Thoroughly Modern Millie

Jorja and Preston had the day off of school today.  Jorja's end of the quarter was yesterday.  She has tried so hard to get all As.  Right now she has all As with and A- in science.  She is hoping with the extra credit she did it will boost her grade to an A.  She is pretty nervous about it.  I took Jorja and Preston to Bruges Waffles.  They had never been there before.  It was delicious.

Jorja and Preston

Jazzie came over to play today, so Jorja was loving life.  Jazzie's going to come over tomorrow to help with Preston's party.  Mike was trying to convince Preston to have a certain party game.  He said when he was young one of their favorite things to do was to get a cup of flour and put it upside down so it made a flour tower.  They would put a penny on top.  Then they would each take a turn cutting into the tower with a butter knife.  The person would lose when the penny fell.  Then they would have to get the penny out of the flour with their teeth.  Here is a picture of Mike demonstrating.

Maysen and I went to Erica's play.  She was in Thoroughly Modern Millie.  We had a great time watching her.  Neither of us had seen the play before.  Maysen thought it was disturbing in a funny way.  We had to leave before we could say hello to Erica, but Maysen sent her back a rose.  I was hoping to get Preston's cake made before I left, but I was out of eggs.  Maysen and I got eggs on the way home and then I stayed up and made Preston's cake.  I convinced Mike to take it out of the oven for me so I could go to bed.  I am not a night person at all and I'm getting up early for my exercise class.  Busy, fun day.

Jill

Jill came over today.  It was so much fun!  Sometimes I forget how amazing it is to be around friends you've known most of your life.  We spent several hours together talking about everything.  My kids would have been bored out of their mind!  Years ago Jill and I planned our weddings together.  We didn't have the celebrations together, but we got married a week apart.  For some reason, Mike's mom really wanted us to get married on September 15th.  She kept hinting about how we should change the date.  Once she found out that Jill was getting married on that day she never asked us to change the date again.  She knew Jill.  When Mike was gone on his mission Jill and I would come up to family dinner at his house.  Jill's oldest daughter, Sadie, is a senior.  I remember when Sadie was born.  Maysen is almost a year younger than her.  For some reason right now I can't remember Sadie's middle name, but I remember Jill saying her name meant 'princess of peace'.  I laughed and said, "we named our daughter, 'worker of stone'". Jill was talking about Sadie's plans after high school.  I hope the next two years go slow for me.  I want to enjoy every second with Maysen.  It scares me to have her grow up.  I love having them all home where I can see them everyday.  Of course I want them to grow up eventually and have their own families.  I'm sure if they were all in their 40s and living with me my heart would ache for what they were missing.  So, I want to enjoy every second of the next few years while they are little and they are mine.

Jill and I went to lunch at a sandwich shop that she likes.  It was so yummy!  It is really close to Mike's work.  I will need to go there with him.  So good!  We spent another couple of hours there until her daughter, Aubrey, called and asked her to take her to work.  Hopefully it won't be so long until I see her again!

Stephanie and Jill - I'm not looking

 Jill's not looking

 I guess I thought something was funny,

I never realized how old I look when I laugh!

I also had one picture with Jill's eyes closed and the next picture with my eyes closed.  I spared the blog those pictures.  You're welcome.

That and This

My friend, Jill Hardcastle, from elementary school and I were supposed to have lunch today.  She was going to meet me at my house.  She wasn't able to come.  They had just moved into a new (old) house a year ago.  The boiler went out.  That is what heats their house and their water.  She was freezing.  She said all of her kids had to take cold showers this morning.  The boiler is so old that not many people can service it.  Someone was supposed to come at 9:00, but when I talked to her they still hadn't gotten there.  Yikes!  I hope she gets it fixed today!  We are going to try again for tomorrow.

Maysen and Stockton had a dentist appointment.  It's not their favorite thing, but I enjoy taking them because I get to see Eric.  Eric was one of Mike's best friends growing up.  Sometimes he tells the kids stories of the things he and Mike used to do.  Mike says Eric has a crazy imagination.  I took Stockton to diving right after we got back.  I got back and thought everything I needed to do was done for the day.  I asked Jorja if she wanted to drop off the painted figurines to her friends.  She has been begging me to do that for a long time.  While we were searching in the dark for houses I got a phone call.  Luckily I answered it!  I had forgotten to send Preston to piano lessons!  Drat!  I called home and Preston answered.  I had him gather up his stuff and run down the street to Sister Newman's house.  Glad he was able to make it!

This and That

I spent most of the day looking for a video I know we have.  Mike videoed my grandpa talking about the war.  I thought it would be perfect to show the girls today.  I have no idea where we put it.  I wish I was organized and I wish I could remember things.  Very frustrating.  I ended up talking to the girls about my grandpa from my memory, but it is not as cool as the real thing.  Even though the video wouldn't have been the real thing, it would have been the best I could do.  I am so grateful for my grandpa and all the sacrifices he has made for us. Beyond the heroic sacrifices he made in the war when he was young, he is the best grandpa ever!

Mike and I picked up our van from the shop today.  We had it in the shop while we were in France.  We went to pick it up yesterday after the vet, but there was one thing they hadn't fixed.  Our door has been broken for awhile.  I called it, "My first world problem door".  It kept getting stuck when I would open it or close it, but because it is automatic I can't just close it myself.  Super annoying, especially when you have a car full of girls delivering cookies to neighbors.  The shop said they couldn't recreate the problem.  Really?  It only works 5% of the time.  Anyway, hopefully it is fixed now.  It sure does drive a lot better, it practically feels like a new car.  We do need to still get the bumper fixed.  I crashed into our wall a few years ago.  We had gotten our snow tires off the day before, then it snowed.  I tried to go up our driveway, but that turned out to be a bad idea.  We can't pass inspection until the bumper is fixed.  Mike wants to try and duck tape it and see if it will pass that way.

I found out today that my good friend from high school, Kristi Bell, has breast cancer.  My heart is breaking.  She is having a double mastectomy on Thursday.  I can't even imagine how scared she must be.  At least before my double mastectomy I knew I would be okay after.  She has to go into surgery and wonder if she will need chemo or not after and what her chances will be to survive.  Her dad died of melanoma when she was 7 years old.  I hope she will be okay.

Happy 8th Birthday Preston!

My baby is 8.  Wow.  He is such a precious little boy.  He is full of love and joy.  We are so happy we were blessed to have him in our lives. There was a time I was pretty sure we would only have three kids.  Not by our choice.  Luckily we were blessed with this amazing soul.

Preston

I needed to take Mike to work today so I could use the jeep.  My car is in the shop.  Mike wanted to get there early, so I woke up Preston to open presents.  Jorja wanted to give her present to Preston before school.  Mike and I had a before school present too.  Preston didn't seem to mind.

 Jorja gave him a pina~colada sucker and a mine craft toy

 Preston and Jorja

 Mike and I gave him a Wolf book along with a scout shirt

 Ummm....Preston, you look creepy

I was able to drop Mike off and get back home in time to take the other kids to school.  Preston was ready when I got back and the two of us headed to the store.  We wanted to pick up some birthday treats for him to handout to his class.  He picked mini-cupcakes and Biscoff cookies.  He was so happy with that!  I usually volunteer in his classroom on Mondays, so that worked out well.  I met Preston for lunch.  I asked him what he would like.  Maysen had picked Sonic. Jorja wanted Jamba Juice and Chick-Fil-A.  Preston, what did he want?  He wanted Lunchables.  Haha!

I started to get really worried about Boing today.  I called and got a 4:15 appointment.  I asked Mike if I could pick him up earlier.  That worked out well.  Preston really wanted to open the rest of his presents, so we opened them really quickly.  He was thrilled when he got the Great Wolf Lodge medallion from Maysen.

Maysen & Preston

 Wand topper from Great Wolf Lodge

 Baptism book

 Tom & Jerry hot air balloon

 DIY Straws I found in France

 A mini dream light version of his pillow pet

Today was also Preston's first time going to scouts.  Sue is his leader. She is so much fun.  He is going to love it.  She has had this calling for awhile, I was really hoping Preston would get her for a leader.

Preston & Sue

 Sue & Judy

Preston, Ethan, Griffin, Braxton, Aiden

Mike, Jorja and I dropped Preston off and then hurried down to the vet.  Turns out Boing has a broken leg, or a bent leg that has healed weird.  I can't remember, but that is why she has been so hurt.  Poor little froggy.  We got some medicine to give the frog.  He said if Boing doesn't start eating in the next few days we would need to feed her watered down dog food.  That's random.  Jorja whispered to me while we were at the vet, "I'm so glad we brought her in."  She is even going to help pay for the appointment.  She really loves her frogs.

Boing

Preston wanted crepes for dinner.  It is also Erica's birthday, so their family came over for crepes too.  Erica is in a play, so they didn't make it until quite late, but it worked out perfectly . . . especially since we had a vet visit thrown in there.  Shannon made the cake for both of them.  I was grateful for that because I was frazzled and extremely busy!

 Eighteen candles for Erica, Eight for Preston

 Birthday boy/girl

 Preston & Erica

 Erica & Preston

Erica gave Preston different packages of candy.  Preston gave Erica some ice cream bars.  Simple and perfect.

Good-bye Forever 7-Year Old

We are back to the real world here.  Messy house, church callings, family dinners.  Mike did get the house under control before we left for church.  He did that while I made rolls.  He also made ice cream potatoes, which were a big hit.

Stockton loves it when I hug him

 He just doesn't like to admit it

My family came over after church.  My dad made this yummy Hawaiian chicken with potatoes and jello.  The kids loved Mike's ice cream potatoes.  They had these desserts at Red Robin years ago.  I remember having one when I was pregnant with Maysen.  Mike's parents were with us waiting for the baby to be born.  Anyway, it is ice cream shaped like a baked potato.  Mike puts a coco/cinnamon mixture around it. Right before they are served the whipped cream goes on (to look like sour cream) while the rest of the potato is drizzled with hot fudge and caramel.  So good!

My little baby is growing up.  Tomorrow is his 8th birthday.  He told me, "You will never have a 7 year old again."  Sad but true.  I miss my babies.  I miss my toddlers.  I miss the little kids.  But I am thrilled to watch who they are becoming.  I don't want this stage of my life to end. All of my children are with me.  We have a huge amount of freedom because they are out of the baby/toddler/little kid stage.  I just want these next two years to move slowly.  I can't believe Maysen is a junior. Didn't she just turn 8 yesterday?

Saying 'good-night' to my 7 year old forever

Home Sweet Home

We made it!  We left our hotel early this morning.  We can walk through our hotel to get to the metro station.  We got to the airport without ever going outside.  That is pretty cool.  We thought we planned enough time to get to the plane.  We figured we would be an hour early.  We had about 30 euros left to spend, so we thought we could be slow and enjoy ourselves.  We were unable to checkin online for some reason.  We ended up having to stand in a LONG line!  We were in that line for at least 45 minutes.  Once we were through we had to take a train to our gate, then go through security.  That took a long time!  As we were walking to our gate we passed a macaroon stand.  My friend had told me to try one.  I thought I would pick up a few as I passed.  I asked for three and handed her the euros.  She said I had to pay somewhere else.  I wandered over there and had to wait in another huge line!  I was tempted to just leave the macaroons on a shelf and walk out of there.  I wasn't sure what to do.  Mike said, "Well, it wouldn't be a trip with you if we didn't almost miss our flight to stop and get a treat."  There was still a line when we got to our gate, so everything was fine.  The line was so long to board, but the Delta app said our flight had left while we were still waiting.

The flight home was non-stop, so that was great.  It wasn't as cool of a plane as the one we came here on, but it was still really nice.  I love the planes with tvs on the seat ahead of you.  I brought nice headphones and was able to watch a few movies.  The rating system was wrong on the plane though. I watched Draft Day, which I really liked, but I was surprised how bad the language was in it.  I looked up the rating when I got home and saw that it was PG-13.  That's what it said on the plane.  I just can't believe PG-13 allows so many horrible words in them now. Why do they do that?  The movie was wonderful, but the bad words make it seem creepy.  I also watched Billy Elliot.  The plane said it was also PG-13.  I didn't make it very far before I turned it off.  So many things I didn't want to see or hear.  I looked up that movie when I got home.  That one was rated R.  I decided to watch While You Were Sleeping instead.  I knew that one would be quite tame compared to the others.

The crazy thing about international flights is they feed you so much! Every two seconds we were being offered food.  This was an 11 hour flight, so a lot of it makes sense; but the flight over here was only 6 hours.  We got two meals at least!  Our flight to Hawaii was almost that long and we only got pretzels.  Weird.

It took us quite awhile to go through customs when we landed.  I was thinking about how you never see this part of the Amazing Race!  My dad was waiting for us when we finally got through.  We got home and all four kids ran out and gave us hugs.  Even Stockton.  It was great! My dad left soon after and they attacked him.  I'm glad he was able to stay with them while we were gone.  They seemed to like it!

Stockton, Jorja, Preston, Maysen hugging my dad

My neighbor, Kristen, brought Jorja a new frog while we were gone. Her brother works at Cactus and Tropicals.  Several frogs came in on a shipment.  A lot of the other workers claimed them.  He said he needed one for Jorja.  How sweet!  Jorja is in love with this frog.  She has named him Horizon.  He is very jumpy.  He jumps so far that he practically flies through the air.

Jorja and Horizon

 Horizon

Jorja told me she was worried about her other frog, Boing.  She hadn't been eating and was no longer sticking to her cage, she was just hanging out in the dirt.  It wasn't until later tonight that we got really worried, but by then all the vet places were closed.  Hopefully she gets better, but I'm quite worried about her.

 Boing

 Jorja & Boing

We picked up a few souvenirs for the kids.  We got Jorja and Preston each a penny for their penny passport.  We also got them an Eiffel Tower medallion that we got in the Eiffel Tower.  Preston was thrilled!

Preston with his first medallion

 Preston with his and Jorja's medallions

 Jorja holding no medallions

 Stockton with a Calvin and Hobbs book in French

 Maysen with a cup from Disneyland Paris

Mike and I had such a fun trip, but it is so wonderful to be home!

Versailles/Disneyland

Mike and I got up early this morning and took the train to Versailles.  It takes about 30 minutes to get there, but wasn't too hard to find.  As we were walking up to the palace Mike said, "We need to figure out how to get tickets."  I told him that we didn't need tickets because of our 'All Museums Pass'.  Mike looked stunned and said he didn't bring his. Whoops!  He could have gotten in free, instead he had to pay 18 euros. The 'All Museums Pass' worked great for me.  I kept it in my pocket and was able to get into every museum free.  If it wasn't on the pass I didn't go in.  I had a 6 day pass and it cost 60 euros.  Mike's pass was a giant bust.  He could only go on Sunday, Thursday and Friday.  We ended up getting him a 6 day pass as well because you had to use the pass on consecutive days.  Once we bought the pass we were reading it. Most of the museums were free on the first Sunday of each month.  It was the first Sunday of the month.  Doh!  We only needed to get him a 2 day pass.  He used the pass a lot yesterday, but forgot it today.  So really, he only used his 6 day pass 1 day.  Whoops.

Anyway, back to Versailles.  It is gigantic and pretty.  Funny that it used to be a small hunting lodge.

Stephanie

 Mike

The chapel is really pretty.  This is where Louis XVI and Marie Antoniette were married.

Lower level of the chapel

 Upper level of the chapel

At one time the gardens had huge giant hedges, kind of like mazes I think.  (I have always loved the concept of hedge mazes.)  They had about 200 Aesop character statues scattered throughout.  Fun!

 Aesop statue

Here is a map of the gardens.  I think it is so funny that there is a dog face in the gardens.  I wanted to find it, but too bad it was being renovated at the time.  A lot of the garden stuff was covered because it is the off season.  Still, so funny about the dog face!

The ceilings were crazy here!  Man, Chelsea would be painting for years!

Stephanie

 Mike and Stephanie

This next picture doesn't show how cool the hallway was.  There were about 12 giant statues lining this simple hallway.  Can you imagine growing up here?  Crazy!  No wonder the royal family was so out of touch with the suffering of their subjects in France.  They lived in a fairy tale land!

 Mike

 Another ceiling

 Mike in the Hall of Mirrors

The Hall of Mirrors was beautiful!  Giant mirrors and chandeliers everywhere.  The huge chandeliers hung from the middle of the hall, all the way down.  Lining the sides were little chandeliers on pedestal.  The kings bedroom was just off of this room.  Imagine walking through this hall on your way to bed.

Stephanie

 Mike

This is the queens bedroom.  This is where Marie Antoinette was when the mob stormed the palace.  She escaped through the hidden door.

 You can barely see the hidden door in this one!

 Queens' Room Ceiling

 Mike in the gardens of Versailles

 Stephanie

While we were walking around the gardens at Versailles, I said to Mike, "My only regret is that I didn't use my time wisely.  I could have used the metro more instead of walking everywhere, then one  day while you were at your meetings I could have gone to Disneyland."  Mike said, "Let's do it!"  So we did.  We made our way to Disneyland.  We were a little disappointed because the park was closing at 7:00.  We got there at 3:00.  We decided to only go in one park.  We chose to go in the more MGM style park.  we went to buy tickets and they were closing at 6:00.  Yikes!  We decided to do it anyway.  I'm glad Mike talked me into it.  We had so much fun.  The place was practically deserted, so we got to ride everything we wanted.  We waited the longest for Crush.  I think that is what it was called.  We had to wait 15 minutes.  The ride is kind of like Spider at Lagoon, but in the dark and with Nemo characters around.

Stephanie at Disneyland Paris!

 Stephanie & Mike

 Stephanie

 Mike

Toy Story land was pretty awesome.  Disneyland is so much fun! Especially if you take away the lines.

Slinky Dog (kind of like Puff I think)

My favorite ride was RC Racer.  So much fun!  We rode this three times.  Twice we were in the very back once we were in the second row. The very back was a lot more fun.  I loved it!

RC Racer

 Mike

 Stephanie

Man!  This would have been a LONG wait!  So much fun to be able to run through it!

 Rainbow!

 Mike & Buzz

We needed the 3D glasses for the Ratatouille ride.  It was kind of fun.  I bet Maysen would have loved that one.

Stephanie

 Stephanie & Mike

I love Tower of Terror.  Mike was nice enough to ride it with me.  I have been on Tower of Terror when everything was in Japanese, and now when everything was French!  Haha!  The park was about to close and I wanted to ride it one more time.  We ran to ride it again, but got a little lost and ended up by the Aerosmith ride.  We tried that one, but it was not my favorite at all.  Reminded me of a faster version of Mike Tyson's punch out.  My head hurt!  I did laugh at the Studio C sign before we entered.

We were able to run and get on the Tower of Terror before the park closed.  I was glad, because I didn't want the Aerosmith ride to be my last ride.  This time we were in a different elevator and the movie was in English.  My first time!

Stephanie

There were a lot of shops and restaurants in the Disney Village they have right outside the parks.  They are open much later, which was nice because we were starving by this time!  We decided to eat at the Rainforest Cafe.  I remember seeing this in San Francisco wondering what it was like.  Jorja would have loved it!  Maysen would have too. Well, all my kids would have except Stockton would probably be indifferent to it.  Anyway, it was a nice finish to a fun day.  Reminded me of my kids.  I'm excited to see them tomorrow!

Stephanie

 Jorja & Preston love these pennies,

Jorja will especially love this one with a frog!

 Missing my Porge

 I got to eat next to a giant moving elephant

 Mike humors me

We picked up a few souvenirs before we left.  I had been keeping my eye out for a beach towel.  Never saw one.  Mike found one here!  I was so excited!  We also got a cup for Maysen, Mickey Mouse/Eiffel Tower earrings for me, and a Tigger jacket that I really liked.  We didn't get anything at the Lego store, but wow!  Lego's are pretty cool.

The Metro is right outside the park.  So nice.  It took a long time to get back to our hotel because it stopped at every stop on the way back. Luckily it didn't do that on the way there!  Today was such a great day. So much fun.  We got back to our hotel about 10:00.  At least packing to go home is easier than packing to leave.  We are going to be pretty tired tomorrow!