Chinese New Year

Last Sunday night the Lucky Mommies and husbands and kids went to a nice Chinese restaurant in Anaheim for CNY. It was great to get together and see the hubbies (which doesn't happen very often). Karen planned most everything, even in light of just returning from China with Katie-- she is Super woman!!!!

Gracie and Kaliee playing with drums-- blurry so I made it sepia.

Georgie playing with her drum

Posing for pictures is always a challenge!!

More of a Challenge but at least we got everyone-- except Becky is hiding behing Ryan!

Back- Kailee, Gracie, Megan, Georgie

Front- Katie (newly home from China), Mia, Ryan and Becky behind Ryan

We had to get a picture of all the Lucky Mommies

Karen B, Michelle, Tanya, Karen, Christy, Carolyn and Susan

And how could we not get the Lucky Daddies!!!!

We were measuring Kailee and Mia. Kailee is 10 months older than Mia but Mia seems to follow her petite structure so we anticipate Mia, in 10 months, will be about Kailee's size.

Mia is in love with my phone and I rarely can get it away from her. I have the Droid with all the Apps (kind of like the Iphone). There are great kids apps!!!!!

Ethan -all smiles

Beautiful Georgie

Blurry so I made it sepia

The family picture from CNY 2010

Quick Disney

I decided Friday to take the kids to Disneyland after school. It was just the kids and my sister but we had a nice time.

Mia all dressed up like a cow girl!!!

Cass and the kids with their hats (just trying them on)

The whole gang with the hats

I had never bought the kids these little $9 braceletts that you get free engraving of their names on it. They are really cute so I kicked down the cash and got each of the kids one. They love them.

Ethan displaying his

Mia chose pink (big surprise :)

Waiting for the kids to get off Big Thunder

Mia and Ethan on Kacy Jr. Train

AWWWWW!!!! OK, so we are waling off Kacy Jr. and we look in the special needs line (which is part of the exit of the ride) and guess who we saw?

Do you remember Scott McIntyre from American Idol. He was the blind guy who went pretty far a couple of seasons ago. He was waiting in line with his girl friend for Kacy Jr. He was so nice and really sweet and has an album coming out soon. Very nice guy and was happy we got to meet him.

Of course I had to jump in the picture as well.

Overall the trip was easy and nice-- we stayed about4 hours and we were gone. I love trips like that. Very enjoyable!! Plus not too crowded because of the threat of rain but it didn't rain on us at all until we were on the tram ride back to the car- then it started sprinkling. We were so lucky!!!

Thanks and Some Song

First off, many of you are probably noticing my blog has a new name and look. Well, I had my wonderful Ashton with Princess Blog Designs do the redo. I love what she did and am so thankful for her amazing abilities even in the craziness of just bringing her brother Andrew home from China. What a trooper she is-- so thanks so much Ashton-- you rock!!!!!!

On another note, Mia has been all about watching herself on video and she constantly is asking to video herself. Most of the videos I let her watch back on the camera and then delete but a few I have saved. I thought I would share one of our recent videos here. So, enjoy the made up lion song-- she makes up songs ALL THE TIME!!!!! Enjoy!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Presendents Day in the Desert

First off, Kevin found my camera in the Rhino between the seats when he was cleaning it-- thank GOD!!! Anyway, we went camping in the desert over the holiday and had a great time. The weather was in the low 80's and was sunny the whole time. Just beautiful!!

Mia loves the Rhino and would love to someday drive it!!!

Kevin and Owen with Lea and Maddie in the Rhino on our way out on a big ride (like 4 hour ride). I drove another Rhino of a friend.

Sammy on his motorcycle

Owen didn't want to ride on this big ride so he hung with Kevin in the Rhino

Mia rode with Noelle and Ericka in the Rhino I drove

Mia getting dirty in the sand. Her favorite thing

Sammy and Ethan

Kevin and Steve

Janine and Steve

My girl

Even covered in dirt she is still adorable!!!!

Mia tried to drive a quad for the first time this trip. She has not quite figured out the gas, hence we ended up in a bush or two, but she had fun and mom had fun running along side of her trying to keep up!!

Post ride-- still smiles

Overall, we had a great trip. Now we are back to the grind and looking forward to Easter vacation in April-- only 6 weeks to go!!!

Still here

Hi everyone. I wanted to let you know that I am still around but we were camping for the long weekend so I was away from the computer from Thursday till late last night. I had a ton of pictures from camping but cant find my little camera the pictures were on. Last time I remember having it was on our last Rhino ride our last day out and now it is gone. It is little so I'm sure it will come up but right now I have nothing, plus that is the camera I use all the time so I pray I find it. Anyway, I will post soon. Hope all is well for all of you.

My Marshall's Find

I love shoes more than words could express. I love them for me and consequently, I love them for Mia, so I am always on the lookout for a good deal. Some of the best places to buy shoes- kids or adults- is at Marshall's or Ross. Today I happened into a Marshall's in an area where I was at a training all day and found these. How much you ask? $14.99 for adorable Michael Kors kid shoes-- heck ya!!!!!

Mia has skinny little feet so she cant wear the typical ballet shoe- even if it has a strap over the middle. It must have a strap on the very top area or her little skinny feet will fall out. These shoes are awesome. The 3 elastic straps are held on by a metal buckle and they hit her foot high enough that they stay on. Plus, they are kind of bowed- you know what I mean- when they are off your foot they are kind of make the shape of a "C"-- bowed. Consequently, they stay on her feet beautifully and they are even a bit big on her--yaaaa!!!!

Here is the side view of the adorable find. They are just too cute!!!

And yes, metallics go with everything so I was forced to buy the silver, BUT, they also came in pink and what mom of a girl can say no to an adorable pink sequined ballet flat--- NOT ME!!!

And the adorable side view. Just the cutest little shoes ever!!!! Perfect for spring.

Thanks again f0r all your great suggestions on how to handle Mia's crying. The room thing is working so I will keep up on it. While I was taking pictures of her shoes, she grabbed the camera and turned it to movie mode and started filming me putting the shoes on. While I looked fabulous as always in the movie-- NOT!!!-- I decided to show you a potentially explosive situation (even though I hate the way I look in the video-- such a nice blogger mom). Mia immediately decides she wants something and if she does not get it right then and there, she freaks. In the video you can see her winding up and it could have turned into a full blown tantrum, but thank the LORD it didn't. Enjoy!!!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Some Advice Please

UPDATE:

Wow you guys, I sooooo appreciate your help. I tried the put in her room today (Monday) and it seemed to work. I don't know why we never thought about doing that before. The boys just never did this kind of stuff so we are just caught off guard. We do the whole straight business type thing while she is freaking out and just ignore her but we never remove her from the family and I think that has been our problem at this point. Today when I put her in her room, she really responded. She cried for over a half hour and I let her but at one point she stopped and I heard her calling for me so I went up there and she said she was done crying and then said she was sorry. I tried to do like Christie said and counsel her after and she seemed better. She has not thrown many tantrums today-- this is a very good day- so I am encouraged by her response. I pray many of you are correct and that she will just grow out of it. She is independent and strong willed and while she is a blast, she is just as challenging as can be--ugggg!!! Anyway, thanks again for your suggestions and I also like Snicks idea of positive reinforcement and setting her up. I totally am going to do that. Maybe take her to the park and see how it goes with turning the car around if necessary. I'm totally down for that. Anyway, thanks again and keep the suggestions coming. I love hearing your ideas.Christy :)

Origional Post:

You all know how much I love my dear sweet daughter. She is just as smart and sweet and funny as can be. She is adorable and outgoing and just the biggest talker and singer in the world. My little girl is a phenomenal treasure and I love her to pieces. My daughter is also the biggest cry baby you have ever seen in your lives. Please see below picture. This is what my daughter looks like much of the time:

Many of you are probably saying-- oh it cant be that bad. Your are correct. If you don't mind crying for just about everything that does not go an independent 3 year olds way, then your right, its not so bad. BUT, if you want to take your own eyes out with a spoon to escape the torture of that same independent 3 year olds incessant non stop whining and fussing and all out crying-- then IT IS THAT BAD!!!!!

I really don't know what to say other than she is just driving us all nuts. She is soooooooooo independent and likes things to go her way and when they don't, you better watch out. She just goes on and on to the point we just ignore her most of the time. We cant stand the crying. I would say, out of 10 car rides in the van with the whole family, 6 out of the 10 car rides are with Mia screaming. It may have been that her brother just reached over her to shut the door and Mia wanted to shut it herself. Or it may have been that we did not happen to start the movie fast enough for her. Or it may have been that I told her she could not have a piece of gum. Whatever the case, the response from Mia is either fussing that escalates into crying or crying that continues on forever. Its all the time and just driving us nuts.

So, I need some help. I'm just not use to this. My boys were not criers and never tantrumed. They were difficult in other ways. So I'm just not use to this. I know it is pretty normal (although I think Mia is more of a pain in the bum than other 3 year olds Ive seen because of her stubborn independent nature) but it just rubs me the wrong way- Kevin too. So, in our desperation we just ignore her and let her tantrum. So, here is my question, do we just let her go on forever crying and throwing a fit or do we make her stop? I do both. Weather permitting, sometimes I will put her outside in the backyard until she is done crying and the threat of that sometimes stops her but not always. I remember my dad forcing me to stop crying (being the perfect child I was-- NOT!!!) and telling me to stop or I would get more significant consequences. Not sure if that worked or not, but I remember him not allowing me to just continue crying forever. Literally, sometimes Mia will go on for 45 minutes screaming crying the whole time over something as simple as I would not let her have a snack. She is not like that for my mother in law that watches her once a week and is not like that when we have babysitters or when she is at preschool-- just for mom and dad-- lucky us!! I need advice because I don't want her in therapy 20 years from now trying to get over the trauma we horrible parents caused her, but I don't want to encourage the poor behavior either. We are not indulgent parents. We do not give her everything she wants and we do not hover over her in an effort to protect her from everything. We are firm believers in learning from mistakes and we allow her to do so. She is not coddled in anyway so we do not encourage the behavior by giving her attention when she acts poorly. But at this point we are not sure what we are doing works and we are open to any suggestions because were lost.

So, help please!! Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Reign Hockey Time!!!

Many of you know we are hockey fans and we are fortunate to have a farm team for the LA Kings within about 10 miles of our house. The Reign is the farm team and the action is awesome. Because they are wanting to move up to the big time, they play very aggressively and often fight-- which is always cool!! Many of you also know my boys play roller hockey and the Reign team is now one of our sponsors so we get to skate at the arena and we have some of the players tutor the players. It is very cool. Anyway, Sunday night we were given tickets to the Reign game and we took our friends Steve, Janine and kids. Lots of fun and a great game!

The boys always sit in the empty seats at the font so here is the group minus the boys.

Mia playing in the seats.

The boys are right on the ice sitting next to some of their friends from our school-- total trip that we ended up sitting next to kids that go to our little private school. Great kids and great family!! The boys were stoked!

The second a player goes into the penalty box, Owen runs down to the empty seats by the box and sits there and hangs out with the guy who got the penalty. It is hilarious and Owen thinks it is so cool. You can see the player on the bench. On the way out he game Owen air knuckles-- too cute!!!!!