What's the Occasion???

It's not my birthday, anniversary, or not yet Mother's Day. So what's the occasion? Not sure, but Josh gave us a great gift this last week...

He cut off his mullet! If you haven't noticed in pictures, he has been rocking the mullet since the Apple Cup back in November.  Personally I wasn't a fan, but hey, he's in college and having fun with it. When we hung out together over Spring Break, I witnessed strangers complimenting his hair, and even requesting him to flip his mullet.

He never told us what inspired the cut. All we received was this wordless photo in a text, but it brought a smile to this momma's face. On second thought, maybe I should ask for an updated photo...

Disney Pointers...

A wonderful suggestion to all you parents taking your children to a Disney Park, who don't want to hear your children whine about all the novelties they want...you know, "I want ____", "Will you buy me _____?"  This is the third time we have taken children to a theme park, and each child having their own gift cards has saved us from all the above and more.

The first time we went was when the boys were younger. Here's a throwback...

At that time the boys were doing chores to earn money. We took the money they saved (minus the piggy bank that was stolen when our house was burglarized while we were gone for Christmas vacation...one boys' was spared for some unknown reason) and bought Disney gift cards. They were free to spend on anything, but once it was gone, it's gone.

With the girls this time, I requested some Christmas gifts be in the form of gift cards.  It worked like a charm!  One girl had it spent it all in almost one day. Check out the double ended light sabre she bought.

I think she wanted to keep up with her two brothers from back in 2012. She also picked out a stuffed animal, Marie, from the Aristocats, with an extra long stole like tail. She got lots of compliments on it as it made the flight home with us. Money gone, no mention of wanting anything else;)

Our other daughter was the complete opposite. Every item bought took much thought, and spending didn't happen until near the end of the trip. First item bought was a new pillow pet. What better to sleep on than Bambi...

Next the budding artist bought a How to Draw Disney Princesses book at the art store.  Speaking of drawing, her final purchase was a caricature of herself as Mulan.

 She absolutely loved it, so we framed it when we got home, and it's now hanging proudly in her room.

Thanks Mame and Elizabeth for your gift card gifts! They were well spent, and these parents appreciated the whining you two spared us from. We highly suggest it to every parent!

Whew, It's Finally Over...

So Kaia has been celebrating her birthday for nearly a month now. First off, she celebrated with grandparents when she was at her state tumbling meet. Here she is sharing birthday celebrations with her grandpa, whose birthday was a week before.

Next celebration took place the night before her actual birthday. Disneyland gives out birthday buttons, and all day long workers wish you a happy birthday. Since we were flying home on her birthday, she wore the button the day before, and we had a special birthday dinner at the park that included reserved seating (on the ground) for the night time fantasmic show.

On her actual birthday, we decided to drive up Highway 1 to catch some views of the ocean on our way to the airport. Had to let the girls experience In-N-Out Burger while we were in the area. Nothing quite says birthday like eating a burger and a shake outdoors by the ocean.

And lastly, a party with her friends. Other than the fact that the store did not have the cake decorated 1/2 an hour before the party, and the fact that it is very difficult to take photos during Cosmic Bowling, it was a great day to wrap up her month long birthday celebrations...

The girls all decided to make mustaches and beards out of the frosting.

And She's Off Again...

When we returned from our time a Disneyland, I said hello to the rain, goodbye to my family, and hopped on the last flight of the day to Pullman.  Yep, Mom's weekend happened to be during my Spring Break this year, as opposed to later in April like last year. I didn't know this when I planned our Spring Break trip back in November, and I have no memory of why I decided for us to return on Friday, but it all worked out perfectly! 

Unfortunately the weather wasn't quite as cooperative as it was last year, and coming from the sunny weather I experienced in California, I was a wimp cold. It blew, rained, blew, hailed, and blew while I was there. Anyone Cougar will tell you that's spring at WSU!  We did brave out to watch Josh's roommate's football scrimmage, while we had a break in the weather. Was good to see Dakota get some time on the field.

We spent most of the day walking around the campus and just having some great talks. I'm really proud of the man Joshua is becoming. One of the positive decisions that he has made is to participate in something called Elevate through his church this summer. It is a 10-week spiritual leadership training, where he will be required to be employed 30-40 hours a week in the community, yet be living with 100 or so other students, learning biblical truths and putting them to practice, as well as doing some local church planting. Sound rough? Did I mention it's near the beach in San Diego? Okay, that part sounds great, but it does sound like an exhausting 10 weeks to me! Most of their entire week is structured, so not much time for the kids to get in to trouble;)

Josh is still in the process of fundraising, and is halfway to his goal. He has just over a month to raise the rest of his money. If you are inspired to help him out, follow this link and be sure to put "Joshua Crebbin" in as whom the gift is for. He is working a job on campus now to help raise his funds, but any little bit of donation he would appreciate.  And this mom appreciates helping him along the way to what will be a lifelong impact.

Now Where Was I?

Oh yeah, more spring break photos! The next four days were spent walking multiple miles back and forth between Disneyland and California Adventure. I think we did pretty well, timing our fast passes between the two parks so that we never waited more than 30 minutes in a line. The whining was minimal, with the worst being sore feet from not having worn flip flops in nine months, and being too cold. I won't name names though....

The happiest place on Earth...

Since our car didn't want to go, they pushed us most of the way around the track!

 

Our princesses;)

Nothing like a good old fashioned swing ride.

Fun in Cars Land

I think we rode the Radiator Springs ride more than any other. They scenery looked just like the movie, and it was a blast going fast in the car.

Toon Town

Another opportunity to see what we will be up against in about 4 more years...

We met up one night we two other OH families that were vacationing. Lots of fun and laughter.

Squeezed in a little pool time before we flew out.

This photo of Jaelyn sums it up. She fell fast asleep on the table at lunch one day. Guess we wore her ragged!

We'll leave you with this fun throw back. Many things have changed since we last visited the park...

And that's for better, wouldn't you say? Just wish the boys' had different spring breaks and they could've joined us.

Good Friends, Good Times...

Our Spring Break started off with a bang as we celebrated Easter with friends we can trace all the way back to China! We have known them since our first trip in 2004, when we both adopted our first kiddos, then again in 2006 when we both added to our families again. This is the first time we have all met up in the USA, and what a good time everyone had.

2006 buddies

2004 sisters

The real us!

I am separating our spring break into two posts, as you might get bored looking at all the pictures! So stay tuned....

1-2-3...

1-2-3, that's what Kaia accomplished at state.

A first...

A second...

And a third on the trampoline...

She had a lot of competition, so this was a great showing for her. In May she will be heading to Utah for Regionals!

*And please excuse me for saying "nice Kaia" every time! She has told us she does not like us to cheer before she performs, as it distracts her, and I am self-conscious about yelling too loud on the video. Plus it seems to be a little like golf rather than a wrestling match! So evidently I unwittingly do a quiet robotic cheer after each event.