Birthday Month is Upon Us

Disney was great...amazing...perfect...everything we had hoped, I must say.  The day went off without a hitch.  Ella was great...though very quiet for the first few hours.  I guess she was just taking it all in.  It can be an overwhelming place for a young child, I'm sure.  On top of that, she had both mommy AND daddy's attention all on her.  That might have thrown her off a bit ;)  She had a great time though.  It wasn't too busy, the weather was mild, the lines weren't too long, and overall the day went great.  Not much else to say about it!  But I will say this--Ella rode on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad!!  It's a pretty decent roller coaster.  That's my girl!  She was tall enough for it and we didn't know what it was going to be like.  I'm not sure who was more nervous during the ride, Ella or Myke.  Probably the latter :)

Ready for the parade 

A little unsure about Elsa & Anna

Tea cups were her favorite ride--we rode them 3x

Tinker bell

Minnie Mouse

Minnie Mouse's house

Goofy!

We met a lot of characters, which was fun.  Got all the photos for Ella's photo book (now I just need to print them out for her...).  She was very shy to meet each of the characters and insisted that either Myke or I go up to the character with her.  The line to meet Anna & Elsa was LONG, probably the longest line of the day, and as soon as it was Ella's turn to meet them she became completely mute.  It was cute though.  They spent a few minutes with each child (hence the long wait) and really made each one feel special.  Ella had a birthday pin on (given out by Disney) and the princesses asked her all kinds of birthday-related questions in which Ella responded with nods or head shakes only.  

In other Hines happenins': 

We put on our "nice clothes" and took the kids to dinner at one of our favorite Thai restaurants.

No, the dog did not go with us.  Yes, Owen did put on shoes before we left.

This is us testing our camera tripod & delay timer.

blondies

First experience with mango sticky rice.

It was a hit!

Heading to gymnastics.

Picking out birthday items at Party City.

 "Sofia the First" is the theme of choice for Ella.

The "princess-thing" still makes me cringe a bit...

but I'm not AS anti-princess as I was with my first.

I'm just going with it...

The visit to Disneyland was Ella's "party" (I'm sure using a lot of "" in this entry) so we aren't doing anything official as far as a birthday party.  However, I'm sure we'll be having cake on the 13th of February when it's Ella's actual 3rd birthday.  Then we have Myke's birthday on the 20th.  Then Kyla's (the dog) on the 27th.  Then Chloë's on the 28th.  February is a busy one in this family!

Disneyland Here We Come!

We are headed to Disneyland tomorrow!  Just myself, Myke and the littlest Hines: Ella.  To celebrate her 3rd birthday.  We've made it a tradition (of sorts) that we take each of the kids to Disneyland for their 3rd birthday.  We took Chloë back in February 2012...and we actually took her ON her 3rd birthday 2/28.  I was so paranoid that she'd tell someone she was 3 years old and we'd be charged the $100 ticket to get in that I wouldn't even let anyone TELL her that it was her actual birthday until we were through the gates.  (Kids under 3 are FREE at Disneyland).  Silly, I know...but she was VERY verbal and vocal and I was SURE they would ask her her age and we'd have to pay $100 that we wouldn't have had to pay just a day prior.  In the end we just wheeled her in her stroller and no one even blinked an eye, let alone question her age.  As soon as we got through the gates I stopped the stroller, got down to her level and said, "Chloë!  Guess what day it is?  It's your BIRTHDAY!!" :) She got to wear the birthday pin with her name on it so all the workers and staff would say "Happy Birthday Chloe" all day long.  It was great.

With the boys we had a last minute change of plans due to Myke's back being out of whack-- my parents were in town for the boys' 3rd birthday and had planned to watch the girls while we took them to Disney...but instead my Dad went with us.  We had a great day with the boys- we ended up doing California Adventure instead of Disneyland as the boys were really into the CARS movies and there is an entire section of the park dedicated to those movies.  Fabulous time!

Now it's Ella's turn.  Our last baby.  Our last Disney trip with our 3-year-old.  We are doing the trip earlier than planned (her birthday isn't until 2/13) since my mom is in town this week and can tend to the older 3 kiddos while we are away.  Ella isn't as verbal as Chloë was at this age (no where near) but she does KNOW and has been talking about it for awhile--the fact that she is "going to Mickey Mouse's house" when she turns 3.  I don't think she knows what's about to hit her.  I'm expecting a VERY different experience than our first time around.  Chloë loved all the rides and all the characters...She had no problem posing with them for photos with a giant grin on her face.  Ella is much more shy and timid in that aspect.  She's also more into the princess thing than Chloë ever was (doesn't take much to out-do Chloë there;)).  She's not SUPER into it...but she has more of the typical girly-girl interest into some of that stuff.  That said, she's never really seen any of those movies (besides parts of Frozen and Peter Pan)...so she has limited knowledge to work with.  She definitely likes Tinkerbell and the "Frozen girls", though.

I'm definitely looking forward to this time with just the three of us.  It's especially special because it's something she NEVER has really had.  Time with just her mom & dad.  We haven't had it really either.  I have time with her on the days the older three are in preschool & elementary school, but this is different.  This will be focused ELLA time.  I'm so looking forward to seeing Disney through the innocent eyes of my sweet baby girl.  Off to bed so I can be rested!  Good night!

Christmas & New Years Re-Cap

Merry (Belated) Christmas!  

Well, here I am 8 days later and putting in another blog post.  That's a good start, right?  Better than 3 months or however long it was between the last post and the one before that.  I haven't done any running since my previous post, either (one of my plans for "reflection") but I have worked out, so that's good.  Operation: Reverse-My-Five-Pound-Holiday-Weight-Gain.  At least it was only 5 pounds this year. 

The holidays were great- we spent Thanksgiving with Myke's family (his parents, sister, her husband and 3 kids) and then Christmas with my family (my parents, brother, two aunts, an uncle and two cousins and our friend, Heather).  We stayed here in Encinitas for both.  We have not yet braved flying anywhere with all 4 kids, but thinking we'll go somewhere this year.  Where that place will be is yet to be determined!  Ideas are Wisconsin for a family reunion in July, Richmond in October (when kids have a 2 weeks Fall Break), and now we've been invited to Denver for Christmas 2016.  So we'll see where we end up!  

As usual, my time here is limited and I've been called to do something so I have to go.  I'll throw a few pics up (need to find the ones from Thanksgiving, but here are a few from Christmas and just after):   

Christmas Eve- Secret Santa gift exchange

Ugly Sweater group shot :)

(not everyone is in an "ugly" sweater...or are they?)

Two days after Christmas my parents celebrated their 46th wedding anniversary. We went out for brunch and then for a nice coastal drive here in North County.  

Brunch at Solace

46 Years!

On Monday (before New Year's) I saw that there was a snow forecast in the local mountains so we ended up jumping in the car and heading to Lake Arrowhead so the kids "could see real snow coming out of the sky" (versus seeing snow at Legoland in their "snow play" area).  This may have been more for me...I'm a big kid about the snow and it's one of the things I miss most since living in San Diego (vs east coast).  The snow definitely was coming down and snowed the entire couple hours we were up there.  It was beautiful!  Luckily, it wasn't cold enough to stick too much and the roads stayed safe for us to drive back down the mountain that evening.

hot cocoa!

Yum!

Lake Arrowhead 

Brrr!  Bundled up!

New Year's Hike at Batiquitos Lagoon: 

Happy New Year!!

2016 has arrived...before my very eyes!  Yay, for the start of a new year and a fresh start.  I don't really "believe" in New Year's Resolutions as I feel that they set most people up for feelings of failure and frustration, but this year I've decided I'm making one (on top of my need to lose the 5 pounds I gained over the holidays): To Take More Time to Reflect.  That's it.  There are more details of subcategories that go along with that resolution: more ME time, more blogging time, more time to exercise (running or yoga).  All of those are great times to reflect.  I feel so busy with the day-to-day and the routines that I don't stop long enough to enjoy.  Appreciate.  Be grateful.  I've found myself to be experiencing a lot more feelings of stress over the past year than I did in the past.  Yes, being a mommy to four small children and the busy-ness that comes along with that can be stressful at times but lately I feel like the number of stress-feelings has been creeping up and slowly outnumbering the number of happy-feelings, overall.  For me.  In my head.  And I don't like that.  It's not good for me.  Or Myke.  Or the kids.  Or anyone.  Don't worry, I'm not depressed.  Just being aware that I need to make a change.  So I can be a better person.  A better mother.  A better wife.  A better daughter.  A better friend.  I'm not sure if it's the answer...but taking time for reflection (and gratitude) is where I'm going to start.  I know I'm very blessed and have a lot to be thankful for.  I just need to make sure I take the time to remember that!  Daily.  Well, at least weekly??!  :)

Happy New Year!!