nine

"storm clouds may gather and stars may collide.

but i love you, until the end of time."

happy anniversary, darling.

you couldn't have come up with a better gift.

thank you.

oh, and get well soon.

summer 2011

alternate title: my unintentional turned intentional blogging hiatus.

i got behind, and when i thought of catching up i decided i'd rather be doing something with the girls and enjoying our last couple carefree months together. and so a month into summer, i decided i'd put my blog away for a short time so i could focus on them.

it was nice to let it go for a time.

unfortunately, it was always in the back of my mind that summer would eventually come to a close and that my first baby girl would have to enter the big scary world of elementary school. it was as if i could hear a timer tick away and steal away my moments, never letting me forget that i was running out of time. but it didn't stop us from having fun, i wouldn't let it. we went to peter piper (a lot), stayed in our pj's extra long, watched movies, did crafts, read books, set up sweet shops, wore halloween tattoo's, spent time with family, stayed up late, had dance parties, took a few summer classes, then topped it all off with a resort stay-cation with some of our dearest friends.

{our stay-cation with friends}

{4th of july}

{not shown: peter piper outings, ava's tumbling class, dance off's, lunch dates with grandma, sprinklers, swimming, bbq's, bubbles...}

and while bryce spent much of the summer working & sweating his butt off, we spent as much time together as we could and tried our very best to make the most of it.

it was a good summer.

{was?? more like is... it's supposed to be 112° tomorrow!}

school started way too early, if you ask me... we should be at the pool right now.

and then there was one.

emaline's 1st day of preschool, sporting her latest protruding jaw smile.

it was strange dropping off ava and then emaline.
it got quiet.
real quiet.



thank goodness it's only for a couple days out of the week.
i'm just not ready for all this change.

and despite that smile on emaline's face, she wasn't too sure about it all either.

i'm sure it will get better for us both.



their outfits are coordinating on accident. both girls picked out their own outfits separate from each other.
coincidence? maybe, but i like to think it's 'cause they're sisters.

our first day

off she goes.

1st day of kindergarten

today's my birthday. the big 3-0. and this might've been the worst birthday present she could give me...

a reminder that she won't stay little forever.

we're growing up.

did i wear sunglasses on purpose?

you bet.

i can't wait to hear all about it when you get home, little girl.

(yes, no matter what you will always be my little girl.)

*did you miss me? stay tuned for our summer recap and hiatus. but first, i have a little partying i must attend to.*

she's 3

happy birthday to my sweet baby emaline.



i will never get over how beautiful of a baby you were.
or how fluffy and soft your hair was.
how perfect of a baby you were.
hardly fussy, always sleeping like a champ.
tolerant and forgiving of our imperfect parenting,
and your curious sister.

i hope i will never forget how wonderful you were.
how wonderful you are.
how easy going and laid back you are.
how much fun you can be.
how much you make us all smile and laugh.
how well you articulate yourself, in spite of your age.
how comfortably perfect your hugs feel.
and how much i love to hear you tell me that you 'love me so much.'
how crazy, yet calm and content you are.
how much you enjoy your naps.
how soft and messy your hair falls.
how lovely you are.

yes, i hope i can remember this all perfectly.
and preserve your two year old self in my mind,
as you turn one year older.

happy birthday sweetheart.
i love you... forever.

hard knock life

one of the activities i had ava in during the school year was a cute little singing class taught by an old friend from high school. she lives two doors down from my mom so every monday, i packed the girls up and spent the whole afternoon there, dropping ava off in the late afternoon to play games and sing her heart out. my favorite part of her going to this class was her coming home and singing and teaching her little sis emaline all the songs. which reminds me, i need to record them both before they start forgetting the words.

her recital was a couple weeks ago and she was so excited for it. they sang songs from annie so i fashioned her outfit together using a dress she already had, an apron dress i had sewn for her on her first halloween (resourceful right?), then finished the outfit by sewing her a pair of pantaloons. oh, what i wouldn't have given to have owned my very own pair of pantaloons as a little girl. one of my very favorite things to imagine when i was younger was that i was an orphan or a girl in a cinderella type situation.
i needed a pair of pantaloons.

ava did great. she knew the songs better than she let on during the performance, but she still had a great time, and that is all that matters.

well, she had a great time until she saw the girl whose parents brought her flowers for her performance.

then she had a bad time.

in our defense, we thought about buying her flowers, but decided against it since it was such a low-key event.

good time...

bad time a.k.a. realizing she didn't get any flowers

oh ava, it really is a hard knock life.

school's out for summer

"mom, my fingers smell like play-doh, and i haven't even played with play-doh today!"
- ava, day one of her summer vacation

ava's last day of preschool

while most kids are getting out of school today, ava's last day was actually two weeks ago. but week one was spent doing lots of catching up, so this week was the first time it felt like summer vacation.

ava loved her teacher mrs. wallace, she will miss her for sure. in fact, she has asked me multiple times if she could go to mrs. wallace's house to play sometime.

while it was nice sending ava off to have fun & learn while i got some alone time with emaline & adele, it's going to be nice being done with preschool for a while. i've been looking forward to this for months... not having to rush off anywhere, being able to go places on a whim, and even staying in our pj's a little longer. so far it's been sprinklers, tea parties, ice cream truck chasing, movies, quarrels, otterpops, crafts, and spontaneous lunch dates. we will soon add snocones, with my new snocone maker i got from the girls for mother's day and swimming, but not until it feels like bath water to the mix.

yes, it's been nice, with the exception of the quarreling, but that comes with the territory, right? hopefully, i'll be able to keep the girls entertained for the next few months, wish me luck!

now what are your summer plans?

half

she's six months old today.

i will never get used to how quickly these babies grow.

she is lovely in all ways possible.

i smooch her constantly, and genuinely resist the urge to take a bite out of her cheeks.

it is a daily struggle of mine.

she eats wonderfully, as evidenced by her many rolls.

my mother saw her forearm the other day and thought it was swollen, until she compared it to her other arm and realized that it was identical and just her normal puffyness.

she sleeps beautifully and has been sleeping through the night since she was about 2 1/2 months old. what a babe!

she has become exceptionally "reachy" and "grabby" which i completely keep forgetting until she manages to grab hold of things and/or knocks them over.

she also began sitting up all on her own about a week ago and has already become a pro at it.

she is so happy, and will smile almost on command. if she catches your eye or if you just say hi to her, she'll smile immediately at you.

but what is most amazing to me, is the love that contagiously emanates her. she has the ability to gain any and everyone's love instantaneously. she has multiplied the love within our family so much just by her presence, something i noticed the first day i brought her home. i can't express how much we all love and adore her. her sisters especially, who can't wait to say hi to her when they hear her first squeak of the morning, and often times fight over her attention.

yes, we love her.

i love her.

happy half year, baby.

giiillly?

"emaline? did you dip your buns in the toilet?"

"no."

"emaline??"

"sorry."

in my mind i heard it in gilly's voice.

in the grocery store today, she started sniffing and then informed me that it smelled like january.

she's the best.

i seriously can't get enough of her.

even if she does dip her buns in the toilet water, every now and then.

delly

i can't find a single word to describe how much i love and adore this little girl.

before she was born, when we were thinking of names, i wasn't completely sold on the name adele. not that i didn't like it, rather i absolutely loved it. but i have a habit of nicknaming those closest to me.

{if i've nicknamed you it should be considered an honor, it means that i love you.}

so, i feared i'd end up nicknaming her deli.

like a slimy piece of deli meat.

but adele seemed so fitting and was also the only name that bryce and i agreed on, so we went with it.

within the first month the girls nicknamed her adelly.

and sure enough, a short time later, we began calling her delly.

delly not deli.

although she is delicious and would make a great delicacy anywhere but a delicatessen.

"we'll eat you up. we love you so."

beauty

it's her birthday month, and she'll be turning three.

where did the time go?

i plan on celebrating her all month long, she is nothing short of fantastic.

to date, i think this is my very favorite picture i've ever taken of her.

the perfectionist in me only wishes the rest of her hand and feet were in the pic, but she was moving way too much.

which now that i think about it, i find simply endearing.

easter

how was your easter?

ours was wonderfully eventful.

it consisted of 3 easter egg hunts, family breakfast, egg coloring, dinner with friends, easter baskets, church, teaching a much needed easter lesson then wrapped up with a delicious family dinner. oh, and we squeezed in a demolition project mid-weekend, as well. considering everything that we had planned for that one weekend, it all went off without a hitch.

well, with the exception of bryce getting an eggshell stuck in our sink drain and having to take it all apart and put back together, minutes before everyone arrived at our house for dinner.

*bryce!*

i can't decide what my favorite part was, but seeing my girls run around looking for eggs in rollers was certainly towards the top.

this easter, i felt blessed, loved and more than anything grateful.

i hope you did, too.

FAIL

there are two versions to this story...

the long version, which is currently in draft form awaiting posting...

or the short version, which bryce wrapped up nicely in his own words: built a closet. took short cuts. it tore out of the wall. rebuilt it correctly.

i will only add that it happened to fall on top of me, literally seconds after bryce and i marveled at the finish product, as he tossed a bow-tie on the top shelf.

that damn bow-tie.

radar detector

"mom, look what i made!"

radar detector

my thoughts instantly turned to this.

ladies and gents... may i introduce you to one of my favorite music videos of all time. let's just say we like and listen to it so much that on occasion you can hear our girls randomly singing it while playing by themselves.

i told bryce that i needed him to learn to dance like this guy. it is nothing short of fantastic.

at approximately 2:20ish you will see why ava coming up with this creation completely on her own, made me so happy. this song is always a great kickstart to the weekend.... have a good one!

first

i have some projects and other things i was planning on posting about first, but they're going to have to wait until tomorrow (or maybe next week) because something rather exciting happened today, that is blog-worthy for sure.

a couple weeks ago, we finally moved emaline into ava's room. it's been a move i've been dreading 'cause i knew for at least the first few weeks all of us would be losing sleep while adjusting to the changes, and i, for one, treasure my beauty sleep. just as i predicted, the first few days the girls stayed up late giggling, singing, talking, and fighting. a few giggles and whispers here and there are just the reason why i want my girls to share rooms, but at ten at night when the girls were still awake laughing, fighting and crying it wasn't so cute anymore. so last week when ava called out to me, saying that her teeth hurt and begging me to come back in (for the 10th time), i sent bryce in to lay down the law. apparently, she wasn't using her teeth as an excuse because bryce came back down the hall a minute later with ava and her newly loose tooth. i was super excited at first, until she began explaining that she had been biting emaline's stuffed doggy while em's was yanking it away. she had pulled a little too hard the last time and that's when she had cried out in pain.

*sigh*

then i wasn't sure if i should be excited or not, but i figured that if it came loose without any tears or blood, it was probably ready and the root was already compromised by the new tooth below the gumline.

sure enough, each day the tooth got looser and today it finally came out! you can even see her new tooth barely peeking through her gums.

we're going out for pizza to celebrate. we're celebrating her first lost tooth and the end of me having to cut up everything she eats. i'm glad that only lasted a week.

i wonder what the tooth fairy's going rate for teeth is these days?

ava's first teeth (circa 6 months)

man, they grow up fast.

ready, set, go.

oh my, it has been a while. but i have so much to share with you all. so don't write me off just yet.

we've been busy.

good busy. not too crazy, stressful busy.

we've been taking lots of time to spend with our little family and get caught up with life and with one another and let me tell you, it has been wonderful.

i've been organizing, checking things off my to-do list, and it feels good. i'm trying to enjoy this time because i know it won't last. most days i feel like i'm just barely keeping my head above water so it's nice getting to a point, every now and then, where i don't feel like i'm drowning or losing the race. so on one hand things are getting taken care of, but on the other, my dear blog is taking a hit. you win some, you lose some. but today (and probably the next few days), i'm taking a minute to fix that. life is happening faster than i can keep up and i don't want to say i missed it.

so hang on.

ready, set, go.

disneyland

our vacation wrapped up at the happiest place on earth...

disneyland.

as we crossed through the castle and into fantasyland, emaline gasped, "a playground?!!"

it was kinda perfect.

we went on peter pan first. ava has been all about peter pan lately so we thought for sure she'd love it. she left the ride crying and proclaiming,

"i never want to come to disneyland again!"

this kind of nonsense continued on every ride until we hit up, it's a small world. and emaline followed the example of big sis and started crying in line of every ride, too. i guess i can't really blame them, ironically, those fantasyland rides can be a bit scary. but these girls come from the school of hard knocks, so we forced them on ride after ride. they were going to have fun whether they liked it or not.

and fun they did have. once the girls warmed up to the idea of disneyland and realized that everything was "just pretend", they really enjoyed themselves. especially by day two, when they got their faces painted. who knew face paint (and $32) could bring so much joy?

oh, and minnie mouse!

i mom-walked as fast as i could with adele in the baby carrier, to get in line fast enough for my girls to be able to meet her. i would've elbowed and run over a few kids if they got in my way... i was that determined.

adele was a champ. this is my favorite picture of her on this trip. limbs limp, bunny slippers and fast asleep in the baby carrier.

and this pic of her is for sure a close second.

what a trooper... a space trooper, that is.

but the best part of disneyland for us, was watching our girls squeal and scream in delight, as they watched the fireworks show on the last night. they. just. loved them.

disneyland isn't the easiest with a new baby, but we managed, and despite a couple leaky, poopy diapers, two accidents and multiple meltdowns, we had a great time, but more importantly made some great memories.

treasure hunt

after a few days in burbank, we headed to our next stop... well, let me back-up a little first.

one week prior, for family home evening, we decided to break the exciting news of where we were going to our girls via a treasure hunt. bryce and i stayed up late the night prior setting it all up. it started with a letter which read...

ava, emaline, and adele,

we’ve been keeping a secret we want to tell.

so, for family home evening, we’re going to have fun,

‘cause we’re going on a treasure hunt!

at the end, the secret we’ve been keeping you’ll find,

if you hunt really well, you’ll learn it in no time.

so hurry go and put on your shoes,

and we can start looking for all of the clues!

they were so excited, and ran off screaming to grab their shoes.

(well, not adele, she was fast asleep in her swing.)

there inside their shoes lay another clue which lead them to another place, and from there another and so on. i loved how well they understood the concept, and that they were able to figure out the riddles and find the clues themselves.

the hunt ended with a treasure box, and inside was a dvd. they ran inside, popped the dvd in the dvd player and this is what they watched...

needless to say, they were pretty excited. after the movie, we served them up mickey mouse oreo's and talked about our upcoming trip.

ava did a great job, counting down to our trip, and up until we finally left for california, both ava and emaline begged to watch the dvd over and over again. it was such a fun way to get the girls ready for disneyland.

next post... d to the land!

spring break-out

we just returned home from a vacation in california. and we had a great time.

first stop was visiting my family who live in burbank. going there always feels like coming home.

my grandma, who i endearing call mí abuelita, makes the most delicious food. and she loves cooking for her family. she is always making sure bryce has enough to eat, and always encourages him to grab seconds. you can imagine the heaven that bryce thinks he's in when he's with her.

it feels a little bit like heaven when i'm with her, too.

here she is, teaching me how to make her delicious gorditas.

i got a little gordita* myself, eating them.

i miss them all already.

i can't wait for our next trip out there, it just can't come soon enough.

stay tuned for more of our spring break adventures.

*english translation: little fat one