Our First Trip to Disneyland!

Thanks to Mommy's friend from college, we got to go to Disneyland!  We did not tell Gracie and Lucas until this morning that we were going to Disneyland.  They went to  bed and thought they were going to school.  But, when we woke them up, we surprised them with the news that we were going to Disneyland.  Mommy made them both new hats for the day (it was chilly in the morning, thank goodness!).

Surprise!  We are going to Disneyland!

Erika met us at the front gates and took us inside for our first trip to the Magical Kingdom. She was so excited to meet Gracie and Lukie and Mommy was very happy to see her.  Thank you, Erika!

Gracie, Erika, and Lukie

We rode lots of rides.  The first, of course, was the Disneyland Tram.  Lukie asked Mommy if we were on a roller coaster.

Our first ride: The Disneyland Tram wearing the hats Mommy made for us!

Once inside, we started with Small World (Lukie was nervous about the boat).  We also road on Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain (times 2!), the Tea Cups (for Gracie), the train, Star Tours, Roger Rabbit, and Buzz Lightyear. Then, we made our way over to California Adventure and rode the Mater ride, hung out in Bugs World (and rode lots of things twice), rode the Little Mermaid ride.

Even though we did not get to ride everything, we did enough to create lots of fun memories.  One thing Mommy wants to remember forever is to thank Abue Rosi for Gracie and Lukie's gift cards.  Each card had $50 on them and Gracie and Lucas were able to spend their own money without actually carrying money!  Super Fun times!

Lucas - Star of the Week - 2013

Lucas was sick the entire week he was scheduled to be Star of the Week.  He stayed home with Daddy and Abue Rosi.  He simply wasn't feeling well.  Luckily, Mrs. Flores rescheduled his Star of the Week for March 1.  Lukie helped me to design his poster, but he wasn't as picky as Gracie was

Lukie's favorite things include:

Spaghetti and Meatballs

The Chicago Bears

Swimming 

His bike

His sister

Gracie started the presentation with him, but since she could not hold the poster high enough, Mrs. Flores took over.

Lukie with Gracie holding his poster

Lukie presenting his poster

Gracie - Star of the Week - 2013

At Gracie and Lukie's school, each Kindergartner gets to be Star of the Week.  They create a poster of their favorite things, pictures of them at different ages, and then they get to present it to the class and lead the class in the recitation of the months of the year, days of the week, and the dates on the calendar.

February 1 was Gracie's big day.  She worked with me to go through pictures and find all the right ones to tell her story.

Here are some of the highlights:
Her favorite food - bacon
Her favorite number -16
Her favorite book - Pete the Cat
Her favorite color - pink
Her favorite princess - Ariel

Gracie presenting her poster with Mrs. Flores

 Even though I could not be there, Daddy and Tio Freddy did go.  They reported that Gracie did a great job!

Gracie with Tio Freddy (he came to see her presentation)

Travel Town USA

I've lived in Southern California all my life, but there are so many things I have no idea about.  Travel Town is one of them.  If it weren't for a birthday party we attended in early 2010, I would never know Travel Town exists in Los Angeles.

We ended up at Travel Town this trip purely because of traffic.  We had intended to go to the L.A. Zoo, but there was an accident that prevented us from getting there.  Instead, I had Daddy turn the opposite direction and we came across a parking spot just in time.

Travel Town is an amazing place designed for anyone who LOVES trains.  Oh, the trains!  Lucas was in heaven and Gracie was not far behind.  There were big trains and little trains.  Trains that had wheels bigger than Gracie and Lucas combined!  There were trains you could climb on and trains that were off limits.  There was even a train you could ride.

Can you see Lucas and Gracie?  I know it is hard because of the ENORMOUS train wheel.

Gracie loved running inside the passenger car.

Ready to be an engineer.

I think if you let them, Gracie and Lucas could spend all day at Travel Town and never get bored.

Isn't 3 1/2 years old fun?

An Afternoon Suprise

Last week, it was unseasonably hot here. After a week of rainy days, the sun was beating hot on California and I noticed that our grass looked as if the sprinklers had not come on in several days. I was working on the automatic sprinkler system and Gracie and Lukie were playing in the backyard when suddenly, the sprinklers started working.

And you can only guess what happened:

What did sick Mommies do before DVDs?

When I think back to my childhood, I don't remember my mom being sick. I'm not saying she wasn't ever sick! Nope. I just don't remember it. There were 3 of us and I'm sure that when she was sick, we all just played together (or tore the house apart - Since I don't remember it, I have no clue which is true!). I have no idea how she did it.

I've been home since Thursday. At first, I planned to stay home only Thursday to take care of sick Twinsies, but as I headed home Wednesday night a familiar achy, chilly, yucky feeling came over me. Sure enough, when I got home, I had a fever. My fever made me #3 of the Uribes who had fallen sick. I took Tylenol, but it hit hard. I was down for the count.

Someone forgot to tell Gracie and Luke that Mommy was sick, too.

Toddlers can't help being demanding when they are sick. They are little, they want their mommy, they want that cracker - no, that cracker - no, that ONE! When you give it to them, they decide two seconds later that they really didn't want it in the first place and throw whatever it is you just gave them right back at you.

It's frustrating, period. Add to that frustration one sick Mommy and it becomes frustrating, exclamation point!

So what saved me? Elephants, Barney and dinosaurs. Literally.

We watched Barney and had some juice. We watched Ice Age, Dawn of the Dinosaurs, twice and had more juice. We watched Barney's Great Adventure and took naps. We watched Thomas the Tank Engine and ate some Goldfish crackers. We went outside for about 10 minutes before crying brought us back in (Lukie, not me!).

I honestly don't know what I would have done by myself without those DVDs. I was miserable and so were Gracie and Lukie. For some reason, those DVDs helped us get through the worst of it.

So it begs the question: If I lived 40 years ago, before the dawn of DVDs and videos, what would I have done? I was so sick and so unable to function. What did moms do? Seriously. Help me here. I would have locked myself in my room and let my toddlers take care of themselves.

Okay. Maybe not.

All I have to say, whether you believe in letting your kids watch T.V. or not, is Thank You for Elephants, Barney and dinosaurs! Thank You for electricity! Thank You for the T.V.

Thank you!

Go Bears!

We're ready!

Are they?

I'm seriously in love with my new design!

Normally, I wouldn't comment on this, but I am so excited about the new layout I designed that I have to say something. I've been working hard learning how to customize Gracie and Luke's blog so that it will look fun and happy. Some of my designs have been a little off, but this one is so wonderful!

I used a digital scrapbooking kit by a designer named Ellie Lash. All of her designs are so adorable and when I saw this kit, I had to have it. Gracie and Luke are in love with anything that vrooooms, whirs, or honks. All I hear in the car is "Oh, ruck!" when they see a truck. So you can see why I love this one.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

My New Favorite Grocery Store

Last year, my mom mentioned the name of a new store that was opening in Upland. It was called Fresh N Easy. Honestly, I thought it was something like Whole Paycheck (oops!) Foods. I never had any intention of going there. It sounded chi-chi-la-la. I don't have time for places like those.

Interestingly enough, when we moved into our apartment, we realized that our grocery options were limited. There's a Ralph's a few streets up, but they are really expensive. There's a Jons, but I just can't shop at a place that was a Vons, but erased the left part of the V. We were driving around one day and, surprise, there was a Fresh N Easy a few blocks east of our temporary home. We decided to check it out. We needed milk and a few other things. Eddie stayed in the car with Gracie and Lukie and I headed inside.

It was like a grocery wonderland, only with reasonable prices! They had sliced apples for reasonable prices, ready made meals waiting to be heated. The best part was the clearance area. They put food that is a day or so from expiring for sale 50% off or more. I bought the apples, already a great price, for 50% off. I got a chicken burrito, amazing! I got some wonderful garlic red potatoes and a chicken dish for 50% off, too. When I went up to check out, there were no checkers. It was a self-check out. I love those! So, in the end, I bought everything for $13. We had an amazing meal with leftovers for under $6.

Needless to say, I've been back several times. I've learned that Gracie and Luke need to be in their own carts or we have meltdowns. I've also learned to check out the clearance area first because stuff flies out of there. Recently, I saw an ad in the mailbox for Fresh N Easy offering a gallon of milk for $2.09. That seems impossible! I pay $2.14 when I go to Sam's Club and if I am desperate, $3.50 or more at Ralph's. Sure enough, they were seriously selling milk for that price. Even better, they are selling it for $2.09 until March 7th!

This afternoon, Gracie, Lukie and I headed over to buy our milk and look for a chocolate dessert for me for Valentine's Day. We had a great shopping expedition and found a slice of Belgian Chocolate Cake for me in the clearance area. Instead of $4.29, I paid $2.39. (I'm eating it as I write this. It tastes like a million bucks!)

As we were leaving, I saw something I never noticed before. Four of the parking spots right outside the door had this sign in front of them:

The sign reads: Reserved Parking - Adults with Children

On the pavement was this image:

I don't know how I never noticed that! My twin mom friends and I have been talking forever about the need for Moms with little kids parking spots. The fact that Fresh N Easy actually has them makes me want to be even more loyal to them.

Eventually, we will get to move back to our house. But I'll still be shopping at the Fresh N Easy. Even if I have to drive 12 miles to get there.

Slippery Fish

Do you know who Charlotte Diamond is? I didn't either until the day Gracie and Lukie's Day Care teachers had them demonstrate their "dancing" ability to the song "Octopus" by Charlotte Diamond. They played this music and sang a song and the Twinies gyrated their hips and flailed their arms all to the beat of the Slippery Fish Song. The next day, I downloaded it from iTunes in English and Spanish!

We have since discovered that the Slippery Fish song is a magical song. It distracts immediately and the Twinsies love it. You will too, that is, until it is stuck in your head as well as it is in ours!