Toes in the sand

Luckily both girls had their events in LA, about an hour apart. Chelsea traveled on a bus with her class, I had to drive Brianna down and stay with her in the hotel room. Saturday morning I headed up to see Chelsea preform while Brianna was in classes. Then Chelsea went into classes so I headed back to Brianna in time for her competition. The timing couldn't have been more perfect. But today Brianna had classes all day (which I wasn't allowed to watch). So I took time just to chill in the hotel room, watch a movie, take a nap, etc. I couldn't stand that I was so close to the beach but couldn't see it. Sunday morning was rainy, but in the afternoon I took off to find one. I just sat there and watched the waves crash onto the beach. It's very therapeutic for me. I read a little but kept getting distracted watching the things going on. It was a little cold, especially when the wind blew, so the beach wasn't crowded. As much as I was enjoying my little time alone to think, I found myself really missing my kids. I love sharing moments like this with the kids. I love watching them learn and enjoy new things. I kept watching a little family next to me. I am so equally proud of my girls and the young ladies that they are becoming. I'm such a lucky mom to have them. I'm also grateful that Mike was able to keep things in control at home with the boys. He spent time working in the yard and garage. He also set up fun tents for the boys to have sleepovers in. They couldn't wait to tell me all about it when I got home.

Guitar festival at LMU

Chelsea had a great opportunity this weekend to attend a guitar festival at Loyola Marymount University in LA. She went with her guitar class from school. They attended master classes and concerts by professional players. They had the opportunity to play on saturday afternoon. I was fortunate enough to attend and enjoy their beautiful music. I was so impressed. They also had the chance to do some shopping along Santa Monica pier and Chelsea bought this super cute hat. I'm really proud of the work that she is doing to further her talent. She seems to love playing her guitar. I did video it but I don't have any luck putting that on the blog, so you'll just have to believe me :)

LA Dance Magic

Brianna had the great opportunity for dance this weekend. She preformed during the competition Saturday night and had great attitude on stage. She really shines and it's obvious that she loves preforming. But this weekend was also about master classes. All morning saturday and sunday they attended classes on jazz, ballet, lyrical, tap, etc with professional dancers (starting bright and early at 7 am). Brianna would come out of each class excited about the new things she was learning and the ways they would effect her dancing. It was against the rules to video or take pictures during the preformance so I took some fun shots in the hallway while the girls were warming up.

How to make a pizza

Cord and I got to have a lunch date this afternoon with his preschool class. We went to Metro Pizza and learned how to make a pizza. I am so grateful for the preschool he is in. It's run by the school and it doesn't cost me anything. They have a speech therapist working with him and he has awesome teachers. One of the blessings we have by living here.

1. Squish out your pizza dough

2. Spread on your sauce

3. Sprinkle on your cheese

4. Spice it up with some pepperoni


5. While it's cooking you can watch the pizza man toss his pizza dough in the air. The kids also got more dough to play with.

6. Enjoy the yummy pizza that you made all by yourself!

Poor Naked Baby

I took Chester to get his summer haircut yesterday. I'm still trying to figure out what to tell the groomer to do so this time I just said "shave him down". And that's what they did! He looks like a naked mole rat. So sorry Chester. And then it has been unusually cool these last few days. He has got to be freezing. I had to laugh when I picked him up because he had bows in each of his ears. It's pretty obvious that he is a boy (especially after shaving off all his hair) so that puzzled me. I guess that's why they put the BLUE bows in. Poor doggie. We laughed at him all day until he finally scratched those dumb things out. Next time I'll try leaving about an inch of hair on his body so he doesn't look so scrawny.

Happy Birthday Daddy

Michael turned 41 today :) YEA! I think this day is funner for the kids than him. They get so excited to have cake and blow out the candles so he sits through the little celebration to make them happy. To him it's just an ordinary day. Brianna had the idea to get him an ice cream cake this year (yummy). Chelsea made him his favorite pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and the kids also got him his one of his favorite drinks (vanilla cream). We just wanted to show him how much we love him and the best way to do that is with food (right?).

Watching airplanes

Cord has been obcessed with airplanes lately because of an episode of his favorite show (Bubble Guppies). He watches the airplane episode almost everyday. Whenever we get in the car he asks, "Are we going to the airport?" Today I had a day that I wasn't sleeping or have any plans so we headed to a spot by the airport to watch airplanes. We just sat on these rocks as the airplanes flew right over our heads and we could see them land. One nice thing about a busy airport was that there was a plane almost every minute. And Cord played "airplane" as he jumped off the rocks and flew around. I love days like this and wish we had more. After our plane watch, we went home to pack a picnic lunch. Then we took Chester to the doggie park for a picnic. It was a fun "mommy-and-cord" day.

Shades of green

Happy St. Patricks Day! I had to work last night so I was happy to see my babies dressed in green (especially Cord). I wouldn't want anyone getting pinched. Daddy did an awesome job protecting them. He said that "Cord is to little to tell people that he has green in his blood". (a little McKelleb humor).

Mars Needs Moms

I really wanted to see this movie so I made Mason and his friend go with me this afternoon. We saw it in 3D. I'm so amazed at how far animation and 3D have come in the last few years. It was a really cute movie with a big tear jearky ending (not as bad as Toy Story 3 but I couldn't stop the tears). It was fun to chill-ax for a couple of hours.

Popcorn

One thing I truly miss about my Ivins home (besides the neighbhood) is my tree in the front that had beautiful purple buds in the spring. We were surprised to see this tree with pink buds coming out. It's almost as good as my other home. I love looking out the front window to this.....