Throw up your Rawkfist

About a week ago we went to Creation Festival, and it was so fun. I won tickets a couple months ago on the radio (read: caller 10) and I didn't even know what it was. But when I looked it up and saw that Thousand Foot Krutch, FM Static & Audio Unplugged (among others) would be there, well let's just say they had me at hello. We took both the kiddos, so needless to say our afternoon chores include a trip to buy earplugs. I don't know if they were so much for the kids, or for me to drown out the kids, but whatever.

the California Theatre, where the concert was held. it was old and so so beautiful. i just love places like that, that are so rich with history.

me & baby girl, in the oh-so-glamorous bathroom shot.

apparently mom is the only one that didn't get the memo about the silly face shot. (love ikey's tonsils.)

the first band was one we love, {fm static}. they were so great and i wish they had played more than 3 songs!

next up was a band i really didn't care for, so no pics of them. 

but  then {audio unplugged} was awesome! like an hour of listening to them tell stories and play all their old {audio adrenaline} hits.

this is will from {audio unplugged} and he adored ikey. <3 i have a video of him watching her dance and pointing her out to mark.

mark from {audio}

and the band we came for, {thousand foot krutch}! we were so excited to see them, and they definitely did not let us down.(the lead singer, trevor, and the drummer are from {fm static}, as well.

When we arrived at the concert, we had no clue what kind of seats we'd have. Turns out we had front row! So not only super loud, but super awesome. We left before Jars of Clay played because it was already almost 10pm and the kids were getting worn out, but I am so thankful we got to go.

Don't ever wear a tube top to feed the geese.

If you clicked on this entry just because you thought you'd hear about the correlation between tube tops and geese, I'm sorry. It's just a quote from Phineas & Ferb that I can't help but love. But I'm pretty sure you can figure out why you wouldn't wear a tube top to feed geese. I'm hoping.

Oy. This post has been 2 days in the making. I don't know what is up with me, but something is going on with this 32-year old body. Like someone convinced her that she's actually 80 and that Geritol is desirable. Seriously, I'm about to break out into a Garth Brooks song about how my knees are creaking and my eyesight ain't what it used to be. Except my Alzheimer's prevents me from remembering the words.

I was so so blessed on Saturday night to be able to meet my sweet bloggy real-life friend Linny. She and her beautiful daughter Emma were in town for the Revolve tour here locally, so I basically stalked Linn and told her I had to see her. I've just admired her from the second I first found her blog in January (has it really only been that long?) and I've wanted to meet her ever since. She really is even more amazing than I thought. Just a true, Godly woman that loves and treasures the Lord and all the amazing gifts He's given her (like her ten beautiful children!). We had a blast, and hung out at the mall for a while while Emma & her friend shopped. Okay, we shopped too, but mostly talked. ;) It was such a great time and I am so thankful I can call Linny my friend.

On Sunday the fam took the trek down to meet my parents at a pumpkin patch that we've visited a couple times before. Except this time we were much more aware of the two hour drive and the thousands of people there to join us. For some reason, that combined with the 85 degree heat just didn't make for the best of days. The kids had fun though and that's all that mattered. We ate our picnic lunch, then let the kids go in the petting zoo, the straw maze (um, yeah. they couldn't even make it a corn maze. it was a maze of hay bales. bales that you could see over and that kind of defeats the point of a maze, or is it just me?) and then on the hayride. We ended the day by letting the kids pick out pumpkins that weigh the amount of a small child and were on our way. It was a good day but I don't think we'll go again. There are other places much closer that will charge us $2 to pet a stinky goat that tries to eat your shoelaces.

Big Hunk is off on Mondays so we headed down to Disneyland. I have missed it oh-so-much and I was so excited to go. Perhaps even more than the kids, but what can I say? These wrinkles are just for show and I'm really a kid at heart. A kid that complains about the $14 parking (no, I'm not kidding).

I won't go into all the details (you're welcome) but I will recap it like this: arrived. found parking spot less than 2 miles from the escalator (miracle). got to disneyland. realize we left our parking pass in our car (which we need to buy our annual parking pass). big hunk takes the tram back to our car, I head inside with the grams and gramps and the littlest ankle biter. before we even get in the park, I start seeing spots- a sure sign that a migraine is about to hit me hard. find first-aid once we step foot (or two) in the park and then track down some migraine medicine, all while not being able to see a darn thing. migraine proceeds to hit full force within 15 minutes, and this has become an even longer recap than I expected. i will speed it up. went on rides. ate. left. better?

We really had a lot of fun and I love hanging out with my parents. Big Hunk was a little grouchy (the happiest place on earth does that to him) but I have to admit, it was a tad crowded. Not his favorite combination. I can't wait to take the kids again though and I'm thinking of going back in a few days with my boychild to have a little date night. Fun stuff.

I will leave with you a few photos that will hopefully drown out the bad memories of my rambling.

linny & i. i was laughing so darn hard as we were taking these pictures that I don't look normal at all. which might be a good thing.

but isn't linny gorgeous?

our cute little farmer family at a little place we like to call "Nate's Butt Farm"
(if I even get hits from google searches for "butt farms" I'm going to lose it)

i love Ikey's face here. she was laughing hysterically because the sheep just stuck his whole face in her food bag, apparently too busy to be bothered with a little thing called 'waiting'

i just loved this pig, he was so sweet and mellow (maybe because he was fat and couldn't move??). i've always wanted a pig and he just looked so cool.

swooning over the baby bunny (can you even tell it's a rabbit? well it is)

love this pic!!

i'm going to have to do another post of the pics of disneyland. this took entirely too much time and too much room.

thanks for checking them out!

Antisocial.

I have been feeling really antisocial lately. It finds it's way into my everyday life where I don't make good small talk at church or on the phone, but it's definitely running over into my internet self too. ;) Whatever that means.

But today, I just feel like we have lots going on and I want to share!

Big Hunk had his baseball game yesterday, it was play-offs. Basically, if his team won, they would keep going for up to 3 more weeks. But if they lost, they would be eliminated immediately. Usually the kids and I don't go to the games all that often- usually a factor of the distance and heat making it too much of a pain in the butt. But I wasn't going to miss this one! And it was a good game. I am so glad I got to go, and I'm so thankful my kids are at the age they can play for 3 1/2 hours with friends and leave me alone! Half kidding there. ;) There is hardly anything I love more than just sitting and watching Big Hunk play baseball (and yes, those pants have something to do with it), and I wish I could go every week.

BH's team was in 5th place going into the playoffs, and they were playing the #4 team. The Angels vs. The Diablos, which always makes me laugh. Good vs. Evil. Well unfortunately, evil won this time. And it sucked. It was tied going into the 9th inning (the time limit is 3 hours, but they had to play extra time because of the tie), but the Angels scored one run giving them the advantage. But, because the Diablos had last ups, if they scored one run it would tie it up again or they had to score two to win.

I shed tears when they scored two, on a double. :*( I was so bummed for Hunk. He was pitching too, so he beats himself up.

So, the other team won by 1, and the season is over. BH is playing in a tournament in Arizona at the end of the month though, and the kids & I get to go with him. I'm so excited! Arizona is SO beautiful (the drive is loooong, but so gorgeous with all the red clay!) and clean, I can't wait to get away for a few days. And since my kids aren't sleeping in their own beds right now, it's not like the trip will screw up their schedule. *roll eyes*

Big Hunk's company is advertising with the (real) Angels for the rest of the season, so we get tickets to the rest of the home games. It's not many, but it's pretty much a dream come true for BH. He has ALWAYS wanted season tickets to the Angels. And it's even better that Mikey is officially an Angels nut too! His favorite player is Vladimir Guerrero, and the girl in charge of our advertising gave Mikey a ball signed by Guerrero when we were there a couple weeks ago. :) He was so ecstatic. We are *hoping* he will get to meet him, but we have to brush up on our Spanish if that happens because he doesn't speak English. lol

So anyway, the Yankees are our big rivals and Big Hunk has never seen the Yankees play before. Tonight (and the next 2) the Yankees are playing the Angels, and we get to go. :) Tonight the 4 of us are going, then tomorrow night BH is taking his friend and Mikey (I have our monthly women's study and Ike is going to a sitter). Wednesday is a day game so I will probably take Ikey to Disneyland while the boys watch the game. I love that my girl loves that place as much as I do. :-) Mikey couldn't usually care less if we go, but Ikey is always thrilled when we get to. Just like her mama.

My Tuesday morning Bible study starts back up in 2 weeks, and I CANNOT wait. I am seriously counting down the days. It ended in May and I have so missed that adult interaction! Even Mikey keeps asking when it starts again, poor kid. I keep him locked up in this house and he's "soooo bored". Kid, you don't even know what bored is! Those kids have a playroom full of toys, a backyard with an awesome playground and basketball hoop (okay, I can see how that hoop wouldn't be that appealing to Ikey), a pool (that I rarely take them swimming in myself), and every board game imaginable.

Yet all they ask to do is play on the computer (Webkinz are the best investment, I swear! lol) or Xbox. Or TV. Anything to numb the brain. Which I guess doesn't say much because here I am on the computer....

Well, I should get my kitchen clean before we leave in a couple hours. I don't have to can't cook for the next 3 nights because of the games and church on Wed, so I have no excuse to keep it clean!

Q: Melody? A: Absent

I haven't posted here in ages. There has been a lot going on in our lives, so this blog has been the least of my worries.

The kids are well. Ikey just celebrated her 4th birthday yesterday and her party is this weekend. To say she's excited would be the understatement of the year!! We began counting down to her birthday probably about 2 weeks ago, and she was the happiest girl when we woke her up with our singing (I know, yikes) yesterday. But she still refuses to believe she's 4 until her party, and she is looking forward to her party more than I've ever seen her excited for something! It's so cute. She keeps asking me "How many sleeps Mommy?" and she corrects me every time I say "party" by saying "No Mommy. My birthday pawty." LOL We are having a Littlest Pet Shop party but Mommy has been a real slacker. Normally I am all gung-ho with their parties but with getting back from vacation 2 1/2 weeks ago, Mikey's K graduation and all the other chaos surrounding us, she's getting minimal. ;) But we're having about 35 people over (over half of those kids) for swimming, lunch and a pinata.

Mikey is doing well! Like I said, he just graduated Kindergarten! I really need to share those pics. Well, tons of pics actually. He just got done today with an art workshop with our new favorite artist Charlene Rice (check her out!! We <3 her!!) and he did so well. She fell in love with him, understandably. ;) She only lives 2 miles from us, though we "found" her when we visited her booth at Spirit West Coast last month in San Diego. She is an AMAZING artist and we adore her!! We bought two of her awesome paintings that weekend in SD, and can't wait to get more! But now we have Mikey originals and those are even better. :)

Anyway, Mikey's birthday is next month, and he'll be 6! He's so happy to be all done with school for the summer and did SO well last year. I can't believe he'll be in 1st grade now!

Well, I need to get things done for Ikey's party this weekend: pinata and loot bags filled, food planned, etc. Bye!

Lovin my life!

Wow, what a fast weekend! I couldn't believe it last night when I realized we were about to start our week over again, but the great ones often do go quickly. ;)

What an awesome Mother's Day. I had the best day, and wish I could do it all over again. First off, we had my parents and my sister's family over for a BBQ Saturday night, and that went really well. Everyone came over about 4pm and we spent the evening swimming, eating and hanging out. This was only the second time the cousins have really gotten to hang out much since Thanksgiving, and they had a blast together. And boy did I give birth to two little fishies!! My kids love swimming SOOO much!! Ikey is full-on swimming now! She has always loved the water (which made us quite fearful when she would dive right in) and it has always just clicked with her. Mikey learned how to swim exactly a year ago-- last Mother's Day when we spent the weekend in Palm Springs-- but looks like Ikey wanted an earlier start.

So anyway, my sister and parents left our house at 9:30pm and 10:30 pm, respectively. I didn't get to sleep in too much yesterday because I wanted to go to church, and even the 11:30am service had me getting up 2 1/2 hours ahead of time to get ready. ;) But BH and the kids surprised me with a yummy Starbucks breakfast and coffee,and tons of goodies that were mine all mine. The best part was the cards though; I was a basketcase reading them!! I literally had tears pouring out of my eyes as I saw that Ikey had written "Mommy" for the first time, and the beautiful cards the kids had made me at my Bible study last week. Then, my sweet husband got me a beautiful card that took my breath away with the amazing things he wrote. I really am so blessed. And thankful.

We went to church, then just spent the day around the pool after lunch. We really weren't used to getting home from church so late! LOL We are usually home by 11:30am so it seemed like the whole day flew. After swimming for a couple hours we took the kids to see Speed Racer, and we went out to dinner afterwards.

It was an absolutely perfect day.

Now we are off to our busy week! I have my final mandatory homeschool meeting tonight (where did the year go?), Bible Study tomorrow morning (again, my final one until September) at which we will also have two baby showers, our monthly women's fellowship and study tomorrow night, Awana for the kids Wednesday, and a pizza party on Friday for Mikey's reading incentive program. Dude! The kid didn't know how to read anything but his name when he started school in September, and as of the final count in March (which clearly doesn't even count what he's read April & May) he had read 786 pages!!! I am so so proud of him!! He has BY FAR exceeded my expectations for this school year. I can't believe that next month he'll be promoted to 1st grade! It has been the most fun, rewarding year homeschooling him. Now I know not every year will feel this way, but I have had the best time and am looking forward to next year!

Well, gotta get some stuff done! I have to figure out something to bake for tomorrow's baby shower, and get some more unpacked. I am skipping a trip to the old house today just so I can focus on stuff that needs to be done here. So much to do!