Hey, look at me actually blogging ...

So.. we have been through a lot of upheaval these past few months, to say the least..



We are now in Oceanside, California until October 31. We found out we were going to be assigned out here 2 weeks before Easter. We left the day after Easter and spent 2 nights in San Diego. Here are some pics from that:

This Pelican freaked me out.. I didn't realize it was real until it turned it's head and stared at me... I quickly took the pic then ran. I HATE birds. 

 One of our first stops was to San Diego Zoo.

 The harbor from our hotel room

 We then moved on to Oceanside, California. We were about 5 minutes away from Camp Pendleton where Stephen is working.  We have been to Disneyland now probably  30-40 times since we got here. We got Annual Passes because we are now Southern California Residents...which means we can do a monthly fee vs 500 dollars all at once :) Here are some of my favorites from there:

 My mom and sister Cindy surprised me on my birthday at Disneyland :) It was nice to have them here for a few days to visit!

 The view from innoventions

 Phyn loved having Cindy to play with too!

 Because my mom and Cindy came out we were able to use the tickets I had been selected for for the reopening of Star Tours! It was really fun, and nice to spend a little while with Stephen. Even if it was in line for 3 hours.

 This was the castle on that day... kind of weird to see no one there. They let everyone with the preview passes for Star Tours in before the park opened.

 My mom and Cindy took Phynley to see the Princesses and got her her own set of ears :)

 Waiting on the parade. Phynley LOVES the parade.

 Phyn's favorite part of the parade is the 3 caballeros... Donald is on top of the drum.

 We also were lucky enough to be there for the opening of The Little Mermaid attraction in Disney's California Adventure in June.  It is now Phyn's favorite ride other than small world. Here are some images from the ride... much better in person if you have the chance to go!

 She also liked Captain EO. Although the second time she wasn't as sure about it.

 While we have been here I have been actively participating in an app called Mouse Wait.  It is an app for Disney lovers, like me, where you can see wait times at the park, hidden secrets of Disneyland, and connect with other Disney friends. There are quite a few CM's (Cast Members) who participate on it. This is one of them that I met in person. His name is Randy.. but his username is CMBaloo. I can tell you that that is very appropriate for him. He gives the best big bear hugs :) He has worked for Disney for 16 years now. He works on main street and on Indiana Jones. He is one of the most genuinely nice people I have ever met. He just radiates happiness and kindness. He spent time with Phynley talking to her and let her play with the flashlight. He also gave her an honorary citizen pin which she tried to eat, so it's now hidden. LOL

 The CM's are really responsible for all the Disneyland Magic. It makes it so much more entertaining to hear them say "hi princess" to Phynley, or just by being so upbeat and helpful. 

On to the next few photos. This is our other favorite place to rest and relax. The animation studios in DCA. They have a ton of big movie screens up in a 360 degree format. Phynley can run around and play, but usually she just loves to sit and watch the movies :)

 Overall.. this experience has been really fun for us. Phynley LOVES being at Disneyland and the beach. It makes us happy to be able to take her often. 

BEAUTIFUL spring day

Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous! We got the kids outside to play since it is supposed to storm again soon.  It was so warm I made them come in because I was afraid they would get a sunburn :( They were not happy to come in.  We also had some overnight house guests saturday night.

This is izzy ( the small one) and Gus.. the horse dog.  They were great for us the whole time they were here. These are my sister jes' dogs.  They were out of town for the night as a "pre valentine's" date.

Also.. Peighton LOVES to help me with housework. He is at a fun age for helping. Phyn has no interest AT ALL. In fact, she will run away or scream at me.. drama.

Speaking of drama.... We have been working with both kids on listening and when we say no, we mean no.  Peighton understands more than Phynley at this point, but they both are not happy about us laying the law down.

case in point:

totally fake tears, and straight up drama... it was too funny to watch. I feel bad because about 24 hours after this "meltdown" she started to get a fever and be really cranky. She has had her first ear infection. :( I am hoping that she isn't like me and doesn't make this a habit.  I had tubes in my ears when I was younger and I really hope she doesn't end up with those either.

PHYNLEY's Phone

My little 15 month old... 15 MONTHS! She is an electronic junkie already. I am sure she will run circles around me and give her dad a run for his money one day when it comes to electronics.

Princesses...

Any of you out there with little girls know that from an early age they LOVE dolls and princesses. As a kid I LOVED Disney movies. Especially these:

With that being said... we thought we would expose my sweet Princess Phynley to the movies early. She loved Finding Nemo, and would at least watch a few others. I hadn't put any of them on in a long time, so I looked at Netflix, and of course they had a whole lot of nothing from Disney on instant except for....

DI FRAGGI PRUTO!

SHE LOVED IT! I thought.. oh this is a cute movie. We can watch this every once in a while without being too annoyed. RIIIIIGHHHHTTT

EVERY DAY no joke up to 3 times a day. I have every word memorized and now we refer to it as Di Fraggi Pruto (the frog prince). I asked my mom if we could borrow a few of her Disney DVD's to see if we could change things up a bit. So far..no where near the obsession for any of them but The Princess and the Frog. 

The other night, while watching DI FRAGGI PRUTO for the 100th time she was snuggling on my lap with her cute princess and faded into sleep. I had to take a picture of the cuteness:

My mom gave her this princess set for Christmas:

 we purchased it in Disneyland when we went in December. She LOVES them. She especially loves the Cinderella doll. I see her grabbing Cinderella in one hand and one of the others in her other hand and walking around with them. If Peighton tries to touch Cinderella it is a melt down fit. 

We watched the actual Cinderella movie last night and she didn't really like it much. I think it's a little slow for her and nowhere near as much music as The Princess and the Frog. We are going to try the Little Mermaid tonight again and see if she will dig it as well. 

Anyway, the point of this post is that I DEFINITELY have a drama queen/princess in the making. Any other mom's out there with little girls who are obsessed with one movie? Any suggestions for introducing new movies??

Phynley Playing

I love this video.. I don't know why, but you can see her little personality starting to show up. I will actually upload 2 videos so y'all can see. :)

January.. so far

I started a business that I do from home called Hopper's Toppers. I make crochet accessories. When I started it I figured that it would be an easy way to write off my hobby and do a few orders here and there. I got an order placed at Gardner Village my first month and then after that things kinda slowed down. I got a large order in December from a lady who wanted crochet legwarmers for her grandkids. WHAT A HEADACHE!! They were really cute, but sooooo time consuming. Dark yarn is hard to see anyway, and she wanted 3 brown leg warmers. Well my husband sent me a picture of something he liked. He NEVER tells me what he wants or likes, he is kinda selfless that way... here it is:

So I took this picture and thought to myself.. how am I going to make this? The hat is clearly knitted. The mustache just made me go.. Whaaaa?? yeah.. it was a challenge. I put it on the back burner and thought I will get to this in a little bit after some more research. Then my brother sends me the same picture and says you HAVE to make this for me. geez....
so after some trial and error, here is my interpretation:

 Could be better, but I think it's cute :) he looks like a lumber jack. lol.  My brother's both want one as well as my nephew and our friend Jay. Needless to say.. I'm busy again.

On to other news.  Phynley was sick this month. We thought she had another UTI. She had pinkish discharge and a stinky smell to her urine and a high fever (105-106) with advil. :( The same thing happened about a month or 2 ago. So we took her to the instacare and they cath-d her and took a culture. They put her on Omnicef and sent us on our way.  about 3 days into the antibiotic she started to get these little red bumps everywhere on her back. Not uncommon for her... it looked like a heat rash. She wasn't itching it and it didn't seem to be anywhere other than her back. AT FIRST....

Day 2:

 Day 3 it spread to her face, girly parts, and pretty much all over.  We took her BACK to instacare.. since this was after hours. Come to find out she is allergic to Omnicef. Benadryl for 3 days and back home we went.  Here are some pics of her at the Doctor's office. She was delirious after getting the Benadryl, and like I said, the rash didn't seem to bother her at all. Here are some fun pics :

This is her new face. We see her making this face all the time. I don't understand the fascination of biting her upper lip, but whatever..

Everything cleared up within 36 hours and she was back to "normal".



Also.. we have had a very busy month because we have roommates now too. Stephen's sister Melinda and her son Peighton live with us. It has been QUITE an adjustment for us. We moved from our little apartment in Midvale to a little house that only has 1 bathroom. It has been crazy. The plus side is that Phynley and peighton get along most of the time and Melinda has been a big help. We found out by Stephen's mad googling skills that Peighton has a Milk allergy. He had diarrhea and was a "leaky faucet" when he got here. Very VERY VERY whiny, clingy, wouldn't eat and soooo irritable. We have been eliminating it from his diet for 4 days now. It is like a totally different little boy. He still is a toddler and hitting his terrible 2's, but the tantrums have pretty much stopped and he doesn't leak anymore. Here is a video of the little stinkers playin:

Finally.. just a quick thing. Phynley's hair has gotten really thick and long in the last month. Crazy how fast time flies... here is a pic of her with her "phynley loo hoo" look :)