Paul was playing momma bear with two babies

and a blanket cave.

His second baby is really a mini-basketball under his jammies.

Later on Herny was a kangaroo

hopping all around the house.

We sometimes find ourselves out on the town on a Thurday night

just to help get an early start on our weekend

and push us through Friday.

It worked!

as the weather gets a little cooler 

we bundle up with hats

which makes everyone’s face a little rounder

that when I married Joe I gained a rad cousin named Jessica

Since we have been married, she has gotten married to Mike

and they now have a little baby girl who my boys have dubbed “Miss Fiona.”

(they like to fancy up a name when need be)

This feels like a triple bonus to being married…this gaining of family…

So we spent an afternoon at the aquarium yesterday and then grabbed food for just your everyday family bonding time which was a lovely way to spend a Sunday.

They are cute sitting side by side with babies.

The extra awesome points come from their visit including the thoughftul gift of homemade food which meant this momma could come home from work on a Monday and just heat delicious food up that my family loved…

only another momma would be so kind.

You scream

We all scream

for ice cream

in honor of 

I love that their birthdays are in the same month

and yeah for this brilliant dessert idea

made to order meant so many choices I couldn’t eat just one

and their motto (seen below) is my motto.

Shhh! We even took two to go and they are sitting in my freezer right now.

Get Set,

Go!

Hold On.

Paul means to say “on your mark” but market is a cute mix up.

as they run around the house

pushing little Olivine around in an empty box like a race car.

She giggles and claps at their ideas, happy to play along.

When I think those peeking eyes mean “I am done”

and I go to pull her out she squeals in frustration to be put back in

as if to say “I am playing with my brothers, leave me alone. We are just having some fun.”

 Along with my fresh start post from the other day, this year is also going to have a theme.

I just finished another Henri Nouwen book that really had me thinking so this is where my theme of Beloved comes from.

Along with the on going project of keeping my gratitude journal (Inspired by the book One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp) and I hope to get to one thousand as I record my list of what I am grateful for.

I am also really looking forward to a new mail art project with my lovely and long time pen pal Angela. Her and I started a postcard project called “December Daily” where we sent one postcard each day in the month of December. This helped us reconnect from one coast (CA) to the other (Vermont).

Then she announced her pregnancy and her recent move to Portland already had me scheming up a new project for 2013 and it is settled: “52 for You” is our year long postcard exchange. I am committing myself to one postcard a week to show this far away friend from love, but also to give myself the space and time to do a small dose of crafting by making some fun postcards.

These are a lot of small and hopefully do-able goals for this upcoming year.

I am so excited for the change of the calendar and all the new ideas.

Happy New Year- Again!

One of the best gifts this Christmas from Alton, Jen, and Kurt who swung by on their West Coast Tour from Minneapolis.

They brought a set of family kazoos. 

Baby girl and I missed out on all the fun since we were in the hospital.

But we made up for that tonight.

After she got out of the bath we had all sorts of fun.

She gets a little distracted but hey she is only 11 months old.

And that means one month from today folks…my baby girl turns one.

Ahhh! (heart sigh)

Joe has recently busted out our kid backpack as Olivine gets bigger and more squirmy.

They make the same faces without realizing it.

Luckily, Long Beach buses are free for college students (at CSULB) and all three of them are young enough to ride free as well.

Oh and yes, that is Paul playing hookie from school to hang out with his dad.

The nice part of the backpack is that just like the bike cart and the sling, this little girl will fall asleep wherever she can be snuggly.

These two boys are looking so tall (almost the same height) and I love how much they love eachother.

A day out in the chilly weather makes for rosy cheeks and long naps that a momma comes home to discover.

The older I get the more I appreciate New Year’s. I love the opportunity to reflect and think about all that has happened and what I want to be different.

Joe and I started a new tradition of writing down what we consider top priorities to help us stay focused in the coming year. We finished the sentence; “Any time spent _______ is not a waste of time.” Suprisingly we each wrote three and they matched one another. So it was kind of a like a game. Now it is framed, in our bedroom, near our mirror where we will both see it regularly.

Every year we want to save more and so we are trying a new, visual and idea. We will put money in the jar each week, to match the number of weeks. So we are in week two, we put two dollars in the jar. We will practice saving more and watching it multiply. According to Joe’s calculations we will have over a $1,000 in a year. Yay!

So I guess these are like new year’s resolutions.  I am just excited to for the new year.