our Easter weekend

We had a wonderful Easter weekend. We started off by heading to Nana and Papa's house on Saturday morning. The girls were pretty excited; they actually thought Mommy and Daddy were going to go in an airplane again. They were indifferent when they realized we were going too. I think they wanted to go to N&P's by themselves!

The girls played and had lunch while Daddy and I went to visit Auntie B and her new baby girl! We were so excited to get to see her. She was born on April 21 and is a beauty!

Welcome Violet Sophia!

Me and Auntie B with her precious babe!

When we returned, the girls were down for a nap and to our surprise Little Bird was actually sleeping! She hasn't taken a nap since they stayed at Nana's 3 weeks ago. Little Pie took a fairly short nap and was ready to get back to hanging out with Papa. She sat on his lap for a really long time and they watched golf and basketball while Daddy took a nap on the couch (typical!).

The girls were especially cute this weekend because they were so into hanging out with Nana and Papa. It was almost like Daddy and I weren't even there! It's comforting to us that they are so comfortable there. In fact, both girls were disappointed when we had to come home to our house!

Only Nana read books this weekend.

The weather wasn't spectacular, but the girls got outside for a few minutes to practice t-ball. Since the air was very chilly, they also got to wear their new ponchos that Nana made them!

 

On Sunday morning the girls were up bright and early. Since they share a bed at Nana's house, it's sort of interesting to see what will happen. I went to get them up and stopped outside of the door to listen to them chatting to each other. I could hear them telling each other that when the door opens, only then can they get up. So cute!

We were sort of in a rush to get everyone ready and out the door to church, but the girls still managed to look super adorable in their dresses. They were also absolute angels at church (church has sort of been difficult to attend lately). It seems like they all of a sudden understand what it means to be quiet. They were so adorable because they kept "whispering" to me, but they were whispering so quietly I couldn't hear them! We saw Nana and Gramcracker sing in the choir (we sat up front so we had a great view). Nana came to sit in the pew in front of us and both girls wanted to go sit with her. They were such angels!

When we got home from church, the girls discovered that the Easter bunny had visited Nana's house while we were gone! They found that he left Little Bird a new Ariel, a potty chair for her baby, Dora lip gloss and nail polish, bubbles, clothes for her baby, a new Olivia book, and socks and jammies for her! Little Pie found a new Snow White, a bath for her baby, Dora lip gloss and nail polish, bubbles, clothes for her baby, a new Olivia book, and socks and jammies for her! They were in heaven!

And Little Pie found all her jelly beans too!

After some play time, we packed up our stuff (so much stuff for two days!) and headed over to Magra and Boompa's house for Easter dinner. Nana, Papa, Uncle Drew, Gramcracker, Erin, Cody and Katie were all there too.

The weather was BEAUTIFUL! Something we have been desperate waiting for. We knew we would be outside most of the afternoon so we started with an Easter Egg Hunt. I knew the girls would love it and they didn't disappoint!

The sweetest thing about the hunt, was that Little Pie let Little Bird pick up almost all of the yellow eggs. I think it is so amazing and so sweet that Little Pie knows that Little Bird loves yellow so much. Check out the beginning of this video; you can see Little Pie find a yellow, but leave it for Little Bird to pick up.

We spent the rest of the day playing outside; kicking balls and blowing bubbles. We all had such a great day! We are so blessed to have such a great family to spend time with. Next time I promise to take pictures of them too!

april snow brings Arizona sunshine?

The girls love Arizona. We talk about it all the time because Gramma is still there. They want to go back; like now.

Little Bird especially asks (multiple times a day) to go back to Arizona. Recently I started telling her that we can go back when it snows again (we are planning to go back for Thanksgiving so that seems like a promise I can keep). 

Well this morning when we woke up, the girls looked out the window to find...snow. 

 

That's right. On APRIL 20.

The first words out of Little Bird's mouth were "we go to Arizona!!".

I guess Mother Nature is on her side.

friends. new and old

The girls have made a new friend. While at story time at the library a few weeks ago, BFF and her mama introduced us to new friends, Ms. E and her mama.

Since then we have decided to meet Monday mornings for a play date. The mamas have great plans to take the girlies (and Little Buddy too!) to some great parks, Como Zoo and probably the swim pond. Unfortunately since it is going to SNOW today, those things will have to be replaced with taking turns at each others' houses. 

Ms. E, Little Pie, Little Bird, BFF

We are looking forward to lots of fun times with these girls!

---

We also had a chance to meet up with an old friend of mine from college...one I hadn't seen in *cough* 12 years! She and her family live nearby so she and her two kiddos met us at the indoor play land for some fun. It was great to catch up with her and hopefully we can meet up them again for some park play dates this summer.

While at the play land, it was interesting to see some of the traits that the girls have inherited from Daddy and me exposed so clearly. 

Both girls were interested in climbing where the "big kids" climb. That's great, but since they are still little they tend to get run over by some of these big kids. Little Pie wanted to climb higher and higher. She is quite capable and really enjoyed following some of the big kids to the top. She struggled on the way down though. She tends to just go for it, without stopping to think about the best way approach physical hurdles. So, like her mother, she did a face plant, biting her lower lip, bleeding all over her shirt. To her credit, she wasn't afraid to get back at it. She was a wee bit more careful though.

Little Bird on the other hand, thinks and thinks and thinks some more before she moves forward with a physical challenge. The slides are quite big at the play land and she has been down them before, but she still thinks and thinks about it before she goes. While this helps her to not get hurt, it does cause a bit of an issue when other kids get tired of waiting for her to go down and end up pushing her. And just like her daddy, she won't give in to their urgency; she still wants to think before she jumps!

Like their daddy and me, the girls balance each other out! 

the dawdlers

It seems as if the girls have perfected their dawdling skills. 

I, however, have not perfected my patience skills; or my creative skills.

Little Bird is the Queen of the dawdlers. She really knows how to delay doing something she doesn't want to do; actually she just knows how to delay doing anything. All she needs to do is start talking about totally random things. She knows I always listen to her without interrupting, so she uses it to her advantage. She usually talks about what we are doing, what we just did, what we are about to do, what we did yesterday, who we saw two weeks ago, where family members are right now, etc. I mean, she typically has something very interesting to say, but sometimes I just wish she understood "can you tell me later?".

I never thought it would take longer to get out the door than it did when the girls were younger and I had to do everything for them, including loading the car with everything but the kitchen sink. But now, everyone is running in different directions putting shoes on the wrong feet, needing to get their baby, needing to go pee pee, looking for Mickey Mouse cards, asking where we are going and why, explaining why one deserves to get in the car first, all at the mere mention of "it's time to go!".

One time the girls dawdled so much we didn't even make it to the park. They wanted to ride their cars there but they stopped every two seconds to watch the other kids in the neighborhood walking home from school, riding bikes and playing outside. Of course it was cute that they were so observant of the behavior of the other children, but seriously, we barely walked a block in 30 minutes!

They are also getting a little sassy too since they've perfected these dawdling skills. When I ask them to climb into their chairs for a given meal, Little Bird gets in backwards and says "like this mom?". Uh no. Then she sits sideways and says "like this mom?". Still no, dear. She sits on her knees and says "like this mom?". Argh!

Little Pie's dawdling skills are based on her desire to do everything herself. She must climb stairs, stools and chairs without any assistance. She needs to get in her car seat herself with no help; not even a tiny boost. If you help her in the slightest, she must start the whole task all over again so that she can do it all by herself.  (The other night she must have been so concerned that I would help her into the bath tub that while I was digging around drawers for clean jammies, she got in by herself...with her clothes on.)

The hardest dawdle situation by far is bedtime. The girls used to be so easy to put to bed; jammies, books, teeth, lotion, prayers, hugs and kisses took 15 minutes and then they were out! Now that they are in their own rooms and in toddler beds, we are lucky to get them in bed in 45. And this week with Daddy gone, I started the bedtime routine at 6:30 just to make sure they were in bed by 7:30 so that I could then pass out on the couch.

It is really hard to get slow moving, dawdling two year olds to do something you want them to do without it ending up a battle of the wills. It's still a work in progress!

I am trying so hard to be creative about getting them moving (let's hop into bed like a frog!, let's race home from the park!). I set the timer on my phone (when the timer goes off, we have to go home!). I give them choices (I put you in the car or you do it by yourself).

Why is it that my great ideas only work really well once? This is where my lack of creativity gets me in trouble.

I guess that means I'm just going to have to work on patience. I know I have to because these girls are going to be slow pokes for a long time.

spring break 2011!

Last week everyone went on vacation! 

The girls went to Nana and Papa's house for FIVE days by themselves!

Rob and I went to San Diego for FIVE days by ourselves!

It was the first time we left the girls for more than a night and were states away from them. It was also the first time that we left them for an extended period and I didn't feel guilty. I missed them terribly and sometimes wished they were with us, but I knew that they were OBVIOUSLY in great hands and were having a wonderful experience themselves. I didn't feel guilty that they were away from us because they were with people that love them just as much as we do. It's important that they have these experiences with their grandparents and it's important for us to have our own experiences too.

It was still so wonderful to come home and see their excited faces (through my tears of joy) and hear them say, "you back from California!".

---

Rob and I had an unbelievable time in San Diego. We basically walked and ate our entire vacation and it was so wonderful! The city is amazingly beautiful, easy to get around, and full of different things to do. We spent two nights downtown, staying at a boutique hotel called The Sofia. It was quite small, but very cute and adequate.

Our cute little hotel. Perfect location for walking almost anywhere in the city.

We got to visit Coronado Island, which is very beautiful and full of wealth. Yikes, things were expensive. Gas was $4.65 and a bottle of water was $5. We did manage to eat at the Coronado Brewing Company for a relatively good price. We were dying of hunger and thirst after walking back and forth across the entire island.

Taking the ferry to Coronado Island.

City view from the ferry.

Hotel del Coronado. Originally built in 1888. It had a feel of old luxury. It would be a fun place to stay sometime.

Coronado Beach. It is HUGE! It was actually 85 degrees when we were here, but since we were just walking the island for a couple of hours, we didn't stay long and soak up the sun like some of these people.

Another view of Hotel del Coronado.

While the beach was huge and sandy, it also had parts that were very rocky.

The next part of our city tour took us to the Embarcadero, Seaport Village and the Gaslamp District. Down by the piers you can tour the USS Midway (we didn't have time) and see a WWII memorial. Seaport Village has a TON of shops and the Gaslamp District has lots of really cool restaurants, bars and shops. We walked from our hotel to all three areas where we finally treated ourselves to lunch at a yummy Irish pub called The Field.

The USS Midway

Huge sculpture of the famous WWII photo.

Memorial dedicated to Bob Hope.

Memorial dedicated to Bob Hope

Gaslamp District. We decided it would be really fun to go to a Padres game (a few blocks away) and then hit the bars in this area. Wish they would have been playing at home!

Next we visited Balboa Park. We got a $5 bus pass that got us around the rest of the day on public transportation. We couldn't believe the deal! Balboa Park is a massive public park with lots of museums and gardens. It's also where the famous San Diego Zoo is (something we will do when we bring the girls back some day!). We didn't visit any museums because they were all quite expensive and we weren't planning to spend the entire day there to make it worthwhile. The area is so beautiful and I couldn't help thinking that if I was a SAHM in San Diego, I would have so many amazing things I could expose my children too. It makes me frustrated to live in a climate where we are limited to only indoor activities 6 months of the year.

One of the entrances into the park. We did A LOT of walking in the park because it's so huge.

The botanical building.

The main walkway.

After a full day of walking (we put on a lot of miles!), we took the train to Old Town for some Mexican food. We ate at a great place called the Coyote Cafe. We managed to get one of the best tables in the place. We continued to be amazed at ourselves at how well we planned things and how lucky we were to pick great places to eat and get great tables too!

mmmmmm! Refreshing margaritas!!!

After our fun filled adventures downtown, we ventured toward the coast and spent two nights in La Jolla. La Jolla is now one of my favorite places. I would love to go back there again and again. If we ever win the lottery, we will buy a house in La Jolla. The views and the perfect weather are all I need. We ate fabulous food (again!) and walked and hiked the most beautiful areas. If I was with my girlfriends instead of Rob, we could have shopped 'til we dropped. It is the most perfect place!

Harbor seals give birth and nurse their pups from December to May at this Children's Pool. There is quite the controversy over whether or not people should share this beach with the seals. Some people say the seals abandon their young because they feel threatened by the people. Others say the beach has been successfully "shared" for 9+ years. There are several lawsuits against the city regarding the issue.

Our hotel in La Jolla...The Grand Colonial. Our room is on the top floor in the front...the one with the windows open. Oh how wonderful it was to have open windows again!

La Jolla is home to Torrey Pines State Park. It's a great park to hike and see the beautiful views of the area.

One of the many beautiful views from one of the many hiking trails in the park.

We ran into a rattle snack coming back on one of the trails! We thought we were going to be stranded, but this guy finally left. Then we ran!

Another gorgeous view.

After hiking the trails up on the cliffs, we hiked down to the beach and walked back to the car in our bare feet!

Of course, with golf in our blood, we had to stop at Torrey Pines golf course. It would be really fun to go back with another couple or two and play the course and have a fun weekend in La Jolla. Who's up for it??

I think that I've mentioned a few times that we ate really well while we were in SD. Good thing we walked, ran or hiked all day because we could have gained a lot with all that we ate (and drank!)! For our final meal, we ate at George's on the Cove, a famous place because of it's views and it's celebrity guests. We didn't see any celebrities but we did have the best table on the terrace!

Our view at George's.

The last sunset.

I don't know why, but we couldn't believe the amazing time we had. We sort of felt like our old selves again...the people we were before having kids consumed us. It was nice to go back to that place again, but it was even better to come home to where we are at now.

We are very much looking forward to taking our girls an amazing family vacations in the future.