Partners in crime

Anika and Caylin are beginning to play so nicely together. They do still have their moments of hitting and fighting, but for the most part they love playing with eachother.

A girl and her baby

Caylin has loved her baby dolls ever since she turned 1 year old. She still loves them just the same.

A few of my favorite things...

Sleeping in, homemade cards from my girls, God's love, the beach and the smell of fresh sea air, building sand castles, my mom, my family, and my camera...and my Mother's Day was full of them all!

After a beautiful day at the beach Aiana, my mom, and I went to see 17 Again. It was a wonderful day!

Today Caylin said to me "Mom, I love you. God gave me a perfect mom." :)

Our Disney Adventure

Ever since out last trip to Disneyland we've been talking about going back again. Caylin couldn't wait to see princesses and Aiana couldn't wait to ride the roller coasters. This time we planned a two day trip. One day at Disneyland and one day at California Adventure.

Since we missed the princesses last time, we made sure that was our first stop. Luckily my mom came with us so while Will and I took turns in the 45 minute line, the kids were able to ride some rides. The park wasn't crowded so lines (other than the princess lines) were only a 5 minute wait. When the moment came for our turn to see the princesses, I was surprised that we waited that long to see 3 princesses, 2 in which Caylin doesn't even know, but she was still excited. Anika was in awe too, she wasn't into giving hugs though, but she was happy to give a high 5. She was also very intrigued by the jewels on Jasmines outfit. After seeing the princesses we were all happy to move on without worrying about missing them. The day was perfect, a little hot but we had a great time. The girls took a nap in the stroller while we took Aiana on some big kid rides.

We stumbled across a new family BBQ with Woody and Jessie that ended up being one of my favorite experiences on the trip. The food is served family style, the entertainment is interactive and continuous, and seating is outside on picnic benches. Goofy, Chip, and Dale came by for a visit also. We did have one little scare when we saw Anika turning red after eating a corn on the cob. I found out that the corn was braised in a milk/butter sauce. I freaked out a little and just started praying since I didn't bring any anti allergy meds with me. After about 5 minutes the welts and redness subsided. Eating was tricky, with every meal I had to talk to the chef to make sure the food was free of allergens.

After eating, we caught the parade on our way to It's a Small World. Then headed back to the hotel. I think Caylin might have been more excited about the hotel! Housekeeping delivered two cribs, and Caylin was so excited about one crib being delivered for her. She was way too big for this little crib but there was no way getting her out of it. The kids all slept great and we woke up ready for another day.

Our first ride at Ca Adventure was Soaring California which I thought was super fun. Then we just strolled around the park to check it out. There was a lot of construction going on. I thought for sure we'd be ready to head home after the 5:40pm parade. We had reservations to dine at Ariel's Grotto with the princesses. Will and I took Caylin while Anika napped with my mom and Aiana rode more rides. We waited and waited for our turn to be seated. But when the time came, Caylin was shaking with excitement. Will and I have never seen her that way before! We had so much fun just watching her!

Aiana is fairly new to enjoying roller coasters, so Screamin' California was her first time going on a big coaster. This was one of the longer lines, so she asked me a lot of questions about what we were about to experience. I kept asking her if she was sure she wanted to go on, but she said yes. I had no idea how fast this roller coaster was!! When we were half way through the ride, I looked at Aiana's face and she told me she was scared. Man, I wanted the ride to end right there to get her off, but we just had to stick it out, I grabbed her leg and we finished. And of course she liked it :).

Later we watched the parade, then Aiana talked Will and I into going on the coaster one more time. I don't know how the time slipped by but by the time we were finished and heading out of the park it was 9:15pm! We ran to catch our shuttle but just missed it which meant we had to another 30 minutes. But to our surprise, that wait gave us the chance to watch a firework show. We returned to the hotel by 10:00 and were on the road back home. We didn't get home until 11:30pm. I was so happy with how well the kids behaved, and no melt downs!

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"!