About Us....

My photo
Married on Aug. 12, 2005....we met through mutual friends in the spring of 2000 while playing on a co-ed softball team. We both teach…me elementary (since 2004) and Josh middle school history (since 2006) . I've taught 2nd, 4th and 6th grade. This year I'm moving from 6th to 1st grade, big change however I'm excited to teach primary again. Along with teaching Josh coaches 3 sports a year. We're both very active...it feels like we're always on the go. We love our boat and enjoy being out on the lake with family and friends. 2008 was a big year for us. We bought our first home in April, got our first puppy (Tuck) at the beginning of Aug. and were very excited to find out mid Aug. that we were pregnant. Our daughter, Hannah Nicole was born on April, 4 2009 :) Parenthood is so much better than we ever expected it to be. Hannah is such an easy going, happy little girl. On April 21 of 2012 our second daughter Jordyn Elizabeth entered our lives & made our family complete. We are so fortunate to have two healthy, happy, beautiful girls.

Thursday, March 28, 2013

January


January brought us gorgeous weather in Sonoma County! During the month of January we enjoyed a trip to the SF zoo, traveling to Fortuna for Sarah Renner's baby shower & seeing some of my best friends from high school, taking family walks to our neighborhood parks (there are 4 that are all within less than a mile from us), lazy weekend mornings at home as a family, and starting up swim lessons again.     
checking out the giraffes


nap time at the zoo

Where's Hannah?  :)


very focused using her pottery wheel for the first time

picture for Auntie

crazy morning hair
 Some of my favorite weekend moments are snuggling with both of our girls in our bed first thing in the morning. Watching them chat and play together reminds me of how blessed I am. Below are a series of 3 pictures that I love.
J loves playing with her sister's face

sweet kisses

sharing a note with her sister

So excited for her first swim lessons of the year with her BFF
with the girls (missing Amber) at Sarah's shower
best friends since 2nd grade


counting Nonne's fingers

reading stories to sis while mom gets ready


Hannah comes to me dressed like this and says, "Mom when dad gets home I think he'll say 'Is that Hannah or a real princess?!?!" (love her!)

evening walk to the park

loves looking at herself in the mirror

our little crawler

weekend morning wagon rides

the girls love "Sunday Family Swim" days at mom and dad's gym...Jordyn's hair part cracks me up!

9  month appointment

silly girls

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

January (9 months old)

Our good friend Andrea came with her little guy Hudson for a visit in January. It was so great seeing them! She snapped some 9 month pics of Jordyn in an impromptu photo shoot in our living room. :)
She lasted in here about 2 seconds! Little miss "on the move"


Hannah popped in the picture for a minute to show her sister her ball...this picture captures the love these two have for each other and how much they enjoy each others presence

a couple pics in her Christmas dress since I didn't manage to get a good one of her in it during the holidays

Hannah decided she needed to wear her Christmas dress too :)

My happy chatty girl

pretty in pink

blowing raspberries

laughing at her sis

my favorite :)

sweet girl

talking to mom

big girl

can't believe she's almost 4!


Wrapping up 2012 (December)

(I'm on spring break this week, so let's see with a little extra time I can work on FINALLY getting our blog up to date!)

December started off with celebrating my 33rd birthday. For my 30th we started the tradition of renting a bus and visiting local breweries. We had to take last year off because I was pregnant, which made this year even more fun! We had an awesome night with over 20 of our closest friends. Can't wait for next year!
                                                                                                      with my love at Hopmunk (our first stop of the night)
One of my favorite things our town does during the holidays  is have Santa visit each of the Rohnert Park neighborhoods during the weeks leading up to Christmas. Fortunately one of his stops is on our street. Hannah refused to sit on his lap (or even get near him for that matter!), however Jordyn was not phased one bit.  :)  We can already see clear personality differences between these two. :)


Ok with sitting on Santa's sleigh (about 10 ft. away from Santa)

At the beginning of December we had our good friend Ian snap a few pics of our family in attempts of getting a photo that would be Christmas card worthy. Jordyn had just woken up from a nap and wasn't quite as smiley as usual. We still got a few cute ones though.
The girls with Carter enjoying the last of the beautiful fall leaves



serious girl :)







Each year gets more and more fun with Hannah when it comes to the holidays. This year was of course the best by far. She helped me decorate the tree two nights in a row and loved picking out materials at the craft store to make a holiday wreath for our front door. Jordyn of course was mesmerized by the lights & holiday music.



hard at work
our beautiful girl


My mom and I took Hannah to see The Nutcracker for the first time and she LOVED it. I don't think she even moved during the first half of the show. She was so enthralled by the dancers, music and costumes. It was so much fun seeing it through her eyes! I look forward to continuing this tradition every year.

Feeding little sis her dinner

I love the way they look at each other

holiday shaped french toast

After the 2nd haircut of her lifetime so far...and looking way too grown up!

love that smile!

Looking at Christmas lights during a visit with Nonni and Nonne

gingerbread house decorating with her cousins
enjoying winter break...Jordyn of course is chatting during the picture


ready for the annual friend's Chistmas potluck at the Cutler's house

the kids having a "picnic" in the livingroom

dress up time! Tyler enjoyed it just as much as the girls
the girls with "Santa"  :)                        



  Only reason Hannah is smiling and standing that close is because I let her know it was Josh Cutler. :)



Tuck enjoying a beautiful December day


Sleeping on Nonni during Christmas Eve with the fam

Hannah and Nonne

With great-Aunt Karen

Santa came :)



playing with her new doll house on Christmas morning

Jordyn and dad

the girls enjoying the car that their great-grandfather built for their Nonni when she was a little girl. Uncle Sean surprised Nonni by restoring it  :)

stocking time!!

ready to enjoy her new instruments

Christmas 2012

Out for margaritas at Las Caz

enjoying  Christmas (#2)  in Rancho Cordova with Nana and Papa Heald

her first carousel ride at the Nut Tree on our way home...clearly she loved it :)

rocking horse ride with her cousin Mazzy

Christmas (#3) at Grandma and Papa Martin's house
This year we rang in the New Year with our good friends and neighbors Louie and Melinda. It was perfect because we were able to put Jordyn down for bed in the pack-n-play, while we enjoyed drinks and played games with friends. Hannah had a blast staying up til midnight and playing with a new friend. Jordyn decided to wake up just before midnight to ring in the new year with her family. :)



note Hanah wrote for me...love my girl!!