{HOT HOT HOT}

What do you do when it's 100 plus degrees outside?!?!?! You play in the water and go to the beach!! And that is just what we did this week when we had a couple HOT days!

On Tuesday, we went to the beach! You know it's a hot day when it's 85 degrees at the beach! It was a perfect day and the kids had SO MUCH FUN playing!! For the first time, Zoe didn't eat the sand the entire time we were there!

It's so great going to the beach with Grammy....the kids want to play with her the whole time and take her into the water!! It's nice....I don't have to freeze my tooshy off in the cold ocean! =)

I love this picture...looks like Ayden is surfing!! He LOVED playing in the water this time! He had no fear and actually made me a little nervous....he kept wanting to go farther and farther out! Zoe loved sitting on the sand and crawling away from the waves as they crashed!

Gotta love the California weather!! =)

{bIg bEaR}

I'm so behind, but wanted to hurry and get this posted because we will be busy this coming week!! We are FINALLY moving into our own place! It has been so nice staying with Jeremiah's parents.....saving money and having built in babysitters....but I am SO excited to have our little family time back and all our things out of storage!! Woohoo!! We are moving this weekend.....ahhhh, the joys of packing, and moving, and unpacking, and organizing!! Fun fun!!

Anyway, last weekend, we went to Big Bear with our friends James and Natlelly and their little girl, Riley. It was our first trip up to the cabin since we moved back...I guess we just weren't ready to rush back into the cold! But we had a lot of fun! Ayden always has fun playing in the dirt, chasing the squirrels and being ALL boy!!

On Saturday, we went to the Bowling Barn and to our FAVORITE pizza place, Paoli's! A trip to Big Bear is just not complete without a trip to both!! =) Ayden loves to bowl, but he can't sit there and watch everyone else bowl. After his turn, he runs into the arcade and stays there pretending to play video games until it is his turn again! Zoe wanted to get in on the game...she couldn't stand being held or sitting in her stroller!! I keep telling her that her life will be so much more entertaining when she starts walking because we can actually put her down, but she won't listen!! She seems to be getting SO close....she lets go and stands for a second, but just won't take a step!! After bowling, we had the world's GREATEST pizza!! It was a fun day!

We had a great trip and it was so relaxing! I love having a place to go and be able to get away from the craziness of life and just be able to relax! I love that my kids will have a place to go to as they grow up! We can't wait for summer to come so we can start enjoying Grandpa's boat!!



Our stud muffin bowlers.....

Waiting for some yummy pizza!!! =)

Ayden telling Zoe about his bug catcher and all the bugs he is going to collect....she is listening intently!!

And she really thought there was something in there....she's checking it out!!

Getting ready to catch some bugs....one bug catcher wasn't enough! He needed 3 of them!!

[zOe}

Well, we finally have an explanation for why little Miss Zoe has not been her sweet self the last couple weeks, but instead has been such a grumpy girl!! When she was laughing really hard the other day from playing her new favorite game of peek-a-boo, I noticed 4 new teeth coming in on the top....and 2 of them are MOLARS!!! Ahhhhh....poor girl!! No wonder!!!! She has obviously been in serious pain, which explains the crying, whining, tantrums and need for the binky 24/7!! Hopefully now that they are through, we will be back to our happy days very soon!! Here is one of her recent happy moments....playing peek-a-boo!! I love when her little eye is poking through her chubby hands!! =) So cute!

{tHurSdAy}

Thursdays are one of my new favorite days!! Mostly because we have something to do in the evenings to get out of the house!! We had soccer again last night...don't worry, I will not be posting soccer pictures every week, but couldn't pass up these ones since Ayden looked so cute in his shin guards!! We had so much fun shopping for his shin guards and a new soccer ball on Wednesday night! I really had no idea they made shin guards this small! Anyway, Ayden did great again and was still really excited about it!

For the past two weeks, after soccer we have gone to the Farmers Market in downtown Fullerton with our friends Robin and Daniel. It's really fun to just walk around....they have tons of fun things for the kids to do, a band and yummy food (we haven't tried anything yet, but it all smells delicious)!!! We let Ayden buy two tickets each time...last week, he went on the bounce house and this time, he rode on the swing ride! There was also a camel there that Ayden loved checking out!! Now that I have seen one up close and personal, I have discovered that camels are disgusting animals!! It kept opening its mouth and making an awful sound...and it had hair in its mouth!! Ewwwwww!!!!!

It sure is nice to have something to do during the week that wears the kids out!! It's great to come home and have them completely reaady for bedtime!!!

{haPPy EaSTer}

We had a very busy Easter Sunday, but I'm not complaining because I think this is the first Easter in 5 years that we have been together with our families. We woke up and had a yummy brunch with Jeremiah's family and we tortured Ayden and made him wait until Zoe got up from her nap to look for eggs!! He kept sneaking out to the backyard and looking for eggs!! The kids had to find 20 eggs each....Ayden's were green and Zoe's were pink!! They had to trade in their special "prize" egg for their Easter basket! They got lots of great treats from both sets of grandparents!! Thank goodness because Jeremiah and I were too preoccupied with the birthday party to get any Easter basket stuff!! Thanks Grandma's and Grandpa's!!

Grandma Smith and the kids!

Our family....Happy Easter!!

Uncle Kirt and soon-to-be Aunt Stephanie!!

Seriously, the best picture I could get of the two of them all day long!! =(

After our egg hunt, we went to church and then down to Redondo to have dinner at my parents place. Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera, but we had a nice dinner and then walked down to the beach. It was super cool and windy, but Ayden still had to stop and play in the sand!

We took all the seats out of the car on Saturday to vacuum. Jeremiah decided to put the seats back in so the kids could sit right next to each other! As we were driving down to my parents, I turned around and saw this.......quite possibly the CUTEST picture I have of my kids together!! And we didn't even tell them to hold hands...they did it all on their own!! It was so cute!!

{bIrThDaY pArTy}

Between Zoe's birthday party on Saturday and Easter on Sunday, I am still recovering from our crazy weekend!! Jeremiah's parents were nice enough to let us have the party at their house! Unfortunately, Zoe was a crabby girl most of the party (which explains why she has her binky in almost every picture and why I couldn't really get any good pictures). This was her when the binky came out...you can tell that she is not happy!!

It didn't help that she had a short morning nap and is probably getting some more teeth which makes her a grump 24/7!! I even had to put her down for a nap while everyone was still here and she didn't even get to open her presents!!! It's pretty sad when the guest of honor can't even stay awake for her own party!! Ha! The good news is at least she looked cute!! =)

It was a good thing we got a bounce house because it sure kept the kids entertained the entire party!! Even the "big" kids enjoyed acting like 3 year olds!!











Zoe just wanted to sit next to the pinata....good thing I got a picture early because the pinata was gone after a few hits!!











Zoe has proven that she is not a cake fan...and she did it once again at her party!! She was not impressed at all....I don't think she even took 2 bites!! I'm not sure why because she is not afraid to get dirty at all!! Jeremiah's mom made this smash cake for her....it turned out very cute!!

At first, she checked it out....with just one finger of course!!!



And you would've thought she was being tortured by trying to taste the cake....she cried through most of it!!



So then, Ayden tried to help....at least someone enjoyed it!!!

Zoe got a new little table from Grandma and Grandpa Smith and it was set up in the living room with all her presents. It was almost as big of a hit as the bounce house....the kids LOVED having a tea party....even the little boys!!





Ayden and Zoe and their buddies.....Ella, Ayden, James, Keith, Logan, Mikayla, Ava, Kira, Brianna and Jake!! Oh and the little Miss Princess herself was missing in this picture because she was fast asleep!!



And here is the same picture....almost 2 years ago at Ayden's 1st birthday party!! Obviously some new babies were born since then....James (missing in pic above), Mikayla, Kira, Ayden, Logan, Brianna and James!! It's crazy how fast they grow!!



One of Ayden's best buddies....James!!



Another one of Ayden's best buddies....Logan!!!



Zoe and her future hubby, Diego!! These two weren't too excited about the Mommy's taking their picture!! That's ok, they still love each other! =)



After a nice, long nap.......the princess woke up and was ready to open her presents!!!





Ayden and Zoe both loved her new table set....now they actually have a place to have tea parties!!!









She was so excited about all the cute clothes and the fun girly toys she got...we are no longer lacking girls toys around here!! =) What a fun birthday!!













And after everyone was gone and everything was cleaned up, we enjoyed some family fun on the bounce house since we still had it for a few more hours!!