December daily

The start of December around here means it's time to break out the advent calendars. My favorite, is the advent candle. I got a few of these a couple of years ago when we went up to Santa Barbara and Solvang. I think they are so pretty. I had never seen them anywhere else before. So fast forward to this year. My mom and dad were going up to Solvang with their car club and I thought it would be perfect for them to pick up a couple more. After all, they were right down the street from the store. I talked to my mom and asked her to get the candles. I'm positive I said candles and well, she picked up some adorable calendars. I just happened to talk to them before they left and said something about the candles and she said, yes she got them. She then handed the phone to my dad and he mentioned how cute the calendars were and I said, wait, you mean the candles. Long story short, they went and picked up a couple candles.
And just look at how cute this store is! Jule Hus

ten on tues.

1. hellooooooo!
2. Charlie turned 8 recently and we went to Farrell's on Saturday. It was so fun, it was just like I remembered. The food was good and the ice cream was even better. Yep, we all indulged.
3. Audrey is going through a terrible twos stage. All I can think is, I'm too old for this.
4. Using the bbq a lot.
5. Enjoying a lazy summer, I know it will get crazy soon enough.
6. Too lazy to put up photos, see number 5.
7. The weather here has been so nice, that's all I'm gonna say. I don't want to jinx it.
8. Remind me to sign the boys up for soccer.
9. My allergies are a little off right now. My nose tickles.
10. I actually scrap booked last week, and I plan to again this week. I am on a roll, people!

Scout fun.....

Today we spent the day at Whittier Narrows Recreation area for Cen-Ten-O-Ree. Cen-Ten-O-Ree is a 2 day celebration of 100 years of scouting. There were probably close to 3500 scouts there from all over Southern California. There were all kinds of activites for them and trading cards that were given after an activity was completed. The verdict? A whole lotta fun and a whole lotta dust. :) We all enjoyed ourselves and were glad to be part of such an event. Early bedtime for everyone!

hey auntie, look what finally happened!

The saga of the tooth is over. Whew. This tooth had been loose for a long, long time. In classic Charlie fashion, it came out during the middle of the night and he woke up with it in his mouth. I can't make this stuff up. He is soooooo relieved. I am too. Grammie and Papa, get those coins ready.

a beautiful day to spend in the garden...

Yesterday we went to the Huntington Library and Gardens in Pasadena. A friend of mine alerted me to the free day that they offer and as luck would have it, I was able to get tickets. All five of us went, Robert went into work after our little field trip. We met a group of friends there. If you live in so. Cal., the Huntington is a place you need to visit. The gardens are spectacular, truly. Not to mention the world famous artwork collection they have too. As we were driving out there, I noticed that the hills were still covered in a foggy haze and I hoped that we would be warm enough. It was actually hot. We all were hot and cranky after our trip. We didn't stay as long as I wanted too and missed a lot of the gardens. Why you ask? Miss Cranky Pants was the reason. Audrey was just not having any of it. She loved, loved, loved the water fountains in the children's garden but that's about it. She lasted a little while in the stroller then had to get out and walk and lasted about an hour doing that. It would be fine if only she held my hand. She just doesn't want to do that now and she melted down shortly after. So, the good news is our visit was free. The even better news is that Robert bought a family pass so we can go back anytime and not feel rushed.
Here are some pictures from our all too quick visit. The last photo is of Robert's desk at work. I am so happy he took it, he really is married to a scrap-booker.

has it really been over a month since I last posted?

Apparently it has. You may have noticed I made my blog "open" again. Nobody reads it anyways (fine with me, believe me-not a complaint) and my dad has trouble signing in with his Google account. It is a lot easier this way and I'm ok with that!

So, where to begin? We have been busy as usual. That seems to be a reoccuring theme here. Busy, busy, busy. I'll work my way from the most recent to the oldest. My memory works much better that way. First up, Boy Scouts. Harrison is done with his Bear book and earned his Bear rank last Friday a little ahead of the game. So now we are working on extras for him to earn and the belt loops. He loves receiving belt loops. Did you know that the Boy Scouts came out with a belt loop for video games? Yes it's true and before you groan and remark that that is the last thing they need to learn about, it is actually a great lesson. They have to go over the rating system for the games and explain why they are in place, come up with a schedule for playing them and learn to play a new game with their parent. Of course he has already earned that one!
Charlie is just about done with his Tiger book, they have one more requirement as a den then he will get his Tiger ranking. Here is a photo of my Scouts. I love them. Scouting has been a great experience for both of them. We look forward to next year when I'll have a Webelos I and a Wolf scout. Charlie just told me over the weekend that he is going for Eagle. Whatever you say, son! Go for it.

We were able to go on an awesome field trip with the scouts about a month ago. Charlie's den leader is a sargeant with the LAPD. He arranged for us to go and see the LAPD's Air Support Division in downtown L.A. The whole family went. It was spectacular. We got a tour of their building and got to go out onto the roof to see the helicopters. We even had a couple of helicopters fly by and greet us. I was totally impressed with our Los Angeles county police helicopter pilots and officers. Here are a couple of photos from that day.






We've also had a few conferences of Little People over here. They especially like to gather around the books.

Let's see, we also celebrated Easter! Audrey got some new shoes that she loves. We went to downtown again and ate at the Grand Cafe in the Omni Hotel right next to the Museum of Contemporary Art and down the street from the Disney Concert Hall. We also took Angel's Flight and saw where the scene on the benches from 500 Days of Summer was filmed. See those benches in the Angel's Flight photo? That was the main character's favorite place to sit. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked that movie. It is really cute.




Ok, that's about all I could think of now. That, and if I continue this is going to be the post that never ends. More later. Thanks for sticking with me. :)

Scout Sunday & Blue and Gold, plus a new family member

Busy, busy, busy. That's what it's been around here. I wanted to post these photos of the boy's Scout Sunday Mass that was last weekend. They each earned their religious medal and it was given to them and a lot of other scouts at the mass on Sunday. They all looked so nice in their uniforms. Charlie and his friend got to lead the procession into church. After mass we all headed over to the church hall and had a nice reception and celebrated Blue and Gold which is a celebration honoring scouting. It was a full day. You can see that Audrey loved to run around outside. Robert and I took turns with her. We also brought home a goldfish. They had them in the centerpieces. Charlie picked one out, I've never seen him so happy. So, welcome to the family, Moe!
* I am getting used to the glasses. My vision is clear, that wasn't the problem. When I read, I can see things much better without holding the book so close to me. What an improvement!