Ta dahhhhh!!

Chloe. She can be a handful sometimes. She has found my stash of sharpies and colored ALL over the place. Kevin, my most wonderfully brilliant husband, found on UTube a great tip. Hairspray! So, for all those who may have their own little devils that draw all over... try using Hairspray and a paper towel to get it out. TA DAHHH!! It works! Who'd have thought?

And one more makes 5

Well, believe it or not, we are pregnant! I still don't quite believe it and am hoping by announcing it that I can fully grasp the idea that I am pregnant... again. I swear, I feel like I just did this. Wait, I did just do this and still am. I go to the doctor to get the official due date after the new year, but figured my math (or rather guess) is pretty close to what he will say.

Are you laughing yet? I would be. Yes, if you did the math, Charlie and baby 3 will not even be 18 months apart. Let's just call this our Prop 8 baby. LOL...What better way to celebrate the passing of an amendment defining marriage between and a man and a woman than by a man and woman conceiving a child... as God intended. Well, that is that. I am now trying to plan and strategize how I will get anything done with three children - all 3 1/2 and younger. My life was crazy, it will be crazy still. Ahhh... welcome to eternity.

Wonder Woman

My mom is Wonder Woman.

Last week I started to feel really under the weather. My house was neglected, as was all grocery shopping. Sunday night I woke up and the room was spinning. Monday morning, I got up and almost fell over and threw up I was so dizzy. Kevin called my mom and she came to the rescue! She fed and clothed the girls and then proceeded to do about 5 loads of laundry (including folding and putting them away!), clean and mop my kitchen, do all the dishes, dust my house, clean a bathroom, clean and vacuum the girls' rooms, vacuum the rest of the house, go grocery shopping for me, and then make dinner! She did all of this while I was basically lying in bed or on the couch. I love my mom SO much. Not just because she came to my rescue, but because she is always there whenever I need help, or when anyone needs help. She is the BEST. I love you mom! Thanks for ALL your help.

Story Time

So, although I have TONS to update on, I have to drop this little post. Kevin left this afternoon to go to school to work on a group project. Chloe, of course, wanted to call him. She proceeded to call about three times...saying hello, saying I love you, etc. This last time she decided to put Kevin on speaker phone and start reading "Clifford the Big Red Dog." She loves her daddy and loves to keep him posted on everything she is doing and reading. Gosh, she is so cute and I love her!

Happy Birthday Kevin!

Today is Kevin's 28th birthday. I think he is beginning to sound older. :) This post is dedicated to the most wonderful, loving, impulsive, fun, crazy, full-of-energy dad and husband in the whole world. He truly is the best dad I have ever seen. He loves to play- really play, with the girls and I love it. He has enough energy for at least a dozen kids - not that we will have that many, but I know he could handle it. He is so hard working and never gives in. He amazes me with his work and school loads he manages to handle, all while helping with the housework and the girls- he even gets up at night if either of them are crying. He lets me sleep in. He makes me laugh. He still thinks I am a hot mama after two kids... rose colored glasses! He is the best thing that has happened to me and I am grateful for our beautiful daughters he has given us. Babe, you're the best and I love you. Happy Birthday Babe! Here's to many more to come. I love you!

Double Stroller

Okay, I just got my new double stroller and I LOVE IT! Granted, I have only used it once, but it rocks. It is SOO easy and light to push and the swivel wheel--- love it. I did a lot of research on line and asking some friends and felt this was the best stroller and the price was great (yeah EBAY!). It has just what I need and Chloe and Charlie love it. I am so excited to go running with it. The whole reason for getting the double jogging stroller is so I can start running again, but more specifically to run a half marathon and marathon. Ambitious? Yes. I am a little nervous about how my knee will hold up, but I have a date and 1/2 marathon already picked out: Napa 3/28/09 - a day after my 30th bday. It is enough time to get some serious training in while at the same time achieiving a goal on the big 3-0. Wish me luck! BTW- I DO love the color!

Schwinn Free Wheeler Double Jogging Stroller

Ummm....

Today is November 16, 2008 and it was 80 degrees. Ummm... where the heck is the cold, gosh, even cool, weather?

First Steps

Charlie has officially taken her first steps. Kevin swears that last Saturday night at a fireside she took 4 steps in the foyer, but since I didn't see it... it didn't happen. :) Thursday night, I officially saw her first steps. I can't believe she is going to be walking so soon! It won't be long before she is cruising right along Chloe. What a big girl!

The bait

I'm a big girl now!

Unfortunately, our VC is on the fritz, but we were able to get this little clip w/ our regular camera. Hooray for technology!

Beauty Parlor

Chloe LOVES everything girly. We often will play beauty parlor and do her hair and paint her nails. Today, she decided to play by herself when she should have been taking her nap. The only reason I can laugh at this: she didn't get any nail polish on the carpet. Phew!

She actually did a pretty good job... sort of

Look mom! Notice the polish all over her legs, hands, and the sheets!

Who am I?

It seems everywhere I turn, someone is always talking about this book series, "twilight." The only thing I know is it is a book series about vampires and love. I have still yet to read the Harry Potter series. Let's just say that I am not quick to jump on the band wagon when it comes to books and series. So, when I saw this post for like the 100th time, I thought, why not, who am I? Does this mean anything to me? Not really. But hey, everyone else is doing it. :)


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Backlash

Taken outside the LA Temple

I am saddened by the amount of attention - negative attention -the church has been receiving because the passing of Proposition 8. It is sad to see the the protesting outside our temples. It is said to hear we are bigots and haters. It is sad to know this battle was just one in the war. It is sad to think this particular battle is not over, but really, just getting started. My mom sent me an email from a friend with a quote from Elder Maxwell that sums up rather nicely the events in our time. This has nothing (directly) to do with Prop 8, but it is frightening sometimes the amount of insight these men have.

"Make no mistake about it, brothers and sisters, in the months and years ahead, events are likely to require each member to decide whether or not he will follow the First Presidency. Members will find it more difficult to halt longer between two opinions.
President Marion G. Romney said, many years ago, that he had 'never hesitated to follow the counsel of the Authorities of the Church even though it crossed my social, professional or political life.' "This is hard doctrine, but it is particularly vital doctrine in a society which is becoming more wicked. In short, brothers and sisters, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ includes not being ashamed of the prophets of Jesus Christ. . . .

Your discipleship may see the time when such religious convictions are discounted. . . . This new irreligious imperialism seeks to disallow certain opinions simply because those opinions grow out of religious convictions. "Resistance to abortion will be seen as primitive. Concern over the institution of the family will be viewed as untrendy and
unenlightened....Before the ultimate victory of the forces of righteousness, some skirmishes will be lost. Even in these, however, let us leave a record so that the choices are clear, letting others do as they will in the face of prophetic counsel. There will also be times, happily, when a minor defeat seems probable, but others will step forward, having been rallied to rightness by what we do. We will know the joy, on occasion, of
having awakened a slumbering majority of the decent people of all races and creeds which was, till then, unconscious of itself. Jesus said that when the fig trees put forth their leaves, 'summer is nigh.' Thus warned that summer is upon us, let us not then complain of the heat."

--- Elder Neal A. Maxwell

I love the last line - "Thus warned that summer is upon us, let us not then complain of the heat." Really, is there any better way to put what is and now upon us?

The Results are in...

YEAH! Prop 8 is done and overwith and we WON just barely! With a 4% lead over the opposition, I KNOW this is not even close to being over... perhaps, just a little break to regroup and take a breather before the next big push to protect the sanctity of marriage. If only the rest of the results were just as positive. I am not surprised the Obama won, but mostly interested as to see what "change" will actually happen. Whether we like it or not... change IS coming. I just hope it is what we hoped for... or rather what the majority of America hoped for. Whether we deserve it or not: God Bless America!

Play Doh

So, I was feeling a little crafty this morning and decided to make some Play Doh with Chloe. She got some at the trunk r treat and has been loving playing with it. So I decided, why not? Let's make more! I forgot how crusty your hands feel after making and playing with this stuff. At least it smells better than I remember. Enjoy!

Kool-Aid Play Doh:

1) Combine in a sauce pan: 1 C flour, 1 package of Kool-Aid, 1/4 C salt,

& 2 Tbls of Cream of Tartar

2) Add 1 Tbls vegetable oil and 1 C water and cook over medium heat until it forms a ball

3) Knead until you get the consistency you desire and know!

4) Whip out the cookie cutters and PLAY!!

Rainy Day

Chloe inherited some rain boots from some friends. She LOVES them. She has been wearing them for almost a year and finally fits in them. With this past rain storm, she was able to get on her gear and go out with dad. So cute!

Daddy's Little Girl

Charlie doesn't do this with me. She will cuddle up and lay her head on Kevin's shoulder, but not mine. It is absolutely adorable and I am totally jealous. She is getting so big, so fast.

Halloween Holidays...

So, this Halloween has been full of all kinds of activities-almost a full week's worth of activities. It has been so fun and Chloe actually gets it. I love this!

So, going backwards..... Tonight we went Trick or Treating. Despite the scattered sprinkles, it was pretty fun. We originally decided to only do our street, but ended up visiting some friends in the ward. Both girls did great and Chloe did pretty well at figuring out the whole door scene- complete with "trick or treat" and "thank you." These little ones sure do score big on the candy!

This picture was actually taken after dark, but our flash is way too good. The jack o' lantern looked great!

Earlier today we also went to a Halloween party. There were around 30 kids all dressed up and running around like crazy. It was fun to see some friends that aren't in our ward anymore, and those that still are. Chloe was pretty tired by the end of the day.

My tired little Lion

Talk about a FULL house. So many kids, so much fun!

Charlie is all over! She is practically walking and loving all the attention she gets.

This evening I also made some caramel apples. Those fancy ones with all the toppings and gooey goodness-- aren't as easy to make as I thought. They don't look too pretty, but sure were good. We ended up taking one to my visiting teachee who happens to be Chloe's nursery leader. Chloe was so happy to show off her costume. It was fun to have some adult time, too, this evening.

Not too pretty, but mighty tasty

On Wednesday, we went to Livermore for the city's halloween activities. We went with the Andrus cousins. They shut downtown and all the businesses open their doors for trick or treating. It was pretty impressive. Downtown was completely packed with kids of ALL ages in costumes going from store to store to get their candy. What a fun activity. I wish Pleasanton did that. Sadly, I forgot my camera on this night, too.

Last Saturday, we went to the pumpkin patch. We kept telling Chloe to pick a pumpkin, but she wouldn't! She said they were all too big for her. She wanted to find one small enough for her. Unfortunately, we never did and ended up picking up one for her. Sadly, the camera fell out of our bag before we left, so no pictures there. Chloe helped my carve the pumpkin this afternoon. She kept smelling it and saying, "mmmm... that's yummy."

Cleaning out the seeds

After the pumpkin patch last week was the Stake Carnival and Trunk or Treat. The stake did a FAB job on the entire activity. They had a cake walk, carnival games, hot dogs, a professional photographer, the works. It was so fun to see all the kids in their costumes playing the games. Charlie was "crawling" all over the floor and someone thought she was an actual cat before they really took a good look! Fun Night. We can't wait for next year!

My little kitty walking on all fours

Me and my kitty and lion

Daddy and his Cats!

Don and Karen (Kevin's parents) brought Luke and Jonah to the stake activity. Chloe sure loves her cousins! They all have so much fun together.

R&R

YEAHH!!! We survived! Most of you know that I work part-time from home. Usually, it is a nice break from mommy time and a blessing with the additional income. In August after we returned from Seattle, I came back to work to learn that 3 employees left. For our department, that was huge. What was even more crazy-they weren't going to replace them. So the remaining 8 of us had to pick up the slack and finish our remaining clients before the Oct. 15 tax extension deadline. So, for the past 8 weeks, I have been working like crazy, neglecting the housework, losing my temper, sleep, and patience, and driving Kevin crazy. BUT, that is all over now. I am coming out of my cave. We are finally enjoying a little R&R as a family and I can update our blog!

Last night Kevin decided he wanted to go hiking in Sunol. What a great idea. It was absolutely beautiful and we even chanced upon the "Cowboy Culture Festival." There were a bunch of cowboys, horses, cows, booths, etc. all set up at the park. We went hiking (not very far, granted) and then had some snacks and went around to the booths. We had Nolan with us and he and Chloe had a great time together. They are such good friends. They kept looking for tigers! It was so funny b/c they kept asking where they were. We had to keep reminding them there weren't tigers where we were, but we could possibly see more cows. It didn't work. They entire hike they kept roaring like tigers and calling out for them. They got to hand crank home made ice cream and best of all- make mop horses. It was so cute to see them walking together "riding" the horses we made. Everyone that saw them was ohhing and ahhing. Seriously, they were adorable.

Then, on a whim, because we can never seem to plan actual dates, we decided to go to the movies. We dropped off the girls at my parents and headed to the movies to see "Fireproof." I had seen a clip about this on good morning america. Kirk Cameron (I loved him in Growing Pains) is the star of this very wholesome, sends the right message movie. I was so excited to see that it was playing at our theater that we had to go. I think what intrigued me at first was on the interview clip Kirk was saying how he won't kiss any woman but his wife(!!!! What a man.) The kissing scene in the movie is actually his wife (his girl friend from Growing Pains) and that she was the double so he could keep his commitment to her. WHO DOES THAT?? I have to say, props to Kirk for being such a stud and husband. Anyway, this was a nice and lazy weekend for our family and we got some much needed R&R.

On the trail

Chloe was singing and hopping away... she sure loves to sing
Up close and personal

Hand-Cranked Ice Cream

Our little Cowboys

What a great view!
They are commonly mistaken as twins!

Tinkerbell

Tinkerbell is our beloved toothless cat. She is about 15 years old and is now too old to care if little kids pick her up. Tinkerbell has NEVER really let any child pet her, let alone pick her up, so when I saw this... I had to get it on film. Unfortunately, there isn't any sound b/c it is from the normal camera, but you get the idea....

Petting Zoo

A few weeks ago downtown was having some kind of fair. It seems like something is always going on. We decided to pack up the stroller and bjorn and go check it out. They had this little petting zoo, which for the most part, was pretty depressing. The animals looked totally scared and almost tortured by some of the overly eager children whose parents don't know how to tell children to be gentle to the animals. BUT, we did get some cute pictures. Really, that is all I wanted. Chloe loved the animals and was able to get up close and personal with them. She sure does love animals.

Markers...

Chloe loves my pens. At my desk, I have all my supplies for work. I have tried to keep the highlighters and sharpies out of her reach, but she knows exactly where to look and when to go for the kill. Her latest artwork:

Bath Time

Charlie is finally big enough to hold her own in the bath with Chloe. They are so cute together. The only real challenge is keeping Charlie from drinking the water. Charlie LOVES Chloe and laughs at Chloe whenever she does some trick. They really are too cute for words. Girls are the best!

I love this last one.. they were both laughing hysterically... you can kind of see their faces.. their laughs are soo cute!

Wahooo!

Well, I can't believe it, but it has been 4 years since Kevin proposed. Yesterday (September 26), marked the life changing day when I said yes. Kevin was originally going to ask me at the temple, but my roommate, Tami, thankfully informed him I was TOTALLY against the whole temple proposal. That day, Sunday, Kevin had the ring in his pocket all day at church and had even shown a few people the ring. He said he had this whole plan that he was working on, but the ring was apparently burning a hole in his pocket because he asked me that night! After dinner at my parents house we went on a walk in the green belt-- nothing out of the ordinary as we did this often. We sat down on a bench and a lady started trimming her hedges in the background and Kevin got all flustered and got up to walk again. I was oblivious this whole time. Then, right in the middle of the path he dropped on his knee and asked me. I was completely shocked! I eventually said yes and then went home to share the news! And the rest is history.

Mom took a picture after we broke the news!

The Perfect Day

Kevin has mocked me quite a few times whenever I mention my idea of a perfect day. He just doesn't understand what my life is like when he isn't around.... or even when he is! I have been thinking a lot about my perfect day this week as I have been totally exhausted from work, prop 8, and me and the girls being sick. As much as I want my perfect day, I don't see it happening anytime soon-mostly because it is so darn expensive.

1) My perfect day would actually start the night before with a full and uninterrupted night's sleep. No crying children and no bathroom trips (kevin or me) to wake my slumber.
2) head to the nail salon around the corner and get a full and complete luxury mani and pedi. total:$ 50
3) next.. it's off to another salon to get my 90 minute full body massage, followed by a trip to the chiropractor .... ahhh... $145 for the massage, $20 for the chiropractor
4) back to the salon to get a facial and my eye brows waxed. I have never had either and this seems like the perfect time to try both, after all, it is my perfect day. total: $150
5) go to another salon and get my hair colored and cut and my scalp massaged. total: $130
6) after my body has been rejuvinated, next comes my mind... off to the book store to actually purchase a book, not just browse. Get a hot choco (b/c of course this all happens on a cold day, right?), find a comfy chair, and enjoy some quiet, uninterrupted reading time. total: $15
7) go out w/ my personnal fashion consultant (my sister, b/c let's face it, I have no sense myself) and buy a new outfit.. the first one I try on because a) I hate to shop, and b) hellooo.. it is the perfect day, hence it only takes one shot to find an outfit. total: $50 (nothing too fancy)
8) Meet Kevin and go out to dinner at my favorite restaurant - Espetos, in the city. Followed by a cold stone ice cream. total: $115
9) back home to a clean house, all the laundry done, and the fridge stocked to enjoy another full night's sleep- uninterrupted.

I have thought about this a lot and I don't think I could add anything to it. Unfortunately, this perfect day comes w/ a hefty price tag ($675!!)... hence, I won't be experiencing this day anytime soon.... one day, though. One day.

Chloe's Milk

Chloe has seen my pumping milk for Charlotte. She has decided that she needs to get milk for her dolly. She insists on pumping her milk first and then I can go. Mommy and Charlie milk-- too funny.

Labor Day

This year we went to the pool for our holiday. Most of the cousins were there to enjoy a day in the sun. Unfortunately, it wasn't as hot as the preceding three days, but we still had a great time swimming in the pool and eating some dogs off the BBQ. Everyone got in the pool, even Charlie!