All in a Day in the Life of a Mother

Well, the day started off bumpy with my neighbor giving a not-so-friendly pounding on my floor this morning at 8:30 am. The kids and I were just getting ready for the day, eating breakfast, etc. which apparently causes too much noise for someone who knowingly rented an APARTMENT on the FIRST FLOOR. I don't know what his problem is but I think he either needs ear plugs, needs to wake up earlier, or needs to move.

Then I taught joy school. This would have been fine except I was so worried that my neighbor would get mad that I think it kept the kids from having much fun. Joy school today was about being unique so all the kids shared thier favorite things as well as a talent. Kinley sang her ABC's, her favorite color is pink, and her favorite food is cheese crips. We also sang a song about everyone being different that Kinley shared with her dad when he got home.

After a not-near-long-enough nap for my kids I took them to Corte Madera mall to meet up with some friends. Apparently the flowers at Corte Madera mall were much to tempting to my sweet Kinley. She kept picking them! I threatened to go home and everything else I could think of but nothing seemed to work. About the same time I was ready to pull my hair out, I decided to explain to Kinley that Heavenly Father put those flowers there for everyone to see and enjoy. She responded with, "Heavenly Father is my friend" and didn't touch any more flowers. YEESH!!!

After months of bothering her father to let her "push the buddons," Kinley finally got her father to give in and teach her to play on the computer. She played the online sasame street games and was actually better at moving the mouse and clicking than we thought she would be. Kaden learned that if he runs and hides from his sister, she is less likely to take whatever it is he has a the moment.

The night, however, went much easier with the kids in bed and a quiet evening. (although Kinley did end up getting in trouble for screaming too much, then got OUT of bed to join me in my bed to read stories at 10:00 p.m. while Jordon studied downstairs.) :) What a day! i cant wait to start over tomorrow!!!

Apartment Living

As many of you know, we have had complaints from the very friendly or..not so friendly man that lives below us. Since our encounter in the courtyard I have not let the kids jump around. Which they were very unhappy with...so we have come to a compromise.. they may jump on the couch!

Licking the bowl

Kinley had her friends Taeler and Matix over while I made yummy almond poppy seed bread. They enjoyed helping make it.... and licking the bowl when i was done.

Our little climber

Jordon set up this barricade to keep Kaden from touching his computer but Kaden just climbed right up on the chair and on to the table. He is our fearless child. Kinley is 3 and is barely getting the courage to climb on the table. What fun it is to have two different personalities.

Joshuas Wedding

Kinley and her cousin McKell had so much fun on our trip to AZ. Kinley spent as much time in the backyard and on the trampoline as possible! Kinley even had her first sleep over at McKells house. My sister said she did ok but she is not fun to sleep by. She grinds her teeth and talks in her sleep. I think I must be used to it by now! She sure misses her cousins.
My brother got married! We got the kids all dressed up for pics and then Kaden went straight to bed!
Kinley, Lucy, Kambree and McKell playing ring around the rosies in their purple princess dresses!

My cousin Ally married one of Jordons good friends Tyler and this is Kinley with their little girl Tylee! Kinley and Tylee had so much fun at the reception! We miss you guys!

Beach Fun

After getting back from Disneyland Kinley could not wait to see her friends. They were going to the beach and Kinley insisted that we go. It was a little cold but the kids loved playing in the sand. Chris Ballew tried skim boarding while the kids cheered him on. We took lunches and I think Kaden ate more sand than sandwich. At least we took advantage of the nice weather during Jordons spring break!

Spring Break 2007

So we are going to give this whole blog thing a whirl. Don't really know what we're doing yet so have a little patience. We got back from vacation with about 250 pictures and decided that some of you wouldn't want that many in you email inbox so here is our alternative.

If there is one good thing about this crazy bay area weather it would have to be the fact that if there IS a warm sunny day, you get outside and make the most of it. We took the kids to a little park nearby where we live to let them play in the grass. How sad is it that we have to take our kids to the park to play on grass? Such is life here. Katie bought a bubble blower that was a big hit. I guess that last time she had to blow bubbles for a while wore her out so she went with something battery operated this time.

Just down the hill there is a little creek running through the woods. The water was pretty cold but the day was warm enough that the kids didn't seem to mind. We had the the place to ourselves for all of 15 minutes until some little girl saw us and brought all her friends, relatives, and acquaintances down to play. We left shortly thereafter.

Then it was off to Disneyland (or Dinnylan - according to I think you know who). The first ride we went on was the Winnie the Pooh ride. It is where The Country Bears used to be. I have to admit, the country bears was better. They were redoing Splash Mountain while we were there so no one was in the area. We went on it several times without even waiting in a line - twice without even getting off. Kinley like it, Kaden tried to climb on top of Katie's head to distance himself from the hefalumps and woosels.


Kinley set a new Guinness world record for most times on the carousel for a 2 year old.


We actually made it the whole three days only having experienced how small a world it is twice. I thought it was better when it was decorated for Christmas and singing Christmas music.


We spent most of the first day at California Adventure. The kids area is themed after "It's a Bug's Life." They have a pretty cool 3D show that we ALMOST made it through. Being 3D wasn't so much of a problem but we were done for when huge spiders actually dropped out of the ceiling.

Next it was off the Ariel's Grotto. Here you see the two main reasons I will never have any money no matter how much I ever earn.
Kinley got to talk with, hug, and have her picture taken with quite a few of the princesses. For the record, Cinderella was the hottest.

She was happier than she looks in the picture. She was just getting tired of having to look at the camera and not the princesses.

Here she is with Belle.

And here hugging Aurora (sleeping beauty). They all thought it was weird when I handed the camera to Katie and made her take pictures of me giving hugs to the princesses - you know us Green's, gotta get our money's worth.

This was one of the three times she took pictures with Mickey. Before this trip I had never once taken a picture with any of the characters but Kinley liked meeting them as much as she liked the rides and we kept getting lucky by running into the characters before there was a long line formed to meet them.
This was about 4:00 on the first day. They had to share that little teddy bear blanket the whole time because we only brought one. People thought it was pretty funny to see them each holding the corner of such a small blanket and sucking their thumbs.

The tickets we had allowed us to get into the park an hour before it opened on Tuesday. Mickey came out right as we came in and Kiley was the first kid to meet him that day. We walked by five hours later and he was standing in the same spot with a long line. I assume that at leas had to let him take bathroom breaks?

Kinley wasn't the only one who liked the "meet and greets." Kaden soon figure out that if he acted cuddly and cute it meant freedom from the stroller so he gave Chip and Dale a couple of hugs each before we had to take him away. It was pretty funny.

Kinley walked through Mickey's house in Toontown to find a surprise waiting in his workshop. I had never really experienced Disneyland like I did this trip. Kinley loved little things like this.

We spent a couple of hours with the Carpenter's on Tuesday. Kinley and Madi both enjoyed the Fantasy Fair where they got to listen to storytime by a princess, decorate their crowns with stickers, and learn to dance from the princesses.

Kinley and Kaden were pretty worn out at the end of each day. One of the days they fell asleep at 5 in the evening and didn't wake up until the next morning. It was awesome!

Of course Kinley had to finish off the whole trip with none other than a merry go round.