Summer Summary

Summer is coming to an end and I feel like so much has happened in the last few months. So much, in fact, that I haven't written about all of it yet. This is the reason for this post: To quickly share some of the things we did this summer that I just never had the chance to blog about.

Playgroup Graduation (June)

Grandma and Grandpa Parkin came for a visit (June)

The girls had to say good-bye to their good friends
Morgan and Sydney who moved out of state (June)

Eve enjoying homemade ice cream on the 4th of July
My brother Jason's kids came and stayed with us for a weekend in July.
Grace and Davis playing together

We took a day trip to the Bay a couple weeks ago. This is the view of the Golden Gate Bridge from where we stopped and had our picnic lunch . Aaron's sister Sarah came with us. We spent most of our time at a fun Children's discovery museum in Sausalito.
Grace, Sarah, and Eve dressing up at one of the exhibits at the Discovery Museum

Big Girl Bed

Our little Eve isn't a baby anymore! For the past week she's been sleeping in her big girl bed. We knew that the time was coming, but when the girls broke the crib last week while playing in it...we knew that it was definitely time! We actually got a bunk-bed for when the girls eventually share a room, but for now we just set up half of it for Eve. She is doing great sleeping in a bed. At first her naps were cut shorter and she was getting up earlier, because of the excitement of being able to get herself out. But I think that is pretty much wearing off and now she is sleeping normal. She definitely feels like a big girl and gets so excited when its time to climb into bed.

Teased Out

I have to hide all hair brushes from Eve. She thinks it's fun to brush her own hair, but this is what happens when she tries:

Happy Birthday Grace

Yesterday was our little Grace's 4th birthday. Let me tell you, it never took so long for a birthday to come! It seems like everyday for the last month or so Grace has asked, "Am I four yet?" Or made statements like, "When I'm four I can______." Well, she's four now and boy does she feel big!

We celebrated by having Aaron's family over for cake and ice cream and "the opening of presents." Grace, of course, loved having the birthday song sung to her and blowing out the candles. But I think it's safe to say her favorite part was opening presents from Dad& Mom, Grandma& Grandpa, Aunts& Uncles, and Julyssa (sent in the mail.) Aaron video taped the whole thing, but I completely forgot to take pictures of her blowing out her candles and opening presents. We did get some pictures afterwards though.

Today Grace and Eve were making little birthday cakes out of play-doh. They were even putting candles on them and singing Happy Birthday to each other. I guess I should say Grace was singing and Eve was chanting "Ha-ppy, Ha-ppy!" Who wants all that birthday fun to end?!!

Lorraine and I dishing up cake


Grace and Grandma trying out her new doctor kit

Sarah, Grace, Eve, and Callen having a tea party

Busy at Play

This afternoon the girls were playing really well together, so I decided to take advantage of it and get some pictures! They were so into what they we doing that they hardly noticed me snapping away. Just wanted to share some of the cute shots I got (nothing professional, but I just love the looks on their faces.)

Eeewww

I never thought I would say this, but Eve is really cute when she has a poopy diaper! As soon as she is done taking care of business, she points to her diaper and says "tinky" and/or "pupo." Then as I start changing her she gets this funny look on her face and says "eeewww"...sometimes over and over! Okay, so I've stooped to a new low...writing about stinky diapers...but this is all part of my life!

Lewis Reunion

Well we've been back from our family reunion since Thursday night, but that's when I started reading Harry Potter...Which of course means I was unable to do anything else but read in my spare time! I finished the book yesterday morning so now I'm free again! So yesterday I finally cleaned my house and finished unpacking from the trip...and now I can blog about it!

We spent four days in Newport beach with Aaron's family for a reunion. It was so much fun! We spent a lot of time at the beach. The girls were braver than they ever have been before at the beach. They played in the waves and did a lot of digging in the sand. They had a great time playing with their cousins. We all had a wonderful time with Aaron's family. It was fun to visit with everybody, play games, and Aaron had a lot of fun bogey-boarding with his brothers. We also enjoyed the extra time the four of us got to spend with one another. Aaron and I got to swim in the ocean together, play in the waves with the girls, and take beach walks. The two of us even got to stay a night in a cottage right on the beach while his mom watched the girls for us at the time-share up the hill (thanks Mom!)

We brought our camera to the beach with us only one of the days, but we still got a few cute pictures. Most of the great pictures were taken by other people in Aaron's family. I'll post some of those in the future when I get copies of them.

Eve, Grace, and Julia examining sand crabs that they caught


Aaron on a bogey-board


My sister-in-law Callen took this cute one of Eve

Going Nuts!

On Saturday night Aaron and I took the girls to a Modesto Nuts baseball game. They are a minor league team in the area. (Pretty silly name for a baseball team...but it's because our area is well known for producing almonds and other nuts!)

We all had a lot of fun. It was cute to see Aaron explaining the basic idea of baseball to Grace. She enjoyed having him pull her arm back and pretend to pitch at the same time the real pitcher did. I don't know if Eve even realized that there was a ball game going on! She was distracted by all of the people in every direction; and loved clapping along with them when the Nuts had a good hit or made a run! Aaron an I were loving the fact that we were in a public place where we didn't have to keep the kids quiet (no one noticed them being loud because everyone was loud!) Most of all, I think we all enjoyed being in a new, exciting place with our family!

A Year Gone By

It's been just over a year since I started my blog! In celebration I've listed the "Top Ten" things that have changed since last July (in no particular order:)

10. Eve's hair...last year's "boy cut" is now full of curls.
9. Grace draws faces and people instead of scribbles.
8. The girls actually play together.
7. We live in a new house.
6. Less tantrums for Grace
5. More tantrums for Eve
4. Eve speaks
3. Grace is fully potty trained
2. I exercise regularly (and I'm really enjoying it!)
1. I feel like I have two little girls (as opposed to a baby and a toddler.)

I'm sure I could go on and on with things that have changed in a year's time; and I'm sure there are more important things than what I've listed...but this is what came to mind in the few minutes I had to write this posting. What a great year it has been!

Then

Now

Julyssa

I just had the most wonderful opportunity to visit my best friend Julyssa! I stayed with her and her family for five days in Arizona while my girls visited their Aunt Becky, Uncle Jason and cousins in Clovis. Poor Aaron was home alone catching up on a lot of work. I sure missed them, but the whole thing was great. It gave Grace and Eve a chance to bond with their cousins, me a chance to have fun with Julyssa and help her out (she just had her second baby and her husband Adam is studying for the bar exam.) Being away from my family also gave me a greater appreciation for them. I returned home feeling recharged and more mindful of my great role as wife and mother.

Julyssa and I had a blast. We talked, and talked, and talked! It was therapeutic. I also had fun playing with cute Nyomi (her 3 yr old) and of course holding her sweet newborn Dylan. It was such a good feeling to hold this new baby and stare into his knowing eyes. We also had the chance to do a little craft project and some shopping together...lots of shopping. One of the highlights of the trip was our photo shoot (although I complained about being the subject of Julyssa's photography!) Julyssa is an amazing photographer and in addition to her photo shoot of me, we spent some time taking pictures together (with the help of Adam.) It was fun because as we were posing for the shots we started getting really silly, and at one point we couldn't stop laughing. It was like a grown up version of us in high school!

I am so glad I went. I am very grateful to those who made it possible for me to have this little adventure.

Swimming Lessons

The girls started swimming lessons last week. It is just a two week session, but we meet four days a week...so we've been doing a lot of swimming lately! Grace is old enough to be in the "big kid" class this year (meaning she doesn't need her mom in the water with her.) Eve is in the toddler class (mommy and me.) It has worked out really well; both classes are at the same time so I can help Eve swim and still be close enough to watch Grace participating with her class. Both girls are having a lot of fun with it.


Today Grace got to try floating in a life-jacket. I think she felt pretty big about that. She's also been practicing blowing bubbles in the water, moving her arms, and kicking with her teacher. She has even jumped off the diving board a couple of times. Eve has had fun getting used to just being in the water. Her favorite thing is to jump to Mommy off the side of the pool. Today was her first day putting her head under the water...she did not like it one bit!

Camping

On Friday we decided to go on a spontaneous camping trip. It's often hard to plan these types of things ahead of time because of Aaron's schedule, but Friday he called me from work and said, "Let's go camping!" It was a lot of work to get everything together in just a few hours, but it was so worth it! We had a wonderful time.

We drove to Pinecrest, which is in the Sierra Nevada mountains. It took us less than two hours to get there. We arrived just after dark on Friday, set up camp, roasted marshmallows, stayed up late, and had a lot of fun. The girls thought it was so exciting to sleep outside in a tent. The next morning we woke up early (the sun woke the girls up, and they woke us), had breakfast, did a little exploring, and spent the rest of our time there at the lake. The best part was when we rented a small motor boat for a couple of hours. We loved it! The girls thought it was great, and of course Aaron and I had so much fun watching their excitement. Eve was actually asleep for half of it, because of the late night/early morning and the vibration of the motor lulling her to sleep. We couldn't stop laughing at how funny she looked sprawled out on the seat of the boat, completely asleep! We got home at about 4 p.m. on Saturday. The entire trip was less than 24 hours, but it was such a needed break (especially for Aaron.) We couldn't have had a better time. I'm so grateful that we were able to spend this time together as a family.

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.