welcome to the henley house.

strawberry fields...so yum!

2011-08-15T21:07:00.000-07:00

the last field trip of the year. such a good one. picking fresh strawberries at the fields in carlsbad. this was an extra special trip for miss molly because for 3 years she has been tagging along on these preschool field trips, but we have always driven separately from the school bus. she was just born when will started preschool so she needed to be in a carseat, then it just became a habit. well this time...

...we rode the school bus.

and this girl was soooo excited. "i a big girl, mommy. i ride bus. all three a us sit 'gether on the seat!"
she talked about it for weeks afterwards. in fact, the bus probably gave a more lasting impression on her than the strawberry fields. but they did have a good time, walking down the rows, picking big, ripe, juicy strawberries. and leaving the "baby" ones, the little green ones, to ripen up.

molly was so proud of her little bucket o strawberries.

(aren't molly's sunglasses hilarious? i got them for a $1 at target and they are so funny on her. she loves them.)

molly and will with the beloved miss ban. she's the director of central montessori, or head of school, and the most wonderful of women...she is the most perfect person to run a school, everyone loves her, especially the kids. she says hello to every single student when they walk in to the school, every single day.

a horrilbe attempt at a class picture. the kids were thrilled with the traffic behind them.
molly is snuggling up with abby.

see them holding hands. molly is in love with abby. abby was in will's class last year and she was called "little abby" because there was another abby that was older. this year she's just abby, but so marvelous. she is ridiculously cute. i loved watching her at the concert almost as much as i loved watching will. abby is only 1 of 2 girls in will's class...and molly is so smitten with her. especially when she gets to watch her during dance class. :-)

the three buddies: molly, abby, will

so proud.

2011-08-14T17:09:00.000-07:00

i'm gonna get a jump on my blog because i'm excited to start posting about summer stuff...now that school is starting..wonder if i'll ever catch up...at least i'm only a season behind.

will's preschool doesn't do a graduation ceremony for preschoolers moving on to kindergarten, which i was very very bummed about, i felt like he got totally jipped. they do put on an end of the year concert though. they sing songs, read, recite poems, and i was happy to learn that will had a solo act reciting a poem. he practiced for weeks and knew every word.

i was very proud of him for standing up in a room full, FULL, of people, on a stage, at 5 years of age and actually talking. actually remembering all the words. he didn't shy away, he didn't get spooked. he stood strong and tall. so confident.

class teachers: ms. indika & ms. graciela

presenting the poem speakers: abby, will & phillip

abby goes first, then it's will

will's poem:

mom

i wish i could tell you, mom

how much you mean to me

how much i admire you

how much i appreciate you

how much i thank you for everything you have done.

i love you, mom.

(just click on the play button and it should start, it's cute!)

you rock, will. you so rock!

the cutest giraffe out there.

this is part of the spanish song, they danced like this for so much of it. i was laughing. really hard.

so serious.

not a very good picture. but i had to show that he was chosen to dance with a girl for the spanish song. that's my boy.

good bye central montessori! thanks for the fabulous two years!

all things superhero

2011-07-22T21:42:00.000-07:00

will decided he would have a superhero party to celebrate his big 5. will is detail oriented, involved, all in, complicated. so i'm not sure why i thought for even one second he would pick 1 superhero to share his party with. no. he picks 3. of course he does. and who i am to deny him that. anyone who knows me, knows i go all in too...hhmmm...interesting.

so, superman, batman, and spiderman, here we come. i get to work. found decorations at party city for batman and spiderman. anyone tried to do a superman party lately? not so easy. ebay and random, random party stores online, that's where you find superman. although it was a lot of time and quite a bit of work, it was kind of fun. plates, cups, confetti, streamers, balloons. definitely had fun doing the favors. everything was related to one of the superhero's. i don't do generic party favors (nothing wrong with them if you do) because i find that they are broken, lost or not cared about...pretty much immediately. so we had batman socks, spiderman bracelets and mini coloring books, silly bandz, superman easter eggs filled with tattoos, batman pails to hold it all. and of course, simple, cute spiderman balls for the little guys.

oh and will, always thinking of everyone, decided because there would be girls at his party, we had to do wonder woman too. thank you target for wonder woman silly bandz, and ebay for rings and tattoos.

yes, will was the star of the party. but lets be honest. the cake. for some reason, i was all about the cake this year. and it was amazing. anyone interested, look no where else: Hey there, Cupcake! make sure you click on her gallery, it's truly unbelievable. she actually has "home sweet home" cupcakes that have little toasters (with toast popping out!) and towels on top. super cute. and her hands created that!

backyard party pretty...

ready for it...will's cake.

so super cool.

gets even cooler.
the back is draped with superman's cape.
awesome.

birthday boy waking up from nap.
he loved the transformation of the house into superhero world.

party thanks for will's buddies.

superhero mask making.

my very own superhero.

at every birthday party for the kiddo's, i have a picture from their newborn days and they're current birthday pics. this is will at 5 and will at 3 weeks. (and of course the real will peeking at me.)

all of our yummy food.

i. love. party. food.

actually remembered to get pictures of me and my birthday boy.

love this pic of me and will.

he's been called to save the world!

batman is about to get quite the beating.
don't mess with kids who want candy.
(it was fricken' scary, not sure i will do a pinata again, it was fun. but it was nutso.)

he blew up.

molly. mask doesn't quite fit.

this is the face of a boy high on sugar.

batman is done for the night.

grandma and will. grandma is so cool.
she made her own supergrandma shirt. i think she had secret weapons too.

molly gets a snuggle.

yay, more sugar. realized later, should have used 5 stick candles.
my 5 year old suddenly became a 55 year old.

present madness. absolute madness.

happy happy 5, will! until next year....

hop, hop, hop.

2011-07-14T22:19:00.000-07:00

when you live away from family and all the friends you've known for ages, holidays are tough. yeah, yeah, yeah. start your own traditions, do what you like without feeling obligated, blah, blah, blah. none of that matters. until you've done it, you won't know what it's like. you know that moving your family to this place is right, you know it's where you're supposed to be. but holidays are hard. but, this past easter, we hop, hop, hopped on over to indio (near palm springs) and spent the afternoon with my dad and karen. it was perfect, it was amazing. there was nothing super, fabulously out of the ordinary, it was just amazingly perfect family time. when karen told me they didn't have plans elsewhere and we could join them for easter, i was so, so, so happy. the easter bunny surprised the kiddo's with easter basket treats and an egg hunt, there was swimming, and there was a fantastic easter dinner.

of course it was fantastic, karen was in charge of it.

anything she does is fantastic.

before we headed out to see papa bill and grandma karen, we had a little egg hunt at home.

coming down the stairs for easter bunny treats. look at will's eyes, already scoping out where the eggs are hidden.

easter basket's found.

this was done all on her own. no prompting.

bye bye bunny ears.

always the first to go.

will and molly are true opposites and this is just another example. will goes for the toys in the basket and could care less about the candy. molly will overdose on candy if we let her and could care less about the toys.

all set for the drive over the mountains to grandma and papa's house we go.

so sad.

just kidding. glued.

glued to his leapster.

the next set of pics are of my adorably silly kiddo's.

really? look at that face. love it, molly. love it.

(oh and yours too, will. the "hurry up mom, i have toys to play with" face.)

a rare moment.

you will rarely, very rarely see pics of me on the blog. but it's easter, so...

dad put up "the walls" (it was super windy that day) and the kids suddenly saw eggs hidden everywhere.

it was so fun.

this picture absolutely cracks me up. i laugh every time i see it.

it is so my dad.

his expression. it was purely by accident, but it is so right. "whew. i think i have a headache. when is this over. when are the kids leaving. i'm tired.

already."

oh, i'm just giving him a hard time. dad loves the kid's, loves them.

love the true laughter in that smile. look at jeremy's hands.

easter dinner. big girl! look at that fancy place setting.

(it's plastic.)

this picture needs to be framed.

birthday present from grandma and papa.

will told karen he wanted a remote controlled star wars fighter. seemed impossible to find. i should of known. he did tell grandma karen.

who was i kidding.

and last but not least, the real reason we come...right?

And, that folks, is a day in the life of rancho casablanca.

my bestie & her girl ava come to visit.

2011-07-09T16:03:00.000-07:00

back in april, my best girl, jaclyn and ava came to visit us. i was beyond excited for this visit. i hadn't seen jac in too long and will and ava have always been fast friends. before their visit, will, molly and i poured over pictures of the two of them. once molly got the hang of who they were (she was too little last time she saw them, so she didn't remember) she started talking about what we were going to do with them while they were here. molly had the whole visit planned out. i'll give anyone who knows molly one guess where we had to go first.

seaworld.

first up were the polar bears. i was not impressed with their performance while ava and jac were visiting. they are normally a fun, giggly time. throwing their bones in the water and diving after them, tossing the ball back and forth. todays visit.

they slept.

real exciting boys (girls?).

whoa. now that's a big ~~fish~~ walrus!

cutie ava, cutie will.

polar bear cave.

come see us big ole beluga whale. although, you're the baby. so you're actually little.

little diva's waiting for the blue horizons show. this is "the show." according to the almighty molly.

aunty jac and will.

the next series of pictures are all of one person. i didn't realize it but i didn't take any pictures of the show after her. she is "marina." she is queen of all the world. especially the dolphin world. this, according to miss m, of course. no one will ever really understand the depth of obsession molly has for this girl because you'd have to be me or jeremy, here with molly every day. she talks about her from the second she gets up till she goes to bed. she dreams about her. she wants everyone she knows to see her. she wants to meet her (and yes, I have actually considered trying to figure out a way to make that happen). she wants to be her. when she grows up, molly wants to swim with the dolphins, "just like marina."

kind of funny that an "actress" would suddenly fall asleep in the middle of the show, huh? well, blue horizons is loosely based on the nutcracker...so marina is "dreaming" all this with the dolphins. the dolphins suddenly decided she needed a little extra sleep b/c they stopped following the trainers commands and wouldn't go back behind the gates. hence the show had to be "paused" until the dolphins started listening again. so marina falling asleep is kind of the signal that the show isn't continuing the way it's supposed to.

up and running again.

see that tutu on marina? that is half the obsession for molly. for some reason she absolutely adores that tutu. (and no i don't think it's really a tutu, but that's what it is to molly.)

and that's it. that is all the pictures i took while jaclyn and ava visited!!!! i haven't looked at these pics in awhile...i'm so shocked and sad. i guess i just didn't take my camera with us. regardless i am so thankful for their trip, so thankful for visiting with them. i miss my girl jaclyn every day. some day when we have unlimited funds (ha!) i will be flying to see her whenever i can.

thanks for being my bff, jac.

just a bunch of (what i think are) really cute pics.

2011-07-09T14:58:00.000-07:00

one random day, the i was getting the kiddo's ready for a day at the park. didn't really think about what they were going to wear and wasn't really noticing what i had picked out for them. we were all dressed and ready to go, literally about to walk out the door. i stopped, looked at the kids and thought, "damn! they look really cute." so we had an impromptu photo session.

i don't really remember but i think the ones before this were pre-sunscreen and the ones after this are post-sunscreen, because there is some serious shine on these cute little faces.

tax day.

2011-07-07T17:02:00.000-07:00

on what is the most stressful day of the year for some people....we think, hhmm...what should we do? of course miss m comes up with the best idea...we get out the teeny, tiny bottles of hello kitty, little girl nail polish. we paint her toes for the first time. red sparkles, blue sparkles, pink sparkles, bright, obnoxious 1980's hot pink, and of course, trendy, modern, silver. and the winner is.......

....a very patriotic sparkly blue!!

just the sweetest, most precious sparkly blue toes ever.

pretty girl.

2011-07-06T15:13:00.000-07:00

my miss molly. she is a pretty little thing. she drives me insane, but i've realized lately how very much i love her. i snuggle her. i kiss her cheeks. i tell her to "booty booty booty" when she dances. i tickle her. i chase her. she's a spaz. she's quirky. she beats to her own drum. she's sweet. and kind. loves babies, both real and baby dolls. she's a good girl. i'm proud to say that i got it. i got it one day when i was reading "The Help." so nearly every day since she was a baby, a tiny baby, i've said to her and now have her repeat back to me, "i'm good. i'm smart. i'm pretty." and recently...because she so IS,

"i'm awesome."

love the water spray. the thumb in the hose.

i'm gonna let you guess what just happened here. :)

she was pretending "doggy."

and she just realized i caught her.

see, what'd i say,
"i'm awesome."

the earth goes around the sun...

2011-07-05T21:08:00.000-07:00

...the sun, the earth goes around the sun.
12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days.

this is out of order, but not by much. will had his birthday celebration at preschool a few days before his birthday. in true montessori fashion they sang the birthday song (see above), will walked around the sun (a candle) 5 times, once for each year of age, holding the earth (a globe), and for each year we talked about what he learned, significant events of that year, while holding a picture of him for that year. when he was born, started walking, riding a bike, became a big brother, etc. his teacher is miss indika and he adores her. she is the most calm, slow, can not un-nerve this woman, person i know. she uses a soft, quiet voice and thoroughly explains all activities with what i consider ridiculous detail. hence the reason i'm not a teacher and never will be. one of the hardest jobs in the world. some say being a stay at home mom is the hardest job in the world. i'm doing that job...but i really don't think i could do a teacher job. thankfully, will has a wonderful teacher that he loves dearly.

this is totally nervous will.

helping miss indika put the months around the sun.

walking "one year." the earth moving around the sun.

miss m. oh miss m.
she is quite famous in will's classroom. she has a hard time paying attention. guess she decided it was time to do some exercises.

this is a regular sitting position at school. i think it makes the kids look so...trained. yes, trained. he would sit like this for hours if miss indika asked him to. not a chance at home.

the beginning of the pictures. this was will coming home from the hospital. scrawny legs.

sibling love.

ready for treats. now...this is not how i would normally like to celebrate a birthday at school. there should be cupcakes. frosting. sprinkles. messy faces. i feel this is miss indika's one fault. she's a little hippy-ish, natural, organic, tree-huggerish. sorry folks, but she is. she asks you not to bring anything for birthdays that has too much sugar, frosting, candy, cake.
give. me. a. break.
i snuck a ridiculously large amount of chocolate chips in to those muffins.

see. trained.
not one kid is touching that muffin. not one. gotta wait for miss indika's signal.
clock wise: molly. will. andreas. herbie. gabriel. zeki. abby. phillip.

so phillip. phillip is a little over bearing. he is loud and completely nuts. he has no personal boundaries what so ever. in 3 years of preschool, will has never, i mean not one time, been in trouble. had to go to the thinking table. until phillip came along. he told will to hit him with a shovel. will didn't want to. phillip insisted. will finally gave in. phillip got hurt. will had to sit inside during playground time.
i think will learned his lesson and a lot about phillip from that incident.
anyway, notice how molly is arching her neck away from phillip's hug...she can't stand him. he hurts her. all he ever does is try to hug her. but she hates it. and it hurts.

happy birthday, prince william!

happy, happy 5th birthday, will!

2011-07-05T17:20:00.000-07:00

yes. after (another) long hiatus, i am excited to start blogging again. it's something i always want to do but never make it a priority. now i'm gonna try. really gonna try. this time i've decided not to play catch up and just start again. there's been too much time and too many memories, it became daunting. so i would avoid. then i would be irritated with myself that i avoided b/c it's something i really like to do. so i gave up on posting the past almost! year, and i'm gonna start with my beloved son's 5th birthday. and yes, another something new besides letting go of playing catch up, i've decided to copy my favorite blogger's style. yup, that's right, katy erickson, i'm copying your all lower case style because i love it. for some reason it makes me smile. so i'm copying it. so i can try to have more smiles in my life. so....thank you. :)

now on to my boy, will. he's 5. he's actually been 5 for just over 2 months. i'm used to it now. i've been looking forward to and dreading 5. i think it's a fabulous age, i think it's a good age. but it also means he's grown up. he is most certainly not a toddler anymore (was will ever a toddler? probably not). he is a compassionate, kind, loving, generous, patient, law abiding, rule following, pleaser. he dots his i's and crosses his t's, he does things the way he was told to do them and no other way. he is creative, imaginative, friendly, and a great eater. he adores his family and wishes for visitors constantly. he loves his great grandpa. he understands that he is in heaven, but he talks about him nearly every day.

he still naps. that is most certainly worth repeating (and deserves it's own line).

he still naps.

i swore on that day back when he was 2 & 3/4's when i lay down with him in his bed i would only do it till he was 3. he's 5 and 2 months and he still naps. because i snuggle him, i love him, we talk about dreams, we listen to music and he falls asleep. most days.

will is loud, boisterous, routine oriented, and don't you even think of telling him to do it another way. he loves star wars and wrestling. he is a water boy, loves to swim. he is a ridiculously good big brother, he is soooo patient with his, completely opposite of himself, sister. he loves school. loves reading, writing, math, drawing, gluing, cutting.

and possibly the most important trait a boy can have...he tells his momma on a regular basis that he loves me and that i'm pretty and beautiful. happy birthday beautiful boy.

and now...a "birth" day in the life of my 5 year old.

very first look at my 5 year old will, just waking up on his birthday (plus a few minutes to attach cape before coming downstairs)

opening gifts. notice the box of fruit loops. this is one of his favorites, the first time he had them daddy brought them home from california...he thinks they can only be bought in california. he will eat nothing else if these are in the house. hence his birthday present, fruit loops are a very special thing around here.

will's new obsession. bakugan. scored this set for $30 on craigslist.

love this picture. grandma (my mom) always gives money to will and molly's college funds for their birthdays and christmas. she slid a little real money in there too, will was so excited about that little quarter.

look at the paper flying (top left corner)...classic.

look at that sweet sweet face.

molly was trying to hide from the camera. she was pretty creative in her hiding spots.

pretty girl.

all set for ice skating, will's chosen birthday activity.

the fam. lunch. yum.

lunch was yum? not even close. sprinkles. sprinkles. there are no other words.

he can't even imagine how good this cupcake is going to taste.

dinner at old spaghetti factory.

apparently 5 year olds are too cool for pictures. old daddy's are not.

love that i caught the action shot.

see. that's how good my boy is. he understood that we should wait to eat the cupcakes until after nap, after dinner. no fight from him. love him.
now tell me. tell me the truth. your mouth is watering. isn't it. it's ok. i know it is.

prince william patiently waiting for his cupcake (crown made at preschool).

he he he. another action shot.

princess molly patiently waiting for her cupcake. (see i told you he was so sweet to his sister. he made a crown for her too because he didn't want her to feel left out.)

a delicious ending to a delicious day.

It's a Mickey Halloween!

2011-02-17T21:40:00.000-08:00

I love decorating for Halloween. I love Halloween, the holiday itself, too. But I really love the decorations...but it has to be a certain kind of decor, or style of decor. I like the girly, sparkly, pretty, vintage Halloween. I love deep dark purples, oranges and blacks. Some day when I have nothing else to spend money on (HA!), I'm going to start throwing an annual Halloween party with all the glitz and glam, place card holders, placemats, chair covers, centerpieces, cups, bowls, plates, the whole sha-bang.

And Disney did not disappoint.

Look at Minnie's "bow." It's two polka-dot leaves! So cute. :-)

I love that the lamp posts say "Halloween Time" instead of "Happy Halloween."

This is a gigantic pumpkin right in the middle of the square inside Disneyland. I mean, huge. My head barely came up to the mouth.

~All Things Disney~

2011-02-16T16:10:00.000-08:00

The first time we went to Disneyland was October 2009, just after Molly's 1st birthday. We went with my mom and Ken, and because they love Disney so much, we were spoiled rotten...getting to stay in the Disney hotel and being able to walk right in to the park. Taking small kids to Disneyland is so much fun b/c they can do ALL the rides they are interested in. Obviously they can't do the big ones, but Will is too cautious to even want to, so we didn't have to say no. Every ride Will went on, Molly went on. She was this little peanut of a girl, held in my arms the whole time we were in the park, riding all the big kid rides. Pirates of the Caribbean was the best ride for her because she fell asleep during it. So, maybe it was the best ride for me.

We loved it so much that about 1 year later, I got the bug to go again. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, that fell right around Molly's birthday again. Her 2nd, September 2010. Fortunately, because what better way to spend a birthday than go to Disneyland, unfortunately, because it costs A LOT more money when you want to spoil the socks off of her. So off we go, with Mom and Ken again, this time staying in their time share. Perfect space to stay over night and perfect location, walking distance. Go in the morning, come home for naps (or on some days, not) and go back again for more fun and fireworks. And to boot, we could see the fireworks from the hotel room balcony...oh, and of course, because they are the BEST, Mom and Ken wanted to go to the fancy breakfast at Ariel's Grotto to celebrate Molly's birthday...but you can't get in...reservations book up months ahead. Oops, didn't think of that. But we HAVE to go...it's ARIEL. If any of you know ANYTHING about Molly, it's that she and Ariel are ONE. Remember that perfect time share of my mom and Ken's? They got us in. Yup...one fancy princess breakfast coming up for the best 2 year old girl on the planet.

Hope you enjoy the trip as much as we did...we'll be going back again...maybe in a year.

Molly greeting Papa Ken in front of the hotel. There is absolutely nothing better than that smile, so excited to get a big 'ole hug from a little 2 year old girl.

We went to Downtown Disney for dinner the first night. This is something I hadn't noticed on our last trip. All the benches were Mickey Mouse ears.

One of the many flags hanging in the square before you enter the park. Of course I chose to take a picture of the Ariel one...that is the theme of this trip, right?

I like this of Molly b/c it's the first time she held the crayon "right," with a good grip. I guess she's all growed up now.

Tell me to stop laughing. This depicts Will's personality so well. The perfectionist. Wonder where he got that from. The hand on the head, thinkin so hard. Chill out Will, it's just a menu.

The rare and wonderful whole family picture.

Believe it or not, this is the best picture I got with the two of them wearing their Mickey Mouse ears. Without fail, one has a great smile and the other has their mouth hanging open or their eyes closed.

Love my totally, adorably, California boy. Blue eyes and the freckles. Oh the freckles.

Don't let him fool ya...

Two peas in a pod. It's okay, Sweetie, we'll get your ears next time we go.

Um..Molly, what are you doing? Why can't she just give me a cute little smile?

The next set of pictures are all of the big letters that spell out C-A-L-I-F-O-R-N-I-A at the entrance to California Adventure. Jeremy, Will and I, sat and waited for a friend who was getting us in to Disney free, so we got creative with our time.

Drum roll, please. And now what you've all been waiting for. The fancy, princess breakfast at Ariel's Grotto. You really do have to do it at least once if you have a little girl. And the food is to die for, and you can have as much as you want.

I really wasn't sure what to expect of Molly when it came to being greeted by the princesses...but Ariel was first, right as you walk down the stairs, and you get to spend a little one on one time with her, so I think that was just Molly's style. She was so ridiculously cute with Ariel, I just sat and giggled as I watched. I really wish we had a fancy camera, cuz these pics didn't come out nearly as good as I wanted. But...there's always next time.

Molly is very sweetly, very gently, and very quietly, handing her autograph book to Ariel. I swear the whole process was in slow motion.

Molly walked away with an aura of, "I did it! I did it!"

This is when she got to go back for her one on one time. She sat with her, talked to her and adored her necklace. All the while, the photographer is snapping away, because she DOES have a fancy camera, taking fancy pictures. (Which, of course, you're going to buy later at the ridiculous price of your life savings.)

Oh and I wanted to mention, that brother was given a chance to meet Ariel too, but big, bad, loud, "I'm the man" brother...was too shy. He wouldn't go near her.

Moving on to the table. How it works is that you sit down and they bring you loads of food, like in the movies, when you get to pick out anything and everything you could want. As you eat, the princesses come out one by one and visit each table.
In this picture, Molly shows you, with the expression on her face, exactly how she feels about the princesses. She WOULD NOT look at them. She stared down at the table. Doing the whole, if I don't look at you, you're probably not there, thing. I can't remember which one, but one of the princesses is standing right behind her.

Testing the waters, a slight look up with the eyes.

Molly's thoughts, "okay. I was wrong. This was a bad idea. Stop touching me. Grandma? Help!"

"Wow. What IS she?"

"I'll stand up, just don't touch me."

"Uummm...she didn't listen to me. I said don't touch me."

Brother on the other hand....is in LOVE.

"Okay. Now Belle, I LIKE. She can wrap herself all around me and I'll even sit in her lap." Oh wait, "and I'll smile too." (Mommy note: personally, I think Belle looks a little stunned in the eyes. Anyone else see it?)

HA! Love the feet. I want a hug, but I promise, I will not step on your dress.

Molly got a birthday song too...nothing like a big ole piece of chocolate cake for breakfast.

"Uummm...you're gonna share that right?"

My sweet little punkin. Love the small smile and chubby cheeks. I'd give that face anything in the world.

Hhmm, hhmm, good! That was yummo!!

Molly's Garden Fairy Party

2011-01-27T22:13:00.000-08:00

Molly had a wonderful 2nd birthday filled with family and friends. We had just moved to CA when she turned 1 and didn't know a soul, so we didn't have a "party." except us and my mom...which was fabulous, but I didn't get to do invites or food or decor. I had so much fun planning this party...my first girl party. :-) I love my Molly-girl so much, her and Will could not be more opposite...she's wild, and spunky, a spit-fire, my little firecracker. She tests my every limit and makes me laugh so hard I cry. I love her so much.

Molly already had this fairy shirt that my mom gave her, it's just perfect for her party..."I believe in fairies" on the front...

Her very own fairy wings on the back.

Decor

Fairy wings double as decor/party favor

Fairy for girls: bracelets, wings, stickers, wands. Garden for boys: painting bug kits, watering cans

Cake, oh the Marvelous Cake

This picture was blurry, but I love it b/c the plates/napkins match perfectly. Laura's so good.

Love the bees, flowers, everything...

Laura even personalized the fairy with red hair!

Guests

Grandma and Miss M

Taylor "Tay-Tay"

Ashley

Trent (w/ Michelle and Emily in the background)

Michelle

Serious treasure hunting going on between Will, Ethan and Alex
Time for Cake

Chowin' down on a "2"

Fork and spoon just slow me down...this is better.

Cake makes me happy.

Such concentration.

Look at that sweet face, pretty eyes.

This picture makes me laugh everytime...thanks Nicole for the awesome glasses, and reading that card so seriously, no clue that we can't stop laughing.

First princess shoes, thanks Grandma!

Love these special moments between Grandma and baby Molly...

sharing kisses...

sharing a laugh...

sharing a nose nuzzle...

Poor Lady, stuck to a tree for the party, she'll eat all the food!

This family pic makes me laugh...Will is so freakin' serious showing off his buddy's goggles, Molly in her dress up shoes and no shirt and even Lady standing attention. LOVE LOVE LOVE.

Molly turns 2, Part 3....Birthday Dinner

2010-10-27T14:20:00.000-07:00

Okay, folks, we're gettin' there. :-) Normally I wouldn't really care about posting pictures of "dinner," but we made quite the trek to try out a place for Molly's birthday dinner. It's called the Corvette Diner and it's at Liberty Station in San Diego...I have heard about this place like you wouldn't believe. Gotta go, gotta try it, etc. It's fun on a normal night and REALLY fun for birthdays. So of course we go for a birthday. It was a trek! Driving to SD, then hitting traffic, then parking was crowded. So thankful when we finally got there. Till I walked inside. My immediate thought..."THIS is not what I call a restaurant." It was LOUD. Really LOUD. I don't do loud very well. This was the kind of loud where all the talking you do is yelling and your throat hurts when you are done with dinner. I'm really glad we went to check it out after all the hype. But it was definitely a one time thing. I have no desire to go back. Yes, there was lots of fun, silly things; dancers, balloonists, glow in the dark tables, games, cars, and of course yummy milkshakes...but I'm good. Don't need to go again.

The pretty cool Corvette right when you walk in. (Jeremy always has Molly's dresses/skirts hiked up when he takes pics, drives me nuts. :-) )

Yes, Ken, we caught you. Look at that guilty face. Mom and Ken got to the restaurant before us and obviously helped themselves to some drinks. :-)

The dancers.

Wonder how long it takes her to get all that stuff in her hair.

hmmm..milkshake. GOOD milkshake too!

Happy Pasta Face girl.

Ken treated the kids to balloons, Will asked for a giraffe.

Molly's personal birthday dance.

Look at the concentration...they are totally thinking about ALL that going in their tummy's.

I cropped this pic to get the full affect. Can you believe how wide that mouth is?! She isn't missing a drop. Molly is definitely our sweets girl, just like her daddy.

William wearing Molly's princess crown. Molly refused to put it on b/c she remembers a balloon popping at a concert we were at awhile ago. She kept pointing at it, crying a little and saying, "pop. pop. pop!" We actually got a picture of her wearing it, but she's screaming her head off, so I thought I'd be nice and not put it on her birthday dinner post.

Riding motorcycles after dinner.

The next two pictures are two of my favorites, total favorites.

Grandma gets huge goodbye hugs....

...and so does Ken.

Nighty Night, Happy birthday Molly! Tomorrow...party time!

Molly turns 2, Part 2...Presents

2010-10-23T17:39:00.000-07:00

After Build-A-Bear we headed home for some presents.

Presents from Mommy and Daddy.

She's excited about the truck. :-) We have a million "boy" trucks. We thought it was time for a girly truck.

A pretty hat made by Grandma and a snuggly new blanky made by Great Grandma. Molly sleeps with it every night now.

My mom's birthday is 10 days before Molly's. Will & Molly got her a recordable book from Hallmark and Will read the whole thing (his voice is recorded in the book)...it totally made her cry. :-)

If you look closely (or click to make the pic big), you can see Molly's mouth wide open in a "wow." So cute.

I was very proud of this purchase. I've been wanting the "Little People Noah's Ark" since Will was a baby. But wasn't willing to pay the $40 bucks for it. I finally found it at a consignment store, WITH all the animals, for $8 bucks!

Opening the Little People Fairy treehouse, no idea my mom was getting this. Guess she picked up on my obsession w/ Little People.

Yelling, "baby!!" after opening Great Grandma's gift.

Molly turns 2....Part 1

2010-10-23T09:20:00.000-07:00

I'm not feeling particularly creative, talkative or descriptive at the moment...hence the looooong time it's taking me to get to Molly's birthday pictures and devoting a post to them. Or maybe it's that Molly's birthday was out of this world crazy this year, with the day of her birthday, her birthday party and a trip to Disneyland. All the pictures are a little overwhelming...but I figure, I just gotta start.
One thing I do want to say is that Molly is the sweetest, most precious, most beautiful little girl. She amazes me daily and has me wrapped around her finger the second she tilts her head to her shoulder, gives a little shake and talks to me...always ends up in lots of hugs and kisses. I remember to this day the exact moment we were told we were having a girl. I was in complete shock. I 100% knew for a fact we were having a girl, I was sure of it. But when the U/S tech told us we were having a girl, I still just couldn't believe it. I remember when Molly turned 6 months old, I was still in shock that we were given a beautiful baby girl. Even though I thought from the beginning that we were having a girl, I thought for sure we'd have two boys. Nope, I have one beautiful boy and one beautiful girl. A beautiful, fire roasted red headed girl! :-)

Happy 2nd Birthday, Molly Sofia!

Walking from the car to the restaurant for her birthday breakfast.

Slowly but surely, she was pretty proud of herself though.

Grandma, Will peek a booing in the back, Molly and Ken

Big Brother gives Lil Sissy a birthday hug.

A birthday Kiss from Daddy.

Think this pic is so cute of Will, his eyes looking off to the side, and all those freckles.

Now that I'm 2! mom, I can do it my "self." (Everything is "self" now-a-days.)

Look at that concentration!

Love pictures like this, lots of color and a little girl walking with a big tall Ken.

The walk out of the restaurant was even more interesting than the walk in...Molly insisted it be this way.

Done with breakfast, time for Build-a-Bear.

Molly really wanted to sit in the little chairs, but she was too big. They're for the animals!

Look at this place, it's insane, look at all that stuff behind me and my mom. And that's only ONE wall. I don't buy any clothes, accessories only.

More stuff, can you believe this is all for STUFFED ANIMALS?! Recession. HA!!.

Molly's picking out the heart for her puppy.

Molly's favorite part, giving her puppy a bath and brushing him.

Watching "Oatmeal" get accessorized with her SD Padres hat and roller skates (Did I seriously just buy Sketchers for a stuffed dog!?)

And their off!!

A big thank you hug for Mom.

Left to Right: Roller Skating Oatmeal, Molly, Skate Boarding Chocolate Chip, William

Will's First Baseball Game

2010-09-13T22:02:00.000-07:00

Will had his first baseball game this past Sunday. I am one proud Mama. Baseball has always been a big part of our family. I grew up going to all my brother's, Jon's, games. I can't remember NOT watching baseball on tv and going to games is a natural pass time. Case in point...my mom and Ken have been touring around the US the past couple years going to baseball games, trying to hit up every stadium in the US. They're in Denver right now, my mom got her $1 hot dog on her birthday. :-) Anyway, my mom took all of us to Will's first Mariners game when he was only 4 months old. And my brother Jon got him his first Mariners' jersey. Now it's Will's turn to be the star of the game. To see all these little buggers in their grown up game gear is by far one of the cutest things I have ever seen. These kiddo's were amazing...sitting in batting order, hitting, trying again, running, stopping (harder than you think when you're 4 and really want to hit ALL the bases), getting grounders, throwing, touching the bases, running off the field to get helmets and sit in order, then grabbing their hats and mits and running back out on to the field.
Will is number 6, we were hoping for 7 b/c that's Jeremy's number but they did it by height and he needed just a tiny bit more growth to be 7. But then we realized 6 made sense, b/c my number was 5 in sports growing up...so we have 5, 6, & 7. There are about 6 teams within the Shetland division, all named after MLB teams...so Will had a 1 in 6 chance of being a Padre...and he got it, it was all meant to be. They play for about an hour, this time it was 3 innings. Everyone bats, and everyone plays. Nobody sits down when there's an out. And at the last bat, everyone runs home.
I think Will had a good time...he seemed to have fun, he hit really well, didn't hit the tee at all, and caught quite a few grounders while at shortstop. He also made up a little song about how much he loves his team.

Molly is not one to be left out.

My Little Man

Heading in...and loaded with lots of toys to keep a 2 year old girl busy for 1 1/2hrs. (not that she played with any of them!)

Walking in this way, was their idea. Holding hands, a little team of their own.

Team Cheerleader

Asking Peter if he wants to warm up, play catch.

Warming up.

The "other" team. The Cubs. (I was proud that they had TWO girl players. One even had two braids coming out the "ear holes" of her helmet. It was so cute.)

Molly wants to be part of the team so badly...she's showin how she can "run" too. Cheerleader, HA!

Pre-game pep talk.

Brother...You're my Hero.

The Padre's just before the 1st pitch. Love this pic.

Hey...You're cute. What's your name?

Clapping for the first hit. (check out Molly at the end. She had to be right there, IN IT, the whole time...all the other sibs...could care less. :-) )

For some reason, this pic cracks me up...so serious.

Look at his cute little nervousness. Feet perfectly on the base and his hand balled up in a fist.

He's headed home!

Will's Baseball Career Begins

2010-09-06T09:14:00.000-07:00

Will's first baseball practice as a member of Carlsbad Youth Baseball was this past Saturday. He's in the "Shetland" division (they're all named after horses) and his particular team is the Padres. Lucky boy, getting his home town team! It was exciting to meet his coach, teammates and their families. I hadn't ever really thought about the fields they would be playing on, but it made sense. We pulled up and it was a cluster of 3 "mini fields." Loved it, just right for all these little munchkins. Seeing these 4 year olds in "grown up" gear, just got me laughing. Helmet, baseball pants, baseball belt, and cleats. Next week they get their uniforms, a shirt and hat. We have one more practice and then their first game. Will was very excited to go get all his new gear and has practically slept with his new mit ever since.

Look at that stride.

Will's in the navy blue shirt and pants.

Checking out his stance.

We could tell Will was a little nervous b/c he wouln't bend his knees or move his feet when he was hitting.

Our official scorekeeper.

Here's to Old Friends, Here's to the Best of Friends

2010-09-03T19:44:00.000-07:00

My friend Terri and her family were visiting San Diego and I was such a lucky lucky girl to be able to spend a day with her, her hubby, Ryan, and their adorable little boy, Connor. Terri and I were the best best best of friends in grad school in San Francisco. We met at USF while getting our Masters. She was my go to girl and her momma even took care of our Lady when we would head home for Christmas. She was the first (and only) CA friend to visit us when we moved to WA, and we all (including Will) flew down to Lake Tahoe to attend Terri and Ryan's gorgeous wedding. That was the last time we saw them...3 years ago. Fast forward to today, and it was like no time had passed at all. I was DELIGHTED. We jabbered and talked and hugged....I enjoyed every minute of it...and I realized how much I miss her. And our friendship. So we vowed to stay in touch, and visit visit visit. :-)
We met at Balboa Park in San Diego. A beautiful collection of museums, buildings, walk ways, gorgeous water fountains, yummy restaurants, and fun fun stuff for the kids-a carousel, mini train, and trolley rides.

Me and Terri, we decided to eat lunch at this fabulous restaurant called the Sculpture Court Cafe. They had beautiful sculptures throughout and a grassy area the kids could run around in and climb on more sculptures.

Connor, Ryan and Terri

Isn't that just the prettiest. I think she's so darn pretty.

One of the fun rides for kids, Will chose the "Blue Angel" of course.

While Will flew the airplane, Molly rode the carousel.

Boarding the train, in the background, Terri, Connor and Ryan, in the foreground, Molly and Jeremy.

They had these gigantic stuffed animals (like you get at FAO Schwartz in NY) riding the train, so Will chose a car with a gorilla, if you look closely, you can see the giraffe further back.

Going through the tunnel.

This is the beginning of the gorgeous buildings, museums, and walk ways.

This is outside...just...a gorgeous way to walk outside. Doesn't lead to anything, could have just been a plain ole sidewalk...but they made it an archway of beautifulness instead.

I think Will's waving...but I'm not sure why, or at who.

I love the spontaneity of this picture...look at Molly's smile and her little foot step and the way Will took me by complete surprise with a big hug.

Mommy says, "careful Molly, don't fall in." Brother says, "careful Mom, don't fall in."
Everybody takes care of everybody in this family...HA!

Zoo Fun with Grandma

2010-09-03T16:08:00.000-07:00

When my mom came to visit in Aug, we took a trip to the zoo. We hadn't been in awhile and I had been wanting to go to see the newly improved Polar Bear Exhibit. And...things are always a little easier when Grandma is around, so a big morning out at the zoo was the perfect thing to do with some extra hands.

The night before the zoo, my mom and I had a Ladies Night Out...martinis (lots) and Eat Pray Love.

This little girl wanted to be Molly's friend so bad, but Molly only wanted to watch the tram cars come and go.

The things my mom will do for her grandkids...she's scared of heights, but she got on that tram and rode all the way across the zoo. Scared to death.

Sweetest thing ever! Molly letting Grandma know, "it's okay, I'm right here, Grandma." I want to frame this picture.

Huge books for the kiddo's to read, so fun to turn the pages. All about Polar Bears.

Beautiful smile.

okay, I think this is gross. See that fridge...that's full of ONE meal for a polar bear. ONE!

This is the size of a newborn polar bear, and in the picture before this, with the fridge, that's a 3 month old.

This is the size of a full grown polar bear.

Well hi there, can't you see I'm eating?

Watching the polar bears swim was so amazing, I could have watched them all day. They played and teased each other, it was so cute.

Look at his head above water and feet below water, these animals are huge.

This is made completely of sand.

Oh my, hello hippo.

My mom spoiled the kiddo's with these monkeys, they are soooo cute.

Molly did not want me to take her picture with her monkey.

Watermelon Wednesday

2010-07-07T07:51:00.000-07:00

Father's Day

2010-07-06T22:36:00.000-07:00

Yeah, so I'm just getting to a Father's Day post here...I have some catching up to do, huh? It was a fun day, started out with a friendly battle of the light sabers between father and son. Yes, I talked myself in to buying Jeremy a father's day present "from Will," two light sabers, one blue, one red. I figured I've been so adamant about no guns or swords for so long and Will and Jeremy love Star Wars so much, I decided, oh screw it...here have some light sabers. Of course they come with some strict rules and are stashed away on top of the fridge when not in use. :-) You all have to realize this is of the utmost importance in order to keep Molly from being beheaded. After having a rare extravagent breakfast cooked by me and a fun, crazy light saber match, we headed to Pacific Beach for a walk on the boardwalk and lunch.

Jeremy opened his card from Will, it talked, Darth Vader saying, "I'm your Faaaather." then said "that's why."

Yes! Light Sabers! (Will didn't know that's what the present was either, so he was just as surprised.)

Look at Molly, "I want to play, let me have it. My turn!"

I told Jeremy it was only fair, he should play on his knees.

I LOVE this picture, look closely at Molly's face...she looks like she's sayin, "HI-YAH, look out brother!"

Molly, "this is so fun!" Will, "seriously, boring, I don't want to be NICE, with my light saber."

Mr. Cool Guy at Pacific Beach, he's obsessed with these tank top undershirts.

Happy Girl

Look at that tongue...she's a thinker! Check out the WSU iphone case, that was my gift to J for Fathers Day.

Out for some yummy lunch and a beer...or two...no not for you Molly..not yet. :-)

LaCosta Mom's Firestation Tour

2010-06-11T15:08:00.000-07:00

The president of our LaCosta Moms group arranged a tour of Fire Station #5 in Carlsbad. Will was very excited about this, as were a lot of other kids in the group...I think it was the biggest turnout for an event yet...those firetrucks sure are something...or maybe its the FIREFIGHTERS that drew the big crowd...I mean the kids have to be brought to the station somehow...and I noticed a lot of very willing moms. The firetrucks weren't the only thing getting "wows" and googley eyes. :-)
Will has 3 uncles that are firefighters, Uncle Jon, Uncle Todd and Uncle Mark...so Will has always known a lot about this profession and has admired it so...but this was his first tour. (Other than the time Uncle Jon took him to his station when he was about 9 months old, back then Will would sit in the truck and "drive." This time I couldn't even bribe Will to get in the driver's seat.)

Buddies, Will and Harrison

Getting lined up to go see the trucks

This is called the "safe zone," if the station gets a call and has to take the trucks out while we are there, we all go to this spot.

According to Will's book, this is called a tiller truck. It has a driver in front and back.

Look at Mr. Joe Cool, give me a break.

Them trucks have some BIG bumpers.

One of the men showed the kids how he gets all his gear on...this is important b/c a lot of kids are scared of firefighters when they have all their "turnout" gear on. So they want kids to see that it's just a person with protective clothing on. The firefighter is handing out high 5's.

She's got a little more growing to do. (Notice the word "Paramedic" on the truck. Carlsbad firefighters elected to make all firefighters paramedics. Usually this is extra training and most districts have a select few who are also paramedics. Not Carlsbad, they all are.)

Important things to talk about with your kids: What to do if the house is smokey (crawl on the floor to an exit). Touch doors to see if they are hot, if so, don't open them. Decide on a safe spot outside away from the house where the whole family will meet if there is a fire (mailbox, tree, etc). Stop Drop and Roll. Take your kids to a station so they can see a firefighter get dressed. So many kids hide b/c in a dark smokey house a firefighter who is much larger than a person b/c of gear and talks like darth vador b/c of the oxygen tank is very very scary. Teach them to never ever run or hide from a firefighter. And of course, teach them 911.

Our Miss Lady Lou

2010-06-11T14:33:00.000-07:00

Our blog is always about the kiddo's and their happenings...but my first baby is definitely my sweet, cozy Cocker Spaniel, Lady. After reading "The Art of Racing in the Rain" I've realized how much I love my girl, how important to me she is, and how much she is a part of this family. She's getting a tad older, turning 7 in July (our 49 yrs) so when I took her to her vet for a check up and they said she has the beginning stages of Cataracts, I became very sad...I've always thought of this "eye disease" as an "old dog" ailment. And I do not think of Lady as old, many people don't...most people ask me if she's still a puppy, 2 or 3 years old. Even the vet said she does seem much younger than her 7 years...but "old dog" things are still beginning to happen. Thankfully, it's not really that big a deal and I'm loving every single minute of her puppiness...so here's to my Lady and all her cuddliness.

My Baby is a 4 Year Old Kid...

2010-05-04T15:38:00.000-07:00

There is a "kid" in this family now...ya know, everyone says, "I can't wait to have a baby. We want to have a baby. Oh I'm having a baby. Ooooh...a baby!" Not many people say, "I can't wait to have a kid! We want to have a kid. Oh I'm having a kid! Ooooh...a kid!" We all love babies...but don't think about, when you have a baby, you have a kid. I think people don't realize they have to think past the first couple years...you can't want a baby...you have to want kids. So much goooshing, aaaaahhhhing, oooohhhhing, goes on in the baby years, you start to miss it. Then you realize that your kid is hitting the baseball out of the park every time, getting bogies and pars, slam dunking, saying things that make you laugh so hard you almost (or do!) pee your pants, then he says it over and over so much that it turns annoying. He explains things to you that you didn't even know, he's writing, explaining and singing and making up elaborate stories that he quietly shares with himself. He can talk in lengthy sentences, so you FINALLY get some reinforcement for all your hard motherly work, like when he says, "Sweet Dreams, have a good rest, see you in the morning, I love you, Good night." He becomes one of the sweetest big brothers and friends to other babies, he helps them on trikes and slides. He starts swimming by himself with his face in the water, THEN you realize he can TOUCH! He can touch! He can stand up in the shallow end and touch.
Your "baby" is now a kid that is 42 inches tall and 37lbs. They actually take his blood pressure at his well-child check up (and you realize they say, "well child, not well baby.")
My baby...is a kid.

Will's "treats" for the party-goers, I made the bags myself, and proud of it, thank you. Tractor tire cup, tractor candy, toy and stickers.

The "before guests" picture of the cake.

The "after guests" picture of the cake...note to self: don't put transportation on a cake and then put the cake in the dining room where no one is watching it. The tractor might actually be driven...on...the cake. :-)

Very proud that I found the white balloons with tractors on them, I thought they were so cute!

All rested up from nap, snuggling with Grandma.

And ready to Party!!

Our 4 year old King.

Look at Will's face, we're singing Happy Birthday...he's a little embarrassed...you can see the tongue about to come out (For those of you that don't know, Will sticks his tongue out when he's nervous/embarraassed.)

I love this picture, all the kids eating cake and ice cream, Will is really concentrating. Clockwise, Timmy, Harrison, Chandler, Taylor.

Ready for presents, the king takes his throne.

Oh my...and don't you dare forget Princess Molly.

Molly is of course climbing and standing on something she isn't supposed to be on.

Molly with "her man," Alex.

I'm not sure what happened to everyone in this picture, but I think it's so funny.

Will decided it would be funny to jump as high as he could to take bites of the frosting off the cake that's on the counter. He's pretty successful.

Iron Man and Miss Molly watching "Cars."

Will and Molly's first swim of the season.

2010-04-20T15:11:00.000-07:00

A week or so ago we took Will and Molly to our neighborhood pool for the first time this season...Will had been to one swim lesson and we had given him a kick board and Buzz Lightyear swim clothes, he was excited to try out his new stuff. I got Molly a cute SPF swimsuit with fishies and ruffles on it...of course the "bum" was adorable. :-)
How'd it go? Will went nuts!! He had no fear...face in the water, kick kick kick and he was going from wall to Daddy in no time. One swim lesson, using the kick board one time, and he was ready to swim. We'd switch back and forth between the pool and the "hot pool" (hot tub), where he would swim on his own with the kickboard. He has been using memories of watching his older cousins, Brooklyn and Bella, swim by themselves as his inspiration. Molly loves the water too, she walks around on the steps in the hot tub and kicks in her little froggy floaty...Here's to my lil' fish....

My Joe-Cool Son & proud Molly

Will looks lovingly at his baby sister-HA! :-)

Molly's cute fishy, ruffle bum.

No Training Wheels!

2010-04-18T15:51:00.001-07:00

Will takes on a big boy bike!

Will's Pseudo 4th B-day

2010-04-14T15:34:00.000-07:00

Will's Nana and Papa and Papa Bill and Grandma Karen came to visit while Will was on springbreak so that we could all celebrate his birthday. They're not able to make his party that is 2 days before his actual bday (4/26) so I decided to make it a mini party. And that's what Will ended up calling it, his mini baseball party. We are REALLY into baseball right now, so the theme only seemed fitting. It was very special to have two sets of Will's grandparents together to celebrate, Will and Molly are very lucky to have them, and lucky they are willing to make the trip to come visit. One set all the way from CDA, Idaho. The other set from Palm Springs, CA (2-3 hrs away). I felt special too though. I love my dad and Karen very much, and I love my in-laws, I was feeling very special that this meant enough to them to make a special trip to come see all of us.
Thanks for celebrating, my dear Family!

Molly is pig-tail ready to party!

Thanks for the StarWars Ship Papa

You too, Nana! (and the flame converse, & everything else too, spoiler!)

Oh, my first transformer! BumbleBee, thanks GmaKaren and PapaBill!

AND a monster truck!? Awesome, thanks Gma Karen and PapaBill

LOVE LOVE LOVE this family photo, everyone (except M, she was sleeping) looks so good and happy!

Molly's dress got a tiny bit wet, so she REALLY wanted us to take it off. But we wouldn't, see below to see how upset she got.

Saddest picture ever!!!

My Little Gift to my Kiddo's

2010-03-27T21:49:00.000-07:00

I made this growth chart at my first MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting when Will was about 8 or 9 months old...since I'm not a crafty person, I was very impressed with it and with how simple it was to make something so cute.

And of course b/c Will had one, I was determined to make one for Molly too...It only took me 8 months longer. Will's first measure, 10 months, Molly's 18 months. To my credit, I had the very crafty help of the person at MOPS helping me with Will's, but I created Molly's completely from scratch. I spent many days looking for the same decals that are on Will's, but girly. But I decided they didn't exist anymore, so I went with other "pretty" things. I must say I'm quite impressed with how it turned out...I really wasn't sure I could pull this one off.

There isn't space in Molly's room to hang her's, so we hung it in the hallway right outside Will's room. Which I like better anyway b/c it's right next to Will's chart. Will-18 months: 34inches Molly-18 months: 31 inches...a 3 inch difference! Crazy.

Dog Days of Summer...

2010-03-27T21:08:00.000-07:00

Except it was March 17th! Molly turned 18 months old on this day. A year and a half. Wow. When people ask me how old she is now, and I say, "A year and a half." I'm shocked every time. For some reason, a year and a half seems soooo old. :-) But she's so petite, sensitive, sweet, cuddly, kind, and fragile (or at least acts that way) that she still seems much younger to me.
I decided to surprise Will after his nap with some sprinkler time out in the backyard...he'd been asking constantly and it was finally (finally, ha! its march) warm enough to fire up the water. He was very excited, and it turned out to be a whole lotta fun. It was Molly's first time playing in a sprinkler. I realized later it was a wonderful way to "celebrate" her 18th month birthday. She LOVED it...she giggled and sprayed and got sopping wet. I loved watching every minute of it. Her squeals mixed with Will's loud giggles and laughs made for fantastic backyard music.
Happy 18th Birthday Molly!
-weighs 22lbs 10oz
-32inches long
-loves to read books, anything flying, macaroni and cheese, Pooh Crackers from Costco, Bathtime, brushing her teeth, flowers, Gymbo the clown, climbing, sand, the ocean, copying anything her brother does, babies (real and toy), Will's preschool teachers, necklaces, going to Daddy's office with a book every morning for him to cuddle and read with her...probably the most precious thing I've ever seen.
-first word: Elmo "Elma" other words: Emily "Emma-ma-ma" ball, bird, boots, Brother "budha," banana, mama, dada, nana, papa. Makes all animal sounds, and "flying sound."
-gives the sweetest random kisses, hugs, gentle pats and snuggles. Will walk up behind Brother and gently pat his back or head, wrap her arms around him and hug, blow kisses,
-Does absolutely EVERYTHING her brother NEVER did...everything.

Happy 8th Anniversary to Us!

2010-03-23T10:44:00.000-07:00

8 years ago today, Jeremy and I were living in San Francisco, CA and had planned a wedding in Seattle WA, and a honeymoon in the Carribean...today we have 2 wonderful and brilliant kids and are so lucky to live in the beautiful city of Carlsbad, CA. We have a happy family with lots of friends and family around us. We love you all and thank you for all your love, support, and happiness!

We look sooooo young! :-)

Oh my girls, I love them so much.

The gorgeous Dome Room, such a beautiful/classy place.

"Don't you DARE shove that in my face!"

A Forgotten Picture

2010-03-11T15:13:00.000-08:00

I forgot to post Valentine's Day Pictures, had quite a few cute ones that illustrated how we spent our day, some of the kid's presents, etc. None of them really a big deal so I didn't want to post about Valentines Day when we're in the middle of March.
But this one, I couldn't pass up. Can't believe I forgot it. It's so darn cute, adorable. Definitely worth posting a month late.

Birch Aquarium

2010-03-08T15:03:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago, Molly and I joined Will's preschool class for a field trip to the Birch Aquarium in LaJolla. The aquarium is gorgeous...it has beautiful stain glass windows and whale statues with waterfalls outside. They had a special exhibit on seahorses, never knew there were so many kinds and so many different sizes...from big to teeny tiny. :-) They have lots of aquarium's and viewing windows, interactive games and an outside wet area with a gorgeous view of the ocean, and you can feel sea cucumbers, starfish, etc.

Molly looks super tiny on the left side, compared to the statues.

Will looks super tiny underneath the statues.

Gorgeous Seahorse stain glass entrance.

Will's favorite, the Blue Moon Jellyfish.

Love this picture of Will (on the right) and his classmates watching the diver clean the glass of this huge fish tank.

This picture gives you an idea of how big the fishtank is...massive.

Will was in a "I don't want to smile for you" mood.

Then when it was his idea, he was all for it. He REALLY wanted me to take his picture right here with his "squished penny."

Molly was fascinated by this drain for some reason, couldn't keep her away from it.

Molly Sofia...

2010-03-02T14:49:00.000-08:00

...turned 17 months old a few weeks ago and I just can't believe she is going to be one and a half soon! Molly is such a cutie, I can hardly stand it...she'll snuggle me in my neck, on my shoulder, or just walk up and shove her face in to my legs. The poor girl is already emotional and dramatic. I've actually already thought about trying to "toughen her up a bit." :-) But decided that wasn't a good idea yet, I love to hold her and baby her and cater to her every need, even if she is a little needy. ;-) She's so much fun, follows her brother around begging him to accept her and play with her, but please don't be rough and hurt her. :-) She brings his clothes to him to help him get dressed and wears his backpack around. She loves to brush her teeth. She throws fits if we take the toothbrush away. She is the most adorable thing I've ever seen in a dress and tights. Here's to my baby girl:

More Visitors in the New Year

2010-02-22T14:31:00.000-08:00

My mom and Ken came to see us in the beginning of January for a visit and to celebrate Christmas. We went to the Wild Animal Park in San Diego, which is weird that the address is SD b/c it's actually north and east of San Diego proper, its up by our house. I love this kind of park...can't wait to go on an African Safari.

My mom and Will with a giant elephant statue.

This Rhino was part of the play area, so fun to climb on.

Will inside the peek a boo log. :-)

This is a huge hot air balloon that people can ride in and view the park from above.

Will and Molly waiting for the tram ride to start. Love this pic of the backs of their sweatshirts. We got them in Disneyland and gave them as Christmas presents.

These chimps were helarious, they put on a really good show for us.

Gorgeous Lions...

Love the cheetahs...

My favorites were the giraffes, here two are hugging, love how they wrap their necks around each other.

Thought the color of this one was so gorgeous against the blue water.

A real rhino this time. Probably shouldn't climb on this one.

This was the view from one of the spots the tram stopped.

Good pic of my mom and Will

The gorillas were also very fun to watch. See the blanket on the back of this one? He was playing with it, puttin on a show for us, then just draped it over his back and sat down to "think." :-)

I could sit and watch these guys for hours...

Love this pic of my mom and Will measuring themselves up to a gorilla...

Will thinks he's so HUGE next to Molly, not so much compared to the gorilla. :-)

Molly was scared to death of this lion at first, another statue you can climb at the play area. She would cling to us and cry if we showed it to her. Silly girl.

My (Emotional) Good Deed for the Day

2010-02-16T15:54:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we took advantage of a beautiful day and drove down to LaJolla Cove. It was gorgeous, the waves are beautiful, the cliffs are awesome, there's a grassy area to play, a walking path along the water, little trees to climb, a small beach to play on with a huge rock tunnel to walk through (the water eroded the rock away to create a tunnel), and an area out in the water where the sea lions have taken over and bask in the sun while the tourists stare at them. We joined this group, Will and me. As we were listening to their barking and I was holding Will up to see them, we were moving closer and closer as the crowd thinned. And pretty soon, we were right in front staring at the beautiful creatures, some dry and brown from the sun, some shiny and black from the water splashing. Then I noticed it. The gigantic slash across the neck of one, fresh wound, bleeding, open sore, the fishing wire still hanging from it's neck. I was HORRIFIED. I immediately jumped back, called Jeremy over and told him to go look at that poor sea lion. I told him we couldn't just leave him there, we HAD to call someone. Jeremy wasn't taking me very seriously...and all of sudden the tears started flowing. I became VERY upset. I was not mad, I was extremely sad. Jeremy started realizing how much this was affecting me and that I really had to do something. Then...I saw it move. The sea lion moved, it was still alive. I cried harder, asking Jeremy to please call someone, please please call 411 tell them city of LaJolla, Animal Rescue. Please please please. He asked why I couldn't call and I said, I can't talk, I'm totally crying!! I fell against Jeremy in a huge hug and said, we have to do something, we CAN NOT leave him there. We can't walk away and NOT DO SOMETHING. Then I realized I was sad for the sea lion but very upset because of the people!! All these people, staring at the sea lion, all the silly (insert-stupid) tourists, staring at those animals, what...haven't you seen a sea lion before?! And NONE of them were doing anything to help that guy...no one was on a phone. They were just standing there. Staring. I told Jeremy I KNEW there was a sea life rescue program b/c I remembered they came to the preschool I worked at in San Francisco. So he called 411 and they connected them to Sea World, who did have a Sea Life Rescue Program...and he left a message. A message!!? That wasn't good enough for me. So I got on my phone and started searching the internet, I found the same SeaWorld program with the same number, but also found a 1-800 number specifically for Sea Lions, so I called it and had to leave a message...I was starting to feel a little better, but I was not comfortable with this whole, leaving a message thing. I wasn't crying anymore, but I still couldn't get myself to leave...but I couldn't think of anything else we could do either. So I took Will's hand and we slowly walked away to find a place to eat. Then, there they were...3 lifeguard/fire rescue guys. I realized I was about to teach Will an important lesson. As I held his little hand, we walked down the stairs to the guys, and talked to them about the sea lion, and asked if they knew who to call and could they please help him. They said, they knew about him and were watching him very closely and SeaWorld knew about him too. They said b/c he was still relatively healthy, he would not allow them to capture him for treatment, so they had to sit and watch him until he "beached" himself...that was very sad to me, but I felt a million times better. I could walk away and find a nice place to eat lunch with my family knowing I did the right thing, I stuck to my guns and kept trying until I knew we had done everything we could to help that animal. And to boot...I taught my son how to stand up for your thoughts and how important it is to help animals who are in need.

Fantastic LaJolla Cove.

My punkin getting a better look.

Molly is totally fearless.

This palm was planted at the entrance to the restaurant we ate at, and Will LOVED it, so we had to take a picture. Pretty good picture. :-)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!!

2010-02-11T10:28:00.000-08:00

We had some visitors around Christmas and in the New Year that I've wanted to post about...they are very special visitors...Grandma's/Papa's, Brothers/Uncle's, Best Friend/Auntie. So here's to our friends and family. I'll probably have to do a couple posts...each of our visitors deserves their time... :-)

Grandma Karen and Will snuggling while watching a show.

Papa Bill and Lady...match made in Heaven. :-)

Dad & Karen were wearing these silly Christmas hats when they got to our house, I LOVE LOVE LOVE this pic of Dad with Will.

Karen had a fabulous gift for Molly, look at my face in the background, that's me realizing what it was. A little pink recliner just for Molly. I was completely surprised and so excited.

Molly lovin' her special "Molly and Friends" doll, personally "transformed" into an Angel by Grandma Karen (she sewed wings on to her back).

Dad and Karen opening their pictures of Will and Molly...

William is showing off his slam dunks.

Grandma playing basketball w/ Will, this was Will's christmas gift. There's a lot of competition in our house.

Auntie M and fam gave Will this United States floor puzzle, everyone's helping, even Molly. :-)

All Finished!

Will and Molly sitting in their chairs together for the first of many times.

Dad and Karen-Thanks for driving down from Indio to celebrate Christmas with us!! We love that you are "Californians" with us!!!

Tornado watch, high wind warning, high surf watch

2010-01-21T09:55:00.000-08:00

I can't keep up with it all...3, 4 storms in a row? There's another on the way, and it's the "worst yet." Last night we had hail/thunder and lightening all at the same time. I don't believe I ever saw anything like this while living in WA. I'm dying to go see the surf, but the news is warning, don't go on the beach, don't go on the sidewalk...in fact don't even go down to the road NEXT to the beach. Below are some pictures from a local surfing website I found. The second picture is due to a flash flood...poor ferrari. Third picture was an SUV just parked in a parking lot and the wind decided to blow it over.

Looking out our backdoor...

Happy 16 Months, Molly Sofia!

2010-01-18T15:02:00.000-08:00

Well....to celebrate Molly turning 16 months old today, I made this adorable video of her walking all over the house, and then realized I recorded it vertically instead of horizontally, so for anyone to look at it on the computer you'd have to turn your head sideways...annoying. O'well...Here are some cute pics of her walking and having a grand ole time with her brother.

More Molly Walkin'

2010-01-17T21:29:00.000-08:00

For some reason I've been excited for Molly to walk from the front door to the car, probably because as she gets bigger, carrying her and all our stuff gets more and more difficult, or I end up taking 2 or 3 trips to the car. So, here's her maiden voyage, it was adorable and she was very excited about it:

A Break from Christmas....

2010-01-13T11:52:00.001-08:00

to show off my little girl...

1 New Years Resolution-Done!

2010-01-10T09:20:00.000-08:00

Okay, everyone...I did it, I joined FACEBOOK. No going back now...I hope you all make this as wonderful as you've always promised me it would be! :-)

Christmas in Coeur d' Alene

2010-01-07T15:25:00.000-08:00

We spent Christmas with Jeremy's family in Coeur d' Alene, Idaho....Here's some pics of the family and Christmas morning:

Here are all the cousins (except Bradyn, she was walkin' all over) and the dad's. We did a Christmas cousin picture, hence all the matching outfits.

Will and Brieyn, only a couple months apart in age.

Will and Bella enjoying their yummy suckers from Aunt Christa, aka. Mom

Will digging in to his stocking.

Brooklyn, almost 9

Bella, almost 7

Brieyn, 3 1/2 yrs

Bradyn, 18 months

Brooklyn and Will

Bella and Will

Will is always talking about wanting to shave with daddy, so Santa brought him a shaving in the tub kit.

Aunt Christa rocks!! She found all these awesome costumes for Will to dress up in, Army guy, motorcycle guy, Captain America, etc.

Will and Brieyn LOVE to dress up together, except, thank goodness, Will doesn't have to wear princess stuff any more. :-)

Molly woke up after we were all done with Christmas morning, so she got her own special time. This is Will showing her the picture Santa took and brought to Nana and Papa's of their two four-wheelers waiting under the tree at home.

We got Molly this Minnie sweatshirt at Disneyland, she looks soooo cute in it.

And here's the back, LOVE it. :-)

Will in his motorcycle rider costume, he HAS to wear this when he rides his four-wheeler at home, cracks me up.

Molly opening her stocking, she finally has enough hair for the saddest, most pathetic ponytail on top of her head.

And this is what Santa had waiting under the tree when we got home from CDA:

And a few other little tidbits:

Molly opening her stocking at home, it was filled with play food. The first one she pulled out? A pumpkin. And that's our name for her: a pumpkin for our punkin. That wasn't planned either.

Will gets Buzz Lightyear underwear.

Even Lady gets a stocking.

Will's new race track.

Even Molly has to get up on the chair and watch. She throws a fit if we don't put her up.

Merry Christmas to All!

2009-12-30T15:08:00.001-08:00

The picture above with our title is my ultimate favorite Christmas decoration this year. I always have one, and this one was so simple but just beautiful to me. I've had the berry kissing balls and peace sign for a couple years, but this was the first time I thought about stringing them together. Below are pics of the Henley house decorated for the Christmas season.

Below is Molly after I caught her trying to snag ornaments off the tree. :-)

Below are some of my favorite Christmas ornaments, some new, some very old.

And last but not least, the Martha Stewart fairy dropped by again. Those of you that read my blog will remember Halloween and how proud of myself that I made these cookies, but in Halloween shapes. Well, I did it again...for Christmas. Yea, Me! :-)

Disneyland, Part 2

2009-12-28T14:15:00.001-08:00

Guess I better get on the rest of Disneyland since I have so many wonderful Christmas times to share!!

Will's first Disneyland ride....I think it was called Astroblasters...a Buzz Lightyear ride.

Molly's not sure what's going on.

Buzz and the evil emperor Zurg.

Yet another pic where Will and Ken have the same expression... :-)

Will, Molly and Grandma riding in Pooh's honeypot.

LOVE this picture of Will and his daddy with the blue sky and green trees behind them.

Riding the train.

Waiting for the parade to start.

Love this pic of slinky the dog in toy story, part of the characters in the parade.

This is part of a 2nd parade we went to that night, more interactive. Will was given a minnie mouse drum so he could play along to the music.

"Goofy's kitchen" (that's really what it's called) Goofy and the kids making breakfast.

We had to try and trick Molly into wearing the ears, she didn't want anything to do with them.

Pretty minnie mouse. At home she wears this with white tights and black heels (really!!), it's adorable, have to post that sometime.

Mickey Mouse signing Will's autograph book.

I LOVE this picture of Mom and Will, it's sooooooooo good of both of them.

Will checking out the signatures.

Will is concentrating soooo hard on writing his name on the "this book belongs to" line.

Disneyland, Disneyland, Disneyland!!

2009-12-07T14:11:00.000-08:00

So...this is part one of our Disneyland trip. This was a fabulous fabulous trip...my mom and Ken treated us to Will and Molly's first trip to Disneyland at the beginning of Nov. We stayed at the Disneyland Resort Hotel which is steps from the front entrance of Disneyland. There could not have been two better people to go with than my mom and Ken...Ken is the Disneyland all-knowing King, Guru. He knows the in's and out's, the restrooms, the rides, the restaurants, the characters, it's fantastic! I love that Ken is in tune with his inner-child. Some people should learn from him not to take life so seriously (ah-hem, me.) And my mom never ever lost her patience with two young kids who had been dragged around Disneyland all day for two days without naps. Me, Mommy, on the other hand can not say I was so patient. So thank goodness Grandma was there to take over. :-) We did everything, parades, rides, shows, etc. I really didn't know what to expect from Will at Disneyland. I thought he'd be more apprehensive, but no, he rode every ride there was (even Splash Mountain!!! more on that next post). And actually Molly went on every single ride except the Bumper Cars and even fell asleep on my tummy in Pirates of the Carribean. Will's absolute favorite was the "Astroblaster." It's a Buzz Lightyear ride, it was the very first ride we went on and we did it 3 more times after that. There are not any pictures of that one yet, that will be next time. This post starts with the Toy Story Mania ride, it's in 3-D and Will actually loved wearing the glasses.

These next two pictures are of Will and Ken and I think they are helarious b/c they have the same exact facial expressions. (Notice in the background, the golden gate bridge is decorated for Christmas. It was wierd, first day, no decorations, next day Christmas everywhere).

Same mouth.

Same eyes.

My mom bought Will and Molly their first Mickey ears...Pictures of Molly's will be in next post.

The next few pics are from the Monster's Inc ride.

The next few were during the "Disney Live" show...I read about this online a few years ago and was soooo excited but it wasn't traveling yet, I was soooo bummed that Will probably wouldn't see it...but here we are seeing it in it's home town, Disneyland.

Handy Manny and Tools

Little Einsteins, Rocket, Annie, Quincy, June and Leo

The famous Mickey Mouse Ferris Wheel....I think the thing is extremely spooky, you couldn't pay me enough to get on that thing.

I treated Will to this huge sugar cookie/chocolate icing Mickey Mouse cookie...I NEVER spend money on this type of stuff but I figured why not, we're in Disneyland. It was DISGUSTING. It must have been months old, hard as a rock, Will licked the frosting off and promptly forgot about it. $5 bucks for icing. :-)

My mom bought Molly this extremely adorable Minnie Mouse dress, stay tuned for more pics in the next post. For some reason she has a fabulous time playing with water bottle caps.

The next few are California Adventure, It's a Bugs Life....a whole little "town" made up for Bugs...Will and Daddy riding Bug Bumper cars.

Everything was huge, even the Christmas decorations...like from the perspective of...Bugs. :-)

This ride was the bug version of hot air balloon rides...you sat in a "raisin box" and took flight.

I love these two pictures of Molly and Ken...so sweet.

The Mickey Mouse Flowers

The whole family with Mickey. Helarious story about this Mickey. Mom and Ken got to the hotel before we did. So we're pulling up and I'm turned around saying to Will, "look Will!!! It's Mickey, its Mickey!" and he's soooooooooo excited. Then I look again, (we're kind of far away) and there are these two people standing right next to Mickey, waving like crazy, with the hugest smiles you've ever seen, whole arm waving, cheek hurting smiling, and I realize and say, "oh! it's Mickey....AND Grandma and Ken!" (You had to be there, it was soooo funny, they were sooooooooo excited for this trip!!!)

More Thanksgiving Fun...

2009-11-28T12:02:00.000-08:00

Will's preschool had a Thanksgiving Celebration on Wednesday...and I was NOT prepared...I was thinking it would be in their classroom with just his fellow classmates, with the small bits of food that the parents brought...oh my gosh! I walked in and the extra room they have for the whole school was completely decked out...it was GORGEOUS. I was soooo upset that I didn't have my camera, I had to settle for my phone. The pictures will absolutely not do this beautiful Thanksgiving display justice. The room was completely decorated with table cloths, flowers, pumpkin center pieces, scarecrows and a tremendous center table with two huge scrumptious turkey's just waiting to be carved. Each classroom wore different head-dresses, Will's class were the pilgrums, another was indians, etc. The feast was traditional with corn, mashed potatoes, turkey, rolls and even pie! Two of the older kids read Thanksgiving poems.

The weekend before Thanksgiving we went to the Encinitas Street Festival...they had vendors selling all their homemade products (lots of cute baby clothes!), yummy food and little kiddie rides. Will decided he wanted to go on the Froggy Hop, which is a kid version of the free fall...just small, like 8 or 9 feet. I couldn't believe Will wanted to go on it, everytime they let it "free fall" Will let out a little yelp. It was helarious. The kids got their faces painted too, well, Will didn't want it on his cheeks so it went on his hands. I took a pic of the palm trees b/c they were just so pretty, I couldn't believe how gorgeous the weather was just a few days before Thanksgiving.

We spent Thanksgiving with some friends who live down the street from us, they had a few family members in town on Thanksgiving but most weren't going to be there till Saturday so we just did a casual fun thanksgiving dinner...there were lots and lots of kids though so Will and Molly had soooo much fun. I didn't really see Will the entire evening. This is the same family we spent Halloween with...Will loves hanging out with Timmy. Emily (Timmy's mom) had her girls make the adorable place cards.

The day after Thanksgiving my dad and step-mom came to visit us. We were so excited to see them! It was only for a few short hours, but it was wonderful!! I planned a very special outfit for Molly to wear just for Grandma Karen. She had bought Molly adorable black "high heels" so I dressed Molly up in her pretty dress from my mom and fancied her up in Karen's high heels, she looked sooooooooo cute! After visiting for a bit we loaded up the car (or the family fun bus as I like to call it) and went to lunch at the beach.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2009-11-26T08:57:00.000-08:00

Where have we been?! I know I haven't posted in awhile...I just...haven't been in the mood. Not sure why...I know exactly what I want to post about...I just haven't, wanted to. But I will get there, I will. :-) We've been busy and then the whole family got sick, and now we are all getting back to the land of the living...anyway, I was going to keep it a surprise for everyone...but now it's been a little long for that. The week of my birthday (yes, way back in the beginning of Nov.) my mom and Ken were here for a week...and we all went to...DISNEYLAND!
Yes...we took Will and MOlly to Disneyland for the first time. And it was amazing! I have lots of very fun pictures, I couldn't have imagined a better "first time trip." It was truly...magical! :-) I WILL get those pictures up, I promise! Plus I will add some Thanksgiving festivities...
I hope everyone has a beautiful, loving, joyful Thanksgiving. Molly and Will's "hand and feet" turkeys (hands are feathers, feet are the body), made for Papa Bill and Grandma Karen.

Halloween Activities

2009-11-02T16:59:00.001-08:00

For moving to a city where we didn't know anybody, we sure had a lot of fun this Halloween! Below are all of our fun Fall Festivities:
It all started with a Halloween party at LaCosta Canyon Park, hosted by the Mom's group I joined, LaCosta Moms:

Next, Will helped me decorate Halloween cookies, and he really got into it, he was very precise and even figured out how to outline each cookie with the frosting and he enjoyed a few sprinkles while he was at it too...

Again...he concentrated so much on carving his pumpkin, very precise.

The Henley Jack O'Lanterns:

Next was a Halloween party at Will's preschool, they did a little parade around to different shops. The first pic is Will's teacher, she was a pirate.

I couldn't resist, Molly looked so cute holding on to this chair.
Next, Will's school had a field trip to a local "Pumpkin Station." They have pumpkin's and rides, kind of like a carnival, but really small. Will was soooooooooo excited that he got to ride a school bus by himself, like "big kids do." I couldn't believe my little boy was getting on a school bus without me...he's all growsed up. :-)

Will was watching a mom with a baby....he looks mad, but it was actually very sweet.

Will and Stefan had to wait another time to get on the train...but it was worth it, they got to be the conductors and ring the bell.

I could not believe that Will climbed right on this ride, Rocketships, or Spaceships. Usually he sees rides like this and wants to do it but then when we get up there, he won't go near it. He didn't even hesitate, and had so much fun the whole time.

Next, we got invited to a "Trunk or Treat" by one of our neighbors, who has a boy Will's age. People decorate their cars for Halloween and give out candy from the trunk of their cars, you trick or treat to each car.

No Molly's not walking but every once in awhile, she will walk a little while she holds our hand.

Will and Timmy, "Best Buddies." :-)

Timmy was a karate boy, so he kept doing all these karate moves and Will would copy him, but Will didn't get that the moves were part of the costume...it was pretty funny.

One car gave candy after you golfed in to a "dog house" and over the doghouse was a bone that said what you had to do...Will golfed into "do some hula hooping" so the guy put the hula hoop around him and Will just stared at him, like "what are you doing, where's my candy?!"

My mom and Ken are here this week to celebrate Halloween and my birthday. Every year my mom buys the kids books that are related to their costume, so of course Will got a Toy Story book.

Lady as a Ladybug...I know she looks miserable, but she really didn't mind it. She really looks so cute. :-)
And True Halloween begins, my mom gives out the first trick or treat candy for the kiddo's bags.

Our neighborhood was HOPPING, kids everywhere! Here's Will going up to a house in the middle of a line of kids.

Molly trying to convince me to let her have a lollipop.

Dinner at the Beach

2009-10-27T15:01:00.000-07:00

At the last minute, we decided to pack a picnic dinner last night and head to the beach for "dinner out." Yes, the beach has become our new restaurant, we eat "out" once or twice a week. (We realized later that Will turned 3 1/2 yesterday, so it turned out to be a good little celebration.) It was a beautiful day and still nice and warm at the beach. We got there just in time to see a gorgeous sunset. We found a new use for the Bumbo seat too...perfect seat for Molly to eat in at the beach! We decided to try it b/c we were tired of lugging the stroller in the sand...and the Bumbo worked perfectly. Will crawled into my lap and sat looking at the ocean with me while we ate sandwiches and Pirates Booty. I told him I was a very lucky Mommy. After dinner we walked along the edge of the ocean in the sand and everytime I said to Molly, "look at the waves." She would take her hand and swing it left and right using her whole arm. She was "waving." Cracked me up. She kept "grabbing" for the birds, the waves, and the moon. Everytime I said, "Yes, Molly, daddy will give you the moon." She'd look at Jeremy and reach for the moon. Jeremy and Will had sand races to see who was faster, I think it was a tie and Will almost got thrown in the ocean a couple times (just kidding). It was a wonderful evening, so relaxing, happy and simple.
(When we got home, we watched the news after the kids were in bed and the weather-woman was freaking out, "You like the heat today, well we're going to get a Winter Blast! Things are changing, stay tuned to hear about the cold weather we are in for tomorrow b/c of a Winter Blast!" We were laughing, it was rediculous, it's 70 today instead of 85! It is absolutely helarious what people think is "cold" here.)

Carlsbad State Beach at Sunset
Molly watching the birds.
Molly reaching for the birds.

Molly watching and listening to the waves.

Now most of you know that I am no Martha Stewart. I don't cook, I don't even like to cook, I don't bake, I'm not a very good house cleaner, I don't sew, don't even know how to sew a button on, or rather don't want to learn, I am not creative, I don't think of "fun," creative things to do with the kids...etc, etc. You get the picture. However, when we got home from the beach last night, I did this:
Yes, I had baked 2-3 dozen halloween cookies and I frosted them all last night, you have no idea how proud of myself I am. I even thought ahead, left some plain and bought Halloween sprinkles and frosting for Will to decorate some....I'm am so proud.
My favorites.
The little "card" I made to go with each goody bag of cookies. Will and I are going to hand them out to the neighborhood kids he's met. I stamped the red H myself and made a pumpkin hole punch that I found in all my scrapbooking stuff (no, I'm still no Martha Stewart, I haven't touched scrapbooking in 2 years.)

Hmmm...I Love Fall

2009-10-21T21:09:00.000-07:00

Oh, how I love fall...I love decorating for fall, I love the feel of fall in the air, I love the look of fall outside. I took Lady for a walk Saturday morning at 7:30am...and it was wonderful. It was just me and Lady. It was perfectly clear blue skies, the sun was out and there was that perfect chill in the air. Except...I wasn't in pants, a winter hat, gloves and a coat...I was in shorts and a t-shirt. It was wonderful.
Below are some pictures of our house, a lot of you have been asking for pics, so here's some of my fall decorations and a few of just our house.
Then we visited an amazing pumpkin patch. It had the cutest hay maze, you walk through finding mailboxes with stamps in them, when your card is filled up, you try to find your way out. They had tractor rides, pumpkin picking, bouncy houses, and yummy yummy food.