Happy Birthday Marisa! (Last year)

I can't believe Marisa will turn 5 on Tuesday, February 3rd. (Her birthday is 02-03-04. An easy one to remember!) I wasn't blogging last year at this time, and since I went to SOOO much work for her party, I thought I'd share it this year.

We had a tea party - complete with fine china! The 12 little girls sat amazingly well and drank their "tea" and enjoyed little sandwiches while the mommies nervously watched.

The table ...

I had to put Lucas to work so he wasn't bouncing off the walls - so we dressed him up and he escorted the girls in, and then served scones. (He only dropped them all once.) Do you see Daddy in the background in his tux greeting the young ladies as they arrive?

I am amazing even myself! Yes, I made this teapot (spout is leaning the wrong way, but oh well.) In 2007 I made a treasure chest cake and pirate ship cake for Lucas' 5th birthday party.

The boys waiting for guests to arrive. :-)

Now, since I went all out last year, I figured this was the year to relax. So this year the little girls are coming over and playing in the backyard. Period. Oh ya, there might be cake and icecream if I get ambitious.

Vitamins anyone?

Over the past 6 months or so, it has come to my attention that I am getting old. I am getting closer to the "M" word. Approaching the premenopause years. I have done a little research, answered a few quizes like: do you feel like you are going crazy? are you irritable? do you have trouble sleeping? are you starting to put on weight around the middle? are you bloated? do you have food cravings? A hearty yes to each and every question! So ... what I need is ... vitamins! I got a list of vitamins from a book I was perusing and went to Costco. Cheap vitamins in large quantities! As I walked up the aisle I saw the ONE A DAY for women 50 and over. Now, I won't be 50 for another 7 1/2 years, but it promises help with memory and concentration. What could it hurt? Will it give me grey hair to take it 7 1/2 years early? I think its worth a try. Next time you see me, ask me something - anything and watch me concentrate. The next vitamin I saw was Evening Primrose Oil. Sounds pretty. Promises to help with conditions such as irritability ... no need to read on. It goes in the basket. I am excited to show my dear husband my finds. He lights up when he sees the Evening Primrose Oil and reads "helps with irritibility ..." The only thing he says is "How many can you take?" I do love him, really I do.

Torturing our Kids - All in the name of fun

We try to have a "family night" on Friday nights where we play board games or watch a movie. Well one Friday night a few months ago, Victor got bored with the traditional games evening, and decided to spice it up a little. He told Lucas and Marisa they were going to have a contest to see who could be the first to finish eating something he made for them. Victor was going to make something "special" for them and they had to eat whatever he gave them. They were giddy with excitement. Then Victor made them a "sandwich" with grape jam, hummus, mustard, ketchup, crushed olives, and maple syrup. Yum - my favourite sandwich. They gobbled it down in no time flat. All the time I was laughing my head off and thinking - those little rats - every single night when we sit down to eat dinner, they turn up their noses and say "yucky!" How could my cooking be worse than that sandwich?!?

Not My Daughter!

Oh the tempermental moods of a little girl. (Father's side of the family of course.) Marisa has pushed me over the edge way too many times with her emotions. However, I am very thankful to say she is getting better. She prays the cutest prayers asking God to help her not to scream and to be a good girl. I'm humbled and thankful that God is working in her heart.

At least one person is smiling! I don't remember what they were so upset about but it sure is funny to look at now! I'm sure I could find lots more pictures of Marisa pouting and frowning, but we don't want to dwell on that now do we!

Cabo San Lucas

My truly most favourite vacation of the summer was our 5 day extremely relaxing time in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. We swam, sunbathed, ate and read. What could be better! We were at a really nice all inclusive resort and L and M loved that they could eat all day long, whatever they want. (I didn't mind that either unfortunatley.) For sure, the most relaxing vacation we've ever taken.

Aren't they cute! Hugging even while they're sleeping. (Or are they trying to push each other out of the way ... let's say they're hugging.)
Marisa and Lucas were QUITE amused that there were couches in the pool! But Marisa will tell you the best part was the pool even had a restaurant in the water. We could swim over and order something to drink. They really thought that was neat. And of course the best part was it was free! (Well, technically not free, but since we had paid a few months before we could almost think it was all free ...)

How do you save money?

Victor and I were talking tonight about ways we try to save money. I thought this would be a good discussion question. So what are YOU doing these days to save a few dollars here and there?
Here's a few things we are doing:
- we don't buy bottled water anymore - I refill our water bottles for the car.
- we don't have long distance on our phone - we buy the 1000 minute cards from SAMS for $30 or so and program the numbers into our phone. Our phone bill each month is $16 and we refill the minutes on our card 3-4 times a year. So, yearly total is about $280 not counting cell phones. And now we're trying Magic Jack. We'll see how that works. It should cost $20/yr.
- I clip coupons and shop at VONS where they double the coupons. I get fruits and veggies from Sprouts or Henrys where they are really cheap.
- for lunches - I buy a big bag of pretzels (or whatever snacks) and put them in little baggies instead of buying the individual small packaged ones. L takes a water bottle to school instead of juice boxes.
- when we go out to eat - which is rare these days, we pick restaurants we have coupons for (I am the coupon queen.)
- trying to get L and M to shut off the lights in their rooms - but no luck there yet
- we take a bath together as a family once a week - OK, no, we don't really do that.
- we trimmed back our magazine subscriptions - we didn't read most of them anyway
- Victor got different bids on insurances and found out you can get discounts if you have certain degrees (and since we are highly inteligent we got numerous discounts)
- we'd like to do babysitting swapping with someone to save on babysitting fees! (Anyone interested?)
- I buy used clothes for Lucas and Marisa at a used clothing store or beg for hand me downs.
So how are you saving these days? Any ideas to share?

Great Smokey Mountains

My favourite vacation of the summer was a week's trip to the Great Smokey Mountains in Tennessee. My brothers and their families and my mom and I get together every 2 years somewhere and spend a week together. This year we chose Tennessee. There are no pictures because we forgot our camera. It actually makes for a nicer vacation to not have your camera. It was a great week touring, eating, swimming and hanging out with my family. It was great to meet my brother's girlfriend - and - congratulations again on the engagement Bryan and Lori! My brothers did actually take pictures and email them to us, but since I am so computer illiterate, I'm not sure where they are on the computer, and well, you don't really need to know HOW computer illiterate I am.

In case you are american and are wondering why I keep spelling "favourite" wrong, well, so sorry, you are wrong, I am spelling it correctly. Canadian spelling. One of those little things I just refuse to give up. Along with garbage pail, NOT trash can. And elastic, NOT rubber band. And I don't say "out and about" wierd, you do.

Or maybe you're wondering why each summer vacation was my 'favourite'. Well, they just all were. I do love my husband for loving to travel. :-)

Zion and Bryce National Parks

My favourite vacation this summer was our week trip to Utah visiting Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon. These 2 amazing parks are only 8 -10 hours from San Diego and we had an incredible time biking, hiking and walking in God's amazing creation. It's a very doable road trip from San Diego. I'd love to return - any takers?
Good thing you can't smell us in this picture. It was VERY hot and we were VERY sweaty.





Oh, and by the way - we're not filthy rich doing all these vacations. We are cheap vacationers! We own a timeshare (bought it used from my mom) and we pay $169 per week when we travel using our timeshare. We buy our groceries and hardly eat out at all. We buy a fridge magnet and a deck of cards from every place we visit. We have MANY decks of cards. Anyone want to come over and play cards!?

The Amazing California Coast

My favourite trip of the summer (for those of you who didn't get my Christmas letter - we did a lot of mini vacations this summer and I'm finally getting around to telling about them!) was our trip up the California coast. We spent 5 days in June doing short drives 2-4 hours each day. We stopped in Solvang (a quaint Danish town where we enjoyed Danish pastries - see picture!), Cambria (where we saw elephant seals) and Monterrey (Victor LOVED the acquarium where the Biology major in him came out). It was a great road trip. We stopped at every Mission we were close to. Lucas and Marisa are enjoying California history. We missed Big Sur because it was on fire that week. Oh the joys of living in California. If its not an earthquake, its a fire. Next time. I'd love to do the same trip all over again. Anyone want to join us?

Yosemite National Park!

June, 2008 - Yosemite, my favourite vacation this summer! Amazing scenery, great hikes.

This was our mode of transportation! Yosemite is very biker friendly. The roads in the park are like parking lots during the summer, so the bike paths are definitely the way to go. The tentcabin in the background was our 1st class hotel! L and M thought they were great. Unfortunately they are $100 a night! :-( Location, location, location.

Lucas is learning how to use our camera. :-( Everyone who lives in California needs to vacation in Yosemite. You need at least 2 days to see parts of the park. It's about an 8 hour drive from San Diego give or take a couple hours. :-) We've been 3 times and I could go every year. Anyone want to camp there with us this year? (In a real tent, not the $100 tent cabins.)

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I know it's not January 1st, but January 13th. I'm a little behind. I just sent out my Christmas letters today! It's a new year and I'm making a new attempt to start up my blog. If you're reading this, make a comment so I know someone is actually reading it! I plan on doing a short - very short - vacation journal of the places we visited this summer. "The best family vacation spots in California".