3•12•2017

This week could be summed up with two words: baseball and sunshine. No complaints here.

Monday brought sunshine, a new workout routine for me, and baseball practice for James. Amelia is pretty much the best workout buddy you could ask for. She sits in her stroller and cheers me on while eating a snack. I spent the entire week sore, but made it through my week and met my goals! James also brought home some school awards. He was extremely happy about the In-N-Out certificate. He keeps reminding me that he needs to use it before it expires on December 31st. He makes me laugh.

And of course, the week wouldn't be complete without a picture of James hiding out and reading somewhere:

On Thursday we invited the missionaries over for dinner and James had the 3rd discussion. Meanwhile, Amelia tried to distract them to get them to play with her. Elder Smoot and Elder Banks are her favorite missionaries ever. She LOVES them and is always so excited to see them. After the missionaries left, we headed over to some church friends' apartment for dessert. They live in the building next to us. Our windows face each other so we "see" them a lot. Ha ha.  It was fun to socialize with them and the kids enjoyed rough housing in someone else's place.

Friday brought more baseball, and we bought Moana for our weekly movie night. We started movie night years ago when we couldn't afford to go out, but now it's just tradition .Friday nights are movie nights at the Phalen's.

On Saturday we decided to take a trip out to Santa Cruz for the day since all of our Saturdays from here to May will be spent on a baseball field. It was an absolutely beautiful day at the beach. You know how sometimes you go to the beach on a sunny day, but when you get to the actual beach it's all cloudy and cold? It wasn't like that. We had lunch at Betty's Burgers and drove around looking at all the beautiful neighborhoods (one of our favorite things to do) while the kids were sleeping in the car. It was perfect and warm and everyone came back feeling energized and looking a little pink.

 

This week's conversation highlights:

I re-arranged the kids' closet so that Amelia can more easily access all of her clothes. I was going over where everything goes and the rules (only picking out one outfit at a time, not taking everything out etc.) and Amelia said "Okay lady. Whatever you say."

James: Mom, you know what? I got sperm.

Me: WHAT?!

James: Yeah, I'm in the sperm whale group at school. Every group has a different whale to study, and I got sperm.

Crisis averted. This time. Until next week...

3•5•2017

We weren't late to church on Sunday. I can't remember the last time that happened. The missionaries spoke in sacrament meeting and so my kids actually paid attention! The missionaries have been quite the fixture in our home lately since James started taking the discussions. Amelia LOVES Elder Banks. Loves him. She kept whispering in my ear "mommy, I know dat guy, he comes to MY house!"  Amelia has been doing so well in church. When we first moved to this ward, Amelia was going through some pretty severe separation anxiety. It wasn't anything new. She'd been connected to me since she was born and struggled being away from me for any reason, ever. I couldn't go to the gym, or even leave her with Paul without her crying the entire time I was gone. It took us several months of taking turns sitting in nursery with her before she was finally ready. That's the thing about Amelia, you can't push her. She will eventually get there, and when she does she doesn't look back, but it has to be on her terms. After she was finally okay with being left alone in nursery she came to love it. It was all she would talk about all week. She knew all the songs and could tell us what she learned about, but her teachers said that she never said one word. For nine months. Very recently she has become much more comfortable there and is finally on speaking terms with everyone. She knows which kids she doesn't like, and which ones are her friends. She has grown so much socially and I am so happy and pleased with her progress.

On Monday it was back to school as usual. I went for a run and my allergies nearly did me in. It is spring here. Everything is blooming, and while it is beautiful, I have spent every day in misery since the pollen emerged.

I headed to the gym on Tuesday to avoid running in the pollen infested air. My arm injury has really been holding me back and I finally decided to just pick a program and follow it as best as I can with my limitations. Then Amelia and I got ready for story time at the library. It was lackluster at best. They have been really struggling to find a good story teller for story time since losing the really great girl last year. It's been such a bummer! But we go anyway and pick out lots of books. This week we studied the letter M so we got books about monkeys and mice. James had baseball practice after school, and after dinner we headed to the store to pick out a birthday card for Grandpa Willardson.

James' very loose top front tooth made it's exit on Wednesday. He has 4 or 5 loose teeth and this was the 4th to fall out. He says he looks like his Grandpa Willardson now. He totally does. James had baseball practice after school. On practice days he has to rush to get his homework done and get dressed for practice quickly before Paul comes and picks him up.  While he was waiting for Paul to pick him up I caught him reading to Amelia. He loves reading so much.

Thursday was Dr. Seuss's birthday and we celebrated with new books and some games.

We woke up early on Saturday to get over to the Little League opening day at the school across the street from the church. There was a parade of teams followed by food, bouncy houses, and team pictures. James' team wears white pants so we were trying to keep all the kids from getting dirty until after their pictures were taken. After that we headed down to Gilroy for our weekly Costco trip and followed that up with a bunch of food prep.

Until next week...

2•26•2017

I spent most of Sunday and Monday in bed with a terrible cold. James had the entire week off for February break, and it was pouring rain for the first half of the week. The kids watched a lot of TV and spent a good amount of time annoying each other.

On Monday I decided to do a little President's Day lesson and printed out some silhouettes of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln for the kids to paint. They did a really great job keeping themselves clean and were pretty creative!  After the paintings were dry we cut them out and pasted them to colorful paper for an Andy Warhol inspired work of art. Then we had a picnic in the living room and watched Zootopia for the millionth time. Or maybe it was Minions. I can't remember. It's all the same.

On Tuesday we had, you guessed it, more rain. I took them down to the gym with me and gave them fruit snacks while I ran. They were pretty good for the most part. The kids were stir crazy when we got back to the apartment, so we built a blanket fort in the living room and had another picnic lunch before I lost my patience they took their naps.

Wednesday brought clear skies! We walked to Starbucks for breakfast and went to Target. We could walk around Target for hours. Actually, we probably did. It felt so good to get out of the house. These two love each other, but the sibling rivalry runs deep. The missionaries came over to give James the 2nd discussion. This kid continues to surprise me with his perception of the gospel and his tender spirit.

Paul had Thursday off of work, so he took me to get some glasses, finally. I was able to commit to some that weren't too horrible on my face and am looking forward to seeing clearly soon.  We visited a produce shop next to Trader Joe's and discovered some really great deals, and some interesting produce that we were pretty unfamiliar with. We had lunch at The Habit Burger (hands down my favorite burger joint lately) and went home for a family nap.

When we woke up it was time to get ready for Disney on Ice! The local library was giving out kid's tickets to Disney On Ice in exchange for them reading 4 books. You bet we took them up on it! We had an absolute blast. It was the highlight of the week, and probably the whole year so far. Watching Amelia's face was almost better than the show itself, and it was pretty good! Amelia was singing along to the whole thing! It was adorable.

On Friday James finally had baseball practice. All his previously scheduled practices were cancelled due to the rain and extreme flooding conditions here in San Jose.  Paul dropped me and Amelia off at the mall for a mommy/daughter date during their practice. We shared a pretzel, and shopped for sandals for her. It's funny to watch her develop her own style and preferences. She tried on a million pairs of sandals and said no to everything-sandals I was so sure she'd love. She finally picked out some very sparkly, bling-y sandals. I love spending time with my little girl!

Asleep in the car.

She has quite the collection of sunglasses.

We headed to Costco as soon as we woke up on Saturday. I spent the day preparing food for the week. James had more baseball practice and we watched Arrival together before going to bed.  It was a great week, but now it is back to school and schedules.

Conversation Highlights of the Week:

Amelia Commentary while watching Disney's Snow White for the first time:
"What she doin' to those vegetables?" (poisoning the apple)
"That lady is crazy. She got problems;" "That little boy is named 'dog' a hahahahaha! Dats a terrible name;" "Why dat little boy so grumpy? Maybe he just needs a nap;" "Snow White don't want to go in dat old lady's house. But she do like apples. You must eat dat apple, Snow White!"

Mom: My dad's birthday is next week. Paul: yeah, I saw that. 61. James: Wow! That means he was born in the 1980's!

Amelia: I'll be 900 when I'm mom's age!

Until next week...

2•19•2017

The rain can stop now.

Last weekend James' Little League team met up at a local pizza place. Everyone introduced themselves and signed up for various volunteer positions. Paul is assistant coaching on top of his already insane schedule, but seems to really love it. I spent a good part of the weekend searching for some new specs, but came up empty handed. I really need to pick something soon because I'd love to see clearly again!  Amelia was a great little glasses assistant. She followed me around with several pairs of colorful and unflattering frames to try on. She kills me.

As you're no doubt aware, Valentine's Day was on a weekday. A school night, even. Paul and I opted for simple. Amelia and I picked out flowers over the weekend so that he wouldn't have to choose from the funeral variety of leftovers during the week on his way home from work. Amelia LOVED "her flowers." In fact, when I threw them away today, she cried her heart out.

 

As it turns out, the only day that worked out for the missionary discussions was also Valentine's Day. Since we hadn't really planned on doing much anyway, we went ahead and signed up to feed them.  Amelia helped me make a big breakfast for dinner. We had pancakes with whipped cream and heart shaped strawberries, eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits. Amelia insisted on helping with the eggs. I'm using the Montessori method with her and sometimes it requires letting go and letting her make messes so that she can gain the skills to not make messes. 

Behold the Valentines that James picked out for his class. I tried to convince him to pick ANY other set. I mean, really. Love is a battlefield? Really?
Apparently in 2nd grade it is.

Amelia was busy making Valentines for all of us this week, too. After her designs were all dry (there were massive amounts of glue involved), she would bring me a marker and have me help her write her name, which she would double check was spelled correctly before approving and gushing over the finished product.

I make Valentine's Day goody bags for my kids, and since we were having the missionaries over, we decided it would be nice to do the same for them. Amelia painstakingly made them each a card and insisted that they open them right away. Sparkly pom-poms went flying everywhere but they were very appreciative.  

The first discussion went great! James surprised us with actual conversation that didn't primarily consist of "good" and "I don't know." :) At one point the missionaries were talking about the original 12 apostles and couldn't remember all of them. James said that he knew that there were two Jameses. The missionaries seemed doubtful so we googled it and sure enough he was right! He was fist bumping and confidently exclaiming that he knew it the whole time. #schooled.

This week Paul had to take a few work associates to a Shark's game. I know, rough life. His company has season tickets and they take turns giving them to different contractors and employees families. We got to go in January and it was seriously so much fun! 

James had several practices and Paul says that his skills are improving daily! For those of you who don't know, James has had some motor skill delay and baseball has been the perfect occupational therapy for him! I can't believe how much he's grown. He's turned into a bookworm, too. I love that about him. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of reading. Right now he's completely sucked in to the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. He brought home some Guiness Book of World Records books last week from school so he's been did-you-knowing us all week :)

On Friday a huge storm system hit the Bay Area. It was the most horrible walk to school I think we've ever had. James said that he had never been more excited to get to school in his whole life! The winds were reaching 45 mph and our umbrellas were rendered practically useless. After struggling to manage the BOB and the umbrella for half a mile, I finally just put the umbrella away and ran home. I pretty much instantly had a cold from that point on. About an hour after I had showered all the rain off, the school called to inform me that the power was out, and could we please pick up our student. You can imagine how thrilled I was. Luckily, Paul got the same call and picked him up on his lunch break so that I didn't have to go back into it. I've been sick in bed ever since.  James has this whole week off for February break and it's looking like more rain and colds for everyone. It seems like every single time James has some time off, we all end up sick. Hopefully we can make the best of it.

Until next week...

2•8•2017

Last week was another busy one. Paul has recently been swamped with work and has had to work many late nights, and weekends. This week certainly reflected that.

James had Monday off of school thanks to some faculty event. We celebrated the break with sleeping in and stacks of heart-shaped french toast. After decorating the house for Valentine's Day, we walked to Target for lunch. James got some new shoes (his 3rd pair since school started!) from Marshall's, and we finished the day with popcorn and a movie.  It was a gloriously sunny and warm day. I am missing it already.

Tuesday was back to schedules as usual. James had his first field trip of the year. He went to see a play, that turned out to be a puppet show. His response was "that was unexpected." Indeed. He had a good time though and didn't seem to mind the puppet version of Aladdin one bit. This time I remembered to pack him enough snacks to carry him through the whole trip. A grievance once made by his mom and never forgotten. It rained the rest of the week.  I never thought that I could tire of rain when I was younger and living in a desert wasteland. But now I'm just sick of it.

We had the missionaries over for dinner on Friday. Paul picked up some Costco pizza on his way home from work and we enjoyed talking to the young elders. They get younger every year. When they asked Amelia what her name was, instead of just saying Amelia, she spelled her name while finger-spelling (ASL) "A-M-E-L-I-A." The missionaries were confused. I laughed.  James is going to be starting the missionary discussions in preparation for his upcoming baptism soon! When they asked him if he'd like to take the discussions he paused and put his finger to his chin in contemplation. Paul and I looked at each other. The longer he pondered, the more convinced I was that he was going to say no. But after torturing me with his silence for what seemed like forever, he finally said "yeah, I'd like that." *facepalm*

Paul had to work on Saturday and Sunday this week. On Saturday the kids and I finished up our morning chores before heading to the library. We tried navigating through the book sale, but it was total chaos. Both of my kids love the library. They've spent one day a week there since they existed. I'm so glad that our current home library is much nicer than the one in Hanford. After the kids got their fill of library time and picked out a billion books, I took them to lunch at...Target. We spend so much time at Target. But it's within walking distance and we are pedestrians until Paul gets his next promotion (hopefully soon!).  It started to rain right as we got to the store, so we walked around and looked at everything for a couple of hours before Paul got off work and picked us up to run our Saturday shopping errands.

Paul worked on Sunday and left us quite without a car on yet another rainy day. So we stayed in bed for the morning and then we got ready for the Super Bowl and made a bunch of food.  I love the Super Bowl. Commercials, good food, and the LAST FOOTBALL game I have to watch for a few glorious months.

 Until next week...

1•29•2017

 January recap.

Amelia turned 3 on the 8th. It seems like yesterday that she was born. I think it will always feel like yesterday.  I took her out for a mommy/daughter date at the mall. She picked out a bunch of little trinkets from Claire's (the "best store in the world"). Then we headed to Party City for balloons. My kids get their own balloon bouquet on their birthday every year. It's a tradition that they love and I hope they'll remember.

This year I made her a pink Frozen cake since she's obsessed with both pink, and Frozen.
We got her a Frozen playset, and an Elsa outfit complete with shoes, dress, and jewelry! She LOVED her birthday. She was excited about it for weeks and would stare at the wrapped presents in awe.

We facetimed with Grandma and Pee-pa and facebook video chatted with Aunt Rosi when Amelia blew out her candles and opened her presents. 

In January we got 4th row tickets to a Shark's game from Paul's employer. It was so fun! I'd never been to a hockey game before and I have to say, out of all the sports, it's my favorite to watch.

 Right before the game began, a lady came up to warn me that we were sitting in a "high puck zone." My main objective after that was to watch the puck and shelter Amelia's face. Luckily no one was hit, but the guy in the row in front of us took a puck home. The kids had soooo much fun. Every time we scored, Amelia would climb up on my legs and bounce and scream. James was like a wild animal. Paul and I just observed the crazy and soaked in their happiness. It was a super fun evening!

And then Amelia got sick. Really sick. She was sick for 10 miserable days before she finally told us that her ears hurt and we took her to the doctor. 

 One double ear infection. 10 days of antibiotics later and she was back to her old self.

 January also marked the 100th day of 2nd grade! Instead of a 100 days project, this year the kids got to dress up like old people.

 

Until next week...

Happy New Year! 2017

Paul was still sick on New Year's Eve. He went to bed considerably earlier than everyone else. The kids were completely wired and excited. Amelia missed the first few fireworks that were visible from our apartment, and she was insistent on seeing fireworks. So I walked outside with her wrapped in a blanket and we searched the sky for a good thirty minutes before giving up. She then proceeded to talk about how she didn't get to see fireworks until 2 am. And then again for days afterwards. She is still reminding me now that she didn't get to see fireworks.

Right after the ball dropped. These crazy kids were so excited to make lots of noise late at night. Apartment living has kept them a bit stifled.

This year we have set a lot of goals both individually, and as a family. I'm excited for a fresh start and and am looking forward to all that this new year promises! Happy New Year!