Lately

So here is just a little choppy snapshot of what we've been up to lately.

Andrew had a birthday.  

Looking very cute and very young :)

                                        

The Phelps came to visit.

We had our wonderful friends, the Phelps, visit us and it was 

sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 

awesome.

Amelia and Drew reunited after a year apart and it was just like old times:

- lots of nudity

 - complete disregard of personal space

- Lots of hugs

- Some crazy outfits

 - Cute smiles

 - Screaming

 - Laughter

 - And so much happiness!

 Come back soon Phelps!!

And then we had Halloween.  

Amelia told me she wanted to be a ghost this year.  I don't know where she got that idea, but she decided it weeks beforehand and stuck with it, so a ghost she was.  I love that she is starting to understand the holidays.

                                 

 I made her costume out of a pillow case and my awesome friend, Holly, cut the face out with her silhouette machine.  I thought she was the prettiest little ghost you ever did see.

                                         

                       

         

William got to be Superman because 1) someone gave him the costume 2) he isn't old enough to tell me he would rather be a ghost and 3) he looked so cute flying around the house in spandex and a cape

                              

                                               

And then we moved.

After months and months of house hunting drama, we finally bought a home in Santa Barbara.  We love it and feel so blessed and happy.

                               

 The kids were all out of sorts during all the packing and moving, but they did find time to giggle together in their homemade laundry basket bed

 Some quality daddy-daughter dress-up time, helped with the transition as well

Our first night in our new home we found this guy hanging out on our (very clean) living room window.  We love hearing the frog chorus at night.

 

 You know Amelia was really cranky and tired when she fell asleep in the middle of the kitchen floor.  Yeah, loved the tantrum that preceded that.

The kids love playing tag with dad in the back yard

And mowing the lawn might even be more fun than tag...

                              

Speaking of chores, our kids think vacuuming and washing the dishes are fun too.  We just put our feet up after dinner and let them go to work.

                                      

And then Mom and Dad came to visit.

And life was grand.

It is so hard having my family live so far away and it was heavenly having them here.

 They took even took out our toilet and washed it so our bathroom doesn't smell like pee anymore. 

We went to the zoo.

 We made Swiss Chard Gratin

 We went to the beach.

We had dance parties

 Dad taught William how to blow-dry his belly while saying, "Niiiiice."  Very helpful, dad, thanks.  He also taught him how to say, "Knock it off!"  Also super awesome.

 Mom got lots of help getting ready in the morning.  The make-up sessions usually ended with Amelia wearing mom's jewelry for the day and breaking it and mom having lotion applied to her arms and hair.

Dad helped me set up my Christmas decorations.  Happy Leon everybody.

I had a birthday.  I turned old.  But not as old as Andrew.

  Andrew picked me this rose from our backyard.

Well, and that in its choppy sort of way, is it for now folks.

We love Uncle Joe! And other randomness

Uncle Joe came to visit a few weeks ago and we loved having him!  Amelia was pretty much in heaven. 

Amelia's favorite request these days is, "Tell me a story!"  She asks me to tell her stories all day every day.  Sometimes I tell her ones like The Three Bears or Little Red Riding Hood and sometimes I make up something really creative about a princess named Amelia who learns to be nice to her brother (or some other moral I want her to start implementing) and sometimes I just say, "No!  My brain is going to explode if I have to tell another story!"

Uncle Joe brought the story-telling to a whole new level.  He told her about the time huge red fire ants bit him on the bum when he was going pee in the woods in Ecuador, and about the time he saw a shark and a whale while surfing, and about the time he knocked Andrew's teeth out in a pillow fight, and about the time Grandma won an essay contest and a trip to Hawaii for the whole family...He also made up stories about Uncle Joe the giant Cheeto-eating chicken...And the best part was he told her the stories again and again and again and again...I think he told the bum-biting ants story about 100 times over the week!  Oh, she was his little story-requesting shadow all week.

He also read her stories

And shared his special "Uncle Joe juice" (crystal light lemonade) which they chugged all week long

And his oatmeal

And he played in the sprinklers

And he danced and flipped these two kids all over the room

It took William a couple of days to warm up, but by the end he was all aboard the "Uncle Joe is Awesome train" :)

Do kids get any luckier than having an uncle like this come to visit?  I think not.  We love you Uncle Joe and hope you come visit again soon!



And, here are some random photos from our life these days.

Amelia making a bubble beard so she can look like Papa Checketts!

Playing in shaving cream in the backyard

Playing in mud in the backyard.  This is a daily occurrence at our house.  They love it and believe it or not, I love it too.  Sure, there is some muddy clean-up involved, but they are so happy (read: self-entertained and quiet) that it makes it so worth it!  Plus, I just read "Last Child in the Woods" so I pretty much feel like Super Mom for letting them do this :)  Highly, highly, highly recommend that book to any and every mom out there.  Such a good read that has enriched and changed my parenting and my life.

I even bought them a play kitchen at a garage sale to put in the mud so now they spend their days making mud pies and mud tea.  It is awesome.  And muddy.  And still awesome.

Sharing dad's oatmeal.  These two little munch mouths love food and if you try to eat when they are not, just expect to share.

Okay, this may be the most random thing that has happened in a while...We went to the beach with some friends and we buried Amelia in the sand.  She asked for a hat for her head....

And then to bury her arms...

And then she stayed here for at least 30 minutes!!  I kept asking her if she wanted to get out and she kept saying no.  We couldn't believe it, but it did make me think I need a sandbox in my backyard!  I can see it now, "Amelia, I need to make a phone call.  Go bury yourself in the sandbox."  :)



And to further horrify my mother in regards to how I let my daughter dress herself, here is a picture of her one Sunday morning.  It was 78 degrees that day yet she insisted on wearing the long-sleeve striped shirt, the white leggings, and the winter boots.  She got lots of compliments at church.

And, I did the worst job in the world taking pictures this year, but here are a few pictures from Amelia's 3rd birthday!  She is SUCH a fun 3 year old.  We love this little spunky, social, energetic girl so much.

This little boy is such a cutie.  I love watching him learn and grow and I love his sweet talking.  He always says please and thank you and it melts my heart.  I also love his "muah" kisses!  The sound is kind of muted, so turn up your volume but here is a little clip.  Cuter in person.  Come and visit.