Earthquake!!!

We had a big earthquake here last night! Ok, maybe not big for everyone else but big for us. I think it was a 5.0 and it totally shook the entire house with this big grumble!! The kids started screaming and freaking out and ended up sleeping in our room in their sleeping bags. May I say that I was totally traumatized realizing that there are things that are huge that are not under my control.

Mudders Day!

Beau's preK class had a Mother's Day Tea on Friday and he even served me tea, cookies and sandwiches without even taking a bite out of them.

He made me this lovely card that has one of my favorite things on it - a purse!

We had a great time together - just me & him in his class. This is his best buddy Alejandro and all they do pretty much is wrestle.

Me & the kids on a walk on mother's day. The boys rode their scooters while the rest of us walked.

Maizie is totally the mama's girl, which I don't mind one bit.

Jack actually has a real smile here not his fake cheese one! So handsome that boy.

Beau would rather be scootering but I know he loves my cookin!

We had a fun day together and I actually got to eat some Mexican food which I have been craving for-ever!! Even when it's not fun sometimes it really is great to be a mom to these guys.

Olvera Street in Los Angeles

Went to Olvera Street which is a Mexican shopping street with the parents & Tiffani in April.

Here I am trying to get the kids for a picture and Dad is trying to get Mom for a picture!

This is the best picture ever of us! We are at the oldest standing house in L.A. built back in the early 1800s the "Avila Adobe".Travis' sister Tiffani & Beau

The kids couldn't resist playing on this ginormous tree.

Easter with a visit from los Padres!

The traditional Easter activity of course!

Maizie dipped her eggs in her favorite colors pink & purple only so the bright purple one and pink one are definitely hers. My parents got to come and celebrate Easter with us. This morning Travis was already at church getting ready to play Jesus for the kids, that's why he wasn't in the picture.

Maizie is wearing a crocheted poncho made for her by her grammy (my mom!). She loved it and would not take it off all day.

Grammy got new easter clothes for the boys and Maizie finally got to wear her fancy dress that Travis' dad (Pappy) got her for Christmas!

Hunting for eggs in the yard! Living in CO for so long we weren't used to having Easter egg hunts outside! Woohoo!

The boys were excellent hunters!

Jack found the most eggs of course! He was so excited! This is usually how Maizie finishes any kind of fun activity :( But she's getting better! I think she just realized that there weren't anymore to find.

Kindergarten Jog-A-Thon!

To say Jack loves to run would be quite an understatement. So when he found out that every elementary in Long Beach does a "Jog-A-Thon" to raise money every year, he was quite ecstatic. Even Beau got in on the action.

Jack ran his fastest pace for almost the entire run which was 25 minutes and only walked when the teachers made him. It was about 75 degrees out there today and so he kept his bottle of water with him. We definitely need to hone in on this running thing. Maybe he should join a running club for kids?? I'm not sure where he gets this running bug since Travis & I would both rather die than run. Go Jack Go!!

AWANA Boat Race & Happy Birthday Pico!

This is definitely a first for us! Back at our old church in Colorado the kids did a Pine Derby Race and made cars to race. This year at their new AWANA group they do a boat race. It's very fun and the boys had fun helping daddy with their boats.

This green one above is Jack's and we definitely know how next year to improve our design :) Beau picked black for his boat. For these races the kids are supposed to blow on their sails all the way down a rain gutter and the fastest boat obviously wins. Beau won both of his races! Yey Beau!! Jack is winning this race! He only won one race out of three but didn't even have any attitude about it, which is something that is super hard for him as he's very competitive.

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY PICO!! His birthday was on Sunday and we loved on him extra special! The kids helped him pick out his new toy and treats at Petsmart. Maizie & Pico are very much BFF's. She said that if Pico were gone she would be very sad. They are always cuddling and playing with each other. Hopefully Pico will be with us for many many more years!!

Booklovers!

Hey everyone! For you fellow book lovers I found an awesome website where you can actually swap the books that you've already read with other members on the site. It is totally free. You just pay for your shipping when you send a book which is usually under $3 because they mail media rate. Then you request books and receive them for free. It's very cool. If you're a book collector like me and your bookshelf is getting filled up it's the perfect way to unload some books that others might like and score some that you've really wanted to read! Thought I'd pass it on!!

Here's the link for those of you interested!

Jack is officially front toothless!

We were wrestling on the couch and I accidentally bonked him in the mouth. The tooth that was dangling there just popped right out, it was awesome!! So now he talks all cute and can officially say that his mom knocked his tooth out. He also thought the surfer do wasn't working out so he agreed to get a hair cut. He's so handsome!

ROOTS!

I took a big leap of faith. Now it may not seem huge or even medium size but in my heart it is big. I'll start at the way beginning. I started a tomato plant from a seed. It was quite unintentional really. At a street fair 3 or 4 months ago they were handing out sticks with tomato seeds attached to them that you could just stick in the ground. I stuck it in a bag and never really thought much of it but about 6 weeks ago I discovered it again. I decided to plant it in a container just to see what would happen. I've never known anyone that could start a tomato plant from a seed. Sure enough it started growing. I think that I was kind of sad that it was actually growing because I didn't know if we would even be here to take care of it. I thought that our life here in CA is so temporary and vulnerable to everything. I couldn't invest any kind of love into this great little tomato plant knowing that next month I may have to turn my back on it. But I realized that I've had that same attitude about everything here so far. I haven't intentionally made friends or gotten involved in church or anything because I wouldn't want to tear myself away if CA didn't work out. God put us here and we need to take it in fully and totally dive in. How can I be open to all that is great here if I can't even plant a tomato plant in the ground! There are friends to be made! There are beautiful places to see! There are causes that are worth getting involved in! So, I planted that tomato plant in the ground and who knows what will happen, but I am getting rooted baby!!

Bed Head & the Top Tooth

This is how Jack looked the other morning. He has a desire to grow his hair out like a surfer and so the resulting bedhead is unrivaled. I'm sure this will be an ongoing show with him.

THE BIGGEST NEWS!! A TOP TOOTH IS MISSING! REPEAT: A TOP TOOTH IS MISSING!! After weeks of this little sucker (the tooth) teasing us, Jack finally got up the courage tonight to rip that bad boy out. And I didn't believe Jack could get any cuter!

It's so hard getting a good picture...

But when it happens, by golly it's great! Jack & Beau usually smile on demand but Maizie on the other hand brings the con-artist out in me. The only way I could get Maizie to smile in this photo is by telling her that I was going to send this picture to Cinderella.

The J-Dog Is A 2-Wheel Rider!!

Travis took Jack to the playground at his school which is right behind our house and got to work on his riding. Jack got it within ten minutes on this bike! He got a bigger brand new bike from his Aunt Tiff & Uncle John for his birthday but was having trouble learning the balance thing. So, he got on his brother's Diego bike and just zoomed away!

Hopefully as he gets more comfy with this smaller bike he'll be able to transition to the bigger bike soon. We are so proud of him! Now he can make beer runs for us! Alright, we'll limit it to soda and unhealthy treats. :)

Hard to be Poor in CA...

That sounds like a country song!! Yes, folks it is hard to be poor in CA. There are so many things to do and so many awesome places to go but if you're like us and strapped for cash then CA is full of, "We should do that someday!" The kids however could go to the beach on the coldest day of the year and be completely satisfied and unaware that we are poor. Yes, to be a kid again... Learning to be content and trust God is a difficult thing but we're getting there! If anything else we are doing stuff on a Friday night that I thought we would never do. We're getting more creative and spending more time together. I'm sure we'll look back on this time with fondness, right? right???

Whatever I want!??!!

Jack came up to me yesterday and said, "For the New Years Mom, I am going to give you anything you want." I was so impressed with his huge heart and his desire to give me anything that I wanted. I gushed with pride as he's obviously learned this generosity from me. I said back to him, "Wow! Anything I want?" He responded, "Yeah, anything you want as long as it's goldfish and we can share it."

Messin' Around

The neighbor kids brought over silly string for our kids to play with so of course Travis took them into the back alley to attack each other.

Mousetrap! This is the best game EVER! I know this picture is way out of focus but it's so funny! Maizie wanted me to take a picture of her in her full on princess regalia and Beau came up next to her and said, "I'll be your prince." Then he smooched her! How cute is that, I mean really, it's stinkin' cute.

Oh the Joy!!!

We all had an awesome Christmas together. Although it was the only Christmas we've ever had without our parents and all the extended family, it proved to be special and fabulous. We opened presents on Christmas morning and then made a delicious roast "beast" for dinner.

Jack made this reindeer helmet at school! So cute!

Alejandro (Beau's BFF), Beau, & Jack at Beau's preschool musical. Me & B-dog making Christmas cookies on Christmas eve. He was the only one interested in helping with the mixing of the dough. I made it well worth his time! Christmas morning!! Reading the Christmas story! We're excitedly watching as you can see!

Beau loves his new race track!

Jack opening one of his gifts.

Maizie trying to find her name on a package. I'm sure she found one. The pile of grandparents' spoilage (if that's a word).

Uncle John, John's brother Mino, and the boys can't separate themselves from the beloved race track. Beau suckered Mino into putting it together after we ate dinner. Maizie found a willing client in John's mom for her to experiment with her new beauty supplies.

Now there's still some cleaning up to do! We hope all of you had a very merry christmas too!