My Sweethearts

Well, the flu bug hit us pretty good.  I had written that Brooke was sick the other morning and that evening Katelyn had it from about dinner time until 11 in the evening.  It was a long night.  However, it only lasted that day and now everyone seems to be feeling better (although maybe a little more tired than normal). 

So, we had missed Easter service and the following week because the girls had colds.  We finally made it to church last week and the girls had a chance to wear their matching Easter dresses.  Aren't they adorable?

Unfortunately we missed church again yesterday because of the flu.  1 out of 4 weeks for church, hopefully next month is better.

First beach trip of the year

My Dad & Tammy were out for the funeral and we were not doing anything on Friday, so we decided to take a trip to the beach.  (Plus, Dad had mentioned last time he was here that maybe we would go to the beach next time and Katelyn forgets nothing.)  We headed to Corona Del Mar.  Sam & Mackenzie joined us as well.  Neither Sam or I had ever been to Corona Del Mar and I have to say that I really liked it.  It was a week day in April, so it wasn't very busy, but also, the beach length was really short so it was easy to get back and forth from the car.

Feeling the water

Katelyn getting buried by Poppa (and B helping out)

 It was a beautiful warm day.  If I had known how warm it would be, I would have put the girls in their swimsuits.  They loved playing in the water, Brooklyn especially was so giggly everytime the water touched her.

Cheese! - What a cutie pie!

The entire group (except me).  Katelyn was too busy playing to be bothered with a photo.

On a different note, we woke up to a sick Brooklyn this morning.  :-(  First time we've really had one with the stomach flu.  However, she doesn't have a fever and is acting pretty normal - just a little subdued.

Relaxing with Daddy.  (Only one of them was sleeping & it wasn't Brooklyn)

Praising the Lord for the life of a loved one

My Grandma went home to be with the Lord early on Saturday morning.  Visitation is later this afternoon with the funeral and graveside tomorrow. 

She had suffered with dementia/Alzheimers for a couple of years and was getting progressively worse and then in February she fell and broke her hip, which put her through surgery and since that time she has been confined to a bed or wheelchair and very confused about her surroundings.  She would have been 85 later this month.  We praise the Lord for her life and the fact that she raised her family in the knowledge of the Lord.  We will miss her sarcastic sense of humor and strong-will.  Please keep my family in your prayers as we mourn this loss and some are traveling long distances to join us.

Neighborhood Excitement & Kyle's B-day

I was just beginning to think that I didn't have much to write about and then, while the girls were out in the backyard playing on Tuesday, we heard this huge crash, almost like an explosion, and then a bunch of screeching.  It took me a couple of seconds to figure out what it was, because usually the screeching comes before the crash sound.  There was another accident across the field from us.  There is an accident on that corner at least once a year.  In fact, the first time we heard a crash on that corner was when we were walking through the house with our realtor trying to decide if we should put a bid in on it.  They really need to make that a four-way stop.  Even when we are walking through that intersection it can be a little scary as visibility isn't great and people fly through there.  Anyways, once I realized what had happened, I told Katelyn to get up on the top of her swing set and she would see the police and fire truck come.  I think she enjoyed getting to see them so closely. 

View from the bedroom window of the accident.

Yesterday was the first day we have been able to get out of the house since the girls got sick.  It was great!  We went for a walk to the park in the morning and it was a beautiful day. 

Yesterday was also Kyle's birthday!  (The last of his 20's.)  He was able to get off of work early and we met him at Chipotle for a family dinner.  Then we came home and had his favorite dessert (lemon-lime ice cream dessert).

Painting birthday cards for Daddy.

Happy Birthday!  (Yes, that is a pink candle as that is all we had in the house, oops :-/ )

Cable Free!?!?!?

At the end of December, our 2 year contract with Verizon was ending and our prices were going to go up.  I'd been hinting at Kyle for quite a while that we were paying a fortune for cable, phone & internet and I think one day he actually looked at a bill and finally realized we were paying too much.
 
So . . . . . we took a look at all the options out there and I think we are happy with what we ended up with - NO MORE VERIZON.  Quite frankly, that was probably a bigger motivator than saving the money.  While there services were good, their customer service and billing departments were horrible.  Every time we switched any service it would take hours on the phone to get the billing correct.  I also thought it might reduce the amount of time we spend in front of the tv, which I think it has as I no longer have HGTV, etc. on in the background while doing things.

What we ended up with:
Internet - This is the back-bone of the whole switch.  Our phone and tv watching ability depend on good internet and it took us about a month to get the issues resolved with slow internet service.  We ended up with Time Warner Cable and for the last month, it has been working great.
Phone - Majic Jack.  I think it has been working well since our internet speed is up.  We were able to keep our same phone number (for a fee).  It was important to me to have a land-line because of having others in the house watching the girls in case of an emergency (or if I would leave my phone somewhere, which happens on occasion).  Also, I've always felt that having a home phone is more of a family thing than having a different phone number for each member of the family (I guess I'm a traditionalist that way).  Now that we realized a short someone in our house had turned off the answering machine, everything should be running as it was before.
TV - we purchased flat digital antennas, for which we can get normal broadcasting networks.  We also subscribed to Netflix dvds.  We tried Netflix streaming for a month, but decided to go with Amazon Prime streaming for at least a year.  Between those 3 options, we can usually find something to watch.  Also, if we miss our favorite shows, they are usually available to watch online in a day or 2.

What we miss -
1.)  DVR - obviously
2.)  Some of the caller ID features
3.)  Ease of use - it is a little bit more of a pain to use Amazon than just find something on cable or dvr.
4.) A few tv shows that we can't get anymore (such as Southland and some HGTV, TLC shows)
5.)  Not sending off a large chunk of money each month, and lastly,
6.)  NOT VERIZON

A day in Orange County

During 'Busy Season,' Kyle works every Saturday, at least until lunch time.  His office supplies lunch on those Saturdays.  One Saturday each year, they invite the families to join them for lunch and they have The Habit truck come.  (The Habit is a hamburger restaurant that also happens to be a client of Kyle's office.)  A few weeks ago, the truck came and for the first time, we joined Kyle for the lunch at his office in Irvine.  Then the girls were able to play with some of the other kids out on the lawn and by the fountain at Kyle's office.

Because it is a little bit of a drive to go just for lunch, we took the girls to the Orange County Great Park.  My other reason for going on this day was because the large balloon ride and carousel were free until the beginning of April, at which time they are going to start charging.  The park is in it's first phases, with the intent of being a large regional, yet educational park.  Currently there is only a small area for kids to play (which the girls enjoyed), a garden exhibit, the carousel, the balloon, and a few exhibits.

Unfortunately we would have had to be at the park early in the morning to ride on the large balloon, which can be seen from all of central Orange County.

We did get to ride on the carousel, which Katelyn thoroughly enjoyed, although Brooklyn is still not a huge fan.

Then it was off to home for a nap, but it was nice to spend a little time as a family during the craziness of busy season.

Back to present day, we are still getting over being sick with colds, starting to get a little better, no more fevers, but the runny noses, coughing and whining persist.  As I mentioned to Kyle the other day, I think I am going to add 'Nose Wiper' to my resume.

Easter Weekend - With Sick Kiddos

Easter weekend didn't go exactly as planned.  Brooklyn woke up on Good Friday with a fever and a cough.  Later that day Katelyn also came down with a fever.  So we missed our Good Friday communion service.  On Saturday the neighbors had planned a neighborhood Easter egg hunt for the first time.  The girls couldn't go :-(.  Fortunately I hadn't told Katelyn about it.  I had learned my lesson the night before because I told her on Thursday that after dinner on Friday we were going to church.  She asked us at dinner for about 3 days if we were going to church that night. - She remembers everything, it's actually quite amazing, but we really do have to watch what we say.

We did spend some time on Saturday dying Easter eggs, which both of the girls enjoyed.

Katelyn was very intent - we had tried this different type of paint that she was applying with a sponge and had to make sure every spot was covered with paint.

Stickers!

Brookie saying 'cheese'.  She wanted me to take her pic.

On Sunday, we had to miss out on both church and Easter with my extended family.  But we still tried to have a nice family day.  I realized on Saturday we were not going to make it to church on Sunday, so I went to the Bible bookstore hoping to find a book to teach Katelyn about the meaning of Easter.  Unfortunately they were all gone at that point (which I had thought might be the case).  We got a book about the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus, which we read before our Easter egg hunt.  I told Kyle that it reminded me of his Dad's tradition of always reading about the birth of Jesus from Luke before opening Christmas presents.

Easter Egg baskets  (I might have purchased the candy on the bottom for the parents).

Reading about Jesus.

The girls really enjoyed the Easter egg hunt.  Katelyn did well last year, but this was Brooklyn's first Easter Egg hunt.  Katelyn looked for the blue & green eggs and pink & purples were for Brookie.  I think that when Kyle hid Katelyn's eggs he forgot that her line of sight is at his waist ;-).

Counting to make sure they had found all the eggs.

Opening the eggs to find the treats!

I was probably the most disapointed to miss out on Easter this year (in part because Katelyn didn't know what she was missing).  In my weekly Bible Study group we have been studying since January about the last days of Jesus life, his death and resurrection, so I was really looking forward to having that context as we celebrated our what our Savior has done for us. 

We have continued to spend the rest of the week in basic isolation as the girls now have full on colds, although the fevers are mostly gone.  It will likely be another weekend with no church for me or the kids.  I'm really hoping this goes away soon as the sleepless nights and wiping noses are getting old fast.

Oh, I forgot to mention one of the funnier moments of the weekend.  So, on Saturday, Kyle decided to tell Katelyn that the Easter Bunny was coming that night to bring her goodies.  I guess she acted worried that someone would be in our house while we were sleeping until he said it would be ok.  However, she woke up at 4 AM and after getting her back to bed looks at me with huge eyes and says "The Easter Bunny is coming tonight!" - Half concerned, half excited.  I'm pretty sure she was sleeping poorly because she was so excited about the Easter Bunny coming. - Thanks, Kyle.  (We don't do the Santa thing, so this whole concept was new to her.)