Target Clearance

I love Target. And even more than I love the store, I love the clearance. I've been able to find some pretty sweet deals on the clearance end caps at Target! My most recent find, a Papasan Swing. I was very excited when I found it marked down from $149.99 to $22. Yes...twenty two dollars. When Noah was born I fell in love with the Papasan seat. It was just a seat. It sang a few songs and vibrated. But then they came out with the swing version. LOVE IT! We borrowed Kim and Geoff's swing for Noah, and he loved swings. It was the same brand and was also a cradle swing, so it went front to back and also side to side. And this one we just got does the same thing. Macie didn't get a swing, we were very poor and had just moved to California. So she had the hand me down papasan, and that was all. But she exceeded the weight limit probably by like 3 months anyway, so it really wouldn't have been totally worth it, anyway! She was happy in her little seat. But since she didn't have a swing, she loves the new swing. I know, I know, I kind of jumped the gun at setting up the swing, I still have 98 days to go with the pregnancy, but I wanted to make sure everything was in the box, it still seems like too good of a deal! Gotta love Target.

Garden Party Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Garden Party Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Twilight: 11-21-08

So, I'm not an "official" Twilighter. I've only read the first book. I loved it though. I don't read books very often, I hate reading. So for me to finish a book that big in just a few days, it has to be good. I read it a LONG time ago. And, I haven't even really started the next one. I blame it on pregnancy, being sick, moving, and just being lazy I guess! But, I really want to be a "Twilighter." It is the cool thing to do these days! I was totally bummed out when I realized that the movie was coming out on the 12th of December. I guess I shouldn't have been so bummed...I'll have a new baby instead! That's a heck of a lot better! But, I'd miss the opening of the movie. And then I saw it. The new release date! November 21st! I'll be able to see it after all. I don't think I'd be able to go if it were after the baby. Who wants to take a newborn to a movie...I know the people in the theater wouldn't want me to. And now, I get to see it. I'm pretty excited. Call me a nerd if you want, but if you do, you haven't read the book.

Happy Birthday, mi Madre!

Happy Birthday Mom, a few days late, I know. I did call you, however...so you can't complain! You guys don't like when I put pictures on here anyway! But I did want to wish you a happy birthday, publicly! You are great! I hope you had a great day. I'm sad I wasn't there to celebrate with you. We'll party when you're here! Noah and Macie love to be able to talk to their Momo on the phone. Noah even was ready to walk to Idaho to see Momo. He wanted to wear his spider pajamas because he knew that she was "afraid" of them. He was pretty disappointed when we told him that he couldn't walk there! I love you, hope you had a good day, and have a good year. If you're still 29 like you say you are, I'm catching up quick!

(ps. I really don't have very many pictures...I used them up with the Mother's Day post. I need to get more pictures of her. But, I stole this one from my sister. She took it on her actual birthday! Rylee is getting so big!)

Pismo Beach

We decided to head to the beach for our Family Home Evening activity. I picked up Adam from work with a picnic lunch all packed. I have seriously gained liked 20 pounds in the past two months, so I didn't want to eat out. We have used like our eating out budget for like the next 3 or 4 months, just in the past month! So I didn't want to eat out. So I packed sandwiches, grapes, juice...I was being healthy. But, there wasn't a line. On the way to the beach there is a restaurant called the Splash Cafe. And everytime we have passed it there is a HUGE monstrous line, winding around the building. People wait for like an hour or more just to eat there. We knew that it must be good. We were definately missing out on something...we just didn't know what.




They did have a a sign in the window that said, "The world's best clam chowder." But every restaurant around here that sells chowder uses that claim. But last night, there was no line. Adam just walked in. I was fine with our picnic, but it didn't take much to convince him otherwise. I graciously followed. I ordered the sourdough bread bowl with clam chowder. Adam got fish and chips. We sat a the long counter with mirrors, so you can see yourself eat, I guess. We sat on bar stools. It was a skinny little place, not much room. It took a while for our food. But when it arrived, boy did it arrive. It was THE best clam chowder I had EVER tasted!

Growing up, we went to San Fransisco a few times. My mom raved about the clam chowder in a bread bowl that you can get on the wharf. She talked it up pretty good. When we could go everyone would get clam chowder in a bread bowl and just love it. I didn't eat seafood, or anything close for a very long time. My mom would make homemade clam chowder and I wouldn't eat it. It had clams...yuck. I went 19 years without even a taste of clam chowder. We went to San Fransisco just after I graduated high school. I was nearly 18, I went to McDonald's and had two cheeseburgers while everyone else enjoyed their clam chowder bread bowl. I didn't know what I was missing out on. I enjoyed my burgers. During my first year of college, I went with my roomates to San Fran for Spring Break. I was starting to get adventurous. I had a clam chowder bread bowl. It was delicious. I haven't looked back since. I LOVE clam chowder. I should have listened to my mother...clam chowder is good.

But, back to the Splash Cafe. The bread bowl came with a side of the bread that they took out...the middle of the bowl. A lot of places throw it away, this place, butters it and grills it for you, even. And you still get the top. So, you get all of this bread. Probably equivalent to a whole loaf. This is definately not a carb friendly meal! And let me tell you, THE BEST! I ate the whole thing. I gave a little to Macie, and she's already started to like clam chowder, but I thought she would eat it all. And I wanted to savor every bite...but I still gave her a lot of it. Just the other day when we were in Monterey, I told Adam that the best clam chowder was at a place called Anthony's in Edmonds, WA. But last night, I found the new best. Seriously. It was the best. It was better than Anthony's, it was better than Ivar's, it was better than any other those other places. It was so good. I guess they sell it at some Costcos. So...if you see it at Costco, you should totally try it. I don't know if it will lose some of the goodness being frozen and all, but it's so worth the shot!



Macie loved the beach. She even got her feet wet. She loves to chase the seagulls. She gets SO excited. Pictures don't do it justice. She LOVED it. They had so much fun digging in the sand and playing the water. It was cold... and yes, we are all sick. But it was fun. I'm glad we can just decide to go to the beach whenever we want. I never had buckets and stuff when I went to the beach as a kid. When you're a tourist, you don't have room to pack that stuff. Adam thinks it's touristy to bring a bucket and sand toys, but whatever. We like the beach.

The shovel.

Living so close to the beach is awesome. The kids LOVE it. Last night we were walking on the Pismo Beach Pier. Noah had his bucket and two shovels in tow. We were headed down to play in the sand, the kids favorite part. The wood slats in the pier are usually pretty close together, you can't even really see the water below you. But we stopped, Noah bent over to fix his shoe and a shovel fell out of the bucket and happen to fall through one of the biggest gaps in the slats. Noah was devastated. We were about mid way on the pier, so the water was pretty deep. He sobbed over that shovel. It was so random that it happened to fall in that spot. We felt so bad for him. So Adam held him across the rest of the pier and told him we'd go find it. I thought it would be so cool to walk down there and find it. So, we walked down by the water on the sand. It was a gorgeous day. It's been kind of foggy the past few nights, but it was so clear. And the sun was starting to set, it was a perfect day. Adam waded into the ocean a little to see if he could find the shovel. But no such luck. We didn't tell Noah, by now he had forgotten about it as he dug for buried treasure. Adam had told him we were going to be pirates and find the treasure (a.k.a. the shovel). So Noah was more preoccupied with just digging than anything else. And then he found a water puddle by the pier, and throwing sand, and running away from the waves. He forgot all about the shovel. I felt bad, but I mean it was a cheap little plastic shovel/rake thing. It really wasn't a big deal. We have another one somewhere. The water started to come in further, washing our shoes away almost! And we decided that it was probably time to go home before we got any sicker than we already were. And I turned around, and there was the shovel! It did wash up on the shore! And RIGHT where we happened to be standing. And just as we were getting ready to leave! But it just floated up onto the sand. Adam and I were more excited than Noah. But, he was still pretty happy to have his shovel back! It took about 20 minutes, but it finally washed up! It was so cool! The lucky shovel. We can't ever lose it again.

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It's a...

I had an ultrasound today. It has been driving me nuts not knowing what I'm having. I found out Noah was a boy at 15 weeks! And I found out with Macie at around 20 weeks, so it's been brutal. There is so many baby things on sale right now that it's been killer not knowing what to buy for. I have procrastinated decorating the kids rooms because I didn't know if we'd be having a boy or a girl. And I didn't know who would end up with the bigger bed. But, we finally know. It's a BOY!

I'm pretty excited about having another boy. I kind of thought it was a girl, but it was VERY clearly a boy! Before we left for the doctors, we told Noah and Macie that they were going to see the baby. They are little, they don't understand what that means...the understand what an ultrasound is. And Noah has already named this baby, but the way. He named him Jacob long before I was even pregnant. So if you ask either Macie or Noah, they will tell you that we're having a boy and is name is Jacob. So, we go in for the ultrasound, and see the baby. And then we get up to leave. Noah was so upset, he wanted to see Jacob. He thought we were bringing Jacob home. The nurses thought that we had another child running around that Noah wanted to see, and we had to tell them that No, it was just the baby in my belly. It was pretty sweet. But he threw a HUGE tantrum. That kid and tantrums these days. So, now we'll go for the blue section. The girl section is always so much cuter...but Noah turned out okay. He had some pretty cute things. Macie told us just last night that it was a boy because she was a princess. Yes...Princess Macie, the spoiled little girl! My due date isn't until December 10th. I still have a VERY long time to go. Hopefully it goes fast. I'm feeling like I'm about ready to have the baby already! Oh, the joys of pregnancy.

Dishwashers

I love dishwashers. They are genius. Who ever invented them should be rewarded ten fold! I didn't grow up with a dishwasher. My dad said, "Why do we need a dishwasher when I have three right here." (Referring to his three daughters!) We didn't do the dishes near as much as we should have, however. And the reason being, hand washing dishes simply, sucks. There isn't another way to put it. It's awful. When we finally had a dishwasher it was like heaven. Something that gets me about them, though, is I hate having to wash the dishes before you put them into the dishwasher. That defeats the whole purpose. But, it is totally nice to not have to dry them, and all that good stuff.

Well, our dishwasher doesn't work. It hasn't since we moved in. The previous tenant in our house broke off the little latch that covers the soap, so the soap doesn't stay in the little spot designated for it, so it doesn't clean the dishes. I ordered the part from these stupid girls that worked at the Sears repair center. If you work there, you should have some knowledge of how to fix things, right? Not at the one here, the girls are like 17...and don't know a thing about anything. I've been in there before and a guy walked in and asked for a Philips screwdriver. The girl said that they don't carry them...they'd have to go to a specialty tool store. Are you kidding me? I was standing right next to them. I stopped the guy before he left, and told him they were right here. Yeah...these girls need to find new jobs. But, I ordered the part for the dishwasher. Seventy bucks. Can you believe that a little latch is 70 bucks? I couldn't. But, I ordered it a week ago, they haven't debited my account, it hasn't gotten here...I think they forgot. I wouldn't be surprised! So now, I have every single dish in my sink that we own. We have been here for a month and haven't had a dishwasher. Who lives like this? (Just kidding...my parents still don't have a dishwasher, I just have to give them a hard time!) But, I hate doing the dishes, it's always a time that Macie clings to my feet and screams. So I put it off as long as I can. But I think now is a time that I've put it off too long! My kids ate cereal out of mixing bowls today. It's all that was clean. I'm lazy, I'll admit. But, hey, I'm pregnant and have two toddlers running around naked, trying to potty train. It's okay for the dishes to wait. Potty time can't wait.

The Macie's on the bus...

The kids love to sing "Wheels on the Bus." We have to go through the whole song many, many times a day! We don't just do your regular verses, however. We have family member verses as well. The Daddy's read, the Momo's sew (Noah came up with that one for some reason!), the Nana's knit, the Pa's snore, and so do the Papa's. The Cory's say sit down, the Noah's count (this one is new, too.) And when we go to the Macie's, Macie looked at me and said, "I don't know." She thought about it for a second, and then put her finger in her nose and said, "Pick nose." So, the Macie's on the bus pick their nose. Not really sure where this came from. But...whatever. Silly girl.