B is for bikes, L is for Lucas, P is for praying mantis

We bought the boys bikes this summer and they love to ride them. I cone off the entrance to our alley and sit in my beach chair while they ride around and train for our future family bike rides, I'm the only one now who doesn't have a bike but I guess I could run along beside them...........Here's Lucas practicing his L's, he's mastered the L..now we'll work on U.........This big praying mantis was on our gate yesterday, I thought it was pretty cool!

I love a parade!

On Sat. we walked with other families in support of prop. 8, a proposition on the upcoming election to keep marriage between a man and wife! For those of you that don't know the California Supreme Court, 4 San Francisco based judges, gave gay and lesbian couples the right to marry. Prop 8 restores traditional marriage, between man and wife, and is an ammendment to the state constitution which cannot be overturned again. In 2001 California voters said "No" to gay marriage, we are hoping for them to come out and vote the same!
This has nothing to do with gay or lesbian rights, this prop does not take away any rights or benefits from them. I am not homophobic, I love Ellen Degeneres and Portia DeRossi, I wish them all the best and I would never discriminate against anyone who was gay. I'm just protecting something that I believe is ordained by God and it is sacred.
Without prop 8 our children will be taught in public schools as early as kindergarten that there is no difference between gay marriage and traditional marriage. I do not agree and that is my religious freedom to feel that way.
I'm so tired of the line between tolerance and acceptance getting blurred. Yes I tolerate it but no I do not have to accept it as right! Anyways we have been out knocking doors to inform/educate voters about and rally support for prop.8 and this past Sat. we walked in the Moorpark Country Days Parade. There were 350 of us families, we passed out fliers and candy, we all had on matching tshirts and balloons and we sure made a statement! Unfortunatly it rained but that didn't damper our spirits or the crowds.I was so proud to walk with my family and support this righteous cause!
Please vote this election and if you live in the state of California please vote Yes on Prop 8! www.ProtectMarriage.com

Disneyland again!

The gift that keeps on giving.....We upgraded the tickets my mom and Marty bought us for Christmas to an annual pass! So far we've gone with the family, just Steve and I, and this time just me and the little boys. We called Grandma Karen to see if she wanted to meet us there and she did! I'm so glad she came, it was like old times. We used to go everywhere together up until she moved away! Anyways it worked out perfect we pulled up in the parking garage about the same time. We had a great day. Our longest wait time was like 15 minutes for Toy Story Mania which is brand new. It was incredibly hot in the day but it turned into a perfect night! The boys were so good! It really was a perfect day! The only disappointment was the playhouse Disney Live show at California Adventure was cancelled for the day and the boys were really bummed. Lucas said "that stinks!" and "It's a Small World" ride is still closed until Nov. I love Disneyland, it is so magical. I still get excited even now after 3 trips. We are going again, the whole family for Halloween. I'm so excited to see the characters costumes! Thanks again Mom for joining me, it would have been kinda lonely without another adult to talk to and I know the boys loved seeing you again so soon! I love the picture of you and Lucas with the icecreams. Another shout out to Nicole and Kate for helping me out with Jacob!

First day wearing clothes all day/Rough start to the season

Jacob's soccer team this year are "the Spitfires" and we have yet to burn anyone. We tied our first game 0-0, it was a good game and last week we were gone but the team lost 6-1 and today we lost 4-0. Yikes! We just need to get organized.
You might have noticed most of the pictures of Lucas indoors he is wearing nothing but a diaper. He loves to be "nakey". Everytime we walk in the door he strips down. I thought maybe when he started wearing underwear he would leave his clothes on, being a big boy and all, nope he just kicks it in his underwear all day...I know I know total white trash! Unless we have friends coming over then I make him put clothes on because "nobody wants to see you in your underwear",you've been forewarned if you stop by unannounced. Can you believe he actually wore clothes all day yesterday! We will see if this is the start of a trend?

Good Bye Summer Campout

Steve wanted to go camping one last time before it starts to get too cold. We had had a perfect Labor Day weekend and I think Steve was trying to recapture that. Labor Day weekend we went to the beach Sat. and Mon. the latter was the most perfect beach day all summer. Steve's dream came true those days, the water was warm and all 3 boys went out on his long board with him, Jacob even stood up and surfed the white wash like 5 times. The water was so warm that I even went out and surfed, I got up twice but after getting worked just to get out there I was done! Our friends The Murrays joined us on Mon. and Becky and I boogie boarded with not much success, it's not as easy as it looks!
Unfortunatly the weather and water were not so warm for our little camping/surf trip at Carpenteria State Beach. It was down right cold! Good thing we brought jeans and sweaters. The sun did peak out on Sat. right after we left the beach and cleaned up! Oh well we had fun and bonded as a family.
Some funny things happened Fri. night....We were sitting around the camp fire that took Steve 2 hours to get going and it never really got to be the towering inferno that he promised,I guess that was my fault, I got the wrong wood! I didn't know there was a difference between hard or soft..oops. It was hillarious he was all pyscho sweaty trying to get the thing going! So we are sitting around our tiny ember fire with just enough heat to make smores when all of a sudden Lucas, Steve, and I get pooped on! Gross! What are the odds you get pooped on twice in one night? Pretty good if your sitting under a bird's nest, yes it happened again soon after. Lucas was freaking out crying for like 2 hours he kept saying "I wanna go home!" After singing and stories we hit the tent for some sleeping bag Uno. I dominated. Poor Steve is such a light sleeper as it is, he didn't get any sleep thanks to the racoons that raided our food we left out! I was too lazy to get up and take a picture of them. The next morning I made egg Nikmuffins, that were delicious! Steve took the boys on an adventure and I went for a long run.
Grandma and Grandpa Fenske came up and visited us. We played cards and went to Fosters Freeze. Then we packed up, had one more camp fire(Steve had to redeem himself and this time it was a towering inferno!)the boys got to be little pyros just like their daddy! Then we headed home to our nice cozy beds.

Free Jamba's and Gentle Ben

A gal from one of my classes gave me a Jamba juice gift card and told me to go take my boys for a smoothie! Very sweet. Yesterday we dropped Jacob off at soccer practice and went to the gym for my 6:30 class. We were super early and Jamba juice is right next door so I said "Let's get a smoothie". We never get stuff like that so the boys were super excited, it was fun to sit at the table and hang out with them. After I ordered the cashier told me their machine wasn't working so it would be free! Yay! Then the other worker said "Oh do you mind if it's a large?" Ofcoarse not, so I got extra cups and brought the girls in the kids club some. Well Jacob freaked out and was bitter because he didn't get one, can you say spoiled? Anyways today I had the great idea to make smoothies at home and Ben said "Mom, don't forget to make Jacob one so he won't be sad again." Even though he is inappropriate alot he is the sweetest, kindest, thoughtful, loving little boy. He always hugs me and tells me "I love you all the time" every day. He is always trying to make his brothers happy.

Done with Diapers!

Can you believe it, after 4 1/2 years straight, I'm done with diaper duty! It's been 4 days now that Lucas has been wearing underwear and only 1 accident last night in bed. He didn't even wake up. Oh I take it back he did start to poop in his underwear today but finished in the toilet. He's been ready for awhile,pooping was the hold up and I wasn't ready to commit, but after Monday night I had no more excuses. We had dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Fenske's, we had been at the beach all day and I forgot to bring a diaper. Not a big deal he'll tell me if he has to go pee if he's not wearing a diaper. He tells me "mom I gotta go poo!" I said "o.k. you have to go on the potty! Cuz I don't have a diaper" and he did it!
There's something special about G&G Fenske's toilet.The same thing happened with Jacob when Steve and I were dating. He was potty trained but would only poop in a pull-up. He would specifically ask me to put a pull-up on him so he could go poop! We were there having dinner and he told me "Mom, I need a pull-up" and I didn't have one so I said the same thing "I don't have one , you'll have to use the toilet" and he did and since that point on no more pull-ups! I guess if you are having a hard time potty training, specifically pooping, bring your boy over to the Fenske's magic toilet!