It was getting to be time to get the boys some new shoes. So I finally decided I had procrastinated enough and off we went to the shoe store. Evan had his feet measured and I pulled out several styles that I thought he might like (of course, they were ones I also liked–I’m not sure his sense of style is completely formed yet and we can’t have him picking out something completely horrible). He chose a nice pair of black and grey slip-ons. After explaining to him that slip-on shoes only meant you could slip them onto your feet without having to tie or velcro them and that it didn’t mean they would let you play slip-slide all over the floor more easily, he decided those were still his favorite and he wanted to get them. He asked if he could wear them so we paid for the shoes, did a couple more errands then came home. And then it happened. I was taking the shoe boxes (which now had the old shoes in them) out of the bag when I noticed the name of the shoe Evan had picked out. I couldn’t help but start laughing. Take a look at the picture and you’ll see why.
30 Aug 2007
Bye Bye Wonder Bread.
If you didn’t see the news on Wed., you may have missed the story that the owners of the Wonder Bread company are closing their 4 big bread bakeries in southern California. What does that mean, you ask. Well, they are saying some of our childhood favorites will no longer be available in local grocery stores. This includes Wonder Bread. Although I haven’t eaten Wonder Bread in a VERY long time (and we were more a Webber bread family, but we often had Wonder Bread at grandma’s house), I think I might still miss seeing it on the grocery shelves. There is just something happy about those primary colored dots on the white package. My kids have never even had Wonder Bread. And I guess that’s probably the issue. We eat whole grain wheat bread in our house and I suspect a lot of other people are learning that white bread just isn’t as nutritious? I’m not really sure, but because the bakeries are closing, some other items that the same company makes also won’t be on shelves anymore, including Roman Meal bread and Bakers Inn bread.
The good news is that they are keeping the 2 local cake bakeries, so we can continue to get all the Hostess Twinkies and Ding Dongs we can eat. Whoohoo!
29 Aug 2007
Car Accident and road closure.
Did anyone else see the road closure on Rancho Niguel this morning? I was heading to take my walk around the lake but the road was closed and there was a helicopter circling the area. All the police would say was that there was an accident. The road was still closed when we came home and when we went to the store, but I saw the CBS/KCAL news van in the area so I was hopeful they were going to cover the story. I’ve been watching KCAL9 this afternoon and they just ran the story. Apparently a man in a white car was speeding down the hill on Rancho Niguel (about 70+ mph) around 6:15 this morning and lost control of the car, swerved into the oncoming traffic lanes and then went over the embankment just before Del Cielo. His car landed on the backyard fence of one of the houses in Tampico. Unfortunately, the driver was killed instantly. The OC Sheriffs Dept. said they are investigating the accident but they found a baggie of white pills and a lot of cash in the car. No one knows if that means anything yet.
I feel awful for the driver’s family. I would not want to receive that phone call. Thank goodness no one on the ground was hurt or any other cars were involved too. The reporter said that if the car had gone about 10 more feet, it would have landed in the living room in the house. Below is a link to the story and pictures that the OC Register has about it. Let’s all say a little prayer for the family.
http://www.ocregister.com/news/car-ended-accident-1834792-niguel-inside
28 Aug 2007
My (wannabe) house.
So there is a neighborhood in my ward that I really like. I like the floorplans and the sizes of the rooms. I call it my realistic dream house, since my real dream house on lots of land for the kids to run on would be way too ridiculous in Orange County. Anyway, there is a house for sale in that tract right now that I really liked when I went to the open house. And they just lowered the price for the 2nd time!!! Do they have to keep twisting the knife? Agghh! Someday it will be the right time for us to move and I just need to keep trying to have a little faith that when that time comes, Heavenly Father will help me know it’s right.
OK, I’m done whining now.
Daddy’s home!
Yae! I just have to say that I am very excited that Jonny is home safe and sound from Boston. The boys were very glad to see him tonight, and I was especially thrilled to have 5 minutes alone on the computer after dinner while they all played together. It’s just nice to have some back up again.
27 Aug 2007
The good old days.
The boys have a toy bear that “talks”. I think I mentioned it in a post awhile ago. The boys really get a kick out of it. It says different phrases, then pauses and waits for you to respond. As you can imagine, this thing drives me crazy because it is loud and annoying, and also because it says the same things and sings the same songs repeatedly.
Well, one of questions it asks is “What is your favorite TV show?” The last time the bear asked this, Evan responded “Little Einsteins and Lawrence Welk Show.” Now, Little Einsteins was no big suprise to me since he begs to watch it every day and knows many of the episodes by heart. But how many 30 year olds, let alone 3 year olds, even know what the Lawrence Welk Show is and can call it their favorite? (For those that may not be up on their TV history, this was a variety show that aired back in the 50’s? 60’s and 70’s. There was a regular cast that did musical numbers, skits, dance routines etc. and Lawrence Welk was the Band Leader and head of the show.). Well, this show re-runs on PBS now and Jonny loves it and has a season pass set up on our TiVo for it. So Jonny and Evan like to watch this show together on Sundays. I think Evan particularly likes the singing. He gets excited when he hears the theme music start. So when Evan answered that Lawrence Welk Show was one of his favorites, I just wondered, was he born a little too late perhaps? Is he already longing for the good old days?
23 Aug 2007
Wild Animal Park
I took the boys on a day trip to the San Diego Wild Animal Park today. Evan kept asking if it was very far away while we were driving. I guess that’s his version of “are we there yet?” We went with my friends Cheryl D. and Jan C. and their kids. We all had a lot of fun, and the kids really enjoyed seeing all the animals. They all loved to see the rhinos, giraffes, zebras etc. on the safari ride. I haven’t been on that in years, and it was a lot of fun.
Seth is really funny and just can’t understand why he can’t do everything the big kids do. He absolutely thinks he’s as old and big as Evan. He wanted to run around with all the other kids so badly, but every time I let go of his hand, he took off into the bushes or in a different direction than the rest of us. Several times I had to have one of the older kids chase after him for me and grab him before he ended up who knows where.
At the end of the day I took the boys to the gift shop and let them pick out one toy each. Evan wanted a stuffed animal, and although he liked many of them, he ultimately chose a small pink flamingo. Although we only saw them for a minute today, he seems to love flamingos (do I have flamingo lawn ornaments in my future?). He loves them at Sea World too when we go there. I don’t really understand it (I would have chosen the lion or zebra animal myself) but if it makes him happy….
Here are some pics from our day. I’m learning some new photoshop tricks, so I thought I would try something new instead of just adding the pics in a row like I always do.
22 Aug 2007
Picture slacker.
I know I’ve been a picture slacker lately, and I’m sure the grandparents are waiting for some updates. I haven’t even had time to take very many lately, but here are a couple to tide you over (we’re going on a fun day trip tomrorrow, so there will be some cute ones after that I hope).
Evan got some vampire teeth in a birthday party goodie bag and was showing me how scarry he was.
Jonny’s cousin Jeff and his family visited from Utah last week, so of course we had to get our kids together for a picture. What a bunch of cuties!
Single motherhood.
God never gives us more than we can handle, right? Well, He must know that I would make a horrible single mother. Jonny is off again for another week of traveling. For someone whose job isn’t supposed to involve travelling, he sure has been gone a lot this year. The boys and I really miss him while he is gone. And you don’t realize what a wonderful refief it is for daddy to come home at the end of the day until he doesn’t. Even when it’s only a couple hours at night, it makes such a difference to have someone to share the load with.
My mom was a single mother for a long time when I was young and I don’t know how she did it. When I look at my boys and realize they are just a little older than my sister and I were when my parents split up, I just can’t believe it. The extra energy, patience, time and selflessness that it must take to raise children by yourself is amazing to me. I also have a good friend who is a single mom to her 3 little ones, and her oldest has a chronic health condition (check out the Cure JM link in my blogroll). She is able to juggle so many things, and her kids are all big sweethearts. I admire her more than I think she realizes.
I don’t know that I would be able to handle raising kids by myself very well. So to all the single mothers out there, or to the moms who have husbands that travel all the time, my hat is off to you. You are truly remarkable women.
20 Aug 2007
Is he too young to be obsessed?
Even at his young age, Evan has a few obsessions. Anyone that has spent time around him knows about his love of the movie “Cars”. He is also obsessed with babies. Every baby we pass at the store, in another car, on a walk etc. he just wants to go and give them a kiss and a hug and sqeeze their cheeks and play with them. This can sometimes make walking down the hallway at church a little challenging and I get some strange looks from the moms sometimes as I try to explain to Evan that he has to ask the mommy for permission before he just goes and starts kissing a baby.
Well, most people may not know he also seems to have an obsession with hair. And maybe it’s my own fault. He does get a lot of compliments on his hair, and strangers are coming up to us all the time and telling Evan and me how beautiful all his curls are. So maybe he equates beauty with hair? I wonder because he really likes when my hair is down. When my hair is down, he asks me, “Is your hair spread out?” and he gets excited when I say yes. If I ask him if he likes it when my hair is spread out, he answers yes. And whenever I put my hair up in a ponytail (which is a lot lately, especially in the hot summer) he asks me to spread my hair out. I find it amusing and hadn’t really thought too much about it until we cut Jonny’s hair this weekend. Jonny likes his hair short (cut with the clippers with a #1 guard). So afterwards, Jonny was sitting on the chair downstairs and Evan was asking Jonny about his hair was cut. He then told Jonny that hair is pretty when it’s long. So of course Jonny asked Evan if his hair was pretty now and Evan replied, “no.”
Well, that gave us a good laugh. But what does this imply for his future wife?
