Spring has sprung!

Saturday dawned bright and BEAUTIFUL here in So Cal and we got outside to enjoy it!

Our cutie pie toddler in his new swim trunks


Jayden wanted to play in the sprinklers but was a bit timid so Stephanie helped him out


Jayden loves to run, run, and run some more


Eli wasn't quite sure what to make of the grass. We ended up bringing out a blanket for him and he liked that much more



We are so excited for days spent in the yard letting the boys play.

Aside note: Jayden has new swim trunks cause we start Mommy and Me Swim this Saturday at the Y. We can't wait!!

22 months!!

Jayden is 22 months old today! Hard to believe in just 2 short months we'll be celebrating his 2nd birthday. The time sure does fly.

Our sweet boy is doing very well. He adds new words to his vocabulary everyday it seems and has started combining words more regularly in the last week or so. Not much has changed since last month so I won't bore you with a never-ending list. He has suddenly experienced a big explosion in his climbing ability and climbs on everything anything he can.

Some things I want to remember about this time with him:
*when I say, "Jayden, I'm going to... (fill in the blank with any activity)" he says, "With me?" It is so stinking cute I can't resist it and let him go everywhere with me, even to the bathroom. Ha ha.
*he absolutely loves his little brother and loves to make him laugh.
*he loves basketball and exclaims "baska!!" everytime he sees his basketball or sees basketball on TV.
*he loves music. he has taken to picking up anything that he can hold and pretending its a microphone. he will then walk around the house "singing" into it.
*when I asked him tonight, "Jayden, do you know that your mommy loves you so much?" he said, "Uh huh" and wrapped his arms around me and laid his head on my shoulder and sighed "mama. love."

And because I know you all think he is as cute as I do (ok, maybe not but please humor me!), here are some pics from the other day. I actually got him to look at the camera and smile. Well, I should amend that. He is sitting on Stephanie's lap and she and my mom were telling him to look at mommy and smile!

pray for Stellan!

Please pray for this family! Stellan, their 4 or 5 month old son was diagnosed with almost certainly fatal heart problems in the womb but Jesus healed him and he was born healthy! However, he is now in the hospital with a very serious heart condition. Head over there to read more about how to pray!

sweet Eli boy

Could he BE any cuter?

wordless Wednesday

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

Today Daddy turns the big 2-8!! As I have spent the day celebrating him and thanking God for his life, I am reminded yet again how blessed I am to be his wife, to have a husband so Godly, so loving, so kind, so full of integrity and goodness, so dead sexy (hee hee). And if that wasn't enough, he is also an AMAZING dad. Beyond incredible. To watch him love these boys, to see him pour himself into parenting them, into being a safe place for them, into being the kind of father that honors God, and reflects Christ to his kids. There are almost no words to express my thankfulness and joy at having this man as my partner, my friend, my love.

The early days (we were babies!!)


Our wedding day..


our childless days, this was taken in a gas station on one of our road trips to the Northwest!

With tiny newborn Jayden

Loving on his boy!

with tiny brand new Eli

with Eli

Jayden absolutely loves his daddy and I can already see how he looks to him and up to him for so much. If daddy does it, it has to be cool! I love this shot of them

with both his crazy boys!


Dan, you are a gift to me and the boys, more than you will ever know! Thank you for working so hard to provide for us, for dedicating yourself so wholeheartedly to school so you can continue to provide well in the future. Thank you for the tender way you take care of the boys, and for the love and grace you show me daily!!

Happy birthday!!!

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

This past week, you sure wouldn't have caught me taking a two hour nap not once, not twice, but three times. Being a mommy to these two rugrats never wears me out and I greet each day with boundless energy and enthusiasm! I never ever beg my mom to watch my kids or listen for them on the monitor so I can take my much needed rest.

This morning very soon after I woke up, I most certainly did not utter, "Op, its Not Me Monday. Gotta get to work!" I NEVER take my blog too seriously, I do NOT lay awake at night thinking about things to blog about, and I definitely would NEVER stay up way too late trying to figure out how to put a signature in my posts.

I don't absolutely love playing with Jayden and never would have spent the entire length of Eli's nap running around like a crazy person with him outside and got nothing done!!

I am way intense about my workout regimen and would NEVER let an entire week go by without going to the gym. I most definitely am NOT considering going out for dessert with a friend this evening instead of going and running my two miles on the treadmill.

When at the store today, I did NOT buy a new type of coffee creamer that is way more expensive than the one I normally buy simply because it is called "chocolate mint truffle" and my mouth started watering when I saw it.

On the food front, I have NOT been hoping every time I go to the grocery store that I will run into girl scouts selling their cookies, since I vowed NOT to buy them from my cousin who sells them this year. If I ran into cute little girls in front of the grocery store, I would NOT feel guilty enough to NOT buy at least three boxes of cookies.

I also have NOT been scheming for Jayden's birthday party already, and am NOT excited to rent a big bouncy house!!

Nope, not ME!!

pulling up and standing!

Eli is not wasting any time moving from crawling to pulling up and standing...don't grow up so fast little boy!!

(note Jayden in the background peeking out the window. He doesn't want to ever miss any goings on of the neighborhood!)

stop to smell the roses daisies!

We are so blessed to be living with my parents right now for a variety of reasons (i.e. so much help with the boys it literally boggles my mind and humbles me all at the same time, wonderfully cooked meals, super great street to live on, etc) but one of the ones Jayden appreciates so much is the backyard!! It is beautiful and big and he has lots of room to run!! He was out running around one morning recently and we took the opportunity to snap some pics of our precious little 1-year-old!!




He likes to go part way up the hill and then start running cause it gets him going faster. So silly!

Daddy love

Our boys love their Daddy. But, really, who wouldn't?



I mean, he's handsome, funny, kind, thoughtful, wonderful, affectionate, loving, and the best daddy and husband EVER!!

P.S. Do you see how Jayden is looking at him in the bottom picture? Melts a mommy's heart, I tell ya!

8 whole months!

Eli has now been a part of our family for 8 months (outside the womb that is!). It is amazing how the time flies when you're so tired and so busy you can't even remember what day it is having fun.

What he's up to:
*crawling around all over the place. he is getting faster but it is not scurrying yet, as his brother used to. he's more mellow all around.
*starting to work on pulling up. he got onto his knees yesterday but other than that, all attempts to pull up have resulted in a bonked head. :(
*SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT CONSISTENTLY!!! wahoo. I feel like a new person since i started sleeping again.
*he has now dropped his third nap, which makes for a very cranky eli come late afternoon. i really think he needs an earlier bedtime but it would be hard to negotiate with the way dinnertime works around here. we've been taking advantage of the time change to make him FEEL like he is going to bed earlier. ha ha.
*for the most part, he takes two good naps a day. we've been seeing some nap refusals and short naps while he's been dropping the third nap and the last couple days with the time change.
*he's sporting a good deal of 12 month clothes these days. you can still catch him in the occasional 6 month sized outfit but for the most part he's in 9 month sized stuff.
*wearing size 3 or 4 diapers when he's in disposables. depends on what's on hand. in the medium size in the cloth still.
*chowing down on 3 meals of solids a day. he LOVES them. the only thing he hasn't liked so far was green beans, but the puree i made was a little runny so I want to try again. he loves sweet potatoes, peaches, and avocado.
*still breastfeeding like a champ. he loves to nurse. jayden was never super attached to the whole process and wasn't hard to wean when i needed to once my supply dropped from being pregnant. but i imagine eli will not want to stop nursing.
*the good news is that he is taking a bottle now so i have more freedom to be out and about as long as I've pumped enough. so that's a blessing.
*oh and we are probably a half day away from his first tooth popping through. the 2nd doesn't look to be far behind.

what I want to remember about this time with him...
*he is such a cuddler. he loves to be held and loves to give snuggles and little baby hugs.
*he loves to be tickled and laughs in total delight when we really give him good tickles.
*he loves paper and will crawl through the whole house trying to find some to eat. ha ha ha.
*he LOVES his big brother and will start laughing just when jayden comes in the room.
*he LOVES his mommy. i can't be nearby without him fussing for me to hold him. while this can prove detrimental to any sort of tasks getting done, i love the bond we share.

now, what you've all been waiting for...pictures of the cuteness. unfortunately i didn't get any pictures today cause he has a cold, ANOTHER eye infection (his third, what is up with that?), and is generally cranky. but these are from the past week or so.

Not Me Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Most of last week, you would not have found me counting down the hours until Dan and I got to leave the small ones behind for a day. I love love love my children and NEVER EVER EVER desire a break from them. I am super mom, completely unruffled by life with two children under two and most certainly do NOT daydream about being able to sleep in and my next break from them.

While on the getaway I most certainly did NOT love every second of, I also did NOT consume appetizers, cherry coke, pizza, ice cream, and an adult beverage or two in the span of like three hours.

Yesterday I was most definitely NOT seen in public with Eli dressed in his green baby legs, a white bumGenius diaper, and a red, blue, and white t-shirt. I would NEVER dress my child is such a way that his colors don't match AT ALL. We definitely did NOT get many looks from passerbys at Babies R Us.

While at Babies R Us while NOT looking at car seats for our child who is NOT almost as big as his brother was at a year old, we did NOT start with Eli in the stroller, Jayden in the cart and end up carrying Eli and letting Jayden run amuck in the store. Our children are well-behaved, never fuss or cry in public, and Jayden most certainly does NOT refuse to ride in grocery carts at almost every store now.

During said trip where we weren't looking for car seats, we also would never have resorted to sitting Jayden IN one of the car seats on display to try to keep him still long enough for us to discuss the different options. Once again, our children are always perfectly behaved in stores.

We also definitely didn't end up in a long conversation about a new double stroller and possibly a new single stroller. We weren't talking about a new single stroller because I DID NOT back into ours with the car, breaking one of the wheels. I also did NOT almost start crying when discussing whether our current single stroller could be fixed, because I am NOT sentimentally attached to it and all the memories that go with it.

And one for Dan...Dan definitely did NOT spend over an hour last night ranking his draft picks for our fantasy baseball league while he should have been studying for his Spanish midterm, a class which he most certainly does NOT need to work hard on.

Nope, not US!!!

Get away for Mommy and Daddy!

Dan's birthday is in 9 short days and I wanted to surprise him with a night away, just the two of us. Haven't had one in a year! :) So after my mom and Stephanie graciously said they would take the boys for 24 hours, I booked a hotel in San Diego, got Dan the time off, and this Friday after he got off work off we went. We had a GREAT time. It was too short, of course, but we also missed the boys so we were happy to get home. Friday night we went out for a nice dinner, rented a movie, got some tasty treats and headed back to the hotel to cuddle up and watch The Dark Knight. Great movie, by the way! Saturday morning we slept in and then Dan wasn't feeling well so he slept most of the morning while I shopped, went out for coffee and caught up on phone calls. On the way home, we stopped off at our FAVORITE bagel place in all the world, The Bagel Shack, in San Clemente. All in all, it was a great trip and we hope it won't be another whole year till our next getaway!

Here's us right before we left the hotel. We forgot to take pictures before then.

Our "normal" picture


our "crazy" picture


And, of course, kissies!


Meanwhile...back at the homestead...

Eli was being as cute as ever...


and my mom and Steph ventured out on a walk with the boys. Here they are, all bundled up, ready to go!


The boys actually did remarkably well without Mommy and Daddy for 24 whole hours. They both slept through the night (not a huge feat for Jayden but for Eli, who recently conquered this task, its a good thing), Eli took his bottles like a champ, Jayden only really acted up at bedtime but ended up going down without too much of a fight. My mom said the biggest problem was that she was too worried to sleep well!!

Thank you SO much, Mom and Steph. We really appreciate it. We KNOW how much work they are and that this was not a small act of love.

wordless Wednesday

spinning and dancing...

Two of Jayden's favorite things!

Jayden loves to spin around and fall down from dizziness.



Taking a quick breather..


He also loves to dance on the washing machine while its on....