Christmas time

The Christmas season began with R's first dance recital. Here she is in costume with Kev before the recital:

I asked her to show me one of her dance poses - I love it! However, it looks like she may have gotten her mom's dance talent. Poor girl.

We got a tiny bit of snow, but it didn't stick. The girls were so excited to put on their snow gear even though it just barely covered the ground.

I love our Christmas Eve traditions. I wish I had more pictures from the music, but here's the annual Nativity scene. I didn't get a pic of R as an angel, but E got to be the baby Jesus - quite a large one. Poor Mary. I was shocked E stayed still, but she found a random pacifier (neither girl has liked pacifiers, so I don't know where this came from) and was quite attached to it. I guess I was happy about it.

Donkey, Mary, Joseph, and the ginormous baby:

Wise men visiting:

Play time with cousins after:

Christmas morning fairies:

We had to be fairies for our outing to the aquarium:

Some snapshots of family time - I've heard people say E looks like her cousin, and this is the first time I've really seen it so clearly:

Story time with Gramsey:

Nothing like the magic of Christmas with these ages. We especially love all of the family time. We are so blessed.

January 2012

We began 2012 in sunny and warm southern California with Kevin's parents. The weather averaged mid 70s. Needless to say, we were in heaven. The girls wanted to be outside constantly! I was right there with them.

Here they are waiting for our flight.

Our first night there, the girls took a long, fun bath in Grandma's tub. I got E out before R and got her in new jammies and a night diaper. She was playing with something in the other room with me, and when I turned my back to do something (I can't remember now), she had jumped back into the tub. She was stoked!

In addition to playing outside, some highlights included Disneyland, a beach day, Balboa island (more beach time), and just time with Mitchell family.

We had some magical days - this particular day, we set up the kids' table with toys and then we picked limes from the tree. R helped Grandma decorate bags, then E and R filled them with limes, and we delivered them to the neighbors. We also made lime sublime with the rest of the limes.

Beach day may have been my favorite day. We had weather where your warm in the sun, but not too hot or even sweating. The girls were so content - E digging in the sand, and R playing in the waves. We sat in chairs and just soaked in the vitamin D.

Kev started out playing with R in the waves.

E did not move from this spot.

Here is our setup:

R happy to play in the waves without us - she made friends with some other kids and had a blast!

R resting after wave jumping

We grabbed lunch at Ruby's Diner on the pier. R made fast friends with the lady in the background catching fish. R has no fear when it comes to strangers. Pretty funny to watch.

Family pic...

Disneyland day was R with her Dad, Grandma and Papa. She was in heaven - they stayed for 12 hours! I got a day with E at home. I loved my one on one time with her. I worked on my course while she slept. I made sure Kev sent me pics and videos - I was sad to miss it.

When they first arrived.

Last year, the princess line was long - this year did not disappoint. Same thing - here's R waiting.

What are the odds that we get 2 out of 3 of the same princesses? I would think low... Luckily, R did not seem to mind. At least this time, she knew who Tiana was this time. She loved Ariel, as well, but she told me Aladdin was her favorite. I was surprised he was with the princesses.

She got a good nap during lunch - critical for the rest of the day.

Here is another highlight of the day - Jake from "Jake and the Neverland Pirates"! R is really into this show right now.

We got time with dear Aunt Edna, who is 93. The girls loved running around her yard and playing with her cat.

Here we are on Balboa Island - the girls wanted more time on the beach:

Lyndsay and Chad joined us.

I arranged a surprise gathering of Kev's childhood friends. One came all the way from Fresno! They had a blast catching up! I'm really bad at keeping surprises, and I did it this time. =) Seeing him truly surprised was priceless.

It was a tough adjustment back to real life and colder weather. I decided to buy a Discovery Museum membership, and we've been loving it.

This day was a bit chilly, and so we got the helicopter all to ourselves for a full 15 minutes. Such a blast! R loved to be the pilot, run out to rescue someone, radio it in, and fly us back. E loved being along for the ride. I'm not sure what she's so serious about here.

Loving bath time - the necklaces must go everywhere with E.

We finally got some snow here!

It's going to be a busy semester for me, but not as bad as last semester, I'm hoping. I enjoy the challenge - makes me appreciate the time I get with my family even more.

Loving this phase!

To remember how R is at 3 1/2 years -- she loves everything princess. She also loves to color, to play with her polly pockets, to climb anything and everything, especially our swing set. She is very sweet with her younger sister. She is very verbal and a good thinker -- coming up with ideas for how to solve problems she encounters or how to negotiate with Mom and Dad. She gets very excited about things, and is just a happy girl. A big source of joy in our home.

Cinderella in her cleaning dress -- she asked to clean!!:

Just after getting the hula hoop to swing around her for the first time:

Resting on our hike:

A drawing of a playground -- she was so proud of how she drew each individual flower on the bottom:

To remember how E is at 15 months -- she loves outside, constantly opening the back door. She loves her sister and whatever Rainey is doing, but she also needs her space. Has an opinion, and really lets you know she's unhappy when she doesn't get her way. A bit of a picky eater. Repeats a lot of words, understands a ton, does a lot of "talking" as she toddles around the house finding various things to hold or dump. A pretty relaxed, but busy girl -- especially loves to repeat actions, such as climbing onto the fire truck and then back off over and over again. She kills me -- she's definitely a Mama's girl for now. Another big source of joy in our home.

She loves balls:

Tired girl, obsessed with this necklace:

"Talking" to me:

Had to paint with Rainey:

Wanted to "weed" just like Mom and Rainey:

Recent Activities

Life just got a lot busier with the start of a new part time job for me (mentioned in another post). It's hard to remember what we did before this consumed my free time. Here are some of our activities at the end of the summer:

Kev's work party at Boondocks -- One of the activities: Rainey was in heaven. E wanted to get in the water.

Playing around the house (and outside) -- forts, snuggle time, puppet shows, etc.

Wheeler Farm -- Nothing gets better than mud puddles and climbing trees -- Rainey said this was the perfect climbing tree. She would climb all day long if she could. They liked this part WAY better than the animals.

Farmer's Market -- I love the whole atmosphere here. Rainey especially loves the hula hoops. This time we got to go with Aunt Becca, cousins, and Aunt Pel:

Preschool Book Club

I've started this with a couple friends who have kids close to Rainey's age and only have one other kid. It's too much for the Mom if they have more kids, especially because we do it in the afternoon. We're basing our time together off of this blog -- and the kids love it. I love it. I feel creative, even though I'm copying ideas. =) To watch the kids' faces as they get into the books we read aloud is magical. We have snacks, activities, and crafts that relate to the book(s). I've never been this organized and themed in my mothering. haha. This time we were working on a bug theme. Here's most of the crew and Rainey with her play dough bug.