Weekend Pix ...

Cyndie and Timmy out shopping for veggies at Henry's

Emma at show and tell at her pre-K class.
The family at the Aquarium of the Pacific, and outing with the pre-K class.
Emma bowling at Maddison Zone's birthday party.
Timmy bowling.
Timmy in his armor that he got for not having an accident all day.

sea lions that Cyndie and Emma saw on another pre-K class outing.

Brandon and the kids in the jacuzzi.
Papa took the family on a ride on the Balboa ferry.
The kids at the OC Fair (with a friend, Chris, from church).
Emma working on her fish helmet, a craft we made this weekend.


Another craft we made ... crowns! Presenting the royal family!

Prince Timmy
Princess Emma
We went to Emma's friend James' birthday party (this was the boy she "married" the first day of school this year that she was real buddies with). This was Timmy readying for the sack race.
Emma and Timmy ready for the 3-legged race (That's James next to Emma).

That's it for now ... Cyndie had a very nice time on her scrap booking trip (and got some very nice pages done for the family 2006 photo album). Timmy and Emma and I went to the beach Friday night, did some crafts, and did the birthday party.

Short one ...

It's Thursday, the last day of the work week for me this week. Tomorrow, mid morning, Cyndie is going with three friends from church to her scrapbooking retreat. This year, in an effort to save some money and therefore allow a few new folks to attend, they are doing their own thing rather than going to an "official" retreat. She's excited for that. The kids and I will be on our own!

It's been a pretty full week. Yesterday the kids and Cyndie went over to a friends and played outside with one of those big blow up waterslides. They had a really good time, but were pooped from being out in the heat and humidity (it's been in the 80% range for the last week or so). In the evening, Miss Ashlie, the babysitter, came over. Cyndie and I went out for dinner and ran a few errands and even had time to straighten up the garage when we got back! Today they are going to the OC fair (for free!) in the afternoon.

So that's it on this end ... a pretty busy midweek!

Trying to catch up

So, apparently I have been rather lax in posting anything, so I'll just drop in a few nuggets here to try to catch up and then redouble my efforts for the future.

Over the weekend (Friday-Saturday) Cyndie and I went away to celebrate our anniversary. It's been 13 years! A friend stayed with the kids and we went down to the Hilton by South Coast Plaza. We spent most of our time shopping for house stuff. Based on the kitchen remodel and a few other things, we are trying to streamline what we've got and dress it up a bit to make everything match. Anyway, it was fun, but we are definitely not used to spending that much time on our feet kind of just meandering around. We were pooped Friday night! We left Friday afternoon with an empty suburban (8 x 4 feet of empty space in the back with the seats all folded down). After visiting 6 or 8 stores over two days, we returned to our house with the back packed full and a coffee table tied to the roof (sorry Cathy, after 13 years, we've finally given up on the leather topped coffee table that you gave us when you brought all the furniture to us!). It was fun. The rest of Saturday we spent moving furniture around (mostly in the family room and living room) and accessorizing. Now it looks great! As I write this I am just realizing that by saying this, I will now be "forced" to post pictures! I'll try to get to that this week.

Sunday was church. Cyndie was in the nursery and I was in the worship team on the bass. After church we relaxed and then went down to Paul and Cara's for BBQ and swimming. Gene dropped off Brandon while we were there and he spent Sunday and Monday nights with us. On Sunday I also put up a new light in the entry way (we had found a $52 display light on sale at OSH while on our family date night at McDonalds on Wednesday night).

So that's the weekend story. Yesterday Lee came down for a bit and he, Cyndie, Brandon, and the kids went to the beach. Brandon went home with him.

On the kid front, the biggest exciting news is probably that they both got a bunch (20 - 40) of flea bites somehow. We think it was from when they played together in the sand at the park. It's been fairly warm and very humid lately which (so we've heard) makes it very good flea weather.

So that's it. Next week Emma has VBS at the church that her pre-school was at.

Neal

Pictures!!!

A bunch of pictures (I hope this e-mail doesn't kill anyone's e-mail!!!).

They are out of order, so I'll add a little description before each one ...

At Lee's work party for the big car show.

Our little performer.
On a hike at the Bolsa Chica wildlife preserve.
The morning of Emma's first ride on two wheels.
The evening ride at the beach (first day of two wheeling).
More at Lee's party.

Emma's birthday.

A hike at the back bay in Newport Beach.
Emma and her best friend (at school at least) James. He's the one she "married" the first day of school.
The kids from our Bible study. They play outside the hour that we adults meet. This time they were itching to talk to us, so we killed a little time by having them prepare a show for us ... this was the result!


Emma at the Larsen's cabin on vacation.

More at the cabin.
Gow and Tim out for a cruise.
Me and the Larsen boys.
Emma had a long day at the cabin, so took a little nap! Isn't she cute?
This is the first fish Emma caught (pre losing the fishing pole).

Emma was very into fishing and was very patient.

First Drop-off

Hey all,

The fun news from yesterday was that Emma went to her first drop-off birthday party. It was Delaney from down the street's birthday, so Emma took her swim suit and towel and went all by her self. She had a very nice time. I was looking forward to hanging out with Timmy and Cyndie (the party was 4:30 to 6:30) but unfortunately had to work late. Oh well.

On Tuesday mornings we don't work out and so don't typically set the alarm, instead waiting for the kids to wake us up. Today we didn't wake up until 6:45!!! Wow, I could get used to this "sleeping in"! We have definitely concluded that stopping Timmy's afternoon nap was a huge winner. Not only do we not have to deal with his crabbiness when he wakes up (from the nap), but he sleeps a lot longer in the morning (and doesn't wake Emma up). The last few days they've come down together in a very good mood which has been great!

It's Monday

Hey all, the weekend is over and now it's back to the routine!



We had a nice weekend, pretty busy, but fun. Friday I worked a half day. The kids and Cyndie had a good time at the Discovery Museum. Cyndie said that it was really geared toward Emma's age or a bit older, so Timmy didn't get as much out of it. On top of that, it was packed and very noisy. Needless to say, by the time they got home, everyone was tired! The kids made it through the afternoon. The baby sister came at 5:15 and Cyndie and I went out for dinner (a new Asian fusian place that was pretty good) and then to the wedding. The wedding was nice. It's amazing how good our underconstruction auditorium looked! They used tables instead of the normal benches which was fun. Anyway, we were there until about 10, then we went out for dessert with Mark and Monique and had a good time talking with them about life in general. We got to bed late!

Saturday we took a hike in Mile Square Park in the early morning and then went to church to help clean up from the wedding. At 11 we had a birthday party for a friend's kid (knights and princesses theme). It was pretty warm. We left about 1:30 as the kids were starting to get a bit tired. They made it until 6:30 and were asleep by 7! That included a meltdown/whinefest from Emma. Cyndie and I were pooped too, so were in bed early.

Sunday was church (I played bass) and then Bible Study in the late afternoon which turned into Jim, Laurie, and the girls coming over for dinner and ice cream. Lee was down too, so that was a fun and relaxing afternoon and evening.

Now we're back in the swing of things for the week ahead!

Neal

Friday is here ...

Hey all, be cheered, it's Friday!

We've had a nice week. It certainly was fun to have Wednesday off. We ended up taking a short hike in the morning (after eating sourdough pancakes for breakfast), then helping some friends set up for a wedding at church. Talk about a challenge. It's a girl from our church getting married, but we are also right in the middle of construction on the auditorium! They are a very artistic/creative family, so it should be interesting to see how they approach decorating. I know they're not doing it "traditional" because we are all sitting at tables rather than the normal benches. That's tonight. Anyway, we helped there for a couple of hours in the morning, then spent a lot of the afternoon cleaning up the house for a little get together/BBQ in the event. We had two couples and a couple of singles which was fun. Like usual, we watched the fireworks from on top of the water reservoir in the park.

Today Cyndie and the kids are on a field trip to the Discovery Museum with Emma's pre-K class. I'm working a half day at the office. In the evening is the wedding (7p) but the baby sitter is coming at 5:15, so Cyndie and I can go get some dinner first. I think tomorrow is a birthday party in noon timeframe, but other than that, it should be a laid back weekend.

On the kid front, we're working a lot with Emma recently regarding not whining. She spent quite a bit of time yesterday evening in the time out chair, but seemed to kind of understand it after that. Really what we're trying to get to is where both kids talk through things instead of Emma whining and Timmy crying. We'll see!

Have a good weekend,
Neal

Camping

Hey all, we have returned from our camping trip and are looking forward to a short week.

The weekend started with me taking the day off Friday in order to get an early start on the trip. We had gotten all our supplies together by Thursday night, so Friday we got up, had breakfast, loaded the Suburban, and were out the door by about 9:30. We went to Lee's yard to pick up Gene's RV, and then drove it over to Grandma Johnson's to transfer the supplies. It definitely took some getting used to to drive that big old thing! By the end of the weekend, however, I was pretty comfortable. So at Grandma's, we visited with her a little, packed up the RV, washed it a bit (it was pretty dirty from being in the yard), and then headed up to Lake Arrowhead. We were the first of the group there (there were 40 total people, mostly friends from church). By 4 or so, almost everyone was there. We were in a loop of the campground which was nice so that the kids could roam back and forth between "our" sites without having to cross streets. There were about 20 kids, so lots for Emma and Timmy to do. Each meal, two families cooked. That was nice as it gave us a bit more free time to do whatever. There was a nice little hill for the kids to ride their scooters down, and Rim (my high school) is right next door, so we went over there and played a little bit in the field. Timmy spent quite a bit playing with Chris, a little boy about 6 months younger. Chris is just getting old enough where he can communicate and keep up with Timmy. That's nice since Timmy really doesn't have that many kids, especially boys, his age to interact with. There were a few guitars there to mess around with which was fun. We took a few hikes. All in all a very nice trip.

Yesterday we got home about 4 (after another visit with Grandma J to switch all our stuff back to the Suburban). The kids were in bed by 7 and by 8:30, Cyndie and I were asleep!

No big plans on this end for the 4th. We'll probably help a church family get ready for their daughter (and our friend too)'s wedding some during the day (the wedding is the 6th) and then we're having a few people over for dinner.

On the kid front, Emma is really enjoying her pre-K class. She's getting very good at her bike and is still enjoying her scooter as well (there was a little "track" that we made at the campground which she was zooming around. It was pretty funny to watch her in her flip-flops on her little pink scooter with no helmet -- I know, I'm a horrible dad -- zooming past some of her older friends!) Timmy is doing fairly well with pottie training. When we remind him he goes. But if we don't, he often goes in his diaper.

So there you have it!