Happy Easter!

Almost May...oops!

Yep...May almost got here before we put something up for April...eek!!

We've been having fun for sure and keeping super busy! We had a couple hot days recently, so we let the kids splash a bit...



This was Daniel's first dip in a pool....to say he liked it is an understatement....





He LOVED it...I've got a water baby on my hands!!





Abby is enjoying carrying on a tune and if we could get her on that show, "Kids Say the Darndest Things," she would have the whole audience rolling out of their seats. Lately, she's just cracked us up with her most random little phrases - catch the last little phrase on this little clip...



This kid loves to smile!!







And he's starting to really try to carry on a conversation with us. He hasn't said MaMa yet, but he's got DaDa down and he says Abba for Abby. Love it!! Here is a clip of just him babbling...





I guess he likes to smile because he's got such a great example set for him all the time...



I know this clip isn't clear, but I just had to share something regarding Abigail's first dance class...errr excuse me, ballet class as Abby would correct you. My friend Andrea takes Abby and her daughter Lily to ballet class on Thursdays. Abby LOVES this....if she could live in her ballet clothes and shoes, I think she would be happy every day of her life!



We had a couple birthdays in our family...here's Abby writing on her bday card to Uncle Bob. She actually can write an A, H, and an I...



But at the beginning of the month, Abby helped pick out treats for our Libby's 5th birthday. She even wanted candles to blow out after singing! So precious!!

Marchin' straight through March...

We didn't find any four leaf clovers, but we sure have been feeling lucky this month. Our family, our kids, and our friends have blessed us so much just by being them!

Daniel is starting to "walk" with his little bike-thingy...







Abby is pretty good with ABC's now and is about 50-60% accurate with her letter recognition. It was really cute the other day...she was playing with her new homemade wand (thank you Gallion's for this cute bday gift) and she was pretending to be like the SuperReaders from SuperWhy and spelling letters and making sounds in the air with her wand. I guess you have to see an episode off of KPBS in order to understand what I mean...but it sure was cute to "catch" her doing it on her own ;)





Daniel is crawling everywhere...he's crawling downstairs, all throughout our bedrooms, and recently, he just mastered crawling up our stairs (with mommy close behind him of course ;) and he just gives you this huge grin of accomplishment. He loves to be "chased" and he'll giggle to his heart's delight when you "catch" him.





He's got this little bashful thing going right now...he'll give you this sweet sheepish grin and then tuck his chin down...mommy thinks this is absolutely adorable!!



We had some of our favorites in town recently - we love the Barnett family!!

Daniel got to meet his new buddy Graham for the first time!! They're only a couple weeks apart, so they're destined to be buds ;)





And Abby enjoyed spending some long lost playtime with her buddy Austin!!







The ladies enjoyed gabbing and being mommies together...



And we couldn't ask for a better group of friends to do life with together! We LOVE our HomeGroup!!

Thing 1 and Thing 2

Today is Dr. Seuss' birthday, so I figured it would be a perfect day to debut these absolutely adorable photos that Cindy Kyle took of my kiddos. My Thing 1 and my Thing 2 having fun with Dr. Seuss characters and books...



I'm sure you can tell that I have a heart for all things Dr. Seuss - maybe it's the classroom teacher in me, but I just love the stories, the rhyme, the talent! So it was perfect when Abby was due on Dr. Seuss' birthday that we decided to introduce his stories and characters to our family early. Abby's room is designed from one of my favorite stories, "Oh the Places You Will Go," and the kids' bathroom is designed from "1 Fish, 2 Fish."



Abby has quickly picked up on the names of the characters in her room and it's cute when she wants to read stories that have the characters in them.



So they look all calm and enjoying each others' company here... if only you knew how it really went ;)



...but it took a book to finally get Abby to just be in her element. She loves her books!



My favorite Dr. Seuss quote - "A person's a person, no matter how small."



What's your favorite Dr. Seuss book? My top favorites are "Oh the Places You Will Go, Happy Birthday to You, Oh the Thinks You Can Think, and To Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street."

A Julian Surprise

I hate to admit it, but it has taken us almost five years to take up my parents' 1 year anniversary gift and go up to a Bed and Breakfast in Julian, just a little northeast of San Diego. (Yes, Debbie and Steve, we still need to use up your giftcard from back then too...geesh, we're slackers ;)

My parents purchased a gift certificate for us to have a one night stay at the Eaglesnest Bed and Breakfast, right in the heart of Julian. Little did they know that the gift would later also entail babysitting two kiddos while we were away ;) A lot of the hold up for me in my mind was that I wanted to go up when it would be really cold and when there would possibly be some snow - the season for that always coincides with Robbie's basketball season, so I'm usually out of luck to find a weekend where he's not tied up with coaching. But alas, Robbie's season ended last week and I heard that there might be a little bit of snow, but definitely rain and cold, in Julian this weekend, so I jumped at the opportunity. I planned to surprise him and sweep him away for the night and spend some quality time in Julian, sipping cider, eating a slice of pie, and lingering in quiet and relaxation for a day away from the kids. It was a perfect plan ~ besides that I didn't know that he actually still had a basketball commitment and that my little bit of rain and cold would turn into a lot of snow and us with no chains for the car. Regardless, we had a WONDERFUL time away!!

We got up there in cold dry weather and woke up in the morning to a winter wonderland. At 6am it had just started to sprinkle the snow down, so we thought we were totally in the clear. 9am rolled around and we went upstairs for breakfast and looked out the windows and realized very quickly that the snow was coming down fast and was really piling up. We decided to head out shortly after that and really, we left just in time - had we stayed just a couple more hours later, we would have been staying overnight one more night (not such a bad idea in my mind ;) With no chains and almost 2 hours later, with the HUGE help from the BnB owners, Jim and Julie, we were able to finally get the car out onto the main road and we were good to go back home.

10am...getting ready to start heading out...



This was how quickly it was coming down while Robbie and Julie began shoveling a pathway...



I have to admit - Robbie asked me about chains and needing them up there. I reassured him that all the weather forecasts I read had said snow on Saturday evening...nothing about the morning...let's just say I blew it and this was not a happy Robbie... ;)



But we had a fantastic time at this super cute little quaint BnB, with the most adorable, loving Golden Retrievers. I highly, highly recommend visiting them if you're interested in just a quick little getaway in Julian, and an amazing breakfast in the morning - we enjoyed stuffed french toast, poached pears, cinnamon buns, fresh cider and fruit spread...and more. Delicious and the service of Jim and Julie, the owners, was unstoppable and super accommodating. They made you feel right at home and tried everything to make you comfortable! Check them out at Eaglesnest Bed and Breakfast









And this was all the snow we got to bring home... boo! ;)