April 2017

April was a busy month, we had SO much going on!  We celebrated the start to pre-summer with a trip to Boomers to ride rides, play games and get in a round of miniature golf.  Mila had an absolute blast and even got a hole in one!  She now wants to go golfing with daddy and be a golfer when she grows up.  Kids under 3 were free, and we quickly figured out why, with Nellie running all over the course and almost falling in a manmade "stream."

On school nights Mila is allowed to stay up 30-45min later than Nellie and she has been using that time to watch tv shows with us.  Her favorite is Naked and Afraid and she asks us to save it for her so she can watch with us. It's pretty cute.

We went to a "Take Your Parent to School" day at Preschool and had a fun time after the first room, which just happened to be Nellie's room.  I thought to myself that I wanted to use this day to show the preschool that Nellie isn't a crazy heathen alllll the time but she promptly had a complete meltdown in the first room that we went to, which happened to be her room with her teachers.

The day before Good Friday and spring break I arrived at preschool to find Nellie in time out as she had just tried to bite another little girl but the teacher stepped in before she actually was able to.  SOS SEND HELP, the terrible twos are TERRIBLE.

On Good Friday we had Mila's bff, Lexi, over in the morning and then we left for camping at Crystal Cove in the afternoon.

This is seriously the best view in all of California.  We had such a blast and it was super cute to see Mila make a friend from a couple trailers down that would "come over" and play hopscotch with her during the day.

The girls had a blast and it was the first time that they had slept together in the same bed and, after the first night, they did pretty well. I asked Mila if they snuggled and she said, "No....Nellie didn't want to." Ha!

We had left a note at home telling the Easter Bunny that we would be camping and, thankfully, he found us and brought baskets and hid eggs at the campsite.  The girls were SO excited to go find all of the eggs and even founds some of the harder to spot ones.

Later that morning the Charlands came over and we had another Easter egg hunt at the beach.  It was definitely very cool (we have never done it before) and all the girls had an absolute blast.

This was one of the first times that Mila and Nellie both had fun playing at the beach and even getting in the water; they usually stay super far away from the surf but they were all about it this trip.  Helps having encouragement from your girlfriends I guess.

After we got home from camping we had a quick one day to recover before heading off to Kansas City for the rest of Spring Break.  We started out the trip a little rocky, though, as we were delayed for two hours and spent quite some time at the airport.  Had we taken off on time I think the trip would've been much better but the trip there was pretty tiring on all of us.

While we were at home my sister had arranged for us all to have family photos taken together.  I think the last time we did this was at our wedding and, of course, we didn't have any kids then!

The kids did pretty well taking the pictures but it was pretty hard to get a good picture of all of them.  There were definitely a ton of bribes and overall we were able to get a couple of good pictures of everyone.

I don't think anyone was REALLY looking forward to a photo shoot or having their pictures taken but it's so nice that we were able to do this and have some great pictures to display around the house.

We spent most of the trip in Kansas City just hanging out with the family, sneaking away for some date (and double) date nights.  It was nice to not be rushed while we were there but we did joke about how this was a completely different trip than the past since this trip was all about the girls and whatever they wanted to do.

My sister and Bret arranged for William to be dedicated while we were in town so we could be a part of it since we are his godparents.

One of the funniest stories about the trip, though, was little Nellie and her sleeping arrangements!  On the first night there, after we put the girls to bed and my parents went up to bed my mom came back down and said that Nellie was asleep on the rug on the floor. Robert when upstairs and put her in bed with Mila and the next day Mila said that she got up to go to the bathroom and Nellie followed her and then couldn't get back into bed. I'm not sure why she didn't just come downstairs and get us but we just laughed about it.

However, the next day during naptime, Thursday night AND Friday night we went upstairs to find her on the floor AGAIN!  I'm not sure what it was about this little rug, or maybe her just wanting her own space, but it was too funny how she kept choosing to sleep on the floor!

During the final night we got her to stay in bed! A success!

We went to Deanna Rose Farmstead the day before we left, which was SO fun. I haven't been since I was like 8 and it was so much bigger than I remember. It's a working farm and the girls had a BLAST.

We spent a couple hours there and definitely could have spent 1-2 more.

Before we left for Kansas Nellie figured out how to climb out of her bed and, when we got home, she wanted nothing to do with a crib anymore. She climbed out a couple more times, and actually ended up falling out so we knew we needed to take the side off before she hurt herself.  We swapped out the beds and moved Nellie to the one with the rail...I can't believe we don't have any kids in a crib anymore :(

I don't know if it was spending lots of time with the girls over Spring Break that I noticed or that it helped, but Nellie is talking much more since coming back from Kansas.  She's still limited on her speech but she's doing two and three word sentences and it a little better at communicating.  She has the sweetest little voice and I love when she talks and sings ("Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes" and all kinds of bible and movie songs).

Mila started soccer and loves it. The group is much smaller this year and she's actually the only girl in the whole program, which isn't a terrible thing.  During previous sessions she always had a friend doing it with her and would spend more time rolling around on the ground than actually playing.  She's scored four goals so far and is always so proud of herself, and so are we.

We signed her up for AYSO soccer in the fall, which will be her first actual soccer team, where there are actual practices and games.  She's super excited for swim lessons in the summer, soccer in the fall, (she wants to start) softball in the spring and golf always with Daddy.

We ended the month with ridiculously warm weather, in the 80s and 90s, and spent the weekend in the backyard and at the pool the Charlands.

March 2017

Almost the middle of April but....here's the March recap!  We started off the month with a BANG...both girls ended up with pink eye (right in the middle of spirit week) so a trip to the doctor was in order to get eyedrops fast enough to send Mila back to preschool for Pajama Day, her all time favorite day at preschool so far.

Amy turned 30 at the beginning of the month and we surprised her with a wine tasting party, complete with a sommelier!  It was super fun and nice to celebrate her.

Nellie is such a little tomboy and is ALWAYS a little dirtball when we pick her up from preschool. I have no idea how she gets so much dirtier than all of the other kids but she is just so cute when she runs up with a dirty little smile on her face.

She had such a great Spring picture this year and she absolutely adored the bunny.

Mila is already looking, and sometimes acting, like a teenager, but is enjoying Nellie being older and the two are continuing their pretend play which is so funny to listen to.

Robert receive an award from the City of Cypress for 10 years with the department, which is kind of like an award for us since we met right around then too :)  Hard to believe he's been there for that long!  He's really enjoying his new position with the Department of Homeland Security and it's SO nice having him at home more during the crazy morning/evening times with the girls.

Mila and Nellie were so excited about St. Patrick's Day, but probably not more excited than Mom, who took the day off for March Madness to watch basketball.

We spent most of the month on the party porch watching basketball; I wouldn't want it any other way....well maybe an Elite Eight win by the Jayhawks would have been a better deal.

Purdue and KU ended up playing each other in the Sweet 16, which was super fun for Garret and I, but me the most ;)

Mila is all about being a girly girl and constantly wants her hair done and to put makeup or lip gloss on. She asks me every day if she can take a shower with me, which at first was so great but now I realize I have NO alone time anymore, there's no safe place in the house!!!  I can't believe how quickly she's growing up though, I guess I better take advantage of all this time she wants to spend with me, even if it IS in the shower!

And if you ever for one second thought that the girls didn't have Robert wrapped their fingers, with one little sweet grin they had him letting them paint his toenails in a sparkly glitter color.

Things are going great over here, I can't imagine how we can ever possibly be busier than we are right now but I know that soon we will have to divide and conquer with the two girls, I'm trying to enjoy us all doing everything together as a family.

We ended the month with a call from preschool that Nellie had bit another kid.  Definitely not the call you want to get; we had to have our first ever "family meeting," in the dining room, with Robert banging on the table.  We had previously bought a bar of soap and had Nellie try biting that so she knows what will happen next time if she keeps this up...we will see how that goes!

Next month we are looking forward to: Camping at Crystal Cove for Easter and then going to Kansas to see the family and go to William's dedication!

February 2017

Such a fun February!  Nellie went to her first KU game watch and was such a little angel, even though you couldn't tell, she had a great time.  Afterwards we went to another bar and she and another little girl sat in a booth and played together for a good hour. It's still so amazing to me the difference in each girl's attitude when they are by themselves.

Nellie is talking much more now and is easier to understand so things have been a little bit easier now that we can communicate more!  I'm not sure where she picked it up but she has taken to calling me Mom Mom :)

Nellie is starting to really show her imagination and Mila is having so much fun with her playing all kinds of pretend games.

Preschool had their first annual daddy/daughter dance and Mila was SO excited to go.  She had so much fun going to the store and picking out a new dress, getting ready and waiting for daddy to "pick her up."  Robert was amazing as well, wearing a full suit to the dance and coming to the front door when it was time to go; he even brought all three of his girls flowers!

Mila had a BLAST at the dance although she spent most of her time dancing with her friends!

There is an old man that lives in our neighborhood, Tom Adams, who goes walking every day, twice a day. He is the sweetest old soul and always stops to talk with us.  He turned 100 this month and there was a party at a neighbor's house that we were all invited to.  I had such a good time taking the girls there and showing them what it's like to be part of a community.

Our friends, Lindsay and Jon, had their first baby, a little boy named Greyson.  I went to the hospital to meet him the day he was born and HE WAS SO TINY.  I am so excited for them and it's truly amazing how you forget how small they are and so many things about those first few weeks.

The next day Whitney arrived for a long visit! It was so great having her here; she hadn't seen the girls since I was on maternity leave with Nellie and they, especially Mila, were so excited to see her (probably not as much as me though!).  Thankfully my parents were still in town during her visit so they helped out a ton with childcare so we could get out of the house and out on the town!

Mila quote of the month, as I am getting ready to go to Pilates..."Mom....why are you taking so long to go to salamis?"  

Other notables this month:  the girls finished their Spanish class and Robert had an awards luncheon acknowledging he has worked for Cypress for 10 years (!).