Fall!

Wow, has it really been since July that I posted? So much has happened over the past few months, where's a mama to start?! :-)

Summer was super fun this year. But, I'm glad that the summer temps have disappeared! In their place, 70's and 80's [Sigh]. I'm in heaven!!!

We kicked off Fall with a bang this year. My inlaws took us to Disneyland!! The kids had an AMAZING time. We braved through the rain the first day, and were rewarded with short lines (if any at all!!!). The second and third days of our trips were nice because we settled into a routine, and had a better grasp for what we wanted to do, and where we wanted to go! To summarize some favorite's, Aidan loved the Jungle Cruise, It's a Small World, Buzz Lightyear, Winnie the Poo, the Carousel, Fairytale ride, and Dumbo the best. Georgia loved her some teacups! :-) That was special father/daughter ride, because I get sick when I spin! lol So she and Steve went on the Teacups over, and over again. 6 times to be exact! We saw characters such as Mickey & Minnie, and (Aidan's personal fav), WOODY! Definitely the highlight of his trip. You should have seen my little man's face! Priceless.

After getting back home, we've settled into some *calmer* Fall traditions. We've colored pumpkin's, practiced using tools on them (power drill to make holes. Super fun, hours and hours of entertainment. Do this with your boys people!! You will wonder why you didn't do it before!)

Still on our list: Pumpkin Patch, Making Applesauce in the crock pot, and a Nature Walk to collect leaves and acorns. SO MUCH FUN! I love Fall. I wish I could freeze this season and make it last just a little longer than it does ;-)

Hope you are loving Fall like we are!

Happy 4th of July!

We just finished celebrating our 4th of July weekend. It was a busy one! Steve worked each day from sun up until sun down (along with my brother in law and our neighbor) on installing sprinklers for our (soon to be) grassy front lawn ;-) I am so proud of him! And SO excited to have grass sometime very soon. I'm sure the kids are a little sad to see the dirt go. They absolutely love digging in it, and don't notice at all when it's tracked in to the house (whoops!), but grass will be fun to play in as well! And, I've realized that no matter how much dirt we 'cover' up with grass, ground cover, etc., these kiddos ALWAYS manage to find their dirt!!!

Other than watching (and 'helping') the Dad's install sprinkler lines, we managed to make our holiday weekend a good one! We spent one morning at Mema & Papa's house staying cool in the 100 degree weather that we've been experiencing. The cousins played together at each other's house, watching movies, dressing up ( one favorite 'hot weather costume was originally Brady's idea, and involves putting Aidan's underwear (clean I might add) on their head and pretending to be 'good guys'. These boys crack me up!

Georgia came down with a fever an hour before a birthday party on Saturday afternoon. Aidan soon followed, and then lastly our Brady did as well. After a trip to Immediate Care, Brady was diagnosed with Strep, and Aidan & Georgia with a "Virus". Two different doctors, two different diagnosis's for the SAME illness. Lovely. We're walking over to Dr. Bob's office today to follow up on Aidan's sore throat that won't seem to go away ;-)

And the 4th! Oh it was such a fun day! We mostly hung around the house in the morning. Picked up breakfast burritos for the workin' dad's (and Josh!), and doughnuts for the kids and Mommy! I'm pretty sure that in and of itself made their day! (isn't it nice how kids are so easy to please at ages 1 and 3?!) After being the best kiddos ever and playing nicely while I did laundry, caught up on cleaning, etc. We made lunch and put them in bed. Of course Aidan decided that he wasn't tired and didn't fall asleep....could have been the excitement for fireworks?! He tells me before I close to the door at naptime, "Tell Daddy not to start the fireworks until I wake up!!! I'm going to take a LONG nap so that I can stay up REALLY late". Yeah. Right. No nap. But, what can ya do?

After the kids 'napped', we got our stuff together and headed to the Johnson's for some swim time! Margaritas for the adults, special juice for the kids, and lot of yummy BBQ was on the menu! We swam, we hung out with friends, it was fun! And then, as the evening came to a close, I took Georgia home and put her down, Steve set up our home fireworks, and then we all gathered and watched them. Aidan had been looking forward to them ALL year. He loves him some sparklers :-) Our little show was awesome. We had several families there, and it was so special! Then, before all the chairs could be folded up, we loaded our kiddos up in their strollers and walked them down to the High School to watch Chico's official fireworks show. It did not disappoint! The kids were blown away that these ones were 'In the sky and not just on the ground' (Gracie Curry). I think it's fair to say that Aidan was in heaven. And so was I! I love celebrating our country and our freedom. And most of all I love creating special memories with my littles and hubby.

All in all we had a great weekend! I'm already looking forward to next year's 4th!

Summer Begins!

And so does the countdown to Fall ;-) Okay, in all seriousness, I'm not a TOTAL summer hater. I love the warm days especially for my kiddos sake. They get their fill of hoses full of water, sprinklers, and gallons and gallons of water fun (sorry California). The cover on our sandbox gets tied down only in the evenings after dark, and naked bodies (them, not me! ha!) run around from sun up until sun down. Is this not the life or what?! I'm pretty sure that I have just as much fun watching all of this going on as they do! Win win for all :-)

Oh, and let's not forget our trips to the creek! Steve is a water loving Daddy himself, so we spend at LEAST a dozen or so days each summer at the creek, laying in the rapids and cooling off from the scorching Chico heat. We're pretty confident that Aidan is a fish like his Daddy, so the two of them are going to totally enjoy themselves this summer!

So, like I said, not a total hater. I love that my kids have all the fun that a hot summer can offer them. I still long for the comfort of air conditioning at times (okay, every.single.day), but at the moment, our temps are comfy in the 90's, so I won't ramble on about my love of air conditioning for a few more weeks :-)

Hope you're having fun gearing up for summer too!

Anyone out there?

I think I've finally realized that I'm much better at reading blogs, rather than posting to them! The whole uploading pictures thing....it's a lot of work at the end of the day! ;-) (okay I'm lazy)

Well, since my last post.....fast forward.....my kids are huge! Aidan is turning three in just under two weeks, and Miss. Georgia Mae is almost 1 1/2! Steve and I realized today that she is almost the age that Aidan was when we had her. EEK! Were we crazy!? Yes. We most certainly were. But, we survived, and I love our little family.

Speaking of ages.....

Can I make a prediction that 3 is not going to be my favorite age? Aidan is just shy of it and holy moly I think I'm in for a ride. That child will be the end of me, I'm convinced of it!

Can I also say that 1 is my FAVORITE age? Yes I can, and I will, because I need all the reminders of how wonderful it is, to get me through the 2's and 3's that will be here in no time. One is wonderful for so many reasons. First, my dear daughter thinks the world revolves around me (Whaaaat, it really doesn't?!!) ;-) And second, they are just so darn sweet at 1! There isn't much backtalk, or 'Go Away!!!" comments being slung my way. I so <3 age 1. I want to freeze my children there forever!

Oh, and a dear friend told me the other day that 5 is the magical age when kids become 'pleasers'. Oh, I like 5 already!!!

I'm trying to come up with something super duper cleaver to write about, since I haven't written on my blog in so long. Let me see. We just made it through Winter, and are headed into Spring. This means more outside time for me and the kids (yay!) and lots of planting in our near future. We have seedlings growing in little dixie cups on the kitchen counter, and plan to grow lots and lots of Organic veggies this summer. We've planted a cherry tree espalier, and over the weekend will have two BEAUTIFUL Magnolia tree's in the ground. I love gardening!! I think my kids do too! (atleast the get dirty and play in the mud part!)

This weekend is going to be a fun one for my little family. We're hitting up the farmer's market in the morning, stopping by my nephew's 4 year old soccer league game, and spending time with a sister who is in town from Florida. Aren't weekends the best!? Of course my hubby being home (and an extra set of hands around) is the best part!

I hope your weekend is great too!

<3 Keely

Summer Days!

I can't believe that summer is coming to an end! Our family has had so much fun together these past few months! In addition to small trips, we visited the Russian River twice (once with my family, and once with Steve's). The kids had a blast hanging out with their family, and absolutely LOVED the ocean! It wasn't the safest beach, but we made the best of it, and had a great time anyways!

The kids are growing up so fast! Aidan is 2 1/2 now, and talking up a storm. Just recently he started the 'Why Mommy' questions. So cute! I've never talked so much in my life! (it takes some thinking to come up with an answer for every statement that one makes! He is keeping me on my toes!

Georgia is almost 11 months, and walking! She took her 1st steps at 9 1/2 months, crazy girl! She too is keeping me on my toes! Our little princess added stair climbing to her list of achievements. We found her one stair up on thursday, halfway up the next, and then on saturday she made it high enough to cause a HUGE goose egg bruise on her head from FALLING. I felt like the worst Mommy in the whole world!!!! So, needlesstosay, this weekend became baby gate installation time! Steve did a fantastic job and we now have two gates at the top, and bottom of our staircase. Now if we can just remember to shut them! Sigh. Mommy & Daddy can be slow to train ;-)

Well, the kiddos will be waking up from their synchronized (YAY!) naps soon, so I should get the house picked up a bit. I'm pretty sure they enjoy a fresh slate to dirty up ;-)

I knew it!

I knew it! I had a feeling that I would start a blog, and then never post on it! Shoot! Well, here's to better posting practices! Life has slowed down a bit since my last post, so I SHOULD be on here more. But somehow, no matter how much free time I have, I can always manage to fill it up! Kids are great at helping me do that :-)

Okay, to bed for this mama. Tomorrow I aim to post what's new with my two adorable little ones!

Time flies!

Wow, I look at the pictures from my last post, and realize that it has been a LONG time since my last 'blog'. I'll have to work on that :-)

Life around here hasn't changed a great deal since I last wrote. The kids are doing great (other than the sleepless nights that Georgia has been handing us!). Aidan has settled into having a little sister, and most days, I think he actually enjoys it! Right now she's pretty mellow, and thinks that he's the funniest thing ever!

I don't have any pictures to add to this post, but will work on getting some uploaded! There have been so many fun and interesting stories over the past month +, I'm not sure where to begin! :-)