BYU

"We went to THE REAL BYU!" (Quote from Addysin) a couple days ago. The kids were really excited! It's fun to be around college students for some reason. Makes me feel young-er. I love reminiscing on my short lived college days. I was married at 20 and had Addysin at 21. But that was enough time to enjoy it :) being there also reminded me how I never dated and half the time had roommates I didn't connect with. Aaaaannnnyyyyyyways... I love church schools!

Addysin got a CTR ring and Caiden got a little football player figurine. We wouldn't buy him a helmet like he wanted. Jocelyn didn't want anything.... Except to sneakily open a candy bar at the checkout and attempt to eat it. 

Jocelyn's safe haven

I went to check on the kids sleeping and I find Jocelyn awake in Caiden's bed petting his hair. I asked her what she was doing and she said "I scared" with a pathetic face. I said "no you're not" because she has learned from the older two that that's what you say when you don't want to go to bed. She replied "yes I are!" I ran to get my camera and she apparently thought I was going to leave her there because when I came back she was still stroking his hair. This isn't the first time I have found her there. Here is last week...
(BTW Caiden likes to sleep in his undies. We put him to bed with his jammie's on, I promise.)

Daily happenings around here

San Diego Padres Baseball

Fathers Day!

La Jolla

I have grown a love for the ocean! I didn't even like he ocean three months ago. I know- weird. We went to La Jolla on Sunday evening. There is a beach covered in sea lions that is ropes off. Then we walked around. We found this fun tree that the kids played on.

Caiden's new look

I cut Caiden's hair. I love his hair- it has wavy curls so it looks good grown out and I only have to cut it 3-4 times a year! I hate cutting boys hair.

Before

And he lost his first tooth! Goodbye cute  baby smile :( yes, his permant one came through at least 2 weeks before the baby fell out! And it literally fell out. He wouldnt let me pull it. This morning I saw that it was hanging by a thread. I asked him if I could pull it out. He freaked out. I told him he was going to swallow it if he didn't take it out. I persuaded him to just put two fingers on it and told him it would fall out. And it did. He was amused that he didn't feel anything.  I CANNOT BELIEVE he didn't swallow it in his sleep!

 He's really excited about his new look. He can't wait to show Addysin and his friend Marshall. The funny thing is he HATES haircuts but I told him it would be awesome with his new smile. He followed me around the house this morning until I  cut his hair.

Slacker

I fail at staying updated on my blog. This is one of 20 reasons why I don't. I don't know why I'm smiling in this picture. I LOVE Dillon to pieces, but he makes me hold him a little too often. He has been teething for months and still hasn't broken any through. He's so sweet.... But I can't get things done very fast with him!

San Diego Padres Baseball

Coolest, best, fanciest baseball stadium ever!

Home Depot

My new favorite store. Just call me "Debbie". My favorite time to go? From 9pm-10. Two words... No kids. Chris hates it when I run out the door at 9:00pm. I love it. FREEDOM! It's only 5 minutes away!

On the other side of the fence

Oh..... Hey Mexico! 

This was a picture I took when I was walking  one morning just a mile south of our house. That hillside is Tijuana, Mexico!! We live in the city of Chula Vista but we try not to tell people that. Old Chula Vista is scary. We live in a very new and nice area called Eastlake/Otay Ranch (pronounced o-tai). 10 years ago, this area was all dirt. And it's a big area(mile wise) not just a neighborhood. I wish we were our own city! The reason we chose to live here is that the houses are much more affordable than the rest of California. It might have something to do with the "Chula Vista" in our address. BUT I promise you that it is very nice here and anybody would love it!

When I was growing up in pasco, Wa there were a lot of Hispanics. Our schools were over 50%. Here in California, the % is even higher- plus there are other races. There are a lot of Phillipinos and quite a few African Americans. Growing up, there were Caucasians and Mexicans. Just a little diversity. And then we moved to Utah where there is no diversity at all- with ethnicity or religion. I really love Utah and I would be happy if we ever lived there again, but it's great for my kids to see diversity. We are the minority here. I'm guessing Addysin's school is less than 25% Caucasian. Well, we do live 5 miles from the Mexico border.

Addysin has made a friend here that she really likes. Her name is Miriam. She is in Addysin's class and they ride the bus together (and sit together). I've seen her when I drop Addysin off in the morning and she is a super cute girl. The one tiny problem is Miriam doesn't speak English- haha! Yesterday morning, when Addysin got to school, Miriam greeted her with, "Hi Amiga!" Addysin has been begging to have her over. We'll see what happens there. Addysin has also been begging me to buy a computer program to learn Spanish (like the Rosetta Stone program). I think it would be a great idea for our family to learn. We have the advantage of Chris already knowing so he could help. I know it's hard because I tried in high school for two years so I'm not jumping on the band wagon very fast.

The school has Spanish immersion but it has to be started in kindergarten. We signed up Caiden for the coming year but he might not get in. I'm hoping! Addysin is so jealous. Caiden is very smart academically so that would be good for him. I'm worried he is too smart for kindergarten.

Addysin reminds me once a week that California used to be Mexico. She loves that. A couple years ago when we lived on the farm, our next door neighbors were Mexican and their English wasn't very good. That's when Addysin became obsessed with Spanish. She told me one day (when she was about 4 or 5) that when she dies she is going to be Mexican and speak Spanish. Whatever your heart desires, little one.

Addysin's Bible stories

Addysin spent $5 of her own to buy a bible stories app. I was happy that's the app she wanted to buy! She has listened to all of the stories over and over. Caiden never does, but he got trapped into listening on the way back from Costco.
As Addysin and Caiden were listening and watching on the iPad, I hear Caiden say in fright,
"I don't want to get resurrected and get nails in my body!"
He was so scared because he knows we are all going to get resurrected and he thought that was part of it. I told him that Jesus was crucified and thankfully we will not have to do that.

The helper

Addysin is so smart. She loves to write and draw. I constantly find her sketches around the house and it makes me smile. This time she had written this for the babysitter to help her out. All her idea:)

Sickies

My poor babies. Dillon truly had the worst croup without having to be hospitalized, then Jocelyn caught the cold. When she gets colds, she gets ear infections. She WILL NOT take amoxicillin so I don't take her in to the dr anymore. And I just learned that something like 80% of ear infections go away on their own.
She has been in pain the last 3 nights. Last night was AWEFUL!! Then today her ear burst when she sneezed and all the liquid came out- hallelujah!! So now she's feeling better.
We've had sickness in our family for a month. Let's see if we can be done for a while.

Beach day #2

Our first day here was spent at the beach. My house was a real life nightmare so we left it. I have been so busy that we haven't gone back until today, 3 1/2 weeks later :/ The kids love the beach. It gives me such bad anxiety but I love the sand! I hate the huge never ending waves! I'm a river and lake person. I forgot to take pictures of the kids playing. It was adorable. Jocelyn slept the entire time in the stroller. One less to watch :) we went with our friends Roby and Brittany Clyde. Afterwards, we rushed home to wash the sand off the kids and went to their house for dinner. Summer all year. I love it. We'll see how much I like it at Christmas time :(

Addysins first day... Again

Addysin has had 5 first days at new schools since she started kindergarten a year and a half ago. She is always so excited and I'm the nervous and emotional one. I didn't cry this time! I'm getting better at this. We've been here 3+ weeks and she is just now starting because she was sick the first week and then the school had a two week spring break. So the big day FINALLY came. She's been out of school for 2 days shy of 4 weeks!
We live a couple blocks from our school but it's full- of course... So Addysin has to ride a bus from the school next to us to her new school. She is sooooooooooo excited about riding a bus! She doesn't care that she has to make all new friends next year when she starts attending her real school. I asked her what her favorite part of her day was and she said "riding the bus home." Did she have a bad day? Nope, she just loved the bus that much. I guess it's like a free carnival ride.
When I took her into her classroom, she was so excited, super anxious, and shy (as always). We were in the room when the students started coming in. She was standing beside me and as more and more kids filed in, she slowly hid behind me. It was really cute.
*Shocker* She has to be on the bus at 7:45!!!!! School starts at 8:15. Her last school started at 9:15 so we never ever woke up before 8:00. Our new waking time is going to be 6:45-7ish. Ah- I hate mornings! I'm too much of a night owl to go to bed before midnight!

Naptime

Jocelyn's naps are disappearing :( sad times. But she goes to bed much better and earlier at night when she hasn't had a nap. So it's a toss up. As I'm laying here with her to get her to take a nap, I told her to close her eyes. Now she is the eye patrol. She just watches me, waiting for me to open my eyes so she can say, "close your eyes Mom!"

Croup

Dillon has it. It is so sad to see a helpless baby so sick! He breathes fast and it's shallow and I can hear crackling in his lungs. His cry is so soft and muffled. And he moanes all day, not even a full cry. But he also sleeps a lot. He just passes out all the time. And he hardley eats. I was so engorged the first day and now I feel empty. I hope I don't lose my milk! He had a low fever off and on for 2-3 days. I think he is getting better today. He still seems the same, but he was smiling this morning for the first time this week. That's got to mean something good!
Amy was here Monday night- Friday morning while Greg was out of town. What a blessing!!! We got some more of the house unpacked. I spent a lot of time with Dillon and it was so nice to have a second "me" to take care of the other kids.

Jocelyn these days

Jocelyn is exactly 2 1/2. She likes to scowl for fun and laughs afterwards. She also likes to be disobedient. She is mischievous. If she sees you do something, she is going to do it. If you ask her not to, she tries to do it as fast as she can before you can stop her.

Sickness

I was thinking we would get sick less in San Diego because of the absence of winter. Well we have started our new lives with a bang. I got a sinus infection our second day here. Caiden and Jocelyn have a stomach bug. Jocelyn threw up twice last night. Today Caiden has the runs.
"Uh oh, I pooped my pants."
"Oops, I pooped my pants again."
"Mom, you know why I have dia-wea? Because Dillon won't stop cwying!"
Neither one of them are very sick, so that's great. Just no appetites.
BTW- I haven't been so tired day after day after day after day.... in a long time.

We've arrived in San Diego

...and if you wanted to torture me, this is the way to do it. The rest of the house looks a gazillion times worse than this. The furniture isn't even in the right places. It is chaos. I had a really hard time getting here yesterday and got here 3 hours after Chris. Him and his friends (bless them for helping) didn't have guidance when they unpacked the truck and so far I've never had a worse moving in experience. I honestly truly don't know how I'm going to unpack, especially with the kids. I feel defeated. I'm going to take a nap.... Or go to the beach.

Caiden's big news

"Mom, guess what? I have a girlfriend but I don't kiss her on the lips. We hold hands when we are playing at school and pretend we are going on a date. Her name is Reagan and she doesn't talk like any other human being. She talks kinda like a baby. She's cute. She likes the Seahawks, the broncos, and BYU."
All of this information was happily shared with me and Chris as we asked him questions. He concluded by saying, "you should come to my preschool and see her."
Preschool.
Oh my goodness!!
We are going to have problems. It doesn't help that Caiden is so good looking. Even if he doesn't chase the girls, they will be chasing him.
His friend friend Tyce, behind him in the picture, said "ewe!!" Yes, that is ewe Caiden. You are 5!!!

Favorite quote of the week

We started moving boxes out of the storage rooms and into the garage, preparing for our big move. That is literally all we had done and there was a mess all over the house from regular, daily life. Addysin then replies "our house is starting to look empty... (sigh…)"
I think she's been waiting to use that line, and apparently couldn't wait any longer. 😄

Sent from my iPhone

A Sad Day

I just sold one of my favorite possessions. The first baby thing we ever bought. Our crib. Actually my mom bought it for us. I'm about to cry. Really. I didn't sell it for the money... But the $450 is awesome. I sold it because 1) we're moving long distance 2) we might not have a baby girl for 5 years... Or ever again! 3) it will sit in the garage taking up space. A lot of space. 4) I could sell it in Utah (the Capitol of babies) for the most money and the easiest 5) we have a neutral crib that will work for either gender. Yes, we had 2 cribs.

I can remember so vividly when I saw it. We had walked around the entire crib section at babies r us. I didn't see anything I liked, then BAM! There it was. I hesitated because it was so girly but my mom said "let's do it!" And that she would buy it. It was the greatest gift and I've cherished it, but we need to simplify. We have A LOT of stuff! If we were settled in our permanent home out in the country, I would build a shed to store this kind of stuff. But we're not there.

I feel sick........