Birthday weekend fun

This past weekend was 3 days of fun.  We went up to Grandma's house Saturday afternoon so all the big boys could go to the UCLA Utah football game.  Dan's dad has made this a tradition, Noah loved some one on one time with his dad. The next day we headed up to the Anaheim Hilton hotel where we had a lot of fun at the pool.  In the evening we took a walk to Downtown Disney.  It was such a pretty walk with the sidewalk lined with huge palm trees and a filed of pretty yellow flowers.  Since we had forgotten our stroller I was very surprised how well the boys did on the walk.  Our hotel was in the perfect location, right across the street from the woody parking lot so on the way back we were able to take the bus.  Since it was a Sunday night we were able to see Disneyland's fireworks.  The location of our room was prefect, the window's view was Disneyland.  So at 9:30 we turned off all the lights and were all laying on the bed together watching the awesome fireworks, that was Dan's favorite part of the trip.  Right when they were done the boys climbed under the covers and fell right to sleep while Dan made up a story to tell.

The next day was Monday, October 6th- Grants 4th Birthday.  He woke up so excited to find streamers and balloons all over our hotel room.  Though it was a hot 94 degrees and pretty crowded the boys did great.  We kept moving all day and were able to go on at least a dozen rides.  The highlight of our trip was when Noah was able to do the Jedi training, after a second attempt.  The first attempt the Jedi picked every kid standing around Noah except him.  I could see Noah trying not to cry, and I have to admit I had to hold back the tears also.  We have been trying to get Noah to want to do the training for 2 years and this is the first time he wanted to.  I told him not to worry, we would come back later.  So we then went to autotopia and then ordered lunch while waiting for the Jedi Academy to start again. While waiting Noah said, "mom I wasn't excited enough, this time I will be more excited and jump a lot."  It was so sweet and we were so excited when he was one of the first kids picked.  He loved every minute of it, giving me a thumbs up after he fought Darth Vader.

Happy 4th Birthday Grant

What, how is Grant 4- does this mean it's time for another baby?!!!  This crazy, fun, spunky, strong wheeled boy celebrated his 4th birthday with the Ford clan at Panda Country.  During dinner Grant kept saying "thanks mom for giving me the idea, I love Panda Contwy.  It is so yummy."  Grant loves their noodles, rice and chicken- what's not to love!  We then went back home for some yummy funfetti cake of course, with Grants favorite Cookies N' Cream.  After serving everyone I realized Grant didn't get any dessert.  He was too busy with all of his new Ninja Turtle toys!  So when laying Grant down for bed he reminded me of this; so I of course gave in and told him he could have his b-day dessert for breakfast!  The next day we headed up to Corona for dad and Noah to attend a football game with all the boys.  Saturday afternoon the Brashear grandparents took Grant to Toy's R Us so he could pick out a present.  This year Grant basically picked everything he got.  Erin took him to Target, then Whitney and my mom took him to Toy's R us- such a spoiled boy! We then spent the night at Grandma's so we could wake up Sunday morning and head on over to Anaheim for some more Birthday fun.

Happy 6th Birthday Mr. Noah

Can't believe my baby boy is now 6, where does the time go.  He now expects decorations when he wakes up on his birthday. So after cleaning up the house, making lunches and getting ready for work the next day it was time to start decorating.  I super sad that I had picked up a shift from 0700-1530 because I wasn't gonna be able to see his surprised face when he woke up.  At 0630 I was in the bathroom getting ready for work when I heard little feet running down the stairs then all of sudden back up.  Noah came running into my room with a big smile and said "I saw all my decorations."  I guess he was so excited he couldn't wait to see them since he usually doesn't wake up till 7 or 0730.  He picked Fudruckers for dinner and kept calling it funluckers. We then came back home with the family for present opening and some yummy funfetti cupcakes and VANILLA ice-cream.  Noah will only have vanilla, forget cookies N' cream even though he likes oreo's. Noah is truly a sweet fun loving boy. I am so grateful to have him as a son and can't wait to see the amazing young man I know he will be.  Loe that sweet Mr. Noah Boy of mine!

Birthday Fail

Since schools no longer want you to bring food for Birthday's due to allergies I thought I would attempt a pinterest idea!!!  Since I am cheap I ordered some whoopee cushions from oriental trading company.  On the website it said they were made of plastic but I thought they would still work but to mine and Noah's disappointment they failed in making FART noises.  Noah said to me, "mom I can't give these to my friends.  They don't work, they won't want to be my friend."  I then thought well I guess I will just use these as a gift bag, so I  put a angry bird's pencil in each one.  I am not crafty  or computer savvy what so ever.  It took me about 20 minutes just to figure out how to put 2 columns on a word document so I wouldn't use too many pieces of paper. I then cut out each tag thinking I would make it look like an actual tag with a point but since I am not crafty they all looked uneven.  So I had to start over by rounding all the edges.  Next I had to thread the yarn into little slits I made on the tags which was like threading a needle.  In all I think this project took me about 3 hours. I was so over it, not to mention I had a sore back and hands!  I took these along with some balloons to Noah's class so his classmates could sing to him.  The teacher told all the kids to put the goody bag in their backpacks which of course they didn't listen.  I just watched all the kids ripping them open, ruining all my hard work!  All I could think was, wait the parents need to see how cute this is before you ruin it!!!  I am pretty sure this is the last time I will do this, so not worth it!

Beach Camp 2014

We had another successful year at beach camp.  Beautiful sunsets, colorful camp fires, bike riding, trips to the store (pretty sure that's their favorite part of camp since Dan spoils them with candy), and of course spending time with all the family on the beach, oh yeah and I can't the ice-cream man (my cousin chad came down to the beach twice with a bag full of ice-cream from the store).  I have been  camping at Carlsbad since I was little and love that boys get excited for it every year.

SURPRISE...

Dan was so sweet, always trying to be romantic- he loves going on dates.  He surprised be and took me to Spruce Street Bridge which is downtown.  It is a suspended bridge that I was a little scared to cross in heels since it was saying a little!  He bought us a lock and we signed our initials and threw the key below.  While trying to have this moment a lady asked is she could photograph us.  She swears she is going to send us these professional grade pic's but I have yet to see them!  We then were going to go to Fillipo's but I had the bright idea to try something new since we don't venture to downtown very often. That was a big mistake, I need to just stick to what I know since I am not a fan of expensive fancy food!  We tried Davanti in Little Italy.  The ambience was really cool but the staff wasn't friendly and the food was way too over priced.  The ravioli pictured above is just A ravioli for $12, what!!!- at least it was yummy filled with an egg!  Since we weren't full we headed across the street for some delicious yogurt land.  I love this man of mine, so much fun spending time with him.

Del Mar Fair

Dan and I have both decided a date niggt at the Del Mar Fair is the way to go.  It is so crowded so bringing kids is no fun.  This year we decided to go on a Tuesday to see Pentatonix who is an acapella group.  It was perfect because it was taste of the fair on Tuesday.  We got to the fair at 4 and the taste of the fair was done at 5.  We were able to hit about 10 food booths before our time was up.  This was for sure for Dan since I am not a huge fan of fried food!  Our first stop was my favorite cinnamon rolls then fried oreo's. Dan got cheesy bacon bomb which was a fried ball of jalepeno cheese wrapped in bacon as pictured below (look at all the oil), and a variety of poppers, corn dog, kettle corn and I am sure there was more.  It was so great because each place was only $2.  We have decided from now on we will go on a Tuesday to be able to sample all the yummy food.

Bike Riding

Any time I can get Dan to ride a bike I take full advantage of it. He is always telling me to think of something new to do but I love riding bikes especially down by the beach.  He recently bought a new bike while we were at beach camp in August.  His poor black and red bike go ruined after they fell off an unsecured bike rack!  While at beach camp the gears completely warped so Dan found a near by bike shop and purchased the Electra! 

Here is a bike trip that Dan refused to go on.  I rode the boys by myself to McDonald's and then stopped at the park on the way home. 

My all time favorite bike route is in Coronado, the boys love going under the "blue bridge."

This was the first time everyone in the family had bikes during beach camp so we all rode down to the donut shop in Leucadia.  It is no Mary's donuts but I can always enjoy a glazed twist donut!

Lakeview to Riverview (Wintergardens)

Noah attended Transitional Kinergarden 2013-2014 at Lakeview elementary.  He had a hard time knowing he wasn't coming back the following year.  We sure loved how great the staff was and the great kids in his class.  I loved that they had a music program and so wish they have it a Riverview.  Senorita Rivera was so kind to make a video of all the performances and parties in the class.  After Noah finished watching the video I found him under the kitchen table crying.  He said, "I don't want to go to a new school.  I won't know anyone, my best friends won't be there."  I felt so bad but Noah has since started at Wintergardens and hasn't complained once in lacking any friends.  It is only the third week and when picking up Noah there are tons of kids saying "bye Noah."  Noah never seems to know their names, guess he is just too cool!

Noah started at Wintergardens September 2nd and has been doing awesome.  TK definitely helped him so much.  He is already ready to try reading, when he's in the mood of course!  Cannot believe how much he has grown