Potty Training

Well, it's that time again. Potty training is my least favorite part of raising young children but the outcome (no more diapers!) is well worth it. Addison has shown interest for the past month or so and so I decided that when were got back from Yosemite I would dive into the world of potty training. She has done so well. By the second day, she had no accidents!

She LOVES her big girl panties. She was hating diapers which I think has helped her be so successful.

Our Yosemite Trip

We just spent all week in Yosemite National Park. It was SO pretty there. It was so much fun taking pictures of the beautiful surrounding. My entire family went: my parents, my brother Bryan and his family, Jeremy and his family, and us. It was very nice to spend a whole week together as a family. We really enjoyed it and the kids had a blast.

I took so many pictures. These are just a few of my favorites.

We drove through the mountain tunnel and came out to this view. It was breath taking!
My parents with all the grandkids.

I think one of my most favorite parts of Yosemite was the Redwood trees. They were amazing! The picture above has fire damage that burned through the entire tree. The hole is big enough for a pick-up truck to drive through! Below is the California Redwood tree. It was so cool walking through it!

These trees are humongous!!!! So beautiful.

My two awsome big brothers!

Carissa and her "best friend," Kira. They were so cute together, side by side all week long!

I couldn't help posting this picture. I was taking her picture before we left to drive home and she thought I was done and started singing. I just think she looks cute!

Carissa & Addison's Birthday Party

This year we decided to have a combined birthday party for the girls. We had a "beach" theme pool party at my mother-in-law's house. Both sides of the family came and we all had a great time.

Here are all the cousins. What a cute bunch of kids!

My big four year old.

Addison will be 2 on August 17th. I can't believe it!

The party favors we gave out were small buckets with shovels. We filled them with candy (which I am sure their parents loved). They were a hit with the kids.

Downtown Disney

My whole family is in town right now and we decided to go have lunch and walk around Downtown Disney. There sure is a lot of us! It was pretty warm but the worst part was that it was really humid. We had fun hanging out together. The kids really love it when they are all together. They play so well with each other.

We walked around and went into some shops. The Disney store there is HUGE. My dad put on the hat to be funny and so I had to take a picture of that!
Before we left, we had to get Benyas. (I have no idea how to spell that! BEN-yay-s) Basically it is fried bread with powdered sugar on them. They were really good!
You can't really see it, but Carissa was covered in powdered sugar. She was in heaven!

Camden Jay

I just felt like taking a moment to share some pictures of my little boy. I guess I am just having a hard time with the fact that he starts school in a few weeks. Time flies when you are having fun, right? We are excited about Kindergarten, though, because we have decided to enroll Camden in a charter school. This means that he will attend class two days a week and Mike and I will homeschool him the other three days. We felt that this was right for us for now. We will see how it all goes. He seems to be really excited too. I just can't believe that he is old enough to be in elementary school!

Fireworks!

This 4th of July, we went over to Mike's brother's house in Redlands. They live right next to the University of Redlands, where they put on a great show. We were able to see the awesome planes and parachuters as well as the fireworks show. We had decided to try and get a little closer, so we walked across the street and layed out our blanket on the corner of the school on a patch of grass. Right in the middle of the fireworks, we hear "pisssssst".........and then the sprinklers came on. It was pretty funny. We moved pretty fast so we weren't that wet. We just moved over into the parking lot and finished watching the show. We had a great time.

The kids were able to do some sparklers before the show started. This was Addison's first time with them. She seemed to like it after she did her first one.



My kids had fun playing with their cousins and the other kids that were there. They ate to their hearts content and I think we all had a nice 4th of July!

Having Fun with my Camera!

We were at my mother-in-law's house and I was having fun with my camera. I got some fun shots of Camden jumping off Mike's shoulders. Just thought I would share them with you!

Our Art Project

This is a great book for kids (and adults!) I decided to have a little art project to go along with it. The kids love to paint so we painted our own versions of the Rainbow Fish.

Camden loves art projects and did an excellent job. Maybe he will be an artist someday (much safer then a police officer!)

Carissa did great! She has started really trying to color and paint actual pictures instead of scribbles.

The kids wanted me to paint with them and I had fun with it too. They were so sweet....they kept praising me and complementing me on my picture.

What do you do when it is too hot to do anything?

Well....I don't really have a good answer to that but here are some things my kids found to do while being kept hostage in our house.

Addison LOVES to color. She will just pull out the crayons and paper and lay down and color for quite a while (which is something for a 22 month old!)

Camden was so bored that he went out and got the microscope and started putting all kinds of things under the lens. Some of the things I saw him put under were chips, a white napkin and a penny. Hey, it was entertainment, right?

Carissa got Mike to play The Crazy Mixed Up Zoo game with her. In fact, we have played a lot of games today because as of right now, it is 107 degrees outside. Needless to say....thank goodness for air conditioning!!!!

To My Hubby on Father's Day

Mike is the best father my kids could ever ask for. He plays with them ALL the time. The minute he awakes, they are asking him to play. He is so involved in every aspect of their life and I must say, it is nice knowing that he loves my kids in the exact way that I do. It makes it easy to tell him all the little stuff they do that I think is cute and knowing that he can appreciate it as much as I do! Does that make any sense? He is amazing. He helps me out a LOT! He knows that I would go insane without him. He keeps me strong and makes me laugh every chance he can. He is calm and never in a bad mood. He is loyal and loving. He is my best friend.

Happy Father's Day to the man of my dreams. I love you honey!