Carpinteria Camping-Spring Break '13

We had a great weekend camping in Carpinteria this week! The girls had been looking forward to our trip for quite a while. They even built their own "campfire" in the front yard one day last week.

Grandma and Grandpa came and stayed with us the first night. We went for a walk at dusk, hunted seashells, played jump rope with seaweed, had fun with glow sticks and flash lights, and of course made s'mores by the campfire!

 

Day 2 was filled with beach and sand fun (but no pictures), kite flying, bike rides, and playing at the park.

Of course, all the fun meant a couple of meltdowns, but they were short lived.

Check out that dirty face.

We had one final morning by the fire, then we took a little hike over to see the tar pits. We left with many memories!

We love tent camping as a family!

Leapin' Leprechauns

We had a little St. Patty's Day fun around here!

We made some special treats. This was a great activity to do with both kids. They both loved sorting the jelly beans and filling the jars with the rainbow of love! :)

The leprechauns came to visit and peed in the potty.

Aubrey spent hours designing a leprechaun trap.

Notice the green jelly beans she left as bait. :)

Dress Up, Dances and Dates

We have had a busy few months with many fun activities including school dress up days, father-daughter dances, an even a mommy-daughter date. This is such a fun season of life! We are so thankful for these girls!

100 years-old for the 100th day of school

 

Crazy hair day at preschool

Box car (carriage) drive-in movie night at AWANA



Mommy-Juliet Date while Daddy took Aubrey to her school father-daughter dance

I tried to convince her to go to Color Me Mine and paint, but she wanted to go to the "library store". :)

Aubrey and her friends at the dance. So cute!

SNOW much fun!

Our mountains got a little snow this past weekend. The girls have been begging to go play in the snow, so we figured we better go before it all melted away. It is about time for Justin to get new tires, and I just had a flat repaired last week, so we called Papa Steve to see if he wanted to drive us and join the adventure. His busy season starts soon, so I think he was excited to have a little fun with the grand kids before he is too busy to be able to jet away for the day. We headed up to a mountain town about 1 hour away and kept driving until we found the perfect area with a nice big hill. I was a nervous wreck as the girls rode the tubes down the hill, but they had a blast! I was definitely the wild child, but when it comes to my girls, I am overly cautious. It is a good thing they have a fun daddy! When we tired of tubing, we made snow angels, went "ice skating" on and cracked ice in a little creek, and built a tiny snowman. It was a great day trip with Papa and the fam!

Pretty pink snow bear :)

Ready for a fun ride!

"Papa, will you carry me up the hill?"

Daddy carries the tube, and Aubrey rides it. :)

This is the only video I took. I got a little distracted by Juliet, but you get the idea. :) Daddy and Aubrey having fun! :)

Snow Angel

Snow Angel! I can't figure out how to rotate this picture.

Papa gave her his gloves! Buddies!

Snow man!

The drive home was quiet!

 

On a totally unrelated side note, I love the blogger app for iPhones! It simplifies the blogging process so I can document my kids' memories all in one place! If you have an iPhone, get it! I type the blog when I have a minute of down time, upload my iphone pictures, then save as a draft. I log in when I get a chance, move things around and add a video or two if I want to. Anyone else have any time saving blogging tips?

Three! Yippie!

It is so hard to believe Juliet is three, and at the same time, she has acted three for quite a while. This little girl of ours grew up way too fast! Her amazing ability to communicate and crack some hilarious jokes definitely contributes to her seeming older! Regardless of her age and actions, she is still our baby and we love her to infinity and beyond!

We interviewed the birthday girl about life as a three-year-old. I never want to forget what she was like at three, but I know that as time passes, memories fade, so I love these little videos to capture who they are at each age!

In addition to the video, her are some little snippets of Juliet at 3.

Dear Juliet,

• You are so funny! You have this natural wit that is beyond your age. Sometimes the one liners you come up with baffle us! Neither of us are very witty, so I am not sure where you get this trait.

• You are naturally very musical. You catch on to songs very easily and will bust them out at the most random times...like the other night when you were singing yourself to sleep with Taylor Swift's "we are never, ever, ever getting back together". We are realizing we need to really be careful about what we listen to!

• You are coordinated! You have moved on from the three wheel scooter and are riding a Razor like the big kids. You pedal your bike around like the best of them.

• You are a chicken when it comes to rides and costumed characters. You don't want to go even remotely fast on anything you can't completely control. You literally shake when costumed characters like the Chik-fil-a cow or Chuck E. Cheese come anywhere near you. You HATED the costumed arrow wavers during Halloween. The funny thing is you really wanted your party at Chuck E. Cheese, but insisted the rat didn't come anywhere near you. You had moments of fear, but really had a blast! Funny that on the video you said you wanted to be a costume when you grow up--crazy kid!

• You are smart and pick up on a lot of stuff really quickly, but could care less about other stuff. I have heard you count to 19 on a few occasions, but when I try to work on writing your numbers, letters, or any type of distinct drawing, you want nothing to do with it! If you're not interested, there is no point in pushing matters.

• You love to get others flustered! You "copy cat" your sister, give her wedgies,  run in and sit on the toilet when she says she has to go potty, anything to get a reaction. You do the same with us...you brush off punishments like time-outs with a big smile and will blatantly tell us you don't want the reward--"nah, I don't want a sticker/stamp/candy" . You love to give as a challenge. You love to photo bomb my pictures with random faces or fingers in both nostrils. I think all our teasing and being ornery to you has backfired on us!

• You may have an ornery side, but you are also one of the most lovable, endearing kids I know. Your smile is electric and can literally brighten an entire day. You give out hugs and kisses by the bucketful, and your joy is contagious!

You, Dear Juliet, are the answer to many a prayer! You were/are the perfect addition to our family! I can't wait to see what God has in store for your spunky little self!

All American Girl

Aubrey never really knew what American Girl dolls were until she started school. The other girls would talk about theirs, and of course that got Aubrey interested. Shortly after that, we started getting the catalogs in the mail. The catalogs were like a gift by themselves; page after page of beautiful dolls and accessories. She loved dreaming about them but also understood that they were expensive.

This Christmas her American Girl Doll dream became a reality thanks to Grandpa and Grandma! On Christmas Day, Aubrey opened a catalog with a note telling her that we would be going American Girl doll shopping the next day. She was very excited, but not sure exactly what that meant.

The next day Grandma Kim, Aubrey and I drove to the LA American Girl store. We were sure Aubrey would pick a Like U doll with blonde hair and blue eyes, but instead she wanted to walk through all the historic dolls and look at each of them. She eventually chose Molly's best friend, Emily. She also got a matching outfit to wear with Emily, the movie, accessories, etc. Finally, we ate a fancy lunch with Emily, and then we were ready to head back home. Aubrey slept every minute of the drive home! It was a great day for our little dreamer. She is lucky to have such generous grandparents.

A Very Merry Christmas

This Christmas, Santa brought the girls a gift that will keep on giving for years to come, a kitten! This was at the very top of Aubrey's list. Since Juliet didn't really know what she wanted, Santa thought she would enjoy it too. After playing with our sweet new kitty for a while, Aubrey made a list of names she thought fit the kitty. The first name she thought of was Honey. We liked it too, but it evolved a bit into Honey Bee.

Honey Bee fits this sweet, feisty little one perfectly! She fits right into our family...even Poppy likes her! Juliet loves to dangle ribbons and bows for her to chase, while I think Aubrey prefers the snuggles. I am pretty sure Santa gave these girls the best present money could buy! Sweet Aubrey reminded us of the real best present as we were tucking her jn tonight. She said, "you know what is a better present than Honey Bee? Jesus!" HE is the true reason for this season!