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Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts

Sunday, October 4, 2015

Happy October Birthday Mama!

Beautiful birthday flowers from dad & the girls

Happy Birthday Mama!

The best birthday view; cake and our sweet girls


Mama enjoyed a very fun birthday this year doing all her favorite October activities surrounded by the best people she knows; the fam! Being 38 weeks pregnant with baby boy somewhat limited the amount of walking I was able to do, but we still managed to fulfill my birthday request of visiting a pumpkin patch and decorating for Halloween. October is my favorite time of year, although the weather is still very warm here in the Sacramento Valley and we were sweating at the pumpkin patch. Despite the heat, we all had a fantastic time and took lots of photos (stay tuned for another post to come). Dad and the girls spoiled mama with beautiful flowers, a special birthday cake and helped deck out the house for Halloween. After the house was Halloween ready, the girls enjoyed creating a haunted gingerbread house and lighting candles to get into the spooky October spirit. We sat and told stories by candlelight and discussed how excited we all are for baby brother to arrive. We sure hope he gets here before Halloween, so we can dress him up and he can enjoy his very first holiday!



Early Halloween fun creating a haunted gingerbread house

Basking in candlelight after decorating for Halloween

LOVE these October flowers

Friday, July 3, 2015

Elise's 6th Birthday Party at Wacky Tacky

Sweet sisters celebrating Elise turning six

Birthday girl with her party balloons

Elise's delicious Princess & The Frog cupcakes

The five of us (still getting used to saying that!)

Cute sisters by the playground

Little party friends having a blast
Posing with friends in the birthday chair

Cupcake time and more fun with friends

Book party gift bags - we enjoyed making these

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Happy 6th Birthday Elise!

Celebrating with our big 6-year-old birthday girl, Elise!


Six years ago our oldest child, Elise, was born and she’s turned our world into something new ever since. We’ve experienced all the first big milestones with her and have watched her grow from a tiny newborn into a very intelligent, driven and fun-loving young girl. Although she’s only 6 years old, I feel like she’s matured so much that she’s 6 going on pre-teen. She loves school, reading, swimming (just about every day she can), riding her bike, golf, gymnastics, legos and play dates with her little friends; and I feel like the friends part will start taking over pretty soon, so we certainly plan to cherish these last few years that we still have with her as mommy and daddy’s best friend. 

Elise is such a little character with a very independent spirit when it comes to what she likes and wants. We are rarely able to influence her or change her mind/opinion; the girl is steadfast as far as her determination goes. I used to think it was more of a challenging quality, but over these past years I've learned to embrace the fact that she is so decisive and driven. She is naturally a bit shy, but she never refuses to participate or embrace a new experience, which makes me very proud. It's her high level of determination that drives her to be brave and speak up rather than retreating when faced with uncomfortable situations. She is one tough girl. She celebrated her birthday party earlier this month and truly adored sharing the day with all her wonderful friends and family! Our girl is growing up so fast. We love you Elise, Happy 6th Birthday!


Enjoying her Wacky Tacky party with great little friends

Sunday, May 31, 2015

The Four Month Baby Bump

The 20 week baby boy bump


Stats:  I've made it to 20 weeks, uncomfortably, but hooray. I took the Maternit21 test at 10 weeks and we learned that we're having a baby boy back in early April (around 13 weeks). It's somewhat crazy to be able to find out this early now AND with 99% accuracy. We did a baby gender reveal, which we hadn't done in the past with the girls, and the surprise reveal was quite a special moment to celebrate along with family. Baby boy is due to arrive October 19, 2015. He will be six years younger than Elise and four years younger than Alina. The age differences mean I will have a couple of great little helpers when he arrives.

How I feel this time around: Nauseous. I will admit that morning sickness with our little guy has been less than the extremes I had with the girls, but I've still suffered through it and there have been plenty of mornings where I've just felt plain awful. Even though I am 20 weeks, I am still throwing up here and there. I'm hoping to be over most of it soon because I don't have the luxury of much free time  while working and taking care of two kids. Also, I am carrying pretty high with him, so most my clothes are already fitting uncomfortably. Time to go shopping.

Food cravings: Steak. It's the only actual craving I've had this entire time and I started having it around 8-9 weeks, so well before we learned it was a boy. I suspected it may have been a boy based off this odd craving, because with the girls all I craved was lemons and fruit. I typically eat red meat maybe once a month at most, but the craving of steak cooked in butter and garlic has been pretty strong. I even like the smell of it cooking.

Weight gain: Let's not even go there...HAH! Ok, so I feel about twice the size with baby boy as I did with the girls. I am just blaming this on the fact that I haven't been able to work out and that he's my third baby. My belly definitely popped out much early than it did with the girls. My appetite has been more extreme and I've had less morning sickness than I did with the girls. I probably need to cut myself some slack here, he's a growing boy and I will continue to fuel "his"/my appetite.

Special moments - I haven't felt a ton of movement just yet, but if I lie back on the sofa we can now see my belly button dip out and back in depending on how much he is moving inside. It's cool to watch, just knowing that he's becoming very active in there. We are still celebrating the fact that will get the opportunity to experience having a little boy. I have enjoyed every moment raising our two girls and all kids are different personalities regardless of gender, but on the same note it will be fun to partake in the active rough and tumble aspect that I hear so much about. I also have had so many moms tell me of the pure love and sweetness that they share with their boys and I am looking forward to claiming this little guy as my mama's boy!

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Happy Easter 2015!

Easter egg hunt fun 2015

Pretty painted Easter eggs

The girls enjoyed their fried egg bunny rabbits

The look of egg discovery

The hunt kept them very entertained


The girls were very excited about their Easter egg hunt this year. The morning began with fried egg bunny rabbits, and a special note from the Easter Bunny telling them that the egg hunt was a team effort this year, so basically two eggs in each hiding spot. Even Mr. Bunny is aware that sisters can always improve upon their sharing skills - Hah! While the girls found PLENTY of eggs and goodies, I think their favorite part was the cute fluffy toy chicks they got. The Easter sugar goodness should last them well until the next big holiday. Happy Easter 2015!


The BIG Easter baskets goods

In sync with their Easter finds

The bunny left plenty of treats along with fuzzy chicks

Look who found the Easter Bunny's special basket

Enjoying the bounty of Easter goodies

Friday, February 6, 2015

First Trip to The Bay Area Discovery Museum - Sausalito

Making music at the Bay Area Discovery Museum

View of the San Francisco skyline from Sausalito

The Bay Area Discovery Museum's Bay Hall is fun, fun, fun!

The cute kids art at the museum

Outdoor play time at Lookout Cove

Climbing through the giant tree trunk

Elise and Grams enjoyed dressing up and green screen fun


Several weeks ago, we made our first trip to the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito and this place was serious fun for the kids (as well as Mom, Dad and Grandma). There are plenty of fun/unique kids activities, but perhaps the best part of this place is the idyllic location with lovely views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco skyline. I know I say this all the time, but thank goodness for Groupon deals because we got half off admission for the entire family. The girls favorite part of the museum was the Bay Hall, which is basically a play set version of San Francisco complete with a mini grotto and fishing boat that rocks back and forth. The girls enjoyed fishing for toy crabs off the boat.

Sausalito is one of our favorite places to visit. We spent our anniversary here a couple years ago in a scenic hilltop vacation rental overlooking Richardson Bay. It really is as quaint and charming of a city as one could imagine (especially being so close to the crowded and bustling San Francisco) and there are plenty of fantastic restaurants in the area. Being the girls first trip to Sausalito, we wanted to make sure it was special, and while I think that they were happy enough after a fun day exploring the Bay Area Discovery Museum, afterwards we treated them to a nice dinner at Scoma's Sausalito overlooking the San Francisco Bay. We plan to visit again soon.



Exploring the wave workshop and outdoor play areas

Mom joined in on the green screen fun

Gears, gadgets, and gizmos

Cuties posing by The Golden Gate

Enjoying dinner at Scoma's in Sausalito

Beautiful sunset view in Sausalito

Friday, January 16, 2015

Happy New Year, Party Time, Excellent 2015!

Getting our party on to ring in the New Year 2015

Our New Year countdown to midnight cookies...yum

Hat decorating, tinsel and confetti fun

Mom goofing around

Sippin' sparkling cider, they look far too sophisticated here

Balloon, tinsel & confetti heaven


Ain't no party like a New Year party because a New Year party don't stop! Momma decided that the girls were in need of a super fun New Years Eve party to ring in 2015, complete with balloons, noise makers, party hat decorating, sparkling cider and massive amounts of tinsel and confetti (Dollar Tree shout out). The girls had the time of their lives plus getting the go ahead to stay up way past their bedtime was pretty much a dream come true. They also got to have fun with Gramps & Grams who partied right along with us...bless their hearts for making it midnight hah :) Raising four kids sure takes the wind out of your sails. We are slowly learning just how valuable our sleep really is!

The biggest hit of the night was the tinsel. I swear these girls thought it was the most entertaining thing ever invented; they threw it up in the air, rolled around in it, coated the entire floor and house in it. As for staying up until midnight, Elise had absolutely no problem whatsoever. That girl has been a night owl since the womb, so it should come as no surprise that she duked it out like a champ. Alina, on the other hand, was begging to go to sleep by 11:00pm and proceeded to crawl into her bed and do just that. She was woken up by fireworks set off right before midnight, causing her to run from her bedroom into our arms just in time to countdown with us...let's just say she was not a happy camper, but technically she made it! I think we've started a new tradition for New Years Eve, because the girls were raving about the party the following day and saying how they cannot wait until our next one. Success! Goodbye 2014 and Happy New Year 2015!


Grams & Gramps were party animals!

These two were giggling all night long

Playing Ipad with Grandma

Alina showing off her sparkles

It's raining tinsel

They made it! Happy New Year 2015!!