hip hip hooray!

hip hip hooray its "mama" day! today i very much enjoyed the sweet sound of my baby girl saying "mama." this time it was an all day occurrence and very clearly directed at getting MY attention. yes, i'll admit, most of the time it was whining for a bottle or to be held, but still - she knew who to call :) i decided to document with a quick video for solid proof!

pool time

friday night we packed up and headed over to our best friend's pool to finally CHILL after a long week of work and heat! (sad and embarassed to say, this was our first pool outing of the season). And Remae's first time in the pool! She did amazing - just hung out in her little floaty and drifted around the warm pool. Ellia did pretty good too, but didn't want to leave the safe arms of our friend "nini." they were totally cute in their little swimmy suits! perfect weather, pool, friends, food, etc! can't wait for another pool day. check out my little beach babes:

the orange one

ellia and i took some rainy-day time to watch wimbleton today (of course!). as we were watching them play and talking about it... very matter-of-factly she says "no mommy, not this tennis! i wanna watch the orange one!!" it took me a minute to figure out what she meant... looks like shes partial to the french-open!

startin her early! im glad shes got an eye for the game ;)

daddy's day

today, as i reflect on all i have not only in an amazing dad, but in an amazing husband and father for my kids, i just feel enormously blessed.
i am so thankful for such a diligent husband. he works so hard everyday, very often under an abundance of stress. he soaks things in, learns so much, goes above and beyond, never compromises integrity, doesn't seek out credit or promotion, is fair, honest and diligent. i know im biased... but the ideal employee. and why??? why does he get up monday-friday, sick or well to head to an all-day jungle of experiences? all just to make sure his family is taken care of and needs are met - he's not looking to win some nobel prize or invent something out of this world (although i think he could)... just do the best he can at the job God has provided, in his best effort to love me and our family.
further, although it is a big sacrifice, both financially and otherwise, i am blessed to be able to be home doing exactly what ive always wanted to do... be a wife, make and keep a home, be a mom, and be available for whatever the Spirit has for me to do. we have been so blessed to be able to run our family like we've both dreamed... never knowing how long it will be like this, but being thankful and feeling blessed each day it is.
and thats just work... what about life at home with the kids and with me? hes just purely amazing. hes the perfect other half in this journey called parenting. when im at my wits end, hes calm and patient - when he can't take it anymore, i do my best to be the same. he loves his girls and cherishes them as treasures. he is engaged in this family - part of the every-day... here. hes the dad you always knew would be perfect with boys... then he had girls and hasn't ceased amazing me. i already knew long ago that i was overwhelmingly blessed to have him in my life. but being able to have him as my husband AND as the father to our kids is beyond anything i could ever ask for or deserve. i may be biased... but i think between my jesus, my dad, my father-in-law, and my peter, i know the four best dads of all time.

thank you jesus.

enjoyed spoiling daddy for fathers day... lunch with my parents at Cap City, two naps, complete care of the girls, requested dinner, dulce de leche white chocolate cheesecake, etc, etc. :)

papa and (two of) his girls...

daddy and his littlest girlie...

dulce de leche white chocolate cheesecake... YUM!

nite-nite story time with daddy to end a great day...

wanna sleep like a baby?

i think one of the most amazing joys of being a parent is watching your little one sleep. theres just something about those moments that i will always cherish and can never get enough of. little can compare to watching someone you love more than words can say, so peaceful, so relaxed, resting before you without a care or worry.

i must say...even better though is the crazy positions you can find them in sometimes! im sure every parent has their fair share of these funny moments but today's find with ellia was just too cute not to share:
so very very unfortunately, i think nap-time is quickly becoming an idea of the past. although i still put ellia up in her room for "nap-time" shes gone almost 2 weeks straight now without falling asleep... ends up just spending the whole time playing, reading, making a mess, etc. so naturally we were a little curious today when things were so quiet... usually that just means major destruction is occuring or at least something ornery. when we went in to check on her, this is what we found:

totally out cold on the toy box in her room! couldnt be more cute.


this spurred up some past memories so i thought id reach into the archive and pull out some oldie-but-goodies:

and one of my personal favorites...

car-noisseur

i gotta document this because... well, i think its pretty impressive. and what better place to brag on your kid?

so i secretly pride myself on being fairly good at recognizing cars and their model. by absolutely no means knowledgeable or even at an "excellent" or "great" level... but pretty good - for a girl. from my experience, most females are fairly clueless about cars, which is totally understandable. its not exactly the most interesting thing and lets face it: there are just so many other much more exciting things to fill up those brain cells with than useless car info. all that being said i have been beyond impressed with ellia lately. almost every time we've been in the car over the last couple weeks, we will inevitably drive past another CRV. when we do, ellie will yell out "mommy! that matches our car, only ours is white!" i mean, come on right?? she has consistently spotted the same model of CRV as ours and she never gets it confused with a similar vehicle. whats even funnier is she also seems to be able to tell the difference between the higher-level model and ours ;) i think i could safely say that there are many grown women who couldn't do this.

i like to think she gets this skill straight-up genetically from me :) Gotta love the useless knowledge starting at a mere 2 1/2.

lovely

my little lovelies...

dadadada

i gotta say one of the sweetest sights ive seen in a while was watching my hubs just totally light up yesterday. he came home from work and i told him about remi's first words (mentioned in my previous post). He couldnt believe she had said daddaada and mamamama! (of course, she only said the mamama ONCE and spend the rest of the day in a delightful state of "dadadadadada"). When he picked her up and she said it right to him with a smile, he melted. he probably wouldnt admit it... but its totally true. poor guy has got three girls doin all they can to wrap him around their fingers. although i have yet to hear that sweet "mamamama" again, seeing that moment with him was so completely worth it.

3 things

3 things ive heard today...

1). ellia singing her new made-up song "oh mom-mm-eee oh mom-mm-eee you're so prettyyy!"

2). through the monitor this morning: reame's first very clear "dadadada." followed two seconds later by "mamamama." (MILESTONE!)

3). in the car, completely unprovoked ellia says "i just love you mommy!"

thats more lovin than i usually get in a month so im gonna soak it in! just love those two...nothin could spoil this day :)

remi-room facelift

so today's project of choice (while the men were... you guessed it! workin on the porch) was a few crafty items for remae's room. took the girls over to Sew to Speak - an adorable little fabric shop! been wanting to go there for a while now and decided no time was better than a rainy saturday. that place could be pretty dangerous on your wallet! anyway, fell in love with this really cute fabric that i thought would accent remi's room. heres what i worked up with just 1 yard!
covered the matting of a picture frame with the fabric
ready for our newest set of fam pics when they come out!


next i did a fabric covered letter - been wanting to try one of these forever. word to the wise though... not that i recommend it but just in case you wanted to do somethin crazy and say, name your kid for ease of craft projects... there are much easier letters than "R". so try naming your child somethin starting with an L or I :) totally worth the effort though~


used up the rest of the fabric for a quick pillow to go on the rocker.


not bad for one yard and one afternoon i thought! just a fun little (much needed) facelift for remae's room. now on to the next project!

simple summer swing sweetness

had such a delightful afternoon just enjoying my girls. its funny how something as simple as some ice cream and a porch swing can thrill the day. i loved just watching them enjoy something and being able to relax and enjoy them. so thankful for all the ways they are so very different, making them completely unique and special. i couldnt help but wonder of the joy the Lord must have had creating them - sending up a few more prayers that someday they will know the joy of a relationship with their Creator. so in awe and thankful for something so simple and wonderful as a sweet little summertime swing moment with my precious girls.

laugh of the day

this morning's car conversation....

me: ellia look at that cute park! we're gonna have to go there sometime.
ellia: ohh theres another park!
ellia: mommy theres another one!
ellia: i see another park mommy!
(p.s. this is everytime we passed a yard with a swingset in it or anything resembling play fun)
ellia: mommy theres a pool too!
ellia: mommy we'll have to go to that pool sometime
ellia: mommy theres another park - we should go there
ellia: hey mommy look at that park there

long pause.....
ellia: mommy i dont think you are listening to me

hahahaha too much! not even 2 1/2 yet...
ellia, you are too funny - such a joy to my day.

contest contestant

as i looked around on some new blogs today, I stumbled upon a baking blog which led to another and another. one mentioned a bakery's cupcake recipe contest and i curiously checked it out....
i've officially entered my very first "original recipe" cupcake contest (well anything contest but this happened to be a cupcake one). I am by NO means a chemist so creating my own baking recipes is never something ive attempted to dabble in. i have certainly done my fair share of altering other's recipes... but creating my own-not so much. but i thought whats the harm! the prize had me intrigued so I went for it. This bakery will pick out the top 2 recipes and make them for their customers during a celebration day, allowing them to choose the winner. The winning cupcake will go onto the menu (named after its creator) and i... i mean, the winner will get a percentage of the cupcake's sales during the 1st month. not much... but still kinda exciting. At least exciting enough to tempt me into trying! with a little food chemistry research, I created my own original recipe for "Key Lime White Chocolate Cupcakes with Mascarpone Lime Cream Frosting." Here's hopin' for a miracle!

Sew fun

this morning i decided to teach ellia a little sewing. shes always interested when im working on a project so i gave her one of her own. just used a few pieces of construction paper, punched holes and got an old shoe lace (pretty much the ole learnin-to-tie-your-shoes trick). i also tried it with a some scrap fabric. love those cost-free fun projects. She was a pro seamstress in no time! check her out:

can you not find me?

ellias newest game is running into the nearest closet and shouting "mommy, can you not find me where i am so you wont find me where i am?" she says this probing me and daddy to start a conversation going something like this...

me: oh no, daddy do you know where ellia is? I think I lost her!
daddy: no! maybe shes going nite-nite?
(enter about 5 more possibilities to make it fun)
me: maybe shes outside??
daddy: yup! i bet shes outside... we better go out and get her.
me: ok! bye
daddy: see ya later! (enter fake stomping as if we are leaving).

ellia then swings the door open with an enourmous grin "here i am!!!" and we all celebrate finding her. this game, though quite tiring when you play it about 10 times in a row, sparked a couple thoughts about our relationship with the Lord...
the thing is... He's always looking for us. We are his bride that He loves and adores. But how often do we really want to be "found." I think a lot of the time I'd rather fall through the cracks and just slide on by smoothly through life, rather than face the "good" He has for me. When He says He works for the "good" of those who love Him... it hardly ever matches up with our version of "good." Good doesnt mean everything will turn out just how we think it should, but rather perfectly for His plan. Trusting God means being okay with having nothing to do with the plan. Its His and for Him. Welcoming His version of "good" is like being found - a celebration of true relationship.

first food fun!

so tonight was remae's first encounter with the spoon-fed world. bananas was the first-taste flavor of choice. we wanted to try somethin crazy, but we considered her reputation with handling change (hint: switching from breast to bottle was a D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R!)... so alas, bananas it was. I was shocked at how well it went as she immediately grabbed the spoon and brought it to her mouth. She was an old pro... and didnt seem to mind the taste either!
Benefit of having an older sibling: there won't be any wasted extra baby-food - ellia was all over it. Can't believe im to this stage with my second already... slow down time!

S'mores Stuffed Sous-chef

if anything possibly even slightly resembles something having to do with something like S'mores, i am ALL over it! so the other day i came across a new recipe on one of my fav blogs to follow. though her pictures were awesome, i didnt need them... just the title "S'mores Stuffed Brownies." that was enough for me... click PRINT? um, yes please! ellia and i tried tackling these rich morsels of deliciousness the other night and thought i'd document. with all that play-kitchen practice shes had... shes turnin into one awesome (and pretty cute) little sous chef!

S’mores Stuffed Brownies
(from picky-palate)
Batch Prepared in 8×8 inch baking pan
-1 box of your favorite brownie mix
-4 1/2 full Graham Crackers
-3 1/2 Full size Hershey’s Bars
-16 large marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare brownie mix according to package directions. Line foil into an 8×8 inch baking pan and spray generously with cooking spray. Pour half the brownie batter into lined pan. Layer graham crackers over brownies following Hershey Bars and marshmallows. Pour remaining brownie batter over marshmallows. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick comes mostly clean from center. Remove from oven and let cool completely. Carefully remove foil and brownies from pan. Peel any foil from away from edges and cut into squares.

new 'do day

i pretty rarely do much to myself as far as primping and prepping goes... typically go pretty low-key and simple (aka "boring"). maybe its my personality or maybe its the 2-kids-2-and-under syndrome. its actually been about a year and a half since ive had my last haircut even! so today felt pretty fun to go get my eyebrows waxed and a new hairdo. nothing too exciting but at least a little change or spice :) heres hopin the hubby approves when he comes home in about T-3 minutes!