Zoo Day!

I love going to the Oakland Zoo with the kids.  It is the perfect {small} size of zoo and still has all of the animals a kid would want to see.  You can rush through the whole zoo in an hour!  Or, just take your time and spend 3-4 hours there like we did today.

We didn't have any plans, but my friend Kristina invited us, and we always have fun with her and her kids.  The weather was perfect, and the kids were so excited to spend time with friends and animals on a no school day.

It couldn't have been a better day.  Beautiful weather, fun friends, and not at all crowded...until we got to the picnic area.  We set up camp, and got out food while the kids played by the lily pads, the bunnies, and on the pretend giant bugs.  Kristina and I were in the middle of a fun conversation when I heard some yelling.   I look over to see a woman yelling at the "rabbit hole" slide.  Apparently a child was blocking her crying child from getting through.  I recognized the pink leggings and knew it was Laney.

I almost ran over, but stopped myself when the lady's friend joined in trying to get Laney out.  Because they were yelling, I stayed back, embarrassed and not wanting them to know Laney was mine.  Isn't that horrible!  I am kicking myself for not running over now.  I should follow my intuition.  But it isn't exactly the first confrontation I have had about Laney.  Sometimes I just want the whole situation to disappear.

To make a long story short, Laney was at the bottom of the slide.  This woman's daughter went down the slide and bumped into Laney, so Laney turned around and scratched her.  Yes, Laney overreacted, but she is 6!  I wish I would have gone over and figured out what happened and thanked the lady for ganging up on my 6 year old and scaring her to death.  But I didn't.

The best part was that after all of that "avoiding" I tried to do, Laney then comes running over to me yelling "MOM! Crew is in the bunny cage!"  I then had to run past all of the mom's who were looking for me during the first shenanigan and then coax Crew out of the bunny cage.  Poor Crew was just being a 2 year old and was having the time of his life chasing rabbits.

I also wish I would have said something sarcastic to the woman who said "He is scaring the bunnies to death!" when I passed her to find Crew.  Seriously, those poor bunnies probably loved getting some exercise today.

Laney got a "talk" about treating others the way you want to be treated...the never-ending saga with her.  I tried to explain to Crew that we can't go in the rabbit habitat, but he was just so excited to tell me about it I don't think our talk sunk in.  After all was said and done, I also wish I would have taken a picture.

2nd Tooth LOST

Laney lost her second tooth!  Two bottom front teeth missing now. :)

She also does not know the whereabouts of said tooth again.  Just like when she lost her first tooth...she was eating an apple, and then it was gone!  This time we know that she swallowed the tooth with the apple bite.

Luckily the tooth fairy still came!

Good job tooth fairy...way to be paying attention.

School! And some other stuff...

School has started here in San Ramon.  I am now the proud mother of a big {tiny} 3rd grader and a kindergartner!  It is weird.

Kadie got an awesome teacher.  We are so excited.  She gives the kids hugs every morning.  She started out as a social worker, a profession that pulls at my heart strings a bit.  She discovered that she loved teaching through that.  Her name is Mrs. Smart...how much better can that get?  Kadie is loving school and has already completed a class presentation and learned 4 cursive letters.  She loves 3rd grade.  She is also doing so great at piano.  She has already started composing her own little songs.  I think she truly has a talent, and she loves it.  We found her "thing".  Yay!

Laney has another awesome teacher for Kindergarten.  She didn't get Kadie's old Kindergarten teacher, and we were sad about that because we loved Mrs. Young.  Laney's teacher is Mrs. Mochizuki...she is Australian born, and has lived all over the world.  She seems very structured {good for Laney}, organized and fun.  Laney is having over-sensory issues with the ginormous class size.  24 kids...could become 26 through the year.  So sad.  When Kadie was in Kindergarten she was so lucky to be in a looped class of 10 Kindergartners and 10 first graders.  It was so cool to have so much time with the teacher.  Her teacher truly knew her.  I am hoping among the chaos of a larger class that Laney will be fine.  But one full week of her having anxiety attacks is getting me worried.  Every night she cries and says "There are just so many kids!"  In the morning she does the same.  It took me 30 minutes to get her to go into class on Tuesday.  We made a star chart, and for every day that she goes into class and is brave {and doesn't come back out of class looking for me and Crew} she gets a star.  5 stars gets her an ice cream cone at the ice cream store, or a prize from the dollar section at Target.  I love bribery...hopefully it works...and really it is actually just an incentive because she gets the reward after she goes to class.  I feel good about the star chart. :)

Crew is having WAY too much fun bossing me around with no one else here.  He started this new conversation thing where he starts out with "So...mom..." and waits for me to say "What Crew"...then he talks in French or something that sounds like French...although I can usually make out "Buzz, Woody, Cars, Daddy, Kadie, Laney..."  He is a cutie.  He is constantly asking for kisses, hugs, and saying "I Yuv You _____!"  He says everything like it has an exclamation point at the end.  He is so enthusiastic.

Josh is back to a busy schedule...I mean wait...He is just the same.  Busy.  But we came up with a plan where Sunday nights we choose one night that looks a little less busy in his schedule for him to come home and have dinner with me and the kids.  It worked this week!  Hoping we can keep it up.  It is so nice for the kids to see their Dad during the week.  He got awesome reviews this last year, I am so proud of him.  Senior Manager here we come!

I am busy with projects of course.  Just finished wedding invitations for my cousin.  I also painted and redid Crew's room and Laney's.  On to Kadie's room {painting}, the primary program, Waldron Family Cookbook, and Children's swap!  Bring it on September!

Leisa :)

Where's your Tooth?!?!

Laney has already lost her first tooth!

After biting into an apple during our Utah trip last week, she loosened one of her front bottom tiny teeth.  Her teeth are so tiny.  It has been getting progressively looser and looser all week. (Is looser a word?)

Yesterday, she ran in to wake me up by yelling "It's gone.  My tooth is just gone!".  She was so excited, until I asked, "Where is it?", to which Laney did NOT know the answer.  She was about 70% sure she didn't swallow it in her sleep.  Kadie is sure she saw it fall out of Laney's mouth and onto a blanket on the couch, but that it was lost when Kadie lifted the blanket up.

We searched and searched, to no avail.  Said tooth is lost.  Twice lost.

The Toothfairy was kind enough to leave a whopping $5 bill under Laney's pillow last night.

Lucky girl.

Merry Christmas!

This last year of 2010 was one of the fullest we have known!

Crew Boy!

• learned how to walk and immediately began RUNNING and JUMPING!!!
• words so far:

mama

daddeeeee!

Dee Dee (Kadie)

Nay Nee (Laney)

Mineeeeey! (Mine)

no no no! (while pointing his finger and smiling)

awe (putting his head to the side when something is cute)

joo (juice)

ha dah (hotdog)

• Crew also knows to fold his arms in prayer and he dances to all kinds of music
• He gives the sweetest little kisses, and he has a baby doll.
• He is a monkey and climbs on EVERYTHING, and breaks most things he throws.
• Crew stole the title of Messiest from Laney, and probably also owns the title of best tantrum thrower. We will continue watching him closely in 2011. :)

Laney

• Learned to write her first name as well as f-o-x, c-a-t, l-o-v-e, n-o, y-e-s, t-o, and m-o-m and d-a-d. She leaves notes everywhere in the house.
• She is always right at my feet when I am upset about something telling me she loves me.
• Laney LOVES flash cards. Any and all kinds!
• Laney discovered the world of girly toys and things this year. She still has a special love of dinosaurs, but she and Kadie play all sorts of princess and fairy games.
• Laney has also started "crafting" with her sister after school.
• Laney still owns the title of Most Curious child, but Crew is a close match!

Kadie

• Kadie became a big kid in my eyes this year which really makes me happy and sad at the same time. :) :( But mostly happy. :)
• Kadie was baptized this year, she pays tithing, and she reminds me now of family prayer, scripture study and family home evening. I even put her in charge of one lesson and she is a natural at teaching!
• Kadie's favorite thing in the world is NATURE. Anything and everything about it.
• Kadie changes her brothers diaper sometimes, she even offers to vacuum on occasion.
• Kadie is a WIZ at math and loves it almost as much as her Daddy. She rarely comes home missing more than one problem on her math or spelling tests.
• Kadie has even dabbled in jewelry design this year, and wears one of her most recent bracelets almost every day.
• She wants to be a mom when she grows up, and I think she will be such a patient mother.
• Kadie still wins the award for Most Dramatic in our family, and she can add a touch of Sassy to the mix most days.

Josh and Leisa

Leisa started a few new hobbies this year including party throwing and her Sassy Pepper blog. She discovered a new obsession with organizing, which doesn't last long with an 8, 4 and 1 year old. Instead of trying to be the perfect mom this year, she tried being more fun, and the kids voted to keep the fun. :) Leisa is also in the Primary Presidency as an intern... I mean, counselor. She now knows the secret to making it all work at church is just that...a SECRET that she hasn't discovered yet! :) Leisa wins title of Most Crazy, but a good crazy, not "crazy" crazy,

at least not yet.

Josh was so blessed to be given the opportunity to go back to what he loves again for a career. Josh is now an Audit manager with a full staff at PWC and absolutely loves it. His engagements include Twitter and Zip Realty! Somehow, he still finds time to play the Wii with Kadie, bake cookies with Laney and wrestle with Crew. We are back to our old schedule of working hard in the week and playing twice as hard on the weekend! I think Josh deserves the award of Most Thoughtful because although he is overworked and underpaid...he does anything I ask, even without the asking.

This upcoming May will mark 10 years in our marriage! And we plan on celebrating in style.

We want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and hope that your year to come is full of joy and happiness. We also are so thankful for all of you, and most of all our Savior.

With Love,

Josh, Leisa, Kadie (8), Laney (4.75), and Crew (1.5)

Goodbye...Hello!

Last Christmas the girls were so excited to get their little leopard gecko's from Santa.

Sassy really had a special little love for Laney.

As our first "real" pets other than fish, Santa told us that gecko's are very low maintenance and easy to keep alive. So even Josh and I were excited. They really were cute.

About 2 months ago, Laney's lizard dropped it's tail, and it was all downhill from there. Both gecko's were lethargic and wouldn't eat a thing for the last month. So we decided to give them up to a shelter that would nurse them back to health and then find good owners for them.

We saw and heard many many tears this last weekend.

Josh and I felt bad for the girls and for their gecko's.

What we weren't planning on was meeting some teeny tiny turtles at the shelter that need a new home! Kadie tried to talk me into a snake, but with all of the fiasco's with crickets this last year, I could only imagine mice and gold fish being worse. So we agreed on turtles.

Meet Freckles and Cuddle!

Now the girls are smiling again!

Let's hope that these little things stay healthy.

Lost Photo's

I just found these from August.

They are so funny! I can't believe I forgot about them!

{Green} Halloween

The night of the trunk or treat for our church, I decided last minute to go as the wicked witch of the East, which meant I would have to be green.

Laney followed suit. She even requested a gross fake mole.

Crew was originally the tin man, but his costume was too small and showed too much diaper.

He became a last minute "Toto" with one of our older costumes from when Kadie was a wee one.

By the end of the night, being green didn't seem to excite Laney as much.

"From Dad"

Conversation between Laney and I while Laney was creating a card for her Dad.

Laney: "How do I write from Dad?"

Leisa: "You mean to Dad or for Dad?"

Laney: "No... one Dad,"

Leisa: "Is the card for Dad or to Dad?"

Laney: "I made the card for my Dad, Mom."

Leisa: "Do you want it to say To Dad or For Dad, Laney?"

Laney Starting to Cry: "It is only one Dad. (sniff) Just my Dad!"

Leisa: "Oh ONE Dad, I'm sorry now I get it. It's okay Laney, don't cry. Let's just write for my Dad."

Laney with tears: "No ONE Dad mama, ONE Dad, my Dad!"

Leisa: "Okay, let's just write My Dad. Is that okay?"

Laney: (sniff sniff) "OK mama, How do I write my Dad?"

Leisa: "M-Y and then D-A-D. My Dad."

Laney with a giant grin: "Thanks mama!"

The End.

Pumpkin Patch Number Two...

Windmill Farms. It is one of those places that I take for granted, but if we ever moved I would really miss it. A little outdoor market of fresh produce from local farmers.

Every year they have a low-key pumpkin patch. But this year...they stepped it up a notch!

I am still sad we only went once. :(

Crew was in love!

We actually found pumpkins! And we got busy carving right when we got home.

And here are our pumpkins. All carved and in their happy scary Halloween glory!

Can you guess who's is who's?

Pumpkin Patch Number One...

I decided that next year, we will be treating the pumpkin patch like a park. I was so sad that we waited until just a few days before Halloween to go to the pumpkin patch this year because the kids LOVED it. Crew acted like he was at Disneyland, trying to pick every pumpkin up and running all over the patch like a mad man.

Laney put the first pumpkin she touched into our wagon.

After 15 minutes of not finding the perfect pumpkin, Kadie found a ladybug.

Crew found his M & Ms...

Laney tried to help Kadie find a pumpkin because she was taking FOREVER to decide.

Kadie always wants every moment and item in her life to be absolutely perfect.

Then we found the CORN PIT.

I wish I had one in my backyard.

The kids played and played and played!

Crew attempted the tunnel with success!

Crew also tried climbing on a fence for the first time and succeeded at that as well.

What a go-getter!

And the slide was the end to our show.

Sadly we didn't even end up with pumpkins from pumpkin patch number one.

It was on to the next!

Costume Day

I am a little behind posting these, but school costume day was my favorite this year. There was just something really fun about sending my second grade Dorothy and her little witch sister off to school with their lunches and backpacks.

Kadie loved the parade, and was looking kind of grim and worried (scanning the by-standers for any sign of mom) until she heard me yell "KADIE!". She was all smiles after that!

Kadie and her little tin man.

Three Years Old!

Today, February 3, 2009 is Laney's 3rd birthday!

We celebrated a little early last Saturday!  We had a carnival-style party for her at her favorite "Spiderweb" park.

Can you believe that our little Laney used to be this small?  Sometimes I feel like she was just born a toddler!  Don't you just want to squeeze her?!?

Laney couldn't believe this party was for her!  She just soaked it all in.  The food, the bubbles, the food, the presents, the food...

Blowing giant bubbles with Grammy!  We went through more bubble's at this party full of toddlers than I think we have used in Laney's whole 3 years!

When I asked Laney what kind of food she wanted at her party, she said "Popcorn"!  Her favorite treat. :)  So we got creative and made cupcakes that looked like Popcorn.  

After we sang Happy Birthday, and Laney blew out her candles, Kadie performed a puppet show for the kids while they ate their "popcorn"!

This was Laney's face when she realized that the presents were all for her!  All day she kept saying..."A party-a-me"?  "A-presents-a-me"?  She could hardly believe this was all for her!

Some of her presents were:

A parachute!

A tiny 

Nintendog 

that she took the liberty of pushing in the swing!

A T-ball set!

She tried it, but then Laney had more fun watching Brock hit the ball, and then chasing after it.

I think I see the face and form of a future softball star...

Perhaps even a pitcher!

And her very own

Plasma Car!

After such a fun party, who could blame her for crashing?  

We love you Laney, Happy Birthday!