New Camera

Sam and I got a really nice Cannon SLR for Christmas. I am so excited! I have always loved taking photos and I am really excited to explore the world of photography. Here are a few simple shots I have taken the past couple of days. Just playing around right now and learning all of it's features. So much to learn!

Christmas

Sam had to work on Christmas this year so we did Christmas a day early. We spent the day with Sam's parents and newly married sister!!! Congrats Katy. We are so happy for her and John. Anywho, Christmas morning I flew early out to Cali with both kiddos to visit my dad. We had such a great time. Aiden was a little bit of a grouch and Lily cut her first tooth but all in all it was a great trip.


Lily loved first class! She stole my seat most of the flight and sat buckled in her very own seat while I shared one with Aiden. Spoiled rotten!!!




The rose bowl was happening soon so the Los Angeles Equestrian Center had the most beautiful horses out. These were the budweiser clydesdales. This one loved Lily! She was loving it until it literally kissed her face! She freaked a little...haha.




We took a cute little train ride around a park. Aiden and Lily loved it! I just love her new little hat!




My dad, Kim, and Lily before the train ride.




Aiden and Lily laughing at each other on the plane. So stinking cute. They both traveled amazingly. I was very proud of them.




Thanks Dad and Kim for a wonderful time!

7 months...already?

Well, Lily is 7 months today. Another month has once again flown by and we are officially on the closer side of 1. Yikes and a half! Well here are a few things the little bug is doing:












-You are crawling! As I type you have made your way into Aiden's room and are putting a nice layer of drool on everything. He hasn't discovered you there yet so get your damage in while you have the chance.

-You smile and laugh and squeal all the time.

-You love big brother and follow him all over the house. (Picture above)

-When mommy or daddy walk through the door you are so happy and crawl right to us now. Never gets old!

-You are sleeping through the night...well mostly. Still working on that one.

-You are taking baths in the big girl seat and love bathtime!

-Overall you are a very easy and happy little bug.

We love you Lily Grace!!!

Sarcasm anyone?

Okay, anyone who knows me well knows I am a bit sarcastic. See even there I couldn't help myself. I am pretty sure I drive Sam crazy...okay I know I do. I know this because he tells me that sometimes I don't know how to "turn it off". Yeah well, you married me! (Love you honey!) Anywho, I come from a long life of smartasses and that is pretty much just how we do things in our family. With that said, I am not sure why I was surprised when my little firstborn angel inherited this lovely trait of mine. Really, the kid had no hope. Now, I know that I am the mom and I am allowed to say things to my child that he is under no circumstance allowed to say back but sometimes it is just hilarious. Exhibit A: Yesterday I sat him down to explain to him why we can not just take toys from Lily. About 30 seconds in to my ramblings I guess he got bored, also a trait he picked up from me. I am slightly ADD, can you tell. Poor kid. Okay so anywho, he stared at me and said, "Uhhhh I hear you, that's enough, nevermind it". There I stood awestruck. I knew there would be a day when my sweet little cherub baby would turn into an mouthy little boy, I just didn't think it would be at THREE! I wasn't sure whether to laugh or beat the child. (Disclaimer-I would never beat my child. Just more sarcasm.) Now my mouth gets me into trouble sometimes. I have a hard time knowing when to shut up. I know get a shocked look on your face. I stood there pained for him knowing all of the trouble he will most likely be in growing up. I flashed back to my childhood where everyday my mom prayed I would just be quiet in class. Just one day. Yeaaah, never gonna happen. So the question is how do I tell my 3 year old not to have an attitude when it flows through his veins like the Nile. I guess I just do my best to curb it in the right direction. So lesson of today, and the next day and the next and the next. Use your smartass powers for good, not evil. I think I may even get him a cape. If you think about it, start praying for Lily now. She's gonna need it.

Playdate for mommy

Aiden had a "playdate" yesterday. Really it was a playdate for us moms. I really enjoyed hanging out with the girls. I feel at such a balanced place in my life right now. We have found such a wonderful church, our marriage feels so strong, I have two beautiful kiddos, and last but not least I have some really great friends in my life. Now before I word vomit all over you, please don't take this as a "look how great my life is" speech. It is not that at all. We have our stressors and drama and financial woes just like the rest. I just felt very pulled in different directions for a while and I finally feel balanced. We are so thankful for the friendships we have here. Friends that we can truly share life with and that will call us out on our crap. That is true friendship. I love all of you guys. Thanks for sharing life with us.

Here is a pic of the boys. Could they be any cuter?



Rev, Aiden, and Jack. Best buds!

Picture Time

Well today was absolutely beautiful so I took advantage and got some sweet pics of the kiddos! They are getting so big. We had an amazing thanksgiving and I am pretty sure I might need to fast for at least a week...or day whatever. Okay fine I am about to pig out again. Curse you holidays!!! Anywho, we spent the day with Sam's family and the kiddos had a blast with their big cousins. I feel so blessed to have such a great fam. We love you guys!

On a side note, today marks 3 years of our dear friend Nate passing. He was one of the most amazing guys I have had the pleasure of knowing. He and Sam were best friends growing up and he was the best man in our wedding. We think about him all of the time and still miss him everyday. I thank God for Lauren and Jack (Nate's wife and son) and their friendship to Aiden and I. She is truly a remarkable example of a pillar of faith. I have learned so much from her and Aiden has never had a better buddy! We miss you Nate and thank God for the impact you have had on ours and so many other's lives. You were a wonderful husband, father, and friend.

Blast from the past

So I went out with some girls from high school last night. It was so fun seeing everyone and hearing where people are and what they're doing and how lives have changed or not changed at all. Everyone looked so great and it was just a really refreshing evening. Okay, so I had a slight pinot headache this morning. Have to live a little right? If you know me at all you know I love to talk. Just ask Sam. I am pretty sure he filters out at least 40% of what I say half the time. It's okay, I understand. Anywho, I really love having good conversation over a good glass of wine. Is it not the best?! So if you are around, let's chat it up. I hate that it had been so long since I had seen a few of those girls. You know who you are! Love you all!

PS: Let me know what you think about the new blog. It was a little to "mom" for my taste. That's okay right?

Happy half a year!

Lily Grace,

You are six months old today! I can't believe it has gone by this fast. You have been such a joy in our lives. I could not ask for a better little squishy girl baby. You are so happy and full of life. You smile and laugh all day and you love to be held by mommy and daddy. You love your brother and he can make you smile all day long. You are the best little eater and so far we have not found anything that you don't like, although I am sure it's coming. I remember the day I found out we were having a little girl. I had a suspicion all along and had been telling daddy since brother was born that I wanted a pink one. It was always our joke and now here you are. When I look into your big bright eyes, I imagine all of the fun times we are going to have in your life. Thank you for being such a sweet little love bug. We love you and your squishy little face! Happy half a year birthday!!!

Love,

Mommy

Halloween

Well our Halloween day did not go quite as expected. We started the day by meeting Lauren and Jack (Aiden's best friend in the whole wide world!). I thought it would be a great idea to give the pumpkin patch one more shot, seeing as the time prior did not go quite as planned. a.k.a Aiden through massive fit and Lily did not take one cute pic. Which let's face it is one of the main reasons I went. You have to have the "cute fluffy baby in a pumpkin patch" pic. It is a parenting must. Instead I got the "red faced, curled toes, screaming baby in a pumpkin patch" photo. Which was equally as entertaining. See earlier post. Anywho, Aiden was super excited. We got to the pumpkin patch and I told Aiden that we were not going to ride a bunch of rides we were just going to hang out with Lauren and Jack. Insert crying here ______! So I said, fine we will ride a few rides. I agreed because I just wanted a happy fun day that Aiden would remember as one of his first big boy Halloweens. Insert happy child. (I promise he is not as spoiled as it sounds.) So Aiden jumps out of the car and embraces Jack with that I am so happy you are here look on his face. We let the boys run around in the field...oh wait...MUDDY AS COULD BE...field. New shoes=covered in a nice cakey layer of mud. There goes my freshly vacuumed car. I think happy thoughts. It is halloween and it WILL be a fun, laughy, make lots of memories kind of day. So we ride the hay ride, let the boys ride the ferris wheel and decide it is picture time. Insert Lily puking on me. We got some pics of the boys, Lily, me and Lily, etc. We see this old wooden wagon and decide that it would be the cutest picture of the boys. Insert Lily puking on me again. I load Aiden on and am pulling out my camera when I see a bee right by his face. There had been bees everywhere that day. I am pretty sure they were mocking my failed attempts. So anyways, it hovers right in front of Aidens eye and before I can brush it away, Aiden panics and covers his eye trapping the bee between his hand and eyelid. Insert hysterical-just-got-stung-in-the-eye-by-a-freaking-bee child! I get him to pull his hand away and notice he has the bee in his clinched fist and has a kung fu grip on this thing. Luckily it did not sting his hand too! I scoop up the poor little bug (Aiden not the bee) and love on him like my life depends on it. I felt so bad! Insert Lily puking on Lauren. I said lets go home and rest. He started crying so hard I could not understand what he was saying. I finally make it out in between his deep gasping for air breaths: " IIIIII....wawawant...to...riiiiiddde...thethethe....feerrrisss.....wheeeeeeel". So we did. Then I loaded up my puffy eyed boy and spit faced little girl and drove home to prepare for a night of fun.

Well Halloween night turned out much better. Aiden's swollen eye looked so much better and he was a hit in his dinosaur costume. He got to jump on one of those inflated tramps where you are harnessed in. He thought it was the greatest thing since wow wow wubzy found the pirate treasure. The day was memorable to say the least and I did get some really cute pics of the kiddos after all. Insert "cute as can be baby in the hay"!

Catch up and halloween round 1!

Well it has been a while so I have alot to catch up on. First off, Lily is getting so big! She is using her jumper now which she LOVES! She is babbling up a storm and is starting to eat rice cereal every day. Aiden is so sweet to her. He loves on her and tries to comfort her when she is upset. He is growing like a weed too! He is obsessed with friends. It doesn't matter if he know them or not either. If you are between the ages of 2 and 12 you will do. Anytime we see a kid at Target, church, etc, he screams "Hi friend!". Well the past few mornings he has woken up to our downstairs neighbors going to school. There are 3 kiddos in their family and you can always hear their crazy bunch walking to the car. I have woken up the past 3 mornings to Aiden screaming. I rush in his room thinking something terrible has happened and he is standing behind his curtain, looking out the window crying because his friends are leaving. Then for about 30 min after, he sadly reminds me, "friends have to go to school". What a sweet little bug.

Last friday we went to a Halloween carnival. It was a pretty stupid little carnival in town, but Aiden loved it! Perfect for a 3 year old. His costume for this year is not finished yet so we threw on his monkey suit from last year that he refused to wear! Lily was a little bear and she ended up winning a prize for best baby. She got a $5 gift card to the ice cream place in town. We will use that for her. Here are a few pics of the monkey and bear! Mimi is making Aiden's costume for sat. He loves this book called dinosaur halloween and really wanted to be the little kid from the book. He is really excited. We will post pics from that at a later date. Other than that we are just living life and trying to enjoy the craziness that is 2 small kids. Until next time!

What a good looking husband I have!!!