Easter

Because of Josh being in Japan for the actual holiday this year (sad face), we sort of celebrated with him a little early.

For starters, the weekend before we visited a local restaurant again for brunch with the EB.

Not quite sure what to think - he just wanted to pet the bunny

Following brunch, we colored eggs.

The night before Easter, I continued with the tradition of putting glowsticks in eggs for an outside hunt when it was dark. My family came over to enjoy that with us, unfortunately it was past Preston's bedtime so he didn't get to partake.

It seems to be something we look forward to doing each year!

Then the boys got their baskets (and notes!) ready for the bunny to come.

I can read my kindergartner's handwriting better than my 3rd grader's!

Then below, the aftermath.

This was also a busy day as I volunteered to host the Easter holiday at our house, so we were busy bees (I paid the boys to help!) getting ready. With being on my own and Preston not liking his pack-n-play and to avoid having a ton of stuff to travel around with, it was so much easier to be home.

Boys got bath bombs with Shopkins inside, so first thing they wanted to do was get cleaned up!

Preston with some new bath toys . He's so close to sitting up on his own to start using it.

Inside egg hunt time

The Easter bunny also visited my parents' house, lucky boys! I enjoyed time with my family while the boys played. We missed daddy but had a good, fast holiday with mine.

A New Job

About the end of February, a post showed up on a local selling site from a local mama, looking to hire for her childrens clothing boutique. It seemed perfect for me : she was looking for someone who could cut fabric (with no experience necessary) and it would be something I could do from home (most important !) I was one of about thirty ladies who was interested and sent my information, answering a few questions. In the next few weeks I discovered that I lived in the same neighborhood development as her (which was a major plus on her end). I'm pretty certain, then, that this is why I got the job!

Some samples of her cute clothes

Her shop is online and she does a few markets/pop ups.

I've only really gotten started the last week or two at most. I have never cut a piece of fabric in my life, nor used a sewing machine. (no Home Economics for me in school!)

I'm a bit frustrated to say that things are rocky right now, as I've been doing more harm than good :( At first, with just one type of shorts, I cut right in practice fabric. Since then, I have moved on with different kinds of other shorts, a dress, etc, and it was discovered that I was cutting them wrong! (but not with practice fabric...important, getting ready to sell summer fabric!) So I have felt so bad for wasting fabric, some of which she can't reorder....and there's mamas out there who had put in orders for it! UGH. My boss has been good about answering questions, problem was I felt confident in what I was doing (confidently wrong!) To be honest, I almost thought I was going to get fired, and this was after my "Payday" jar ink was barely dry!

I'm relieved that despite that large mistake, she sounds willing to still work with me...though I'm afraid to touch important fabric for a bit! For now I just want to practice each item on fabric that doesn't matter so I'm sure to get cuts down.

Hopefully I'll have better reporting in the future! It's nice to have more of a part time job, that is flexible and done from home, that I can get even a few extra spending dollars from. To go out to a coffee shop, and feel good knowing I bought the cup of joe myself! You have to understand, I haven't had that feeling in almost ten years. Totally love the hubby and he makes enough to support us, but it's just nice not to have that little ping of guilt when I go to purchase things, especially for myself.

Here's to a better, cutting future!

Spring Break 2017 - and a Surprise Trip to Carlsbad, CA

The first week of Spring Break is a bit of a blur...I'm sure that has something to do with daddy being out of town that week.Oh, and the fact that I had a sinus infection at the same time, as well as littles having his first little cold!  The boys had a playdate with friends, two I think with their cousin and Grandmother, Nate had a special sleepover with Nana (after Nana earlier had Aaron over for the same)...

The second week daddy came home, the boys had another play date or two with friends, and, midweek I told the boys that we would be going to the zoo this one particular day, but instead we took off for Carlsbad, CA! We were able to keep it a surprise (I packed in secret) until the morning of. Thankfully they were not disappointed to not be going to the zoo that day! That would be my luck :)

Road trippin', boys!

The weather was perfect! Aah, good ol' ocean breezin'!

First stop - brewery. Preston did so awesome on the way there!

We were glad to at least have gotten a hotel suite, two rooms - to keep the waking babe separate from everyone else. Very glad we did that, at least, however I think mama is over the hotel experience of trying to keep boys quiet, and relying on other people to do the same! While having a pool, breakfast, and even evening cocktail hour was great, the sleep was not. You really don't realize how long nights are until you are pretty much up for most of them! :p I kept wondering when the sun was going to come up. Our littles did not care for his pack-n-play much at all, I think because it just wasn't big enough for him to thrash around in. Probably the new surroundings, as well as the fact that I did sleep right near him so I could help get him back to sleep right away if he did wake (noise, ya know), so it was exhausting. Any vacation with kids is, though!

Alright, enough complaining about that. Littles actually did a decent job with naps on the go and even if we happened to be at the hotel, it was just night. Bless his heart, he just went with it.

We didn't do anything the day we got there, other than the boys swam to stretch out.

Happy car rider

The boys, for years, have been wanting to go to Legoland. The first full day in Carlsbad we spent most of the day there. It was good we went, before the boys get too old to enjoy it.

My first theme park!

"Ok mom, after this can we eat and shop?"

Funny, both boys enjoy theme parks but for different reasons - Nathan is very, RIDES, RIDES, RIDES, but Aaron, is shop and eat. Shop and eat. Okay, maybe one ride. Shop and eat some more. haha. In fact, the above picture is right outside a store. (this site really needs emoji's - insert laughing face)

Since I spent most of the time shopping and eating with Aaron, and pushing Preston, I didn't get pictures of the other boys on rides :(

What you do for one, you must do for the other! :)

Bonding while waiting for our shuttle

"You're right, mom, that was a big day" :) (that evening's cocktail hour) Little P is such a grabber!

We had one more full day in CA - rather than drive to San Diego and battle traffic, we decided to find other things to do in Carlsbad. So glad we did, it was much more enjoyable.

We began with the beautiful Flower Fields, only open in the Spring.

Flower Maze

Mining Station

Afterwards, we went to a local U-Pick Strawberry Patch! I've always wanted to pick fresh berries, it's not something we get to do here in the desert. They were so sweet and delicious!

First strawberry- he sucked on it long enough to eat it

Following the berry picking, we picked a nice restaurant right by the ocean for a late lunch. Someone also got to put his footsies in the ocean for the first time!

Brr...that water is cold mama!

Delicious ahi tartare to start

There was just enough time for the boys to swim again at the hotel before it was time to call it a night. The last night was our worst night of sleep yet, so from a sleeping standpoint the parents were very relieved to be going home the following day! It was a good little getaway, though, but I'll be honest when I say that the hubby and I are looking forward to a trip minus the kiddos in a few short months. Packing wise too it will be such a nice break!