Happy Easter

Happy Easter!  I'm having a peaceful and quiet moment getting to just put my feet up and relax on the couch for a few moments.  Ahhh.....bliss!

We just returned from a few hours at the beach.  Rest time!  The house and car are full of sand, there are various mini-piles of dirty clothes laying around the house, there are wet and sandy towels out on the front porch, a beach bag that needs to be unpacked, there is a dishwasher that needs to be unloaded, a dog that needs to be walked, a dining table that needs to be wiped down from lunch (and breakfast!), things that need to be put away, and the list goes on.  I have to CHOOSE to sit down and rest.  Even if I chose to go around and try to check chores off that list, I would never complete them.  There is always more.  And then suddenly the peace of all 4 kids in their rooms being quiet would END and I would just be more exhausted.  So I'm sitting down.  Feet are up.  This seems so obvious but it's a constant struggle.  Last week Myke and I got behind ONE evening on running the dishwasher - I think we both thought the other had started it before we went to bed, but neither of us had, and it took NEARLY THREE DAYS to get caught back up on the dishes.  We couldn't wash them fast enough with how many we were compiling with each meal.  The sink and surrounding counter was constantly full of dirty dishes.  First-world problem, huh?  Poor me.

Not too much to report from here.  I've been trying to enjoy the days I have with Chloë home during the week, as I know life will be quite different once she starts kindergarten (on August 18th!...early start).  I'm so used to just going where want to go when we want to go during the week.  We do museums, Legoland, Sea World, playgrounds, play dates with friends, the mall and other errands, etc., without having to deal with weekend crowds.  Once she's in kindergarten...she's no longer 100% mine anymore.  I guess she's been in preschool part-time since she turned 2, but that's different than kindergarten!  My baby is growing up!  Of course I'll still do those things with the other three kids, but it just won't be the same without Chloë around at least a couple days during the week!  Not to mention I have NO idea how we'll manage to get her dressed, fed, and to school BEFORE 8am five days a week!  Life is going to be very different after this Summer!

Big girl lounging at La Costa Resort & Spa

Our friend Heather is the caregiver for two kids up in Santa Monica.  The kids, Juliet (age 5) and Teddy (almost 3) had a few days off from preschool this week so Heather offered to their parents that she take them on a little vacation to San Diego...to do Sea World and some other fun adventures.  They parents were like "yah, sure!" so Heather booked them two nights at La Costa Resort and Spa near our house.  It's a BEAUTIFUL and quite ritzy resort with three pools, water slides, hot tubs, etc. Glad I suggested it for her, because I brought my kids over and we spent some time frolicking in the pools with them.  The little kid pool was great as it had a gradual declining entrance and was no deeper than three feet anywhere in the pool.  Owen and Eli loved that they could WALK around in the pool.  They had never done something like that before.  It still took them quite awhile to warm up, mainly Eli, but they ended up having a great time.  Owen is definitely the water baby of the two of them, but I am holding out hope that Eli will love the water someday, too.  We have them enrolled in swim classes...just started this month.  Myke takes them to the swim school on Saturday mornings and it's just the two of them and one instructor.  The first three classes Eli screamed the entire 30 minutes.  The fourth class (yesterday), he only screamed the first five minutes.  Maybe he's starting to be okay with it?  OR maybe it was the substitute swim teacher they were with since their regular instructor was out of town for the holiday.  I don't know.  We'll see how next week goes.  I haven't been the one to take them to the lesson, but Myke has let me know that Eli screams and cries like someone is stabbing him.  Meanwhile, Owen is splashing around and having fun right next to him, completely un-moved by his brother's wailing.  I guess he's grown up with Eli and Eli has always been the more dramatic, tantrum-throwing twin.  I don't know if Owen has thrown a tantrum in his life.  He's so laid-back in that way.  

Eli at La Costa

Owen testing out the hot tub

There was a telephone by the toilet in the resort hotel room

Chloë says, "That must be for when you really need to talk to someone"

Easter baskets!

At the beach today

Chloë had one surf attempt...got a little nervous about it so we'll try again another time

My girls :)

Some other pictures from the past week:  

Love this little lounge chair & umbrella set at our neighbor's house

Daddy's girl #2

I bought the boys "big" pillows for their cribs.  After I got home and unwrapped them I realized they were made for a queen size bed (according to the packaging).  Oops.  Eli doesn't like his at all but Owen uses his!  On another note, his crib is SO jam-packed with stuffed animals, toys, and books I have no clue how he sleeps half the time.  He won't let us take any of it out.  Hoarder?!?

Ella trying on her new swimsuit from Mom-mom & Pop!

Owen and his new helmet.  He's a scooterin' fool!  

On another note, Ella WALKED last night.  Outside of church after the Easter service.  Myke got home from picking Chloë up from a birthday party at 4:35pm yesterday and we decided to go to a 5pm Easter Eve service at a church near (5-10min away) our house that we have never been to.  SOMEHOW we got the kids (and ourselves) dressed for church and in the car and there without being TOO late.  They play music the first 15 minutes of the service...live band...so no one noticed we were a few minutes late...and we certainly weren't the last ones coming in.  Anyways, I had to convince Chloë that what she was wearing WASN'T a dress, but a long shirt (it was a dress).  She wore biker-length leggings under them.  It was basically knee-length, but you were shorts with shirts...duh!  Also, her dress shoes no longer fit and the only other thing she has besides a pair of grey and pink velcro shoes and a pair of high-top VANS skater shoes, are some pink $3 flip-flops from Target.  And she had worn those to a friend's house last week so they were now more brown than pink after the kids played in the dirt.  Great for church!  Also, we went out the door so fast I didn't get her hair brushed!  (Note to self: I need to keep a brush in the car).  The boys looked nice already as they had been dressed up a bit for the neighborhood Easter egg hunt that morning.  Ella looked fine, too.  My hair hadn't been washed in two days, but I put a hair band over it and hoped for the best.  Anyways, I don't think we looked that bad...but I could be wrong!  So anyways, we went into the church and dropped the kids off at the child-care rooms for their ages.  They were all in different rooms, except the boys, of course.  We just crossed our fingers and hoped for the best.  Of course 10 minutes into the service Ella's name comes across the projection screen, which is the sign that your kid is crying too much and it's time to go get them.  Oh well.  So Myke was only able to see about 10 minutes of the actual live service and then watched the rest from a television out in the hall.  Anyways, other than that it was a success...the kids are all up now so I have to cut my blabbing short...but after the service we were sitting out in the grass while the older kids ate the lollipops they were given in their classrooms (no wonder they liked church so much!) and Ella stood up off my lap and walked five steps!  She was so excited with herself and we had her walk back and forth between Myke and myself a couple times.  So it looks like she'll be on the move pretty soon!  She's still crawling for the most part today...but I think those days are limited!  

Gotta run!