Mothers Day LOVE

 First of all, Happy Mothers Day to Janet (in Spain!), Grandma Lois, Granny, Val...all our moms! 

I can't express enough gratefullness to all you have done. Every time I feel overwhelmed, or overwhelmed by love, or confused or excited about my kids, missing them, celebrating in them, I think of you four, how you have felt this with Ryan and I,  and your own kids over the years, how we are  your kids, how we don't express our thankfullness and how much we love you enough. Thank you. We really do love you so so much.

This Mothers Day, we got all dressed to go to church and then were running around crazily to get out, little D. was asleep, and as we stared at him, we decided to let him sleep and just relax. We headed out to the back yard and watched the kids scream in happiness as they fell out of, swung around and climbed the  hammock, Ryan and I sat in some adorondack chairs wiht our cups of coffee, laughing at our crazy/rough n tumble/kiddos, listened to the birds and enjoyed a quiet morning outdoors, talking and dreaming together. Eventually the kids made their way down to us and decided to make some artwork on the cement.  

Kaila drew a picture of me, meticulously drawing my necklace, church shoes, hair, smile, then she wanted to write "mommy." She was so studious and serious, catching each detail. It was beautiful!

Josiah started asking Ryan about a few letters, "daddy, what comes after 'S' 'I'..." Thinking he wanted to write a single word, Ryan asked what he was trying to write....Can you read it?

 

...Josiah wanted to write "Sinceitsmothers     dayIwantedtogive youhundredsof    kisses" 

Kaila did this at her preschool, it is absolutely priceless!

                                                     

 ...and of course theres this little guy who I absolutely adore. He crawls like a champ, says "mama" (especially when he's mad, sad, or tired; ) and smiles All-The-Time.

Birthday whirl wind

I made mole! It takes forever but hey, any chance I get to sneak chocolate into food I take! 

 

Ryan and I both had birthdays, May 2nd and May 4th. Lest you think they passed unnoticed, think again. If there is an occasion to celebrate we/I cant let it pass by unnoticed. For Ryan's birthday we were camping in Plaskett Creek, he went on a great bike ride on the Big Sur coastline, I made him a good breakfast and we camped with a bunch of old-time friends! He lounged at the campsite, relaxed and got to talk with good friends and family all day. ;)

 For my birthday, Ryan made me a special breakfast and went to work late so I could sleep in and go on a run, then that evening my sweet friend Jaime watched my kiddos so I could go "re-connect" with myself. I went and got an iced latte, listened to Zumba fitness radio and cruised the northern-central coast in our camper van until I found a wild, deep, exciting new surf break. I wanted a spot that was reminescent of the wild big sur coast, without the sharks and equally aggressive hoards of shortboarders. I met some friendly surfers in the parking lot who showed me out to the new break and I caught a few great lefts. Afterwards I went to bible study where we had drinks, snacks and hot-tubbed together to celebrate. It was awesome.

This was a video of Ryan and Donovan, but I don;t think its going to work.

Daily Desk Calendar

For a few years now I've wanted to develop a daily desk calendar, along the lines of The New Yorker or the Jeff Foxworthy "You might be a redneck if..." type.  Since it's who we are and what we know, our version would be "You might be a yuppie redneck if..." 

I've got some ideas, such as:

1. ...you've ever had to turn down the volume on Waylon because the Starbucks barista couldn't hear your order.

2. ...You've ever had to turn down the volume on NPR because you just pulled into the gun range parking lot and you're just plain scared.

3. ...You've ever tracked chicken poo through all the way to your desk at your white-collar engineering job.

4. I believe the following qualifies:

Super-Hero in Training

It happened! Our littlest superman has officially started crawling! He woke up one morning, confusingly rolling and meandering around on the rug. He went down for his nap that afternoon, woke up, and BAM he knew how to crawl! We put him on the rug after his nap, he spotted something he wanted and he just up and army crawled...to put it in his mouth.

No corner is safe. He's all over the room!

 

My (super)- hero

My little super-hero, he bravely goes where no 4 1/2 year old (that we know) has ever gone before!!!

Two days before this he watched the nurse poke two long needles in his thigh without crying at all, boldly setting an example for his little sister, merely stating that "it hurt a little more than last time.."

 

Then,  in this picture, after watching me get my teeth cleaned, our little man climbed up on his own chair and willingly got a dental scrub down.

My hero. xoxox

Baby Girl

The grocery store today:

She points to a princess crown and excitedly says "mommy can i have that for my birthday!?"

"yes."

Points to a Frozen picture on a juice carton "mommy can I have that for my birthday!?"

"yes."

Points to a package of candy "mommy can I have that for my birthday!?"

"yes, just remind me."

Points to an expensive package of berries "mommy can I have that for my birthday?!"

"yes"

Points to the raw green beans "Mommy can I have these for my birthday!?" 

"yes"

Points to a jar of green olives (which she has never tasted before) "Mommy can I have these for my birthday?!"

"yes"

Points to a gigantic bag of marshmellows "Mommy, can I have these for my birthday?!"
"yes.'

All I can say is that we are in big trouble next November.

How cute is that baby!?