Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Indeed it was!

On Sunday afternoon Jack and I had a great opportunity to see the play Mary Poppins at the Segrestrom Center for the Arts in Orange County. It was WONDERFUL! Mary flew and Bert walked on the ceiling just to mention a few amazing highlights. We couldn't stop smiling and clapping. We both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Here's Jack before the show started. Check out those awesome seats of ours!


I had been wanting to take Jack ever since I saw the first commercial back in June but couldn't comfortably justify the cost. Then I heard about the student rush tickets that sometimes come available so this morning I got spontaneous. I called the box office to confirm if they would have the discounted tickets available and the lady gave me all the details. The box office opens 1 hour before show time and the tickets are $20 each (cash only). So we took our chances and it paid off. We had AWESOME seats - orchestra level (oh yea baby!), row L, seats 23 & 24. If I remember correctly those were normally like $60. Pretty cool! I will definitely be open to getting student rush tickets in the future. Such a great deal!

It was a super great afternoon with Jack and I'm so grateful for the special time we had together. My sweet boy will be starting 1st grade in a month and I will be missing his beautiful face around the house all day.

I've been neglectful

Yes, I've been a bad blogger. Somehow I've let the weeks slip by without blogging about the family. The truth is that I take way too many darn pictures at family events that it is almost overwhelming for me to narrow it down and then actually blog about it after our day. However, we have had so many great days, so many special moments that I don't want to forget. So, please bare with me as I do a little catch up blogging.

I was inspired by simple as that, a blog I enjoy reading to blog in collage as a quick but cute way to get caught up on the month of May. She actually does a beautiful monthly collage capturing the highlights of her month. There was no way I was going to be able to narrow my many photos down into one collage so I opted for one collage per event. Thanks for still "following" along with us.

Mother's Day


My brother Michael and his wife Frances had their first baby. My first niece - what a blessing! She's just beautiful and we hope to spend more time with her soon.


Home school day with mom! Jack's class was going on a field trip to the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, a nice but very small aquarium. Because I always attend the field trips as a chaperone, I opted to not send Jack to school that day but to take both Jack and Benjamin to the "big" aquarium. I arranged for my mom to watch Annabelle (thanks mom!) and the boys and I spent the day at the Aquarium of the Pacific here in Long Beach. We had a great time! It felt like the old days - the day's before kindergarten, preschool and therapy schedules. We were so carefree! It was a lot of fun. We spent as much time inside the aquarium as we did outside. The boys rolled down the grassy hill about 25 times and we got ice cream. Something I guarantee you Jack would not have been able to do had he gone with his class.

I am CONFIDENT they both learned a lot that day. Jack actually did a "book report" as he called it for his teacher to tell her what he learned. Learning to get along with one another was also a big part of the day. By the way, I didn't dress them - they choose to be "twins". I love my boys dearly!

The kids and I attended our first rally to let the leaders of California know that enough is enough. It was called Wake Up California. We were all there to sign petitions and to increase awareness about the crisis facing California public schools and the need for our legislatures to take action now! There were a couple of hundred people there as well as the press. It felt good to show our support.


We ended our month celebrating my sister and I. Mingie turned 41 and I turned 38 this past May. Wow, were does the time go. Doesn't seem like that long ago (according to our parents) that she and I were running around together like Jack and Ben. Our birthday celebration was great! Casual atmosphere (thank you Mingie), good company and great food - exactly what I wanted! The weather was perfect and the boys even got to do a little gardening with their Uncle Ed.


Jack finished up another great month of beginning art at Averyboo Arts.

We are so very thankful to my Dad who graciously offered to pay for an additional month of class. He saw how great Jack was doing and how much he enjoyed it and wanted him to be able to continue. I love that my parents never put me in that uncomfortable position of having to ask for help. They watch, they listen and they unselfishly give what they can. They have both in the last few years (since life got more expensive) offered to help out with different expenses for the kids - be it art class for Jack, karate class for Ben or money toward the thousands we owe to the hospital and not to mention the babysitting they both do. They are both so generous and giving of their time. I have no idea what Braden and I would do without them. We are blessed to have such wonderful parents as role models. We always talk about the love they shower us with and how my grandparents (both sides) were the same way. We hope that we can continue the "generosity and love" with our children throughout their lives as my parents and grandparents have done for us.

T-Ball and sibling bonding

Benjamin's 1st official T-Ball season has ended. What a fun experience that was.
He had a game every Wednesday and Saturday - no practices (silly, I know) - just games. He didn't really improve much all season, but he had a lot of fun and looked super cute in his uniform. Isn't that what really matters anyway?

Annabelle was his biggest fan!

She LOVED wearing his hat!


She LOVED hanging out with her big brothers when the game was over.
This was not my proudest Mom moment but it was super cute to see how she copies everything they do. Oh man, help me now!

pictures taken on May 11th

Easter Saturday at Papa's

We are blessed to be able to spend the Saturday of Easter weekend celebrating at my Dad's house. The food is always super great and the company is even better. Nothing beats being with my brother and sister and their families.



We all have so much to be thankful for.

Here's our attempt at a family photo toward the end of the night.
We clearly kept the kids out way past their bedtime and the crazies started to set in. They were all really good though. Benjamin was sound asleep before we even got out of my Dad's neighborhood.



Thank you Dad and Alex (not pictured) for always being such wonderful hosts - we LOVE you both!

Just because

It's not a great picture but something about it I really liked. Any day that my kids can play together is a great day!

Good days make for a blissful treat

I'm so happy to report that we have been having some truly good days over here at the Summers place. When everyone is healthy life is GOOD!

After a super great weekend of house and backyard projects, family bike rides, Easter craft and mommy getting to go out (at night!) to see friends I couldn't have been happier that our Monday was just as great. It seems that having warmer weather really helps our moods.

After picking up Jack from school (he gets out at 1) I put Annabelle down for nap and Jack started his homework. Ben decided to do a little water play and then proceeded to read one of his favorite books, Ghost Ship while drying off in the sun. He looked like such a big boy.


Once Jack was finished it was his turn with the hose. Sorry local friends I know it's "illegal" to have running water from a hose here in Long Beach - please don't report me. We don't do it that often. Jack was making rainbows - they were beautiful and so was the smile on his face!


I went inside to start figuring out what to make for dinner and when I looked back outside this is what I saw. Now you should have seen the smile on my face! I love watching my boys together being kind to one another. I slowly opened the back slider to snap this picture. It was so great to hear Jack reading to his brother.


Since they were being so good I probably should have started the laundry or the dishes or continued with dinner but I was in such a happy mood I just couldn't do those boring things. So, I decided to make them (and me) a treat. Not just any old treat but a pineapple blissful treat I had seen earlier in the day and had been on my mind ever since. Click HERE if you are interested in a super yummy and amazingly easy treat. It was the perfect two ingredient (three if you count the coolwhip toping) treat to whip up during nap time on school night. Don't look if you are against using a box cake mix. I know you guys are out there and that's okay.

Once they realized I was gone they came looking for me - they always do! Then of course they wanted to bake with me. I was practically done considering it's a two ingredient cupcake. So they each got to help with filling the cupcake liners.

Ben loves to cook or bake any chance he gets


Jack enjoys anything he can do one on one with me. He can be such a sweetie


Annabelle missed all the baking but was awake in time to eat it. She seemed to like the cool whip a little better than the cupcake.


It was truly the perfect start to our week. We have lots of appointments this week - Eye Dr. follow up, Pediatrician well check (Jack) and a consultation with a new specialist for Annabelle so we probably won't have another day as fun and carefree like that again until at least the weekend. I am so very thankful for great days with my children.

Memorable Moments in March

It's hard to believe that March is over! Where did the month go? Our days get so busy that sometimes I fear that I'm not stopping long enough to really cherish each moment as well as I should be. I also have a bad habit of letting the bad overshadow the good. I have SO much good in my daily life - sometimes it's just the little things that make me smile. Maybe it's something one of the boys says when I pick them up from school or a special picture they drew for me. These are very special moments but sadly they can easily be overshadowed by arguing siblings or vomiting little girls. I feel that sometimes I talk more about those things here on this blog or on Annabelle's and way too much to Branden when he gets home than about ALL of the wonderful things that happen throughout my day. Being able to stay home with our 3 little little ones is a blessing and I know this. There is bound to be lots of great and not so great moments every day - there's a lot of hours in each day :-)

So, in an effort to not let another month slip away without remembering it I've visually highlighted as a reminder for me some of the more memorable moments that happened this past month. There were lots more moments I'm sure but sometimes I just don't have a free hand to take a picture.

Taking my boys to the movies for the first time. It was just the three of us and we saw Gnomeo & Juliet


Celebrating Jack's 6th birthday with the family


Disneyland for Jack's birthday on his birthday!



Grammy & Auntie Mingie joined us! It was so much fun and we even stayed to see World of Color for the first time. Such a GREAT day (and night!)


Playdoh with the littles


Surprise swim days after school - me and all 3 kids!
Although it was nap time for Annabelle she is so great about being flexible when necessary and she really had so much fun splashing and kicking in the water.



Jack going out to lunch and the movies to see Tangled with his best friend for his birthday! (Her mom and I were there too)



Wearing super cute St. Patty's Day hair bows and hanging out with a super cool big brother


Jack's 1st Jog-a-thon. Thank you everyone who so generously sponsored him.


Playing in the backyard together!




Benjamin playing T-Ball - soooo cute!


Reading with Daddy early in the morning


Big brothers teaching their little sister karate before bed


Making homemade vanilla ice cream with dad




We have returned to doing weekday crafts during Annabelle's nap - yeah! The boys were "writing" their name with glue and Cheerios. We also did marshmellow rainbows earlier in the month.


Annabelle becoming more comfortable using her walker at home


Reading together with Daddy before bed


Jack made me this beautiful cross last Sunday because he knew I was sad that we missed church. I love his kind heart.


The kids happily building together (yeah - together!)


My brother and my sister in laws baby shower. They are having their first baby - a girl!


It was a "family shower" and the boys were SO excited to go to their first baby shower - it was so cute. Check out how great this picture came out! What I'd give to get a great family picture like this.


What a GREAT month! Thanks for taking the time to relive some of the more MEMORABLE MOMENTS of MARCH with me!!!

Hoping that April is super great for each of you. Feel free to leave a comment if you wish, to let me know you stopped by. I'd love to hear about any special plans you all have planned for April and how you try to cherish the moments with your families in our very busy world.