August 2018

Hello end of summer (except it won't feel like fall here in Southern California until December...) and here we come back to school!

We started the month with the end of swim lessons and Mila moving up another level.  I wish we didn't have to wait until next summer to get her back in the pool but her calendar is pretty full these days.

I can't believe she starts Kindergarten so soon but she is SO excited and looking forward to it.  We decided to keep her at Grace Lutheran for her kinder year for a number of reasons, including but not limited to:  one drop off for me, her home public school is under construction and the kinder teacher at Grace is apparently amazing; we're not looking forward to another year of paying for school but we are lucky we can afford it.

Robert and I were both able to spend one on one time with Mila preparing for school; Robert took her for ice cream and to pick out new shoes and I took her school supply shopping (maybe that was more for me than for her?!).  I think it will be a definite transition going to Kindergarten but we are definitely up for it and I can't wait to see what this little girl accomplishes!

Nellie will be in the Violet room at preschool this year, with our favorite teacher, Mrs. Teri.  This is the year when Mila really blossomed and matured, doing homework and being an all out joy to be around. I can't wait to see what the transition will do for Nellie and where we are headed next.

While Mila and Kira have been having sleepovers for what seems like forever, Nellie is always asking for Ariah to spend the night.  Of course she's too little to understand that Mila grew up with Kira and it's different and three year olds don't have sleepovers.  However, one night Ariah's mom was in a bind and asked if we could watch Ariah for the evening. Nellie was beside herself excited that she was coming over for a "sleepover" but understood that she would go to sleep at our house but wouldn't be here when Nellie woke up (her parents picked her up about 10pm).

Mila was  such a big help that evening, really taking on the role of big sister/mom. I walked into the kitchen and she turned around to tell me she was making the girls dinner <3

Both girls are still typically sisters, fighting like cats and dogs one moment and then the best of friends and playmates the second.  With Mila moving over to the school side for summer camp Nellie has really taken to finding her own friends, although she still adores Mila and her crew as well.

I need to stop and remind myself about the little things that will make a big impact.  For example, we were invited to a pool party at one of Mila's friends houses.  There was a ton of kids there and after everyone had a popsicle for dessert they all asked for a second; another mom said, how can we really say no when we're having 2 glasses of wine (!), they're just popsicles!  She is totally right; I am so quick to say no when most of the things are little and saying yes does little harm...and gives you such great mileage ("two popsicles?! you're the best mom ever!").

My work had an end of the summer trip to the Del Mar Race Track to watch the horse races, which was so fun.  We definitely need to take a trip down there next summer for the races; plus they have a kids club that's super cheap and they do all kinds of activities while the parents hang out!

August was our month of concerts: we saw three in eight days!  We started off the week with a date night to see Chris Stapleton; he was AMAZING.  Every time he comes to town we will definitely make it a point to go see him; he's so talented.

Next up was Darius Rucker, another one of our favs.  We went with a large group of friends to this one and then all went out cosmic bowling after.

The next day after Darius was rough but we had to get our act together because we had Kid Rock to see with our friends Kasey (my first roommate in California!) and Greg.  I LOVE KID ROCK; obviously because we wouldn't never done two concerts in two days but I couldn't miss him.  He is THE BEST.  I tried to add them all up and this was (I think) my 12th time seeing him....the first being 20 years ago when I was a junior in high school.

Then the next morning we rallied AGAIN and headed to San Diego for our annual family vacation.  We stayed somewhere new, Campland on the Bay, and had a great time.  The great/worst thing about going camping the last week in August is that all the kids (except our district) are back in school and the places are all ghost towns.  The girls had a blast at the San Diego Zoo, which was so great, and even met two girls their ages that were staying in the trailer across from ours. They spent nearly two days nonstop with them.  They were sad when we had to leave and they wouldn't see them again but I explained that's jut how vacation friends are and there would be many more in their life!

Looking forward to: Mila starting Kindergarten (!) and Nellie headed back to preschool, the start of Saturday soccer games, Mila's birthday, Robert's birthday and an end of the month camping trip to Crystal Cove

July 2018

This might have been our busiest month yet!  In hindsight I think we packed too much in but you're (kids are) only young once, right??  We started off the month with an amazing birthday party that Mila was invited to. It was a super small party but it was so well done and I would love to take Nellie there for one of her birthdays...she would be in heaven!

From there we rolled right into 4th of July week (which was basically a wasted week at work!).  We are so lucky we have one of the biggest, best parades in the country right here in Huntington Beach.  We are ALSO very lucky because my parents go down the day before and mark off a spot for us and then they get down there around 8am on the parade day so we can arrive around 11am, basically when the parade is just starting.  So much easier to do it this way.

A couple days later Shantelle and Jet (and Elia!) came to visit. It was a very short visit but it was so nice to see them.  They have been out to visit a number of times and it's always so fun (fun fact, I found out I was pregnant with Mila when they left here six years ago); it's so nice to have friends that you can go so long without seeing or really talking to and just pick up where you left the last time and catch up.

We went to an amazing summer kick off BBQ at Charlie's house complete with an inflatable waterslide in their backyard!  Mila was feeling extremely shy and emotional that day but once she went down the slide once she was hooked and we couldn't get her off.  Even Nellie joined in for the fun!

My sister and my little William came out the following weekend and my dad surprised my mom with a vow renewal.  My mom was super surprised and was so fun to "witness" their marriage the second time around.

William is SO grown up now and is such a little boy. He is THE sweetest and so smart and talkative.  The girls absolutely adore him and he and Nellie are two little peas in a pod.  They hadn't really seen each other since William was a little baby but by the way they interacted you would think they had grown up every day together.  Guess that's the thing about cousins!

Just a day of rest work and then we were off to Palm Springs with the Charlands for a family vacation.  When we went to Vegas last year we had an absolute blast but really missed the girls and said we should plan a trip with them this year (although about two hours into Palm Springs we all were like what were we thinking!)

The girls were beside themselves excited to have sleepovers with their best friends and everyone had a great time and there was almost zero fighting.  The high was around 115 degrees the whole time we were there so we spent almost the whole time at the pool...which no one was complaining about.

Nellie is doing great at preschool and has started talking about other kids at school other than Ariah so I think she's finally settling into the school without having Mila to interact with every day.

When we were in Palm Springs Aimee gave us a paid of Ugg-type boots for Nellie that were too small for her girls.  Nellie found them and insisted on wearing them to preschool even though we told her that her feet would be hot.   I should've known better and put an extra pair of shoes in her basket because I got a call from preschool a couple hours into the day asking if anyone could bring an extra pair of shoes up for Nellie because she decided her feet were hot so she took her boots off and filled them with water so now she's sloshing around the school.  Ha! This child!

She's super into construction equipment and her favorite book is Old MacDonald Had A Truck;  I was shocked when we were driving down the street one day and she said "Mom! Look! An excavator!" Sure enough, when we got home we looked it up in her book and she was right!

Mila loves to draw us pictures....so much that we're running out of space for them and have to throw them away.   Although we don't tell her that; hopefully she never comes to visit us at work because she will wonder why her artwork isn't covering the wall floor to ceiling since we tell her "I didn't throw it away! I took it to work!"

Mila had VBS again this year (so sad they raised the age this year to 4 so Nellie couldn't attend!) and loved it. They did a great job of teaching the stories to the kids.  Mila said to me at dinner one night, "Mom (serious as can be).  Jesus is real even if you can't see him."

I posted this photo on Instagram and Charlie's mom texted me that she showed it to Charlie and he said "that's my Mila" <3 The sweetest!

Lexi's family made a quick trip to Southern California and they squeezed some time in to see us. Mila was SO excited to see her.  Just like grown up friendships, they picked up right where they left off and were super sad to leave each other.  Guess we need to find a reason to head out to Philadelphia!

Mila is LOVING the Rec Club side of summer camp with the big kids.  She loves being able to bring her scooter to school and the option to wear flip flops. She has learned to jumprope "from the big kids" and is doing all kinds of cool things like Ninja Warrior Challenge, Capture the Flag, Freeze Hockey and Street Hockey.

My parents celebrated Mila's birthday with her early before they headed back to Kansas.  She was spoiled with a new backpack, lunch bag and lunch container for Kindergarten.  Can believe that's going to be happening so soon!

We celebrated the 8th birthday for this perro of the house.  He's gotten really sassy in his old age (bumping at the slider when he needs water, slamming his food bowl against the wall when he's hungry, growing and barking at you if he thinks he deserves a treat); maybe that's his only way to hold his own in this almost whole house of girls!

He's still just as sweet as can be, though, and the girls adore him.

Now that the girls aren't around each other all the time like they were at preschool, I think they're starting to get along better, or at least playing more together.  Love seeing their little friendship/sister-ship develop and I am trying to do everything I can to make them obsessed with each other (sew them into all of their clothes together?)

Swim lessons are coming to a close this week which is sad because they are both doing so well and I feel like Nellie is finally taking to it and just needs another month or so to really start to swim. But it will be so nice to not have to be somewhere every afternoon as we have for the past six weeks; I feel like we have been rushing all over the place to get where we need to be.

What we're looking forward to next month:  last field trips of the summer, Miss Tori is back on Fridays!, lots of concerts and an end of summer camping trip to Campland on the Bay.