Hotel CaliFarnsworth

Since Doug and Darold like to go mountain biking and Preston and his friend Ryan both have mountain bikes. . .Doug and Darold took the boys for a fun ride. The group shot: Preston on the rope swing: Ryan's turn: Their new friend they met on the trails:

Soo cute...had to share! Derek woke up in the morning ready to ride. First he had to wake up Daddy! Derek went "mountain biking" even though he doesn't have a mountain bike. His blue bike did just fine though. The trails in Marshall Canyon are so pretty this time of year. Reaching the tunnel Doug figured Derek would be done but nope, Derek wanted to keep going! What a trooper! Taking breaks at water crossings. . . and rope swings are fun to do! Derek rode so far and came home a happy boy!

On Wednesday we made Valentine Treats for the teachers (and some extras for Preston's class). This was a lot of fun. Doug even made me a wood holder to hold all the suckers while they dried! Too cute! I made about 50 cupcake suckers, 50+ chocolate cake bites, and about 10 caramel chocolate covered apples! Lucky teachers!

Our Valentines Day started off on Thursday (since the kids didn't have school on Friday). I went with Preston's class to Riverside to go see the Junie B. Jones play! The play was pretty cute and the kids really enjoyed it. They combined about 5 Junie B. Jones books and Preston had read all the books that were used for the play so that was cool.
After the play, we went back to school and I helped with Preston's Valentine Party! They made floats out of Cherry Limeade soda and vanilla ice cream. I thought it was going to be nasty but it was YUMMY!!! So I LOVED their pink floats!! You should try them.

On Saturday, Doug and I got our kids their Valentines present from us. Every Valentines Day they get a pack of gum.They love this simple gift every year. We take them to the gum aisle of Target and they pick out their gum. I think I stood in that aisle with them for about 30 minutes. Tough decisions, you know. Saturday night Doug had to work ofcourse but the kids and I went to the Stake Family Valentines Dance. My kids LOVE to dance (hello, Chloe has a disco light in her room remember?) and they were super excited to get their groove thing goin'. The dance featured the Stake band however and so old swing style and slow songs were played mostly. This didn't bother my kids. They still danced it up. I turned around and PRESTON had asked a GIRL to dance!!! What??? Yep, that's right! Preston asked about 7 girls to dance with him. He'd just cruise on over to a pretty girl and say, "Excuse me for interrupting but would you like to dance with me?" Who taught him to be a gentleman? Oh, and did I mention that he only asked TEENAGERS to dance? So funny! He was so proud of himself. No one even told him to dance with girls. I was cracking up!

Talk about embarrassing!!!! My cute son was asked by his principal to lead the school board meeting in the pledge of allegiance on Tuesday night. What an honor right? Preston was so excited and looking forward to dressing up and speaking in a microphone. We were asked to be at the meeting a half hour before it started and we made it there just fine. Preston was not nervous at all. When we arrived the secretary to the Superintendent came over and started talking to Preston. She mentioned to us that Preston was the youngest they've ever had say the pledge before. She asked if I thought he'd be fine doing it. I told her Preston was not shy and he'd be just fine. Then came the school board personnel......this is where it gets interesting. The Superintendent walks over to us and asks Preston a couple of questions. Dr. Rutherford then comments that Preston isn't even nervous talking to him. Preston innocently then asked "Why would I be?" Dr. Rutherford replied, "Well most people are because I am your principal, Mrs. Benson's, boss." Then very confidently Preston states, "You are? Then i really want to talk to you about some things." I am thinking "Oh great. What is he going to say and maybe he should have brought this up with me FIRST!" The Superintendent laughed and then asked what was on Preston's mind. Preston then gives his speech which went a little something like this:
"Well you see, I want to be the kid president at my school. Mrs. Benson told me that I can't even TRY to be president until I am in 5th grade. You know how old I will be by then?"

Dr. Rutherford: "Oh, I see. Well, do you think you could win an election while in 2nd grade against a 6th grader?"

Preston: "Yes! For sure! But that isn't even the worst part of it. This year I got to listen to the kids who wanted to be president at the assembly. I picked out who I was going to vote for and everything. Then Mrs. Benson wouldn't even let me VOTE. Even though it's for MY school and I GO there. I CAN'T vote. She said I have to be in 3rd grade. Can you believe it? So I even had people sign a paper to say I could vote and I had a meeting with her and everything. She listened to me and said I STILL couldn't vote. And I had a TON of people sign the paper to say I COULD vote. It didn't even matter. So do you think you could talk to her?"

Dr. Rutherford is laughing by now and replies, "Hmm, I will have to talk to her."

Preston: "YES!!"

Then walks in Mrs. Benson. Dr. Rutherford gets up from his chair and walks over to her (she came and sat behind us).

Dr. Rutherford: "I hear this young man was a little disappointed with the school election process this year Mrs. Benson."

Mrs. Benson: "Oh, did he tell you he had a petition?"

Dr. Rutherford: "yes, he told me all about it."

Mrs. Benson: "Did you let him know that I wished he could've voted but I had to follow the District rules?"

Dr. Rutherford: "No, I told him I would talk to you about it." Then to Preston: "Well, I guess she isn't going to change the rules for us Preston. I'm sorry I tried."

Mrs. Benson leans over to Preston and says, "Preston I have to follow HIS rules." Then everyone laughs (except Preston).

Okay so soon the meeting does start. All is well. Each Board member reports real quick what they've done since they last met. Then each one reports on current exciting news about the district. Basically it is sounding like the school board is tooting Upland's horn. They are talking about how UHS has one of the top drama departments. And how UHS' quarterback is FOX 11 ESPN's top High School pick and will be on TV in March, etc etc. Time for the pledge.

Mrs. Benson introduces Preston and Preston leads the pledge. It goes smoothly. No problems. Next comes the board member to ask him a few questions and present him with a certificate. Board member aks, "Preston, tell us, how do you like your school?"

Preston takes mic and says, "I love my school so much that I wanted to be the kid president but am not allowed. Apparently you have to be in 5th grade. So that's really too bad."

Board member, "Oh yes well soon enough then. (chuckle) Now tell us what is your favorite subject in school?"

Preston then begins to toot HIS own horn (apparently just following suit---in his mind): "Well I really LOVE reading. I love it so much that my teacher even told me at conference that i had read over 200,000 MORE words than anyone else so far in second grade!"

At this point I am trying to crawl UNDER my chair. I HOPE no one thought I told him to say that! How embarrassing!!

Board member: "Preston we wanted to thank you for coming tonight and helping us out. (Hands him certificate) How did you get here tonight? Did you walk or did someone bring you?"

Preston: "Well, we should have walked because we live really close to here but my mom drove me. Which is a little wasteful of gas and the environment but my Mom wanted to drive for some reason."

OKAY now I'm really bright red! Thanks a lot Preston!! It was RAINING and there's no way HE would've walked either!

Board member: (chuckles)"Can you show us your mom so she could stand up and we can thank her for bringing you?"

Thanks board member! After being completely humiliated by my son I would LOVE to stand up so you can all see WHO exactly is his mom.

I stand up and everyone claps and I am thinking "at elast now we can high tail it out of there!"

Board Member: "Thanks again Preston. (Shakes his hand) Now you may be excused to go home. You don't have to stay and listen to the rest of the meeting."

Preston: "oh, thanks but I would like to stay an listen please."

Board Member: "Oh ofcourse sir. You are more than welcome to stay."

THANKS again Preston! We get to stay! How fun---not! We stayed for about another hour and then slipped out.

At school the next day, Mrs. Benson told me that she'd gotten about 50 emails from people regarding Preston last night. I told her I didn't even WANT to know what they said. Then I told her that she should email them all back and just let them know that his MOTHER did NOT coach him on what to say at all and never told her son to TOOT his own horn! She just laughed.

A week ago Chloe had her 100th day of school celebration. Now for those of you who live far away and don't know this, I usually do Chloe's hair creatively every day. I love to check out hair blogs and do her hair really cute and different. Anyway, for the 100th day of school she told me she wanted me to put a 100 in her hair. I thought about how I could do it without her looking like a clown and then said yes. When Doug found out he was scared....he told me, "You know you can tell her no sometimes if her ideas are too crazy." I reassured him that I wouldn't let her look goofy. This is what I came up with:So from the front you couldn't even tell and in the back it had a 100. Chloe had fun on her 100th day. Zero the hero came and spoke to all the kindergartners!
Derek has loved being the only one home for the most part. I think he still gets sad sometimes that he isn't in school but he likes having his alone time with Doug for sure! Doug took him Mountain biking at Marshall canyon. Derek has been wanting to go ever since Preston went with Doug. The thing is Derek doesn't have a mountain bike. No worries, he didn't care. He still wanted to go. Doug said they went slow but that Derek made it as far as Preston did! Crazy huh? What a little trooper. I think Doug is going to make a movie of it (like he did for Preston) but here is a pic until then.
Now on to the Pink Panther. Preston's best friend (one of his many best friends), just had a birthday. On his birthday he spent the night at our house. Well, I couldn't have him spend the night on his birthday without making him a cake.....no, no, that wouldn't do. I didn't have much time to make him a cake though either. So I had to settle for making a regular rectangular cake. But what do I put on it? The only thing I could think of was the pink panther since the boys were going to go see that movie the next day for his birthday celebration. Instead of making the pink panther out of frosting (I was worried about how much time I would have) I decided to do something different and much quicker. I used Valentine M&Ms. It turned out alright and Ryan loved it, so all was good. Now if you have extra leftover Valentine M&Ms you know what you can do with them! Ha ha!

The Farnsworth family is full of eyeglass wearers: Douglas wears glasses full time, Shauna is supposed to wear glasses (she is getting new ones soon so then she WILL wear glasses), and Preston wears glasses (for reading). Well, today Chloe joined the ranks of eyeglass wearers. She has to (or gets to) wear glasses full time for everything! Derek thinks she is pretty lucky! He is even jealous that everyone has glasses except him. Can you believe it? I remember as a kid that glasses were horrible and people NEVER wanted to have glasses. Kids were even made fun of for wearing glasses. Did that era end? Is wearing glasses cool now? What? Speaking of glasses, Preston just broke his and I was not about to fork over another $400 plus dollars on new ones for him. But, since his glasses are unwearable, really, I had to do something. I found Zenni Optical online and thought I'd try them. I purchased two pairs of glasses for Preston: one regular wear pair and one sunglass pair. My total with shipping was under $40. I will have to let you know how they are when we get them. I measured his current frames and lenses and got him glasses that had the same dimensions. So they should fit just fine. If they work out then I will be getting the whole family prescription sunglasses from them. Who knows maybe since they only charge $39 for photochromatic lenses (transitions) and my insurance charges $88, I'll get transitions from them for myself too. We'll see. I have high hopes. Anyway, leave Chloe a comment and let her know what you think of her newest fashion statement! Thanks!

Hey there, as you all probably know Derek loves Curious George. His Georgie collection is his most prized possession! Well, to be nice to Daddy, Derek told Douglas that he could take Curious George with him to work. This was supposed to help Doug not be lonely while he was at work all day. Apparently George had a busy day.....watch the video below. My question is this, "If Curious George did all the work that day, what in the heck did Doug do?" Hee hee. P.S. Forgive the "truck" typo in the video please!

Curious George Goes to Work at Kings Fish House:


Check the lobster count: And the line temps:
Fire up the grill! "Guys clean out that fryer!" "Let's make sushi rolls" "We need potatoes for chowder" "Can I pour you a tall one?" Oysters on the half shell "Careful with that oyster knife!" Born to do dishes. . . Ten minute break closing counts for lobsters and oysters The fish truck is here Gotta check in the fish order "Everything looks good!" Time to order produce and do prep sheets for tomorrow "Make sure the money is locked up" Supervisor Curious George was voted Crew Member of the Month! George is a certified trainer for every station: grill, saute, fry, pantry, sushi, oyster bar, prep, and dish. George makes a mean Banana's Foster!