Huntington Beach

I can't believe that it has already been a month since our trip to Huntington Beach in California! The kids love the beach and seem to have more fun each time we go. Danika and Kyler loved playing in the sand. They found huge shells and Kyler burried himself in the sand. Makenzie was our dare devil. She was always out in the ocean jumping big waves! Laynee did a little of both. All the kids liked playing in the water with daddy! Perfect weather too!

At one point, a wave tipped Laynee over. She was so upset because she didn't like the taste of the water. It was cute!

The kids have already asked when we can go back. I am so excited because we will be taking them to Mission Beach in October!

Getting behind a bit!

I had no idea that it would take me so long to get back to my blog! I beg your forgiveness! Let me explain...

First, we took a fun family vacation to Huntington Beach and Disneyland! We sent my birthday in Disneyland. I loved it. We all had a blast riding rides, visiting characters and eating at lots of neat restaurants. I will share lots of picture soon. Then, you know the usual list of chores that you come home to after vacation. Six people sure do make a lot of dirty laundry! And then there is the grocery shopping, unpacking and regular house work. This was made even more difficult since my parents came over the day after we got back (to celebrate my birthday) and we went out with friends the following night (more celebrating and repacking the kids for grandma's house). By Saturday, I was just plain exhausted. I slept in, slept through a movie with the kids, took a nap later and went to bed at 9.

Next, the kids started school this week past week. So we had to go to Open House at the school on Monday. This is not like any other Open House I have ever been to. It is stressful, crowded, irritating (why so much darn paperwork?!!!) and just plain chaotic! We had to bring so many school supplies for each of the 4 kids that we had to make multiple trips to the car in order to carry them all in. Crazy, right? And then I had to send the kids to their first day of school on Thursday. It is the first year that all of the kids are in school. Laynee is in Kindergarten, the twins are in 1st grade and Kyler is in 2nd grade. I am the super sappy mom that cried like a baby the day before school started, on the playground when I dropped them off and all the way home. I may cry all over again as I type this! I remember when they were all babies (4 in diapers at the same time!), I would dream about the day that I would "retire" and get to send them all to school. And now that the time has come, I desperately wish that they could be babies again.

Finally, my week became busier (and I cried some more) because the twins had their birthday on Saturday. They turned 6. How can that be right?!!! 6???? All day long I kept thinking "I remember exactly what I was doing at this moment 6 years ago." I remember it like it was yesterday! So we started the festivities on Friday. I brought cupcakes to school. (The day before I make 6 dozen ice cream cone cupcakes. I learned a very important lesson: When the directions say to only fill the cones half way- they really do mean it. So I had to toss 2 dozen cupcakes that oozed batter everywhere and had to send my hubby out for more cones.) On Saturday, their actual birthday, we had an entire day of fun. We made pancakes for breakfast. We opened a whole ton of presents (I think I went a wee over board.). We gave them everything they needed to redo their room to make it more of a big girl room. Since they couldn't agree on a theme (The twins are nothing alike.) we went with half the room in a ballet theme (Makenzie) and half of the room in a rock star theme (Danika). Then we went out to lunch, the bookstore and to make pottery. Finally, we went to dinner with their grandparents and home to open a ton more presents.

The rest of this week doesn't look any less chaotic. I have 2 doctor appointments, Kyler has an orthodontist appointment, Laynee's birthday is on Wednesday and all the girls are having a swimming birthday party on Saturday. Wowzer!

I have our beach pictures edited and ready to share. I started on the Disney ones (but it will take a while to finish since I took over 700 pictures). So as soon as things slow down a bit- I will share them with you.

Dance Portraits

I just got the girls' dance portraits and I am pretty happy with how they turned out. The girls are so cute in their costumes! The cat costumes are for their tap dance and the yellow costumes are for their musical theater number.Makenzie

Laynee

Danika

Dance Recital

The girls had their dance recital a couple of weeks ago. It was very cute! It was all done in a Disney theme. The girls are in 2 classes- so they had 2 different performances. They did a tap dance to "Everyone wants to be a Cat" from the Aristocats. And then their Musical Theater class sang and dance to Zippity Doo Dah. The girls had so much fun! We took them to the salon to have their hair done. I wanted them to feel as special as I think they are. Aren't they pretty?

LOVE this one of Makenzie..

Laynee sure is looking grown up...

After the recital...

I think she liked the flowers...

We went to Olive Garden to celebrate...

Excellent day!

Family Bowling Night

Kyler has been asking to go bowling for a while now. He was wanting to earn his bowling belt loop for boy scouts. So we made a family night of it and went last weekend. We are terrible bowlers (me especially) but we had a blast!

Here is my litter scout, who will be getting that belt loop!

I must be the worst bowler ever. On my last game, I actually finished with a 26. And no- that is not a typo. All of the kids beat me by a long shot! So here is my picture after I hit a pin or two. Very exciting! And the people in the next lane were getting a laugh out of my game as well!

Scott was much better than me- but that doesn't say much! lol He beat Laynee by about 8 pins, I think!

Look at this pic of Danika and just remember how happy she looks...

Laynee prooved to be a pretty good bowler! At one point, she got 2 strikes in a row!

Remember happy Danika? Well, this is Danika after she realized that the only person she was beating was mommy...

She is a very competitive little thing. Playing Wii for her always ends in tears!

All and all, we had such a good time with lots and lots of laughs!