California WINTER

In California we have nice warm winters, with an occasional cold spell that usually doesn't last too long.  For example... Here we are at Frosty's eating ice cream in sandals...

 The next day blowing bubbles outside on the back porch...

 Look how cute Mitchell is!  He even popped a few...

 Then 2 days later, SNOW!!!  Yep, lots of snow.  Jake canceled work for the day and stayed home to build a snowman...

 Samantha had babysat the day before and stayed the night cause it was starting to snow a lot... and we wanted her here longer...

 Everyone helped to build something...

 Then we drove down to Fresno to pick up Grandma Sue from the airport (where is was sunny!) and warned her we had snow... that was gone by the time we got back home!

 Jake was taking ortho classes and left for a few days every 6 weeks for almost 2 years!!!  It was extremely hard on me.  By the time he got back I was so stressed out, and depressed I didn't think it was worth all the sacrifice!  So we started paying for visitors to come out and help me while Jake was gone.  It was just too much to do alone.  My mom was so sweet and agreed to come help for 10 days!!! It was awesome!

 Reesa, loving Rascal...

 While my mom was here, I posted this on FB one morning.  Now you can see some the hard work I usually had to do ALONE...

Mitchell has been sick with a high fever starting Sunday. He is now on meds every 4 hours. Here's his 5 am doses... To say I'm tired is an understatement! I just keep telling myself this is better than being at the hospital with NO sleep... Luckily my mom, is here to help! 
 Just getting Mitchell's medicine ready feels like a 20 minute task!  And each med has a different dose, so you can't just be on autopilot.  I swear, Jake and I are on our way to becoming pharmacists!!!

 Jansen put this job list on my door one morning!  I LOVED it!  Jansen read it to me... and now I can't remember what it said entirely... something like
#1.  go shower
#2.  go bathroom
#3. go wash hands
#4. go be on ipad,  (haha)

 My mom brought wooden owls for the kids to paint.  They did such a great job, so cute! Reesa wanted a rainbow, so Jansen of course had to do a rainbow too!

 I took this picture because I thought it was the cutest thing ever, my kids moved Mitchell's highchair over so he could watch T.V.  It actually looks like he might be watching...

Disneyland

This year we took Jake's parents and met up with his sister Allison and her family to go to Disneyland.  We woke up and had a delicious breakfast at the hotel, of course they made Mitchy Mouse Pancakes!  

 By the time we walked over to Disneyland it was pouring rain, and we were freezing our butts off!!!  We debated for an hour if it was worth going...  Meanwhile we requested special permission to bring our wagon into the park because they are not allowed.  After ONE HOUR, we got permission, but had to have 2 mickey mouse balloons tied to it, (it's a risk that people might not see it and trip) my kids loved it!!!  By the time we got in, the sun came out and we got a few sunny pictures.  You would have never known it was the same day.  BUT it was still very cold.  We spent the whole day being bundled and trying to get warm.  Disney made a lot of $$$ off all the pour people freezing and needing to buy Disney gear!

 We took our picture with goofy, and Reesa wanted her picture with Minnie, but I didn't want to wait another hour to see Minnie, so here's our compromise!

 Jansen is at such a fun age to be at Disney!  He LOVES animals and you could just see the excitement in his face!

 Jansen's favorite character is Aladdin, so I made his get his picture with him.  He was so nervous he didn't even want to say hi.  Then when he went over to Aladdin, he just put his head down and gave him the biggest hug!  So precious.

Waiting for the fireworks.  The most amazing show ever.  They come up from all around you and tell a story as they have characters that dance across the sky.

Mitchell in his Darth Vader Micky Mouse Ears.  So DARN CUTE!!!

What a fun family tradition.  We feel so lucky to get to go to Disneyland!  The happiest place on Earth!