Forever Friends

Thank you camera for working one last time so I could get off the pictures of Jasmine and the two best therapists ever! Here little Miss Princess is with Amber, her Developmental therapist and Kim, her Speech and Feeding therapist. Sometimes I tell myself Jazzy needed therapy because I am a worry wart of a mama, sometimes it makes sense that there was cause to be concerned with what we were going through with Taylor. But, whatever the reason, she has flourished this past year and a half! And one day, when she is sitting in class at Harvard, she will turn to one of her friends and say, "Did you know when I was younger I had a speech delay?"

Birthdays!

March is a fun month for a few girly reasons...it is the birthday of Little Miss Jasmine on the 4th and her lucky mama on the 10th.

We celebrated little Miss Jasmine's bday early at Disneyland, but on her actually b-day we had her last therapy sessions and had cupcakes at home. She got a new pair of fairy wings as well as the Sleeping Beauty, Pocohantas and Jasmine dolls AND she got the Jessie costume from the Disney Store, complete with the sparkly red hat and sparkly red Jessie boots.

The next day we had a Thank- You party for her wonderful therapists, Amber and Kim. I have some cute pictures of that, but they are stuck on the internal memory of our (now) old camera. Once I find the cord I'll have to download those.

Today is my b-day and so far it has been a great day! I am still a little under the weather, but recovering from the flu from Hell. I thought my birthday present was our new camera, but I was surprised this morning with a present from Taylor (two new pairs of shoes!) and this afternoon I received some beautiful flowers from the best husband ever.

This weekend we will be in Tucson and celebrating the Toy Story way. Jazzy will be having a party at Tata's house where she will get to wear her new Jessie costume. Taylor is going to be Buzz Lightyear and Brooks and I are going to be Woody and Jessie.

Sweet, sweet California

The I-10 in Arizona


The windmills outside of Twenty Nine Palms


Green!


LA Traffic




Growing up in Arizona, vacationing in California is something everyone does. Living in California is always something you dream about as a kid and yet somehow as I have gotten older it is something I just don't think about much. I think if you really want something, you can always find a way to make it work, right? A few of my friends from school are now in California and all seem to be enjoying it. I have friends who have moved to Arizona from California. But yet, for some reason, on this trip I felt geniunely sad to leave the state. I don't know if it is because I wonder if/when we'll be able to visit again or maybe it's something else? As we drove away from Riverside and all the pretty green grassy hills, I turned around and looked at Taylor. "I am going to miss California," he said. Me too, little man. Me too.

We love the beach

We are a total beach family. I remember Taylor's first trip to California and the beach. He was about 18 months and we drove along the coast until we found what a great sandy area to play at. He has always loved the sand and as many sensory issues as he has, I am so grateful he can tolerate the texture of sand and that he even thrives in it. The first few years we drove around with sand toys in the trunk of the car because you never knew when we'd decide to go to a park and play and we always needed to be prepared. For this trip, we stopped at Target and bought some new sand toys, then headed out first to La Brea Tar Pits, then stopped at Venice Beach and played away. We all love, love the beach.

Disneyland!

Her Royal Highness, the Spoiled Little Princess Jasmine, enjoyed an early birthday present by visiting Disneyland. It was a short trip, but so nice...

We drove out Sunday morning and went to Disneyland for Monday only. We compromised and decided to try to do this trip on a budget (what's that?!) and bought the one day-one park tickets. It was a full day, but we did it and I don't think the kids remembered there was a second park there. I mean, when we really think about it, at the ripe old age of 6, Taylor has now been to Disneyland three times and two of those times were on the three-day Park Hopper tickets. When I stop and try to be reasonable about this, although I wish I could buy them the world, they really aren't that deprived.

And did I mention it was nice? Oh, so nice! We really did not get stressed out, we split up twice so Taylor could ride Indiana Jones and the Matterhorn with Daddy, the kids were reasonable about only getting a few toys each, and we all just really enjoyed being together. Jazzy also got to see Ariel, Cinderella and her Fairy God Mother, Snow White, Goofy and Aladdin.