Millie's 70th

Jim's mom turned 70 in April and in lieu of a party, the family decided to all go to Las Vegas. We flew out there to meet everyone and had a great 4 day trip. The weather could not have been more perfect (It was 85-88 everyday.) We stayed in downtown at the Golden Nugget and they just put in a new pool which was pretty incredible. It had a 200,000 gallon aquarium filled with sharks, sting rays, fish etc.. and the water slide went right through the aquarium. We pretty much spent every day at the pool with the kids who were loving all of the attention they were getting from their Aunts/Nanna/Nannu. It was definitely a different experience going to Vegas with the kids, than the trips Jim and I are used to. Olivia kicked off the trip by waking up the first night at 4:20am and not going back to bed until her nap :-( I think we were in the room by 9:00 every night and I didn't gamble once. My how times have changed! Still a fun time and thank you to Jim's family for being so wonderful with the kids and for helping us out so much! Thank you also for all of the yummy meals and the fun family time.
Happy 70th birthday Millie. We love you and here's to many more!

In the van on the way to airport.


Blowing up balloons with the kids to decorate Nanna's room with.


Nannu's little princess


Celebrating Millie's Birthday


Just the three of us (Cole fell asleep on the drive over)


Every time Cole hugs his sister, it becomes more of a "choke hold!"




Olivia trying to give me a thumbs up.






The hotel pool/aquarium and do you see the water slide going through it? Very cool!


There is that choke hold again


Only Nanna would be able to get Olivia to fall asleep with her at the pool. This would NEVER happen with me.


Heading back home. Look at our little helper. He was actually able to carry his own luggage this time. His backpack is full with all of the toys he wanted to bring with him.

Go Go Mamas

Wow! We have been busy since my last post. Not sure where the days and weeks go but sometimes I have a hard time keeping up on my blogging. The end of April was a busy month with a 3 day trip to the snow in Reno (while Jim worked), a 4 day trip in the warm sun to Las Vegas, followed by a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Mike last weekend, and then next thing you know it's May!

So backing up a bit, I ran my first ever race in April (Rocklin Run-5K) with my mom's group. One of the mom's organized our team and got us these matching cute T-shirts (they are hard to read in the pictures, but they say "Go Go Mama's". Yep, that's us, the go go mamas! I've been running with a group of the girls on the weekends and have really enjoyed it. I've never been much of a long distance runner but it can get kind of addicting. I always hate the first few miles, but man when it's done, you feel like a million bucks. Not to mention, I love, love the time with the other moms and time WITHOUT my kids! I had been really sick leading up to the race, but managed to still run and also get a pretty good time. I came in 7th for my age group (30-35) with a time just under 26 minutes. After the run, one of our neighbors had a BBQ with everyone in the neighborhood. The kids ran around playing while the adults enjoyed some beverages and it was a gorgeous day! All in all a completely and totally perfect day (and that doesn't happen very often).

Here we all are before the race.


Lesley crossing the finish line (Jim was very proud of himself for capturing this moment!)


Kerrie and I after the race


All of the "Go Go Mamas" after our race. Glad that it's over!

Olivia - 18 months

Our little Miss Olivia turned 18 months on April 2nd. My how time flies! We took her in for her check up and all is well and she right on track(other than the 5 shots that she had to receive). She was not too happy about those shots, but she is a trooper. She weighed in at 22 pounds (22%), 32 inches (52% - yeah she is above average!) and her head was 17 1/2 inches (76% go figure!).

These days she is really starting to talk and it seems like she learns a new word every day. She still really enjoys playing with her baby dolls, wearing jewelry and of course her shoes!! She loves shoes and loves picking out which ones she is going to wear each day. She is such an easy going toddler and mommy and daddy feel so very lucky to have a happy and healthy little girl!

The Three Musketeers - Olivia - 1; Alec 2; Cole 3

This past weekend my sister flew up from San Diego with her son, Alec for a weekend full of fun. We always enjoy getting the kids together to play and of course, we enjoy the sister bonding time. This time around we took the kids to Bounce U on Friday to try to exhaust them, the Sacramento Zoo on Saturday and the mall on Sunday. We had a beautiful Spring day on Friday, but the rest of the weekend was cold and rainy. The kids had a fun time playing when they weren't fighting over toys and/or food (oh the joys of having a 1,2 and 3 year old all trying to play together!). Cole was so exicted to see his cousin and was really sad when he woke up Monday morning and Alec and Tia were gone :-( Thank you both for coming up to visit us. We love you guys and can't wait for the new addition to our ever growing family!!


Off we go!




Thank goodness for the Bob!

Easter - 2010

Easter was spent at our house this year. Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate and it definitely didn't seem like Spring. It was cold and windy and by about noon the rain started and it poured all day long! I attempted to the dress the kids in their cute, spring clothes for some pictures, but decided it wasn't worth it. The Easter Bunny was good to the kids this year. Cole got a bike "with pedals" as he tells everyone since he has pretty much mastered the "balance bike." It was a pretty big gift from the bunny, but I think that is what happens when your birthday is late October and Christmas is right around the corner! The bunny must have known that it makes more sense to start spreading the gifts throughout the year...this way he can also enjoy it all summer long. Olivia received a new baby stroller, a bathing suit and some new shoes and was perfectly happy. They both had a great time hunting for eggs, except Olivia would sit down after finding each egg, open it up, and eat everything inside before moving onto the next. Needless to say, Cole ended up with the bulk of the eggs.
Jim and I also decided that in lieu of cooking a big meal which we have always done in the past, that we would go out to a nice brunch instead. The kids don't seem to appreciate the effort that goes into cooking a lamb/ham meal and so it just seemed to make the most sense. Olivia was nice enough to fall asleep in the car on the way to brunch, successfully transferred to the stroller and slept through the ENTIRE brunch!! Happy Easter to us!!
After brunch we headed out to Johnson Park for the annual egg hunt hosted by the local Rocklin Firefighters and this has become our tradition. The kids hunt for real eggs and this year Cole was in one group (age 3-4) and Olivia was in another (age 1-2). So Jim went with Olivia and I went with Cole. Neither of the kids were able to find the "golden eggs" but they still had a fun time. Literally the moment we were headed back to the car, the sky opened up and it started pouring down rain!! We drove back home and spent the rest of the afternoon watching movies as the rain came down.



Cole's Easter "loot"


Olivia's gifts, complete with necklaces, a bathing suit and a boa!


Cole hunting for eggs.


Hey Mom, look what I found!






My little man enjoying his Easter brunch


Olivia sleeping through the Easter brunch


Cole getting ready to hunt for eggs at Johnson park




How cute are these two? Olivia ADORES her daddy!

Time to color Easter eggs

Is it really that time of the year again? I can vividly remember dying eggs last year and I can't believe it has come and gone so quickly. The kids were all excited to color them this year and I let Jim handle this little activity (for some reason, I just wasn't into it this year). Olivia was obsessed with dipping everything she could find into the dye and then putting it in her mouth...from the wire egg holder, to the crayon and even the colored eggs themselves. YUCK! (CPS Note: we did at least check that the egg dye wasn't toxic and could be swallowed!)

Someone was exited to color the eggs! (Love the enthusiasm Dad!)






In goes the wire egg holder (Crazy girl!) She would dip it into the dye and then suck all the water off.


Next was the crayon


And finally...time to suck on the egg!

My new obsession...food blogs!

So as most of you mothers out there already now (and I now have more pity on my mom), cooking dinner every night and coming up with creative ideas and food that my kids will actually eat, can be challenging at times. I've been really focusing on trying to eat healthy and on a budget, which everyone knows is not easy to do. Thankfully the technology world has made that a little easier for my generation and I now have become obsessed with food blogs. I love the new ideas, the fancy pictures, and the step by step directions they give to those of us that are not so talented in the kitchen. I've started checking out my favorite blogs a few times each week and then printing out the recipes so that when I go shopping each week, my list is complete. I love it and I love the different meals I've been finding.

A few weeks ago, one of my neighbors introduced me to an ebelskiver pan. Am I the only one that has never heard of this before? According to William-Sonoma they "are light, puffy pancakes that can be filled with fruit, chocolate, jam or cheese and served for breakfast or as an hors d'oeuvre, dessert or light supper." Our neighbor dropped off "fresh, hot, out of the pan" ebelskivers with nutella chocolate and OMG...they were heavenly. I had her pick up one of these pans for me and Cole and I made them for breakfast the other day. You guys have got to try these! I found a great recipe on one of the blogs I follow and here are some pictures!

Getting our supplies all ready


My recipe...straight from the blog,"Things Alauna Makes".


My little helper!


I got so preoccupied with my delicious breakfast treat that I forgot to take a picture, but here is what they look like!