The van Riessen Family Updates

Not much happening around here...

2012-01-27T21:33:00.000-08:00

The title of this post says it all... there's not much happening around here. We've battled some colds. I healed from a hip injury. And other than that we've been enjoying the regular pulse of life "post holidays". Garrett and Paige's birthday party is next weekend, along with a visit from their Nani and Papa.

The fact that they're turning three has had me picking up my camera more often, with a desire to capture this precious time... and it really is precious. They are so much fun right now. I feel like we've gotten over the worst of the tantrumming twos (knock on wood) and I am getting such a kick watching them learn and grow and enjoy eachother's company. They truly are a joy right now. Garrett is funny and goofy and a sponge for information. Paige is sweet and nurturing and artistic. Garrett will sit and carefully put a puzzle together until he has it all figured out. Paige will sit and carefully color a picture and can totally stay in the lines! But most of all it's so cool to watch them become such great friends (even amidst the perpetual sibling fighting).

I took some Superman pictures of Garrett after seeing a similar thing done by another photographer. I had a whole series of pictures in mind that I wanted to do, but my model was only willing to give me about five minutes of shooting time. But I really love how they turned out. This is so Garrett... fun and quirky.

I also love this picture I got of Paige because it's everything she is... quiet and thoughtful. She has done an AMAZING job with potty training and decided right after Christmas that she was done with diapers. Within a week she was completed trained... during the day AND night. I'd love to take credit for it... but realistically is was pretty much all her doing.

Molly is doing great. She's enjoying school and learning so much. Her second tooth is just about out, and a third is getting wiggling on the top. I'm looking forward to seeing her toothless grin! Here's a picture of her with her "mermaid hair" (after sleeping with wet braided hair). She's becoming such a beautiful little girl.

So that's the latest around here. Not much going on but I'm enjoying having more time available to take pictures of my own kids. We're really looking forward to my parents' visit next week and the kids are counting down the days!

Molly loses her first tooth!

2012-01-03T22:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a momentous day, as Molly lost her first tooth. It was ready to come out the night before and was barely hanging on by a thread. But despite our suggestions (eat an apple, let us tie a string around it, let us just tug on it, etc.) she wasn't letting us near it. Then at 5:00 this morning she woke up fearful that she was going to choke on it and announced that "my tooth woke me up". Sigh... Thankfully all it took was a big bite into an apple and the offender popped out easily.

Her new adult teeth are coming in behind her baby teeth, and her mouth looks something like a shark right now. But the dentist felt confident that they new teeth would move into position after the old ones made their exit, which we are very thankful for!

With the new teeth already in, it's hard to tell that she's even lost a tooth!

She was VERY excited about the tooth fairy coming to visit last night and even wrote her a little note that said, "Dear Tooth Fairy. You are sweet. Love Molly". She left the note with the tooth and a paper flower that she had made. I wonder if she was trying to bribe the tooth fairy for some extra coins! Needless to say, the tooth fairy left a certificate of "Lost Tooth" and a nice letter congratulating her and encouraging her to take good care of her new teeth. And, of course, she got some quarters and a coin token for the carousel at Arden Fair Mall! She was a very happy girl!

Christmas Day!

2012-01-02T22:30:00.000-08:00

We had a fabulous Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve at church (I played keyboards for the service) and then we came home and prepared for Santa's arrival. We put the cookies and milk out for the "big guy" and sprinkled reindeer food out on the front lawn (thanks to my Auntie Nan). Molly made a card for Santa, and Paige drew a picture. And Molly left a special "cookie pop" out for Santa to bring home to Mrs. Claus, which we thought was awfully thoughtful.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, and the gifts were ready for the morning onslaught. Molly was VERY excited about Santa coming and we were anticipating a 5:00 a.m. wake-up call.

But I am happy to report that we were pleasantly surprised when Molly didn't awaken until 7:00 a.m.! It was a Christmas miracle! Here's a video clip of her coming out and finding out that Santa had made his appearance!

Garrett and Paige woke up shortly after Molly and the present opening began. Molly loved her science kit from Aunt Christie and her Rapunzel styling head from Nani and Papa. She also got a LeapFrog Explorer system and several learning games to go with it that she loves!

Garrett totally loves his NeoTrax cars and tracks from Santa. And Steve and I love seeing him in his new hat that has his two favorite things on it... the letter "G" and the color green. Most people would say it's a Greenbay Packers hat... but to us, it's a Garrett hat.

Paige loves her Go-Go Walking Puppy from Santa and her baby and accessories from Nani and Papa, and Grandma and Grandpa van Riessen. She is the most loving and nurturing little girl, and it's so fun watching her pretend to be a "mommy" to all her new toys!

I also got a ton of fabulous baking supplies and can't wait to try them out for Garrett and Paige's birthday!

And Steve got a lot of videos to add to our collection and some clothing. He was invaluable removing all those over-packaged toys from their boxes, putting them together, and installing batteries.

Opening gifts took a LONG time, because the kids wanted to play with every gift before opening the next one. And once they were all opened, they had as much fun playing in the wrapping paper. I just LOVE this picture of Paige playing in the wrapping!

And here's a fun video clip of the chaos that ensued in the pile of discarded wrapping paper. This totally cracks me up!

After the gift opening, we enjoyed a yummy breakfast of bacon, eggs, hash browns and fruit salad, and then tried to do some clean-up. Here's Paige helping out with her new vacuum from Auntie Trish and Uncle Dave.

After a light lunch and some long naps, we headed over the Aunt Nancy and Uncle Fred's house for a fabulous prime rib dinner. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, but needless to say it was total chaos with 19 people there! And as always... dinner was outstanding! We're so thankful to have some family close by that we can enjoy the holidays with! It was truly a wonderful and relaxing Christmas and we are so thankful that we were able to remember what the day is TRULY about... Jesus' birthday!

Christmas at Sanctuary

2012-01-02T21:51:00.000-08:00

One of the fun parts of having kids, is seeing them be a part of the church Christmas performance. Just seeing them on stage looking all cute and adorable is pure entertainment. Unfortunately, this year (like last year) Paige decided she was NOT going to join the kids on stage. Garrett and Molly however were cute as can be!

For some reason Molly insisted that she just HAD to wear her mittens for the performance because it was a Christmas show! And here's a video clip of them singing...

Christmas Treats

2011-12-29T15:10:00.000-08:00

Christmas never feels like Christmas without an overdose of sugary goodness. Since I'm working out and trying to get in shape, this year I promised myself that I wouldn't over do it. So I just made cinnamon sugar cookies. And then I thought I needed to balance that out with chocolate and made mint brownies. And then fudge is easy, right? So I made some. But then I realized that I almost forgot to decorate gingerbread houses! That wouldn't do. Luckily I found a kit that made an entire gingerbread village, with five little houses (one for each family member). The kids were really into this project.

And Steve completed our beautiful cookie village with his awesome marshmallow snowmen. Notice the cute little hat he has on!

So I'm finally done with the baking... right? No! Then I received these awesome cookie molds from my neighbor that you can make cookies on a stick! I just HAD to try them out, right?

And the kids got to decorate and eat their own "cookie on a stick".

Good thing I was finally done all my baking. Right? Right? NO! Because we still need to make a birthday cake for Jesus' birthday... something that we do every Christmas Eve! I couldn't let Jesus down, right? So we made a cake and I decorated it when the kids napped. Now, some of you may remember that this year Garrett asked Santa for a "Shark Cake" for Christmas. Steve and I were like "a shark cake"? Seriously? So we explained that Santa doesn't bring food... and instead I decided that Jesus would appreciate a shark cake for His birthday. I mean, He MADE sharks didn't He?

Okay... that was the last of it. Thankfully a lot of that baking was given away as gifts and at various functions. Otherwise we'd really be in trouble...

Molly's School Christmas Party

2011-12-29T14:50:00.000-08:00

The best part about volunteering in Molly's class on Fridays, is that I always get to be part of their holiday parties. And her Christmas party was no exception! I volunteered to make a treat for everyone in the class and made 30 snowmen out of powdered donuts. This was no small feat... let me tell you. They were complete with fondant carrot noses and fruit leather scarves.

The kids enjoyed a variety of games, craft projects and of course... snacks.

And they also sang some Christmas songs which was adorable!

She came home with a huge bag full of treats and gifts. But the best gift of all was that she was now officially on vacation. No early morning rushes off for school every day for two whole weeks! Hmmm... maybe that's MY gift!

COAC Christmas Party

2011-12-29T14:46:00.000-08:00

This year, Steve's employer (COAC) decided to have a family Christmas party at their office on a Friday evening after work. The kids and I met Steve at the office, and were greeted with stockings for all the kids! The owners did an amazing job decorating the office for the event, and transformed part of the warehouse into a party room complete with bounce house for the kids! I think my children spent 75% of the time in there.

They had a caterer provide dinner from a fabulous BBQ place and I enjoyed the time to catch up with some of the fabulous people that Steve works with. It was a wonderful reminder how blessed we are by his job!

One of the highlights of the event, was the custom ornaments designed by my fabulous and talented husband, and cut out by one of their head technicians on the plasma cutter! The kids had about 25 different designs to choose from! Wouldn't these be cool cut out in large size, painted with glitter, and hung from a tree in your front yard?

The kids got to watch the plasma cutter at work... with proper eye protection of course!

Molly even got to pretend to drive the fork lift!

Dovewood Court Lights

2011-12-29T14:10:00.000-08:00

Every Christmas we try and make a trek to Dovewood Court, a cul-de-sac near us that has unreal lights up every year. This year we decided to go as early as we could to beat the crowds, and actually went before dinner. So glad we went at that time because by the time we left it was crazy!

The folks who live on this street do an amazing job of their lights... from coordinating it to music to decorating the entire interior of their garage. Some house were more traditional...

.... and some were a little less traditional, like this home with the surfer Santa and Tiki hut!

But the highlight is always seeing the awe in the faces of the kids. They were amazed! We finished off the evening with dinner out and hot chocolate in the car. A perfect night!

A Christmas Parade

2011-12-18T16:12:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we had the pleasure of seeing our friends Rachel and Aaron, who are living in China and are back in the United States for Christmas. We hadn't seen them since their daughter was first born (I had the honor of doing her newborn photos) and she is now 18 months old! So it was really special to be able to spend time with them.

They brought their daughter and two little nieces (who were 5 and 3 years old) and joined us at the Woodland Christmas Parade. Here's all the kids lined up in a row waiting for the parade to start!

Molly got to share her seat for a while with little Hannah, which she was pretty excited about.

The kids LOVED watching the parade and sucking on all the candy canes that got thrown out to the crowd.

The parade was SO long, so we snuck out before it finished and went out for lunch together. Unfortunately, with SIX kids that were 5-years old and younger, we weren't able to have the best visit (as you can imagine). But it was still nice to spend some time with their wonderful family and they will continue to be in our prayers as they head back to China!

A Living Nativity

2011-12-18T14:48:00.000-08:00

Every year, Sunrise Community Church puts on this awesome "living" nativity that they call Bethlehem Village. They set up their entire church compound to look like Bethlehem and you can walk through and see the shop keepers, meet the shepherds and wise men, and walk by the innkeeper who let's you know that he has no room because of the census. They really do an amazing job. Here's the angels making an announcement to the frightened shepherds.

We got there early and were one of the first people in line... which is a good thing because there's thousands of people that go see this every year. The kids loved watching the story tellers and the dancers. But most of all they loved the "barn" area where they got to pet goats and chickens. Molly and Garrett even held some bunnies!

Then of course after you wander through the village, you come upon a rickety barn and meet Mary and Joseph who are there with their baby. They let the kids hold baby Jesus, which was definitely another highlight.

Then we wandered into their sanctuary, where the church provided hot chocolate and cookies for everybody to enjoy while they watched their worship band sing Christmas carols. I can't even imagine the expense of the event for that church and we were so impressed by the whole thing. It's such a fabulous outreach for the community!

Deck the Halls

2011-12-16T14:21:00.000-08:00

We returned home from Thanksgiving on the proceeding Saturday, and although we were all quite beat on Sunday, we decided to keep up with our annual tradition of Christmas decorating the weekend after Thanksgiving. So Steve and I spent the whole morning weeding through the kids toys and making room for Christmas. When the kids went down for naps in the afternoon, we got the tree up and ready to be decorated.

After naps I got the kids dressed in their Christmas jammies, and we started decorating. It was pretty special because it was the first year that our entire family helped decorate the tree, including Garrett and Paige. And although we did have to move some of the ornaments up from the bottom third of the tree, it turned out wonderful!

And here's all three kids in their Santa jammies. There's just something special about matching Christmas jammies. It's definitely a traditional I will always have for our kids! :)

Thanksgiving in SoCal

2011-12-16T13:34:00.000-08:00

Okay... this blog has gotten away from me. I have SO many posts to catch up on that it's a little ridiculous. I got soooo busy with my business and the photo editting and blogging associated with it, that our personal blog got left behind. Sigh...

Anyways, let's start with Thanksgiving. We are so thankful that we decided to spend the holiday with Grandpa Jim in Southern California. We knew it was going to be tough being our first Thanksgiving without Steve's mom, but being with Jim made it much more bearable. And of course, we also got to see our good friends Kirk and Marianne while we were there.

Marianne met us at the dog park one afternoon and the kids had a blast paying with all the little dogs. And Steve and I enjoyed the time together as a family!

On Thanksgiving Day I cooked my very FIRST turkey which was a little nerve wracking. While I was cooking, Grandpa taught the kids a few things about football.

I'm happy to report that the meal turned out FABULOUS! The turkey was moist and tender and all the fixings were awesome. I am officially no longer afraid to cook a turkey and was amazed how easy it was. Here's Paige doing the obligatory "Olives on the Fingers" photo during dinner.

The kids really enjoyed hanging out with Grandpa. Molly spent some time learning about money and rolling coins for him. Lucky for her, Grandpa gifted her with the final coin rolls!

She also spent some time hanging with Grandpa in the backyard collecting leaves, which she ended up turning into a leaf collection by taping them into a book. She definitely has her Mommy's love for the biological world.

The day after Thanksgiving was Steve's birthday. Grandpa joined the kids at the pond where they enjoyed feeding the local fauna before eating a nice dinner out!

Then we headed back home to Grandpa's to open presents and eat birthday pie. Yes... Steve's not a big cake fan, so we got him a banana cream pie instead.

The next day it was time to pack up and head back to Sacramento. But, on our way home we got to spend the afternoon with Steve's dad and Jackie.

Grandpa and Grandma spoiled the kids with treats and presents, but the highlight for the kids was meeting their new dog, Mellow. And let me tell you... that dog lived up to his name. I don't think I've ever met such a sweet and laid back dog ever. He definitely had Paige wrapped around his little toe.

It was definitely a whirlwind trip... but we wouldn't have had it any other way. We got to spend lots of time with people we love and it was a perfect reminder of what we are truly thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Disneyland

2011-11-23T10:40:00.000-08:00

On Monday, we took the kids on a one-day adventure to Disneyland. It was a bit of a last-minute decision to squeeze in a visit while we were down in Southern California for Thanksgiving, but Molly REALLY wanted to go. So we made a deal with the kids that a day in Disneyland was going to be their Christmas present from us and there wouldn't be anything else from us under the tree. They agreed, so off we went!

Our first stop (by request of the kids) was going to be Pirates of the Caribbean but it was closed which was a bummer, so we took them on the jungle cruise and pretended we were pirates in a boat. They all wanted to bring their Mickey mouse ears and this was the only time all three of them had them on at the same time. Paige was the first to discard hers...

The next requested spot was the Nemo Submarine ride. Here's Garrett on Steve's shoulders waiting in line. The twins REALLY wanted to go on this since they've become obsessed with Nemo and sharks after Halloween. However, Paige was a little less enthusiastic when they shut the hatch of the sub and they simulated the dive down. That's when the screaming ensued. Thankfully, once they started showing the fish she calmed right down and if you asked her what her favorite thing was at Disneyland... she says "Nemo".

After the Nemo ride, that's when the lines really started getting long and we questioned our wisdom of coming the week of Thanksgiving. So we ducked into Innovations to check out some of the futuristic displays. Molly was so intrigued by the thought of seeing a real live robot that we had to come back later to see the Asimo show. Garrett and Paige were more interested in looking at things through magnifying glasses.

Then we were off to the Princess Fantasy Faire. The kids collectively decided that they didn't want to wait in line to meet the princesses individually, and preferred to just see the stage show. How can we argue with that? And when the princesses came out on stage, they flipped out. Being in Disneyland with young kids is so wonderful because they truly buy into the "magic" of it all!

As you can see above, by this point Molly was the only one left with her Mickey ears on. I found this interesting because I knew they weren't comfortable for her (she kept fiddling with them) but she flat out refused to take them off. She was in Disneyland and she wasn't going to be seen without her ears on! Here's Daddy with the twins in Chip and Dale's Treehouse and you can see Molly hiding behind a branch in the bottom left hand corner with her ears still on!

Next, I set up on Main Street to stake out a spot for the parade (and let Paige have a nap) and Steve took the kids to the Tiki Room so they could have a little rest as well. Then they joined me and we watched the Christmas Parade. I think this was my favorite part of the day. Disney definitely knows how to entertain... from amazing floats to choreographed dancing characters to ladies dressed as snowflakes on roller skates. It was seriously fabulous. And of course, Santa finished off the parade!

After a few more rides, we had dinner and did a little shopping. Here's Steve trying out his Mad Hatter attire. Ha ha ha!

By this point it was dark out and getting late, but the kids didn't want to stop so we kept going! We spent some time in Fantasyland hitting up some of the slower-paced kiddie rides like the carousel.

Disneyland at night is AMAZING. Just seeing the castle and "It's a Small World" all lit up was unreal. But then they did this crazy light show on the front of "It's a Small World" where they projected Christmas images on the front of it to music. And at the end... they literally made it SNOW in Fantasyland. Seriously. There must have been some kind of snow machines staged all around and it just started coming down. And when the lights and music stopped... the snow stopped. It's was CRAZY!

The kids lasted until 8:30 and declared that they were done... at which point Molly finally took her Minnie ears off. We bee-lined out of the park and caught the 8:45 fireworks while waiting in line for the tram to take us to the parking garage. Actually, Garrett missed the fireworks because he had passed out cold in the stroller. It was a fabulous day and I think Mommy and Daddy enjoyed it as much as the kids did!

First Trip to the Dentist

2011-11-15T21:43:00.001-08:00

Garrett and Paige had their first trip to the dentist on Monday! I first made the appointment for Molly because her first adult teeth are coming in behind her baby teeth and I wanted to make sure everything was going to be okay. But then I figured that the twins are almost three years old and it was time that they became familiar with the dentist.

Molly did great and the dentist felt comfortable that her baby teeth would fall out on their own and wouldn't need to be pulled. Phew! Then it was the twins' turn... and Garrett knew it. He started bawling and saying "No dentist! No dentist!". But then Paige climbed up in the chair and said "My turn! Tickle my teeth!". Paige sat there like a pro through the entire cleaning and when she was done, Garrett decided he wasn't going to be one-upped and open wide for the technician. Now granted, they both were sitting on my lap in order to be compliant (like you see in the picture below) but it worked so who cares! And all their teeth checked out perfectly!

One thing we've noticed is that Garrett has inherited my tendency for nervous laughter. I've been known to laugh right through job interviews... and Garrett apparently laughs right through dental appointments! And if anyone in the Sacramento area needs an awesome dentist, go see Dr. Tuttle on Eastern. He and his staff are FABULOUS!

Happy Halloween

2011-11-07T20:42:00.001-08:00

We had a fabulous Halloween this year. The festivities started the weekend before, and while I was working, Steve carved the pumpkins with the kiddos. Realistically, he did pretty much all the carving, but the kids drew on the pumpkins and helped scrape them out.

Super Dad also saved and washed all the seeds, and then roasted them in the oven. The kids LOVED the roasted pumpkin seeds (as did Mom and Dad).

We decided to spend Halloween evening with Steve's cousin's family out in Lincoln, which ended up being so much fun. The kids ALWAYS love hanging out with their cousins, especially dressed in costume! And I was absolutely floored that we got a photo of all six of them looking at the camera and smiling.

Debbie dressed Hayden as the cutest little clown ever. Isn't he absolutely adorable?

Then we joined a bunch of the neighborhood kids and went door to door. Debbie's neighborhood is so fabulous because it's full of young families and people go all out decorating. There were so many kids and families out on the streets and it felt so festive!

Paige gets the award for being our much aggressive trick-or-treater. She would squeeze her way right through a pack of bigger kids to get at the front of the "candy line". And when I asked her how she was enjoying her trick-or-treating... she flashed me a thumbs up!

Then it was back to Debbie's house to look through the bounty. This is only a very very small fraction of what they got, and the next day we sent pounds of candy to Steve's office (which they're still eating a week later).

All in all... it was a fabulous Halloween, and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the whole event through the eyes of my children. It brings me back to the joy and excitement I had as a kid every Halloween!

Halloween Eve

2011-11-07T20:34:00.001-08:00

The day before Halloween, we bought tickets to have a family evening at Disney on Ice! We were really looking forward to taking all the kids and seeing their excitement. We were not disappointed at all... because they were absolutely jazzed.

Disney definitely knows how to entertain. They've created this whole marketing beast... and I must admit that our kids are sucked right into it. Some of their favorite performances came from Aladdin....

And The Lion King...

And The Little Mermaid.

And of course Molly's favorite part was when all the princes and princesses came out at the end. In fact, she even mentioned that the show was good, but would have been better if it was all about "the princesses". Sigh...

After the show we took the kids to "In and Out" for burgers. The kids had such a fabulous afternoon, and Molly declared, "This is the best day EVER!"

Molly is Reading!

2011-10-31T13:22:00.000-07:00

Well... I thought I'd take a break from all the Halloween posts and show you a video that I'm extremely proud of. Most of you know that Molly has struggled with language and goes to speech therapy twice a week. There was concern that it would delay her reading. But... she's really starting to get the hang of it! Here's a little video of her reading a book this afternoon. This book was sent home from school today, and this is the first time she's ever read it. I'm so proud of how well she's doing!

Halloween Kindergarten Party

2011-10-30T21:29:00.000-07:00

On Friday, Molly celebrated Halloween in her kindergarten class. Most the kids got dressed up for the day, and Molly was VERY excited to show her friends her mermaid costume. Here she is with her buddy Hana the Wonder Woman.

Although the party was planned for the last hour of class, the kids still had to do their regular work in the morning. Here's Molly during their art lesson, working on her self portrait. It was fun watching her analyze her face in the mirror and than put her interpretation of what she saw on paper.

And then of course there was mat time where they go over the calendar. Isn't this the cutest bunch ever?

After their regular work was done, the did a costume parade through all the primary grade classrooms. Apparently the kindergarteners are the only ones that get to dress up for school, so all the older kids like seeing them.

While the kids were doing their parade around the school, the swarm of mommies decorated the classroom and got things ready for the party. I was blown away by the amount of work these parents put into this party. An impressive group of mommies, indeed. Some of the fun things they got to do included jack-o-lantern cookie decorating and pumpkin decorating.

And all the kids loved getting to dress their partners as toilet paper mummies.

I love that their class always plans special events on Fridays when I can be there. I love being able to enjoy my Friday's with Molly!

Halloween at Toddler Clas

2011-10-30T20:56:00.000-07:00

Every Wednesday, me and the twins attend a "Mommy and Me" toddler class at Christ Community Church. I always enjoy that class because it's time set aside that I just have fun with the two of them. Last week we had a Halloween party and they got to wear their costumes. Here's Garrett decorating a pumpkin in his shark costume.

The class has a craft time, free play time, circle/song time and then snack. Here's Paige waiting patiently for her snack.

Before the kids get their snack, they all pray and thank God for the food. My heart melted when I saw my little shark praying.

Then they took off and trick-or-treated at the church offices. By now they know ALL about trick-or-treating and were quick to run up to each person and ask for some treats.

SMOM Halloween Party

2011-10-30T20:42:00.000-07:00

I am several posts behind in my blogging and desperately need to catch up. Life is so busy right now between my work, Steve's work, speech therapy appointments and school commitments. But with all the business, we are having a LOT of fun. Last weekend we attended the SMOM Halloween Party. The kids were EXTREMELY excited for this party, because it was the first event (of many to follow) where they were able to wear their Halloween costumes! This year Molly decided that she HAD to be a mermaid. So in an attempt to keep Garrett and Paige in "theme", they were a shark and a clown fish.

There were a few fun activities planned for the kids at the SMOM party. My kids loved the pumpkin decorating station and each took home a gourd decorated with foam stickers.

The highlight for Molly was having her face painted, which is pretty much her favorite thing to do in the entire world. She had a "My Little Pony" painted on her face.

Of course there was a lot of food and treats for the kids.

And after we got the kids all sugared up, we had the brilliant idea of taking a group picture. This is something we have NEVER attempted at a SMOM function because we figure it would be absolute chaos. And you know what... even after all the sugar they consumed, they all sat there nicely for about 5 minutes and allowed the parents to take pictures. It was a Halloween miracle.

Then it was off to "Trunk or Treating". Thirteen different families decorated the trunks of the vehicles with a theme and handed out treats to the kids. Our theme (considering the kids' costumes) was "Under the Sea". Steve set up the sun canopy and created an "aquarium" of streamers and paper fish that the kids walked through to find Steve (dressed in a shark mask), who was handing out treats to the theme song from the Little Mermaid. He gets big brownie points for his fabulous creation!

It was so much fun and we really appreciate all the effort the club members put into it to make it such a special event for our kids!

Cowan Jog-a-thon

2011-10-23T16:24:00.000-07:00

Last week, Molly participated in her school's jog-a-thon to help raise money for COW's (Computers on Wheels). Molly raised over a $100 and hopefully they raised enough money to outfit an entire classroom with laptop computers! Thank you to all our friends and family who contributed. It was such an encouragement to her! The morning started out with a pep rally complete with a sea of red T-shirts and pompoms for waving!

And of course there was a visit from Rocky the Cowan Bobcat!

Then the kids lined up and got ready to start. Molly was just running with the primary grades (which I believe is K-3rd grade), but there were a TON of kids out there when you figure on two classes of every grade. Molly started out strong and confident!

The kids ran for 20 minutes straight, which is a lot for a kindergartner. It was soooooo sweet to see the kids cheer on one another. Molly jogged with her friend Hana for a long time and Hana was such a sweet encourager to Molly!

After they completed a lap of the field they got a quick mark on their back to keep track. Molly completed eight laps of the field! I was so proud of her!

When everything was done, the kids all got free Jamba Juice to cool off with! They were all so proud of themselves! And I was so proud of Molly!

When the cat's away... Part 2...

2011-10-19T14:46:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went to Tahoe with some friends from my Mothers of Multiples group. It was just a small group, and we spent the weekend lounging in our jammies, getting pedicures, watching chick flicks, and playing board games. It was FABULOUS! Here's a few of us in our jammies and picture of me in front of the lake!

And here's the beverage of choice for the weekend. Yes... that bottle of wine is called "Mommy Juice". We thought that was highly appropriate!

While I was gone, Steve was once again "Super Dad" and did a myriad of fun things with the kids. On Saturday, they used our Groupon to Dave's Pumpkin Patch and it sounds like they had a blast.

Some of the favorite activities included making angels in the "sand box" filled with corn, the corn maze, and face painting!

And obviously all that activity wore them out significantly. Here's the picture Daddy took on the drive home!

The next day, Steve took the kids to their cousin Hayden's second birthday party. The party had a Halloween theme and the kids had such a blast that it's all they could talk about when I got home! Debbie made a pumpkin patch for the kids, did bobbing for apples, had a pumpkin decorating station, and even had Aunt Katie doing face painting!

Here's Molly and her little cousins with their awesome face paint all completed! Molly even had her hair sprayed pink and silver!

And of course, no party is complete without cake!

It looks like Steve and the kids had a fabulous weekend together, and I DEFINITELY enjoyed my break from parenthood. Once again, further proof that I married the best husband and father EVER!

When the cat's away, the engineer will play

2011-10-19T14:36:00.000-07:00

Two weekends ago, I flew down to San Diego to shoot a wedding for some friends (you can check that out here). While I was away, Steve decided to give the kids a science lesson and made a model volcano out of a bottle and some leftover grout mix! Yah... he's the best Daddy ever.

When their volcano was dry, he put together the necessary ingredients to get the lava going. Here's the live action video!

A visit to the Pumpkin Farm

2011-10-18T15:47:00.000-07:00

Last week, Garrett and Paige visited the Pumpkin Farm with their "Mommy and Me Toddler Class" that we do through Christ Community Church. It's always so much fun and they were SO excited to go. Can you tell by this picture that they're a little jazzed?

Their little twin friends, Isaac and Jadis, are also a part of the class. The group was a little less jazzed to pose for this picture.

This is their teacher, Miss Jocelyn, who happens to be the same teacher that they had last year for this class. They LOVE her and I especially appreciate her because she is consistently my second set of hands with my twins. She is just fabulous!

This was the first year that Garrett and Paige were actually interested in the corn maze, and they took off in a race. Good thing the corn maze is simply a winding path with only one way to go. I would have lost them!

They also enjoyed the various slides that were available to play on. Here's Garrett at the tree slide.

And the day ended with the kids picking their pumpkins out to take home. It was a fabulous morning and every day they ask to go back!

Fall has arrived

2011-10-06T13:57:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Sacramento got the first rain that it's had in a long time. Where I grew up it was a rare occasion when it WASN'T raining, and I laughed at how excited my kids were to see the downpour. They wanted to be out splashing in the puddles immediately. So considering it was right before bath time we figured... why not? They started with boots and shoes on...

But it didn't take long until those shoes came off...

Next thing I know they're playing "Ring Around the Rosey" and literally sitting in the puddles. It's amazing how novel rain and puddles are to them! I guess that's the difference between growing up in California and growing up in British Columbia!

And as the sun was setting, it made for beautiful reflections in the puddles!

SO busy

2011-10-02T14:29:00.000-07:00

Yes... I have been told by a couple of people that I'm due a blog post. Quite honestly, life is so busy I have not had time! But it is time for an update. So here we go...

Molly is doing so well in kindergarten. She was placed in the advanced reading group at school and is doing awesome. She has started sounding out words and last week read me the first "Bob book" in the series. I was seriously so proud of her I almost cried. I told her after she read me the entire first set of Bob books she would get to go to "Build-a-Bear" and make herself a new teddy. She was thrilled. Her second week of school she was named the class "Superstar" which meant that she got to take the class mascot "Baby Bobcat" home for the week and that every day she got to share something with the class so they could get to know her better. Here she is the evening of the Pirate Family Social with Baby Bobcat!

She's become such a learning SPONGE and even during her play time she wants to try out her skills in reading and writing. For instance, she wants to play waitress and have me spell out my "order" to her so she can write it down. Or when we're playing Barbie's she'll stop and say "Barbie! B.. B... Barbie! Barbie starts with a B, doesn't it Mommy!" I LOVE seeing her excitement to learn! She also loves the biological world, and I laughed when I read through her "color" book that she made and it said things like a "sea star" is purple and a "poison dart frog" is blue. Love it! I'm so happy with her school and I'm so thankful to be able to volunteer there once a week. Last week they had a pep rally and I was lucky enough to be there! It was complete with a visit from the mascot... Rocky the Bobcat! And the kids all had pom poms and were wearing red... their school color. So cool to see!

Garrett and Paige started back in their toddler class at Christ Community Church this week (and I forgot to bring my camera). Paige is doing SO WELL with her speech therapy and her therapist feels that by her 3rd birthday she should be all caught up. She counted to 12 the other day and I was so proud of her. She is such an easy kid and is so happy all the time. She's even doing well when left with our babysitter and hasn't been crying at all which is a HUGE difference. She's starting to come out of her shell.

Garrett is doing great too. He's extremely smart, extremely feisty and extremely energetic. He is definitely a handful, but just when I get really upset at him he'll flash me a sweet smile and give me a hug. He's doing really well on his potty training and if I had the time and energy to be more consistent, I'm sure he'd be trained by now.

All in all, life seems to be in a comfortable rhythm for the first time since the twins have been born. It's a nice feeling!

Folsom Lake

2011-09-20T16:04:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday was literally the only Saturday until December that we don't have something going on. So we decided to take advantage of the opportunity and do something fun as a family. So after early naps, we packed up a picnic dinner and took the kids to Folsom Lake. The weather was PERFECT for an afternoon at the beach and the water was still relatively warm.

The kids enjoyed swimming in the lake and they are all so confident in the water now which makes it so much easier.

There was also a good chunk of time taken up by playing in the mud. They were COVERED in mud by the end and had so much fun.

Another highlight of the day, was when Steve and Molly caught two frogs. Garrett was so intrigued by them and we had a rather hilarious conversation about it:
Garrett: "Those are pretend frogs"
Amy: "No they're not, Garrett. They're real."
Garrett: "But they're not hopping!"
Amy: "I know... they're just resting right now. But they're real."
Garrett: "Ooooooooh... they're REAL frogs. Just dead."

And Steve and I tried to get a picture of the two of us since we never seem to be in photos together. Unfortunately his camera phone accidentally got switched to black & white. Oh well... I'm still happy I didn't have to bring my big camera and risk getting sand in it!

Cowan Family Social

2011-09-18T16:40:00.000-07:00

On Friday, we took part in the Cowan Family Social at Molly's school. This year was a "pirate" theme, and I volunteered to make a cake for the cake walk. There were 4 cakes donated from each class, and for some reason I figured most people would be making some marvelous creations to go with the theme. So I busted my butt making this awesome pirate cake to find out the day of the social that most people just bought something from the grocery store. Sigh... only something a newbie kindergarten mommy would do.

I did hear that most kids dress up for the event, so I made a point of getting costumes for my three kiddos. I found three costumes at a thrift store for $15 TOTAL! I love a good deal. Anyway, I'm glad I didn't pay much for Garrett's because he refused to wear it. Apparently he's not a fan of polyester! But here's Molly and Paige...

And here they are saying "ARRRRRRR" like a pirate!

The event itself was really well done, and they even had a skull and cross-bones flag flying from the school flag pole! There was games, face painting, food, dancing and even an appearance from the school mascot... the Bobcat!

AND top off the evening, Molly even won a cake on the cake walk with pirates on it, which we enjoyed all weekend! Thanks to all the parents that worked so hard to put this event together! It was so much fun!

Missing Shirley

2011-09-18T15:57:00.001-07:00

I've been working on an album in Photoshop to memorialize Steve's mom's life. I've completed 50 pages and probably have another 10 to go (no small feat... let me tell you). It's a huge job, but it's been so wonderful to pour over the old pictures of her. She's was such a beautiful person on so many levels. And this morning I took a picture of Paige and I couldn't believe how much her expression reminded me of a photo of Shirley at a similar age. It made me a little teary when I saw them side by side.

It's just proof that Shirley lives on in her five grandchildren. That's the biggest gift of all she gave us before leaving here!

A trip to the Zoo

2011-09-18T15:50:00.001-07:00

I am so behind in my blogging. This post is from several weeks ago, when I was working and Daddy took the kids to the zoo. I have to say that I have one of the most competent husbands I know, and I don't know many daddies who would gladly decide he wants to take three kids to the zoo by himself just "for fun". But he did... and even shot some pictures with his phone while he was at it. Love that man.

The kids, as always, loved the animals... but they particularly loved being able to touch the peacocks. In fact they still talk about being able to touch them! I'm surprised the peacocks let them!

And Steve even took them on the train ride by himself AND took picture while holding Paige on his lap. Now that's talent! That's why I love that man!

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-09T14:21:00.001-07:00

Our Labor Day weekend was filled with BBQ's with friends and family on every single day. On Saturday, we enjoyed a fun BBQ with two other families, complete with a giant inflatable waterslide and cupcakes. The kids went to bed completely happy and completely exhausted.

Then on Sunday after church, we were off to another BBQ to celebrate Steve's cousin's sons' 9th birthday. The kids had a blast in the pool and were spoiled with ice cream sundaes for dessert. Here's the birthday boy, Logan, with our kiddos. I couldn't believe that I got a picture of them all smiling so nicely!

And of course Daddy and I weren't above enjoying some ice cream! I also got some adorable pictures of Logan's little brother, Hayden, that you can see HERE on my business page.

And then, on Monday we hit up Aunt Nancy and Uncle Fred to enjoy their pool. Debbie's family joined us and the kids had a blast swimming. All the swimming this summer has done wonders for the kids' confidence in the water. Molly was jumping off the water fall and swimming under water at Aunt Nancy's and Garrett & Paige were swimming all over the pool with floaties on.

Sacramento Children's Museum

2011-09-02T14:58:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday, it was the first day since Molly started kindergarten that I didn't have something on calendar. It also just happened to be a week after the grand opening of the brand new Sacramento Children's Museum. So I decided to take Garrett and Paige and go check it out! We also me their little friends Oliver, Jadis and Isaac there (although I only got a picture of Oliver).

I have to say that I was totally impressed with the Children's Museum. It wasn't huge in size, but there was a great diversity of things for the kids to do. Garrett's favorite area was definitely the one where he got to run balls down a variety of ramps. He literally spent a half hour playing here.

Paige's favorite part was the pretend play areas. First she went grocery shopping at the store...

... then she enjoyed being a mother of twins...

... and then she decided SHE was the baby and made herself a little bed in a crib.

They also had a variety of dress-up clothes for kids of all ages. My kids liked the animal costumes in the toddler area. Here's Paige as a fuzzy ducky, and Garrett after he came down with Mad Cow Disease.

There was also a cool water play area, with fountains and water wheels and things that float. Paige wasn't big on getting her hands wet, but Garrett was all over it.

There was also an art area with several projects that the kids could work on. Paige really got into the fact that they could paint on a big plexiglass wall and Garrett enjoyed coloring.

It was a really cool place and I have already dropped a hint to my sister Michelle that the kids would love an annual membership for Christmas. She agreed so I took the opportunity to that up while I was there!

Life in Kindergarten

2011-09-01T15:40:00.000-07:00

Molly has almost completed her first 2 weeks of kindergarten. I have to admit that things started a little shaky with her teacher, but we seem to have it all sorted out and things are going well now. I have volunteered twice in her class so far, and it looks like I've secured childcare for the twins so that I can be in the class every Friday. The teacher definitely needs all the help she can get, because there's 31 kids. But I am THRILLED with the school and level of parental participation. Both times I was in the class there were FOUR other parents in there helping. What a difference that makes!

The school is definitely holding true to its history of having high standards. I was shocked how quickly (and to what extent) they've started teaching these kids their fundamentals. Even the "fun" activities have scholastic foundations. It's pretty amazing. Here's Molly working in her class.

But there's also a component of music and movement in every class which I appreciate. It's fun to see the kids really get into it.

And they also get time to play out on the playground. There's a separate playground for the kindergarteners which is nice... so they don't get trampled by the bigger kids.

I have to say, the kids in her class are SO GOOD! It's probably a reflection of how involved the parents are. I'm so thankful that she's with such a great group of kids!

Kindergarten

2011-08-24T13:29:00.000-07:00

This post is a little mind blowing to me, because I still haven't wrapped my mind around the fact that my sweet little Molly has started kindergarten. It seemed like the years between 2 years old and 5 years old have FLOWN by. She's going to Cowan Fundamental which is about a half mile from our house. You have to open enroll to get into the school, and she was on the waiting list for a while but we are really happy she got in. Last Friday, we got to go visit her new classroom and meet her teacher. She was a little nervous but got quite excited when her teacher gave her a giant new book to take home with her!

Then on Monday morning, the whole family (including Steve who stayed home from work) took Molly to school. Here she is just before we left the house and with Daddy at the school.

The kids all met at the kindergarten playground and their teacher marched them in a line to the classroom and had them all hang up their bags outside. Molly used her Princess backpack that she got for her birthday!

Then the kids all sat on the floor mat and the teacher kicked out the parents. Okay... we weren't really "kicked out". But she nicely informed us that the PTC (Parent Teacher Committee) was hosting a nice breakfast for the kindergarten parents to attend to get to know one another. I thought that was a nice way to encourage all those parents to leave the class and get to know one another!

And here's her teacher... Mrs. Lorca. So far I'm really happy with her and she seems like a great match for Molly's timid personality. I'm looking forward to volunteering in the classroom and getting to know her better. My first day in the class is this Friday! I'm ecstatic to see the high level of parental involvement at this school, and Mrs. Lorca has two parents volunteering in class EVERY day. That's amazing to me! Here's looking forward to a great school year!

No more babies...

2011-08-22T13:07:00.000-07:00

Well, this weekend was a big milestone around our house. Garrett and Paige graduated from cribs to "big kid" beds. On Saturday I took some pictures of the cribs and dresser, posted them on Craiglist, and within 5 hours all three pieces of furniture were sold! Garrett and Paige didn't seem too put out by the whole event. Here's Paige playing in Garrett's crib tent that had been removed.

We had bought a used sports car bed for Garrett several months ago and found a little more "feminine" car bed for Paige recently. Needless to say they were an INSTANT hit.

And then I found an entire line of bedding at IKEA that had a fairly gender neutral transportation theme that we loved!

I have to say that the transition has been absolutely seamless. The first night they went to bed and fell asleep without a peep. I was seriously floored, especially considering it was such a horrible transition for Molly. It literally took us WEEKS of putting her to bed over and over and over before she would stay put. But not with Garrett and Paige. They go to bed, go to sleep, and in the morning they lay in bed and talk to each other until we come in and get them. It's seriously amazing and I wonder if waiting the extra six months helped. Molly had just turned two when we transitioned her... and the twins are two and a half. Either way, the one draw back to fun car beds is that they are a bit of a jungle gym!

Face Painting

2011-08-16T07:38:00.000-07:00

On Saturday while the twins were napping, Molly asked me if she could get the face paint out and paint Garrett & Paige's faces when they woke up. I told her that if they LET her paint their faces, she was welcome to do it. Really in the back of my mind I was thinking that there was NO WAY that they would let her near them with a paint brush. I was wrong.

Garrett was the first to wake up, and Molly kindly asked him if she could paint his face to make him look like Spider-man. He was more than happy to comply. I love the top picture of him watching her paintbrush.

And here's the completed work of art. I would like to introduce Spider-man... as seen through the eyes of a 5-year old.

When Paige woke up, she was a little less sold on the idea of face painting. But Molly convinced her that a painting just on her cheek would work just fine.

Here's Paige when she was all done. Molly started painting a butterfly and wasn't happy with this results. So she wiped it all off and replaced it with a bumblebee.

And of course, Molly wanted me to do her face too. It started out with a rainbow and cloud on one cheek. Which was then replicated on the other side. And then she asked for a butterfly on her nose. And then a caterpillar on her chin. And finally, a heart around her mouth. Here's the completed work of art!

I was a little worried about the mess she might create, but the kids had so much fun and it entertained them all afternoon! It was a good reminder that a little mess is worth the memories that are made!

Road Trip 2011: Part 8

2011-08-15T14:13:00.001-07:00

Alrighty... this is the LAST post about our trip. Our last full day of vacation was a busy one. In the morning, Christie and I took the kids to their local park. They live in a fabulous neighborhood and the park (and Hailey's school) is only about a block away!

It was such a fun little park, with something for everyone to enjoy. And everything that Molly and Hailey did, had a "make believe" story attached to it. Here they are "riding the horse" to save Rapunzel!

And of course the 2-year olds found plenty to do as well. Paige even shared her swing with cousin Luke!

After lunch and naps, we joined Scott at the Cure JM (Juvenile Myositis) Benefit Concert. One of Scott's friends has a little boy suffering from this disease and every year they throw this huge benefit concert to raise money for research and awareness. Scott volunteered at it all day and we were excited to join him. One of the headliners was Blake Lewis, the beat box guy from American Idol. I have to admit that I was quite impressed with him, and loved watching him record and loop his vocals on the fly right on stage. It was pretty cool!

The kids had a BLAST dancing to the music... but Garrett definitely stole the show. He danced non-stop the entire time, and even flirted with Blake's back-up dancers when they came down into the audience.

There was also a TON of free activities there for the kids, including all kinds of inflatables like slides and bounce houses. Here's Garrett and Paige waiting for the balloon guy tie some balloons for them.

Steve waited with Hailey and Molly in a long line to get their faces painted. They were SO determined to get their faces done that they actually waited over an hour and half in line!

But the results were worth it... and they were two very excited little girls!

It was such a fabulous day with the Savage clan. It was hard to leave for home the next morning and almost all the kids (and maybe the Mommy's too) were in tears when we left. The drive home was long, but the kids did amazing and were angels the entire day. And thus ends another summer road trip for our family. What a wonderful adventure!

Road Trip 2011: Part 7

2011-08-13T14:07:00.001-07:00

Our time in British Columbia eventually had to come to and end, so it was back on the ferry to make our way to Portland. I don't know what it was about this particular ferry trip (because we've been on a LOT of them), but both Steve and I mentioned how much we enjoyed it. It was so nice just watch the beautiful scenery float by on such a gorgeous sunny day!

We didn't arrive in Portland until quite late. But the next day the kids were excited and ready to go play with their cousins. Christie's kids are exactly the same age as ours, so it couldn't be more perfect. And on our first day there, Hailey had planned to go to VBS (Vacation Bible School) at her church, so Molly just tagged along. While they were there, Christie, Steve & I took the 2-year olds to the zoo!

The kids had a blast, and they were able to get up close and personal with many of the animals, including the lorakeets, otters and sea lions. My personal favorite was the bat exhibit, because it was so cool to see them doing everything upside down!

Then we were off to pick up the girls and enjoy a hotdog lunch at their church with all the VBS kids. I love this picture of all the cousins together because all their personalities shine through.

After naps, we stayed close to home and enjoyed their awesome backyard. We had a BBQ'ed dinner out on the porch and then the kids chowed back some ice cream cones.

It was such a nice evening and it was so great to spend time Christie's family. But I think both Steve and I went to bed longing to live closer to them. It was just really great to see all the cousins enjoy one another so much!

Road Trip 2011: Part 6

2011-08-12T14:19:00.000-07:00

One of the highlights of staying with my Mom and Dad on vacation (besides seeing family and the fact that we have the entire bottom floor to ourselves), is that they live in a gated community with a pool. And because this pool happens to be in British Columbia... it's HEATED! Oh yah! So every single day my dad would take our family to the pool after naptime. It was so much fun. But the highlight for me was seeing how far the kids have come with their swimming in just one summer. Molly started the summer timidly swimming with her floaties, and she's now swimming up to 10 feet at a time without floaties, jumping into the pool, and eagerly going under the water to do headstands and flips.

Garrett started the summer EXTREMELY timid and would cling to my body for dear life. But in Canada he was swimming short distances with his life jacket on and this week I bought him floaties and he used them for the first time!

And Paige... Paige is a fish. Like Garrett she started the summer in a life jacket. But by the end of the summer she is now swimming around the pool with floaties on like she's been doing it her whole life. She will swim the ENTIRE length of the pool and get mad at you if you try and help her.

I'm so thankful that the kids are becoming so comfortable in the pool and it's so fun that my parents have been able to see them show off their new skills!

Road Trip 2011: Part 5

2011-08-10T13:00:00.000-07:00

While we were in B.C. we visited a couple of hobby farms. The first was an alpaca farm where they raised the animals for wool and meat. Steve got very interested in alpacas after his sister's family visited some in Portland, and ever since then he's wanted to go see some. Well, he definitely got his fill of alpacas here!

And they even had a couple of llamas to throw into the mix as well!

For $20, the owners will take your family on a farm tour and let you feed the animals. Molly and Garrett jumped right in, and were so excited to feed them. Paige started out pretty overwhelmed by the animals, but soon warmed up and was ready to join in the fun.

My mom even got into it, which is amazing considering she's not a huge fan of anything dirty. Or furry. But here she is feeding the baby alpaca!

And even I put my camera down for a short while to get some alpaca love!

The kids also got to meet and feed a rather large horse, which was both and exciting and scary for them at the same time! I love the look of total awe on Garrett's face here.

After our time there, we went to another hobby farm known for it's organic fair trade chocolate. After some chocolate sampling (and purchasing) the kids enjoyed a cup of organic ice cream!

The farm grew a variety of organic produce and had an assortment of ducks, chickens and turkeys. The baby turkeys were hilarious because they would puff up like the adult turkeys and try and look tough. Pretty adorable!

The farm also had some beautiful flower gardens which made for a fun photo opportunity. It was an absolutely beautiful day, and the kids napped very soundly after running around all morning. I hope that this experience visiting farms gave them a better understanding of where our food comes from.

Road Trip 2011: Part 4

2011-08-08T21:20:00.001-07:00

On our fourth day in British Columbia, we met the Nanaimo extended family for a picnic dinner at Transfer Beach. When I was a kid, we used to have a family picnic at this same beach every year, and it was so cool to be there doing it again with MY kids! Here's a picture of my daughter, my sister's daughter Maya, and my cousin's daughter Emily! How cool is that?

It was also a special time for Maya and Alex, because they got to hang out with their grandmas on BOTH sides... or should I say their Nana and their Nani!

As you can tell, Garrett and Paige were just a "little" excited to spend some more time at the beach. Here they are in a flat out run heading to the water. If we hadn't stopped them they probably would have jumped in with their clothes on.

Molly enjoyed jumping over the waves with Maya. Garrett spent a lot of time throwing random rocks and wood in the water. And Paige was more than happy digging in the gravel.

And no picnic outing is complete without good grub. It was just like the old days... fried chicken, homemade salads, veggie platters and cake! It's funny how food has memories associated with it!

But once again the highlight for me was catching up with family that I get to see so very infrequently. It was especially wonderful to see my Grandma. You can tell from the photo below that she's who I get my good looks from!

Road Trip 2011: Part 3

2011-08-08T14:54:00.000-07:00

On our third day in British Columbia, Michelle and Todd had the family over for dinner. When my sister and her husband invite you for dinner... you ALWAYS accept the invitation with the knowledge that the meal is going to be absolutely amazing. And once again they didn't disappoint. Those two can cook! Here's Shell relaxing with Alex...

One of the highlights for my kids was their cat, Esso. He's such a beautiful cat with a HUGE personality. I was amazed how patient he was with my toddlers.

The other highlight for Garrett was the bubbles that Aunt Shelly provided. By the end of the evening their entire back patio was covered with soap. He was covered with soap. And other guests were covered in soap from him flinging it everywhere.

I don't have many pictures of Paige because she was a little overwhelmed by all the people and didn't come out of her shell (read: she was stuck to me) until the very end. And Maya and Molly were off playing Barbies for the majority of the evening. I give Maya a LOT of credit for her patience in playing with Molly all day considering she's 5 years older. I'm sure she was a little sick of Barbies by the time we left!

The highlight for me was seeing my Aunt Cathy and Uncle John. I hadn't seen my Aunt Cathy since I was pregnant with the twins and even then we didn't get to have much of a visit. It was so great to catch up with both of them!

Road Trip 2011: Part 2

2011-08-08T14:00:00.000-07:00

One of the highlights of our summer vacations in British Columbia is always the trips to the beach. One of Steve's favorite beaches is at Esquimalt Lagoon, which is really close to my sister Michelle's house. The kids always spend a good chunk of time searching for "treasures", which includes shells, shiny rocks and critters (both dead and alive).

Steve always takes the kids on a crab hunt in the water. The water was FREEZING but that didn't phase Paige at all. Garrett on the other hand preferred hitching a ride.

Garrett also found a new food group at the beach... seaweed! Hopefully it was an edible variety!

The kids all enjoyed playing in the sand... but particularly Molly. She made several sandcastles and buried herself up to her waist. Unfortunately I don't have a photo of her being buried, because I was busy dethawing Paige from her romp in the water!

The kids had a blast playing with their cousin Maya as well. Alex and Maya were on the west coast for a visit. Trish and Dave were spending three weeks in the Mediterranean, and through a unexpected turn of events their child care plan fell through during the last week, so my parents flew them to the West Coast. What perfect timing for us to spend time with them! This particular morning at the beach, Alex was still sleeping off his jet lag.

And of course Maya was more than willing to pose for a couple of pictures before we packed up and left for the day!

Road Trip 2011: Part 1

2011-08-03T14:38:00.000-07:00

Well, although our vacation is not yet over, it seems prudent to start the blog of our road trip. Otherwise I may find myself in photo overload when we get home! We left last Wednesday night at 3:00 in the morning. Yes... that is crazy early. But the kids pretty much slept until the California/Oregon stateline, which we reached by 7:00 a.m. Kids just travel so much better comatose! We stayed Thursday night in Portland with Steve's sister's family. Then it was off the next morning for the 2:00 p.m. Anacortes Ferry, which leaves just north of Seattle. The kids were SO happy to get out of the van when we arrived at the ferry terminal.

We arrived at my parents house with just enough time to eat a quick dinner and put the kids to bed. The next day we decided to take it as easy as possible to allow the kids to recover from the road trip. We enjoyed a lazy morning, and then took the kids to the cove near their house.

They had SO MUCH FUN exploring the tide pools for creatures and treasures. The highlight was the myriad of starfish that were found.

And of course, plenty of fun was had hanging out with their Nani and Papa! It was so wonderful to see my kids enjoy Mom and Dad!

After naps, we took a quick dip in the pool at Mom and Dad's community before dinner. It was such a relaxing day and the perfect way to recover from a exhausting road trip.

California State Fair

2011-07-30T13:09:00.001-07:00

On Monday we did our annual family trip to the California State Fair. This is always so much fun, and I was so happy that Steve was able to get off work a couple hours early and join us there. Our first stop was the petting zoo, which was small but FREE (which was a first). The kids spent at least a half hour in there loving on the animals. Molly and Garrett were in heaven. Garrett wanted to look each animal in the eye, and would say "hi" to them. Paige preferred to admire the animals from behind our legs.

Molly also tried milking an artificial cow! This was such a great idea, because the contraption felt so real, but a cow wasn't having endure dealing with hoards of kids.

Then we walked through the agricultural area and got to enjoy the gardens and bugs on display.

Then it was off to partake in some rides. A friend of mine gave me a huge handful of free ride passes and they lasted us for hours. The first ride was just Molly and Daddy, because we weren't sure how thrilled Garrett and Paige would be able them (although they were both just tall enough for many of the kiddie rides).

Once that first ride started up, Garrett made it very apparent that he wanted to join the fray (read: he screamed the whole time). So we let him and Molly ride together next time. Garrett wasn't quite sure what he thought of the ride, but it was so heart-warming to watch Molly reach over, hold his hand and talk to him so he wouldn't be scared. What a big sister she is!

We enjoyed a few more rides before having our dinner. Paige even tried going on the kiddie train, although she was not thrilled about it. And I was so impressed that Molly went down the giant slide all by herself!

Then we sat down and had some dinner. I didn't want to spend a bundle on food, so we just enjoyed the picnic I packed. But we couldn't help but ogle some of the crazy fair food. Check out these menu options: raccoon on a stick, Rocky Mountain oysters, chocolate covered scorpions, and even deep-fried butter. Blech!

For a treat, the kids each got a frozen slushy drink. They each wanted a different color, and we got a lot of laughs at their brightly colored tongues afterwards! Molly's was red, Garrett's was orange, and Paige's was purple!

We left when the sun started setting. The low sunlight washing over the fair made everything such amazing colors and I would have been more than happy just running around taking pictures with my camera. But that wasn't going to happen, because the kids had hit the wall and were melting down. BUT I was able to snap some one-handed pictures while I was pushing the double stroller with my other hand and trying to make a quick exit. I love how they turned out!

So much for a slow summer...

2011-07-22T21:45:00.000-07:00

Well, I haven't been blogging much lately, primarily because we have been so BUSY! I was dreading the summer, because I was worried that I was going to have a hard time filling our days. That is anything but reality. Between play dates and swim lessons and speech therapy... we are on the run. At least it's keeping us out of trouble.

Last weekend, Steve and Molly camped in the back yard. It have become annual thing for her to do with her Daddy. I think both Steve and I are looking forward to being able to camp as a family when Garrett and Paige are a little older. We could probably have done it this summer, but it's going to be WAY more enjoyable in a year or two.

We've also spent a good portion of the summer in a pool, whether it's for swim lessons or a weekly pool date. The swim lessons are going so well and Molly is swimming fairly well now. She's also pretty confident putting her head under water and flipping upside down, and it's so cool to see how comfortable she's getting in the pool. Paige thinks she can swim, and actually jumped off the step at swim lessons and swam UNDERWATER a few feet to come to me. She has no problem going under water, and although I'm happy she's comfortable in the pool, her confidence is a little scary because she can't swim (even though she THINKS she can). Garrett is in the pool, laughs nervously the whole time because he wants to enjoy it, but is obviously still pretty timid of the whole prospect.

Every Wednesday, we have a standing pool playdate with my friend and her 5-year old twin girls at their grandparents' house. It's always so much fun and I really think it's been the positive peer pressure of being in the pool with friends that has given Molly confidence in water.

Although Garrett and Paige love the water and the companionship, I think they love the Popsicles as much. Note Paige showing everyone her blue tongue.

Christy and I have also swapped five-year olds a couple of times. While we were getting ready for Molly's birthday party, Christy took Molly for most of the day and spoiled her rotten. They went for a hike along the river, fed the ducks, and I think there was some ice cream involved too. Tonight I've taken her two girls so that Christy and her husband can have a night to themselves. Do I have any pictures of the sleepover? Nope... I've been too busy caring for five children and forgot to even pick up my camera. Sigh... But needless to say, there was ice cream involved once again.

It's been such a great summer that it's hard to believe there's only a month left! Next week we leave for our annual trek up to British Columbia which will be fun (although the driving part... not so fun). The summer will be over before we know it! Then Molly is off to kindergarten. Wow. Here's to enjoying the last of our summer!

Happy Birthday Molly

2011-07-10T20:37:00.000-07:00

Today my sweet little Molly turned five years old. It's hard to believe quite frankly. We decided to have her party on her actual birthday and Molly was very specific that she wanted a "Tangled" Rapunzel birthday party. This year was the first year that she had a specific idea in mind of what she wanted... so I tried everything I could to exceed those expectations.

While I was surfing the net looking for Tangled party ideas, she saw a cake that looked Rapunzel's tower. She absolutely squealed for joy and announced that THIS was the cake she wanted. Oh great. I've always wanted to try a fancy cake, so why not? Right? Sigh.... So, we started prepping the cake a week before and Molly helped me bake the actual cakes. Then we froze them for decorating later.

A week later, it was time to assemble them. I was scared out of my mind because I had NEVER worked with fondant before. However, having children had made me a professional with Play Doh so I figured I was up for the challenge. I also just happened to have an amazing friend (Nina) who is a professional patisserie chef, and she offered some help with the decorating. She was a LIFESAVER! Especially after I botched my buttercream frosting!

Between myself, Nina and Steve (who was in charge of the heavy construction), we did it! And I seriously can not tell you how excited Molly was when she saw her special cake!

I also made a lot of the decorations before hand. I sewed 36 feet of flag bunting in the colors from the Tangled movie. I also made hair clips as favors for all the girls, that went with sidewalk chalk and paints (like Rapunzel's craft supplies).

We also decorated with paper lanterns and had the kids paint the lanterns as one of the activities. Molly really wanted to release lit paper lanterns for her party, but I was pretty sure that lit candles in flying lanterns, small children, and the high summer fire danger was a bad combination.

We also did face painting, which the kids LOVED. I don't know what it is about kids and face paint, but it's always a hit. Special thanks to my friends Jen and Emily who did all the painting!

The kids also played a rousing game of "Pin the Nose on Flynn Rider". Steve made an awesome poster on the computer and printed out large for the party. It was fabulous!

The presents (as always) were a hit... but the favorite gifts were definitely her new fish tank from Nani and Papa, and the Rapunzel dress from Aunt Nancy and Uncle Fred. She put that dress on and wore it the rest of the day.

We made a special cake for her to "blow out" because I was pretty sure that we wouldn't be able to put a candle in the Rapunzel tower safely. It was WAY easier to put fondant on a mini-cake... let me tell you.

Where was Garrett and Paige during all this? They spent most of their time stuck to Mommy and Daddy until people started clearing out. And a yummy snack always tends to keep them happy!

It was a fabulous day, and the best reward was having Molly constantly tell us "Thank you for the wonderful party! I love it!". She went to bed one happy little girl. And we will be going to bed two tired, but satisfied, parents.

A Happy 4th of July

2011-07-06T13:44:00.001-07:00

What a fabulous 4th of July we had! We had such a relaxing day hanging out with our family. We started the day by getting the kids dolled up in their red, white and blue.

Paige and Molly got to wear some custom bows that we got from my friend, Roxy. She started a fabric hair bow business on Etsy. Aren't these cute?

And we didn't want Garrett to feel left out, so he got blue hair gel. He wasn't quite sure whether he liked it or not, but after strangers started complimenting him on his "cool hair" he warmed up to it.

We spent the morning getting stuff done around the house. I took some time to make some special dipped strawberries to share with people during the evening festivities.

Then after naps, we were off to cousin Debbie's house. They live on this awesome cul-de-sac that is full of families with small kids. So every year they block off their street and have a huge block party. It's potluck style and there's always tons to do for the kids. This year they rented a huge inflatable slip-n-slide and water slide... which was perfect for the 104F (40C) day! All three of the kids enjoyed the slip-n-slide, but Garrett was the only one who braved the giant water slide! Let me tell you... that thing was STEEP!

They also do a bike parade every year, where the kids decorate their bikes in red, white and blue and ride around to music. It's such a simple thing but the kids LOVE it! Even the little ones get into it.

At one point Garrett and Paige had a little competitive race. Garrett was at a huge disadvantage because he was riding a toy that was way too small for him.

The prize for participating in the parade is a rather large necklace made out of candy. What kid wouldn't love that?

Of course, one of the highlights is always hanging out with family. That's what makes the holiday for us. And the kids always enjoy their cousins!

By about 9:00 at night the kids were absolutely exhausted, so we didn't stick around for the fireworks. But Debbie let our kids enjoy some sparklers before we went.

What a fabulous day! We're so thankful to have been able to join Debbie's family for this event. The kids had a blast!

SMOM Summer Splash

2011-07-05T13:33:00.000-07:00

Saturday was such a wonderful day. It was the SMOM annual summer pool party, which is always a blast. There were around 200 people there, with kids just a few weeks old to teenagers. Our kids had so much fun, and especially enjoyed the pool that had a gradual entry and big water spray feature.

It was a 100F day, so there was nothing better than hanging out in the pool. Molly loved hanging out with her friends from the club. Garrett and Paige kept us running as the pool had a "no life jacket/floaties" rule. I guess the rationale behind the rule was to prevent kids from being overconfident in the water. It definitely kept Steve and I on our toes!

The "no floaties" rule ended up being an awesome thing for Molly and she tried swimming without them for the first time. She was just in and out of the pool, going under water, and swimming at least 5 feet at a time! We were so proud of her! I'm sure she'll be swimming confidently by the end of the summer as we'll be in the pool at least 3 times a week between swim lessons and play dates.

Happy Canada Day / Independence Day!

2011-07-02T14:18:00.000-07:00

The first week of July is always so festive. Since I'm Canadian and Steve is American, we get to celebrate both Canada Day (July 1st) and Independence Day (July 4th). And on the days in between, Molly decided to celebrate BOTH heritages!

Fair Oaks Renaissance Faire

2011-06-27T13:22:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, our friends invited us to go to the Fair Oaks Renaissance Faire with their family. The time of day wasn't ideal for the twins because of naps, so I just took Molly. I figured it would be right up her alley... and I was right. Our friends are really into the "Ren Faire" scene. In fact, they had a completely Renaissance themed wedding! So they had plenty of clothes to costume us up in. And when Christy realized that she didn't have a dress for Molly, she worked her tail off and sewed her one to wear (something I found out about after the fact). I can't believe what wonderful friends we have. Here we are in our garb.

And here's Molly and Christy's kids. These were three excited little girls! They looked so cute in the costumes!

The faire was a ton of fun. There were all kinds of performers from dancers to magicians to musicians to a pirate act with parrots that the kids LOVED!

Another highlight was a giant metal dragon sculpture that was on hydraulics and could move it's head & mouth AND breathe fire. The creators of this dragon let the girls actually climb into it and take it for a "test drive". Molly was a little timid of the dragon but surprised me when she climbed right in it!

It was such a fabulous time. Many of the people attending weren't in costumes, but it was so much fun to get dressed up and really get into it and be (as they called it) a "play-tron". I would definitely say that it's something that we'd love to do again and I'm so thankful to have had the opportunity to go. Thanks, Christy and Rik!

Dancing Through the Decades

2011-06-25T13:05:00.000-07:00

Today was Molly's end of the year dance recital. The theme was "Dancing Through the Decades" and Molly's class was doing "At the Car Wash" from the 1970's. Their costumes were a beautiful blue with "car wash fringe" on the top. They were SO CUTE!

Steve's Uncle Fred and Aunt Nancy came to watch her performance again, which was so special! Molly loved having a big audience. And we got a babysitter for Garrett and Paige so we could ensure that it was Molly's special night and we weren't distracted!

Before the show the girls were VIBRATING with excitement. One of the other Mommy's bought a can of glitter spray and sprayed all the girls' hair and skin. Molly was so excited to be glittery.

Molly's class did so well, and I couldn't believe how happy and confident Molly was on stage. She wasn't nervous at all and was grinning from ear to ear the entire time. I was so proud of her! And their dance was EXTRA cute when one of the girls drove a Barbie car out on stage for the "car wash".

And here's Molly with her teacher, Miss Britney. She is wearing her Indian costume after performing the YMCA. Not only is she a fabulous teacher, but she's a fantastic dancer too!

It was such a fabulous night. Steve and Aunt Nancy each bought Molly and rose which she was THRILLED about. Our little girl is getting so grown up!

Summer fun...

2011-06-24T12:52:00.000-07:00

Summer is in full force in the van Riessen household. The weather has heated up and we've been finding all kinds of ways to enjoy the sunny weather while trying to stay cool. There's been backyard picnics...

... and playing with the bubble machine.

There's been pool days with friends...

... and backyard play dates at friend's

Needless to say, this Mommy is doing everything she can to wear these kids out so we don't go crazy!

I'm enjoying the kids so much right now. It's been so nice to slow down a little and find more time for fun outings. Garrett and Paige are starting to listen more and more and it's becoming easier to take them places. Something tells me that this is going to be a FUN summer!

Sing Along with Garrett

2011-06-20T16:33:00.000-07:00

As quiet as my two girls are, Garrett is the exact opposite. He talks ALL day. Sometimes it's just for the sake of talking. Sometimes it's words we don't want to hear like "MINE!" or "NO!". But a lot of the time he's singing. In fact, he literally sings himself (and Paige) to sleep at night and you can hear "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider" through the monitor. So, at my mother's request, here's Garrett singing two of his favorite songs. Enjoy!

Twin pictures...

2011-06-17T14:16:00.000-07:00

I've been working on getting things together for Garrett and Paige's new bedroom. We are planning on putting them into "big kid" beds when we get back from our trip in August. The new room is going to need some new wall art, and I just happened to have a credit for a new photo canvas that I need to use up. So I looked through my photo archives for a decent picture of the two of them together. I couldn't find a single one that was "canvas worthy". I realized that I've been so concerned about making sure they weren't always lumped together as twins, that I never purposely take their picture with one another. So yesterday they gave me a grand total of ten minutes to snap a few pictures. Here's what I came up with! Excuse the watermark... I was too lazy to remove it after posting these on my professional photo blog.

Be Refreshed

2011-06-16T21:44:00.000-07:00

This weekend was our church's annual picnic at Folsom Lake, coined "Be Refreshed". Unfortunately, it was scheduled for immediately after church which is right when Garrett and Paige nap. We "considered" trying to push them through, but eventually decided that having two screaming miserable toddlers didn't sound very refreshing. So Steve stayed home and napped with the twins, while I took Molly to the lake. She wasn't about to miss out hanging with all of her little friends.

The church rented some boats and Molly was determined that I take her out on one. So we took a tandem kayak out on the lake. Before I know it, we gained a few more passengers. Molly loved having Mommy's play water chauffeur to her and her friends and I enjoyed the work out!

Great food. Great weather. Great friends. It couldn't have been a better afternoon and I really enjoyed spending some one on one time with Molly.

Roller Skating Divas

2011-06-11T19:47:00.001-07:00

Today Molly's little friend, Keilani, had her 5th birthday party at the Roller King. I wasn't quite sure how that was going to work with a bunch of 4 and 5 year old kids, but it was so much fun! They started out with a little class & lesson on how to stop and get up if you fall. And they tighten up the wheels on their skates so they can pretty much "walk" on their skates. As they felt more comfortable, they loosened them little by little.

Molly tends to be a little timid when trying new things, and I was so proud of her. Not only did she totally participate in the class and try everything the teacher asked of them, but she really enjoyed herself. She was definitely careful and not taking any risks, but she kept at it. And when we were ready to leave, she didn't want to take her skates off and go. So I promised her we would go again.

The mommies also enjoyed donning some skates and getting out there for some exercise. A few of us were even saying that we need to do "Mom's Skate Night". But most of all, it was really special to watch Molly take on a new challenge and keep trying even though she was a little bit scared. I'm so proud of her!

Sacramento County Fair

2011-05-30T13:59:00.000-07:00

This morning while Steve was working on his bathroom renovation, I took the kids to the County Fair. They had SO much fun and I'm kicking myself for not bringing my good camera. But at least I had enough wisdom to bring our point and shoot! First stop of the day was the pony rides. This was Garrett's FIRST pony ride and he absolutely loved it. He enjoyed telling the horse to "Giddy Up!". Paige was not as willing to saddle up.

Then we went to the petting zoo. That was the best $2.00 a kid I've ever spent. They could have spent hours with those animals. Garrett was in love with the wallabies and could often be found hopping along after them.

When he finally figured out the wallabies didn't want to play with him, he decided that hugging the goats was way more fun.

Paige was my animal "whisperer". She would very gently touch them, try to look them in the eye, and then jibber jabber to them in some unknown language. Here she found some twin kid goats and she was obviously commiserating with them about being a twin.

Here's a picture of Molly next to a rather large llama. This thing was over twice Molly's size when standing!

But the highlight for Molly was having her face painted. She chose a rainbow butterfly and she has made me promise her that she gets to keep the paint on all day. I may need to invest in some face paint when I see the joy this simple thing brought her.

What a wonderful morning with my kids. There wasn't a single melt down. There wasn't a single tantrum. And I just enjoyed every single moment with them!

Preschool Graduation

2011-05-28T08:14:00.000-07:00

Look who graduated preschool! I almost can't believe it. My sweet little girl is growing up so fast. Yesterday they had a little ceremony for all the "grads" at a local park. It was very informal but a nice way to commemorate the passing of another milestone. Her group teacher, Miss Debbie, gave her a certificate and a hug and told her how proud she was of her. Molly was very excited!

And here's Molly and her two besties, Ava and Keilani. It's so special to know that the three Mommies all go to church together, were pregnant together and then we were there watching our three girls graduate to kindergarten together. Time flies. They are all going to different kindergartens, but will still see each other a lot with church activities.

After our time at the park, Andrea and I took the three girls for a special lunch at Smashburger. It was the perfect end to a perfect morning.

Say CHEESE!

2011-05-26T21:14:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, I had my camera out and the kids were climbing all over me wanting me to take their picture. Paige was tugging on my shirt saying "Cheese! Cheese!". Who am I to turn down a quick opportunity to take pictures of these sweet little smiles?

And this is usually more like the kind of expressions that I seem to be getting out of Paige lately! She makes a funny face and then chuckles to herself like she's thinking, "I'm so hilarious!" It cracks me up!

Hanging with the cousins...

2011-05-23T13:15:00.000-07:00

Not much has been happening around here. Molly only has two weeks left of being a preschooler, which is a little mind blowing to me. She was accepted into Cowan Elementary for kindergarten, and we are really happy about that because the school has an excellent reputation. Garrett and Paige just finished their Mommy and Me toddler class for the year and will be repeating it next fall. Summer is almost in full swing! I also signed them all up for swim lesson for the month of July. I was able to get private lessons and it will just be the teacher, me and the three kids. I wasn't sure how I was going to work getting the twins swim lessons (since they outnumber me) so I'm eager to see how this works out!

This weekend we took a trip to Steve's cousin's house. The trip was two-fold: to have a visit and also give me an opportunity to take Brandon's senior pictures (which you can see here). The kids always love seeing their cousins and they all play so well together and is so fun to watch!

Debbie gave the kids ice cream cones, and it was the first time Garrett and Paige had ever had one! We had to show them how to bite into them, and when they figured out they could eat their ice cream "container"... they were all over it! Another sign that summer is just around the corner!

Family Vacation

2011-05-13T20:55:00.001-07:00

This is going to be a VERY long post. I probably should break it up into multiple posts... but I just don't know where to splice it so you're getting the WHOLE thing. Last weekend, we packed up the family and took a trip to the Central Coast. We met Christie's family and Jim there as a sort of "family retreat" considering the last few months were quite challenging. And what an enjoyable trip it was!

This was the first "family" trip we've taken with the twins that did not involve staying with other family. We stayed in Pismo Beach and our hotel was right on the bluff. Although our room was considered "no ocean view", the photo above was the view from our porch. AND the best part is that it was a 2 bedroom and 2 bathroom suite that we got for crazy cheap because it was off season and mid-week. Having a 2-bedroom suite was definitely the way to travel with kids. And little did we know that the room came with a "pet" that enjoyed eating the kids' Cheerios in the morning.

Steve, his sister, and his brother-in-law all went to college in San Luis Obispo, so this was a bit of a home coming for them. It became a bit of a "food tour" of some of the Central Coast's more famous restaurants. We ate BBQ at Mo's, clam chowder at Splash, and pizza at Klondike's. Here's Molly and Hailey waiting for their BBQ our first night there. Can you tell they're happy to see one another?

I'm a bit of a clam chowder snob (being from the coast of British Columbia) but I must say that the clam chowder at Splash was by far the best I have ever had. Here's grandpa and the grandkids outside of Splash. Remind you of a prison line-up?

Our first night there we enjoyed a nice walk along the boardwalk. The kids were SO happy just to be out of the van, and were running around in circles. Literally.

On our first full day there, we did what you're supposed to do... go to the beach. Avila Beach to be exact. It was pretty windy out and quite chilly, but Molly and Hailey didn't seem to care.

The twins however, were not as happy about the experience and spent most of their time in tears or stuck to Steve and I.

Despite the wind, fun was had by all. Kites were flown. Water was waded. Castles were built. And of course, the engineer daddies (Steve and Scott) dug a big hole to put people into.

After naps, the kids perked up and we enjoyed a sunset walk on the beach by the hotel. It was an AMAZING beach with caves and endless sand. The perfect backdrop for me and my camera! In fact, Scott took a picture of me taking the picture seen below!

And when you have a beautiful backdrop like that, of course you need to get the requisite photos of family members!

The kids had a blast and were completely wet and muddy by the time we hiked back home. Once again Molly was bubbling over with excitement.

Paige spent a lot of time playing in the water with Daddy. She probably would have dove right in if he had let her.

Garrett, on the other hand, could be seen running away from the waves screaming "Scared! I'm scared of the water!" He preferred dry land...

The next day we took it easy and took the kids to a local park. They enjoyed running around and we enjoyed not having to worry about them getting all wet and sandy.

We also spent some time at Cambria enjoying the amazing views the bluffs have to offer. The flowers were all in bloom, there were critters everywhere (rabbits, squirrels, birds) and the sea lions were sunning themselves out on the rocks. It was absolutely beautiful!

On our last day we had dinner in Atascadero on our way out of town. The weather was perfect and there was a park right across the street from Sylvester's where we ate (another restaurant on the "food tour"). Molly spent most of her time stuck to Grandpa, knowing that we were going to be heading home from there.

Paige spent all her time chasing Luke around.

And Garrett spent his time with his favorite person in the world... his Daddy!

What a fabulous vacation. There was talk about it being an annual adventure. I hope that pans out to be the case because it was so much fun!

Future Football Player

2011-05-06T14:30:00.000-07:00

One of the obvious differences that I've noticed between raising girls and boys, is that Garrett has WAY more energy than his sisters. He's constantly in a state of motion. The irony of this is that he seems to need WAY less sleep than his sisters (read: he gets up at 5:30 every morning). So before bath time we've gotten in a habit of running the kids around the house to get rid of the last of their energy. And Garrett's favorite thing to do is chase Molly around and try and tackle her. Future football player, perhaps?

Celebrating Moms at Preschool

2011-05-06T13:58:00.000-07:00

Today, Molly's preschool had a small celebration for the Moms. They sang a handful of songs about Mothers and gave us gifts that they made in class. It was such a special little event and the teachers get a lot of credit for doing such a fabulous job with them.

Here's a little video clip of one of the songs they sang...

And here's me and the sweet girl that made me a mom in the first place. Love her!

Finally, here's the three musketeers after their performance. Ava's Mommy took the three of them to Chucky Cheese afterwards. Can you tell they're just a little bit excited?

Donner Pass

2011-05-05T13:23:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, I was busy helping to co-lead a Women's Ministry event for our church. And knowing that I was going to be busy all morning, Steve decided to take the kids BY HIMSELF up to Donner Pass to go play in the snow. I thought he was nuts, because I don't think I would have the guts to do that by myself. Garrett and Paige just can't navigate the snow well yet. But he figured that the trails would be clear and he'd be able to use the jogging stroller with the twins. Not only was the trip a success, he even shot some pictures off with his phone.

It sounds like they had a great time and even made a snow man. Steve, being the amazing father that he is, packed a lunch for them complete with a carrot for the snowman's nose.

When I was at the Women's Ministry event, I told all the other ladies that my amazing husband was taking the kids up the mountain. They were all as in awe as I was. It was just another example of how I landed the most amazing, involved, caring husband on the face of the planet. Love that man...

Quick Update

2011-05-04T13:13:00.001-07:00

I've had a few people ask what's been going on with my pituitary tumor, so I thought I'd give a quick update. The latest round of blood work showed that my growth hormone levels were hovering just above normal, which is better than it's been in the past (they were really high before). If the tumor is co-secreting growth hormone than it will need to be surgically removed because it will not shrink with the medication. My endocrinologist gave me the choice as to whether I wanted to just go straight to surgery, or wait and see if it shrinks with the medication. I chose to wait. So I will be repeating the hormone level testing this month and then he will schedule a repeat of the MRI in a couple of months. At that point I'll have been on the tumor medication for about 6 months and hopefully they will have found that the tumor has shrunk and surgery will not be necessary. That's my prayer! If the tumor is shrinking then he said I will probably be on the medication for about 2 years total. I only take my pill once a week but it makes me really dizzy with crazy headaches the day after. But I think I'd rather deal with a "medication hangover" one day a week than have them digging around in my head. Let's just hope we can avoid surgery!

Easter!

2011-04-26T14:35:00.000-07:00

We really had a fabulous Easter. The kids were just a "little" excited about waking up to some Easter baskets, and all three of them arose at 5:50 in the morning. A little too early for this Mommy and Daddy.

After Mommy and Daddy got our coffee, we released the kids into the front room to hunt for hidden eggs. Molly was determined to "beat" her brother and sister to the booty. Paige preferred to take her time. And Garrett preferred to eat the contents of each egg before trying to find another.

The kids enjoyed going through their baskets while I made a big breakfast for everyone. I made whole wheat pancakes with berry coulis and turkey sausage in an effort to get something healthy in them and offset all the sugar they consumed.

Then we got the troups dressed and ready for church. Of course Easter was the perfect excuse for me to buy coordinating outfits!

After church the kids had their second eggs hunt of the day (their fourth in total). Here they are all lined up in their respective age groups and ready to collect more treasures! Can you tell that Molly was just a "little" excited?

Then it was off for the hunt! And, once again, Garrett felt it was more important to eat the contents of each egg he collected before even bothering to get another one.

After it was all said and done, it was interesting to watch Molly convince them to "trade" goodies with her so she could get her preferred treats!

Amazingly enough, the festivities didn't end there. We thought we would be spending a nice, quiet Easter at home as a family, but when we were at church we were invited to hang out with two other families that didn't have extended family around locally. It was so much fun. Each family brought the side dishes that we had planned on making and our hosts provided a ham and tri-tip. The food was fabulous and the company was even better. The kids even behaved amazingly well at the "Children's Table".

Molly had a wonderful time with her little buddies, Ava and Keilani. Garrett spent most of his time hanging out with them on the trampoline. They had a blast and Garrett was loving all the attention that the girlies were pouring all over him.

Paige preferred to do her own thing, and furthered her title of "little monkey" by climbing everything in sight and hanging off the basketball hoop.

It was truly a fabulous day. Hanging with our "church family" was such a fabulous extension of Christ's gift to us on Easter. We are just so thankful for the relationships God has gifted us!

Pre-Easter Festivities

2011-04-24T15:19:00.000-07:00

The day before Easter, the kids and I enjoyed some "pre-Easter festivities". We worked on a craft project and decorated some foam eggs. And then of course, we died some hard-boiled eggs. This was no small feat considering dye is... well... DYE. And I have two 2-year old's that want to get into their craft projects with both hands. Also, Steve was busy working on some tiling, so I was solo. I'm happy to report that only 3 of the 13 eggs got broken, and no clothing was dyed.

After Garrett and Paige went down for their naps, Molly and I made some Easter cupcakes. They were carrot pineapple cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (see here) with toasted coconut nests with candy eggs in them. So fun!

It definitely got the kids excited for Easter! Although I must admit that I think I will enjoy it a little more in 1-2 years when it's easier to manage the twinados!

Spring Break

2011-04-24T13:51:00.000-07:00

Last week was Spring Break for Molly's preschool. A little part of me was dreading having all three kids all week, but it ended up being such a fabulous time. Many of the regular speech therapy and dance classes were also on hold for the week, which allowed us to do something fun every day! We did play dates, went to Funtastics and took a trip to the zoo. And of course, as always, the zoo was the biggest hit!

The kids particularly loved watching the animal show that the naturalists put on. Afterward they got to touch a menagerie of beasties, including a rather large lizard and a boa constrictor. I really want to cultivate their love for animals.

Headshots

2011-04-18T14:40:00.001-07:00

I wanted to get some simple headshot photos of my kids because I had this image in my head of three canvases hanging all in a row. It didn't really turn out the way I was envisioning, but I got some sweet smiley pictures of the three of them.

Paige was in a bit of a mood and so I ended up spending the majority of my time shooting her trying to get her smiling. I got a fun series of pictures showing the variety of her expressions and had to put them into a storyboard. So many people don't get to see this side of her personality because she's so shy. But she can also be so much fun and these pictures capture that.

And of course there's always her more serious side...

SMOM Spring Picnic

2011-04-18T14:18:00.001-07:00

This weekend I took the kids to the SMOM (Sacramento Mothers of Multiples) Spring Picnic so Steve could catch up on some projects at home. It's always a lot of fun and the kids enjoy all their friends from the club. Molly loves hanging out with her buddies, Caleigh and Alessa, twin sisters who live close to us. They were having so much fun that we hated to break up the party, and Molly got to go over and spend the night at their house after wards!

The picnic was at a fabulous park that's almost completely fenced in AND had awesome shade structures over the play ground (a must during these hot Sacramento summers). Garrett and Paige enjoyed playing, and it was fun to watch them hanging out together and even walking around holding hands. Sooooo cute!

Of course, the highlight is always the Easter egg hunt. This is the first year that Garrett and Paige "got" the egg hunt. Paige preferred to carefully inspect each egg before making her selection. Garrett, on the other hand, preferred to "dash and grab" and had a hard time understanding that he had to leave some for the other kids.

It was another fabulous event by SMOM! Special thanks to Christy for all her hard work putting the event together, and for everything she does for the club!

Date night!

2011-04-14T14:09:00.000-07:00

When we were dealing with the stress of caring for Steve's mom in hospice, and her eventually passing away, we were blessed greatly by the support of our friend's from church. Several families went together and paid for basketball tickets, parking fees and a babysitter so we could have a date night to unwind after the stress of the of the past couple of months. Well last night, was the night! We got to see the Kings play the Lakers! This was a particularly special game because the Sacramento Kings may be sold and moved to southern California, and this may have been their last game in Sacramento!

Date night started out with Thai food, and we loved the great conversation and the fact that we didn't have to cut up anyone's food for them. I also had a beer and got ID'ed, which made me feel particularly young. Ha ha ha! Then we were off to the game. We had seats at the TOP of the stadium (read: nose bleeds). But I brought my camera and 400mm super telephoto lens which more than compensated for the distance. Steve and I had a blast shooting pictures and we both have a new appreciation for sports photographers. Those long lenses are HEAVY and my wrist hurts this morning from holding it.

The game went into overtime and the stadium was vibrating with excitement. The Kings did eventually lose, which was unfortunate (although Steve is a Lakers fan), but it couldn't have had a better evening. Thanks to all our friends for the extra special night out. It was needed and appreciated!

When the cat's away the mice will play...

2011-04-11T21:29:00.001-07:00

On Saturday, I was busy with my Mother's of Multiples club and Steve decided to take the kids to the RV show at Arco Arena. The kids had a blast pushing all the buttons in every RV and were pretty amazed of the "homes on wheels". Steve was even able to get a few pictures of their day together. Best husband/father ever.

Preschool heads to the zoo!

2011-04-10T20:59:00.000-07:00

Last week was Molly's preschool field trip to the Folsom Zoo. I had to drag Garrett and Paige along with me, but they were more than happy to join in the fun. And of course Molly was more than happy to spend a sunny day hanging out with her close friends, Ava and Keilani!

The kids loved watching a bear rip into his afternoon snack. Garrett kept shouting, "Touch bear!" and I had to explain that hugging a live bear wasn't in his best interest.

I used the opportunity of having other mommies around to do a little "out of stroller" training. Usually when we're out in a busy place Garrett and Paige aren't allowed out of the stroller because it's so hard to keep track of all three of them. But I was really impressed that they stuck close to me and listened so well! They may have earned themselves some more time out of the stroller!

We also got to spend a little time playing in the park playground. This is also something I don't do much, because Garrett and Paige go in two separate directions and aren't quite old enough to be "safe" on the play structures. This day proved to be no different because as I was helping Garrett across a balance beam, I looked over and saw Paige five feet up the climbing wall. Of course I had to take a quick picture before running to make sure she didn't fall off.

All in all... it was a great day. And the best part was that the kids were so exhausted that they had nice long afternoon naps!

Spring Convention

2011-04-04T12:39:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I had the privilege of going to the Spring Convention for the Northern California Association of Mothers of Twins Clubs. It was hosted by our Sacramento club and I had been asked to do a talk on photographing your children. I probably wouldn't have gone if I wasn't speaking, and am I ever glad that I went. It was the perfect break that I needed. I walked into my hotel room and this was the first thing that I saw. My roommates had already got the bar set up!

Let me tell you... these twin/triplet mommies know how to let loose. And there was so much free stuff given out during the convention. There were over a HUNDRED raffle baskets including everything from kids toys to gift certificates to restaurants to double strollers. I won a basket of best selling books and chocolate which was a nice treat.

And here's the ladies from my club that attended. The convention was for all of northern California and there was probably around 150 people there. You may be able to tell from some of the outfits that it was an "Alice in Wonderland" theme.

The workshops covered everything from what to do during minor medical emergencies to craft projects to do with your preschooler. Saturday there was a talent show complete with karaoke machine. It was seriously a blast. But the highlight was spending some quality time with friends (both old and new) and not having to cut up any body's food other than my own. Fabulous!

No no no...

2011-03-24T20:33:00.000-07:00

The kids have been playing so well together lately and they have just been so much fun. A couple of nights ago, after a prolonged game of indoor soccer, the kids stripped their shirts off, put themselves in "time out" and staged an uprising. Funniest thing ever...

My other twins

2011-03-23T14:01:00.001-07:00

Molly has a bunch of wonderful little friends, and one of her close buddies is Keilani. When we were down in Southern California spending time with Shirley during her last days, Molly lived with Keilani and her family for 9 days. That was a big deal for us because it was such a huge help. Anyway, we carpool with Keilani's mommy and this morning the girls were dressed in identical outfits. We always joke that these two could be twins... and today it seemed to be the case.

A gaggle of kiddos

2011-03-14T21:35:00.001-07:00

The best part of the last few weeks has been spending a large quantity of time with family. Our kids LOVED hanging out with Christie's kids. They all played so well together, and kept us entertained as well.

While we were down south, we had the opportunity to celebrate Luke's second birthday. Molly and Hailey enjoyed "helping" him open his cards and gifts.

And Luke definitely enjoyed the singing and attention. That little guy is definitely an extrovert.

I also got to take Luke's 2-year portraits. He was SO easy to shoot because he smiles non-stop. And even Hailey, who usually hides from my camera, wanted in on the action. I think she may have gotten a wee bit jealous of all the attention he was getting.

What a blessing for our kids to grow up with cousins the same age as them. We are looking forward to spending more time with them under happier circumstances.

Grandma Shirley's Memorial Service

2011-03-14T20:57:00.000-07:00

On Friday, March 11, we celebrated the life of Steve's Mom, Shirley. It was actually her birthday, and she would have been 64 years old. The chapel was filled with friends and family from all different parts of her life. She has touched so many people and that was so evident on this day. Steve did a wonderful job with the eulogy. He managed to capture the true sense of who she was and how much she cared for everyone she came in contact with. I loved how he compared her to the woman in Proverbs 31 because she was all those things:

²⁵ She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.
²⁶ She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
²⁷ She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
²⁸ Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
²⁹ “Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all.”

I was blessed to have my friend Kirk sing and play a couple of songs with me during the service, including Jim and Shirley's favorite hymn, Amazing Grace. It meant a lot to us to have good friends present to help during such a difficult day.

Christie picked out the flowers on behalf of Aunt Nancy, and she did an amazing job. They were seriously beautiful! After the service, Aunt Nancy had a FABULOUS idea of what to do with the flowers, and the next day I took the bouquets to the hospital that Shirley had spent time in. I dropped them off at the nurses desk and explained that they were from her memorial service and that she was the kind of person that would love it if they could be passed on to someone who needed some love and encouragement. Perhaps they could go to a few patients that were discouraged, lonely or sad. The nurses remembered Shirley and were so touched at the sentiment, promising to deliver the flowers to the "right" people. After returning to my car, I prayed that those flowers would touch someone's heart like Shirley had touched all of our lives.

Steve came up with a wonderful idea and instead of having a sign-in guest book at the service, each person or family wrote on an index card which will be scanned in and included with photographs to create a memory album. It's going to be done digitally so we can all have a copy of it. Also, along with the program, Christie had the great idea of passing out packets of Forget Me Not seeds with the saying "Shirley Belknap, she planted the seeds of love, hope and faith in all of us".

After the service, Christie's family hosted a wonderful reception at a restaurant nearby. The food was fabulous and it was nice to relax after a stressful morning. Shirley shared her birthday with Christie's son Luke, so we also took the opportunity to sing Happy Birthday to him that evening.

And of course the highlight for my kids was running around with their cousins.

All in all it was a wonderful (but tearful) celebration of an amazing woman. It is heartbreaking to think she will not be around for us and our kids any longer. But we are thankful that she is in a much better place now.

Twins' 2-year Appointment

2011-03-14T13:06:00.000-07:00

Last week I took Garrett and Paige to the pediatrician for their 2-year appointment. Thankfully they didn't need any new immunizations so it was a relatively "easy" visit. Both of them are healthy and happy.

Garrett was 31 lbs 6 oz which was the 84th percentile. He measured a whopping 3 ft 1.25 inches which was the 97th percentile. He's going to be a BIG kid, and looks likes he's already three years old. He's also extremely smart. By his second birthday he was already able to count to 20, recognizes ALL his uppercase letters, and almost all his lower case letters. I'd love to take credit for his knowledge, but he learned it all from playing with Molly's toy laptop. He's obsessed with it, and has pretty much taught himself everything. He's also become quite enamored with his father, and wakes up every morning and afternoon wailing for "Daaaddddddyyyyyyy!". This is fine when Steve is around, but when he's not and I show up to get him, Garrett is less than pleased.

Paige was 28 lbs 3.2 oz which was the 68th percentile. She gets the prize for being my petite child. She measured 2 ft 11.3 inches which was the 87th percentile, and like Garrett is becoming quite lean. She also gets the prize for being my easiest child right now. As long as she's receiving a LOT of cuddles (read: clings to me 24-7) she is quite mellow. She plays well by herself, shares well, and is really empathetic. Her language skills are growing daily and she's actually becoming "chattier". Her favorite thing is mothering her baby dolls or stuffed animals, and she's just such a loving little girl.

While digging through old pictures of their grandma, we also recently figured out who Paige looks like! Her Grandma Shirley! Here's a couple of pictures of her when she was little. Can you see the resemblance?

Goodbye

2011-03-03T10:58:00.000-08:00

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:26

Surrounded by loved ones, with each hand being held this morning at 12:27 a.m. Shirley went home to be held and healed by Jesus. As many of you have been praying, she was able to be without pain and was at peace as she took her last breath here on earth. This house has been filled with so much love, laughter, family, visitors, cards, emails, and phone calls to ensure that each and every one of us were able to say what we needed to her... to tell her how much we loved her and how thankful we all are to have her in our lives. We have been kissing her and hugging her, both physically and with virtual hugs and kisses that all of you have sent her way. I smile when I really think about last night; she is always being the protector, and she waited until all of the grandkids had said goodnight, gave her kisses and said ‘I love you Grandma’ before she died. We were able to spare our children the pure heartache and reality of what took place this morning.

Again we thank you for helping to carry us lifted in prayer through this journey. Love you all, and be at peace knowing that Steve's mom is now at peace with the Lord smiling down on us!

Bouncy bouncy

2011-02-21T08:00:00.000-08:00

One of MY favorite things that Garrett and Paige got for their birthday was an inflatable jumping arena. It's easy to inflate with the air compressor, deflates and packs away to a relatively small size, and allows the kids to expend mass quantities of energy. So this morning Steve blew it up for them. It was an instant hit!

I think it definitely achieved the purpose of wearing them out. We'll see how longs naps last today!