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Friday, July 10, 2015

Happy Fouth of July 2015!

Fourth of July festivities 2015

Cuties all ready for fireworks

Hanging out with Nana & Papa

Smoke bomb fun

Alina's first sparkler of 2015

Such a joy to watch the girls play



Happy Fourth of July 2015! We enjoyed a very fun and festive display on our court this year. The grandparents joined us along with some close friends and the kids thoroughly enjoyed lighting up the night sky with sparklers and fireworks. The biggest hit each year have been the smoke bombs. They love the colors and running through the vibrant smoke filled air (whilst plugging their noses and laughing hysterically of course). Later in the evening, once the fireworks were exhausted, they moved on to glow stick dancing and we had to drag them inside by the end of the night. It was a very fun holiday and so nice to be able to enjoy all this just right outside our front door, no crowds or traveling involved. We're certainly loving these lazy summer weekends.



Elise with her super sparkler XXL

Sparkler fun

Alina with her super sparkler XXL

Firework display

Glow stick dance parties are a must

Elise has got the moves

Alina's got the twirls down pat

End of a fun evening. Happy 4th 2015!

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, June 21, 2015

Happy Father's Day 2015

Father's Day miniature golf fun


Happy Father's Day to a wonderful husband and dad of three now (eek!). Elise recently took a golf summer camp and begged to go to Golfland for Father's Day. It was as hot as can be out and the girls did really well in the beginning before melting down toward the end. Poor dad, he always keeps his positive spirit and optimistic outlook even when the rest of us girls are losing it around him. Thank goodness he will have a little boy soon to offset some of the girl craziness in the house. In the end, we all made it through and we've since decided if we ever go during summertime again, it will be in the evening. Happy Father's Day to a very special dad. We love you!



The girls found some shade by the castle

Friday, June 12, 2015

Memorial Day Trip 2015 - San Jose & Santa Cruz

Morning trip to Seabright State Beach in Santa Cruz

Momma and the girls enjoying a relaxing beach day

Exploring a bit of Santa Cruz and climbing the whale

Checking out the view of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

Visiting our cousins and littlest nephew in Campbell, CA

Alina loved cuddling Baby Gabe

Adorable Baby Gabriel snuggled up and asleep

Alina did not let him out of her sight all day

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Elise's Kindergarten Graduation - June 2015

Elise is going to miss her wonderful K teacher and class!

Special gifts for her teacher



What a whirlwind Kindergarten year it has been! I recall the first day of school like it was last week. Elise had such an incredible Kindergarten teacher, class and overall experience that I feel like any future year will be quite difficult to live up to. She has learned so much and grown by leaps and bounds both academically and socially. Her reading is far beyond anything I had expected at this age. She was already reading short books by the start of Kindergarten, but her learning really took off and she breezed through all her sight words, and moved on to spelling them all by year end. She rarely even needs help with big words anymore. We are so impressed with her determination and drive and thankful that she had such a supportive teacher who challenged her to continue her growth and learning. It was an emotional day, but she is looking forward to summer camp and seeing many of her friends at summer parties and play dates. Here's looking forward to first grade 2015.




Little classmates/friends at Kindergarten graduation

Visiting with her schoolmate and old neighborhood pal

Her amazing art and school work portfolio; proud mama here

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!

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Mama-Mobile Alert!

Mama's got a brand new ride


Well, it's official, we've swapped the good ole hot rod for a new Toyota Highlander SUV with third row seating. The girls love the new SUV as they have more arm and leg space and are no longer within smacking distance of each other. They also enjoy the super sized sun/moon roof for cloud and star gazing on long car rides. Now we will have room for baby brother to fit in our ride! I am going to miss the old Charger though, it's been a great car for us over the past nine years. I think the girls are going to miss it too, since they have already voiced concern that the new SUV is not fast enough (go figure).



Goodbye SRT8 Charger; nothing but great memories

Friday, May 15, 2015

Happy Mother's Day X 3!

It's a BOY!!!


We have some exciting news to share, we are expecting a new baby due to arrive in October. We had a fun little reveal party with our family recently and are very excited to announce that: It's a BOY! The girls are thrilled to welcome their new little brother later this year, and I can't express how much joy we feel to be blessed with this sweet little baby; our son. 

Celebrating Mother's Day as a mom, not only to our two beautiful and sweet girls, but also to this new special little life has me feeling very honored and grateful. The journey to get here has not been the easiest, but I am thankful every single day that we made it. I also have to admit that I was so surprised to see blue on top of that cake. Being a mom to two girls has made me practically color blind to anything but pink (haha). Dad is also very happy to have a new boy on the way to help balance out all the female energy in the house. The girls, I know, will make great big sisters and mini-moms in training. They are already wanting to help decorate his room, pick out baby clothes and debate over who gets to hold him first. I look forward to seeing how the household dynamic shifts when he arrives. I know the girls will be very interested in taking care of him and always be there to protect him. We are very eager to meet you little man, and experience all the joys that you will bring to our family!



Beautiful flowers

Thursday, May 7, 2015

LA Trip Part IV: Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History

Last stop - The LA County Museum of Natural History

T-Rex and Triceratops fossil display

Silly Elise posing by the dinosaurs

The girls loved the extensive dinosaur displays

Elise enjoyed the mineral display

Minerals & gems at LA County Natural History Museum

Animal exhibits and the preserved mega mouth shark



Our very last destination during our LA trip was the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. We got the double entry pass for both La Brea Tar Pits and the Natural History Museum and while we thought it would be a quick trip, it turned out that the girls did not want to leave and made sure to explore every corner and exhibit. They really loved this place and I would highly recommend making it a top go-to spot while visiting LA. The highlights were the dinosaur exhibit the extensive mineral and gem exhibit. The girls were in awe over the colossal dinosaur bones and Elise especially loved the colorful mineral displays. She declared that she planned to start collecting "beautiful and colorful rocks" once she gets back home. We also paid a little extra to visit the butterfly pavilion and they loved getting to locate and identify the different butterfly species on their guides. 

What a great end to a very fun trip. We had plenty of relaxation, family and beach time early on, so it was nice to spend the last day doing a bit of sightseeing. Elise was thrilled to see the Hollywood sign on our drive back since she recognized it from the movie "Hop". The kids did surprisingly well on the drive back home. We only stopped a couple times and there were no are we there yet's uttered, so all-in-all success. We are looking forward to visiting LA again soon. We want to see our family more often and visit a few more Southern CA beaches. I really want to take the kids to Laguna Beach as I have some great memories there visiting the tide pools with my grandparents. We also still have the California Science Center (home of the Endeavor Space Shuttle) on our future to-do-list. 



Cute Alina posing with the polar bear

South American art exhibit

The Nature Lab was another highlight for the girls

Elise identifying butterfly species; she had it down!

Fun in the butterfly pavilion

Alina found this beautiful monarch butterfly

View of the Hollywood sign on our drive home