If only....

In pre-school, Bella made family puppets. She cut faces out of magazines to represent each member of her family. I think she came pretty close! :)


This is the family dog, daddy and her 2 sisters (grown up). This cracks me up! Daddy has aged a little bit, Camille is the smiley one and Julia (the last one) looks like an angry Avril Lavigne!

Now, for my puppet. You know what they say- kids this age are pretty honest so I guess I can live with her portrayal of me. ;)
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My sweet potato and me

Julia is off to school, the kitchen is clean, Camille is napping- now I am off to LegoLand! I love hanging out with this little girl of mine!

On her own 2 feet

Julia and I are alike in SO many ways- she is truly a mini me. But, I am glad that she is not like me when it comes to sports. Julia loves playing soccer and would rather forgo all other interests just to play soccer. I liked sports as a child- for the fun or fitness aspect of it. But, I hated playing on teams or playing in front of a crowd. Too much pressure for me and I would just wither.

So, I love seeing pictures like this of my little athlete (Julia is the one on the far left in the yellow). She seems so strong and determined!

The Juice

My brother Kyle and my parents came to visit this weekend. He is technically my step-brother (for all those confused) but after 25+ years of being his sister, there is no need for the "step" part anymore. He is stuck with us as little sisters :)

As usual, we had a BLAST! Chet and Kyle are like long lost (goofy) brothers and we all have such a good time together. All that was missing was Melanie (our wonderful sister-in-law) who couldn't make it out this time. And of course, the girls were all over Kyle from the second he woke up. They love wacky Uncle Kyle!

It was a fantastic weekend! Julia learned to ride her bike- finally! It is mostly (ok, all) our fault for not trying harder with her. My parents bought her a big girl bike and within 5 minutes she was riding by herself down the park sidewalk. Yay Julia! She loved having an audience watch her at this important "first" and even earned her new nickname of 'Juice'- given to her by Kyle.

And she's off!

Cheering squad

So proud of herself!

We all cheered Julia on at her first soccer game as part of "Lemon Drops" team (GYSA league). She did great but it was an afternoon game and SO hot. I actually thought that Julia was going to pass out after the game- she was so sick from running in the extreme heat (100 degrees) but still played most of the game without wanting to sit out. She loved hearing cheers for "Juice!" from the sideline.

We finished the great weekend with a trip to my favorite restaurant- the Brazilian Bull in Ahwatukee. Yummy!! Every weekend should be filled with family, food and fun!!

My little sweetheart- she loves just to hang out and be part of the action!

And to be held by Bobo!

Can't forget about our little Miss Bella! This is one of many photos that Chet took of her by request (Bella's request).

These next photos are to demonstrate the antics that kept us in stitches!
In our kids' eyes, Chet and I definitely fell a notch or two.
*Sorry Kyle- but Suzanne asked me to blog about this!

Channeling Julia

Somehow Julia (our Julia) is destined to be the next Julia Child.

I say somehow because I don't know where she gets her love of cooking from. I am a decent cook- only because I make the same recipes over and over. I am not one to pour over cookbooks and wow my family with the latest creation. (Except for the pumpkin creme brulee that is on the menu for tomorrow- that is something I plan on wowing them with. Or at least myself!)

Julia loves to help me cook and loves looking at recipes even more. Admittedly, I don't cook with her as often as I could. I really, really need to work on that.

As a true testament of this new found passion, this is what Julia came home with after library day at school:


No joke- out of all the cool books in the school library, this child checked out the Betty Crocker cookbook!!! I am sure the librarian had a good laugh with this one. She spent a good 1/2 hr looking through all the recipe titles and reading them out loud to me while I made dinner tonight.

I didn't have the heart to tell her that we have the exact same cookbook in my cookbook collection at home. I didn't want to burst her bubble nor did I want her to wonder why she hasn't seen much of my copy! :)

A day at the beach

Well, an Arizona beach that is. We took another road trip today and headed to Canyon Lake for some swimming and playing in the sand. It was another great day! It has been fun taking these impromptu road trips exploring new destinations!

*It wouldn't be a complete day without the obligatory sand in the mouth! *going to rinse out her mouth.



Wiped out!!!

It looks like Bella is looking at something down below but she too is fast asleep!
Poor girls- they can't even hold up their heads!

Muffins for Moms

This morning was the annual Muffins for Moms morning at Julia's school. Dads serve muffins and juice for the moms and kids before school. Don't worry- the moms reciprocate and serve the dads on "Donuts for Dads" in the spring.

As always, per Julia's request, Chet signed up as one of the servers and had to be there by 6:45am. Most dads leave for work earlier than 8am so Chet is one of the few dads who help every year. Getting up at 6:30am is very early for Chet! Actually 6:30am is early, but he got up at 5:30 by accident. Bella likes to play with his alarm clock and had set the time an hour ahead. So, when I set the alarm for him last night, 6:30 am was actually 5:30am! Neither of us realized this until Chet came back to bed grumbling just a little bit and commented on the correct time. In my groggy state, I did think it was a *little* dark for 6:30am but didn't say anything. Oops!

I look forward to these fun school activities and to see the other moms. Chet drops off Julia in the mornings so I really don't get to see the other parents much. I have to wonder why the dads got Starbucks coffee but no such love for the weary moms. What's up with that?? This perkiness isn't all natural anymore! I need to bring that up at the next PTA meeting. :)

Thanks sweetheart! I will see you in line for Donuts for Dads!

Plan B

I have been running on empty lately! We have been dealing with lots of little things that quickly add up. Plus, Camille has been a poor sleeper lately- something is bothering her, not sure yet. I just know that Mr. Sun arrives way too early!

Yesterday, the girls and I wanted to go to the movies. Honestly, for me, sitting in the dark for 2 hrs sounded nice! However, Chet convinced us to go on a short road trip to Payson. I balked a little- wasn't sure about the kids on an impromptu road trip and we really didn't know what to do once we got there. But, I am SO glad we did. Chet's spontaneous plans somehow always turn out better than my well thought out ones! I guess I need to let go a little. :)

We stopped at Christopher Creek and went exploring. The girls were so happy to hike around in the cool weather. At the creek, they spent the entire time wading in the creek catching bugs in their nets. Bella even caught a baby crawdad within the first few minutes- not sure how!

On the way home, Julia said "I am so happy that we did this instead of the movies." They both fell asleep with smiles on their faces and fun memories !

Nature's finest

Camille is 1 week shy of 6 months but I just couldn't wait to start feeding her solids. I make my own baby food which is so easy and enjoyable for me. Her first food was avocado- mushy, green, and so full of goodness for our little "chunkers". Bella didn't start eating solids until 8 months old- she just wasn't interested and would rather nurse instead of dealing with pureed fruits and veggies. So, I wasn't sure if Camille would like it at this age either. Well, she loves it! She kept grabbing our hand and trying to grab the spoon. I think she just wanted to bypass the cute photo op and get down to business!


She is a huge baby (20 lbs)! I am her mom and I can say that with love! :) Look- even her hands have rolls.