Just the four of us.

The very end of our massive pre-baby to-do list says: plan a vacation. I think we had high hopes in January, but by the middle of February we had pretty much forgotten about it. But my, oh-my-gosh-Garrett-and-Addie-will-never-have-fun-in-their-lives-again-once-this-baby-is-here-because-I'll-be-tired-and-overwhelmed guilt set in shortly after our Chicago friends left. And while I know lots of kids become big brothers and big sisters without eternally hating their parents for it, it's just how my brain works and I'm scared. I'm really scared about having this third child. On more levels than just fearing my two and three year old will disown me, but that's one of the many. So sometime last week I told Paul, we have to do something, just the four of us. Even if its just a hotel for one night by Knott's and then a day at Knott's. Something intentional and quality with just the two kids. 

We decided to check pretty last minute with his second cousin who has a vacation home in Palm Desert to see if it happened to be avalaible on very short notice, and it was! We took the kids the night before to buy new swim suits and told them we were going on a vacation. They were super excited. 

I packed up Friday afternoon and we left as soon as Paul got home from work. Both kids have stayed at this house before but it was almost exactly two years ago so Garrett was a year and a half and Addie was less than 5 months old. So it was much different this time.

We got there just before bedtime Friday night but still watched a movie and had popcorn. 

The kids slept great. Paul and I each took a kid the first night and the second night I slept alone and the three of them shared the master bedroom. No complaints from me! 

We had breakfast by the pool and played in the water for a while. 

We spent a couple of hours at children's museum and it was really fun. I never have high expectations of places like this, but it was really clean, inexpensive and lots of fun things to do.

We had lunch and more pool time when we got back, followed by long naps for all of us. Trying to teach the kids the art of vacation napping. It went pretty well. 

We had dinner at Souplantation. I'd never been there and it was so good. Maybe it was because I hadn't been super healthy leading up to dinner, and I mostly filled up on salad, but I'd for sure go back. 

We found another giant size piece puzzle at the museum gift store so we had to do that a couple times before our bedtime movie. 

Somehow movie time turned into tablet time. 

We had breakfast at the old town farmers market. More like brunch because of daylight savings. 

And we stopped to play at a park because we didn't want to pack up and head home. 

Good memory making. 

A Dino Birthday.

I love dinosaurs. It's like I turn into a little kid when I think of how great it would be if they weren't extinct and we could somehow peacefully coexist. And I love that my kids love them too. We were doing a dinosaur puzzle tonight and Garrett said, "now let's work on the Stegosaurus." I don't even know if he was talking about the right Dino, but it warmed my heart that he's learning different names. And my two best friends love them too. One sent me tiny origami dinosaur earrings, and the other gave me a coffee mug that when its full of a hot drink, the dinosaurs fade and you see their skeletons. 

Anyway, my in-laws and Annie had a killer dino party for me for my birthday. It was really so impressive. 

We made succulent planters and went on a dino egg hunt. 

The food spread was amazing. A fondue volcano and the outside of the volcano was made of meat and cheese. A blue dry ice lake to drink from. Vegi trees. Dino nuggets. The landscape was made of mashed potatoes. Everywhere you looked there was another Jurassic Park like scene and 90% of the decor was eatable. It was fantastic. 

We finished the night with gifts, all wrapped in dinosaur paper. And home made dippin' dots. (The kids called them

Dino dots.) 

It was really fun. Maybe not a typical 34 year olds birthday theme. (Do people as old as me even have themes??) But I loved it. And all my gifts were either dinosaur themed or new baby themed. The perfect mix of both fun and practical. 

Friends in town

I feel like my mom's week long visit, a surprise visit from my brother, a somewhat last minute visit from friends from Chicago, and a pretty unplanned weekend away- just the four of us, that we're going on tonight, and the possibility of another brother and his family coming out next week, has not only made me get my house clean, organized and rearranged, but it's made these last few weeks fly by! Not to mention a minor car accident last week that has turned into more paper work and appointments than I ever thought possible. But that's almost earned its own post so I'll wait on that. 

Anyway, we've wanted to have a weekend (or more) with our friends Jordon and Kate and little B since they left Utah a year ago for a new adventure in Chicago. Even though we haven't lived close for over three years, they didn't feel far because we went to Utah a lot and always spent a lot of our time with them. My family got to know them well and they even spent time with my parents a couple times when we weren't there. So it was sad for everyone when they moved to Chicago. Our kids send each other gifts, pictures, video messages, talk on the phone, Skype and voxer. But they really haven't seen each other in about a year and a half. But as soon as they saw each other at the airport, they knew each other. They were so excited to see each other and they all three stayed up past midnight the first night playing while the adults talked and caught up. It was a great long weekend and it went too fast. 

We had big plans that included downtown LA, walks, the park, the beach. Everything that visitors for a freezing climate would want out of a sunny SoCal vacation. I was so bummed that the entire four days they were here, we were expecting rain. Still warm weather, but lots and lots of rain. Somehow we stayed busy and had tons of fun and even had a couple successful outdoor activities that didn't get rained out. 

We went shopping at South Coast Plaza. 

Walked to dinner here in uptown. 

Picked up some liquid nitrogen to make dippin' dots. After that, we were headed to the children's museum and it was interrupted by a car accident. Not our fault. And nothing major. But it did change our plans a bit and I ended up in labor and delivery just as a precaution. 

I was released in time to enjoy Café Rio and dippin' dots with everyone.

We went to Olvera Street and had famous taquitos and French dip sandwiches for lunch. Barely avoided the rain on that trip.

We decided to skip naps that day, and went straight from downtown LA to Seal Beach. It was perfect weather! We all had so much fun. 

The kids had so much fun playing together. 

It's hard living so far away from great friends like this. And it was over all too quickly. 

Hugs goodbye in the car. 

Mom's Visit

My mom was here for a week to help paint, take apart and put together furniture, finish a couple sewing projects for me... Basically help me get to a point where I didn't feel like I was living in chaos, and that it would be ok for this baby to come on or around her due date.  She was a huge help. Too big of a help really, because she was sick. :( We think she got food poisoning. She had one really bad day, and then the rest of the week she was really sensitive to food and motion and felt dizzy a lot. I felt so bad for her and frustrated with her! But she still did so much to help, and kept the kids happy and entertained. I don't mind painting, it's the getting started and finishing up that I struggle with. She's great at that, and honestly she did most of the in between part too.

The kids, patiently waiting for Mimi to get off the plane. 

I love Addie's sprint stance.

The night she got here we went to dinner at a buffet. (I don't like buffets, but this one exceeded my expectations.) We had to go here, because there was an arcade game that Garrett plays on my phone and on a previous visit to the mall where this restaurant is, Garrett spotted the game from the balcony and was so excited to see it. He asked if he could play and I told him yes. When we went downstairs to play it, I realized we had to pay for the buffet to get into the arcade and game area and it turned into a big frustrating mess. So I promised him we go back when Mimi was here. It was kind of like less trashy Chuck E. Cheese type place. Anyway, it was a lot of fun. And Garrett got to play the game as much as he wanted.

The next day we got painting. And that night Mimi babysat so Paul and I could go on a date.

I already covered Valentine's Day in the previous post, and that was the night my mom got sick, after Knott's. She also bought a Knott's pass so I hope that means she's coming out a lot this year to take the two older kids to the amusement park while I stay home with the baby. (Fingers crossed.)

After a couple of days of hard work, we went back to Knott's for a few hours one morning. This was the day that Addie decided she wasn't nervous to go on any of the kiddie rides by herself. She loved every bit of it and acted like it was nothing new. 

I didn't take a lot of pictures this week, because so much of it was spent in the same rooms painting, sanding, putting stuff together. It was a very productive week and I'm so thankful my mom was here. 

We tried some new styles on Addie's hair but she still prefers dirty, tangled, hanging in her eyes, over anything cute or practical. I'd take her for a cut, but I'm afraid it would require general anesthesia and a huge tip. 

She gives me a run for my money, but when I check on her at night before I go to sleep, I'm always overwhelmed with how much I love her. Both her and Garrett. Being their mom is my biggest blessing.