It's Been a Long Time

It's been a long time! There have been some big adventures in our family...so much so that I have not have time to keep updated. On to the future. This weekend we are looking forward to Aria's first visit to Disneyland. Exciting!
Also, I have recently started blogging for a wonderful company two friends started: http://tadahties.com/
Saturday they will be at Penelope Lane Boutique....their first booth!

And Here's June!

The day after school ended I took Melodie to have her haircut. I think it was 11 inches that we donated to Locks of Love.

I wanted to show Melodie a way to help others and that it's just hair. It can always grow back. We're struggling with the short hair. I'm not sure how to style it (the above was done by the lady who cut her hair) and after a few days of everyone commenting on it Melodie says she wishes it was long again. It will grow back!

Melodie is now a Brownie. There was this whole bridging ceremony and everything.

Aria and I went to my youngest sisters' high school graduation. The limits on tickets was ridiculous (she got four tickets...she has five siblings) and even Aria (who can't even sit by herself) needed a ticket.

I made the cake for her. She really wanted a tiered cake. I only had a few hours, so it's now as fabulous as I would have liked, but I thought it turned out alright.

We harvest our first thing from our garden...zucchini!

We're also growing bell peppers, carrots, yellow squash and pumpkins.
Aria is now four months, and because it was also Father's Day this month her pictures were taken with Rocky. They are so cute!

Our big adventure this month was Sea World. Melodie's girl scout troop went (with money from cookie sales). We have friends who live in the area so we thought it would be fun to all go.

I just love Sea World. It's one of my favorite places.

May Adventures

I was afraid I wouldn't be very good at keeping my blog updated. So, in an effort to "catch up" here's some of our May adventures.

Aria went to her first hockey game and Melodie had a tap recital. My best friend got her Masters in Social Work. I had a nice Mother's Day (Melodie and I went to a church Mother/Daughter activity the day before).

Aria and I went to Disney's California Adventure quite a few time because my annual pass expired this month. This is my FAVORITE picture from all our visits.

Once Upon a Time is one of my favorite TV shows. When I saw that the last two episodes were entitled "Second Star to the Right" and "Straight on Til Morning" I knew a season finale party was in order. Everyone brought fairy tale themed food.

 

My best friend had to go to San Luis Obispo for the weekend and Aria and I went with her. Road Trip! The bubble gum wall in SLO is icky. I found the cutest little place called  Avila Valley Barn. Aria and I spent a beautiful afternoon there.

Aria is 3 months old!

 

It was a very busy month with so many fun adventures!

Easter Fun

  A few years ago I bought a great book called The Christ Centered Easter. I love it. Starting on Palm Sunday, and then each day until Easter Sunday, you do activities following what Christ did leading up to Easter.

 We didn't do it last year because we were on our road trip (Easter was celebrated in Texas). We didn't do it this year either. Aria's blessing was on Palm Sunday, we went to Knott's Berry Farm on Monday, etc... But no excuses. We should have done it because I really felt a lack of the spiritual this year. I'm not one that feels the need to do the secular Easter stuff on Saturday and the spiritual stuff on Sunday. I like to do plenty of both all week. But like I said, the spiritual stuff fell by the wayside this year. But there was plenty of secular stuff!
 We went to Knott's Berry Farm with lots of the extended family and Knott's was doing something called

The kids went to different areas of the park, got a card stamped and then turned it in for a prize (an Easter egg with a candy inside).

 Wednesday was the last day of school for Melodie before spring break. And she got sick. She started throwing up the night before and was very sad she couldn't go to school. I went (my dad was here so I had volunteered to help in the classroom) anyway and picked up her eggs and basket.

The bug only lasted 24 hours and then I got it! We had already paid for an Easter event at Pump It Up (a place with a bunch of inflatables), so Rocky took the day off work and took Melodie and Aria to the event (he took Aria because I was so sick). Normally I don't pay for Easter events, but some of her friends from school were going, so for $13 (including lunch) I thought it wasn't a bad deal.

24 hours later I was fine too...just in time for Saturday Easter fun. Every year we go to various city events (we live on the border of 4 different cities, with a few more just minutes away). We started off at one that had a pancake breakfast, the Easter bunny, and crafts.

It's very unusual for me to put headbands on babies, but the only "First Easter" onesie I could find that I liked was a boy one. So, to make Aria look more like a girl I stuck a headband on her. All the pink girl onesies said some variation on "Somebunny loves me" which I didn't like.
 Both city events we went to had an "egg hunt". Really it's just candy thrown on the ground and the kids make a mad dash to see how much they can get. Melodie got way too much.

But she was so happy and declared it the best day ever in her life. Oh, and I made her shirt. I messed up the iron on transfer a little, but I thought it was still cute. I used the Chick-a-dee scrapbooking kit by ScrappyNat.
 Later that day we dyed our Easter eggs, always a favorite thing to do for all of us.

We ended the day making resurrection rolls. They are floating around pinterest now, but I've done them for years (from the Christ Centered Easter book). They are rolls with marshmallows in them. When you bake them the marshmallows melt and they are empty...just like the tomb Jesus was put in.
 For church on Easter Sunday, Melodie and Aria wore their new-to-them Easter dresses and I did Mel's hair in a fancy 'do.

This is another one floating all over pinterest. The basket weave (inspired by an Easter basket) is on various hair sites. This is our version.
 I tried to take a beautiful picture of the girls at home, but Aria was not cooperating. We ended up taking more at church that did turn out beautifully (including one of the whole family).

At home we did a real Easter egg hunt (the eggs were actually hidden and required some effort to find).

And, of course, I had to get Minnie in on the celebrating.
 We went to the Anderson house for dinner (like always!) where Mel had ANOTHER egg hunt. We had a yummy dinner. The Andersons always get Mel an Easter basket (I think they were astonished when Mel was little and they found out I don't do Easter baskets). This year the basket was a backpack filled with goodies. Aria got one too!

I just had to throw in some pictures of Aria's pjs. The tail on her bottom was so soft and the bunnies on her feet were so cute.
 I hope you had a Happy Easter too!



Aria's Blessing Day

We had a lot of family come to visit to share the experience of this special day (Sunday the 24th).

Aria looked so cute in her blessing dress. My aunt made it out of my wedding dress. Melodie wore it as well. It was so big on Aria that it needed to have a few inches taken in. Huge thank you to Eva!

Unusual Baby Shower Theme

Generally I'm not a fan of baby showers for babies after the first one. After all, you probably have most stuff left over from the first. I don't think each baby needs their own new things. I love hand me downs! There are exceptions to my feeling on this like having a different gender or multiples perhaps. Turns out having your second one 6 years after the first is an exception too. I didn't think so, but turns out a lot of stuff just didn't make it through 6 years of storage. It took a little convincing, but I warmed up to the idea of a shower.

And my new thought is that it is just fun to celebrate a new baby.

I'm blessed to have fun friends in my life who threw a shower with a GREAT theme. Cars! Unique to little Aria who arrived in our vehicle.

The cake was my favorite:

Behind the van it says "Welcome Baby Aria". So clever! (And it tasted soooo good.)

The tables were fun too:

The tablecloths looked like streets! Fabulous idea from pinterest.

I was touched by the generosity of everyone.

The happy big sister

The honoree slept through most of the shower

St. Patrick's Day

 Because St. Patrick's Day was on a Sunday this year, Melodie wore her green clothes and shamrock hair to school on Friday. She looked adorable and the hair turned out great! I learned how to do this hairstyle here.

 

On St. Patrick's Day, we dressed in our green and went to church.

For dinner we had corned beef, colcannon, Irish soda bread and pistachio cake. These are all recipes I got from Sherry Jones (check out her blog here).

We only started eating Irish food on St. Patrick's Day a few years ago, but it is now a fun tradition.
 Since it was Aria's first St. Patrick's Day, we had fun taking pictures of her (and one of the puppy just for kicks).