Welcome to our World

On the Friday night before Girl Scout day camp Hubby got a phone call from our renters saying the water heater in our old house failed and had flooded the basement.  He had to leave Dads' poker night early and go try to help clean up the mess.  By Monday (the day he left for Boy Scout camp) I had to take over the clean up process & be there for the new water heater install.  The carpet had mildew and I hired professionals to come take out what needed replaced: dry wall, base boards, part of the double doors and all the carpet & padding.  At least the renter was nice to me and set my children (everyone except M, who was at GS day camp) up in front of Cars 3 on Netflix for me while I talked to him and the trades. On Tuesday we went to GS camp (everyone except K, who begged to spend time with Gma instead) and my mom watched the children while I went and picked out new carpet and padding at Carpet Masters & got on their schedule to install (which ended up b...

K wouldn't let us take any pictures of her the day of her impressive recital so I was very glad I had already paid for the professional photos.  Below is a picture of her fan club, three of whom say they want to start dancing at her studio too!  I knew K was nervous and I was so happy for her when she pulled it off perfectly that I literally had tears in my eyes.  I couldn't have been a happier momma in that moment. D went to the 2 day Cub Scout day camp at our church again with me spending one of the days as a volunteer.  It was kind of funny that the 3 moms in charge of the 16 Webalos that day all shared the same last name!  While D was at day camp, M got to play with her friend, A., from her class at school.  We also had the Activity Days girls over to watch "The Greatest Showman," picked up more glasses at Target (before it was set fire and closed down for weeks!), and D had another cello lesson. We also had great fun celebrating Hubb...

Imagine 40 people in matching shirts going around Disneyland and all those Fast Pass lines together. It was amazing!  I'm telling you, that Max Pass is worth the extra money, especially if you're part of a large group.  Bonus: it was D's real birthday and he got to spend it with cousins and aunts and uncles and ride amazing rides like Indiana Jones for the first time with them.  We had a marvelous time.  Beach days with cousins are fantastic too and later a day at Disney's CA Adventure was pretty much perfection.  I now forgive Disney for changing my favorite ride (Tower of Terror) to Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout because M loves it now too.  (I wouldn't let N ride it even though she was tall enough b/c it had made M cry when she was the same age.)  I made a slideshow to share with my parents on Father's Day when they were over for dinner but it was 38 minutes long so I won't post it here.  But a few of my favorite photos include: ...

Happy birthday early to my favorite son!   D wanted to keep his birthday party simple:  play with friends and watch a movie.  Once he decided on a Harry Potter film we sent out the invites.  I let him invite everyone he wanted, thinking only half the boys would be able to come.  (D actually ended up leaving his baseball game early to get ready for the party.)  Most of his friends could come so we ended up with prepping a party for 16 boys!  What do you do with 16 boys for that long?!? Quidditch.  The answer is quidditch.  6 hula hoops and 18 pool noodles from the dollar store; marker discs, 3 dodge balls (these modern ones are nice — way less painful — I tested them on Danny and a neighbor!), and 6 head wraps from Target; 6 construction comes, 6 t joints and 3/4” pipe, and rebar from Home Depot. Whew! At least we already owned a volleyball!  Sorting hat and brick wall for Platform 9 &  3/4 borrowed from a friend sorted the ...