Halloween Fun

Last night we went Trick or Treating at Disneyland. It's a special event at California Adventure that we go to every year. They have tons of stands set up that you trick or treat to and get lots of candy (they had healthy snacks too which was really good since we are being healthy now). We use the candy that we get to give out to the kids who come to the house trick or treating. Is that bad? Bill and I dressed up as a king and queen and Bri and Alyssa were princesses (surprise, surprise). I met a worker from Grass Valley. All of their name tags have where they are from and when hers said Grass Valley I started talking to her. Go Miners! She was a cheerleader too. I sure made me feel old when she said she was the class of 2006. We had lots of fun but it was really crowded so we decided that next year we will go earlier in the month. Alyssa started a new dance class this week. We were over the mommy and me thing. She was way too clingy so we put her in a class by herself and she did way better. She is the only one in pull-ups. I think the other girls are 3 maybe 4. A couple of weeks ago I let Brianna try on my old cheerleading outfit and Alyssa got to wear my school uniform from South Africa. I attached a picture. It brings back lots of memories. We took Alyssa today for her very first haircut. She was a little scared so we had to bribe her with candy. I really don't like doing that but she was throwing a fit and wasn't going to sit down in the chair. It's amazing what a small piece of sugar will do to a 2 year olds attitude. She was suddenly happy as could be. Well, I have to go get us all dressed for Sally's annual Halloween party. (it looks like I'll have to attach the pictures later, they aren't working)

Healthy Living

The other night I was watching a show on TLC about this family with 6yr old twins and 3 yr. old sextuplets. The mom was getting ready to go for a tummy tuck and was preparing food for all of the nights she would be gone (14 days). She was cooking away and saying how she thinks it is so important to be feeding her children healthy food. She sneaks in veggies anywhere she can and tries to give them organic foods when they can afford it. Then she said that the sextuplets had never had fast food. That hit me and I thought, here my kids eat fast food atleast once if not twice a week. But the part that really made me want to change my ways was when she said she is giving her children a gift that they probably will never know is a gift, by teaching them to eat healthy. Bill walked into the room about that time and I said, "What are we doing? We are really messing up in this area." It is all about convience and what the girls like- chicken nuggets, hot dogs, etc. I've barely been offering them fruits and veggies because I know they won't eat them (atleast that is what I thought). Bill said, "Let's throw out all of the junk and start over." I was a little hesitant but knew that was the only way to do this. So that night, we did it. Yesterday was our first day of eating better and it was surprisingly easy. Alyssa was eating strawberries and Bri was eating broccoli. No more snacking on high sugar foods. I know this won't be easy, but I have to think what is best in the long run. If anyone has good recipes or ideas on how to get kids to eat their veggies, I'm open for suggestions. It's exciting but a little sad... I was really craving a bowl of ice cream last night. Pray for us that we will stick with this.

Happy October!

Wow, it's been almost a month since I last wrote. Where does the time go? Brianna received her first award in kindergarten last week. That was pretty exciting. She was one of 5 in her class to receive the "Alphabet Champion" Award and one of 3 to receive the "Number Nut" Award. The alphabet champion award is for the kids who can recognize all of their letters in upper and lower case and know the sounds that they make. The number nut award is for the kids who can recognize their letters from 0-30. Brianna and her friend, Rio, were the only 2 to get both awards. We were so proud! Just in the last couple of weeks, she has started to read. She is very excited about that. It's amazing how fast she is learning everything. She is still going to ballet once a week and seems to enjoy it. I've been thinking it might be time soon to try something new- maybe piano lessons, soccer, cheerleading, etc. We haven't quite decided yet. Alyssa didn't want to do much dancing in her Mommy and Me class last week. She might be ready for something new too.
We had a wonderful visit with Kimberly, Markus and their 3 beautiful children- Micah, Kate and Emma. They were visiting from Grass Valley this past week. It was so nice to hang out with old friends. There is nothing quite like it. I just wish we could do it more often. Kim and the kids came over on Thurs. We had lunch at the mall and then just hung out here at the house. Everyone played really nice. Then Friday night we met them at Disneyland. My nephew, Connor, was visiting for the weekend so we thought we would take him. I almost got him on Tower of Terror again but the line was too long. I think he was quite relieved about that. He said that the Tower of Terror doesn't put him in a happy place. He's a cute kid!
I've been bummed at work lately with my holiday schedule. They put me to work Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. We usually request what holidays we want to work and I got put on all of the ones I didn't want. Not very good for the 2nd most senior person on night shift. Oh well, I just figure I'll work them now and should get them off next year. It has been very frustrating though. Alyssa just came in and asked me, "What do you have in your belly? A baby?" No, I just ate too much at Souplantation.

Is Summer Over Yet?

Boy are we ready for Fall. On Saturday, our air conditioner started leaking in our hallway. Of course it had to happen when it was 110 degrees. We had someone come out and he said we needed a new air conditioner and heater. I knew they were getting old since our house was built in the 60's. So we went one day without air and that was one day too many. We had to send the girls to my parent's house for the weekend so they could stay cool. I went to work early that night since I couldn't stand being in the house anymore- it was 92 degrees in the house at 6:30pm. The next morning the guys were there working and we were up and running by 1:30pm. It took a big chunk of money so we are looking at getting creative with our bills. The joys of being a homeowner! Brianna is starting to read. It's pretty exciting. She is doing really well in school. No more getting in trouble. Although yesterday she told me that she wanted to get in trouble. When I asked her why she said, "So I can get some attention." Interesting. So I gave her plenty of attention explaining to her that there are better ways to get attention, like doing a good job. She's a funny kid. Happy Birthday to Chad and Cathy yesterday! The pictures are of a PTA BBQ we went to at Brianna's school, Alyssa at the Disney Store (their favorite place to shop) and Brianna at Jonathan's puppy party.