8 of 52

Saying goodbye, yes my dear husband was off to the sandbox (again) as of last week. Last time I was pregnant with a toddler to chase then caring for 2 under 2, this time I have two little ones who will dearly miss their Daddy.


I was so thankful to my friend Vanessa for inviting us out to her property the day after he left to spend a very peaceful morning among the bluebonnets, letting the kids run wild together. I couldn't think of any better way to spend our first day of the deployment.

This one is from Tuesday after we made a video of her "reading" a story she had "written" for Daddy so we could email it to him.


PS I just noticed I'm wearing the same purple shirt from last weeks pic, I guess you can see its a new favorite.

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Are you the Mom who's always taking pictures and look back only to realize you aren't IN any of them? Do your kids look through photo albums and ask "Where were you Mommy?" Well, Carin over at Forever in Blue Jeans decided to change all that and challenges any one who's interested to do the same. So hand over the camera, or at least figure out the self-timer and get on the other side of the lens more often. Post your photos of you enjoying time with your family every Thursday and share the link with other Mom's by posting it on Carin's blog. You can start any time with week 1 of 52, don't worry about being "behind" just jump on in.

Earth (the movie)

Click for Preview and several clips.

I had wanted to take the kids to see this on Earth Day but that whole week was pretty hectic for us so we didn't make it. Originally I thought it was only playing on Earth Day so I was happy to find out that it is still playing... at a theater near you! I had to run an errand this evening that took us to that side of town and I realized as I was driving over there it would be a great night to go since its all too wet to do anything outside.

If you're familiar with the Planet Earth BBC series I would describe this movie as a "best of" from that series. All of the footage is taken directly from the series and condensed into a movie format. This is a documentary of real wildlife done with amazing cinematography. The kids absolutely loved it and were in awe of all the beautiful, incredible animals and landscapes we saw. There was never a dull moment and they sat still for the full 1:45 length (I'm sure the popcorn helped too). Do be aware there are some dramatic chase scenes that DO end in the predator catching the prey. They left out the blood but they do show baby animals in the mouths of their predators. And as scared as my kids are of even the most popular Disney movies (they won't watch half the scenes in Finding Nemo), they didn't get upset or scared one time during this movie. They are huge animal lovers though and I have always been honest with them about the food chain and the fact that animals do eat other animals. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone and any age. You will be in awe of the beauty, the complexity and the diversity of our planet.

Paint Trays

Packing from a new toaster + almost empty paint jars + paintbrushes = great rainy day activity. As you can see not all the paint ended up in the right place, but they really enjoyed this simple project and there's still room to paint on the back side later.

Ready? Go!

So close to getting the bigger pool out but as you will hear it is very windy out still (sorry I have no way to edit this). Don't mind this pitiful pool, it blew into our yard last year and no one ever claimed it. Only the bottom half inflates but you can see it still provides plenty of entertainment.

Bluebonnets

We have lived in Texas over four years now and have yet to take the traditional "bluebonnet pictures" with our kids. Thanks to my long-time Texan friend Vanessa we got our first bluebonnet pictures today. She invited us to their family property and it was just covered in the beautiful wildflowers. Cali ran right to them without me even asking and was nice enough to pose a few times. The boys had other interests though... you know, fun things like rocks and a big pile of dirt. It was great weather in spite of an early morning sprinkle and the clouds kept it from getting too hot out. We were enjoying ourselves so much it was way past nap time when we finally left. It was such a nice way to spend the morning.

7 of 52

Checking out the trail at a new park nearby. A little steep in parts but I plan on taking the jogging stroller out there soon.

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Are you the Mom who's always taking pictures and look back only to realize you aren't IN any of them? Do your kids look through photo albums and ask "Where were you Mommy?" Well, Carin over at Forever in Blue Jeans decided to change all that and challenges any one who's interested to do the same. So hand over the camera, or at least figure out the self-timer and get on the other side of the lens more often. Post your photos of you enjoying time with your family every Thursday and share the link with other Mom's by posting it on Carin's blog. You can start any time with week 1 of 52, don't worry about being "behind" just jump on in.
A brand new park only 5 miles from our house, it has a nice long trail. We'll be going back for a jog soon. Oh, and I got a new haircut this week too.

Sticky-licious

We made Dave one of his favorite meals for dinner tonight... delicious chicken soft tacos based off of this Lime marinade. By the way, marinades are a nice easy thing you can let the kids help with. The measurements don't have to be precise and they can easily do the stirring. Just handle the raw meat part yourself.

Anyway, for dessert Cali & I made Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats. As everyone was thoroughly enjoying their treat we asked Cali how she liked it. To which she replied, "It's sticky-licious!"

Build-a-Bear

Today was the day we finally told the kids that Daddy has to leave soon for another deployment. We drove almost an hour to go to Build-a-Bear so they could each make a special new animal friend to snuggle when they are missing Daddy. He also included a special recorded message for each one; I hope it will provide a little comfort in the months to come.

Cali went straight for a horse and Diego picked up a panda bear right away. Once they had chosen those animals they weren't interested in looking at any others so that's what we went with. They got to take turns pressing the pedal to fill their new pet with fluff, did a sweet little ritual with the heart where they closed their eyes and made a wish before putting it in the animal, gave them a "bath", then got to choose their outfits. Cali liked a lot of the clothes but finally picked a pink Disney Princesses shirt and white skirt with pink cowgirl boots to match. Diego didn't care about the clothes much but he did like the camo boxer shorts we found for his panda.

It was a fun experience and I'm sure we'll listen to Daddy's messages many many times in the near future. As much as I dreaded telling the kids the news, they took it well. I'm sure they don't really understand it all at this point, but for now they are happy and know their Daddy loves them very very much even if he can't be here with us.

Finding Time to Scrapbook

I'm sure we ALL have excuses as to why we "don't have time" to scrapbook or preserve our family memories in some way shape or form. I thought I'd share my tips.

1) I'm not the type to worry about dishes in the sink or laundry that needs to be folded. I can leave that for later and spend time in my office if I feel like getting crafty. Although, sometimes I make myself do a chore or two and reward myself with scrapbooking time after.

2) I keep a stack of photos around, but not too many. I typically order 25-50 photos at a time. I also have a nice quality photo printer so I can print off specific photos if the mood strikes or if I want specific sizes right away.

3) The best thing I've done to increase the number of photos scrapped is to give myself more freedom. After doing 12x12 baby albums for each kid I switched over to a yearly family album and went with a 3-ring binder style so I have the flexibility to use different size page protectors as needed. I use 6-slot 4x6 photo album pages, full 12x12, 8x12, 6x6, and even these cool 3-down 4x6 sleeves I found on clearance. Now if I never feel pressured to fill a big blank 12x12 space if I don't want to. Read more about this idea at Ali Edward's blog. Also, there's no pressure to scrap chronologically when you can easily open the binder and insert the pages as needed. Give yourself freedom to scrap what you want when you want, trust me you'll be much happier and more productive!

4) I keep a blog (duh!) and document stories and favorite photos as they happen, I can always go back and reference that for a scrapbook page. I also keep a family journal. I stick little pictures in it, write down stories of the places we go and things we do, things the kids say or do, their current favorite things... Even though I'm not current on scrapbooking my photos I will have this reference when I do get to those events. If nothing else, I'll at least have written those memories down somewhere.

6) Even if you only have 5 minutes, use it to get started. Pick the photos you want to scrap next, pick a set of papers you want to use together, find a sketch you like, clean up from your last session so you're ready for a fresh start when you do have 30 minutes later.

I just got back from vacation Wednesday night and I've done all this. Granted, I haven't really unpacked but I did scrap 10 pictures from 2007! The top two are the 3-down 4x6 slots and the bottom two are 6x6. I didn't spend more than 30 minutes on each one.

$10 Kids' Shoes

For today only Amazon has 3 pages of Kids' Shoes for only $9.49! Check it out. Click here for link. Or go to you Amazon.com and click on today's deals.

Flying with Toddlers

We made it back from our very busy and very fun trip to California. I'm sure you've seen from the pictures what a great time we had. In case you have any trips planned in the near future here are my tips for flying with toddlers....

After numerous cross-country trips with up to 3 layovers each way, this 3 hour non-stop flight was a breeze. First off, we flew Jet Blue which I would highly recommend to anyone. Jet Blue has individual TVs for each seat with 40-some channels from Animal Planet to Nickelodeon to News and Mtv. The crew was nice and friendly and offered a selection of 5 different snacks and didn't hesitate to give you seconds if you asked.

As far as entertaining the little ones... I have two very different kids. Cali is well mannered, sits still very nicely and can be easily entertained with quiet activities. I brought along lots of stickers and notebooks for her. She used a few stickers then told me she needed to save the rest for her scrapbooking. So much for that. She was mostly entertained by the TV and her new Princess gum and a few snacks. On the way back I found a makeup brush set at the $1 bin at Target and kept her entertained putting on pretend make-up, face painting, and even painting tiger stripes up and down her arms (with water).

Now Diego is a different story. As a ramubunctious 2-yr-old boy the concept of sitting still is quite foreign to him. Ideally he'd like to climb over and under all the seats like a giant jungle gym or go running like a maniac down the aisle. So we decided to take his carseat along this time and that worked well for the most part. He didn't love it but at least we were able to contain him. He was entertained by a few stretchy rubber creatures, a Color Wonder marker set, stickers, sometimes the TV but mostly lots and lots and lots of snacks. When choosing airplane snacks go for things that aren't too messy, take a while to eat, aren't too filling, and definitely low in sugar! We had granola bars, cereal, nuts, apples, and fruit snacks. I saved the chewy fruit snacks to help their ears on the descent; on the first flight I gave them suckers and that worked OK too. Not sure the suckesr actually helped their ears pop or just distracted them long enough to get through it.

As far as packing your carry-ons take at least twice as many snacks, books/toys, diapers, wipes, changes of clothes as you think you need (don't forget a set for yourself, because you never know!). They'll probably go through all the entertainment and snacks a lot quicker than you'd expect. For just this 3 hour flight I had an entire backpack filled and they went through just about all of it. Plus, you never know when you might have a delay and you really don't want to be stuck in the airport or on the airplane when you run out of essentials.

Also, if your kids have special "lovies" pack them in a carry-on because you certainly don't want their favorite blankies and babies to get lost with the luggage. They'll probably want to snuggle them on the plane anyway.

6 of 52

More Disney fun from last Friday and this past Monday. See previous post for a couple with the Princesses and see just how big my little girl was smiling! A couple from a very frigid swim on Easter Sunday too.


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Are you the Mom who's always taking pictures and look back only to realize you aren't IN any of them? Do your kids look through photo albums and ask "Where were you Mommy?" Well, Carin over at Forever in Blue Jeans decided to change all that and challenges any one who's interested to do the same. So hand over the camera, or at least figure out the self-timer and get on the other side of the lens more often. Post your photos of you enjoying time with your family every Thursday and share the link with other Mom's by posting it on Carin's blog. You can start any time with week 1 of 52, don't worry about being "behind" just jump on in.

Done with Disney

Whew! After a break over the weekend we did our 3rd day of Disney today. There was still plenty we hadn't done yet. We started by meeting the princesses. Since it was early we only waited about 30 min and the entire time Cali insisted she DID NOT want to see the princesses, but really she was afraid the Wicked Witch would be there. The girl in line behind us was so nice to tell Cali that there wouldn't be a witch, just princesses and the she would really like it. The second we walked into the castle area she got a HUGE smile and loved every minute with each princess. Diego acted shy and gave them sweet little smiles when they kept telling him what a handsome prince he was.


After a quick encore of the Carousel and the Jungle Cruise we went over to California Adventures for the Playhouse Disney show. What a fun show! It was so exciting for the kids to see all their favorite characters right in front of us. Next Dave & Cali went on Soarin' Over California while Diego checked out the Cars characters. Lunch at Downtown Disney and a visit to the Lego Superstore. D took a catnap while we strolled around then woke up for the Live Talking with Crush show. He played in the spray area and had a blast while Cali decided to keep resting her legs. We ended the day with the Pixar Parade and treated the kids to some special Mickey treats.

Easter/Spring

This may not look like an Easter picture but sure enough this is Cali on Easter day taking a very refreshing dip in our Auntie's un-heated pool. There is nothing she loves more than swimming as you can see by that smile on her face. This is easily my favorite "Easter" picture this year.

ISO 400, f/10.0, shutter 1/320

I'd love any input on my pictures, I'm really just learning how to use my Rebel in manual mode thanks entirely to the i heart faces tutorials. And for those who read about this, yes my Rebel is alive and well now!

Be sure to visit the iHeartfaces blog and browse through the other entries to see all the other Easter and Spring pictures this week.

Disney Favorites

We've done a day and a half at Disney so far. It's completely exhausting but plenty of fun. Its been very crowded especially by afternoon and evening. We spent all of yesterday at the Disneyland doing rides like the Flying Dumbos, the Teacups, Its a Small World, then over to Toon Town to visit Mickey, Minnie, etc. For a break we rode around the Disney Railroad 1 1/2 full times. They kids loved the huge Grand Canyon and Dinosaur dioramas along the route. We got off in Critter Corner for lunch then rode the Pooh Bear ride and saw Pooh, Tigger & Eeyore up close. D took a little nap in the stroller, Dave & Cali went off to ride Big Thunder Mountain while we got a spot for the parade. The Parade was so much fun and we were so surprised Cali actually went out to dance with the performers and other kids!

Today we did a couple of rides at Disney we missed yesterday like the Nemo Submarine, Autopia, Astro Orbitors & the Jungle Cruise. Next we headed over to the California Adventure side to see the Playhouse Disney Live show but unfortunately it was canceled for the rest of the day after we waited 30 minutes. We saw Daisy Duck & Minnie Mouse on our way to find lunch, rode a few rides like Jumping Jellyfish and the Golden Zephyr, explored A Bug's Land and rode the Ladybug Boogie then headed home for a good rest. Tonight we're going back for dinner then the big fireworks show!

5 of 52

How fun is it that today was our first day at Disney! The first time ever for both kids, Dave & I went several years ago before we had them and both of us had gone as kids. Here are a few with me in them for the weekly challenge.

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Are you the Mom who's always taking pictures and look back only to realize you aren't IN any of them? Do your kids look through photo albums and ask "Where were you Mommy?" Well, Carin over at Forever in Blue Jeans decided to change all that and challenges any one who's interested to do the same. So hand over the camera, or at least figure out the self-timer and get on the other side of the lens more often. Post your photos of you enjoying time with your family every Thursday and share the link with other Mom's by posting it on Carin's blog. You can start any time with week 1 of 52, don't worry about being "behind" just jump on in.