We're sick!

So after we had a lovely time at the zoo, Brad puked A LOT in the car-all over the car seat, etc. While Ken was cleaning out the car, I was in the house. I lit a fire in the fireplace but forgot to open the flew and the house started filling with smoke. I was on my way to open it when Brad started puking again. So I was trying to catch that while the smoke detector was going off... Craziness. Then Sky woke up around midnight and was puking for the next 3-4 hours. Not fun. Lots of baths, lots of laundry. Ken and I are having major problems with the other end... Not exactly the vacation we envisioned but we're having lots of family time.

LA Zoo

On Friday we spent the day at the LA Zoo. It was a really nice zoo and we brought our double stroller and walked most of the zoo. We saw all kinds of animals but Brad and Sky were the wildest of all. Our favorites were the gorillas and lions but there were lots of cool animals there including hippos, rhinos, koalas, zebras, tigers, and kangaroos. We also spent some time at the play area.

A Busy Saturday

We had lots of family fun on Saturday! We woke up and went in our pajamas to a MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) breakfast and Christmas party. The whole family came and we had lots of fun. There was good food, singing, reading, crafts, and lots more. Sky enjoyed the chocolate chip pancakes while Brad ate his weight in sausages...
Then we went to a friend's 1 year birthday party, little Alyce Joel. They had a jump house and Sky usually avoids those things like the plague but this time she really got into it and spent almost the whole time jumping. Alyce got a lot of ball popping presents which Brad was very interested in.
That night we had the Denham family over for dinner. I cooked a hashbrown casserole and homemade waffles and they brought fruit. Most dinners I can't stomach but I seem to do ok with breakfast. We roasted marshmallows in the fireplace with the kids which made a nice gooey mess everywhere. I also blew up a bunch of balloons and the kids had a blast batting them around and attacking the dads with them. Needless to say, I was pretty tired after they left. Ken did all the dishes and clean up while I was putting the kids to bed. What a guy!

Doctor's appointments

Thursday was doctor appointment day. First I had an OB appointment and met with the doctor whose care I will be under during the pregnancy, Dr. Mason. We have Kaiser insurance which is a bit different from many other insurance companies. So, I could deliver with any of the 40 doctors who work at the labor/delivery area of the Kaiser hospital we will go to. They will not allow me to go so far past my due date as the doctors in Cincinnati did. She did an ultrasound and everything looks great. I'm at 12 weeks.
Thursday afternoon was Brad's 18 month check up. He had 1 shot but took it like a champ. He's in the 90th percentile for both height and weight. He's 34 inches tall and 30 lbs. His doctor is a really tall young guy and he really likes Brad. Both Brad and Sky recieved stickers for being so good.

The Palm Tree Gets a Trim

Just in time for Christmas, our sad, over-grown palm tree finally got a trim. Here are the after pictures. We're still waiting for our landlord to trim a yucca tree in our backyard that is invading a neighbor's yard.

Also, here is some proof that it DOES rain in southern CA every once in a while. We still don't own an umbrella but at least the kids have raincoats!

Christmas Preschool Program

On Wednesday Sky had her preschool Christmas program and today she had her class Christmas party. The program was really cute. They sang about 10 Christmas songs. I think my favorite was We Wish You A Merry Christmas because the kids got away from the music and it sounded really funny. They also did this hand motion that looked like some of them were flipping off the audience. It was difficult to take pictures because of the stained glass window background. Ken got to come to this performance (he was in Boston for the Thanksgiving performance) and we all went to the after party for lots of Christmas cookies and punch. Brad kept attacking the cow in the manger display and Ken had the job of constantly pulling him off the thing.

See Brad and Sky as Elves

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/cOnpL0wfIehY57V5

The Week in Review

Wow! So, another week has gone by! I just can't seem to blog as frequently these days! I think I'll bame it on the pregnancy exhaustion. So what's happened in the last week in the life of the Way family? Ken finished his last week of teaching and now just has to administer final exams this week. Unfortunately he went over budget with his T.A. this semester so he has to do ALL of the end of semester grading himself. He also has big plans to write some entries for a new dictionary while he has some time off for Christmas break.
Last Tuesday we went to the story time at the library and also made some Christmas ornament crafts. I have been in charge of the crafts this year (as part of my role on the MOMS Club) and that one kinda snuck up on me.
We've been checking out a new church for this month. Our church in Costa Mesa is awesome but it's just so far and we really are not able to get involved there. So, we've been to 2 Christmas performances at this new church (which is walking distance from our house) as well as their Sunday services and Sunday school.
On Thursday I took the kids to Disneyland by myself and have concluded that I cannot handle that anymore. It's too difficult to fold/open the stroller while getting the kids on/off the tram, waiting in lines with the 2 of them, etc. We had fun but I was pretty tired by the end of it all.
I have been nauseous throughout this pregnancy so far but am hopeful that as I near the end of my first trimester that will improve. On Saturday I actually threw up (I haven't done that with either of the other kids).
Some friends watched our kids yesterday so that we could go to a Talbot faculty Christmas party. We had a nice time there. Yesterday Brad and Ken dressed in matching outfits and looked so cute together (pictures are coming).
Today is a rainy day in southern CA. Very unusual. I don't even think we own an umbrella... The last few nights we've been enjoying cozy evenings with a fire in the fireplace.

Wicked!

Last night I went to the Pantages Theater in Hollywood to see "Wicked". I went with my friend (and old roomate from Moody) Karen Collins. We took the train to get there which was also a good experience. I hadn't been on the trains at all and I found them very easy to navigate and use. Although I was surprised that no one ever checked to see if we had tickets or not. We rode with lots of people who were going to the Lakers game.

Karen has read the book "Wicked" but I have not. She said that the show was pretty different from the book. The show was really fantastic! It was based on The Wizard of Oz but it turned everything inside out. It portrayed the good witch as self absorbed and vain while the bad witch was seen as misunderstood and mistreated. Wicked told the story of the two witches as they were roomates in college together and how they became who they were. It was very entertaining. And the theater was so beautiful! It was a really fun night.

One Cool Dude

Brad loves to get people to laugh at him. He'll wear something crazy and walk around trying to get people to laugh. He's such a fun loving little guy. If things get boring around here, he finds a way to do something funny or exciting. Here he put on Sky's sunglasses. Brad also has an addiction: popsicles. He loves those Otter Pops and he eats probably 8-10 of them a day. I tell myself that it helps his teething process...

Sky's Thanksgiving Feast

Sky's preschool put on a Thanksgiving program. It was so cute! They sang some songs and were dressed as Indians or Pilgrims. Sky was an Indian and she had to choose an Indian name. She chose one of her favorite names, "Savannah".

After the show they enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast of chicken nuggets, tator tots and cookies. It was pretty adorable. My favorite part was when they sang "Albuquerque is a Turkey" song. Sky sings it perfectly and it is very sweet.

A Visit From Grandma B and Uncle Bill

My mom and her husband Bill came to visit us for almost 3 weeks. They just left on Thursday and I'm going to borrow some of what they sent out in an email to summarize their stay.

They sat in on one of Ken's classes. It was about 10th century B.C. archaeology and they found it very interesting.
One evening they went to hear the Biola University choral group. The women were dressed in black gowns and the guys wore tuxedos. They were very good. Many songs were done acappella. We went to the park one day for lunch and we spent a few hours one day at the Fullerton Aboretum. We had a picnic lunch there, too. The plants, trees and flowers there were amazing!
We had birthday cake for Bill's 61st on the 26th. Bill's nephew, Nathan, called to announce the arrival of triplets on that day! Mom and babies are doing well.

Another evening we all went to a restaurant called Sizzler's for a delicious meal! (we had given Bill a birthday gift card for that place). We ordered the buffet and everything was so yummy. Of course, we enjoyed Golden Spoon yogurt several times! Actually many times! Gotta have our good bacteria! And we were able to introduce them to shaved ice.
Relatives Jim and Millie (Gram's cousin) came for ham dinner. They do not live very far from us in Long Beach. It was so good to see them and have an evening of enjoyable conversation and looking at my scrapbook of family pictures. Millie and Jim are such nice people!
One Sunday we visited Saddleback church which is the largest church in America. There are over 60,000 members. It was an experience! At announcement time during the service they invited anyone who didn't have a place to go for Thanksgiving to go to the church. Last year they fed Thanksgiving dinner to 600 people! My guess is that they served more this year.
That church is so large they have shuttle buses from the parking lots. It was amazing to see. Pastor Rick Warren was not there but the message we heard was very good. Baptisms were taking place outside after the service. It is always a great experience to visit there. It is quite a place!
We went to the Thanksgiving Eve service at a local church. It was very nice with people, one by one, stepping to the microphones to express their thanks to God for people, His provision, His strength through trials, etc. and thanks for Jesus.
One evening we enjoyed a ride around town while we looked at the Christmas displays in peoples' yards. We played Christmas music on the car CD player. Sky loves the Twelve Days of Christmas. We enjoyed seeing all of the lights but Sky eventually fell asleep from the car ride. Interesting to see strings of lights wrapped around the palm trees.
The kids really enjoyed having Grandma B and Uncle Bill here and spent time playing with them and reading books. When it comes to reading books, most of the time Sky wants to do the "reading" so they sat there and patiently listened. She loves to play doctor with her stuffed animals. Sometimes they were her assistants. A few nights they put Sky to bed. And they babysat one evening so Ken and I could go out. We spent uninterrupted browsing/reading at Barnes and Noble. It was heavenly!
Thanksgiving was great. We invited a few who did not have a place to go that day. It was a nice gathering. Everyone helped me with food preparation the day before so we were in pretty good shape on Thurs. Our friends, (Ken's students-former and present and spouses), brought food, too, so there was plenty and all delicious!
During their stay Bill tended to the outdoors--doing trimming, sweeping and watering. He really loved that and we loved him doing it! The place looks really great!
I have been very tired and somewhat nauseous from the pregnancy--good timing for them to be here to help. I haven't really blogged much because of the weariness but hopefully that will pass soon.

Snow Day!

It snows once a year in southern California, kind of... A local church imports 20 tons of snow (from who knows where) and provides lots of fun for the day. Sky loved the mild sled run but Brad wasn't so sure about the white stuff. He's such a California boy! Sky had fun doing the crafts, getting Christmas tattoes, having her face painted, and playing the games. Brad had fun on the playground, going down the same slide 50 times. There was also a chili eating contest, jump houses, snow ball fights, and Christmas pictures taken. We thoroughly wore ourselves out and look forward to attending Snow Day next year.

A New Way

A few weeks ago we were very surprised to learn that I was pregnant with baby Way #3. As some of you know, I have given away almost all of our baby stuff because we were done. We aren't concerned though because we know that God will provide everything that we need. One thing that we've started praying for is a vehicle that can accomodate 3 car seats. We really don't want to enter into another era of car payments (both of our economy cars are paid off) so we really do need a little miracle from God.

Yesterday I had my first doctor's appointment and sonogram. The tiny bean above is our new little guy or girl. My due date is between July 6-11 so I am about 8 weeks along. They heard the heartbeat and everything seems to be going well.

Ashes, Ashes...

There have been some really serious fires around here over the past 2 days. The fires were about 6-10 miles away but in a much more rural area. Even so, many people in these areas have lost their homes and all of their belongings. It's really sad. People were walking around wearing face masks today since the air quality is so poor. We woke up this morning to a very smoky smell and ash all over our cars, patio furniture, garbage cans, etc. (see pictures above). It looked like it was snowing-I guess that's the "snow" we get in southern California! Thankfully, the fires seem under control or gone by now.

California Sunsets

It's really sad to see it get dark outside by around 5pm every night now. But, lately we have had some of the most amazing sunsets. These pictures were taken right from our front yard (and, no, nothing is on fire). It's such a strange place here. We start out our mornings totally freezing (the houses here don't have very good insulation), by midday it is so hot we have to change into shorts, and by the evening, it is soooooo cold again. I guess it's one of the effects of living close to the ocean but it's still weird.

Brad's Dedication

Today we dedicated our sweet boy Brad at church. He was looking so handsome in his dress up clothes! Of course he crashed into the table this morning, leaving a big red stripe on his face. The dedication was pretty low key as we went up on stage and one of the pastors asked us if we were wanting to raise Brad in relationship with Christ and then he said a prayer over our family. Brad was good up on stage, he didn't cry or fuss. I think he would have liked to get to the drums though.

We received a certificate of dedication and also a children's Bible from the church. We had our friends the Denhams and the Jensens there with us and then they came over to our place afterward for lunch.

Voting Observations

On Tuesday, I exercised my right to vote. Ken and I studied up on all of the California propositions and we watched portions of both of the conventions (as well as some of the debates)and I felt more informed than I have ever been as I went to the polls. Now I have voted in Chicago, Cincinnati, and California.
I went around 11 am and walked right in, no wait whatsoever. In California, they don't require you to present any identification. So, I simply told them my name and they gave me my ballot. I wondered what would stop people from looking at the list of names (which is clearly visible as I checked in) and coming back to vote under another name that wasn't crossed off yet...
My polling place was at a local church but I had some friends who voted in people's garages. That seems a bit wacky to me. Also, I voted with an ink stamp rather than the punch card ballots of Ohio and Illinois. Oddly enough, California doesn't have a universal voting method. Some of my friends voted electronically, some by mail and some voted by this dial thing that they turned.
All in all, it was a good experience. I hope to work at a polling place at an election in the future. I did that once in Chicago and it was really fun and exciting. I worked from 7am-7pm and learned a lot about the process there.

A Visit With Robins

There are some cousins on my grandmother's side of the family who write back and forth to each other in a round robin letter. I joined the "robins" a few years ago but have only known these people via the pictures they send in their letters. My grandmother's cousin, Millie, lives in Long Beach and I had the privilege of meeting her and her husband Jim a few months ago. I went to her house today to meet my grandmother's other cousins (Millie's sisters) Anna May from Ohio and Mary from Florida as well as Millie's daughter Pam from Berkley, CA. Ken stayed home with the kids so I was able to have a wonderful time of talking and getting to know them. They are all amazingly artitistic and I really enjoyed seeing their various forms of artwork!

Halloween gathering #1

On Tuesday we went to a MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) Harvest Party. There was an awesome jump house that was just perfect for smaller kids. There were also crafts, singing, stories, and tricycles to ride. There was yummy food for lunch too.

The temperature was in the 90s so it was a very hot day for Brad to wear his Mickey costume. He did, however, find himself a Minnie Mouse. They were very cute together. Bet you've never seen Cinderella riding a tricycle! I found Sky's Cinderella dress at a thrift shop for $5.99.