last few days

kiwi crate from grandma nannen

finished product-so cute!

they found their snowman hats from christmas and were running around pretending to be snowmen and knocking each other over

he is starting to get super wiggly - his nap started out with his head up where his feet are now!

iwakuni at a glimpse

a friend of mine is already in japan...she posted this picture to facebook today. the boy is hers, but that's not the point of the picture - it looks like we may actually have a tiny little fenced in space of grass to call our own. that made my heart SING this morning!

deployment survival 101

well, we are missing our daddies more and more every day. so a momma friend of mine and i have teamed up to make friday nights a little more enjoyable. last week was a pizza and ice cream party. courtney is a wonderful hostess-with 4 boys of her own, she just opens her house up and lets everyone play to their hearts content. i adore her laid back approach and i love that we all just laughed our way through the chaos. thank you for sharing your home with us, we can't wait to come back again! (i especially love going there as my children are suuuuper well behaved; they spend all their time exploring the awesome toys!)

lots of carrying around the dog's bowl of water

and eventually she gave it a try...ew!

8 kids and 3 mommas enjoying our ice cream treat

there were actually 10 kids there at one point when some neighbors came to play

peter, luke and betsy watching the movie

farewell to great grandma jam

i have loved LOVED having my grandma here for a visit this week. am so thrilled she decided to come out for a visit. we had such a grand time with her - the kids loved her stories and snuggles and train track building skills. it was just special to see them spending time with her. we can't wait to see her again in a few months in illinois. looking forward to a summer full of family!

friends

we went to our friends' school today for a fundraiser fun day - jump house heaven! peter and charlie jumped and jumped and jumped and wrestled and pounded on each other and it was perfect. betsy rode around on my back and ate a snow cone. she made a couple journeys through the bounce house maze but it was a pretty intense experience with kids coming behind her fast, i was worried she would get trampled so i was glad she didn't insist on doing it over and over. such a good time. and i loved seeing pete really connect and play with another kid - they were perfectly matched with their love of climbing and jumping and going fast while tumbling and pulling on each other.  after all the exhausted kids came down from their sugar highs and went to bed, we mommas went out for a lovely dinner together. am very much enjoying becoming friends and getting to know this wonderful woman who i already consider such a close friend. funny how sometimes you just know you're going to be good friends. so grateful.

at one point he crammed his hand into the back of his mouth and was whimpering about how his tongue was so cold....but then tossed back another mouthful of shaved ice. its just THAT good. :)  am fairly certain this is the most sugar he's ever had in one sitting. good thing he was working so hard in the bounce house.

poway community pool

after another hot morning at the park i decided we'd give the community pool a try - made possible by having a second adult here to hang out with curtis on the pool deck while i swam with our monkies.  we had a great time, but the temperature was only about 75 by the time we got there at 3:45. we had a good 45 minutes in the water and then the kids were shivering so we called it quits, but we did have a fabulously fun time together in the water! peter told me after swimming today that he can't wait to go swimming again with daddy at grandma camp. oh buddy, none of us can wait for that!!!

:) love these cuties...and laughing at myself and the classic "hide the baby fluff behind the beautiful kids" photo strategy

am so grateful my grandma took some pics with me IN them. :)

chilly beach day

today we had a lovely - but chilly - morning at the beach in carlsbad. we left our house with bright sunny skies and climbing temps and arrived to 60 degrees, overcast and a slight mist in the breeze. the kids enjoyed the sand anyway, and of course betsy went racing off to the water's edge as always. hesitant at first, she got braver as the tide came in stronger and eventually ended up parallel to the water with her face and tummy submerged, i grabbed her JUST in time. she got a little wet and sandy but nothing like it would have been had i not gotten her scooped up. amazing how much sand can get in you all your places in just one woosh of a wave, but she took it like a trooper and we bundled her up in the towel.  then we were off to the harbor fish cafe for our beloved fish tacos and the kids enjoyed a special treat - shared a hot cocoa to warm up a bit with their corn dogs. i will definitely miss our mornings at this lovely place but am so glad we've enjoyed so many days there together.

seaport village

finally the lady bug gets a spotlight post - seems like her brothers have been stealing the show lately. today during pete's school, great grandma jan and i took the littles down to sea port village (after swinging by the base to get some of our overseas screening paperwork turned in) to enjoy a beautiful morning before scampering back to pick up our big boy.  we thoroughly enjoyed watching some super sweet brown baby ducks swimming in the ponds, tossing pennies in the fountains, wandering the walkways and climbing up on the benches - the highlight for me was riding the beautiful, hand-carved wooden carousel (the horses even had real horse-hair tails-woa) with betsy and seeing the perma-grin on her face for the entire beautiful ride. she waved wildly to great grandma jan every time we circled past her and curtis waiting by the exit. the highlight for betsy may have been the visit we paid to the darling and delicious cupcake boutique. we each picked a pretty treat and then sat along the sea wall watching all sorts of boats go by as we ate our amazing snacks.  i must admit, i was feeling both grateful and guilty, sitting there with some of my favorite people in the whole world, perfect temperature, sun smiling down, flickering off the water, coronado bridge in the background, happy as a clam licking the whippy frosting from my fingertips.....and thinking about what life was probably like for my amazing, brave hubby in that same exact moment. if only i could click my heels and magic him home to us in blissful moments like those (of course i'd take him back home in the most chaotic of moments too, but he'd sure enjoy harbor-side cupcakes right about now). well, soon enough he'll be joining in all the magic (and the messy too!) but for now, i'm doing my best to keep some pictures coming your way. we love you, babe! xoxo
this afternoon even baxter got a dose of blissful play - we made it to the dog park!!!!
and for our evening fun, i taught grandma how to use my iPad. :) i love that one of the first things she wanted to know was how she could play solitaire. pete will have to show her how to play angry birds tomorrow. :)

cute cow bench outside the cupcake shop - after taking a seat, she shimmied up his back and rode him, hanging on to his horns with a grin. she's such a monkey!

happily licking the blue frosting from atop her chocolatey cupcake - then she got to the cupcake part. she knows her priorities.

cupcakes with great grandma jan - thanks for such a yummy treat!

watching the water traffic, she kept telling me there were fish down there. i had a feeling she was plotting a way to climb down the wall and rocks and take a swim. i love how adventurous she is and she doesn't let any challenge stop her from trying.

when we stopped to pick up pete his teacher asked if we'd come in - today was the first day he accomplished rolling up his work mat all by himself and after he had done so he told his teacher he wished his mom was there to see it because she would think it was really cool. so we all went in to see him perform his latest learned task - and great grandma got a tour of the school too. daddy - you are invited to spend a morning at the school when you get back, they said. :)

great grandma and sweet curtis - whoop whoop for starting a little double chin of chubby! love love love.  also, hip hip for him starting to have a long sleep in the evenings - is making that right-after-bedtime period of time sooooo much more productive for me. thanks little  buddy. xoxo

story time with grandma after big brother hit the hay. we have all been tired out at the end of our fun days with great grandma - but keep the fun coming! i love having her here with us.

awesome wednesday

we have been running around to appointments and errands for so many days now that the kids just haven't gotten to just run and play for too long now. i dedicated today to getting back to the fun life for them. we hit the park this morning, then enjoyed swim lessons and hung out mid-day. when everyone was up from naps, we hopped in the car and made a quick "to go" stop at baskin robins and then enjoyed the ice cream at the park before playing for a good bit. it was so refreshing for us to really just relax and play all day. am looking forward to more days like this as we enjoy our dwindling time here in san diego.
of course it was made all the more special with great grandma jan's company!

first time in his new BOB - he was loving it and i was so happy knowing he was comfortable, much more so than being toted around in those horrible baby car seats.

yes, he jumped...and he stuck the landing!

getting baxter some much needed exercise - and watching the guy with all the cool toy airplanes

looking for bunnies

climbing photo sequence to show you his fav trick at this park

when he gets to the top he says "ok, now get me down!" ha!

she is as much a monkey as he!

discovering rolly polies

their own personal air show. petey said we are buying daddy an airplane for christmas!

here momma, i found you a sunflower! :)