February 1, 2008

Okay so I took a little break from blogging, and any journal writing all together. The holidays were pretty busy with all the normal activities, a trip to visit my family for a couple of days, plus musical numbers I was involved in each week (with the young women, 3 firesides, a ward christmas play, sacrament meetings, recording and burning cd's to pass out, etc.) Shopping, decorating, and so forth.
Now it's a new year, and I'm excited about it. We have a lot of cool things planned, including another get-away trip for Anthony & I in 2 months. We booked a cruise for the caribbean again, but to new destinations of course, some of which I'd never heard of. Samana, and Tortola... I dont care that much where we end up, actually, everywhere in the caribbean is nice! I'm just super excited to get back onto a cruise ship & have that completely care-free vacation feeling, and spend a week with Anth alone. I hope the experience with this cruise line (Norwegian) is just as nice as with Holland America.
My awesome sister Natalie and her hubbie Tyler & 2 boys are coming to stay at our house while we're gone and take care of our children. I'm really happy about that. Going away on a trip isn't as enjoyable if you have any worries about the kids at home. This is situation I feel good about. Natalie is very capable and has the right personality for this kind of responsibilty; meaning, I wont be concerend with whether she's getting stressed out or not, like I would with my own mother & dad, or even Anthony's parents, although, less with them. (Actually, with my parents, it's more my dad that I worry about with our kids there because they'd be a distraction to them with the schooling & other tasks they need to get done - thats really important to my dad to not have it interrupted) SO, I am so glad Natalie volunteered. I actually never even thought of asking her before. We love her so much; she's really great, someone you can rely on with something like this.
So. what else. We also are planning a trip to Disneyland at the end of the year, when Kayla turns 2, and once the rides at Disneyland (like It's A Small World) are open again, as they are being updated and under construction for most of the year.
Joseph will play football this summer. Anthony & I went to a crab feed / fundraiser dinner for the Jr. Eagles in Elk Grove last night. We got to mingle with other parents & meet Joseph's coach. Joseph is absolutely in love with football and is excited to play. It's for sure his favorite sport, maybe even favorite thing. I think it's good; I like to see him want to do something active. Sports are really good for boys. And girls too. And it's really cute. He talks about professional teams and players, watches games, even when he's alone, knows more about it than I do, for sure, and even beats his dad at Madden '08 on the x-box 360. The other night Anthony, who is absolutely shocked at how good Joseph is at the game, being that Joseph had beat him once or twice already, was determined to beat him. I mean, he was talking with his tough but silly voice "You're goin' down, Joseph! I'm gonna kick your butt!" etc. but was actually serious, and wanted to prove to himself I think, that he could win his six year old son. A couple minutes later I hear him yelling in disbelief and laughing, blown away that Joseph won. It was hilarious.
I registered Joshua for kindergarten last week, so he's ready to go this fall. He had to catch up on immunizations, however, before being able to register. Poor little guy had to get six, I think, different shots. It was pretty dramatic. I wasn't thinking about what a dramatic little personality JOshie actually does have when I took him in. He was acting so brave about the whole thing leading up to the big moment, that I didn't realize how he would fall apart once the poking started. Joseph was really tough for his kindergarten shots, so I guess that's what I was remembering, therefore expecting. Far from it. Joshua whimpered and then burst into tears with the first finger prick, which is really quite painless. So I knew I'd have to hold him down for the rest. He was crying pretty loudly and saying things like "Stop! Stop! Please stop" & "It hurts more than anything!" (so dramatic sounding it actually made me want to laugh a little...I know, I'm cruel). Although the shots were over quickly, the drama wasn't. Josh continued to cry and whimper and fuss in the dr.'s office, in the car, and throughout the day. He really milked it, any sympathy and attention he could get. I should've known; he went through a little phase a few months ago like this, where he'd act dramatic and want attention for the tiniest boo-boos. He even fell down on purpose so he could tell me he was hurt and needed a bandaid. !! I wasn't particularly sweet about it. "Josh, you're fine. Dont be silly. You're four years old, you're a big boy. Be a little tougher." etc. were the type of responses he would get. Perhaps that's why he did it. If I had just played along and given him the dramatic pampering he desired, he may have dropped the act and moved on to something else! Anyway. Who knows. It is definitely interesting to see the differences in your kids and yet love them equally.
We had a fun family night a few hours later, for Joshua's sake, having gone through horrible shots. We drove out to John's Incredible Pizza Company in Roseville and enjoyed the evening together. We were going to go to Chuck-e-Cheese (the boys request) but once Anthony discovered they had a John's Incredible pizza here in Roseville (we had been to it once in Fresno with my family & it was a LOT better - better tasting pizza, better games, rides, bigger, nicer, newer, etc.) Chuck-e-Cheese was forgotten, and the boys were fine with it. They had a lot of fun. I did too. I loved doing the bumper cars with my two boys; Anthony got it on homevideo.