memorial day

we shared such a fantastic day with our red devil friends today, i am so thankful for that group of women and their children. they are all such a blessing on our life, each of them in a different and wonderful way.  and my son had the time of his life, playing and swimming and watching it all happen. and ladies - to all of you who helped cuddle/wrangle/supervise both of my children throughout the day, thank you! i loved being able to play in the pool with petey without worrying about sweet baby betsy and i loved being able to snuggle betsy knowing petey was in good hands. you are all wonderful aunties to my children - and the time with my great gals was a great boost to my spirits! love you, friends!
***to my hubby, i hope you will share this link with the guys so they can see some pics from back home - we were missing you all today! luckily we had a token guy there, the rehms were there so we had someone to do our grilling for us!***

poor ryan and jen freezing after they got out of the pool.

petey loves evelyn's dog.....

we had such a blast in the pool - this kid is a fish! he was in HEAVEN today. we will be here a lot over the summer, i have a feeling. thanks, jen!

the super-petey beach towel from aunt ellyn was a big hit at the party today. :)

she loves her daddy!

loved eating the corn off the cobb - can't wait til we're in illinois where he can get the best sweet corn on earth in a few weeks!

simple things

the pace is frantic and things are chaotic - in the very best and most expected way a house with two children under the age of 2 can be - but there are some simple things that i am making time for, making space in our daily "normal" for that are grounding me and bringing such joy and peace to my heart. i can't explain it. i never would have imagined these things would be special to me. that these things would do the trick for putting calm in my day and a smile on my soul. but they are and i'm grateful to have them.

our weekly saturday morning visit to the poway farmers market is such a joy. even when it feels like it takes forever to get out the door and by the time we make the rounds and wave to the train at the park nearby its time to go back home for lunch and nursing and the next bit of our normal.....but while we are there, everything feels right. we smile at people and wave at dogs and sample the fare and buy up a big beautiful bag of produce for the week.  the weather is perfect, the flowers are beautiful and my entire outlook on the world changes while we're there.

gardening, even if right now that really only means watering the garden once a day and ignoring it the rest of the time, that one moment a day when i go visit my little growing garden with my boy is such a blessing.  we stop everything and get a chance to explore and play. pete loves it, especially when its hot and he gets misted with the overspray. so much fun to see his face light up when i tell him its time to water the garden!

the transition to cloth diapering has been awesome. i was terrified but the moment i started using them i noticed something shift and i feel soooo good about my decision to switch.  petey is still in disposable until we use up a few more but this week he'll be switched over as well.  i feel good about putting these soft little diapers on betsy's bum. i feel good that i'm not throwing them away each time she makes a mess.  i love my little diaper sprayer (that i proudly attached to the toilet tank fill line all by myself). i love hanging the diapers on the line to dry. the entire process, although it takes some time and attention is wonderfully therapeutic and makes me feel so good.  its strange to say but hanging those diapers puts a great deal of calm into my day. i love looking out the window and seeing them there in the sun.

ooh - and there's my beautiful compost bin the corner of the photo. i love that thing and everything it represents. i love that reid built it for me. i love that i am reducing waste and creating beautiful soil to add to future gardens. i love that my children will know all of these things as a part of their normal.

betsy loves to play

i finally got my act together and got out the little play mat that petey loved so much as an infant.  it may only be used for awhile during pete's naptime to protect miss betsy from flying trains and hot wheels cars but she definitely enjoyed having interesting things to look at....

on the way

one of the gals sent me this picture (that her husband sent to her) of reid and his buddies dining in spain on the way to where he is now.  it really brightened my day to see his smiling face enjoying his time out in the big world. i can't wait to hear all the stories that go along with the photos...hoping he has more photos to share.

lady bug's first bath

i have been putting it off. because doing it made me finally swallow the truth that 7 months is a long time ... too long to wait to give her a first bath with reid home to help. so we did it today, with aunt shannon around to take pictures and videos for daddy to enjoy from afar. boy, do we miss him. so many times a day i think of him - all those little moments that you are enjoying and wishing he were there to share them with.  betsy is also wearing cloth diapers now.  she's in newborn kissaluv's, they are super adorable. however, she's grown A LOT since i ordered them.....so she will very soon be moving into her size small fuzzibunz.  i am quite certain she grew since yesterday, i can almost see it happen. anyway, she seemed to enjoy the bath. there was no fussing or squirming, just lying there with wide open eyes taking it all in.  who doesn't like having warm water poured on their skin?  thinking she is going to be a little fish just like her big brother - love that my kids love water!

we love you daddy - wish you were here.....we talked about you the whole bath.  betsy is looking forward to splashing you during bathtime when you get back! just think how big she'll be then. :)

so here is the kissaluv cloth diaper. nothing fancy, just soft fleece on her bum and snaps at the waist. they are already pretty tiny on her, she has grown so much! the photo below is the waterproof cover that goes over the diaper. super cute! can't wait to see petey running around in his cute little dipes!

we love carlsbad!

once again we loaded up our 3 kid circus and headed out the door to enjoy the beautiful san diego city we are blessled to live in.  we love having visitors - we always get out to see more of our city when our friends are in town!  today we visited carlsbad beach and our most favorite fish taco shack in the world - harbor fish cafe in carlsbad village.  the boys really enjoyed romping in the sand. they are both a bit shy when it comes to toeing up to the water's edge, but i'm hoping with lots of beach exposure this summer by the time fall arrives he'll be running along with toes in the foam.

betsy came along too, but as usual she snoozed the entire morning away, oblivious to it all.  i'm sure she enjoyed the sound of the ocean waves throughout her nap. 

tommy, of course, managed to locate a stick on the beach. the boy loves his sticks. he's been finding them in the backyard all week.  i think he looks like an extra from the harry potter movies, always carrying around a magic wand.

he was loving the freedom to play in the sand and get as dirty as possible - the beach is great like that. you are supposed to get sand in your pockets and in between your toes and probably in your ears too.  little boys love going places where they are required to get dirty.  and its lovely for us mommas to spend the morning NOT worrying about how dirty the boys were getting.

petey had quite the time playing with his truck in the sand....this is the first time he's let loose and actually played at the beach.  all our previous visits he's been too concerned about the incoming surf to pay much attention to the fun going on around him.  this time was different.  he drove his truck all over the sand, burying it under the sand, exclaiming "uh-oh" and then excavating the truck and starting over again....and yes, at one point he even decided to taste the sand, putting his face right down there and taking a nice big lick. i'm pretty sure he was disapointed with the flavor AND texture!

all about miss betsy

a few photos of my little lady at 3 weeks...not much smiling from her yet but she is having many more alert periods throughout the day.  we tried a little floor time with me hovering to protect her from flying choo-choo trains and petey came right in to check her out.  he's very gentle, for the most part, and likes to watch her.  every time she makes a fuss he repeatedly says "bebe....bebe....bebe" as though alerting me to the fact that she is unhappy.  if he finds her blanky or pacifier in the house, he picks it up, says "bebe, bebe, bebe" and runs at top speed to her to deliver her missing item.  he's such a sweet big brother and is transitioning better to his role.  we're still working on him not using me as a climbing device while nursing his sister, but we'll get there.

remember when petey looked like this???

some days are made for staying home
playing in the back yard
driving trucks for hours
tasting dirt just because its there
taking walks to the park
eating cookies with your favorite people
laying in the grass with the sun shining on your face
this was our today