8 is GREAT!

Spencer is now finding things that are great about being eight. He is so excited about cub scouts! Tonight was Spencer's first Pack Meeting...and mine!! Isn't the picture way cute? My little cub scout was all decked out...me too! Spencer was welcomed into the scout program tonight. He received a bunch of awards from attending day camp this summer and also graduated from Bobcat to Wolf. He is very excited (me too!) and so he has been working on scouts like crazy. He has already started working on his wolf. He got his first "bead". Yah, not sure what that means yet either. So here we go...we are starting the scout thing. I was just called to be the Webelos leader. No, I am not Spencer's leader, which is a little different, but I will be all educated by the time he moves up to me. GO SCOUTS!!

Receiving his Bobcat pin...upside down!

I am up and running again..I think!

I know, I have slacking on the blogging!! The truth is my camera died and I don't have pictures! I only have a camera on the weekends when Dan is home, so I WILL be posting lots of pictures this weekend. Yes, he has his own camera for work! I can use it...I think! So, today I will post this very cute/funny picture. Chelsea had a little "accident" at my friend Amy's house a couple weeks ago. Amy only has boys, so this is what Chelsea came home in. Yes, they are little boys and have a "pee pee pocket" (Spencer calls it) in the front. She cried when we got home and I tried to change them. CHELSEA:"No, I want to wear these!" I guess there is nothing wrong with that!?? So, she wore them until the next day. I washed them, set them out to return to Amy. When I went to grab them, they were GONE! MOM:"Chelsea, have you seen the Incredible underwear?" She pulled her pants down and this is what we saw. She wore them again for another day, and then I washed them, and she wore them for another day, and then I washed them... She just couldn't part with them. Of-course, Amy said that was just fine. Thanks Amy! Gosh, maybe I should get out all Spencer's old underwear. Let's see, we got spiderman, superman, power rangers, batman, cars, peterpan....

Too POOPED to eat!

I know I just posted a picture of Chelsea sleeping, but this has to be my favorite!! Don't you LOVE "sleeping" pictures! She actually feel asleep while eating pizza Friday night, sitting on a stool! I had to take a quick picture and then grab her. I was so afraid she was going to fall.

Happy Birthday X3!

Tonight we celebrated the "Merrill family September birthdays", which included my Chelsea (25th), Marrianne (28th) and Brooke (today). Marrianne and John hosted the party at their house. John BBQed some yummy steaks on his new WEBER that was so yummy! Both Grandma and Grandpa Merrill and Clinger came to the celebration. It was fun to get together with family. And I have the best in-laws! I love that they get along with my side of the family so well. Marrianne always teases me that she knew my in-laws before I did. She was is their stake growing up. Chelsea was pretty excited to celebrate her birthday a little early. Chelsea had specific gifts she wanted everyone to get her. I know, a little greedy huh? Oh well, she is only 2 (until Thursday)! She "told" grandma Merrill that she wanted the "big barbie bed." She has been talking about it for months! Every time we were at target, she would point it out and say, "Grandma M is going to get me that bed!" She told Grandma Clinger that she wanted this to go with the barbie bed. Yes, she LOVES barbies! My girls NEVER play in the huge barbie house we have. They always end up just playing on the floor. This little "wall house" is perfect! Best of all it is compact! Yah, for saving space! They had a wonderful little party and Chelsea just loved sharing her day with one of her fav cousins.

I just can't believe my baby will be three on Thursday! THREE!! Here are just a few fun pictures from the party.

"I am NOT tired!"

RIIIIGHT!!! Chelsea is really trying to fight the whole nap thing. My other two napped right up until they went to kindergarten, so this has been hard for me. She was so tired today after church. She was extra whinny, so I told her to go lie down for a while. She REFUSED! This is her NOT tired and definitely NOT lying down!

When I should have excepted getting regected!

I have had a lot of fun with Chelsea these last couple weeks while the other kids have been in school. She is not quite old enough to start pre-school, so we are continuing with the babysitting co-op/playgroup. A few days a week she gets to play at one of her friends houses for three hours each day. One other day (Tuesdays) she gets to have her friends over for a playdate (5 of them). This has worked out great. It allows her to socialize and play with friends and it gives me the opportunity to get stuff done. Well, Friday I decided to just keep her. She was feeling a little down and under the weather. She had a fever the night before and I have been also fighting something. After playing a couple games together, she starts to cry. She says, "I want Melanie to come home and play with me." I said, "I will play with you!" She said, "No, I want to play barbies and you are a mommy. Mommies don't play barbies!" It took all of me, not to agree with her! I have never felt so torn! Hee, Hee! Some of me...ok, all of me, really didn't want to play barbies, but I am really trying to be a good mommy and spend time with my baby girl that is just growing up too fast. So, I said, "I know how to play barbies and I will play with you." AND we played and played for a good hour! So, yes mother, all those 40 barbies that were lying naked around the house, are now dressed. I can't promise they will have clothes on when you come next, however! AND I guess I was a pretty good playmate because now, every time she wants to play barbies, she asks ME to play. WHAT DID I DO! I can't just tell her mommies don't play barbies? OR can I?

Labor Day!

We woke up today with no plans, but by 12:00 noon, we were aboard Grandpa's boat, sailing the Pacific. We love that in most cases, Grandpa and Grandma Clinger will drop everything and take us out on their boat. Today, after 3 days of school and a long weekend, the kids were just beat. The minute we hit the water they were mellowed out completely! The rocking of the boat always makes them so sleepy. Today Melanie fell completely asleep and the 2 others looked like zombies. Let's just say, it was a nice relaxing ride for mom and dad. Can we do it everyday??
No one got sick this time and the kids actually spent some time "below" playing games. We actually saw sea life too, which we normally don't see. The kids loved seeing all the sea lions resting above water. The kids sat dangling their feet over the edge of the boat until I said I wanted to see sharks and dolphins. Melanie then made the connection. She said, "could a shark reach my feet? Well, that was the end of that. We then headed to CPK for some yummy dinner and then home to bed. We slept like babies! Thanks G & G for the fun day.

Where is Heaven mommy?

So, you know when your kids say the cutest things and you want to just remember them forever? So, like most moms, I usually write them down in a journal. With my first two this was really easy and I did it faithfully. With Chelsea (my third) I have sort of fallen behind. I am sad because Chelsea (almost 3 years) is just so funny. She is at such a fun age. She cracks us up all the time. So yesterday we were at my friend Kim's house. She has this picture hanging... in her home. Chelsea was staring at the picture. All of a sudden she said, "Mom, that is Jesus!" I said, "yes it is." She then got really excited and said, "he is at the beach!"

Later on, on our way home she asked, "Where is Jesus anyway mommy?" I told her Jesus was in Heaven with Heavenly Father and Poopsie (her great grandpa that died last year, and she talks about his funeral and him all the time). She then said, "Oh wow, Poopsie is still with Jesus! I want to be with them really bad mommy!" I got the chills and said, not now Chelsea, but someday you will see them again." She then asked, "where is heaven mommy? I want to go there and see all of them". OK, so that is the reason right there, that each of us should have pictures of Christ in our homes. Isn't that our goal and purpose in life? To make it back to them someday? What a fun and sweet conversation we had! I know we will have many more like this. Our little ones are so pure and precious!

OH, what are we going to do with her?

So, this morning was a bad morning for Melanie! When the morning bell rang she wouldn't go stand in line with her class. I knew right then that today was going to be a "not so good day". I reminded her of "our picture" and told her to look at that when she got sad. I tried everything I learned from my Early Childhood Education background. Let me just tell you, and I think you know...it is different when it's your own kid. Her teacher was wonderful and after prying her off me, won the battle and was able to get her in the classroom. Yes, she is one of those kids that would hit her preschool teacher and run out of the classroom to chase after me when I left her. So, you can imagine how scared I was. I stood there outside the door waiting for something to happen. Nothing ever did so again, Mrs. Harvey won! Yeah! So, as I was walking to the car, my friend Lindy (Brimhall) Pace stopped me and asked if I had heard what happened yesterday. I had no idea what she was talking about. She said that her daughter Danny (Mel's best bud) came home really upset yesterday and said that her and Melanie almost got sent to the Principal's office. Of-course, she was being a little over dramatic. So funny! She then began to tell Lindy about what had happened at recess yesterday. She said that her and Melanie were chasing a boy (the boy Melanie says she is going to marry) and his shoe came off. Melanie then grabbed the shoe and gave it to Danny and told her to throw it over the gate into the big yard, and she did. The yard duty lady then told their teacher and their teacher had a "little talk with them". OK, so is that the funniest thing ever? This is only the 2nd day of kindergarten! Nice, President Merrill's granddaughter and President Brimhall's granddaughter -- the first kids at Cypress to "almost" get sent to the Principal's office. Lindy then gave Danny a lesson on peer pressure and not getting carried away when chasing boys. SO, apparently my daughter is the devil! LOL!! Just kidding! But, really where does she get her personality from? I would have never done something like that. She is so crazy and having these two girls together in the same class is going to be very interesting. Wish us luck! By the way, Melanie ended up having a fantastic day today! She got three stars on three different assignments that were brought home, so she came home glowing. Good job Melanie! Now stop chasing little boys and taking their shoes!

Second Day of School

The second day of school went OK. Those who know Melanie well, know about her separation issues. It is so much fun! NOT! So, many of you have been asking how kindergarten is going. I was told by the yard duty lady today that Melanie cried for me the whole recess which made me so sad. We have all day kindergarten, which I just loved when Spencer was in kindergarten. I am beginning to think it is too long for Melanie. I guess she will get used to it! By lunch she is begging to go home. When I pick her up she is hammered. She is extremely tired and just wants to sleep. So anyways, last night I printed a picture of the two of us and taped it to her lunch box and wrote a note on her napkin. I hope this helps for tomorrow. We shall see!

The Diamond District

So, today Chelsea and I went downtown with Marrianne (my sister-in-law). She has been missing her wedding ring for a year now, so she and John decided it was time to go shopping for wedding rings AGAIN. They went down on Saturday and found one she loved. She will probably blog about it here. Oops, she is private, so you have to be her friend first to read it? Anyways, she needed to pick it up today, so we went with her. It is amazing! Dan also lost his wedding ring surfing, about 3 years ago. He has looked single for 3 years and I was sort of getting tired of all the girls checking him out. LOL I decided while I was in LA, I would look for a ring for him. Dan picked some out online that he liked and so I had an idea what to look for. OK, it is awesome! The rings they have now for guys are so much better then when we got married. Maybe I just didn't look very hard, I don't know! Here it is! I haven't given it to him yet, so you are the first ones to see it. I will give it to him tonight after a romantic evening of helping the kids with homework and making them eat their dinner. So, it is made from a material called Tungsten. I guess it is the new, cool thing. It is so much cheaper too. Anyways, here is a picture. I hope he likes it. He will be a married man again after tonight!

Oh, and...I love my wedding ring! Dan picked it out himself when we got engaged over 12 years ago. He did an awesome job. He knew me well, it is so me! Gold was the "thing" back when we got married. Both our rings were gold. Lately, I have been wishing my ring was silver. Everything I wear is silver including my watch. I was talking to a friend recently and she told me how white gold is made. OK, I am just lame! Dah, The "dipping" process is called "rhodium plating." Rhodium is a precious metal and plating is a less expensive alternative to platinum. (There is no white gold in nature.) The plated finish is long wearing and may not need to be redone for years depending on your wearing habits. I automatically thought, this process would be so expensive. Well, it is not! It was so cheap! So, I asked the guy about dipping my ring. Because Marrianne and John just made him a rich man (j/k), he knocked $50 off Dan's ring and charged me $15 for the dipping. Let's just say, we got quite a deal today. Thanks you John! I love it! I hope Dan does!

First Day of school

Summer is over and my kids are not the only the sad ones. We've enjoyed the summer sleeping until 8:30-9:00. It was so hard to get up this morning. I remember when I was a kid, I was so excited for my first day of school. MMM...not so much here in our house. OK, so Melanie was! We had set out her clothes the night before and so she was fully dressed and her hair at least combed before I could even open my eyes. Spencer on the other hand...when I went into his room at 7:00, he was not happy. He pulled his sheets over his head and moaned and groaned. Once he was up he was pretty excited though. He couldn't wait to see all his friends. Spencer got one of the new teahers this year. We had three teachers retire from Cypress last year, so we got three new ones. Her name is Terry McIntyre. She is supposed to be just amazing. Melanie got Mrs. Harvey (Spencer's kindergarten teacher). They try to give you the same teacher that sibblings had so that you are familiar with them. We loved Mrs. Harvey, so we are very excited.

Melanie had a great first day. We were a little (ok, a lot) nervous. She doesn't do good with change or new places or people. Luckely, she has two friends from her Pre-K class in there and then one of her best buds from church. Spencer has tons of old friends in his class this year. One of the new neighbor kids is in his class too. The kids came home just so exhausted.

As for me, today I watched my friend's son for a couple hours while she taught a class. Then she came and took Chelsea away for a couple hours so I could get some stuff done. What did I do? I mowed the lawn and pulled weeds. Nice hah? Until tomorrow...
Melanie - KSpencer-3rd grade
Chelsea-Clinger school

Hey goodlooki'n what's you got cooki'n?

Yes, I am talking to YOU!

What do you prepare your kids for their school lunch?

I am sitting here stressing out because school starts tomorrow. I know, I should have thought about this way before now. I should have made them try new things this summer so I wouldn't have this problem. Well, I didn't, and now I am stuck! My kids (like most) won't try new things very easily. My kids really don't enjoy lunch either. They will eat a big breakfast and then a huge dinner. Well, they have to take a lunch to school, so what am I going to do? I have never really thought about it, but as I write this I am thinking, I guess you would call them picky! I do make them eat and try new things at dinner. AND have never prepared them something other then what we are eating because they don't like it. They like all meats, except for maybe lunch meat. They are NOT big sandwich eaters and that is all I am coming up with at this point...that is what I grew up eating. Spencer would only eat PBJ for a while, so he kind of got sick of that.

See, if you ask Melanie what she wants for lunch she would reply … “a hot dog or a quesadilla”. Now, I am a lover of the hot dog too, but I also know they are very bad for you. Even the healthiest hot dog is packed with sodium and cholesterol. I would make a quesadilla, but I know she won't eat it cold. I just can't give that to her everyday anyway. If you ask Spencer, he will say, "chicken nuggets or grilled cheese." I guess my problem is, if I did make these "hot" meals, I don't know how to keep them hot. If someone knows how to keep a hot dog, chicken nuggets, pizza, or grilled cheese hot, let me know. Let them buy at hot lunch at school, you say! No, we are broke! It is so expensive now days. They just raised the prices of school lunches again this year.

Does anyone have any other ideas for my picky children? What does one pack for a school lunch now a days?

Since we are chatting about foods, what are you making for dinner this week? I am getting sick of the same old meals I make.

So tell me blogger friends … What ‘cha got cooking?

Playing Catch-up!

Keep scrolling! I had to play catch up this week!

Camping at Leo Carrillo

If you love to camp, the beach is the way to go! It is actually really hard to get a campsite reservation anywhere in California. You have to reserve 6 months in advanced and you have to be the first one on the Internet fighting for your site. It is really crazy! It reminds me of when I went to Ricks College and had to fight for my classes I wanted. Last year I was in for the fight, but this year I didn't do it. I wasn't thinking we would even be around locally this summer to be honest. Well, the kids were begging to go camping, so a couple weeks ago, I got on the Internet at reserveamerica.com (that's how you get a site). Of-course every campsite from here to Morro Bay was taken. I was talking to my friend who gets reservations every year and she said to just check everyday sporadically. She assured me that something would come up, that there were people canceling all the time! So, one afternoon after checking a few times that very morning, something came up. I was so excited that I just went ahead and booked it without even talking to Dan first. A whole week at Leo Carrillo was available. I used to camp there with my own family as a child, so I couldn't wait! I called Dan and he was equally excited! His boss (his father) had told him that he was accruing too much vacation time and needed to take time off. Believe it or not, that is very hard for Dan to do. He is so hardworking and dedicated to his job! We have never had Dan for a whole week before! We were all so excited!

So, here we are! We had the best time. The kids loved it! We spent every day at the beach. It is crazy how fast the days go when you are camping. This was our schedule everyday: We would wake up at 8:00, eat breakfast, hang out around the campsite, beach, lunch, hangout/hike, dinner, campfire, and bed. The kids were in bed by 8:30 every night because they were so exhausted. The kids were very upset and complained when we told them it was over. The days went way too fast! We enjoyed Leo Carrillo's beautiful rocks and caves. They have very pretty campsites with lots of trees to climb on. Our campsite was the best! It had complete shade with avery fun tree.

Monday night was our favorite! We had the Mackay's and my brother John's family join us for dinner and smores. The kids had a blast getting dirty! Our highlight of the night was when Dan stepped on a mouse and then threw it into the fire. We did have a lot of mice around the campground, which actually terrified me. I made sure I had tennis shoes on as soon as the sun went down every night. That is when they would appear and that is when the kids were begging to go to bed. They are not stupid! They saw what Daddy did too and were not at all sad for that poor little mouse. I was also happy sitting on my lounge chair with my feel up. So, here are just a very few pictures I took.
You can find even more here! I am in only one. What does that tell you?

Grandchild #25

Wow, 25 is a lot! Ruth had her baby today! She had a another little girl. Little Kate is so beautiful! Reminds me a lot of Spencer when he was born, except for the girl part of-course. She has dark skin and a ton of dark hair. Wish they didn't live so faraway! We are thinking about you Ruth, Ben and Ashley! Congrates! They already have a sister bond! Love this picture! Look at their eyes.

I have been tagged...by LisaMcB!

This is what I'm supposed to do. List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 surprising facts and then tag 5 other people. Leave a comment for the people you tag so they know they have been tagged. So here it goes:

JOYS:

1. Visiting and laughing with family and friends
   
2. Listening to Chelsea, Melanie and Spencer play with each other (nicely) and hear them laughing.
   
3. Dates or alone time with Dan
   

FEARS:

1. Loosing any of my children
   
2. Speaking in church
3. Natural disasters (earthquakes)
   

OBSESSIONS/COLLECTION:

1. My computer/the internet
   
2. Digital scrapbooking
   
3. Buying my kids clothing and toys (even when they have plenty of them)
   

SURPRISING FACTS: (I don't really have any!)

1. I wasn't always 6 feet tall (I didn't grow until after the 11th grade)
   
2. I have lived in this house (I am currently living in) for over 20 years (just not in a row)
   
3. I have kept in touch or reconnected with ALL or MOST of my old friends from my past through blogging and facebook!! YEAH!
   

I tag the following individuals: Kjersten, Alissa, Becky, Tami, Kasea

A day with mom

I took the girls out for a day with mom! We call it a date with mom in our family. We talked about many things, but what we all really needed were haircuts. Chelsea was the brave one and went first. This was actually her first haircut. She is the only one in our family that has "good hair". It all grew in evenly and perfect. She was beginning to get split ends from all the cheap rubber bands I use in her hair, so she was in need of one. She was so excited and cute. "Linda" the hairstylist was amazing as ever. She treated her like a princess and even posed for a picture herself. I got mine cut also. Melanie on the other hand, did NOT! Only those who know Melanie well, will understand and laugh when I say, "she did NOT want to have a stranger cut her hair." So, I need to find someone she knows well to cute it. AHHGGG! She drives me crazy sometimes! Anyways, here are pictures of our princess.

Annual Primary Swim Party

Today was our primary pool party! Our friends, the Paulson's, have the best party house! They have a sweet pool and water slide. IT was a great success!

Beach day with the Mackays

Today we met the ward at Silverstand for our weekly beach day. Probably our last one! Today we invited the Mackay's to join us. Dan and Lee Mackay have been friends since they were little. It's been fun to watch our kids grow up together too. These are my kids bestest friends. Spencer and Hannah have the greatest time together. They have been best friends since birth! Rachel and Melanie and Chelsea and Emma love playing together

Their newest addition. Sorry guys, we are done for a while. We're not having one for your Aaron to play with. Isn't he so cute. He loved climbing all over the surf boards and body boards. It was like he was trying to tell us something.