1/11-

Wednesday was a fun day.  Thankfully it started a several day streak with little to no rain.  Actually the rain has been great for the drought.  But selfishly it has been nice to have a reprieve for the past few days!

Wednesday McKenna had joy school, which she loves.  I took Jake to a gym class at the Y while I worked out, then we came home and decorated cupcakes together for his little birthday party.  We had fun doing that together- I really enjoy the one on one time I get with him each Wednesday, and I know he enjoys it, too.  When we were in the car without McKenna, it was nice to be able to talk to just him.  I asked if he missed McKenna, and he told me no because she talks too much.  Haha!  He told me later this week that "when McKenna isn't talking, she's singing."  He nailed that one on the head.  So it's fun to be with just Jake sometimes to hear more of what he has to say without constant interruptions from his little sister (who is so much fun, and I enjoy hearing all she has to say, too!).  He is turning into such a great kid.  I'm so proud of him!  He loves to help others and is turning into such a nice, good boy.  I love that kid SO MUCH.  I'm so lucky he's mine ❤️

Jake had a fun little birthday party at Safari Run (a cute indoor playground) with his 3 closest friends- Reece, Liam, and Marley.

In the evening I had YW, which turned out great.  We did an angry birds activity and had a great  time.  I'm really enjoying working with the youth.  They are some stellar kids!

1/12-
Thursday was McKenna's first ballet class.  The cuteness was almost unbearable.  I think I smiled through the whole thing because it was just SOOO darn cute and in her glory!

Friday 1/13-

Friday the kids and I were lucky enough to go with a great group of moms to the Oakland temple.  8 women and 15 kids, and it was fantastic!  4 of us went in first while the other moms stayed with the kids, and then we switched.  I feel lucky to be able to attend the temple and feel close to my Heavenly Father.  I know He loves me and that He knows me and my family and wants what is best for us.  I'm so grateful for that!  It was also nice for the kids to be at such a sacred place.  I hope they always know how much peace and happiness the temple brings and that they will have a strong desire to find happiness there the same way Andrew and I do.

Saturday 1/14-

Yesterday we had a lot of fun going on a family bike ride.  We went just shy of 12 miles with a fun park trip in the middle.  Jake and McKenna love going, and so do Andrew and I.  It's the perfect family activity!  It was about 50 degrees out, so a little chilly, but we bundled the kids up and nobody complained about being cold.  Jake is in a trail along bike behind Andrew and McKenna sits in a special chair on my handlebars, which I fear she will outgrow soon!  When we bought it (not too many months ago) she still had lots of room for her legs, but they're quickly reaching the bottom of the chair.  Hopefully she can still use it for awhile!  But she sits on my handlebars and talks and sings the whole time.  I love listening to her, and I laugh and smile about all the cute things she has to say in that incredibly high-pitched voice of hers.

The boys had a little picnic of graham crackers in the jungle gym part, and Jake and McKenna had fun playing restaurant at the park.

We tried to get McKenna to use the potty, but she is pretty bound and determined not to!  She also has impressive bladder control because she made it 4-5 hours yesterday sitting on her potty without putting anything into it.  And of course she completely filled her diaper as soon as she talked us into putting one on her again.  Oh well.  She'll figure it out...someday.

Sunday 1/15-

Today was a good day.  Andrew is an especially good dad on Sundays, spending the morning playing with the kids while I get ready and attend ward council.  The 1:00pm time slot has ups and downs, but I really enjoyed hearing Andrew build a marble run with the kids while I did my hair/makeup and got ready this morning.

We had some friends over after church for dinner and had a nice evening.  And we didn't try to get McKenna to use the potty tonight, so that was a nice break.  With all the time she has spent on her little kid potty, she has only ever managed to pee once, and I'm pretty sure that was an accident for her.  That girl is stubborn and does not want to use the toilet!

I'm feeling really grateful for my family and for my Heavenly Father.  I felt especially strong during YW today that He loves me and wants me to succeed.  What a great feeling!

1/10-

Today was a good day.  We all slept in- the rain has definitely been doing that to us lately.  8am McKenna came strolling into our room and I jumped out of bed and high-tailed it into action, as we need to leave by 8:35 to get Jake to school on time.  Everybody ate breakfast, was dressed, and I even packed sandwiches and we made it out the door.

Jake loves preschool, and he had another fun day there.  McKenna went to her gym ventures class at the YMCA while I exercised, and we picked Jake up after his hot shots immediately after preschool.  We had a quiet afternoon and then swimming lessons.  McKenna started telling me at about 11:30am that she was tired and wondering over and over if it was almost night time.  So unsurprisingly she was a mess today- crying, then laughing, then crying again.  The teenage years are sounding pretty scary 😳

1/8-

Sunday was good.  We slept in, played games, went to church.  The 1:00pm church wasn't as horrible as I thought, surprisingly.  McKenna loves primary and Jake seems to be doing well in his new class.  At least he hasn't been crying about going the past few weeks :)

1/9-

Monday was jam packed- a lot of it with fun, and we accomplished a lot.

In the morning we spent 2 hours at an indoor play place called Safari Run with quite a few friends from church. The kids had a ton of fun running out all their extra energy because it has been so rainy here lately.

After that we went straight to the barber shop for Jake to get a haircut.  He doesn't love getting haircuts, but he handled it better this time than previous trips.  And McKenna was really jealous, so when Jake was done, she got a trim too.  It had been probably a year since her last cut, so she was due.  And she's been telling me lately that she never wants to get it cut and it's going to be longer than "Tangled's" hair- meaning Rapunzel from the movie Tangled.  So I jumped on her actually wanting a trim.  You can't really tell much of a difference, but the split ends are gone and it's a little more even.  So a win in my book.

After the haircuts we dropped by a preschool we're considering for McKenna for next year to pick up some paperwork.  There's an open house in a week and a half, so we'll see what we think of it.

Then we Nike Factory Store and bought Jake some shoes- which apparently Andrew thinks are really lame, so we'll be returning them.  It's way harder to buy little boy shoes that don't fall apart and that everybody likes than I thought!

After shoe shopping we headed straight to the eye doctor where Jake and McKenna got their first eye exams.  They did pretty well, but the whole thing lasted an hour and a half- which was just a little bit too long.  The craziest part was seeing the doctor look at their eyes under the black light after putting drops in their eyes.  I never knew that's what he was doing to me either- it was crazy and quite creepy.  But the kids thought it was cool.  They're both slightly far-sighted, but apparently that's normal for their age.  No glasses- at least not yet.  They didn't exactly get good genes in the vision department.  Thank goodness for contacts!

After all our running around, it was nice to come home and watch part of a movie while it rained- and rained and rained.  And the kids slept great last night :)

1/7-

Saturday was a good day for getting things back into order after Christmas and having my parents visit.  Not my favorite thing to do, but the day went well.  I got a lot accomplished while Andrew took the kids to the Home Depot workshop in our local store.  This is the 3rd time Andrew has taken them (it's the first Saturday of every month), and the kids LOVE it every time.

Andrew tried to ask Jake a question about his painting and he said "Dad, I'm working super hard on this.  I don't have time to talk."  haha!  Andrew came home and noted that McKenna got his perfectionism and Jake seems to have inherited his competitiveness :)

We played, did laundry, watched a movie, Andrew got a lot of work done, and it rained.  A lot! Not our most exciting Saturday ever, but it was definitely a good day.

1/6

Friday was a good break from the rain- our big excitement was a trip to the park with our besties.  The weather hasn't been great for playing outside (so much rain!!), so the park was especially exciting.  Earlier in the day we went to the YMCA, which the kids love.  I'm enjoying these fun, laid back days while I can.  Kindergarten is coming too fast!

1/5

Today was another crazy day.  I feel like we are playing catch-up after a fun break with my parents here.  The laundry pile in my room is impressive.  Or depressing.  One or the other.  And I put most of the kids toys in my room so there would be less available to make a mess with during joy school yesterday, so I literally just had to climb over quite the obstacle course to get to my bed.  Tonight would be a really bad night for our house to catch on fire.  Or for the kids to have nightmares.  I might break my leg 😳 But I have no plans of cleaning up tomorrow.  Looking at the forecast, it's the only non-rainy day for the next 2 weeks!  We need the rain really bad here, but I'm not really very excited about it.  Good thing the kids got rain boots for Christmas.  Apparently I should have gotten some too!

This morning we took Andrew to work on the way to preschool for Jake.  He loves preschool.  Today was the first time since his very first day of preschool a year and a half ago that he cried when I dropped him off.  Hopefully with a couple of good nights of sleep and a fun day playing tomorrow he'll snap out of his funk.  Poor kid!  But his teachers said he was fine as soon as I left, and he was happy when I picked him up.

During school McKenna and I went to the YMCA.  I've really enjoyed working out there lately, and McKenna loves going to the gym ventures class and the kid care room.  And Jake was totally jealous when he heard she got to go.  It's a great set up!

After school we went to Serra Park with Henry from Jake's class and his mom and little sister.  It has been raining quite a bit lately, so it was our first time playing outside in several days, which made it extra fun.

We also managed to squeeze in a trip to Costco, get our groceries home and thrown into the fridge in record time, and make it to swim lessons this afternoon.  McKenna is so funny- happy as a clam bouncing around the pool giggling.  Jake was madder than a hornet and would hardly participate today because he got some water up his nose in the first few minutes of class. I hate that feeling too!  But they both had a fun time and are enjoying the water.  Fingers crossed that they make some progress!

We picked up Andrew on the way home from work, had dinner, gave the kids baths, read book and did the whole bedtime routine, and then watched the bachelor once they fell asleep.  I'm exhausted!  It's been a busy couple of days!  I'm looking forward to some sunshine and fun tomorrow.  Hopefully poor Jake is feeling a little more himself.

1/4-

Yesterday was pretty busy.  We had joy school at our house, and all the kids were really good...except my own.  Especially the one that was supposed to be my helper.  I'm not exactly sure what's going on with Jake, but he has seemed a little off the past few days.  I wonder if it has to do with my parents leaving.  He had so much fun with them, and he had attention 100% of the time.  Plus we were too busy having fun and he wasn't getting as much sleep as usual.  But whatever it is, he has been way more emotional the past couple of days.  But we survived joy school- it actually went pretty smoothly.  There are 5 cute kids in the class, including McKenna.  I really like all of them, and all of their moms.

After joy school Andrew came home for lunch- really so he could bring the car back.  We needed to go grocery shopping.  So we hurried up and ate, and I took the kids to get some groceries after dropping Andrew off at his office.  Based on all the screaming and crying that happened in the car from both kids, I thought the grocery store was going to be a disaster.  But they actually did fairly well.

We picked up Andrew, had dinner, and I got to go to young women's.  We had a fire at Kirstin Hansen's house and had fun just chatting with the girls.  Only 3 girls came, but I think they all had fun, and so did I.  And s'mores are my all-time favorite!

Sad and Rainy Day

Yesterday was a high, and today was kind of a low.  My parents went back to Ohio, and that's always rough.  Living so far apart has been hard, and this is probably going to be one of the longest stretches yet before seeing them again.

As sad as it is to say "see you later," I'm always glad that it's hard because that means we love them and that we've had lots of fun together.

We dropped Jake off at preschool on the way to the Oakland Airport, and afterwards McKenna and I cried on the way home and drowned our sorrows with Chick-fil-a ice cream.

I was pretty worried about the kids not doing well with swim lessons, but to my pleasant surprise, both of them had a great first day.  They jumped right in, and McKenna even went under water a few times, despite being determined not to- although it wasn't on purpose 😳😂 Jake got wet up to his nose, and I'm holding out hope that by the end of the 8 lessons that he'll go under water.  That might be too lofty of a goal, though.  He managed to make it through 10 lessons last summer without going under, aside from the teacher forcing him under the first day.  I guess we'll see- fingers crossed!

Many tears were shed, it rained and was cold, and getting back to our normal routine was hard, but we made it through.  And although there were hard moments, there were good ones too.

Happy Hollow with Grandma and Grandpa

Yesterday I tried to post using my phone, but it kept deleting, so I gave up.  But it was a great day!  It was a little cold (well, 50 degrees- but now that we've been in California for a year and a half, that's pushing freezing for us) and rainy, but that didn't stop us from going to Happy Hollow.  The kids love that place, and Grandma and Grandpa will do anything to see them smile, so we braved the cold and the rain and never even had to wait in a line.

Jake and McKenna both wore their new Christmas rain boots and had fun splashing in puddles.  Grandma and Grandpa rode the frog hopper with them, and Andrew and Grandpa braved the roller coaster while it was raining particularly hard.  Jakes favorite part was probably the go-cart, which Grandpa timed for him.  He had the whole track to himself and did quite a few laps, all with a big grin on his face.

Grandma and Grandpa also watched Peter Pan and had popcorn with the kids, read them books, and played to their hearts content.  Life is definitely better with Grandma and Grandpa in town!

Sunbeam McKenna

As a new year's resolution, I am going to try and keep a better record of my family's happenings.  My goal is to write something small everyday.  I realize this is a lofty goal, so I'm going to be happy if I just do it a couple of times a week.

Today was a great day.  My parents are staying with us for the Christmas holiday, which makes things way more fun and way easier.  They entertain the kids so well and I get to sit back, relax, and watch all the laughing and playing.  

Jake and McKenna were really good during church today- the first day of 1:00pm church 🙄  It was McKenna's first day as a sunbeam at church!  She was made for things like this- sitting with other kids, listening to lessons, answering questions, and especially singing songs.  I had no doubt she'd love primary.

Also, she told my mom this morning how much everyone would love her boots and that all her friends would love her dress and tell her how pretty she was- oh boy! She is so into jewelry and headbands.  All she asked for for Christmas was a doll and dresses.  She's SO girly!

During the 3rd hour of church, my friend Kirstin Hansen got a text from her sunbeam teacher, Lyndsi, that McKenna would not stop hugging her little buddy Anderson, complete with pictures.  I think I'm in trouble with her!  After church she told me she kissed him a couple of times too 😳 Apparently he had to tell her several times "that's enough McKenna." 

Jake also seems to like his new teacher.  He doesn't that sort of thing as much as McKenna does, but he sure had a fun morning playing games and a fun afternoon watching a movie and snuggling with grandma and grandpa.  I'm feeling extra lucky today for my family and for the church.