Madam Makyla's 1st "Tea" Party

Today Makayla and I had an impromptu tea party. Makayla will periodically bring me a pretend cup of tea but today when she had all of her dishes set out for a tea party I filled them with things like juice, water, maple crystals and raisins so we could have a "real" tea party. Makayla combined all of the ingredients to make our drink (I hadn't anticipated the raisins to be part of the concoction!) and then loved pouring and serving the drink to us. It was a fun mother/daughter moment that I had to take a picture of to preserve the memory forever.

The beach in January!!!

This week the weather was AMAZING! We went to the beach 3 times. On Tues. and Thurs. the kids and I went with some of our friends and had a great time. I just kept thinking when can you ever go to the beach in January in your bathing suit, play in the water and not be cold? No other time that I can think of but this week that is exactly what happened.

Aleena loved the water! I couldn't keep her out of it and she got her clothes soaking wet. I learned my lesson and put her in a bathing suit the next couple of times we went.

Trip # 3

Later that week on Saturday we went to dog beach in Huntington (yes we brought all 3 of our large dogs with us) with all my family. Jimmy took James out on a surfboard and helped him catch some waves since James, as of a few weeks ago, decided he wants to be a surfer. It was a great day and we are so blessed to have family so close by that they can join us on a spur of the moment beach trip!

I was a little brain dead that day and only took these three photos; I am so bummed at myself. At least in this photo you can see one of the dogs and my Dad in the background.

We LOVE Mitchell Family Visits!!!

Tim, Christie and kids came to visit us over Christmas break. We had so much fun just hanging out and spending time with such an awesome family!!! They introduced us to a new game called "Solemn Occasion" that had all of us laughing even when it was just your turn to watch!

As a bonus it was Emily's 18th birthday so we had a party to celebrate and got a little silly....okay a lot silly!

New Year's Celebration!

For New Year's we had a last minute party at our house. We had a blast ringing in the New Year with fun friends. We talked, ate, played a bunch of fun games , went crazy counting down the seconds to 2009 and toasted the New Year with sparkling cider! It was a perfect way to kick off the start of a new year! Thanks to everyone who came and contributed to such a great night!!!

Back at it....for now

Can you believe it I am going try and start blogging once again. Rather than play catch-up I thought I'd start with the current and try to fill in the gaps little by little. I guess you could say I'll try and make it one of my new year's resolutions!

A busy week for James

The 2nd week of June was a full one for James. He had his preschool graduation on Tues. His class gave a performance for all the parents and then the teacher presented each child with a graduation certificate.

Then on Wed. James performed with the Orange County Mormon Chorus at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in the Segerstrom Concert Hall. This was James' third concert with the group. This performance they had the 4 & 5 year old section dress in costumes from around the world.

This concert during rehearsals and the show I helped back stage watching/organizing the kids and bringing them on and off the stage. James told me this was his favorite time performing because I was one of the helper moms which then made it worth all the stress and time involved with helping. Once again my parents and Chanel came to see James and made it a special night for him.

Happy 3rd Birthday Makayla!!!!

On May 29 Makayla turned 3 years old! We celebrated Makayla's birthday at my mom's house with all of my family that is close by. She had been waiting all day long to get that cup cake, since I made them early in the morning and her party wasn't till after lunch.

We love having family close by! Both of our kids will tell you their best friends are their cousins! Most of the time Makayla even calls Calie her sister.

Aunt Natalie didn't wast any time in making Makayla a princess on her Birthday! My Mom only furthered that notion with a full princess outfit complete with glass slippers (I made the mistake of calling them shoes one day and Kayla informed me "they are not shoes they are slippers").