Our Girls

Our girls are growing so fast!!!! They are so much fun and so beautiful... It's hard to believe that Skyler is already 12 weeks old!!! (I posted a little update of her on her blog... skylerreese.blogspot.com )
Below they are watching Siah Ride his motorcycle up and down the sidewalk in front of our house... Skyler is not always as into pictures as I am...
Halee is in LOVE with Skyler and she likes to hug (aka smother :) Skyler every chance she gets...

Our sweet friends Patty and Ashley gave the girls a bunch of bows that they made at Skyler's shower... Halee loves them... Skyler, not to fond of stuff on her head...
Are these girls wonderful or what?
Love these girls!!!!

Sleepover at Granny and Gramps

Last weekend the kids had their first sleepover at Granny and Gramps house and they just can't seem to stop talking about it... They did all sorts of fun things...

When they arrived at Granny and Gramps house they had mini banana splits... What a treat!!!

Gramps set up the tent for them in one of the spare bedrooms with a TV all set up to watch Dora...

Dora in the Dark :)...
Hanging out in the tent...
Gramps shared his flashlights...
Getting sleepy....
For breakfast Granny and Gramps took them to to IHOP and they ate a "boat load" of pancakes!!!

When I ask Siah about the sleepover he keeps telling me, "Me's talk in the tent at Granny's house... Me's no talk in my bed at me's house!!" He cracks me up... He's so into details... sometimes I think he knows our house rules better than I do... When we wake up in the morning almost everyday he tells me, " Siah be kind to me's sister... Siah obey Mommy... "how do me obey?"... Quickly and joyfully".

(When the kids are are having trouble obeying we ask them two questions... Question 1 "How do we obey?" Then they say, "Quickly and joyfully." Question 2 "Why do we obey?" Then they say, "Because we love God."... And when they are unkind (or anyone of us is unkind to anyone) they have "to make it right" with each other by doing three things... First we say, "I'm sorry that (whatever we did specifically to the other person), then we have to ask forgiveness, then we give each other a hug and say, "i love you." ... We do this EVERY single time there is unkindness going on in our home!!! With a 2 &3 year old around you might imagine we spend A LOT of our day "making it right" with each other :)

Siah TOTALLY knows what's expected of him :)... He doesn't always follow through in his actions with what he knows in his head... If he did I think his name just might be Jesus!!! Don't we all often know the right thing to say or do yet sometimes find ourselves doing the exact opposite??? My children are teaching me so much :) And I love it!!!

Thanks Granny and Gramps for having so much fun with the kiddos... they just love you guys to pieces!!!

Soaking It All In...

Joey and I have been reading these articles about raising boys on this really awesome website that my friend Heidi shared with me ... nogreaterjoy.org .... they have hundreds of articles on training up children ... Every few days we read a new article and try to soak up some ideas of things that we can do to pour out Christ's love over our kiddos...



One of the ideas that we have soaked up is actually extremely simple... it's simply including the kids in the things that we are already doing as a means of teaching them how to do new things, to show them how things work, and to help them develop new skills... It's not a new idea but it has been a helpful reminder to us of how the simple things really bless our kids...

So this weekend our friend Mark came over with his RV and Joey and Mark took Josiah out with them ALL day... Joey had Siah bring out his own "play tools".... He told Siah what each tool was and what it was used for.... During the times that Siah couldn't really do what Joey was doing Joey would set Siah up with a job right next to him; something that he could do (or at least pretend to do :)... There was some erosion on the battery so Joey took a soda and had Josiah pour it over the battery so that he could see how the soda takes the erosion right off the battery... Josiah soaked it all up!!!! He told me about his day with Papa all night!!! That's one of the ways that I can tell when Josiah has had a good time doing something or is excited about something... He becomes a MAJOR chatter box! :)

I love watching my boys... I'm so thankful that Joey is so involved with our kids lives... Not just in the things that they do but in the matters of their hearts...
Blessing upon blessing...

Cheap And Cheezy Mega Date Night

Joey and I try to make an effort to go out AT LEAST once a month without the kids just to have fun and catch up with each other... this month though we spiced it up a little and invited some couples from church to join us on a MEGA DATE NIGHT!!! The economy these days has been encouraging the bulk of us to save our pennies... so we decided to make it super cheap and super fun!!!! The "Cheap and Cheezy" plan brought us all to Chic Fil A for dinner then headed over to the bowling ally for some "disco bowling." Just to add to the fun we all dressed up in 70's attire! It was a total blast!! Thanks (to all who were able to make it) for being such fun friends!!!

Here's Everybody...

The Couples...

Erika and Shane...
Me and my man... Yes... I have a wig on!!!!
Carly and Matt...
Check out these shorts!!!! (above) Are those legal in the State of CA?????

Dave and Krista...
Joey, Mark, and Matt dancing under the disco lights....
Dave and Heidi....
Adam and Tara... Congrats guys on your sweet baby on the way!!!
Russel and Kelsy...
John and Milly...
Do you like our pants???? Joey is wearing MY pants!!!!! Check out Joey's crazy side burns!!! can you believe how big my hair is??? And what's up with the pink bell bottoms??? :) Soo FUN!!!
Here's some of the girls when we first met up at Chic Fil A...
Here's some of the guys....
Mark and Beth... also expecting a new little guy very soon... :) Hooray!!!
Ryan and Pam....

We may be moving up in years on the outside... but on the inside we still think we're 20 :)... I wonder if we'll ever grow up... I kinda hope not... at least not when it comes to friends and fellowship... Thanks for the laughter and the fun!!!!
The Grand Finale... what disco night is complete
without... yep, you guessed it... Y M C A!!!!!!

Please don't be to jealous of our moves!!!!!!!

San Diego In The Fall

I love San Diego in the Fall...

It cools off to a brisk 75 degrees... There's a whopping two clouds in the sky...

The kids get to play with the "ten" leaves that have fallen from the tree in our front yard... :)

But seriously... Fall has to be one of my favorite times a year... School starts (We are starting some home school, preschool projects with Siah and Hal... It's only been a few weeks and Siah knows almost all of his capital letters and their sounds; way to go little buddy :) ...

I love the Fall... The Holidays are just around the corner... I love the family traditions that we have... I love Halloween; going to "Nates Butt Farm" (Actually it's really called "Bates Nut Farm" but somehow we have managed to come up with our own title :)... I love getting dressed up and going to Jim and Mo's for their annual Halloween Party... I love Thanksgiving; I love reflecting with the kids about all the things that we have to be grateful for, our Savior, our family, our friends, each other...

I love the Fall... I love buying warm sweaters for the whole family and eating treats in our back yard by our little chiminea (our mini outdoor fire pit that we bargained for on our way home from Mexico a few years back)...
I love the Fall... I love making our home a haven for Joey and the kids... I love making hearty soups and baking little treats here and there... I love lighting yummy scented candles special for each season (pumpkin pie is my favorite one for the Fall :)
I love the Fall... I love that Halee and Siah like to wear their boots... truth be told, they like to wear their boots and beanies in the middle of summer just as well as in the Fall... They don't really change the things they enjoy in accordance with the seasons which works out perfect since we live in San Diego and it's 75 degrees today with a whopping two clouds in the sky and ten leaves on the ground...

I love San Diego in the Fall...

She's gonna be a great mom

Breakfast together...

Hal and Skyler are two little peas in a pod... This past week Halee has been helping Mommy out and doing one of Skyler's feedings each day... She's AWESOME... she even stops to burp her (like every minute or so, but that's ok, it's the fact that she even does it that makes me smile :) And the crazy part is that Skyler totally follows Halee's lead... and she doesn't even get upset and the fact that it takes her twice as long to eat when Hal feeds her :) What a great little helper... I love Hal's heart towards her sister... It's genuine, innocent, and soo naturally sweet!!!!!

Flying

We have these most wonderful friends, Anna and Bobby, and Bobby's birthday was this week... So Anna and I thought that we should take our men down to the Glide Port in La Jolla so that they could go hang gliding... Joey called just before we went to make sure that there was enough wind to hang glide... She said there was enough to either hang glide or para glide (Joey wanted to hang glide) ... Then the lady asked how much Joey weighed and he told her and then she said straight up, "well then, you'll be para gliding!!!" And of course Joey replies with, "So you're sayin I'm fat?"
It was hilareous... so when Bobby showed up, Joey had to break the news that they were both to heavy to hang glide... They concluded that Hang gliding could probably only be for horse jockeys and girls! :)

And man... do these photos capture the moment or what? Just look reaaaaalllllly closely... Joey is one of the two black dots on each photo... :) Oh well, thank goodness for memories made in our hearts right?????

Happy birthday boys!!!!! Thanks for a lot laughs, catching up on each others lives, good conversation... and as always... fabulous food and fellowship!!!! (After flying we went to a fabulous little Mexican joint in Del Mar, En Fuego! Delicioso!!!!)

In My 2 & 3 Year Old's World

I love my 2 & 3 year old's world...

In their world
Dora is the coolest thing since sliced bread...

In their world...
I know everything and everyone... When we stop at a stop light they ask me who's in the car next to us... When we are checking out at the store they ask me who is checking us out...

In their world...
Two word phrases make up an entire joke... The latest joke... "Elephant Wax"... yep, that's the whole joke... they crack themselves up... Josiah will say, "Poodle breath," and him and Hal will burst into laughter... (the funny part for me; he doesn't even know what a poodle is... When I asked him if he knew he said, "ya, it a funny joke."... So cute :)...

In their world...
They take two naps a day... the first nap is in the middle of "light time, when it's still sun out." The second "nap" they call "the long nap, in the night time."

In their world...
They're totally into having "favorite" friends... Their favorite friend changes on a daily basis... and it's usually someone waaaayyy older than they are!

In their world...
The Chic-Fil-A cow is really scary...

In their world...
The older one talks in the third person and the little one... well... we're not even sure if she speaks English... Some of our conversations go like this... Hal, "I wa woowe ease"... Mommy, "what"... Hal again, more slowly and a little bit louder, "I waaaa wooooowee eaaase"... Mommy, "Sorry Hal, could you say it one more time"... Hal, now at high volume... "I WAAA WOOOOWEEE EAAAAASE!!"... Mommy, "oh, you want a cookie please?"... Hal, "Yem, Ease" (translation... "Yes Please")

In their world...
Their Papa can fix anything... (actually that's true in the real world too :) Whenever something breaks and Papa is at work they tell me, "It ok Mama, Papa fix it when he get home."... They don't even want me to try to fix it :)... I guess I've proven that I'm not the best fixer... :)

In their world...
They know that they are loved... Everyday I scoop them up into my arms and ask them "do you know how much I love you?" And they giggle and say, "Ya, me's knows you love me!"

So sweet are these days...

There's No Place Like Home...

We got home last night and it was a sweet reunion.... after nearly two weeks away from their Papa the kids were (to say the least) ECSTATIC about seeing him... Siah couldn't wipe the smile off his face the whole night... He talked nonstop to Joey until we put him to bed... Joey said that the kids all grew up a little bit to him... Siah sounded older in the way that he talked, Halee looked taller... and Skyler, well she was just all around different!!!

As for me I just wanted to tackle the boy when I got off the plane but I contained myself and settled for a huge drawn out hug... I wanted him to never let go!!!! We were able to really catch up after we put the kids to bed... It feels sooooo good to be back in our house... Skyler did great last night and I woke up feeling so refreshed!!!

I'm off to unpack... the kids jumped right into their regular routine... wake up, eat breakfast, and play, play, play...

I love vacation but I sure do love home!!!!