Happy Father's Day!

I am pretty sure John had a great Father's Day weekend. It all started Saturday when I had our babysitter Savanna come over and watch the kids during the day. John and I went to our favorite college sandwich shop, Gandolfo's. They had opened one up in Mission Viejo a few years ago, but we still hadn't been. We got there around noon and we were both pretty surprised at how packed it was and even ran into a few friends of ours. The sandwiches were just as good as we remember and after we were done, we went the movies to see Green Lantern.
Despite the awful reviews, we thought it was pretty good. Ryan Reynolds was his funny self and it was full of action. It was entertaining and that is all we really cared about.

On Sunday, I got up early with Brody and let John sleep in. We got his basket all ready for when he woke up. Brody was so excited to have Daddy see his gifts that he couldn't wait anymore and run up to wake him up. It was only 7:30. When he came downstairs this is what he saw.

We gave John the "Top Pop" award for being the best daddy ever! His basket was filled with all things that had the word "POP" in it. So, we gave him his favorite soda pop, Henry Weinhart's (root beer and black cherry), Pop Tarts, "sweet" popcorn, a pop music gift card at iTunes, a popular video games gift card at Best Buy (kind of a stretch), a pop art shirt (another stretch), ice pop syrup for our snow cone machine, and some other things that were more for the kids to enjoy like ring pop, bouquet of blow pops, pop rocks, and poppers. The kids had been dying to do the poppers, so we got those out first and let each kid take a turn.
Now Piper's turn.When we were looking for gifts for our basket, Brody grabbed a card he spotted and ran over to show me. It was an Optimus Prime Father's Day card, and when you open it, Optimus Prime says, “There is greatness in you. You are a strong leader and a true hero. The universe needs more fathers like you. Happy Father’s Day.” It was too perfect.I remember when, just before the first Transformers movie came out, I was running in the neighborhood with Brody, when I got a call on my phone. I answered it, and it was Optimus Prime's voice telling me to watch out for the Decepticon, John, and not look at blogs all day. It was pretty funny and definitely caught me off guard, but I knew who was behind it all. On the Transformers movie website, you could send voice messages to people filling in certain parts of the message to fit the person, and Optimus Prime would call them with a personalized message. Anyway, I thought back to that memory when Brody showed me the card and I gave in to its expensive price. John thought it was great and the kids have been obsessed with opening it every since. I guess it was worth it.

I made John the actual certificate for his award. I found an online template, thought I filled in all the blanks and hurried to print it off. The kids and I signed it and I thought I was all set. When John took a good look at it, he spotted one huge mistake with it. Can you find it?
If you didn't find it, there is a rather large line in the middle that says to type the description of how the award was won. Yep, I missed that entirely. I blame that on being a mom, trying to get everything done and getting distracted. That seems to be the way my life is. Anyway, John and I had a good laugh about it.

After gifts, we had breakfast burritos loaded with eggs, potatoes, ham, cheese and salsa. I think they turned out pretty well and even Brody loved them, which was huge since he doesn't try anything that isn't deconstructed.

Before church, we took some pictures all dressed in our Sunday best.
Brody took this one of us.

At church, our ward gave out root beer flavored See's suckers. Have your heard of those? I hadn't, but I tried it and it was great. They also had inserts in the program like they did for Mother's Day that said "I love my Daddy because. . . ." Brody's read, "I love my Daddy because he plays video games with me." We could have guessed that one since he wants/loves to play games with John whenever he is home. During the meeting, the Primary kids got up and sang some songs for all the dads. To our surprise and after much prepping, Brody went up with his little girl friend, Avery, and walked right up to the front of the stage. He kind of sang the songs, but mostly smiled at us the whole time. He did some hand motions and especially loved to blow a kiss at the end of "I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home". We were SO happy, shocked and proud of him! It was the best present he could give John. :)

For dinner, we had a Costco pizza we baked, with corn on the cob and a salad. We tend to go easy on our Sunday dinners as we get out of church late in the day. It was a great weekend and we are so lucky to have such wonderful Fathers to look up to in our family and lives. Hope everyone else had a great Father's Day weekend too!

Kansas City Burnhams are in Town!

John's sister Meredith and her kids, Brooke and Ethan, have been in Southern California all month staying with John's parents. They came down to our house on Saturday two weekends ago. They hung out at our house for a while and we gave them the official tour around as it was their first time to our new house. The kids played a while while we chatted. Then we took them around South Orange County, touring PCH and all the fun beach towns. We stopped for lunch at the old fashioned Ruby's Diner in Laguna Beach. They have old beach cruisers and 50's style cars outside that you can admire and yummy diner food inside. It has become a fun place for our family to go to and a perfect place to take the kids. Here are Brooke and Ethan enjoying their day and waiting for the food. Brody, on the other hand, was starving once we got there and was having a hard time being patient for his food. He was showing his classic pouting face.

Once the shakes came, everyone was happy.After lunch we drove home and had fun showing them the fun games on our XBOX 360 Kinect.

After it was the boys turn, the girls showed what was up playing Dance Central. Sorry no pictures and hopefully none ever surface, right Meredith? :)

We had a great day with our Kansas City cousins and we are glad we get to still see them on the 4th of July!

Brody's Preschool Graduation

Brody had his last day of preschool 2 weeks ago. We brought little gifts for both of his teachers to show our appreciation for their hard work. I needed to do something inexpensive, so while searching for a great gift, my friend Abby gave me this wonderful idea of pineapples and smoothie recipes. So, each teacher got a pineapple with an easy banana pineapple smoothie recipe attached. John found this great recipe with fresh pineapple instead of the juice. So perfect to enjoy and have a relaxing summer! Brody also made cards for each of them and they turned out very cute.

The last hour of the day was a program the kids put on for their parents to show them what they learned all year. Here is Brody sitting on his carpet square waiting for the show to start. He is with his friends Julia,Christian, and Jack.

Each child had memorized a part to say during the program and they sang several of their favorite songs through the year. Brody sang pretty good and did some of the hand motions, but was still very shy. Whenever John is around, he gets so shy and doesn't want to say anything.But we talked a lot about being shy and people notice you more when you are shy and don't say anything. That seemed to work and he did a great job saying his part. It is kind of hard to hear though, so this is what he had to say, "We are learning to write our letters and we know where they start!"

We are so proud of you Brody and what a great job you did! He has had such a great year and has learned so much. The best part is he has LOVED school, always excited to learn, and can't wait for Kindergarten. We owe it to his wonderful preschool teachers, Mrs. Sims and Mrs. Glazier. They are the best! Mrs. Glazier said Brody was her favorite this year and was so sad to see him go. She said she just loved to see his smile and happy personality. Always great to hear that!

One proud Daddy and his boy!He is just too grown up already! I can't get over the fact that I am going to have a Kindergartner soon! Where has the time gone?!?

Best friends, Brody, Jack, Alexander, and Drew. I think that is what makes me sad the most. All these boys wont be able to see each other every week. They will all be going to different schools come Fall. Brody misunderstood when his teachers said they were all going to on to kindergarten. They are just not all at the same place. I have to continue to tell him that they wont be together next year. So sad. Love this one :)Here are the four with Dominic too.After the program, gifts and pictures, they had cookies for everyone to enjoy. As you can see from the picture above, some of them couldn't wait. We visited for a bit and said our goodbyes before heading to lunch with John before he had to go back to work. It was Brody's choice and, of course, he chose McDonald's. So, we went to one nearby and had a great lunch.

Now summer can officially start! Lots of pool, beach, and family visits to come! Can't wait! :)

Season Finale

Last week, I took the kids to Disneyland for the last time before the summer started. They have two new rides that have just opened: newly redone Star Tours and Little Mermaid ride in California Adventure. Brody has been SO excited for Star Tours since he is huge into Star Wars right now. He already knew that we couldn't got on it because Daddy wasn't there to take him. There is a height limit and Piper is just not quiet there yet. Maybe next year. He seemed ok with that, though, and was happy to go on the new Little Mermaid ride.

To avoid the crowds and standing in crazy long lines, we were in the California Adventure 15 minutes before they opened the whole park up at 10am. I thought we were in good shape to run/walk to the ride and get right on, since we weren't that far away and I was close to the front of the other people waiting. I guess I was wrong. There was an even bigger line of people to the right of us that I couldn't see. Once they let us start to go, it seemed like a mass of people were taking over the park in front of us, all heading to the same place. Before I could get the kids out and park the stroller, there was already an hour wait for Little Mermaid. It wasn't too bad waiting. . .well maybe. It was a beautiful day and the sun was already beating down and the kids were tired from waking up early and wanted to be held. It was a fast moving line, though, and was designed much like the Haunted Mansion with its conveyer belt, but you sit in shells instead of Doom Buggies. It was a great ride - very well done and the kids loved it.

What do you do when you wait in line?. . . . . . Take pictures!

Here are some pictures from the ride. They are not too great though.The love boat scene, "There you see her. . . . "Good bye Ariel and Prince Eric! Until we meet again!
After The Little Mermaid, Piper requested the Buzz Shoot ride, which is the new Toy Story ride. So, we went over there in hopes of a smaller line. . . .not so. We waited 45 mins and I made the mistake of taking sandwiches and sippies in line with us. Guess who got to hold all of that, including Piper. . . . Me! It was fun ride, though, and the kids really enjoyed themselves.

Brody's only request was to see Jedi Training since he couldn't go on Star Tours, so we left California Adventure to go over to Disneyland. Once we got there, a show had just ended, so we had to wait an hour and a half for the next one. We waited in the arcade/gift shop area and the kids had fun checking out all the Star Wars toys and Mickie R2D2 ears.Back at the show, Brody made it very clear that he didn't want to be a part of the show this time and just wanted to watch. So, we found the only seats available in the back and waited for it to start. Once Darth Vadar made an appearance the crowd went wild.Darth Maul was pretty impressive/scary too. A 12 year-old looking girl next to us was intently trying to take a picture of Darth Vadar and didn't realize for some time that Darth Maul was right behind her, breathing down her back. Once she realized, it scared her so bad that she hurtled and screamed past her wheelchaired grandmother next to me. It was pretty funny actually.

Brody looked like this the whole time.And Piper hid behind me. Once she saw Darth Vadar come up, she started crying and shaking and woudn't let me hold her. I think she thought as long as he doesn't see me I'll be fine. Poor girl.Believe it or not, these three things took all day long. I was definitely tired by the end. It will be nice to take a break for the summer and come back when the crowds have left. I know how this all sounds. I guess I have turned into a Disney snob. I realize how lucky we are to live so close to the parks and be able to go often. I don't know how long our days of passes will last, but I am trying to enjoy every time we have the chance to go especially when the kids are young. Here's to next year!

Piper's First Swimming Lessons

The Beginning

We started swim lessons for Piper the day after Memorial Day. It was at our old pool where we used to live. We had a bunch of our friends' kids being taught, so it made it fun to see everyone everyday for a few hours. The weather was nice all week (70's), but the pool was pretty cold. Once you got used to it (and possibly numb) it felt fine. These were Piper's first lessons and I didn't have high hopes for her liking it all that much. With Brody's first week, he cried the entire time, so I expected much of the same. And yep, she cried most of the time, as did most of the kids. She seemed to refuse to do what she was asked to do by Bethany, except when she had the pink noodle, she was a little bit more willing.

Piper loved picking rings, though, but probably only because, once at the edge, she tried to escape by climbing out of the water. She was great at that. As the week went on, she was also great at talking. Eventually, she just stopped crying, probably because she felt that wasn't getting a response, and tried to talk her way out of it. Saying things like, "I'm cold", "I'm freezing!", "I want to go in the hot pool", or "I want to pick a ring". Trying to get the sympathy vote I guess. That didn't work so much either.

Here we are after her first lesson was over. She was finally happy then.

The Middle
The boys (Brody, Jack, and Drew) were funny. These are the three that are in preschool together. They all had a great time too. None of them were really taking formal lesson, so they played, played, and played. Here they are eating and lounging and taking a break.

When Bethany had some extra time, she taught them all a mini-lesson on strokes and side breathing. It was a great refresher for Brody as those are the areas he needs to work on. I am always telling him, "head under and stretch those arms out!"

He has always had great kicks though.His turn to practice his side breathing. He did pretty good, but we still need to work on it.

The End
We ended our last lesson on that next Saturday. A lot of the dads came to watch their kids' progress. I took Brody and Piper earlier to have more time to swim and practice. John came later to just see Piper, as he was still finishing up the yard work. Here I am trying to get Piper to get used to the water before it was time for her lesson. Everyday she would cling to me for dear life, like she was knowing what was coming. This day was just the same, except she was very excited to see Daddy when he the got there.

Brody having too much fun.

Then it was Piper's turn.Piper was actually worse on this lesson then even the first one. She cried harder and longer than ever before, calling out "Daddy!" like he was going to save her. She still really wouldn't kick on her own. She did once during the week, but we all think it was a fluke.She wouldn't do much with her arms either without help.

"Daddy!"Yeah, rings! Nope, still didn't make her happy.Here's some videos for all the Grandparents. Enjoy!






All done Piper! Hot pool time!After her lesson and dip in the hot pool, John took the kids over to 7-11 for slurpees to celebrate Piper's last lesson. I stayed at the pool visiting, laying out, and enjoying some time without children. Later, once everyone was cleaned up, we went to our favorite pizza place, Oggi's, for dinner and then afterwards the grocery store. The kids fell asleep on our way home, so we got to enjoy a great night together watching the movie A-Team. It was a great day!

A huge thank you to my friend, Bethany, for having to put up with this crying child all week. Piper did make some progress, though. She was great at holding her breath underwater, floating to and grabbing on the edge, and climbing out of the pool on her own. I think, for her first time, she did ok. We still have a lot to work on, though. Last week, we did practice a bit in a much warmer pool, but went two steps forward and one step back. She did well kicking and moving her arms on her own. When I tired to get her to swim to the edge, she floated like a dead fish face down. She didn't even try to grab on to the edge. She'll get it though, I mean, she is only 2! Between swimming lessons and potty training, we have a lot to work on this summer. Good luck to me! :)