With so much Drama in the LBC, it's kinda hard being S-K-I- just one B

I had forgotten to blog about our last night in California. It was the most memorable for sure.
We left Disneyland later than we had hoped. We left at eight o'clock and still needed to eat and get to Long Beach. This, as I have mentioned before, was with Cole in pee soaked pants after waiting too long in line for Splash Mountain. I may, or may not have given him the go ahead to pee in his pants after they had become wet on the ride. I can't recall.
Anyway, we got there in a timely enough manner, then got lost for 15 minutes or so. I was getting the panics. The LBC has been hard for Snoop Dogg at times, I thought it might eat the Skiby's for lunch. Anyway, crisis adverted, we found our way to our hotel which was as close to the airport as I had hoped so I was happy. We checked in, getting situated for our 7:00 am departure the next morning, set the alarm for 5:15 (yikes)...getting ready is taking forever, back and forth to the car a million times. Nolan needs to get gas in the rental car so that they do not charge us $7.99 a gallon. I kiss him goodbye and he mentions his fear of his unknown surroundings, something I had given no thought but now I'm really worried about. Making the fear even greater is his terrible sense of direction., he wanders off singing some Gin and Juice. This task takes forever, I get worried, I call to check on him and he is not answering his cell phone! Now I'm about to cry.... finally he's back, too much luggage to answer the phone.
In the room, Cole's picking on Cy who's already fallen asleep, they both start to cry. I throw Cy in bed with Nolan (a wise choice as you will learn in a moment - and super random, I hate to sleep with my kids) and climb in bed to settle Cole down. It's after ten now, at least an hour and a half later then I wanted us to get to bed.
Everyone is quiet and settled until about 10:30 when I hear Cy puking all over the bed....thank goodness I had put him in bed with Nolan. He puked ALL over the bed, the bedding, the sheets, Nolan, his pj's, himself. I clean him up while Nolan goes down and gets new bedding. I make the bed, Nolan takes a shower. Let's try this again.
Ok, all's well until 11:15 when Cole sits up in bed and I grab the garbage can thinking he is going to puke and smack him in the face with it, bringing him to a full melt down. Apparently, he was just rolling over. Whoops! Now he is crying and crying and crying some more. I takes me a good 20 minutes to get him calmed down. Worrying about waking the people next to us the entire time. Finally he falls back to sleep.
All is quiet (expect for the horribly squeaky double beds we are sleeping in that are rock hard and very noisy) until about 11:45ish when the stinking fire detector starts beeping and flashing because the battery is low. This cannot be happening!! We tried to ignore this for about a half an hour. Nolan gives in and goes to the front desk, gets a 9 volt and is trying to install it in the dark on a rolling chair. I come over to hold the chair for him and he sets off the smoke detector. It is blaring!!! Now I have the giggles so much so that I can't hold the chair still, the alarm stops, now I need a pee break. Come back out and Nolan has given up on the alarm, it is hanging from the ceiling, wires and all, but at least it is quiet.
Back to bed.
I had finally fallen asleep close to 1:00 a.m. when I heard Cole hitting the floor, he had rolled out of bed. In a moment that will cost me my Mother of the Year award, I could not even help him up because I was laughing so hard. Poor little buddy.
Anyway, after that it was useless. I couldn't stop getting the giggles and had given up on the idea of getting any sleep. Cole was sleeping crazy, thrashing all around and talking in his sleep.
I think our exhaustion actually worked in our favor this night. I was too tired to get mad about it .
It was all so funny until the alarm went off at 5:15. NOTHING is funny in the 5 o'clock hour.
We had a successful trip home. Poor Nolan, we dropped him off at work on the way home from the airport. The boys and I went immediately to La Puente, we needed comfort food, and then home for "movie night" at noon featuring more Disney, Toy Story 2. After that, all of us settled down for an afternoon nap. That was amazing!
It is a night we will not soon forget and hope never to repeat.

Happy Mother's Day

Being a Mom is the greatest gift ever. I am very lucky to have these little men in my life. I hope they feel the same way about me. I love you Cy and Cole. I am so proud of you.
I am so lucky to have a fabulous, supportive and thoughtful Mom.
I am also blessed with a great mother in law that treats her grandkids like Gold.
Love you all!!

Patiently waiting to give me my crafted with love gifts. An adorable magnet from Cy and a card from Cole. Thanks guys!

Relaxing after eating a delicious breakfast. My favorite, wheat pancakes with homemade buttermilk syrup and super crispy bacon.

I went for a pedicure and took Cy with me. He loved it. He was so cute, quiet as a mouse. Now I think he may be addicted. I thought they might cut me a break on the cost for a little guy, but no. So it will probably only happen on special occasions...like next Mother's Day. He picked my color and he just wanted clear. The technician talked him into a Mickey Mouse on his big toe. It was the only thing that was boy appropiate.

Had dinner made for me at Granny and Papa Skiby's.

Nolan, Par and Mel.

My mom was in Price for Mother's Day. We had gone down for my Grandpa Bob's 85th birthday on Saturday. We caught up with dinner on Monday though. It would've have been better if I were a better manager of time with cooking.

Principle Pride

Cy had one of his papers chosen for what is called the "Principle Pride" award. Each week one student from every grade is chosen by their teacher to have a school project acknowledged by the Principle in a little ceremony. We watched him receive his award and got to stay after for some cookies.

We have been very happy with all of Cy's hard work this year. He actually tested into what is called the ALPS program. It is the Accelerated Learning Program in our district. After much thought and consideration, we chose not to put him in the program. It was not a black and white decision, and we felt like we have made the right choice for him. We are proud of him none the less. Cy was also the top reader in the first grade. This earned him the "reward" of throwing a pie in teacher's face?? I wish I would have known about this, I'd have pictures to show. He's such a polite young man and a real rule follower. He thought he would get in trouble, so he was hesitant to get the teacher dirty.
I am excited for the summer. Cy's school is moving to a traditional schedule from year round. It will be nice to have a little break from the busy school days and nights. We are looking forward to some "home school" projects that I am planning, swim lessons and some lazy days.

Short and Sweet...the Cliff Notes of our Vacation

To save you from reading my incredibly long previous post, I thought I'd give you the Cliff Notes version. Our prior visits to Disneyland had always gone as smooth as butta. This one had a ew bumps in the road. Which certainly have become funnier when we reflect back on them.

There were mostly wonderful but a few noteworthy not so wonderful parts.

Wonderful:

Disneyland, itself. Clean, organized, awesome.

The boys were really good, mostly.

Nolan was a good sport and a patient father through all of my planning and anal retentiveness.

Jedi Training Academy, Cy was picked to fight Darth Vadar.

Good sleep.

The Jungle Cruise.

Newport Beach.

The Ocean.

Celebrity home cruise.

Sea Lions.

The Disney Characters.

Churros.

Ice Cream Sandwiches...everyday!

Tower of Terror.

Cheap Hotel and Rental Car.

Running into two people we knew at Disneyland. Little things bring me such joy.

Cole being as angry with the sea, as the sea was angry.

Not so wonderful things (but some are kinda awesome):

A guy having a panic attack on the Pirates of the Carribean Ride and trying to jump out of the boat while screaming, "let me out!"

Goth day. An unofficial event that brings out the freaks.

Hearing the "F" word while in line with your children, having to confront the yahoo who uses the "F" word.

Long lines.

Too many people.

Cole peeing himself on Splash Mountain. We were sharing the same seat.

$42 lunches that are subpar.

Sunburns.

Preteen girls who talk non stop to you in line and ask their grandparents if they can go with you for the rest of the time.

Birthdays. I'll give it to the people at Disney, they are ingenius. That being said -2009 is the year of celebrations. Meaning that on your birthday, you can get into the park for free. Well, this is crappin' it up for the rest of us. It was EVERYBODY's birthday. Every third person had a button announcing thier b-day and they brought twelve of their friends along. I think this is bringing out many of the locals and I want them to stay home.

Nemo. I'm not waiting in line for two hours to do 20,000 leagues under the sea starring Nemo and Dorie.

Space Invaders. Back up from me just a little bit. We are not going anywhere.
Worrying about the Swine Flu
Cole's legs "do not work in California," so he had to be held.

Vacation, all I ever wanted. Vacation, had to get away!

I hope you will indulge me as I go through all the details of this trip. I use this as my little memory book. I am going to include the Cliff notes version of Disneyland in a later post because this is going to be really long. Feel free to skip the long drawn out version.

We took a trip to Disneyland again this year. I would like to make it a once a year event while the kids are little. These are years that are really magical with them at Disney. I had a patient at work make me cry speaking to this fact prior to leaving for this vacation. She had taken her 15 and 10 year old to Disneyland and had commented on how the "magic" just wasn't there the way it had been when they were younger. She had spent much of the trip missing the days when her kids were little. I thought about this a great deal while we were there and tried to soak up all the moments. They grow up so fast. I watched ungrateful, bratty teenagers who were listening to their iPods instead of talking with their parents and longed to keep them little.

The wonderful things were plentiful. The kids (and me mostly) were so caught up in it all. We took the evening flight to Long Beach and even got the double upgrade on the rental car that I had previously mentioned. Very exciting! We found our way with no problems and then I had a panic when I realized that I had forgotten my noise machine that I run while I sleep. Nolan pulled into a Target without prompting. He knows I'm a nightmare to sleep with otherwise. Thanks, Noli!

Thursday we started out with the courtesy continental breakfast where we were sold a 3 day park hopper pass for $100 dollars by the lady sitting next to us (reg $180) and it included free parking. I was convinced that I was destined to save money on this trip. We headed to the park to let the games begin. We had been there for 4 hours when we stumbled to Buzz Lightyear's ride. Cole said while we were in line, "We are finally here, we are finally at Disneyland." We stuck around for the evening parade, which was fun. Cole and I even did the Conga line. We rode It's A Small World. I think that ride has been open only once in all the times I have been and never when we have taken the kids. While the song does get annoying, it is cool inside, a nice little break. We crashed as soon as we got back to the hotel. So tired.

Day 2 was a Friday. When we pulled into the parking lot 10 minutes after it had opened the lot was FULL. Instantly Nolan started to sweat and rolled down his window. Luckily, it wasn't as bad as we anticipated inside.
The boys were eager to go down to the Jedi Training Academy to see if their would be picked to learn the ways of the Jedi. Cy's enthusiasm caught the eye of the Master Jedi and he went up for training and then fought Darth Vader. It was awesome. Poor Coley tried to be strong but was sad he did not get to partake.
This was the first time that we could almost ride every ride as a family. The only ride that Cole was too small to ride was Indiana Jones. He bravely conquered Space Mountain, the Matterhorn, and the Runaway Train. I think we traumatized him though.

Cole was really afraid of many of the rides there. They were too loud, too dark or too scary. We took him on Pirates. He was hesitant to open his eyes or ears. To add insult to injury the guy behind us had a full on panic attack and was screaming and trying to get out of the boat!! Even I was scared.
After that we ran into a guy, Taylor Kolb, that we had gone to high school with. He lives in Canada with his wife and daughter and we had not seen him for 15 years. Crazy! These things make me very happy.
Next we headed to California Adventure. We wandered to the back of the park and waited for some of the characters to come out. We were very successful. We ran into Handy Manny, Sully, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Mr. Incredible. It was nice to relax and the kids had fun getting the characters' autographs.
Cy rode Tower or Terror twice, once with me and once with Nolan. Cole was tall enough to ride it and we almost let him, I'm glad we did not.
After another full day, the kids were exhausted and so were we. I had to talk them into staying for the Pixar Parade. Mean mom. It was awesome! We saw. Monsters, Inc, Cars, Nemo, The Incredibles, all of our favorites. The kids just wanted to get back to the hotel to go swimming. We went to The Cheesecake Factory, also another highlight for the boys, oddly enough. "Best meal ever" they said. Noodles and butter...delicious! Then finally we went swimming. Next vacation is going to be to Farmington, Utah. It is about 25 minutes away. We'll go to Lagoon (a local theme park) and stay at a hotel with a pool. It'll save us thousands of dollars and the boys will be equally happy.

Day 3 was a day at Newport Beach. I love it there! I see the lure of living next to the ocean. It was overcast and cloudy, about 63 degrees but the boys went right into the ocean. It was frigid...and they could not have cared less. We had anticipated renting a little pedal boat but the ocean was choppy. Nolan told Cole that the sea was angry, Cole then became angry at the sea. He threw sand into it and told Nolan "not to worry. he would take care of it."
The downside to the ocean, sand. Sand is great while your there, but then it lingers and lingers.
We washed up and looked around a bit. We had anticipated doing a whale watching excursion. I was so exited to do this. The previous days reports had listed a few whales, hundreds of dolphins and sea lions. We were pumped, ready to go, went to find the boat and the tour had been cancelled for a burial at sea. Something that would have been nice to know hours ago when we had other businesses to choose from. We settled on a tour of the harbor. It had a "celebrity" home section. I love this stuff, so I enjoyed it a great deal. We saw some sea lions, which kept the boys happy. It was nice to just relax and be on the water for a bit. I would love to take a trip to Newport when it is warmer and spend a few days on the beach. What a great place.
We headed back to the hotel for more swimming, again the highlight of the day, some subway sandwiches, Disney channel and shut eye.

Day 4 was back to Disneyland. It was unofficial "goth" day at Disney. So the freaks were out in full effect. It provided much visual entertainment but also made it more crowded with crazies. Many of whom were not very happy at the happiest place on earth. One precious late teen like to use very colorful language in line for Buzz Lightyear. Are you serious? It's a kid ride and I would not appreciate coming home from Disney with new words in the boys' vocabulary. I had to bring it to his attention. Apparently, according to him, I ruined his fun. This day was the most crowded day by far. We still didn't wait too terribly long for any ride just a lot of back and forth and weaving in and out. We did wait 40 minutes for Splash Mountain, which made me wonder why in the world anyone would go to Disneyland in the summer when the lines are 2 hours long. Cole peed his pants on Splash Mountain too. Good thing it was one where you could pull that off.
We did get to ride the new Toy Story Mania ride, it is so cute. It was worth the wait.
We spent the day, staying much longer than I had anticipated, leaving around 7 for Long Beach. We had an early flight home. Our adventures in Long Beach will require their own post.
It was a great vacation. It was nice to spend so much time together and escape the hustle and bustle of homework, work, school, baseball for the hustle and bustle of Mickey and Minnie.

Back blogged

So I am terribly behind on my blogging and feeling a little overwhelmed. I'm going to take baby steps.

Spring came with or without nice weather. I was so tired of being cold I could hardly stand it.

Our spring break consisted of Easter,baseball and cousins. A great combination, indeed.

Easter Sunday was nice. We had the whole family over for lunch and searched for eggs, visited and ate. Nolan and I had help from my mom and Dad setting up our trampoline that Santa brought us for Christmas. It is fun. I am struggling to establish rules for it with the neighbor kids though.





Cy is in little league this year. It is pretty serious. It is machine pitch and the first few games were rough, but they are coming along wonderfully. Cy looks so darn cute. Let's face it , that's half the battle at this age. He's been playing third and has enjoyed catching a few games. I think he has lead in his shoes, he's slow as mud (it is said with love). He hits almost every time but gets out at first with great frequency. I'm proud of the way he shakes it off.




Nolan is coaching. I really appreciate the time commitment from him. Life is very busy between games and practices. Nolan is great with the kids. He has so much more patience than I do with other peoples children.


My cousin Heather and her girls came from Denver for a long overdue and much anticipated visit. We have had few visitors so I was so excited to have them stay with us. We had a lazy Friday, sending the kids to jump on the tramp while we relaxed and read gossip magazines. Heaven!




We had two baseball games to go to for Cy, went to Classic skate, hit La Puente and then settled down for a few (ok, maybe several) hours of American Idol for Wii. We very reluctantly let the kids play. Then got busted by them the next morning when they saw we had played until 12:38. I won, of course. Actually, once I sang Heather's part in the finale because I assumed I had won. I'm kind of a karaoke jerk.

The kids played great together. Cole had a little crush on Emma. He told her she looked pretty. Emma and Grace loved playing guns! This made the boys very happy.






Emma indulged me and let me curl her hair and bravely said she liked it when I knew she did not. I wish they lived closer!!

My Peeps

We had some family photos taken because it had been too long and included my Grandma to celebrate her 92nd birthday. Here are some of my favorites.

This is my Grandma Mary and her two great grandsons. She is a pretty amazing 92 yr old. I think she is just barely slowing down. 5 years ago she could keep up with the best of them. She can still get on the floor and play with the boys. She can't hear them, but she can play with them. Michael and I are her only grandchildren....pretty spoiled.


My cute parents. Those are good genes I have. They have been married for 40 years this past September. They are so good to us, I can't imagine life without them right by our sides.










My handsome brother Mike and his adorable girlfriend Ashlee. Mike is a good, quiet Uncle. The boys adore him. Ashlee is the best one for Michael. We love her, she loves him, he loves her. She is very thoughtful of our family. Boys need girls like that, it makes their families very happy.







My peeps. I love them.












Me and my Boys. The lights of my life.












They are just precious.
This was a lot for poor Cole to take. Too many pictures. He did a good job.