Trent earned his Webelos' patch

We interrupt this vacation to blog about a couple more things that happened during tax season that I was unable to post.

Trent earned his Webelos' patch this year. I got to go up with him to receive his patch and tie and he also got his face painted with blue and gold paint. Trent was really excited to get that much closer to the Boy Scouts level...only one more year!

I'm not sure if Brian will be his Den leader again next year or not. It was like having an entire other job which is hard to keep up with when it's tax season! :)

We're proud of you Trent!

It's another relaxing day here....

Happy Mother's Day again to everyone! Even though we did celebrate last weekend sorry I didn't get a chance to call yesterday to wish you Happy Mother's Day on "the" day, Mom. Love you!! Here's some virtual flowers.

It's overcast and a little chilly today but the kids, especially Madisen, are determined to go to the beach today. We brought some kites to fly so maybe we'll do that and not necessarily get into the water. We're going to hang out around here to play, go on walks, go to the beach and have a BBQ tonight. It's early to bed though if we want to go to Disneyland!!

It's already 1PM and I haven't done much except caught the blog up on our first two days of vacation. I'm out of here for now. Hopefully we'll get some pictures from today and post them later tonight.

Tuesday and Wednesday will be Disneyland and CA Adventure and then Thursday will probably be another low key no plans kind of day.

Since I have no pictures from today yet I will leave you with a picture from the trolley stop we got off at once we found out we were heading to Mexico! :)

Trust us, it was scary! :)

Petco Park

Here are some pictures from Petco Park! It was a really nice park/stadium and the Padres beat the Rockies 8-1. We got there early enough that the kids got the freebies for the day...a San Diego Padres' plastic helmet! They also handed out pins for Mother's Day. All of the players used PINK bats and wore PINK wristbands in honor of Moms. It was a fun day but of course couldn't end without a hitch because they never do for the Wohrle family. We were heading to the trolley to take us back to the Coaster station and we got on the WRONG trolley. You would think that the employees would know where the trolleys are going. They were arguing over which one was right. Thank goodness we started talking to someone when we got on and she informs us we were on the wrong trolley and that they were heading to MEXICO!!! We were able to get off at the next stop unfortunately we were not dropped off in a very nice part of town. Think South Phoenix. Luckily the next trolley, going the right way, came along within five minutes. Had we not made it back to the Coaster in time we would have been taking a cab back to the station since they only had one departure.

Once we got back we went round and round trying to find a place to eat. I can tell we never go out on the holidays (usually we have BBQ at home) so the waits were crazy. Since it turned out to be another late night we decided we would hold off on going to Disneyland tomorrow (Monday) so that they kids, including us, we're all grumpy and tired.

Going on the Coaster....

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY Mom (Barb), Mom (Juliann), Grandma B, and Grandma Franz!!! We love you all very much and hope you had a wonderful day.

It's our 2nd day on vacation and we're headed to a Padres' game today. I know what you're all thinking...it's Mother's Day and you're going to a baseball game!?!?!? Well, I didn't realize when we agreed to go on vacation this week (since our three choices were already taken) that we were going over Mother's Day. Oh well. I guess we will be having pedicures and watching a chick flick on Father's Day. It's only fair, right? :)

We decided to go on the Coaster to take us into downtown San Diego. The kids were all excited about going on a train. It was nice to enjoy the ocean view along the way and not have to fight traffic.

Carlsbad, CA or bust!

We're on vacation! We finally made it to the condo here in Carlsbad, CA at around 1-1:30AM on Saturday. In case some of you don't know Brian's firm owns it and each employee gets to use it for a week. We came for the first time last year and had a blast so we couldn't wait to come back.

Saturday was a casual day and we didn't really have any set plans. We slept in and then the kids played around the condo on their scooters and played with the snails. The fun didn't last long as Madisen fell down the big driveway! It's a huge hill so you can get going pretty fast. I guess she forgot to break!! After lots of hugs, kisses and a BIG Bandaid it was almost lunch time and nobody had eaten anything since we didn't go shopping before we left. It was a beautiful day so we walked to downtown Carlsbad which is only about 5-10 minutes away. We knew our first stop had to be Cessy's!! Cessy's is a small "dive" down the street that has great Mexican food for really cheap. We all fell in love with the place last time and the kids said we had to go there for lunch or dinner at least two or three times that we are here! We'll have to see about that. It was as good as we remembered though. After lunch we went window shopping at the cute shops and then headed back along the highway to enjoy the ocean view. When we got back to the condo we called my friend Di (we used to work together at AKB) who lives in Temecula to see if she wanted to get together. We met at Old Towne Temecula and went shopping and then headed back to her house. It was a beautiful drive through all the vineyards along the way. She has a beautiful home on an amazing 2.5 acres. We took the grand tour and then enjoyed visiting all night. The day definitely got away from us and we finally headed out for dinner at about 8PM. She took us to a really great brick pizza place. We were going to go to Mad Madeline's for burgers in Old Towne Temecula but all the seating was outside and it was freezing!! What can I say, we all have "Arizona blood". We had a great visit and got home about 11PM. We were having such a great time that we didn't take any pictures of Di's house, us or anything. Oh well, maybe next time.

Crazy hair & sock day at school

Don't they look cute?!?!? The week before Spring Break last month the kids have a different theme each day for a week. Today it was crazy hair and sock day!!! Madisen was a lot more open to the crazy hair idea this year than last. Last year she was all embarassed and I had to "fix" her hair before she got on the bus. This year she went all out and had hair pretties everywhere in her hair. It took forever to find them all and take them out that night!

As for Trent, he just didn't comb his hair and that was supposedly crazy enough for him. I told him that that was a regular thing with him but oh well. As for the socks those are his old baseball socks that are thigh high. By midafternoon he had rolled them down to his ankles because they were so hot.

Crazy kiddos.

Maddie just being CUTE

I had to include this picture of Madisen. She wanted me to take this picture of her a month or so ago just before school because it was a new outfit and she couldn't wait to wear it! It was starting to get warm here but not warm enough for shorts so she could only wear the tank top and cropped jacket. It didn't take too long to get warm(er) here though and she was wearing the shorts in a few weeks after this.

She seems so grown up these days but she's not too old to still give Brian and me great big hugs and kisses!

Love you, Madisen...

Shooting range w/ the boys

The boys, aka Trent, Brian, Bapa and Uncle Jon headed out for the day at the shooting range by the house to try out Trent's new rifle he got at Christmas. The girls, aka Madisen, Nana and me stayed back at our house and gave each other pedicures since I didn't think Madisen would like all the shooting. Too loud for her...

Trent was so excited to finally get to try out his rifle. This was the first time he had ever used one so he had the best teacher, Bapa, show him the ropes. From these pictures that Brian took I'm not sure who had more fun the student or the teacher. :)

Trent came home with a piece of a 'clay pigeon' as proof that he hit his target. He was so proud of himself and I know that Bapa was too.

It was a great boys day out doing boy stuff. And the girls had fun doing girlie stuff too!

The Newager....

Trent had an "inventor's convention" back in January. Each student in the 4th grade had to invent something, make a model of it and write a report. They then put them on display one night at the school to present and/or demostrate to their parents, family and friends. Trent, as you can see, decided to dress professionally. Isn't he the most handsome inventor you've ever seen?!?!

His invention..."The Newager". It's basically a remote control where you can type in whatever you want and it will produce it. As Trent says, you never have to leave the house. You can make food, toys, furniture, games, electronics, even MONEY! I told him if there was such a thing I would be first in line to buy it!!! :) He has such an imagination.

He did a really great job on his model and took his teacher's writing advise and worked on his creative writing. He wrote, if I had my own company their motto would be "with this, money looks like bugs on a windshield." His teacher loved it and he got an "A" on the report and project.

We're so proud of you, Trent. You work so hard in school and are an excellent student. Good job and nice tie too!

Madisen loves gymnastics!

At the beginning of the year we asked Madisen if she wanted to get back into gymnastics after a very long hiatus and she couldn't wait for classes to begin. Since Trent's baseball schedule didn't include Saturday morning games we decided to go then. She took classes from January until the beginning of April. At first she was her typical shy-bug self in a new environment with new "friends" but after two classes she came out of her shell. She had a great time and at the end of each session she had a performance and received certificate awards. Her favorites are the balance beam, cartwheels, candlestick and somersaults.

It was so cute to watch her do her routines as she made a point to look for us and make sure we were watching her. :) She definitely improved each and every week.

We're taking a break for now since we will be going on vacation soon and would miss two classes out of the six they have each sesson. We usually take the summers off from sports and Scouts anyway and replace them with summer camp (to keep them busy while we're at work) and swim lessons not to mention, we hope, a few getaways here and there throughout the summer.

I'm finally back!

I'm sure you all know the reason for my 2 1/2 month absent from our family blog but if not I have two words for you, TAX SEASON! :) It finally ended last Tuesday at 2PM. My boss took us out to celebrate and then I went home to relax! We took Wednesday off, worked Thursday and then we took Friday off as well (paid holiday!). Whew, my 16th tax season under my belt.

The kids had Friday off from school (Spring Recess or something ridiculous that the school district made up) so my Brownie leader and I decided to make that the day we took the girls out to spend some of the money they earned selling cookies. They voted on ice skating and lunch! Trent came along too since I couldn't leave him at home all day by himself. All the kids had a great time. It was the first time going ice skating for Madisen, I think the second time for Trent and about three decades since I was on a pair of ice skates!! The kids did really well. I was surprised how easily Madisen got up and out to the middle of the rink and didn't hug the wall at all. I was even more surprised that I got out there, didn't hug the wall AND didn't fall once. It was a lot of fun and we almost made it out of there without any major boo-boo's until the last five minutes. Madisen fell really hard and landed on her arm. She got a really nasty looking bruise just above her elbow (a big goose egg!) but luckily she could bend her arm and wrist just fine. Whew, no urgent care to end our day.

I didn't realize we had an ice rink so close to us. Brian really wants to go so we'll probably have many more adventures there in the future as a family.

Well, I would like to play catch up on the blog with some of the fun (yes, we did fit in a few fun activities between all the tax returns) things we've done.

More to come...

Hannah Montana Concert!

Tuesday night Madisen and I went to the Hannah Montana concert which included Ally and AJ. It was one of her Christmas gifts. We missed out on getting tickets back in November for her birthday. The tickets sold out in like 32 seconds or something ridiculous. Last month when I got back from a business seminar in Dallas Brian told me that she was coming back to Phoenix and the tickets were going on sale the next morning when I returned. I sat at my computer continuously refreshing the page until we finally got two tickets!! We decided it was going to be a "girls' night out" instead of a family outing since I could only get the two. One of Trent's Christmas gifts was tickets to go to the Super Motorcross a couple of weeks ago so they had their own "boys' night out".

Madisen got all decked out in her new Hannah Montana shirt and boots from Christmas. I got off work early to beat the traffic and the crowds and I'm so glad I did. We had dinner at Johnny Rockets and then headed over to the arena. It was definitely a lot to take in but I know Madisen loved every minute of it. They had a huge tour bus out in front and I took her picture in front of it (2nd picture). Then we went around the corner and they had this cardboard cut out of Miley Cyrus (aka Hannah Montana) set up for pictures as well. Madisen loves this picture because she says it looks like she's really standing by her. :)

Once I got a few pictures we of course had to buy a few (too many) souvenirs! hee hee Well, it's not like we'll be going to another concert anytime soon. Madisen's picks....a T-shirt, concert lanyards, book bag and a memory book. We also got a light-up "wand" for Trent.

We had a few minutes to spare before the show started so we went upstairs to find our seats. I was pretty surprised at what great seats we had. There really wasn't a bad seat in the place. Ally & AJ came out first and sang for about 30 minutes. I only knew one or two songs of theirs but Madisen seemed to know more. They were really great. The lights came on and we had a 15-20 minute intermission and then "Hannah Montana" came out. She put on an incredible show! Madisen was singing to every single song, dancing and waving her light the entire time. I think Hannah sang for about 45 minutes including a couple of songs with Ally and AJ and then she did the rest of the show as Miley Cyrus. Again, Madisen knew all the songs and I just enjoyed watching her have so much fun!

The show lasted for about 2 1/2 hours and well worth the price! It was a great girls' night out and I hope Madisen and I have many more to come.

I'm so glad you had so much fun and enjoyed your Christmas gift, Madisen. The smile on your face was my gift. :)

More pictures from Flagstaff

More pictures of us enjoying the snow in Flagstaff! Such a fun time.

Snow fun in Flagstaff

This past weekend Brian decided he wanted to head up to Flagstaff to play in the snow with the kids. So we headed up Saturday night, bought a few snow clothes for the kids, went to dinner and stayed at a motel for the night. Sunday morning we got up and headed to a designated snow play area. Trent and Madisen were so excited to go sledding, make a snowman, make snow angels and have snowball fights.

We couldn't believe how long it's been since we've gone up north during the winter when there's actually snow. I think Madisen was only about two years old so over five years since our last outing!! It was a beautiful day, the sun was out and it actually wasn't too cold. It was only cold when the wind picked up here and there throughout the day.

At first Madisen had to have someone help her each time she went down the hills but after a while she got the hang of it. They got going pretty fast on some of them and got some air on a few of the dips! I decided to try my hand at it a couple of times with each of the kids but I stayed to the small hills. Madisen braved going down a really huge hill with Daddy and got a face full of snow. She wasn't too happy and she didn't go down that one again. :(

Brian realized after a few times that we just aren't as young as we used to be and called it quits after a few runs!! We were both pretty sore the next day. At least he got to stay home and work since the kids were off of school for the holiday but I had to go into the office.

After sledding for a while we found a spot to make a snowman. Actually there was one already started for us and Madisen found a couple of carrots in the snow to use for him. He was a pretty sad looking snowman but they had fun making him. The snow was too "airy" to make snowballs or a snowman so they changed gears and made a few snow angels instead.

We were out there for almost five hours. I couldn't believe the kids had lasted that long!! We were heading out but found a couple new runs that the kids wanted to try. They were having a blast but the last time Trent went down this one he landed face first into the snow. At first I just thought he was being silly and reacting to the run but then this lady said she saw blood so of course I freaked out. Luckily he only had a bloody nose and didn't take out any of his permanent teeth. He tried that in baseball at the end of last season when he used his face instead of his glove to catch the ball, ouch(!) but that's another story....

Even though the day ended badly we all had a lot fun overall! It's so nice to only be less than two hours away from the forest and can enjoy cooler weather especially in the summers. The kids can't wait to go back really soon.

Girl Scout Cookies!!!!

January is really getting away from me. It's already been over two weeks since my original posts. I need to play catch up over the next couple of days to share what's been happenin' here. :)

Madisen had a lot of fun being a Girl Scout Daisy last year in Kindergarten that she decided to continue this year. I am still the co-leader of her troop too. She has had lots of fun earning patches, going on field trips and last November we got to go up to Prescott for Encampment 2007. The girls were too young to stay overnight at the camp but they were able to go up for the day to enjoy the fun activities including hiking, swaps, singing songs, and having a campfire and making yummy Smores. This picture of her is from that day wearing her bandanna filled with all of her swaps. I think the swaps were her favorite part of the day! The girls can't wait until 3rd grade so they'll be allowed to stay at the camp all weekend.

This year Madisen is a Brownie which means she can sell Girl Scout cookies!! :) She started selling a little over a week ago and has already sold over 80 boxes thanks to family, friends, neighbors and co-workers. She's already passed her personal goal so I guess we'll have to raise it to the next level. Hint, hint to any of you she hasn't hit up for cookies yet. hee hee

Madisen's 7th birthday - 11/8/07

I can't believe Madisen is 7 years old! Where has the time gone?!?! Madisen had her cake picked out for months and had specific requests this year which her Bapa happily obliged. We picked out the Tinkerbell cake pan and then her request...chocolate cake with chocolate chips! It was really moist and yummy. Bapa did a GREAT job.

Madisen decided to have her party at the bowling alley like we did for Trent's 9th birthday. She invited seven of her girlfriends and Bapa, Uncle Jon and Aunt Pam came to help her celebrate as well. Unfortunately, Nana was in the rehab center and couldn't make it so I made sure to take lots and lots of pictures, especially of the cake, for her to enjoy later.
Some of Madisen's birthday wishes this year were a PINK (of course) scooter, cooking stuff which included a cute apron, chef's hat, cooking utensils and a cookbook as well as dolls, games and arts and crafts stuff!

Her and her friends had a lot of fun bowling, eating pizza and hanging out!

Madisen waiting to blow out her candles while everyone sings "Happy Birthday" to her. Make a wish, baby! I hope they all come true. Mommy and Daddy love you very much.

Trent's 10th birthday - 9/27/07

Since I just started this blog, and the whole purpose was to share pictures with family and friends I thought I would go back to include the kids' birthdays and some of the holidays from last year. I can't believe Trent is the big 1-0 (double digits)!! He actually had two parties this year. He really wanted to have a sleepover this year. So, he got to invite 5 to 6 friends over and they had pizza, played games and set up the huge tent in the backyard to sleep in. The boys had a blast! Even Brian and Madisen set up the little tent and crashed next to the boys' big tent. I was smart and slept in my own comfy bed in the house. :) By 1PM the next day Brian and I were out for the count. We were exhausted but everyone had a great time.





We celebrated with my parents (Nana & Bapa) and Jon and Pam the following weekend. We had a nice dinner and my Dad aka "The Cake Maker" made another one of his "one of kind" cakes! This year is the "year of Pokemon" for Trent so he chose one of his favorite characters, Pikachu for my Dad to make. He absolutely loved it!

We decided to get Trent his big birthday wish...a Nintendo DS! Of course, when he saw the gift he knew what it was before he unwrapped (something he gets from his Uncle Jon)! Hence, the over-the-top reaction to his gift in the first picture. The little stinker! My parents and Jon and Pam each gave him his other birthday wishes which were Pokemon games!

Happy birthday, Trent! Mommy and Daddy love you very much but could you do us a favor? Stop growing up so fast! :)

Still More Christmas!

Two more pictures from Christmas...here is Madisen sporting her new robe with Nana and Bapa. It was quite the hit and a perfect gift from them.

After opening gifts we enjoyed yummy food and watched a movie. We had a wonderful day just spending time with our family. Along with my parents and Jon and Pam, Brian's Uncle Steve and Aunt Marie also came over to enjoy Christmas with us. It was so nice to visit with them. They just moved here and are now officially what we in AZ call "snow birds". :)

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday and Happy New Year.

More of Christmas Day!

Here's Madisen with her gifts from Grandma B. THANKS Grandma B for the Barbie and fun clothes! I am having fun playing with her and dressing her up.

Here are pictures of Aunt Pam & Uncle Jon getting some love from Tigger! I couldn't resist taking these pictures as Tigger was in one of her moods. She just loves to bury her head into long hair, rub up against everyone and give kitty hugs. We have to keep a close eye on Aunt Pam though because she wants to "steal" Tigger from us! :)