Happy Birthday Daddy & Emily!

4 years ago Wednesday, Jason's birthday changed forever. Never again would he be the only special person on May 13th. In fact, for the most part I think he gets a little overshadowed (allow I really do try to make it special for him.) But for what it's worth, he'll take it. He and Emily will always have a special little bond that nobody else can claim. Wednesday we celebrated them and how special they are in our family. We spent the day at Disneyland, where they were wished Happy Birthday constantly. I think Emily told every employee in the park that is was her special day. She is pretty proud to be 4. We followed Disneyland with a fun dinner, ice cream and presents. Although it's crazy to have two birthdays on one day, I also think it's pretty special. (Forgive Lauren in this shot, she had just woken up!)

What can I say about Jason? Except he's pretty amazing. Pretty amazing at just about everything he does. He's an amazing father and husband. I truly feel blessed to have him in my life every day. The girls ADORE him. They attack him each and every day when he walks through the door from work and hardly let him rest but he's a great sport and devotes all the time he can to them. He's patient, loving, constant, humorous, super fun, amazingly spiritual and a wonderful provider for our home. We love him.

And then there's this girl. What a fun kid! She has the biggest personality and an even bigger heart. She is a wonderful friend, sister and little girl. Although she's only 4, she is a mother in the making. In fact, I'm sure sometimes Jason feels like he has 3 mothers. She loves taking care of people, being in charge and making the rules. Fortunately for the most part, Lauren complys with those rules. She is the best big sister. She is so good to Lauren, is a great example and very protective. We couldn't ask for a better oldest child. Just like her mom, Emily has a tender heart and is brought to tears easily in an emotional situation. On more than one occasion she has been brought to tears during a touching scene of a movie, generally anything that involves a lonely child ( Fox & the Hound, Stuart Little, American Tail & the list goes on.) It is super sweet. Most of all, I love how much Emily loves life. EVERYTHING is exciting and wonderful to her. The seemingly most mundance activities or events put the biggest smile on her face. I hope she never loses that excitement for life. We Love our Big 4 Year old!

Mother's Day at PreSchool!

Today at Emily's preschool, all of the moms were invited for a special Mother's Day brunch. The kids had practiced a little program of songs and made several gifts for the moms. It was too cute. I mostly just loved home excited Emily was to be able to finally show me everything she had been working on. Emily has the cutest preschool teachers, they always do the most fun projects with the kids. They had a cute little brunch and had the room all decorated. It's crazy to think that this is just the beginning of all of the school projects and programs, but I'm excited too see Emily growing up so much.

Emily and some of her friends. She's apparently real excited!

Crafternoon Finished...Finally!

Ok, so Jen and I had a crafternoon a few weeks ago to make these cute wall hangings. If you visit Jen's blog, you'll see that see finished, I don't know, 2 1/2 weeks ago. As for me, I finally did it. I got them done yesterday. Jason had to go to a Dodger's Game for work (rough life), so I had the night to finish my projects. With these projects finished the girls room is nearly complete. It's been fun to have a room to decorate and even more fun to be almost done.
Letters E & L, in case you can't tell.

This cute little board provides a storage place for our crazy big stash of hair bows.

Date Night!

It's ok, you read it correctly. Jason and I had a date night. For the most part they are few and far between but we recently set up a babysitting co-op with some friends and now we'll get a couple nights a month. So fun. Friday we went to our favorite little hamberger joint and then went rollarblading down at the waterfront. We had the best time. The weather was perfect and the people watching was great (that's always my favorite thing at the beach). We love going down to the beach and dreaming about a little house on the beach for us someday. Someday! But for now I am satisfied with a wonderful date with an amazing guy!(Never mind the cool capris with the rollarblades. It a new fashion trend.)

Happy Easter!

Cute sisters in their Easter dresses! I love Easter dresses but I decided next year I need one too. I always get the girls all dressed up and then go pick some old ensemble from my wardrobe. I won't buy a matching dress with them but Easter seems like a great excuse for something new and cute!
The girls woke up to cute Easter baskets ( which I did not photograph of course.) Later in the afternoon after church Jason took the garbage out and luckily he spotted the Easter bunny just leaving our little grass area. He came in and told the girls and they ran out to find that the Easter bunny had left them lots of little eggs with surprises in them. They were so excited. Emily just kept asking Jason where exactly he saw the bunny and which way it went. She really wanted to go track him down

Emily also sang with the primary in Sacrament for the first time. She loved it and did a great job!

Heard in Primary:(so I didn't hear it but her primary teacher told me) They were talking about Jesus and His sacrifice for us and they asked the kids: "If someone you loved was in danger, would you sacrifice your life for them." Emily raised her hand and said "If maybe my mom and dad weren't paying attention (I sure hope not) and Lauren fell in the pool, I jump in and get her."

I love the pure love and charity children!! If only we were all that way! Hope you all had a happy Easter!

Spring Break!

Last week was Emily's spring break and instead of staying home and finding something to do everyday, I took to opportunity to drive up to my sister's in Sacramento. I was pretty nervous to do the 7 hour drive with the girls by myself but it actually turned out really great. The girls were amazing in the car and we made it both ways safely. At my sister's, Emily was in heaven. She loved playing with her cousins. Three of them are older than her but they were so sweet to play with her and include her in everything. She couldn't get enough! Lauren pretty much spent the week following the big kids and playing with new toys. The first day we were there we threw all 7 kids in the car and drove into the San Francisco zoo. It was a great zoo and the kids had really fun time. We couldn't get close to see the chimpanzees because they were agitated. It was weird, there were zoo workers all around their habitat keeping people from going too close. My sister asked what they do when they're agitated and the worker said they throw things. We stayed a safe distance away. My girls really loved the gorillas and the bears but most of all loved being with cousins. Thanks to my sister's husband, she and I even got to go out to dinner and Target (where else would we go when we get time to ourselves) one night. We had a great time, it was hard to leave but we had a daddy at home that we missed.

Point Vicente

Jason had Friday off after his parents left so we took the opportunity to take the girls up the Point Vicente in Palos Verdes and see if we could spot any gray whales. I think we were a little late in the migration season and it was a pretty windy day, so we didn't have any success in the gray whale department but it was beautiful. We visited the little museum they have there and the girls got their fill of fish, whales and dolphins (all models of course.)

This was the closest we got to seeing any whales. Better luck next year!

Grandma & Grandpa's Visit!

Jason's parents were able to come this last week for a fun visit. After going to preschool with Emily on Tuesday, the we took them to Disneyland for 2 days. We had a great time. I can't tell you how nice it was to have extra hands at Disneyland. Jason and I weren't quite sure what to do with ourselves. The girls loved having grandma and grandpa there and were so excited to show them all of our favorites. We had great weather and it wasn't terribly crowded, which made for an awesome visit. The time seemed to fly by but we had a wonderful time with grandma and grandpa and we can't wait to see them again.

A long, fun day!

One Crazy Month!

Sorry for the overload of pics, but I thought I'd blog what we've been doing over the last month, minus a lot of things that fill our time but I don't take pictures of. My parents came to visit in San Diego in the middle of February. We were able to go down and spend a weekend with them. It was fun to have the come. They came from freezing cold Seattle to enjoy our warm So Cal weather. Unfortunately for them, it was a little chilly but we still had a great time. We made it out to Pt. Loma to see the lighthouse and take in the gorgeous views. Although it looks sunny and warm, it was actually quite chilly.

My sister's family came down on the tail end of my parent's visit and stayed the rest of the week. We were able to spend a day at Disneyland with them. Emily and Lauren had a blast spending the day with cousins. Now everytime we go they ask if the cousins are coming too. So sad!

The end of February was consumed by saying goodbye to one apartment....

and finding new hiding spots in our new apartment. We are finally feeling moved in, thankfully. Thanks to all those that helped with our move!
Lauren's 2nd birthday.
Emily had her last day of dance and we got to go in and watch her showcase all her new moves. It was fun. She has especially loved tap. I think it's just because it makes more noise.

Happy Birthday Lauren!!

So I know I've been a pretty bad blogger lately, with moving and everything but I didn't want to pass up the chance to recognize Lauren's birthday. She turned 2 on Monday and is pretty excited about that. I took her to Disneyland during the day. They gave her a little Happy Birthday pin and then on each ride, the ride attendants would wish her Happy Birthday. It was too cute. She was so excited to have other people know it was her day, she told everyone 'thank you' when they wished her Happy Birthday. I can hardly believe she is 2. It's crazy that she's not a baby anymore. She is a funny kid. So different from Emily is so many ways, yet desperately tries to be just like her. She's my little 'opposites' girl, a Dr. Jekyl/Mr Hyde. She is such a dirty kid, always dirty face and shirt, yet she's constantly asking to wash her hands. She'll walk by Emily and reach out and knock her on the head, yet there's no one in the world she adores more. She has to do everything on her own, I mean everything, but she won't go to nursery by herself. She is stubborn but also so quick to say 'sorry' and give hugs. She is so friendly, says 'hi' to anyone that will listen but don't get too close to her things, she's protective. She is sweet yet defiant at times. She runs everywhere, with her tongue out. She wants so bad to be bigger, but she still wants her cuddles and kisses (I love that!!). Oh, I could go on forever. She keeps us entertained that's for sure.....We love you Lauren!!!