Visiting My Nieces

These smiles say it all. What a great day we had with my sister and her two lovely daughters! We love you Jenna, Amy (Aimes, which Hannah insists everyone call her from now on) and Natalie!



Can't wait to meet my nephew in a few weeks!!

Happy Fourth of July!

This was the first year that Hannah anticipated and stayed awake long enough for fireworks. She loved them!! We watched the show with some people from our church and Hannah and three other kids her age jumped and screamed the whole time. Kate on the other hand was frightened at first, but after snuggling in with dad she agreed that she liked them with a simple, "Uh-huh." Maybe next year!

As an added fourth of July bonus, Jeff took this morning and afternoon off and we headed to the Wild Animal Park. Hannah and Kate loved seeing the baby elephants, and I would have gotten a picture/video of the "elephant run" but we ran out of batteries...maybe next time!

Catching Up

First trimester is over - Praise GOD!! I am feeling better, eating better, and generally have more energy. I reached the valley and am now climbing up toward a healthy third baby. Praise GOD!!
So here's a random recap of the last few weeks when I haven't been laying on the couch playing "doctor" with the girls.

We cooked our first pie together. My friend Roxana sent me a hand made beautiful apron that I said as soon as I was up to cooking again I would wear. So, yesterday we all put on our aprons and made a peach-a-berry pie which was good, but was chosen so we would use up some neglected fruit. Hannah and Kate love helping me cook, although "helping" to them mostly involves standing on a chair, sampling or asking to "sample some" of whatever they are pouring into the recipe. While making this pie Hannah tried to convince me that she loved baking soda and asked for some. When I finally caved and gave her some she said, "Oh, that's enough."
Jeff just got a new bike. His other one was purchased from craigslist for $100 (which a standard road bike goes new for $800, so this tells you the quality of the bike). After a year and a half of riding his temporary bike, he finally got a real road bike, still from craigslist, but only 6mths old from a guy that said he wanted to be the next Lance Armstrong and just doesn't have time - I love craigslist ads! Here he is, busy in the garden with the girls. These three are something else!
Hannah has recently announced that when she is a grown up she wants to be a grandma. Funny, most kids pick professions such as teacher, fire fighter, doctor, librarian, trash collector (which really trash day is a huge day in our house!) or people they see in the community. I guess this goes to show that she loves her grandmas and gets to see them often! I know as she grows her job selection will change, but right now I think a grandma is too funny to forget.

Kate has taken to saying, "HHHeeeyyy" a lot lately. Such as "HHHeeeyyy, Hannnah, no take my toy!" or "HHHeeeyyy, man" when things are not working as she wants them to. It's really funny to see individuality emerge, especially because it's still matched by her deep love for Hannah and the rest of our family.
We are gearing up for baby 3. I am now 13 weeks down, 27 to go. When I got up this morning Jeff started talking to me about a Honda Odyssey that he had seen online...yep, we're getting a mini-van. I suggested getting it before a family wedding in August so we can drive around our of town family, so be pre-warned that one day you may see a mini-van on this blog.

Hanging out with Mom

I have been pretty sick the past few weeks, not able to keep food down and not able to cook or eat most things. To help out my mom came and spent 3 days helping with the kids. In those three days I slept in every morning, took a nap every day, did not cook, got my hair cut, and my mom did pedicures for the girls and I. We also took a short morning trip to the Wild Animal Park with a friend and her two boys. It was a nice restful time, which is just what I needed to get over the last stretch of the first trimester!

Mom, Kate, Seth, Hannah and Me

Hannah, Kate and Mom by the lion

Getting ready for a pedi!

Story time with Gma!

When Dad returned on Saturday to get mom, he brought Joe and Kara for some added fun play time! Hannah and Kate love their cousins!!

Thanks for coming and taking such good care of us Mom!! You're great (I would have said "awesome" but I know, only God is awesome!).

Kiddie Pool

Sweet Kate...

...and her daring sister

My girls.

Father's Day Weekend

This father's day I coordinated efforts with Cindy, Jeff's mom, to surprise both Jeff and Roger (Jeff's dad) with a trip to Catalina Island. Roger and Cindy regularly sail there on the weekends in the summer months, so it involved getting my crew to San Pedro Friday night so we could set sail on Saturday morning with Roger and Cindy. I broke down and told Jeff about the surprise because of my first trimester sickness preventing me from doing everything I needed to do to travel with the family, but Roger was very surprised on Friday night when he saw us. He did a small jump back, shocked to see us, and then chuckled a hearty laugh when Jeff said, "How about we go sailing tomorrow?" Uncle Henry made it an extra special trip by joining us, and we will miss him the next 6 weeks while he is on a summer missions trip!

Because of my sea sickness, and our concern that Hannah might also have some motion sickness, I took the ferry over (which was a hour boat ride rather than the 5 hour sail) with the girls, and Cindy came for extra support, which I was so thankful for!!!

The sailing took longer than expected since there was not a lot of wind, but it just gave Hannah, Kate, Cindy and I more time to play on the beach. Hannah even made some friends, no surprise there!

Enjoying an apple snack with Grandma Cindy.
There were a lot of ladybugs flying all over and Hannah loved catching them.

When Jeff, Henry and Roger arrived Jeff took Hannah swimming in her life vest. She floated on her back and kicked all around. She had a great time with her daddy! As is was getting darker we pitched our tent and then Cindy, Roger and Henry brought the food to our campsite so I would not have to eat on the boat...let's just say that boating and first trimester sickness do not make a pleasant combination :(

The girls did a great job sleeping through the night in their sleeping bags. They love camping!
After a nice chicken pot pie dinner.

Making smores...YUM!

On father's day we spent the morning on the boat eating breakfast and opening presents. Jeff got a shirt and hat that says, 'World's Greatest Dad" and Roger got a shirt and hat that says, "World's greatest Grandpa."

Reading on the boat...Hannah in her big life vest and Kate chuckling. Good times!

Then we headed to the beach where I got sand in the camera, so the pics are really bad. We made sand castles and played in the water, went to the park for a while, ate lunch and then Jeff, the girls and I said good-bye and took the ferry home. Cindy, Roger and Henry are sailing back today, Monday.
On the way back we coordinated with my parents to eat dinner somewhere off the freeway in the direction of our home so we didn't travel out of the way. Unfortunately, since my camera was not working well I didn't get a picture with my dad, but I have the memory in my mind.

We had a full weekend, filled with fun and father's, and really find it a blessing to be so close to family to celebrate these special times together.

Ahhh, Newly Weds and New Parents

I just love hanging out with new parents. It's like hanging out with newly weds after being married for 9 years. After 9 years of marriage we have fought and forgiven and our love is deeper for it. But there is something so sweet and innocent about a newly wed who says, "Oh, we never fight." It just makes me smile. They are doing the perfect thing for their stage of life: loving each other and storing up for the bumps ahead, because one day they will fight and learn to forgive and learn that love is sweeter when you truly keep no record of wrong.
The same is true for new parents. Their sole task is to love and cuddle their baby, building trust for the bumps ahead. My friend and I were talking (and laughing a little bit) about her sister, a new mom with a 7 month old baby. The baby was beginning to cry and the mom said, "We don't throw tantrums in this house." She then scooped up the baby and said, "When you ask for what you want you can have it." I had to smile. She was perfect: loving and cuddling her baby, giving her baby what she wanted. We were laughing though because she does not realize that there will come a time when her baby asks for chocolate cake for lunch and even though your baby asked for it without throwing a tantrum, your child needs to learn how to accept "No," and, in the process of learning, "No," your baby will most likely throw a tantrum, not because you are a bad parent or your baby is a bad child, simply because learning to deal with disappointment is hard, even as an adult, and for a 2 year old it is even harder to process. And honestly, who has a rule where throwing a tantrum is okay? I mean, it happens and I tell the girls to go to their room, but I am working towards a better way to dealing with their emotions and praying that soon they will hear disappointing news and say, "Bummer."
Anyway, all that to say that we have entered that "learning No stage" with sweet Kate, and it is hard. It's like being a new parents all over again and realizing that my perfect compliant baby girl has a defiant and sinful attitude. Let me stress that I am grateful to be in this stage because I know that Kate will grow though it, and as a parent I want to see her grow and mature. She will be able to obey and respect Jeff and I better, and she will learn to respect authority figures more too. She will learn to voice her opinion and deal with disappointment.

So this is where parenting becomes sweeter and harder at the same time: where I see my daughter face the sin in her life and teach her to pray and rely on God to change her heart and overcome sin. Where she begins to grow and mature from the cuddle loving stage to a thinking and developing stage. How grateful I am for the cuddles and how grateful I am to see her grow.

But really, on a day to day basis there are a lot of tantrums and a lot of fussing in our house these days - have mercy!