farmers market

One of my favorite things about our new place is how close we are to Downtown Huntington. When we are feeling bored or stir crazy, it's easy to hop in the stroller and walk around, especially since the weather is always perfect. On Tuesdays, they do a farmers market, which was really lucky for me because right around nap time my little ones went crazy. And nothing calms the crazies like a good, long walk.

Such beautiful flowers, it made me miss Pike Place Market in Seattle. I did pick up the most beautiful ranunculus and freesia bouquets though, and then could not stop sniffing the freesia all the way home.

Thankfully, Maxson conked out pretty soon after we reached the market. Little Zellie loved all the people and dogs and was not able to turn off her repetitions of "HIIIII!", "PUPPPYYYYY!" and "THAT THAT THAT" long enough to fall asleep, however.

My haul. Almost too pretty to eat!

I think I'm going to make it a rule that my house must have a fresh vase of freesia weekly... The smell is just heavenly.

Thank you, Huntington, for wrapping your arms around us. I don't think I'm ever leaving.

Zellie Walks!

I know I've been so lame at updating this these last few months...I've just barely gotten back into the swing of things after our big move up to Seattle. I have a few things I need to post about, including Zellie's first birthday and our latest family pictures, but for now, I want to share a video I never posted which captures our Zellie girl's FIRST STEPS!! Shortly after this was recorded, she decided she was an expert and took off. She is now a full-blown toddler, walking and running around the house like crazy. This has come as a welcome change for Maxson, who now enjoys playing "get me!" with Zellie...which is basically their version of tag. It's so sweet seeing them grow closer as siblings and best friends. I'm having so much fun with this stage, but for the love of pete, can time slow down please? My littles are growing up WAY. TOO. FAST!

how did it happen?

Well these are a day late, but close enough. 

Who can believe this little girl is already 10  months old?!

Time has gone by WAY TOO FAST.

such a happy baby.

playing her favorite game: peek-a-boo

mid-giggle and 18 chins in all their glory.

one serious face to prove she's not ALWAYS smiling.

{just most of the time :) }

here's a look back at her pictures throughout the months:

(9 months)

(one month)

(two weeks)

You can tell which one's were the busy months cause we're missing a picture...Febuary, March and July must've been crazy.

Still, even with months missing, it's so fun to look back at all of these pictures and see how much she's grown!

An Update On Azalea:

*She says "HI!" to everyone with this little beauty queen/parade wave to go along with it. It's a crowd-pleaser.

*She also says "dada" "all-done" (with the sign to go with it) and what sounds an awful lot like "i love you"--but more like "I ya yoo". Still waiting on a real mama though.

*She loves Maxson, even though he beats up on her a lot of the time.

*Such a daddy's girl. It's all about him when he's in the room.

*She's a fast little crawler, making her way through the house in seconds flat. 

*She's pulling herself up on everything and lets go and balances for a second before slowly lowering herself down to the floor. She will be walking in no time. (although, I wish she would hold off...not quite sure I'm ready to chase TWO toddlers!)

*Her hair is still her most attention-grabbing quality. Complete strangers stop me everywhere we go to comment on her thick, dark, head of hair.

*She has the sweetest disposition! Not easily upset, eats whatever is in front of her, and sleeps like a champ--9 pm to 9 am!

*She gives the best kisses. Just say "zellie, kisses?" and she leans in a plants one right on your lips.

*She loves to clap! Sometimes she claps when I enter the room, which makes me feel awesome. 

We love her so much! She is such a joy to us.

spooky preparations.

after picking pumpkins and putting them on our porch, it really made me want to decorate the house for halloween. which i've never done. 

{i guess halloween is just not usually my favorite holiday.}

however, this year, i dunno...i'm just feeling it.

spooky. and a pumpkin spice candle.

gorgeous red and orange leaf garland.

i wish i could put tons of pumpkins all over my fireplace hearth, but little toddler hands would be all over them like white on rice.

"happy haunting"bunting made from this printable and sewn onto fabric scraps.

all of our pumpkins, adorable ghost lights, and my trick or treat sign.

feeling excited for autumn and all of the wonderful times that come with it. next up: carving our pumpkins!

patches of pumpkins & one excited boy.

Tonight we went to the pumpkin patch for Family Home Evening. It was a gorgeous and perfect night and we had the best time. It was one of those outings where the stars aligned and both kids were in excellent moods and the excitement of the fall season and picking a pumpkin was palpable. Here is our night in pictures (plus one adorable video that I had to share too). 

also, my camera lens got a smudge that I COULDN'T get off for the life of me so some of these are fuzzy. sigh.

getting ready to board the hay ride.

two entranced kiddos on the ride.

such a dreamy backdrop! wish it wasn't fuzzy.

on the hunt for the perfect pumpkin.

this one has a funny shape...

...see mom! 

Azalea's first pumpkin experience.

is this the best one? let's check.

such a daddy's girl. and getting dark.

how can i choose just one?!

found the best little one!

showing off my pumpkin.

Maxson found his!!

giving it kisses...

...and dancing a jig to celebrate.

it was the best night. 

My Silly Boy

Here's a little update dedicated to my little buddy.

 *He loves to tell really intense stories where he uses his whole body and every hand motion he can think of to portray how exciting it was. {for example, matt took him to get the car washed today--his favorite activity ever--and all day I've been listening to "and car get WASHED! and DADA! and WASH THE CARS! All clean! Vroom Vroom cars get CLEAN! "}
* I can't help but giggle at how he says things in a really deep voice sometimes. When he says "hi momma", he says it as deep as he can trying to make me laugh. It's hysterical.
*He also loves to climb up on our entertainment unit and sing songs and dance as if it's a stage....I wonder who he got that from? Ha!
*He's getting really good at the alphabet--thank you foamy bath letters!--and loves to point out all the letters he knows wherever we go. 

Maxson likes: 

Play-dough

To try and hold all of his cars at once

{not an easy feat as cars are his favorite toy and he has about 30 of them}

To line everything up

Any and all fruit

Taking pictures:

{"Mama, picture!" (makes this face)}

Music {his favorite song is Moves Like Jagger}

To dance..the kid has serious moves!

To perform

To sing 

{especially "twinkle twinkle little star" and "skinnymarinkadinkadink"}

To make Azalea laugh

Swimming and/or anything to do with water.

To establish ownership of objects 

{he goes around the house saying "Maxson's bed. Sisters shoes. Daddy's soap. etc}

Books books books.

Nursery at church!

Rough housing with Daddy

Cuddling with Mama

Giving kisses and being held

Maxson doesn't like:

To be told what to do. He much prefers things to be his own idea.

When Zellie plays with his cars. 

To eat. Still. 

Things to be out of place. He will put stuff back exactly as he found it.

To get out of the pool. Tantrum city.

Zellie nursing. He gets really jealous and says heartbreaking things like "I want you mama!" or "I miss you mama!"

Okay, now after that big update, heres some cute pictures of my handsome boy!

{"ah ha-ha pictures funny!"}

He always covers his mouth like this when he laughs. Like I said, Ham City over here.

Isn't he so handsome? right after a new hair cut.

Just had to sneak this one in of Azalea. She's just so adorable I just have to squeeze her and pinch her chubs all day long :)

Our Zellie At 7 {and a half} Months

Can anyone even believe Azalea is 7 months old now? She's actually approaching 7 1/2 months but I've been out of town for the last 2 weeks and am just now getting around to an update. 

She's a sitter!

She's also a ham...as soon as the camera comes out she gets the biggest smile and chuckles.

She is so in love with her big brother. He cracks her up.

This is her favorite "okay, I'll amuse  you with a little smile" smirk. It kills me.

But then I just say "ZELLIE!!" in a high-pitched voice and she looks like this :)

She has the most expressive eyes and eyebrows around. You can read her mind by looking at her eyebrows. It's so cute and hilarious all at once.

{in this picture, she's keeping a close eye on Maxson, who was wielding a tow truck...}

Zellie is:

Crawling

Sitting

Eating 3 solid meals a day, plus one snack of Cheerios and/ or Graham crackers...We have a serious foodie on our hands!

Still nursing like a champ. Done with both sides in 5 minutes flat.

Waving "hi" and "bye bye". She especially loves to employ this skill while I change her diaper...she squeals "hiiiiiii" while waving her little fingers. I LOVE IT. 

Happy all. the. time. I don't know how she does it.

Still waking up once or twice in the night to nurse, but it only takes her a couple minutes to eat and she's out again, so it's not so bad.

Growing a serious head of hair. The hair in the back goes down past her neck and almost in between her shoulder blades. It also goes way passed her eyes so I have to put it up everyday. To cut or not to cut?

21 lbs. Yep, you read that right. She's a chunk and it's the best.

About grown out of her Chicco infant seat {their weight limit is 22 lbs}. Her new Britax Marathon arrives tomorrow...coincidentally, Britax has a Marathon model named "Azalea". How could I not choose that one? {plus, we love Maxson's Britax.}

A serious head-turner. Everywhere we go, people stop and tell us how gorgeous she is. I know I'm biased, so of course I think that, but every time we go out she's a mini celebrity. Matt is already planning on getting a shotgun for when she gets to be a teenager...

Oh Zellie-Belly we love you so much! You add such a sweet spirit to our home and remind me every day why being a mommy is the best thing I could be doing with my time. You are so beautiful and we can't believe we made you. I'm so thankful Heavenly Father trusts me enough to be the mommy to such a perfect little princess. You bring so much joy to my life, baby girl! xoxoxoxoxo


{next post will be all about my spunky little man, stay tuned! :) }

Sound off: opinions needed!

I've been thinking lately of when the appropriate time to pierce Azaleas ears will be. I had mine done as a toddler, I've known some people to pierce little girls' ears as babies, and others who waited until teen years or somewhere in between. Tell me, when is the best time to do it? I really want all opinions here. I know it will hurt her, but it's gonna hurt any time she gets it done. Plus, if I do it while she's a baby, I don't have to rely on her to keep them clean. I'm leaning towards doing it sooner than later but the thought of holding her down is holding me back. I need advice! What are your opinions?

Tubby Time.

We've started bathing the kids together and it seriously warms my heart every time. It's so unreal that these two are mine, and it makes life so enjoyable to see them interact and love each other! In this picture, they were mid splash-war when Matt came in with the camera and distracted them.

 {hence my arm covered in the splashes!}

Sometimes, we think we were crazy to have them so close together, but then we have times like this where we see them growing close as friends and realize they are going to have so much fun together.

I love my babies! 

The Zoo.

A couple of weeks ago, I was able to talk Matt into taking a day off so we could head to the San Diego Zoo for some family time. We had a blast! Here are some highlights:

"Maxson, we're going to the zoo to see the elephants!"

{his response was this face.}

Maxson loved the gorillas. He kept going, "hi, ri-yaa!" 

This gorilla was just hanging out against the glass. Here's Matt giving him a nice back rub...

I LOVE orangutans. This guy was super comfy.

Maxson's favorite. The elephants! 

{cue the "eeeeeeeee!" elephant sound that he makes}

The San Diego zoo is so enormous we didn't even see half of it! 

We will definitely have to come back.

Zellie was there too! 

Unfortunately, this was the only pic we got of her at the zoo. Bad mom award.

After the zoo, we headed to the Carlsbad beach for some fish and chips and scenery!

{yeah, this girl has some chubby legs. it's so adorable.}

Love this shot of all of us. Our first family photo with just us four. 

I wish everyday were this good!