Ruby's House

Sadly, this might be one of the last times we see Ms.Ruby before she moves back to San Diego in the coming weeks. I don't even know how to tell Ben and Emily that she's moving. Because my brother lives in SD, along with his girlfriend and her son, they are somewhat familiar with the city. Not in the sense that we've been there, but they understand it's a place to live that's not close enough to see it's inhabitants whenever we want, but close enough that we get to see them occasionally.
Yesterday, we spent the afternoon soaking up the sun, running through the sprinklers and jumping on the trampoline. We even upped the ante by putting the sprinkler under the trampoline:) They ate lunch, played dress-up and basically had a ball. It was a great way to spend some time with our little friend before she moves away!

Benjaroo and KangaRuby bounced themselves silly

Good thing Ruby's mom came up with the brilliant Sprinkler-Trampoline! It kept the little kangaroos cool as they played together.

Emily wasn't a fan of the Sprinkler-Trampoline, so they took turns jumping with it on and turned it off when Emmie wanted to bounce, too.

Watermelon and burritos for lunch!

Even Callie enjoyed a bean burrito!

Last Day of School

Friday was Ben's last day of school for the year. I'm happy that we get a break from working in his class and all the dropping off/picking up that goes along with having a child in school. I thought being there an extra day each week would make the school-year drag on longer but it really went by fast. Ben had a great year, mainly due to his teacher. I wish she could stay his teacher for the rest of his school-career. She could just move up a grade along with him and we'd love it:) Luckily for me, she will be Emmie's teacher in the fall and I can't wait. I will practically live at their school next year with all the different times and days I'll be bringing them(Emily will go MWF mornings and Ben will be there MTTHF afternoons!) but it's a small price to pay.


Ben would gladly spend each and every waking playing outside at school. It's his happy place.

The amazing Teacher Justine gifted each child with their own picture album filled with darling pictures of them throughout the year. Ben calls it his "special book" and we've looked through it at least 50 times since Friday afternoon.

Ben reaaaaallly wanted me to stay at school with him the whole time on Friday, which benefited Emily, too. She got to come along as well. She is beyond excited to start school in the fall!

She has made a name for herself among the girls in Ben's class and I can't wait to watch her make her own set of friends next year:) She's going to love it!

This and That

I haven't blogged for awhile! I'm sorry! The day of Emmie's birthday, I not only came down with a cold, but I passed it on to everyone else. We've been trying to get better, but it's proving too difficult for Callie without the aid of our sticky, pink friend Amoxicillin. She has yet another ear infection and a sinus infection. Poor little patient:( Due to all our various ailments--colds, stomach viruses, pink eye(me!), ear and sinus, a tumble down the stairs(me again!) plus a sick car, we've been laying low and hanging out at home. Even staying at home has proved challenging thanks to the ever-mobile Callie. Homegirl is into EVERYTHING lately. I don't even have time to grab my camera let alone snap cute pictures and blog about them! I know it's only going to get harder once she starts walking. Oyyyyyyyyy. I better stock up on Valium now;)

Here's what we've been doing to pass the time!

Playing with water on the deck

Doing some light reading

And just hanging around(upside down in Ben's case).

A Fairy Fun Bath

Fairy Princesses can't possibly get clean without the help of bath bubbles and magic wands. My little sprites LOVED taking a bath with these little plastic wands the other night:)

Macho-Man Ben stayed out of the bath and made silly faces for me instead:)

Smooth(ie) Operators

Emily got this mini blender for her birthday and they have been begging me to try it. Daddy finally bought smoothie ingredients so we went to work. Being that it's a child's blender, it didn't really blend our strawberries, yogurt and juice. Instead of a smoothie, it made more of a strawberry soup. It was delicious, none the less! I'm thinking pre-pureed fruit is the way to go.

Party Time!

Emily's Pump It Up party was super fun, just as we knew it would be! She looked adorable and had the time of her life. It was so special watching her play with her friends; all of them enjoying this celebration of her life:) We bounced, slide, and ran around like wild animals. We enjoyed pizza, juice and special rainbow cupcakes. We sang Twinkle, Twinkle to our little star instead of the traditional(and, let's face, boring!) Happy Birthday, upon Emily's request. Then we came home and opened her presents. She now has a complete dress-up wardrobe that would make any little princess green with envy. She also has several bathing suits to wear while splashing around in her new water-toy this summer! She loved everything about this special day, and she loves the special people who came to fete her even more:) Thank-you for loving our girl as much as we do! Her birthday was very happy, indeed.

Her favorite part of Pump It Up is always the slide!

Ben loved it, too!

Our friends Hazel and Kai couldn't get enough of this bounce-house filled with balls!

Emmie and Ruby played with Dan's step-sisters the entire time! Preteens are awesome.

Ruby had a ball!

Princess Cinderella-Ariel(aka Emily), posing in her throne

A blurry picture of my painstaking rainbow-layered cupcakes:) A special surprise for Emmie and her birthday guests!

Mmmm! The party animals enjoying their lunch!

Callie, holding court over one of her many loyal minions;) My cousin, Tony, fell in love with her at the party. The feeling was mutual!

"Twinkle, Twinkle, little star!"
She definitely shined today, reflecting all the love and joy surrounding her!

Emmie is THREE!

She went ahead and did it. She callously ignored my pleas to stay little and started growing up. We spent her third birthday doing just as she wished and had so much fun celebrating our sweet, sassy, silly girl. Here's our day in pictures!

First things first. Wake up at the crack of dawn and open some presents! She really wanted Snow White and Sleeping Beauty on DVD and was really excited to get them.

Emily loves the toddler First Look and Find books and has already read her new Princess one eleventy-billion times!

Next up, dine on chocolate sprinkled doughnuts. The breakfast of champions;)

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After shopping spree with Mimi, we headed out to Santa Cruz for some beach time and fun on the Boardwalk.

We played some arcade games...

....invented a new version on Dance, Dance Revolution....

Then headed to the beach!

I got to play with Callie on the towels

and Dan braved the crashing waves with two preschoolers:)
They were all soaked within 10 minutes.

In the past, Emily hasn't liked the water as much as Ben. She loved it today, though!

The three of them had a blast getting chased by the waves and splashing around.

Callie loved her first beach visit, too!

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After coming home from the beach, we headed out to dinner at Emmie's choice, Red Robin. I forgot the camera at home and they didn't sing to her(per her request) so you're not missing much;) Just picture two frazzled parents cutting, wiping, mopping and picking things up while two preschoolers try by any measure possible to get under the table and out of their seats while a baby plays "Oopsie-Daisy" with every.single.thing. you hand to her and simultaneously tries to grab everything off your plate. Fun!

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After dinner, we came home and opened the rest of her presents and enjoyed some Sleeping Beauty cake while dressed as Sleeping Beauty.

Not our exact cake, but just like this!

Emily really wanted an Aurora dress for her birthday. Being the mean parents we are, we talked about the dress all day and told her maybe she'd get it for Christmas. When she opened it, she said, "Now I have one!! I don't have to wait for Santa now!" :)

You'd think the beautiful, pink dress would be the favorite gift but it wasn't. The very best gift she got? A $6 accessory set I bought at TJ Maxx because it came with her very own earrings(ear-ins as she calls them!).

The girl had a completely wonderful birthday but was very ready for bed once it was over!