Preschool Easter Hunt

Jacob had an Easter party & egg hunt today at school. He was pretty pleased with his stash.

Ready, Set, Go!.... And they're off!


His school buddies: Ian, Benjamin, & Kyle... and the rest of the class.

Now, he's counting down the days until Easter morning.

Afternoon @ the Park

went to the park this afternoon.
these craze-o's ran around and had a great time!
they are so silly.

Georgie's Birthday

It's been a crazy, busy, full, exhausting day, but we have done our very best to celebrate our Georgie's 2nd birthday the way it should be celebrated!!

It started off with getting up bright & early to get Jacob to preschool for his first day of the last session of Terrific Tots. This year has gone by so quickly! I got there early today in order to sign up for my 3 required volunteer days. I want to get them out of the way as soon as possible (I can't imagine why!) and planned to work today to get the first day checked off.

As soon as I got home it was time for lunch, making cupcakes, and getting our things together to head to the zoo for the afternoon.

We had a great time at the zoo with dear friends. I was exhausted and sore from climbing all those hills, but the kids had a nice time and I did too. We saw so many animals, they were all very exciting!

Our animals:
Georgia, Sadie, Ella, & Braxton
Kyle, Jacob, Hadley with Miley, Christian with Jada, & Jace with Andrew


the whole group, with the mommies:
Heather, Monique, moi, & Heather

Once we got home it was time to decorate the cupcakes, wrap presents, and head to our little family 'birthday party' dinner at Souplantation.
I love this picture of the two of them together. She sure loves her Daddy... and he loves her!!

{When it was time to sing Happy Birthday and have cupcakes Georgie was excited, then got a little embarrassed as the singing began, gained some confidence when it was time to blow out the candles (with a little help from Mommy & Jake), and went to town when it was time to eat her cupcake!!}

We had a wonderful time celebrating our sweet girls 2nd birthday with family & a few dear friends. Georgie loves all the books she received as well as clothes. Once we got home we asked her if she had a good birthday and her response was, "uhhhuhhhhhh!!!" That's always a good sign.

Happy Birthday to our sweet Georgie Girl.

Our Sweet Georgie Girl is 2

Our Georgie Girl is 2 years old today.

It's interesting with her how it feels like she really should be a lot older. It really is hard to remember sometimes that she's as young as she is. She has always been so capable and brave and big. It's hard to remember what life was like before she joined us. She is such a fun little girl to have in our family. She's always looking for ways to make us laugh. She's always up for an adventure. And she always wants to be doing whatever it is that Jacob is doing... or saying.

She is such a smart girl. She is counting to 10 by herself and knows most of the alphabet. She loves to do puzzles and play with her dolls. She is very independent and gets herself dressed and puts her own shoes on. When we get in the car she has to buckle her car seat by herself (if you try to help... watch out! the girl has a temper.) She is talking up a storm and repeats everything Jacob says. When she's asked a 'yes' or 'no' question her response is either a definite NO or 'uhhhuh' with a cute little smile on her face.

She loves to dance and be silly. She loves to play and be wherever Jacob is. At the park she thinks she should be able to climb up or go down everything that Jacob can... and she tries. The girl is unafraid, but sometimes Mommy ruins her fun and makes her do things the safe & age appropriate way... much to her dismay.

She is a very happy girl... most of the time, but if she gets upset with you -- you will know it. She can throw a fit with the best of 'em. Since the day she was born she has had the loudest cry/scream known to man... and that has not changed. If she's upset, the entire neighborhood knows it. But when she's happy... she is as sweet as can be. She really does have a heart of gold. She is kind and caring and concerned about others around her.

Georgia loves, loves, loves her big brother and would do anything to make him happy and be near him... unless he doesn't want to share and then... well, then see the above paragraph. Jacob is her most favorite person. She adores him. We love to watch the two of them together because the feeling is mutual. They are such opposites, but head over heels in love with one another.

Georgia is very adventurous is many ways, including trying new foods. She will eat anything at least once. She isn't afraid when something new is on her plate, she just gives it a try. There's no whining about "I don't like this" or "This is yucky" like we get from Jake, if she doesn't like it she just doesn't eat it, but we have rarely found something she won't eat.

Lately she has decided that she doesn't like being in her car seat so going anywhere can be a bit of a challenge on my patience. As we drive along she is constantly trying to get out of her car seat. Another thing she has decided about being in the car is that her window must always be down. She loves the wind on her face... and knowing that Jacob hates his window down. (They really are opposites in almost every way!)

We love this little girl so very, very much and know we are blessed, not only to have her in our lives, but by having her in our lives. She brings us so much joy and happiness. She lights up the room with her smile and personality.

We love you Georgie Girl.
Happy 2nd Birthday!

Two year stats:
Height: 35 1/2 inches (90th percentile)
Weight: 34 lbs (97th percentile)
Head Circumference: 51 cm (97th percentile)

She's right where she's always been!

Our Weekend Getaway

Tonight John & I got home from our very first weekend getaway since having kids. Gramma was very kind and offered to have them stay at her house so we could go. As we dropped them off on Friday it was with heavy & guilty hearts because Georgie had woken up that morning throwing up & hadn't stopped all day. We felt awful for her... and bad for Gram, but she encouraged us to go anyway. Thankfully Georgie didn't have any more episodes once she got to Gram's and was fine the rest of the weekend.

And we had a great time!!
Here are a few of the highlights:
{Now, it wasn't the Bluth Banana Stand, but it was the 'original' banana stand on Balboa Island}

Having a 'Frostie' cherry limeade on Balboa Island
Our 'ocean view' hotel room, but it was so clear on Sunday morning we could see Catalina from our room.
Taking it all in...
Checking out the tide pools at Treasure Island beach
Looking out through a cave at Treasure Island beach
Overlooking Treasure Island beach from the cliff
The Montage, a resort we WILL stay at someday.

We had a great weekend in Newport Beach, we spent time taking in the sights, visiting Balboa Island, relaxing at the beach, talking about our goals for the next 3 years: personally, as a couple, and as a family, exploring the amazingly beautiful Treasure Island beach, and just being together.

Hopefully it won't be another 4 years before we get this opportunity again!

Thanks Gram for watching the kids, they had a great time with you!!

I Scream, You Scream, We LOVE Ice Cream

Make no mistake about it, we made sure to make our way to Ben & Jerry's for their Free Scoop Day today. Amazingly, there was no line.

We were all very happy.

We even got to spend some (more) time with Heather & her boys.

More projects

spent the day at Gramma's starting & finishing a couple more projects. it feels good to be crossing things off my list. now if i could just get to the things that are on the NEED to get finished instead of WANT to get finished list.

(the cowgirl material was a very special find at a great little quilt shop in battle ground, washington. i searched high and low for cute, age appropriate cowgirl fabric for my niece abi's christmas pillowcase. once i found it i wished that i had purchased yards more. i absolutely love it. i wanted to make georgie something with it, but didn't have enough to do what i was thinking in the first place... so i came up with another plan. i think i like this better. now georgie & baby girl will have matching cowgirl outfits.)

Saturday at Gramma's

We spent our day at Gram's today. John was working and I have a ton of projects I want to get (started &) finished before this baby arrives.

As we drove across town I caught a glimpse of Georgie in my rear-view mirror and just couldn't help myself, I had to get a picture of her.

Once we got to Gram's I got to work on my projects and the kids played outside. They were out there all day: playing soccer, riding bikes, planting bulbs and Gram was right there with them. She seems to be feeling pretty darn good after this last & final session of chemo. Thank goodness. I know she was really worried how she would handle this last session, but she's doing great! She has a couple mouth sores, but her body feels good, her energy is better than expected, and her hair is starting to grow back.

While she & the kids were outside I spent the day here. All. day.

Late in the afternoon, once John arrived, we decided we all needed a treat and I needed to walk so we headed out to Target for a few things and Golden Spoon for treats.

The kids were happy.
We all were.
I'm not sure which felt better the walk or the frozen yogurt. :)

It was a successful day. I still have a few more projects to get (started &) finished but today was a huge start.

At the end of the day I was pleased with all I had accomplished. And Jake ended up with a swollen & black eye. (He & Georgie were both running at full speed through Gram's kitchen... toward each other, around a corner. The collision was loud and painful. Georgie had a huge goose egg on her forehead & Jacob's eye immediately swelled up and turned blue. Ouch. It didn't seem to slow either one of them down for long...)

All in a day's work.
Ahhhh, a Saturday at Gram's.

Blog Book.- 2008 (yep, i'm a year behind)

completed and ordered.
hallelujah!!

front

back

now we wait, ever so patiently, for it to arrive!!

Helpin' a Sista Out

Georgie decided she'd rather have Jake push her on the swings today.
He was happy to do it.

(And I got a break! yahoo! I could get use to this!)

St. Patrick's Day Fun

Jake was very excited about today being St. Patrick's Day, not that he even knows what that means, but he knew he'd get to wear his favorite color... and lots of it!!

After preschool and my 34 week visit with Renee, we headed over to Gram's to get the corned beef & cabbage started. Once Gram got home the kids convinced her to go swimming. She's so good to them! It's been so hot the past few days and a dip in the pool sounds mighty nice, but you won't be catching this momma in a swim suit any time soon, but Gram is such a good sport, she changed her clothes, grabbed her hat & into the spa they went! The kids had a great time jumping, kicking, & splashing around... they are two little fishy. Here's hoping when swim lesson start they're still as interested to be in the pool!

The traditional St. Patrick's Day dinner didn't pan out as we thought it would (which really was fine by me!) so we ended up having sandwich's and calling it good. It was a great day!

One of those days...

Today was one of those days that you look out the window and know it's too nice to do anything other than go to the beach. So that's exactly what we did. Before we left, we called Heather & Lisa and asked if they wanted to meet us there.

We all had a great time! It was hot, almost too hot, but with the sea breeze it was perfect. Can't wait to go again!

(Those days- When I was in high school my friend, Danielle, & I would come out of early morning seminary, notice it was a perfect beach day, and go there instead of school... but shhhhh! that's not a story my kids need to know, especially because it happened... often. very often.)

The Flower Fields

Today we made the long trek to San Diego County to see The Flower Fields in Carlsbad... and they were worth all those hours in the car! Absolutely amazing! The kids had such a great time running and playing all day. It really was a perfect day. As we sat at the top of the fields overlooking all the beautiful flowers, feeling the sun on our skin, and looking out at the Pacific Ocean, it felt perfect.

(before we headed out John & I were a bit concerned about how the kids would enjoy the day, but the flower fields have thought of every visitor, even the little ones. they had a passport book that the kids had to get stamps from different areas, a playground with old toys from Santa's Village, and a maze made of sweet peas where Jake ran and ran and ran. it was wonderful!!)

Jake's already asking when we're going back.