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A good start!

Well so far so good for a Monday! I am proud to say that I held up my end of the deal and

1. went to bed early last night

2. got up and went to the gym, which does give me more energy

3. didn't eat too much sugar yesterday and didn't have any wine

4. did the meal plan for the week on Saturday and Art did the shopping for me. Thank you Art! Love you!

5. went to bed with a clean and organized house (for the most part hehe!)

6. we had made plans to do something fun this morning before nap.

We met some friends at Hullabaloos and the kids had a blast. It's an indoor play area and we actually had taylor's 2nd birhtday there. We got there right at 10:30, left right at noon, ate lunch in the car and now both children are asleep and I am organizing pictures. Yay! I feel great :)

Here are a couple of pics from today.

I don't like Mondays...tell me why!

Does anyone remember that song? Well it came to mind this morning while we struggled through another Monday morning with a weekend hangover of way too much fun and late nights! I am writing this post as I think about it so I can make a To Do list if you will.

I made a point to not plan things on Mondays a couple of months back and it's just not working out. I end up waking up trying to make a last minute plan of what we should do today, all the while feeling guilty because I haven't done all the things I should have done over the weekend while Art is around to help. usually by Sunday I am lazy so toys and/or dishes might be out or the house just isn't as clean as I'd like it to be. We have been busy so I usually don't have an idea of what to fix for dinner that night, and we are all just exhausted from running around and staying up too late.

Our morning started at 5:30 am with Syd waking up because my mom had put him to bed last night (bless her) so we could go out to dinner, but had left the light dimly lit in his room! Once Syd is down I usually don't check in on him because he is a light sleeper. Anyhow, once he stirred and saw the light on he went ahead and decided it was time to get up. UGH!
The usual morning mayhem continued and by 9:30 Taylor had been given a spanking for grabbing Sydney and making him play patty cake. I got so irritated and had to take a few minutes to myself to think. that's when I realized that EVERY single Monday without fail starts off on the wrong foot. So to make the start of our week smoother, this is what I want to do:

1. over the weekend make the menu plan for the week and do the grocery shopping
2. go to bed Sunday night with the kitchen and toys clean
3. have something planned for us to do that day. go to the park, the library, etc. just something low key
4. go to bed early Sunday night (by 10 at the latest)
5. limit my sugar intake on Sunday - i have noticed that if I have dessert and a glass of wine I have a sugar hangover the next day and I am more irritable

In addition, for my own sanity, I am making up a rough schedule of the week:

• Monday - low key day at the park or something similar/playdate with Sky, etc.
• Tuesday - work day and Tay has preschool
• Wednesday - Syd's CD class in the am and then lunch with the kids; go to CIU when nana gets here.
• Thursday - Preschool and music classes for both kids; Marin to help with the laundry
• Friday - Playdate day with Tay's group
• Saturday - menu plan and grocery shopping
• Sunday - church and odds and ends around the house - get ready for the week!

Okay, I feel better now! I will come back later and do a fun post! I still need to put pictures up!

Andrea

Nostalgia

The other day while I was going through pictures I came across this video of Taylor when she was just a little over 2 and I almost started crying. I cannot even remember her talking like that in that cute little voice. I realized that although it is such a cliche, this time truly does go so fast. Aside from the videos and pictures, so many of these memories will be lost in our brains among all the tedious day to day bits of information we tend to get bogged down with.

We really are the gate keepers if you will to our own family story; the traditions, the favorite songs, the favorite books, cute little mannerisms, etc. There is this cute little story that I think I may actually remember, or it could just be that I have been told the story so many times that it is burned into my brain. While vacationing at Lake Tahoe with my mom and dad and Aunt Tula and Uncle Louie, I was instructed to walk next door to their cabin and ask for lemon juice. Because of my lisp, not helped by the fact I had prematurely lost my 2 front teeth, I asked over and over, to no avail for "emon huuuice". My Aunt Tula told me that story EVERY time I saw her and although I thought it was a little annoying at the frisky age of 16, I keep that story tucked into my memory and will always cherish it.

I would like to dedicate this post to Sydney. My spunky, feisty and oh so cute little guy. At 17 months he is now starting to really try and say many words (waffle is one of his new favorite words!). He still loves to get his groove on and is just so gosh darn adorable. The one thing that has always held true for my Syd is that he feels and shows his emotion with all his heart. When he is mad, he is mad; but when he is happy, he makes you a true believer in the almighty God because only He would have the capacity to make a creature so magnificent.

I love you so much my little Sydney. From the top of your curly blonde hair to the bottoms of your chubby feet and everything in between. I love your walk, your dance moves and most of all your laugh.
XOXO,
Mommy

The last few days in pictures

Because I am still not able to easily put titles on my pictures, you will have to follow the numbers to know what's what! 1. Halloween Cookie Decorating 2, 3, 4. Fun at the pumpkin patch 5. Singing Happy Bday to cousin Annalina 6. the felting craft we made today at Maple Cottage School Video is of Taylor at Applesauce Music Enjoy!

On the Mend

What a week it has been! last friday Sydney came down with a horrible cold combined wtih the stomach flu! He threw up multiple times that day and my mom and Art did a wonderful job taking care of him, poor bubba. I had to work that day so missed the puke fest!
I got my payback though on Sunday night. Taylor and I had went to visit my friend Jenn who now has a very cute baby bump (I think she's about 24 weeks along), and Taylor started complaining that her tummy hurt. We packed up and after just about 5minutes in the car she started throwing up. We stopped at the gas station where I had to change her and she threw up again! It was a gross mess. She continued to throw up multiple times throughout the night and we had to was everything! about 5 sets of pj's, the comforter, towels, you name it.
Art and I came down with the stomach flu Monday night and had to call in sick the next day. Tuesday was a rough one. Syd was back to puking and was a complete NIGHTMARE!

I have officially become a germ freak now. I went to Target and bought a bunch of anitbacterial wipes as to clean every surface in public that my children touch! I cannot handle Sydney being sick all winter long.

The worst part of the whole thing is that we had to cancel our trip to visit my BFF Lea in AZ. :( We had it planned for months to come out but between the kids not being up to the 6 hour trip and Art having to catch up on lost time, there was no way we could swing it. Sorry Lea!

I will be back later to post some pics from last weekend and music class.

My Rock and ways to be frugal?

Well the news everyday just keeps getting more and more unsettling. Yesterday I got home and opened the mail only to see that in the last month alone we had lost an obscene amount of money in our money market account (obscene to us anyhow!) and this morning the Dow has dropped below 8,000 and may end the day in the 7,000 range. I am officially depressed about the economy.

Although right now we are doing fine, aside from the money market account, it is the future that looms ahead that is most scary. I am officially going to put our spending on hold and do my best to be frugal. I am so thankful to have my wonderful husband Art that has not only provided us with 2 wonderful children, but a great life as well. He has worked so hard starting up his company all on his own and we have been able to buy a great house and live comfortably. This morning I called him to vent my worries and after we hung up the phone this is the email he sent me:

Minnie, we are both highly educated people with amazing skill sets. And no matter what… have faith in God that he will provide everything we need.
Keep you head up and try not to let the automatic worry set in!

I love you Art!

With everything going on now though I feel guilty in a way and need to reign it in and save some money! Below are some ideas I have:
-Starbucks and Daily Grind coffee runs need to stop! Okay, maybe just once a week :)
-Eat at home more. We do pretty good, eating at least 4 meals a night at home, but we could definitely do better
-Kid's classes. The kids are in some pricey classes (Applesauce music is $250/semester). Instead, there are plenty of things to do with kids that cost $0, or very minimal costs. Get back to library storytimes and parks/rec classes.
-Of course the big one is to cut down on shopping, especially for the kids. They have enough clothes already! And those spur of the moment trips to Target can break the bank everytime!

What other ideas does anyone have???

Syd bumped his head and nap time updates

Well it happened today. For the first time one of my children has fallen out of their crib. I had always heard the stories of parents sleeping and hearing a loud thud in the middle of the night followed by howels. We were lucky with Taylor as she never was much for climbing or trying to escape her crib.
Today though shortly after I put Syd down for his nap I heard him in there talking to himself as usual, and then a loud thump that shook the house and then the screaming. Poor guy! I ran in and he was sitting on the floor screaming...not sure how he landed. I was able to settle him down pretty quickly and he did go to sleep and is still snoozing after 2 hours. :)
It's been a rocky road to the 1 nap transition and I dare not write anything about our situation now in fear of jinxing it!
Taylor is now a no-nap girl. I actually could have easily kept the naps going but decided that after some struggling to get her down for a nap, and then after a 2 hour slumber, struggling even more to get her to bed at a decent hour, I decided to get rid of the struggles all together! She now has quiet time and/or we will lay down together for a bit and just relax, or if I am being a bad mommy, put on TV! No struggles at nap time now and no struggles at bed time (maybe just a little bit). And get this, both kids are in bed usually by 7:30 (7:45 for Taylor at the latest!). Art and I are loving it! Huge anti jinx dance with running man and high kicks!!!

I will try to be good...

Taylor & Mommy @ School

What's the point of having a blog if you don't update it right? I have been sorely disappointed with myself for being such a slacker, but I am making a commitment to try and be better haha! Since it's been almost 2 months since I did a proper post, I forgive the very long post that is about to follow, along with a ton of pictures....

I last left off as we were about to leave on vacation to Cambria mid-August. Well we went and had an amazing time! Cambria is in Central California right along the coast, and about 10 minutes before Hearst Castle (San Simeon). We stayed at the Cambria Pines Lodge and the place couldn't have been better. It was nestled in a pine forest about 1.5 miles above the beach, so it was a few degrees warmer than the chilly beach and breathtaking. We had a great time just wandering around their acres of gardens and winding paths. The kids had fun exploring and swimming in the pool and every morning we had a hot breakfast waiting for us in the restaurant (included in the price of the room). This was great because we didn't have to wait at a restaurant every morning with cranky hungry kids.
We saw the elephant seals one morning and went to Moonstone Beach to collect rocks, stones and sea shells. Overall it was a very relaxing trip and the kids did great. Taylor keeps asking when we are going back on bacation (she pronounces it with a b) :)

The day before we left for vacation though we took in a trip to Tananka Farms and went watermelon picking. It was HOT but we had a great time and the kids actually ate veggies!

At the end of August we enrolled Taylor in Vacation Bible School for the week and I volunteered in the classroom. I have a whole new respect for preschool teachers that's for sure! It was exhausting but a lot of fun. Taylor loved the songs she learned and loved the ice cream treats they got each night before going home. The most memorable experience of the week for me was one day when we were swimming at Skylar's house, Taylor says to me "Mom, I want to walk on water like Jesus." Wow, what do you say to that!?!?! So cute :)

In other news, Taylor started preschool! It's been 4 weeks now and the first 2 weeks were great. She ran in with no problems, but the last 2 weeks have been a little tougher. I think the novelty has worn off and she has been putting up a fight to go to school each morning. It's stressful for us but I just keep reminding myself that we're doing the right thing. After she cried a lot this morning before being dropped off, the teacher said she ended up having the best day yet. She actively participated and had a good day. I was so happy to hear that. I know she will probably continue to put up a fight each morning, but at least if she has fun once she's there, I'm happy. Pictures attached are of her first day and the balloon her friend Caroline got her to congratulate her on her first day. She was so happy!

Somewhere in between we had the 1st Annual Julian Labor Day Block Party and it was a blast. Hopefully we will get more participation next year from the block, but it was a great start.

Art is on the verge of hiring an employee which is exciting but scary too considering the economy, but we've got to move forward. Sydney is doing great! He is walking around everywhere and is such a character it's soooo cute! I can't believe how much he is growing and learning. He now can blow kisses and is starting to say a few more words.

Phew! I think that's enough for now. At least I am caught up for the most part and start fresh! Thanks for checking in.

Where have we been?

well we've been around, but it turns out that after starting out at a 100 meter pace by feverishly posting every other day, I have now slowed down to a very slow and steady marathon pace, posing only once every couple of weeks.

Art has been working like a madman since he had to move offices just a couple of weeks ago and is still trying to get everything in order. I have been busy with work, organizing Syd's dedication last weekend and keeping the kids busy and happy (trying to at least) in this hot August weather.

Last Sunday we dedicated Sydney at Parkcrest and had a wonderful day with family and friends. He got a ton of books, which he loves to read and a couple of really nice crosses that we need to hang in the room! One already broke in the same exact fashion that one of Taylor's broke when she was Syd's age.
He is officially walking now but still is yet to feel comfortable standing on his own. So if he falls down with no place to prop himself up in sight, he will crawl. But other than that he is officially a walking toddler! He also finally got another tooth last Monday! I had said in a previous post that he hadn't had any teeth come in since march, but now he officially has 5. The 6th tooth should be threw any day now too.

Taylor continues to do well at swimming and is having a great summer playing with her friends and doing various activities. In the last 2 weeks we have been to the Discovery Science Center and she took a week long class at the Natural History Museum in LA with her cousin Tavi. Today we go to the beach, Wednesday we go watermelon picking, the beach again on Thursday and then we leave for Cambria on Friday. This kid has got the life!

I'm on my laptop so can't post any pictures right now, but will try to really soon. Probably though not until we get back from our vacation next week. Woo Hoo! I can't wait, the countdown is on!

Andrea and gang

Angels vs. Boston, Martinis and Tapas, and so much more...

What a weekend. Art and I kicked off Friday night by going to the Angels vs. Red Sox game and let me just say that Boston fans are crazy. Our seats were right next to a guy that easily weighed 500 pounds (and he was a Red Sox fan btw). By the 4th inning my back was hurting so bad from having to be cramped to one side since the 500 lb gentlemen was literally spilling over into my seat, we were forced to take rescue in the only 2 empty seats in our area, which were unfortunately right next to another group of Red Sox fans that had had 5 too many beers. After some terse exchanges between myself, Art and the crazy Sox fan, I proclaimed that I would rather be sitting next to the heavy set man than this guy. I told the Sox fan that he was way too tense and he was stressing me out. I don't think he liked that very much...

All ended well though by us taking a nice stroll around the stadium, a landslide Angels victory and an awesome fireworks show.

Saturday was a lounging day but we did get some exercise in. Our new bike trailer arrived and so we took a stroll arond the neighborhood and to Fresh and Easy. We felt so good biking instead of driving to the market and I finally remembered to bring my canvas shopping bag! I bought some ingredients to make grilled eggplant stuffed with feta cheese for a tapas and martini party we were going to later that evening. We got to see our nanny Jill. It just so happened that we needed a sitter for the tapas party and she was going to be back in town for the weekend. Taylor was thrilled to see her and was very excited to get to stay up late and watch a movie with Jill. We had a great time at the party and enjoyed visiting with our friends.

Sunday was dedicated to going to church, grabbing lunch and then after naps we went back to church for an Old Fashioned Picnic. The kids had a great time playing with the hool -a - hoops and watching Art play tug of war. Papa even got to go and proclaimed that he is going to try and make it to church with us every now and then.

And that's the recap of our adventure filled weekend! A couple of pictures at the top are from earlier in the week. We went to Adventure City, a small amusement type theme park for little kids in Anaheim, and we went to the Nature Center with some friends to hear a Celtic band play.

A 2 week update!

Gosh, where do the days and nights go? For the first few weeks of my blog I was so proud of myself for keeping up to date with current posts and pictures, and for the last 2 weeks I have been non-existant. What can I say, life with 2 little ones makes things crazy right? So I will give a quick update on the last 2 weeks and include some pictures and a couple of videos too!

4th of July Weekend:
The weekend started out with Art getting home early on Thursday (yay!) and we had plans to meet up with some friends at Marine Stadium for concert in the park. Well, as the video below shows, both kids woke up in horrible moods beyond belief and I had to get it on tape just to prove that life with 2 little ones is not always a pleasure cruise (as if anyone with kids could ever believe that right?) Sydney has started to throw major temper tantrums when he does not get his way; the tantrum in the video ensued after I did not let him play with the computer. And little Miss Taylor has what i can only compare to as PMS. She can be very sensitive and moody and will launch into these episodes where she is "just so sad" and she doesn't even know why. She's "just sad." I roll my eyes and tell Art she's hormonal because I know exactly how she feels and he rolls his eyes back at me for being so insensitive. And I'm thinking he's the one that's insensitive because he really has no clue as to the hormone fluctuations us ladies have to go through, even 3 year olds! Anyhow, I digress! We ended up skipping concert in the park and heading down to 2nd street to enjoy Open Sesame. YUMMO! We had forgotten how dang good that place is so we revisited it 5 days later. 4th of July was a LONG day but a good one. We started out at Nana and Papa Howe's house and had a very mellow BBQ there with all the in-laws. Around 6 pm we headed over to the Leos casa for more food and fireworks. All the kids did great staying up so late and had a great time.



SWIM LESSONS:
While our weekly battle to actually get Taylor to swim lessons continues, she at least enjoys them once she gets there. I finally got to go and see her swim over 4th of July weekend (due to the holiday lessons were rescheduled and did not conflict with Syd's nap time). I was so proud of her! She is swimming for a good stretch of the pool under water and jumping in by herself. She no longer is afraid to go underwater and get her head wet and is even using her arms to move forward. She has some work to do on her kicking still, but overall she is doing awesome! We are so proud of her.


Sydney is loving the water too!
Don't know if I mentioned it but Sydney, up until very recently, hated the water. Would not set foot in a bathtub (except the tiny newborn tub), pool, jacuzzi, or ocean without screaming bloody murder (if you haven't caught on yet, Sydney has very strong emotional recations to things he does not like, hence me continuously using the term screaming bloody murder). We think it may have something to do with the fact that at about 8 months old we tried the big bath and he slipped out of my hands into the water face first. Anyhow, a couple of weeks ago he finally started warming up to all forms of water including the tub, kiddy pool and big pool. We can finally give both kids a bath at the same time! Thank goodness. We have to be grateful for the little things right???

They're CRAZY for music!!
This past weekend we enjoyed 2 outdoor musical events. Friday night was El Dorado Concert in the Park. I brought some cake I had made which Art declares is the best cake he has ever eaten. I think that is a very bold statement, but it was a damn good cake if I do say so myself. If anyone is intersted I can email you the recipe. It's called vanilla rich chip cake. The video is of Sydney utterly enjoying his cake and dancing at the same time. I kid you not his eyes were rolling in the back of his head! Saturday we headed over to the Bella Terra for dinner and outdoor music/dancing. It was a surf band playing and while Taylor loved the music, Syd thought it was a little too loud so he and daddy sat in back. We all enjoyed some Pinkberry during intermission - YUM!!! so that has been our last 2 weeks in a nutshell. We have done some fun things in the last 2 days but I will post more later...I think I have written a long enough novel as it is. Cheers!

A great weekend

What a fun weekend and it's not even over! Being that summer is here it seems like we are trying to cramp in as many activities as possible, but what else is new?

We kicked off the summer concert in the park series on Friday and joined a few other families and my sister over at El Dorado park. Tina brought all 3 kids by herself and made it look effortless. I don't know how she does it! She basically has 2 newborns and a 4 year old that is a typical rambunctious boy, even trying to escape on us to a neighboring family. He's no match for us though and we quickly found him and brought him back to our site thank goodness. She then shocked us by saying they might have another! Not sure if our look of shock and horror scared her from the idea though...

Saturday was our usual of swim lessons in which Taylor protested and whined the entire hour before going, but then once she got there she was a champ. She actaully swam under water for a few feet! I can't wait to go next week so I can see for myself. Before swim lessons though, Art cooked breakfast and was so sweet. He cut up a nectarine for her and laid it out beautifully on her plate. When she saw what he had done she shrieked in horror and said rather rudely "I did not want my nectarine like that!" I had to capture the moment with a picture (attached). I said to Art, "you treat her like royalty and eventually she will act like royalty."

Saturday afternoon I went to get a mani/pedi and then met up with a friend for coffee and shopping on 2nd street. We ended up having such a nice time sitting and talking we didn't have time for shopping. Probably better that way I guess. Thanks for such a nice afternoon J!

I came home to find that Taylor had taken a pair of her craft scissors to her hair because she wanted bangs like Dora and mommy! She cut a chunk of her hair down to about a 1/2 inch stub. Aghhh!!!

We then headed over to Shahe and Amy's (and baby Andrew) for a delicious dinner. It was so nice just chilling in their backyard. although Sydney was in a foul mood I must admit. Super fussy and cranky. Oh well, I guess all moments can't be picture perfect right?

lastly, this mornign we went to church and then had a picnic lunch afterwards at Heartwell park where the kids (Taylor and Art) climbed trees. The day couldn't have been more gorgeous.

Phew! That's about it. We are now just researching bike trailers to buy. With summer in full swing we thought it would be great to get on the road with our bikes and save some gas money too!

My husband is a computer braniac geek and I love it!

So tonight I was telling Art that I wanted to change my blog around a bit and spread the text out so that it wasn't running just down the middle of the whole screen. I mentioned that there was an edit HTML option on the blog and he said "oh, i could fix that in about 10 seconds, let's go do it now."

He proceeds to start opening the page (he has never even been on blog spot) and starts moving crap around and entering code in HTML and all this crazy stuff. he's saying, "look you could rearrange the pictures like this by typing in this code, and blah blah blah." You get the picture. I ask him how he knows all this stuff and he says "just by reading it and figuring out what it was saying and this is nothing, you should see all the crazy stuff I have to do." I'm thinking, okay you're a nerd and a total genius all at the same time and I love it! He did teach me how to sort of move pictures around in posts. See how I put one picture at the top of the post and one picture at the bottom of the post in the Summer Lovin' post? Aren't I cool! :)

Summer Lovin'

Yesterday evening we enjoyed the warm weather and extra daylight. While waiting for daddy to come home we ventured out front and Taylor picked flowers and Syd crawled around like a crazy man. Have I mentioned how much Sydney DOES NOT like getting dressed and prefers to be in as little as possible? Hence the shirt and diaper look. Anyhow, i really don't understand how babies can crawl all over the place, including concrete and not get calloused knees?

Syd does not like crawling on the grass though so he does the cute bear crawl thing. taylor noticed him doing this and said "look, Sydney is doing yoga!"

Daddy arrived home and we all played out front for a bit more. But before going inside for the night daddy and Taylor had to practice their cheer moves and Art was throwing her in the air as high as he could. I was kinda getting freaked out, but he did catch her everytime :)

A Full Day

Today a friend of mine that I used to work with at SJK came over for a playdate. Her son was born on my bday actually and is just 1 month older than Sydney. In preparation for their visit Taylor helped me make homemade hummus (1st time ever). Taylor loves to help anytime anywhere if it involves cooking in the kitchen. The recipe was super easy and very good:
1 can Garbanzo beans
1 cup roasted red pepper
juice of 1 lemon
pinch of cinnamon
Toss above in a blender and pour in olive oil while pureeing to desired consistency. S/P to taste.
Taylor LOVED it and ate a ton of it with pretzel slims, carrots and cherry tomatoes. I have never seen her eat so much hummus and I was happy because I knew she was getting a good dose of veggies :)
The kids played all around the house and in the yard and even got into the kiddy pool.
We had Jill over for dinner to say goodbye. Jill has been our nany 1/day a week for the last 9months and is moving back to San Jose after graduating from CSULB. We will miss her dearly.
I made spinach and ricotta stuffed chicken (ala Jillian Michaels) and it was delicous!
After the kids went to bed Art and I had a nice, albeit tearful heart to heart about the family, where we're heading and so forth. Sort of a taking stock talk. After our talk I stumbled upon a freind's blog and read a post about an author named Sally Clarkson. She gave a review of one of her books she just read and I also linked onto the author's blog and reading it was just waht I needed tonight. I plan to pick up the book soon and give it a read:
The Mission of Motherhood: Touching Your Child's Heart for Eternity
Here is an exerpt from the book:

No calling is greater, nobler, or more fulfilling than that of motherhood. Every day, as we nurture our children, mothers influence eternal destiny as no one else can. Tragically, today's culture minimizes the vital importance of a mother's role. By catching a vision of God's original design and allowing it to shape your life, you can rediscover the joy and fulfillment that can be found in the strategic role to which God in all his wisdom has called you, for a purpose far greater than you can ever imagine.
Maybe I will see if mom will go to Lighthouse tomorrow and pick it up for me.

Nighty night.

Art and Andrea

So since I know the whole purpose of this blog is for everyone to hear about the kids, I won't bore you all too much and will keep this update short and sweet!

Art is still running CIU very successfully, however, he is in desperate need of hiring a tech so he can take a vacation! It's been 3 years since he has taken more than 2 days off of work. he is an amazing dad and the kids just adore him. In his very very spare time, he still enjoys watching movies and reading science fiction and murder mystery novels. His favorite movie of 07 was that Cohen brothers film that I didn't get at all but he absolutely loved. He'll kill me for not remembering the name of it! I had to go back and add in that the movie is called No Country for Old Men! there, happy Art?
I continue to work part time (2 days a week) at St. John as the product knowledge coordinator and Nana and Grandma watch the kids those two days. When not at work I revolve my days around the kids various activities and sneak in some time for the gym, reading and cooking (just barely though). I also have made a great group of "mom" friends here in Long Beach and we do a lot of fun things together both with and without the kids. We went to see Sex and The City on opening night for instance and had a blast. Big and Carrie did get married after all :) My favorite movie of 07 was Juno.
Alright enough about us!

Taylor Turns Three!

Hi Again!

I thought it best to start by sharing an update of what we're all up to as of June 2008. Bear with me as I know this initial post is going to be extra long and I promise going forward I won't write such a diary! I think I will do 3 different posts though, one for each child and then one for Art and I. So here goes...

Taylor turned 3 on April 19th and we celebrated by having a small "girls only" tea party per her request! We had 9 of her little friends and cousin over for a Think Pink Tea Party and served tea sandwiches, pink colored chocolate covered strawberries, raspberries, raspberry scones and of course tea. I was surprised how many of the little girls actually sat there and drank tea for a period of time. You could tell they were all having so much fun it was really cute. Nana and Aunt Carrie did face painting and cousin Elizabeth painted nails. The girls were all treated like royalty, although what else is new right? :)

We then followed up the tea party with a family birthday celebration which was really fun too. She had a full day indeed!

Taylor and I did a co-op preschool program for the Spring semester through Long Beach City College and let's just say it was a good learning experience for us all. Without getting into too much detail, we have decided that in the Fall we will switch to a more traditional preschool where she will go 2 days a week and with a lot more structure. Taylor thrives off of structure and routine, always has always will I guess. She's too much like her momma!

We are blown away everyday by our little girl and how smart and sweet she is. She has a gazillion words including complicated as in, "Grandma, Sydney's just complicated." She knows a ton of songs and nursery rhymes by heart and has even started making up her own songs. Just yesterday she was teaching me the words to a song about her puppy dog "puppy dog brings me so much joy everyday. he is the best puppy in the whole wide world." She is truly a sweetheart and gives us her big squishy hugs and kisses everyday. The best though is when she comes up to me or Art out of nowhere and just tells us she loves us.

While I just spent a whole paragraph bragging about my seemingly perfect little girl, she has of course given us her fair share of challenges. Just this morning she threw her weekly fit about not wanting to go to swim lessons (although she of course has a great time once she finally gets there!). For about 30 minutes she screams, cries, yells, whines and any other form of outburst you can think of telling us "(she) does not want to go to swim lessons". She must say that sentence a thousand times over and over. Such a pleasant way to start the day!

While Taylor can be very outgoing and talkative in small groups and situations where she feels comfortable, she clams up and gets quite anxious in a large group and around new people. This anxiety has been heightened in the last few months and it's made things like birthday parties a bit of a struggle. Art and I are just trying to remain patient and help her work through it but it can be frustrating sometimes because I feel like she misses out on great experiences because she is too scared to try them. For example I recently had to pull her out of gymnastics because she flat out refused to participate and after 2 sessions of her throwing a fit, I decided the stress just wasn't worth it for me or her.

So overall though we can't complain too much about life with our 3 year old princess. She continues to love to read, playing with her friends like Skylar and cousins, and is obsessed with arts and crafts and is enjoying lots of outside time in her pool and at the beach now that summer is here. She has had a few sleepovers at Grandma and Papa's house, which she loves. And we just started a mommy and me yoga class taught by Wendy and she really loved the first class. It should be a good summer!

Thanks for reading!