Camping

A couple of weeks ago we decided we wanted to go camping and thought it'd be easier to go before the baby comes rather than after.  So we bought a tent for $7 at a garage sale in our neighborhood, packed up and drove 10 minutes to a beautiful beach camping spot.  As we started unloading, I thought, "We probably should have set up our tent before we came to make sure it has poles and isn't full of holes."  My dad certainly would have done that.  But in true A&M Checketts fashion (ie with zero advanced planning) we just went with it!  Fortunately it turned out great.  The tent was probably a 3-man tent, but was plenty big for our family at this stage. 

The kids LOVED it!  I loved looking in and seeing all our little sleeping bags lined up in a cozy row and I loved snuggling with all these sweeties all night.  The kids slept perfectly all night long.  Unfortunately, my 8 month pregnant belly and Andrew's slipped disks didn't help us sleep very comfortably, but I was still giddily happy with the trip.

We went down to the beach in the evening and had so much fun throwing rocks in the water and racing in the sand.

The kids found a huge hole that someone had left and they enjoyed jumping over it while Andrew and I sat and watched and enjoyed our beautiful beach.

Two seconds after we arrived, Amelia spotted a little girl at the neighboring campsite.  She said, "Mom, I'll be back, I'm just going to go make a friend."  She then went over, shared some crackers and next thing we know they are best friends.  Amelia had smores with them that night and Bella had breakfast with us in the morning and they were back and forth between campsites every second in between.  It was really sweet.  This is one social girl we have.

I hope Andrew has a night off again soon so we can go camping.  Anyone want to come visit and go camping with us??


In other news, William has learned how to mow the lawn.  Andrew taught him how to turn on the mower which involves pushing one button to the side while simultaneously pulling down on the lever.  He totally mastered it in no time and can now mow the lawn all by himself while we sit in the lawn chairs and watch.  Ahh, lovin it!

I got to go with Andrew to a fancy dinner at a fancy hotel a while back.  Luckily I had found a dress at the swap shop that was fancy and covered my big belly.

Mother's Day 2014
Andrew helped the kids make me breakfast and let me "sleep" while they cooked.  Those few minutes felt like heaven.   It was a good day!

California doesn't have a lot of water to spare, so I like to water my lawn and my kids at the same time.  I won't let them run in the sprinklers in the middle of the day because of wasting water, but by late afternoon I figure it's a good time for the grass and it's still warm enough that they love it.

Here is William explaining why he drew all over his legs with pen.  He really is the cutest little boy in the whole wide world.

And here is Amelia doing her spider woman theme song and dance.  I have no idea where she comes up with this stuff, but here she is in all her glory.

My mom came to visit a couple months ago and as always, it was pure joy.  The kids loved having grandma let them use her make-up and teach them how to sew.  I only took a few pictures but I thought these were so sweet showing how she adapted the sewing machine to fit them and all the patience she showed in letting them "help" her.

Here the kids are posing in front of a blue heron we saw walking Andrew in to work one day.

And here are the kids playing in the ocean with Drew when the awesome Phelps came to visit.  It was so fun having them as always and I wish they still lived next door!

The past couple of months

So, first things first, for those who don't know, we are expecting baby Checketts #3 sometime around August 9th, 2014.  We are all so excited about a "brand newborn baby" (as Amelia calls him/her) in our family.  I have been extremely sick and it has been a rather unpleasant few months (like the awesome peeing-your-pants-while-throwing-up that so nicely comes with being pregnant), but I'm hoping the second trimester will offer some relief. 

This was a couple of months ago when they were still willing to share Andrew's phone without FREAKING out about who was holding it.  Those days are gone. 

Amelia much anticipated Halloween this year.  She is not one to forget the day out of the year that you knock on strangers' doors and are allowed to eat their candy.  She was in candy heaven.  William would not wear any of the costumes we had (he made a super cute lion...for about 3 seconds).  He then told me he was a dinosaur because of the dinosaur on his shirt.  People still gave him candy, but I think they thought I was a pretty weak-sauce mom for not dressing my kid up before sending him out to mooch their candy.

 Mom came to visit in early November and it was pretty much the happiest weekend of my life.  I love my mom so much and my body and heart ache for her presence in my life.  I loved having her here to help me with my house and my kids and my life.  I wish we could be together more often.  The kids loved it too, as you can tell.  As usual, clothes were optional.  Mom opted for clothes, W and A opted for none.  Imagine that.

 I turned 33 this year and Edy so thoughtfully had Amelia help her make me a delicious watermelon "cake."  It was so fun to have a beautiful, healthy treat that I did not have to make myself!

Amelia loves, loves, loves her ballet class and she really enjoyed her Christmas recital.

So fun that her BFF is in her class.  These two are so cute together.

 We had so much fun celebrating Christmas at Doug and Laurie's this year.  My family never did Christmas jammies growing up, so it was really fun when Laurie gave us ALL Christmas jammies.  We loved it!

 Two cute Christmas jammy bums :)

 William excited about his new shoes.  Which we now call his stinky shoes because he doesn't like to wear socks, and so they pretty much make you gag...and they are only 1 month old!

This is what William thought of Santa this year

 The kids had so much fun in the snow.  

 We don't really have snow clothes, but Amelia's cowgirl boots and William's sweats did the job long enough for a great snowball fight with Grandma.

We LOVE having Edy live close to us in Santa Barbara.  The kids are so lucky to have such an awesome grandma to play with them.  She is able to engage in all of their creative play and keep them entertained for hours with fun and imagination.  We all love having her around for special family times as it makes everything just that much more special to have her to share it with.  She is always helping me with dishes, garbage, dinners, kids, and so many other things.  It really is a dream come true for us. 

Do Andrew and I look relaxed in this picture?  Yeah, that's because we ARE.  Saint Edy watched our kids overnight and Andrew and I stayed at a gorgeous guest house on a vineyard in Los Olivos.  It was the most relaxing, peaceful and beautiful 24 hours....I'll admit, I was not ready to come home...

We made fruit sushi for FHE the other night and it was so delicious.  We used fruit leather around a banana with raspberries on top.  Beautiful and yummy!