{Great Fun Thanksgiving Break}

Ian is sitting by me as I blog and came up with the title for this post. This past week the boys have been home from school for Thanksgiving break and we have had great fun! We have kept ourselves very busy creating all kinds of things from candy houses to Angry Birds.

Friends came over for sleepovers.

Toothpicks and marshmallows kept my kids busy for 2o min...that's good for my boys!

Drew is in LOVE with Angry Birds!

Ian, Owen, & Mya spent a morning painting. Ian says, "It was so much fun!" It started with paint brushes and ended with body painting! All I could do was laugh because my favorite massages are mud wraps & I figure paint must feel just as good as mud being smeared all over your body.

Ian's icky, icky, hands! (added & typed by Ian)

Round 2....bath!

The weather has been gorgeous this week so when we weren't inside creating masterpieces, we were outside playing. Picnic lunches were eaten everyday as the boys played with all their neighborhood friends. We spent hours playing kick ball, soccer, and going on bike rides.Yesterday was the highlight of the week for the boys. Kenny and Mya weren't feeling well, but we didn't want to be stuck inside on such a beautiful day in November, so I took the boys and we headed to San Clemente to spend the day at the beach! We tagged along with the whole Westbrook family and had a great time. Those Westbrook boys married some great girls and it was fun to hang out with all of them.

Drew and Chandler building sand castles.

When Owen wasn't terrorizing the sea gulls, he was busy playing in the sand.

Drew and Ian were excited to try out their new body boards. It took awhile for them to figure out which waves to catch, but they quickly figured it out and rode some great waves all the way in!



Drew and Ian were ecstatic when the waves pushed them all the way back to shore! I wish I could have videotaped their laughter because it made me so Happy!

Drew and Chandler caught & made friends with sand crabs. While Ryan taught Ian about fishing in the ocean!

Unfortunately they didn't catch anything!

I am in a book club & the book for this month is, "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin. I have loved reading this book and have highlighted several key points that I want to make sure that I incorporate into my life, so that I am living the happiest life that I can. I have a great life and I am happy. I just want to make sure that I appreciate it more.

In the book it says, "The absence of feeling bad isn't enough to make you happy; you must strive to find sources of feeling good. One way to feel good is to make time for play!" I love this thought and was thinking of this all week long as I spent time with my kids. I jumped right in and played with them. It made me happy to take time to be silly with them. We created special memories that I will always treasure and I hope they will too. It also says in the book to keep happy memories vivid. It says, "Happy times help boost happiness in the present. When people reminisce, they focus on positive memories." With this knowledge I am grateful for my blog. It has helped me to do just that. This blog is for my children. They love to see pictures of themselves and to read about the things we do in our family. I hope that the happiness that it gives to me and my children can be infectious and spread to those who read it.

My children are a tremendous source of happiness to me and I am so grateful to have them in my life. I thank the Lord daily for letting me be their mother. I want them to always know that I will always love them.

We finished our Thanksgiving week of fun with a dip in the pool. I'm glad we made time to play hard this week.

*And thank you to Ian for helping me compile this post! He chose ALL the pictures!

{Nellalicious}

Today I am grateful for sisters, cousins, & new baby Nell! On Friday, Mya and I boarded a plane in Palm Springs and flew to Kansas City, where we were greeted by the Bieberly girl clan!Mya received an A+++ on the flight! She kept busy scribbling on her aquadoodle, watching Beauty and the Beast, & snacking on tons of snacks! It is sooo much easier flying with only 1 child!

Mya and I loved getting to meet new baby Nell. We both fell in love immediately with her! I mean how can you not smile when you look at this sweet baby with all her......

HAIR!

Nell and I had some great snuggle time, in between our daily running to and from with the older girls.

Monkey Bizness was our first fun adventure! We burnt lots of energy jumping and running from one jumper to the next.


Girl cousins are the best! We were sad to be missing Jaxyn, but had fun skyping with her every night.
We managed to hit some fun stores. Charming Charlie's was my favorite, but the kids preferred making friends with the Old Navy manikins and playing with all the great toys at Pottery Barn Kids. We left that store with girls in tears leaving behind the babies, strollers, and kitchens. I know where I'm sending Santa with Mya's X-mas list!
Brynlee and Mya embraced with hugs the minute they were reunited! These two sure do love each other, however after a couple of days of mimicking each others every move, their 2 year old personalities and "Me" stage came back in full force. All anger that Brynlee felt was released onto Mya. Good thing Mya has older brothers and is pretty tough!

When I was a child, my great Aunt Neva took us to Kaleidoscope in downtown Kansas City. Carmin and I decided to see if it was as great as we remembered and it didn't disappoint! Hallmark owns and runs Kaleidoscope to foster creativity and arts for children and the best part was that it was all free!

I love how quirky my sister is, she makes me laugh all the time!

Silly Faces!
Mya was creative and made herself a very stylish dress out of paper and ribbon! She did get some help from me!
She spent more time at the hand washing station than she actually did painting, but for 2 water coming out of a tin man's nose is pretty exciting!
The creativity in the room was pretty spectacular!
Mya painted with glow in the dark paint in a black room.
Kaleidoscope was any little artist in the makings dream come true. I loved it and am grateful for programs like this that understand the importance of fostering children's artistic side.

Mya and I had a short, but great time with our family in Kansas City. I adore my sisters beautiful little girls and am glad that I get to be their Auntie Jo. I miss living next to my sisters and can't imagine all the fun we could have if we lived in the same town. For now, we will just have to plan yearly girl trips, so that our children can be close. This trip wouldn't have been possible without the support of Kenny. I am grateful for an amazing husband, who encouraged me to go and who took such great care of the boys while I was gone. I am also grateful for great friends who helped us out, so I could get away for some sister, cousin, Nell time!

{Ian's the Star!}

This week Ian was chosen to be the Star of the week at school in his 1st grade class. He created an All About Me poster that he then was able to share with all of his friends. Other privileges that he got to do were: line leader, calendar, and teacher's helper. He was pretty excited, so I asked him if he would like me to come to lunch one day, so that I could celebrate with him. He loved my idea and kept asking me daily when I was going to come and eat with him at school. I am so grateful that my son is still at the age where he loves his mommy & isn't embarrassed to be seen with me. He wasn't shy to hold my hand or to give me hugs. He also wanted to carry the money, because he wanted to buy me lunch! I love how affectionate and sweet he is!
Ian is my most social child and all of his little friends were pretty cool! The little girl pictured here is Katelyn, who as we stood in line told me, "I love your boots and your necklace!" She won me over quickly and easily, & I think she's won over Ian too! Katelyn I learned is the girl that chases Ian all during recess and I think he has his first crush! After we went through the line there was a table of boys that were calling for Ian to come sit by them. Katelyn was at another table that was empty & Ian stopped, looked at all the boys, & then at Katelyn, & proceeded to go and sit by her! I just followed him & didn't say a word. As soon as we sat down, all the boys that were at the other table, had carried their food over to sit with us. It was fun to sit and socialize with the 1st graders! When we finished eating I bought Ian a smelly good pencil and we then went and jumped rope. I had the most jumps! We tried to get in on some tether ball action, so I could teach him all I know, but the lines were too long.

Our hot lunch: salad, fruit, chicken sandwich, & milk! Similar to what I used to eat when I was a kid, but now they use styrofoam plates that they throw away and the milk is served in a plastic bag. In my opinion I think the cartons were definitely more fun! I did splurge & get chocolate milk like I did in the good old days when I was in elementary school.
Ian will always be a star to me!!!! I love this little boy so much and am so grateful that he loves me too! I just hope that he shy's away from girls when he is a teenager or we are in big trouble!

{Visiting Teaching}

Today I am grateful for visiting teaching. It is something that I need to work on myself, but I am appreciative to my visiting teacher, Amber. She checks on how I am doing monthly and gives me an uplifting message. She always brings me something special when she comes & I always look forward to the treats she brings me! On Saturday she brought me this beautiful bouquet of flowers and a plate full of pumpkin muffins!

A quick story I want to remember, so I am documenting it here:

Last month I was in Walmart running through to grab one item as my family waited for me. As I ran to the speedy checkout I noticed crates full of corn and thought how if I had more time, I would have loved to pick up some corn on the cob. I left the store without thinking twice about the corn. The next day I went to a bridal shower and was sitting there still thinking about and craving corn on the cob. I was planning on going home after the shower to cook dinner for my family and knew the corn would be a great addition to the meal. Plus my kids love it as much as I do! However, I did not want to have to go back to the store since I was already running late to get home and start cooking. Well as I left the bridal shower I was still debating as to whether or not I should go grab some corn. As I walked to my car, I saw a bag hanging from the mirror. As I looked inside, I was shocked to see several ears of corn! I seriously got tears in my eyes, knowing that this act of kindness was truly inspired! There was no note to say who they were from, but I quickly said a little prayer thanking the person who left me the corn. We ate our corn for dinner that night and I told my family the story about the corn. The next day was Sunday, & I saw my visiting teacher Amber in the hallway. She came up to me and asked if I got the corn that she left for me by my car after the bridal shower. I hugged her and related the past events about wanting corn. She then told me how she too was in the store and as she walked past the corn, she felt a strong urge to buy me some! She said she almost didn't get it because she thought that was a weird gift to bring me, but she followed that prompting anyway. I am so grateful that she did! I appreciated that small gesture of corn more than she will probably ever realize, because it taught me to make sure and listen to the Holy Ghost at all times, even if it is for something as small as corn. I am so blessed to have Amber as my visiting teacher and am inspired to do a better job myself visiting the wonderful ladies of our ward.

{Simple Sundays}

As we celebrate the month of November, I am going to reflect on the things I am most thankful for. Today I am thankful for simple Sunday's! The weather is cold and rainy and set the perfect stage for our day.

As soon as we returned from church, we changed into cozy pajama's, lit a fire, and ate a pizza picnic in the living room while we watched a movie. Kenny, Mya, & I snuck away for a little nap during the movie. When we woke up we played a family round of Charades and put together puzzles.
Then the lightning started, so we sat in the complete dark, watching the lightning in the sky as we dined on popcorn!

We had a great storm for California! Rain, Lightning, & Hail....oh my!



We finished our simple Sunday with a family tradition from my childhood, and a favorite at our house, popcorn, cheese, & apples, while we watched the Wizard of Oz!

I feel like we are constantly on the go, so it was nice to stay home, relax, and spend some quality time together as a family. I am thankful for cold, rainy, days that are meant to keep you stuck inside!