First Week of Winter Break

 Winter Break....so far....total dud.  We had an assembly on Sunday, and as the day progressed, I watched my girls fade like wilted flowers. Sophie's eyes got droopier and droopier, and her cheeks redder and redder. Emma was a coughing, sneezing mess.  We had all been looking forward to going out for dinner, but ended up just wanting to get home...where they've stayed ever since. The 3 of us have been exchanging a nasty cough, which I'd be happy for them to not give back to me now that it's a bit better. Anyhow, cough, headache, earache, congestion, not sleeping....it's been a heck of a Winter Break.  We hope to get out to a post Star Wars party tomorrow night. ( A 2cd group of friends are seeing it and having dinner after, we are just doing dinner since we've already seen it)
Not much has been happening, so here's a few randoms -

 Cold mornings around here.

 It's amazing how much building goes on at our house, considering how NOT handy Brian and I are.

 I continue to be amazed every time I step out into this beautiful planet. Such vivid colors everywhere.

 Winter favorites = new boots, and new sweaters.

This little dude. Such an amazing being. There is something about ice skating that he loves.This was from last Friday when he skipped school, and I took him skating instead.  All kids love it, I know.  But....lets just say he has a pair of roller blades, and when he's home, they are what he wears for shoes.  We've cleared out the garage so that he can skate out there, but they are the first thing he puts on in the morning, and last to come off at night. So, when we can get him to the ice, he just loves it. There's something soothing and calming about it, as well as confidence building for him because he is so good at it.  His mind continues to mystify us, as well as his teacher. Over this winter break he began a series of tests and assessments that hopefully will give us some insight into that amazing brain of his.  You should have heard him today telling us what all he saw in the "ink blot" part of the IQ test.

Hope this week finds you all happy and healthy!

Pictures from Camera (I do exist!)

 Sometimes we get home from a trip and there is no photo evidence that I was even there. This happens more and more as I take more photos with my phone than my camera...and I'm pretty good at the selfie with my camera, but not my phone. Anyhow...behold. I do exist.

 We were there at the same time as a few of our friends, so we were able to meet up for a few hours.

 Sometimes the photos I snap quickly as we are walking end up being my favorite, like above.

 Myles was studying whales in school the week we went, so we had to get this picture.

 Holiday Small World....I kinda loved it! It's way, way more decorated on the inside, and the music is a mash up of Jingle Bells and It's a Small World. To me, it was a lot prettier than normal, less dead, or empty walls and spaces.

 Waiting to get on Splash Mountain, from the wrong side.

 Myles and I wind up with time alone when the older kids want to go on Indy, or Matterhorn. We can usually get a few rides in. We did cars, tea cups, and the old Mickey movies on Main Street, which he had never done.

 Waiting by the exit of Space Mountain for our turn to get on.

 You can kinda see that we are in a rocket on the side of the track. We slid over onto the track once we were all in.

A secret hallway! Both nights we were there, there was a candle light vigil going on for the holidays. This basically shut down the front of the park by Main Street Station. Coming into the park at night, they funneled incoming traffic down a tunnel/walk way that runs behind Main Street. It was pretty cool.

Right now, we are on Winter Break. Emma's ankle is much better, she has a little limp, but much better.  We are all sick with coughs and congestion and headaches, but hopefully we still have some fun over our 2 weeks off from real life!

Post #1001

Wowzers.....I wish this post was worthy of noting, but really....it's not. 
Although we are 30 minutes away from surprising the kids by taking them to see Star Wars with about 30 friends : ) That's kind of exciting.
Here's a few from the week, which I'm not going to edit for you, sorry - 

 We've had a couple mornings of intense fog!! This was the view from the field at school, looking at the school and playground.

 All that is currently hiding in my purse for tonight : )

 This was quite confusing, and entertaining for a minute : ) Sophie got a package in the mail...of chocolate milk. From Staten Island. No return address, or sender info.  After some asking....I'm pretty sure my dad sent it to her, although I'm still confused on if he did it on purpose, or if he meant to send it to himself?? Either way, she is thoroughly enjoying it.

 Sometimes, especially this time of year when it's cozier, I try to have the house clean, dinner ready, and lights lit when Brian gets home. A good house wife probably does this everyday....but that is something I've never claimed to be.  I've always been a fan of lighting lights if you have them, not waiting for special occasions or fancy dinners. So, once a week at least, we all sit down for a nice, cozy dinner. This night it was chili from the crock pot, and corn bread muffins. Not fancy, just cozy.

 This poor dude has had a rough few weeks. We came back from Disneyland to find he had pink eye. So after a week of eye drops....pink eye was gone, but his tummy was covered in hot spots - red, crusty, warm sores. He kept licking them, even with the cone, so I had to make him some undies to cover his tummy area.  It is important to remember to take them off before letting him out to go potty : (

 This guy picked out some fabric and sewing stuff to "hand sew" a pillow. He's really into using a needle and thread...but not always mindful of where the needles end up. He did indeed make a huge, super cool pillow.

 With Myles getting out an hour early due to conference schedule, and Emma being on crutches, we've been having to park at the middle school an hour early and wait (or else I can't get close enough to pick up Emma). This is his work desk set up in the truck, with some home work bribery going on, but it worked!

Ok, well, I'm off for a fun evening!!

Disneyland, 2015 - Trip 2

 So.....we were all packed up and ready to roll out of town at 3 p.m. on Friday. Then...Emma called crying that she couldn't walk and needed picked up from school. She had rolled her ankle during step aerobics in P.E. So, I unloaded the back of the truck (can't drive around town leaving luggage sitting in the bed), and we headed to Urgent Care...where she hobbled away 2 hours later on crutches with a sprained ankle. Back home to reload the truck, and eventually we got where we were headed for the weekend....

 Yes, the cars of Cars Land do actually drive the streets.

 Our first morning we ate breakfast at the Mary Poppins Cafe (end of main street, left hand side).

 This was actually heading home Sunday afternoon, a happy boy!

 Emma and I spent some time here while the rest of the crew walked thru the castle, but then they all got in on the action.

 

 She was a trooper.

 That's Ghirarhdelli salted caramel hot chocolate.

 So when in a wheelchair, you get to see all the alternate ways to get on a ride. This was Radiator Springs, the cars ride. You get to go a little bit further into the caverns, put in a car that they put into the rotation, so you have a separate on/off area and can go at your own speed.

 If you've never been to the park this time of year, it is really, really beautiful!

 We broke down on Small World right outside of it...where you can't hear the music, but you can watch the lights : ) Not a bad spot to be.

 BTW, those ears...anytime there is a show or parade going, his ears sync to the music, in both color, and rhythm. Pretty cool.

 Above, that's looking back into the ride at the end where the postcards are.

 Here's a look at the entire front of Small World.

 Rides that had a moving belt at the beginning and end were too difficult for her to navigate, so this is us waiting for the others to go on the Little Mermaid ride.

 That's a Matterhorn Macaroon.

 A very pretty, very yummy, raspberry filled 60th anniversary cupcake.

 Waiting for Space Mountain. So...the olden days of cutting in front of everyone by wheeling up the exit are gone....you now have to get a time to come back and wait in the wheelchair line, which in some cases is not faster at all. However, we went straight to the Peter Pan ride one morning and they said they were not giving out anymore wheelchair times to come back because they already had 200 scheduled for the day...but there were none there right at that time, so the put us right on. Score. Also, Space Mountain was cool because you get into a rocket that then slides over onto the track...and it's the new Star Wars Space Mountain, which was really cool. But...Emma realized she can't ride any fast rides because she would go to brace herself with her bad foot, so no Big Thunder, or CA Screaming.

 The first morning Emma insisted she could hobble the walk to the park....it was under a mile and took an hour. But, our walk goes through the Grand Californian, which is a beautiful hotel and has rocking chairs in front of an always burning fireplace, so she got to take a break.

 First morning. All smiles.

Blurry pic of what Brian put up with the whole way home...flashing lights in the car. : )

Ok, so these were the pictures from my phone, I'll post the camera ones in a future post.