Grace Based Parenting

I just started reading Grace Based Parenting by Tim Kimmel and am really loving it. It is challenging my thought process on parenting my girls as well as my own relationship with God. Already I feel like it has given me so much more confidence and tools in raising our children with wisdom and love. I am very excited to learn more and apply it in our daily lives.

Elise is 5 Months Old Today!

Our baby is 5 months old today! My how time flies! It is amazing how much faster time goes by with the second one. Elise is a healthy happy little baby. She is almost sitting up and is talking up a storm. Some of her unintentional words are:

"Muh muh"

"Bu bu"

"Oh Yeah"

"Oh Wow"

"Oh Well"

She says these all the time when she is just laying in her crib. I've tried to catch them on the video camera, but so far we have not had any success.

Not quite stable in sitting up yet. We sure love that Boppy for so many reasons though!

Our 6th Anniversary

Yesterday, August 22, we celebrated our 6th Anniversary. We went on two dates this year, because we didn't want to be gone too long with Elise going through some seperation anxiety. Firday we saw G.I. Joe at the theater. We loved it. Both Landon and I watched the cartoon when we were kids. This was the first movie we have seen by ourselves since we have had children. Saturday night we went to Fugazzi's and had a fabulous dinner. One of our favorite places. It was fun to reminisce about the early days of our marriage. Those were some fun times.

A lot has happend since the day we said "I do." We have moved 4 times. Lived in 3 states in our first 3 years. Bought a dog. Had two beautiful little girls. We have learned a lot of great lessons along the way and have made a lot of great memories. We are both eager to enter our 7th year of marriage. We have both been told how hard this year can be. I am not entirely sure why it is so hard, but we are ready to press through and have another wonderful year of marriage.

Engagement photo. Jusr thought I'd throw it in.

Playdate With The Howard Girls

Yay! We love those Howard girls! Last week we went to their house for a playdate. Halina always has so much fun with Haley. This time they made cupcakes together. Halina thought it was so cool to crack the eggs all by herself. Now she wants to crack all the eggs we cook with. It takes her little longer, but she never gets any shell in!

It is so nice that the Howard girls are all so close in age. Halina and Haley are 6 months apart, Elise and Ella are exactly one month apart and even Jaimee and I are only 6 months apart.

In this picture is Ella, Haley (standing up), Halina, and Elise.

Backyard Beauties.

The girls and I have been spending a lot of time hanging out in the backyard while Landon has been planting trees, shrubs, and reviving our newly planted grass. It's amazing how much we are outside (even in the 100 degree weather) since having a backyard. Halina loves to play in the grass. Her imagination runs rampant when she gets to play in the backyard. She is constantly singing and pretending that she is Miriam and Elise is baby Moses.

Halina usually doesn't like me to take her photo, but once I start taking shots of Elise she is suddenly interested.

"Mom, please stop."

This picture cracks me up! I'm sure this is the same expression she'll be giving me when I try to take her picture as a teen.Landon has spent so much time in our back yard planting all sorts of things. It's amazing how much more interested in landscaping he is since he had begun this journey a few months ago. Charlie has really loved it too. He really enjoys rolling in the grass and hunting for lizards. Last year he caught 2 lizards, 1 mole and 1 bird. He almost caught a humming bird yesterday, but it was just a little too fast for him.

Halina's First Ballet Class

This past Wednesday my MOPS group put on a two day Ballet class to raise money for the MOPS program and to give kids an opportunity to try out a class without having to sign up for a whole year with a studio. At first she was really hesitant and just stood watching everyone, but by the end she loved it. On Day 2 of the class she was really into it from start to finish. I think we will sign her up this year, since she loved it so much.

Halina and her best buddy Haley. Haley was a lttle sassy in this picture, but she was still as adorable as ever.

Halina trying out her arobesque grand batma.

Halina with her friends Camille and Haley. They were being very good little 2 yr olds.

Vacation in Indio (Palm Springs) 2009

Last week we hopped down to Indio, CA (by Palm Springs) for a spur of the moment vacation with Landon's sister Kris and her family. It was about 114 degrees most of the time we were there, which was perfect while in the pool as well as made some wonderful evenings. This is probably ne of favorite vacation spots with our timeshare so far.

It was 112 degrees that day and yet the fountains were so cold they gave us goose bumps.

Elise took most of her morning naps in her stroller at the pool.

Baby Elise Angelina

We welcomed Elise Angelina into our family on March 23, 2009. She is now 4 months old, weighs 11 lbs, 12 ou and is 24 inches long. She is a little thing, but is full of joy and life.3.5 months

2 months

2.5 weeks

2 days old (5lbs 9 ou and 18 in.)