Burritos

This is our secret to a low heating bill in the winter.

Birthday pics.

Vanessa getting ready to blow out the candles to her birthday cake. Still can't believe she's 2!


I like to treat the kids to an out of the norm treat on their birthdays...so, after talking Vanessa out of wanting to go to Chuck E. Cheese's she asked to go to McDonald's for ice cream cones. Of course the older kids kind of baited her into asking, but Vanessa was still very glad we went.


My little ladies eating their cones.


Here's the birthday girl going to town on her cone. We all had a pretty big laugh.

Vanessa girl is 2!!

Happy birthday to my sweet Nessa! I love you so much.

Spring Break

We had spring break a few weeks ago. We basically tagged along on one of Jeff's work trips to San Diego. We spent a night in Oceanside and then the rest of the week in downtown San Diego. If you ask the kids what the highlight of the trip was they would say it was the concierge lounge in the San Diego hotel. Since Jeff travels so much, he has wracked up the hotel points and gets access to the lounge when he stays. There is a hot chocolate machine and unlimited drinks. That's what the highlight of their spring break was.



Hanging out at the "royally" hotel. Veronica was very amazed at the hotel and the decor.


Vanessa was loving the beach.



These 3 loved the hotel. Can't you tell by their smiles?

Our LONG week

We started the week rather slowly...with nothing much going on except free ice cream on Tuesday from Ben & Jerry's. Easy week, right? What could possibly ruin this week?

Then Wednesday came along and I smashed my thumb in my car door. Smart, huh? Later in the day, after I picked up Veronica from school, my car decided that it was not going to start. We've been expecting this but were putting off fixing it until I had all the kids with me, with no water or snacks, in the middle of the afternoon. I called our tow service and they took our car to the mechanic shop and thought I'd be without a car for a couple of days...so we did the logical thing and rented a car for a couple of days. Luckily, there was a park across the street and we just hung out there until Jeff came to rescue us.Anyway, I left our garage door opener in the car so we went by the shop later in the day, literally 2-3 hours after the tow truck took the car, and the car was fixed. Were they going to call to let us know? Whatever, so, now we have this rental to take back. Wow, a little annoying that we rented the car but we were able to take it back with minimal damage to our checkbook...and we drove home. Now we're done, right? I get home the next morning from dropping off Veronica at school and I park the car in the garage. I get out and hear something dripping. I go towards the sound and look under the car and there is fluid leaking from inside the car. Great! Turns out the engine coolant had leaked all over. Great. Drive the car to the mechanic and found that the container that holds the engine coolant had a bunch of cracks in it and was the cause of the leakage. Leave the car and walk home with Vanessa and wait for the car guy to call. Wait and wait...finally we call and they say it's fixed. Were they even going to call? Whatever...I'm just grateful they fixed it that quickly. Now, it's finally Friday and I'm exhausted.

Here's to spring break this coming week! I welcome nothing planned in the immediate future.

Lesson learned: When life hands you lemons,

...make lemonade.

Baby BOOM

...this is NOT an April Fool's Day gag...just a funny thing... During Christmas, all 4 of my sisters-in-law (Jeff has 3 sisters and my brother's wife) were all pregnant. And 3 of those sisters-in-law were due in March. Oh yeah, did I mention that I am pregnant too!? Anywho, what are the chances of that happening? Jeff's sister, Mindy, had her baby February 23rd...a beautiful baby boy. Jeff's other sister, Angela, had her baby March 22nd...a beautiful baby girl. My brother's wife, Angie, had her baby March 23rd...a beautiful baby girl. Mindy was due sometime in March but she delivered her 1st 6 weeks early so they were kind of expecting their 2nd to be early as well. Big boy too! Angie's baby was close to 2 weeks post-due date... and a long 2 days in the hospital just waiting for her to make her appearance. Angela, had her baby, which is her 4th, at home...I think in one of those birthing pools. Rachel, Jeff's youngest sister, is expecting her 1st baby in June and she's having a boy. And it appears that I'm due at the end of July and will be having a girl. A lot of changes in the past few months and in the coming months. It certainly makes me laugh because the chances of this happening are slim but it's nice to have all these babies in the family. 2011 is definitely a mini "baby-boom" in our extended families.

Baby Layla and Baby Rose...I couldn't get a pic. of Baby Parker to upload. I'm anxious for Rachel to have her baby and for an Enos family get together to see the newest cousins. Nothing but fun and chaos at the next family get together.

Too cool...

David picked out this outfit for his birthday. He's really into Mario these days.


Vanessa being a cutie!

The big 4 year old!

David turned four on Friday. He's very non-demanding and didn't really ask for anything for his birthday. Anyway, he finally decided he wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese for his birthday. We went and I think we all managed to have fun. We had David's abuelos come and his tio and tia and the Tanigawa's and the Ngyuen's. David didn't really care who was there, so long as I kept his hands full of "chuckecheese pennies." Happy Birthday David!

He looks so excited for his cake! I love this little boy.


Blowing out his birthday candles. He was so excited about the little Mario on his cake and managed to lose it before we left. Oh well. Maybe next time he'll listen to mommy.


The kids, minus Jared.

Waiting for the festivities to begin!

At David's preschool.

Oahu

Call it recharging or boosting up...whatever one calls it, it was very NEEDED and I think very much deserved. We like to call this the "Census 2010 is over...I need a break from the kids...can't remember the last time I've been on an airplane...our last hurrah before #4 comes...vacation." I don't know if anyone can appreciate how happy I was when Jeff finished up his Census 2010 assignment...mainly because his schedule was so packed with work and out of town work that I wanted a normal schedule again and maybe have my husband home for a month without him being out of town. He's done with that but took a promotion that now means more responsibility and unpredictable travel...again! Anyway, enough about that because I am now sounding a bit ungrateful for Jeff's hard work and the opportunities we were able to have because of it and I am so not. It was just hard to have him gone so much. This trip was hard to plan...lots of factors to consider but really it only came down to one thing - Who would willingly take our 3 kids and watch them for however long we decided was possible. I'll spare all 2 readers the long drawn out story but we got everything figured out and marked our calendars for our long awaited vacation. Sidenote: All of us were sick at one point for 3-4 weeks leading up to the day we left...I was still in the recovery phase of my cold/flu.

I want to throw out the biggest thank you to my brother and sister-in-law for making this possible and taking on the Enos 3 for 7 days. I left knowing that they were in capable hands and that was such a huge thing in my ability to relax on the trip. I think the kids needed a break from me too...they seem happy to see me and talk to me...which was so nice to come home to.



Day 1 - Arrived in the early afternoon and headed straight for Ono's. I wasn't feeling too great, still a bit weak from being sick the previous 2 weeks and had an infection that was making my face hurt. Anyway, we had some grub at Ono's and then decided to take it easy and do some shopping at Wal-mart for stuff we didn't bring, like sunscreen and snacks and water.

Day 2 - Walked Waikiki for our early morning walk and then we grabbed some breakfast.
Had to get some malasadas from Leonard's.

Headed to the North Shore. I think this is right after Waimaea. Spent a few hours on the beach and the sun was HOT! I suggested to Jeff that we get in the shade but by then the damage was done to Jeff. Luckily it wasn't that bad of a burn for him.


Beach time makes us hungry. Went to a shrimp shack, got the spicy and the garlic shrimp.


Had to finish it with some shave ice from Matsumoto's.




Day 3 - Our plans were to hit the Aloha Stadium for some shopping but their website led us way astray and we ended up in Ko Olina. We were going to head over to this side of the island anyway so it ended up being okay. We spent the day at this beach, very calm and did some snorkeling when the sun was out from under those clouds. It poured as we were leaving, but it wasn't unpleasant.

Day 4 - Had a vacation presentation, to score cheap tickets to a luau, which took most of our morning. We got hit from 3 different people trying to sell us this time share type of thing but we held our ground and they finally released us. It's funny because at the beginning of these things they always say they aren't going to push us and try to sell us anything but when they're all done they try and make the sale and it's pushy. Anyway, we ventured over to the windward side of the island towards Kailua.
View from the Pali lookout.

Kailua Beach. Very nice, green and relaxing.

We got back and did laundry...what a drag!


Day 5 - No morning walk today but we did have a hike planned so we could find a waterfall but it was kind of a pain finding one not too strenuous...given my current condition. Came up with Maunawili Falls. Very green, lush and jungly and a neat hike...minus the muddy terrain most of the way up. It was worth all the "mishaps" encountered during and after the hike.

First we headed to Safeway for some lomi lomi salmon and some drinks for the cooler because after the hike we were headed back over to the North Shore.

Finally getting there!

Jeff getting ready to jump.

After the hike, we drove from the windward side of Oahu all the way to Sunset Beach. Jeff's favorite beach here. Loved the views on the drive. Grabbed a pizza to eat for lunch and stayed in Sunset Beach for the rest of the afternoon. Then back to Matsumoto's for a shave ice treat.

Day 6 - Our last full day here. Since we never went shopping on Wednesday we decided to do some shopping today. Just a way to walk around Waikiki and spend some money.

We went a presentation a few days back, sort of like a time share thing, so we could get some cheap tickets to this luau. It was in Ko Olina, Paradise Cove. We have been to the PCC so just wanted to try something new. PCC had a way better show but I think Paradise Cove was more intimate and some of the food was really really good. Next time I will probably go back to the PCC though. Still nice to try something new and have some fun.

Things to look forward to

I thought I'd post some things that I'm looking forward to in this new year (in no particular order, just as they pop into my head).
-2 kids in school
-a new car (hopefully sometime soon)
-9 year wedding anniversary
-going to the beach
-trip to Hawaii (finally!)
-not driving the kids to and from school(for the summer at least)
-bringing #4 home
-David finally wiping on his own
-running again
-4 new niece(s)/nephews

As of 7:30p.m. this is the state of the Enos house...

When Jeff's out of town I like to enforce an early bedtime. It's almost like a peace comes over me knowing that the kids are all safe and sleeping and it's quiet. I am very productive when I can actually have a couple of hours of quiet. Sometimes I just do meaningless things just to avoid the noise and chaos but this peaceful feeling helps me appreciate my life/kids/husband so much. Thank you for early bedtimes...it doesn't always happen but I am so grateful when it does.

A pre-schooler!

When did this happen? David started pre-school last Wednesday and only cried because I had the audacity to pick him up from school. Seriously, am I that scary that my kids can't wait to go to school and hate it when it's over? Since David didn't make the age cut-off for a LAUSD free pre-school I thought it would be a good idea for him to test the waters for a semester before he actually has to start next fall. It's also nice to only have Vanessa to drag around with my errands. Vanessa loves having all the attention and it's kind of nice to have the peace of having a quiet baby(for now at least).

Everyone look at the camera!

This was our attempt at a family shot...one of Jeff's little things that he insists on. Kids look great, except for Vanessa's mad face.

David's Drama

A converstation I had with David when he noticed that the Christmas decorations were all gone.

David: Mommy, the tree! Where's it?
Me: We put it away because it's not Christmas anymore.
David: But I don't wanna Christmas to be done. (starts to cry)
Me: Do you want some raisins?
David: Mommy, you hurt my feelings.
Everytime I say something that David doesn't like, he cries and declares that I hurt his feelings.


I've been letting David's hair grow out...and Jeff finally had enough of the bushy hair and cut it while I was taking a nap.


This picture was taken about a month ago.




This morning.

Day 1 of our drive we ended in St. George and spent some time with Jeff's sister, Mindy, and her family. They were generous enough to let us spend the night in their home and let Jeff play video games all night long.
Day 2 we left St. George and drove up to Salt Lake City. We stayed there that night so we could go to Temple Square and enjoy some Christmas lights. Then we went back to the hotel and went to the pool and had tons of snacks from the hotel concierge lounge.


Shot of the Salt Lake City Temple.


This tree was glowing. Looks like fire!


Cousins...
Top row, left to right: Hannah(6), Veronica(6), Hailey(4) and David(3).
Bottom row: Matthew(2) and Vanessa(1).
Day 3 we headed towards our final destination...Idaho Falls. Road conditions were amazing and not scary at all. Our vacation finally began once we were in Idaho.


Veronica thought it would be a good idea to cut Vanessa's bangs.


Getting ready to go flying over Idaho Falls. Thanks Tom! (Jeff's brother-in-law)


Merry Christmas!


Day 1 of our drive up to Idaho Falls. It took us 3 days to finally get there...we broke it up so it wouldn't be so long in the car. Those DVD players were amazing! It kept the kids quiet and entertained while we drove....who cares if they turned into zombies.