Freddie's Birthday Weekend

Check out what our little man got to make at Lowe's this morning...they could not have had a better project for his birthday weekend!!

Karyl and her Locks of Love

Karyl's hair is long....REALLY long. Long enough that it gets food and other sticky things in it constantly and I'm kinda tired of trying to untangle Rapunzel's hair every morning.

SOOOOO...we talked about cutting it. Not just trimming it like we've done before, but cutting it. Not just cutting it, but cutting LOTS of it off and donating it to Locks of Love. 

I discussed it with Greg before bringing it up to Karyl and he was OK with it as long as she was. So I sat her down and told her what Locks of Love was and what would happen to her hair. I really thought she wasn't going to want to do it and that I'd have to somehow bribe/coerce/otherwise trick her into doing it, but she was totally cool with it. She absolutely LOVED the idea that another little girl will get to have hair that her mommy could brush and put curlers in and enjoy. So, once she was on board I called our good friend Claire who works at an absolutely adorable salon in San Juan Capistrano called W Salon Studio and we made a date to chop off get her hair cut.

That brings us to today!! We took lots of pictures of her hair before and headed over to the salon. Karyl had been looking forward to this for a while and was always asking when she was going to get to donate her hair. I have to admit, I was a little nervous. This is my first little girl...it took her 4 years to grow that beautiful head of blonde hair. I was worried about what she was going to look like with it short, would she still look like Karyl?? But I put on a happy face and we drive down there.

Once we were there everyone was so sweet and Claire made sure to tell everyone that Karyl was there to donate her hair. All the other stylists were so sweet and made sure to make her feel special and tell her how awesome she was for sharing her beautiful hair.

The time came...she climbed into the chair, ponytails were made, and the scissors came out.

She cut one ponytail...then the other...

Then she took Karyl over to have her hair washed and she finished cutting it and making it cute, and the end result was so much more amazing than I eve could have imagined!!

She LOVED it!! And it seriously made her look SO MUCH older!! It totally changed her look, but for the better. Before she was cute, now she was absolutely gorgeous - and all the stylists made sure to let her know how pretty she looked with her new haircut!!

Then we packed up the ponytails and headed back to send them in. Some little girl is going to fall in love with this hair!!

Then, a few months later we got the sweetest postcard from Locks of Love, thanking Karyl by name for her donation. It also explained what they did with the hair and why her donation was so important.  She LOVED it re-read that postcard tons of times. 

Overall, it was an amazing experience and she has already talked about growing her hair out again and doing it all over - except this time she asked me if I would do it too...I told her I would try. Anyone who knew me in my younger years knows that I've had long hair all my life and I'm finally seeing the merits of shorter, more manageable hair...so we'll see if I can stand to let it go long again. 

I'm so proud of her for her donation and for being so excited to serve others, people she will never know. That's my girl!!

Happy Valentine's Day

Daddy brought these home the night before Valentine's Day....which means they have had some time to bloom, and aren't they large and gorgeous? Even Karyl's hot pink rose is pretty! Daddy spoils us!

To be a big sister

Karyl has been an amazing helper today and is doing an amazing job keeping Nicole happy and occupied. What an amazing big sister! You should she the huge smile Nicole has and hear the happy noises she is making!

Rare moment

It's a rare moment when I get to enjoy a sleeping cutie in my arms....I am loving every second of this. Sadly I have to go put her down so I can get back to real life. Until next time my sweet little girl.

Park fun

Today we decided to head to the park to burn off some energy...I got some weird looks from people pushing the double stroller and having Nicole in the chest carrier. Oh well, I'm used to weird looks :) The kids are having a blast!

Awwww...

This was the conversation between Freddie and I on the way home from dropping K off at the Learning Center this morning....
F: HEY! Mom, I forget my girl!
Me: Your what?
F: My girl, you know her, my Karyl.
Me: We didn't forget K, we dropped her off for her classes...we'll go pick her up again in 3 hours.
F: But I miss her.
Me: I'm sorry bud, but we'll see her again in a few hours...do you want to play when we get home?
F: Can we play Cars?
Me: Sure.
F: OK, I guess I can miss her while we play Cars, thanks mommy.

You have to appreciate the complexity of their little brains...:)

Happy Birthday Uncle David!

Epicosity!

Merry Christmas!!

Anyone else trying to make dough rise this morning??

Who loves the Holidays?

Batch #1 of 3 different types of cookies....oh the deliciousness!

Our new obsession...

Munzee...a 21st century scavenger hunt.

Greg got us to #19 worldwide for yesterday!

Check out the website to read more about it...Munzee website

A little something to make you smile...

Watch "Tickle Me Freddie - Ep. 2" on YouTube

You'll be glad you did...

Trunk or Treat

This year we decided to head to OC and go trunk or treating with Grandpa and the Grandmas....

The kids were loving their costumes...Karyl of course loved the fairy theme, and Freddie loved his red racing team outfit (he thought he was Lightening McQueen and who were we to crush his dreams??).

Even Nicole got in on the Halloween festivities with her pumpkin outfit...luckily she is so tiny that this 0-3 month costume still had plenty of wiggle room!!!

This was the best I could do as far as a group photo...Have you ever tried to get 3 kids to stand together for a picture, they NEVER all look at the camera at the same time!!

Grandma and Grandpa won the best decorated trunk award...there are even spider webs on the side of the car with big plastic spider. The kids loved helping decorate and it was fun to be festive!!

Had to get a back shot of Karyl's costume...she loved the wings!!

Finally, he poses...quick - bring the camera!!!  This costume had a cute red hat but Freddie's head was too big for it!! He's got a oval shaped head like Daddy that is too big for most headwear geared towards his age.  After his surgery there appears to be plenty of room for his brains to grow, so big head = success in my books!!

They were playing Charlie Brown's "The Great Pumpkin" and Freddie decided to sit and watch it...I swear, he is just the cutest thing.  He is by far my favorite son!!! Despite his wild testosterone fueled craziness I swear he melts my heart with his blond hair, blue eyes and his "please mommy."

The kids had a blast Trunk or Treating and are excited to do the real thing on Monday!!! I swear, I may be slightly biased but we have the best 3 kids in the world!!!



Happy Birthday Karyl!!!!

We had planned to visit Disneyland on Monday, October 17 to celebrate Karyl's birthday, but Freddie got really sick that morning and we had to postpone the outing until this past Tuesday, October 25.

Lucky for us the weather had been nice and cool, and even a little wet the night before...we love visiting Disneyland when it's slightly overcast and cool!!

We had fun, the kids had fun...it was just a win-win situation!!

The kids rode the Storybook ride for the very first time....Karyl has been asking to go on "the whale ride" for a while, but the line is always long....and we have an aversion to long lines.

They even let her sit on the front of the boat - she loved that!!

We also rode the teacups, which I swear is one of Karyl's favorite rides...makes sense because despite what people think, it's one of mine too. I always have a baby strapped to me though when going on it so I can never spin the things as much as I want to!! This time we decided to be gender discriminatory and the boys had to ride in their own teacup!!

On Karyl's birthday Grandma and Grandpa brought her a cake, and we gave her our present that Greg brilliantly came up with.  This camera was actually exchanged the next day for a little better one, but the digital camera idea was amazing!! She carries her camera everywhere and is always snapping pictures of EVERYTHING!!!

Then, the Saturday after her birthday, October 22, we celebrated with our family. That morning Karyl got super sick, but managed to be feeling a lot better by that night - she caught whatever Freddie had so was feeling fine in the afternoon and just had to stay away from some of the heavier birthday foods!!

If you have kids, check out Nick Jr.'s website...they have everything imaginable to print out for your kids from coloring sheets to entire party packs!! We had a Milli themed party (she is a character from the show Team Umizoomi) and Karyl loved it!! These flowers were supposed to be on lollipop sticks, but I liked the thumbtack in the pencil version much better...and Karyl loved them!!

They even had this banner to print out!!

This was priceless...Uncle Glen and Aunt Dyanna got Karyl a fossil discovery kit where you dig through the sand to find fossil pieces, then put them together.  She opened up the present, got one good look and yelled out "It's a paleontologist kit!!!" Yes, that's right, unprompted and all on her own she blurted that out. Everyone got silent for a split second and looked at us like "what did she just say??" That's my girl!!

She also won't put down the purse that her aunties gave her.  Not only is it her all time favorite color, but it matches her mommy and Auntie's purses. If you ever want a giggle, ask her to see what's in there any given day...it's hilarious to tell her to pack up her purse and then look and see what she felt needed to be taken with us that day.

We had lots of fun celebrating her birthday!! It was unfortunate that everyone got sick, but the timing worked out perfectly that at least she could mostly enjoy her birthday dinner, and we were able to show her just how special she is and how blessed we were to bring her into our family 5 years ago!! Can you believe it?? We have a 5 year old!!

Just for posterity's sake...here are a few of the amazing things our big girl is up to...

*She loves her ballet class

*She can count to 100 with no help

*She is 2 chapters away from being done with her Kindergarten Math...and we're only 2-1/2 months into the semester!!

*She LOVES school and every day asks me if we can do more school work

*She can read any CVC book (consanant - vowel - consanant)

*She loves books and is constantly asking to read!!

*She can write and spell most 3 letter CVC words.

*She apparently knows what a paleontologist is and what they do!!

*She is in love with her baby sister, I mean completely smitten!! Those two will be best friends as Nicole gets older!

*She loves her Learning Center classes, especially Digging for Dinosaurs!

*She is constantly making Freddie scream - she tries to help him but he wants to do things on his own. They love each other, but the sibling rivalry has already begun!!

Oh Karyl - what would we do without you in our lives!!

Disneyland!!!

Last Thursday we decided to take advantage of the lovely weather we've been having and head to Disneyland...

We packed up lunches for the kids and they loved it!! They were excited to use their Tinkerbell and Cars lunchboxes we got a few months ago!!

We went on their favorite ride - the Merry-Go-Round.

We met our friend Claire and her son Jaxson there and the boys had a blast goofing off together! Don't they look like they could be related?? Oh wait, they are!!

I'm starting to like my mostly permanent place on the bench when we ride the Carousel - Nicole was such a sweetie and stayed asleep when I got her out of the stroller!!

Who doesn't love some snuggle time with the baby??? Isn't she just too much cute all squished into a tiny package?!?!

This pic is strictly for Claire...she knows why =)



See, the cuteness is just too much!! I wish I had another picture of her in the sun so you could really see and appreciate her flowing red locks!!