Let this be a lesson . . . part 2

Do you remember when this happened?

It was only a couple of months ago. For the whole story, you can read about it here, but to recap I was cleaning out the fridge, on the Sabbath, and I broke the bottom shelf of my fridge. I figured that was my punishment for breaking the Sabbath.

Well, apparently we are having a run of bad luck because this is what we found one morning, while in California, as we were about to head over to Disneyland:

Someone had broken out the front passenger window of our van in order to steal our DVD player's, DVD's, and GPS system that we had left in the car-overnight. This is the lesson to be learned-Don't leave nice things in your car while on vacation. We usually don't. We usually remember to take that kind of stuff in with us but in all the excitement I guess we just forgot.

Although the 2 DVD players only cost me $80 (after Thanksgiving day sale) this was only the second time we had ever used them. Luckily the GPS system was free (a promotion from Kory's work). After we got home we realized that the thief also took Sophee's jacket and a floor mat. A FLOOR MAT! Really? What are they going to do with that?

Kaylee's theory is that the reason for all this was because, since we left for our trip on Sunday, and had to eat out, we were breaking the Sabbath and this was our punishment. Hmmm. You'd think we'd learn.

Anyway, I hope our little misfortune will remind you guys to always bring in your valuables!!

Disneyland 2010

This year for Spring Break we went to Disneyland. We took Kaylee's BFF, Mallorie, and also went along with Kory's brother, Kerry and his family. We let Kaylee and Mallorie go off on their own so that they didn't have to do all the 'baby stuff and wimpy rides' that we were doing, so we don't have too many pictures of them.

Here's Josh, Sophee, and Audree with Tigger:

Audree bought an autograph book last time we went and filled it half full with character autographs, this year she was on a mission to fill the rest of the book. So as soon as we saw a character that she didn't have, we stopped to get pictures and autographs.

Shopping. This was Sophee's favorite part. She kept saying, "I don't want to go on anymore rides, I just want to go shopping". That's my girl :-)

On the tram to get to the park. This was our first ride in and the last ride out. Here's Kory and Josh:

In the boat for 'It's a small world' ride. They recently updated this ride by adding many of their characters (such as Cinderella, Mulan, Timon and Pumba, Peter Pan, etc) as puppets. The kids had fun pointing out all the characters they recognized.

Sophee and Jared holding hands so they don't get lost, even after we were already standing in line. It was just too cute:

Kaylee and Mallorie decided to 'grace our presence' on the 'It's a small world ride' since we happened to bump into them on the way over:

Cousins in Toon Town:

The well right outside of Minnie's house:

Roger Rabbit's ride, Sophee and Hannah:

Audree and Zach:

This was the end of our first day. Kaylee, Mallorie, Audree, Josh, Jared, and Sophee:

Sophee, Hannah, and Audree waiting for the Pixar parade to start:

The "A" in the California Adventure sign. Audree, Zach, Josh, Sophee and Hannah:

Kaylee and Mallorie:

Waiting in line for the 'Nemo' submarine ride. Sophee, Audree, Jared, and Hannah:

Heading over to the California Adventure park, half way through our last day there. Sophee was getting very tired of walking and needed a little lift from Dad:

Audree and Josh in a cage on the 'Casey Jr.' train ride:

Josh, Audree, and Sophee just outside of 'Mr. Toad's wild ride':

For lunch one day we went to the Rainforest cafe. It was super yummy food, with super large portions. Here's the Volcano Brownie cake Amber ordered for dessert. She shared it with all of us-it fed 11 of us!

Speaking of large portions, Mallorie ordered the Nachos. We had previously told all the kids that they needed to eat all their food, so they would be full until dinner. Then they came out and set this in front of Mallorie:

Kory and I about died laughing. Her eyes about popped out of her head at the thought of having to eat all that. Fortunately Josh and Kerry helped her out-and there was still some left!!

Cutie Patooties:

Not feeling so cute after spending the entire first day in the park (waiting for the tram):

They made the most of every minute there, got a little sun, and their feet were hurting badly at this point. Poor girls.

Sophee showing off her Mickey ears. They light up:

A self portrait of Soph taken while waiting for our pizza to arrive (I kinda' think she looks like her cousins Jessica and Lacey in this pic):

The little girls wanted to go see the princesses and get autographs and pictures with them. Amber and I went and stood in line at least a half an hour before they even opened just so that we wouldn't have to wait around all day. (Last time we went I stood in line, in the middle of the day for over an hour-not fun). Here's Aurora with Sophee, Audree and Hannah:

Cinderella:

Snow White:

Jessie:

Kory also ran into Buzz lightyear while I was off shopping with Kaylee and Mallorie. Of course Josh wanted to stop!

The last morning of our trip we took the kids to Goofy's Kitchen at the Disneyland Hotel.

It was a buffet, with really good food, and entertainment for the kids. Every half an hour they play music and let the kids go dance with Goofy in the center of the restaurant. They also have a hand full of characters that will come right of to the table to talk with you and let you get pictures with them. The kids were so impressed that they actually came to us, and we didn't have to stand in line to see them!!

Audree giving Goofy a high five:

A group picture with Goofy:

Us and Pluto:

Belle:

Chip:

No Disneyland breakfast would be complete without Mickey Mouse shaped pancakes:

Kaylee and Mallorie dancing with Goofy:

Mulan:

Josh joining the girls on the dance floor:

Wahoo for Goofy!!

It was a fun trip. Can't wait to go back again!!

Why didn't I think of that sooner?

When it comes to putting away the clean laundry I have good intentions.

I have a pretty good method in place for the kids clothes. Once the clothes come out of the dryer they are immediately transfered to my giant folding table (a.k.a the pool table), where they are folded and put into each child's individual basket. When the basket gets full, the kids are in charge of taking it upstairs and putting their clothes away. Then they return the emptied out basket back to it's original spot on the pool table for me to fill again the next day.

The problem is what to do with the clothes for me and Kory that need to be hung up. The folded stuff isn't a big deal, I pretty much do the same thing with our folded clothes as the kids do, but when I come upstairs hauling all the 'to be hung' clothing, I usually set those on my cedar chest while I start putting away the folded clothes. Then something inevitably happens, and I'm called downstairs to handle a crisis. Either that, or I'm just in a hurry, and I leave the clothes on the cedar chest 'to be hung up later'. Yah, right. This is what my cedar chest looks like 90% of the time (yes, those are all clean clothes):

This is what is supposed to look like:

Then, a couple of days ago, it all the sudden dawned on me. 'If I could just hang up those clothes as they come out of the dryer then most of the work would be done for me before I take them upstairs'. It wouldn't take any more effort to hang them in the closet then it would to lay them on the cedar chest.

So, enter the cheap $10 hanging system (which my kids already think is a fun, new, 'rolling' toy, and I'm sure it will be broken in a couple of weeks):

Seriously, why didn't I think of this years ago?

So what do you guys do to make laundry easier? My sister actually does a load of laundry every day-then she's never behind. Me? I get a little depressed doing it everyday (I've tried).

It works better for me to have 3 scheduled 'laundry days' a week. Although if I could get it together enough to do it everyday, I might not have piles like this all the time.