Hello again

It's been a while since I put anything up on here so I figure it's time. I haven't been taking as many pictures lately and have been behind on uploading them to my computer because it is so full! My hardrive is almost completely full of picture files, and even though I have them backed up on external drives -- I just have a hard time completely deleting them from my computer. I'm kind of paranoid about my pictures! :)

But... I deleted some and uploaded my most recent ones so I can share some of my cute girls over the last month or so. I was looking back through the blog with the girls the other day and having so much fun reminiscing so I figure I better get back to adding things to bring it up to date!

In random order beginning with my 3 going on 13 year old - the darling Sierra:

Here's Lily on "Frizzy Friday" as she decided to title one day 

she wanted to braid her hair to make it crimp like this.

I just love this daughter of mine!

Here's Sierra making a self portrait. So fun to see her artwork actually start to look like things!

In her ballerina dress from Christmas

Love those eyes!

Lily washing up some play dishes to use for a fun play date with a school friend. 

They made some fancy food for a little tea party and had a great time,

Sierra modeling chocolate ice cream, and a new outfit that she picked out the other day.

She was crying trying to decide between two "so cute" outfits at the store. It was ridiculous.

Lily has finally had her dream realized of having her own pair of overalls. She packed her lunch in this brown fabric sack instead of her usual thermal hello kitty zip lunchbox to be more like a country girl. She loves that she gets to match her doll, Lisa. As you can see Lamby is still number one with her too. She is rarely without him around the house.

A snapshot of Lily's 2nd grade valentines. The last couple of years she won't wait for me to get anything together and starts making valentines in January. She thinks of her favorite friends first and then they just get better as she goes - so often her favorite friends don't end up with the most beautiful Valentines. I just love all the creativity that went into these. She wrote something unique for each person and did different illustrations too.

Can you spot the Sunbeam in my CTR 6 class?

Can't believe how grown up my almost 4 year old looks.

Too bad she is having a tough time transitioning into her Sunbeam class.

We've been having quite a bit of drama around here lately.

But she's such a love at other times, I forgive her!

Love this photo. Lily is definitely a Daddy's girl!!

Just a cute ponytail day

One of the few fun indoor things to do in the winter here is going roller skating. We went as a family in January and we love that the place rents out these little walkers for the kids to learn with. I'm no pro myself, but did better than I ever have and made it all the way around without a walker and without falling! We all had fun and look forward to going again!

The cherry slush puppy made it all the more fun for these two sugar lovers :)

Love my family!!

Especially this guy :)

So thankful for all he does for me and for our family!

What's up

So I had a goal to do more and blog more, and things have been going pretty well. Part of my goal (inside my head) was to just be happy with what I did get done each day even if it wasn't as much as I'd hoped for. I have been trying to do at least one extra (non-basic) thing each day - though some of my non-basic things are probably other people's basic things...

I actually have been blogging more - I just haven't posted all that many. I have a hard time keeping things short - and sometimes as I start writing things and getting personal I have to think about what I really want to include for the public eye and what not to, or I just want to add some photos or more stories and don't have time to. So I have a few unpublished drafts.

Just wanted to do a quick (for me) update unpublished drafts aside. Some random things so I don't go overboard with it.

I've started exercising again! I'm using TV shows I can watch on my Ipod to motivate me - saving them up for when I'm riding the recumbent bike.

It seems like whenever I especially want to get more things done the thing I most need to do more is sleep. However, I think when I do get more sleep it actually helps me lose weight. Just need Sierra to consistently cooperate.

Sierra has passed the 9 month mark and I need to post some new pictures because I have some super cute ones! She has 6 teeth and is working on 7 - 10. Today I walked out of the living room for a second and when I came back in she was standing on top of a storage container of toys Mike sticks in front of a little decorative table of my parents in order to block her from it - hands up on the table to reach some books she wanted to eat. Man, she looked tall. They just grow faster, I think, the more kids you have. She still hasn't figured out that she could easily crawl under the ottoman that we use to block her in the front room, but unfortunately she is getting closer to learning how to crawl up and over it. She is so much more into everything than Lily was as a baby. I figured that would happen - though Lily is getting more into everything now!

Lily has been running a non-stop valentine shop for 3 days - making valentines for friends and family. She couldn't wait for me to help. She is so excited for tomorrow. We're spending the day as a family and planning to use our passes to go to the zoo. Mike has been working so hard trying to launch his new career - like all day every day...he is either working at it or thinking about it - it will be nice to have a day just to think about our family and have some fun!

Lily got to a hard spot in the reading lessons we have been doing. Not that the material was that much harder, maybe just a little monotonous. She's been having a hard time staying focused on her lessons so much that they started to take about 4 times as long as they should with us all getting way too frustrated. I really didn't want to give up on them when she hadn't finished them all and she was so close to getting her promised reward, but I seriously considered it. I don't want to make reading something she dreads - though with her love for library books I doubt that will really happen once she gets more proficient. We tried different unsuccessful methods of motivating her, and then switched things up by alternating days with some math lessons too. Finally I figured out just reformatting the lesson in the book on a piece of paper so it didn't have all the instructions for the parent and it looked shorter, and skipping some of the repetitiveness has helped her get though it much better. I've also learned a few techniques in the way I talk to her about it that help her get back on track. If I can just remember what worked and what didn't :) I think she will make it through the end and get her trip to the movies. And she's gotten better at counting and recognizing numbers - she no longer skips 15!

So we're plugging along, thoughts of Kindergarten looming on the horizon. Getting used to being a family of four and trying to get used to new responsibilities and make new routines. Oh, life! I am so glad for silly little holidays that mean so much to kids and the kid in me and remind us to do a little something extra fancy and fun now and again. Hope you all have a lovely Valentine's!

Still kicking!

Written last night - I just had to finish adding the pictures. I haven't been feeling like posting most of the time because it's just too uncomfortable to sit in my little folding chair at my fold out computer desk and I don't exactly have a lap for my laptop right now - so I've hardly even been turning on my computer these days. Plus all my energy has been going into growing a baby and taking care of the little girl I still think of as my baby - though she is growing up so fast it constantly catches me off guard. Here are some recent pictures of my little lady that I love. 

I have this one as my desktop wallpaper right now

She is gone to the hardware store and the bookstore with her dad right now so I thought I'd take some time sitting at the softer kitchen table chairs to write a little update. We'll see how far I get...

Still 2 and a half months (~10 weeks) to go before baby Sierra is born, and I am counting the days! I so wish I could fast forward through the next two months and just be holding my little baby in my arms right now! I am looking forward to meeting her, and having my body back to myself - sort of... Not that you ever are all to yourself again once you are a mom, especially when you are nursing! But I think it is preferable - as interesting and amazing as it is to have a little person growing inside you and wiggling and kicking...there comes a point where you've had enough. I'm hanging in there, but my back is so sore, and I wake up in the night to make myself turn over because apparently I need a conscious effort to roll the weight of my tummy from my left side to my right. And by the time I wake up to do it my body is so stiff and sore I can't help but cry out from pain as I make the transition. Before I even lay down at night I just sit there for a minute as if 'I'm not really sure I want to do this..' 

I feel like my belly got bigger a lot faster this pregnancy, but I found a picture of myself last time at the same stage and it looked pretty big at this point when I was carrying Lily too. Maybe it was just a more sudden change this time. Maybe it's just harder because I'm older.

29 weeks - last time I just happened to be turning 29 at the same time.

I think I felt a lot better at this stage last time, but it's hard to remember. I do know by the end of my pregnancy with Lily - which went about 10 days late - I was not sleeping, having chest pain and trouble breathing and my body was going numb if I laid down. Since my back feels so bad already this time - I really hope the time left just flies by, and that this little girl is not so content as Lily was to just stay where she is. I would be thrilled to have her come a few days early! We'll see how lucky I get :)

February has been a good month. There have been better and worse days of course, but we have made some good memories. Lily was so excited about Valentine's day (obviously since she was preparing for it in January) And though we didn't do anything major or extremely romantic it felt like we drew out our little celebrations of love over several just nice days. I love Valentine's Day - not for cheap stuffed animals or overpriced flowers, but just because I think it makes us a little more aware of expressing love to each other. We made even more valentine cards for our Grandmas who live far away with hand-print hearts and this cute picture of Lily playing in her ballet dress. 

We planned dinner and a movie rental with our friends Mikey and Apryl for Wednesday, but it just so happened that Mike had Monday off, or got done early - so after Lily's little Valentine celebration that morning at preschool we had a nice day out as a family winding up with dinner at Red Robin on a gift card we had. I am always happy not to have to cook, and it's even better when we don't even have to pay for it! 

Lily at preschool with her Valentine bag - she had to wear her tutu that morning!

Lily with Miss Ginny her preschool teacher

A Valentine Lily made at preschool for our family - the Sweetheart hearts on either side are one for mom, one for dad, and the heart with the face in the middle is for Lily's baby sister - the other ones are for all of us to share :)

Lily with her preschool valentines this year

Mike had a job Tuesday morning (the actual Valentine's day), but he had bought Lily and I each a little gift and had me open mine before he left. Then as I was making a little video of Lily opening hers so Mike could see how she liked it - he walked in the door from a last minute cancellation and got to see for himself! It was kind of a bummer about the cancellation, but I was thrilled to see him and get to spend another day together! Lily got some mini La La Loopsy dolls which she loves and some M&M's. (The pictures I took of Mike and Lily playing with them were all blurry.) Mike got me my favorite chocolate truffles and the new Taylor Swift CD. I hardly ever even think to turn on music myself, and have never been a country music fan, but Mike knew that I was kind of intrigued by Taylor Swift from a show I saw about her. I absolutely love the CD - it was such a good gift! I need to turn on music more because it just brought such an upbeat romantic feel to the day. Mike danced me around the room to it pregnant belly and all, and we've been listening to it a lot since. The other day I had to laugh out loud to hear Lily and Mike playing legos together and Lily singing along in her cute little voice: "Someday... I'll be... livin' in a big ole' city!" Especially since at one time it was Yo Gabba Gabba or nothing! Seriously - she was like a little music Nazi. I am definitely a Taylor Swift fan now - what a beautiful talented girl - her videos are really great too. I must confess I am a girly girl at heart and love to watch cheesy romantic movies with happy endings (though not trashy ones and I'm not into romance novels!). Her songs tell stories and are real and romantic so that's right up my alley. I got Lily and Mike the soundtrack from Despicable Me to try to broaden Lily's musical horizons, so even though there are more grown up songs she loves it because it is Despicable Me and "the music my mom bought for me!" She is so cute dancing around and singing: "I'm having a bad, bad day..." with her hand on her hip and this little swagger in her step. 

I almost forgot, we also caught a movie that Friday as a family - which is always a treat for us. We saw The Secret World of Arrietty - it was really good, though a little scary to Lily (though the movie treats make up for it to her). We love Hayao Myazaki movies - he had a hand in this one, and it was as beautifully done as the others we've seen. It was such a nice week just enjoying spending time together. It's so refreshing to do nice little things with and for each other that we don't do every day. 

That's probably enough for one blog post so I'll save some of my other thoughts for another time. I think I hear Mike and Lily at the door. Oh! - gotta go read her new Pinkalicious book with her! It has paper dolls, and a fold out poster, and stickers!!! She's so excited! What a cutie :)

Feelin' the Love

Lily was ready to make Valentines several weeks ago. She loves to do 'projects' with her mom. And since I am not always as creative with project ideas for a 3 year old as I should be - we've been ready for Valentine's Day since about the middle of January... At least we have the valentines ready to give to Lily's preschool class plus a couple friends - I only had 20 lollipops. And while we were in the valentine mood we peeled and shaved some old crayons to make wax paper hearts for a banner. The valentines ended up taking way longer than I expected them to, like such projects always do - so the banner did not get finished the same day. I hung it in our window a few days later and have been enjoying how it catches the sun. A Martha Stewart idea from way back.

I guess I should take some photos of the valentines as well. I tried to have Lily contribute as much as I could and still have them turn out cute. Lily colored construction paper and helped me with the crayons, and I cut out the pieces for the cards during her nap so she could help me glue them, and made a place for her to sign her name. We did finish the same day at least. I was pretty impressed that she didn't get tired of signing her name so many times before we were done. (I was totally expecting her to stop halfway through and say "This is bor-n!")

A sample of Lily's Valentines

the flip side

This just shows how lazy I am getting that I didn't take them out the bag and lay them all out to take a picture. 

...but this gives you an idea of the stack we made, and how many times Lily stuck to writing her name!
I was impressed with her :)

They turned out pretty cute I think, nothing amazing - but more importantly Lily helped make them! (It's not like the preschoolers are going to treasure them forever or something!) I sometimes have a hard time figuring out just how much Lily can help before she gets tired of it loses interest, or I get tired of it and take over. It's tough for the perfectionist in me to let go and just let Lily do things sometimes - so I wasn't too worried about making 'the perfect' valentines this year. I'm learning!

Lovely memories with my Valentine's

We didn't really plan it that way, but Valentine's weekend turned out to be one long celebration this year! Friday was a fun and relaxing evening at home, and then Saturday we drove out to Julian, a little old mining town not too far from us that likes to revel in the past. We didn't plan that as part of Valentines - we'd just never been there before and had been wanting to check it out and just do something different, because too many weekends are just spent taking care of business and shopping. Yuck. Well, Julian is kind of a shopping town - neat little shops, and is famous for pies - apple pies, and we don't really like them...but we had fun together anyway! 

I didn't think we were buying too much candy at the old fashioned candy store, but we did. Don't go to Bailey's Barbecue for good BBQ, do go to the Miner's Diner for fries and shakes, and the only remaining old-fashioned soda fountain in the US, or so they claim. Miner's Diner - claim - I didn't even plan that! Yes, you may roll your eyes at me.

Anyway, it wasn't Disneyland, but it was an interesting day. It was worth the donation to go to the local pioneer museum and take a step back in time for a couple of hours. It was kind of surreal driving back to the 'modern world' or 'the concrete jungle' or whatever you want to call the difference between this little rural old-fashioned place and our little corner of suburban San Diego. Oh, how my soul longs for a simple country life! --I'm just not sure how I would really like it once I got it. There is something to be said for close proximity to a variety of shopping, entertainment, health care options, the list goes on... There is also something beautiful about a well planned and maintained part of a city as well. --I still want a little land about me, and my very own backyard clothesline with no homeowner's association crying foul! I just don't know if or how I will ever get it.  >>Sigh<<  Regardless of where you live or would like to live, I think it's good to go someplace different every now and then. It opens your eyes to different ways to live and gives you fresh perspective. But back to the real point of this post...

After we got back from Julian Saturday we headed over to my sister's to babysit her two kids so they could go out for Valentine's. We were pooped, and mostly let the kids entertain themselves. Sunday after church my mom invited all the family over for a yummy dinner. Talking, eating, cousins running wild. Then came Monday. Mike took the day off to take Lily and I out for a special date. We went to the New Children's Museum downtown. What a fun place! We were there for about 4 hours. Probably the most fun thing was painting the big sculptures outside. I think as long as any children's museum has a place to go wild with a giant paintbrush like that - it will be a hit with the kids. There were many good photo opportunities, and I was armed with my pocket camera so be prepared for a slew of photos!

The orange fish and the turtle are ours

Seriously long paintbrush

Lily kept turning around with it fully extended. We kept fearing she would swipe another kid.

Painting together!

 

Mike's UFO and my valentine

Lily's short lived attempt at rock climbing

She was interested in watching Daddy.

 

One of those sweet perspective photos to remember how small she was...

Until Dad gets carried off in a swirling vortex and Lily is left in tears!

Luckily they both ended up in a magical rainbow tunnel

Mom decided to bounce in too!

 

A little blurry, but sweet. We need more photos of her and I.

This girl would not agree to smile.

I look doofy, but at least Lily is smiling!

A final stop at the swings before heading to lunch!

Lily was wiped out after all that fun! She totally slept through our awesome lunch at Lucha Libre. I love that place! Delicious chicken mole burrito and salsa bar. And the Mexican wrestling theme makes it pretty fun. They were all decked out for Valentine's day. I mean, really! Someone spent a lot of time cutting out all those paper hearts and placing them just right! They go for the details there, and it shows. 

I guess since Lily was asleep though the whole lunch - Mike and I technically got a date on our own! ...Is that pathetic? We have left her to go out on occasion, but rarely. Oh well, Valentine's is about celebrating love, and I believe family love is the best kind. Once you've got that commitment to face together all the good and bad life will throw at you - then is when you experience true love! Love this quote a friend posted on her blog. Love these photos of Lily loving Lamby - still sleeping through the drive home.