Birch Aquarium

Kevin and I got to go on a date.  We stopped at a donut shop for breakfast.  Mmmm.  Love those apple fritters.    We stopped at the dollar store to get some supplies for something that has been stewing in my head for Jason's room (made with a drawer organizer, colored paper, superglue and cars).  This is how it turned out:

We didn't want to head home yet, as we still had a couple hours left of respite, so we decided to head to La Jolla and visit Birch Aquarium.  It was fun to be with my honey.

 I had never checked out the submarine up close, and had always assumed it was just a fun thing.  Turns out, it was a real submarine.  Leave it to Kevin to figure that out.

 Of course, we got our standard pose by the whale fountain.

 This is my naughty pic that I just had to take.  Makes me laugh every time cause I have the sense of humor of a little boy.

 Cute Kevin by the sardines.

 We didn't get any pics in the actual aquarium because I was using my iPad camera and for some reason, they didn't put a flash in there.  (Grrr...)

 That's okay though, we got some great pics outside.  I love the view from the aquarium.

 They have a fun little area for the kids to "find" different sea creatures.  I found an octopus and a shell.

 I think this is Kevin's "stop taking pics of me Christine!" face.

 I told Kevin to take a pic of me petting the sea cucumber.  Guess my head wasn't that important.  j/k.  :)

 Kevin finally was convinced to pet a star fish.  Save this pic for posterity cause it'll probably never happen again.

 Now, play some "Jaws" theme music in your head.... na na na na nananananananana.

Next to the scary Jaws photo booth were real sharks.  That was the part that Kevin liked the best.  There were also sting rays in there.  So then Kevin felt like he had visited a real aquarium.  :)

Garrett's 8 Years Old!

Garrett turned 8 today.  I had thought this would be a hard birthday for me because that is when kids normally get baptized, but he was so sweet and cute and I realized that it really didn't matter.  We had a great time.  We ate his birthday cake (Betty Crocker GF Brownies) for breakfast.  Then we had a swimming party with our little family and with Garrett's friends/tutors.  Garrett, Caiti and Jason were in heaven.  That is their favorite thing to do.  :)  It made me happy to be with them and see them so happy...even if the neighborhood pool is no longer heated.  Brrr....  I just love my Garrett so much.  He has blessed my life every day of his 8 years in our family.

Wednesday fun!

Wednesdays are my Jason days cause that's the only day he doesn't have preschool.   My friend Megan is in the same boat with her little guy who goes to the same school.  We always plan on having a play date with our kids, but it's crazy because both Jason and her son have therapies during the day at different times.  Coincidentally, Michelle is Megan's son's ABA tutor, so we decided they could all meet at my house and Jason and his friend could do play therapy with Aunt Michelle and work on play skills, and then Megan and I could hang out and have some fun.

Today was the first day we did this, and I think we'll continue.  We decided to make these days "Craft Wednesdays."  Today we got some wreathe frames, ribbons, and shamrock garland from the Dollar Store and made some St. Patty's Day Wreathes.  It was so much fun.  I'm excited, and I thought they turned out cute, especially considered we used Dollar Store supplies.  :)

Sarcastic Family Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas Everyone:
This year Garrett got so much smarter.  He figured out how to unlock the safety latch at the top of the door, and he totally figured out how to walk to McDonalds by himself with bare feet and how to go swimming by himself in the neighborhood pool in boxers and a T-shirt.  He made some new friends with the nice policemen by McDonalds.  He was such a good boy, getting us to install the security beep that goes off anytime a door or window to outside opens.  He also figured out potty training and did pretty great on that...He hasn't quite figured out the wiping part yet, but he is very resourceful and uses my bedspread instead.
Caiti's so comfortable in her own skin.   She loves it so much, she rarely feels the need for clothes.  Why bother with clothes when you have such pretty skin.  She figured out that if you fall limp to the floor and scream, people might not bother you as much.  She also figured out that if you pee outside, you can make your own mud.  This year, Caiti discovered the joy of getting her toys wet in the sink or trying to flush them down the toilet.  We luckily know the maintenance guys on a first name basis, so I guess I can thank her for that...don't know if the maintenance guys do since they have to unclog the toilet so often.
Jason figured out that it is so much fun to dump any sort of liquid left anywhere out on the floor.  He likes to leave pretty designs, like the one he just left me from pouring out a bottle of Sour Cherry syrup.  He loves his siblings...so cute.  In fact, he's trying to be like them...like the day he snuck outside in bare feet, and ran down the road, where Garrett and Caiti's bus driver picked him up and brought him back home.
All in all, we're all progressing in our own little ways.  Merry Christmas to all!
Love the Roaches.

Our Halloween Pumpkins :)

This year we got cute little baby pumpkins and used the fun Happy Meal Mr. Potato Head stickers to decorate them.  We loved them.  I let my kids choose which stickers to use, and then they were so good and put them pretty much in the right place.  I love them!

Happy 6th Birthday Caiti!

This year we decided to have a party for Caiti and combine it with the ward trunk or treat.  We invited her aunt Michelle and her tutors, Whitney and Kim.  We had yummy pies instead of cake.  Of course, it was fun to watch Caiti open her presents.  She loved all of her fun new friends and pretty things.

 We were grateful Whitney brought her camera to capture everything, especially us singing her her Birthday song:

 The ward Halloween party actually went pretty well.  We split up, and Kevin had the duty of passing out candy.  Caiti went with Whitney and Aunt Michelle and basically did her own thing (she was in a very contrary mood...so fun), Garrett got to hang out with his buddy Kim, and I got to carry Jason around trunk or treating because in the craziness I forgot to put his shoes on.  Sigh...  I was proud of us because we actually decorated our trunk this year. 

When we got home, we thought it would be fun to get a pic of everyone in their costumes (I was a ladybug because Caiti didn't want to wear the wings and I didn't want to waste them, Garrett was Officer Muscles, Caiti was Elmo...or Tinkerbell without wings...depending when you caught her, Jason was Thomas the Train, and Michelle was a flapper.  As always, Kevin was a Canadian).  I was so not surprised by the results.  :)

Garrett Swimming (courtesy of Aunt Michelle)

and

Date with Caiti

Since Kevin is on leave from work because he just got home from deployment, we decided to take advantage of the Hero Salute at Sea World (free for active duty military and their family once a year).  We figured she would be in heaven because she loves water, animals and especially Sesame Street, and Sea World has the funnest little place for cute kids called Sesame Place.  Right when we got in the park, I took Caiti to see the Orca Whales.  She was really excited for a second...until she decided she wanted to go swimming with them.  I had to use all of my strength to hold her back and then spend way too much on a cookie to distract her.  Kevin and I decided she would probably want to go swimming in all the exhibits, so we skipped the actual Sea World part of the park and went straight to Sesame Place.

 
I took Caiti on the Abby Cadabby Spinning Jellyfish Ride.  She couldn't decide what she thought of it.  She took turns screaming angrily and trying to get out and laughing.  It was funny...

Kevin got to take her on the next ride.  I was very proud of her for how good she was while they waited in line.  :)

For someone who loves when we give her rides, and spinning and all that...she HATED the Elmo Flying Fish ride.  Kevin did too.  He was freaked out cause Caiti kept screaming and trying to get out of her seatbelt.  Needless to say, he didn't end up flying the fish very high.

The Sesame Street Characters put on a Halloween show.  So Caiti got to see the Count, Telly and Abby Cadabby in person.  She loved it.  However, they started singing a song where everyone clapped to the numbers.  That was a bit too much sensory input for her.  So we decided we'd been there long enough.

On the way out of Sea World, we walked by someone famous' house.  It was the cutest thing ever.  Caiti got to go up and knock on Oscars trash can.  Then she said,"Hi Oscar!"  :)  He let her pet him.  That made the rest of the day worth it to see her so happy and excited. 

Date with Jason

Kevin and I had respite today, so we decided to go on a date, and take Jason with us so he could spend some time with his daddy.  I had originally planned a date to a seafood restaurant and then a trip to the aquarium...that didn't happen.  :)  When we got to what I thought was the seafood restaurant, they had gone out of business and it was some ritzy brunch place.  Sigh.  We ate there anyway.  However, brunch ended up costing $50 (all we had was an omelet and a personal breakfast pizza...never going there again).  Gulp.  So I decided spending another $33 at the aquarium wasn't the best idea. We were just down the road from La Jolla Cove, though.  So went on a nice walk with a SUPER ORNERY Jason to the cove and took a look at the seals.  We didn't stay long though cause a certain cute little boy wasn't being so cute.  We did get to drive by the temple though.  It is so beautiful.

 

Kevin's Homecoming

Kevin's homecoming was today.  Needless to say we had a busy couple of days beforehand.  For Jason's therapy we went on an outing to Target...so that I could get some new clothes for the homecoming.  I thought Whitney was a great stylist.  I think Jason liked not being stuck in the therapy room too.  :)

Kevin had told me he would call me when he wanted me to come get him...but I was impatient, so I went to the base and waited at the ship.  So boring.  He took forever.  He called me up and told me to go home because he'd be a couple of hours.  I told him No!!!!  Then he said, "Dang it Christine!  I tried to surprise you!"  It turns out he had found a ride home and wanted to surprise me at home.  We both thought we were going to surprise each other.  It was so nice to see my handsome hubby.

Michelle was so nice and made the sign for the garage because I was sooo busy with everything else.  :)

Here is our attempt at a self portrait.  I kind of love it. 

Kevin was able to meet the kids' bus.  I don't think they knew what to think at first....

But that didn't last too long.  :)

Garrett was even back to his old favorite sitting position...on daddy's shoulders.  But he's much bigger now, so I don't think daddy's going to let him do that as much.  

Michelle watched the kids overnight so Kevin and I could go stay at a hotel and catch up and have some alone time.  That was great.  I love my honey, and I'm so glad he's home.