well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well... one of my favorite references from The Mindy Project.

So much has happened since MARCH?!  Who am I even? We had our 20th anniversary, Sophie's 18th birthday, Sophie's HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION (!), Owen's 13th Birthday, My 40th Birthday, Sophie's departure to BYU Hawaii and now Simon's Birthday is tomorrow.

Of all the 6th month chunks to not document in life.... geez! hahaha!

Actually I'll go back someday but for now I'll start at today. Today is Sunday and penny has strep throat. We don't actually know this so we are at urgent care so if she does need meds she will be far enough into them to up back on Tuesday. Apparently the urgent care doesn't open until 10. It's 9:45.

So around and around they've been climbing. Let's hope this place opens soon!

tired nights - two angry posts in a row. this was from a few weeks ago

Doug is in Oklahoma for a few days and last night I could not sleep.  Like at all.  So I decided to catch up on the walking dead season 5 and ended up staying up until 2am watching the 4 first episodes. And it was awesome and fun but now I am tired.  As usual putting the kids to bed is a total nightmare.  we are getting better but some nights they just hang on and hang on and keep talking and calling me and I end up getting mad and it ends not great.

tonight was almost that.  everything was going on way, way too long and I just wanted to lay down and sleep.  As I was listening, I heard penny start to sing.  Doe a dear a female dear. Ray a drop of golden sun. Me a name I call myself. Far a long, long way to run! He kept on singing the whole song all pretty and quiet.  I totally felt bad for getting mad at them.

Stake Conference

So, today was probably the worst sunday i've had it quite a long time.  Doug is traveling and it is stake conference weekend which means 2 solid hours of sitting and keeping rowdy kids quiet .

it's seriously the worst.  probably my fault that they don't know how to sit still yet.  i was the angry mom today. mad pointing at kids to sit down and pinching simon when he refused to stop kicking the chair and get up off the floor.  he's so freaking old to be doing this.  and it's also not like i was asking for them to sit the whole 2 hours??? ten minutes. just ten minutes and no one could do it.  i ended up leaving early. everyone got in trouble.

the interesting thing is to see how each kid react to being in trouble.  simon totally owned up to it and said sorry when we got home.  Penny yelled and screamed and hung signs on her door that said, DONT EVER COME INTO MY ROOM EVER. and yelled that she'd rather die. she doesn't want to live anymore.  she wants to die of starvation.

THESE are ALL DIRECT QUOTES. my goodness she's all drama in a that 7 year old body.  she was so upset because i took all the screens away for a whole week.  apparently she'd rather die than live like that.

so after about an hour of her fit, i ignored the signs and went in and gave her a hug. she cried some more and then calmed down.  right now, they are listening to pippi longstockings on audible.com and eating cereal.

so, for now, all is well.

i swear on my life, the screens are gone for the whole week.  it is the root of all their evil.

Labor Day

So today Doug had a meeting with a director down in Santa Monica at 9:30 in the morning. We all jumped in the car, dropped him off and hit the pier right when it opened and not very many people were there yet. I got owen and Arthur and penny and simon wristbands and no joke, penny and Simon went on 12 rides back to back. It was so hot but they have a ton of umbrellas so I stayed nice and cool while wandering from one ride to the next. The swinging dragon was super scary for all the kids but that roller coaster was a huge huge hit. 

It turned out to be such a fun morning. Then by lunch time there were tons and tons of people and it was blazing hot. So we met Doug for lunch and headed home!  I think we will go to sis Morris' to swim this afternoon. Fun to have Doug around for days like this! 

Simon turn 6!

This year we had some pretty low key parties and Simon's birthday was no exception. Some years I just can't bear the thought of 12 Friends and party games and thank you bags and piñata etc etc. I did let simon pick 2 friends to come to chuck e cheese with us. So Ezra and Abram jumped in the car and Doug brought Owen and BAYLEN from they band practice and we all whooped it up on a Monday. Best day ever for chick e cheese 😂. Doug and I got to sit and chat while all the kids ran around using up all their tokens. Ezra was telling some tall tales tonight. Like, my best friend died choking on a carrot and his dad found him. I was like WHAT? WHO?! And he said. I can't remember his name but we are best friends. Maybe Brian?  And simon was like he DIED? Like dead died? And ez was like "no maybe he didn't die." Simon was like totally calling him out, "you said his dad found him dead on the floor!" And they chattered back and doth until we got there. also Wesley came and brought simon a hulk toy because he convinced simon he IS the hulk. When it was time to take the kids home, Abrams parents weren't there yet so we drove across the street to the drive through car wash. All 4 kids went completely insane with excitement. It may have been better then chuck E chesse! Hahaha 

oh my goodness... finally the end of the photo DUMP

OK PEOPLE we have finally hit the end of this massive, massive update.  

The tailend of our visitors in the last month were the Burtons.  Seriously, our best friends for almost 20 years. 

It was their spring break so they saw family in Orange County and then came and stayed with us for a few days.  

We mainly sit around chilling out, eating junk and drinking rootbeer from a bottle which is awesome in itself consdering the little kids whole-heartedly resist anything that takes them out of play mode in the house or backyard.  but i let the little kids ditch school and once owen got home we went to see cinderella at universal.  LOOK AT THIS HUGE LONG LINE OF KIDS?! and the two cuties in the foreground, of course. 

Hanging with these guys is simply the best. 

On sunday Owen had a concert with his band, The middle school misfits (Owens' idea) at the Troubadour in Hollywood!! 

it was so great! He did so well and we loved being their with baylen and his family.  Robyn's mom surprised everyone and flew in for the little concert.  Sophie watched the little kids and doug and i got to watch and video and not chase anyone around the ENTIRE time.  It was AWESOME!

Now, i want a middle school misfits t-shirt

penny's birthday!!!

Penny girl is 7 years old!! i simply can not believe it. 

Grandma sent her present almost a week early and that box was KILLING penny.  everyday she would ask and then cry when i said no, you have to wait until your birthday.  This is about .5 seconds after she woke up on her birthday morning.  she asked for a stuffed puppy and she got TWO plus a carrying tote.  This girl LOVES a carrying tote. 

In planning her birthday, we were inviting more and more kids and i finally asked her if she really wanted a party or if she just wanted the presents.  Well, she was thinking mainly about opening a bunch of presents so we decided to have a shopping day with girls instead. she got money to buy her one presents.  This girl is pretty shrewd shopper, i tell ya.  she has good decision making skills. ha!  she is also the one i predict to be rich when she's older because she is highly motivated to do jobs for money and she keeps track of it in her wallet/purse!

Sophie and Jessica and Ida came along to the americana and it was so much fun! Penny wanted to buy her own dinner at Panda Express. then we hit up Lolli and Pops in the galleria and commenced the shopping extravaganza.  At H&M she picked out a bag (same shape as mine but it's white with flowers on it, she calls it her Ms. Honey  - from Matilda - purse, a dress, two very cool necklaces and headband and some flower clips for her hair.  very girly, this one.  

Then we went to sephora, mostly for the moms, but Penny and Ida LOVE LOVED using all the samples. 

Also, there is a bonus birthday pics of my cherished ENCINO girls at the bottom.  We got together to celebrate Brooke's birthday!  LOVE YOU LADIES!!!