Loving Life

There's SO much I'd like to get out on this blog sometimes, but lately I have very little time to blog.  Since Ethan is no longer napping, and I always have several hours of work to do each day, I try to be very productive while he has his "quiet room time".  This means that lately I've been trying to ONLY work... no social media or Pinterest or blogs.   A few random tidbits on my mind right now....

*Ethan has been ROUGH the past few weeks/month.  He won't nap, yet he's quite exhausted.  Then we spend the evenings with him having horrible behavior and needing to get to bed by 7:00.   Lately he won't play with anything or do anything constructive, he just roams around the house or gets into trouble.  Thus, I'm quite happy for him to have started school.  I'm really hoping this helps him out and his behavior at home gets better, because goodness gracious it's been TOUGH.

*Feeling majorly antsy to craft and create and re-decorate... but reall…

Ethan had his first day of pre-k (junior Kindergarten) today.  He's been looking forward to it all summer.  In fact he's been so excited about it we had to make him a countdown calendar.  He was up and dressed by 6:20 today, even though we didn't need to leave until 7:50 :)  He was a little nervous when we dropped him off, but still very excited.  We stayed until the bell rang and walked him to his classroom. 

Since Ethan was up and ready so early we got to sit outside and watch this beautiful sun rise.  The humidity made for a gorgeous one!



Matt met up with us at Ethan's school to say goodbye :)  Kind of cool for Matt that now our kids get to go to the same school he went to for elementary and junior high (Redlands Christian), and cool for me because this is the school where I taught second grade :)  Now I get to be on the other side as a parent... it's crazy.


Alayna was pretty stoked to spend the morning with me.  We skipped the gym today since I had to get som…

The heat has been quite intense for a few weeks now.  Not only is it hot, it's been hot and humid, which I don't do so well with.  I am definitely not Southern.  I can handle 103 if it's dry heat, however throw in 30-40% humidity and there's not way I'm voluntarily doing anything outdoors but swimming.  Now that creates a bit of a challenge for my kids and I, because we LOVE being outdoors.   We've spent a lot of time indoors the past few weeks (except when we're swimming).  Here are a few things we've been up to:

Building with Marshmallows and Toothpicks.
I was amazed that this activity kept the kids busy for nearly an hour.  They loved it.  However, don't let your kids do this if you don't want them eating a whole lot of marshmallows :)






Crown Making
Today, per Ethan's request, we made crowns, which the kids painted and then decorated with jewels.




Don't you love all the paint on his face?  hehe.  He wiped black paint onto his face and th…

Last summer we did absolutely nothing fun as far as vacations go.  The only trip we took was up to Ripon for Matt's grandma's funeral, which isn't exactly something you'd consider a vacation.  It was a rough summer with lots of struggles and not a whole lot of fun.  So, with that being said I can't tell you how nice it's been to have such a fun summer.  To go on vacations to Colorado and Hawaii, spend lots of time swimming, and enjoying one another has been so refreshing for my soul.

We were able to get away for two nights with our kids to the Worldmark Resort in Indio.  The Oates got us a room for super cheap, and not only was it a room... it was a two bedroom condo with a full kitchen and living room... super nice.  So we packed up and headed from the hot 103 of Yucaipa to the hot 112 of Indio :)

We were either swimming or hanging out in the lazy river or our room.  The kids had a blast and it was fun to get away and take them on a little vacati…

This past Saturday we set aside our "to do" list, packed up and headed to the beach to spend the day with the Flores' on Danny's birthday.  This was the first time we took our kids to the beach this year, and they were thrilled.  We all had such a great day.

Oh, and I just have to mention that all of these pictures were taken with my old camera (the Canon 30D) and a cheapo plastic 15-55mm kit lens.  Matt and I shot a wedding the next day and there was no way I was going to get sand on my nice gear.  Just had to throw that out there to show you that you can indeed take great pictures with not the best equipment ;)


Ethan didn't really venture into the water far, but had fun running from the waves.  Alayna on the other hand loved it and despite shivering she wanted to go in again and again.







 Ethan and Christian had so much fun together all day.




  Jolene buried the four kids in the sand, but they didn't stay there too long.

Alayna spent much of the day just like…