Spring Chicks

I had a total of 5 hens. One was supposed to lay ecru colored eggs and was HUGE.... She laid brown eggs.... So I sold her. One was supposed to lay blue/green eggs. She laid brown eggs...with a brown spot in most of them (gross but harmless)...so I sold her. I replaced them with these 2 chicks. MaribelleII and Vera II. Lesson to hens everywhere... if you don't meet up to my expectations.. you will be SOLD!

Life's Simplicity

After scrambling to get school lunches made and get the kids out the door to school, Heidi simply pointed out to us that the Peanut Butter was smiling today.

Ashley's 10th Birthday Party

Ashley wanted to have a few friends over for her birthday this year. So she invited a few of her craziest-loudest-squeeling friends over for an evening of nonsense and cake. They opted to fore-go the traditional birthday party games and did silly things like blindfold each other and lead one another around the house. Then rub soap on eachother's face. They were entertained by Dan's famous "Simon Says" game and dancing and screaming around the house. I think a good time was had by all. Its amazing Ashley is now a decade old!

Snow...a magical substance.

Last week, answering the beckoning call of the mountains, I made reservations at the cheapest hotel I could find in Big Bear. I couldn't resist the record snow that had been dumped down during our "tornado storms". Heidi had never really seen snow and the kids havn't really had the chance to just play in it. I borrowed boots, gloves and gear from friends and we headed for the mountains.




















Once we got into town, we found a school yard with some decent hills for sledding. This is where the trip literally started going "downhill". Once the kids were in their ski bibs and coats, they started to complain about being "fat". They are not used to wearing more than shorts and a t-shirt and an occasional pair of sweats. So they felt restricted. (Like the kid on Christmas Story.) Reed thought he knew more than me and figured his jeans, Vans, and coat would keep him dry. I decided to let him learn one of life's little lessons and wear what he wanted. We played in the snow for a few hours and then headed to our hotel. (Reed was probably getting close to the first stages of hypothermia when we got to the hotel. Lesson Learned!)
When you tell our kids that they need to be very quiet because there are people on each side of us... that's when they decide to be the noisiest. ( We actually have had security called on us when the kids were smaller.) The rest of the evening was filled with arguing and complaining. Dan took the kids to the hot tub and I went to bed, sick of them all. In the morning the fighting and teasing continued. I had enough. No more snow, we are going home! I was drained. It took a lot of planning to get the kids up there and then they don't even appreciate it. So, I will forever chalk this one up as a botched snow trip.
The snow was amazing. There was at least 4 feet everywhere! Some of the snow drifts on the side of the road were at least 15 feet. I am going to try to go back, minus the kids. Which I feel somewhat bad about because they never see snow. But that's what they get for being brats!

Tis better to give AND receive!

Disneyland has a new perk this year... if you give a day of your time to charity... you get a free day at the park. So...we signed up and on Saturday we held a lemonade stand in front of Petsmart to benefit the Pet Rescue Center. All money we raised would be donated to the center. I got up early, made lemonade and cocoa and brought some cookies that we could sell. We set up at 11:00 and the kids started waving signs.... people came and went...not many wanted lemonade. A few wanted a cookie.... and none wanted cocoa. ( I made 3 gallons). At the end of the day we made a grand total of $26. I spent $35 on supplies.

I gave the rescue center lady the $26 and went home. A few things that day bothered me. The rescue center was there trying to raise money to cover a surgery for a dog that had been hit by a car. The owners didn't want to pay $4000 to have the dog repaired so they walked away and the rescue center funded the money and will adopt the dog out when it is healed. The dog was the ugliest pit-bull I have ever seen. Her eyes were "a-skew" like someone had poked them and her ears were cut off. I had to ask myself more than a few times over the course of 4 hours, looking at this dog, "Why??" The rescue center could feed/neuter so many dogs for $4000. And pit-bulls are notoriously agressive.....???? Just to add insult to injury, when I gave the extremely hard earned $26 to the rescue center lady... she put it in the jar to go towards the medical bills of the pit-bull.

This Isn't Kansas!

We have had the most bizzare weather this week. The news told us that 3 storms were coming through but I found out about the tornados that were coming 5 minutes before they hit. I was on the phone with a client and she said that there was a tornado going to hit Santa Ana in 5- 10 minutes. Dan was on his way to Santa Ana. So I hung up the phone and called Dan. He came home for the day. When I called the school to make sure they knew, I found out there is no protocol at all for this kind of weather....ahhh, public school....always so comforting. I think there were 3 total tornados but they were not like the ones you see on TV in the midwest. The were very thin spouts.
Yes, its true, Californians can't drive in rain. I think that you should give (them, not me, I learned in Oregon, Dan in Utah) a little credit though... When you are driving on a freeway with 7 lanes going in one direction all kicking up water, it is like passing a Semi truck in a downpour, nonstop. You can't see a thing.
We had hail twice and the back yard flooded. The pool overflowed and then mysteriously drained... I think it drained under the concrete deck...or who knows, maybe aliens came down and got a drink.
I don't mind the rain. We need it to get out of our drought. And as long as it doesn't stay too long, I can tolerate hot cocoa and a fire every night. And I am already making plans to get up to the snow.



















Yes, it is also true that Californians do not have rain coats. Dan made make-shift rain gear from trash bags for the girls to go out and play in the rain. My personal favorite is the rain bonnet made from a grocery bag and painter's tape that Heidi is sporting, complete with a hole for her eye.



The beach was wild there were 15-20 foot waves. When they hit the Jetty they went up another 30-40 feet.

The Zoo

More animal viewing took place 1/16.