Disneyland in the Rain

I think the pictures speak for themselves. We had a great time at disneyland...but it was cold and wet. At least that cleared out the crowds! Luckily we packed ponchos so we didn't have to pay $8/person to buy one of those flimsy things.

I think Ponchos are coming back! Don't we look so sexy?

Aunt Janice is such a fun aunt to go to Disneyland with. It was also great to have a 1 adult:1child ratio! Thanks Janice!

Steen loved the Buzz Lightyear ride and actually got a high score of 40,000+ one time. Steven swears he didn't help him at all cause he was too busy fighting his own intergalactic battles. Go Steen!

Notice that except for Tinkerbell, there aren't any pics with Disney characters...I think the rain scared them all away.

We had a great time and can't wait to do it again. Maybe next year we'll go on Andrea's and my birthday so we can both get in free! Any takers?

Andrea's birthday

Andrea's 5th birthday was celebrated with a FANCY NANCY party. If you have little girls or ever were a little girl and haven't yet seen this book...it is a must read!

The guests were invited to dress fancy. A girl can not have too many accessories! Even Steen accessorized for the occassion. However, when he was asked if he was having fun, he very definitely stated, "no!" I guess this dressing up business is only for the "posh"...a fancy word for fancy!

While waiting for all the girls to arrive, the guests did a craft where they transformed their plain party bags into fancy tote bags! Oooh la la!




We then video taped the guests each making their grand entrance as they walked down the stairs and greeted us in french...."Bonjour, my name is..." Unfortunately,we were never able to watch the videos of the grand entrance since we misplaced a cord to our video camera...still looking for that!



The guests had hor'deuvers which is a fancy word for finger foods. Notice the napkins are folded as flowers. They got to take the goblets home as souvenirs.




Grandma dressed very fancy for the occassion. Here she is serving the pizza.

The dress up relay race was so fun! Every girl needs to know how to run in high heels!

Every fancy girl has to know how to break the "bank"...that's a fancy word for shopping. The purse pinata was a hit...but what pinata isn't?
Michaela gave Andrea a gift she bought with her VERY OWN MONEY! What a generous sister!

Every girl needs a tiara! The kids all got to take a tiara home as well as having a crown cake.

The kids all had so much fun and I was incredibly grateful to my mom for all her help! It's a lot of work...especially when it's your own birthday as well! ;-)

The Five Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I found this book to be a great parenting resource!

I just finished reading this book and posted my review on goodreads.com If you haven't read it and are looking for better ways to help parent your children, I highly recommend it. My review is below, but some of the things I found out were:
Andrea loves praise and attention. (I knew that!) I also learned that if I critisize her, raise my voice or yell, she actually interprets it as me not loving her! (Revelation!)
I learned that when Michaela is yelling and I try and stop it with out giving her a chance to let her anger out in non-destructive ways, I am making it worse. By allowing her to have it out, I can then better help her deal with it and move towards more mature ways to express it. I think Michaela's primary love language is gifts and or acts of service because she always loves to make people notes and cards and spend her money buying things for others. I have really tried to write her special notes and do little acts of service for her and she seems to really be responding! Some mornings are a little hectic getting out the door and practicing, etc. This morning, I made a hot breakfast and had it all ready with a love note on the napkin. Then, I told Michaela I loved her and requested that she practice. She got ready more quickly and with out complaining and then we practiced and she went off to school so much more happier. Sometimes, I would want a specific behavior, so I would with hold doing stuff for her until she complied. (Ie., I would make her get her own milk out of the fridge and pour it because she wasn't behaving appropriately...when actually, by showing her I loved her by serving her, her love tank was full and she behaved appropriately!)
Yeah me! Anyway, if you already knew all this stuff...congratulations you're way ahead of me! If you feel like you struggle to get your kids to obey and respond positively, this book is for you!

Here are the basics of the book. Children have a primary language that they communicate love and receive love from parents. They are physical touch, quality time, acts of service, gifts, and praise. We need to give love through all 5 means so that they learn to give love in all those ways, but by using their primary language to fill their love tanks, they know that they are loved. Likewise, if we use their primary love language in a negative way (ie. if physical touch is their love language and we slap them) then it is much worse because they interpret it as us not loving them.

The next part of the book, I thought I wouldn't read, but I found it to be even more helpful. It teaches how to discipline and then how to help our kids manage anger.

When we discipline, we are teaching and we can do it in four steps. So often we punish them first, but our goal is to teach them correct behavior, and punishment often causes resentment and the inability to learn. First we request they change behavior. Second, we command. If that still doesn't work, we then physically move them to action. Finally, we use punishment. However, before and after we punish, we should always use their primary love language to let them know we love them,and that the punishment is to fit the crime and not because we don't love them.

I also learned that when our children are angry verbally, we need to let them have an out. If we don't allow them to express their anger, it will get bottled up. We verbally allow them to express it and praise them for what they did well and then correct what needs to change. I previously thought if my child was yelling, I would end it at all costs, but then I never gave an outlet for the anger. I am working on changing some of my parenting techniques and I already feel like it is making a big difference. I highly recommend this book.


View all my reviews.

fieldtrip to aquarium

Andrea was very excited to ride on a school bus for the first time!

Andrea loves her preschool teacher.

Andrea petting a snake.

Andrea petting the prickly octapus.
Andrea and I petted the sting ray.

I was a chaperone on the fieldtrip with these kids in Andrea's class.

My birthday dinner!

Andrea and I have twin birthdays...so I really don't get to celebrate mine that much. This year, my mom made me my own special dinner where I got to pick all my favorites. Above is carmalized rice krispies with ice cream in the middle for my cake. YUM, YUM! It was great to be pampered and have my own special day (a few days before the real day!) Thank you mom!

Pirate party

I was in charge of a pirate's party for our regional Suzuki piano activity. The kids had a great time! They dressed as pirates, did crafts, rhythm instruments, watched a piano be taken apart and listened to Douglass Bush (from BYU) perform some Bach. I was able to borrow most of the decorations from a girl I visit teach and the back drop belonged to another teacher that her son had made for a play when he was in HS. score! The kids each got to take home pirate booty and they LOVED it!

Dinosaur Museum

Dinosaur museum with grandma and cousins!