egg cooker. I'm completely clueless in the kitchen and, after several attempts, have deemed myself incapable off cooking hard-boiled eggs. This little contraption is much like a rice cooker, but for eggs. You put in the eggs, a little water, then press a button and it cooks it for you, then beeps when done. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm excited to finally be able to make egg salad, deviled eggs, etc.

I'm so grateful for this show of love for an entire week, especially since most of my actual birthday was spent in bed or on the couch with some sort of virus. Yea me. Ugh!

At least I wasn't alone. Sean was sick as well. His illness lasted two days, but included chills and fever. Mine lasted about 3 days, but I skipped the fever and chills and I'm just achy and exhausted!

Sean's birthday week started on Tuesday, but since we've been sick and tired this week I haven't been as diligent at doing something each day. He's just gotten a card and his favorite ice cream so far. I'm hoping we get better this weekend so we'll have more fun on his actual birthday - Monday March 16.

My birthday started off well, though I couldn't figure out why I couldn't shake the tiredness out of me, which is why I look exhausted in this photo taken at about 7:45am. The reason for a picture so early in the morning? I had always wanted to have all my kids before I was 30. Although I had James when I was 27, it dawned on me this birthday morning that I had actually accomplished that goal, so I wanted to document it.

After I dropped off the girls at school I took my little boys out to breakfast at Mimi's Cafe so I could have an excuse to buy myself a buttermilk spice muffin. They are so yummy!

Some of my friends were asking me how it felt to be 29. Since they, too, are turning 30 with me next year, they asked if I felt "old." I can honestly say that I'm looking forward to 30. I'm ready to embrace it. I give credit to my mom for always embracing her age. She is so excited for each of her birthdays that she never hides it and is always willing to tell anyone how old she is when they ask. Because of her example I'm ready to greet each new year with the attitude of "Yea! I'm still here!"

Course, I still have another year to change my mind.

James at 14 Months

We went to the doctor the other day and James was measured at 22 lbs and 29 inches long. He's just 14 months, yet growing so fast! Poor guy also had to get four shots as well as a lead test. James seemed to know before we even went into the room. We walked into the waiting room and he seemed to sense trouble. He started whining and got really clingy. When the nurse showed up he threw an absolute fit! I had to carry him to the waiting room (usually, now that he can walk pretty well, he insists upon walking just about everywhere). Once we got there he was still throwing a fit and the nurse had to ask if he was ok. I told her he seems to know why we were there, but she didn't believe me. He refused to participate in all the regular check-up things, so I had to hold him still while she looked in his ears, mouth, eyes, and measured his head, length, and weighed him. He got even madder when I pulled up his pant leg to get him ready for the shots. I couldn't believe how fast his face could turn red!
So then it hit me: this is why James loves Sean more! I always made Sean take the kids to get their shots, but he's way too busy to do it with James, so I take him. The other kids always went to me when they were upset, not James! He loves daddy best. Oh, the prices we pay!

Our Car According to Alex

Preface: So on Sunday I had parked in the shade when we arrived at church, but when we went out 3 hours later the shade had moved two spots.

Me: Ohhh, bummer.
Alex: What, mom?
Me: Well, our car used to have shade, but now it doesn't.
Alex: Because it broke, right?

So our 1 year old car is a lemon, and everything takes turns breaking down. Our door (5+ times), door panel (2+ times), windshield wipers, door handle, blinker, seats, etc. So, since everything else had broken down, Alex assumed that the reason we didn't have shade anymore is because it broke. HAH!

In all fairness, Alex had to accompany me and James to the dealership every time something broke down, so he's used to the car getting broken and fixed.

Witness

Here is a witness that Heavenly Father truly loves us and watches over us. On Friday night there was a fire that started on our neighbor's trash can (their little girl tried to throw away a burned something from their microwave) and quickly spread to OUR shrubs! We were blessed to have a watchful neighbor who quickly ran over, grabbed our hose, and put out the fire. Without his/her attention (we still don't know who this neighbor is) our house could have quickly caught on fire. It is an awesome feeling to know we are loved!
This is all that is left of about 2 1/2 feet of our shrubs and their two trash cans. Their fence reaches about 6 feet high and the flames reached the top. Our neighbor's hose (seen in photo) is melted to the wall.

David's Cat

After the China/Chinese Theater we headed over to see David's place and met his gorgeous cats! I can't remember what type of cat it is, but they are the softest live animal I've ever touched and so sweet, too. They were kind enough to let us perfect strangers take turns picking them up and taking pics. (I have a pic with me and the cat, but it wouldn't ever look at the camera for me. This one of my mom with the cat is so much better!)

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.