Catch up post

My girlfriend and I were looking forward to a nice day at the flower fields. We imagined an opportunity for a nice day with the kids, enjoying flowers, and taking nice photos, tra la la...

Well good thing photos help our memories appreciate over time...In the photos you cant see the grumpiness, and 100 degree weather. ha ha, but we both said, we'd do it all over again!

We celebrated with our little buddy. He had a special guest at his birthday too! The girls were very excited to sing and dance with Elmo. At one point I overheard Caylin ask Elmo, "Did you shower today?"

This can't be good for the water drought!
I saw this as I dropped Caylin off at school today. So sad to see so much water wasted!!!

This afternoon after Caylin got out of school, we were out back working on our mud pit when I heard something that sounded like a freeway getting closer. As it got louder I realized that a swarm of bees was coming up from the canyon! Jessica and Christopher were over playing. Jessica and I looked at each other, threw everything down, grabbed the kids and ran! I took a look back as we were running up the steps and saw a dark cloud coming up over the tree. They must have landed in the tree because once we got up to the top of the deck we didn't see them anymore. Thank goodness!!! I was so glad that Anika was napping, I don't know how I would have grabbed both girls and ran as fast as I did up all the stairs!

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The girls favorite time of day is when daddy gets home!

Why playing outside is sometimes best

Today seems to be the day for messes. It was one thing after the other! At one point there was a cracker package crumbled all over the couch. Caylin vacuumed it up and right as I finished wrapping the cord back around the vacuum, she sneezed a mouth full of crackers all over the couch in the same spot!

There were bedroom bombs

play dough shakes

and furniture artwork

So I decided to take my messy maniacs outside. We made a mud hole and some beautiful mud pies!

and a sand flower garden

Anika has been cracking herself up lately. She tell a story of gibberish then bend over laughing with this inhale kind of laugh.

Favorite outfit of the day (size 6 months):

Cousin love

Cousin Kaila got to come over and play while her mamma and papa rested the other day. The girls had a blast painting a box and riding bikes!

And just for the books...

I think I'm going to start a "caught reading reward"!

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!