1st Pool Day

We had our first pool day of many to come this summer. It was Jared's first time hanging out in the pool and he loved it! He was pretty good about me dunking him in the water too. Lana loves the pool as well but she's still a "clinger," I have to work on getting her more confident about swimming. Alyssa, Davina, Starlet and Shawn joined the kids for a swim. At home Jared got stuck in the stroller. (a few times)

My kids...

(that's strawberries all over Jared)

Here and There

Here are some pictures of things here and there for the last week or so. Mom was here, we met up with my beautiful and talented cousin Jacosa (it was way too long since we've seen each other)and lots of trips to the park. Mat, Jared and I went to a Lakers game (they lost)and we didn't really take any good pictures except for this one of Jared. Hopefully I'll be better with pictures in the future. Sometimes I wish I could hire a photographer 24/7 to document our life. I'm looking forward to the summer: Barkers are coming, trips to the beach, Family Reunion, Census will be over, Jared's 1st birthday. Oh boy.

Happy 4th Birthday, Lana!

Lana has some great friends who helped to make her special day really wonderful. First of all, "Grandma from Kansas" came to visit and I don't know who was more thrilled about that- me or Lana! I love my mom so much and had a fun time with her. (She just left today and that stinks.)

Shana and her mom had a little birthday playdate at Gummi the Bear and made Lana feel like a princess for sure. Thanks Maiko!!! You're the best! Jared had a fun time too- he got to crawl around a little to get his wiggles out and took a nap with Grandma.

For Lana's birthday she wanted a "Princess and the Frog" birthday which turned out more like a pink and green theme in the end. haha. The Princess and the Frog cake kinda saved the day and made her happy. It was a crazy day for mommy but Lana enjoyed it and had fun with her friends (minus a pinata meltdown which is to be expected I guess). I have another whole year to forget the stress and sweat that went into this and fool myself into doing another one of these parties. It WAS fun to do something that Lana had anticipated for such a long time and for her to be old enough to brainstorm about some things and help to prep for the party.

I can't imagine life without my little firecracker of a daughter and love her so much. She brings more meaning and happiness in my life and I hope that I can just enjoy every moment that I can with her. Happy 4th Birthday Lana!

Ladybugs, Hugs, Blimp, Lunch and Vampire Scare?

What random pictures, huh?! Just across the street from our house is a treasure trove of ladybugs! We've taken quite a few little trips out there to see how many we can find. Lana loves trying to get them to crawl on her hand and finally succeeded!



Jared is always getting these AWESOME hugs from his big sister. They just love each other- Lana loves playing with Jared and Jared just cracks up at all her silliness.



We were really excited for Mat to ride on the GoodYear Blimp for work related reasons, but alas, it was too windy that day so the ride got canceled. We ended up with this cute picture of Mat and his creative pose. Oh, by the way- Don't forget to fill out and send back your Census 2010 forms!



Another day, we picked Mat up for lunch and this is how happy Jared was to see Daddy!





Lana has been jumping out from behind doors, the kitchen, blankets, etc to scare me. It really works and she's getting better at it. The other day she found these vampire teeth from Halloween, jumped out from behind the door and she scared the you-know-what out of me! Mat and I both know exactly where she gets this sneaky/cheeky side- ME! And we know where I get it from- MY MOM! And we know where she gets it from- MY GRANDMA! We come from a long line of pranksters apparently. I can't wait to explain April Fools Day to Lana. I think she'll get it this year. hehe. Watch out everyone!

Last week

Here are some pictures of our happenings last week. We took the kids to this carnival and Lana was so excited. This is the two of them right before we got there- totally passed out and squished together in the stroller!

Lana is keeping up with her photography and took this picture of me and Mat.

Chubby Jared in the bath. I should have put a before and after picture so you could see how dirty he can get while eating his food. But then again, maybe it's nice of me to spare you that sight!

Two seconds before this picture, Lana was asking me to read her a book and then I walked around from the kitchen to read to her and this is what I found!

Jared is crawling and leaving a trail of destruction in his path. I'll have to look in my archives of pictures because I think that I have this exact same picture of Lana getting into our DVDs when she started crawling. So funny.

Week Before Last

Well, here are some pictures that illustrates a few things from the week before last. The first is a picture of the hairstyle that Lana specifically requested. She wanted all those accessories in all those exact places. With two braids connected. She has a few different inspirations but regularly requests to make her hair like "Shana" (her cute friend from school).


We've had ottoman hanging around our house for the longest time that I've been meaning to toss. It comes in handy for things like jumping off of it to reach unimaginable heights, making tents on rainy days, playing board games while sitting on the floor, etc. So, for all those important reasons, I thought it would be a good idea to just cover it. My friend (insert shout out to Jackie here) suggested I just use a staple gun instead of sewing a cover. That made my life so much easier. So: thanks to Nala for helping me figure out how I'd cover it and Kristine for lending me her staple gun (with bullets!!! haha) Anyway, I don't think the cover will last too long, but it's much nicer to look at for the time being.

Those tights Lana's wearing are an ESSENTIAL part of her wardrobe. She wears them with LOTS of outfits. That explains why there are huge holes in them and it also explains why I made an attempt to patch them. Yes I did. The patch lasted the whole day. The pants are now in the trash.

And here's a picture of Lana kissing Jared. We just love that little guy. Can't help it.