creating: water color

I got this idea from Pinterest.  

Using a white crayon, you write words or phrases and then paint over them with water color.

 The kids were asleep, the house was clean and quiet, and I just played with the paints while Kit told me about his day.  It really was so nice just to sit and be...

 Nothing crazy, but I really found it relaxing!

I loved getting to do something new and different.  I guess I will have to fess up to Ryder that I used his art supplies, huh?♥

one of the best times of our day

Bath time.  It's one of our favorite times of the day. 

There is always so much laughter!

 I love his face!

 Ryder's response to "Make a funny face"...

Man, I love these kids...

getting ready for summer: updating the front yard seating

We have been spending lots of time outside with our neighbors and we are getting more and more excited about the summer months.

The other day though, the weather finally caught up with our 9 year old furniture and it broke.

 So we decided it was time to replace them.

I went with the lighter to try something a little different...

It feels nice to have the front yard seating all ready for block parties, basketball games, and those long summer evenings.
Oh and about that dead bougainvillea, we planted a new one:

 I'm really excited to not kill this one♥...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The run to Home Depot for the chairs was really fun for the kiddos.  We could have shopped for HOURS with the kids in that car cart:

Have a wonderful day my friends!

We will be hanging out in our front yard if you need us or you want to hang out!♥

cinco de Mayo at Disneyland

This weekend we got to Disneyland with our neighbors.  We had the best time!

Here were some favorites:

 It isn't a trip to Disneyland without seeing Buzz and the Astro Blasters...

Toon Town roller coaster:

(First time and he LOVED it!)

 Just hanging out with his friend:

(She is the SWEETEST little munch...)

 We always have to see our Cars "friends" too:

We went on the Jungle Cruise and Toon Town and the Ariel ride and just enjoyed walking around the park with our friends!  
It was such a great day... 

Have I mentioned how much we love our neighbors?

harvesting

One of our favorite chores to do is mowing the lawn.  It gets us outside, Ryder burns a TON of energy pushing his little lawn mower around and after less than an hour, it feels so satisfying to look around at what we have done and to see a difference!  Recently, mowing the lawn has come with the added benefit of harvesting avocados from our tree.  We try to pick them gradually, but if Ryder is in charge, we get plenty for the whole neighborhood at one time.

 What a helper I have!

Eden loves when her brother does the gardening!

Well, I hope that you have a great weekend!  

Thanks to Ryder, our's will be filled with things like guacamole and BLTs!♥

meal time activities

Ryder has been waking up early, as in before 6am and it is PAINFUL!  I have been struggling with not wanting to just leave him in front of a show or the TV, and my conversation ability at that time in the morning has really been lacking♥.  Recently, however, my sister gave us these question cards and they are AWESOME!  

 I feel like we get to learn things and he has so much fun with them!

We have done them this last week and he has really been enjoying them.  I still get to be with him in those early hours, but it is so nice to get to use a tool like this while I wait for my coffee to kick in.

Between reading our favorite books, coming up with questions for Ryder, and now pulling in some learning games, meal times have become so much richer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the same lines as family meal times, Kit ordered me this book and I am LOVING it!  

If you have a chance, check it out.

I hope that you have a great day!

time with Mia

My Mom came out to be with us yesterday and we had so much fun.

There was reading:

(She does voices for different characters.  Ryder LOVES it!)

 coloring:

 a trip to Chick -fil-A:

 the girls:

She also helped me go bra shopping.  It is the first time I have bought non-nursing bras in over three years.  Good Lord, I feel like a new woman!  She also watched the kiddos while I went to a doctors appointment.  Such a blessing to go to the doctor's office alone...
Mom~

We love having you in our life and getting to be with you on a regular basis...

It is such a treat and a precious gift!

We couldn't love you more!