Planes, Trains & Automobiles - Day 1

Let me just start by saying thanks to our friend Stephanie for telling me about Southwest having an awesome deal on airfare for $39 each way. We purchased tickets for me, Jake & Aiden. Kyra will sit in our laps, well we were hoping anyway. Instead of driving to LA, we opted to fly. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 1:45pm. Getting to the airport with all our luggage in tow, plus the stroller, plus the girls was a chore in itself. But we made it none-the-less.

PLANES to Burbank
The day started like any other...oh wait, no it didn't cuz "We're going to DISNEYLAND". WOO HOO!!! We are so lucky that our cousin Amber and her little daughter Allee are going with us. Amber is making the 3+ hour drive and meet us there. We got up bright and early to get our day started. Girls were up by 8:00am as were we. Did the usual routine, breakfast, bath, dressing...the usual. I'm super proud of us, we were actually out the door by 11:15 (goal was 11am) which is a feet for us as we are ALWAYS late. Anyone who knows us, knows this to be true. ;o) Got to the airport, checked our bags and were in the air in no time. The girls were really good @ the airport and in the plane. I'm so glad we took our double stroller. That makes for easier mobility in a busy airport. I think we'll be traveling Southwest more often because the rows of seats were soo spacious. We were pleasantly surprise by the amount of leg room we had. Kyra had enough room to walk around and not get bored. Although the magic box played Bolt.

TRAIN
When I booked the flights I didn't realize that Burbank was about an hour+ drive to Anaheim. And since Aiden's been wanting to ride a train we decided to book train tickets. Jake booked us 3 tickets on Amtrak to Anaheim (Kyra's free - perk of having an under 3 kid). We didn't tell Aiden about the train because we wanted it to be a surprise. I took a video of Aiden when we told her she was going on a train and ya know what? She didn't even seem very excited. BOO. I think she was just tired.

Waiting for our train to arrive was about an hour and a half hour wait in the Burbank Train Station. Now you would think that since it was a train station it would be an actual station, right? Wrong. It was just a platform with tracks in the middle and covered benches to sit on and wait for the train. Let me tell you, that was the longest hour and a half of our lives. We had to keep both girls in the stroller so that they wouldn't divebomb onto the train tracks. It was super crazy this station. I don't think I would necessarily call it a train station. Oy-ya-yoy!!!

Kyra was extremely cranky on the train. It was about an hour train ride and we finally got the idea to play Bolt on my laptop...or as we affectionately call it for the girls 'The Magic Box'. LOL.

AUTOMOBILE
Once we got into the train station in Anaheim, we took a cab (best darn $7 we ever spent) to our hotel. Granite, there was only a 6-7 minute walk but we were all so very tired and worn out and just done from the days traveling. We are staying at the TownePlace Suites Anaheim. It's a pretty nice hotel and the room is really great. Not bad for $80 a night. We have a suite with 2 bedrooms with Queen beds, a kitchenette and living room. Not too long after we arrived to our hotel we put the girls down for a nap. Mind you, the nap was much needed. Amber & Allee arrived not too long after that which was cool. After the girls woke up, we had some dinner in our room and then we all changed our clothes to take advantage of the pool & spa. The pool was kind of chilly so we opted to hop in the spa. Luckily the water in the spa was lukewarm. Just perfect for the little ones. Kyra was such a daredevil in the spa. She stood on the edge and jumped to Jake. We have a feeling Kyra is going to be our waterbug...just like me. Aiden didn't seem to enjoy it as much as Kyra & Allee. It was a bit cold outside but I dared the cold and got out to take a few pics of everyone.

We are soo excited about going to the park tomorrow. We're going to Disneyland park tomorrow, Saturday we're going to California Adventure and then going to Disneyland on Sunday.

See you next blog.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

The best part of day 1 was watching the girls interact together and playing in the spa and learning that Kyra LOVES it and is a natural born waterbug.
The worst part of day 1 was waiting for the train and getting on the train and riding on the train with a cranky 23 month old
What we learned on day 1 was DO NOT fly into Burbank if you are going to DISNEYLAND
The weather on day 1 was 70 Sunny but a little windy.

Easter Pics & Disney prep

Easter has come and gone so quickly. So has the 1st 3 months of this year. WOW, it's amazing that it's already April. We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter Day with your family & friends.

We took the girls to the Galleria Mall the day before Easter to get their pictures taken with the Easter bunny. The girls looked so cute in their Easter outfits. They did pretty good with the bunny...Kyra at first, then she got kind of scared and started to cry on his lap. We at least got 1 pretty decent picture out of the many they tried to take. Here is the results.

As of today, we have 1 day till we leave for Disneyland. It will be the girls 1st trip to Disneyland. Aiden seems excited for the most part. We fly in on Thursday afternoon. The cool thing is Aiden's been saying for months that she wants to go on a train everytime she sees one when we're driving somewhere. Well now here's her chance. When I booked our airfare on Southwest a few months back I didn't realize how far Burbank actually was from Anaheim. It's at least over an hour and a half or so. So luckily Jake was able to find that the Amtrak goes from Burbank into Anaheim right near our hotel. YAY!!! From the hotel we can take a shuttle to Downtown Disney or Disneyland itself. That being said we will have literally rode a Plain, Train & Automobile all in one day. Hopefully our journey isn't anything like the box office movie. Ha-ha. 8)

We are going to have so much fun. It's great that our cousin Amber and her little daughter Allee are meeting us at our hotel and going to Disneyland with us. We are all super excited. We can't wait to see the expressions of the girls the first time they see a character in real life as opposed to on TV & books. Aiden's especially excited to see the Princesses. I don't think she particularly cares which one she sees as long as she sees one. LOL

Disney offers autograph books that you can buy for your kids in the park but I opted to make each of the girls one. I used the Mickey and Friends Cricut cartridge. I put holes in the bottom and put rings on them so that they could flip like a binding book. Inside there are blank white paper for the characters they see to sign the books. The cool thing about the books, they can use them year after year instead of having to buy a new book. Pretty cool, huh?

I will be taking our laptop so I'll be blogging about our trip and adventures. So be on the lookout for new blog emails. Have a great weekend everyone! See you next blog.

St. Baltrick's Fundraising

Hello again Friends & Family,

We have another fundraising event to tell you all about. Our friends Daryl & Ryan are in their 2nd year of shaving their heads for charity to raise money for a cure for children's cancer.

To make a donation, click on "Make A Donation" or donate by mail or phone.
Thank you for your support!

Jake & I would like to invite you all to find it in your hearts to donate and support and cheer them on, please don't hesitate to make your tax deductible donation today. Please see their participation pages.

Ryan Junnila

Daryl Junnila

These were taken at last year's Fundraising event!!!

Before


After

Thank you in advance.

We wish everyone the best of days. See you next blog.

3 Day, 60 Mile Susan G Komen

Some wonderful and amazing friends of ours are participating in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day 60 mile walk in San Francisco in October of this year for the fight against breast cancer. They are trying to raise money for this cause. Holly, no stranger to the 60 mile walk did this 316,800 (to be exact) feet in 2008. In 2009, she and her husband Kyle were Volunteers at the event. In 2010, they have both made the decision to walk and each raise $2300 for the fight against breast cancer. What an amazing feet this will be indeed and we commend them both for taking on this journey.

With that being said, Jake & I would like to invite you all to find it in your hearts to donate and support and cheer them on, please don't hesitate to make your tax deductible donation today. Please see their blog Holly & Kyle Lerman & their donation website Lermans Against Breast Cancer today!!!

GO Holly & Kyle, we are soo proud of you both.

Crewing together in 2009

There are also other opportunities to make donations via 2-3 Scrapbook Crops being planned as well as a Chili's restaurant day. Please see their website for more details.

If you would like to donate to a Silent Auction during one of the Scrapbook Crop Events, please contact me. Any item(s) you donate are tax deductible and ALL proceeds go to the fight against breast cancer. If you are a demonstrator for Stampin' Up, Creative Memories, Close To My Heart, Oh My Crafts or another Scrapbook company I have not mentioned (which there are A LOT), please don't hesitate to contact me as well. Also, the item(s) you donate do NOT need to be scrapbook related, they can be handmade items, baked items, spa items, etc...anything you think would help raise money for the fight. Thank you in advance.

We wish everyone the best of days. See you next blog.

Moving In

What an amazing and exhausting last few weeks we've had. This past Saturday was moving day! YAY!!! We are so thrilled to finally be in our new home. We had so many wonderful friends and family who came to help us with the big move. Saturday morning, 9am started a very busy day for all. Two Men And A Truck came in and got out the big furniture while family & friends moved boxes and misc items to the new house. All in all we had 17 helping hands lifting, packing the last few items and moving them over. WOW, we are soo Blessed to have so many good people in our lives. After the majority of stuff was moved, we ordered pizzas for everyone to eat for lunch. We thought it best to feed those who help, right?!? We missed all those who were unable to help with the move but be sure that an invite for an open house will be coming their way sometime in May.

For the time being we are going to paint one room @ a time starting with Aiden & Kyra's rooms. Aiden wants pink, "Cause it's my favorite." she tells me all the time. We are going to take her to Home Depot to pick out the shade. She does also want purple too which is my favorite color. LOL. Kyra's room is going to be the same 2 colors, pink & purple. The next paint task we're going to take on is the downstairs kitchen, living & family rooms but one at a time. For now anyway. We're hoping to have most of it if not everything painted by the time we have our open house in a few months. You know what they say, Rome wasn't built in a day. :o)

The last few days have been busy unpacking, putting things where we want them. I am so enjoying putting things especially away in my new pantry. We just now today got our dressers put where we want in our bedroom, however the mattress is still on the floor w/o frame, headboard & footboard. Jake & I spent the majority of today at the old house getting it ready for the carpet cleaner to come tomorrow morning. Jake's mom was kind enough to babysit the girls while we did that. Our friends Jared, Monique and their daughter Emily gave the girls a cute playhouse for the backyard as well as a picnic table, a step 2 car and a play kitchen for the yard. Today while she was playing in the kitchen she says to Jake, "Hey dad, this kitchen is missing a phone." haha. Such a ham. Aiden & Kyra just LOVE the playhouse. Mom said they were outside most of the afternoon till they had to take their naps. By the time they got up it was getting dark. I have a feeling though while Jake is again at the old house tomorrow the girls will be wanting to go outside again in their yard and I'll be happy to be out there with them. The weather has been so beautiful the past couple days. Bring on the sunshine.

Aiden is super excited about having her own room. At first we were worried she wouldn't take to having her own room. But the weekend before last I was here cleaning while the girls played with their toys. When it came to naptime, I had put the portacrib & the air mattress with sleeping bag in Kyra's room for them to take naps. I started to walk out and Aiden says to me "Mom, I want to sleep in my room." I was SHOCKED. So I said "Oh sweetie, that would be just great." We picked up her air mattress and went into her room, she laid down and went fast asleep. She was grinning from ear to ear. The next day, same thing. We are so thankful that she has taken getting her room so good. Everyday she tells us that she has her own room and she's glad she doesn't have to sleep in the same room with her sister. The last 3 nights at bedtime...same thing, no crying, no fussing. It's been WONDERFUL!!! We are so very proud of her. What a great day it was and is.

Kyra seems to have gotten used to having her own her own room. When she goes down for naps, she sleeps longer than an hour and a half now. At the old house the girls shared a room and Aiden had a habit of waking up, leave the room and slam the door waking Kyra. Now it's such a blessing to have them each in their own room. Kyra really likes the new house. She's learning where everything is now. She's gotten good at going up & down the stairs, however going down, she scoots on her butt. She grunts as she's doing it. LOL. She especially loves running up & down the hall to her room and back to the toy room. I think all this pent up energy makes her very, very tired at naptime & bedtime, which makes me & Jake very happy Mommy & Daddy. :o) Kyra has grown so much in the past few months. Jake & I are now wishing we had measured her height and kept a log of it, as well as Aiden's. We've decided to find a place in the house to measure them every year. Kinda cute. I know, cheesy but hey, we're first time parents so it's allowed. Kyra's favorite word now is Uh-Oh and she knows how to use it. When she drops something she says it. Her words are slowly coming along. Now when she points to something Jake & I have gotten in the habit of saying what it is she's pointing to to help her learn.

Luckily with the toyroom directly across from my office/scrapbook area I can do some scrapbooking or be on the computer while the girls play with their toys. Going up & down the stairs a few times a day won't kill me. Hehe. Once I get a routine down pat I'm going to take advantage of the clubhouse gym while the girls take their naps everyday. And since Jake works from home he can just give me a call if they wake up and I can head back home if needbe. Jake plans to use the gym as well, most likely he'll go in the evenings after the girls go to bed.

Our first Valentine's Day with the girls was pretty special. I took the girls shopping one day last week where Aiden chose the cards she wanted to give daddy. She chose a card that had Cinderella on it from her and chose a Tigger card from Kyra. I got Jake a card and bought the DVD movie, Couples Retreat which he & I watched after the girls went to bed lastnight. I was so proud of Aiden, she wanted to draw a picture of Jake on the envelope. It was the cutest drawing of Jake I've ever seen, although it does have the look of an ant. Hehe. She did such a wonderful job. I have to take a picture of it and just have to share it with you all. She's got some real talent for a girl not even 4 yet. Well that's what we think anyway.

I have enjoyed blogging about recent events and happy to share them with all of you and hope you enjoy reading them. Till next time. See you next blog.

Mason's Update...exciting news

The end of January is fast approaching and snuck up on us. There has been a lot of things going on with us so let me give you the 2 pieces of greatest news as of now. I'm terribly sorry I haven't posted a new blog in awhile. We received some good news, actually 2 pieces of good news in 1 day.

As of January 13th, Kyra's biological father's parental rights were terminated by the Judge in the county of Fresno. Which means he is no-longer the father of her and she no-longer has visits with him. So in the eyes of the court, Kyra is considered an 'orphan'. So now we are in the adoption phase. We have home visits from the courts and a lot more hoops to jump through before the girls can be officially adopted. We will keep everyone posted when this happens.

Our 2nd bit of news is that we put a bid on a house and we are buying a house FINALLY. Our new home is in the neighborhood of Lincoln Crossing in Lincoln. It's a beautiful home. Its 3200 SF, has 4 bedrooms, a loft area, 3½ baths and a 3 car tandem garage. It has a great floor plan with lots of space to spread out. We are looking at closing @ the end of Jan, early Feb. I am attaching a few pics here for your viewing pleasure. Once we get in the house and put our furniture in I will post more pictures. We will also be having an Open House once we get settled in.

PICTURE 1
Our beautiful front - in this pic there is some sort of vine thing growing on the house. Since this picture was taken, the vines have been removed. We'll have to clean them out and remove them from the ground. We don't want these things growing on the side of our house. The funny part is, that this is the only house on the block that has them. I never have liked these kinds of things growing on a house. It looks ugly. IMO anyway. :O)

PICTURE 2
Living room 1/2 of it anyway. The other side is the dining room, however we are turning the whole thing into the living room and removing the chandelier and putting in a ceiling fan instead.

PICTURE 3
View of the full kitchen. Lots of cupboard space. Just to the right, is where the butler's pantry is and the office for Jake.

PICTURE 4
L@@K, I'm gonna get a Pantry and it has a beautiful glass door. See it on the right??? :o)

PICTURE 5
Another view of the kitchen. The family room is just to the left with a slider that goes out to the backyard.

PICTURE 6
This is the room just outside the kitchen. To the left of this is going to be Jake's office and a bathroom. Maybe in the future we will buy a queen size bed and make it a guest bedroom. Also to the left of this pic is the butlers pantry which will be great for the bigger cooking items and misc pantry stuff.

PICTURE 7
This is the tandem garage. Jake is super excited about this garage. He'll be able to fit the boat HOOKED up to the Aspen and still have a little room left over.

PICTURE 8
Master bedroom...again very large room.

PICTURE 9
This is the master bath. This bathroom is so big you could fit a queen size bed in the middle of the room.

PICTURE 10
Master bath again.

PICTURE 11
This is the same area but on the 2nd floor. Just past this is the girls bedrooms.

PICTURE 12
This will be Aiden's room. The cupboards are so cute. We're going to paint Aiden's walls pink since that is her favorite color. To the right of this picture, there are 2 really cute windows. I can't wait to decorate her room. She has decided she wants to have a Princess room so I'm going to cut out Princess's with my Cricut machine and put them in frames and put them all over her walls. I can't wait to get started. Unfortunately we don't have any pictures of Kyra's room. But once we move in, I'll post new pics of it.

PICTURE 13
This area will be my scrapbook room. This area is right at the top of the stairs.

Thank you for reading and I'll keep you all posted to new events. See you next blog.

Day 2 - Allergy attack

Well since we were up pretty late when we got in, needless to say that the girls didn’t get up till 11am. We ate breakfast and sat at the house for a bit. My dad has a little Pomeranian dog that is about 5 years old. He’s a grumpy little dog sometimes. He’s very protective of my dad. So this brings me to say that Aiden had a hard time sleeping; she was coughing, congested and watery eyes. We chalked it up to that she just had a cold. We realized that in the morning she must be allergic to dogs. She has never had any reactions to our cats. We realized this and thinking about the last few visits with the other relatives and friends who have dogs and started having the same symptoms. We finally decided to get out of the house and do some shopping, especially to get some children’s allergy medicine. We also picked up a few other items from Target for the girls and a few other necessities. Today was a bit uneventful so there’s nothing really to report. :o(

The best part of day 2 was getting to sleep in longer than normal, and watching the girls interact with their cousins and playing with them
The worst part of day 2 was Aiden's allergy attack and feeling miserable

What we learned on day 2 was Aiden is allergic to dogs
The weather on day 2 was cold, 20 degrees and scattered snow showers, very light though

Nothing comes between a man and his dog. :o)

Aiden with her cousin Cody in the toy/computer room