Kids Being Kids

This morning I had the wonderful privilege of watching my friend Sarah's little girls. They are so beautiful that I couldn't help my desire to create a video of our play time together. I love watching kids be kids:)

For the Love of Fathers

If you are like me, you force your family to live in sterile conditions for days before family arrives from out of town. The recently cleaned guest bedroom and bathroom are off limits, all toys must remain contained in their proper place, and no one dare walk on the carpet with shoes unless they want to incur the wrath of the maid, otherwise known as the insane mother from, well you where. It might be a good thing that daddy has to work late every night of the week as to not become the victim of stress outbreaks and mommy tantrums. The children on the other hand must abide by all rules of the newly sterile house because mommies can otherwise take away privileges or set an earlier bedtime.

I am pretty certain that my obsessive compulsive disorder is influenced by a bigger appetite for perfectionism. Are you still with me?

Tomorrow my father and step-mother come to town for the first time in about a year and a half. Although we will be spending the majority of their visit camping at Beachside State Park, dad and Michelle will also be staying with us for a few days. We are excited to celebrate father's day with both of our fathers and with Jeremy's sister's family. It was six years ago on Father's Day that Jeremy met my father for the first time. Immediately they hit-it-off and just a few days later Jeremy took my father aside to ask for his blessing to marry me. I will always be grateful to my father for saying yes. Father's Day will always hold a special place in my heart for it was the first day that the two men in my life became friends.

Happy Father's Day to my three favorite dads!

Al (my dad), Jeremy, and Al (my father-in-law) - photo taken November 2009

You Will Always Be My Babies

As if standing in the sun in my driveway for 7 hours was not enough to cook my skin, we decided to forego all yard and household projects to spend the day at the beach. After a successful garage sale on Friday, I noticed my neck and shoulders starting to tingle. It was very difficult to sleep peacefully that night. Then, the very next day we decided to head to Pacific City to enjoy the ocean view and sand between our toes. After lathering Jeremy and the kids in sunscreen, there was hardly enough left for me. So yes, I burned again (especially on my forehead). It was a fun day in the sun, but I will be sore for some time to come. Oh Aloe Vera, where for art thou?

These pictures amaze me. As a young mother, I was always told that kids grow up fast, but I guess I am just now starting to realize this truth. When we first moved to Newberg in April 2008, Maya and Declan were still babies. Take a look at these photos taken at the beach in July 2008 (just 3 years ago):

It brings tears to my eyes to think my babies can now fly their own kites at the beach. Where does the time go?

Raising Angels Continues

I suppose my hiatus is over. My friends have requested that I start blogging again so here is my first entry in about 8 months. I can hardly believe it has been so long.

In summary, these past few months have brought with them many new milestones of which there are too many to count. However, I would most definitely like to point out that it was not just my little Miss Maya who had a birthday. On November 3rd, Dearest Declan celebrated his third birthday by monkeying around with his friends at Safari Sams. In December, the love of my life turned the big 3-7 and on May 18th I was awakened by his "beautiful" piano rendition of Happy Birthday. That was the day I turned 33 and I rejoiced with the angels while clearing three rooms of silly-string and vacuuming through the sea of balloons. Between the hours of 4 and 6am, Jeremy had just enough time to bake and decorate cupcakes and blow up about 30 balloons. That boy must have a crush on me because just days later he whisked me away on a romantic getaway to Newport. There, we had the freedom to act like teenagers by racing each other in the swimming pool, eating Carmel corn and donuts, and watching the sun set on the beach. Along with purchasing my first COACH purse at the outlets along the way to Newport, it was the perfect end to my birthday celebrations.

With my return to the blogosphere, I look forward to documenting many more of the precious memories that help remind me that I am not only getting older but I am also Raising Angels.

Miss Maya Turns 4

It was a fun and exciting ROCK STAR DIVA party. The girls played dress-up, did their own make-up and nails, and even had a modeling shoot. It's cute how little girls love to get dolled up! Declan, the only boy, loved flirting with all the girls!

And this year's mommy headache:

First birthday of the season down, 1 anniversary and 2 more birthdays to go.

Hammock Baby

We went to a play date at a friend's house today and Maya just loved the hammocks that she had over there. I took this picture, not really realizing how cute it was until I fiddled around with the coloring. Just thought I would share it with you.

Camping at Beverly Beach

This past weekend we went camping at Beverly Beach with some friends, Amanda and Bob and Sarah and Tony. We all have 2 kids each so in total there were 12 of us. With so many kids around, it was nice to have 6 adults to keep an eye out for them. They played together really well and slept good too leaving us adults with some nice campfire time in the evenings. Camping near the beach was great and we all had fun getting our feet wet in the ocean. Now that we are home, all I want to do is sleep! I only got about 3 hrs of sleep the first night we were camping so now I am exhausted. Anyway, here are some great pictures of our first camping trip with friends.

After camping, Jeremy and I took the kids to Newport to have lunch and walk around the pier. It was fun and the kids loved watching the sea lions.