park day

easter eggstravaganza

Friday 04.22.2011
We spent the day with friends at a local Easter event and had such a fun family day together. We started with the egg hunt. Mila liked opening the eggs to see what was inside. Kapria ran around picking up every little piece of candy she could find (it was thrown all over the grass). She ended up with a basketfull of treats. We have yet to get a grand picture of the four of these girls together, mostly due to Mila - she refuses to stand still and smile when the other three do. Oh well, one of these days.

After the hunt we rode the train around the park. I love trees and this park had some awesomely beautiful ones. I especially loved the one that fell over and just kept growing that way - it's trunk was pretty much vertical. Awesome. And there was a pond with several little turtles sitting on the edge of the water relaxing. (Kapria wanted to hold one. I wanted to be one...just for an hour or two basking in the sun.)

We had one ticket left for each girl, and they all chose to jump in the bounce house. Why is jumping so much fun? I don't know, but I love it too. And with how much Kapria and Mila love it, we'll definitely have to invest in a trampoline whenever we're actually living in a house again.

Next we ate lunch, then we walked to the local zoo. It was the perfect size for us to walk through in about an hour or two and they had a petting zoo that the kids could've spent all day in.

The girls all wanted to pet the snake, which is amazing to me because even a month ago Mila was terrified of animals. She has really started warming up to them though (hence the goat hug). I attribute it to my dad's dog, Oso. Mila has slowly gotten comfortable with being around him. And come to think of it, he's furry and black, much like that goat.

But I digress. The snake:

Great day, great fun, great friends. Love it.

blankie love

funnygirls

Jane and Elsie came to play one afternoon while Nate and Allison went to the temple. Trav got home toward the end and, as usual, the girls all mobbed him. Elsie loved his helmet and wanted to wear it. Jane, not so much. But the girls were plenty silly that night.

I love these girls so much!

disney day

Wednesday 04.13.2011
Kapria has been hoping to meet Silvermist, and luckily her favorite Pixie Hollow fairy was finally there when we were. So pretty much meeting her was the highlight of Kapria's week. Maybe her month.

Mila is terrified of all the Disney real-life characters, but she really liked Tinker Bell's shoes. That was the closest she was willing to get to anyone.

Yes, we will be visiting Tarzan's Treehouse on every Disneyland trip. Kapria loves it so much. She wants to see the leopard and Tarzan and stares at them both for as long as we'll let her. So of course I had to get some pictures of them for her. (I also love this one because the kids can wander around and there's never a line, so it's nice to let them free-play for awhile.)

And the Winnie the Pooh ride is one of the girls' favorites. We're hoping next time we go will be less crowded so we can ride a few times with no waiting in line.

haircuts part 3: the results

And what you've all been waiting for...

Kapria absolutely loves her new haircut. That night she kept looking in the mirror and smiling at herself. Trav didn't get home until after the girls went to bed, and she had such a hard time going to sleep because she couldn't wait to show him. The next morning she ran into our room and said, "Dad, look at my haircut!" She also was excited to show her friends. It's so fun to see your kids love something about themselves.

Truth be told, I really really miss her long hair. It's like my baby girl is gone and now there's this growing-up-girl that's getting so big so fast. But seeing her happiness makes me happy we did it. The other day she did say, "Now I’ll grow it long again, then I’ll cut it. Then I’ll grow it, then I’ll cut it.” Wait till she realizes how long it takes to grow your hair to lower-back length...

And Mila got a slight A-line trim, which helped with how her hair lays but didn't take too much off the length. (She really did not want me to take any pictures of her new hair and kept running away. So here's the best I got. She still looks cute :)

I love my beautiful girls!

haircuts part 2: getting the job done

 

The girls were really good about sitting for their haircuts. Kapria was especially serious. She wanted to go first and she was so quiet and listened perfectly.

haircuts part 1: before

Tuesday, April 19, 2011
We'd talked about cutting Kapria's hair for awhile because she hates having it fixed at all and especially hates having it combed. One day after an especially rough time of combing her incredibly tangled hair (and lots of tears and running away), I maybe sorta threatened to cut it all off. To which she replied, "Yes I want it cut!"

But I was sad to cut it and so put off making an appointment for a long time. I love her beautiful hair. Then I finally just called my friend and did it, mainly because Mila's hair was looking so scraggly and needed a trim.

Kapria was so excited. She wanted her hair "Short! Short! Short!" I convinced her that ponytail-length would be short enough. Summer's coming, after all, and we want to pull it back sometimes, right?

easter

We had a great time at Nonny and Grampa's for Easter weekend. We went to their two-ward sacrament meeting and listened to the choir perform a special musical presentation about Christ. It was beautiful. During regular sacrament meetings I don't usually get to listen to a full talk due to Distractions: settling an argument over a toy or pulling a child out from under the bench before they crawl up the next isle or keeping a child inside the perimeter of the bench. So the singing ones are extra special for me because I get to hear the testimonies of others through song and even if I'm dealing with said Distractions, I can still feel the music.
I love music so much. And music about Christ - even better.

Then after church we went home and The Bunny had appeared. Everyone hunted for their basket in a pretty quick way since Mila was exhausted and desperately needed (and wanted) a nap.

After naptime and late-lunchtime we went outside and hunted for eggs and a little surprise from Nonny and Grampa. 

An Easter celebration with Chelsea and Rob is guaranteed to include hunting for homemade cascarones (one of Rob's family traditions). So we continued the tradition out here in CA, though I was lazy and bought them at Walmart rather than making them myself. I kind of forgot to mention to everyone that you're supposed to run away when someone comes at you with one of these confetti-filled eggs, so we all just accepted them being smashed on our heads without much chasing. (Trav reminded me afterwards...I guess he didn't feel like running that day.) Next year, though, we'll be chasing each other around for sure!

Then we tried to get some family pictures. Yaya bought the girls these darling dresses, which they love wearing. They hold them out and twirl around like princesses. It makes my heart twirl to watch them.
But by this time Mila was tired and didn't want to be posing for photos. And then it started sprinkling outside and around then the girls decided they wanted to explore the rock, not sit and and smile for the camera. But at least we got a good one of my mom and dad.

Such a fun celebration weekend!

We love our Savior, and we love that this time is set aside to celebrate his life, his atonement, and his resurrection. We might hunt for eggs and enjoy a little too much candy, but we also refocus our commitment to him and his gospel. I'm grateful. So grateful for him.

sometimes dancing is all you need

gloss

play doh conversations

 

family night at the park

 

butterfly art

Friday 04.01.2011

Kapria's art project from playgroup. They talked about nature and made butterflies by tracing their feet as wings. Love it!

it's not a card

Sunday 03.06.2011

Kapria got mail! When she opened it up, it was a thank you card from her friend Andrew. Even better: a Diego thank you card. She was so excited and promptly took the card and ran off to play.

But a little while later she came up to me and said, "Mom, this notebook is broken."
I said, "What do you mean? It's not a notebook, it's a card."
She said, "It's not a card, Mom. It's a notebook. But the pages won't turn."
She was getting really upset at this point, pointing at the pages and trying to turn them.
"It's just a card, sweetie," I said, "but how 'bout we turn it into a real notebook?"
"Yes, Mom, yes!" she said.

At first she was adamant that I not use glue, but I explained to her that it either had to be glue or sewing the pages in or punching holes and using string (our stapler is broken). So she decided after hearing all the options that glue would be okay. Good thing, because it really was the easiest. I was dreading that sewing option...

And here's our finished notebook:

I love that something so simple can totally make her day happy. She played with it all week and wouldn't draw in it because she didn't want to write on her "stories." Instead she pretended to read stories out of it.

making art with dad

Thursday 03.31.2011

On Thursdays Trav stays home with the girls until noon while I put in a long morning for work. On this morning Kapria asked if she could use the new watercolors we'd bought. So Trav pulled everything out for some art time. And I couldn't believe (and felt pretty bad) that we'd never done watercolors with her! Trav explained how to rinse the brush between colors, and she got really into it. Mila was happy drawing with her markers the whole time. We love creating!

Here's their collaborative artwork:

five girls = a whole lotta fun

Melissa and I lived on the same street for a few of our elementary school and junior high years. We spent a lot of time walking down the hill and up the hill to each other's houses. And talking books. And making toast with honey. And playing games and talking in her treehouse and having sleep overs.

After her family moved to Utah I think when we were in eighth grade - or maybe seventh? - we still managed to keep in touch through letters and visits. In college we finally lived in the same state again, and over the last twelve years we've sometimes lived in the same state and sometimes not, but whenever we can we get together. Now that we're in California, we're only about an hour and a half drive from her family. And since it was spring break for her girls (and I hadn't even met  her youngest!), they decided to come visit.

We had a great two days together with Ali (8), Ashling (5), and Annika (2) - swimming, watching movies, playing, and coloring. Mila and Kapria adored Ali - they wanted her to carry them around and play with them, and I think she liked going along with all the attention they threw at her. Thanks, Ali!

On Tuesday we went swimming at our pool. Kapria loves swimming, but Mila hates the cold water. She refused to get in and instead sat and ate lunch on a chair. Once she was done, she wanted to wander all over the pool area, so I didn't get much swimming in either. But at least I could catch pictures of everyone else since I was dry.

Having five girls in our tiny apartment got pretty messy - clothes, toys, and shoes were everywhere. But the craziness was fun. On Wednesday morning Melissa made us delicious family pancakes (kind of like german pankakes) with homemade syrup. Yumm. I had to work a little bit that morning, so Melissa watched my girls for that, then we all played hide-and-seek outside during Mila's nap. The day was on and off rainy, so we decided to take the girls out to lunch at Chick-fil-A - where they not only have good food, but they've also got the cleanest play area of any fast food place I've ever been to. Win-win!

It was a quick visit, but I loved catching up with Melissa and meeting all her girls. And now we're excited to drive up to their mountain home next time!

party hats and conference talks

Friday 04.01.2011 thru Sunday 04.03.2011

Mom came up on  Friday to help watch the girls while I worked on my novel (I have a big goal for it and she's helping me make it happen). Then we drove back to her house together that night after dinner. Trav had a late class and met up with us when he was done.

Saturday Dad had a job to do at the neighbor's (building a shed), so he and Trav were gone most of the day working on it. Mom and I were home with the girls, and we watched conference, visited the library, then visited the neighbor's (Cinnamon and Jared) to see how things were going.

Sunday we watched more of conference, and Mom made delicious scones that we all enjoyed. I ate way too many, but I love the making-scones-while-watching-Sunday-monring-general-conference tradition that the Marler's shared with us. Later we had a tasty taco lunch with the neighbors, then spent the afternoon together as a family. AND we finally had our family St. Patrick's Day party, which was awesome. Simple, but awesome. The girls loved the coin toss and wanted to do that pretty much the whole night. We snuck in one other game, too.

hooray!

done with february posts...now onto march.

then i'll be going backward through 2010...and hopefully keep up with ontime posts for 2011 at the same time.

hope you're all enjoying conference. we're at my mom and dad's listening, playing, eating, blogging, sewing, constructing, celebrating. pictures coming soon.