Project 365: 244-261

September 1- We went to church today to see some friends bless their baby girl.  Addie had a wardrobe fail.  Watermelon summer dress, Christmas dove shoes.

September 2- My attempt at duplicating Wendy's berry almond chicken salad.  Nailed it.

September 3- Either teething was easier for Garrett, or Addie was "blessed" with all the drama skills in the family.  She's been a hot mess today and I blame it on a couple new teeth coming in.  Garrett maybe had a rough night or two, but nothing like this cute little drama queen. Ice cream helped for a minute.  Not really, but I had one and it helped me.

September 4- Give this girl a truck and a pool and it's a little slice of heaven on earth.  It's so stupid hot in California right now.  The pool is a life saver.

September 5- I feel like I haven't cooked in so long, (for the record, it was still too hot).  It took looking at four different chicken pot pie recipes before I decided I might have enough ingredients to make something that resembled a pot pie.  Turned out ok.  And both kids ate it.

September 6- Farmers Market breakfast.

September 7- It's been a long week with these two and their love/hate relationship.  Seeing this this morning while I was making breakfast was good for my heart.  Especially because they didn't know I was watching, and Garrett scooted closer to Addie, just because.

September 8- It's football season.  Addie doesn't know yet how big of a deal that is around here.  She better be checking my fantasy team.

September 9- Oh sweet relief!  I almost kissed my chiropractor just now, but I didn't want to make things awkward for next time.

September 10- I don't know what they're doing, but they're close to each other and I don't hear screaming.  Good enough for me.

September 11- I don't think the kids have ever seen the grandparents' door locked.  They were a bit confused.  They knocked and knocked...  Thankfully they were home so Paul and I could go on a date!  (By date I mean dinner in the car and counseling.  One of my favorite dates, really.)

September 12- Done and done.  Don't you wish you were going to the meeting these platters are going to?  Paul hosted a Transitional Care Task Force meeting with several funeral homes and hospice homes.

September 13- It's been a long week and we haven't seen much of Paul.  It was nice to go out to dinner and a long walk together tonight.

September 14- Garrett got an early birthday present today.  He's upgrading from a crib sized toddler bed, or as he calls it, the big boy bed, to a twin size bed, or as he calls it, the big BIG boy bed.

September 15- Not to be all, "Hey Paul, here's some salt for you wound."  But his team is done and I still have one more game. (I'm White Noise.)

September 16- This week is shaping up to be full of chores and errands I don't want to do.  But look at the pretty tree I parked under at one of my stops today.

September 17- I'm fine.  Just wearing a heart monitor for the next 24 hours, but I'm fine.  Really.

September 18- I took the kids today to cash in all their pennies at a coinstar.  It was pretty exciting to walk in with pennies and walk out with "paper monies!"  They made $8.91!  I kept the 91 cents cuz I drove them and gas ain't free.

A week with Mimi and Papa.

My parents came out for a week at the end of August.  I checked the weather a couple days before they were coming.  It was supposed to be 81 the day they arrived and 82 every single day after that.  Turns out there may be something wrong with my weather app, because I don't think we saw anything below 95, and several days we broke 100.  And it was humid.  And it was in the upper 80's when it was dark outside.  But it didn't stop us from doing anything we had planned.  We just found a lot of sprinklers and fountains along the way.  

The came in on a Friday night, and Saturday I had two parties I'd committed to help with so that day was full.

In the afternoon it was a Minnie Mouse themed birthday for a one year old.

Then the kids went home for naps and I went on to help set up the next party.  My friend Kim, (who was friends with Paul in college, and then friends with my brother, Taylor, through BIOLA/WSU Mormon/Evangelical dialog conferences and missions trips, and then I finally got to meet her a couple years after that) had an American Citizenship party from her British husband who recently became a US citizen.  She did a great job and it was so much fun.  Paul had a Lion's Club party that night, so he went to that and my parents brought the kids to this party (because they knew Kim before I did, too).

 Jonny's in the middle and two of his brothers were here from England to help him celebrate.

Monday we went to the circle of Orange and wandered around.  Played in the fountain there.  Then went to the train station for lunch and played in that fountain too.  It was too hot that day, and it was kind of a bust.  But the kids seemed to have fun.

 They met a friend at the train station and had fun playing with him.  Until I told Garrett we had to go home for naps.  He went over to his friend and calmly explained that he had to go home now for a nap.  The boy DID NOT want him to go, and it turned into a back and forth 'arguement'.  "Don't go take a nap!"  Yes!  I'm going home to take a nap!"  "No!" "Yes!" "NO!" "YES!" "NOOO!"  "YEEEES!"  For a minute I thought I should step in and break it up, but Garrett was holding his own and they were cracking each other up.  When Addie saw that their friend wasn't getting it, she took over the YES/NO battle.  But she couldn't stop laughing.

My mom and I went and got Pedicures while the kids napped.

We went to Newport Beach. 

 Garrett looks so old here I think.

 Addie was being a sea monster.

 So hot and so tired, but not wanting to leave.

That night we went to the Street Market in Huntington Beach.  I was riding in the back of the van and Addie wanted to hold hands.  I couldn't reach, so she settled for a toe.

We went to Knott's Berry Farm.

 Addie wasn't tall enough for the log ride, so we watched from the side.

 We went on the old train ride and some cowboy 'bandits' came in the car and instructed us all to put our hands up.  Addie was very obedient and didn't cause any trouble during the 'robbery'.  

 Garrett was a lot more brave this time.  Tried new rides and went on more kid ones by himself.

 It was so hot that day, so hot.  We splashed a lot in the fountains, and soaked these bandanas every chance we got.  Still really fun though!

And of course we ended the day with Dots at Knott's.

We went to see Planes.  Garrett was glued to the screen the whole time and loved it.  Addie ate snacks and was facing the back of the theater just about the whole time.

We went to the Parnell Park zoo, but spent most of the time looking for shade and water to play in.

We're hoping the next visit is a little cooler!