Touch a Truck

June 14, 2008

Every June our Park and Rec dept in Thousand Oaks hosts an annual Touch a Truck day. Local trucks come out to the park by TOHS and you are allowed to walk around them, get inside, honk the horns, climb on them, do whatever for the whole day. Its awesome and the boys love it. This year we saw police cars, ambulances, tow trucks, Humvee's (I hope I spelled that right), bomb squad truck, trash trucks, helicopters, tractors, etc. The best part was Sam and Harrison got to sit in the basket of a crane and be lifted up to the sky. Below is a pic of Harrison with grandma and grandpa being lifted up and getting to touch the tree. Sam got to ride with Ben and I, however our camera died so we didnt get a picture. The boys had a blast. The also go to go on a Jolly Jump slide and on a little train ride around the parking lot. The highlight of their day. The boys got to sit in everything, touch all the buttons, play with the controlls, honk the horns, pretend to drive, etc. Its an awesome event and so perfect for boys, we love it! Cant wait to go next year!

Mom's Birthday

Mom and her Wii!
June 6, 2008

Mom turned 26 this year and is loving it! For her birthday we went to Outback for dinner and then headed to my house for cake and ice cream. Sam and Harrison kept asking her "what kind of party are you having grandma?" Apparently she needed a theme. So we went to the party store the day before and got some supplies. Mom had a Curious George, Princess, Finding Nemo, Car's party. Mom got a Wii for her birthday and has already added Guitar Hero to her collection. Happy Birthday mom!

Grandpa and 2 little monkeys

Sam with his Curious George mask

Monkey Harrison and Grandma blowing out candles

The Father, the bicycle, the watch and the Camaro

Does everyone remember the story that is always told in Sac Mtg about the little boy who wanted a bicycle, he earned money for the bicycle and the day came that he and his dad go to the store to buy it. The little boy doesnt have enough money and is crushed so the dad says "I will make up the difference", this is supposed to be likened unto Christ making up the difference for us.

Harrison has been wanting a watch. He is always asking what time it is and decided to earn some money so he could buy a watch of his own. He earned .30 cents at home this week and my dad paid him $3.25 yesterday to pick up palm tree seeds in his back yard. Harrison was thrilled! I promise it was better than it sounds. Today I paid him $1.00 to pick up toys. So tonight we headed for Target to buy the watch. The watches were $7.00, Harrison had $4.55. Here's the conversation, it didnt go well.
Me: "You dont have enough to buy the watch, you are 2.45 short.
Harrison: "Yeah, but I want it"
Me: "Dad and I will make up the difference"
Harrison: "Really, hmmm, what else is there, lets go look"
Then he took off for the toy aisle and checked out all the expensive toys. Since he wasnt getting it I told him he only had $4.00 to spend. He didnt like what $4.00 bought him so he decided to settle for the Lightning McQueen watch. Sam earned .35 cents and bought a matchbox car for $1.00. We didnt even try explaining the make up the difference story to him, it wasnt worth it. My favorite line of the night was Ben "Yeah, nice story but its not real" Of course the part about the Savior is, but the little boys response to his dad, yeah not real, or at least not for this family!

Update: Harrison is in love with his watch. He keeps checking the time every couple of minutes and lets us know. "Its 10:45, oh now its 10:46"
Sam likes his matchbox Camaro, he walks around the house saying "Cam-ar-o, Cam-ar-o, Hey! dont touch my Cam-ar-o!"

Harrison

Harrison amazes Ben and I daily. Everyday he asks a million questions anything and everything he can think of. Why do we have bones in our body? Are there bones in our stomach? How do planes fly? How does a helicopter fly? Mom lets count to 100 and then back. A-L-B-E-R-T-S-O-N-S, what does that spell? Mom I want to tell you a story. Mom, 10 plus 2 equals 12.

My most recent conversation with Harrison: Mom where do we live?

In Newbury Park.

No, mom, where do we live?

In California.

No mom, where!

We live on the planet Earth, on the Earth there are countries, we live in the country of the United States, in the United States there are states, we live in the state of California. In California there are cities we live in the city of Newbury Park.

Mom, who created the Earth?

God.

How?

I'm so tired.

This is how my day goes, just about every day. Harrison does not take simple answers either, he wants the detailed working and knowledge of everything. How does a cat walk? With his legs. No, no, no, HOW does he walk? Oh boy, he has bones and muscles, the cats brain sends a signal to his body......

Lately Harrison has been building with his Lincoln Logs and does a pretty amazing job. He got it right away and didnt need any help. Today this was his masterpiece. Can we say architect in our future?

He made this in about 10 minutes and you cant really see but it has a balcony that comes off the front in a canteliever type design. When I was four I was most curious about what we were having for lunch and what my brothers were up to.

I'm so proud of Harrison and love his thirst for knowledge and learning. It is so fun to try to figure out how to answer his questions and to teach him. The other night he was doing a United States puzzle with mom. Mom was showing him where everyone in the family lived. Uncle Jim lives here in San Diego, Uncle Adam lives in Ohio, Aunt Becky lives in Massachusettes, Uncle Jim lives in New York, etc, etc. Then he asked "Where does Grandma Chris live?" Mom said in Heaven. "Show me on the map where my Grandma Chris lives?" Mom had to them in detail explain to him that she lived above the map in the sky and was looking down on him. It made me laugh because honestly we have the "where does Grandma Chris live?" conversation on a daily basis. I think he was asking mom to see if I was correct or if she knew.

Grandma's Grave

Grandma when she was young, what a babe!

Noah, Julie and baby Lauren. Noah is a very proud cousin.
Seth organizing a race for all the cousins

Sunday we met my family at my Grandma Rose's gravesite at Rose Hills in Whittier. She died Memorial Day weekend 2005 and I have dearly missed her since. My grandma was the best grandma anyone could ever have. If you talk to anyone in our family, everyone agrees and has such special and fond memories of her. My grandma was sweet and loving, she loved you unconditionally and made you feel like the most special person in the whole world. I remember what her hands felt like, they were soft and warm and so comforting. Her voice is in my head and I hear it all the time, I hope it never leaves. Going to grandma's was the best thing in the world. I luckily got to spend a lot of time there as a kid and cherish those memories so much. Here's a few of my favorite memories from grandma's.

Me and Grandma at Mom's wedding. Grandma made my dress, complete with bloomers!

We always had to wear socks because the kitchen floor was cold and we could catch a cold.

Grandma had a chalkboard in her kitchen, when you would come visit you would write messages on there to your cousins and they would leave you messages too.

Marinated carrots, none of us liked them but grandma and Julie loved them.

Breaded chicken, my grandma loved breaded chicken and in her later years it was all she made.

Spaghetti and meatballs. I still remember what they taste like and I have never tasted anything similar, it was the best.

Mocha Mix ice cream, Wheel of Fortune and Golden Girls. My grandma and I are both lactose intolerant, when I would stay with her after dinner we would have Vanilla Mocha Mix ice cream cones and watch Wheel of Fortune and the Golden Girls. It was the best! I still watch Wheel of Fortune, yes I have spin id, and the Golden Girls. It makes me think of grandma.

Toy City! Toy City was a HUGE toy store in Buena Park where grandma lived. She would give me $5.00 to get a toy.

Walking to Albertsons to get a movie. I would always get the same one and grandma never cared.

Powder on your bumb. Grandma would always squirt powder on my bumb after a bath. I was little, this ended when I became much older.

I have three absolute favorite memories of grandma and they sum up how kind and loving grandma was.

When I would stay with grandma and we would go out to dinner, when we came home grandpa would let grandma and I out of the car while he would park. We would go into the house and I would hide behind the black leather chair by the fireplace. I would tell grandma, dont tell grandpa I'm back here. Grandpa would come in the house, "Where's Amanda?" Grandma would say "Oh, she's left us". Grandpa would boo hoo and I would jump out from behind the couch and yell surprise. I did this every time I came, multiple times a day, days in a row and it never got old, or tiring and I never felt silly for doing it. Grandma and grandpa would get just as excited to see me jump out from behind the chair as they did the first time I ever did it.

When I was in college I came home for Christmas, I had a really hard semester and was really down on myself. At the family Christmas party grandma wanted to see me. I went to sit with her on the couch and she said she wanted to hold me. I felt silly because I was so big but she was insistent. I layed next to her and layed my head on her chest. She just held me and told me how much she loved me and how special I was to her. It made everything I had been going through better and I loved that time with her.

When Sam was born grandma couldnt really move and really couldnt talk. I went over to her house one day with Sam and Harrison. Sam was 1-2 months old. Grandma hadnt seen him yet and I didnt want to bother her and make her hold him. She was lying in her recliner and looked so uncomfortable and out of it. I sat on the couch nearby and the whole family was there to discuss grandma's hospic care. We were all chatting and pretty loud like we normally are, suddenly in a raspy voice as loud as it could go we heard "Sammy, Sammy, Sammy!" Grandma wanted to hold Sammy. It didnt matter if he was too heavy for her or if she was too frail, she wanted to hold him. I quickly took him over to her and she held him and kissed him and tried to talk to him.

I could go on for hours about grandma, she was the greatest and still is. I miss her so much but I luckily have so many great of her and so many of her things in my home that remind me of her. Her sewing machine, I am sitting on her sewing chair right now writing this blog entry, her stool, they boys use it in their bathroom. The copper music bell that used to be in her kitchen, it is now in mine. You pull at chain and it plays a song. I have pictures of her everywhere. I love her so much and hope I can as wonderful as she was.

Sean and Julie with Grandma and Grandpa, I love this picture!

Jim and Lynette in front of grandma and grandpa's house in Menifee with Pokey. Best dog ever!

Gifts for Baby

Thursday Ben and I found some fun gifts for our baby.

First is a Spiderman burpcloth and bib. This young guy was selling them at the Palm Springs Street Fair for $5.00 each. He and his wife make them so we wanted to buy them. He had some really cute stuff. He had a onesie with ROTFL written on it. For those who dont know what that means, its text messaging for Rolling On The Floor Laughing. Ben's brother always writes it in emails, mainly to annoy us I think, because we always think he is telling us he threw up. We passed that onesie up but got the burpcloth and bib instead. I showed Harrison the burbcloth and bib and he thought they were so cool! He's really into Spiderman and Superman.

We bought this little diddy at the Gymboree Outlet in Cabazon. I thought the Vespa was so cute! We've been so busy with school and focusing on graduating, poor baby boy has been looked over. We are excited to spend the next month getting ready for him and buying him a few new things was a blast!

I am being induced 1 month from today, July 2nd. I cant believe it, this pregnancy flew by!

Palm Springs

This past weekend Ben and I spent it in Palm Springs. It was wonderful! This was my graduation present to Ben, a weekend of relaxing, sleeping, eating and doing whatever he wanted. It was great. My parents watched Sam and Harrison and they had a great time. Harrison was a little sad to come home and come back to reality. However, when we got them on Sunday Harrison said to Ben and I "I really missed you guys". It made me happy I missed him too. Here's a quick recap of our weekend.

Thursday afternoon/evening we arrived and hit the Palm Springs street fair. There we witnessed a marvel, a great site, a phenomenon. A woman who was a photo negative! She was overly tan with bleach blonde hair. She was probably in her 40's but looked to be in her 70's with all the skin cancer, I mean tanning, she had going on. Ben and I had a good laugh.

Friday morning a new A/C was delivered and installed at the condo. Thanks mom and dad, it was 100 degrees all weekend so we were happy to have it. The old one died last time my parents were there so a new one was installed while Ben and I were there. This is a picture of the crane lifting the old unit off the roof of the condo.

Friday afternoon we went and saw Ironman. It was so fun! We lounged on leather seats in the theater, well I layed down on them, and ate popcorn. We had free movie tickets and concession stand tickets from Ben's emplyer SMCI from his birthday. It was great! That night we went to dinner at Fisherman's Market in Palm Springs. Ben had fish kebabs and loved them, I had grilled shrimp and loved those. We got to hear about a woman's encounter with a psychic, a pool and the Middle Eastern man who is to be the love of her life, but with ruin her life. Famous line from that night "I just cant have Romeo, so I'll settle for someone else."

There are some characters in Palm Springs and I think we ran into all of them this weekend.

Saturday we lounged by the pool and had lunch at Tylers, our favorite burger place. It is awesome. I've never had a better cheeseburger, colesalw, egg salad sandwich, potato salad, etc. Everything is awesome. Worth the wait. While there we got to hear a man call to his friend David, across the street. The story involved letting everyone in the place know the David's bank account balance $400.60, the fact that David hasnt been home in weeks and Debra is worried, and the fact that David is ruining his life and he knows about it. But dont worry everybody, this man is buying David a dog because he needs something to love since he cant love himself. Whew, I was worried. Actually I am, for the dog. After lunch we bought the Indiana Jones Trilogy and watched the first one that night while I kicked Ben's bumb at Sequence.

Sunday we packed up, cleaned up and headed home. It was so fun to be together and reconnect. We had been on stress mode around here for quite awhile. Especially these last two semesters. We are now looking forward to the arrival of our baby and seeing what life holds in store for us next.