She's a Natural

Joey and I always knew that our children would most likely not be athletic. I am the opposite of graceful and Joey is the opposite of athletic. As The Phi gets older we are realizing that we were right. She is not a natural at soccer or baseball. She is clumsy like her Mom and loves TV like her Dad. She has never shown an interest in any sports besides dance classes here and there. 

The Phi is almost 7 years old and watching her grow into her own is something incredible to witness. Despite her lack of athleticism, there are 2 things that she is a natural at. The first is yoga. When I was pregnant with Lou I started doing a pre-natal yoga class. Phi joined me and loved it. We took a family yoga class and she was so amazingly good it was funny. There I was trying to get my pregnant body into a pose while my little girl was in a perfect downward dog. 

Over this past weekend we found the second thing that Phi is a natural at. 

Fishing.

The Phi had been asking to go fishing at Nana & Tata's house and on Sunday she got her wish. I was still getting ready so my parents took the girls down to the reservoir. Joey and I were not more than 10 minutes behind them. But in those 10 minutes my Pops had taught The Phi how to fish. When we got there I stared at her with my jaw on the floor. She was fishing like she had been doing it her whole life. 

Seriously. Check it.

My Pops has always been a big fisherman. When I was little there was not much that could get me out of bed at the crack of dawn. Except a fishing trip with my Pops. I loved going fishing at the marina with him. We would get donuts and hot chocolate. I loved these trips. What I loved most was that I got to spend some time with my Pops. Just me and him. 

I love my Pops so much. He has always been there for me and my sisters with anything and everything we ever needed. The Phi adores her Tata. In her eyes he is a billionaire who can make or fix anything. And really isn't that how kids should see their Grandfathers. 

We spent some time in the sun out at the reservoir. The weather was perfect and I forgot how much I liked to fish too.

Flip or as he is sometimes called iGone. 

Since we were there in the middle of the day the fish were not biting. Except for Mom. She was the only one to catch a fish! 

So The Phi has found a new hobby. Since this day she has already purchased her own fishing pole. You should have seen her at the store. She had to hold and "try" each and every pole to find the right now for her. She also got a pink tackle box with some hooks and lures. She is all ready for her next fishing trip!

This week we start yoga classes.

Vegas Baby!

Since I have known Joey once and awhile he will mutter "I want to go to Vegas". The Phi has always had this slight obsession with hotels and casinos. With The Phi having a week long mid-winter break (wtf?) we decided it was time for the first ever family trip to Las Vegas. I had never been to Las Vegas with kids. The last time I was there I went club hopping with my friend Jackie. (Jackie and I now swap braiding techniques for our girls hair. Oh how times change). When I told my boss I was taking a few days off she laughed. "Taking the kids....to Vegas!" 

I made the mistake of telling The Phi 3 weeks before the trip that we were going. I was forced to hear "VEGAS BABY!" no more than 100000 times a day. To make it worse, or even more adorable, there was Lou right behind her yelling "BABY!". The Phi and Joey were so stoked about this trip. Phi even checked out a travel book about Vegas and slept with it. They were beyond excited. 

They day finally arrived and we were off! The drive there was not too bad. About 4 hours. We stopped in Baker, Ca to experience The Mad Greek. Then before we knew it we were checking into Circus Circus and the girls were jumping on beds. 

After settling in we headed out to Fremont Street. Vegas, old school style! I had never been there and it was a very cool place. A giant screen above you complete with zip-line. Little shops and of course casinos! 

After wandering Fremont Street and people commenting on Joey's beard. (One dude even yelled "ZZ Top!") we decided to eat at the Fremont Casino buffet. While in line an older couple was ahead of us. After we paid for our meal we noticed money on the floor. The Phi picked it up and it was a $50.00 (ironically the same amount we had just paid to eat!). I told her it was the couple ahead of us. She walked up to the man tapped him and handed him the money. The women opened her wallet and confirmed she had dropped the $50.00. They were so grateful they gave The Phi $5.00. And that was the only money we won the whole time we were there. 

The next day started with yet another buffet. Lou and Phi loved them. Lou apparently was storing fruit loops in her cheeks for later. 

Then we spent the next 5 HOURS walking the strip. We drove to the MGM Grand and walked up to Caesers and back down. My children were complete troopers. No complaining and the both had a good time. The best part was watching The Phi just take it all in. She was in awe of everything. 

Outside of Caesars there was this temple. The Phi has a pretty tight connection with God and when she sees a chance to pray she always does. It's just her. 

We cruised the Forum shops for a while. I took more pictures on this trip than I had in a long time. It was awesome. 

The Bellagio lobby is my favorite. It is stunning! This is the ceiling. 

While walking through the lobby we had a celebrity sighting! I noticed a giant blond man in leather and I finally recognized him as Dogg the Bounty Hunter. And of course with him was Beth. I was stunned and grabbed Joey's arm and was like "OMG It's Dogg the Bounty Hunter!!" I had my camera around my neck but by the time I snapped a pic this was all I got. 

We headed back to the hotel and rested for a few. Then we headed back down to eat some pizza. On the way there The Phi and I were walking and Joey and Lou were behind us. (Lou walks SO SLOW!). A groups of girls stopped Joey and gushed over Lou. One of them just gave her this stuffed cow. Oh what it must be like to be Lou!

After some surprisingly good pizza, we headed out to catch the fountain show at the Bellagio. 

I love this picture of Joey. Of course he hates it.

We headed back to the room and I sent Joey out on a hunt for margaritas while I got the girls ready for bed. He came back with margaritas with test tube shots of tequila. He wanted to mix them in the drinks. That's no fun so I made him shoot it. Yup that's right. I was the fun one! 

The next day we packed up and headed to the Adventuredome so The Phi could ride a few rides. 

Then we stopped at the worlds biggest souvenir shop and the next thing we knew we were leaving Las Vegas. 

We drove from Vegas to Santa Barbara and man is that a long ass drive. 

This trip has been 8 years in the making and well worth the wait. We all had a great time. On the drive back I told Joey "Do you realize that Louella did not cry once this entire trip?" Well she is making up for it now with her 2 hour screaming fits at bedtime. Luckily we have the Vegas memories to keep us happy. 

Of course The Phi filmed an episode of her show and YOU HAVE TO go and see it....

CLICK HERE FOR THE VEGAS EPISODE OF THE SOPHIA & FAMILY ADVENTURE SHOW! 

IRL

This blog started as a way to keep my family updated on all things we were up to. As a great big bonus we have met some amazing people and made some real friends along the way.

Last week we met up with Jan and Bob. Jan had send me the last 2 books of the Hunger Games Trilogy and we decided to finally meet IRL (in real life) when it was time to give them back!

  Jan has been reading this here ol' blog for awhile now. And I have been reading hers for a while now too! She always leaves us nice comments and even sends the girls really super awesome surprises! Books, and dolls and even the most beautiful home-made quilt for Lou.

Jan's blogs are creative, fun and interesting. And after a 3 hour meal we found that Jan and Bob are super awesome interesting people. They live a life filled with books and many, many adventures. They reminded us of us! Bob was the quiet type (Joey!) and Jan is the talker (Me!). They have 2 daughters (Umm Phi and Lou! Hello!) And then we found out that we drive the same kind of car!

We are already looking forward to out next meet up!

Click Here to find one of Jan's blogs!

Cool Photo Trick!

Stare at the red dot for 30 seconds. 

Then look up at the ceiling, blinking rapidly. 

Rad huh? 

I saw this cool trick over at Living Locurto! 

The Phi's New Clothes

The other night I cleaned out The Phi's closet. Since she wears a uniform to school we never really buy her any clothes. This became apparent when after taking out all the size 4-5 clothes she was left was very very little. The next day we hit the mall and did our best to add a little to her closet.

CLICK HERE to see the most amazing fashion show ever!!!

Know When To Go

This news story hit home for me this week. I believe that the pizza place is in the right and that it is sad that parents have to be reminded about these simple kind of courtesy's. 

Here is what happened to us. Every Wednesday I take my kids to a Story and Craft Hour at the local library. This program is geared toward kids 5-9 and younger siblings are welcome. This past Wednesday there was a larger than normal group of kids and there were 2 families there that just didn't know when to call it a day and leave. First there was a Mom with 4 kids. The younger boys were just not able to sit still while the story was being read. They were spinning, talking, at one point one was literally trying to climb the wall. A complete distraction. The Mom alternated between doing 2 things, crocheting and packing up the kids (talk about distracting) and heading out the door only to come back in a few minutes later. She seriously did this 3 times.

And she was not the worst offender. There was a Dad there was his little girl who looked to be about 3 years old. She would not sit in one place. She kept talking, getting up and wandering to the craft tables. The librarian had to repeatedly stop the story to ask the little girl to sit down and be quiet. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the Dad’s reaction to all this made it a million times worse. He scolded the little girl over and over. He also does not know how to whisper because he was so loud. He threatened her with leaving about 25456 times. He would grab her and wrestle her into a sitting position on the floor. He was literally chasing her around the tables and even hit her a few times. This made the little girl angrier and eventually lead to tears. All this while the poor librarian was trying to read to the kids. And my poor kid was obviously uncomfortable with the whole situation. It was a total utter mess.

This pizza place I feel has the right idea. They understand that kids are going to be noisy and will sometimes cry but there is a difference between normal behavior and out of your control behavior. When your child has crossed the line and it being distracting to everyone around them and you cannot control them you have reached a new level. As the parent you need to deal with the situation and be respectful of the people around you.

My Mom always jokes that I was such a pain in public as a baby that they just didn’t go anywhere. With my kids I took a different approach. I felt that in order for them to learn how to behave in public, they needed to be in public places. We have always taken our kids everywhere. But if my child's behavior is beyond the normal and I cannot control her I immediately leave the situation. I didn’t threaten to leave a million times. I just leave.  I can remember a grocery shopping trip where my daughter would not stop crying and yelling. Probably for cookies. When I realized that I had lost control, I immediately took her from the cart and left my full cart in the aisle and left the store.

Watching this Dad chase around his kid made me so angry. I felt that my kid, and the other kids who were sitting quietly, were getting gipped because this parent did not have the sense to realize that his child was not ready for such a structured setting. That his reaction was making everyone around him uncomfortable. I wanted to say something. I wanted to say “I don’t think your daughter is ready for this. Maybe you should leave, take her home and talk to her about how to behave in this kind of situation and try coming back in a few weeks.” Of course I didn't. But I wanted to.

What do you think about how these pizza place handled the situation? How to you handle your kids in public? How do you handle other people's out of control kids?

Valentine's Day Rewind

It was a day of showering my people with love! The Phi was super excited to take the treats her Daddy made to school. To say they were a hit is an understatement. When I picked her up from school 3 teachers swarmed me to tell me how good they were!

I also slipped a card and small heart box of chocolates into The Phi's lunch box. Joey and I also had a rose delivered to her classroom.

I had been sick for the past 2 days so I slept most of the day away. About 1:30 we got a call from Joey's Dad that he was on his way out. He had some Valentine's day treats for the girls! He brought some boxes of conversation hearts, singing glowing teddy bears and pack after pack of kit-kats. (He had overhead The Phi trade a snickers for a kit-kat once!) Then Grandpa took us out for a late lunch!

We wish we could have spent more time with Grandpa Bobo but The Phi had her church school so off we went. There The Phi got even more treats and cards! Then we headed out to a little local pizza place for dinner and more gifts!

The Phi opened her gift to find a new pack of nail polishes!

Lou liked her Scooby-Doo card! 

The Phi also got some new fuzzy owl pajama pants!

A new Monster Truck for our little Monster. She also got a pair of Elmo pajamas!

Since I had been sick poor Joey only got a heart box of kit-kats. Which are also his favorite! 

My Phi gave me such an awesome and cool card. It even came with a button that says "UR GR8!" 

The girls got to put on their new PJ's! 

As for me...well Joey got me this......

Because my man knows there is nothing sexier than a clean mouth! 

100 Day and How We Couldn't Top Last Year

Last year for 100 day at school The Phi took THIS 

I racked my brain and could not come up without anything that could top that. We decided to make a poster of 100 places The Phi has been. At dinner one night we came up with the list. Then I found and printed pictures of all the places. I made 3x3 collages and added the name of the place. The Phi decided on a red poster board. Joey cut the pictures out, The Phi added glue and I placed them on the board. We added some heart shaped maps and called it a day. It was an awesome family project. While we worked we were able to talk about each place and reminisce.

 

Joey and I would take the girls to see the world if we could. We were both happy to see this board filled with all these places. In 6 short years we have made so many beautiful memories with our Phi. 

Love Love Love

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. 

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height  

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight 

For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.  

 How lucky can one girl be?

My 3 Valentine's are amazing.

3 beautiful, amazing souls.

They are mine all mine!

Kisses & Hugs

 

Copying Lili's Hair

The other day my sister sent me a picture of my god-daughter Lili's hair. After seeing it on Pinterest my sister put 3 cute hearts in Lili's hair. Since Lili has gorgeous silky straight hair, I thought for sure it wouldn't work on my curly wild hair kids. I looked on-line and found THIS tutorial. (This site is so great for hairstyles!) I was surprised to see how easy the hearts were and decided to try them myself. So after bath time I gave it a try.

For The Phi I just pulled all her hair into one ponytail and the results were not so bad.

Her hair is so heavy I would have to pin it so it keeps its shape. Next time I would either do 2 on each side, or just one the side.

This is so simple and quick I was even able to do it on Lou's hair.

A perfect hair-do for Valentines Day!