Mother's Day

Being a mom is no easy task, and so it is always wonderful when the hard work, sleepless nights, meals prepared, activities planned, classes taught, and so on are appreciated.  While my family did spoil me with love, flowers, cards, and gifts, I am most thankful that they not only show their gratitude on Mother's Day but the whole year through.  Steve is especially good at that!  I am one lucky mom (and wife!).

 

This year after going to church on Sunday morning, we spent Mother's Day with our friends as they recently put in a new pool.  The weather was perfect for swimming, and it was a treat to spend the day with good friends.  Plus, the men planned and prepared a great meal for us all to enjoy!

 

Olivia enjoyed the water and had fun playing with everyone!

 

Shane is ready for the water!

Zoo Field Trip!

Since Southern California is experiencing yet another horrible heat wave (90 degrees or more for three days straight with no AC!!), my motivation to accomplish anything around the house is depleted!  So, I decided that it was a good opportunity to catch up a bit on the good ole blog!

 

Last week Thursday we went to the Santa Barbara zoo for the day with Shane's preschool.  During the school year it is harder for us to get up to the zoo as we are busy with other commitments, so it was the perfect excuse to go once again! 

 

Right when we arrived we found some of Shane's closest friends at school, so we were able to walk around the zoo as a group.  He had a blast with his buddies, and it was enjoyable to watch them interact with one another!  As a special treat, we went on the train ride!

 

Everyone brought a picnic lunch!

 

Olivia did well at the zoo as she spent most of her time in the stroller!  But she was excited to run around at lunch, and of course to eat a sandwich just like all the big kids!  We are all looking forward to many more trips to the zoo in the near future as our activities start to wind down for the year!

Birthday Celebrations!

This past Saturday evening we celebrated Faith's birthday with our families!  It was the standard bbq complete with cake and present opening!  The only change this party was that since Faith was having a Frozen themed birthday party, she thought we should have an ice cream cake from Baskin Robins!  What a great idea on her part!  It was delicious!!

 

Faith received many very nice gifts!  She loved them all! 

 

 

On Sunday after church we had a party for her with friends!  Since having two parties in less than 24 hours at our house was too much for me to even imagine, we went to a local Spaghetti Company and all enjoyed a spaghetti lunch!  It turned out to be a fun party!  This was the kids table!  We stuck them all at one end, and they had a blast!

 

We are so thankful that Faith is a part of our family!!

Happy Birthday Faith!

 

Where has the time gone?  How can this little girl already be eight years old?  When I think back to her as a baby and just a little girl, it doesn't seem like it was that long ago!! 

 

I'm finding that each age is delightful in it's own way!  With Faith growing older, it is fun to have more in depth conversations together.  It's also fun to do things together such as shop (even for groceries!) or take a walk.  But I think what I enjoy most of all is just observing over the year the small strides that the kids make.  One of the ways I can see Faith growing older is that she is more opinionated about her clothes and how she wears her hair!  And while this can be a source of frustration at times (like when she and I don't see eye to eye on what outfit is best!), it is a sign of exerting more and more of her independence!  And that's a good thing as she continues to grow and prepares to one day (many, many years from now!) fly out on her own.

 

Happy eighth birthday to my beautiful, sweet, enthusiastic, interesting, unique daughter Faith!  You are loved dearly!!

 

Faith using her new Razor scooter that was a birthday present!

Easter

I'm finally sitting down to catch up on the blog!! And there is quite a bit to share! 

 

Happy Easter!  We had a wonderful day celebrating Christ's resurrection with our church family!  Thankfully the kids cooperated before leaving for church for a picture!  The older kids and I needed to be at church early Easter morning as they were singing with the other young children.

 

After the service the church puts on a brunch for everyone and an egg hunt for the kids.  Over 800 eggs were hidden on the church lawn!

 

Olivia was able to hunt for eggs in the two and under area!  She had fun!!

 

The always animated Shane enjoyed the egg hunt as well!

 

The eggs were everywhere!!  Even by the church sign!

 

Faith with some of her friends after the hunt!  All the kids went home with quite a bit of candy!

Camping on the Kern!

Our family spent the past three nights camping along the Kern River!  While camping can be a challenge with three small kids, we found a few ways to make it a bit easier - go with a group that eats dinner together, and the big one is have a trailer delivered to the campsite and set up before you arrive!  Pulling into Camp James on Saturday evening, it was such a great sight seeing a trailer completely set up for our family, including electricity, water, and cable TV!!  And it was very roomy for our family of five.  A great way to start our adventure!!  This was a camping trip put together by a friend of Steve's from the Bellflower area, and there were about 15 families on the trip.  There were a number of kids, which made it extra fun for Faith and Shane! 

 

Our campsite was directly on the little stream that runs through the campground, making it very scenic!  It was nice to hear the water both of the stream and the river in the distance!  Thankfully Olivia was interested enough in the water to check it out, but did not attempt to venture in the water!  The other kids sure had fun walking across on logs and rocks, and of course fell in a number of times too!

 

One afternoon all the kids in our group took turns floating down the stream!

 

Shane receive the full service float as his raft had a string attached to it!

 

Both of the older kids brought their bikes, which proved to be a great idea!  They would ride around the campground with other kids, and we enjoyed watching them do their laps and enjoy a bit of freedom!  The campground was pretty small and gated, so it was a very safe place for the kids to roam a bit with their friends as they were never really too far away.  Steve and I commented that it felt a bit like the "old days" as the kids would be off with friends most of the day and just check in when they needed something!

 

Monday afternoon there was a corn hole tournament and a horseshoe tournament.  It was fun as all the adults gathered around to watch and participate.  Olivia wasn't too happy that she was not able to throw any bean bags like all the adults playing corn hole! 

 

Thankfully another family with small kids brought their teeter totter to the tournaments, which Olivia fully enjoyed! 

 

She was also very excited to sit like the big kids at the table in the camper to eat her breakfast!

 

Passing through Bakersfield on the way to and from the camp, we could not resist a visit each way to our favorite ice cream place, Dewar's!!  And Olivia has now added the words ice cream to her growing list of things that she says!  It was a very nice trip, especially for a camping trip!  We look forward to utilizing the trailer delivery service again some time!

Busy, Busy!

I have come to realize that my current stage of life is just busy!!  And yet I really don't get too much accomplished!  At least at the end of the day that is how it appears.  There may be some laundry completed (typically on Monday!) or some groceries purchased, but overall not much actually looks different from when we wake up in the morning...except more toys are out!  But that is just how I have come to realize it is going to be for the next while.  Until Olivia becomes more independent and trustworthy to not put everything in her mouth of have zero fear, this is how it's going to be!  All that to say, I have little to no time to keep up with the blog.  As I type, Olivia is enjoying some graham crackers (a very rare treat for her!) in the high chair!  So here are a few pictures from the last update!

 

On the weekends we have been taking the kids to a local school to play on their playground!  It's great as the big kids ride their bikes there while Steve jogs beside them, and I either walk Olivia over in the stroller or drive!  It's a great way to burn a little energy and have some fun!  Daring Olivia especially loves the slides!

 

It's so nice to have Faith be willing and able to read to Olivia!  The little girl loves books, and it's always great to see theses two cuddled together and enjoying a book!

 

Steve recently pulled out Shane's tricycle for Olivia, so now she has a bike too like the big kids!  She loves to be pushed around and around the driveway! 

 

One of Faith and Shane's friends had a Alice in Wonderland birthday party a few weekends ago!  All the kids showed up in costume, which made it even more fun!  Shane went as the white rabbit (far left side), and Faith went as Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum (back row on the right!).

 

This is kind of funny and sideways, but this is a drawing of Olivia by Shane!  I just love the way he draws her curly hair!!

 

Hopefully it wont be so long between posts next time!