Summertime!

Well summer is officially here!

Took its sweet time, but it is here.

Suppose to be 99 degrees tomorrow and who knows what heat index will be with humidity.

But we're not complaining!

We'll take it. :)

These two little sun goddesses are loving every minute of it.

I feel like we're even busier now then during the school year!

We're keeping busy with spray parks, Great America, swimming, running around at parks, picnics, playdates, swimming lessons, library activities, etc.

Right now Bella is enjoying her very first sleepover.

I think the girls finally quieted down about 9:30. :)

Sadly, I still have some catching up to do on the blog but I have no memory space on our computer to download any pics! The hubs promises me he'll try to fix that this weekend, so hopefully I can get rolling again! :)

Crawling?

So Miss Brooke has been "crawling" for about 2 months now. And she can and does get up on her knees. But she'll just rock and then go back to her arm crawl type of crawling.

Basically she keeps her legs straight out behind her and uses her toes and arms to move herself along.

Well in the last week or two she has gotten fast!

Still this weird arm crawl but fast.

I'll joke around and say I'm coming to get you and she'll giggle up a storm and take off.

And she's pretty quick!

Here's quick video of her special little crawl. :)

And this one just for fun, one of her favorite things to do is fill and empty buckets. She could literally do it for hours, or at least a good 30 minutes. :)

A Two-Wheeling Pro!!

So when my mom was here at the end of May we thought it would be fun to try to get Bella to start practicing her bike....

(her and Brynn both got one for their birthdays from the Usual Suspects. Bella's is a little too big so she's using Brynn's bike and Brynn is using Bella's old one.)

We were wrong, it was NOT fun. She was absolutely terrified. She had sat on the big one in the house and the hubs was playing around and she fell off it and ever since then, she has been so afraid of the bike. Finally after A LOT of persisting we got her to ride Brynn's new one with training wheels. It rocks a bit so this made her nervous.

Anyway my mom and I tried, I took the training wheels off her old bike cause its really little and close to the ground so she can easily just stand, but she wasn't having it. We got her to go a little but she was still very unsure and shaky.

So a little after the hubs returned from his trip, on June 2 to be specific, he worked with her for a bit and she got it!

Here's the proof (please excuse my obnoxiously loud cheering):

She asks to practice all the time. This may have something to do with the hubs telling her he'd take her to Disneyland once she could. Hey we were desperate and she wouldn't even get on the bike at first! So she had gotten pretty good but still needed one of us to get her going. Then one day (June 12) I went to help her and she said, "No mom don't help me."

Well then.

It may have to do with her neighbor friends biking around on their two wheelers with out assistance. She wanted to be big like them. :)

Sniff, she's growing up!

So I said ok and didn't help. She tried and tried and never gave up and then she just did it!

And now she's a pro!

Shortly after she got good on her own we convinced her to move up to Brynn's new bigger bike and she did that too!

And now she's a bike riding fool. She could do it all day. Yesterday I put the babies in our bike trailer and Bella and I rode around our neighborhood 3 times! So proud of her. :)

Here she is on the bigger bike:

Last Day for School 2011....

Phew.

Still trying to catch up! :)

So end of May also brought Bella's last day of preschool....ever!

Sniff.

She's grown so much this year, hubs and I can't believe our first baby is a future kindergartner!

She's so brilliant, sweet, polite, obedient,etc. and we could not be more proud.

Love you Bells!

Last Day!

Here's Bellie on her first day of preschool this year...

And her first day of preschool ever (2009)....

Magical.....

So for the girls' first day night of swim lessons it was 90 degrees which was perfect.

(they have it at 8 o'clock at night)

At their second lesson it was 60 degrees. Yikes!

Our weather just can't seem to make up its mind.

Of course they didn't care and the pool was heated.

After class I was discussing with them how they must have been freezing,

Brynn says,

"My teacher said the waters magical, thats why its warm."

So Bella pipes up,

"No its not, only God is magical."

Yup, baby girl, only God is magical.

:)

May 29- Significant to me.....

So May 29th also marked a significant date in our family's life.

Our little one, in God's hands now, would have been 1 years old.

The day past with out much thought.

No one really gave it much to do.

The hubs doesn't even really know the weight of that date.

But a mommy does.

I was talking with a friend of mine that lost a little one too and had felt the same way.

Nobody really knows and remembers these milestones.

But a mommy does.

Even though we were "blessed" to lose our little one early on, a mommy forms an immediate bond.

That little one, although we knew of him/her for a short period of time, as a mom, I already and plans and dreams for her/him.

So if you know someone who has had a miscarriage, no matter how early on, know they loved that little one like they were holding them in their arms.

And are devastated that they never will.

Thank the Lord Almighty we were blessed with the miracle of Brooklyn just a short bit later,

which doesn't erase the sting but makes it much more bearable. But many are not that fortunate. So be sensitive to those you know suffering this hardship and tell them their little one is not forgotten.

And to you my friends (you know who you are) I remember your little ones and think of you and them often and am thankful our little one has good company!

Memorial Weekend...

We had a nice Memorial Day weekend. That Sunday I got the girls dressed up in their sailor dresses for church. Someone did not want her picture taken.

She graciously plastered a smile on eventually. :)

We had our new dear friends over for pizza on the grill.

These girls are nothing but trouble! ;)

Following our dinner we enjoyed a local treat at Tastee Freeze.

This little one literally begged me for a bite of my ice cream.

I may have obliged.

The big girls wanted to ride home together, so we drove the three little ones home. Every time we looked back at them all they were doing was smiling ear to ear.

No one made a peep, just smiled. :)

Monday we enjoyed a Memorial Day parade with our wonderful buddies!

Much better weather this year, last year it down poured on us!

(last year)

All the kiddos!

Brooke enjoyed herself while playing with her feet.

The girls stood and saluted the veterans.

Brooke wasn't sure what to think about all the motorcycle noise.

And of course the kiddos favorite- CANDY!

My Favorites!

Four of the best father's I know and am so thankful for!!

Happy Father's Day!

Special Dates....

K back to catching up! Back to end of May.....

Every year we go to a Cub's game with one of our besties, the Chevriers, from the usual suspects. Our college has an alumni event every year that's dinner and a Cub's game, so we make sure to join in the fun every year! This year the hubby couldn't go because of work so I thought it would be fun to bring one of the girls. To make things fair I said I would take one of them to a movie and one of them to the Cub's game.

Bella chose the movie, we went and saw Rio (so cute!) with a couple of her besties.

Sorry cell phone pics. :)

So we've been going to Cub's game with the Chevriers for the last 6 years at least.

2006 Bella joined us.

Couldn't find a pic from 2007

2008 Brynn joined us

2009 kid free!

2010 kid free but 7 months preggers!

2011

Well we got a sunny day but it was FREEZING!

They were giving away free ice cream which was just crazy, hence my crazy face.

However Brynn and Ryan happily ate this free ice cream.

Somer and I stuck to Hot Chocolate that was graciously being sold, along with cold beer. :)

Thanks Somer for the pics!

One thing that struck me about the evening was, first how sweet and well behaved Brynn was. But also that she did not stop smiling the WHOLE evening. She never complained about how cold she was and just seemed to have a great time. I don't really get one on one time with her, after this outing I realized I needed to do it more often, she loved it and I did too!

Crazy girl loving her ice cream.

So fun to have a special night with my middle baby!

First thing she told her big sis when she got home into her ear in a whisper-

"I got to sit on Uncle Ryan's lap and have dinner." Ha! Loves her Uncle Ryan. :)

11 years!!

Last Friday the hubs and I celebrated 11 fabulous years of marriage!!

Yes, I was a baby when we got married, just turned 20. :)

Dear friends of ours covered all the kiddos and we were able to have PF Changs, YUM, and real conversation.

I shared with the hubs things I have been wanting to share with him from my Hearts at Home conference in March.

It was delightful. I shared, he listened, he shared and I listened.

Perfect anniversary celebration.

Love you baby!

Over the years......

wedding....

honeymoon....

just announced our first pregnancy.....

8 years!

9 years....

10 year- our first trip since our 1 year anniversary!

And 11 years!!

(at the restaurant with my phone sorry bad pic!)

I am forever thankful and feel blessed to have 4 little ones, 3 on earth and one in heaven, with this wonderful man, husband, and father.

Thank you for unloading the dishwasher....

thank you for hiding laundry so I can have an empty laundry basket even for just a day....

thank you for raising 3 beautiful, God fearing ladies with me.....

thank you for great back massages....

thank you for bringing me home Baskin Robbins ice cream....

thank you for always going to Olive Garden for special outings....

thank you for keeping our household up and running....

thank you for supporting us so I can stay home....

so much to be thankful for and so little time,

I love, love, love you honey!!