Road Trip!

Oma and I had the opportunity to take the girls to the Monterey Bay Aquarium in January for one of their homeschool days. They set up special exhibits and hands on stuff for the kids on those days, and the best part is it's absolutely free! They have so much more to see than than they did when Mark and I went on our one year anniversary. It was a VERY long day but well worth it. And I am so grateful that Oma was able to join us, there's no way I would have been able to make that drive by myself. The kids were so good that I promised them we'd try to find a beach to play at afterwards. It was gorgeous, while I detest sand I find the ocean itself so very calming and beautiful. Glad we were able to share this special day together.

 I LOVE this picture! There was a really cool alcove the kids could sit in while an artificial wave washed over the glass. They loved it!

 Elise was running in slow motion so I could take a picture of her :)

 I'm the kind of mom that takes a picture of their kid falling in the waves before I help them up. Elise thought it was the coolest picture ever!

Chillaxin' watching the new TV

The girls thought it was so precious that they had a tiny dog that looked like Willow. They were pretending she had a baby.

Adorable giraffe pants and bow from Mattie for this sassy little girlie.

It's a Willow pillow. She just melted into this big stuffed horse.

Good Times

We were so excited to get to spend a day with Elise's birthmom, Mattie. The girls were spoiled with fun gifts and had a wonderful time playing. They had a blast and I now know where Elise gets her energy :) We went sledding and the mountains were beautiful with fresh snow to play in! We stopped in for dinner at Mels on our way back down the hill. The girls always order pancakes and Elise managed to squirt some "yellow syrup" on hers before we could stop her. We had told her it wouldn't be good on pancakes but she had to find out for herself, as usual :)

Elise Josephine

This girl has the special ability to make me want to pull my hair out one minute and then laugh uncontrollably the next. She is creative and resourceful. She has a little engineering brain like none I've ever seen before. She is tough as nails, empathetic, independent, and bouncier than a pinball. Everyday is a new adventure with her. And we'll love her forever.

Family Time

We had a really wonderful low-key Christmas this year. Mark and I pretty much gifted each other our new and improved house and I was perfectly content with that! The girls each got a few fun things under the tree but their big ticket item was a new trampoline, which ended up being kind of anticlimactic because it was too freezing cold to set it up Christmas eve. Mark and I put it together during Elise's nap on Christmas day. It was STILL freezing cold, but at least it wasn't dark. I finally wimped out at the end when I could no longer feel my fingers and went inside. Just when Mark was finishing up both of our phones went off with tornado warnings, TORNADO warnings!! He took cover with me inside just in time for a major hail storm to blow through. So needless to say the kids had to wait a day to play on their new toy.

 If we ever get her close enough to the water to need this it will be useful, her legs weren't made for swimmin'.

 Cool marble setup.