I'm, back!!

I'm back, from nowhere in particular, just the abyss of summer and we've been up to nothing in particular too, being home, running errands, going to the beach, swimming with cousins and friends, going to the park, until it got hot about a week ago anyway. School doesn't start for another week and 1/2 so we are just going to enjoy these last few days, probably take another trip to the beach, we just went out to mothers beach and we had a blast, usually Zuma is our spot, its beautiful and you really feel like your out of the city but I decided to change it up and try something new. Usually I avoid the 405 like the plague (and it sucked on the way home) but my girls loved mothers beach, the best way I could describe it to you is that its like being at a lake, the water is still and that is what my girls loved, being able to get in the water, its shallow too, even when Kate waded far out the water still only came up to her waist.

splashing in the water and the girls walking on their hands "doing the fishy walk"

Kate made this island, she worked on it for a long time and was very proud of the finished product.

Sara loves to get the sand all over, at one point she would put her head down and just rub it around in the sand, she was one sandy mess by the time we headed out.

Whilst shopping for some new school clothes for Kate I found these cute dresses at The Children's Place on sale so I couldn't resist.

This is one reason I'm sad for Kate to start school, one morning a few weeks ago when the girls woke up it was pretty overcast outside, Kate was sure it was going to rain (it never did but I thoroughly enjoyed those summer days) and got herself and Sara all dressed for it.

Hope your enjoying summer too, its over for some already, I don't like the triple digit weather but its good for home made popsicles, Sara loves these things, frozen berries, plain yogurt and a little powdered sugar.

Sara's 3

Sara turned 3 last Sunday, it was kind of a weird day with church for 3hrs smack in the middle, Eric also has to stay later as the financial clerk and then he had a priesthood meeting to go to in the evening. Even with all that going on we managed to squeeze in a little birthday celebration with family. Then on Monday we had a little party with friends.

As I look at the pictures I keep thinking its Christmas, its not, we just have lots of Christmas paper and no birthday paper! I think 3 is the first year kids get the whole gift thing.

Sara got a doll house, she played with it until the very last moment before we had to leave to go to church.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

Then came the celebration with friends, we had a few friends for some party games which lasted all of 15 minutes of the hour I had planned and then the kids played, some swam and I made hot dogs for lunch. We kicked off with a birthday craft, lots of stickers, another favourite of Sara's.

This is her little friend Xander, most of all she wanted Xander at her party.

We also kind of had a lollipop theme as Sara loves lollipops (notice the cupcake plus lollipop), plus purple and pink, so I scattered lollipop flowers and set out lollipop flower bouquet's.

Lots and lots of lollipops!

being one step ahead, and five others behind

Last night was rough, Kate had a particularly sore foot (EB related) and rolled around (in my bed) for several hours during the middle of the night moaning in pain. Today my list of things to do is greatly increased by the fact that I didn't do yesterdays and I found myself too tired to do today's, that means tomorrow will be nuts! My friend Julie called me this morning and offered to watch my girls (just because she is nice that way) and that gave me time to run to target and toys r us, two places I don't particularly enjoy taking my kiddos. Anyway, checked off the list is the last of Sara's birthday presents and a gift for Kate's friend, then this afternoon we took butcher paper and made our own wrapping paper for the gift, the last few gifts we have given have been wrapped in Christmas paper, I give myself a pat on the back for being so organized to have a gift already bought and wrapped for Saturday. Now I just need to finish cleaning all of my windows inside and out (1/2 done), vacuum, mop all my floors, scrub down the kitchen and clean the hardwood floors!!

I picked up this little card game today at Target for the bargain price of $3.48 and am happy to report that it is quite cute and lots of fun, we must have spent a good hour playing this today, even Sara can get in on the action.

Summer fun

Wow, I can't believe that with school out I haven't had time to post anything. I'm loving school being out but surprisingly we have been keeping ourselves busy enough that the days seem full. Happy 4th, we had a relaxing day, Eric took the girls to see the new ice-age movie and then we had friends and family over for a BBQ and swimming. I tried a bunch of new recipes, Yummy Honey Chicken Kabobs courtesy of all recipes, they were really yummy, I skewered the chicken and onion and then threw the marinated peppers, mushrooms and extra onion in a grill basket. Grilled peaches, they turned out good too and I also made this chocolate cake

we were trying a vegan cake as a test run for Sara's birthday party, as we were getting ready to decorate it I told Kate I needed to find a flag to copy (meaning an American flag) she ran off telling me she had a flag and came back with a Union Jack we had made for a school project, so we made a red, white and blue cake with a little twist! Also the cake was yummy, I wasn't so much worried about the cake as I was the frosting but that turned out good too.

I also found these super cute shoes for Sara on one of our excursions, she technically didn't NEED any shoes but all of her shoes are hand me downs and they were just too cute to resist.

Culmination

I'm beginning to be able to relax and de-stress, Kate had her final day of school and now we can relax and begin to enjoy the lazy days of summer. As we drove home today we listened to "what time is it" from High School Musical. I'm excited for some quiet days and no pressure of having to be some place. Kate has had a wonderful time in school, here are some pics from her culmination last week.

Kate and Sara all dressed up for the big day and Kate's teacher Mrs Burkley.

Teacher assistants Mrs Trana and Mrs Holquin.

Enjoying cake with friends to celebrate the culmination of the pre-k class. See how Sara is in so many of the pictures? she just can't wait to be like Kate and go to school!

snuggly sisters

They fight, and bicker and at times drive me crazy but at the end of the day they really do love each other...

This is how I found them last night, we'd had a good day (school, walked the dog, played at the park, bedtime stories) and they were tired, Eric was working late and I had a Presidency meeting at my house. You know those nights when you just need your kids to be good going to bed? they instinctively know it and bedtime is a drama. About and hour or so into my meeting, tired of the constant crying and calling out to me I finally said "just both go and get in my bed!", (they love to sleep in my bed) and finally all was quiet, when I went into check on them they were just so cute, all snuggled up together.

memorial day & book covers

Hope you all had a fun and safe memorial day. There were a few different things going on around us but as we discussed plans on Sunday night with our friends we decided to stay home, hang out and play games and then Rebecca had a genius idea of a fire and s'mores. We scoured around trying to see what we could use to improvise as a fire pit and came up with this huge terracotta pot. It was awesome and I have a feeling this may be our new thing, an evening fire with s'mores. Check out Rebecca's blog for more (and better) pics.

Kate roasting her 1st ever marshmallow, she never actually ate them, she just roasted them.

Hanging out with with our friends, the Coopers and the Bagleys.

Also here is my new crafty thing, making book covers for the RS manual, I've been giving them away to sisters who substitute teach a RS lesson, super easy to make. If you'd like one and don't want to bother with making one I'd be happy to make you one for $5 to cover the cost of materials.