We met some "real" characters

We were lucky enough to run into a few characters while at Disneyland. We did see a few more than this but I wasn't patient enough to wait in line for all of them. Also we didn't go to any character breakfasts/meals so all of these pictures were hard earned.

You may notice that usually its just Colby, Jayden and I.....yes we did bring Grayson with us. But Grayson was a thrill junkie and HAD to go on every ride he could, most more than once. So it was just us wimps wandering around the park finding characters.

Sorry, but I could not let myself be photographed with Winnie the Pooh. Him and I don't see eye to eye. I just don't understand why he has to have so much merchandise. Its like he is the Donald Trump of the 100 acre woods and the other characters get nothing. I even went so far as to put on my baby shower invitations with Grayson "NO Winnie the Pooh please!" So him and I go wayyyyy back.

When Jayden went to give him a hug and kiss Pooh had turned so Jayden ended up kissing Pooh on the but.

Jayden was in awe of Buzz Lightyear, or as he says"Buzz Lightyear to the rescue" I think Jaydent thinks thats his name. He wouldn't even touch him. Like he was with royalty or something. He was like, "Whoa Mom, that's BUZZ lightyear to the rescue!" He was planning on telling him about all the aliens he shot but chickened out.

I think Colby is big enough to realize that its a person in there. He kept asking why none of them talk. My reasoning was that they see so many kids each day if they spoke to all of them they would lose their voice.....he just rolled his eyes.

Too bad Grayson was 'too cool' to go see characters with us....I don't have as many pictures of him.

Have You Seen My Beach Ball?

It is this big.....

And this round.....



And it went that way.

During our California trip we went to the beach. Seal Beach to be more specific. Grayson and Colby had been to the beach before, but it was Jayden's first time. I think it is safe to say they all loved it! They keep teasing one another saying they were going to bury them so they couldn't get out. Colby got buried...but he was able to escape. Jayden buried my feet. He would put a small handful of sand on my foot, then hit it a few times to make sure he was compacting it. He wasn't very careful. He kept hitting my shins.

There was a pier at the beach we went to. The boys thought it was pretty awesome and had to walk to the end. It made me and Lynnell alittle nervous when they kept peeking over the railing to see how far out we were. They loved chasing the birds that landed on it. Poor birds.

Another cool thing about this beach was they had playground right on the beach. It had a fench around it so kids couldn't just run down to the water. The boys begged and pleaded to go play there. We finally let them, and what did they do??? Looked in the playground sand for shells. I kept telling them to play...but they wouldn't. So we forced them to go back down to the water to play. (Notice my awesome bracelet...we took pipecleaners to play with in the truck and the boys made me a crown, a ring and a bracelet, I only wore the bracelet in public....Jeremy has one on too.)

Jayden liked the seal. You can see 2 little monsters peeking in the back.

My boys really loved being at the beach. We didn't put any sunscreen on them because it was really cloudy when we got there. But by the time we left they had red backs. I think that if we lived anywhere near water they would be cute little surfers with bleach blonde hair.

Poor Grayson, he tried so hard to build a castle, but with 2 little brothers running away from waves every 45 seconds it proved to be too big a challenge. He even had a moat around it. He would pour water into it and a few seconds later it would disappear. We tried, but I guess us Arizonan's aren't the best sand castle builders. Now knocking them down we were pretty good at.

All together it was a good beach experience. The boys had fun..and the best part was it was free! (We figured out alittle bit late we were supposed to pay for parking....oops.) I think the boys would really love a vacation just playing at the beach.....maybe we can squeeze one in this summer.....

Favorite things about the beach:

Grayson - "There was alot of sand."

"I liked collecting the seal shells."

Colby - "I could do the monkey bars at the playground."
"Getting in the water and it chasing me back."
"Mom there is sand in my crack!"

Jayden - "The crabs put sand in my ears mom!"

"Thats alot of water."

Sherman Family Resturant Review

Well we just got back from vacation. And after 9 hours in the car with my kids, husband and parents......I need another vacation.

It would be WAY too long for me to do a whole blog about our trip to Disneyland, so I will do mini blogs. Also I lack the energy to go all the way to the other end of the house and get my camera to upload pictures, so you'll have to wait until tomorrow.

So one thing we did on vacation was eat out.....weird I know. But if you know my dad you now that he DOES NOT eat out on vacation. He will bring almost all of his own food. Not that he doesn't trust the food, he is just really cheap. Us "kids" always joke about boiled chicken sandwiches.

But amazingly we ate out all but one meal....except the free breakfast at our hotel. One place that we ate at was John's Incredible Pizza.

This place puts Peter Piper Pizza to shame. We could fit this place into our Benson Safeway. It was huge. Not too pricey either. They had a salad buffet, which all the veggies were cut small, so you didn't have to cut up your salad.....very helpful. They had a pasta/potato bar. They had a pizza buffet, with everything from cheese pizza to BBQ pizza (very good by the way), Spicy Peanut Pizza (too scared to try), Nacho Cheese Pizza (didn't try), and a Fiesta Pizza. The Fiesta was kinda funny, my dad got it and said it tasted really weird. So we looked at it closer and noticed it had all taco fixin's on it....even refried beans. Weird. And lastly, they had a dessert buffet, which if you know my husband you know how important that is.

Moving on from the food. There was different rooms you could eat in. There was one that was like a log cabin, with a fireplace and everything. Then there was a "toon" room. This is where we sat. It was decorated with cartoon posters and had big screens on the wall playing cartoons. Scooby Do was on when we were there.....my kids thought cartoons during dinner was awesome. There was also a sports room with different games on. And they had separate rooms for birthday parties.

Another thing that made them different was their play area. They had alot of games....and even rides in there. It was also seperate form the food area so it wasn't so loud. Very nice. Although we wouldn't let our kids play ANY games because we had just taken them to Disneyland for 3 days and didn't want to spend any more.

All together I would say we give John's Incredible Pizza Co. a 4 out of 5.

Hopefully we get one in Tucson some day. (Wow can you tell I am pregnant? My first vacation blog is about food?!)

What's taking so long???!?

The days leading up to vacation always go by REALLY slow. They just drag. And its not like we are just sitting around waiting for time to pass. We are all really busy everyday. Atleast the boys don't know so its just a normal week for them. We did tell them we would go see How To Train Your Dragon this weekend...so they are waiting for that. But have no idea that it will be in California and not Arizona.

We finally figured out how to tell them.....I think I will possibly have to hold back my tears. So I got a postcard from my sister that is from Disneyland. On Friday it will come in the mail addressed to Grayson, Colby and Jayden. I will hand it to Grayson to read outloud.
It will say something like this:

"Dear Grayson, Colby and Jayden Sherman,
I am really excited for you to come visit me at my house next week in Disneyland. We will have lots of fun together. Make sure you pack your swimming suit because there is a beach nearby. Bring your parents and make sure you go to bed early tonight because you leave tomorrow morning.
Love,
Mickey Mouse"

I think that they will get the idea. I can hardly wait.....and of course we will be video taping it just in case.

Addicted

I am starting to notice a trend with addictions......they are never cheap. When people are addicted to cars, they are usually expensive cars. Drugs, people pay large amonts of money for small amounts of drugs. People don't get addicted to the penny slots.....its the big money games that people love. Women who get addicted to shopping don't shop at the dollar store. Purses.....its always the expensive ones.


TLC has a show called ADDICTED, I have never actually watched it just seen commercials. But I think one day I may be featured on it. I don't yet have a problem.....but I see the possibility.



I have walked past the MAC display probably a million times. I always park by Dillards so when I go into the mall I have to walk past this display. I always think, "I want to try that someday". I always say that but never actually stop.

I have noticed the makeup I am using doesn't last more than an hour, then it magically disappears. That is REALLY annoying. So I wanted to try this makeup.
So Friday when I went to Tucson I tried it. I told the lady I wanted to try some foundations/powders. At first she only did half my face. I was already imagining myself in the movie The Other Sister when a girl with "speical needs" gets a mall make over and they only do half her face.....please don't do that to me!
But really the lady just did that to compare colors.

When she was done I had enough makeup on to compete in a beauty peagant. But I liked it! It lasted all day long. When I went to wash it off that night it looked the same as when it was put on in the morning.

Of course she used a few different things on me to trick me into buying it all...but I stuck to my decision of only buying one thing. Well......one thing every few weeks. I am already plotting my next purchase. And just like any other addiction...its not cheap.

Happy Easter!

We went to my Aunt Peggy's house just like we do every year. We went up the day before because Jeremy was doing some work for my cousin. We went up and decorated eggs with my cousins kids. Jayden didn't really like the dipper, so he just used his hands. By the time he was done he looked like a baby Hulk. Finally after soaking in the bath tub, his ands came clean.

Jayden was an expert egg finder. My cousin Patrick went around with him to help him out. All together Jayden got $4.

Grayson did good on his solo hunt. He found 19 hard boiled eggs (there is a $10 prize for themost hard boiled eggs so kids won't pass then up) and Grayson won! So all together he got $14 and lots of candy.

Colby was still young enough to be in the advance party that gets a 5 minute head start....but he did not need it. By the time the 5 minutes was up his basket was full. So I ended up putting some in my shirt until my mom went to get him a bag for his extra eggs. Colby ended up with $20.

Before we got out there to hunt we were coaching our kids as to how to get alot of eggs. We were telling them to grab and go.....don't worry about whats in the eggs you can look later....and our theory got them quite a few eggs.

Fort Sherman

Well Jeremy has gotten it into his head that our boys NEED a fort. "Every boy needs a fort Nicole" is what he tells me. So a few saturdays ago he built one. He (and my dad) were out there ALL DAY LONG. It took forever. Its well built and sturdy....but does it have to be so high up? The way he had the railings to start were more like a ladder until I pointed them out. But the boys do love it, as long as it doesn't get any higher.
His ideas to make it better scare me alittle.....he wants them to use a pole to get down, or a rope.....unless they just want to use the boring old ladder. I just need to set up a pre-paid account with our local hospital I guess.