What We've Been Up To

While the kids were at my parent's house doing a whole lot of this:

I was in Palm Springs, doing a whole lot of this:

And Todd was at home finishing our kitchen (almost).  He put in black granite counter tops and finished painting the cabinets. There are still a few things left to be done, but all in all, I feel like we are as close to finishing one room in this house as we ever have been. 

See how far we have come:

Side Note: This is me 3 months pregnant with Samantha and seeing the house for the first time that Todd wants to buy.  I look thrilled, huh? 

One day, I will post the rest of the house "before" pictures, trust me, they are worse than this.....

What do you think?

Father's Day 2011

The kids and I had big plans to take Todd to Santa Ynez to find some sunshine and enjoy a picnic up at a winery, but unfortunately, I woke up with the flu.  :(   Poor Todd, instead of being celebrated and pampered, he had to take care of the kids all day because I could not get out of bed.

In typical Todd-fashion, he never once complained.  In between taking care of me, he took the kids out to breakfast, they went and got me medicine, went out to lunch, went to the beach and out to dinner so that I could get some rest. 

So, on our next free weekend, we are going to have to do a Father's Day redo.

Todd did get the most adorable picture frame that Samantha made at school, which came with two options of photos.  Ms. Katie said Samantha couldn't decide which one she looked better in so she wanted to give him both.  It is a tough job being so beautiful ;)

This photo was taken by Ms. Katie at the Father/Daughter Valentine Party at Preschool

So, stay tuned for the Father's Day redo because any guy who works all day, comes home and cleans the house (yes, you heard that right) and THEN does the nighttime routine for both kids (baths, teeth brushing, stories etc.) deserves a break. 

We love you Todd!

Mall Rats

You would have thought we went to some exotic location the way the kids were acting, but we just went to the mall..... 

While we do have two malls in Santa Barbara, they are outdoors and well, they really don't have that "mall" feel, if that makes any sense???  

We made the 25 minute drive down south to Ventura and voila, instant entertainment for the whole family at the Pacific View Mall!  Check out their store directory, they have some awesome stores, including a Target!  Um, hello Santa Barbara?!?!?

We looked like total idiots taking a picture in front of the Disney Store.  I felt like telling the people staring at us that, "Yes, I HAVE taken my kids to Disneyland before!"

My beautiful Rapunzel

 Mickey Mouse Attack!

As you can imagine, it was pretty difficult getting Samantha to leave this store.

Lunch at Red Robin where the free balloon was a huge draw

I also don't think I have been to a restaurant where they print the calorie count on the menus.  SO NOT FUN, but it worked for me.  I was wanting a cheeseburger and then ended up scanning the menu to find something that was not in the quadruple digits for calories.  And let me tell you, it wasn't easy finding something to eat.

Todd has the opposite problem and went for a bacon cheeseburger

AND bottomless fries. Yes, at Red Robin you get fry refills.....

Speaking of calories......

They have a place where you can pay to let your kids play while you go shop! 

(Sam is at the very top)  We just paid for 15 minutes to let her work off some energy.

Thatcher played in the little kids area

Sam got a makeover

And Thatcher had more mall entertainment than he could handle.

So did someone else ;)