365 Day 31

Dressed and ready for bed but this Fairy Godmother isn't ready to take off her wings or tutu yet.

365 Day 30

Sunlight coming in through my bathroom window this morning put my daughter in a pensive mood and inspired me. 

365 Day 29

There's probably an award for our bad parenting of letting our child still be awake at 1am, but we all had a great time with our family. Luckily, we don't have any plans later today so we can sleep in; not that it justifies it. 

Quelf

Holidays are over and we finally got together for a family game night, complete with a new game: Quelf. What a random, crazy game. It was ridiculously silly but I have to admit I had a ton of fun. 

Simple idea- roll the dice to move, draw a card and follow directions. I assumed this game would require high amounts of alcohol to finish, and although I consumed more than I normally do, it is still very fun 100% sober. Following the directions really is the most difficult part since they contain things like wear a helmet for the remainder of the game and suck your thumb before saying a simple phase. There is no rhyme or reason, just craziness. 

The game actually took a pretty good amount of time with our gang so when the chitlens got tired they all cuddled together for a movie. We were all going strong up until the screen got busted out of a window. That wasn't part of the game, but it did seem to encourage the ending of the evening.

I'd have to say it was an awesome way to start off the new year of game nights. We all had more fun that we expected and because of my camera obsessive ways, we even get to go home with a consolation prize: a video. 

*if you don't know us the video is just weird. For family that knows these personalities (and can see past my newbie editing) this video is hilarious! 

a few more still shots of the night

365 Day 28

Before our busy morning of appointments we stopped for breakfast at Carrows. Even though our coffee at home is insanely tasty, sometimes nothing beats a strong cup of diner coffee in the morning. 

Ski Weekend Traffic

We got the opportunity to visit with Great Grandma today. It was such a treat getting to see her. I was a little worried if E would open up to her while we were there and thankfully my worries were unwarranted. She was chatting up a storm shortly after we got settled in. E wanted to tell Grandma about all the things she was doing and what games she was playing, it was absolutely precious.


Nettie was home from school so we all went out for some lunch at Applebees and a quick stop into Home Dept so Grandma could schedule someone to come out and replace all her beautiful plantation shutters.

When we got back to Grandma's house I asked her what was wrong with the shutters, they seemed perfectly fine to me. She pointed out where individual louvers (slats) were no longer connected to the tilt rod. She said they've been broken for years and driving her crazy. She called the company and they sent replacement parts but her Son-in-Law had tried for hours with very little success before giving up. I just had to see what was so difficult for myself and it turns out I was able to fix every last one of them in about 45 minutes.

Before going home Little E asked Grandma to take her and Nettie on a walk. When they returned Grandma took her to the backyard and showed her how to pick oranges.

As much as I could of spent hours more visiting we had to head home. When it was time to go (and the highlight of the whole trip for me-naturally it was the moment I turned my camera off) we all gave Grandma hugs. Nettie got so excited she insisted that E hug her too and she did! I love the pure heart of children, even 60 year old children. I may not have gotten a hug, but my daughter did!

I totally hadn't thought of it before but it was a Friday afternoon on a 3 day weekend so traffic was crazy! Mom and I stopped for dinner hoping to wait out some of the other travelers but it didn't make any difference. It was late when we got home but it was worth every minute of the drive.

365 Day 27

Watching her Great Grandma teach her how to pick oranges. There is no way to express how special these moments are to me. I know with every part of my being, that she adores her Great Grandma as much as I do. We are truly blessed.

365 Day 26

We spent the afternoon dancing to music. Alex played the drums while Evelyn danced to the beat, then he got up and showed her a whole bunch of new dance moves. Now she can do hops and twists along with all her twirls and spins.

365 Day 25

After 3 days of no naps she finally passed out in the car. I don't think it will ever matter how old I get or how many kids I raise the positions they fall asleep in will never look comfortable to me....

365 Day 24

This morning started out a bit  rough around the edges so after getting the house back to quiet I made myself a mocha. I wanted to try a white on white picture so I  added marshmallows to my coffee.  Baby E saw my addition and had other ideas about what to do with them. As it turns out her ideas where much better than mine. 

Barina

I had no motivation today. None.
I feel so buried under all the paperwork that I currently have that sometimes it's just good to take a day off from everything... on that thought, I probably take too many days off.

I told myself this afternoon (after failing to find my missing motivation at the bottom of a box of chocolates or my coffee cup) that if I was successful in cleaning my kitchen and making dinner I could call it a good day. When I started cleaning the kitchen and went to get dinner on I discovered that my meat had gone bad. No home cooked meal tonight.

climbing the couch

My kitchen does look nice though.


When Cliff got home we had a relaxing evening just hanging out with the baby. She insisted on wearing her tutu and wings today and Daddy was nice enough to let her keep them on in her jammies until she had to actually climb into bed.





Today, she was a 'barina'. I love her  almost words. I forget how much I miss them each time she outgrows another one.

All across the entertainment room she danced, and twirled, and climbed, and jumped. She was in her own little happy place this evening.

She would climb on top of Daddy's back, then would make a frog leap to the couch. Just enough excitement for her and Daddy to giggle; just enough scare to add to my gray hairs.

Then she'd be off running and dancing again before I even had the chance to tell her to cease her daredevil stunts.

I may not of gotten any major accomplishments done today, but I did get reminded of one major accomplishment I already have.

365 Day 23

Our little dancing "Barina"

365 Day 22

Playoff Sunday. We hung out with friends, watched the games, and got our geek on.

365 Day 21

Today was a wonderful day filled with good friends, pizza, and wine. We skipped Little E's nap time so that she would get the opportunity to spend time with our friends family from Fresno. 

She was great all day. No major melt downs and so sweet to all the new people in the house.

During creative play she pulled out some paper and started practicing writing her 'e'.

It wasn't the first time she's done this, but several of her attempts were actually very successful. I am so proud of her!

365 Day 20

Unexpectedly long errands meant dinner was running late so Cliff helped me prepare it. It was well worth the wait! Candied chicken, arugula and pea shoots, garlic mashed potatoes, and steamed carrots! Superb!

365 Day 19

A can of whip cream and some whacked out wings. She's ready to GO!

365 Day 18

We discovered the fun in 'cloud dough' (baby oil mixed in flour). So much fun, that she was covered with it. This picture was taken after we cleaned her face. 

365 Day 17

Just as I was thinking I wouldn't have a picture for today....

What started as the baby cuddling on my lap turned into her jumping on my blanket until I was no longer covered. Good thing she's cute because now I'm cold. 

365 Day 16

I've been craving some Alton Brown cookies. Tonight, I finally made the Chewy. I love this recipe!

365 Day 15

Her favorite thing to do lately is read her stories to you. She even makes sure that you get to see all the pictures

365 Day 14

While at artBEAST for a birthday party, Evelyn discovered she loves painting. Especially on special walls.

P Turns 3

Today was P's birthday party. It was planned literally months ago and I was looking forward to seeing Juliana and her family . It's been a very long time! She had the party at artBEAST in Sacramento. It's a really cool place, but unfortunately for me it's primarily parallel parking around that area. Yes, it is embarrassing but I don't know how to accurately parallel park and the idea stresses me out. Needless to say I circled the building 3 times to find a spot I could pull into and not have anyone park behind me. Basically, one part of the street per block that I'm able to park in...

Well, I finally arrived (late, again, even though I had plenty of time) and got checked in. There were lots of different stations to check out but Evelyn was feeling too shy with all the new people and kids(she's actually met them all before, but it has been a long time)  to leave my leg. She finally discovered some interest at the button gluing table (no other kids there) so we sat down and I pulled out my camera. As I went to take my first picture it happened: I ran out of memory. I emptied all my SD cards last night and apparently I forgot to put it back into my camera when I finished. I was about to be so mad and crushed when I remembered seeing another SD card in my wallet awhile back. I'm really not sure why I put it in there in the first place (if I remember correctly I think it was in my pocket and I didn't want to loose it) but I remember when I found it that I consciously chose to not take it out just in case I ever found myself in this predicament. Two points for me and my brilliance!

Evelyn discovered a few more stations before it was time to go upstairs for cake and crown making. She was so polite and proper with her food. She picked a seat at the end of the long table away from all the kids (to be fair she was one of the first ones to sit down, it's not like she tried to be separate) and sat properly waiting for food. She patiently waiting for cake to be passed out and didn't rush the cake pot, she asked politely for crackers, and even ate all her bunnies before she started on her cake pop. Funny thing about her cake pop, she sat there and licked it forever (in my world) before I finally encouraged her enough to try and actually bite it.

When she finished all her food, and P had opened all her presents, we headed downstairs to leave. As I'm saying my goodbyes Evelyn discovered the painting wall. She loves getting paint on the brush and rubbing it on the wall, much more than she did putting it on paper. I let her paint for a little while, but I was still trying to get her ready to go. It never fails, she's shy when we get there and warms up 2 hours later- right about the time we need to leave.

It's fair to say that getting to the party was extremely stressful for me (sorry I took it out on you Cliff, I was wrong). Before I left the house that morning Cliff had joked that it was right were I was last night so it should be easy to get to (for me it was not) and I could even get some cake when I was done. I wasn't going to do that, I didn't need the calories, but as I drove past it (literally 1 block away) I flipped around the block and parked again. The sleeping man on the tarp was still by the tree, he moved since last night so I knew he wasn't dead, as Evelyn and I walked past and up to Ricks.

The choices were almost all new since last night. I had such a difficult time picking something. Lemon bars, Chocolate OD, Chocolate Strawberry Tortes, Chocolate Raspberry Tarts... it all looked amazing.  Evelyn wanted an eclair for herself so bad, she saw another little girl ask for it and decided she wanted it too. I finally settled on Creme Brulee since it's light and not as rich-or intense- as the Chocolate Over Dose I was drooling over, and a chocolate mint mousse torte to take home to Cliff.

Evelyn was very patient for a child who was ready for her nap and  stuffed with crackers and cake. I gave her a spoon of her own but as it turns out, she doesn't care for vanilla pudding. Shame for her, more for me. While I finished my dessert she admired all the cakes in the case behind her asking what each of them was. I'm not completely cruel, when her and I got home Cliff shared his slice with her.

365 Day 13

Such an awesomely perfect day. I got to sleep in, no arguments with the kids, everybody was in a great mood, and best of all I got to go out (on the town) with my best friends! Our friends met Cliff and I for dinner at Zeldas followed by my favorite dessert cafe: Ricks Dessert Diner. I had a chocolate caramel torte (divine!), Cliff had the peach cobbler, and our extended family had a chocolate hazelnut torte and a banana cream while  the kids shared the oreo cream pie. I'm so happy they all shared bites with us! Pure heaven!

365 Day 12

I came across a princess cape I purchased a while back and forgot about. Evelyn wore it all night, not wanting to take it off for anything. She was a witch, a flying squirrel, a princess, a bat, a butterfly... Oh how I love little girl imagination...

365 Day 11

All her favorites going for a ride. Two Rapunzels, Diego, and Baby Jaguar. 

365 Day 10

My little girl is growing up so fast! She picks out her own clothes, puts on her own shoes, and now she regularly drinks out of a big girl cup at meal times. Slow down little one, I'm having a difficult time not blinking!

365 Day 9

My hip kept me from being too productive today so we went to Perkos for dinner. All day E has been insisting that she wanted soup for dinner. When we got to the restaurant we read her the choices but still all she wanted was soup. She knew exactly what she wanted so we ordered it and much to my surprise she ate almost all of it making hardly any mess at all.

365 Day 8

Another day at home spent putting my computer back in order. My wonderful husband made me breakfast in bed, cared for the kids all day, made us all dinner, and to top it all off he brought me his signature Salted Caramel Tuxedo to enjoy while I worked. I'm the luckiest woman to have such love!

365 Day 7

I've been chomping at the bit to try this melted crayon project! Finally got our silhouette figured out and I picked up the canvas and crayons today. Can't wait to see if it works the way I hope! 

Update: It did not work as planed. Will be trying again with some different techniques. 

365 Day 6

Another exciting day with so much to do. Once we all shook our grumpiness it was a great day. She insisted on wearing her Christmas Dress  last night to bed and didn't want to take it off this morning either(the same one she had to wear yesterday and almost freaked out when I put a shirt on under it). Since it wasn't really that dirty I allowed it (Daddy let her sleep in it-not me). When we got home from errands this morning she found her Halloween Ladybug wings and flapped her arms 'flying' up and down our street for a good 20 minutes after checking the mail. Such a sweet girl

365 Day 5

On our daily walk to check the mail...with Baby Jaguar

365 Day 4

I sent her to bed for a late nap and she was out in just minutes with Baby Jag in her arms and Bug and Athena keeping her company

365 Day 3

First day back to school so the baby and I set out to run errands. They ended up taking all day making her miss her nap time. She was such a trooper and thankfully sleep came easily for her tonight.

365 Day 2

One more cup of coffee.... and then I'll finally put the trees away. 

365 Day 1

Before putting the tree away I tried a new technique.