Todd's birthday

June 30th was Todd's birthday and it was so much fun! That afternoon we went over to the mall and had fun with the kids. In the evening we went out with friends. We all met at the restaurant Buca Di Beppo, so good! Then we went to a comedy club and the best comedian was the host but it was a fun night.

He's 32 now, an old man, haha. I still can't believe how time has flown, I met Todd when he just turned 26. He kept saying how the night was planned perfectly and everything ran smoothly, no problems and everyone was having a good time, I learned that from him being efficient and time management. But those things are at the bottom of the list of the things I've learned from him, at the top of the list is long suffering and personal control, I can't even start with the examples of those things to show you how great of a man he his, not just a husband but a father. I love you babe and I'm so glad you enjoyed your birthday!

June 18-29

I signed us all up for swimming lessons, all four of us. For two weeks, ten days at 6:30 we went to the Intermediate school and took Parent/Child lessons. Honestly if I knew now what I knew then I would have never done it, all we did was swim, which duh but the instructor wasn't really instructing. We blew bubbles the second day, by day 5/6 the kids were sitting on the side sliding into the pool, day 9 was safety day and they wore vests. The good thing was we spent time as a family and the kids got used to the water super fast. We could have done it in our pool at home but it helped that it was a commitment that we paid for, ha, so it forced us to be in the pool everyday. Now Lauren can swim by herself with her PuddleJumper, and A.J. can jump in all by himself. On day ten they got certificates and we were happy to be done!

                                          Day 2 

                                          


                                           Last day of class

                                       
                                           Their certificates

                                        

Going stir crazy

Our pool isn't heated until Memorial Day and the wading pools at the park don't start till the end of June, so with my stir crazy kids I put out a little wading pool in the back. They loved it for a couple of weeks then they were over it but by then our pool was ready to swim in. The "pool" is actually meant for their ball pit but I taped the hole up in the bottom because the manufacturers were trying to out do me but with my tape I saved the beginning of summer.

Garden update

A few months back I took pictures of my overgrown garden and patio, horrible, no place for the kids to play. So this was my plan, cover all the dirt and I'm ALMOST done, I know, I know, my patio is tiny so why is it taking so long, good question. I'm not going to answer it. ;) The first step was take out all the weeds and big rocks and lay down a liner, I put down newspaper because one, it's eco-friendly and second, it's wallet friendly. Then I "redistributed" wood chips from the playground in our complex to my patio, hey it's not stealing, it's still on the property just in another location. Todd found out what I was doing and laughed while shaking his head but hey he's not paying for it! I have one plant in a pot so I can move it around because they are mini roses, when the kids want to play back there once I have equipment for them to play with I can move the pot to the front porch so they don't mess with them. Here are some pictures of what I have so far.

25 year old swimming suit

This used to be my swimming suit when I was little that my mom saved. It's a little blurry but that's me.

 And now here is Lauren 25 years later wearing the same suit.

Now the question is...should I save this suit for the next 25 years???

Easter

I'm determined to not catch up all in one post since it's been so long so here we go, first one: Easter.
Here are our Easter baskets, my mom painted these and she passed some down to me to use with my kids, I need to paint my own, maybe when I have all my kids then they can choose what color rabbit they would like. We got movies from my mom for the kids and some candy,  the kids got new swim suits from Grams, I didn't go out of my way to buy any sweets at the store, I knew the kids would score at Aunt Kim's house and they did. Lauren's bucket was overflowing with eggs and the adults played the golden egg again this year. It was a long hunt, finally Todd's cousin Brittany got it, or was it her fiance Steve, either way they won the pot of over 100 bucks. It was a fun day and Lauren and A.J. wore their new Easter outfits, Lauren picked out her Easter dress and she wants to wear it every week to church.

Los Angeles Natural History Museum

So when Todd went on his first business trip to Arizona, I took the kids out to L.A. to check out some dinosaurs. First we went to the puppet show, and I highly recommend it, it is awesome. The puppet is so lifelike it freaked me out at first, Lauren wanted to ride it, she has no fear when it comes to animals. We went throughout the whole thing and even saw a stuffed bald eagle, which you already know about Lauren's obsession right? I took these kids to a new place to get their mind off of dad being gone for a few days and all Lauren can talk about it how she wants daddy to see the dinosaurs and the puppet. Oh well, she loves her daddy! A.J. ran around in every exhibit and the minute we drove out of the parking lot at the end he had passed out. Here are the pictures, sorry some of them are a little blurry, these kids won't stand still.