Playtime

Time to try the new airplane!  After multiple crashes on the simulator, Seth decided he was ready for the real deal.  So we headed up to the school with all our toys and planned to play.  It was no surprise when the plane got stuck in the tree or crash landed on the roof.  But the best was Seth's amazing flight loop da looping the power lines with a safe return to the grassy field.  We got video of the plane, but better would have been a video of Daddy with is tongue stuck out, dancing with the remote in hopes he could save his new plane from oblivion.  So began the adventures of flying!

Once the sun began to set, it was time to try the Wii.  Everyone joined in on the fun.  But the best was Amma who just could not bonk her opponent in a sword fighting match.  And if she did make a hit, she quickly apologized - too cute! 

Chirstmas Day 2012

After fixing Santa a plate full of goodies on Christmas Eve and slipping on their sweet matching jammies, the girls headed to bed hoping they would find some sleep.  The kids woke up to a fun Christmas morning surprise.  Packages were strewn about, stockings were stuffed to their brim and the chaos of Christmas fun began!  

Josiah, Adalie and Sage all woke up together to discover some goodies in their stockings.  We had just enough time to play with the basketball hoop for Josiah and truck ramp for Adalie before all the Waltner gang come over for delicious Christmas morning quiche.

Later, more packages were exchanged, candies were consumed, pictures taken, Santa talked to and everyone just settled into the rhythm of the day.

Merry Christmas 2012

Josiah 9yrs, Adalie 7yrs

Chirstmas Eve 2012

Christmas Eve this year was a new adventure. Although we spent a night in Yosemite like we always do, it wasn't in the same way. Christmas Eve this year brought bucket loads of fresh beautiful snow. Unfortunately, the falling snow closed the ice rink which is our traditional spot. But it did bring new adventures of cross country skiing with Sage, snowman building, snowball fights, walks through the powdered covered woods, and boot skating on the ice. 

Hurray for a WHITE Christmas!

Elf on a Shelf

This little fellow turned up very mysteriously one day.  But it wasn't him we noticed first.  It was a present wrapped neatly and placed under the Christmas tree.  A present addressed to "2 sweet girls" but which no one recognized.  Once opened, we saw it was this little Elf's story.  But now, the challenge arose to find the little guy. 

After some serious searching, we found him sitting atop our giant wall clock in the living room.  He was so cute, but the rules in the book say "you must not touch him or he will lose all his magic to fly back to Santa".  And if Santa doesn't hear from his little helper elf, well you know what happens then and it is not pretty!

So, like we were instructed to do, we first named our elf.... Kolbie.  The girls then proceeded to make him comfortable in our home, elf style!  Each day he moved to a new spot and it was fun to search for him and wonder how on earth he got where he was!

Christmas is coming! 

Cross Country

It's 4th grade and now Josiah can join any or all of the school sports teams.  I think she may be choosing the latter by joining all the teams available to her.... and I couldn't be happier.  It is so fun to watch her try new things.  To realize that some things come naturally and some things take work.  And maybe secretly I am hoping that all these fun sports will keep her on the straight and narrow....at least I can hope!

Cross Country Team... Josiah ran her little heart out! 

School Sports Rule! 

4th grade.

Oh Christmas

It's that time of year again.... lights, tree, decorations, cookies and more!  This year we all agreed a smaller tree was in order again!  Even so... the ladder was a staple for reaching the top!

Looking forward to another fun filled season!

2012

Every year we take a family picture for our Christmas card.  It is fun to look back and see how our family has grown right under our eyes over the year.  We sure do love these sweet girls.  They are beautiful inside and out! 

So here is looking forward to a wonderful holiday season!

Bass Lake 2012

Thanksgiving

Each year it is our family tradition to take a Thanksgiving Picture. Although there is always some grumbling involved, I cannot help but to look at the progression of pictures year after year and be filled with such joy. Time has changed our family.  We have grown in numbers and in love for one another.  It is through these pictures that I clearly see that my plan, in so many ways, was and is not God's plan.... and yet His plan fills me up and leads me to life abundant!

He is so Good!

Thanksgiving 2012

Our Thanksgiving holiday tradition at Shaver Lake was filled with fun.... cards, targets, baby holding, crafts, exploring, running with Josiah, and more! 

Happy Thanksgiving 2012!

Lucky Mommy!

Oh, how these sweet girls love to create little surprises!  They cooked, they decorated, they set the places.  I am the luckiest Momma in the whole wide world!

Halloween Carnival and Parade

Happy Halloween at the school Carnival and Parade! Josiah 4th grade with Ms. McPherson Adalie 2nd grade with Mrs. Durrell

Halloween 2012

Once again, Josiah knew exactly what she wanted to be for Halloween.... Princess Leah, of course! We had just watched the whole Star Wars story from beginning to end, leading to Josiah's costume idea. So I searched high and low for Princess Leah hair-do ideas and costume pictures. We finally hit the jack pot with socks!  They make the perfect Leah bun!  From there, the dress was pretty easy to recreate.

Now, of course Adalie wanted to be Princess Leah too.... until I tried the Leah buns on her!  No way, no how.... that cinched it.... no Leah for Adalie.  Thus, the Princess Leah Jedi Warrior Costume was created!  Every Princess must have a Jedi Warrior Cloak and "Life Saver"!  And of course, this cloak was made of the softest possible material to be found!

So here are my beautiful Leah girls in their handmade costumes... each with their own little personalities shining through!

Happy Halloween 2012!

Yosemtie Birthday

My all-time favorite Birthday tradition.... biking in Yosemite! Not only do I get my family all to myself, but there is something so special about pedalling through the changes of the season in Yosemite. It makes you stop and take a deep breath, something we often need to be reminded to do. It makes you count your blessings. It allows you a moment to experience joy!

My very favorite thing in life is my family.... and so it is a perfect gift each year to be given a time and place to breath them in! 

Happy Birthday to me 2012!

Daddy 29years (still), which makes Mommy 27years (still), Josiah 9years and Adalie 7years!

Cayucos

Cayucos holds so many memories for me. But one of the best is sharing it with friends. So we took a weekend with the Waves and packed in as much fun as possible. From tide pools to boogie boarding, bike riding to kite flying, sand castles to frisbee... it was a fun packed trip!

We are lucky to have such great friends (both big and small)!

Josiah 9years, Adalie and Kaiya 7years, Bladen 4years.

Amma and Grandpa

Amma and Grandpa decided for each of the girls' birthdays, they would like to take them on a special trip of their choosing. What a treat! Well, it was Adalie's turn. And in these things she is so much like me! Although so very excited, she was so very nervous about being too far from home for too long. So after considering who she is... we asked if Josiah could go along too! Now they were ready for their adventure!

These lucky girls spent the weekend at the Boardwalk and Monterrey Bay Aquarium.  They rode all the rides they were tall enough for, ate out, had ice cream and all of their grandparents' attention.  But, what I love, is the way our grandparents love our kids.  They ride the carousel and bump the bumper cars!  They have always been the ones who give their whole heart.  Never just buying gifts, but always investing time, energy and love!

We are blessed!

Thank you!

Just a Day

We are so thankful for sweet friends!

Soccer 2012

Soccer Season 2012 is in full force and I LOVE it! These little teams are so much fun to watch! They are clever and fast and can kick real hard!

Adalie is fun to watch as a full back defender, booting the ball much farther than you think her little self possibly could! Of course we also love the hand holding and whisper planning her and Kaiya still do at kick off! Coached by Daddy, this team was one to be reckoned with and ended up in the All Stars Tourney together! 

Josiah is a maniac!  Playing with a teams of mostly new girls, she is running the field!  Today she scored 3 goals and ran her heart out!

Go Green!

Pretend Play

I am so thankful these girls love to play together.  They will be in the loft for hours packing for camping trips preparing their homes, expecting babies, discovering new lands, protecting against storms and famines, dressing for coronations, and so much more.  Often times I don't capture on film the everyday moments of life like when they were little and home with me all the time.  But I am ever so thankful to have 2 sweet girls who play in each other's imaginary worlds!

Here the princesses are drawn by chariot to the crowning of the queen!

Love it!

Ski Olympics

It was possibly going to be one of the last days at the lake for the 2012 season, so we decided to go out with a bang! This is how Ski Olympics Day came about.... each person had to complete 6 out of 7 sports including but not limited to .... single skiing, double skiing, knee boarding, surfing, bridge jumping, barefoot skiing, and swimming.  Although getting caught by the Sheriff for bridge jumping just beyond the "no bridge jumping" sign, was not an official event, it was later added as an alternative! 

All participants completed the day with Gold Medals!

It was a sweet end of the day season spent with our sweet friend Madelyn.  Before our girls were born, I remember wishing for a daughter as pure of heart as Madelyn....

Lucky me!

Time to Bike

With Fall coming, we decided to take a day up in the higher country, collect some firewood and do a little riding too.  It never ceases to amaze me when these girls just pick up and start something like they have been doing it forever!  We had a great day. 

I find myself so often thankful for their strong and able bodies. 

So much fun! 

 

4th Grade Sports Begin

One of the best things about being in 4th grade is obviously getting to participate in school sports. This means practices after school with your friends, riding the bus to rival schools on Fridays and playing with the big kids.

So with Volleyball it begins!

 Josiah is having so much fun learning a new sport. True, she may not be able to serve the ball over the net, but most can't.  So it is all just fun, friendship and new experiences .... and the team that can return the ball usually wins! 

Still Learning

These girls are so much fun!

 Each year they get more and more skill on the water. I can't think of any kids their age who are as good of sports as they are.  Trying new things takes a lot of courage... and these girls have it (most the time)! 

Adalie starts behind the boat on the surf board on her belly, then climbs to her knees and then stands up on her feet and surfs! It's quite impressive!  Josiah is learning to surf with no rope. The excitement on her face when she catches the wake is priceless!

Keep up the good work girls.

You are fun to watch!

Sailing

We have talked about going to Huntington Lake and sailing its windy waters for years. So this Labor Day, we followed a whim, loaded onto motorcycles and headed to Huntington Lake. It was quite an adventurous day! Learning to steer a boat with a stick, watching the pattern of the wind and the response of the sails, and shifting our weight on cue! We quickly became adept enough to "come about" and catch enough wind to really get a good tip going (enough to scare Mommy a little bit). What a different feel sailing is from boating. The feeling of near capsizing was both exhilarating and frightening. But once we began to trust our boat and its response to the wind, fun took over fear. One of my favorite moments was Josiah on the bow of the boat having the ride of a lifetime! 

This will have to become a new "must do" on our summer list. And hopefully next year we will make it all the way out to the big winds!

Adalie is 7!!

 

We are so grateful to have all the family and Adalie's besties too!  We swam like the fishes, jumped and dove, just like Adalie use to do when she was a tiny little thing.  She has always been a water baby... good thing she was born in the summer!

This year Adalie wanted a dolphin cake.  And with the help of Daddy the engineer, a dolphin cake she got! 

Happy 7th Birthday to our Sweet Adalie!

Celebrating Adalie

This year we finally got to celebrate Adalie all week long.  From cupcake decorating the morning of her birthday, to flower cookies at Miller's night, and swimming with family on the docks!  She was definitely poured into this 7th year!

Early on the 23rd us girls were in the kitchen decorating cupcakes for her class.  They were all different and some down right funny with flowers and googlie eyes!  Later in the afternoon Mrs. Durrell gave her the first of her birthday spanks.  And then all the kids had a cupcake mess!

Friday night we made lovely little flower pops and passed them our to all our friends to celebrate with us at Miller's night!

And last, but not least, was Adalie's family celebration at the docks! 

We love you sweet girl!

Celebrate

Our sweet Adalie is turning 7 and wants all the family to swim with her in celebration!

 

It was her sweet sister, Josiah, though that made sure her actual birthday at school was extra special!  Now that Josiah is a 4th grader and on the big side of campus, she and Adalie no longer share a lunch and recess time.  So our sweet Josiah decided on her very own to stay in the lunch room for her recess and wait for her birthday-girl sister to arrive.  Once she did, Josiah made sure the lunch teachers knew it was Adalie's birthday so they would lead the whole cafeteria in singing

Happy Birthday! 

And so they did!

Thank you sweet Josiah for loving your sister so!

First Day of School 2012

Well, here we are again at the very First Day of School 2012. Adalie is a 2nd grader in Mrs. Durrell's class and Josiah is a 4th grader in Mrs. Wave's class.  Both girls chose their cutsie outfits the week before school started and looked adorable.   They were so sweet as they excitedly packed backpacks and binders.  And the morning of, they were ready in a flash! 

Once at school, both girls were quickly surrounded by their little girlfriends.  I snapped a few pictures all the while biting my lip, knowing I would not be able to hold it in much longer. Some changes occurred this year as Josiah moved over to the big field with the big kids. Yikes!

As Adalie lined up with her class, we ran over to wish Josiah good luck and give her one last "I Love You" sign with my fingers.  Thank goodness I was leaving her in the care of my very best friend in the world making it not quite as hard this year.  And so with one last glance over my shoulder at her smiling face, I turned to go. 

I was then able to sneak in the classroom for just a minute with Adalie before having to wave goodbye.  Something about that moment, with her sitting in her desk, looking so adorable.... I gave her a wink and an I Love You, and turned to go. 

Once at the car, I let the floods wash over me.  Thank goodness Seth was there to drive us both home!  Although my lip may be raw from biting it, I am getting some better at keeping the tears at bay (until out of sight that is)!

I am so thankful for the little school and devoted teachers we have!

Adalie 6years (with Ashlyn and Kaiya)

Josiah 9years (with Kaia, Rylee and Piper)