March 2019

Soccer games started off at the beginning of the month with a freezing cold beach tournament.  The girls were all such troopers, playing in the cold rain.  There were very few teams there but they powered through and were good sports about it the entire weekend.  It would've been super fun if the weather had been nice!

We celebrated Kayleigh's 8th birthday with a PJ & Pancakes, unicorn themed party.

I caught Nellie in her room reading about Pete and His White Shoes...CUTEST THING EVER!!!

We've been working really hard with Nellie on learning her letters, starting with the letters in her name.  She is so funny because I think she likes pretending like she doesn't know the letters because she thinks it's cute.  That's not anything a little ice cream bribe can't change :) We are so happy for her when she spelled her name on her own, and a few days later she spelled out her name in the driveway without any help! Go Nellie!

We have decided to enroll Nellie in Jr. Kindergarten at Grace next year.  She's getting to the point where she is bored at home and is asking to go to school five days a week.  It may be a transition at first but I think it will be good for her.  I know Robert is excited, he gets his Mondays back after 6.5 years!!!

I can't believe how grown up she looks in her spring pictures!  Our little goose is growing up so fast.

Mila had her spring pictures at school and I don't think they look anything like her!  I totally think they photoshopped it, she just looks not herself!

Her school had a talent show and the Kindergarten class decided to do a performance to Who Let the Dogs Out but Mila and two other girls decided not to do it.  All of the kids would practice during class time so Mila knew all of the moves and a couple of days before the performance she asked if it would be okay if she participated.  We were so proud of her for overcoming her fear and trying something new.

Also this month Mila lost her first tooth!  She has had a couple wiggly ones for a couple weeks now and we never thought it would fall out.  Soon it was dangling by just one corner and after she met with her reading buddy (a 5th grader!) he told her she should pull it out....and she did!

She's still loving soccer, which is good since we spend so much time at it!!

She even scored her first goal!!!!

March, of course, brings about my favorite time of year: MARCH MADNESS!  This year was a special year because the stars aligned and we were able to go to Vegas for a few days!  This has always been on my bucket list but we could never make it happen. This year was perfect because the first weekend happened to be when Grandma was on spring break AND, after 10 years, Cypress had a team participating in Baker to Vegas so a bunch of people were going, including Matt and Aimee!

The girls had an ABSOLUTE blast with Grandma and Grandpa and went to Kern for the weekend.  They went on walks, visited the museum, had ice cream and s'mores; Grandma and Grandpa said they were exhausted after it was all over!

 What we're looking forward to next month:  Nellie starts a singing/performing class, Spirit Week and VIP day at school and our first camp of the year: Easter at Crystal Cove

February 2019

Nellie started the month off with a bang root beer float...and now she basically asks for one every single day.  It's super fun for Robert and I to have one on one time with the girls and they really flourish when they have us all to themselves; love when we can do that.

Nellie was looking forward to Valentine's Day for weeks but abruptly stopped talking about it in the days prior because it was a classmates birthday that day and all she could think about was the cupcakes he was bringing in.  She picked out Disney Princess Pencil Valentines (that Mom put together...whatever happened to the old folding paper Valentine's???) and was so proud to hand them out to all of her friends in class.

She started a cooking class at school this month and, in typical Nellie fashion, after one class she was ready to be done with it (even though she didn't stop talking about it and when the class would start for the 6 weeks prior); however, the teacher says that she is such a good listener and helper in the class, so that's good to hear.

I find myself cherishing Nellie being the little one because Mila is growing up WAY too fast.  She's knee deep in soccer but having a blast.  She has a couple of wiggly teeth and is really learning how to read.

Their 100 days of school coincidentally fell on the 100th day of school, as well as another classmates' birthday, so they basically partied all day.

As I said, growing up way too fast:

The school's biggest fundraiser (which I feel like they say about every fundraiser) was Race for Grace, which is basically a jogathaon, but no longer do you get sponsored for the number of laps you run, you just ask for donations, which is super boring.

Mila took third place for the girls and she won a medal, which she was super excited about.

This year both girls got to participate, which was fun for Nellie.  

Robert and I may have had more fun than the girls this month! We had a nice dinner at our branch manager's house mid-month for being one of the top teams in our branch. It was fun to get together with the team outside of the office, which is also nice for team building.

February also marked the second meeting of the Cypress Police Wives Club.  We had a much smaller group this month due to the flu but I am glad we are still getting together and I hope it lasts for a long time and people continue to be excited to come. I think it's great for all of us to get together.

I spent President's Day Weekend with Whitney in Minnesota, which was freezing, but not absolutely terrible since you're inside most of the time. I had this trip booked months ago and in the meantime Whitney got engaged so it was a super fun wedding planning weekend. We went wedding dress shopping, and she found her dress, and it was so special to be a part of it.

Speaking of the flu...Robert got super sick right before I left and was advised by the doctor not to be around me or the girls.  Thank goodness for Nana and Papa being in town and saving the day; they kept the girls nearly all of the time I was gone. Robert was still pretty sick when I got back on Monday, even after a round of antibiotics. Poor guy!

The girls had a standing sleepover with Kira and Siena on Saturday night, though, so that was nice change of pace for everyone.  It's so cute how they all still get along and love playing together.  Mila and Kira are at different schools (in different school districts) yet they're still so close and pick up right where they left off every time they see each other. I love having the girls over for sleepovers at our house, it's a foreshadow of what's to come for sure.

Even though he was under the weather, Robert still helped the girls make sweet Welcome Home cards for me;  so so great to come home to.

What we're looking forward to next month: March Madness in Vegas!!!, girls are looking forward to spending the weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's while we're there; the start of Spring Soccer and all things college basketball.

January 2019

Happy New Year! We started off the year with a very low key New Year's Day, just hanging around the backyard watching football while the girls played.

After a couple of weeks off school, the girls were ready to get back to their friends..

Mila officially made the HB Slammers Elite team and practices started in January.  It's a bit much but we're attending the practices and games that we can and Mila is having a blast. She loves being on the team and loves all of the other girls; it's nice that they're down to a team of 10 so they're all getting pretty close.  It doesn't hurt that we average 5-6 hours with them every week, whew!

We started noticing right around the first of the year how much Nellie's attitude was changing...for the good!  I was worried that it may be because she had been out of school for two weeks and was just loving the extra attention but, sure enough, once school started again, the amazingly great attitude remained!

I have noticed she is much more emotional lately and is expressing her feelings with words, rather than screams.  For example, we must hear "Mila hurt my feelings" 20 times a day, but I'll take that over a fit any day!

However, if you're wondering if she's lost all of her fire...don't you worry:

Nellie had her 4 year old checkup and it went great!  She is 42 1/4 inches tall and 41lbs, which is almost what Mila is at!  She is currently the same height at 4 as Mila was at 5!  It's so funny to compare them (but not REALLY compare them...stop judging me).

She had to get a flu shot while we were there and, as she was looking at pictures on my phone, the nurse stuck her with the needle and immediately put a Care Bear bandaid on it and, in only her tough girl fashion, Nellie looked at the bandaid, made a disgusted face and said, "I didn't want that one."  I could barely hold it together in front of the nurse.

Mila and Kira have been having sleepovers together for years now; it's so great for the girls that we have a standing date the first Saturday of the month and we alternated houses.  Nellie has been aware and jealous for the the past couple of times and, now that Siena (Kira's sister) is older we attempted a double sleepover for the first time...and it went great!  What's one more girl when you already have three?!  The positive for the parents is that we each now have a standing date night every other month!

A couple of years ago, after Mila was born, we had a staycation up in Huntington Beach with Aimee and Matt (no kids!).  This year we had another, but did it down in South Orange County at their house.

It was such a fun day and nice to be able to do all of the things we always talk about doing but can't do because we have the four girls with us.

Meanwhile at home....

What we're looking forward to next month: Valentine's Day and me going to Minnesota to see Whitney for President's Day Weekend...and freezing to death while I am there!