Sleeping Post

This was such a funny thing to find! Background: Shelly often gets upset. I know that's a surprising thing for a 5 year old. Most 5 year olds are great at controlling their emotions, aren't they? No? Oh, well...

When Shelly loses control, she often sends herself on time out/calm down time/break time/some kind of time away from others until she's ready to behave in public the way a 5 year old who can control her emotions should behave. These breaks often happen in our back bedroom that really is a storage/pantry/closet. Most of the time she's ready to re-enter public life in just a few minutes. Every now and then it takes her a bit longer. Mostly I just forget that she's gone until she hollers through the house that she's ready to be nice and asks me for permission to come out of her self-imposed-time-out. I'm not sure why she asks for permission... I'm not going to complain about it though. There have, on occasion, been a few times that she decides to lay down and take a nap with my robes as her pillow and blanket. This time though, I had apparently only gotten part way through putting away laundry and she decided to climb into the laundry basket, use my skirt as a blanket and take a nap in the basket...

I had to re-fold a few clothes, but it was totally worth the picture!

Then there was the night that Emily wanted to sleep with the kids on the floor. She's usually in her crib, Shelly is usually in the top bunk, and Jason is often (though less regularly than the others) in his bed. This night was an exception.

But I think it was worth it! Emily ended up getting up a time or four, and we eventually put her back in her crib for the rest of the night, but they slept long enough for a photo op. That was long enough for me!

Beach with the Schofields

We had a fun trip to the beach with the Schofields when they came down to visit!

Grandpa and Jason playing in the sand

Jason trying to turn the birds into Goons!

We had fun chasing the birds

Once Jason realized it was funner to chase then than to put spells on them, he never stopped running

Shelly and Grandma in the water

No Grandpa, the water is the other way...
(they say the mind is the first thing to go)

Keep those pants out of the ocean Shelly :)

Believe it or not, it was February at the beach...

But don't be distracted by all the empty sand you see. We had neighbors!

Although I think they were just hanging around for the food...

Shelly reminded me of Noah parting the Red Sea

Time to go! But I'm not letting all that sand in the car.

Sorry.

But not really.

Yes, I know it was Moses that parted the Red Sea - but Shelly didn't really do any better than Noah at parting the sea, so I figured it was appropriate.

Schofield's & the Park

We were lucky enough to get to see Grandma and Grandpa for almost a whole week in California! We visited the park more than once and Grandma had fun taking pictures.

Jason loves that thing! I can't bring myself to tell him that pink is a girls color...

Hi Mr. Man!

Shelly got a new bike for Christmas (really it was a few days after because of some defective pedals that needed to be replaced, but you get the idea)

She loves to ride it. I'm just impressed we have a helmet for her!

We went to the bike park, but Jason had more fun in the trees than riding on the cool bike paths.

Back on the scooter. Barefoot. Someone should have a chat with that boys mother and tell her that scooters and bare feet are not a good mix.

Shelly wearing her helmet in the sand box. She reminds me of those 'special' kids who fall over all the time...

Grandpa pushing Emily

Jason 'driving'

Last Disneyland Trip - for a while at least

Our passes expired today, so yesterday was the last chance we'd have to go to Disneyland for a long time. We're probably moving soon, so it's not worth getting another pass - and it's not really worth spending all that money for one day with a bunch of kids who won't last that long anyways. We made the most of our last day though!

Shelly by the N in California

Shelly was just barely tall enough to ride on Grizzly River Rapids. Grandpa lent her his jacket. It almost fit!

She was a bit nervous when it first started going, but don't let that fool you. By the time it was over she wanted to go on it again - so we did. She'd have gone on it a third time too, but it was early Fed and not the warmest day and Mark and I were cold!

Her hair got wet, but thanks to Grandpa's jacket, not much else of her did.

While we were getting wet, Grandma took Jason and Emily on some fun rides that they could go on.

Of course Jason didn't want to get off...

Shelly having fun playing on Donald's boat

We were waiting for something fun to do, and checked out schedule (I knew those existed, but have almost never looked at them - it's a good thing Grandma was there to help). Turned out we were right next to where the Army Men from Toy Story were about to come out and do a fun show! The schedule didn't say that they'd come out near us and then drive up the big hill in a jeep and then do the show up there... The kids did a pretty good job keeping up with the jeep up that hill, and Grandma did a pretty good job keeping up with the kids! I, however, walked and missed the first tiny bit of the show.

And then I was too tired to join the kids for their 'basic training' - Once again it was a good thing Grandma was there... Of course she might wish I had put up some other pictures :)

Time to see who can toss!

Yup, that way. Don't miss.

or, throw it so far away it's out of the picture - one of the two should work just fine.


I'm pretty sure Jason's cheating here...

Shelly got called up for 'special services' training.

Her job was to hit the tambourine at the right point in the music - she kicked it instead, but at least her timing was on!

Here's Emily waiting in line to see Aladdin. You can tell she's super excited for the show...

Either that or she just likes playing with her daddy.

We'll miss Disneyland! We had some fun times there. Even Mark admits that he'll miss it ;)