Easter Greetings

Cal Lutheran had spring break this week, but the kids have next week off, so we treated this week pretty much like any other week until the weekend. Then we celebrated!

Monday was the same old routine without any meetings at CLU. The kids performed their gymnastics as usual in the afternoon. Later in the day, we discovered a restaurant called Freddy’s, a 1950s style diner in Westlake Village. They have a burger called the Double Steakburger California Style whose description suspiciously matches In-N-Out’s Double Double. Hmm. We’ll have to go back and investigate. . . .

During the day Tuesday, Landon and Eliza went with Mom to participate in Lego Club.

Tuesday evening brought the Blue and Gold Dinner for Landon’s Cub Scout pack. The theme of the evening was recycling, so the kids brought materials to repurpose as part of the after-dinner festivities.

Wednesday, we added a little bit back to our routine by walking Roxy again. About two weeks ago, right after the dog escaped from Hallie, the grandma where Roxy lives passed away. Eliza and Hallie were happy to be walking Roxy once again. Walking Roxy has been so beneficial in helping Hallie shed these pesky pounds.

Eliza decided she wanted to do art on Thursday, so that’s what she did. The spot must have felt so natural we caught her up there another day in the week.

Thursday evening was divide and conquer. For the last twelve weeks, Hallie has attended a class called Options through Kaiser Permanente. During the class the goal for all of the students was to lose 10% of the total body weight. Hallie reached that major milestone on the very last night of class. 25 pounds gotten rid of! We are now waiting for Dr. Billy’s office to call for Hallie’s pre-op appointment.

While Mom was out, Dad took the kids to a carnival at Eliza’s school. Every year Eliza’s school has a carnival fundraiser, and this is the first year the family has attended. The kids had a lot of fun, and it was a perfect night to be outside.

Mike let last year’s lettuce go to seed, and those seeds have unexpectedly borne fruit in the gravel area of the yard beneath the potted plants. In addition, we have new green peppers on last year’s pepper plant. Plus the orange trees are in bloom. Must be time to get the garden going in earnest!

Nom nom nom

Mom and Dad ran Landon’s spring break party at school on Friday. We made the same graham cracker bird houses as last year: go with a winner, right?  This may be the last year Hallie does the Room Mom thing for a while. The kids are so cute, but a lot of time goes into these little parties.

After helping clean the church on Saturday, Mike took a scenic drive along the coast to Malibu for work. The kids were supposed to help Mom do some cleaning, but everyone slept in and got a slow start, so cleaning didn’t happen until later, and a planned Easter-themed outing got put off for next year. Hallie has found sleep hard to come by lately when a certain-five-year-old decides to put her feet in her mom’s face or ribs. The evening held meetings for the family. The kids attended missionary meeting with Dad, and Mom went with her visiting teacher to the General Women’s Broadcast at the Camarillo Stake Center.

Sunday brought Easter. It was a nice morning with Mike not having to go to meetings and Hallie heading to choir without having to bring the kids. They launched balloon rockets and shot at each other with Nerf guns instead of hunting for eggs. All righty, then. 

Today we had fast and testimony meeting with the kids Easter song sprinkled in and the ward choir singing the closing number. The day was ended with Hallie teaching Relief Society. If you would like to see the talk then feel free to click on this link.

The Relief Society Sisters are so kind and give a word of encouragement after Hallie teaches. In the evening Grandpa and Grandma O., Haydn, and Alie came over for Easter dinner and festivities. 

Many Mom’s Days Out

Hallie had the kids out of the house a bit more than usual this week. Part of this was due to fun activities, and part of this was due to Mike being sick.

Landon has done a lot of word searches in class this year. He made his own Ninjago-themed one to challenge us.

On Monday Hallie got a subdermal injection as part of her preparations for her surgery. The bruising is taking its sweet time to heal, and her arm looks like Grandma Landon’s used to after she would run into something. Thank you Carrie Taylor for babysitting Thing 1 and Thing 2 and taking them to gymnastics so we could get everything taken care of on such a crazy day.

Nice compression bandage, eh? 

Eliza has created a menagerie of animals as part of her class’s zoo theme.

On Tuesday, it was mostly the same old run around with the added fun of having Landon’s friend Tyler over to the house before the boys headed to Lego Club. In the evening our ward’s Relief Society had an activity, and Landon had Scouts. Hallie made Lemon Butter Chicken to take to thee activity and was given a ride by Courtney, who she visit teaches. Our ward is amazing, and we had a great time with all of the sisters celebrating the birthday of Relief Society.

California has amazing weather, but even here it is not always 80 degrees in March. Hallie decided to seize the day and took the kids to the beach on Wednesday. Yes, they ditched a bit of school, but it was a great 2½ hours in the sun for the three of them. After the beach the kids headed to gymnastics and other errands. In the evening while Mike was working, the kids and Hallie met up with some if the leaders from our ward to help with a Young Men and Young Women activity held at the Camarillo Premium Outlets. The activity was called Where’s Waldo? Everyone involved had a lot of fun, and the kids played along perfectly. By the time we got home, all four of us were really tired.

Thursday was girl fun! Hallie and Eliza met up with Hallie’s friend Shirley, and we went for a walk. Hallie has met some great friends in her bariatric class, and she is so grateful for the support during this new venture. After the walk, the three ladies went for a pedicure in Moorpark. Shirley never had a pedicure before, and Hallie made her realize how much she has been missing out. In the evening Hallie attended her second to last Options Class through Kaiser Permanente preparing her for bariatric surgery. 23.5 pounds down, and things are moving in a good direction for Hallie.

The kids went to Carrie’s house while Hallie was in class. By the end of the day, all her activity tuckered Eliza out. She fell asleep while we ran errands on Friday, a rarer thing as she gets older. 

Hallie has joined some great Facebook groups since moving here, and one recently let her in on a great deal for nails. It doesn’t hurt that the salon is at the end of the street where the beach is.  She had her nails done in the morning. In the evening, we sent the kids to Victory Nite and had a little date. Have we told you lately how much we like where we send the kids to gymnastics? If you ever want a referral, Victory Gymnastics Academy is the place to send them. Victory Nite, where the kids play for three hours, eat pizza, and have the time of their lives, is a great benefit. Mike was not feeling very well, so the adults did not party quite like the kids.  

He continued sick with a sore throat and aches for the rest of the weekend, and Hallie and the kids stayed as far away as possible.

Hallie took Landon to the 2016 SoCal State Gymnastics Championships on Saturday. Having a gymnastics meet in Simi Valley was awesome and it was great fun to cheer on Landon’s teammates and to witness what could be for our young one next year.  Landon was a good sport and hung with Hallie while she ran errands and attended a baby shower. Landon wasn’t too disappointed when the guest of honor told him to fill himself up a bag of treats from the baseball-themed shower.

In the early evening, Hallie and the kids walked to the park so Landon could hit a few baseballs around. Eliza found an abandoned shopping cart and had so much fun pushing it around while they were at the park. The evening was spent watching old Scooby Doo episodes, which the kids love!

Sunday brought choir practice in the morning for Hallie before church. Choir meets at the Brown’s house, and the kids love it because there are tons of fun toys and some great dogs for them to play with. We are thankful to all of the Browns and Norgards who keep an eye on them while Mike goes to meetings and Hallie sings. You know, it really does take a village. Today was ward conference. All the meetings were great, and the Spirit was present. The girls took pictures of each other before heading out. 

After church, the kids and Hallie headed to a park for a little hike. Although Eliza forgot her shoes and they had to come back home to retrieve them, the hike proved to be a good thing. The weather was perfect, and Eliza even saw three horses, which made her really happy.

Another week has come and gone, and we are so grateful to all of those who make each and every week fun, crazy, and enjoyable.

Rain, Routines, and a Time Out

We didn’t get as much rain in February as we’d hoped, so we appreciated some March rain this week. Not a lot of photos, but a fair amount of activity over the weekend. 

Tuesday Hallie had her last doctor appointment before meeting with surgeons. Technically she has to “graduate” from class also, but that is just being a warm body in a classroom for the next several Thursdays. At this doctor’s appointment they weighed her, and she had successfully met her 10% weight loss goal. What a great achievement for Hallie! The family is so excited for her.

Thursday brought a bit o’fun. Hallie and her mom did a little bit of shopping and picked up Eliza from school. The kids find it fun whenever Mom brings someone with her to pick them up. In the evening Hallie and the other participants in her nutrition class had to walk together for 15 minutes. The little activity was silly, but they made it fun by adding music and making sure everyone made it through the 15 minutes with happy hearts.

Thursday night into Friday morning, we got some welcome rain. It keeps the hills green and the wildflowers in bloom. So nice! The winter weather has made for really big strawberries. Yum! 

Hallie and some ladies from our ward attended Time Out forWomen over the weekend. Friday Hallie and Julia hit the road for the Long Beach Convention Center at 3:00 pm and made it 2½ hours later. The talks and music were great, and getting to know someone better was well worth the trip. In a whole convention center full of people, the ladies ran into the Brown/Norgard family. The ladies all sat together and had a lot of fun.

Mike had the kids from Friday through Saturday, which meant the kids ran the house. On Saturday morning, they went to rePlanet to recycle a bunch of the cans and bottles Landon has collected. He made close to $50 for scout camp! At about 5¢ each can or bottle, around 1,000 filled up the garage and KIA, and it took a while to put them all—one by one—into the feeder. Perhaps that’s why the recyclers suggest a 50 unit limit. We still have two huge bags and more to come. Thanks to all who have contributed to the cause!

Sunday started off a bit crazy with Daylight Savings Time, Hallie preparing a talk, Mike going to meetings, Hallie having choir, and church. 

Once sacrament meeting started and Hallie presented her talk, we could all take a deep breath and relax for the rest of the day. Hallie enjoyed a bit of a chat with Grandma Dorey and Diamond in the afternoon.