The Boy's First Camping Trip!

Jason's been dreaming of the day he could go camping with his boy since long before we were even pregnant! (Good thing God gave us a boy!) So a couple weekends ago, he took Carson over to Henry Cowell Redwood state park (about 5 minutes from our house) to stay the night out in the wild! Carson was so excited and told everyone about it a couple days leading up to the trip. I took the kids to Gilroy Gardens Friday morning and they napped on the way home, so he was well rested when Jason got off work a little early to take Carson away for the night. I so wished I could have been a little fly on the wall of that tent to see his reaction to everything (we have to buy a bigger tent if we all want to go camping!). He had a great time. They played in the dirt, threw rocks and sticks, went for a walk, climbed on branches, etc. They roasted hot dogs and had s'mores. Carson snuggled up in my sleeping bag and slept all night long! Here are a few pics:

The Dress

Here is a picture of the dress I made for Livi. It's a little hard to see, but I love how it turned out, and the color looks so pretty with her eyes. I think it might even fit thru the winter and into next summer.

I just love this picture of Livi eating her breakfast in Carson's old sweatshirt, some of his things look so cute on her.

Dinner Antics

This is Livi doing one of her dinner time sillies, pulling her bib up as far as she can. At almost every meal, she'll come up with something funny to do and then she says, "loot, loot" (look, look). She keeps us laughing, which is why she probably keeps doing funny things. :-)

Remember this dress, Mom?

I was recently going through a bag of clothes my mom had kept from when I was a little girl. I came across this dress among other items that were too small, but this looked like it would still fit, so I tried it on Liv. It wouldn't work as a dress, but it sure made for a cute shirt! 28ish years later your little granddaughter is wearing it, Mom!...isn't that fun?! :-)

Posts to come...in case you were hanging on the edge of your chair waiting for a new post on our blog...here are 2 in process...I've been keeping a laundry tally for the last 7 weeks because I've been curious as to how many loads of laundry we actually do on a weekly basis. I've been reading lately on other people's blogs about the various types of laundry tacklers and I fit into the category of doing all of it at once, when it no longer fits into the hamper and things are dangling out and stuffed to maximum capacity and then some, so most of our laundry is done on Mondays after not wanting to do it on the weekends and on Fridays so I won't have to do it on the weekends and waste precious family time folding clothes, or maybe so it's so that I can do other more fun and selfish things while Jason is helping me with the kids. :-) But hey, it gets done and I am SO super grateful that we have machines that do all that hard work for us! So...I'll let you know what our grand average is in another week or so, I wanted to give it 2 months.

Also...I just finished knitting a dress for Livi. I've been working on it for a while, it was super easy, but it just took a long time to do. So when I get a good picture of her in it, I'll post it. It's so fun and satisfying to make things, whenever I complete something, no matter how hard or even mundane it was at points, seeing the final project always makes me want to start in on something else right away. She really needs a white sweater, so I was thinking of trying to make her one with a really simple pattern I have and some inexpensive soft white yarn I bought a while ago and my big needles so it will go fast. We'll see.

Aquarium

We went down to the Monterey Bay Aquarium this past Sunday, over Memorial Day weekend. It was pretty crowded, but we had such a great time. The parking lot was full (just like that time we went over President's Day weekend, Mom!), but this time we didn't drive around for an hour to find a place to park. We just parked several blocks down and enjoyed a nice walk down Cannery Row. I always feel like I'm on vacation when I go down there, it's such fun. My absolute favorite thing to see is the Ocean Sun Fish. This creature is incredible, I could watch it for hours. It has very shiny, silver, crumply skin and is just so strange looking, it's fascinating. I'm always just amazed at God's creation when I see all these things from this other world down in the water. There are so many different creatures on this planet!

Barbasol Boy

Carson loves to play with shaving cream. And what cheap entertainment! You can get a big can of it for about $1. And it's easy to clean up and he smells great afterward! What fun! And his imagination runs wild when he's playing with it, I think this time he was turning himself into a robot.

Gilroy Gardens

Last weekend we decided to check out Gilroy Gardens. We had heard about it from lots of different people over the past year, about what a great place it is for young kids, it's so clean, the rides are all geared for youngn's, it's beautiful, etc. So we went and had a great time! We're excited to go back again. The kids rode on all sorts of rides, all garden themed, like the strawberry twirl, and the garlic spinny thing, and hot air balloons, and swan paddle boats, and worms and fish, etc. It was a great time.

$0.31 scoop night!

We went out for ice cream at Baskin Robbins a couple weeks ago with some friends. I love watching kids eat ice cream, it's so fun and messy. Livi picked the pink one, she loves anything pink. :-)

While we were there we saw a sign on the wall for a sale the next day for $0.31 scoops! Hmmmm ice cream out 2 days in a row? Better not (at least for the kids), but I went to my yoga class the next night and afterward I headed back to B&R to get Jason and myself a scoop to take home, who can pass up a deal like that?!!! It's all about balance and moderation, right? Go exercise and then go out to ice cream! The best is that my yoga teacher came into the ice cream shop right after me! :-) I didn't feel so bad then, not that I really did in the first place.

Our little escape artist

This picture is from about a month ago, but one morning Livi was downstairs playing and I went to check on her because I heard some commotion by the front door. I went over to see that she had gotten the stool from the bathroom and carried it all the way to the front door so she could be tall enough to reach the locks. I guess she really wanted to go out to play!

Happy Mother's Day!

Because you're my mom, I grew up knowing Jesus.
Because you're my mom, I've always felt loved.
Because you're my mom, I have someone whose qualities I want to emulate, especially the grace and thoughtfulness and practicality and generosity and all-around-good-attitude we can all see in you.
Because you're my mom, I like chocolate and I like to chew my candy.
Because you're my mom, I am a morning person.
Because you're my mom, I have learned the power and necessity of prayer.
Because you're my mom, I like to sit in the sun and read.
Because you're my mom, I like to make birthdays and other holidays special.
Because you're my mom, I can care for Carson and Livi the way you care for me and Matt.
Because you're my mom, I get the good pleasure of looking like you.
Because you're my mom, and you've been a good example about this, I'm trying not to let my insecurities get in the way of friendships.
Because you're my mom, I love coming home.
Because you're my mom, I've been blessed beyond measure.
I love you, Mom!

Strawberries!!!

We went down to Gizdich Ranch in Watsonville, CA with our friends to pick some strawberries on Friday and it was such fun! (next time you purchase a package of strawberries you might notice on the label that this is where they are grown) I love going out in the fields and picking out the best and most beautiful berries you can find. It's like a treasure hunt and the rows of shiny red beauties are endless, it's hard to leave cuz you know that there is so much left that could be discovered (and eaten!) And boy are they juicy and sweet! The sign said it's okay to sample, but not graze, and all the kids were just on the verge of grazing, it was hard to control them!...what temptation lies out in those fields. Yum! The cute old man, Norm, at the table where we paid was sweet about it, and was certain we hadn't crossed over into the grazing category, although each of our kids had a red juicy circle around their lips. :-) We'll definitely be going back there this summer, July is raspberry picking season, and I'd love to try that.

Ohhhhh, this tastes SO good!!!

His name is Bubba

Well, we ended up back at the pet store yesterday and Carson picked out a fish! It was so cute watching him hold it in the bag and carry it to the counter, he looked so proud and nervous and responsible! He decided to name him Bubba. Later that night he wanted to change it to WeeWee, but we encouraged him to stick with Bubba. :) So here's our new $0.19 pet.

Bubba in the bag

Bubba in the bag in the bowl

Meet Bubba

Praise God....

from whom all blessings flow! Yay! We went to the dentist for Carson's 6 month check up and cleaning and he did so great! The last few times he's gone were not so great. I'm embarrassed to say that he's already had 5 cavities, but I can also breathe easy knowing it wasn't all us, genetics plays a big part as he was born with weak enamel on his teeth, making him more prone to decay. The dentist said that somewhere in the 4th or 5th month in utero is when the enamel is formed and a variety of things can affect that, I'm not sure what it was in our case, but something must have, poor guy. I sure am so thankful for dental care and insurance! He was nervous to go in, understandably so, since the last 2 times he's had to go under anesthesia and that's just weird for such little ones. But he was so brave and although he was very nervous he hopped right up into that big chair and let them brush and polish his teeth and floss and do the fluoride, etc. He did fantastic, I was beaming with pride...after the dentist reminded me to breath as he was checking for cavities or anything else wrong. All looked great. The brushing/flossing regimen is working! Thank you, Lord! Jason came home early from work to take Carson out to get a goldfish as a reward for doing so well at the dentist (it's something he's been wanting for a while). But Carson was so tired that he fell asleep at the pet shop in Jason's arms, so they didn't come home with goldie, just a sleeping boy. Maybe tomorrow we can try again.

Beach Day

We went down to Twin Lakes Beach today after Livi got up from her nap, we had so much fun! We went and got some burritos and took them over to the beach with us and ate and played in the sand for a few hours.

Just Blue Eyes

We went to the beach last week with our friends Robyn and Ocean. I only got one picture before my battery went kaput, so if I get some pictures from Robyn, I'll try to put them up. It was a gorgeous day, very comfortable weather and the kids had a great time playing in the sand and water. Carson got so wet, he had to ride home naked because I forgot to pack extra clothes! Poor guy. Good thing it was warm.

Carson and Livi love to take baths. Sometimes they forget how much they like it till they get in.

Livi woke up with some really great nap hair! Yeah girl!

Carsonisms

These are things I wrote down a long while back on a paper on the fridge, just so I'd remember them, so I'll put them down here. He was 2 when he said these things:

He used to call that yummy meal we make sometimes Chicken Lollipop Pie!
He used to call English muffins Angel muffins.
And when his stomach hurt he had a tummy wake. :-)

Just recently he told me:
"I've been waiting for years to get flip flops!!" (He still doesn't have them, but apparently he's been really wanting some)

"Mommy, I have mold on my hands...why do I have mold on my hands?" (He said this as he was eating breakfast, and I'm still not sure what he was talking about)

"Why don't I have fur on my hands?" (he's afraid of putting bandaids on his legs or arms or anywhere where there is "fur" since it hurts when we take them off) :-) One time he asked where his fur (down there) went, and then he came to the conclusion that it must have blown off. (Little does he know that when he's about 13 the winds will change and it will come back) :-) hehehe.

"I think we should get Gracie some butt bones!" (after we got Gracie some natural mint bones to make her breath smell better)...hmmm he might be on to something! :-) And yes, she could use some.

I'm sure there will be many more to come, so I'll post them when I can.

What to do?

Here is my question.....what do you do with all your kids' artwork? Do you keep every coloring/painting picture, craft they do at church or school, etc??? We have so much and I honestly sneak it into the trash sometimes cuz I'm not sure what to do with it. Should I feel guilty for doing that? Any experienced moms out there happy/glad that they kept every piece of art??? Where do you store it all if so? Is it okay for me to throw some of it away without asking or telling? :-) Help?!

Boardwalk

So we've lived here more than 3 1/2 years and have never even been to the boardwalk! Hard to believe, I know. So, today our friends invited us along to use their guest pass so Carson could go on some rides with his friend, Jack. Thanks, Michelle!!! It was so much fun! Carson was eager to do all the rides he could, without any fear! He even rode on the dragon roller coaster which was actually pretty fast and whirly and loopy for a little kid roller coaster! He loved it! Here are a few pics of him on some of the rides. Fun times. Livi was pretty content to just push the stroller around and hang on the bars outside the rides. :-)

Easter Sunday!

This morning we hid Easter baskets for the kids. We read the Easter story from Carson's Bible (and then the good Samaritan story...that's his favorite), and then they went and searched the house to find their own surprises. Looks like Livi got a mouthful of jellybeans...nothing like a sugar rush first thing in the morning! Whoa girl!

A friend at church tried to get a picture of us, this is the best that came of it. It was a gorgeous day and the service was so great, filled with awesome music and a wonderful message about why we ought to believe in the risen Jesus and how he can change our lives. You can listen to the sermon we heard today at www.tlc.org.

"Jesus was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God." (Romans 4:25)
Happy Easter!!!