Kindergarten is right around the corner...

On Thursday we played outside in backyard (AGAIN) and then I decided to reward the kids and take them over to Gardner Village. I gave them each a quarter to buy a piece of candy and a piece of bread to feed the ducks. They have been so great this week (I think it's been all the playing outside) that I wanted to do something to show them how much I appreciated it. It was quite overcast, and there was a some threat of rain, but the kids didn't seem to care. They were excited to go. So, off to Gardner Village we went. No one was there because it was starting to get chilly and the clouds were kinda dark, but the candy store was still open and the ducks were still out. That's all we needed!


On our way out I had Sky sit on a set of stairs so I could take a picture of her cute hair. Today, I took the... I don't know what it's called, hair crimper and curled her hair with it. It looked so cute. She's 5 1/2 and going to start Kindergarten in the fall. Kinda scary for me! In fact, Kindergarten registration was on Friday and the thought of going made me a little teary eyed.

Friday after we picked Sky up from Preschool we ran home ate lunch and then it was off to Kindergarten registration. Sky asked me, "Is Alex going to be there?" I had to break the news, "No, honey, Alex won't be there. She's not going to be at the same school as you next year." Devastation hit! She began to cry and told me she didn't want to go to school unless Alex and Trevor were going to be there. It made me sad. It made me question myself. I know it only gets harder from here. This is just the beginning.

The middle man..

He's stuck in the middle of two girls. He makes sure I'm completely aware of when he hasn't gotten enough attention. But when it's just the two of us he makes my heart melt. Today, we played tic-tac-toe and I being the nice mom, I made sure he won several times in a row. He soon noticed that I hadn't won any and the next game he put an "x" rather than his "o" in a spot to help me win. I love this kid!

I love this kid!!!

This is the first time I've actually ENJOYED a child at this stage. When Sky was this age, Jett was born and when Jett was this age, Brooke was born. I was always tied up nursing a baby and giving 99% of my attention to the newborn in my lap. It has been an absolute joy playing with her and watching her grow. How could I resist this beautiful face? I love her voice, the way she laughs, the tantrums she throws are even cute.

Easter Sunday, unfortunately it didn't go too smoothly...

These might have been the ONLY smiles all day! It wasn't the happiest Easter Sunday. It seemed we fought the kids all day, constantly begging for smiles rather than listening to them whine and cry over nothing. Uggghhh.... We went to church (but did I even hear a single thing that was said amongst the requests to go to the bathroom, get a drink, and the whines of who got to sit on my lap?). We came home and took a few pictures (these below) and hung out for a couple hours. Neils got Brooke down for a nap while I rushed to get some food made to take to Mom and Dads for dinner. Running late (of course) we managed to get to Mom and Dads. We realized when we got there we hadn't even taken time to eat lunch. It was late and I was starving. Neils and I inhaled one of the things I had just finished making, 7 layer bean dip. We had the annual Easter Egg Hunt with the grandkids which seemed to go okay. There were enough eggs that no got upset over not getting enough... THANK GOODNESS! Then, buffet style, we scooped up our dinner and sat down to eat. Our kids complained that there wasn't anything they liked and we had to beg them to take even a couple bites. Most of the problem was due to the fact that they had just eaten several pieces of candy out of their Easter eggs. Uggghhh... After the kids played and the adults chatted, we decided it was a good time to get everyone together to take a Smart family picture. I got out my tripod and lined everyone up (all 16 of us) and set the timer. It wasn't until later that I noticed that my son managed to put a nice smudge right on my lens and half of us in the picture are blurry and washed out. BUMMER! I thought I'd do some nice pictures of my sisters family and so I had them take a little drive down the street to do them. I thought I'd do some of her family and then set it so she could take some of mine. Well, hers turned out FABULOUS, but once again, my kids were not about to smile. They cried because dad told them they couldn't bring home a large weed/cattail. It was another awful 30 minutes of listening to them cry while I got pictures of my sister and her family. We tried, but I don't even know why. Seemed to be the question of the day... why are we even trying? Anyone ever have days like this? I wish I could have posted a nice, happy, spring day post, but unfortunately some days just don't go as planned.


Oh and of course, I must show you the SMUDGE- MARKED Smart family photo!

At least my sister got a gorgeous family picture!

Phineas and Ferb tour and private screening...

A friend of Neils' from H.S. is a producer (and has written a couple episodes) for the Disney cartoon, Phineas and Ferb. When he heard we were coming to California he insisted we come up for a tour and private screening of the show. We spent the day having lunch, watching an upcoming episode with the creators of the show and then walking around to see the different parts to how the show is made. We met those that draw just the props to those that do all the coloring to seeing the story boards. One of the creators, Dan is also the voice of Dr. Doofensmirtz and as we left he said to us and the kids in his screetchy voice, "Stay EEEeeeVilll!" It is an interesting process and I'll never look at a cartoon the same. Here are a few pictures on the Disney lot and in the studio where it's created. Thanks Lance, it was an amazing day!

Then it was off to the beach...

Had I known Brooke was going to spend the ENTIRE time in the water, I would have worn my suit or at least the bottom half of my suit. By the end of the day, my jean capris were soaked! What a yucky feeling to have jeans sticking to me mixed in with some sand to scrape my legs everytime I tried to wiggle the darn things around and air them out. Uggghh... But I'm so glad she loved it. I was a little afraid of the kids reaction. My kids (all three of them) are very particular about being clean. Jett will not hold a Chips Ahoy cookie in his hands cause it gets crumbs on his hands. I have to hold it for him and feed it to him. Sky, is a freak-a-zoid when it comes to cleanliness. She gets so upset when things are a mess. So when we reached the sand, Sky's first words were "Is there any place where there's NOT ANY sand?" Ha! Uh... no!!! She did fine, and I was shocked when her sucker landed in the sand and she didn't freak out. Normally, this would have been the end of the world for her. But I guess because the weather was so great and we had so much fun, it didn't seem to bother her. After all we were headed for a Thrifty Ice Cream cone (yes, it's inside a Rite Aid now, but it's still called Thrifty Ice Cream for those of you that grew up in California) afterwards. It was a gogorgeous day and I'm so glad we were able to meet up with Arlo, Kathleen and kids. It was their short day at school so it worked out perfect for us all to go! Thanks guys we had a blast!

Backyard fun!

Everyday was so beautiful, the second the kids woke up they were begging to go outside. Grandma has the best backyard! There's a playhouse with a play kitchen and tons of toys, there's a minitramp, a little slide, a bouncy horse to ride, tetherball... the fun just never ends. It was everything any kid could dream of. So off they went, after breakfast, outside. Tuesday, while I enjoyed a three hour nap (what the heck is that? I haven't had one of those in ages) Grandma played games with the kids. Like I said, DREAM VACATION!!!

Notice that this is an old Fisher Price vacuum? My Mother in Law has kept her toys in perfect condition, even after nine kids. They all still work and look brand new. She had a Speak and Spell that looked like she bought it yesterday and it worked like new too. My kids thought that was the funnest toy ever! Why don't they still sell it?