Summer Fun

In the quest of finding a job James often has to travel all over Orange County for job fairs, interviews, ect. Well the kids and I have taken up going with him on these trips and after he takes care of whatever responsibility he has we do something fun that we wouldn't usually get to do (because its to far away or to much gas). Even though James has been working hard we have had a ton of fun this summer! Here are some pics of our adventures

We went to Irvine Regional Park and road the train which Luke of course loved since he is obsessed with anything with wheels

They had ponies there and a little duck pond where you could rent paddle boats. It would also be really fun to take bikes up there and go for a ride.

They have hiking which sounded like a lot of fun so we attempted to hike, It was probably about 90 degrees and this was the outcome after about 10 minutes of hiking.

Bella is fully mobile now, not quite walking but crawling and pulling herself up and getting into whatever she can get her hands on. She also has about 10 bruises on her forehead and head from whacking it on stuff (her black eye has healed). Poor thing.

They have a baby beach in Huntington, we met up with James sister Shari and her three boys. Luke had a lot of fun playing with his cousins (as always) and it was good catching up with Shari. I do prefer the sand at the baby beach in Dana Point though (it was really hard here).

On a total whim we went to the Discovery Science Museum in LA. Luke loved this contraption he probably spent 15 minutes talking to whoever would listen to him. It was a really cool museum, it even had a area specially designed for kids under 8 and a cool toddler area where we just let Bella go and crawl around. The best part about it was that it was admission is Free!

Here is Luke being the little social butterfly that we know and love. He loves making friends especially with older kids who can show him cool new things to do

Bella's bottom two teeth finally broke through (after I swear months of teething). She is starting to get the hang of the biting thing but she keeps making goofy faces like this (she also bit her lip [it bled] and her own thumb today which she got pretty upset about)

They had a giant rose garden right next to the museum with a huge fountain in the middle. So beautiful.

Luke's 2 Year Old Pics

I wanted to get pictures of Luke now that he is 2 so we went down to the beach and had some crazy fun. More crazy than fun as is the usual when trying to take pics of babies and toddlers. Here are the results of our little outing


I have a pic of Luke very similar to this when he was about the same age

Handsome little man

Our little sand eater

Such a cutie

Little Composers

Here are a few pics of the kids I snapped down at grandpa's the other day. A few months ago I had a similar picture of Luke and his buddy Samson.You have to love the chubby butts

Bella is really enjoying herself

How could anyone ever say no to that face.

Summer Update

We went down to the beach yesterday and in an attempt to get Luke engaged in something other than the water I started burying James in the sand. Well I guess Luke thought this was pretty cool cause he decided to lay down next to James and have me bury him to. If you know Luke he is not the kind of kid who like to sit still for more than a few seconds let only long enough for me to bury him and his dad and then take pictures, but it happened and I was amazed at his patience (I told him to pretend he was taking a nap). He is such a funny kid, full of surprises! Luke is under the Yellow baseball cap. I put in on his face to keep the sun out of his eyes
Here he is pretending to be taking a nap

Keeping his feet covered was the hardest part cause he kept wiggling his toes

After he was done being buried he decided to help me finish his dad off. He is throwing sand on James face in this picture (it makes sense it was the only part of him that wasn't buried)

Luke has become such a good brother to his little sister. Its really cute to watch be attentive to her needs. When she is sad or crying he will try to give her his toys, snacks or a sippy cup/baba. He has become a master at switching toys out. If he wants the car she is playing with he has learned she is easily distracted by the another toy and will trade her. Its so interesting to watch his mind develop as he is able to understand more complex emotions and situations.

They have also started to interact a lot more. It seems like whatever Bella is doing is the cool thing so Luke tends to want follow her lead. If Bella is eating, Luke wants to eat (not only does he want to eat but he wants to have whatever Bella is eating). If Bella is having a baba Luke wants one. If Bella plays in the Jumperoo Luke want to (he actually tried to climb in it with her one day and got stuck, Bella was pretty upset about it!). In the pic above I sat Bella down to watch a show with some snacks while I made dinner. Luke went down and plopped himself next to her and I luckily caught it on camera.

Berry Smoothies

So the Berry Smoothies at Costco are pretty much famous. Anyone who shops at Costco should know what I am talking about. Both of my kids are addicts!!! They both learned how to use a straw through the temptation of a Berry Smoothie. On one of our recent trips to Costco we found that we could no Longer just have one cup with smoothie we have to split into 2 due to the high volume of requests. Below is documentation of one of our experience.

As you can see Bella totally has us in check

Earthquake

We just experienced our first earthquake and it was really frightening. I guess it hit up north further near Fullerton but we felt it here, in our home, in San Clemente. James was downstairs working on homework and I was doing my hair when out of no where our apartment just started shaking back and forth and the furniture was rattling. It was so bad it made it hard to walk. I just froze, I had never felt one before so I just stood there thinking... is this an earthquake? Luckily it was just the aftershocks rippling down. Hopefully if I am ever in one again I will be better prepared and move a little faster to protect my kids.

Anyways it scared me so bad my hands were shaking for about 10 minute (I know I'm a pansy) I am just glad no one in our home got hurt!

Happy Happy Birthday Luke!

Luke's second birthday was a success we had lots and lots of birthday fun, so much so that Luke and Bella didn't want to fall asleep until 9pm (they usually go to bed at 7pm) I'm not sure if it was the sugar or the excitement. Either way thanks so much to everyone who came and helped make this a special day for our little boy!

Bella's on the move

Bella has started the army crawl, something Luke never did so its new to me and I love it. She has actually gotten a lot faster since this movie (its from about a week ago) plus she has been getting up on her hands and knees a lot so I figure in no time she will be crawling (the end of life as we know it). Its so funny how with Luke I couldn't wait till he crawled and with Bella I am perfectly happy with her being stationary.

Casanova

Luke has been making the rounds this summer

We went to the baby beach a couple weeks ago with our friends Adam, Rachelle and their little girl Tori. Luke and Tori usually play well together but on this outing they were especially friendly.

This is Luke and his cousin Brenna showing some love

This is why the ladies love him.

Luke with his smoothie uni brow, mustache, goatee and brain freeze (the outcome of drinking a whole glass of smoothie is less than 60 second).

Manic Depressive Luke

Luke and I were goofing off the other day and he thought it was hilarious when I would pretend to sneeze the play dough out at him. The moment I stopped he got super emotional and burst into tears, then as soon as I started sneezing again he would mid crying start laughing histerically. It was so funny! Not to mention the mad scientist figure twiddling he has going on.

This one mostly just shows him cracking up and twiddling his fingures.

Watch closely see if you can tell when the crying stops and laughing begins.

Utah Family Pics June 2008

Here are some of the family pics we took when we were in Utah. Of course Luke was being a little turkey and we couldn't force a smile out of him but hey at least we got some good ones of Buzz.

Happy 4th of July in Bisbee, Az

We went out to my dads house for the forth of July in Bisbee, Az. You can see Mexico from where his house and we had a lot of fun. The highlights of the trip were going off roading hunting for rabbits, riding the four wheeler, seeing the four foot rattle snake my dad killed right outside his front door, and hanging out in Tombstone, Oh and of course seeing my family:)

Luke discovered he has a new talent, curling up his bottom lip, he thinks its hilarious. Thats his cousing Dylan in the pic with him.

Here a pic of us out hunting rabbits, James killed a poor little cotton tail (so sad, I couldn't help but think of Thumper) and a jack rabbit, he's a pretty good shot. The ginormous cowboy is Mario my sisters husband, he was right at home out there. Then there is my brother Travis his fiance Jenny, James and a couple of the kiddos in the back of the truck.

Were at the boot hills cemetery in Tombstone, The grave said here lie lesser more four slugs from a 44 no less no more.

My dad with Ashlyn and Bells (they are only 2 weeks apart in age)

A picture of my dads ranch and house in the middle of no where

Just Like Dad

Luke wants to be just like James and do everything he is doing. Here are a couple pics of them from this month spending those precious moments together.

Luke has shaving cream on his face if you can't tell

Helping Daddy do some push ups.

Taking a break after a hard workout

Bella Cranial Update

Were excited to announce that Bella only has to wear her goofy helmet for one more week, she gets it off on July 3! Her head has been growing so fast the Doctors are shocked but her treatment is almost over and her head shape looks great. I think it might have something to do with the mass quantity of food she is eating. She nurses up to 5x a day plus three meals. The girl is having some kind of major Growth Spurt.

Random Pics in June

Lukes friend Samson came over one night and him and Luke hung out watching a movie and eating popcorn. So cute!
Luke showing some sibling love, he absolutely adores Bella but it stresses her out sometimesBella on Fathers day being cute!

Luke being a cheese ball after making a mess with his smoothy

Baby Beach

Last Friday James and I took the kids to the baby beach in Dana Point Harbor. Luke had a blast andI wasn't afraid for his life (like I am at the regular beach)! so overall it was really great. We will definitely be going back this summer. My favorite was how Bella lounged in her inter tube until she got washed up on shore which she didn't like much and wasn't happy till we put her back out to sea.

Can you Say DIVA!!