Paige's Blankie...

In a previous post I mentioned Garrett's love for his stuffed dinosaur. Paige has an attachment object herself... it's her blankie. She is fiercely attached to that thing and God forbid that you try to take it away to wash it or put it back in her crib. And let me tell you... it needs washing FREQUENTLY.


Her attachment is more to the blanket's "tag", than to the blanket itself. She sucks on the tag like it's her pacifier.


Every morning she walks around the house with it wrapped around her like a robe. It makes her happy... and that makes us happy.

Garrett's first haircut...

Garrett was in need of a haircut. We had cleaned up the back once with scissors, but it was starting to look a little shaggy. Now granted, the boy doesn't really have much hair yet, but Steve and I are all about "clean cut" so it was time to break out the clippers. Here's the "before picture".


Being that I have no idea how to cut boy's hair, I let Steve have the honors. We set Garrett up with a bowl of blueberries and he didn't care one bit that Daddy was running those clippers over his noggin. He couldn't have been a more compliant angel.


And here's the finished results. Nothing fancy.... but it was quick and free. Good job Barber Daddy!

Preschool picnic at the park...

This morning, we went to the park with Molly's preschool for their "end of the year" picnic. I was not looking forward to it at all, as I've been sick the last couple of days and my antibiotics hadn't quite kicked in yet. But I know Molly would be heart-broken if we didn't go and recognized that mommies don't get sick days. So off we went.

All the kids wore their sun visors that they made in class. She wore it ALL day and even insisted on bringing it to bed with her.


I took the opportunity to try Garrett and Paige on a one-nap schedule, and they enjoyed their time with the big kids. They're still small enough to share a swing, which Garrett always LOVES.


Paige, on the other hand, was a little more indignant that she has to share a swing with her brother.


We were not able to stay until the end because all three of them started melting down after a couple of hours. And I was getting a little tired chasing Garrett down. In the blink of an eye he was chasing squirrels across the field, or climbing the play structure, or trying to drink the container of soapy water they were using to blow bubbles. That boy is FAST.

CCP Open House

Last night we attended the Open House at Molly's preschool (Christ Community Preschool). I love her school as much as she does, and she was so excited to show it off to Daddy, Garrett and Paige. She talked non-stop right through dinner about how she wanted to show him her art projects and the sandbox and her teachers and Pokey the turtle and the shells that you can hear the ocean in. So when we arrived, she had so much fun showing us everything. Here's Molly showing us her cubby hole and how it's so big that she can almost fit in it!


And here she is with her group leader, Miss Sharon. There are around 30 kids in her class, but for many activities they break into four smaller groups that are consistent through the year. Molly adores Miss Sharon.


The hit of the evening was definitely our time enjoying the HUGE sandbox outside. Molly showed it to Garrett and Paige, and those two were there the rest of the evening. The girls had fun, but Garrett was in HEAVEN (as you may be able to tell from his pictures). At one point he was killing himself laughing as he poured his pot full of sand right down the front of his overalls.


And of course the play house in the sandbox was also a hit with the twins!


I'm very thankful for Christ Community Preschool and how well they've loved my daughter over this last year. It's been really fun seeing Molly blossom it a much more self confident little girl.

1/2 of a family vacation...

A few months ago, we scheduled a weekend away for our family to visit some friends, Kevin and Linda. This is the THIRD time we have tried to get to Murphys to visit them, and every time something came up and the trip had to be put off for a later date. This time I refused to be dissuaded. Unfortunately, Garrett and Paige had a different idea and came down with a horrible fever (AGAIN) and cough. So Steve (being the perfect husband that he is), offered to stay home with the twins so Molly and I could go. So that was what we did.

It had been about a year since Molly had seen them, but it didn't take her long to warm back up to them. In fact, the first words out of her mouth were, "Where's your donkey?" (a reference to the donkey living in their backyard when in the Sacramento area).



The weekend was really relaxing and was spent going for walks, playing at the park and chatting. The highlight for Molly was the park. Kevin spent a good chunk of time pushing her on the spinning carousel, and for Molly there is nothing better then spinning and getting dizzy.


Afterwards, Kevin showed Molly his moves on the carousel.


But he didn't seem to have Molly's sense of speed and balance...


And of course Molly LOVED having Linda push her on the swing.


And once again Kevin had to show off his moves!


There aren't two more hospitable, loving and kind people out there. Thank you, Kevin and Linda, for a fabulous weekend. We definitely won't wait so long for the next visit!

Mother's Day Weekend

Well... I have to say that I had an absolutely fabulous weekend. The Mother's Day celebrations spanned throughout Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday I had an awesome photoshoot (see here) that was so much fun! After that I had lunch with my family and then I was off for a haircut, manicure and pedicure. Then it was out for sushi with my family, and then a movie with friends (which we followed up with ice cream). What a fabulous day. And then Sunday I enjoyed an awesome morning at church with my family, and then had lunch with friends before we went to a spa for a facial or massage.


The few pictures that I took turned out pretty horrible because our "party room" was extremely dark (read: spa ambiance). But it didn't stop us from enjoying our cranberry juice mixed with champagne, chocolate-dipped strawberries, cookies and cheese & crackers. And needless to say, my facial was heavenly. We all agreed that this was definitely something that had to happen more than once a year. Someone tell my husband that this is what he can get me for my birthday in September!

My favorite Mother's Day present however, was something Molly made at preschool. It was a painting of flowers made from her handprints, and on the back of it were her answers to some questions about me:
My Mom is good at... marrying Daddy and making him happy.
My Mom likes to... play with me and Garrett and Paige.
My Mom gets mad when... I hit her.
When I am at school, my mom... puts Garrett and Paige to bed.

Happy Mother's Day...

This Mother's Day seems to be particularly poignant for me. Over the last year, both my mom and Steve's mom have struggled with health issues. As we have prayed for them over the last year, it has allowed me to meditate on the amazing women that they are. I couldn't be more thankful for both of them.

Being a mother of three children has given me an appreciation for my own mother who successfully raised and fledged three children of her own. Even my father (who is fabulous in his own right) will admit that the bulk of the child-raising was done by my mom... particularly in the early years. My mother gave up a lot for her children. She planned her career around being a mom. She was completely self-sacrificial and spent many late nights folding laundry or sewing Halloween costumes or making cupcakes for school. Instead of giving us everything our hearts desired, she taught us to get it for ourselves. And because of it, she has three daughters who are happily married, educated and truly satisfied with life. Mom... I love you and I truly appreciate all you have done for me, Michelle and Tricia. You were the best mother I could have wanted, and I can only hope that I do as good of a job with my own kids.


And if having an awesome mother isn't enough, I landed an awesome mother-in-law. Seriously... she puts all other mother-in-laws to shame. Now granted, I wasn't around when she raised Steve and Christie, but I know that she gave up everything for them. And they both turned out to be kind, self-sacrificial, God-loving and responsible people just like their mother. Thank you, Shirley, for giving everything in your being to raise this amazing man who I'm am blessed to call my husband. I will try everything I can to love Steve as well as you did (and do).


Being a mother can be a challenge some days, but I'm am so blessed that I have two amazing role models in my life. Happy Mother's Day Mom and Shirley. I love you both!

Roller skating divas...

So I have this friend who is (or was) a bit of a roller skating diva. In 1996, she was 3rd place in the National Roller Figure Skating Championship. I didn't realize roller skating had an equivalent to figure skating on ice, and she used to do all the crazy jumps and spins and stuff. Anyway, now she has 15-month old triplets and it's been 10-years since she's done much skating. Until... last night. Yup, we met up and got our groove on. Roller skating was interesting for me, because I did a ton of inline skating at UBC, but inline skates have a hard shoe and the brakes are on the back. As long as I was going straight... I was fine. I did fall once during my lame attempt at skating backwards, but I held my own and it was great exercise. Something tells me there will be more skating in my future!

The first bath in our new tub...

Yesterday, Molly got to enjoy a bath in our new bathtub! Steve just finished installing a new tub with granite tile enclosure. It's so pretty AND the granite tile matches our new granite counter top (and awesome rectangular drop-in sink). Sigh... I love my handy husband. Next step... new tile floor, finish painting the cabinets and then new paint for the room. Too much fun. Here's the tub and counter now...


And here's what the bathroom looked like when we first moved in. This picture was taken when we first walked through the house, before we bought it. Bye bye cream tile with brown grout!

A quick visit

This weekend we had a quick visit from Steve's sister's family. They are on their way down to Southern California to spend Mother's Day with his mom. On Saturday we had a great dinner at their cousin Debbie's house and watched the mayhem of the ten little cousins chasing each other around. Unfortunately, I didn't break my camera out for that. But the next day Christie's family came over for breakfast and a visit, allowing me to do a quick photoshoot of Luke and Hailey.


Unfortunately, the photoshoot was cut short as everyone was exceedingly tired and grumpy... particularly Molly. And after Molly started complaining about being really cold (when it was 80F out), I checked her temperature and discovered a temperature of 102.5. So Christie's family had to cut their visit short with hopes that Molly didn't infect her little cousins with a bug that they could potentially carry to their Grandma (who is still undergoing chemo). And Molly proceeded to throw up all evening (three times to be exact). One of these days we're going to visit with Christie's family without anyone getting sick. But we're thankful we got to see them, even just for a short visit! And 24 hours later... Molly seems to be almost back to normal. Go figure.