sweet sunday

 eli begged for muffins this morning, so we made blueberry ones. my kids just like PLAIN muffins though, so i kept a few plain for them.  we also made blueberry crisp the other night and it was soo good. i'm having blueberry cravings apparently.  moving on...

 i think my mom used to fix my hair like this sometimes when i was younger, because i had serious deja vu this morning with ivy. i don't easily see myself in her, but i did today. she loved it... such a girl.

 ivy's preschool friend around the corner had the cutest birthday party this evening... i took 100 pictures and she's not even my kid :) i thought it'd be weird if i put them all on my blog.. ha but here's a few from her backyard circus birthday! the kids had a BLAST. there were games to play to win little prizes, a funny clown, hot dogs, popcorn & cotton candy, grilled chicken kebabs, little homemade cheese puffs, fruit, cutest stamped clown bags, susie cakes. beautiful afternoon and just pure joy watching the kids have so much fun. they are the sweetest family, and i hope to become better friends.

blueberry muffins
blueberry crisp

over & out!

ivy goes to pre-k

august 21, 2013
kirk house preschool
menlo park, ca
MWF 9AM - 12PM
TH 1- 4PM

this is ivy's second year in preschool, and her second year at kirk house.
i love her school and have been so happy and grateful for this sweet place for her during the morning.
she's now going 3 mornings a week, plus a special afternoon class that's a little more structured, helping to prepare them for kindergarden. she loves it loves it.
she has the same teachers as last year, and the same rooms, it's all very familiar and she didn't skip a beat. mostly the same children from last year, a handful of new ones. i think 22 total, with 5 teachers. the whole little school is open to them (it's small), and they are free to roam about from room to room. ivy usually starts in the art room, then moves to the dress-up area, does a project with a teacher, plays outside, has snack and "table time" with her small group teacher, they talk about the scripture verse for that week and different topics..  there are 4 rooms and a playground. each friday there's a bible based puppet show with teacher carol. it's a sweet little place and i just can't say it enough!

we made our favorite oat bran muffins with sprinkles for breakfast,
 ivy wore a little gap polka dot dress,
her gold jellies, and a pony tail.
the students wear jackets in the morning year round because mornings (and evenings) are cold here. ivy's not a huge fan of them though, so she usually takes it right off and puts it in her cubby. #11 this year. (she might just be wanting something to put in her cubby, i'm not really sure.)
she took the envelope from my hand as we were walking in and said with squinted eyes and a nodding head, "thanks mom. i need to carry my information." eli loves her school too.. but he misses her while she's there :( it's nice to have some eli time... for a few more months at least!

 we had dinner at k's office... pizza and ice cream trucks outside.
we celebrated the last day of summer/first school day with huge ice cream cones.

although he's tiny by this truck, he looks so old to me here

here's to a sweet, calm and joyful fall!

tgif

happy weekend to you! 

a boy & an orange

 the end. 

happy birthday ivy + eli

ivy is three and eli is one!

my babies are growing up.

it doesn't seem totally crazy... it seems just about right.

there's been a lot packed into the past 3 years, so it hasn't flown by.

after all, she's lived in texas, scotland, massachusetts, and now california.

and has visited mexico and charleston extensively :) london, paris, prague, vienna...

she's taken music, art and dance classes and ridden horses.

she wears underwear. and jewelry.

and loves to make believe.

she has a little brother and four (almost five) little cousins.

all at the ripe ole age of three.

so it really didn't sneak up on us.

even still, i can remember her birth like it was yesterday.

12:44AM august 18, 2009.

so long. so, so hard.

her eyes were navy blue.

i'll never forget it.

and now she's three!

a few words to describe ivy: 

creative, dramatic, energetic, feisty, sweet, independent, empathetic, maternal, 

smart, imaginative, shy, wild. 

all rolled into one. she's kind of a mini-me.

and eli.

his first year went by more slowly, since it was mostly in cambridge.

and pretty uneventful.

when i think about our time there, the first thing that pops in my head 

is carrying him around in that bjorn. 

we were attached.

up and down those wretched stairs,

in restaurants, stores and parks,

during church,

all through the town.

me and him. 

so easy, so sweet.

he only wore white onesies. (til like, last week).

i think i can say i successfully kept him a baby a good long time. 

he's had his share of flying though, to texas, mexico, cambridge, charleston and california.

he loves the water, animal crackers, the swing, his striped bear, walking, 

being tickled on the bed, shaking his head no, oat bran muffins,

 holding something in his hand (golf club, stick, pen) 

but probably his favorite thing is being held. 

he's such a mama's boy. 

lucky me. 

ivy requested an "ocean party with alllll the sea animals and a scuba diver in it".

she said that word for word if anyone asked her.

still not sure where that came from, and i really resisted the idea, but an ocean party it was.

mom & gen (with estie!) flew up thursday and planned the whole thing.

life savers!

it turned out really great and we had a fun time. 

{MENU}

ocean blue coolers

hamburger sliders - daddy grilled

seashell pasta

goldfish

fruit

homemade birthday cakes  + ice cream

m&ms

the kids made sea creature picture frames and sand bottles

almond white cake  + cinnamon chocolate cake 

party favor: fish cookie cutter + sprinkles,  ocean stickers

thank you gramma and aunt gen! we miss you already.

happy birthday ivy + eli!!!!

santa cruz weekend

last weekend we packed up the car and drove an hour to santa cruz. 

kevin's company was having a beach bash so we thought it'd be a fun place to spend eli's birthday.

(we actually celebrated his birthday the next weekend)

we cruised the famous little boardwalk and let ivy ride the rides. 

that's definitely a once-is-enough kind of place,

but ivy really enjoyed it.

and eli enjoyed his first ice cream cone :)

we met up with kevin's co-workers on the beach

and ate, played in the sand and had our caricature drawn. 

the next day we rode a steam train through the redwoods.

i found this somewhere and it seemed like a cool thing, 

but it was probably a cooler idea in my head than what it ended up being. 

(hot, long and crowded).

kevin and i always like to joke about what my dad would be like in these situations.

(not well. not well at all.)

all staying in one hotel room together wasn't the greatest night's sleep, either.

i thought it was fun to be bunked up together and ordering room service.

kevin thought i was crazy. 

traveling with kids is just sort of a fickle thing - it can turn out too many different ways.

 oh well, it's still fun.

live and learn.

a very happy birthday to my sweetest little boy.

i'll do a real post later.

                  good morning, one year old!
when i told ivy it was eli's birthday,
 her eyes got big and she said "we have to make eli a birthday card!!!"
oook.

santa cruz beach

 steam train through the redwoods

the end