It's Back

The inflatable pool is back! Actually it's a new one...last year's had a hole and got thrown away in the move! The girls were so excited to get it out and set it up. They splashed around in the front yard (because of course the backyard is still all dirt) for a good chunk of the afternoon yesterday. I got out my beach chair and umbrella and read a book while watching them "swim." It was great!

Cheese

Eve just learned to say "cheese" when taking a picture. Here is the result!

Olivia's Baptism

We had a nice visit with my family this weekend. My niece, Olivia got baptized on Saturday.My parents drove out and stayed with us Friday night; then we all drove down to Clovis (Fresno area) on Saturday for the baptism. My Brother Trenton also drove up from L.A. so there we quite a lot of us together for the day. It was so fun to see everybody. And It was nice to share in Olivia's special day. My girls watched in awe as their cousin got baptized, and grace looked up at me and said, "When I'm 8, I will get baptized!"

After the baptism we went back to Jason and Becky's house (my brother and his wife) and had a BBQ and swam in their pool. It was great to watch Grace and Eve run around with their cousins, and it was nice to visit with my family, Becky's parents, and their friends. I learned that Eve is fearless of the water, and even Grace is a more confident swimmer than last year. It was a nice way to kick off the summer.

San Francisco Zoo

The first Wednesday of each month is free at the San Francisco Zoo. Of course I've been wanting to go for a while, but there has always been a conflict of either doctor appointments or something else. This month we decided to try it! So my friend Alicia and I ventured out to the "Big City" with each of our two kids. It all went very well considering that we had 4 small children to manage and neither of us have the greatest sense of direction. We only made two wrong turns on the way there and back!
It was a lot of fun...and the kids had a blast. It was a really nice zoo, with good variety of animals. I love how fascinating animals can be to young children...it's like the most exciting thing in the world. The S.F. zoo was right by the beach. We tried to go play in the sand afterwards, but it was so windy that we literally couldn't open our eyes. The sand toys blew away from us and the kids were getting pounded in the face with sand so we decided to cut our beach visit short.

One of the hardest things about doing a trip like this when you're outnumbered by children is taking decent pictures. I honestly gave up trying after a few attempts. I got one of Eve looking at the camera, but failed to capture anything but the top of Grace's head! Oh well, we had so much fun that I have the pictures ingrained in my memory!

"My"

Eve's new favorite word is "my." She says it when she wants something or when she is claiming something. Earlier today we heard her put it together with another word: "My silky" (that's what we call her little blankie.) That's the first time we've heard her use two words together. It was very exciting! Until a couple of days ago Eve wasn't using words very much. She would grunt or squeal, use baby gibberish, or sometimes even sign...but all of the sudden she repeats all kinds of words she hears me say. For example, I'll ask her a question and she'll repeat the last word I say. It's funny how the speaking switch just kind of turned on! It's very fun to witness.

Her Favorite Place

Every Wednesday, when Grace is doing warm-up stretches with her ballet class, her dance teacher asks each girl, "If you were a butterfly and could fly anywhere where would you go?" The little girls each give their answers: to the park, to Disneyland, to dance class, etc. Every week Grace gives the same answer in her confident, three-year-old way: "I want to go to the Temple!" So each week they flap their bent legs, like wings, and pretend to fly to the temple. I love that she already has a testimony of how special of a place the temple is; and it makes me smile every time she gives her answer in class.

Congratulations Julyssa!

My friend Julyssa had her baby, and I am so excited for her! It's a boy and his name is Dylan. I just wanted to share this fun news.

The Lake

On Saturday Evening we went on a picnic at Turlock Lake with our friends, the Bittons. Because it was so late in the evening we were the only people on the beach, which was great. The kids were able to run free and splash around in the water. Grace enjoyed exploring the shoreline and dipping her toes in the cold water. She also had fun chasing her friend Spencer. Eve, who started out very uneasy on the sand, was actually digging in it by the time we left. Both girls really seemed to have a blast. Aaron and I also really enjoyed this family time together.

The next morning of course was mother's day. I had a lovely morning sleeping in and enjoying a nice breakfast made by Aaron and Grace. It was great to be able to reflect on my wonderful role as a mother. I love it! I can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing. I get such a kick out of my girls and the funny things they do, and the tender ways in which they express their love... Like when Grace looks at me for a few seconds and then says, "I love you Mom." Or when Eve puts her head on my shoulder and lets me hold her a few moments longer. It's definitely worth the trials that come along with motherhood. To read my "Top Ten" that I wrote last year click here.

Micke Grove

We went on a little field trip with Grace's playgroup this morning. We drove out to Micke Grove Zoo which is a "mini" zoo about 45 minutes north of here. I was also watching my friend's baby, Faith, all day so we brought her along too. It was an adventure to be on an outing with three kids. The double stroller sure came in handy for the two little ones, and Grace wanted to run around with her friends anyway. So it really worked out quite nicely. Grace's favorite things were the monkeys, and Eve was fascinated by the sea lions. We had a very fun time. Here's a picture of all three girls smashed in the back of my car (It's the only picture I took of the trip since I had my hands full the rest of the time.) They actually really enjoyed the drive and the two youngest slept most of the way there!

Little Ballerina

Grace started her ballet class three weeks ago. She calls it "Miss Lilly's Ballet School" (from the book Angelina Ballerina.) I think she really thinks her teacher's name is Miss Lilly.

The first week she absolutely would not participate. She sat next to me the whole time and watched the other girls dance. Afterwards she was in a very grumpy mood and we stopped by Aaron's office on the way home to say hi. When he saw her he asked her what was wrong. She folded her arms and with a frown said, "Dad, I danced badly." He asked her if she would dance for him if he came to her class the following week and she said yes. So, the second week Dad showed up and she was delighted. She was a different child and was dancing without hesitation. It was cute to see that having her daddy there gave her so much confidence. Now she looks forward to going to class, and is quite social. I think she enjoys talking to her little friends in-between turns as much as the actual dancing part! Up above is a picture of her with her cute little class, and down below is Grace practicing with her teacher.

Nursery

Eve is officially part of the Nursery class at church! She has been going for a few weeks and seems to love it. She has absolutely no problem saying good-bye to Mom and Dad for two hours, and hello to toys and treats! It certainly beats having her disrupt Sunday School time again, and end up crying in the halls. It is so hard to believe that she is a big-girl now (relatively speaking.) and that I have my Sundays back!

April Showers Bring May Flowers

The other day it was pouring down rain and making all kinds of fun mud puddles in our backyard (which right now consists only of dirt!) Grace really wanted to go play outside, but I told her it was too wet and cold. She responded, “I know, I could put on my rain coat and boots and then go outside!” I had to admit it was a good idea, so that’s what she did. After being out there a little while she popped her head into the kitchen through the sliding door and said, “It’s raining so our flowers will grow!”

Today it was sunny again, although very windy...we're still waiting for those backyard flowers (we may be waiting a long time!)

Easter

Easter was such a nice break from all of the moving-in chaos. On Saturday morning we had a lovely brunch with Aaron’s family in their backyard. It was followed by egg dying for the kids, and of course a super-fun egg hunt afterwards. Grace had a ball playing with her cousins and was really good at finding hidden eggs. Eve was satisfied after finding one plastic egg and sat down to eat its candy insides upon finding it! That evening all the adults went to go see the final performance of Savior of the World (the 5 Stake production that Aaron has been a part of.) It was fabulous. It was such a wonderful play, and I’m so glad I got to see it and be reminded of the blessing of Christ’s resurrection. The next day we went to church with Aaron’s family and had a really enjoyable day.

Grace and Eve in their Easter dresses.

Promised Pictures

Chelsea e-mailed me the pictures from our little rendezvous in Southern California a while ago, but of course with the move I haven’t had the chance to post them. Well here they are…these kidos were so cute together!

Boston, Chelsea, Grace, Maren, Eve...what a fun bunch!


Eve enjoying the "baby-talk" with Cassidy

The Move

Moving is not fun! I feel like my life has been consumed by this move over this past week (not to mention the weeks before that in preparation for it.) No, but really things are going well. We moved into our new house a week ago. We had a lot of help from people in our ward and from Aaron’s family. Two of Aaron’s brothers even stayed over the night of our move and helped us with misc. moving in stuff the next day. Grace and Eve stayed at Aaron’s parent’s house for about a day and a half while we did the bulk of our move. They were very excited to return home to a new house (at least Grace was…Eve is still getting used to the idea.) We are very grateful for everyone’s help.

It’s amazing how long it takes to get unpacked. Part of me just wants to unpack from sun up ‘til sun down until absolutely everything is unpacked and we can call it home. But of course that is not possible. The only time I can really get anything done is during the day for two hours while Eve naps and at night when both girls are in bed. Considering that, I think we have actually done quite a bit. The kitchen and bedrooms are almost all done, there’s just all the miscellaneous stuff that goes in the hall cabinets, in the office, and in the garage (what a disaster…we can’t even park in there yet!) We’re just glad to be here.

Sam I Am

Tonight for dinner we had Tacos. Of course in the true Grace manner of doing things, she turned her nose up at it and said, "I don't like that." I told her she had to at least try it. After nibbling a few little bits she exclaimed, "I like it, I like it!" I could see that she was excited and I asked, "Are you Frances trying a new food?" (Side note: Grace loves to pretend to be different characters from books she reads. Frances is the title character in Bread and Jam for Frances which is about a little animal who will only eat bread and jam, but finally realizes she is missing out on all kinds of other yummy food.) Grace responded, "No...I am Sam I Am!" (The creature from Green Eggs and Ham that finally persuades his friend to eat the bizarre dish.) She continued to eat her taco, but insisted that she have her copy of Green Eggs and Ham open at the table so that she could look at "Sam I Am" while she ate!

Eve also did something pretty funny tonight. I watched her move a chair from the kitchen table over to her high chair. She then climbed up onto the chair, then up onto the high chair tray, and into the seat of it and sat herself down. I guess that was her way of saying, "I'm hungry and would like to eat now." Also, as you can see from the picture, she is improving on her fork skills!

By the way, things with the new house are going well. We are moving in next Wednesday!

San Diego

We returned late last night from our short trip to San Diego. Aaron had a National Prudential Convention to attend, and the girls and I went along for fun. He stayed in a downtown hotel right by the convention center with his dad (who was also attending the convention.) Grace, Eve, and I stayed with Aaron's sister Angela (husband Jared, and kids Julia and Dallin) who lives down there. They were such great hosts! We really enjoyed our stay.

While Aaron did his "conventioning" the girls and I played! On Monday we went to Birch Aquarium with Angela and her kids. We had a lot of fun seeing lots of marine life...Grace was amazed by all the different creatures that live under the sea! We picnicked outside the aquarium and took the rest of the day pretty easy while the cousins played. The next day there was a lot more playing and cousin fun! It was a cold, overcast day but we went to the beach anyway to let the kids dig and run around. Grace was so excited. When she found out we were going she exclaimed, "I've been waiting to go to the beach all morning!"

I also got to see my life-long friend (literally...since birth) Charlotte while I was there. She lives and works there in beautiful San Diego. Angela was awesome enough to offer to watch the kids for me while Charlotte and I had a girls night out. We had a blast! We ate wonderful sushi and later got ice cream sundaes at Baskin Robbins. We talked and laughed (almost constantly.) It was really fun to be carefree for a few hours...I felt like I was in high school again!

Tuesday evening the girls and I said our good-byes to Angela's family and headed downtown to pick up Aaron at his hotel on our way out of town. By chance, another childhood (through adulthood) friend, Chelsea, was vacationing in nearby Newport Beach. She, along with her husband Travis and kids Boston and Cassidy, had been there a few days. We met them for dinner on our way out of town and had fun catching up. Boston (2) and Cassidy (2 months) are so darling! All the kids seemed to get along really well and chased each other all over the restaurant (except for baby Cass of course!) I forgot to bring my camera in, but Chelsea got some good shots that I'll post as soon as she e-mails them to me.

It was a great trip! Now we are home, escrow closes today, and the reality of just how much we have to do over these next two weeks is really sinking in!


Grace and Julia by the whale fountain in front of the aquarium.


The girls looking into what Grace referred to as "the big fish tanker."


Charlotte and I on our night out...I just love her!


Eve at the beach. She wasn't a big fan of the sand. She got mad when it stuck to her feet!


Dallin, Grace, and Julia making what they called their "scary" sand castle. These cousins had a ball together!

Busy

Busy, busy, busy…that’s what our life is going to be like over the next three weeks. Last night Aaron and I sat down together with our calendars and realized just how packed and stressful the coming weeks will be. We have appointments to keep (like signing escrow papers and the final walk-through on our new house), a four day trip to San Diego (Business for Aaron…pleasure for me and the girls!), escrow closing on the 21st, arranging work we’re having done on the house separate from the builder (i.e. tile, carpet…), dress rehearsals or performances almost every night for two weeks straight (Aaron is in a five-stake production of “Savior of the World”), doing the rest of the packing and actually moving it all to the new house, not to mention that work for Aaron is very busy right now with lots of people wanting to put their houses on the market. Its all good stuff…it’s just a lot all at once! Needless to say we are looking forward to the second week in April!

Aaron is still at a rehearsal that goes until 9:00 p.m.(haven’t seen him since 8:00 this morning) so I’ve been a little eager to get Grace and Eve off to bed. In fact, I did everything a little early tonight. We ate dinner at 4:30, had the girls bathed and in their Pajamas by 6, let them savor ice cream cones, and had Eve in bed before 7:00. Grace was not in bed quite as early, but still by 8:00. It was actually kind of nice to start the whole winding down process early, because there was absolutely no need to rush through anything. The picture above is just a fun shot that I took of the girls eating their ice cream cones tonight.

Spring

I LOVE SPRING! I guess it's not technically spring yet, but it sure feels like it. The Hyacinth bulbs are coming up, the trees are all covered with white or pink blossoms, and the sun is shinning warmly with just the right amount of cool breeze. It's by far the loveliest season, but unfortunately it also seems like the shortest. Which is what makes me want to enjoy it so much while it is here...before it turns into another hot summer.

It was such a beautiful morning. A little after 9:00 I loaded the girls into the bike trailer and we went on a bike ride to the park. We spent some time playing there before we rode home. After arriving home we just didn't want to stay inside (because, of course, it was so beautiful outside.) So we spent the rest of the morning playing in the backyard. We pulled out the beach toys and dug in the wood chips, "painted" the patio with brushes and water, and topped it all off with a picnic lunch!

Although the reason I'm enjoying my day so much is in part the nice weather, it's also because it is such a contrast from my challenging yesterday. Eve was in pain from a double ear-infection and we couldn't get a doctor's appointment until 3:30 p.m. She was up very early, was extremely irritable, and the poor little thing couldn't nap more than 15 minutes at a time (because of the pressure on her ears...plus she couldn't breathe through her nose.) She is so much better today. She's been on an antibiotic since last night and prescription ear drops that numb the pain. She's actually napping right now...what a relief!

Flying High

It was a gorgeous, sunny afternoon and the girls and I spent it playing in the backyard. While I was pushing Grace on the swing she asked, "Do you know what I want to be when I grow up?" I genuinely did not know what she had in mind (as it changes almost daily) so I responded, "What?" She replied, "An airplane!" and she added, "Airplanes fly high in the sky!" Come to think of it, that would be a fun thing to be!

Layover

On Thursday Morning my parents had a layover in Oakland for a few hours. They were flying back from Hawaii where they just had spent 11 days on a cruise. They planned a longer layover in Oakland so that we could have a chance to see each other. It was definitely worth it!

The girls and I picked them up at the airport at about 8 a.m. and then headed over to Denny's for a big breakfast. We had fun eating our pancakes and hearing about all the fun things they did on their trip. It had been raining all morning, so after breakfast we talked about where we could go to finish our visit out of the rain. We decided to go to the Oakland Temple visitor center. When we got there the sun came out and it ended up being a beautiful morning. We enjoyed walking around the temple grounds and inside the visitor center. Grace and Eve loved the time with Grandma and Grandpa. After we dropped them back off at the airport Grace cried and said, "I want to go on the airplane with Grandma and Grandpa!"

Happy Valentine's Day!

Oakland Temple

This past Sunday, right after church, Aaron, the girls, and I visited the Oakland Temple (about a 1 1/2 hour drive.) We had a wonderful time walking around the temple grounds. We took our time smelling flowers, watching the water fountain, and admiring the view form the temple's terrace. It was a beautiful day.

Both girls loved seeing the temple (in fact Grace insisted that we sing "I Love to See the Temple"...and we all did!) Grace kept telling us that she loved being there...that she wanted to live there...that it was her favorite place. While walking around Aaron asked her how she felt, and she replied "I feel the Spirit." Children are so amazing.

We spent some time in the temple's visitor's center as well, which we all really enjoyed. After leaving, we drove out to Mt. Diablo (a state park in the bay area) to drive to the top of the mountain. It was a slow and curvy drive, but we really enjoyed looking at the amazing view. On our way back down the mountain we stopped at a picnic site and ate the picnic dinner we brought along (very quickly since the sun was going down and it was getting cold.) Then we headed home. It was a great day. The kind that I wouldn't mind having over and over again!

Let's Go Fly A Kite

This morning as we were eating breakfast Grace announced, "I'm going to fly a kite today!" I looked outside at wetness and told her that we would not be able to fly one, because it was raining and probably would be all day. She seemed determined and later in the day reminded me that she was going to fly a kite today. I told her that we could go to the library and check out some books about kites. She agreed, and after Eve's nap we set out to the library. As I loaded the girls in the car I was glad to see the sky clearing up a bit...and by the time we left the library, we noticed that it was unusually windy. Grace seemed excited and I told her, "You were right, it is a great day to fly a kite!" As soon as we got home we pulled out our kite and Grace ran around the backyard with it flapping in the wind. She giggled and screamed in delight as she saw it rising above her head. Eve was watching in amazement and screaming right along. I don't know how Grace new it when she first woke up this morning, but it was the perfect day to fly a kite!

Her Words

I just wanted to share some of the words that Eve uses on a regular basis to express herself. Some of them she has been saying for a while, and others are fairly new. Here they are in chronological order (to the best of my memory, at least:)

Dada
Moma
Shoe (sounds like "shhh")
Cracker
Cat
Car
Grace (It comes out sounding something like "gosh"...but she says it very distinctly when referring to her sister!)

Oh yes, and there's "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" (she says this to express just about everything else!)

SOLD

Our house closed escrow early last week! It is sold and now we are renting it back from the buyers for a month or so while we wait for our new house to be completed. It's really nice to have that stress behind us, but now we have a new stress...PACKING! I pulled out a few boxes this morning to get started on this daunting task, and the girls wanted to climb in. They had fun playing in the box for a while, I got distracted taking pictures, and then Eve was ready for a nap. She's asleep now, Grace is watching Sesame Street, and I am putting off packing again! I better go get started.

Thank you

I just wanted to thank all of my family and friends for remembering my birthday! I received phone calls, cards, a package (Mom and Dad), e-mails, and even a blog posting (Julyssa.) It's such a wonderful feeling to know that I'm loved!

I had a really nice birthday. It's fun when you get to spread it out over a few days! On Friday Aaron and the girls took me on a picnic for lunch. I got to enjoy hot dogs and fresh cut flowers that he brought for me. On Saturday, he took the day off and we went to a session at the Oakland Temple, did some shopping near San Francisco, and had a nice Italian dinner (all while the girls enjoyed playing with Uncle Brian and Aunt Sarah at Grandma's House.) This evening we've been invited to celebrate my birthday at Aaron's family's house. I'm excited to have yet another night of not having to cook, and my mother-in-law's cooking is so yummy! She's even making me my favorite dessert!

Sick Day

Both girls are down for a late nap. It's been a long day, and it was an even longer night. Poor Grace has had the stomach flu. We were awake almost continuously from about 12:30 to 4:00 a.m. while our little sweetie threw up five different times. We kept thinking it was over...that she couldn't possibly throw up anymore, but we ended up having to change her sheets and p.j's a total of four times (by the end she was getting the hang of aiming for the bowl.) She remained so calm and sweet the whole time. The experience really reminded me how special and enduring she is. It also reminded me how loving and dedicated Aaron is to both me and our daughters. He camped out in a sleeping bag next to Grace's bed for half the night to assist her in case it happened again. He was her (and my) night in shinning armor.

It's true what they say: that when you serve someone you grow to love them even more, and that blessings can come from our trials.

Silly Sisters

There's no doubt that these two love each other! Even though there are many instances of pushing, hitting, kicking, tackling, swiping each other's toys, etc...they just love being sisters.

It's cute to watch Eve as she follows Grace around the house. If Grace is upstairs, Eve goes upstairs. If she is downstairs...guess where Eve wants to be?! At times Grace acts annoyed, but I know she really enjoys having someone to play with.

If her little sister will hold still long enough, Grace loves to snuggle with her. Sometimes Grace will force Eve to snuggle, which 90% of the time results in screaming. The other 10% of the time triggers contagious laughter. I think it's for that 10% chance that Grace keeps trying it!

Friends Are Fun!

We had so much fun this weekend! Our great friends Julyssa, Adam and their adorable little girl Nyomi came and visited from Arizona. They made a drive through California visiting family and friends in L.A., San Francisco, Sacramento and of course here!

It's hard to say whether we (the adults) had more fun or if the little girls did. Grace and Nyomi played really well together. They had a ball dancing together, chasing each other, screaming together, playing with dolls, purses and jewelry, and of course making each other laugh. Grace would giggle and and say, "Nyomi's so funny!" Eve kept herself busy by trying to do everything the two older girls did.

I really enjoyed having Julyssa here. We had a good time just talking and sharing experiences. We also got to do a little shopping and even saw a "chick flick" while our husbands "played" together. It was a lot of fun.

The picture above shows Grace and Nyomi in their matching jammies right after a bath and the ones below show the fun they had twirling around in delight and then falling to the ground in laughter as they danced to music. Like I mentioned before...Grace dresses herself!