Easter with Family

 The kids and I took a trip up to my parents place in L.A. for spring break and Stephen joined us for the weekend.  We enjoyed exercising together, going on wagon rides, visiting museums downtown, eating lots of delicious food, and staying up late catching up with each other. Here is one exercise session.  Notice the contrast in these two pictures of these simultaneous exercise sessions occurring in different rooms of the same house. Stephen did a serious session of P90 in the front room while Calvin hooked up a dance party for the kids and a few of us anonymous adults in the bonus room. ;)

 Daisy the Drama Queen

 Desirae the nursing queen

 My sister played amateur photographer with some staged group shots of all the cousins.

 One can only imagine the fun we had trying to photograph eight kids under the age of eight years.

 This shot was particularly telling.

 The older boys were pretty cooperative though.

 Here's the oldest and youngest grand kids.

 The GQ "big boys"

 the older half of the cousins

 the ride home
FYI: Brooklyn's cute purple scab is the proof of a super fun wagon ride involving Dads and kids (both dads and kids in the wagon at the same time) and a grassy hill at a nearby schoolyard.

 nap time for the boys

 They were all in the same room.

 This is after church on Easter Sunday. Dad was the only one not color-coordinated, and thus stood behind the camera.

 Brooklyn and Lilly

 Me and my younger, cuter sister

 Calvin and family

 Calvin and his hot wifey affectionately referred to as "CarolITA."

 Calvin, Jack, and Cameron, a.k.a. "Bam-bam," for reasons Jack now understands

 Hunt time!

 Home again

Brooklyn Celebrates Her 6th Birthday!

For Brooklyn's birthday this year, my sister and her two girls and my mom came down to party it up with us.  At school, of course we had to bring cupcakes and muffins. (Anyone looking for an excuse to use pumpkin and chocolate together?)

Then when dad came home, the first order of business was SWIMMING!  Stephen is so great about that.  He takes the kids out to swim as often as possible after work.  They love it and so do I!  It's my alone time (plus Jack) for fixing/finishing dinner.

Next we cleaned up and went to the Corvette Diner.  It was a fun 50's-themed restaurant with lots of action!  There was a game room where the kids played with Stephen while we waited to be seated.  They had a few arcade-type games along with old-school stuff like skeeball, a timed basketball shooting game, etc. and those little photo-booths.  There was also lots of 50's music played by a live D.J. and also some crowd-pleasing singing and dancing by the waiters and waitresses.  When it was time to order, the kids had a long list of milk shakes and malts to choose from.  They did not pass up that opportunity to sugar-out while waiting for the rest of the meal!

Here's my sister Pip with her two flower girls, Daisy and Lilly.  Daisy did a little table-top action for us!

The waitresses all had puffy hair that was just too hilarious.  Here they are singing the hot dog song to Ian.  This was a special  bonus that came with his order.  He didn't quite know what to do with all the attention. 

Here's me and my big 6-year old.

Yummy milk shakes

We had a rockin' good time.  Thanks for joining us Mom and Pip!

Month Two with Jack

 Since February was "Museum Month" here in San Diego, Stephen took the kids to the Science Center one beautiful Saturday.  Although the kids aren't looking at the camera, I like the blue sky, water fountain, and fancy big museum in the background.

 Here's Brooklyn and her teacher at a monthly super star assembly at Doyle Elementary where she was recognized among many other students for being a good citizen. 

 Naptime!

 Here are some awesome puppets that my friend Lindsay made for her kids this past Christmas. 

She is amazingly creative and talented!

 Jack doing tummy time

 The brothers

Ian saved the day by comforting Jack with a pacifier when the baby woke up while I showered.

Jack got his first massage while I took him with me on a girls-only (plus Jack) overnight getaway in Carlsbad.  Too bad that we were having too much fun that I didn't capture anything else on camera!

Here's Dad and Brooklyn getting Jack ready for church.

Jack had to get some blood drawn, so they put this little warming pack on his tiny foot. So cute!  But I felt so bad that he was so happy and content, not knowing that we were about to poke him!

The kids got hold of the camera and this shot was taken by Ian.

Brooklyn made little love notes for the family on Valentine's Day.

The two month photo shoot

Snuggling up for a nap