in an attempt to capture some daily things this morning…elsie sneaking off with mom’s cookies…

she’s always wearing these purple beaded necklaces lately. so funny to see her come around the corner with them hanging around her neck. isn’t it a bit early to begin this girly girl stuff? 🙂 at least they match today! ha!

and sweet caleb. he goes to afternoon kindergarten and mornings are somewhat tough when the big kids are gone…they’re his playmates. he’s stuck with mom and the baby. 🙂 BUT he’s learning how to read. it’s always amazing when our kids go to kindergarten.. they start out barely reading a few words.. and halfway into the year they are reading books. i  l o v e  t h a t.

tonight dad and cam are going to the pac 10 at the staples center after baseball practice. i love that dad has a basketball watching partner now. i mean, he had one before… me.. but now he has someone who’s genuinely interested! ha! 🙂 kira’s last soccer practice tonight. soccer is ending, so is basketball… just in time for little league to start. the boys are both in it so should be fun.. lots of chasing elsie around the field. and yay! it’s friday tomorrow already! how great has this week been?! 🙂 short and sweet.

i have said it before, i will say it again… they need to make sat-sun-mon the weekend. we had to pick up kira so we made a quick trip to the beach.

i think she got chris’ sensitive eyes… her eyes were so teary in the sun!

shells that the boys collected then later did an academy award show with them…. best colors.. best shape.. etc. very cute. love when they are creative like that. see mondays off are good! 🙂

 those chubby fingers, that pale skin, the flecks of sand. oh my. it is much more impressive if you click on it and see it bigger. at least, i think. 🙂

and thanks to cam for getting these shots. toes in the water. she loved it. didn’t want to leave. nobody did. i love love love when that happens.

here’s to a very productive tuesday for me. so glad. now i feel like i can take on the rest of the week! 🙂

on last week’s pics. bowling. finally made it in. 🙂

this is in hollywood.. she looks so hollywood with the wind in her hair, dontcha think? 🙂

i know this one is blurry but i love it so….. he looks like my little boy still here…

kira and her friends chose this polka dot theme when they went to the dance last week. that’s my skirt! i can’t believe we can share clothes now.

a few years ago kira was into these toys.. littlest pet shop (?) and i thought to myself.. she is going to be sooo over those in a bit.. she was at that age where she wasn’t playing with toys much… i am so glad that someone else has found them and loooves them so much. 🙂

and one that caleb took of me and the birthday girl.

and since i hate mondays so much.. i am glad i don’t have to start the week like i normally do.. kids are off and we are going to soak in one more weekend day. 🙂 yay!

i’m using the excuse that daddy had to go out of town after breakfast to post all these photos. 🙂
so it started off with breakfast at a schmancy hotel with elsie flinging fruit off her plate in every which way. nice.

then the first round of candle blowing while daddy was still around. caleb blew it out. elsie could care less. but look at her dive into the cupcake! go els! 🙂 looove caleb’s face as he’s watching her go at it. ha!!!!!

some cute shots around the hotel while we were waiting for grandpapa. this one cracks me up.

then the farewells. grandpapa and jude going back to australia. daddy going to texas.

everyone leaves and it’s just me and els. a quick run to target and to get some balloons. which she LOVES. hold them, let go, laugh. repeat. over and over. until one pops and she is then terrified of them.

in a matter of hours, there are a few naps, a trip to the PO, the schools to get the big kids and baseball practice. home again to have cupcakes with the siblings. 🙂 the cupcake and candle thing strikes a memory and she is happy. 🙂

always has to have her feet crossed like this when eating. always.

atta girl!

while looking over my 200 photos i took today… i realized.. i changed her clothes 3 times today. (i don’t usually do that. i let her grub up whatever she’s wearing for the whole day–less laundry, ya know?!) that i get a lot of photos with her fingers in her mouth. i get a lot of photos with her and everyone else.. i think i had 3 of me and her.. which is a bigger number than usual. not much though… considering i birthed the child. 🙂 and after so.ooo…ooo many photos taken to get THE birthday shot for my records… it’s this one i loved most. bright, shiny, lovely and SOOOOOOO happy in the bath. birthday/schmirthday…. she was ready to hop in my bed and have snuggles.

if you read through that entire post, thanks. 🙂

quickest year of our lives…off to a birthday breakfast with grandpapa and jude… will be back later with lotsa piccy’s! 🙂

ha! i have neeevvveeeerrrr liked mondays. today is no exception. trying to wrap my brain around the beginning of the week… my head is spinning.
recap of yesterday:
we attempted, very stupidly, to go bowling at this cool place here.  it’s been awhile since we’ve been.. and of couuuuurse we chose this sunday to go.

bad move. baaaaaaad move.

gold guys that day. oscars. duh. whhhhy didn’t we think of that? the whole street was closed.

we didn’t even get to see anyone famous. except the caveman from the geico commercials and sugar ray. lol.

so off we went to starbucks. someone turns one this thursday. 

someone is totally fascinated by dogs. she says woof woof, which sounds like woo woo. and i kid you not.. i woke up to her woofing this morning. 🙂

and someone lost their two front teeth and also made it to the american league. 🙂 🙂 🙂

it looks like we have a full fledged middle schooler in our house. 🙂 miss kira won a spot on the sixth grade ASB (Academic Student Body (student government)). 1 out of 8 spots. and her best friend won too. she is so giddy and we are so proud. she is SUCH the school spirit rah rah kinda girl/academic achiever/natural born leader… they picked a good girl. 🙂 aaaaaaaaaaaaand. heaven help us… she’s going to her first school dance tomorrow night. with a gaggle of girlfriends of course! 🙂

about 11 years apart. i hope hope hope they stay close as they grow up. i always thought i would have liked a sister.. but i am too much of an introvert.. she would have wanted to hang out and stuff. 🙂 LOL i did just fine with my cousins living in different houses. 🙂 these two are so sweet. all kira wants to do is hug and play with her. finally, elsie is starting to enjoy playing now. and yesterday we picked kira up from being gone all weekend, and elsie greeted her with a ‘hi sissy’… ok more of a ‘hiiiiii thi-thee’ and of course, it melted kira’s heart.

when he was around 2-6 cameron used to be a BIG creator with leftover household items. i would save my scraps and he would make amazing things with them. but since he’s grown up and found video games, his creations have been put on hold. i used to wonder what i would do with all the stuff he made.. where would i put it.. do i HAVE to keep it??? now.. every so often, cameron will come to me with a new creation and it makes my heart melt. no longer do i ask myself those questions, but i want more, i secretly hope this is the door opening to his creation making again.

this is his new buddy…made out of scrap foam, striped paper clips and brads. soooo extraordinary to me.

got this cute love tray from target and filled it up with yummies for the kiddos. 🙂 i got this cute card from caleb. he totally doesn’t know what he’s talking about but i will soak it up anyways. 🙂 (rach- do you love how he spelled rachael? LOL)

and miss els for daddy’s val day presents. 🙂