Spring break

We had the whole family come and stay for spring break and it was lots of fun.  We had a nice mix of activities and downtime and I think the kiddos will have some great memories.
Things started out a bit rocky for the Rinehardt's.  I got a text the morning they were coming that Spencer had a fever and felt like he was going to throw up and he ended up doing that in the car on the way to the airport...YIKES!  His virus thankfully just turned into a nasty cold.
First thing Sat. morning, we went to cheer on Reggie at his last derby car race.  We should've taken a picture of his car, but it was a Seahawk football field with astro turf.  Nice idea, but not the fastest.  Although, on the very last race they accidentally put the car on the track backward and it would've had a much better shot because it was so much faster!  I guess it does matter where you put the weights.

We went to the Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz and it was really interesting.  I think a lot of it was optical illusion, but there was definitely something strange going on.  Our guide used mom's phone to demonstrate the strange compass movement and it was way off.  It made me feel kinda sick too.

 Here's the kids all lined up, not even realizing they are leaning.

 This was a height demonstration and it was really strange how it worked.

After that we drove to Santa Cruz and played in the ocean.  Who knew the kids would love the surf so much.  The water was really cold, 57 degrees!

 Khalif had mentioned the week before that he wanted to fly kites and that seemed like a fun activity for the group, so we took a trip to Walmart and everyone picked a kite.  The boys flew much better and Reggie and Spencer REALLY enjoyed flying them.  The girls lost interest and played at the park and Khalif, well, his got stuck in a tree.  He had a bit of a hard time listening when we told him to stop running and to stay away from the trees and unfortunately, that was the natural consequence.  Reggie was bound and determined to get it down and was really bothered that it happened, but even with all his and grandpa's trying, it stayed in the tree.

We made a trip to Pump it Up, but because it was spring break, they turned us away.  The kids were pretty disappointed and I found an old punch card from Parti Palooza (from their visit 2 years ago!) and so we went there.  It worked out so much better because no one was there and the kids got have free reign of the place.
Everybody climbed.

 Mom and I had some fun playing foosball.  It sure takes a lot of coordination.

We also celebrated Spencer's birthday and went to Sweet Tomatoes.  We gave him some roller skates and Reggie was helping him learn.  The kids were really busy outside, riding scooters and jumping on the trampoline a whole lot.  The weather was really nice.  We also went to the gym pool and swam for a few hours.  We spent some time in the indoor and outdoor pools :o).  The last day, we made it to the movie Home and everyone really enjoyed that.

 The cousin picture

Mom and dad (well not so much dad, but he kept busy doing projects in the yard!) were a great help (Liha and Wade went away for 4 nights) feeding these kids and keeping track of them.  It was pretty smooth overall, except Spencer shared his germs with everyone and the kids are still coughing.
We celebrated my 39th birthday while mom and dad were here and they planted our garden and we are patiently waiting for lettuce, green beans, snap peas, peppers, strawberries, corn and raspberries to grow!  So exciting :o).

It was good timing because Reggie had his school play on my birthday and Ainsley had the egg drop (her egg did not break-the egg was surrounded by marshmallows and put in a cardboard box and dropped 2 stories) and grandma and grandpa got to go and watch.
Video of Reggie as one of the Wright Brothers:

Exciting couple of weeks

It has been in exciting couple of weeks! Reggie and Ainsley were baptized on February 21. And my parents came into town to celebrate the occasion!!! 

Here they are enjoying the nice, warm sun:

Our good family friends came to support the kids, the Williams and Caldeira's, along with Kelly and Wayne and a couple of others from Reggie school who just happen to be at the service. The hot tub heater went out so it was a bit chilly, but we survived! Afterward the whole group went to Menchies for some frozen yogurt. We sure made that place really loud and I bet they were happy when we left. I am so proud of the kids and this choice that they have made....they sure are good kids :). 

We finally made it to the eye doctor after our discovery at the science center around Christmas that Ainsley could not see very well. She is mildly nearsighted with vision around 20/30 to 20/40. She picked out the glasses all by herself and was very excited to get them and test them on many different things. I wish this would be something that she might grow out of but the doctor said it will likely get worse :(. 

Last weekend I was in Seattle by myself spending time with family and attending grandpa's memorial. I hate to say it but sometimes funerals can be a good thing because they bring family together. It was fun to see everyone and all the little ones and not have to worry about mine. I did miss them and I knew that they would've had fun so that made it a little hard. It has been a long time since I have been away and it was nice to actually miss my family and have them miss me! 
Reggie had his crossing over ceremony for Cub Scouts this weekend and we are now officially done (although he will participate in the derby car race). 

His flag football team also made the playoffs and as soon as I got off the plane we raced to his game. He played really well and they ended up winning so now they are in the "Super Bowl". 
K spent the weekend with his aunt so at least Ryan only had the two older kids to worry about. He has been having strange swollen glands under his ears and he had a blood draw that showed nothing. I'm thinking/hoping it may be his molars coming in but it was so painful there for a couple days that he could not turn his head :(. Court update: we were granted a miss trial so we have a new judge and the next court date is April 17. Prayers much appreciated!

Lots of happenings...

Ainsley has been in front of an audience a lot these past couple weeks.  They just had their class play, America's Tallest Tales, where she had a singing part with a group of other students.  I heard the play songs A LOT, especially when she had her classmate over.  I finally had to tell them to stop singing!  Plays at this age are a little hard to follow and when I asked her what it was about, she said she had no idea, which is how we all feel when we watch them :o).  It was a good experience for her.  She also had to do a report and speech in front of her class on a famous person and she ended up with Marie Curie, founder of Radium.  I ended up reading the book with her because it was really interesting.  She practiced a lot and got 100%.  She said she was really nervous, but I think her gymnastics has prepared her well for handling her nerves.
Ainsley dressed as Marie (Ainsley is way cuter!):

She has been continuing to learn her new gymnastics skills and is surprising the coaches.  I thought she would never do her backwalkover on high beam and a few weeks ago they bribed her with stickers and that's all it took.  Here's a video of her back tuck:

K has been doing really well lately!  It took several weeks for his behavior to return to normal after the visit with his mom and I am very thankful we have a good therapist :o).  Court was last month and I was hopeful we would move forward, however the judge let things fall apart.  So, on Tuesday, K's attorney is filing for a mistrial and hopefully we will get a new judge!   We are coming up on 4 years this April.  His class had snow day a couple weeks ago and the local ice arena dropped off a pile of ice shavings.  The kids had an absolute blast and they even did an article on it in the local paper.

Yesterday, he had his Valentine's party....parties in his class are over the top!  He had a rough time with one particular game because he didn't ever win and he turned into quite the moping child.  Even Elijah, one of his classmates was asking why he was so sad (it was pretty sweet).  Thank goodness for lunch and recess where he finally snapped out of it.
This was when he was still happy-he is holding a bird feeder that they made out of fruit loops.  He said he is going to eat it instead of the birds:

Reggie had a fever virus at the end of January and we were home for several days.  It is nice that he's older because he stayed home while I took the other 2 to school and I was able to run a few errands and even get a run in.  We actually had a very nice time watching Iron Man and the Hunger games movies.  We don't usually get to watch those PG/PG-13 movies because of the younger kids, so it was a nice relaxing week for me too.  Sometimes it isn't so bad to be stuck at home!  We have entered a new era with him....talking on the phone with friends!  He and his buddy have been playing their DS's while talking on the phone.  I think this is the start of something new.  I am glad he has really nice friends :o).  He has been doing a lot of scouts lately in preparation for the Blue and Gold dinner at the end of February where he will get his Arrow of Light.

I was really tired the last part of January and didn't have much motivation.  In the past, I have had issues with my chest being tight and feeling like I can't take a deep breath and I was feeling that again.  A few years ago I did acupuncture which fixed the problem, so I knew it was time to go back.  My acupuncturist is always learning new things and she did something totally different and was able to see the problem in about 2 minutes.  6 of my 7 energy centers (Chakra's) were nearly closed and the only one open was my heart and it was taking on the load for the rest.  She opened them with her magic and I left feeling so alive and 100 times better.  This is a different way of thinking, but experiencing such a change in just a few minutes made me realize that I need to figure out how to do this myself.  She said it isn't difficult, but I think it will take some practice.  Yoga can help a lot with this, but unfortunately, I don't like Yoga.  Maybe I'll have to give it another try....

Bumpy ride!

I almost forgot the funniest video....this is Grandma and Reggie in the back of the van on the freeway....the freeway that is supposed to be the smoothest part of the trip!  Mom and Dad got a top of the line 1990 something, 7 seater van, so they could pick us up at the airport and we'd have another 4 wheel drive vehicle in the winter.  Car seats were not an issue because there were no shoulder straps on the seat belts!  Ainsley was enjoying the reclining function of the seat, which was super comfortable.  You'll have to go to arrtwade.blogspot.com to watch the video....

Trip to Washington

There was a little stress the day before we left for Washington....I had blood in my urine and through a series of tests and labs in Washington and back here in California, it is unexplained.  My bladder has calmed down and I am feeling pretty much normal, but it was a very strange and a somewhat stressful health episode.  I guess that is the story of most of the medical issues I have had, but I could have done without the added drama.

Other than that, the trip was really fun.  Aunt/Grandma Pam treated all of us to a trip to the Science Center and Spaghetti Factory shortly after we arrived.  We rode the monorail into Westlake and putzed around there a bit.  

 We are a big group!

 Ripley's believe it or not was at the Science Center and this guy was so tall.

Grandma Patty's service was a few days later and it was like a family reunion!!!  So fun for all the cousins to see each other and catch up.  It was at the Catholic church, so we were all a bit out of sorts, but all of their traditions kept the children interested.  Ryan gave a really nice speech and I think made just about everyone cry.  The family was very thankful for all the stories and memories.  And, the kids met Ryan's dad for the first time!

Christmas came quick and K thought he would head down to grandma's at 3:30 in the morning.  Thankfully, we heard him (somehow he is the loudest when he walks around) and steered him back into his bed!  Then he was the last to wake up and the other 2 were itching to get going with presents.  Finally, at 8 we were ready :o).

 The Rinehardt's joined us shortly after and then the extended family came after lunch.  The kids played nicely and us adults had a great time chatting away.

 Kiki and Marley-two cuties!

A few days later, we had Christmas again with the Wade's.  Ainsley was the recipient of the box inside the box, inside the box trick and they thought that was pretty funny!

 Ryan having a little fun with Dustin's hunting gear.

 I don't know what was so funny?

Ainsley went to gymnastics a couple times when we were there and we took all the kids to open gym and they had a really good time, especially rope swinging into the pit!

We made cookies.....

Uncle Wade launched a rocket.....

Aunt Liha took the boys to the reptile zoo.....

We went hiking....

We celebrated Maggie's birthday....

We had a couple of visits with Easton...

And finally, on the last day, we got a little snow.  I'm not even sure you could call it snow, more like slush.  The kids didn't care...they were happy to sled on the 1/4 inch of mush....

I'm not sure where Reggie got the idea to stand up, but we were impressed with his snowboarding skills.  

Making slush angels...

At the airport....

Home sweet home......