Beach Day

 This summer we've been able to enjoy many family outings. Josh and I are so grateful for the amount of time we get to spend together with our girls (just the four of us) during the summer. Being able to head out to the beach on a weekday when it's less busy is sooo incredibly nice. We packed lunches, sand toys and made a last min stop at a kite shop ( Candy and Kites) once we reached Bodega Bay. The temp was over 80 and the breeze was perfect for keeping us cool, however not so perfect for flying our new kite. Josh and Hannah had a good time trying despite the lack of wind.  :)  Jordyn enjoyed her first trip to the beach. She napped most of the time, however did enjoy riding around in the Bjorn and playing in her Pea Pod. After building sand castles, Josh and Hannah set off to explore the dunes, while Jordyn and I relaxed on the sand. Before heading home we made a pit stop at Patrick's Salt Water Taffy shop. (Best Taffy ever!!!) It was the perfect end to a relaxing day at the beach.

enjoying our lunches while watching the waves

putting together our newest kite

putting warm sand on mommy's toes

off to fly their kite

Daddy and Hannah

sand castles

Mommy and Jordyn

family pic

Jordyn enjoying her first trip to the beach

hiking through the sand dunes

Jordyn fell asleep to the sound of the waves

our favorite stop on the way home

Wrapping up May...

Well here we are in the beginning of July already and I'm finally just wrapping up the month of May.  :)  As you can tell by my lack of blogging, I've been too busy enjoying my summer to sit down at the computer and Blog. I'm forcing myself to sit at the computer right now and am putting off for a few more minutes,the foot rub my husband is going to give me in order to get this post up.  :)  During the month of May I enjoyed my time home with the girls, but was very happy when Josh got out of school at the end of the month. 

giving Jordyn her first bath...she loved every minute of it

 Hannah was thrilled when it came time to give Jordyn her first bath. She wanted to help (of course) so we gave her the task of washing her sister's legs and feet. She was so excited and did a great job. Jordyn was very content (just like Hannah was) for her first bath. The only part she wasn't thrilled about was getting out.  :)

We enjoyed another visit from my mom when Josh was away for a weekend. It was so wonderful having her there to lend a helping hand with the girls. The girls loved their one-on-one Nonnie time and I loved the long chats and special moments that I shared with my mom & the girls.

morning snuggles

May started bringing some beautiful weather which meant lots of fun outdoor play time at home. Hannah loves being outside and playing in water. Her new water table she got for her birthday has been a hit.

Nice weather meant time on the boat was in the very near future. We spent an afternoon getting the boat de-winterized and ready for the water. Hannah of course pretended we were actually out on the lake even though we were just in our driveway. :)

My best friend Angelica and her kids Domenic and Izabel came for a visit during the month of May. It was so wonderful to have a visit from them. The kids loved playing together and Ang & I loved catching up, laughing and watching our kids play together. I'm keeping my fingers crossed Matt's job brings him to Sacramento in the near future because I can't imagine having our kids grow up only seeing each other twice a year....and I miss my best friend!!

they had so much fun together

taking a snack break

enjoying the sun and each other's company while watching the kids play

in their matching suits that they just happened to both own

Dinner and margaritas  :)

A couple days after Ang left two of my other best friends Lisa and Amber drove over from the Sacramento area with their kiddos to meet miss Jordyn and hang out for the day. It ws fun watching all our munchkins play together. Hannah and Gavin (4 months apart) had a blast playing together, while Henry enjoyed following them around and watching their silliness. Little miss Reese was content hanging out with the moms and Jordyn slept pretty much the entire time.

pretty good pic considering they are 3 weeks, 7 months, 19 months and 3 years old!

Stacy (Hannah's daycare provider) had an Open House for the kids who participated in the preschool program to share their work with their families. This is Hannah's second year taking part in the preschool program that Stacy does with them. It's been so neat to see her growth and development over the past two years. Stacy does so much with the kids and we feel so fortunate. Hannah will have one more year with Stacy and then move on to a larger preschool setting before starting kindergarten in the fall of 2014. I don't even want to think about my girl starting kinder, for the time being I love having her in a smaller, sheltered setting.

showing off some of her projects



picture of her family...notice little baby Jordyn  :)



Stacy with her preschool kiddos Zoe, Hannah, Kenzie and Tyler (Hannah didn't want to wear her grad hat)

proudly showing us her folder of work

Hannah adores Stacy (and so do we!)

On Saturday of Memorial Day weekend we kicked off summer with our annual "Girls Dance Party" at Ramona's house. We typically have two of these a year and it's always SO much fun! Everyone brings an appetizer to share, their drink of choice and of course their dancing shoes! We spent the evening eating, laughing, drinking and dancing. It's the perfect way to celebrate the school year coming to a close and summer starting. Usually I take a group picture of all 30+ of us, but completely forgot this year. The only pic I took was of Mandy and me on the dance floor.

Well I've somewhat caught up with May...next task is to catch up on all our fun from June!! In the meantime I'll be enjoying the 4th of July relaxing with my family at our next door neighbor's pool tomorrow and then heading with friends over to the annual neighborhood block party for fireworks and a 4th of July celebration.

Mother's Day weekend

For my sister's birthday and Mother's Day we headed to Humboldt. It meant a lot to my sis, my mom and I to all be together for my 4th Mother's Day, Nicole's 1st and my mom's 33rd. :) Josh and I were able to leave early enough on Friday to make it up to Humboldt for a lasagna dinner at my parents with the family. My mom put black olives (my fav!) in the lasagna...yum!!  Hannah had a sleep over at Nonnie and Nonne's that night, while Josh, Jordyn and I headed over to Nicole and Sean's to stay up a little later and visit. (Jordyn slept in until almost 10:00am and I only had to get up twice with her, so it was great to get some much needed sleep)

the birthday girl and Sean at the Ivanho

On Saturday (Nicole's 31st birthday) we all walked down to Rohner Park to meet up with some friends, let the kids play and toss the Frisbee around. The weather was gorgeous and surprisingly warm for Fortuna. That evening we all went to the Ivanhoe in Ferndale for Nicole's bday dinner and then headed back to their house for drinks with friends.


The girls napping together in Nonnie's Moses basket  :)



Nonne with his youngest grand daughters



Sunday morning Hannah was soooo excited to give me my Mother's Day gift. She was very specific with Josh when telling him what she wanted to get me.  :)  They went shopping together the week before and she got me a pink (of course!) Camelbak insulated water bottle and a beautiful bracelet. Josh got me a pedicure/manicure (can't wait to indulge!). When giving me my gift Hannah was so excited she asked me if she could tell me what the gift was before I even opened it.  :) I was impressed she'd been able to keep her gift a secret the entire time.  After we were all up and ready, we drove down to Benbow for our traditional Mother's Day brunch. We've gone to Benbow for Mother's Day brunch almost every single Mother's Day since my mom was pregnant with me 34 years ago. It's a special tradition that means a lot to us. The weather was once again beautiful and we had our own private alcove for brunch (same one we've had before and we love it!). We enjoyed spending the morning together eating and lounging in the sun. It was the perfect start to my Mother's Day. We left around 12:30/1:00 to drive back to Sonoma County so that Josh could catch the finish to Stage 1 of the Amgen Tour of California bike race. Fortunately the girls napped on the way home and we didn't have to make any bathroom or feeding stops. Josh and Hannah caught the end of the race while I fed Jordyn in the car and then walked to meet up with them.  Following the race we headed back to our house to BBQ filet mignon for Josh's mom for Mother's Day dinner. We had his brother and family over as well. It was a great end to a special day!!!

4th Mother's day with my eldest daughter, love my sweet girl so much

1st Mother's Day with my youngest daughter, love my sweet pea!!

3 generations

Hannah and Nonne looking at pictures

Our family :) 

Dad with his newest daughter

family photo in the back lawn/garden area

enjoying the sun and grass

my beautiful sis and niece Lilly Claire

proud grandparents



My girls

My girls bring me more joy than words can express.

Being a stay at home mom these past 10 weeks has been (and continues to be)

 so incredibly wonderful...

~ lazy mornings laughing & reading books in bed together

~ coming up with creative pancake ideas

~playing dress up and painting nails

~picnic lunches & walks to the park

~naps :)

~dance parties in the kitchen

~singing songs and playing pretend

...the list goes on.

My girls make me smile, laugh, feel amazed and proud. 

I feel so fortunate that I've been able to spend so much one on one time with them...this has allowed me to notice the subtle changes.

My girls are my pride and joy. I feel so lucky to be the mom to two amazing daughters. I've said it before and I'll say it a million times more...the bond between a mother and daughter is like no other and I feel so blessed to be able to experience it not once but twice.

Hannah is the most amazing big sister. She has by far exceeded our expectations. From day one she has been so incredibly loving, gentle, protective and proud of her little sister. I know at some point we'll experience the jealously, but so far she has not shown one bit of annoyance, anger or frustration toward Jordyn. She helps me out a ton. I love listening to her sing songs to Jordyn or "shush her down" (as Hannah puts it) when she's fussy...this consists of her making the Shhhhshhh sound over and over next to her sister's ear until she is calm and amazingly it has worked almost every time. She continues to love reading stories to her sis and just loves talking to her. Watching the two of them together is one of my absolute favorite things.

I love my girls...



enjoying the sun and her water table




making popcorn using our new Whirly Pop (makes the best home made popcorn!!)





I can just feel Hannah's love for Jordyn through this picture

 

My sweet Jordyn...

 5 weeks old this past Saturday & growing so quickly!!

She is similar to Hannah in that she sleeps a ton. Like Hannah she consistently sleeps 3-4 hrs, eats, burps, (spits up), has a short period of alert time and then is zonked back out again. She is such an easy going little girl. Unfortunately she has been dealing with acid reflux, which has made feeding time (along with the spitting up) not so ideal. After 5 weeks however we've figured out many tricks & gotten many tips (along with prescribed medication) that has helped alleviate her discomfort during feeding time. She literally only cries when she's ready to eat or is uncomfortable due to the acid reflux.
We're so excited for her many firsts, however don't want them to come and go too quickly. Right now my favorites moments are when she's curled up in a little ball sleeping peacefully on my chest or when she's bright-eyed and alert checking out the world around her.



her first sleeping smile caught on camera




4 weeks old



tummy time with big sis...Hannah was rooting her on the entire time  :)

Now that Josh is on summer break I look forward to the many memories we'll create with our girls over the next 12 weeks.