The Best Week Ever! (as Bailey would say)

Last week Kyle, Sam, and the kids were in town for a vacation.  They recently moved up to Oregon, so it was so much fun to hang out with them.  We packed the 10 days with fun activities for everyone; we were on the go the entire time.  We didn't realize it until yesterday before they were going to leave that the kids got along perfectly.  Last time Kate, Owen, and Bailey were together for a long time there was a lot of fighting, crying, screaming, and other fun stuff.  This time it was pretty peaceful with very little fighting.  I guess it's because they're all getting so much older and wiser! 

Best Buds: this is right before they left to go home.

This morning when Bailey woke up she asked when we could go play with her cousins today.  When I proceeded to tell her that they went home last night, and that their home is far away, she began to bawl her eyes out.  She was truly heart broken that her cousins weren't there to play all day long.  I'm so sad that they live to far away, but we aren't going to let the distance keep these kids apart.  It's important to us that they stay close friends forever.  We had so much fun hanging out everyday and I can't wait until Christmas when we can all be together again.

Here's our fun filled week in review:

They got in Saturday afternoon, so we just hung out at the house and played games.  Sunday was a regular church day.  I had to post these pictures of Bailey and Brooklynn because they looked so cute.

Bailey was a little patriotic in her dress.

Brooklynn was a tiny ballerina.

Tuesday was Legoland day.  None of us had ever been before, so we didn't know what to expect.  My mom was a chaperone with her school for the day, but really she chaperoned all of us.  It was great because she was able to buy tickets for all of us through her school for a true bargain.  It was slightly crowded because of all the schools that were there, but it was still fun.

Here's most of us--Tera, Kyle, Ty, Owen, Kate, Mom, and Bailey.  Toni, Sam, Josi, Brooklynn, and I weren't in the picture, but we were there.

The rides were pretty slow, but the kids loved them.  They rode planes, helipcopters, and cars.

Brooklynn was a dream baby and slept in the carrier for a really long time.  We couldn't resist a picture of her adorable sleeping face.  Later in the day an lady came up and moved her hat because it was covering her face.  I said, "Yes, because she's sleeping, or should I say was sleeping."  I wasn't very happy with her.

This is a classic Josi face!

The kids really did love all the legos.

They had an entire Star Wars land made of legos.  We had to pose with Chewy and R2D2.  (This picture is for Trisha!)

This was my favorite ride.  The kids were all able to drive a car around a mini track all by themselves.  The worker girl asked each of the kids how old they were to make sure that none of them were too young or old.  The kids are the ulitmate lie detectors!  We weren't sure how they were going to do, but I was sure excited to find out.

Here's Bailey and Kate on the straight away.  This was a rare moment when Bailey wasn't crashed into the side of the track.  If I had to rank them, Owen would come in first, followed by Kate, and finally Bailey.  We were cracking up the entire time at their driving skills.

After their time on the track was over, they each got a driver's license.

They were all excited, despite these slightly solemn faces.

Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were all beach days.  The first two days were great weather; the second two beach days were cold and even misty!  Kids don't care about the weather, they just want to enjoy the beach, sand, and water.  They were all great beach kids and lasted many hours all four days.  It was great because after we were done with the beach, we'd simply walk up to the Carlsbad Inn (where Kyle and Sam were staying)and jump into the pool to swim and clean off.

This was a sunny day.  Bailey could not be bothered to even look at the camera--much better things to do.

Josi is one cool chick!

This is Toni's favorite picture to prove that Josi actually liked her.  Josi was hesitant all week to jump into anyone's arms, except for Ty.  She loved Ty!  So all week we all tried to be her friend, but she didn't truly give in until the last day.  We know that deep down she loves all of us.

This was moments after my mom was teaching Owen one of the finer skills in life--going to the bathroom at the beach.  She was trying to get him to just go while sitting on the sand and none of us were paying attention to the waves.  Right at the wrong moment, a wave came up and kind of crashed on Owen.  The water went right up to his face!  He survived, but might possibly be scarred for life from this experience. 

Josi loved looking at all of the birds at the beach.

Twinners!!

This was one of our cold and cloudy days, but they didn't care.  They ran and played all day.

Brooklynn got all dressed up for the beach--such a beach beauty!

Saturday we had a big BBQ at my parents' house.  It was for fun, for Josi's birthday, and because we had a big jumpy.  This thing was awesome!!  It had three slides, a bball hoop, a pool area at the bottom, and it sprayed water.  All of the kids that were over played on it for at least an hour.  I kind of want to buy one from Costco.  If I had a big yard, I probably would, so I guess it's a good thing that I don't have a yard.  They played until they were worn out for the day.

Aaron was able to come down Saturday afternoon.  What a good uncle!

Bailey wore herself out--not only from the day but the entire week.

Throughout the week we also squeezed in: Xmen movie, Sushi lunch, Padres game, Super 8, lunch at Harbor Fish, shopping, and lots of games.  It was such a fun week with almost the whole family together (Toni stayed down the entire week!).  I'm so glad that Kyle and Sam were willing to make the super long drive.  I truly am already looking forward to Christmas when we'll all be together again.  I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful family who actually enjoy spending time together!!

Livin' the Life

I love my life!  I love being home with my two girls every day.  You won't find us home much of the time, but at least it's an option if we want it.  Our days are filled with beach, swim lessons, Disneyland, play dates at the park, shopping, or whatever we want to do.  I even cleaned my floors yesterday!  Because we've been so busy, I haven't been posting much at all.
I don't know why, but right after Brooklynn was born we bought these 2 day Disneyland passes.  Those two days quickly turned into annual passes and every Wednesday has been Disney day!  We pick up Toni on the way up there and then meet Becky, Hailey, and Chloe.  Most of the days we even stayed until close--my girls are troopers!  It does make it a lot easier that Toni is able to come with us.  Brooklynn usually just sleeps and eats the day away.  Bailey has been able to ride the tru big kid rides.  A couple of weeks ago, Toni and Aaron took her on Tower or Terror and Big Thunder Mountain.  She said it was scary, but fun and she talks about it all the time.  She is 39 1/2 inches tall and you have to be 40 inches.  We have been stuffing folded up napkins in her shoes, but this last time Toni just bought her some flip flops with enough height to make it work.  This last week was the best Disney day yet!  We went on the sneak peak of the new Little Mermaid ride.  It was a very cute ride.  I wish that Disney Wednesday could last all year long, but we didn't have enough money for those passes.  We still have one more chance to go this summer, but it may be too crowded even for us. 

Here we are on the Buzz Lightyear ride.  I love the look on all of our faces.  Also notice my super high score--baby and all!

In addition to all of our fun adventures, Bailey has been saying some super awesome stuff lately.  Two nights ago, she said the best dinner prayer I've ever heard.  It went a little something like this: 

"Bless that daddy will give me blessings and keep the monsters away so they don't come in our house; bless Brooklynn so she won't throw up; bless mommy will be safe."  There was more, but that was the best part.  I kept looking at her in amazement because her prayers usually just bless the food and amen. 

That night when I went into her room before I went to bed, I noticed that she had her field hockey stick next to her.  In the morning I asked her why.  She said, "To bash the monsters with!"  I don't know why  she is kind of obsessed with monsters lately, but if her field hockey stick keeps her safe that's great.  She has a great imagination and uses it often.  She will  just play with her toys and make up beautiful songs and funny stories.  And on most days lately, being three isn't that bad.

She's also in swim lessons and, finally, loving it!  The first three lessons she cried and tried to grab onto her teacher for dear life.  I don't know why she was so scared.  I think it was because she usually had one big intake of water through her nose.  I am not above bribing her to do things, so we started getting kids cones from McDonalds if she did good.  Both lessons this week were awesome!  She is doing so well and she might even start learning how to actually swim.  I'll bring my camera next week to take a pic of Bailey and Hailey at swim. 

Brooklynn has been such an angel baby.  The past couple of nights she goes down around 8:00ish, then I waker her up to eat around 11-12 and then she's down for the night.  She wakes up between 7-7:30!  It truly is amazing!!  She smiles so much more now and really wants to be able to talk.  She makes adorable little sounds if you talk to her.  I don't know if it's because there's so much less stress with Brooklynn compared to Bailey, but I'm enjoying this stage so much more. 

Other family news:

1. My sister Tera graduated with her Masters. Yeah for Master Miller! I'm so excited for her that she never has to write another paper again.  I'm glad that we were all able to help her celebrate her big day.

I love this picture of Tera!  She looks so cute!

I agree with Brooklynn that graduations are a little boring.  The only exciting part is screaming as loud as you can for the person who is graduating.  I'd like to think that our family is always the loudest.  Our screaming did wake Brooklynn up.

Mom & Dad enjoying the cermony

Hmm, what should I major in?

Toni & Aaron

Tera and her friends

A sugar addict at such a young age.  Look closely and you'll see that she's hugging a candy bar.

2.  Toni got a job.  I don't know if I should celebrate or cry.  I'm happy for her to finally end her search for a job.  But I'm sad that we won't be able to hang out all the time.  It's been so much fun to have Toni around.  I will be sad and Bailey will be sadder :(

3.  Kyle, Sam, Kate, Owen, and Josi are on their way here!!  They'll be here for about 10 days!  I can't wait to see them--especially baby Josi who is almost 1 year old.  We'll have almost the whole family together for a week and I can't wait!



Bubbles, Rainboots, & S'mores

Brooklynn was 2 months old yesterday!  It's kind of crazy how quickly two months have flown by.  My philosophy is since I'm not working, I'm going to take full advantage of my time off--even with a tiny baby!  Thank goodness that Brooklynn is an angel baby and sleeps magically most days.

Blowing bubbles is one of her favorite activities.

Last week we took Brooklynn to see the GI specialist again.  The good news--she's up past her birth weight!  She officially weighs 9 pounds 12 ounces.  So in her first two months of life, it took her one month to lose a pound and another month to gain it back and add one more.  Her official diagnosis is: idiopathic neonatal hepatitis.  Try to say that quickly!  In a really fancy way it means that some babies get hepatitis and they don't know why.  Don't let the term hepatitis scare you; it simply means that her liver is inflammed and hepatitis is the technical medical term for that.  The doctor said that it will go away within the first year and that there are no permanent side effects or damage because of it.  That's all I wanted to hear.  We still have to monitor this for a while with regular lab work and weight checks, but she's a tough little girl who can handle it.

She loves her right hand and she's getting pretty good at getting it to her mouth.

At two months old, here are her list of likes:  the ceiling fan in our room will occupy her time for a while, eating all day long, any song that I sing to her (she thinks I'm the greatest singer that ever lived), taking naps, her right fist (it finds its way to her mouth quite often), being held, this crazy sound I make to get her to smile, and any machine that makes loud noises (vacuum, car, hair dryer, etc.).

Some more bubbles and a smile!

We also made a trip to Disneyland last week.  We bought those two day SoCal passes a while ago and they had to be used by last Saturday.  Brian couldn't take a day off of work, so I brought Tera with us.  We picked up Toni along the way and met Becky, Hailey, and Chloe there.  Bailey loved having all of her favorite people there.  It was so fun to watch Bailey and Hailey run around and talk about Disneyland all day.  Around 2:00 we left to meet up with my parents and grandparents for lunch and the Sullivans left for the day.  We had a wonderful late Mother's Day lunch with the family and then headed back for more fun. 

We saw the scary Queen of Hearts on our way into Disneyland.  Bailey couldn't decide if she was scared or happy to see her, but she was brave enough to take the picture.

It was so much fun having Tera with us and the girls loved it!

They loved the teacups.  It was practically impossible to get a picture with both of them smiling and looking at the camera.  There was just so much for them to look at.

Happily waiting in line, as Bailey would say, "This is the best day ever!"

We went to California Adventure on our return trip.  Since it was getting a bit chilly, Toni put Bailey's rainboots in the stroller just in case her feet got cold.  (Don't ask why her boots were in the car, but I ended up being really happy they were.)   Toni watched the girls so Tera and I could go on the Tower of Terror; it was an awesome ride.  Then we walked over to the other side of the park to ride the giant Ferris wheel.  This ride surprised all of us and was lots of fun.  We then continued to walk around the carnival rides to see what Bailey could ride; she was just a little bit too short for most of them.  Then we had a brilliant idea--put on the rainboots to make her tall enough!  The idea worked!!  Bailey was able to ride any ride with a 40 inch minimum requirement.  (It reminded me of when I was little and my mom shoved empty cups into the heels of my tennis shoes to make me tall enough to go on a ride at Magic Mountain.  I learned so many useful parenting tips from my mother!)  Due to her new found height, Bailey was even able to go on Soaring Over California.  She loved it!  She said that she was flying like a bird and wasn't scared one bit.  Bailey is a fearless kid.  So now when we go to Disneyland (which will be more often since I bought us passes)we'll always pack the rainboots whether or not it's raining.
 

Posing peacefully on the giant Ferris wheel, before...

the fun part!  She's such a big girl that she didn't want me to hold on to her, but I was afraid she would fall out of her seat if I didn't.

My sistas!

This was the first ride wearing the rainboots.

This is the height requirement sign outside of Soaring Over California.  Her head just barely skimmed the bottom of the 40 inch post.  She was so excited that she could ride it with us.  It was fun to watch her on the ride; she wasn't scared at all.

There is a commercial on TV for Hershey's chocolate that has been making me want s'mores. Every time I see it, I instantly crave s'mores. I finally gave into my cravings and bought s'mores supplies last week. On Saturday, we brought the outdoors in and made s'mores on our stove. Bailey was really excited about all the delicious ingredients--graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmellows. Those three things are definitely in her list of top ten foods, but s'mores probably won't make the cut. She took a baby bite and then the messiness of it all scared her away. She ended up eating just a plain, old, roasted marshmellow. It was a fun family activity. And you better believe that I'll be having more s'mores later this week!

 

Bailey's first bite of s'mores

She loved her plain marshmellow the most.  I kept asking her all night, "Do you like Flock of Seagulls?"  Her day old hairdo reminded me of the movie The Wedding Singer and that guy with the crazy hair.

Happy Muda's Day!

Me and my girls

Happy Mother's Day!!  In the title I spelled it "muda" because that's how Bailey says it.  All of her "th" sounds come out sounding more like a "d" when they're in the middle of a word.  It's so adorable when she says it, so I had her saying it all day. 

It was a wonderful Mother's Day weekend.  Toni came down on Saturday so we (me, Toni, and Tera)took our mom to get pedicures.  We love a good pedicure!  Then we met the rest of the family for a lovely lunch at BJ's.  The grand finale to the day was that me, Toni, mom, and dad, went to the movies!!  We saw Water for Elephants.  I really liked it; plus, I haven't seen a movie in a while so it was fun.  The only downside was that we were still so full from lunch, that we didn't get popcorn.  The big bonus of the movie was that Brian stayed home with Bailey and Brooklynn!  Since Brooklynn eats formula, she can stay home with dad for a while.  That's the beauty of a baby to takes a bottle!

On Sunday Brian and Bailey made me a yummy breakfast in bed.  It was waffles, strawberries, bacon, and OJ--all of my favorites.  I was able to sleep in as much as Brooklynn slept in, which, sadly, wasn't much at all.  Bailey made me a beautiful card and Brian got me a cute, new diaper backpack.  I have been wanting a back pack because it's easier to hold with two kiddos.  We then all got dressed and went to church.  After church we headed to the beach for a lunch with Roxann.  Despite the fact that it was freezing cold, we had a fun picnic at the beach.  From the beach we went to my parents' house for a Mother's Day dinner.  My dad and Brian cooked a wonderful feast for all of the ladies in the house.

It was a wonderful weekend!  I'm so thankful for the moms in my life.  My mom is such a great friend and example to me of what a mother should be.  I'm also thankful that I can be a mother to my two little girls!  Being a mom is hard work, but so much fun!!  Happy Mother's Day to all moms!

Direct Quotes

Bailey as the Pink Ninja

Three year olds say awesome things!  I have to write some of them down before I forget.  Bailey and I have been having some really fun/funny conversations lately; they often remind me that being 3 is not the worst thing on the planet.

Kids:
The other day we were stopped at a stoplight and there was a lady walking in the cross walk.
Bailey asked,"Mom, why doesn't she have a kid?"
I said, "Not everybody has kids."
"Why?" she asked in utter amazement.
"Well, not everybody has kids with them all the time," was my plain response.
"Why not mom?  Kids are so much fun!" she exclaimed.
I thought, you're right Bailey--especially when she has such great insight on the world.

She was the Pink Ninja and I was the yellow one.  I had to teach her a few ninja moves so she could fight off the bad guys.

Clothes:
One of the fun things, for me at least, about having girls is dressing them up in adorable outfits.  If you know me, you know that Bailey has more clothes than any one little girl needs.  I've always picked out her clothes, but lately she's been wanting to pick out her own.  She usually wants to wear a "pretty dress" or an "adorable skirt."  Last week I was trying to get Bailey ready in time to go to Brooklynn's doctor's appointment.  Bailey wanted to wear a nice church dress, but I persuaded her to wear a different play dress.  I can usually convince her to wear something more suitable, as long as I give her a few options.  This process is not the quickest thing, but at least she feels like she got some input in the decision. 

When she was finally dressed and marching down the stairs, she was chanting, "I'm gonna wear everything that I wanna wear!"  It was not a defiant chant, but one of pure happiness in her outfit for the day--a purple, flowered play dress and her pink polka dot Hello Kitty rainboots.  She had to make sure that she had a coordinating purple headband to match--of course!  I would have taken a picture of her ensemble, but I didn't want to be late for Brooklynn's appointment.

Other Favorites:
"Brooklynn's following asleep"  instead of falling asleep.

"Do you want to see my big surprise?" she'll ask anyone while holding anything behind her back.  The big surprise could be a sticker, her shoes, a piece of paper, or even a piece of trash.  Everything is exciting as long as it's described as a big surprise.

"This is the best ______(day, food, present, show, etc.) in my life ever!"  I love this one because she is so sincere and does feel at that moment that whatever it is is the greatest thing she's experienced in her life.

She also loves "big kid games" (any game that's in a box), movies (she's truly obsessed), anything described as "special," and her baby sister. 

Family Fun:
Last Sunday we ate dinner at the beach with my family.  We had a family favorite--tin foil dinners.  I didn't put a bathing suit on Bailey, but as you can see she went in anyway.  She was in heaven!  She was finally able to fly her ladybug kite and loved it.

Check out that air!!

 

Here's when she stopped trying to stay dry and just went for it.

Bailey's favorite play date any time and any place--Toni!