Erin's Maternity Photos

Erin had her baby! So why am I posting maternity photos? Well, I had a lot of fun taking these picture for this cute family and I'm bummed that I missed the chance to take newborn photos! So the next best thing to taking newborn photos is posting old maternity photos I guess? We have had this terrible cold (Julie and I) for the past three weeks!! We have been quarantined from all newborns, but I think I am finally rid of this cold. Too bad the baby is 3 weeks old now...(newborn photos are generally best asap!!)

Backyard Adventures

...on the other side of the fence. ESPECIALLY when the neighbors on the other side of the fence buy a new swing set! I may have to buy my deprived children a swing set so they don't spend the rest of the summer peering through those boards.


I, however, much prefer my side of the fence. Mostly because it contains 2 cutie patooties! We have finally had a couple nice days so the girls have been loving the time outdoors. I love how Lizzie gets so excited every time she finds a dandelion. She continues to hunt for them until she makes sure she has one for each member of the family.

Julie trails behind and asks to smell each new flower as if they were picking roses.

Meow comes along for the adventures, of course.

The adventures to be had in the backyard are endless.

To have children is to enjoy the simple pleasures of life all over again!!

Lizzie's New Classes

Lizzie,

You are growing up way too fast. I am thinking about starting you in preschool this year but I might just rather keep you home with me for another year! You can always do preschool next year.



That doesn't mean you won't be busy, though! We just signed you up for swimming classes and gymnastics. You are a natural at the gymnastics. Its a great way to get all that energy out. You love the swimming time, but this last class you were a little tired of the teacher having you dunk your face under water! I'm sure you'll be swimming like a fish in no time, though.



Its so fun to watch you interact with your teachers and class mates. You are an independent spirit but great at making friends. Your most common line is, "C'mon friend!!" Then your new friend who you've usually just met always responds and follows you!

You were so excited for me to take these pics of you. You've entered a new phase where you seem to like our photo sessions!

You are one cute mini model- thats for sure!

This last picture is a great portrayal of the true you: Confident, spunky, silly, mischievous, innocent, and a comedian! I think your Uncle Jason may have inspired this to some degree but you love trying to make the family laugh with your silly voices. Then once we're tired of that you will move on to entertaining us with a dance show. Nothing seems to please you more than getting a smile out of your Mom, Dad, and Julie with your silly antics.

20 month old Ju Ju Bean

We've discovered that Juju Beans don't expire. They only get better with time! This little bean is no exception. She is sweet as can be and such a smarty! She is such a little chatter box just like her big sis, too. I love the way she exclaims, "Funny!!" whenever someone says or does something that tickles her funny bone.

Julie is at the "no pictures please" phase. When she sees that camera come out she hides her little face. lol.


I was able to trick her into smiling a couple times but mostly had to settle for some non-scowling pictures. Maybe I will post the scowls later. They're pretty cute too!

In the last couple months Julie's vocabulary has exploded! She can say and repeat just about any word and small phrases. She seems to be at a real "learning window" right now so we've been working on her ABC's, colors, and numbers. She's picking up on it so quickly!

Every day she asks, "Play doh?" Then, "color?" The two girls love that both of these are a part of their daily routine. Lizzie's favorite thing to sculpt is a nest with eggs and Julie's is a bird. (Julie usually asks me to help her with a "bird?"

Julie is loving our Y membership and has taken to the swimming pool like a fish. It scares me a little that she has absolutely no fear of the water. I watch her like a hawk because she will jump right in without hesitation.

This girl is a fast one! Fast and busy is her personal style. She always seems to have places to be going, things to be doing, and lots and lots of things to be saying, 24/7.

Right now her favorite toys are Mimi the cat and a little baby doll. She loves to smother them both with kisses and hugs. This girl is always melting my heart with her tender and sensitive little personality.

All it took was for Daddy to hold her to get some real smiles! Her toothy little smile cracks me up. She still has NO teeth considering her age. Dental development is really slow for my kids!

Pine Trees

Growing up in a house that backs up to the woods I have always loved the idea of having a bunch of trees in our backyard. It was another perk of our current house! However, I have never lived near so many Evergreens and I've learned a couple things about trees around here in WA.

A couple facts about pine trees:
-They can easily grow 100-200 feet.
-They have shallow root systems that are very susceptible to wind throw.
-Even a small gust of wind can cause them to shed needles and branches.

A couple facts about me:
-I have pine trees in my yard that are REALLY tall.
-I know someone who was crushed by a falling pine tree.
-I have a secret fear of our pine trees crushing our house.

Well, the good news is we had one of the biggest wind/ice storms in recent history and our trees survived! I've seen tons of fallen trees as aftermath of this winter but our trees and house are still standing! The branches on the trees though...thats a different story. Our backyard was LITTERED with so many branches you couldn't see the grass at all by the end of the storms.

So we spent a Saturday cleaning up and the girls were our big helpers! Julie made for a great branch smasher, with Daddy's help! Lizzie helped us load the wheel barrow.

We filled the whole truck bed with branches and this is no small truck bed, mind you. If you are thinking right now, since when do we own a truck? Let me tell you...

We don't own it. We are babysitting it. A couple friends of ours in the military were accepted into the special forces and had to move suddenly for training. So, they asked us if we would babysit their truck for the next year or two until they are done with training and can move back. Its been such a blessing to have this big ugly brown truck around. We've had to use it for a lot of random tasks.

Happy Valentine's Day!

This blue ruffle cupcake is much like our Valentine's Day this year: exciting, unique, fun, creative, and different. This may not be your typical pink and red frosted cupcake with heart sprinkles but I think I enjoyed the day as much as Lizzie enjoyed this blue heap of frosting.

Warning: this is not my typical post. This one leans heavy into a "for my own memory's sake/ journal keeping category."

Valentine's Day very well may be a silly holiday pushed upon us by manufacturers and companies like Hallmark, hoping to sell us their products and goods at double the price as we scramble to "prove" to those around us that we love them. I get that. There have been many years where we celebrated V-day on the following weekend or barely at all due to life's busy schedule, a low budget, or just not bothering. Dave and I never feel like we "have" to celebrate any holiday especially when it falls on a weekday. One thing I love about our relationship is that it is very honest and open. We have vowed to not be "hint makers" with each other ( a person who says one thing but really wants something else). So each year before any given holiday we state our honest opinion on how we want to celebrate it. Some years we say "lets not get gifts." And we mean it. We don't.

This year we said, "Lets do small gifts this year." And we did. We tried to use creativity and thought over large sums of money. (not that I don't enjoy large sums of money too) :)

I made Dave a little book of 52 reasons I love him. It was made from a deck of cards and each card had a different reminder of why I love him. It was hard to limit all the reasons to 52! He also got some new exercise pants (our newest past time is exercising these days) and a bag of his favorite peanut butter M&Ms.

Well, my gifts were pretty insignificant compared to what he had planned for me. It started out with a delivery on Fri with a bouquet of roses and the sweetest note:

The girls got a couple more early Valentines in the mail from Grandma, Grandpa, Great Grandma. Lizzie even got her first Valentine from a boy. (Just her good buddy Joshy though :) ) I can say that Lizzie truly treasured each and every one. She insisted on taking them to bed with her that night. The girls had a great time spending their money from Great Grandma at the dollar store!
We started the actual day of by exchanging gifts and heading to the Y. We then, undid all our hard work by eating pizza for lunch and picking up See's chocolates. We came home to some fun Valentines left by Linda and my neighbor down the street. The girls were VERY excited by the balloons and all the candy. I could use one word to sum up the girls V-day experience: Candy. They loved it.

I'll be honest and say that Dave and I usually focus on just each other and the kids for Valentine's Day but this year we decided to expand our circle and spread the love to more people. My favorite part of the day was taking dinner to one of our next door neighbors who has been stressed and busy taking care of her sick Mom, amidst her own family's needs. While I am blessed to belong to a church where we do these types of things for each other a lot, I don't believe this family has this type of support during hard times. They were very surprised and so grateful it touched my heart. I would normally feel averse to posting this on the blog for fear of coming across as boasting, however I feel the benefits of remembering this years moments and feelings too great to be forgotten. I learned some things this holiday that I don't want to forget. May our family always remember the best way to celebrate love, especially on Valentine's Day: Loving one Another.

Call it karma. Call it blessings. Call it what you may. I can tell you though that serving others will always bless you even more than the person receiving the service. As I made dinner/dessert for the neighbors, Dave spontaneously decided that he would prepare a fancy meal for our family. We feasted on delicious chicken parmesan with extra mushrooms (our favorite). The kids ate MORE V-day treats. Then we headed out to run a couple more Valentines to people. The girls' fav stop being Grammy and Papa. The most interesting stop being our new neighbors.
*Funny story: We brought some valentine treats to a different, new set of neighbors that had just moved in and it almost seemed they were suspicious of our overly welcoming greeting. They gave a piece of the treats to each of our girls before trying it themselves and I swear it was to make sure it wasn't poisoned or something. hahaha.
We got home pretty late and put the girls to bed.

Then Dave surprised me, yet again, with a fancy fondue feast! He perfectly recreated my favorite melting pot dessert complete with oreo covered marshmallows for dipping in the cookies and cream, chocolate deliciousness.

It was a GREAT Valentine's Day. And one I won't soon forget.

Sister-Sister

The sister-sister interaction around our house has been pretty cute these days. Julie wants to follow and copy everything Lizzie does, and Lizzie is ok with that. (Most of the time.)

If you're wondering why the girls' hair looks crazy you will see why soon. Why do I even bother?

Its so funny to watch these two play. Lizzie grabs a book, climbs on the couch, and pretends to sit there and read. Julie does the same. When I come in the room to check on them Lizzie says, "Mom, we're best friends and we're reading!" I"ll hand it to Lizzie- she knows how to please her mom when she wants to.

Nothing like a little light reading on a Sunday morning...

Theres not a pair of girls more amusing then my two. They make me laugh, make me crazy, melt my heart, and make me smile all wrapped up into one! This morning, they mostly made me laugh. Julie was very amusing as she discovered she could turn her body sideways into a perfect "U" shape.

Lizzie cracks me up the way she leads the sister-sister interactions. She climbs in the princess tent/tunnel, coaxes Julie in with her, then bosses directs some pretend activity like a tea party.

Ahhhh, nothing like rubbing your head on the carpet and through tunnels to maintain the well groomed appearance mom worked so hard on.