Best. Field Trip. Ever.

One of the many perks of living in Souther California? Field trips to awesome places. Last week Lily's class took a field trip to Legoland!! Can you believe that? How lucky is she? Anyways, I was fortunate enough to go as a chaperone and we had such a great time. They started things off with a group educational presentation where they talked about different kinds of structures and what makes structures strong. It was super cool. They they divided into their groups and the kids built their own structures (no adult help allowed). When they were done, they attached the structrues to this little platform that vibrated and created a 5.5 earthquake to see if their structure would stay intact. So fun!! Then we had a few hours to explore the park and ride rides and have fun. What a great day. Here are some highlights:

Master builders...Lily and her friends Raiden and Gavin

Almost done. After I took this picture, they added another smaller tower at the top.

Earthquake!!! I'm delighted to say that their building didn't buckle under the pressure. They were so proud.

Vegas Baby!

New York skyline.

Golden Boy!

I was told by my friend Lori that this year was Connor's "golden birthday". I had no idea what that meant, but I guess it's when you turn the same age as the day of your birthday. Make sense? Example--on March 11th, my baby boy turned 11!! See? What a great birthday it was for Connor! Dad took the day off work, we brought treats to his classroom, he had a great little party with a few of his best pals, then for an extra special treat Aunt Jen, Uncle Andrew, Abby and Aubri arrived the night of his birthday for a long visit! Honestly he couldn't have been more happy. And since one of our favorite things is to see our kids happy, it was a great day for everybody! I didn't get tons of pictures cause we were too busy having fun, but here's a couple highlight:

Group shot of his birthday bash! They went to the park and played "Super Bunt" for an hour, ate pizza and TONS of junkfood, cupcakes and video games galore. At one point, we had a few on the PS3, a few on the Wii and a few playing Uno Attacks at the table. They had a blast!

Watching the boys play "Little Big Planet 2". It was a huge hit, they were laughing hysterically the entire time. They weren't really trying to pass levels, but instead shooting cake at each other with the dreaded "Cakenator" helmet. It was awesome.

Our family loves ice cream sandwiches, we make them all the time. So Connor asked me if instead of a cake he could have a huge ice cream sandwich for his birthday. So...here you have a giant cake-sized Chocolate and Mint-Chip cookie sandwich. It was delicious!!

It's baaaccckkkk.....

That's right, it's baseball season again! Con's playin with the big boys now. He got drafted up to the Majors division and he's playing for the Phillies!! Finally a team I can be proud to cheer for. Connor's in heaven...loves his team, loves his coach, can't wait to play. He's the low man on the totem pole but he's working hard and having a blast. So everybody should come for a weekend between now and June and catch a game!!

Princess Lucy

Snoozing on her throne in front of the fire...it's rough being a dog!

Just cause...

...she looked so cute at church yesterday. Such a little lady and a gorgeous one at that! I had to share.

Manhood looms ever closer....

My baby just keeps growing and growing!! Somebody tell me how to stop it please! On February 8th, Connor hit another milestone on his trail to being a "man"! He earned his Arrow of Light award in Cub Scouting. This is the highest award you can earn in Cub Scouting, basically the "Eagle" of Cubs. Because he's 10 and earned his Arrow of Light he crossed over into Boy Scouts!! There's a little ceremony where the entire Boy Scout troop comes in and they read a little poem and Connor walks over a bridge to join the troop. It was darling, I'll admit I got a little bit choked up but managed to keep it together. I was being a total flake that night and didn't take my camera, so I got no actual pictures of the ceremony. Needless to say, we are, once again, so incredibly proud of our little man and all of his many accomplishments. He's so excited to be a Boy Scout and he's totally gung-ho to start earning those merit badges!

In fact, as luck would have it, they had an overnight campout and Merit Badge jamboree last weekend. Connor was so excited to go (he's never been camping...we slack) and Darrin was excited to go with him! Unfortunately weather was not on our side. My poor guys went and camped out in a freaking hurricane!! I kid you not, it poured and poured all night long and there was gale force winds! Laying in my bed at home I couldn't even sleep listening to the sound of the weather outside. Connor texted me at 6:30am and said "Camping did not make a good first impression, but we're alright." Troopers, both of 'em!! He was only able to stay for half of the merit badge jamboree the next day (baseball season has begun and he had practice), but he earned his "Electronics" merit badge and did a bunch of requirements on his trail to First Class. All in all, he had a great time and is still excited for the next campout. It can only get better, right?

Lashing a flagpole!

The finished product! Look how proud he is!

If only he concentrated that hard on everything he did! This is part of the Electronics merit badge.

Can you say wet? This is just from the run from the car into the church building!

The newest family member--Lucy!

You can all ask Lily now what it's like to have all of your hopes and dreams fulfilled before the ripe age of 7! After months (more like years) of debating and feeling guilty and watching Lily just LONG for a dog, we've finally relented and got her a puppy.

Meet Lucy--an 8-month old Puggle that we brought home on Tuesday. She's the perfect age, still a puppy, but not a teeny baby. She won't get too big. She's got short hair. And she's already potty-trained!!! And honestly, other than having a tendency to lick a lot and acting like a spaz for the first 10 minutes in the morning, she's a really great little thing! Nothing a little time and training won't fix. Lily obviously adores her and we're just so happy that we could make Lily this happy. I know the pictures aren't great, but I'm sure they'll be more where these came from.

Sorry I don't have one with Lily, but she's always just so excited to be with Lily that I can't get her to sit still long enough to snap one...someday.