Easter 2013

Dear Taylor, Anna, and Hudson,

We had such a great Easter this year.  We woke up at a decent hour and you immediately wanted to hunt for eggs!  We convinced you to start with your baskets, and then once you emptied them, EGG HUNTING!  Hudson, you could not figure out what on earth we were doing at first, but once you got it, you were so excited running around throwing eggs in your baskets.

Daddy took you to mass at 9 and then we went to San Francisco to Hubbie's house for a great egg hunt, lunch and r&r.

Here are the pictures!

Grandma got you these great glasses!

Hudson, you were not a willing participant in this picture, or the glasses.... at all:)

Hubbie's pretty table

A new doll house at Hubbie's!

 Personal sized bunny cakes.

 Place setting.

 My sweet Tay.

 My lackluster outfit:(

 What do you do when you have to wait for lunch?  Take a bath!

Anna and Hubbie

Anna and her cakes!

A whole Lot of Pictures

We had an amazing day cruising around the Stanford campus. More to come another day:)

Xoxo

264

Dear Taylor, Anna, and Hudson,

It has been 264 days since Grandpa died.  How is that even possible that so many days have passed?  It feels like yesterday.  Really, I can still feel all the worst parts of July 6, and then trying to get through the night, and then the awful reality that came July 7.  I have kept all the voicemails that were on my phone from that week, but I can't bring myself to listen to them or delete them.

This past week I have been so unbelievably sad that Grandpa doesn't get to know all the great things you are doing each day.  He would love to hear your jokes, know about your school work, hear about your activities, and see all of Hudson's antics.  He would LOVE it.  Grandpa found such joy in hearing all your stories, and I have been struggling with his missing it.  I am sad that he is missing your birthdays this year.  I guess I am just sad.

Taylor and Anna, you still love to tell stories about Grandpa, and I love that you do.  I try to hide the tears that well up in my eyes, so I don't deter you.  My biggest fear is that you will forget, or that I will.

I can't wait for the day that this is less devastating. I found a quote today and it reads, " Grief changes shape, but it never ends."

So, we will keep taking it one day at a time.
xoxo
mom

Besties

T&A,

I would say that 99% of the time, you two are besties! You spend hours and hours together- playing, imagining, crafting, discovering, scootering, and driving me insane/manhandling your brother- it is not all perfect:)  Anna, when you can take a bath, you two log hours in a tub with your mermaid barbies! Your personalities are so totally different, but you make a perfect pair.  Taylor, as you know, you love your rules, structure, and everything with order, but surprisingly, you are not a really neat person.  Anna, on the other hand, you are a bit wild.  Rules are not your thing, structure isn't really either.  You love a great time!!  But- all that said, you are so neat and orderly when it comes to your space and things.  You really partner nicely when you do your chores and laugh yourselves silly when you are brushing your teeth- why is that so funny?  Why does it take so darn long?

"Anna, mom is trying to take a picture of us interacting"  

Anyway, I love watching you two together.  As soon as we had Taylor, I hoped our 2nd would be a girl too so you both would have each other.

xoxo

mom

Happiness is....

My lovelies,

There is nothing better than starting our morning at La Boulange. I have a totally arbitrary rule that you can have one thing with chocolate so you each have a standard order. T: chocolate croissant, water. A: ham and cheese croissant, hot chocolate. H: chocolate chip Madeline. I love these rituals! Nothing makes me happier than watching you enjoy these treats!

Xoxo

Delivering happiness!

Taylor and Anna,

This past weekend we focused on doing for others and giving.  We spent much of the day Saturday putting together pretzel hugs! We started making these a few years ago for Christmas and they are just as good for any holiday.  So, we made hundreds and hundreds of these little beauties, wrapped them  up, you made cards and we started our deliveries bright and early Sunday morning.  You each made a list- some friends that live nearby, some friends we haven't seen in quite some time!  It was so much fun to make our deliveries and catch up with friends both new and old.

Anna, you were so happy marching up to doors for the deliveries.  Taylor, you commented, "it is so much fun to surprise people and make them so happy."  Mission accomplished!!

For one set of friends- we made an extra special delivery.  The dad had surgery so they got dinner, oatmeal bread, homemade granola, and an extra big batch of pretzel hugs!

Such a fun day with you girls!

xoxo

mom

24 hours and random food

Kids,

So, Daddy and I escaped for 24 quick hours to celebrate our anniversary!  We had such a nice time relaxing.  For the first time in an shocking amount of time, I went to the gym two days in a row.  I haven't been since, but it felt so good to exercise;)  I spent the rest of the day watching bad tv, napping, getting a massage, watching more tv, then eating take out and going to sleep early.  I was telling your auntie about the day and she said it sounded so heavenly she would sacrifice a small animal to have that kind of day..... ahhh, the desperation of mothers for a little peace and quiet:)

On our way home, we stopped for a quick lunch and got this amazing soup- it was so good I took a picture.  

Taylor, hubs whipped up a snack for you- I suggested salami and cheese and this is what she put together! Her imagination never ceases to amaze me!

In more random posting related to food.  We tried to switch things up this weekend and hit Five Guys instead of In N Out.  You were both happy although Taylor, you didn't actually eat much more than peanuts.  Hudson was very busy coloring and eating nothing.  At some point I will get smart enough to order for me and Anna only and we will save MILLIONS!

xoxo

Dirt!

Buddy,

Our neighbors have a patch of dirt in front of their house, and you love it.  As soon as the garage door opens you make a run for it, and start digging with anything you can get your hands on.  You were so busy digging you couldn't even smile for the camera:)

Daddy doesn't think it is all that safe (especially when you lean just slightly into the street), but boy do you get MAD if we try to pull you out of there.  You have a full scale meltdown.

xoxo

Anna!

Anna,

You are making such great progress with you foot.  Dr Gamble was thrilled with your incisions and the swelling was almost gone.  The best news of all is that you were allowed to walk out of there!  It was a bit short lived- your foot is not quite back to 100% so we are still keeping the scooter on hand.

Javi took off the purple cast so you could keep both halves. In honor of St. Patrick's Day, you decided to have a green cast for this round and it looks great!

xoxo

Happy St. Patricks day!

Girls,

You are both so beautiful (inside and out) it melts my heart! You were off to school/church for a special St. Patrick's Day dinner date with Dad and had a blast.  You both loved the corned beef and had a great time running around and playing bingo:)

xoxo

Anna girl!!!

Anna,

I have been collecting pictures of you, and just love them all!  You are doing such a great job with your cast and just yesterday, got to take the purple cast off, and you chose a perfect green!

We love you.  You are so brave!
xoxo

Be be Hudson!

Oh buddy!

You are just the best.  You are almost 21 months old and as crazy as can be.  You love to explore EVERYTHING!  Pits of dirt- yep. Puddles of water and dirt- yep.  Running around the block yelling "walk"- yep.  You are talking non stop- you will repeat anything and everything- sometimes mommy should watch her mouth and maybe not say the "f" word.  You repeated that just about 100 times. I ask you to say kiss or love you, and I get nothing.

You love walks to Snowee to get ice cream.  You LOVE chocolate.

Sitting on the table to color- no problem!  You are happy as a clam.

We have had some warm weather so we have opened up the windows to let the fresh air in.  You stand at the window and yell "car" "truck" "dog" "puppy."

Love you SO much buddy!xoxo

Random lunch

Dear Tay and Anna,

Sometimes we have to mix things up!  So, on Sunday after church, I had this board waiting for you two.  Chicken, cheese, apples, pirates booty, pop chips, and tooth picks to make it fun!  You girls loved it, especially because you could "spear" everything on the board.  Sometimes I try to hard to make meals different- every so often, being lazy and serving from the cutting board with toothpicks is all the excitement we need here!

xoxo
mom

Happy Anniversary!

Earmuffs Kids!  This post is for your dad;)


My dear Justin,

Nine years ago today, I was lucky enough to marry you my love.  I would have never guessed what road we would have traveled, but I did know that whatever it was, together we could navigate anything.  So now, nine years, three beautiful children, incredible family and friends, homes, jobs, hospital stays, trips to urgent care with sickies, vacations, road trips, birthdays, job changes, life, death, job changes, and everything else later- you are still the partner I count on most.  You are my best friend, my strength, my inspiration, my partner in crime, and I am so lucky.

I love you the most!

Jeremiah summed it up so beautifully in his toast to us:

May your teachers teach you

Your friends elate (or cherish)youAnd your competitors drive you

May your students learn from youyour family support youand you confidant console you

May your mentors guide youand your Muse inspire you

May you be each of these to each other. But most of all:

May your spouse always love you

Here is to the many years to come!xoxo

Pinterest!

Dear Tay, Anna, and HTD,

Well, every so often, we try a Pinterest craft, sometimes successfully, sometimes not.  As a child, I remembered doing this, and remember it was far easier!  So, on Saturday, we set out to do this, and boy was it messy and hard.  We had a lot of tangled strings, and a few girls distracted by fun stuff (playing with eachother),

So, after the three of you went to bed, Daddy and I got to work trying to do these eggs!  It was such a fun date night for us, and the result:

Was this!!  We loved it, and loved the result.

xoxo

mom