As much as I want to post about Christmas...

I'm not going to.

Not tonight at least.

Last week the kids and I mooched off my in-law's once again and joined them for a day and a half at their yearly timeshare in Newport Beach. I LOVE Newport.

It. Is. Gorgeous.

And it's right next to everything. Including Disneyland, which we got to go do, as well. (BTW, I have become a COMPLETE Disneyland snob. I have a hard time being there when other people are in my way, like making me wait in line. But unfortunately that's really hard to avoid this time of year when Small World isn't quite as obnoxiously torturous because it's DECKED out in Christmas lights and all the little creepy dolls are singing Jingle Bells)

This time we caught a glimpse of the big man himself. (Or, I guess, the OTHER big man)


The Buzz Lightyear ride is a huge hit with the kids and myself. Carter is enjoying newfound independence and loves to ride in his own little pod so he can double-up with guns (you can never have too many)


Nolan still thinks he actually getting some points but is really so distracted thinking that Emperor Zurg is seriously going to kill him that he hardly hits a target. He's got a long way to go before he can challenge his mom (that's right...I'm a level 5 space ranger. WASSUP.)



He does a little better on this ride:




And believe it or not, out of the many (many, many, many) times we have been to Disneyland...I believe this is only the 2nd time I have ridden the barf cups. I mean tea cups. And I wanted to barf in the tea cups. But the kids look like this when they ride them so it's worth it.


The next day was Friday and it was cold and blustery. We swam in the heated swimming pool and hot tub. It RULED. Then we headed to the beach for the sunset after the clouds had cleared a bit. To say the very least...it was stunning...























It was warm. And we walked the length of the beach until the sun went down and we enjoyed every second of the sun's setting. It was perfect and serene. Seriously good for the soul.

Did you know...

...you can take any old sweet potato, stick some toothpicks in it, submerge it 1/3 way in water, put it in a warm, sunny location, watch it grow...



...break off the "slips" (the plant part), dig a whole, plant it, water it profusely...and 5 months later you'll have...


...and it's like a treasure hunt digging these guys up. Seriously, I was totally giddy. (shut up, I know my toe is freak-ish)


I mean, I grew them! I know, I know, I grow lots of things. But this was my NEW thing. Every year I plant something new. And this year it was sweet potatoes. And it worked! How fun is that? Next year....fennel? Egg plant? Celery? Asparagus? Kale? I'll have to give it some thought. Any suggestions??

Why I like 3

Three is a great age.

*(This goes without saying that three is also a really, really difficult age.)

But who doesn't like three? Three is so great because you can be sweet one minute, throw a ginormous fit the next, and your excuse is, "I'm ONLY three".

That doesn't really fly in adult-hood.

I wish it did, though.

"Ummmm...NO, I haven't learned not to get 2nds (or 3rd's) of Thanksgiving dinner so I don't feel like I'm going to explode afterward. Hello, I'm ONLY 27." (seriously, I've had Thanksgiving dinner like 25 times in my life and still haven't learned...)

Three would be a fun age to revisit.

It's such a care-less age, isn't it?

It is acceptable constant partial nudity.

It's SILLINESS.


















It's DIRTY. Dirty hands.

Shoe-less dirty feet.

Putting your mouth all over things where people have had their dirty feet/hands.

And dirty things from the floor in your mouth (like that Otter Pop wrapper at the park. Really? REALLY?????!!)


It's a constant head scratch/bump/bruise. (Especially when your head is still like 1/3 of your body mass.)



It's having no responsibility to get dressed. You would stay in your jammies all day if I let you. (as a side note, some adults never progressed past this point. If you want proof visit your local Walmart)


It's tiny hands learning to be careful and gentle.



It's having a sponge-brain and learning so much every day.


It's not caring if your favorite blanket looks like it belongs to a girl because it has pink on it. (*note, this picture has an explanation but it's not an interesting one. just know my kids do not often sit on the cars in their jammies and girl blankets)


And watching daddy wash the car.



And loving him so much that you cry every morning when he takes your brother to school, even though he'll be back in 10 minutes.



It's being mom's superhero and putting away the silverware.


It's the cutest number.



Or maybe that's just because you are the cutest boy and you happen to be 3 today.



Or maybe it's because I have 3 of these.

And I love them a whole lot.
I think that's why I like 3.

Fall Came...

...and then left again. And it's summer again and we're wearing shorts, flip-flops and having to eat all these hot soups I made last week which were so comforting and this week feel like a burden. Hot soup on a hot day kindof stinks. . What a tease Fall is. So annoying.
Every year when it feels like Fall, even for a day, I love to head up to Oak Glen which is up in the mountains in Yucaipa and is covered in beautiful apple orchards and pumpkin patches. It's so pretty and feels so much like Fall you can't help but want to scarf down every apple pastry/donut/pie/crisp that you land eyes on. It's full of comfort foods and crafts, candies, CHOCOLATE, fudge, carmel apples....My hips got bigger just being up there for 5 hours. Plus you get to sample different varieties of apples and the doggone best cider ever at Snowline.
While there we visited the "zoo" (aka manky old ducks, turkeys, and peacocks in cages) and got to go to the petting zoo.
I will totally admit that I was too cheap to buy the kids food to feed the animals but the girl with the skinny jeans and flats on here had pitty on them and gave them a few rabbit turds for kicks.
(yes, I did censor this picture...it was grody)



The baby pigs were a hit. Such I hit I could hardly get them to go see anything else. And I have to admit...they were so dang cute.

(can i just say I hate goats? Creepy eyes and they bug the crud outta me. A couple of them were eating my coat. And they are pushy and stupid. I hate them.)


Had to share this photo because of something special. Can you see what?


And there were some special ed kids there as well. They were sweet so I took a picture of them.

(SERIOUSLY, what is that POSE?? He did that a couple different times. It's like a gay ninja. Or a really uncoordinated dancer. With his fly partially down)

Who is this girl? (woman?...btw, did I tell you I got called "Mom" the other day by a woman giving samples at Costco? Wondering why that bothers me? I DIDN'T HAVE MY KIDS WITH ME. IS IT THAT OBVIOUS? Please tell me it's not....)



I love hoodies on little boys. And capris. Haha. (Kate, do you recognize those shorts?? We've gotten good use out of them. Not sure you want them back. They've been peed in severally :)




Can you tell these guys are brothers?


And now...the sweets....(caution...do not look late at night because it may lead to a sugar binge)




Can i tell you how badly I wanted this carmel apple with nuts and white, dark, and white chocolate? Ooohhh mama.










So we got a taste of what the rest of the country is enjoying. And we loved it, even though it only lasted 5 days. But it was glorious and pretty soon I'll be bragging all about being able to wear jackets and flats and everyone else will be suffering in gross, sludgy, freezing cold, wet snow freezing their keisters off. So I guess I can put up with it a little bit longer.