Weekend

Catch up again...one day I'm going to get this down and blog as life goes instead of all at once. I still end up missing too much. I must say I'm impressed with myself this morning - cranked out 5 posts and my house is presentable. :)

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We had a great long weekend together. Daddy has been working so much lately...rushes out in the morning...rushes home for dinner...rushes kids to bed...rushes back to his computer to finish more work...no quality time. This weekend we got to spend a lot of time together and it was what we all needed.

We ran several errands. I love this picture for some reason.

A Daddy in action, I guess!

Saturday night we decided to get out and try someplace new so did some I researched and found this place. We piled in the car, drove to gorgeous downtown Culver City and ate at Gloria's. Yum. Noelle was getting antsy towards the end so she and Daddy did some reading.

I also got to do some sewing over the weekend. YEA! Auntie got a bunch of free fabric so I cut out about a dozen bibs. They're so cute!

I've also been wanting to make Madeleine a tag blanket. I love how it turned out!

Creativity

I would love to have a flash of insight into Noelle's mind and see how it works. I love what she comes up with. While doing the dishes I see this crazily dressed little girl walk by picking up leaves, rocks and flowers and putting them on her cart.

I watch her as she continues to play...

"Mommy! I can't see you!"

"Maybe I can if I put my goggles on."

(Well, I think they're Cara's goggles)

Yes, much better.

I couldn't help but think about how grateful that I am to be a stay-at-home Mommy. I wouldn't miss these moments for anything.

Laundry Woes

As if laundry wasn't painful enough, trying to get it done with kids around is an uphill battle. I try to sit Madeleine on the couch while I fold laundry, but she insists on helping me. What start out as piles of nicely folded clean clothes, end up being piles of rumbled clothes covered in baby slobber.

Meanwhile, the other one was collecting all the pillows in the house and hiding under them in a laundry basket.

Where's Noelle?

There she is!

Little Foodie

Madeleine had her first taste of real food...oatmeal.

To say she loved it would be an understatment.

Some Catch Up!

In order to catch up on all the fun around here I've resorted to making a bunch of collages. They are SO much faster than trying to deal with blogger's terrible formatting.

This is the best time of year, summer is in the air but not totally stifling us full force. We've already been hitting the pool a couple of times a week. The girls love, love, love it. Madeleine is such a water baby, we spent 2+ hours there yesterday and not a peep out of the little thing.

Auntie & Unc, and Uncle Matthew & Kids spent several days camping at the beach. We had a blast visiting them.

Mother's Day was spent at M's in Manhattan Beach, love it there. We grilled pizzas on the BBQ - delish! For dessert we grilled fruit and ate it with ice cream - double delish! We spent most of the time outside enjoying the amazing weather. Noelle drew pictures for everyone and we topped off the evening with a mean game of Taboo. Family time is the best.

Kelsi had extra tickets for the free day at Huntington Library and invited us to go with them. I've been wanting to go there for years, it was so worth the wait. The gardens were beautiful (the little bit we got to see) and the kids area was fantastic. Noelle (and Madeleine) had the time of their lives playing in all the water features. Noelle was still going strong when poor baby girl had just had enough. We can't wait to go back (hopefully on a date!) and have the time to walk around and see everything. Many of the pictures are courtesy of Heather.

Random: decadent strawberry cake that Aaron said is the BEST he's ever eaten, Mother's day project MESS, mornings spent snuggling in bed, Daddy and Noelle riding the Lorenzen's cool bike, Madeleine in her bouncy pulling herself over the side desperately looking for her Mama, and lastly Daddy and Noelle sleeping on the ground.

What Do I Do?

Do I go back or start blogging forward? It's been a crazy couple of weeks.

Please learn from me...when you have an unbearable throbbing on the right side of your head a week, don't wait until you have a burning fever and are almost immobile. Go to the doctor! I kept popping hand fulls of ibuprofen and hoping it would miraculously clear up. Stupid!

I've obviously done the bare minimum to keep this place from totally collapsing. Laundry wasn't one of them! I've washed some loads but that's all I could muster. Now, I have this sitting on my living room couch, these are only the clean clothes. Plus, about 800 miles of dirty tile floors and a dirty house. Ugh. I might die.

LOVE

On this day we celebrate Mother's I thank you both for picking me to be yours. You make me so happy. The moment you were born and I saw your amazing faces, I thought to myself I could not love you anymore than I did at that moment. I was wrong. I love you more and more everyday.

This is for my sweet Mama who looks down on me from heaven. Her very favorite flower is the Sweet Pea. I love you and wish you were here with me.

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They didn't have you where I come from

Never knew the best was yet to come

Life began when I saw your face

And I hear your laugh like a serenade

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How long do you want to be loved

Is forever enough, is forever enough

How long do you want to be loved

Is forever enough

Cause I'm never, never giving you up

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I slip in bed when you're asleep

To hold you close and feel your breath on me

Tomorrow there'll be so much to do

So tonight I'll drift in a dream with you

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How long do you want to be loved

Is forever enough, is forever enough

How long do you want to be loved

Is forever enough

Cause I'm never, never giving you up

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As you wander through this troubled world

In search of all things beautiful

You can close your eyes when you're miles away

And hear my voice like a serenade

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How long do you want to be loved

Is forever enough, is forever enough

How long do you want to be loved

Is forever enough

Cause I'm never, never giving you up

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How long do you want to be loved

Is forever enough, is forever enough

How long do you want to be loved

Is forever enough

Cause I'm never, never giving you up

Is forever enough

Cause I'm never, never giving you up

San Diego

It's been two weeks since our trip to San Diego and I'm now posting pictures...that's alright. We had the best time staying at Family Samson Hotel, they were great. The kids had fun and more importantly the adults had fun!

We witnessed some amazing things: a baby gorilla that seemed to want Aaron to pick him up, a hippo swimming laps, a 5 day old giraffe, rhinos snuggling and so much more. Noelle was totally fascinated with the elephants. The first two came walking by and she said, Look at the Mommy elephant and the Daddy elephant. Where's the Noelle elephant?" As the third one came by she jumped up and down squealing, "There's the Noelle elephant!"

We got a GREAT deal on season passes for the Zoo and Wild Animal Park - we can't wait to go back!

If It's Not One Thing...

Much to our excitement a few months ago we realized that we did not owe much more on my student loan and by July/August it would be paid off. Awesome! Then we realized Noelle would be starting preschool in September and that bill would take the place of the student loan payment. Stink! We'll actually be paying $18 more per month. Double Stink!

It's impossible to get ahead!

Then I got a letter in the mail from UHEEA pretty much stating, "As our thanks for never having a late payment, we're forgiving the rest of your loan. See ya!"

So we do get a few months free, Aaron told me not get any ideas. :)

Big Girl Chair

With Noelle I couldn't wait for her to grow so could we play with all our gadgets and toys. This poor baby is getting the shaft, I don't realize she is old enough, I guess! This morning I finally got smart and realized that when I'm in the kitchen she can sit in the chair and be right next to me. I suppose I can get the exersaucer and bath seat out for her, too. She can mostly sit up unassisted so, duh! She's happy most anywhere there are other people so when I have to get things done and put her in the swing it only lasts until she realizes no one's directly in front of her. Here's to hoping this will make things easier. All the racket in the background are my two other kids playing Wii Fit.

She also loves her little gym and gets so excited grabbing and kicking that she gets herself turned around and trapped in the side. Then she gets all bent and starts screaming for help. It's adorable.

Hot Diggity Dog!

I used to pride myself on the fact that Noelle had such a sophisticated palate. She would not touch a hot dog with a 10-foot pole. That's changed since Berry Smoothie's have become a Saturday ritual, she now loves Hot Dogs, too. Darn that Costco Food Court.

MMMMMM...I've waited all week for this!

All Done!

Sister

Noelle: "Mama! I loooove sister! She's my sweetie."