All good things......

We had a great visit with Auntie Sarah, but alas all good things must come to an end.

So on Sarah's last day we ran a few errands, made a quick trip to the kids museum for Maddy, and settled on chowder bread bowls for lunch at Cannery Row!!

Sarah gave Maddy a mini makeover while I picked up something at Ulta!!

 Kids museum: I'm sure she was wondering how the heck the phone was supposed to dial out.....

 Lunch on Cannery Row, eating soup on the hottest day! 

We were crazy, but it was delish!!

Date Night @ Pebble Beach

Mike and I took FULL advantage of having Sarah here this last week, and squeezed in a date night!

MUCH NEEDED TOO!!!

We went to dinner at Roy's at Spanish Bay golf course in Pebble Beach

 Started with an awesome scallop appetizer with crab on top!

 Our dining entertainment was the bagpiper who walks the property daily at sunset!

We had great window seats so we could see him from our table.

Thank you Sarah! We had a wonderful night out!!

Mothers Day Luau 2014

Maddy's class hosted a Mothers Day Luau Friday morning and since Sarah was here, she joined in the fun!

 Ms. Jen

 Ms. Alixis

 Mr. Derrick-- Maddy had these three great teachers all year for her last year of preschool!

They all love Maddy's personality and understand her love to talk, play, and be the social butterfly that she is EVERYDAY!!!

I love my little bug, and am so proud of how outgoing and smart she has grown to be!

Having two kids really shows you how contrasting they can be, and I appreciate her for all her unique attributes that make her Maddy.

Look who came to visit!!!!!!

Aunt Sarah flew in with a tan from Hawaii!!!

She came for a 5 day visit before trekking back down south!

 Quick post airport stop at InNOut!!

The girls woke her up the first morning with BIG smiles!!

 Mike and I took her wine tasting of course!!

 And for mother's day weekend Amy and Adam and my dad came to town too!

So we hit up the girls Tball game, the local park and had some yummy home cooked eats!!

So great being ALL together!!

Oh the faces!!!

Brought the girls home their first electric toothbrushes......and they were thrilled!! Can't you tell?!?

But really, they have been begging for their own :)

Happiness with Kids!!

Sometimes I have to stop and remind myself how lucky I am to get to spend ALL day, EVERYDAY with these kids!! Maddy will be off to PreK this Fall (5 days a week!!!) and I'm going to miss her being with me all the time :(

 Today being the little sister paid off-- Abby's classmate celebrated his birthday at pickup and distributed cupcakes!! Maddy got one too!!

And this afternoon while I was cleaning up the house, Abby went and got the mail for me (her new favorite thing to do) and told me something was on the wipe off board for me. In case I was going to miss that note!!! "Mom its to Days Mail" --I love that she can read and write pretty well now!

International Day- FOOD!!

Saturday afternoon Mike's school hosted an "International Food Day"

36 countries were represented and served/sold a traditional food/drink!

I ate my way through $15 of ethnic foods that were DELISH!!

I ate some from Japan, Pakistan, Canada and MORE!

This is truly a good event to come visit for next year!!

They had bounce houses and face painting for the kids!

 Canada- Poutine (fries covered in cheese & gravy)

Did the Canadians really invent Rice Crispy Squares?? Hmmmm

Sparkle!!!

 

Mike surprised me this past Friday night, on our way out the door to a adults only Auction night out for Abby's school. I was all dressed and ready to go, but needed to throw some earrings on before the sitter arrived. He turned and gave me a small box, an early 10 YEAR anniversary gift!!

Gorgeous diamond screw-in earrings!! Beautiful, sparkly, and very special!!

XOXO Love you Mike!!! I haven't taken them off yet!!!

Tea Party

We spend a LOT of time outside!

I joined Maddy one afternoon for an Olaf tea party!!

We JUST discovered that the play coffee maker set we got them for the holidays, actually processes liquid!! Who knew??!!?! So now its evolved into an outdoor water fun toy!!

Sun & Water

Last week was warm and wonderful here!!

So we took full advantage after school one day and headed to the beach!!

Race & Friends

Two weeks ago my good friend Danielle & her girls came for a weekend visit!

It also happened to be the weekend of Mike & Abby's 3K Kids Race!

The race started/ended at Lovers Point park!

Great weekend of running, tball & friends!

Easter with the Smiths

Taking full advantage of still being in CA, we ventured North for Easter to Mike's mom's house.

It was a beautiful sunny day and the kids got to enjoy some little dog time!! Which they LOVE!!

 My Easter appetizer creation!! (from Pinterest of course)

 Our nephew Dane

 The girls horsed around in the backyard with Uncle Anker and had him all tied up!!

 Clearly Easter wore her out!!!

Family Ride

A few weeks ago we went out one evening for a family bike ride!

Abby's first bike ride solo, out of the trailer! She did over 3 miles all by herself!

SO PROUD!!

Stopped along the way to see the new seal pups along the beach!

Nom Nom YUM!

We've been pretty good at eating low/no carb and no dairy for most meals these days, but especially dinners!! Last month I tried a cauliflower pizza crust! I LOVED it!!!!

I need to adjust the recipe a bit to make it more hand-held, but as a base it was fantastic and much less filling; but still VERY satisfying!!