California Fun

Tahoe!

When I drive to California, usually I just drive straight to my parent's house with stops only being at gas stations where you fill up, go to the bathroom & grab something to eat. This trip we decided to stay over in Tahoe to break it up a little. Who would have thought that I'd leave Idaho to go to Sunny California only to be snowed in. Crazy since we barely had any snow this year and whatever we did get melted in 2-3 days. We met my parents, sister, brother & his wife at my Grandma's cabin and had lots of fun. I've always loved Tahoe it's so peaceful and relaxing not to mention such beautiful scenery. 

 Science Museum in San Francisco with Cindi, Grandma Too & Tessa.
This is the coolest place. It has a rain forest, aquarium, planetarium all in one place. Allie absolutely loves going there and is still telling everyone she got to see a white alligator named Claude. She's also forgotten about the 2 hours of sitting in traffic trying to get home (that was just how long it took to get out of the city). It probably helped that she fell asleep for most of it after a long fun filled day.

Picnics at the Park

It's so nice to visit and have fun with family. Allie loved being able to spend time with her California cousins as she calls them. I also got to visit with one of my friends while Allie played with her nephew at another park. It was nice being able to catch up with her. I didn't get any pictures that day must have been to busy talking :)  Thanks Tansy for the blanket and clothes for the kids they were much appreciated and will be well used.

  

Beach Day!

Allan flew in Friday night and then Saturday the family went to the beach. Allie has been talking about going back to the beach since we moved out of California and for some reason we just haven't gone back on our visits so we made sure to do that this time. It was such a beautiful day. We couldn't have had better beach weather.  We wanted to see some tide pools but unfortunately the tide was a little to high. I don't think the kids cared they had  fun playing in the sand and water. Thanks Kim for being a good sport and letting me play around with my camera to get some preggo photos of you can't wait to meet your little guy!

 

Easter

Started the day with the traditional finding the basket the Easter bunny hid and then I was trying to take some pictures of my kids but it was not working out so well. Oh well maybe some day I will be able to get a decent picture of the two together. We got to visit with some family friends, then went to church, came home to pack up our stuff for our trip back home the following day and spent the rest of the day at Grandma Too's house for Easter dinner and egg hunt. I found the winning egg for the adult egg hunt. It was a very nice gift card for outback steakhouse so Allan and I will have to find a time to go use that for a date. Woo Hoo! Sorry Galen.. I broke your winning streak! (He has found the winning egg for several years now)

It was a very fun trip and I loved getting to see and visit with family and friends. I will have to catch up with others I didn't get to see on our next trip out there. For now it's nice to be back home in my bed with our regular routine. (something about babies and routines and when you don't follow them you better watch out)

Spring is in the air

I have been loving the "sprinter" as my sister calls it. We actually had some flowers bloom already that is until Allie and her friends decided to pick them and scatter them across the yard. The bees have been buzzing all around them so I thought I'd play around with the camera.

Oh the joys of teething

Teething makes for a very sad (cranky whatever you want to call it) and tired little boy.

This poor little giraffe sure takes a beating during the day!

Oh Boy!

6 months

Our "little" guy is already 6 months. How can that be? He is such a happy baby who absolutely loves his big sister. Every time he sees her he gives a great big smile. He loves to play with her hair and watch her dance. Allie finally has a willing audience for her dance shows. I love going into his room in the morning when he is singing away to get him and when he sees me he gets a big grin. You know those big grins when their whole body wiggles with excitement yeah those kind of grins and it just makes my morning... even if it does happen to be earlier than I would like some mornings. It's funny to hear him sing in such a soft high voice when normally it's very deep and grunt like.

At his 6 month appointment he weighed 20 lbs. 4oz. was 28.5 inches tall. That's the 91% for weight and 96% for height. His head was 98% so for the most part a well proportioned big boy!

oh the joys of having an older sister to dress you up. Sorry buddy.

We finally had snow that stuck together long enough to make a snowman which Allie has been dying to do. We got it made then sadly the next morning all the snow had melted and the poor little snow man was small small small.

not 1, not 2 but 3 birthday parties= a tired mom and a happy 5 year old

The festivities began with a "friend party" which consisted of Allie inviting her 2 little friends over to decorate sugar cookies. They made princess hats and had a birthday smoothie pretty low key but they had fun wearing their hats and pretending to be princesses.

Party #2 was a birthday dinner on her actual birthday with Grandma & Grandpa, Uncle Greggy & Uncle " Raf ". We had spent saturday at Grandma's and Grandpa's and didn't make it back in time before the store closed. Thankfully Grandma had some macaroni noodles to save the day because you can't have Allie's birthday dinner without "little macaroni & cheese" (the homemade kind).

Party #3 was the big one. It was strawberry shortcake and just in case anyone is wondering there are not very many good ideas for games to go along with strawberry shortcake. I made some felt strawberries and played toss the strawberries into the basket, stick the strawberry sticker on strawberry shortcake, and then I had different fruits (lemons, oranges, strawberries, raspberries and blueberries) they had to close their eyes while I handed them a piece of fruit which they had to taste and then say which of strawberry's friends would like that fruit. We also found some fun little figurines for them to paint (not strawberry related but still fun).

The following day Allie started in on next year for my birthday... I stopped her right there and said you can wait a while before we start planning for next year.

Happy 5th Birthday Allie!

How can you possibly be 5 years old already. It seems like it was just yesterday that you were born, but now you are so excited to go to Kindergarten in the Fall. You are such a smart little girl and have such a special spirit (even if you do keep us on our toes sometimes). I have loved being able to stay home with you and watching you grow. Always remember "you are my sunshine". I love you so much. Love, Mom