Picture time again

Another month gone by

It's been a pretty fun month, which is just the thing after being sick. We had to cancel our trip to San Francisco, which was a bummer. But it just wouldn't have done. So, after we all felt better, we came up with lots of things to do.

The kids and I went sledding at Mount Baldy on February 21. We went with Aunt Colleen and with the twins from Logan's class, Ariana and Alexis. They are such nice girls. They're very sweet to Rowen, too. They are a good example to Logan. The kids all had fun sledding and the snow was perfect. It was soft and powdery, and just wet enough to stick. Poor Rowen got snow down her boots and didn't tell anyone so after about an hour, her feet were freezing. So Colleen was nice enough to sit in the car with Rowen for a while so we could finish sledding. It wasn't too far of a drive, so it was fun. I'll have to remember that place for next year and we can go more often.

Last weekend, the kids went to San Diego with Gramma and Grampa. They went to the Wild Animal Park because they had passes that were expiring. The kids were so excited to go and stay in a hotel. They ended up having more fun swimming at the hotel and going to the movies than they did at the Wild Animal Park. But they each came home with a little stuffed animal that they adore. Logan picked a jaguar and Rowen got a tiger. My parents took them to see the Pink Panther 2, which my mom said was very painful. But Logan really liked it. I'm just glad it was them and not me.

While the kids were in San Diego, Steve and I got to go to Knott's with Jen and Rich. It was fun, even if we only went for a few hours. We went on a few rides and saw a really pointless show. If you go to Knott's, do NOT go to the Mystery Lodge. There's no real mystery involved, and no actual plot to it, either. It's just some silly rambling that is less informative about the native California indians than it should have been. Oh well, it's not the worst 1/2 hour I've ever spent in my life, but it certainly wasn't entertaining.

It will be nice to have a Saturday with nothing to do and to just stay at home and relax. Getting ready for all the weeks of parties the second half of this month.

There have been a ton of things to post about lately, but it's time to get on Logan about doing his homework. For such a smart kid, he sure hates to do his homework. I guess at least it comes easy for him and once I get him working on it he gets it done pretty quickly. It would be worse if it took him a long time to do it and it was near impossible to get him to settle down to do it.

~Jenn

Being Sick

As a mom, I'm used to comforting sick kids and feeling miserable for them. Now, when it's me who's miserable, they are sweet and comforting me. Steve was great last night and fed the kids dinner and got them dressed for bed. Then he brought them in to our room for family prayer so I didn't have to get out of bed. After the prayer, I told the kids that I couldn't give them hugs and kisses because I didn't want them to get sick. They walked across the hall to their room and Logan just started crying, almost bawling actually. Steve couldn't get him to say what was wrong, but I figured it was about me. So I called to him that he could come back and tell me his knock knock jokes. That got his attention. So he and Rowen came running back to my bed and climbed up. I think Rowen told me her jokes first, while Logan finished with his sniffles. Then Logan looked at me with big tears in his eyes and said "knock knock". I asked "who's there" and he replied, "sick ... I mean, I hope" and I asked "I hope who" and he said "I hope you feel better and I love you". So of course, against my better judgment, I had to let him hug me. He has such a gentle heart some times. I need to remember the times like this one, the next time I get angry at him for not listening. I really love Logan more than I can say. And Rowen too, of course, even if her knock knock jokes usually involve chickens, eyeballs, or apples on orange trees. She was sweet and wanted to give me kisses. I finally let her kiss the top of my head, cause I figured germs would have a hard time getting there.

Disneyland Pictures

Disneyland with Gramma

The kids and I went to Disneyland last week for my mom's birthday. It was fun. We only went from 2-8, so the kids didn't have time to get exhausted. Of course, we didn't get to do everything, but we got to do more than I would have thought. That could be because I never let anyone slow down or take a break. After all, that's what standing in line is for. We went on Pirates, and then Peter Pan (which was by far the longest line we stood in all day). Then we went on Roger Rabbit and talked Logan into going on Gadget's Go Coaster. He hadn't been on it in almost 2 years. And he liked it. We even went on it twice. It was a lot of fun.

Then we went on Big Thunder Mountain, cause it's my mom's favorite. We put folded up paper towels in Rowen's shoes just to make sure she was tall enough, but then they measured her again right before getting on the ride and she was tall enough without the paper towels. She loved it. Logan was sitting in between his gramma and grampa, so he wasn't going anywhere. And he seemed like he was ok with it, but he was still a little nervous during the ride. Rowen was sitting next to me and was smiling and loving it the whole time. And she kept sliding around. She even held on with one hand and raised one arm in the air for a few seconds. She's awesome.

Then, after going on Star Tours, she wanted to go on Space Mountain. She was tall enough, and I warned her it would be dark and she still wanted to go. But I was hurrying trying to return a flash drive to some people who dropped it, and she was chasing after me. As I rounded a corner, she cut it too close and ran right into a hand rail, which at 40 inches tall, is perfectly eyebrow level. Within 2-3 minutes, it was swollen and purple. But as she was crying, she said she wanted to go on the ride, so away we went. And she loved it. She held onto my arm in the dark, but she still loved it. She keeps talking about it ever since, too, saying that she wants to go on it again. Logan stayed off the ride with Gramma. But he's getting braver. Rowen just happens to be braverer.

Anyway, here's some pictures from our day at Disneyland.

~Jenn

Sledding in Big Bear

Ok, so I'm trying to see if adding a video is as easy as adding a picture. So here are two videos, one with Logan and I and one with Rowen and I going down the Alpine Slide in Big Bear last weekend. We all had a lot of fun playing in the snow, of which there was plenty. Ok, I think the two videos are too long, so they're taking forever and they're not going to work. I'll try to just put up a few pictures for now, and then maybe I can cut the videos down so they're not as long and then maybe they'll fit. Ok, I found a smaller video of us sledding, so I'll try it instead.

Day Three

Well, Day Three is coming to a close, and I feel really good. As of this morning, the scale said I was down 3 pounds, but with normal day to day fluctuations, who knows. But I haven't felt sick in 2 days. I did have really bad insomnia last night and got almost no sleep, but even with that, I still feel much better today than usual. I'm going to try to keep up with the eating plan on our trip. I hate to think of wasting a week's worth of effort.

And here I am, off to learn how to make toffee, that I won't even get to eat. Actually, I'm going to save a piece at least for me to eat on our weekend, since I won't be eating brownies or cookies or anything. I think eating all the vegetables and no gluten is doing a lot of good. Ok, I'll stop droning now.

~Jenn