California

Ok, here are our pictures from California last week. As usual, we had a wonderful time, the boys loved being outside all the time and it was a welcome break for me from having to care for them by myself day in and day out. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids and spending all my time with them, but sometimes it is nice to go somewhere by myself or with my sisters/friends besides the grocery store!

The weather was beautiful while I was there, warm and sunny and not too hot. We got to swim a few times, take walks, play with doggies, and go to the park a lot. A little boy's paradise!

Cullen

Jack sitting in the grass at my Mom's apartment

For some inexplicable reason, Cullen is deathly afraid of grass. If his bare skin comes in contact with it, he freaks out and tries to avoid touching it at all costs. He tries to lift up all 4 of his limbs at the same time, it's pretty funny! Poor kid, I don't think he knows yet that he can't levitate off the grass.

Jack and Cullen with Auntie Rachel

Mommy dancing with my boys

Peeking through Mommy's legs

What a big boy! Seriously, though, who is that kid?? That can't be the same baby I gave birth to!

They love their Uncle Jon because he spins them and throws them soooo high!!

We found a ball in a tree so Jon tried everything to get it out. He eventually got it, but then the kids who owned it came out and asked for it back. Bummer :-(

We were busy all week planning and running errands for my sister's shower, but we did manage to get to Disneyland for a few hours one afternoon. The boys LOVED this fountain in Toon Town! They were soaked!

I can't believe I let Cullen drink water from a Disneyland fountain, how gross is that?!?

Splashing away!

He's sucking the water out of his shirt in this picture...

Jackson and Cullen didn't have enough patience to wait in lines so the only got to go on two rides that each had 5 minute waits. The carousel was one of them, they really enjoy this but they are so impatient waiting for it to start. They shake the pole, bounce up and down, and when it starts to slow down, they get mad and try to fling themselves off of the horses. They are too funny!

Pirates of the Caribbean is the other ride they got to go on. It was past naptime though, so Jack fell asleep on it...

Admiring the flowers

Me, Anna and the boys

A little girl was blowing bubbles for the boys and they were completely entranced!

Cullen running with Auntie Anna

On Saturday, Rachel, Anna and I threw a shower for our sister Renee. She's having a baby girl in just about 8 weeks and they're going to name her Violet so we had a purple themed shower! Rachel and I made this sign for Violet's room. We were trying to think of something different than the painted letters hanging from ribbon that everybody does nowadays and this is what we came up with. We found the board and letters at Michaels (I swear, Rachel keeps that place in business all by herself!), then we spray painted the board a neutral tan color. Then we sprayed the letters with glue, covered them in purple glitter and added a few paper flowers as the finishing touch. Since the purple glitter was pretty over the top, we wanted to keep everything else really simple. I love how it turned out though! When Jon (Violet's daddy) saw the sign, he just rolled his eyes and muttered something about "too girly and frilly." Haha, isn't that the fun of having girls though?!?

Rachel also had this crazy idea to make a few dozen paper flowers for the shower. All but one or two of mine were really ugly but Rachel's turned out well and then our cousin Sheala came over and spent hours making the most beautiful paper flowers I have ever seen! I didn't get a picture of hers, but they could have been straight out of Martha Stewart! Thanks so much for making me and Rachel look good Sheala! Your flowers were incredible!

We played a few games and gave away these violets as the prizes.

And here is the masterpiece of the entire shower! Rachel (who is not only super crafty but also a fantastic baker) found a recipe for a super-complicated European cake and decided that it was "the one" and that we just had to make it for the shower. It took us several hours and there were 4 different layers, each brushed with a sugared rum mixture (don't worry, it was safe for Renee to eat), raspberry jam, and flavored pastry cream. Then we topped the cake with whipping cream and fondant, dusted it with edible purple glitter and topped it all off with violets! It didn't go perfectly, we had to remake the cake as the first version turned out more like a sweet, dense pancake and our pastry cream wasn't as stiff and fluffy as it should have been but we were so darn proud of the finished product! Can't you tell from the amount of pictures we took of it??

Rachel with her pride and joy

We decorated for the shower by hanging some of the clothes we'd bought for Violet from clothespins.

And this is something very special that I've been keeping a secret for almost a month but I'm just bursting to show it off now! When I first learned to sew, Sari and I were at Joanns and we spotted this quilt-kit of lavender fabrics. As soon as I saw it, I just knew that I had to make it for my niece Violet! It was my first big sewing project and it was very time consuming and difficult for me, but I did it! I sewed every stitch of it all by myself! (I took pictures to document my progress while making it, but I'll save those for another post). I smile every time I think that soon my sweet little niece will be all wrapped up in it!

One of my Grandma's friends tried to show me up by hand-crocheting this baby blanket with the alphabet on it. Uh, I don't think so lady! I'm the Aunt, my quilt is better by default! Just kidding ;-) Violet's a lucky little girl to have such cute handmade blankets!

Sister pic

The boys LOVED swimming in the kiddie pool, it was the perfect height for them to scoot around in!

Trying on Uncle Jon's sunglasses

Helping Nana make breakfast

So cute all snuggled up together at Auntie NeNe's for a nap in their makeshift bed!

Sheer Joy!

They sure do love their Uncle Jon! He's going to be a great father!

Chillin with Auntie Anna in the big pool

Chatting with Great-Grandma

We went to the park several times, but on our last day we were able to see a baseball practice going on and the boys were just fascinated! They stared longingly at the big boys dreaming of the day they can hit and throw and run like that. They already can't wait to play baseball!





Next time we go back to California will be meet our new niece/cousin Violet in the summer! And Daddy will get to come this time too! We can't wait!!