Spring Break, a Birthday, and a Lost Tooth

OK, so we have had some exciting things happen in the past week or so. It was spring break and I decided to take the four kids and drive six hours to my brother Ted’s house in San Marcos, California…alone. The only adult. With four kids. Did I mention I was by myself? For six hours one way. Yep. It actually went okay. We left on Friday morning and came home the next Wednesday morning. I am so thankful for modern technology that gave me a flip down TV screen and DVD player in my van, wireless headphones, an MP3 player, and a cell phone. These things made our trip possible and pleasant. A cool thing about my van, the kids can be watching a movie in the back and listening on their wireless headphones while I, in the front, can listen to the radio, a CD, or a tape. With the help of a tape player adjuster thingy, I was able to listen to my MP3 player through the speakers in my car. Yep, what I wanted to listen to while the monkeys in the back were listening to their movie. When I got sleepy, I talked to my mom on the cell phone and that kept me awake. “I love technology…always and forever.”

Anyway, we made it to Ted and Adrienne’s house and the cousins had a great time getting reacquainted. Here we had thought that Gabe, McKay, and Ethan would pay together, Kayte and Jayne would play together, and Abram and Noah would play together. The first one was right on, but a surprising little relationship formed between Kayte and Abram. They had the best time and only fought when they both wanted to play the mom…Abram was enjoying playing domestic games. It was great fun to watch their little friendship forming. They had to ride in the same car wherever we went so Abram rode with Kayte in Adrienne’s car and McKay and Noah rode with me…mostly because of the TV. We hung out, watched movies, played X-Box, went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park, went to the beach, and jumped on the trampoline.

Ted, however, was the hero of the weekend. Did I mention that I went by myself with my four kids joining his family with three kids? Well, Adrienne had signed her and me up for a scrapbook session Friday night from 6 to midnight, and Ted stayed home with all seven kids! What a husband and brother he is! Here were seven little kids, four of whom he hasn’t had much time around, and they were all so excited to be together that they didn’t want to go to sleep very bad. Picture a room with the three older boys with the giggles for approximately two hours (or maybe more). Remember how it was when you first got to see your cousins or friends in a long time and were so excited that you couldn’t sleep, kept getting the giggles, and kept getting into trouble? Same thing here. Ted said he could remember those times, so he didn’t get after them too much. What a guy!

AND THEN…the next day Adrienne had a card making class to teach at this same little adorable scrapbook store named “The Pink Pineapple” that we were at the night before, so Ted watched the seven for another three hours for us so that I could attend Adrienne’s class. What a great guy! Course, as soon as we walked in the door from this class, he was ready to be done for awhile. He took a break and went to go meet a client for a few hours to have an “adult conversation” and came back feeling better. I love you Ted!!! You’re the best! Thank you, thank you!

We went to the beach one day. It was 55 degrees outside but that didn’t stop the kids from getting wet. As we were driving up to the beach, my kids were very excited and were saying, “Look, there it is, the ocean and the beach!” McKay just shrugged his shoulders and said, “It’s just a bunch of water with some sand.” Cute little blonde California boy! Same old stuff, different day for him. Jayne loved the water! It was a good thing I had her on a “leash” or she would have gone out with the sand. She giggled every time the water went over her toes.

Speaking of Jayne, she turned 2-years-old while on this trip! We had cookies and ice cream instead of a cake and stuck the two candles in her cookies. She just grinned while we sang to her and when we encouraged her to blow out the candles; she kept on grinning not knowing what the heck we were talking about. Gabe helped her by blowing them out for her. She taught the other kids an amazing trick with her spoon…see picture below. Oh…and she figured out how to climb out of the pack-and-play while we were there, but thankfully it was the last night we were there and not the first. She has since been climbing out of her crib. Time to get rid of the crib! (She climbed out of it last night and into my bed at three a.m. this morning. No more “containment” for her. Darn it.)

On Thursday after we returned home, the boys were playing in the backyard when Ethan came running in with a bloody mouth and yet still grinning. He had lost his first tooth! Sad to say, the tooth fairy forgot to come that night. Loren told him the next morning that the tooth fairy was very old and she had probably forgotten (he says this while grinning at me…why is this MY responsibility??). Well, she came the next morning and brought him two dollars! We went to Target today and he bought a small Chicken Little puzzle with his money. He was so excited!

Here are a few pictures of our trip, the birthday, and the lost tooth…hope you haven’t fallen asleep while reading this.

trick

cookies 

Checking out the wild pigs. 

Kayte, Abram, and a deer 

Jayne 

Ethan, a stick, and the Pacific 

Gabe and Ethan 

some scuba divers 

Jayne on a "leash" 

The First Lost Tooth