Just For The Grandparents

Last week (like I said earlier, I'm trying to catch up!) was Grandparents' Day at Bella's school. Her Kindergarten class had worked so hard to prepare the most adorable song, complete with sign language to go along, and a few other small songs, dances and bible verses. My parents happened to be in town for Thanksgiving and Ty's birthday, so Bella was thrilled to have them attend! In fact, she was double blessed because John's parents live right down the street, so she had both sets there to watch her perform. There was a strict rule that parents we not allowed...only the grandparents~ but I had a sneaky way in because Mrs. Sia asked if I would come be a class helper that day, so of course I said yes!! {and I maaaay have snuck in a picture or two) My little princess got to stand front and center for the performance in the gym (you know the proud mom in me was secretly super excited about that) and I have a better, more close up picture that is still stuck on a memory card somewhere... that always seems to happen to me when I'm looking for pictures :/

This is Isabella with her two best friends, Lauren & Grace

Performing their songs and dances in front of all the grandparents in their classroom :)

And here's a recent oh-so-lovely development... Bella like to shmoosh her chin in when she smiles for the camera, giving herself like 4 double chins. Super cute.

I'm In Love With Two Men.

And they both love me back.

I'm a lucky woman.

Turkey Day 2010

Yep. I cooked that sucker.

I offered to host Thanksgiving this year, and this was my beautiful bird in all its glory.

We had my parents here for Thanksgiving, as well as Emily's roommate, and three of John's cousins and Jazz's girlfriend Lexy. Full house! The dinner was pretty good if I do say so myself, and the best part was that I used paper and plastic (the fancy kind that looks like real silverware! Is it weird that I used fancy plastic utensils?) so that the clean up was a cinch.

Here are Jazz and Lexy (I also did a photo shoot with them that you can view HERE)

but Ty decided to crash this picture, so he jumped in :)

Siblings, Arece, SunShine & Jazz

And of course, Arece's girlfriend just happens to be my little sister. I know- it's a weird mash-up of families. But John and I checked it out to make sure there wasn't anything creepy with them dating :) They aren't related, so its all good :)

All in all, it was a fun weekend of visiting, and now its off to prepare for Christmas! I must be getting old because I swear we just had Christmas. Time to flying by me insanely fast...

Time To Get Away...

We're at it again.

The six of us escaping up to the mountains for our annual retreat. You know the rules- no make-up, you must stay in your sweats, we eat and drink as much as we want, we stay inside by the fire talking, playing games and watching movies.... even give up cell phone service (well I did. Darn AT&T.)

It's a rule in our group that the only kids allowed are babies under 9 months. Well, basically if they can crawl.. they are too old. We learned that lesson after I brought Ty when he was 10 months old. Let's just say we had to move very trinket off the shelves low to the ground, and Hudson had a traumatizing experience with a jumper-swing. So, this year it really was an all-girls trip, because all of our babies were beautiful little girls! We had Lily, Grace and Sienna join the big girls for a little getaway :)

Grace was the oldest, and the social butterfly. She had lots of great heart-to-heart talks with Sienna and Lily.

Lily's pudgy cheeks and full lips give me baby fever. But the look on Amanda's face when she had been up since 5am, quickly cured my fever ;)

We cook, drink, laugh and have fun. It's just what we do.

Here are the five women who liked our special cocktail recipe for a sour limon gimlet. It was a cross-breed between my recipe ad Kerri's recipe (with secret ingredients that can not be shared).

And here is the one weirdo who did not like the gimlet ~ and instead, preferred a bottle of hideously sweet white zinfandel.

The rest of the pictures shall remain unseen by the general public :)

Love you girls!!!!!

Happy Birthday Buddy

Ok, so I'm a little far behind in blogging... but now I'm trying to catch up to speed :)

I have t start with Tyler's 3rd birthday. I just can't believe how big he is, and how fast these three years have gone by. There is a spot in my heart that will forever be Tyler's... he has truly stolen my heart.

He is my brave little protecter :)

I wrote a tribute to him for his birthday on my photography blog, and I have decided to make a birthday video for the kids every year. That way, I will have a whole video library of each birthday... documenting each milestone as it passes. If I close my eyes, I can still picture him as this tiny little newborn, all snuggled on my chest. If any of you know how to time travel- please let me know.

Ty, I love you more than I could ever describe in words. You are the perfect little boy, and I am enjoying every minute of being your mom.

hugs and kisses, Mommy

** You can see his birthday post and video HERE **

My Beautiful Rapunzel & Brave Knight

If you were to ask Tyler a month ago what he wanted to be for Halloween it was not a knight. In fact, it was quite different.... he would of emphatically told you that he wanted to be "an EXCAVATOR!!!!" with his big ear-to-ear grin and sparkling blue eyes gleaming with excitement.

That's right.

An excavator.

A big, yellow, dirty Caterpillar machine that digs dirt.

(At least I think that's what it does. To get an accurate job description, I should really ask Tyler)

Ty is obsessed with big trucks, any kind of construction equipment, semi-trucks and all-around boy stuff. And if it has lights or a siren- its even cooler. I kid you not- the boy stands out on the curb in his underwear every Tuesday morning, just so he can wave to the garbage man and marvel at the big yellow truck. I promise to take a picture next Tuesday... :)

Anyway, John researched how to make a home-made excavator costume, but with only a few days before Halloween, we decided it was too big of a task to take on. So, a knight it was! Bella had already decided months ago that she was obsessed with Rapunzel, so that was already a done deal. And what better to go with a princess, than a brave knight to defend her?

I actually snapped the above picture just as Ty had picked a flower and was giving it to his sister!! How sweet are those two??!

Bella loved her costume. She twirled around constantly, and flipped her hair back and forth for emphasis of her diva status. It was pretty hilarious to see her in the wig... kinda made me smile at the end of the night when she took it off and I got to see my curly-haired beauty again.

But they had fun running around at our church's Fall Festival, and then partying it up and trick-or-treating with their cousins (I'll try to get a picture of all the kids together).

And at the end of the night, John and I had successfully picked out all our favorite candies from the kids' buckets, and we had happy, exhausted kiddos.

Just the way we like it :)

The Words I Can't Forget....

The other day I was working on a project, and I was going through some home videos of Bella and Ty when I first brought home Ty from the hospital. I couldn't get over how much life has changed. How much they had changed. In fact- how much I had changed! And it reminded me that it had been a while since I had blogged about the cute little moments and things they say that make me smile. I want to keep them etched in my mind forever- so I have to document them.

One of our favorite "Ty-isms" is the way that he phrases every question as a statement. For example, when he wants juice he will say- "You can get me juice?!" or "You can help me up?!" He's asking a question, but he always forgets to say "can you.." So everything sounds like he's making a demand, and it cracks us up. Our favorite (or maybe not...) is when he poops on the potty, and we hear him yelling to us from down the hall- "YOU CAN WIPE ME?!"

And a few of our favorite "mixed up" word that Ty uses.....

"merote" - remote

"banilla" - vanilla. Anything that tastes sweet, Ty tells us "yummm, it tastes like banilla!"

"mother-trucker" - john thought it would be funny to tell him that's what a semi-truck is called. But now we can't get him to change it, and he yells out this inappropriate term every time he sees one. Oh brother. Thanks John.

"prayroom" - playroom

And for Isabella, lately we just crack up at her stories and comments about school. It's like she has this whole other world in Kindergarten that we don't know about- and hearing her tell us about it is like seeing her as this new little person. Some of our favorite stories she's told us-

* The time that two boys in her class got a red card for pulling down their pants.

* Hearing her light up with joy when talking about what "job" she was assigned in class.

* The time she excitedly told us about her first bus ride on a field trip- and the joy of not having to wear a seat belt!

* She told us Cole said he wants to marry her. Apparently, this little boy has quite the crush on our Bella.

* Watching her practice and perform the songs they learn in class. My favorite is when she sings "America the Beautiful". Its so adorable!

* The pride she felt when she got to have a special lunch with the teacher for having a green card every day for a month. That's right- we have a little teachers' pet on our hands :)

I just love them so much, I could burst!

{ps- thank you steph for the priceless pics of my babies}

Pretty in Pink

Last night Bella had a pinktastic date with her Aunt Emily.

The two of them donned perfectly pink outfits, and made their way downtown to see Pinkalicious: The Musical , which happens to be an adorable theatre production of Isabella's favorite book- Pinkalicious.

To make the date even more special, Aunt Emily bought Bella a Pinkalicious crown, a new Pinkalicious doll and a few books to bring along to the show in case someone could "autograph" them for her. And what do you know- Pinkalicious herself signed Bella's book for her, and told her that she look absolutely beautiful in her pink outfit! Bella was in heaven.

A new sparkly wand, an evening watching a pink-errific musical, and a few hot pink cupcakes later... Bella was sound asleep in the car ride home.

What a day- and what an Aunt! We love you Aunt Emily!!

New York, New York!

Ok, so I have waaaaaay to many posts to start posting, because I know I have fallen way behind.

But in order to start it off right, I have to do a quick post about our fabulous trip to New York with our fabulous friends Brad & Megan! =)

It started a few months ago when we took a San Diego vacation with them and all our kids, and we all agreed that we needed an adults-only getaway together. Brad and Megan had already started planning a trip to New York for Brad's birthday (big 3-0!), and asked us to come along, so how could we say no??! Count us in!

{I will pause for a minute to give a HUGE thank-you to my sister and Arece for watching the kids for us and allowing us to enjoy ourselves while we were so far away! We love you guys!}

The place where we stayed was unbelievable. A 25th floor penthouse on the corner of 48th & Broadway, just blocks from Times Square. I have too many memories to post, so I will simply condense it all by listing a few fun highlights:

* exploring Central Park

* shopping

* lunch and coffee in Bryant Park, watching old men play bocci ball =)

*private walking tour of New York... walked for 7 hours with our tour guide and saw everything!! The blisters on my poor heels prove it.

* learning the Subway system =)

* Top of Rockafeller Center

* Wandering the east village one night in search of the perfect restaurant (maybe not such a highlight, right Megan?!) again, I have the blisters to prove it.

* Best pizza ever at John's Pizzaria

* ferry to statue of liberty

* sitting second row at Promises Promises. I felt like I was close enough to reach out and touch Kristin Chenoweth!

And this one is just for you Megan,

"You don't like creamed spinach?" ;-)

The time went by too quickly, and we had such a fun time. I thought I didn't take enough pictures, until I started to make a highlight video, and realized I couldn't fit everything in! So below, you will see a video of a few favorite memories of our fun {maybe too much fun in some of them! ;-) } Some were taken with a phone, so the quality may be poor- but the pictures still make me smile.

And Megan- you are going to LOVE me because I found a song from GLEE to go with the video! Do I know you, or what?

You're welcome :-)

*quick note* The file may be big, so press play then pause it and allow it to load before viewing. Enjoy!

Sunday Funday

We've seen every kids' movie out there, we've done all the splash pads and played in the pool all summer, and all of the usual indoor play areas didn't sound like too much fun... so we came up with a new idea that the kids had never tried before - bowling!

To my surprise, the bowling alley was actually pretty empty for a sunday afternoon, so we got a lane right away {with bumpers of course... which helped me just as much as the kids!} and Bella went on the hunt for a perfect ball. Of course, she was choosing by the color and the amount of sparkles the ball had, so we had t steer her in the direction of the lightest ones other wise she would have been bowling with a 15 pound ball :-)

And how cute are bowling shoes in toddler sizes?! So adorable!

First up was Ty.

John explained the instructions to him, and helped him with carrying the ball.

STRIKE!! =)

Bella insisted on doing it mostly on her own. She actually had a pretty cute walk and technique to it.

And check out this cool contraption! Its like a bowling ball slide for kids- I had never seen one before! Bella actually preferred throwing the ball herself; I think that was part of the joy in bowling :-)

It was a perfect way to get out of the heat and do something new and fun with our sweet little munchkins. And since its a three day weekend, we are off to do something new and fun with them today too! More pictures of today will come later =) Happy labor day!

Today Was The Big Day

Today Bella arrived at her new school.... Scottsdale Christian Academy.

I've been talking about this day, and thinking about this day for a long time now. But it didn't seem real until we watched her line up at the sound of the playground whistle, and enter her new room. My baby seemed so old now, and thank goodness my big sunglasses hid my tears because I just couldn't stop them. I didn't want Bella to see me cry, so I smiled beneath the tears as I waved her good-bye. I had totally kept it together all morning, and even as we arrived at the playground and watched her play. But when she actually lined up, and marched right into this new phase without even turning back or hesitating for a second... I started feeling that lump in my throat- and it was all tears from there. I made a beeline from the school straight back to the car- really unable to even talk. I honestly didn't anticipate on feeling so emotional! But I'm a mom. And those kind of emotions just come with the territory. Bella and I have a very special bond, and I'm thankful for these types of emotions because it just reminds me of how deeply I feel about her, and how special she is to me.

We started out the day with a family breakfast, and John made her special mickey mouse pancakes {her request}. Then I got her all dressed and ready, and braided her hair {again, at her request. She is very opinionated these days}.

She looked so stinkin' adorable, and she had her cute backpack and matching lunchbox in hand- all ready to go!

I packed her lunch last night, and included a special shortcake desert and a little note for her as a surprise :-)

Of course we made her pose for pictures all morning so that we could forever remember this big day with our little girl.

Of course, Ty had to hug his big sister and wish her good luck on her big day :-)

She gave him a little pep-talk and told him that she would be fine, and he needed to be a good boy :-) They are so precious!!

Then it was time to head out for school, so we had a quick family prayer for Bella's big day, and then we all went as a family to see her off.

We arrived at school early, so Bella played on the Kindergarten playground while we waited for the whistle (and of course, took more pictures)

The time had come for her to go into class, so we watched with heavy hearts as she lined up and walked away.

Sometimes I feel like I love my kids so much, that my heart will burst.

Isabella and Tyler mean the world to me, and I never in my wildest dreams thought that being a mom would change me in the way that it has.

And although I can't do anything to stop her from growing, I feel so blessed. Blessed that Bella and I are so close... blessed that we are able to send Bella to such a wonderful school... blessed that she is happy and healthy and blessed that this is only the beginning of all new adventures waiting for us..... :-)