Growing Up

We have just finished our 3rd week of Master's Kids- a one day a week mommy and me program through our church that prepares 4/5 year olds for school next year (gulp)

When we come in Weston traces his name, says a Bible verse and puts a sticker on a chart for completing his homework for the week

Craft time is his favorite

After the first week Daddy took us out to lunch and Weston is showing us how he raises his hand to talk in class

It has been great so far to stretch and grow him out of his comfort zone and helpful for me to see areas that we need to work on. We can't wait for the rest of the year and for the friendships he is making.

We love our Master's Kid!

Still drooling...

I made these quick turkey melts after church yesterday for lunch and I'm still thinking about them ;)

Turkey Apple Swiss Croissants

Croissants
Organic turkey breast
Raw baby Swiss cheese
Dijon mustard
Thinly sliced Granny Smith apple

Layer all your ingredients with the cheese on top, then broil until the cheese melts and croissants crisp up- yum!

An LA Birthday

It's been harder to post these days...The end of summer, warm days filled with wet and muddy little boys and a growing belly with lots of nesting to do! 

There is much to catch up on but the most recent event was Andrew's birthday- and we do love to celebrate our daddy! Andrew's mom was able to visit this year and celebrate with us, which is always more fun. So it ended up being more of a birthday week for him!

First we headed to Malibu to cool off and have dinner on the coast. It was a gorgeous night and we all loved the yummy seafood and getting our toes wet in the waves.

Then we came back home and had Andrew's favorite red velvet cake and shirley temples for dessert

At the end of the week Andrew and I had a fabulous date night downtown with a fancy roof top dinner at Perch and then dessert at Bottega Louie

And for his birthday present from all the family, Andrew was able to get some new golf clubs!

We love you so much Andrew! You are such a gift to us and I can't imagine my life without you in it. Thank you for being the best husband and father I know, for leading us, loving us and working so hard for us!

Happy Birthday!

My Baby

It makes me a little sad that my baby won't be the baby anymore, but he sure is excited to meet his baby brother! He has enjoyed practicing being a big brother and reading books about babies. Gabriel will be 3 in about 3 months and we have had so much fun seeing his personality come out and hear all that he has to say :)

Yesterday was very warm and we were enjoying some lemonade outside, just the two of us. He took a drink and looked at me and said "Mommy, it has ice!! But I'm not a girl!! I'm a boy!!" To which I replied, "So only girls should have ice in their lemonade? " He nodded and wasn't content until I took the ice out of his cup and put it in mine, since logically, I'm a girl :)

Disneyland

Papa decided to spoil us all and take us to Disneyland for 2 days and he put us up in a hotel nearby, which the kids loved just as much as Disneyland! The first night we got there we celebrated Weston's birthday and as you can see he liked all the attention :)

 The cousins had a blast together

Weston was still a little scared of all the indoor rides since they are so dark and loud, but he loved riding all the outside rides

Gabe was very happy with the little spray fans to keep us cool in line

Another huge hit were the parades- they are pretty amazing...here the kids are waiting for the parade in California Adventure

Here Weston is telling Donald that it is his birthday- it was pretty cute

After all the excitement of Disneyland, the highlight of the week was coming home to put together the bike that Nanni got for our big boy and he hasn't stopped riding it since!

Thank you Papa for spoiling us with this fun trip all together and for all the happy memories we made!

Weston Turns 4

Our baby turned 4 this month, for some reason that number seems so big! Not a baby, not a toddler but a big kid with big kid birthday wishes. For a while now he has wanted a Razor scooter to keep up with his friends :) It felt very strange to buy him something like this! But we just love our growing boy and all the energy he has and we love watching him learn and excel at new things. 

This month has also been challenging in the fact that whatever plans we have made, they just aren't coming to fruition and it has been a month of many small trials- the kind that irritate but also make you remember what is truly important in life! These bday pics were supposed to be filled with out of town family celebrating with us, but our air conditioning went out and we didn't think it wise to house 10 people for 2 days when it was about 95 degrees in the house. Our friends the Ames were so kind to let us stay in their home while they were away for a couple days. So after presents at our house we packed up and moved into a cooler climate :) So we were sad to not have our family with us, BUT we did enjoy a quiet birthday celebration with just the 4 of us and were able to focus on the gifts of each other!

Scooter and Helmet!

my parents sent us a couple super fun tree swings that the boys have loved! Especially in the evenings when it is cooler outside.

The next day we headed to the Ames home filled with fun new toys for the boys to play with

Since we weren't home Weston got to pick whatever he wanted for dinner and we went out: He chose Cheeseburgers :) We went to a yummy BBQ spot called Rattlers

I also had grand plans of making Weston his birthday cake, he said he wanted a vanilla "Cars" cake- so we improvised and picked up a Costco cake and I put Cars figurines on it.

For cake time we were able to Face Time with my parents which was so fun! Almost felt like they were there too.

It was such a sweet little celebration and we had a fun week to look forward to. A few days later we met Andrew's family at Disneyland! Pics to come of that.

So mommy learned a big lesson this birthday- birthday's are not about having the perfectly planned party with a gourmet menu and a homemade cake- but about a life that we have been given to use for God's glory. My birthday boy didn't notice all of the elements that I thought were "missing" but simply enjoyed his family that loves him more than words can express and of course his scooter ;)

"Refreshments on the Journey"

"The settled happiness and security which we all desire,God withholds from us by the very nature of the world: but joy, pleasure, and merriment, He has scattered broadcast. We are never safe, but we have plenty of fun, and some ecstasy. It is not hard to see why. The security we crave would teach us to rest our hearts in this world and oppose an obstacle to our return to God: a few moments of happy love, a landscape, a symphony, a merry meeting with our friends, a bathe or a football match, have no such tendency. Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home."
C.S. Lewis