Blue and Gold

My sister-in-law is the cub scout leader and she goes all out for pack meetings. We had a western theme for blue and gold this year:

We had dutch oven chicken and potatoes, salad, rolls, lemonade and s'mores for dessert.

Amber's wanted

And Christian

And Lyssa

We had a yummy dinner followed by impromptu skits and awards. I didn't get to stay because I was in charge of YW that night, but I heard it was fun. We hit the ground running when we got back from vacation. Valentines parties, 3 book clubs, I was in charge of preschool, snowmobiling with the Kendalls and going out to see I am Number Four, and planning Amber's birthday party. We took today off and are spending it inside sleeping. Sometimes I am grateful for snow keeping us stuck inside.

Disneyland

Lyssa, Lindsey and me on California Screamin'. Lyssa is way cooler than me. This was her favorite ride and she went on it 6 times. It goes from 0-55 mph in 4 seconds, then pretty much straight up, straight down and a loop later on. Pretty wild!

Shootin' it up at Midway Madness. Christian's faces are so much like his dad it makes me laugh.

Amber and Lyssa getting ready to shoot some 3-D butts.

3-D glasses. This was the longest we ride we waited for--40 minutes.

World of Color--Scott almost cried.

The kids got a kick out of how Pluto signed their books.

Amber, Lyssa, Mickey, Megan and Tyler

Livi and I on Soarin' over California. I loved it! Scott took her on Tower of Terror (Christian's favorite ride) while I wasn't around. She survived, but I was mad. My poor baby!

Teacups

More teacups

Sleeping Beauty castle

Mickey and the fam

Soran, Scott and Minnie

BEST VACATION EVER!!!

We met Michael and Lindsey and kids at Disneyland and spent a fantastic 3 days. Hard to top. Things of note: if Amber says she doesn't want to ride don't take her, fork over the $8 for the turkey leg so Scott doesn't regret not getting one, we hit almost every ride at both parks, partied until the kids fell asleep on the stroller. Thanks for all the fun memories and letting us stay at your house.

BEACH!

Our family footprints

Mermaid (kind of) Soran

Livi and her stick

Alyssa on the verge of hypothermia

Amber's trying not to get too submersed

I wanted to drive straight to the beach, but the kids wanted to go to the hotel and go swimming in the pool. Go figure. But they had never been to the ocean before so they didn't know what they were missing. When we got there the next day they loved it! We played for about 4 hours and they could have stayed longer. The water was freezing (not that Alyssa cared--she was wave surfing) but the sun was perfect. We laid out and soaked it up. I could have stayed there forever.

There were a lot of seagulls and Soran kept throwing chips at them so they would come close and then Livi would run through the middle of them swinging her stick and scattering them. Probably a good thing, though. There were so many I think they could have carried Soran away. Christian and Amber spent a lot of time finding shells and making an oyster tower. And Scott and I just laid around and thought how perfect it was for February and who could we call and brag to.

On the road again

Anything to keep the kids busy, right?


Acrobat show at Circus Circus


Getting ready to watch the show

Once we bought our tickets time slowed down. Scott and I didn't tell the kids we were going to Disneyland and it was really hard to keep quiet. We would lay in bed at night and talk about how much fun it was going to be and get ourselves so excited we lost a lot of sleep. A week before we were supposed to leave the weather dropped down to the 20s so I told him we were leaving earlier and staying at a hotel. I couldn't stand to be missing out on 50 degree warmer weather.

The kids went to school on Monday and after dinner was over Scott told the kids we were going to Dairy Queen so go hop in the car. We drove for about 45 minutes before Alyssa started asking where we were going. He said to get ice cream. She said why didn't we just go to the one by our house? Then he told the kids we were going to Disneyland. They didn't believe him. It took us almost a full 5 minutes to convince them that was where we were going. I was laughing so hard. I had him record it because I had this vision of the perfect Disney commercial where the kids get so excited, tell their parents how much they love them, etc. I'm glad we recorded it anyway because it was pretty funny.

We stayed the night with Uncle Kelly and Brie (thanks guys) and then stopped in Vegas for lunch and a show at Circus Circus. And then finally on our way to sunny California!

Siblings

Livi and Soran watching a scary movie.

The Chocolate Touch (I remember reading that in 3rd grade)

Lyssa reading Thumbelina to Amber

I love that my kids love reading and I love that they love each other! It has been a freezing winter and they have learned to enjoy reading more being stuck inside. They also have to read an hour a day for school this month and they are constantly asking me for new books. The library is my best friend!
Scott had his birthday yesterday. It wasn't very exciting as he had 4 hours of meetings in the evening and I just took him to lunch. I usually try to take him somewhere out of town but this year we're holding off a week and then taking the kids to Disneyland! I love tax returns! We are finally paying off our store and our credit cards and will be debt free (except for student loans which we don't have to pay for a year). It's a great accomplishment and so we're going to celebrate.
I am so excited to take the kids. We haven't told them, we're just going to hop into the car and go. Scott and I can barely go to sleep at night thinking about it. And I am sooo ready for some California sunshine!

Pinewood Derby

Pinewood Refreshments

Christian and his car

The anticipation at the finish line

Christian had his first Pinewood Derby. Scott decided it would be cool to shape it like the light cycles in the movie Tron. He tried to show the kids what he was talking about but the movie was just too long and boring. But they did a light cycle anyway. And it actually ran pretty well! Christian helped with the sanding and painting and had a lot of fun racing it. And he looks so cute in his scout shirt!
Lyssa and I couldn't stay too long to watch, though, because she had a ballroom competition. It was a short one (only 3 hours) and was a lot of fun to see her dance 4 times. She won a medal for Top Technique and their school won the trophy for best overall. She has really improved and now Scott and I need her to give us lessons.
Amber was just made Super Sentinel for the month, also. That means all our kids have had that honor this year.