Monday, June 28, 2010

California Gurls

I just got back today from my trip to California to see my sister. Between taking the red eye and the time change and the wine...I am feeling more than a little foggy.

Therefore, I don't have much to say...just wanted to share some pictures of our fun girls weekend.

I would have more, but I had to make room for more clothes by leaving my camera charger at home...

Thursday Mani-Pedi day.

Friday Wine Tour.

Amazing views outside Santa Barbara.

Dinner at XIV.

Saturday night at Saddle Ranch.


Sunday was Sun Day.

Congratulation to a beautiful Bride to Be.

Monday, June 21, 2010

23 Months

Well, here we are, on the verge of two.

I am hopeful, so hopeful, that we can enjoy your twos much like we did with your sister. They were not at all terrible. I think they are really the Terrible Sevens. I think this because I just got served a whole lot of attitude from one Seven Year Old who is now in bed early.

But I digress.

Summer is upon us, which means a lot of time outside. You are so amazingly active and fearless that I am not sure I will survive the summer in one piece.

We went to the pool again yesterday, and while there was no way I could get your sister to go down the baby slide, you were all too willing to take it on. Trying to explain to you that there is a little thing called "knowing how to swim" standing in your way did not go over well. Each time we took you over to the big pool and went in, you would plaintively whine "sliiiiddddeeee pleeeeeese" so we had to distract you and swim away.

In most ways you are becoming more and more of a joy. You are starting to use small sentences and sing more. You have learned how to jump and when you run really fast you wiggle your whole body.

You have lately been laughing to hear yourself laugh and then you actually crack yourself up. It's infectious. If someone does something you like, you laugh and laugh and then say "Do again, please" over and over. We usually do.

Your favorite thing when I drive past any fast food establishment is to yell "CHICKEL FRIZES" and while we think this is funny, it makes me worry that you know what Wendy's is before the age of two.

You are endlessly polite. You say "Please" and "Sank You" and "Scuse Me" and "Welcome" and you love to hand us things when we ask for them and say "Here you go." You even know how to turn off the TV when we ask. Of course, that also means you know how to turn the TV on.

I am leaving this week to visit your Aunt in California. I haven't been away from you for this long and I will miss you and your sister.

I'm sure everything will be fine. Just don't learn anything new while I'm gone. Sank you.

Monday, June 14, 2010

This Post is Chock Full of Goodness

So much has been going on that I am almost at a loss as to how best to describe the whirlwind this last week has been for us. Several times in the past few days I have thought "I should just do a quick post about that" and then I collapsed in a heap in my bed.

Let's see.

We participated in Relay for Life. The theme was Birthdays and let's just say Baby Boy was very, very happy to celebrate. I could have included the hundreds of pictures we have of him celebrating by eating Doritos, climbing a rock wall, or trying to dismantle the birthday candles my friend painstakingly made for our campsite. But I don't think this post can hold that many jpegs.

Then is was Field Day and Baby Girl's last day of school. Here she is with her awesome First Grade teacher.

I can't believe we are the parents of a Second Grader.

Also...did you know "Field Day" is not what it used to be? I remember our Field Day was basically a bunch of races and maybe a Popsicle after we sat in the hot High School stadium all afternoon (oh jeez...now I am probably going to start saying "in my day we did things differently" gah). Baby Girl had what I like to think of as a carnival. Bouncy houses! Face painting! Snow cones! A DJ spinning all your favorite Justin Bieber songs, for crying out loud! She loved it.

Then we were on to the annual dance recital extravaganza. Monday night staging rehearsal. Wednesday night dress rehearsal. Friday and Saturday night performances that got us home at eleven at night.

Do you see her there as that pretty pink flower? Yessir I spent the requisite 20 hours complaining about the money/time/schedule thing. Then I watched her on that stage and you bet I signed us up for another year.

Her brother even enjoyed himself. Or, he enjoyed spending the second half of the show in the hallway with his Papa kicking an empty plastic water bottle around and trying to escape up the stairs.

Dr. Dad spent part of the week at a conference and then topped it off with a Bat Survey. How many wives get to say that?

"So, where's your husband?"

"Oh, he's off looking for bats."

"Bats?"

"Yes. He's like Batman, only more environmentally friendly."

We thought we were going to see him off to the Gulf for a few weeks due to that awful, awful oil spill. But it looks like that has been put on hold.

So. Today is Monday again. I feel like I am just catching my breath. But there is always the annual garage sale I am organizing with my Mom this weekend, and then, a trip to LA to see my fabulous sister.

Holy cow. I want to collapse in my bed just thinking about it.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

What We Did On Our Weekend Vacation

Ok. So it really wasn't a vacation. However, it was 3 days of no strict agendas and plenty of family time.

We got started on our new garden. Well, Dr. Dad got started on our new garden. It used to be a patch near our Barn. After some observation last year, we decided it's too shady there, so we are trying a raised bed garden in a sunnier spot.


Observe. Shade.


Observe. Sun!

Then it was off to our favorite local Zoo (thanks again Nonna and Papa for our membership!) where we met up with a sweet cousin and her family.


The Zoo is really going to the birds.

More yard work on Sunday and then a trip to the pool! If the hot weather we had this weekend is any indicator of the summer...we will be spending a lot of time here.


Monday we attended the annual Memorial Day Parade (in the city Dr. Dad is from). We were supposed to go to a park afterwards and have a picnic, but the Weather Channel really came through again with an unexpected storm right in the middle of the day. We moved the festivities to Grandma and Grandpa's house, which was just fine with the kids.


Waiting for it to start raining candy.


We really enjoyed ourselves this whole weekend. Sometimes a weekend like that makes it even harder to get back into the weekly grind.

Baby Girl has 6 more days of school and then we will be doing her dance recital and the summer will be off and running.

I am so glad we took these days to stop and smell the roses!