Birthday parties for the kids

Oh my goodness, am I behind. I will try my hardest to play catch up over the next few days but I make no promises.
I guess I'll go all the way back to the kids birthday parties.
This year in an effort to save a little bit of money, we decided to do one big birthday party for the kids. We mostly had family and close friends, so it didn't get too out of control. We had a bouncer, played some games, did some water balloons, lunch, cake and presents. It turned out to be a beautiful day and everyone seemed to have a great time.
I can't believe my little girl is 4 and my little guy is 2. I am so proud of the kids that they are turning out to be. They have truly completed my heart and made me a better person. They are both so different and are turning in to such good little friends. They are starting to play more and more together every day. I hope that I can show them everyday how much they've blessed my life and how important they are to me.

Maggie got Emily a Best Friends Forever necklace. They're both wearing them in this picture. They're so sweet.

All the kids loved the water balloons. They only took Matt and I 2 hours to fill up, no seriously.

Playing one of the games

Some of the girls in the bouncer

Cakes, cookies and cupcakes

Yum, yum

Jack and Cousin Lauren loved getting wet in these buckets. We couldn't keep them out of the water.

Presents


Jack on his actual birthday. We had Papa and Grandma Doerr over for dinner and sundae's.

Jacks new big boy bike.


Emily's birthday party at preschool



Some kids in Emilys class

Hello again everybody. We've had a really busy sumer filled with lots events and activities. I'm WAY behind on my posts and will try to catch up one of these days. I think that I deserve a little break due to the fact that I have a child who has been sleeping really terrible the last month. Don't ask me why but he has decided to be worlds worst sleep (maybe even worse than Emily was, maybe). I've had no energy lately and I'm so tired ALL the time. I know that this too shall pass but it's been rough.

Anyways, let's go back to the 4th of July. We had a fun filled weekend with family and friends. Lots and lots and lots of HOT DOGS! It was so funny because every BBQ we went to had almost the exact same food. Hot dogs, hambergers, chips, watermelon, baked beans, etc....
We started off on Friday the 3rd by taking the family to Yorba Regional park. The kids had a great time playing at all 4 playgrounds and feeding the ducks.





That evening we went over to some good friends of ours, the Ventura, for a BBQ. They had a bunch of friends and neighbors over and it was sure a great time. The kids had the best time playing together, they had a pinata, lots of yummy food and desserts, poppers, etc.
I love this train. The kids could play on it all day long.

Jack was never without a candy or cookie in his hand


The pinata


On the 4th, we started off the morning with a pool party at Matts parents house. It was a gorgeous day and the pool felt so good. Merlyn and Shirley were also down from Clovis and Tim and Heidi and all the kids came too. Both of my kids love the water and Emily loves playing with Ashlyn.






That afternoon we went over to my grandparents house for another BBQ and water games and homemade ice cream. After all that good stuff we went outside and did fireworks. All of the kids love doing that stuff, except Emily. She doesn't like fire or loud noises so the whole thing scared her. But I will say by the end of the night, she made her way to the back of my dads car to watch from inside. That is a very big step for her from last year. I'm really not sure who likes fireworks more the kids or Bryan and Matt.

A little summer fun, so far.....

With the weather getting hot, we are finding ourselves spending more time outside in the water and finally getting a little beach time. I love the sunshine. It makes me happy to get up in the morning and it also gives us so many options on what we can do with our day.

Emily loves to paint, actually she loves anything that involves getting messy. So we decided to do a little face painting one afternoon.

What do you expect from a 3 year old...... it's colorful though.


One of Jacks new favorite hobbies is watching the trains at the Fullerton train station. When the Spaghetti Factory was having there special, we tried to make it there once a week to have a bite for dinner and watch the incoming and outgoing trains. It was FUN. We went with the Hansens a bunch of times and the Marrs once. All the kids seemed to really enjoy the trains and looked forward to it each week. Jack got obsessed with it and now is really in to Thomas the train stuff and train books.



A couple of weeks ago Papa and Grammy Doerr took the kids and Matt and I to Sesame Street Live at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center. The kids had a really good time and Jack was in ah of the characters. Ivy got great seats (1st row from the stage) and we got to see it up close and personal. They took us 2 years ago when Emily was almost 2 and she loved it then too. Fun times....





Here's a cute picture of my dad with most of his grandkids on his birthday

Big Bear trip and Matts b-day

I'm back and going to try to catch up a bit. Let's go back to May. May is always a busy month for our family. We have Mothers Day, Ivy's birthday, my dad's birthday, my grandma's birthday, brittany's birthday, and memorial day. So the weekends fill up pretty quickly.
This Memorial Day Stan and Ivy asked us to go to Big Bear with them for a little weekend getaway. I really don't take the kids anywhere over night because they aren't good sleepers but I decided to attempt it. While it turned out better than I expected, it was still a rough night of sleeping for me and Jack. We came up on Sunday and stayed through Monday night. We had a great time. We went to see and play on Stan and Ivy's property that they own (huge piece of land). That was a lot of fun for the kids to run around and collect pine cones and rocks and "treasures". We went into town a couple of times and walked around, shopped, and ate. We went to Big Bear Lake and walked around, skipped rocks and the kids LOVED it there. Ivy and I took Emily to the park and the fire station. We also hiked around the back of the cabin. It was a really great time and I can't wait until Jack gets a little older and sleeps better so that we can do fun stuff like this more often. The kids had a WONDERFUL time with Grammy and Papa and got lots of one on one attention from them. Thanks Stan and Ivy for a great weekend!! We made a lot of fun memories.

At this cute little park we went to

Rock climbing behind the cabin we stayed in

On Stan and Ivy's property



For Matt's birthday we had a family birthday party the weekend before and on his actual birthday he took the day off to go to, none other than, good old Disneyland. It was actually really fun and we got free Disney cash! Here are some pics of the day.
Emily made daddy a picture frame for his b-day