May 2018

Dreams were crushed at the beginning of May as I was not called for jury duty (I didn't even get to report!); fingers crossed there will be a next time!

A new park opened at the beach and the girls love it.  We will definitely be going there a lot this summer!

We celebrated Uncle G's birthday and then had a Cinco de Mayo celebration the next day.

We celebrated my birthday a little bit early (and Mother's Day too!) and went to Catalina with my boss and his wife, Catherine.  I always forget how beautiful Catalina is and really is an escape from mainland California.  We have been suffering from terrible "May gray" this year and the forecast was cloudy for the weekend.  It's a good thing we didn't cancel because we had the most amazing day over there, even though it was still over cast in Huntington Beach.

My work is a pretty fun place and we always have all kinds of branch events. The day before my birthday we had a duffy boat ride though Long Beach and it was a great way to kick off the weekend.

Although my actual birthday was on a Friday, Robert and I kept it pretty low key. Tori stayed later with the girls and we went to my favorite place, Sea Legs, for happy hour and then to a tapas place for dinner.  When we got home Tori and the girls were waiting up for us with a cake and sang me happy birthday.  Turning 35 isn't so bad with this group.

May 19th was the open house at Cypress Police Department and the girls had been excited to go for weeks.  Nellie is super into police officers and is always asking to see Robert's police car, his handcuffs and to know if he caught any bad guys when he was at work.  Every time she hears a police car or helicopter she runs to get the SWAT officer costume and puts it on and/or grabs the radio and yells "Come in! Officer Nellie, come in!"  It's hysterical and adorable at the same time.  Of course she insisted on wearing the costume to the open house as well.

We ended the month with a trip to Camp Kernville for Memorial Day.  This is where Robert's parents keep their trailer and visit a couple times each month.  It's the furthest away that we have traveled so far, and the girls did great!  They had such a fun time camping with Grandma and Grandpa and were totally spoiled by them and all of their friends since they were the only kids up there.

It was so nice to be able to see the place that Grandma and Grandpa love and meet all of their friends that we always hear about.  It was great to wake up every morning and send the girls over to their trailer. It was a smaller campground, or at least the area where they are set up is sort of separated, so the girls pretty much had free range, which was great for them (and us!).

Mila was even so brave that she rafted down the river!!!  The girls will have so much fun in a couple of years when they are older and can do it on their own!

After camping for Spring Break Mila had her heart set on taking the training wheels off her bike.  She was determined to learn how to ride like a big girl.  For some reason I expected it to take all day but in about a half hour or so she had the hang of it and was riding all on her own...and hasn't stopped!  She was so proud of herself (and so were we!).

Nellie is still obsessed with music and Grandma and Grandpa bought her this little guitar which she played the entire time they were here. She's such a little rockstar!

What we're looking forward to next month: Nana and Papa arrive, adults only trip to Nashville with Aunt Sissy and Uncle Bret

April 2018

Easter kicked off the month of April and it was nonstop (per usual) from there on.  We spent Easter morning doing an egg hunt around our house (our first ever!), had a quick breakfast and headed out around 10am to go camping at Flying Flags for Spring Break.

This was the same campground that we went to last August and absolutely loved.  This time we headed back with four other families and it was a blast!  It was our first time camping with others and it definitely made for a good time; lots of people to talk to, lots of other kids for the girls to play with, etc.

I found a "family friendly" winery online that we went and checked out one day and it was great!  It was set on lots of land, with a large grassy area with lawn games (cornhole, horseshoes, ladderball) that only had one way in and out.  The kids all played together and the adults did some wine tasting and then enjoyed bottles of wine in the sun. It was so nice and actually relaxing!

Now that hip hop is over, Mila chose to do gymnastics next.  She's doing it through the community center and she's actually the best one in her class.  I'm not sure if she wants to keep this up but, if so, we may have to splurge for the more expensive gymnastics because, unfortunately, the community center only advances by age and she just started the 5-12 year old class!

I think she had her first actual dream the other night, too!  Before I would always ask if she had good dream and she would say yes but not go into detail. One morning this month she ran into the room and said "Mom! I had a dream last night!  I was sitting in the middle of a circle surrounded by party bags with all kinds of treats inside them!"  How cute is that?? So sweet to see what little kids dream of.

My heart nearly broke this month as well; Mila told me one night at dinner that she think she's fat and that no other kids at school have big tummys like her :( I was completely caught off guard BECAUSE SHE IS FIVE.  I have made it a definite point to never talk about being fat, losing weight, dieting, etc. so I know she didn't hear it from me; for example, I tell her that I work out and eat salads to stay healthy (when we all know it's to not get fat!).  I am not sure where she heard it but it makes me so sad she knows these things at such a young age.  The good news is that, after that comment, she wasn't really sad about it and hasn't brought it up since then. I just told her that everyone has different bodies, just like everyone looks different and that there's nothing wrong with her; she eats healthy and exercises and she looks absolutely perfect.  That seemed to satisfy her, so phew.

Nellie is playing soccer again and absolutely loves it.  She had scored some goals during practice and once she starts listening to the coaches she does really well.

She is no longer napping now, which makes some afternoons challenging, but it's really nice to not have to be home for naps, we can actually be out enjoying the afternoon if we have something going on.  You would think that she would go to bed earlier and or sleep in later, but then you would be wrong :)

She is such a little performer and still loves to be the center of attention.  I asked her what she wanted to be when she grows up and she said a dentist, which was a surprise to both Robert and I!

Tori took the girls to a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts & math) exhibit at the OC Fairgrounds and the girls had so much fun (minus the butterflies!).

We have our rough spots with them playing together, it's almost sure to end in a fight but then about five minutes later they join up again and play until it's a cycle of playing and fighting and playing and fighting, which I guess is normal!  Their favorite activity is to gang up on Roscoe and 1) chase him around the house with a doll stroller, 2) lay on the ground and tease him until he gets playful and jumps on them and then they get mad at him or 3) shriek as loud as they can until he starts howling.

There was an Ocean Institute exhibit in Huntington Beach a couple of weeks ago that I took the girls to and Nellie was in absolute heaven that she finally got to meet Ariel and all of her mermaid friends.

They had a painting station there where the teacher would instruct you on how to paint a goldfish and a fishbowl underwater.  Mila was all into it but Nellie had to go her own route (per usual) and create her own masterpiece.

For Christmas Robert and I got his parents tickets to see Clint Black so we all did that together; it was a fun evening, we've never done something like that before and we all had a blast.  He puts on such a great show and it's so nice that he performs in small venues so it's much more intimate than larger concerts.

God, is that you??

First swim of the summer spring!

In case you weren't aware, being called for jury duty is up there on my list of childhood dreams, along with getting married and having kids.  I couldn't wait until I was an adult to get called and I waited and I waited and I waited. And then I FINALLY got a summons but it was for Kansas and I was living in California so I was excused (I totally said I would fly home for it but they never acknowledged that answer).  Then I waited and waited and waited some more and I got a summons about four years ago and shortly after I completed the e-juror questionnaire I learned they didn't need me because I was married to a law enforcement officer; I made note that I could be impartial (again, that was never acknowledged). Fast forward to a couple months ago, I was sent the e-juror questionnaire again, I completed it (no special comments this time) and waited to get notice I would be excused.  HOWEVER at the end of March I got a summons that I would need to call for five days at the end of April to see if my group would need to report!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I have called three times and have two days left so my hopes are dwindling BUT I'm staying positive. I am so close! Wish me luck!

What we're looking forward to next month: Catalina Island, swim lessons start, my birthday and Camp Kernville for Memorial Day