Chasing bunnies

We found a grassy area at Sea World that is full of bunnies. The girls had a ball chasing them around and were busy for hours!

Where did the bunnies go?

There they are!
lovin' dad

Bike parade day

Today Caylin's school had a bike parade. Caylin dressed her bike up all fancy and brought it to school. The kids rode they're bikes in a little circle while parents cheered them on. All the attention caused Caylin to feel a little shy, which resulted in her tongue hanging out the whole time!

A mother's sacrifice (one of them)

Once a week Aiana has band practice and small groups at church. Our church is about a 15 minute drive, and practice start about 5pm. So that means we hit traffic, which makes our drive about 25-30 minutes. That time of evening is also tired time and close to dinner time for the little ones. Caylin always falls asleep on the drive which means she's up late that night. After we drop Aiana off we make a Trader Joe's trip since it's close to church. Our last trip out I could tell was going to be rough. I contemplated our grocery trip, but knew it was my best bet for a quick dinner. The minute I got the girls into the cart crying began. I shuffled the girls around until they were comfortable. The crying began again as soon as I took 10 steps into the store and I noticed my first "look" of the trip. (I really wish I could capture all the looks I get from people, I think it would make a great bathroom reader!). I continued to quickly grab the few items I needed then picked Anika up and held her as I pushed the cart with one hand and headed to check out. While in line Anika was squirming and reaching in the cart and throwing things out one by one. And one by one I was picking them up. As I was picking up the items while holding onto Anika, she was reaching down into her "pocket" which drives me absolutely NUTS! (Her pocket is my shirt, she reaches down I guess to check on her milk source?). Again I notice more looks, fun! We finally made it to the car and headed home as the girls ate a bag of veggie sticks for dinner (do veggie sticks count as a vegetable? Yes, I'm talking about the bag of potato chip like sticks). When we get home the girls get a bath, Anika goes to bed, Caylin and dad play, and I head out to pick Aiana up. Then I hang out with Aiana for a bit.

Why do I continue this madness ever week? Because Aiana experiences fellowship with others who have a desire and curiosity for Jesus. Her confidence and happiness is strengthened every time which makes these crazy trips ALL worth it.

Princesses stuck in an elevator

Today we were invited to celebrate princess style with our little friend Caityn. All our little girlfriends gathered in their beautiful dresses and had their hair done, ate yummy food, danced, and sang karaoke.
Caylin singing her heart out

Lots of emotion in the song Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

After about an hour and a half Caylin reached her max and was definitely over stimulated. It was time to head home. Our buddy Kaylee was riding home with us, and on the way out she and Caylin excitedly asked to ride the elevator down. We get in, I push the button, the girls get excited and start jumping up and down, and the next thing I know the elevator has completely stopped. I push more buttons, nothing. Caylin then tells me "I need to go pee pee". I punch buttons again, nothing. I then press the call button for help. Caylin tells me again "I need to go pee pee" as I'm trying to hear what the lady is saying. I push all the buttons again as the girls start knocking on the elevator door. I then start to hear people outside the elevator "Is someone in there?". "Yep, we're stuck in here" as I begin to freak out a little since I do have issues with claustrophobia, I started to notice how hot it was in this elevator. The lady on the call box then tells me that a technician will be out in 5-10 minutes as Caylin tells me again "I need to go pee pee SO BAD". I then tell the lady I just can't wait that long there has to be another way. She then tells me do you see the little red button that say pull to stop. Yes, so I pull then push and thank God it reset the elevator and this time pushing buttons actually made a difference!! (Why the heck this wasn't the first thing she said...I DON'T KNOW). We were moving!! And Caylin had not peed her pants!!! We made it out, and it was so good to see our friends faces! I don't think I've appreciated fresh air and bathrooms like that in a long time! Whew!

Playdough at school...

Caylin has been making me play dough cupcakes and we are pretending that it's my birthday. When they were done she told me "you have to eat them for real". So I said ok and pretended to really eat them.

Caylin: nooooo, you reeeeally have to eat them for real!

Me: Caylin, I can't eat play dough for real, it's not real food.

Caylin: but Mia eats play dough at school

Me: Well you need to tell Mia that play dough is not to eat. Do you eat play dough at school?

Caylin: Yes

Me: Does Kaylee eat play dough at school?

Caylin: Yes...Mom, a lot of kids eat play dough at school (with a face like duh mom, don't you know)

Me: (laughing)

Caylin: You don't sound good.

Easter!

We had a beautiful Easter this year. I found myself thanking God all day long for my health. Last year we didn't celebrate Easter at all because Will and I had the flu. It was horrible. So this year I was so excited to be well. On top of that my dad was able to be with us! This was such an awesome treat! It was the first Easter my girls were able to be with their grandpa and I hadn't celebrated Easter with my dad since I was a kid. We also had my cousin Tami and her daughter with us this year too, which was another huge treat! Clarke and Aiana are growing up so fast. The weather was gorgeous. I spent all day Saturday making gluten/soy/dairy/tomato free salads and cupcakes. It's challenging keeping the menu allergy free yet exciting, but everything turned out great. I wouldn't have been able to do it without the help of my mom. She is such a huge help and always willing to help in anyway! We started our morning with our annual Easter basket scavenger hunt. Caylin was so cute and excited, Aiana was too, but she doesn't show it like she used to anymore. Then we went to church. It was packed! The service was great, as always. It felt good to get a moment to rest and reflect on the incredible love our God has for us.

The week prior the girls were on Spring Break. With Anika being in the stage of screaming and restlessness we didn't plan any vacations. The girls stayed busy playing with friends. By next year Will and I hope to plan some kind of vacation. There were a couple Easter egg hunts held at the local parks that we took part in. Anika really didn't understand the whole egg hunt thing, but Caylin was really in to it this year. Aiana enjoys the hunts too.

Other stuff:

Some of my friends and I have committed to doing the 30 day shred workouts and Caylin has decided to do them with me. She is almost more serious about this workout then I am! She uses soup cans for her weights.

The girls and I spent a day at Balboa Park and took a ride on the train. Big sis Aiana sat with Anika and Caylin sat with the panda. The train has several stuffed animals sitting on different seats and Caylin always runs to sit with one.

Caylin is VERY much into wearing dresses and tights these days. Most of the time I go ahead and let her pick out her outfits (yikes). She typically likes to layer a shirt under the dress. Sometimes her outfits are just too crazy to even set foot outside.

Birthday season has sprung! We celebrated a few with our friends, and have many more to come!

Anika and her buddy Lauren deep in conversation

Aiana and Mimi had fun hanging out together.

The Party Animal

Anika has a music waterfall soother (light up music toy) in her crib and she recently learned how to turn it on by herself. She also discovered that she can turn it on at anytime she wants. Every night when I put her to bed we nurse and read a book, then I kiss her and tell her goodnight as I put her into her crib and snuggle her up with her blankies. As soon as I walk out of her room I hear her pop up and turn on her music toy.


The past two nights I've been woken up by Anika laughing and playing in her crib with the jungle music in the background. The first night she was up from 11-12am, then this morning from 4-5am. She just wakes up and plays for a while then goes back to sleep without crying. We are so tempted to buy a video monitor!