Our fun trip

We left around 8:00 on Wednesday morning and headed towards California. When we left it was raining and it continued to rain for about 45 minutes. I was getting worried that it would be raining like that the whole time, so I tried to convince Eric to turn around and come home because I didn't want us to be stuck in that rain the whole way. Especially because I saw on the weather channel on Wednesday morning that it was also raining really hard in the part of California that we were heading too. He said we would be fine and kept going. I am glad we did because after 45 minutes of driving in the rain, it stopped raining and we didn't get rained on the whole rest of the trip. I was also a little worried because it said it was going to be raining at disneyland on Thursday. It was cloudy for most of the day, but didn't rain at all. On Wednesday we headed to the beach. It took us a while to get there because we couldn't figure out how to get there and Eric kept insisting that if we headed this way, that we would make it. Well after an hour of driving and not hitting the beach, I told him he better turn around and head back towards our hotel. We finally found Seal Beach. We didn't really care what beach we went to, but Jaidyn really wanted to go to the beach. It was pretty cold there, but it was still nice. We were there for about 45 minutes and then headed to our hotel. We got there and it was perfect. We had a kitchen that had a big fridge, a dishwasher and a microwave. What more could we ask for? They also gave you plates, cups and utensils. By the time we got there, it was already 5:00 so we decided to order pizza so that we didn't have to make the kids get back in the truck again. We woke up early on Thursday and got to Disneyland at 7:20. They opened at 8:00, but we wanted to be one of the first in line and we were. There was a huge line behind us, so I was thinking great it is going to be really crowded. Well it wasn't bad at all. We headed straight to It's A Small World and we didn't even have to wait in line at all. Then we went to all the small rides close by that we knew Jaidyn wanted to go on. We hardly had to wait in line for those either. The longest time we stood in line was about 10 minutes, which I didn't think was bad at all. Towards the afternoon they had a parade that we watched and it was really neat. The kids loved it and so did I. We decided to go see how bad the line was for Pirates Of The Caribbean. I love that ride, but I wasn't sure if it would be too busy. We got there and the wait time was 15 minutes, so we got in line and didn't even have to wait 15 minutes. We took Jaidyn on the tea cups one more time because she loved that ride and then decided to go shop outside the gates and get something to eat. We went to ESPN Zone and ate dinner. It was pretty good, but expensive! By that time it was 7:30. We decided to head back into the park one last time to go and see how long the line was for It's A Small World, so we could ride it one more time. On the way there, the kids fell asleep in their strollers. So we decided it was time to leave. We walked to and from the park from our hotel, it was only a 10 minute walk. We got back to the hotel and Jaidyn barely woke up to get her pj's on and went right back to sleep. We slept so good that night, that I didn't even hear the fireworks like I had the night before from Disneyland. We woke up early yesterday and headed home. We were home by about 12:00. We spent the rest of the day unpacking and doing laundry. Today Sam invited us to go to her house to have leftovers. My mom had left all of the leftovers from Thursday at Sam's house and there are tons. So we are going to head over around 12:00 and have a big lunch with them and also visit with my dad. He was able to get out of the hospital on Wednesday afternoon, so he was able to spend Thanksgiving with Sam, Jamie, my mom and my grandma. I have to say that at first I was a little sad that we were going to be spending Thanksgiving at Disneyland instead of with our family, but now I am so glad we went because we had a wonderful time!

Thanksgiving at Disneyland

Yesterday Eric called me and told me that he thought we should go to California this week and spend Thanksgiving there. He already had Wed, Thurs and Fri off this week, so it would be a good time to go. We had already planned on going to Disneyland on December 15th. I had already booked a hotel and everything. Well he said he thought we should go this week. I had first told him no because we got the hotel on priceline for Dec. 15th and you can't get a refund on it. I could tell he really wanted to go though. I looked up Disneyland and saw that they are open on Thanksgiving. We decided that would be a good day to go. It is going to be very crowded of course, but it would be on Dec. 15th too. The main reason I even had to think about whether or not we should go is because I felt bad thinking about all the food my mom had bought to make for thanksgiving dinner and I didn't want her to feel bad if we didn't eat with them. After I thought about it some more, i thought well it isn't like I am leaving my mom all alone on Thanksgiving. She is either going to stay in Alamo and spend Thanksgiving with Andrea and her family or she will come to Vegas and spend it with Sam, my dad and Jamie. They said my dad should be out of the hospital on Wed or Thurs of this week. I was just messing around on priceline to see if it would accept a very low offer I bid on and to my surprise it did. I had bid $45 for a 3 star hotel by disneyland and it actually accepted it. So total to stay there for 2 nights, it only cost us $109. I thought that was a great deal. The hotel we ended up getting is just 1/2 mile away from Disneyland. Every room is also a suite so it has a kitchen with a microwave and a sofa that pulls out into a bed just in case someone wanted to sleep there. It also has free parking. That is always good since parking is usually about $20 a day. The thing that made me the most happy is that there are only 2 floors and NO elevators. The thing I fear the most is riding in an elevator, so for me that was the best thing about the whole hotel. I figure even if the room doesn't turn out to be so nice. Who cares, not like we will be spending much time there. I read all the reviews and it got really good reviews, so I am thinking it won't be too bad. Since it is so close to disneyland, we will probably just walk. That way we won't have to pay for parking at Disneyland. We walked before when we stayed at a hotel even farther away and it really wasn't too bad. We told Jaidyn last night that we are going in a few days and she is really excited. She always says she wants to go to the beach. She hasn't been in a little over a year and last time we went, she loved it. It is going to be cold of course, but we told her we could go to play in the sand. We are thinking about going to Santa Monica Pier when we get to Cali tomorrow. We went there before and they have some games and stuff like that. We will spend all day at Disneyland on thursday and then come home on Friday. I think we will probably just head straight home on Friday morning. There really isn't anything else we want to do. Plus I would like to get home early so I can do all the laundry and everything. I am just praying Colin doesn't scream most of the way there and home.

Just as I predicted

Jaidyn was very naughty for our family pictures on Saturday. I had a feeling she would be because when we had hers and Colin's pictures done a couple of months ago, she wouldn't sit still and she kept running away from us. Well she did the same thing this time. It really sucks because not one picture turned out good of all of us. We ended up buying just one pose, but I don't even think it looks very good. After we got pictures done, I went over to Sam's house to meet Andrea and Jamie so that we could go to the hospital to see my dad. We spent a couple of hours there and thankfully while we were there, the doctor came in to talk to my dad. He said that it was cancer that they removed from his colon, but it hadn't spread anywhere else. He will have to have chemo though to get all of the cancer out of his blood. Chemo is going to be rough on him, but at least his cancer didn't spread anywhere else. After I got home from the hospital, Eric and I decided to get Little Caesars pizza for dinner. They just opened up a new one right by our house. We used to eat there all the time until they closed the other one that was close to our house. It was actually really good and the pizza is only $5. That's if you get just cheese or pepperoni. After dinner we decided we would take the kids to Town Square. They have snow there everynight that lasts for 5 minutes. We got there about 20 minutes before it was supposed to snow, so we walked around for a while. When it finally started snowing, both of the kids loved it. Jaidyn was so excited! Colin also liked it, he kept trying to grab at it. After we were all done there, we decided to drive through Sunset Park to see the lights. It was the perfect time to go because there were hardly any other vehicles there. The kids also enjoyed that. I think next weekend we are going to take them to Opportunity Village's Magical Forest. We have taken Jaidyn the last 2 years and she always enjoys it. So we still aren't sure if we are going to be spending Thanksgiving in Alamo or Vegas. Originally we were going to spend it in Alamo, but now that my dad is in the hospital we aren't sure. We thought he would be out by then and so we were thinking we might have to have Thanksgiving at our house and everyone would come down for it. Well Jamie went to the hospital today and they aren't sure if my dad will even be out by Thanksgiving. The doctor said there was another guy in there that had the same surgery as my dad and he was in there for 21 days. Pretty much they are waiting for my dad to pass gas and after he does that, he can have liquid and then I think he can leave the next day. Well my poor dad hasn't had anything to eat or drink since last Wednesday. He can't even have ice chips. It is a little hard to pass gas when you haven't eaten in that long.lol They took away his morphin, so he is in alot of pain today. I feel bad for him. I just hope he gets feeling better soon. Eric has his interview tomorrow for the dispatcher job. Hopefully it goes well. It is at 2:45 tomorrow, so after that he will be coming home. That will be nice because he will be home alot earlier than usual. Then he works Tuesday and has the whole rest of the week off. I am excited for that because I get really bored while he is at work, but at least this week he will be home with us. We will probably put up our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. That will be fun and I know the kids are going to love it.

Friday

I can't think of a better title than that. I got a call yesterday morning saying that my dad was in the hospital. He had gone in the night before because his side was hurting really bad. Well he had a colonoscopy the day before and they poked a hole in his colon. So that is what was causing him so much pain. They took him into surgery right away and fixed the hole and also removed the mass they had found. They supposedly found it the day before when they did the colonoscopy and told him he needed to have it removed that day, but he said he couldn't do it. I picked him up from his appointment and he said everything went fine. I wish he would have called one of us when he went into the hospital on Wednesday night. None of us even knew he was in there until Thursday morning. Now we are just waiting to see what they say about the mass, whether or not it is cancer. I went and saw my dad last night. He was so doped up that you can't really understand him too well. I feel really bad for him because you can tell he is in alot of pain. He is going to be in there for a few days, so I will go and visit him again tonight after Eric gets home from work to keep the kids. They told him he can't go back to work for a month. So after he gets out of the hospital, he is going to go stay at Sam's house and Sam and Jamie will take care of him. I wish I could do more to help him. On another note...we are getting our family pictures done tomorrow and I am nervous for that. Jaidyn was so naughty last time and I just fear she will be just as bad this time. Then Eric and I are going to take the kids to town square tomorrow night to watch the snow. Everynight they have snow for 10 minutes while they play christmas music. I am sure the kids will love that.

Finally some teeth

I was beginning to think that Colin was never going to get any teeth. Today I was holding him and he put his head back and smiled and I saw two teeth had come through on the bottom. They aren't all the way through yet, but you can see them and feel them. I took my dad to the hospital and dropped him off about two hours ago. I decided the kids and I would just come home and go back when he is done. I am glad I did because both the kids fell asleep on the way home from the hospital and they stayed asleep even after I moved them inside. I am going to leave here in about an hour to go pick up my dad. He said he would call when they are all done, but I figure I will leave by 3 if I haven't heard from him, that way he won't have to wait long for me to get there. I also have to take him to a different doctor on Thursday for some more tests. He is getting his colonoscopy done today and some blood work done on Thursday. I hope everything turns out ok. Colin had his flu shot about a month ago and since it was his first time getting one, he had to go back for another shot yesterday. You don't have to have an appointment, so I decided I would take him first thing when they open. I am so glad I did because we were in and out of there in less than 15 minutes. So this week has been busy compared to any normal week. Normally we don't leave the house in less it is a quick trip to Target or something like that. I am getting so excited for Thanksgiving. Not that I like Thanksgiving so much, but I like for the whole family to get together. I can't believe that it is next week. I am so glad because Eric took a couple of days off of work, so we will be able to spend a few days in Alamo. Eric got a call on Sunday to go back for an interview for the dispatcher position. He is very excited, but they told him he had to bring a typing certificate showing he can type 35 wpm and he doesn't think he can type that fast. If he can't type that fast, then there is no point him going to the interview. His interview isn't until Monday, so he has a few days to practice before he has to go get the certificate. We will see what happens I guess.

Pictures with Santa

My mom, Jamie, Jaidyn and I were going to be going shopping at the Meadows Mall today and I happened to see that it was going to be Santa's first day there. So I figured, I might as well get Jaidyn a picture with Santa now instead of waiting until closer to Christmas when it is going to be very busy. Eric wanted to go shopping to buy me some Christmas presents and he also needed a new shirt to wear for our family pics next Saturday. So him and Colin headed to the outdoor outlet mall and my mom, Jamie, Jaidyn and I headed to The Meadows Mall. We got there around 9:30 even though it doesn't open until 10 because I wanted to be one of the first people in line to see Santa so that we wouldn't have to wait forever. We got there and there was only two other people in front of us. So we waited for Santa and when Santa finally showed up, he walked down the line to see all the kids. Jaidyn wouldn't even look at him at first. Once it was time for Jaidyn's picture, she was excited to see Santa, but not so excited to sit on his lap. Here is the picture we got. She wouldn't smile at all.
So after Jaidyn got her picture with Santa, we did some shopping. My mom had to do some more Christmas shopping. I didn't really have anything I needed to buy. Although we went into the disney store and I wanted to buy almost everything in there. They had everything 25% off and they had tons of cute stuff. We ate some lunch at the mall and by the time we had left there, it had been 3.5 hours. It didn't seem to be too crowded though, so it was nice. My dad has been bleeding internally and they don't know where it is coming from. So he has to have some tests done this week to find out what is wrong. I hope everything turns out ok. He has to have a colonoscopy and some other tests done, so he won't be able to drive afterwards. He asked me to take him, which of course I don't mind. The only thing that sucks is that they said that it would take about 2.5 to 3 hours. It is clear across town from where I live, so I am not sure what to do while I am waiting. I am not sure if I should bother driving all the way home, just to be here for an hour and a half and then drive all the way back, or if we should go do some shopping. The only thing is, we don't need to buy anything, so it would really just be us walking around looking at stuff.lol We have an appointment to get our family pics done next Saturday. I am a little nervous because last time we had the kids pictures done, Jaidyn was very naughty. I just hope this time, both the kids will be good and smile for the camera.

Robin's tag

8 Things

8 TV Shows
1. Beverley Hills 90210
2. Third Watch
3. Jon and Kate Plus 8
4. The new 90210
5. The Real Housewives of Orange County
6. Keeping Up With The Kardashians
7. The Hills
8. Law And Order SVU

8 Restaurants
1. Macayos
2. The Outback
3. The Olive Garden
4. In-n-Out
5. Dominos Pizza
6. Red Robin
7. Taco Bell
8. ???

8 Things I Did Yesterday
1. Gave the kids a bath.
2. Laundry
3. Cleaned the house.
4. Dishes
5. Took a shower
6. Went through the kids closet to take out all of the clothes that don't fit anymore.
7. Made dinner
8.

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To
1. Thanksgiving
2. Disneyland
3. Christmas
4. Colin's birthday
5. My mom coming to stay with us tomorrow.
6. Going shopping tomorrow and Saturday.
7. When Colin starts walking.
8. Colin getting some teeth.

8 Things on My Wish List
1. A dodge durango
2. A new house in Alamo.
3. To have all of our bills paid off.
4. That Jaidyn and Colin would get to see Eric's parents more often.
5. For Jaidyn to be potty trained.
6. For Jaidyn to get rid of her pacifier.
7.
8.

8 People I Get to Tag
Anyone who wants to do this. :)

A long day!

This morning Colin, Jaidyn and I went to Target because I needed to get a few things and I took both the kids with me because Eric wanted to clean up the backyard a bit before his parents came over. After we got home from Target, Colin was so tired, but wouldn't take a nap. He finally took a VERY short nap and then woke up and was still so tired. So eventually I got him down for another nap and soon after that, Eric's parents and his brother came over. His mom was cooking dinner for all of us and invited Eric's sister and her husband over too. So anyways we sat around and visited and then we ate dinner around 1:00. When Eric's mom was putting some food down the garbage disposal, she put too much at a time and it got clogged up. So of course Eric was irritated and I looked over a minute later and his mom was crying. I felt so bad for her. Eric had no idea that she was crying or I am sure he would have felt really bad. After spending about an hour trying to fix that, they decided to get some drano. After putting drano in it, we were waiting for 15 minutes like it says you are supposed to, so we took some family pictures. Erics mom wanted to get a picture with everyone in it so she could send out with some Christmas cards. About 10 pictures later, she finally decided that one of them would be good enough. We couldn't get both the kids to sit still or look at the camera at the same time. So after that we checked back on the sink and it still wouldn't work so they messed around with it for a while and finally Eric's mom decided that tomorrow she was going to have a plumber come over here and put in a new garbage disposal. After that, we had all of the guys move our tv from the tv stand it was on to on top of the fireplace. It is a very heavy tv so even with all of them, they could barely get it up there. So we finally got everything cleaned up from that and everyone went home. About 5 minutes later, Colin went down for a nap and a few minutes after that, Jaidyn fell asleep in her chair watching a movie. So now I can relax a bit. Eric is watching the NASCAR race, so I don't really talk to him while he is watching it because I don't want to annoy him.lol Yesterday Eric and I got some Christmas shopping done. We were really only looking for a couple of small presents for Jaidyn just because I felt like she needed more, even though she was already getting some really good presents. So anyways we went to 4 different places and found 2 things that are perfect. We spent way more than I wanted to spend, but that was mostly because Eric really wanted to get her that stuff. We bought her a baby alive. It comes with a sippy cup that you put water in and then when it needs a diaper change it kicks its feet.lol It came with a few diapers. I told Eric that knowing Jaidyn she would give it water and then take off it's diaper and it would wet all over the floor. I know it's just water, but I don't want big puddles of water all over our house from that doll. We will see Eric's parents again tomorrow and then they are leaving early on Tuesday morning so we won't see them again until right before Christmas. My mom and Andrea are coming to town on Friday and we are going to do some shopping and my mom is staying the night, so I am very excited for that.

Good food and some Christmas shopping too.

Eric's parents are in town and everytime they come to town, they offer to babysit so that Eric and I can go do something on our own. They are coming over today about 11 to babysit, so we decided that we would go eat at The Olive Garden(Eric and I both LOVE the food there) and then we will go do some christmas shopping. We have most of our christmas shopping done, but we decided to get a couple of more things for Jaidyn. I think we are going to go to the Toys R Us over in Green Valley and then we might go to the Galleria Mall. Colin has been waking up so early lately. The time change has really got him messed up. He has been waking up before 5 every morning this week. Yesterday he woke up at 4 in the morning and he hasn't been napping good lately either. Alivia wanted Jaidyn to come over and play so I took her over and dropped her off and visited with Robin for a bit. Then Colin and I came home and I put him up in his crib and he went right to sleep and slept for 2 hours. I was so happy that he finally got in a good nap because I knew that meant he wouldn't be so cranky when he woke up. It was also nice to have 2 hours all to myself. When Jaidyn came home, she fell right to sleep she was so tired. Eric's parents came over around 4 and Jaidyn was still sleeping. She finally woke up around 5 and didn't even want anything to do with grandma and grandpa, even though she has been asking for them all week. After a while Eric's brother got here and after that, Jaidyn was fine. She loves Uncle Alex more than anyone else. I think it's because he will do anything she wants him to do. Anyways Eric's mom cooked us dinner and then they all left around 7:30. It was a good night and I am glad Eric's parents are here in town. They are leaving on Tuesday morning though, so I am sure Jaidyn is going to be very sad once they are gone.

A broken toe??

Well I am not sure if my toe is broken, but I am pretty sure it is. This morning I was taking Colin up for a nap. In his room we also have a bed with a wooden bed frame. So anyways I was carrying him and not paying much attention to where I was going and I stubbed my little toe right on the corner of the bed frame. It hurt so bad that instantly there was a sharp pain shooting through my whole foot. I could barely walk. A little while later, my toe was swollen and purple. It seems to get more swollen as the day goes on and it is hard to walk. I am sure it is because I have been on my feet all day. The good thing is Eric has the day off tomorrow, so hopefully I won't have to be on my feet much. He has to go take that test for the dispatcher position and so he took the whole day off. The test is at 8 in the morning, so I am sure it won't take more than a couple of hours. He wants to go shopping, but I am not sure that I can walk that much. Jaidyn and Colin are watching Frosty The Snowman right now. Just hearing it playing is getting me so excited for christmas. I can't believe that it will be here in just a month and a half. I saw all the christmas decorations at Target and I wanted to buy some so bad, but I knew Eric would kill me. He thinks it is stupid to spend money on stuff like that. Although I did talk him into putting lights on the outside of our house this year. I am going to make him do it right after Thanksgiving. I am sure he will be thrilled.lol Eric's parents are coming to town on Thursday, but we won't see them until Friday. Jaidyn is so excited to see them. They offered to babysit for us so that we Eric and I could go to the movies or do something on Saturday. I am looking forward to that. It isn't often that Eric and I get to do things on our own.

Halloween

We had a great time trick or treating. Jaidyn didn't want to stop. She kept saying she wanted to go to more houses. After about 3 or 4 houses, Colin was too tired and didn't want to go anymore. So we took Colin and Jamie back to my mom's house and Eric, Sam and I took Jaidyn trick or treating some more. We went to tons of houses. I was surprised that Jaidyn actually said trick or treat everytime someone opened the door. It was raining for most of the time we were trick or treating, but it was still a good time. Here is a picture of Jaidyn as a pretty princess.

Here is Colin as spiderman.

I also have to post this picture of Colin in the funny glasses that Grandma Taylor gave him. It is too funny not to post.

Jaidyn had such a good time trick or treating that on Saturday, she told us she wanted to go trick or treating again.lol I told her that everyone was all out of candy from giving it away the night before. It was so much fun and I can't wait until next year when Colin will be older and can enjoy it more like Jaidyn did this year. We came home from Alamo yesterday afternoon. We got home about 5:00. Colin screamed for exactly one hour in the car. I guess the screaming had worn him out because after an hour, he fell right to sleep. Jaidyn slept through him screaming the whole time. She was so tired, she fell asleep after being in the car for just 5 minutes. Today I am going to clean up the house and dye Jamie's hair for her. Eric's parents will be here on Thursday and I want to make sure the house is VERY clean for when they get here. I also want to go to the bellz (not sure on spelling) outlet mall to go shopping. Sam had gone the other day and said they had some really cute shirts at Pac Sun for just $10, so I wanted to go check it out. We will see if I end up going though. I have to go to the store and we have to go to Sam's Club sometime today, so I am not sure if I will have time to go to the mall. It is supposed to be cooler this week, i really hope it is. I can't wait for it to get cold outside. I hate the heat!