Meme (cuz I was tagged)

Nancy tagged me so while the kids are watching a movie I'm going to share the following tidbits of info with whoever wants to read it...

What I was doing 10 years ago: I was in my second year of law school, wow! Seems like ages ago and then again wasn't that just yesterday? I was studying for finals and actually, right about now I went to a Billy Joel concert (one of the best concerts ever!) the night before my Admin final (still got a B, so worth it!)

5 things on my to-do list today:

1. it's monday so I'm doing laundry

2. watch my sister's boys while she takes the oldest to the ortho (oh wait, that didn't happen cuz she was running late and had no time to drop them off but I thought it was on my to-do list!)

3. homework for my parenting class

4. make dinner! (I've been lagging in this department since I got pregnant!)

5. play with my kids

5 snacks I enjoy:

1. chocolate

2. cheese and crackers

3. a bowl of cereal

4. cookies :)

5. Andrew's homemade granola (it's covered in melted chocolate and peanut butter but also has lots of good stuff like Almond meal, oats, and something else I'm forgetting)

5 things I would do if I were a billionaire:

1. buy houses for family

2. pay off my school loans

3. give the church lots and lots and then some

4. put away for kid's schooling and future

5. donate to missionaries and organizations helping people with the love of Christ

5 bad habits

1. procrastination (have to agree with you there Nancy)

2. lazy

3. eating bad foods when I know better

4. lazy

5. whining (hmmm...maybe that's where Beth gets it)

5 places I've lived

This is hard to limit to 5 so I'm just going to list in order: North Hollywood, CA; somewhere else in SoCal; Idaho; Moorpark & Thousand Oaks, CA; back to North Hollywood, CA; Santa Cruz, CA; Washington, DC; Orange County and here I am until...we'll see what's next!

5 jobs I've had

1. summer daycare worker (9 summers!)

2. gas station full service attendant (yes, I will check your oil and fill your tires!)

3. annual fund caller (you know the annoying ones where a student calls alums asking for money, yes, I was that annoying student for 2 years!)

4. legal intern at EPA and DOJ

5. 8th grade science teacher for two long grueling years!

Now I'm tagging anyone who reads this (does anyone actually read this?)

Back from Ethiopia...

My sister's back from Ethiopia with her two girls! The family of nine is adjusting well and just so happy to all be together. We're hoping to visit next month but until then if you haven't already, check out her blog: www.elonensrgrowing.blogspot.com She's telling the story of her travels in bits and pieces and sharing the adjustment of the girls. It's pretty interesting and touching and the pics are so fun! (I'll have some of my own once we go visit.)

Jason's Swimming

Since we last talked swimming back in early March, we've been to a pool twice! It's been a cold spring here in California, and even on the warmer days, we don't always plan quick enough to use pools. Regardless, Jason has started swimming. We believe discovering how to float and experiencing that sensation gave him what he needed. So back in March when Grandpa Al & Anja where visiting, he started swimming under water at their hotel pool. He can only go as far as he can hold his breath then he stands up to breathe. So you can't say he's swimming (and we've been sure to explain that to him so he doesn't just jump into a pool and think he can swim!) But he's getting there and loves it! He's so proud, and I was proud to see him continue his underwater swimming last week at our cousin's pool. Here's a short video of him swimming to the steps... (don't bother with sound unless it's already on, you'll just hear Stephen's voice talking to Adam and it'll distract from Jason's amazing strokes :)
Hopefully it'll warm up around here soon and we'll get lots more swim time so he can continue to teach himself . (And yes, you can remind me that I just asked for heat when August rolls around and I'm complaining of the horrible heat and our house with no air conditioning because I'll be really pregnant and that gives me some sort of overriding power to complain, right?)

Small Talk and Big Leaps

A recent "conversation" between me and Adam:

Adam: I cute

Mom: Who told you that?

Adam: Mickey, yea, Mickey!

I guess if Mickey's going to talk to him, I should be glad it's positive.

Here's a picture of Adam flying. Ever since we took him on Peter Pan at Disneyland and then read him the story out of a Disney storybook, he's been obsessed with flying and Peter Pan. He loves flying when Daddy's flying him, and had a real flying adventure the other day when Daddy got bold and tossed him for a few flights. Fun but a bit too much for mommy to watch, luckily Daddy didn't push his luck and only gave him a few flights :)

Big Boy Bed for Adam

It was somewhat of an impulsive decision but one night last week, we just took the side off of Adam's crib. I had complained of lifting him over it for naps, and Jason and Beth climb in there with him in the morning and bounce around (I can't believe it's still in one piece to tell you the truth!) So we decided: no more crib! Adam was very excited. He loves crawling up into his own bed. We even gave him a pillow all his own. This is also helping with the weaning of the pacifier. He keeps it on his pillow and can have it only if he stays in his bed. He goes there throughout the day for a fix but comes back out happy and with no paci. The only problem with this new setup...he rolls out of bed just about every night. We have pillows there so he's not getting hurt but it disrupts his sleep (and ours!) And if for some reason he doesn't react to the fall, he'll wake up hours later across the bedroom. I guess he's a mover in his sleep. We can't really put the side back on but we're considering a bed rail to protect him (should have thought of that first, huh?) But then Andrew says...he'll learn someday :)

PS This is Adam's new best friend - Mickey Mouse. He's actually a bit obsessed. Originally it was Jason's given to him by Grandma as a "congratulations you're a big brother" gift when Adam was born. But Jason generously gave Mickey to Adam recently because he loves it soooo much. He now takes Mickey everywhere and sleeps with him. It's cute but I wish he were beanie baby size, oh well!

Our Anniversary Celebration

Andrew and I have been married for 6 wonderful years. Sunday was our anniversary, and how did we celebrate? We took the kids to Disneyland for one last hurrah before our passes expire. So how did we celebrate last year? Andrew's sister and her family where here and we bought our Disney passes. Yes, this is year number 2 spent at Disneyland with kids and not out on some romantic date. Oh well, we had a really good day! Jason took this picture of us. Notice our special buttons? They have buttons for birthdays so Andrew asked if they had them for anniversaries and they do! They only offer them in pairs, however :) I was proud to wear my button and have people tell me Happy Anniversary all day, even when I was nowhere near my husband taking the little ones on a ride while the big boys rode Space Mountain, etc...

Here we are waiting for Peter Pan. We almost never ride this ride because the line is always super long and well, Jason's not fond of Captain Hook. But Jason was in line for Space Mountain and Beth really, really wanted to go on the ride so why not? It was about 30 minutes but as you can see, we were just fine waiting :)

It was a crowded day. There were people everywhere but considering our passes expired that day, we decided to make the best of it and we did! Turned out the lines were very reasonable. In fact, we did everything we really wanted to do and then some. For example, Beth got to see Cinderella one more time and was thrilled at the surprise!We even went to California Adventure and saw the new Playhouse Disney show with Little Einsteins and Mickey Mouse (Adam's current favorite). They all loved the show although Jason showed the most excitement eagerly awaiting every coming moment and dancing along to every tune!

We were sure to see Buzz one more time, and considering it was our anniversary, we had Jason and Beth ride together so Andrew and I could ride together. I was surprised they allowed it but they did. They're getting so old and mature!

Adam and Beth attacking Zurg while waiting in line.

We finished the night with Mickey lollipops and the Main Street Electrical Light Parade. It was the first time we took the kids and they loved it! It's at California Adventure and compared to the crowds at Disneyland's parades, it was empty! We had our own area and even shook hands with characters. It was great. And then on our walk to the tram, the fireworks at Disneyland started. It was perfect viewing for us: away from the crowds and not quite as loud. Happy Anniversary to us!

Two more cousins

Our extended family is growing once again!!! My sister, Tara, and her family have adopted two girls from Ethiopia. We are so excited for them as the adoption process has been long (and here I am 12 weeks pregnant feeling like this takes forever. Pregnancy is nothing compared to the waiting game in adoption!) Anyway, they leave in a week to pick them up, and we're hoping to visit in May or June. I can't wait for our kids to meet these girls they've been praying for all these months. So in total our kids now have 17 cousins. Will there be anymore anytime soon or are we just waiting for my sister Lindsay to get married and have her bundles of joy? We'll see...for now I wanted to include a link to Tara's blog for anyone interested in reading or learning about international adoption and the journey it takes (and for you to see some pics of our beautiful nieces)!
http://www.elonensrgrowing.blogspot.com/

Baby #4's Ultrasound

It's 11 weeks and we've had an ultrasound of baby #4. (For those that we haven't yet told, we're having another baby due October 20:) Baby was jumping and wiggling and then just in time for the doctor to review, baby fell asleep. It was a great appointment with some amazing views. Andrew and I were very pleased. Now we just have to wait 6 weeks for the next appointment where we will hopefully learn the sex (and that all is developing well :) Now the picture didn't scan too well but I'm attaching it anyway. Baby is laying down giving us a profile, head to the right, belly to the middle left. The fuzz in the middle is hands and legs are kicking far to the left. It's really amazing that at 11 weeks baby has hands and feet and jumps around in there! Praise God for his tiny miracles!