1 year ago

1 year ago today, we had the PODS loaded and they were picked up very early in the morning.  The house was sold 3 months prior.  We had spent our last night in the apartment - on the floors!!  We loaded the kids in the van ( the car had been driven over by parents' friends a few weeks prior.)  We then headed out to drive to somewhere I had never been.  Scariest day of my life.

We spent a week on the road - having some family time on the way.  Finally about a week later, we arrived at our new destination - California.  It is hard to believe that it has been a year since we left St. Louis.  Sometimes during this past year I have wanted nothing more than to return and some times I am loving our new home.  To say this past year has been easy would not be true.  It has been very hard but very Blessed.

God has shown us that for now, this is where we are supposed to be.  Brian loves his job and we love our new Bible Study friends.  I have not been this close to a group of girls in a while, so much fun!!!  I know it has been hard, but it has also been a lot of fun.  We are so Blessed that we are together and enjoying what this area has to offer. 

Taken Mother's Day weekend in Tahoe!!  Not the best pic of me.  Wanted to do this pose but was not thinking we would be doing it in our swim suits:)  Can't beat the view though!!!

Excited to see where God takes us in this next year.

4 Years Old!!!

 4 Years Old.  I can not believe it.  Earlier this week I was thinking about how you came into this world.  How we had a big scare and could have lost you at any moment.  How I was having 3 ultrasounds a week and then a regular doctor visit a week to check for your hear beat.  I remember how calm I was just knowing that god was in control and knowing that you were a fighter from the get go.  I am happy to say, that everything turned out great and here we are 4 years later.

 You are strong, athletic, loving, kind, strong-willed, and so much more.  God knew what Brian and I needed and it was you.  We love you so much and love to see how much you have grown just in this past year.

You are now in gymnastics, ballet, and swim lessons.  I have tried to cut it down so we are not over committing you but you will not have it.  You love all three and can not give up any of them.  These past few weeks, you have decided that swimming is great.  You go under water, front float, back float, and jump off the side with no one to catch you.

You love your brother dearly.  Any one that we meet, you are the first one to introduce him.  You look out for him always which is such a big girl thing to do.  You make sure he is eating and drinking water when we are out playing.  You include him (most of the time) when you are playing.

You love to meet knew people.  You always choose the older kids but will play with any one.  You love to get out and do things but also love some down time to watch My Little Pony.  You love riding your bike and just recently rode 3 miles, up and down hills, with no problems ( with training wheels of course).  We are starting to have more one on one time with both you and me and you and daddy.  You love it and so do we!!!  

You are asking many questions a day about Heaven and God.  I love every minute of it.  Your heart is there, for God and for others.  Keep asking the questions!!!

You know your alphabet and how to write your name.  You can count mostly to 100, getting stuck on a few numbers.  You love to learn and constantly asking me to do more lessons with you.  You have also started reading.  We got you some BOB books and you can read a few of them.  I think you are reading a new word every day.
 

Not sure if you can tell but it is a tutu made out of fruit.  She is not into cakes or cupcakes but loves her fruit!!!  She was  a little upset that I took Belle but got over it.  She was insistent that I find a number four in either purple, pink, or blue:)

We love you so much Kaylee.  I can't believe you are 4 but we are so excited as to what this year is bringing. 

More visitors!!!!

Grandma K came to visit us for a while.  She also visited her sister that lives about an hour from us so it was a little come and go.  While here, we hit up artbeast.  It is a place that you can come and explore lots of different art areas.  You can do crafts, paintings, dress-up, water play and so much more.  It was fun but I am glad I had an extra pair of hands to help the kids.  It is not the place I will take both kids too by myself.  Here are a few pics from artbeast.

Of course we had to hit the pool while she was here.

As an early birthday present, grandma gave Kaylee a water table.  Of course both kids are goign to have a lot of fun with it.

Brian took all of them out in the kayaks for an afternoon.  I would like to say I got to relax while they were gone, but I grocery shopped and mowed the lawn.  Oh well, I had other times to relax.

While Grandma was at her sister's, my sister and niece came to visit.  My sister had a conference to attend about 10 miles from us so she brought one of her daughters with her.  It was a short but great visit.  They flew in and out of San Francisco, so before we had to take them back to the airport, Kaylee and I showed them Pier 39.  We had a great morning.

It was a great few weeks of visitors but I am glad things are getting back to normal now!!!  We do miss family though.

First visitors

We had our first visitors come to our house, and Kaylee was excited that it was her grand parents.

My parents ended up coming for a little over a week. We had a lot of fun, but also just relaxed and enjoyed each other. Through Brian's work, we get a membership at a gym and one of the sites has a therapy pool. So, my parents and I took the kids swimming on a couple of the days. We had recently gotten an underwater camera and so we had to try it out:)


Carson underwater.





Can't wait for more visitors!! Which happens to be this week and next:) Brian's mom is coming into town and also my sister and one of her daughters are coming next week.

Easter

We enjoyed our first Easter in California. It was pretty low-key and that was wonderful. Brian had Friday off work which made for a great weekend. We got a few house projects done on Saturday, but Sunday consisted of Church and bike rides. Kaylee rode her bike for 2 hours with a short pit-stop at a park. She has gotten so good at riding it, even when Brian raised the training wheels up some so she has to balance some.

I took some pics of the kids. Kaylee was great, Carson wanted to do anything but look at the camera. The only way I got him to look at the camera was if I asked him if there was a puppy behind me:)






The best I could get of the two of them. May try again this weekend if they let me.

Kaylee has also hit a great age to explain the meaning of Easter. I am so proud of her. If you read facebook, you have already heard these stories. While in Kohl's, the cashier told Kaylee that the easter bunny is coming on Sunday. Kaylee immediately replied that Easter is about Jesus being born. We later clarified a few points of the meaning of Easter and she got it down great. I love that she is not afraid to share her faith and I hope that never changes.

Child Like Faith

I need to document something because I know as time goes on I will forget how old Kaylee was when most of these discussions have happened.

We have always told Kaylee how much God loves her. When she was a baby, her favorite song was, "Jesus loves me." She knew it was bedtime when I would sing her that song. Sometimes she would not be too happy that I was singing it because she then knew it was bedtime:)

Lately, we have been reading two different books; a devotional for preschoolers and The Jesus Storybook Bible. I would highly recommend both!!! In fact, the Storybook Bible is the best Bible for little ones, I will not read her anything else right now!!

Anyways, we have had a lot of talks about Heaven and having Jesus in our hearts. With Easter coming, I thought we should get an early start on what it is all about. I want to record some things that she has said in the past few nights, they are so sweet and innocent.

Talking about Jesus coming back to get us all:
K: "Mommy, will you hold me when we go up?"
Me: "You will hold onto Jesus when you go up."
K: "I want you to hold me too."


K: "When is Jesus going to come and get us, it is taking a long, long time (insert whiney voice here)?"
Me: "We are not sure, but while we are here we are to tell others about him so they can join us in Heaven. We don't want others to go be with Satan."
K: "Who is Satan?"
Me: " Remember the snake that said bad things to Adam and Eve?"
K: "Oh Yeah, we have to tell lots of people about Jesus, we don't want anyone to be with Satan!!"



I know there have been others but am drawing a blank. I will have to update this when I think of them because I would love for her to be able to look back at her "child-like Faith" when she was only 3 years old!!! I love her heart:)

Finding Snow

We decided to take the kids up to South Lake Tahoe. Here in Folsom, we do not experience snow but we can get our "fill" about an hour away. I have never been snow shoeing and thought we would just rent them for the first time, but when I went to check on rentals, they had some great deals on them. We ended up buying both Brian and I a pair and then Kaylee spotted a pair for her. I couldn't resist:) She had so much fun that it was totally worth it. I was impressed at how quickly she picked up on it. She didn't fall once, but daddy did!!!

For our first time, we did not go too far in the snow shoes. We got pretty tired very quickly. They are harder than you think. My calves were sore and it was noon, so lunch time!!! After grabbing a bite to eat in the van, we got the sled out. There were quite a few people and lots of trees around. That does not mix very well. We watched as a few kids ran into trees coming down the hills. They were fine but I was not feeling quite right about sledding down with that danger. We found some small hills to go down that did not have as many trees. The first time down, Kaylee got a mouth full of snow. She didn't think she wanted to go anymore. Brian got her up the hill again and then he got on the sled. She was standing off to the side looking down the hill so as he started going down, he just grabbed her on the way and set her down on the sled. She protested at first but then was laughing hard. She ended up having fun and was enjoying herself again.

Kaylee also built a snowman:)


Carson could not get enough of sledding. Before we were even off the sled, he was pointing to the top to go back up.

Snow shoeing!!! Carson just enjoyed being outdoors.

This will definitely be a regular activity. So much fun. I am just glad we have to go somewhere for the snow and not our backyard. We came back home to 60 degree weather that afternoon:)

Trip to San Francisco, part 2

So on Thursday, it was another beautiful day. We decided to head to the ZOO!!! We had a blast and couldn't have asked for better weather. Kaylee found a friend in the first five minutes we were at the zoo. He was 4 years old and his name was Carson:) They kept asking if they could go the same way so we ended up hanging out with Carson and his dad for some of the day. I only brought the single stroller as I knew Kaylee would walk most of it. When she wanted to ride, this is how we rolled:)

Carson, can you please slow down in the growing department?

Feeding of the penguins:

Kaylee is seeing hoe she measured up.

After the zoo, we made the short walk to the beach!!! We didn't spend too much time there as I did not have much with us.

Carson was just ready to get into the water.

On Friday, we decided to head across the Golden Gate Bridge. It was raining and so not the clearest picture. Still beautiful.

We hit the Bay area children's museum. They have an area for little ones that Kaylee was just short enough to still get in. Thank goodness because we spent a lot of time in here. They basically had water beds that were set up as water ponds and lily pads. Kaylee was one of the older kids and when she would jump she would bounce all the kids. I started noticing kids following her as they were enjoying being bounced around. She was enjoying being the leader.

They also had a science area. Kaylee enjoyed dumping beads from one container to the other by putting her hands into the gloves.

Carson was enjoying taking and putting back all the sticks. Kaylee is helping him makes patterns with the colors.

Even though it was raining, they wanted to build. I love how they are working together to build.

That night for supper, Brian got off early so we took him back down to the Pier. Showed him the sea lions and walked for a bit. On saturday, we were heading to the Golden Gate Park but the weather was not cooperating. We played for about 45 minutes but then decided we were all tired and ready to head home. We stopped at Texas Roadhouse on the way home!!! Kaylee was introduced to ther bread and butter - she is hooked:)

All in all it was a great week. Wish Brian could have spent more time with us but we understood he was there for a conference. We will enjoy heading back to have even more fun!!!

Trip to San Francisco, part 1

Downloading pictures and painting the living room so will be dividing up the trip into a few posts. Let me back up, Brian was heading to San Francisco for a conference. Since it is only 90 minutes away, he asked if we would want to go also. Hotel room paid for, yes we will go!!! I have never been to SF so this was exciting to me. I started to research some places for the kids and I to explore and talked with some friends here. Then we were off!!

We left monday afternoon to beat traffic. Got to our hotel and then walked down to Chinatown. I will admit, I was not impressed. I think I am just not a city girl. Anyways, we headed down the huge hill to find some supper. I can't remember the name of the place, but it was pretty good. Kaylee loves to try to eat with chopsticks, so here Brian is trying to help her learn the proper way.

Carson tried to find another use for them but quickly found out they can not be used as straws.

On Tuesday, it was the kids and I as Brian started his work week. It was drizzling, so we planned indoor activities. A friend told me about a museum called the Randall Museum. It was crowded and small. They had animals to pet and Kaylee had a fun time trying to catch the chickens and bunnies. Carson kept thinking everything was a duck. It is the animal he knows the sound for so the whole time, he was walking around saying "quack, quack." Even to the chicken and bunnies:)

They had trains downstairs which Carson loved. Overall, it was a pretty small museum and pretty crowded.

Other than that, we ran to a few stores to get some supplies we forgot and just explored the area. We ended up back at the hotel a little earlier than I hoped and so we walked to a nearby park to kill some more time.

Wednesday was a beautiful day!! We headed down to the Piers to explore and hit the aquarium.

We drove down early to walk around a bit at Fisherman's Warf,

and to see the Sea Lions that hang out on Pier 39. It was fun to watch them fight with eachother.

After spending some time at the Pier, we headed to the aquarium. I was a little surprised at how small it was, but it was still really fun. In the morning, we had the aquarium to ourselves.

It only took about an hour to go through, so after that we headed for lunch, carousel ride, and shopping in Fisherman's Warf. We also walked up to ghiradelli square for some chocolate and then headed back down. Late in the afternoon, we walked through the aquarium again (all day pass) and then headed to the Rainforest Cafe for supper. Both kids loved watching all the fish while eating. We were wiped out after the long day, but it was a lot of fun.

I will post about Thursday and Friday later.