Little Hikers!

Ready to head out on the trail!
These girls KNOW they are cute & love looking at the pictures of themselves!
Emma, crossing the fallen logs as Erin & Sophia shout encouragement from the far side!
Time for a snack & a juice box!
So serious! I love that little face!
Emma & Sophia were so proud of themselves as they perched atop their rocks!
Such determination! I WILL climb up this rock!
The girls on their rock "island."
Holding hands as they gear up to cross the "river."
Peeking from behind the grasses...
And a close-up.


We had so much fun hiking with our friends Erin and Sophia yesterday morning! The girls were so excited to see each other bright and early and they just chattered away the whole drive about "going up to the mountains." We went to Forest Falls and walked along the trail till we hit the water. Then we found a place to set up "camp" where we had rocks to sit and climb on and a good few inches of water for the girls to splash in and throw rocks. They loved it! They kept talking about walking in the "river." We brought snacks and juice boxes and they really liked having this picnic in the great outdoors. I went ahead and bought a year long parking pass, so we will definitely be heading up there again soon!

Bangs & Popsicles!

Emma's bangs were getting wayyy too long and she needed a trim. I just really didn't want to go pay to have it done though, especially since its something that will need to be done repeatedly. So I decided to give it a go myself. I went and bought a pair of hair cutting shears and hoped for the best. I figured that, if I totally butchered it, she had a full month before going back to school for it to grow out. It turned out okay ~ a little short, but not too bad. And, to celebrate sitting so still for the trim, Emma got to relax in the pool with the big girls and eat popsicles! What a fun end to the day!

Happy Summer Vacation!!!

I am so excited that we went off track! Yesterday was my last day of work and Emma's last day of daycare for a whole month! This has been a long quarter with some very "challenging" students and I am ready for the break. I had to stop at the grocery story early yesterday morning before dropping Emma off (at like 6:30am) to get punch and goodies for our class party. Emma was very insistent that she needed to bring something to her school for a "party" too. She wanted popsicles. So we got Dora the Explorer popsicles to bring for snack time. She was so proud of her contribution as she carried them into the class. Such a sweetie.

Aquarium on Wheels!

Our local library has a really good kid's program in general and, during the summer, they kick it up a notch with reading incentives and extra events. This past week they had people from the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific bring out the mobile "Aquarium on Wheels." So I put it on our playgroup calendar and we had a pretty good turn out. There were lots of other people there too, but we all showed up early so our kids didn't have much of a wait in line to get into the aquarium bus. They had touch tanks and the kids got fish stamps on their hands. There was also a face painting station, but it had a long line and we just redirected the kids before they caught sight of that one.

Emma and Sophia were fine with touching the sea anemones and urchins, but a little more hesitant when it came to the baby sharks. They also liked learning about the starfish from the aquarium workers. TJ and Todd came with us too and had a good time and TJ even (reluctantly) touched the shark after much prodding from his Daddy. Sophia's Mommy wasn't able to go because of work, but her Daddy brought her and took most of these awesome pictures of the girls. Thanks Chris!

After our trip through the mobile aquarium we had to play in the library for a while, of course. Emma (and all the other little ones) really like that library's children's room! They have tons of animals in terrariums (snakes, lizards, birds, an iguana, madagascar hissing cockroaches, and even a "Nemo" fish). Plus they have a giant tree growing in the room with little seats cut out of the side, making perfect reading nooks. I started off reading to Emma. Then TJ joined us. Then Sophia. Then even Palani and Zach and Ava stopped by for a minute or two before running off to play some more. I ended up hosting my own little story hour. Sophia and Emma especially just kept climbing up in my lap for more stories. They sure are happy little readers!

We love this library and will definitely be back for many more of their summer events!

Emma & Mommy Day!

I wasn't really feeling the Father's Day deal this year. The past couple of years have been fine, but this 0ne was getting to me for some reason. Maybe because Emma brought home a Father's Day Card and, when I asked her what we should do with it, she said she wanted to give it to Uncle Tim because "I don't have a daddy... But I have a Mommy who loves me and I have a Uncle Tim! And a Karen and a Grandma and ... etc." Emma really is lucky to have so many people who love her, but I didn't even know she was aware that it was a father's day paper and not just regular art... Anyway, rather than stay home and wallow, I decided we should start our own tradition and have a Mother-Daughter Day celebrating US and everything we DO have instead.

So we went to church this morning and then drove out to the mall in Moreno Valley to see Emma's 1st movie ~ Shrek Forever After. She has been asking to see this movie for weeks and was so excited! She was really good during the movie... spent most of her time in the seat but she's a little small still to keep it opened all the way, so it kept bouncing and she chose to sit on the steps next to my seat for the rest of the movie. Then we walked around the mall (no stroller for my big girl!) and went to Bath & Body Works where Emma got to pick out a new (FREE) bottle of lotion for us to share. We rode a little train all around the mall too and then found a $1.00 book store where we got a new Mickey book for story time tonight. We stopped for dinner after leaving the mall. Emma's first choice for dinner was sushi! But they were closed so we decided on noodles instead - always a good option and ended up at The Old Spaghetti Factory. We had a great meal. I love my little one and her adventurous palate! I asked her if she would like to try green noodles and she was all over it. She really enjoyed her spinach tortellini and I like my crab ravioli as well.

We had a wonderful day. I think this has the potential to become an annual tradition. :)

Blueberry Picking ~ Round 2!

We had so much fun picking blueberries a couple weeks ago that we decided to go again! A local farm opened to the public for just a couple weeks so Karen, Mom, and I took all the kids out this morning. They had fun. Oddly enough, I think it was the biggest hit for the 2 middle ones. The older girls are teenagers now and too cool for some of this. Plus neither one of them are big blueberry fans. Emma & TJ had gone a couple weeks ago, so after picking for 20 minutes or so, they were more interested in jumping over the sprinklers. Mikayla & Tim seemed to really enjoy it though and they each filled an entire basket! It was a good morning.

Playdates

We've had some fun playdates the last few weeks. Emma is loving swimming again this summer and she also loved the pretzel rods Erin brought for snack! She & Sophia loved having a "Picnic Snack" in their bathing suits. Emma is also fascinated with babies lately. Yesterday she wanted to just sit next to baby Brooke and tickle her feet and rock her carrier rather than playing with the big kids. For someone who is such a little turd at times, she really can be a sweetie.

Preschool Princess!

Little Miss Emma Grace decided she wanted to wear her blue sandals to school this morning... which led to the selection of the blue shirt... which led to needing her blue sunglasses... which led to... her paper princess crown? Yep, such is the logic of a 2 and a half year old. It's like my own little version of giving a mouse a cookie... She had her outfit on when she spotted her crown on my dresser and asked, "I wear my crown to school, Mommy?" How could I say no? So I told her "Sure" and she was so happy! When she looked in the mirror to see the final result, a big grin spread across her face. She smiled and giggled all the way into the classroom. I love my sassy little diva!

Watch Out World... Lucy is a teenager!!!

Lucy turned 13 last weekend and had quite an eventful week! The top picture is her, 3 or 4 days before her birthday. No, she was not in a bar fight. No, she did not get jumped while walking our dangerous I.E. streets. Nope, Lucy did this to HERSELF! Apparently, she had been in the backyard and, rather than walking all the way through the house, she decided to jump the fence to get to the front yard. She has done this hundreds of times before, but this time, the trash can she jumped onto started to roll. She fell, hitting the fence, trashcan, and cement... all face-first it seems. Lucy requested that we postpone her birthday dinner. Yeah right! I told her that that face is a Kodak moment if ever I saw one and I would definitely be recording it for posterity! So, her birthday dinner went on as planned. By Saturday the bruising and swelling were a bit better so we all got together for tacos (Lucy's annual birthday dinner request) and cake. Lucy also got a new cell phone with unlimited texting from her parents and was happy as can be. Happy Birthday Goosy-girl!

Little Miss Cool!!!

We got the pool set up in the backyard and, as you can see, Emma is loving it. She has claimed Mikayla's old lounger for herself along with my sunglasses. Just lies back, puts on her shades, and requests (directs ?) to be pulled along through the water. Wow. It's such a hard life for a two-year-old. Lol. But I guess someone has to live it. :)