Trader Joe's and Monkey Munch

Wednesday after Jenna's doctor appt. (yes, she was sick again), we went to Trader Joe's. We LOVE that store. We got a delicious watermelon, blueberries, cheese, crackers, juice, and some other things. It is so nice to finally have one here. We would drive down to Chico every once in a while just to go to the Trader Joe's there. I can't wait to go back again.

Thursday after dinner, Jacob, Jaron, Jenna and I made Monkey Munch. We saw it while watching Jon & Kate plus 8. Jaron asked me to make it for him. I found the recipe and we bought the rest of the things we needed. The kids had a great time making it and licking the bowl after we were done.

Our Week

Well, it has been a crazy week around here. Jaron woke up at 3 in the morning on Tuesday and got sick. I kept him home that day. Then, Wednesday he woke up with pink eye. We sent him to school anyway because there was no discharge and that night was their concert. We received a call pretty soon after I dropped him off and had to go back and pick him up. I felt horrible for sending him. He missed the concert. We were all pretty bummed. To make it up to him, we went out to dinner and let Jaron pick the restaurant. He picked Hometown Buffet. Not my first choice, but it is where Jaron wanted to go. After dinner we walked through Target. We kept Jaron home on Thursday and Friday, too. Just to be safe. Jenna woke up from her nap on Thursday with pink eye.

Yesterday, Jaron and Jenna wanted popsicles. We went outside and had one. I took some pretty cute pictures of them.

After dinner last night, we went into Cottonwood, because every Friday night, they have a farmer's market. It was starting to close when we got there, so we were not impressed. We will try it again in a couple weeks.

This morning, Jacob called me on his way home to see if we wanted to go to the Strawberry Festival. We made it there just in time for the pancake breakfast. The pancakes were delicious and we, of course, had strawberries and whip cream on them. We then walked around for a bit and looked at the different things for sale. Then, Jacob was still hungry, so we got a couple hamburgers to share. They were really good, too. We came home and Jacob went to bed and the kids and I played. We tried to take a nap, but they weren't cooperating.

Jenna is still going potty. When we were at the festival, she told me she had to go. I told her to go in her pull-up, but she said no. I took her to a bathroom and she went. She is totally potty trained now. What a big girl!

Here are a few more pictures I took this week that I wanted to share.

Still going strong

Jenna is still doing great with the potty training. She woke up this morning with a dry diaper. First thing she did was walk into the bathroom. I took her diaper off, sat her on the potty, and she went. She has been going all day without any accidents. It is totally her personality that she would just decide one day that she wants to potty train and then just do it. She knows what she wants and when she wants it. I don't know where she gets it from. Jacob thinks she takes after me!

She's a big girl

Jenna was sick over the weekend. She got sick on Saturday night. She started to feel better yesterday. Before putting her in the bath, I always sit her on the toilet to get her used to sitting on it. I have been in no hurry to potty train her. Anyway, I sat her on the toilet yesterday before her bath, and she went! I told her when she was feeling better we would put her big girl panties on her a she could potty train. This morning when I got home from helping in Jaron's class, she wanted to put her big girl panties on. She has been using the potty all day. She hasn't even had any accidents. We are so proud of her. She is so cute, she knows she is a big girl now. When she took her nap, I put a pull-up on her. She woke up and it was still dry. So, she sat on the potty and she went again. It's kind of sad how fast she is growing up, but it will be nice to finally be done with diapers.

Our Garden is Growing

We finally finished our garden on Wednesday. We had the soil delivered that afternoon. We got really good soil. It is organic. Jacob shoveled it into a wheelbarrow and dumped it in the box. I leveled the soil with a rake. Jaron and Jenna helped, too. Then, we went up to town to buy our plants. We planted 6 tomato plants, 2 beef steak, 2 Roma, and 2 grape. We also planted 3 strawberry plants, 12 cilantro plants, 2 jalapeno peppers, 1 green bell pepper, 1 red bell pepper, zucchini, cucumbers, onions, and carrots. We also put a fence up around it so the animals can't get to the plants. I can not wait until we get that first tomato. I love home grown tomatoes. It is so fun to water everything in the evenings. I am so excited we finally have a garden.

Open House

Last night at Jaron's school was open house night. They also had a spaghetti dinner served in the cafeteria. We got there a little after 5 and ate dinner. It was really good. They had spaghetti, salad, bread sticks, and a cookie. It was all really pretty good. After we ate, we looked at Jaron's artwork that was on display in the cafeteria. Jaron's picture is the gray and green butterfly.

There was also a book fair in the cafeteria. Jaron wanted to get a Star Wars book. It is a chapter book. He started reading it last night when we got home. After the book fair, we went into Jaron's classroom. He was really excited to show us his work. Jenna really enjoyed looking at all the critter's that are in the classroom. They have ladybugs, lizards, 2 chicks and a duck. It is such a fun classroom. We are really going to miss it next year. Mrs. Ritter told us to go check out some of the 1st grade classrooms. It was a little scary for us. It is so sad how fast Jaron and Jenna are growing up.

We're back from vacation

Last Wednesday we left for vacation. We headed to Arizona for Jacob's Aunt Ada's 50th Birthday party. We left around 8:30 am on Wednesday. We stopped for lunch in Lathrop. We ate at Carl's Jr. Then after we were done eating we took the kids to Ghirardelli for ice cream sundaes. They were delicious.

After having ice cream, we got back in the car and headed toward Los Angeles. We wanted to try to make it to Medieval Times for dinner. We got caught in LA traffic and couldn't make it. So we drove south of LA to spend the night in a hotel. We ended up staying at a Holiday Inn in Diamond Bar. It was a really nice one. We ordered room service for dinner and breakfast. We left the hotel around 10 am. We stopped at a Dinosaur exhibit in Cabazon. The kids had so much fun. Their was a gift shop inside the Brontosaurus and you can climb all the way to the top of the T-Rex and look outside. Jaron and Jenna also dug for rocks in the Dino Dig. If you find a rock with a dinosaur name on it, you win a prize. We also looked for gemstones.



Then we got back in the car and drove to Mesa, Arizona. We arrived at Jacob's Aunt's Rosie and Terry's house around 5 pm. The kids did so good in the car. Jaron and Jenna warmed up to Rosie and Terry in no time. They made themselves right at home. Jacob's brother, sister-in-law, and nephew got into town on Friday just in time for lunch. We decided to go to the Cracker Barrel. It was so good. Jacob, Jaron, Jenna, and I did a little shopping after lunch. We went to a mall. The mall had a Lego store. Jaron has been wanting Lego's for a long time, so we got him some. He loves them!

Saturday, Jacob's parents, his brother's family and us went to a souvenir store to get some goodies for the kids. Then we headed to another mall. It was a pretty good mall. I got the kids some clothes from The Children's Place. They were having a big sale. We all met back for lunch. We went to the Rainforest Cafe. The food was ok, but the atmosphere was awesome. The kids loved it.

After shopping and lunch we went back to Terry and Rosie's house to rest a little before Aunt Ada's birthday party. Ada's birthday party was a Hawaiian theme. I got the kids dressed in their Hawaiian outfits and we went to the party.

It was at a really nice house with a beautiful backyard. They had an in ground pool and a nice outdoor kitchen. The dinner was delicious. They even had a whole roasted pig.


There were also Hawaiian dancers. They were very entertaining. They even pulled Ada and Rosie up to learn some dance moves. The man also did a dance with fire. It was so awesome.

We decided to head back home on Sunday morning. We left Arizona around 9 am and arrived in LA around 4:30. We decided to go to the Pirate's Dinner Adventure in Buena Park. The doors opened at 5:30. We went in and they had appetizers. The show actually starts in the lobby. They bring some audience members on stage. Then pirates attack and kidnap the princess. Then there are 6 different pirates and each have a different colored section. The pirate leads you to your section. We had the purple pirate. He was hilarious. He was kinda goofy and very funny.

After the show, Jaron wanted to have his picture taken with the purple pirate. Jenna and I took a picture with the princess, but Jenna was being shy. Jaron also took a picture with the bad pirate. It was an amazing show. We loved it. One of the best parts was watching Jaron and Jenna watch the show. They were so cute to watch. They just stared with big wide eyes. So cute!

After the show, we drove to Valencia and stayed in a hotel. We left Monday morning and got home around 10 pm. We had so much fun. We are so proud of Jaron and Jenna for being good in the car. It is so nice to be home now.