easter 2019!

i'm in one of those post-holiday funks again.
and honestly, i should be GLAD that it's over because it was rough.

our easter weekend was supposed to start off with a cookie decorating class for me and presley with some of our friends, and then dying easter eggs at their house afterwards. except when i went to get her dressed for the class she was burning up. i took her temp, it was over 101. so instead of going to the cookie class we went to the doctor to be given a STREP diagnosis. i was heartbroken. i knew immediately she would have to miss both the church, and our neighborhood's easter egg parties the next day.

we've made some pretty great friends here, but we've also made some family.
after bailing on the holmgrens because of strep, they brought us cookies and egg decorating supplies so we didn't have to miss out.

saturday randy took eli to the church to hunt easter eggs, so presley and i dyed eggs.
eli has a posse at church and they are all teenagers. they are obsessed with him and fuss over him every week. "he's my best friend!" "eli give me a hug!" it's hilarious. they were so sweet to help randy out at the easter egg hunt!

dying eggs was fun with presley, and of course, she loved it. she also learned how to roll her tongue, and is really proud of herself! daddy can't even do that!

eli came home and shared his eggs with sister, as if he had a choice! 

presley seemed to be doing ok. her fever was around 100 most of the day. the doctor said she wasn't contagious after she'd been taking antibiotics for 24 hours, but that also she needed to be fever free for 24 hours. so we had all intentions of going to church the next morning and i was VERY glad about it. i even ironed all our clothes and got them ready. and then during the night she started getting scary high fevers. at one point it was up to 103. i slept ON THE FLOOR in her room (when i say slept, i mean i layed there in constant prayer that she would feel better.)... she was so uncomfortable she would just cry out for me every few minutes.

needless to say, presley and i didn't get to go to church sunday. but these guys did...

presley was still running high fevers all day, so we basically just layed around and cuddled up.

the holmgrens invited us to have easter lunch at their home, so the boys went over there after church.

after they got home, and the latest dose of tylenol had kicked in, we had a little backyard easter egg hunt, and gave the kids their easter baskets! 

i just couldn't let those matching shirts i bought go to waste, alright?

presley finally broke her fever for good last night, and PRAISE GOD, she hasn't had one today! 

she is getting back to her wild and crazy self, and the sparkle is back in those eyes.

so there's really no way to ease into this, so i'm just gonna say it.

presley cut eli's hair.

ugh.

so randy says, "man, did they just forget the guard or what when they cut eli's hair? they just buzzed him good in that spot. were you watching them when they cut it?"

so eli had a haircut like a WEEK BEFORE this conversation. a perfect haircut. from a legit barber. so my mom instinct immediately knew, without even looking at his hair, who did it.

i said, "NO. SOMEONE JUST DID THIS."

and before i could even accuse her, presley said, "i did it!" 

lord help me if she didn't look proud and excited about it too. 😂

so the saddest part is that i'm pretty sure eli has ZERO clue that she cut his hair. so he's just walking around sporting a bald spot, poor guy.

but besides presley playing sassy, nothing too crazy going on.

we had our first "pool" day yesterday! we met our fave neighbors down at the pool for what i thought would be a splash pad date. the kids had other plans and stayed in the pool the whole time! last year eli hated his puddle jumper AND was not a fan of the splashpad. this year, he is a big fan of both! i think he saw his buddy lucas wearing a puddle jumper and decided it was cool after all. 

presley is gonna be my swimmer. her happy place is paddling around in the big middle of the giant pool, regardless of where anyone else is. 

i am so excited for the upcoming easter weekend, we have so many fun things planned! 

but most of all, i can't wait for church on sunday to celebrate our risen savior!! 

there are some things you just can't do alone.
like seesawing. or putting sunscreen on your back.

or taking two small children to see the easter bunny at the mall.

especially when it is a particular type of torture for one of those children.

that's why my sister has gone with me like every year. (i'm not even gonna count that first year, because i only had the one kid way back then and it was like a breeze and vacation to get out of the house by myself with her because she couldn't even walk yet.)

you didn't think moving to bakersfield california would get in the way of this plan, did you?
of course it didn't. is it my luck or hers that she just happened to visit two years in a row while the easter bunny was in town? muuuahahahahhahha.

seriously. i couldn't have done this without her.

there are two types of kids who visit the easter bunny (or santa. or whatever character at disneyland.), and i have one of each. one is going to have nightmares after this interaction, and the other looks like she is getting paid to be the easter bunny's child model.

how sweet are these? i love that they started taking these before you see the easter bunny!

and this is EVERYTHING! right?!

"the reason i breathe"

so yeah, thank heavens for my sissy cause eli was NOT having it...so she saved the day and swooped them up over to the ride on toys so i could finish paying $234234 for 6 terrible quality print outs of my child scream crying.

the stupidest part of this whole ordeal? we don't even pretend like the easter bunny comes to our house... presley knows that mommy and daddy fill the baskets and hide the eggs. i honestly have no good excuses for doing this to myself or my children. 😂

well HI. it's been a minute, right? we've been BUSY.

sacramento turned out to be a pretty great little trip!

we went up on a saturday... the drive is a little long at 4 hours (we took the 5 which is pretty boring, but beautiful), but we made a stop in kettelmen city for lunch at THE CUTEST place ever called bravo farms. it was part gift shop, part restaurant, part petting zoo, part tree house, part playground, part very clean and lovely bathrooms, and part cheese shop. i was mostly there for the bathrooms and the bbq, but we let the kids run around the playground for a bit too. randy got sneezed on by a llama TWICE. like, hay all over his head and face. 

anyway, we got to sacramento in time for check in, dinner, and bed. i was the lucky winner who got to share a bed with presley. a DOUBLE bed. which, is like, one inch wider than a twin. and it was miserable. she was all over me. meanwhile, randy is sprawled out in the bed next to us snoring. eli is in the other room in his pack n play, just peaceful as can be. i'm hot. i'm sweating. i've got a 4 year old kicking my kidneys. new year, same story.

sunday we woke up and hit up the free breakfast downstairs (parent hack #9329... always stay at embassy suites. free breakfast(GOOD breakfast). free happy hour (i don't even drink, but they have SNACKS. goldfish, chips and salsa, chex mix!) and they are all suites so you basically get two rooms for the price of one.). then we packed up the stroller and walked over to the old town sacramento. idk if it's called old town sacramento but that's what it is, so go with it. 

we had dole whip, we hit up the candy shops, we got a caramel apple for later, we even had the mini donuts i'd been thinking about since last year. basically we ate our way through the streets. 

but the best part was the california state railroad museum! it showed the history of the railroad in california, and had all different types of trains you could actually go into. it was amazing. eli was in HEAVEN.

i wish i'd have taken more pics! btw, we are all wearing UH gear because they were playing in the NCAA tournament that night (they won that game!).

after walking for a few hours around there, we decided to walk to the state capitol building.

it was so beautiful! the sculptures are so intricate and interesting.

the kids were worn out after all that walking. it must be rough riding around in a stroller all day. 😐

that night i suggested to presley that she might like sleeping on the couch that pulls out to make a bed in the room where eli was sleeping. wouldn't you know she was SO HAPPY to sleep there. it was like a dream come true. i slept so good that night.

the next day we drove to fairfield to go to the jelly belly factory! this time randy got to come with us. i'm pretty sure i'm still the only one who had fun, yet again. but whatev.

sorry for the watermarks. it cost like four hundred dollars to buy the stupid pic so i just settled for a screen shot.

eli loved the hat and kept it on forever.

the next day randy had to go to meetings and stuff so the kids and i had a day!

we went to CRACKER BARREL. and it was everything. bako needs a dang cracker barrel. and an heb... but for real. cracker barrel is realistic, right?

i also took the kids back to fairytale land! they had soooo much fun playing and sliding.

when we got back to the hotel, the kids were so tired but it was too late for a nap. presley begged me to take a nap (literally the first time in her life she has ever even asked to take a nap), but i told her no. she tricked me by saying she was going in the other room to watch her tablet. eli just lounged like a grown man.

the next day we headed home... we had to be mindful of the time because randy had to be at church by 5:45. we were making decent time, even after stopping at chickfila on the way home during lunch rush. then presley started screaming that her belly hurt and she really needed to poop. well guess what? once we got out of the sacramento area there is NOTHING and NO WHERE to stop on the 5. so randy's like, "we can stop at this rest stop." and i'm like, "MY CHILD IS NOT POOPING AT A REST STOP." but then she was screaming, like painful screams. so we stopped and i was shocked at how clean the restrooms actually were. presley, however, walked in, took one look at the metal toilet and said, "nope!" but i finally got her sitting down and she just couldn't poop. i told her there was no where else to stop and she said she was feeling better. "i just needed to get out of my carseat."

welllllll then about 20 minutes later she starts screaming again. and then she starts coughing. and then VOMIT. literal vomit. all over her. all over her carseat. all over the back of my chair. and remember, THERE IS NO WHERE TO STOP. so finally 10 miles later theres a gas station. i cleaned her and the car up the best i could with baby wipes. she rode home mostly naked. and i rode home in a constant state of prayer that she was ok and that it wasn't a bug the rest of us were going to catch.

luckily, she was completely fine that night. she even ate dinner. and the rest of us were fine too.

idk if it was car sickness or something she ate, but seriously, PRAISE GOD that it wasn't worse.

my sister got in a couple days after we got back! i LOVED LOVED LOVED having her all to myself for the shortest 4 nights ever. it was another "boring" trip, full of running my errands, getting haircuts, watching tv, and just being together. my kids loved her up and vice versa. i miss her so much, but i am so thankful she chooses to spend her time and hard earned money coming to visit us. she really is the best sissy EVER EVER EVER.

today she sent me a surprise in the mail...

GOLDEN GIRLS SOCKS. is there a more perfect gift for me?( i mean, besides my sofia chia pet, or my golden girls adult coloring book, of course.)😂

i've got more to share, like EASTER BUNNY PICS!, but that'll have to wait.

happy late st. patricks day to my fellow irish!

boom.

we had a fun weekend, that included a fun st patricks party at the clubhouse.

presley ate AT LEAST 10 of those fruit skewers. i honestly lost count. she kept saying "can i have more fruit?" and i'm like, "yes baby!" (while patting myself on the back like i'm mother of the year, when i know good and well she had chips and fruit loops for lunch.) 😂

our church was giving out tickets to the "faith and family night" at the raceway for saturday night, so randy took eli, and also invited our neighbor, chih, and his son lucas! eli and lucas are less than a month apart in age and they are SO CUTE when they get together.

when they got home, i asked eli all about his fun night, and it went like this:

did you go see racecars?!

yeah, i ate POPCORN!!!

he really loved it, and also told me it was "so loud!" and the "cars went so fast!", but he never forgets to say, "and i ate popcorn!" at least 4 times 😂😍

sunday we had a mission lunch and auction at church. it was so fun! they had lots of stuff for silent auction(each home group donated a basket!), tons of raffles, a dessert auction, and even a live auction. they had about 4 tables filled with every dessert you could imagine, but presley had her heart set on a tray full of cake pops. what baby wants baby gets. so $18 later... and she didn't even like them. for the record, they were DELICIOUS. presley even won a raffle prize...three huge bottles of bubbles. i wish you could have seen her face, she was so excited that she won! "i won! i won a prize! i was the winner!" randy bid and won(and then forgot to bring home) a starbucks giftcard, and i bought the hyacinth flower centerpiece for $5 because it smells sooooo good. it was easy and fun to spend a little money when it goes to missions! so proud of our church.

sunday evening we spent a few hours in the backyard, as pioneer woman would say, "cleaning up the homestead." the weather was amazing (it's already 80 degrees! yikes!) so randy mowed, cleared the porch off, killed wasps, etc. i hosed all the furniture and the porch down, cleaned the back windows, and used the shopvac to suck up nasty little bugs. idk what kind of bugs they are, but they COVER my window screens. they cling to the stucco in weird little spots. and they just swarm around when you're outside. they are tiny, but ANNOYING. i don't remember them at all from last year, so i think its a new problem. presley climbed up to the top of the wall in the back ALL BY HERSELF! eli played with the water table and his t-ball set and was loving every minute of being outside.

our wall is filling in, FINALLY, and our grass is starting to turn green again too... hello spring!

after we picked presley up from school i asked her to go change into play clothes so we could go play in the backyard again.

what do yall think? much fashion, right? 

and of course, one more pic of my precious baby boy who is just content to be out of the house.

i am soooo tiiiired.

i still haven't quite caught up on sleep from this weekend and that ONE lost hour seems like a whole lost day when you're 34 and also a mother of two small kids.

we spent the entire day at church saturday... i'm talking 7am until after 8pm. literally, all day.
the youth were having their d-now weekend and randy was teaching and i was in the kitchen cooking for breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, and dinner...and snack. my babies LOVED spending the day at church and all the attention they got from the big kids. they spent a lot of time on the playground, and even more time up on the stage with the keyboard and microphone. well, eli loved the keyboard... and presley claimed the microphone, surprise surprise.

at the end of the day they were FILTHY. like, dirt under fingernails nasty. 😖 so they got a nice long bath and were ASLEEP by 9. it took approx 32 seconds once they laid down for them to pass out.
it was fun, but my feet are still hurting from standing all day. (sister, idk how you do it.)

the rest of the week is busy busy as usual. dance tomorrow morning, bunco tomorrow night (yeaaaaah for mom's night out!), st. pattys party at school on friday, st. pattys party at the clubhouse saturday, randy and eli are going to nascar saturday night, and of course the 57 loads of laundry and sink full of dishes in there somewhere.

my parents left bakersfield a mere 25 hours ago, and i am SAD.
they were here for a week and it was the best lazy week ever.

we did a lot of nothing, a lot of eating at our favorite places, and played a lot of games with alexa. if you aren't taking advantage of alexa's games, try "alexa, play feel the pressure" or "alexa, play song quiz". those are my two new favorites. we also play "animal workout" which presley thinks is THE funnest thing ever. even though we didn't do much outside the house (it rained a lot!), having my parents here was everything i love... and my babies got SO MUCH lovin. it really was a perfect week.

my sister is coming at the end of the month, and i'm counting down the days! having family here is my favorite favorite favorite thing.

anyway, a few little updates.

ELI IS OFF THE PACI. like, completely. and has been for a couple weeks!
i kept cutting a little off, and when it was too short to keep in, i just threw it away. he hasn't even asked about it. SUCCESS. now let's pray that potty training comes that easy. (not even attempting until JULY.)

i got presley registered for KINDERGARTEN. it was a very outdated and arduous process. lots of writing my address over and over and over. you'd think living in fancy california with all the tree huggers, paperless processes would be the norm. but not in bakersfield! the folder they handed me to fill out was a full inch thick and repetative as all get out. but it's done and that is SUCH a relief.