Pigtails!!!

I have a confession to make....I always really wanted a girl. I love Alex to bits and pieces, but when we got pregnant a second time I wanted a girl and hoped I could go crazy with bows and pink and tutu's galore. So ever since Amelia was born I've been dying to put her hair in pigtails, and ta da....today her hair (kind of) went into pigtails for the first time! Very exciting and she looked awfully cute. Alex and Paul thought she looked like Boo off of Monster's Inc. with them!



Other than our big hairstyling accomplishments this week it has been pretty much a recovery week for us. The kids and I are finally over our colds after laying low for a few days this week. Amelia and I are still hanging on to a bit of a cough but overall are back to our regular selves. I've been in birthday mode, shopping for all sorts of items for Amelia's first birthday that is around the corner! Again, it has been fun planning a flower/cupcake/butterfly themed birthday for little missy. Not that Alex's trucks galore party last year wasn't a great time...!

We've also been getting great use out of our kitchen...Amelia is especially happy with her newest bath tub.



This weekend we plan to enjoy the beautiful outdoors. We are having a garage sale tomorrow morning to clear out some clutter and then tomorrow evening plan on having some friends over. Low key just the way I like it!

Spring has sprung!

For those of you who weren't aware, spring is here! Yesterday was the first day of spring and for once Mother Nature seems to be obiding by the calendar. This week was so beautiful out I wanted to cry every time I had to go into my office (which doesn't have one window by the way). I tried to keep leaving work early so that I could enjoy the beautiful sunshine out. Luckily with the time change I get to enjoy it even when I can't sneak out early. The kids are so happy that the weather is nice as well. Alex is finally tall enough to reach the peddles on his Big Wheels and has been going all over the neighborhood in it! He is such a big boy!




Amelia wants to get down and explore. She can crawl really fast now and is very intrigued by everything she can find on the ground outside. Rocks, grass, pieces of dirt all are closely inspected and try to go into her mouth....we have entered into the 'I need to taste everything' stage.



Alex also started new gymnastics class, now on Thursday evenings. This class is extra special because his BFF Bridget is in it. They had a blast Thursday evening and wore themselves out running around during class.





Other big news....our kitchen is done!!! Yeah!!!! It actually went really fast and only took a little over a month, but it feels like forever that I've had a fully functioning kitchen. Jayson, our tile guy, finished up around 7:30 last night and we just couldn't be happier with the final results. I just stood in our kitchen last night in total amazement at how it turned out. I am really, really, really, REALLY happy with it! Check it out:





In case you forgot how drastic of a change this really is for us here is a before and after shot:

BEFORE


AFTER


I encourage all of you to get outside this weekend and enjoy the sunshine! Have a happy and safe weekend!!!

Family Ties

"Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family."
Anthony Brandt

Our trip was awesome, but what made it so great was that we went with family. I saved this post for last because it is the most important. There were 12 of us that went to Punta Cana. We almost all have big birthdays this year so this trip was extra special. My mom turns 65, my aunt Liz turns 60, my cousin Ann and her husband Mike turn 40, my other cousin Jessie turned 21, Paul turns 30 and Amelia turns 1. Milestones for most of us! I think we all look pretty good too. :)

One of the things that makes me the saddest (sorry Mom) is that I am an only child. My mom and her sister are really close and so are all my cousins. But although I have no siblings, I have cousins whom I am very close with so that makes me pretty well off.

Here is a picture of my mom and Aunt Liz who are looking great for 60 and 65 if I do say so myself....glad I come from good genes!



Living almost 5 hours away from most of our Chico family we don't get to see them as often as we all would like. As my cousin Ann stated so perfectly, 'life gets in the way of us seeing each other more often.' But this week was a great time to spend some time together. Alex basked in the attention from Jack & Nick and loves his Tia Ann (yes she is really his cousin but so what?) and especially loved Jessie. He had a great time rough housing with my Cousin Chris and Mike as well. It works out great that Paul gets along so well with Chris and Mike and the three of them had a great day golfing, despite some crazy rain storms in the middle of their game.





My mom also loved spending some quality time with her grandchildren at the beach. Amelia especially loved playing with Nana's hat.




My aunt Liz doesn't have real young grandchildren anymore (Jack and Nick are 11 and 9) so she seemed to have fun spending time with my kids for the week and pushed Alex all around on this raft while he sipped a smoothie. Not that my kids are spoiled or anything....



When I was a little kid I totally idolized my cousin Ann, and I still think she is totally awesome. She is a great mom, makes incredibly cool jewlery now and is one of those people who is just good to the core. I also think my cousin Jess is a great girl. She is smart as all get out and also just beautiful. I always feel a bit homely between the two of them....but still make us take a cousin photo every time we get together.



I think my son will now idolize Ann's boys....and Amelia will too. Jack and Nick are good to the core just like their mommy and are growing up to be incredible boys.



Alex & Amelia also had some extra good sibling time. I just love this photo of Alex playing peek a boo with Amelia, she is laughing her big belly laugh at him in this photo.



We also got in a few good family pics of the four of us, which is always a nice thing to have.



So another big thank you to my mom and Aunt Liz for a wonderful vacation. I wish I could have taken more photos, but I am happy with the ones I have! Now I need to get scrapbooking!

Highlights of our trip

Here is post 2 of 3 from our trip....this post centers around some of my favorite moments and pictures from our trip. Tune in for my last post about our trip which will hopefull be up by Sunday or Monday. I am finally finishing up teaching my two University of Phoenix classes so I should have a bit more time in the near future! I have been greatly neglecting my scrapbooks and Tivo!

While at the resort Alex became friends with 4 year old twin boys, Jack and Eric. They had fun together swimming in the kiddi pool, building sand castles and as seen below, playing at the beach. Kate, Jack and Eric's mom, told me the boys had been scared of the ocean but became fearless once they saw Alex running into the water. I had a nice time talking with Kate and getting to know her as well. They left a few days before us to return to Canada, where it was suppose to be 19 degrees. It made me appreciate our California winters!




The scenery around the resort was gorgeous! There were beautiful palm trees and plush greenery everywhere! There were even parrots and flamingos! Alex loved the flamingos and even fed them one day.




Despite careful efforts of applying 50 proof sunscreen, Alex got sunburned our first full day there. He was not happy about it or me taking this picture...



I am a little biased when I say this, but my kids are pretty stinkin cute. All the resort workers agreed though & were always making a fuss over our kids. This guy even took Amelia behind the bar and gave her a little 'drink making 101' class.



The resort had awesome beds everywhere, both on the beach and poolside. We were lucky enough to get them a few times during our trip and they were quite divine. Nothing like being truly spoiled by laying on a bed and taking in the beach!




The fruit there was amazing and plentiful....there was even this 'fruit lady' who would cut the fruit into these amazing designs and put it on a stick for ya.



Our balcony had a bathtub jacuzzi on it that we used everyday. The kids loved it! Alex would always ask after his nap if we could 'go get cozzi in the cuzzi.' Too cute!



Alex loves Nemo and loves the scene where the diver takes Nemo and keeps asking for diving stuff. So we got him some at the resort, he loved it. Couldn't take it off so for all of you who have seen "Big Daddy" with Adam Sandler, here is his Scuba Steve picture.



They had these cool bridges everywhere to get to rooms and the other side of the pool so I just had to take this picture of Paul and Alex on it.



My friend Carin gave me a ton of gorgeous summer clothes for Amelia and the last night I put her in this white dress. I just love the way this picture came out, she looked so cute in this dress.



One of Alex's favorite parts of the trip were the airplane rides (however it was my least favorite...) When we were flying back Monday morning from the Vegas airport I found Alex parked in front of this huge window gazing out at the airplanes, isn't this a great picture?



Wow looking at all these pictures makes me ready to go again! Better go call my mom! :)

Fun in the sun!

We're baaaaaacccckkkkk....! We had an amazing time in Punta Cana and I will be doing several posts of our trip since I took over 400 pictures! Yikes! We were suppose to get home Sunday but due to U.S. Airways (who SUCK!!!) we didn't get home till Monday at noon. I need to go through all the pictures and start whittling them down but for now here are some of the highlights:

The beaches were amazing, as was the pool. The resort was pretty spread out and a huge pool was spread out throughout the middle of the resort. We got in good pool time let me tell you! Alex pretty much just jumped right in, but Amelia was really unsure of the water at first and wanted nothing to do with it but in a few days learned she could splash and have fun, so she is now a fish just like brother!





Every resort should have this....a swim up bar! Loved it!



We stayed at an all inclusive resort, but there were still plenty of people trying to make a buck (can't blame them) and one of them was this guy with a monkey walking around and taking your photo. So of course I had to buy some. Alex was into it, but not like Amelia. Oh she wanted that monkey so bad! She kept grabbing for it and Alex wanted to take it home.





Going along with Amelia's love for animals, she loved this little crab we found on the beach. She had no fear what so ever! I think she will be my animal lover....look at how she just looked at it and then gave it a little kiss! Or really, was just trying to eat it! (Disclaimer, Paul took off the pinchers so she couldn't get hurt at all, don't worry!)




We took this trip with our family, and I was so glad Alex got a chance to spend time with his big cousins, Jack and Nick. He just loves them and followed them around everywhere. He keeps asking me when he can see them again and I think he misses them more than the beach!



Well, I have some more great pictures of family, beautiful scenery and fun times to post but will have to compile a few more messages and edit the pictures a bit more. I just was anxious to get a few pictures up for you all to see. I leave you with more family picture and a promise to but more up soon!