The Todd Pad

January recap!

2012-02-04T13:56:00.000-08:00

We started 2012 by kicking off the new year at home. We lit off sparklers we've had from 4th of July and watched the ball drop at the New York time via the internet. At about 8:15 pm Claire asked when it was going to be "midnight." It is a good thing we didn't try to keep her up. Carter ran into the street to bang pots. It was really nice to be home and a great way to start off the year!

We went on a looong bike ride January 2nd with family. It was great but ended up being almost 10 miles and Carter was mildly dehydrated and tired. He just reminded me today about how he "almost died" on that bike ride. We rode along the Santa Ana river bottom trail and had lunch after at In-n-Out.

Then life got back in to full swing. Daniel continues to be busy as Secondary Language Arts coordinator where he helps teachers be even better educators. He works with a great team and is getting valuable experience. He does demo lessons in the classroom, facilitates trainings, etc.

Awhile ago, I was going to do a blog post entitled "why I never blog anymore" but decided instead I should just start blogging and summarize why it is difficult at times. One word, two syllables: William. He is a busy, busy boy!! A few months ago, he began getting my wallet out of my bag and taking cards out of it. I didn't even realize it until I was at Costco one day and half of my cards, including my ATM card were gone. I searched high and low and one day while I was searching I noticed him putting playing cards in a vent in our wall. I got out the screwdriver and low and behold, there were the majority of my cards, some coins, screws and various other items. Fast forward to this month. I was sitting paying bills at the computer and in a millisecond I noticed he had grabbed my ATM card and it had gone missing! Back to the trusty vent I went. I had to get pictures because he thought it was sooo fun to use the screwdriver.

That's when I realized this has all been a big game for him! What a stinker!

What I found inside the vent!

He keeps us on our toes! He is so fun though and is learning many new words. His favorites all involve things that go. "Vroom vroom" for car and when said with gusto and the sign it means motorcycle. He loves trains and airplanes as well. He now says "dada" as much as "momma" and even asks for him sometimes in the morning! He loves to help me cook and can be often found like this:

Claire is getting ready for full-day kindergarten in the fall. She takes a dance class nearby that has tap, ballet and gym all in one. She said her favorite part is the gym time but she can be found practicing arabesques at home. Since the classes year is half over, they invited parents in to watch and I grabbed a few shots, but I really am not the best photographer:)

She isn't always right on, but she has fun and is a good listener!

All day she looks forward to her "special time" with Mommy while William naps. We do something different every day and the amount of time varies depending on what I need to get done. I have a hard time doing only make-believe (her favorite). We play often that she goes to her imaginary friend (Stacy)'s house and then I call her and she comes over to play a game or read at my house (on the landing of the stairs). The she gets her make-believe and I get my structure. One day she conned me into making a huge fort and was quite pleased with the result.

She also loves to create things in her room and she created her own sleeping area in the house Grandma and Papa gave her from Christmas. She even dragged her shoe rack in there to create shelves. She is very creative!

Carter continues to excel at reading and art. He started an art class downtown on Saturday afternoons and started piano as well. He is enjoying them both. He finally lost his front tooth! It was loose well before Christmas but he didn't want to just yank it. It ended up coming out at school and he was thrilled because he got a special tooth necklace to put it in.

He also lost a bottom tooth that he swallowed during breakfast! All these lost teeth put him over the edge and figured out the whole truth about the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny and Santa. We swore him to secrecy from all younger or still believing children and reminded him that if he doesn't believe, he won't receive;)

For exercise in the evenings, Danny will pull both little kids and Carter will ride his bike. It then allows me to cook in peace. :) Two weeks or so ago I got a call and knew immediately they were in trouble. The bike trailer's axle snapped going up a hill! I turned off dinner and drove to get the cutest motley crew I had ever seen!

Every time we pass that area, William says "daddy bike" and sometimes adds a "whoa." Our boys are always up for adventure!

We couldn't start out the new year without some family goal setting.

We ended up summarizing our goals with three words: serve, organize and create.

We have enjoyed as many nights as possible by the fire and are about a third of the way through the novel Indian in the Cupboard with the kids. William usually goes to bed before we read but the other two are enjoying it a lot.

Of course there are difficulties but we are constantly reminded that life is good.

Summer of 2011: Gratitude & Lessons Learned

2011-11-24T20:48:00.000-08:00

This year the Thanksgiving holiday brought a greater sense of joy and sweetness to our family than it normally does. We are profoundly grateful to count three happy, healthy, strong-willed children with us as we vacation in Northern California to spend time with family. My brother Rob, along with his wife Laura and new baby Chloe, recently relocated to Mill Valley, a beautiful community just North of "The City" (what people from the Bay Area call San Francisco) so my family converged here from all over the state to celebrate Thanksgiving.

On the journey to our destination Danny and I reflected on the numerous lessons we learned throughout the two month period of William's hospitalization. Here they are in no particular order:

-We cannot control the situations in which we find ourselves here in this world, only how we react.

-Slow down and appreciate each moment, not only because we don't know how quickly our circumstances can change, but also because each moment has beauty regardless of our emotions
.

-Appreciate professionalism. There was a huge difference between health care workers who demonstrated true professionalism and those who did not. Sincerity and professionalism are paramount in any profession, but when someone's life is on the line, there simply isn't room for shoddiness of work and lack of compassion. I for one have always tried to embody this as a nurse but find myself all the more aware of my actions now in light of our experience.

-God answers prayers most often through other people. Time and again when asked ourselves "How can we make this work?" or realized that Carter and Claire needed to be attended to but we needed to be at the hospital next to William and then a family member, friend, co-worker or a member of our church would text, call or "Facebook" us with an offer to help. Our family and friends were the tools through which divine intelligence provided help. We also benefited from the strength of other people's faith; sometimes people we didn't know until William became ill appeared as if out of the blue to offer helpful suggestions or shoulder on which to rest and cry.

-There is a LOT of good left in the world still. Throughout the ordeal we met the some of the most kind-hearted and wise people and although we've benefited from the charity of others throughout our lives, for the first time it seemed we found ourselves on the receiving end of the kind of charity and compassion that we never thought we'd need. The Ronald McDonald House organization, for example, was a God-send. Thanks to them we saved a great deal of money (although you don't technically have to pay, we agreed to pay a substantial amount of the operating costs in order to help others benefit from their services in the future. The amount, however, was a fraction of what it would have cost us to stay in a hotel. Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) was wonderful and their compassionate, professional staff was the biggest reason William survived this ordeal with as few chronic issues as possible. Also, I'd be remiss not to mention The Beauty Bus who gave Claire and me free makeovers on her birthday. Although that might sound trite, it really brightened an otherwise bleak period.

-Trials leave us with increased empathy and compassion. We find ourselves more understanding and sensitive to the trials of others than we were before this experience. We now realize more fully that everyone in this mortal world is in the midst of some kind of difficult trial but we simply don't know about them (and sometimes they don't either).

-Recently we heard someone say that when we look back at our lives, we will view those difficult moments more fondly than the "fun" or comfortable moments in our lives. We can already see that this is true. If all our summer plans had panned out the way we wanted them to, the summer would have come and gone and we'd be the same people. But as things unfolded our family grew stronger, our faith greater and we feel we are better people because of this experience. Of course we wouldn't have wished this on William, but we accept what happened and don't have anger and or fear regarding this situation.

-No matter how bad it is, it could be worse. We met so many families going through situations that we felt were even more difficult than ours. At the Ronald McDonald house we met a family who financed everything to come to LA from England for cancer treatment for their little girl because the doctor's in England refused to try more aggressive treatment options. A wonderful man named Alejandro was sleeping in the parent room at CHLA week after week and despite the fact that his daughter's brain tumor came back even after it was in remission, he had faith that God's will would be done and emanated faith and peace.

-Health insurance is a huge blessing. We haven't sat and tallied all the bills that CHLA and Children's Hospital Central California sent Kaiser, but two days in Madera alone caused our insurance to be billed $16,000. Furthermore, the helicopter transport from Fresno to L.A. totaled $15,000! We are so grateful to not be filing medical bankruptcy.

-Play with your kids! While William was sick, family and friends would relieve us from the hospital so we could to spend time with Carter and Claire. It was suddenly easy to be fully present and just play with them; they needed it and so did we. Now that we have been home a while it has become easier to justify doing unimportant things rather then focus on using every moment efficiently as parents, but we still remember how apparent it was then and that helps us refocus our priorities.

-Find joy in the journey. There were often times we would want everything to magically be returned to "normal" and for it all to be over, but as we gained clarity we began to see each moment as an opportunity to learn from our trials, meet wonderful people, learn about ourselves and find joy, no matter how bumpy the journey.

Halloween Weekend

2011-11-02T22:19:00.000-07:00

This post will be in media res, as the synopsis of our summer is going to take a while to compose and I want to post something.

Happy Halloween 2011!

We started the weekend with Carter's school parade. He decided he did not want to wear the mermaid, err... merman tail, aka "Fin Fun", which my mom crafted this summer at his behest and which ended up inspiring our Halloween theme. Since he had a change of heart, he instead became the Greek god of the seas, Neptune although we all thought of him as Triton since that was the original intent.

Here he is feeling confident pre-parade.

Once it started he became timid, concerned that "everyone is looking at me" and started saying "I'm weird" as he walked around. I guess it's hard to be the little fish in a big sea. Carter, like all of his peers, is still trying to figure things out and that's OK. When he got home both Danny and I talked to him about the fact that everyone looking at you isn't necessarily a bad thing depending on the reason.

That night we carved pumpkins and biked to the Halloween house. In case you haven't heard of this residence, essentially a family which lives just a little over a mile from us created a computer controlled light show that now has had over 6 million hits on YouTube and has garnished significant attention from the media. It was fun but we couldn't get in front of the house and the kids were pretty antsy. We met up with friends there and had fun once we found them. We did almost got killed more than once on the way there and back since there was no shoulder on the road during portions of the route. We've been told Riverside is not a bike city and it is true! There just aren't bike lanes or sidewalks in some places around here and not that much of demand for them obviously. It was a memorable experiences for sure; from now on we will be more careful about planning our routes!

Our pumpkins:

Saturday morning Carter had a soccer game. He is on a team with great kids and a kind coach. They aren't winning much but Carter seems to enjoy it and it has been good for him to learn to persevere; even after he got hit in the face with the ball earlier this season, got smashed in the face by an elbow and sustained a black eye and had some major bodily collisions, he still kept going!

Here he is being goalie:

From October and Nov. 2011

And, his loyal fan club:

Aren't they cute fans? :)

Saturday night was our ward Trunk-or-Treat and it was great! There was a bounce house, popcorn, cotton candy, tons of cars decked out and lots of fun costumes. We had fun getting ready together! Major props to our dear family friend, Kathy Rex, who is a seamstress extraordinaire and helped me make Flounder with no pattern!

Triton!

Walking in a tail only caused a few injuries; thank goodness we have legs, not fins!

I had to post this just so you can see how lady-like Ariel is:) She refused to wear the correct top and hiked her tail up into a skirt. Claire plays by no one's rules but her own when it comes to costumes and what-not. Ha!

Flounder & Ursula

Prince Eric be lookin' good! Danny was a good sport.

So happy to have him Flounderin' around!!

Pleased with himself to have stolen lights from the pumpkins!

This picture sums up my life;)

On Halloween proper, we made chili and had all the family come over to trick-or-treat with us after dinner It was very enjoyable! Our neighborhood had lots of trick-or-treaters and the kids LOVED being with their friends and cousins!

Ella, Shayla and Claire playing tether ball out front (the house came with it:))

Peyton, aka cutest Rubber ducky ever

Ryan, aka handsome Captain Ameria

These two are only 4 1/2 months apart. It is fun to watch them grow up together!

Ryan, Carter, Ella, Claire & Asher...the two youngest cousins weren't complaint!

Uncle Wes!

Nana with her girls in the niche they hung out in most of the evening. Once we got home from trick-or-treating, they had fun sitting up there handing out candy!

Pretty Apey & Peytie

My handsome brother and red neck extraordinaire, Eric.

Eatin' some chili

Cute Kollin...I couldn't round up my kids for a picture with him:(

Eric & Syd

A good time was had by all! I put away Halloween decor today and we are gearing up for Thanksgiving which we'll pass together with Rob & Laura who live just outside of San Francisco. They had their first baby, Chloe, on October 7th. I got to go see her last weekend, but the kids didn't and are very excited to meet their new cousin!

Thanks for reading! We look forward to posting more now that things have finally begun to settle down. William is only on one medication now and we can't help but feel great gratitude that he is home and doing so well.

William's Illness

2011-07-18T16:39:00.000-07:00

Hello friends and family!

I am sure nearly everyone who follows this blog already knows about our youngest son William's terrible illness. A few short weeks ago he was as healthy and happy as a baby could be. Then, suddenly, he somehow (we have no idea how) was infected by e. coli which led to Hemolytic-uremic Syndrome (read more here) which caused complete kidney failure. He then experienced a perforated bowel and while under surgery it was discovered that half of his lower intestine was necrotic, or dead, and had to be removed.

William is currently in critical but stable condition at Children's Hospital Los Angeles in Hollywood, CA.

You can follow his progess at williamantoniotodd.blogspot.com, a blog my sister is updating on a nearly daily basis.

Please pray for William. If you do not pray, we appreciate your thoughts and support regardless.

Kindergarten Wrap Up

2011-06-23T21:41:00.000-07:00

Summer is in full swing already around here but it was just earlier this month that Carter "promoted" from kindergarten. We switched his school when we moved and have been so happy with his new school! At the promotion ceremony, the kids sang the school song and I have to admit getting teary eyed--schools were a big factor in our decision to move and I feel so blessed.

At the honor roll assembly before getting his award (just have to mention that I was at work that night so Danny had to rush home from work, pick up kids and get them there all on time--he's a stud)

Carter was on the Principal's Honor Roll--he loves to learn!

At promotion

The note regarding promotion said to have the kids dress nicely, so we had him dress that way. He was mortified when he saw other kids not dressed up. He calmed down when he saw all the girls were in dresses and one of the boys was in a lava-lava.:)

Love those freckles!

Receiving his diploma (ha ha)

We are so glad Nana was able to join us that morning

And this picture is just so sweet

Danny took Claire and tired William home before the end of the ceremony and then Carter and I just walked home so we didn't get a family photo

With his great teacher--I should add that we really loved his teacher at his previous school. Carter always says how great she is and how she taught him to read!

Memorial Day 2011

2011-05-30T21:18:00.000-07:00

We started our memorial week when we visited the Riverside National Cemetery last Sunday morning. We enjoyed the beautiful grounds and, more importantly, speaking with our children about sacrifice, honor, freedom and the terrible reality of war. Of course our children are still quite young so the conversation was simple, but they understood the key points.

From May 2011

Carter and I reading the grave stones and discussing names, dates and the World Wars. He asked the logical question a child might ask, "When is World War III?"

From May 2011

William enjoyed walking around although the grass was so thick it swallowed his chubby little feet.

I wouldn't have posted this, but Sarah insisted.

Claire being Claire.

Will is ever pointing the way...to what he wants.

Carter helping us out with William...and ensuring he will soon have a full diaper.

On the way out we were struck by all of the flags; too bad we didn't get a photo of the cemetery today, it looked spectacular as we drove past.

Carter and Claire preparing to pose for the Memorial Day outfit shots at Grandma and Poppa's. As you can see, this shoot was doomed before it ever started.

William bails immediately.

Carter is enjoying the meltdown for some strange reason and Claire appears indifferent.

He's done...

And Claire declares the sun to be simply too much.

And we've lost #2...and I argue it was a success. We captured our children as they often are and we managed to display their outfits.

This morning's preparations and yard work included a visit by my every-helpful father-in-law who put up another mini-fence in order to ensure our pool is securely gated off to prevent children drowning.

Sarah looking content (and cute) at our little family get-together today out back.

My mom also looking pretty and content.

We also took the chance to celebrate our amazing niece Ella's fifth birthday.

Claire handled it all fairly well. Ella shared very well which made things go much more smoothly.

My dad and Ned playing with their cameras. They never figured out how to turn them on.

All in all we had a great day remembering loved ones who've gone before and those who sacrificed all for our freedoms. I wish I would have snapped more photos, but I know many other shots were taken and we look forward to seeing them.

Just another Manic Monday

2011-05-23T21:03:00.000-07:00

I finally printed 2008's blog book and it has inspired me to get back to blogging. As I drove around today, I thought I should document what a "day in the life of" is for me right now. I know it will be too soon that the kids will be gone and all I do in a day is go to work, or read, work around the house, go shopping, etc (that sounds really nice;)).

-Awoke to the alarm clock at 6:15

-Read the scriptures

-Ran 4.8 miles

-Made breakfast and lunches, kissed Danny and Carter good-bye (it is always so nice when Danny can take him to school)

-Cleaned the kitchen

-Used Amber's carpet cleaner to clean the floor in Claire's room that she urninated on recently (that's a whole different post), cleaned the rugs and sectional

-Put Will down for a nap, showered and got dressed

-Went to leave and found a dead battery in the van

-Called Shonda who was watching my kids so I could volunteer in Carter's class

-Went to the neighbors for help and called Shonda again so she could come jump the van and pick up my kids (thanks again!)

-Got van started, kids left, volunteered in Carter's class

-Picked up kids, got gas

-Came home, made lunch, got box in mail of slipcovers, threw slipcovers on the recently purchased DI couch and loveseat ($90!)

-Picked up Carter from school

-Came home, April & Wes (who happened to be off work sick today) came over to watch all the kids so I could go to the orthodontist

-Got my braces off!

My orthodontist and I in my "after" picture

-Came home and got to relax and visit with April and Wes while kids played

-Made dinner and cookies for work potluck tomorrow

-Ate dinner

-Had family night--a lesson on the warmth the Spirit brings (evidenced by a warm towel) versus no spirit (sandpaper in the freezer) [an idea I got from this book I just finished reading] and activity of planting our spring garden and trimming some overgrown palms

-Baths for kiddos

-Bedtime routine (milk, brush teeth, scripture story, prayer, more stories in bed)

-Sing the Hallelujah Chorus

-Clean the kitchen again

-Ordered a laptop power cord for a greater ease of future blog posts

-Decompress with my sweet hubby

-Blog post

-soon enough--bed!

It is a manic life with little ones but it is oh, so worth it. There are four people who I get up each morning willing to endure mania for and I am so grateful they are mine!!

Pictures from Easter Sunday

I also have to add how grateful I felt today for my husband's great job with excellent benefits as braces are not cheap but I am so glad I was able to get them!

I heart DT:)

Quick Update

2011-03-28T16:08:00.001-07:00

We've moved! We still have our little house on Blaine which is now being leased to some friends of our neighbors who live next door (right next to the church there) and have moved into a home about 15 min. away in Riverside in an area called Orangecrest . It's right next to the elementary and middle schools and a five minute walk away from a large park and library branch. The home was built in 1991 and is good shape but needs new paint in many areas. We painted the family room and are going to tackle the downstairs guest room/office. Painting always seems like it's going to be easier than it ends up being...or is that just us? We're also taking our time unboxing everything so we can organize it properly. It's very nice to have more storage space!

Carter loves his new school (Tomas Rivera), Claire is still going to FUMPS pre-school on Brockton which is helping with the transition and Will, well, Will's learning and growing at an amazing rate. Right now he loves to say "Uh oh!" and "Hi!" to everyone in earshot, especially strangers at the store. He garnishes a lot of attention with his bright blond hair, porcelain skin and blue eyes.

I am excited to get back to work since there's so much to do, especially since my colleague Nazle is now off on maternity leave which leaves me with ALL the secondary schools's ELA departments.

Sarah is Sarah, aka super mom. She doesn't set out to be super mom, she just embodies the role naturally. Up and exercising before I crawl out of bed, working per diem at Kaiser hospital in South Fontana and spending every other minute nurturing the kids and running the household, a full-time job that I got to help out with a lot more this week and, as usual, taught me a whole new level of respect for what parents do who stay at home. Yes, Carter is a sharp little reader and we owe a lot of that to Mrs. Camarillo at Hyatt, but Sarah has been so dedicated to reading and homework time and it's already paying off.

We already miss being so close to all of our friends and neighbors in the university heights area and miss Hyatt (Mrs. Camarillo) but we know we'll adjust to this area soon and feel blessed to have some more room. Now if my commute just hadn't grown by 15 minutes! :)

Carter D. Todd is Six!

2010-12-19T20:31:00.000-08:00

Carter's birthday started out with pancakes and smoothies for breakfast before school. My favorite thing about our birthday breakfast tradition is the look of joy on the face of the child whose birthday it is not when they give the birthday child a gift. Teaching children to be generous and unselfish can be difficult but these little moments add up in a lifetime. This picture shows my point.

We got Carter a lamp for his bed to read at night and he has used it every night since!

William covered in breakfast.

Carter decided he wanted to go ice skating for his birthday. This year we decided he could invite a few friends to join him. He chose his good friend, Sam and his "best cousin," Ryan. Here are the three of them elated for ice skating:

(Sam's sister and Claire's good friend, Lucy, is just as excited in the background)

Before we could ice skate, though, we had pizza and this cute cake.

I asked my mom to help with the cake because I knew I wouldn't have time to make one myself and she went to a lady in her ward who made this ice skating cake which, I might add, was delicious!

And, there were presents to open as well.

Carter insisted on inviting Monique, a very special young woman who occasionally helps out our family, to his party. Daniel and I have a few hour overlap when I work and Monique watches the kids. She is such a sweetheart and we are sad she is leaving to WA next month but excited for her (thankfully, she has a younger sister who can take over for her:) )

With Lucy and Sam

Cute cousins, who both look so, so sweet in the picture! Ryan is wearing a helmet for ice skating, BTW:)

Ella and Carter with Claire and Lucy getting in on the photo as well!

Carter with Nana. Boppy was busy during the party but took Carter out for a birthday lunch earlier in the day and gave him his first set of golf clubs. They are so cute and we are excited for him to try them out.

Grandma and Papa got Carter his first pair of roller skates and he has been a roller skating maniac since then! Well, he doesn't really skate...but he rolls a little.

The boys took the ice with super trooper Daniel. I give him props, I would have definitely fallen especially trying to help the boys! They all hit the ice more times than we could count, but there were no tears. These are some tough boys!

I really didn't get any great shots of Carter, but he had a great time. He thought he was going to be able to go out there and skate with no problem. Instead, he fell a million times and refused help as much as possible. By the end, he literally crawled off the ice! He loved it though, and wants to do it again. Ryan and Sam both started off a bit more timid than Carter but ended up skating well by the end!

We are so grateful for friends and family who join us on the journey of raising this sweet boy, Carter. Here's six of his greatest attributes:

--he is SMART!

--he is CURIOUS!

--he is THOUGHTFUL!

--he is KIND!

--he is HELPFUL!

--he is CUTE!

Melissa & Jeremy with Noah in hand Maddie in tummy:)

Uncle Eric & Aunt Sydnee

Kollin & Asher--such cute boys

We love him and are so blessed to have him as our oldest child. Thank you to all of our family and friends who are not pictured here (Julians, Alemans, Brobergs, Ottosens, etc.) who made his birthday special. So, despite the weather, thanks to everyone who came and helped us make Carter's day special.

My son the artist

2010-09-21T13:43:00.001-07:00

Carter's newest hobby is collecting trash as he walks to the car after school and turning it in to art. We did have it on the living room wall but he moved it to his room today. I decided we better document it for posterity's sake! For his explanation, go here.

Big Bear in July

2010-09-21T10:52:00.000-07:00

We decided this year to start an official tradition. We wanted to go camping somewhere we could easily return to every year, just our family, no matter what our plans with our extended family are. We went to Big Bear first in 2006, but our trip was cut short due to an ectopic pregnancy and emergency surgery for me! We returned in 2008 when we stayed outside of Big Bear but spent the day on the Alpine Slide and in town. We took Carter to the Moonridge Zoo on our first trip to Big Bear and then returned there in 2009. With our history there, we decided to camp for two nights and have Big Bear be "our" spot.

We are so glad we did! I'll be first to admit that camping with a baby is very tiring, but it was very worth it. The first day we arrived, set up camp, went for a bike ride with the trailer that we forgot a piece to for the third time, cooked and ate foil dinners I made at home and had a campfire. I think my children's favorite part of camping is the campfire. That night we also had a Team Todd talent show complete with karate and joke telling from Carter, dancing from Claire, cheerleading from me and masterful storytelling from Danny. Danny used his phone to find some kid-friend scary stories to tell as well. Unfortunately, the story he read was pretty poorly written and Carter was scared of people in the forest after that;)

I love William's "Elvis smile" as I call it (it looks like one lip turns up).

Claire excited about nature!

Making s'mores!

Carter enjoying his s'more in the bike trailer/seat.

Perfection--with dark chocolate Hershey's--yum!

The next morning we ate breakfast and then went fishing.

We then spent some time at the Big Bear Discovery Center and went for a very small hike. We are breaking the kids in slowly. It was pretty hot, too.

Inside the Discovery Center.

Outside.

We decided this will be the place we can take a picture every year and watch the kids, especially, change over time.

Just because he's cute!

After lunch, we took the kids to a public swim beach. They were too little to go out very far and kept getting cold anyway. The crazy thing that happened while I was in the bathroom was that a tornado (small one obviously) came through and picked up a ton of people's stuff and broke our new umbrella! I heard everyone screaming when I was in the restroom and came out to see lifeguards taking boats out to try and retrieve things that had been dumped in the water!

We then went to the Village to get ice cream and walk around.

That evening, both Danny and I went on our own bike rides since the trailer wasn't functioning (we forgot the piece that goes on the bike!). The campground is on the north side of the lake and the bike trail is right by it. It was very beautiful and peaceful to go riding there. We had another campfire that night and went to bed a little earlier. The next morning we got up, packed and headed home fairly quickly. We were all pretty exhausted.

Our little campsite

We will never forget the Chinese couple staying between us and the bathrooms who watched our children go by a million times a day and brought us purple yams to eat our second night there--they were delicious! Also, Claire zooming around on the scooter and our decision to say calm and happy no matter what happens, including sleeping on the ground because of a hole in the air mattress, not catching any fish, thinking we lost the keys to the bike lock so getting it cut off and then finding the keys, numerous meltdowns, nursing all night long to keep William quiet, etc. Being together and working through problems together truly does bring us closer!

Many Firsts at the Todd Pad

2010-09-14T10:57:00.000-07:00

Today is little Claire's first day of preschool. She did fabulously at drop-off, ran right to the play house she is familiar with and wouldn't budge for a kiss good-bye so we settled with blowing kisses. William is asleep and my chores are (half) done. I am hoping this is the first of many more blog posts what with 5 whole hours a week with just one child. (Claire goes to school from 9 am -12 pm Tues/Thurs but Carter gets out at 11 pm on Thursdays).

Outside the Bouncing Bunny classroom

Our little Beary girl, we only had a slight meltdown when choosing her first day outfit. This girl is par-tic-u-lar. I have no idea where she gets it from!;)

Carter started kindergarten 3 weeks ago and is doing very well. We like his teacher but he has 37 students in his class. His report from the first day was, "Mrs. C yells a lot and there are these little teeny kids who just cry and cry. They cried the whole time!" He is learning a LOT and a new teacher should be hired within the next week or so and the class size will do down to 25. I have awesome friends and we organized a swap with our younger children so I can go in and work in the classroom on Wednesday mornings. I really enjoy being there, watching Carter and getting to know his classmates. Last week I got an invite to play Xbox at Arturo's house and to go swimming at Pamela's, so yes, I feel pretty cool!:)

All ready for the first day!
We know, this backpack is huge, but it WILL last until he is an upper grader:)

Danny went in late so we could go together

Sitting at his desk
This is right as we are about to leave, his eyes got a little watery and I will admit, so did mine! I left my baby with wolves (or so it felt).

On Carter's first day of school, William cut his first tooth! He now has two on the bottom and although he slept through the night five nights in a row last week, I think a new tooth must be surfacing because he is FUSSY!

William
Happy boy William

On that same day (Aug. 23rd) William wore the duckie outfit for the first time. This is significant because all of our children have worn it and I love the way they have all looked in it. Anyone see a resemblance?

Carter

Claire

Other news of note: I will be running my first Rangar Relay in October. Although I just finished saying I want to reserve my away time from the kids for BYU Women's Conference in May, then the opportunity to run the race came up and since Amber is turning 30 that same weekend we are doing it together as a "coming of age" adventure.

Daniel continues to work hard for his money and we are grateful for a good job with all the cuts recently, especially in education. He also works hard being super dad and husband and we are all appreciative of all he does!

Now, look forward to some exciting posts: Recap of Summer and Things we are Enjoying. And, maybe you'll get to see photos with me in them, braces and all! I am off to pick up Claire. This is going to be great year!

Team Todd Video Montage

2010-07-04T00:40:00.000-07:00

The "Ooh-la-la" Girls

2010-05-10T17:32:00.001-07:00

After William's blessing, when all the family was together, Ella (Heidi and Ned's daughter) and Claire had a ton of fun dressing up. We are big fans of the Fancy Nancy books at this house and so Claire has learned to say "Ooh la la." The girls got these outfits on themselves and then came out to model and said "ooh la la." It was too cute. These girls sure love each other. Cousins are fun!

Ready for action

The "Belle" of the Ball

Love the glasses

William's Blessing

2010-05-10T17:22:00.001-07:00

William wearing the blessing outfit both Daniel and Carter were blessed in

Outtake #1 of group photo

Outtake #2--where did Claire run off to?
Outtake #3-notice Carter and Claire

This is the best one we got:) April, Wes, Annette, John (washed out from the sun), Heidi, Ned, Ella, Asher (in Danny's arms), Hayley, Ryan, Sue, Jeff, Danny, Sarah, Carter, Claire, William, Robbie, Laura, Eric, Sydnee and Kollin
Grandma and Grandpa Ottosen were there but had to run off so they missed the group photo, with Eric and Sydnee in this one

William and his great grandparents

It was such a great day to have our families with us (minus Jake and Amy) and to be spiritually fed at the same time. Danny blessed William and it was beautiful and we enjoyed a fun afternoon and evening together. I love the group photo because it shows how many people are there for William and will continue to be throughout his life. What a blessing that is! At the end of the night I realized we hadn't taken any photos of just us with William and Claire took some of me with William before church but they turned out bad. Oh well!

The Miracle of the Human Brain...

2010-05-07T21:13:00.000-07:00

I spend far less time on the internet these days than I have in the past. There are many reasons why this is the case: I have my phone which allows me to check my calendar and email throughout the day, I am now exercising regularly and, of course, I try to spend most of my free time with Sarah and the kids.

Anyway, there are still so many amazing things in the world that one can find by surfing the "human network." Hey, isn't that a line from a commercial or something?

Anyhow, here's something you may have seen. I saw this some time ago but it's worth a second look.

The "miracle of the brain?" Sure, partly, but there's a lot more to the miracle of the human being than simply the physical brain.

Beach Bonfire

2010-05-06T12:37:00.001-07:00

William at the beach for the first time;)

Berry girl playing in the hole Danny dug

As soon as we could see the ocean, Carter was so excited...it is going to be a fun summer!

The funny girl who ate her hot dog and destroyed her bun. She did not inherit my carb addiction.

Cute boy Kollin busying playing in/eating sand

It was cold enough to put William in a favorite outfit Carter wore as a baby. He looked so cute in it and stayed warm!
Master roaster Papa

Sydnee, Eric and Kollin

We were so glad Robbie & Laura came down for William's blessing--it is always fun to spend time with them!

Bonfire time! It was such a fun night...looking forward to many more this summer!

Family Home Evening at the Todd's & Giant Catfish

2010-05-03T22:24:00.001-07:00

Family Home Evening at our home is always hilarious and uplifting, even when it's chaotic since there is always something inherently joyous about striving to do what we know is right. Although we are not perfect in our adherence to holding FHE, we are generally very good about doing it (thanks, of course, to Sari).

So, for our posterity and for general hilarity, it struck me that it would be worthwhile to make an accounting of a typical Todd home evening. What was initially going to be a "quick run down" of how tonight's evening and subsequent FHE program unfolded has become quite detailed. Anyway, for what it's worth, here it is:

1. I arrived home from work around 5:05PM and enter the house through the garage to find the kids are playing an educational game on the computer. Claire was runnin' the show and Carter lay on our bed watching. Sarah is starting dinner (tilapia, broccoli and some strange whole grain that was delicious...Sarah, what was that called again?)

2. Since William was chillin', Sarah advised me to take my run immediately. I ran the 3.2 mile loop (walking up the steepest hills) and made it back in just over thirty minutes. It was hot and my new New Balance shoes were not as wonderful as I would have liked, but that's tangential.

3. I arrived home to find Claire asleep on the bed and Carter now on the computer. "Time to get off guys!" Sarah said from the kitchen (yes, our home is small) so we drag Claire out to the dinner table and force her to wake up so she wouldn't be up till 10PM and we eat. Delicious!

4. I offered to get started with the dishes but am advised we should commence FHE immediately so the kids can get in their bath. Claire and Carter ran over and summited the entertainment center. It was my turn to choose the song and I chose my favorite primary song, "Give Said the Little Stream." We sang the first verse since it's the only one we know, or at least I know.

5. Carter offers the prayer since it's William's turn and he's a bit too young to do so obviously. We then do "family business" which consists of each of us explains the events we have going on for the week. Sarah is interrupted about 12 times and I don't think I even got a turn.

6. Sarah then produces a semi-large piece of construction paper and we collaboratively create some rules and their respective consequences. We have done this before, but this time it seems more serious since the children choose the consequences. The only rule Carter lobbied heavily against was that which required that toys and other objects be put away before the next item or items are retrieved.

7. Sarah then went on to explain how rules, like commandments, are meant to provide freedom and happiness and not the opposite. We then discussed what life would be like if no one at home shared, if we yelled and screamed at each other and if daddy or mommy decided to hang out late and not come home. We all concurred that this would not make us happy.

8. Game time! Hide and go seek, as usual. It doesn't matter, the kids love it. Claire and I hid first and chose to hole up the master bedroom closet which, if you've seen our hose, is not a walk-in closet. She couldn't seem to hold still but it was actually a the sound of air escaping my body that revealed our hiding place to Carter and mommy. I must admit, it was on purpose...hey, I was sick of hiding in there!

9. After a few more rounds we end up at the table to complete a small school project for Carter's class. After that dessert is served: sugar free Jello pudding. Guiltless but not necessarily the most tasty treat, but that's OK, the kids liked it and it's healthy.

10. The kids get in the bath and I take William outside to relax him. I noticed all the bark chips I had so neatly cleaned up on Saturday have been scattered on the walk way. I took a deep breath and happiness flowed through me, forcing out frustration. I'd rather have healthy kids running around than neat bark chips. We headed back inside and I finished up the bath. While Sarah read a story to the kids in their pajamas, I did the dishes and did the rounds cleaning up toys on the back patio, etc.

11. As we do every night, we read from the Book of Mormon stories book and said our family prayer. Claire said the prayer and I helped her. Hugs, kisses, tooth brushing and then both kids on their bunk bed for their nightly story from me. Right now I'm telling them a story about 13 orphans who are taken in by an immensely wealthy man named Mr. Willard. They soon discover his riches come from his fishing lure business. At this point in the story (I tell them a "mini-chapter" every night) four of the children, William, Carter, Claire and Tommy (there's always a Tommy in every story I tell for some reason) are endeavoring to catch a monstrosity of a cat fish named General Sherman. In tonight's chapter they hook him but he breaks the line. Carter begs for me to continue, but I kiss him goodnight and carry Claire to her room where, as usual, she demands a story. Her story is much shorter since she already had the main story and, as usual, she asks for a "teenie bit uh wata'" so I bring her about an 1/8 of a sippy cup of water. She passes out and Sarah and I plop down on the couch and sigh. Oh yeah, William.... (:

Monday night at the Todd's.

One last thing. In case you didn't know, giant catfish actually do exist in fresh water in the US and have been caught both in "olden times' and in more recently. Need proof?:

Finally: yes, there are tense issues in this posting, but I am too lazy to go back and edit all of them. So live with it...oh wait, you're not OCD about that, or are you?

The 10 Cheapest, Healthiest Foods Money Can Buy

2010-04-30T23:35:00.000-07:00

Full disclosure: This article is from the website/blog "Cheap Healthy Good"

I found the following list of inexpensive but healthy foods while looking for good eats that are also good for you. We, like so many others, complain about how it costs more to eat healthy and, generally, that's true. We find buying fruits, vegetables, quality yogurts, fish and other foods we know are good for us costs more than the easy, cheap stuff. Frozen foods, especially pizzas, burritos, etc. cost next to nothing but are full of preservatives, bad fat and are extremely high in sodium ("when in doubt, pack it with salt" is the mantra of many food manufacturers).

So, check out the list below and see if there's anything that jumps out as particularly edible that you might add to your diet.

By the way, other things we eat regularly that aren't terrible expensive include:

wheat tortillas
low fat cottage cheese
canned tuna in water
whole grain breads (from Costco)
bread thins

"To compile the final list, there were three main criteria. Each food is:

Versatile. It can be eaten on it own or used as an ingredient in other dishes.
Inexpensive. A serving will cost a few dimes or nickels.
Nutritious. It packs high percentages of vitamins, minerals, protein, fiber, and/or calories. (Note: To be totally honest, some important, but fairly obscure minerals are included here. Manganese? I thought it was a capital in Southeast Asia. It is not, and oatmeal has 147% of the USDA-recommended daily allowance.)

BANANAS
Are there better-rounded fruits? Absolutely. Berries will single-handedly protect you from every known disease and fight off communism. But they are inordinately pricey little buggers (especially out of season), and for the money, don’t compare to a good ol’ Cavendish banana. Lesson: Always listen to the monkeys.

Serving size: One large (5oz) banana.
Peapod/Stop & Shop cost: $0.33 each
Good source of: Fiber (14% of a 2000-calorie diet), Vitamin C (20%), Vitamin B6 (25%), Potassium (14%), Manganese (18%)
Suggested recipe: Three-Ingredient Banana, Honey, and Peanut Butter Ice Cream

BEANS
We’ve discussed beans ad nauseum here on CHG, and for good reason: there are fewer cheaper sources of protein and fiber found on Earth. (Maybe Mars?) Their mutability means you can pack them into just about any recipe, and with a range of flavors and sizes, everyone’s palate will be equally pleased. Plus: hilarious farting.

Serving size: Half a cup of cooked black beans.
Peapod/Stop & Shop cost, canned: $0.21 per serving ($0.75/15oz can)
Peapod/Stop & Shop cost, dried: $0.15 per serving ($1.50/1lb bag)
Good source of: Fiber (30% of a 2000-calorie diet), Iron (10%), Protein (15%), Thiamin (14%), Folate (32%), Magnesium (15%), Phosphorus (12%), Manganese (19%)
Suggested recipe: Black Bean Soup with a Fried Egg on Top

CANNED TOMATOES
Canned tomatoes are here not as a snack or a stand-alone food, but an ingredient. Simply, they’re the basis for innumerable recipes across countless cuisines; sauces, soups, stews, and chilis wouldn’t exist was it not for the humble tomato. And yeah, if you’re the type to dig in a can of Progresso with a spoon, that’s okay too.

Serving size: One cup canned whole peeled tomatoes
Peapod/Stop & Shop cost: $0.48 per serving ($1.67/28oz can)
Good source of: Fiber (10% of a 2000-calorie diet), Vitamin C (37%), Iron (13%), Vitamin B6 (13%), Potassium (13%), Sodium (14%)
Suggested recipe: Tomato and Bread Soup

CARROTS
Bugs Bunny was on to something. But while carrots can be eaten raw to great merriment, they’re also excellent roasted, braised, in soups, and mixed with other foods. Hint: for snacking purposes, skip the bags of baby carrots ($1.50), buy a pound of full growns ($0.66), and chop ‘em up yourself. You save $0.84 every time.

Serving size: One cup raw carrot sticks.
Peapod/Stop & Shop cost: $0.13 per serving ($0.50/lb)
Good source of: Fiber (14% of a USDA 2000-calorie diet), Vitamin A (408%), Vitamin C (12%), Vitamin K (20%), Potassium (11%)
Suggested recipe: Honey-glazed Roasted Carrots

FROZEN SPINACH
Apparently, Popeye was on to something, too. (What is it with these cartoon characters?) Spinach is just about the healthiest food you can buy, and it’s easy to sneak little bits into a plethora of different dishes. Here, I’m going for frozen spinach over fresh for two reasons. First, it’s generally cheaper, and you can find better sales. Second, it takes up less space. For those of us with limited refrigerator storage, that’s important.

Serving size: Five ounces unprepared frozen spinach.
Peapod/Stop & Shop cost: $0.50 per serving ($1.00/10oz bag)
Good source of: Fiber (16% of a 2000-calorie diet), Vitamin A (333%), Vitamin C (13%), Calcium (18%), Iron (15%), Protein (10-11%), Vitamin K (660%), Vitamin E (20%), Riboflavin (18%), Vitamin B6 (12%), Folate (51%), Magnesium (26%),. Manganese (50%), Copper (10%), Potassium (14%), Selenium (112%)
Suggested recipe: Italian White Bean and Spinach Soup

LENTILS
Full disclosure: I knew lentils were good for you, but didn’t have any idea HOW good until researching this piece. And $0.11 per serving? My god. No wonder they’re eaten for breakfast, lunch, and dinner around the world.

Serving size: One-quarter cup of lentils, unprepared.
Peapod/Stop & Shop cost: $0.11 per serving ($0.79/1lb bag)
Good source of: Fiber (58% of a 2000-calorie diet), Iron (20%), Protein (25%), Thiamin (28%), Vitamin B6 (13%), Folate (57%), Pantothenic Acid (10%), Magnesium (14%), Phosphorus (22%), Potassium (13%), Zinc (15%), Copper (12%), Manganese (32%)
Suggested recipe: Red Lentil Soup with Lemon

OATMEAL
Here’s a riddle: what comes in a can, goes in a muffin, or can be boiled with raisins? (If you said “bunnies,” you are sick in the head.) It’s oatmeal, folks! High in fiber and all kinds of exciting minerals, it’s appropriate for every meal. Combine it with sweeter flavors for breakfast, or soy sauce and scallions for a strangely delicious lunch.

Serving size: Half a cup unprepared old-fashioned rolled oats:
Peapod/Stop & Shop cost: $0.12 per serving ($3.69/42oz canister)
Good source of: Fiber (16% of a 2000-calorie diet), Protein (10%), Thiamin (12%), Iron (10%), Magnesium (14%), Phosphorus (11%), Zinc (10%), Manganese (73%), Selenium (16%)
Suggested recipe: Banana Oatmeal Muffins

PEANUT BUTTER
Throughout childhood, peanut butter was as universal as Sesame Street and possibly even my mother. Even today, spooning some out of the jar is a good time, and adding a dollop into stew or oatmeal positively feels like a treat. And though PB is high in fat, it’s a good kind.

Serving size: Two tablespoons chunky peanut butter.
Peapod/Stop & Shop cost: $0.15 per serving ($2.39/18oz jar)
Good source of: Calories (9% of a 2000 calorie diet), fat (25%), fiber (10%), protein (15%, Niacin (22%), vitamin E (10%), Manganese (29%), phosphorus (10%), Magnesium (13%)
Suggested recipe: Indonesian Bean Stew

PEAS
Yes, peas.

Serving size: Half a cup frozen peas, unprepared
Peapod/Stop & Shop cost: $0.23 per serving ($3.00/2lb bag)
Good source of: Fiber (12% of a 2000-calorie diet), Vitamin A (22%), Vitamin C (20%), Vitamin K (23%), Thiamin (11%), Manganese (11%)
Suggested recipe: Easy Pea Soup

SWEET POTATOES
Rounding out the list, it’s the tastiest of all natural starches: the sweet potato (or yam, if you’re feeling semantic). Sweet potatoes have all the benefits and cooking versatility of regular potatoes, plus lots of fiber, a metric ton of Vitamin A, and an alluring orange color. Enter their world, and you will never want to leave.

Serving size: One cup cubed (about 4.75 oz).
Peapod/Stop & Shop cost: $0.50 per potato
Good Source of: Fiber (16% of 2000-calorie diet), Vitamin A (377%), Vitamin B6 (14%), Potassium (13%), Copper (10%), Manganese (17%)
Suggested recipe: Sweet Potato and Chickpea Puree

Readers, what do you think of the list? What would you add? What would you leave off? The comment section is ready and waiting."

Find the original post HERE.

Finally, if you made it this far, here is the antithesis of this post (may take a moment to load).

No Pain, No Gain

2010-04-27T22:36:00.000-07:00

It's bed time and I'm exhausted, but I feel compelled to write an entry for all of you who have expressed gratitude in recent weeks to Sarah, me, or both of us, for our little blog which we've done a terrible job of keeping up lately.

If I were to be honest, and I'm going to be, I'd have to write about challenges, so here I go: despite the fact that Sarah and I feel incredibly blessed due to the birth of our third healthy baby, my new position at the district and the myriad other blessings we enjoy such as having our wonderful, still married parents near us and so forth, lately I think both of us feel incredibly challenged, but that's not all bad.

One of the primary challenges from my perspective (Sarah has no idea I'm writing this by the way) is that Sarah is sleep deprived, plain and simple. Tonight I expressed my sadness at arriving home to find what I consider a somewhat listless, sad wife. Since this not the normal character of Sarah, it makes it difficult for me. I don't mean to paint the picture of her slumped over on the couch, indeed I found her with a smile and doing laundry, but it's more of the spirit I detect in her eyes, some of you will know what I mean. I didn't express my concern to her in anger or with disdain, but with genuine sadness and with a great desire to do something to help. Sarah reminded me that she's been like this for weeks and that we've been here before with the other two kids' births and that we eventually get through it, which I know is true.

It's not that I expect her to bubble over with excitement at my arrival home from work, I just miss her big, energy filled smile and the excitement in her voice as she rattles of the goings on from the day and the plans for the future. I know that "this too shall pass" and that William will begin sleeping more and she will not have to get up to breast feed him every two hours. Indeed, this has always been tough on Sarah due to the fact that she physiologically and psychologically requires more sleep than many, including me.

Another challenge is my new job. Being a middle school teacher in Fontana is a great gig since years and years ago, the collective bargaining unit worked out shorter day than many other district enjoy for middle school teachers. At Fontana Middle, teachers start at 7AM and are off at 2PM. The problem is that I am not a middle school teacher anymore. Although I rarely left right at 2PM, I was generally home no later than 3:30PM or so. Even when I needed to stay till 4PM which occurred roughly once per week due to planning, meetings, etc., at least that was once a week. Now, in my new position I am home around 5:00PM and I often have work on my mind due to the much more complicated nature of the work I am now doing which includes change theory, adult learning, budgets and so forth. Now getting home late and working to leave work where it belongs isn't so bad (I could be unemployed), but compared to my old schedule and the fact that we had just two kids before, work now seems like much more of a challenge. Combine that with the fact that I like to be home with the family and, believe it or not, they like to have me home, work now feels like a bigger sacrifice. Now there's simply less time to spend together working, exercising, relaxing and cooking. It also extends the amount of time Sarah is alone with three little children and that can often be difficult as many of you know very well.

There are other challenges as well which I won't bore you with, especially since most of what we face is universal (bills, cleaning, dealing with difficult people, etc.) but what I guess I'm getting at, or what I realize I'm getting at now that I've been writing this, is that every challenge in our life, yes EVERY challenge and that includes sickness, etc., is related to a blessing. Other than the bad choices we make, big or small, which bring additional difficulty and sorrow, the other, natural challenges of life, whether we call them trials, stumbling blocks and so on, are all things that are associated with blessings. It goes back to the adage no pain, no gain.

I am so happy that Sarah and I have three children, I feel incredibly blessed to work with amazing people in the endeavor of helping young people learn and prepare for their lives, I am happy to serve people in my position in the ward and I am grateful for every other challenge life brings in that they all educate and add character and can open up the mysteries of heaven if you have the right perspective and attitude.

I am suddenly reminded of the following verse from the Doctrine in Covenants:

"All these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good" (122:7)

More than anything I hope that I can keep this vision and also work harder in my life-long mission of alleviating others' burdens, especially Sarah's, and to keep in mind the reality of our lot in life which is, in my estimation, to see all things as blessings and not as burdens until that perfect day.

---------------------
Updated pics of Will (from about two weeks ago):

A Family of Five

2010-03-27T12:35:00.000-07:00

On the Sunday Kollin was blessed. Our first day all out and gussied up together!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-18T12:26:00.000-07:00

William at 8 days old and my first day home with three kids. We had a good day, we played, walked to the church park for a picnic, nursed the baby, and played some more.

Cousin Kollin and Aunt Sydnee stopped by for a few minutes and I was amazed at how BIG Kollin suddenly was! These two are going to have lot of fun together!

Welcome William!

2010-03-11T11:23:00.000-08:00

William Antonio Todd
Arrived March 9, 2010 1:44 p.m.
9 lb, 7 oz 21 inches long

We had a baby early at this house and are so glad he is here!! Labor truly couldn't have gone better...we were at the hospital for 3 hours and two pushes to get him here! I got the epidural and was already dilated to 9 cm but was so glad to take the edge off those contractions. We are home now, the kids are so sweet and cute to him and will post more pictures and details soon!

The Last Hoorah

2010-03-08T20:45:00.000-08:00

My dad wanted to go on a weekend getaway before baby William's arrival and Danny had a conference in Palm Springs last weekend so we rendezvoused there and had a great time! On Friday Danny had meetings all day so I took the kids to the Children's Discovery Museum of the Desert. It was really fun!

Claire on the pulley chair

Making pizza

Claire is very excited about imaginative play and was obviously pleased with her pizza making skills

Claire showing us what she went shopping for

Carter on the police motorcycle

A real VW bug the kids painted on

Writing about her archeological findings

Carter getting into the dig

Playing magnet tic tac toe

Claire also loved the animal hospital

It was a gorgeous day in the desert

After we met Danny for lunch I took the kids to a park down the street from the hotel. They had an enormous slide the kids loved to slide down and climb up!

Our changing family has been on my mind so I attempted to get a photo of Carter & Claire since it won't be just them for long and these were the results. Oh well;)

The other highlight for the kids was the hotel spa, especially Carter. He loves to swim--it makes me excited for summer!

On Friday night, my parents and Eric, Sydnee and Kollin arrived. We had some tasty pizza and headed back to the house my parents rented for the weekend. Saturday morning we headed to the Living Desert (a desert zoo basically). There were lots of very cool animals. We really enjoyed the butterfly exhibit. It was a structure filled with gorgeous butterflies that landed on us.

Making music in the African Village

There were real warthogs right behind the kids but they were more interested playing on these statues

After lunch we headed to the Palm Springs Arial Tramway. All the adults had been up it before but never when it was SNOWING at the top! Sydnee had never been in the snow before and although it was cold it was so, so beautiful and fun!

On the tram on the way up

At the top

The whole group. Claire is asleep in the stroller and Kollin is hiding under the blanket on Sydnee;)

Good lookin' family

After Claire woke up and was acclimating to the cold.

As we were walking around we noticed a lot of people had sleds. We walked passed a family leaving and Danny said something aloud about getting a sled from someone. They turned around and offered to sell theirs to us at a discount. We bought it and then had a great time sledding. We weren't totally prepared for snow but Danny and Papa both went with the kids with leather shoes on and all!

Danny with both kids getting ready for the first run. They went down pretty fast but the kids still wanted more.

Papa and Claire

Grandma warming up Carter's cold hands.

After our fun the snow we warmed up and then went down the mountain and got some delicious BBQ and went back to the house to hang out. It was such a fun weekend and now that it is over I feel even more ready to have this baby!! Thank you mom and dad for a great weekend!!

Maternity Photo Shoot

2010-03-03T19:26:00.000-08:00

As Danny last posted, we are still alive and growing larger by the minute it seems;) We are 10 days away from this little one's due date but I am not getting my hopes up that he will arrive then. A good friend of ours, who happens to be a fabulous photographer, Ana, approached me about doing some maternity photos with her. I told her that I would not have thought of it myself but for her I was happy to oblige. It turned out more fun than I could have imagined and I am really glad to have some photos of me in full bloom.

Ana asked me what was different this pregnancy for me. I had to think about it for a while but realized that this time I definitely feel like a woman. When I was expecting Carter I was only 23 and a recent college grad, now I am an experienced mother who is getting close to 30! So my outfit I chose to wear was something I felt feminine and womanly in. As for food preferences I told Ana that I crave bread. There is no question I get my 8 servings of grains a day, I do prefer whole grains but any grain makes me happy:) So, creative Ana came up with this "bread inspired" photo shoot. She set up an appointment for me at the MAC makeup counter in the mall (very fun to be pampered and I got some great new makeup as a third trimester gift to myself). I made an appointment with my friend and hairdresser extraordinaire, Katrina, and below is the result of a whole lot of professionals pampering me:) After hair and makeup, we stopped at Panera Bread so I could ogle delicious delicatessens and buys a half dozen bagels for our breakfast the next morning and then went to Ana's place where she used a green screen to get the last two shots posted. I should add that Ana added eyelashes which is why my eyes are actually visible when I am smiling:) It was a great afternoon and I definitely felt beautiful so thanks to all involved!

Yes we're still here...

2010-02-25T17:42:00.000-08:00

....and the ToddPad will be updated a lot more frequently in the coming months. Thanks to those who check in once in a while still despite our lack of content! For now suffice to say that Sarah is very pregnant, I have a new position at work, Carter and Claire are growing up so fast and William is in utero.

Sarah and Daniel Take on NYC

2009-12-22T13:14:00.000-08:00

The Todd Pad

January recap!

Summer of 2011: Gratitude & Lessons Learned

Halloween Weekend

William's Illness

Kindergarten Wrap Up

Memorial Day 2011

Just another Manic Monday

Quick Update

Carter D. Todd is Six!

My son the artist

Big Bear in July

Many Firsts at the Todd Pad

Team Todd Video Montage

The "Ooh-la-la" Girls

William's Blessing

The Miracle of the Human Brain...

Beach Bonfire

Family Home Evening at the Todd's & Giant Catfish

The 10 Cheapest, Healthiest Foods Money Can Buy

Full disclosure: This article is from the website/blog "Cheap Healthy Good"

No Pain, No Gain

A Family of Five

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Welcome William!

The Last Hoorah

Maternity Photo Shoot

Yes we're still here...

Sarah and Daniel Take on NYC

Happy Birthday My First Born in the Wilderness and Thank You for the Tsunami of Gratitude

Teddy Bear Tea

I took a gamble...

Drum roll please...

Closure on the Pipe Situation and a New Addition to the Todd Pad

Our very small trials...

The newest addition to our "pad"

Happy Birthday Claire Bear!

Carter Family Reunion

Bones are Fragile

Someday we'll catch up...

Thank you from a husband...

UH Cheer Squad

Good news at the Todd Pad

Colton Friends Dinner

Not Without My Brother

Happy Easter