Dis Day 3

I'm still trying to catch up on posts about Disneyland. I have to get it done so I can move on to other things. Like Jameson's birthday! Which is today. Happy birthday J-Bug! So, please . . . bear with me!!

Our 3rd day at Disneyland started off with a "character breakfast" at Goofy's Kitchen. The idea behind it is so much fun. Yummy buffet breakfast and characters that come to your table. Kids get lots of individual attention from the characters, autographs, hugs and pictures with them.

Goofy's Kitchen started out great . . . and by "started" out I mean the check-in at the reservations counter was great. It was the character meal that Marshall had picked. And, he was all jazzed and ready to meet some characters. He had a big grin on his face and autograph book in hand. His sister . . . well, not so much. Eliza dissolved into hysterical screaming and sobbing when any character was within about 30 feet of her. She did comply with the picture with Goofy when we entered the restaurant. But, no more after that.

So . . . Gram took Eliza out of the restaurant. Eric and I stayed with the two boys and Marshall had a wonderful time meeting characters and collecting their signatures. He was even willing to pose with Snow White. She was so pretty and so sweet that she won him over.

Eliza recovered. We rode the astro blasters. And, Marshall was chosen for Jedi Training Academy. It was the highlight of the trip, watching Marshall battle Darth Maul. But, it deserves an entire post all its own, so stay tuned.

Honestly, I have no recollection of what else we did that day! But, we finished the day at Mickey's Halloween Party in the park from 6pm-11pm. Marshall was a Jedi, Eliza was Cinderella and Jameson was a monkey. As you can tell, we were not the best picture takers on this trip. So, here is a picture of the kids in the same costumes on Halloween.

Sharing the Magic

A few months before we left for Disneyland, Marshall saw a commercial for Disneyland (I guess I'm admitting that I let my kids watch TV!) and the family in the commercial was wearing matching t-shirts. Neon green matching t-shirts. With their names on them. And Mickey ears. And Marshall wanted to be that family.

Well, we homeschool. Why does that matter? Okay - so the Lord has called us to homeschool. I can handle that. In fact, I love getting to homeschool my kids!! But, the deal I have with the Lord (because you can make deals with Jesus right? Ha!) is that I don't want to be one of those families where the mom wears denim jumpers with her waist-long hair in a bun and the kids wear matching clothes. You know - the stereotypical family that homeschools. The ones on the cover of the homeschool magazines where all of their 15 children hold their violins/cellos/flutes that make up their own family orchestra. The ones that people think of when they ask where my kids go to school and they get that look on their face when I say we homeschool. (And, I know that look because it is the look I used to get on my face when someone told me that they homeschool. Like - oh, you looked so normal. Don't you know your kids are going to turn out weird and socially awkward because you aren't letting them go to school??)

Not that I don't love those families. I do. You can ask Eric. I have said multiple times that there is a part of me that really wishes that I was Mrs. Duggar on 19 Kids and Counting. I've read her book, I think she and her family are amazing, God-honoring and love each other so well.

But, apparently Marshall didn't get the memo about Mom not wanting my kids to be in matching clothes. He really wanted to have matching shirts. Preferably with our names on them. Oh boy.

Enter my friend Kari. This girl is amazing. Read her blog here. And, she and her husband Conrad made the best Disneyland shirts ever. They are white, not neon green. And they had our kids names on them with the cutest Mickey ears. Check them out people! You'll want Kari to be your friend too :) Thanks Kari and Conrad for the fabulous shirts. Darn! I just realized that Jameson is not in any of these pictures. He had a shirt too. And it was uh-dorable. Trust me.

On our first full day in the park, we had family come up from San Diego to visit. Eric's brother, Brad, married his beautiful, fun, sweet wife, Stephanie, last October. I finally have a sister! And as if that wasn't enough, her entire family was part of the package. They all live in San Diego and we heart them.

Stephanie's sister, Kelly, and Kelly's husband, Mat, brought their two sweet girls, Rylie and Baylie, up to Disneyland for the day. This past summer, when their family visited Oregon, Rylie and Eliza became good friends. Getting them together was like reuniting long-lost best friends. They held hands all through the park and generally tried to direct all of us. We were so glad to have them at the park with us. We wish they lived in Oregon. I love Kelly. Eric loves Mat (can I say that? Well - I guess I can say they have a mutual love of good beer?). They are an amazing blessing to spend time with. Mat & Kelly - if you're reading this, move here. We promise you'll get over the rain!

And, of course we rode Splash Mountain twice this day. We rode Splash Mountain a lot everyday we were there. And get a good look at Bampa Randy in the top picture. He had to fly back to Oregon that night. Boo Hoo! We missed him - especially at the princess lunch. LOL. And, the princesses missed him too.

I love bank holidays. I think they were invented by a stay-at-home mom who needed a three day weekend. Bank holidays always sneak up on our family - I forget when one is coming up. And then I turn the weekly calendar page and it's like Christmas! Woo woo! PTB is closed and Daddy gets to be home with us for an entire extra day!

And this past Friday was a BANK HOLIDAY! Yay! And I had a meeting at the children's museum here in Salem. My awesome friend/neighbor Amy is the President of the board of directors at the museum. Amy and I were both attorneys before staying at home with our kids - and even better, she and her husband, Marc, both went to the U of O and also have Duck football season tickets! And, they live around the corner from us. It's like a friendship made in heaven. LOL.

Anyhow - Amy asked me to serve with her on the board of directors at the children's museum. Yes! An hour and a half meeting once a month with adults! Adult conversation . . . even if it is about a children's museum. LOL!! (I really do love staying home with my kids - I do!) But seriously, I'm honored to serve this amazing place. It is the best place to take kids, full of tons of hands-on exhibits and a monsterous playground that has kept my kids busy on many sunny afternoons. And, they do an amazing job of outreach to our community, bringing educational resources to families who really need it.

While I was in my meeting, Eric braved the museum by himself with all three kids on Veteran's Day - which means no school so it was busy . . . . the kind of busy where I pull into the parking lot, see all the cars and turn the Suburban around. But, Eric was a good sport, wore Jameson in the Ergo, and followed M & E through the entire museum. (BTW - Eric even looks good sporting a baby in a front pack - I wish I had a picture!)

On another note, here is a new picture of Jameson. Just because he is cute. And, we successfully brainwashed our third little babe - no Beavs at this house! Jameson learned to say "Go Ducks" on Saturday. Before the Stanford game. I am sure that is why the Ducks won. Because they did win. 53-30! And they are ranked #4 in the BCS. Just in case you didn't know.

Disneyland Day 1

Our first day at Disneyland . . . our day to recover from the drive and take naps and then head into the park. Originally, our plan had been to spend the afternoon swimming. But the kids could see Disneyland from our hotel and they were just too excited to head into the park.

One of our first discoveries was that there was a Starbucks in walking distance from our hotel. PTL!! Real coffee. Real americanos and caramel macchiatos. Our last two trips to Disneyland we had stayed in Disneyland Resort hotels and the only coffee they have in the parks and all of the restaurants is Nescafe. So so awful. But, when you have a caffeine addiction (like members of our family who will remain nameless) you give in and drink it. Especially when you are exhausted from sharing a hotel room with your kiddos. We have decided that Disneyland has figured out that they can charge alot of money for really disgusting cheap-ola coffee that tastes like dirt, and parents of pre-schoolers will buy it out of desperation in their utter exhaustion. Because as much as we love Disneyland, we'll admit that it is an adventure rather than a vacation and we really need a vacation by the time we get home.

Needless to say, we started our day with breakfast at the Bux, just hung out, and our entire family napped. Then we headed over for a late lunch with Eric's parents. We were so thankful to have Robyn and Randy on our adventure with us. It is so much easier to manage three kids with extra adult hands. And really, it's just so fun to get to go to Disneyland with your grandparents!

We had such a great first day! Brave little Eliza (who is terrified of characters, right?) rode Space Mountain first thing. We had friends from home who were just finishing their week in Disneyland and had extra Fastpasses for Space Mountain that they weren't going to use. Score! (Thanks Leepers!) Both of the kids rode the Matterhorn and Marshall rode Splash Mountain with Eric and Bampa.

We ended the day watching amazing fireworks and Fantasmic with the Ventis and had amazing viewing places for both of them.

Chuck E Cheese

Last night was our first trip to Chuck E. Cheese. Ever. Well, not a first for Eric and me. But a first for my kids. Some people say I've deprived my children by not taking them to Chuck E Cheese. Eric and I think it was for our own sanity. The funny thing is that my mom's childhood friend owns the Salem Chuck E. Cheese. I ran into his wonderful wife a few months back and she was shocked that we hadn't taken our poor, deprived children to see the Big Mouse yet. She promptly sent me a gift certificate for pizza and tokens so that my kiddos could have the Chuck E. Cheese experience. It was so thoughtful of her and I kept meaning to take the kids . . kind of. Then my BFF, Bethany, had her son's 4th birthday party there. And, she has stuck with me through ALOT. And we love her son. I mean, his name is Abraham. And he is adorable. With the best hair ever. And he takes really hilarious pictures that make me laugh at times that I really need it. What is there not to love? So of course we went. And it was awesome.

BTW - Do you think we look like sisters? Just say yes, because we wish we were. Really, this blog post is just an excuse to post a picture of Bethany and I. Because Eric told Bethany to be ready to be on the blog because now that I'm blogging again I'm taking pictures of everything so that I can document it on here.

Sorry the pic is a little fuzzy but Abraham is one of my faves:

Eric and Paul (Bethany's husband). It's convenient that my BFF is married to my husband's BFF. How often does that happen? Makes for some fun date nights.

Even Jameson got in on the fun. He loved Chuck E Cheese. Of course, Jameson loves EVERYTHING!

My kids had an amazing time - mostly. Except for when Chuck E Cheese - the big dressed up character -was walking around the restaurant. Eliza hates characters (you can imagine how that goes at Disneyland). As soon as she saw the giant rat, she had a total hysterical, take-me-back-to the car, I'm-out-of-here screaming and sobbing and stomping her feet fit.

But, she recovered, and Marshall and Eliza both took home a ton of loot. And promptly begged me to take them back TOMORROW and use that gift certificate. Hmmm . . . tomorrow?

Disneyland (again)

What can I say? We love taking our kids to Disneyland. We love love love it. I don't want to miss out on keeping the memories of the trip so I'm going to post a couple of times about it.

We left at 4am on a Saturday morning and we drove - yes DROVE - to Disneyland. So many people thought we were crazy to drive but we thought it had to be better than being a public spectacle in the security line at PDX. So, we packed up the Suburban and headed out. And, the drive was amazing. Uh-mazing. We drove it in 17 hours. Let's not talk about the fact that the Ventis were also driving but left at 6am and caught up with us. Hmmm - fast driving, Conrad?

Anyways . . . my kids never once asked "Are we there yet?" AND they only watched TWO movies on the entire trip. And, Jameson only cried ONE time for about FIVE minutes. We had the best playlist EVER to listen to (thanks, Honey) and the best mapped out plan (thanks again, Honey) with places to stop that did not include McDonalds - because my kids are terrified of McDonalds, Burger King, Dairy Queen, Taco Bell - all fast food actually except for In n Out and Burgerville (but that story belongs in another post).

Eric and I had time to talk. And, Eric and Conrad had time to talk. Our friends, the Ventis, made the trip too. (The truth is that this was their Disneyland trip and we crashed it - thanks Ventis!) And, conveniently the iPhone 4 came out the day before with Siri - which let the guys speak their text messages and listen to their text messages. Like walkie talkies but better. Hilarious listening to the text messages those two came up with just to see what kind of words Siri would be willing to say.

So - we made it to Anaheim by 9:45 pm. And, we had fun on the drive. And we loved our family more because we drove. And our Suburban hasn't been the same since - LOL!

So - here are a few of the pictures from our trip. I'll post more tomorrow!

So, since I haven't blogged in THREE years, I have an abundance of pictures to chose from to highlight life around here. Just to prove that I do spend time with my kids (since I'm usually the one taking the pictures and not in them) here is a picture of me with my three babes. Thanks to my wonderful friend Daveen who snapped this one at the end of Jameson's 6 month session. Check her out at www.daveenphotography.com.

A Bone in an Armpit

Okay - seriously people. I hate Daylight Savings Time. I know, it is November, the month of thankfulness. Everyone on good ole Facebook is giving thanks for 30 days . . . But, for reals, I have to complain about this one thing. Seriously. This is the worst. time change. ever. My kids are basket cases. All three of them were up so early this morning. Marshall was SHOUTING "wake up!!!!" at his bunny (the amazing bunny clock that keeps him in bed until 7:00 - which sometimes makes me feel like a mean mom but only for a minute and then I remember how much I enjoy the quiet in the morning). So . . . we quiet him down and explain that the time change is no fun but that we all have to get used to it. Soon we hear screaming, shouting and sobbing coming from his room. He is FREAKING OUT saying that there is a bone coming out of his armpit. What? Seriously? No idea. But he is insistent. Until Eric sits him up and shows him that there is NO bone sticking out of his armpit. I am so over Daylight Savings Time. If President Obama could get rid of it he just might get my vote in 2012...

On another note. My kids are hilarious. Yesterday, Marshall and Eliza decided that every room, door and cupboard in our house needed a label. I have no idea where the idea came from but it kept them busy and quiet for a LONG time. Here are some highlights of their signage . . .

The first one is my personal favorite. In case you can't tell it says "Hey! I need privacy!" Written by my 4-year old. (Yes, I homeschool . . . can't you tell from her precise handwriting?) She informed me at bedtime last night that "You and Daddy can only come in my room when I take that sign off of the door." She is 4 - not 14. What??:

Pantry (With Marshall's "amazing" depiction of a banana - his words):

Refrigerator:

Our Family

Just in case you've forgotten - here's our cast of characters:

Eric and I. Obviously we haven't changed a bit - no aging or anything! But, we can honestly say that we love each other more today than we ever could have imagined. Marriage is not always easy, but it is awe-inspiring to experience the way that Jesus can bring two humans (read: sinners) together and make their mess beautiful.


Marshall is bigger - but still has that fabulous red hair. He has also learned that he loves drinking Green River at Goody's in Sunriver.


Eliza is as feisty as ever - but with a much bigger vocabulary than 3 years ago!


Oh right - and that is her baby brother in the stroller. Introducing our adorable, bald-headed, easy-going, too-sweet-for-words Jameson Elliott Compton, born November 24, 2010:



Marshall and Eliza have become best friends. It has been such a blessing to watch these two kiddos and the amazing way they love each other.


Finally, here are all three of our beautiful children. We have been blessed beyond our highest hopes with these three.



And, since I (Jocelyn) am the one writing this post and I am breathing new life into our blog, I get to end with my current favorite picture of my crew. I love these four!

Three years come and gone . . .

So . . . it's been about three years since my last post. I'm not even going to try to catch-up and fill you in on over a thousand days of our life. Suffice to say that a lot of life has been lived in this home (for goodness sakes, we have a third child now!) But, it is definitely time to revive our family blog. Funny how time FLIES . . . I can hardly believe that three years have come and gone. Really my main reason for bringing this blog back to life is that I need a better method for keeping our family's memories. I LOVE this little family . . . I love my amazing husband and my three beautiful children. I love the memories we make and I don't want them to get lost in the craziness of life. So, here we are - the good, the bad, the messy and the miraculous way that Jesus makes it all beautiful. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28