Banman Land

Victoria For A Weekend

2012-01-25T00:33:00.000-08:00

Mike had a conference on the Vancouver Island and he invited us to come along.

I love that he brings me or all of us as often as he can.

It's no small task or ticket to bring us but the fact that he makes it happen speaks volumes to myself and the kids.

Six kids on the ferry.

First time.

So exciting!

Caiter Gator!

According to the locals, "it never snows in Victoria"

Ya.

It snows.

The fountain was incredible, the water was freezing as it poured out.

Oh- for all ya'll Americans out there...The building behind the kids is the Parliament building. This is where the Legislature meets for all of British Columbia.

{you know, where laws are made...}

The room where the law-making goes down!!

Fancy lock to keep us out.

We really appreciated the amazing attention to detail in this incredible building.

Meeting the Queen.

{This was a school filed trip, this is my class!}

Amazing rotunda and some of our foreheads:)

The following day we hit up the Royal BC Museum.

Another awesome place to visit, the kids enjoyed it and it was educational.

Win-win!

Caleb approves of the Native artifacts!

Mads likes this guy's outfit.

Cambi was a perfect stroller baby all day.

She carried all the coats and bags.

She smiled when she was awake and most importantly, she slept for a large chunk of the day.

Caity asked me

"Mommy can you take my picture with that scary cat?"

They had an exhibit with artifacts from each decade.

1990?

This blew me away.

The kids were not surprised that I recognized all this stuff.

Apparently I am the only one who does not think I'm very old.

I still have that exact pony.

I had a vision for 6 kids on the couch.

It was not to be.

Nap time.

Cranky time.

AKA

No bribe under the sun will work time.

{notice the toddler bum in the air on the left}

Wild West

{Hi Californians... you aren't the only ones "out west"}

BC had a gold rush too!

Mailee found some gold!

Captain Vancouver

When you have lots of little kids you do NOT have high tea at the Empress Hotel.

{As fantabulous as I am sure it would be for $47 per person!!}

Instead, you stand out front and get your picture and promise your older girls that you will come back "one day" for tea.

Chinatown!

Cait's favourite mode of transportation was a sissy piggyback.

{Mikayla carried her most of the day like this, Maddie just happened to be holding her when I took a picture}

We found some cool alleyways.

Saw some dancing

{Chinese New Year}

The kids played for an hour in the POURING RAIN at an awesome park in (of all places) Parksville while Mike completed the last few hours of his seminar.

Matching sissies at the amazing pool in our hotel.

I want this wall/floor combo in my house for pictures!!

Cambria Love was cute all weekend.

She didn't sleep much.

But she was cute:)

The big girls were so helpful and pretty happy to get a few vacation meals!

And the swimming.

Oh, the swimming.

What is it with kids and hotel pools?

Add an underwater camera and oh boy...

Hours of fun I tell you.

Our weekend trip was extended a day due to cancelled ferries.

Frustrating to spend 12 hours in a vehicle with 8 people

{6 of whom are quite young & restless}

But I wouldn't have chosen anyone else to spend those hours with.

Isn't it funny how as we live through moments we often take them for granted,

we spend time pouting

or complaining

or nit-picking at those around us.

Meanwhile, life is happening!

Fun moments, precious memories.

I want to work on embracing each moment and blissfully soaking it all in.

Imagine if we all chose to see how blessed we were instead of focusing on the imperfect details!!

Deep.

Happy Wednesday!

Snowy Family Pictures By Simone

2012-01-16T22:17:00.000-08:00

Hey! My Christmas cards have most likely made their way to their final destinations so I can finally share the fun photos from our photo shoot with Simone.

{most of which you have already seen plastered all over the blog!}

Originally I envisioned sun-drenched autumn photos with tan kids and fall leaves.

~But~

By the time I got my act together and scheduled the session, it was cold and the forecast called for SNOW!!!

I had a slight panic the night before

{wet shoes, red noses, whiny kids, cold hands...}

but Simone reassured me that all would turn out fantastic and she was soo right!

I love how unique these photos are.

The snow makes them amazing!!

Look at my cute kiddos!

This Narnia-like photo is my favourite!

The girls:)

Mikayla

Mailee

Maddie

Caleb

Cait played shy for her close up.

Caitlyn

{Simone even made Cait's pouting look adorable!}

Cambria

Love.

A big family hug.

My love!

In case you are thinking that your family hates getting their pictures taken and mine loves it, here's my dose of reality...

As we were getting out of the truck Mike instructed the kids "Do exactly what she says so we can get this over with as quickly as possible"

{no offense to Simone of course:)}

I am not sure why men are not into pictures but ever since our wedding day (and the hours of photos he endured) I have known that it is an act of love when Mike willingly agrees to a photo shoot:)

{Thanks honey!}

I am working on a post with some tips for planning a fabulous family photo complete with a mini tutorial, color scheme thoughts and some prop ideas.

Does your family enjoy photos as much as you do?

Or is it just me fighting the masses to get a pretty pic?

Taggie Blankie Tutorial

2012-01-10T17:17:00.000-08:00

Hi!

Now that Christmas is over,

I'm excited to share this fun tutorial.

I must warn you; I am not a perfectionist.

{well in some ways I am but not in the way of keeping track of numbers and measurements}

You will have to be willing to take some liberties of your own with this tutorial.

I am merely trying to inspire you to get sewing!

Here is my Cambria with her taggie!

This is the first moment she saw it. She was very interested in the bright, colorful tags!

Here are the other recent taggie creations in Banmanland...

Four in a row...

I always like to pick fun textures.

It's mandatory that one side be silky.

This fun color combo was made for a cute baby friend of Cambria's named Kingsley.

His Mommy loves fluorescents.

{his nickname}

The hand-embroidered felt tag is my favourite part.

There is nothing like creating something beautiful simply with a needle and thread.

Mikayla made this taggie for her cousin Jamin for Christmas.

She embroidered and everything all by herself.

I was proud!

A whole lot of tags!!

This part has to be completed before you can sew your taggie up.

I *may* have gone a little overboard on this one.

I couldn't stop.

Select your ribbons.

I have an endless supply of ribbon and I still can't seem to manage to leave Michaels without a new roll.

It's my addiction.

You may need to go out and purchase ribbon. If this is the case, I am sorry I do not have exact measurements for you.

This is what I know:

I used about 10-15 ribbons per side.

4 sides.

Each ribbon is between 3 1/2- 5 1/2inches long.

Choose all sorts of ribbons.

Skinny, thick, silky, grosgrain.

I vary the lengths of the ribbons so they turn out to be all different shapes, sizes, textures AND lengths.

I cut a perfect square in each of my two fabrics.

My favourite square size is 19 inches.

{before sewing}

Pin the ribbons to the heavier of the two fabrics.

{I pinned my ribbons to the pink minky dot above}

Pin those ribbons inward.

Sew all the way around the blanket to secure all ribbons in place.

Before I pin and sew the two fabrics together, I carefully pin the corner ribbons in place (see red pin above) to avoid accidentally sewing them into my seam.

{hard to explain but believe me, if you skip this step you will know what I am talkin' about!}

Pin the "right side" (meaning the pretty side) of the second fabric(in my case it's the grey with white dots) to the "right side" of the now-ribboned first fabric (pink minky).

{when sewing with silky, use lots of pins:)}

I make an X with pins to mark where I should start and stop sewing.

{you must leave an opening so that you can flip the inside, out.}

{another awkward sentance. sheesh.}

I sew around the entire blanket once.

{with the exception of the opening for flipping}

Then I flip the blanket to the other side and go around again so that I can ensure all edges are secured.

I use a zig zag stitch for the second time around the blanket.

Don't forget to backstitch the edges of the opening:)

Time to flip!

Now pin the opening shut.

{oh- I'm not into ironing. Years ago, when she was still alive, my Grandma taught me that I must iron between each step. She was correct, everything turns out nicer when ironed. If you can, this is the time to iron your blanket. In my case, Grandma only had two kids so I believe she would be cool with me skipping that step!!}

Sew around the blanket very close to the edge (pink) and then a second time about 3/4 of an inch in from the edge(teal).

{more awkward explaining. Just look at the picture!}

Crooked?

Yes!

I told you I'm not a perfectionist.

Baby loves it.

She's very forgiving of her taggie's imperfections.

Your baby needs one too!

Get to work!

Show me your taggies when you complete them!!

Happy New Year 2012!!

2012-01-01T22:49:00.000-08:00

We rang in the new year with lots of fun.

We played games

threw confetti

drank sparkling cider

all by 9m.

{yay for east coast TV!!}

Baby with a glow stick.

Woo hoo, a new year!!

A set up confetti "re-throw".

{because "Mom's always gotta get a picture"}

What are we most thankful for this year?

6 happy healthy kids.

A loving God to trust, lean on and place our hope in.

A marriage that allows us to continue honing our teamwork and communication skills.

An exciting and vibrant chiropractic practice and community.

Family and friends that care for us and our kids.

Feels so good to have a fresh start.

A new year.

We have big hopes and dreams and plans for 2012.

We encourage you to sit down with your family (no matter how young) and write down some of your plans and dreams.

This is how things get done!!

In the meantime, there's a mess to clean up.

And I've got just the guy for the job:)

9 Months Old!

2011-12-31T22:15:00.000-08:00

Cambria is 9 months old!

She has been up long hours the past week working on her two front teeth.

I thought I'd better pause for a moment and get some pictures of my tiny girl before she gets a big girl smile!

Talking to her new piggy.

Chewing on a Lalaloopsy.

Little Sweetheart!

Cambria is crawling EVERYWHERE.

She is eating dates and kamut puffs and all fruits and veggies.

She waves "hi" and "bye bye".

She is pulling up on anything and everything.

She loves to stand along the furniture.

Big sister helping out.

Walky-walky

Pretty soon this smile will be full of pearly whites!

See those teeth, they are soo close!

Sissy love.

Another new trick...

On the knees!

I love this picture of both my girls.

A Family Photo Worth Waiting For

2011-12-29T22:25:00.000-08:00

My brother Eric and his wife Sarah are in the US Air Force. They have been stationed in Germany. Their son was born there. They moved to Colorado earlier this year. As soon as they moved we began planning that we would be together for Christmas.

My mom and dad came as well.

We got to meet our cute nephew Jakob for the first time.

We made sure to get some family photos while we were all together.

We had the most awesome 4 days watching the kids play together, skating, playing games, and getting to know each other better.

Sarah, Dad and me.

Eric, Mom and Mike.

Our 7 kids!

(Mommies were needed to make the cousin line-up work!)

Christmas 2011 in photos

2011-12-27T09:11:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve dinner.

Sweedish meatballs.

Great company!

Christmas Eve church service.

Some of the church goers.

A very full mantel!

My brother and his wife and son, my parents and the 8 of us =13 stockings!

Putting together the hockey net.

Wrapping gifts while watching Sound Of Music.

Everything is ready.

Excited cowboy.

All my kidlers with their stockings.

Baby's first Christmas!

Appropriate bib.

Stripey Hanna Anderson Jammies!

Sisters!

Hugs for Grandpa.

Gifts were exchanged.

Surprise!

Big surprise.

Shocked girl!

Joint cousin gift.

Reading a new book.

Snuggles.

Bonding time.

Sword fights.

More Sword fights!!

Cousin picture with Santa (Grandpa Don)!

Lots of cuteness!!

More swords.

Baby On The Move!

2011-12-09T00:09:00.000-08:00

Look at Cambi, she is going places!

{this is the view from the stairs. We put our long bench in front of the stairs...it's the best baby gate we've ever owned!}

Don't you just love our baby?

I do!

She's so cute!!!

Matchy Matchers and a New Milestone

2011-12-03T22:36:00.000-08:00

Two littles in Christmas Jammies!

Saying "Hi"

Nice pose Cait!

Got these jammers on clearance this summer and just added the red bows.

First time Cambri has pulled up on something and the whole family happened to be there.

So fun!

She is going for the phone.

Getting closer...

Going in for the kill...

Contact!

Getting to her feet...

Upright baby!

Standing, texting baby!!

"check me out guys!"

Sitting back down to get a proper munch on that phone.

And Now It's Been 12 years!

2011-12-02T23:40:00.000-08:00

I've officially been a parent for 12 years.

Twelve.

That's a really long time!

Nevermind me, this means my daughter, my little girl, is 12!!

How can it be that God chose to entrust me with this beautiful, complicated, intelligent, amazing person?

How can it be that her presence over the past 12 years has taught me, moulded me and forced me to grow more than I could ever have imagined?

It blows my mind.

It takes my breath away when I think of how quickly she has grown.

Anyways, enough pretty words and introspective sentences:)

Here are the birthday pics!

Caity was so proud to give her sister a gift in this princess bag!

And she wrote her own note in this princess card.

The birthday packages all stacked up!

(these were from family too, not just us)

My non-cake-eating kiddo requested to bake cinnamon buns with me for her birthday treat.

I couldn't help myself, I had to stack them up on a cake plate.

{Birthday= not complete without cake!}

12 candles!

Present time!

Everyone in our family wrote words that describe Mikayla on this poster.

She loved this.

She pinned it on her wall.

I think we started a new tradition!

I love it when the kids can encourage each other in a positive way!

Girl loves books!

She loves cards, too!

She has kept all her cards.

Always.

She has a huge bin of them!

Happy birthday to my sweetheart Mikayla.

My big girl.

That firstborn.

The helper.

The organizer.

The reader.

The list maker.

The baker.

The overall-on-top-of-it girl!

I love you!

Cousin Tug Of War

2011-11-28T00:57:00.001-08:00

Cambria and her cousin Jamin are 2 months apart.

They are so fun to watch now that they are getting more interactive.

This little interchange was especially cute.

Keep your eyes on the portable wipes container.

"look what I have!"

(pointing/waving)

"hey Jamin, check out my fun toy!"

Jamin decided to get in on the action.

Super fun!

(waving arms frantically)

"I want that back!!"

Reaching...

"Got it!"

(as her cousin flails himself backwards in frustration)

Insta-Saturday

2011-11-26T09:57:00.001-08:00

Insta week in review.

Here we go...

Best thing that happened to us?

{well, if we are being honest, it's more of a "me" than an "us"}

Family photos!!!

Here's Caity playing shy for Simone.

We got to attend Jamin's baby dedication.

So special.

{Great looking family hey?}

We had snow.

We cracked out the Christmas music!

Caity named this "Cheerio Soup".

{It's noodles, not Cheerios}

We got crafty!

The kids all love "electronics".

I have a rule, they can not play WII, go on the computer, itouch, ipad during school hours.

When school hours are over, if they are lucky and I have something I want to get done, this happens.

Sites we love:

Homemade legwarmers.

More about this later.

Homemade freehand embroidery.

More about this later too:)

The town is getting festive!

My almost-birthday-girl is happily getting the mail every day.

{when it's someone's birthday month, that person gets to get the mail every day}

Most days it's bills and ads but this day she got a letter!

Newest fashion accessory.

{you haven't heard? babies are the new trend.}

I guess that makes me a pioneer for this fashion style:)

Great news:

Macy's ships to Canada!

Not great news:

I was in Canada for American Thanksgiving.

Family Christmas crafts.

My personal bliss.

Caity bear took it upon herself to learn how to make a circle.

All on her own she did this whole page before I noticed her cute little self working away.

How precious is she?

Mess to some, creative genius to others.

Now that my girls are getting older, they seem to contribute to the mess.

We are all either really messy or super geniuses.

I dug this thread out of my grandma's old thread container.

19 cents?

I'm thinking this was purchased a while ago.

It makes me happy to use this old thread.

It made me extremely happy to have found the thread I needed when I needed it.

So annoying to need something in the middle of a project.

That's what I have for now.

Off to make some more memories.

And document them.

So we can post them:)

Share your week's worth of phone-camera fun here...

Crazy Cool Homeschooled Kids

2011-11-22T21:22:00.001-08:00

I have super cool kids!

You may think of homeschool kids as a little different.

Sheltered.

Weird.

Well I do agree, they ARE different!

They SO are.

They like to be with their parents!

They are excited to learn!

They are comfortable in their own skin!

They are confident!

They are self-motivated!

They enjoy playing with their siblings!

I am thankful for my crazy school of kids!

They like to play!

They love crafts!

Sometimes I get worked up thinking about what other people might think of us.

All those kids!?!

Homeschool!?!?

Chiropractic!?!?!?

I'm not sure why I care but naturally those feelings come to the surface sometimes.

In these times I have to stop and look at my life.

The things that will last.

The things that matter.

When I look at "us" in those terms, everyone else seems weird:)

Baby's First Snow

2011-11-19T00:22:00.000-08:00

Cambria was so cute in the snow today for the first time.

Look at her toothy little smile!

Not too cold!

She was kicking her feel with glee!

Help from big sister.

"Eat some snow Came-bee"

Tastes cold!

Caleb stepped in to show them how it's done.

Caity followed suit.

Catching snowflakes.

The kids pulled the sand toys out and had a blast with the snow.

Maddie made herself a chair with a cupholder:)

Cute little snow baby!!

Mikayla is on a roll with her blog.

Don't forget to check it out!

We have family pictures tomorrow, I am SO excited!!

The blog will be getting a new header soon for sure:)

A Good Reason To Have Lots Of Kids...

2011-11-18T07:34:00.000-08:00

Snow Removal goes very quickly:)

Check out Mikayla's NEW BLOG.

Her post from yesterday had me crying.

Insta-Friday Ohio/Orlando Trip Recap

2011-11-11T23:30:00.000-08:00

Last week Cambria and I hitched a ride with Mike to Orlando for his Maximized Living seminar.

We stopped in Ohio to visit some friends on the way.

I used the Iphone alone to capture the memories.

Here's the recap!

Very early.

At the airport ready to take baby in the sky for the first time!

Our little traveler did amazing!

Mike's sisters covered the bases back at home while I was blissfully soaking up the peaceful, quietness of only one child.

I was so thankful for the opportunity to breathe..I was needing it!

I love my kiddos and love doing school at home and having them with me

EVERY

HOUR

EVERY

DAY

but even the Mother with the best of intentions needs a little break every once in a while:)

Cambri mastered the wave on the trip and perfected her first word..."Hiii"

My Mom pointed out to me that this was also my first word so she's off to a great start I suppose;)

In Orlando we found an awesome leather guy selling the most amazing leather engraved bracelets.

We got one for each of the three big girls.

The hotel in Orlando was gorgeous.

Super swanky.

So very nice.

These guys are two of the USA's top wrestlers.

We are talking Olympic hopefuls.

They are also two of the nicest people I have ever met.

Mike introduced JD (left) to chiropractic.

JD and Tervel came to the Maximized Living conference to speak about how it has impacted their lives.

I appreciated seeing what Mike is passionate about in a new light.

This place kills me.

I love Hobby Lobby.

Like almost as much as I love Target.

It is not right that I live multiple plane rides away from this store.

Cambria and I enjoyed hours strolling the isles.

It was a dream.

Orlando's warmth was so good.

Cheesecake Factory, Whole Foods and boot shopping in one day.

We ate at Maggianos.

Delish!

We had such an amazing week together.

It was so great.

We should probably do this more often;)

I loved having my little baby girl all to myself.

She is such a joy!

I soaked her up.

Every precious minute of her rapidly evaporating babyhood.

She is, really, so so sweet!

I loved having this guy all to myself too!

We even navigated the streets of two unfamiliar big cities without any communication breakdowns.

We may be Amazing Race material after all!

I am pretty sure Cambria likes being in Target as much as I do!!

Regrettably I left this outfit behind.

Now that I see the picture, I really wished I'd just grabbed it.

Baby was cranky and I just couldn't commit in that moment.

"Houston, we have a problem"

The perfect title for this picture.

This is exactly what we have here.

We nearly missed our flight because the baby was not showing up in the computer.

These ladies worked tirelessly to make it happen.

Check out the double phone hold.

Even Mike got in on the action!

Cambria loved watching Dora on the plane!

It was soo sweet to be reunited with our awesome kids.

I will miss Target, Hobby Lobby and "the quiet" but I would never trade those things for this amazing, crazy, loud life!

What It Looks Like When 3 kids Change Rooms

2011-11-07T08:26:00.000-08:00

Two weekends ago Mike and Caleb got to fly down to California and take in a college football game.

Stanford Vs. USC.

The girls and I took the guy-free weekend and went to town on our house.

We cleared out the craft room, moved Mikayla into her own room, Maddie into Mikayla's spot, and Caitlyn in with Caleb.

Here are the results...

Caleb's room "BEFORE"

(I put it in quotes because this is actually after hours of de-cluttering and two garbage bags)

Maddie, Caitlyn and Cambria's room BEFORE

Caleb and Caity's room AFTER

{we modified this arrangement because Cait woke up stuck under Caleb's bed. She's quite the mover! Bunk beds is the eventual goal.}

For the first time, the boy toys and girl toys are all in one room!!

I have two amazing quilt tops that are family heirlooms. They have similar fabrics but different patterns. If you have any tips on how to finish them, I am interested!

{I'm talking someone else finish them...not me!}

Cait's babies.

Just documenting the shared closet at the clean state. It may never look like this again!

These two were so excited at this point but by bedtime things weren't so happy. Cait was crying "I want my old bed" and Caleb was crying "get her out of my room!"

I think it will be fun for them to share.

I want Caleb to get to experience sharing a room.

Cambria's room AFTER.

A baby room! Yay!

She can cry her little heart out and she won't disturb a soul. This is a good thing. Babies need to sleep and this baby is going to be so happy with her new routine.

This is every size she will wear until she's 2. I'm just moving Cait's clothes in once they don't fit her.

I have no BEFORE pic for the basement. It was just a dropping zone. For those who have been to our house, here are pics of the happy clean and functional basement!

A play corner with a kitchen and dollhouse.

A table for coloring.

At one time this closet was filled to the brim with chiropractic goods.

Then it had miscellaneous hockey equipment and broken furniture.

{This is not an exaggeration. I pulled out two broken lamps, one broken fan and a bed with more missing pieces than present ones}

The girls and I made some "hard" decisions to get rid of the "hoarder-ish"items and then created a functional storage closet.

One the right is the "craft shelf".

On the left are the clothing {in other sizes} bins and dress up bins are at the top for easy access.

The Barbies got a more prominent place.

Mailee took the time to dress them all and select each one's position.

{ie. the ones she likes best are way at the top where little hands can not reach}

Maddie Faith in her new grown up room downstairs!

Maddie's babies.

She even has a special place to hang her quilt that GG made!

I have photos of the big girls and their room transformations too but they have their own blogs so you'll get to hear all about those changes in their own words!

The Dress Up Line Up This Year

2011-11-02T07:16:00.000-07:00

Here are the kids and their cousins on Halloween this year:)

Mailee is Marie Antoinette, Caleb is a robot (he forgot his head at home) and Mads is the Queen of Hearts:)

Lucy from The Chronicles of Narnia

Kitty.

Lady Bug

(take two... Maddie wore this costume)

Halloween Decor

2011-10-30T23:03:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick lesson on how to glitter up your pumpkins.

(I guess it's too late for this year but file this one away for next, it's so easy and soo pretty!)

Caleb helped me.

He squeezed on a whole bunch of Elmer's glue...

then he brushed it on smoothly with a foam brush...

{We used white pumpkins which worked out great because I didn't cover the entire surface with glitter but at first glance they still looked completely glittery. I think with orange underneath it would have been more noticeable if they were not fully glittered.}

Then he dumped this glitter all over the pumpkin.

(we put newspaper underneath to catch the glitter and pour it back into the jar)

It was really that simple.

It was messy.

We still have glitter everywhere.

I say the mess was well worth the effect!

We have recycled Mailee's party decorations twice already.

First they sat on our front porch...

{I brought the candles in at night for all you safety inspectors out there:}

We had a pretty porch for a few days but we decided to share the love so we took the pumpkins to Mike's office.

Pretty!

I also made a little poster to encourage our friends at Rhino to get creative and avoid ALL that candy!

I got this idea for the Sugar Fairy from a friend. She gives her girls the option to relinquish their treats received from birthday parties, Easter, Halloween and Christmas.

Have a fantastic Halloween.

Tomorrow is also Cambria's 7 month birthday!!

She will be dressing up as a pink kitty.

Her Grandma sent her a to-die-for flower costume but she is misery on wheels when I put it on so we had to go to plan B.

I am sure the pink kitty will not be lacking in the cuteness department and miss baby will be much more pleasant to be around!

The flower costume is sz 18-24 so there is hope for a walking flower for next year:)

Real Baby Doll

2011-10-29T23:48:00.000-07:00

My kids don't have a lot of baby dolls but I think I know why...

Cambria loves it in the dolly stroller. She happily sits there and allows anyone to push her around for as long as it is required. She will even sit in the chair patiently and watch while her "pusher" completes any task; from emptying the dishwasher to going potty.

I wonder what the kids will do when our baby is grown up? She is their best entertainment!

Mikayla's New Blog

2011-10-28T00:12:00.000-07:00

About a month ago Google randomly selected Mikayla's email and asked her how old she was. Apparently the age limit for having a Google account is 13.

She answered truthfully and her email and blogs were immediately shut down.

Lame-O.

That hasn't stopped my girl.

Mike got a new account for her to use and she started up a new blog right away.

Mikayla is witty and insightful and her posts are always fun to read.

I am also super jealous of her cute background.

Check it out HERE!

Hurry on over to see more from this adorable photo shoot!

Take the time to "follow" her blog and leave a little comment. I know this will mean so much to her.

We Have A Big Girl On Our Hands!

2011-10-26T22:56:00.000-07:00

Cambria Love is growing like a weed.

A really cute,

really soft,

super squishy,

amazingly precious

little weed.

Here are just a few of the things that are going on with her as she approaches her 7th month...

She sits!

She wears her sissy's watch.

(just for fun, she can't tell time yet:)

She smiles at us.

She giggles at her siblings.

She waves "hi" and "bye bye" on command!

She says "milk", "food" and "all done" in sign language.

She's been making these funny faces..

...we finally figured out why, she cut her first tooth!

And just today I saw her trying to scoot-ch toward a toy and I grabbed the camera.

I captured her first real "army crawling" today!

Such a delightful, even tempered, sweet little baby girl.

Check her out!

Mailee's 10th Birthday Party

2011-10-24T23:42:00.000-07:00

Mailee's party was a blast.

Here are the details; first the people then the decor.

Mailee was really involved with all the details.

She made these adorable picks the week before the party.

So cute, hey?

Everyone dressed up, even the dads.

This cowboy, pirate and chicken were all great sports!

Mailee's friends looked amazing in their costumes and masks.

Mai Mai was so excited to wear her Marie Antoinette costume.

Her favourite parts were the hair and the fan:)

Little "pink princess" was so proud to wear her pretty dress and hold up her mask!

Us big girls got into it too.

Christmas Fairy, Flower child, prom princess and Lady Pink.

Somebody missed her nap time!

The spread.

I managed to keep this party free of sweets (with the exception of the cake)

Musical chairs was played more than once.

The girls were asking to play again and again.

Mailee has a collection of collector Barbies.

{Can you say that, "collection of collector Barbies"...?}

She picked these plates and napkins:)

Lanterns never get old for me.

I mixed it up by glittering a few of the small ones and adding some bunches of tulle.

I "swooped" tulle from one side of the room up to the other side.

This gave the room the "grand" feeling Mailee wanted.

We collected candle sticks and other items for a few weeks before the party.

Once we got them home they all got a nice coat of spray paint.

Pretty!

We bought some cheap plastic dress up crowns and wands from the dollar store and spray painted them too.

Mailee's birthday is the week before Halloween so we even spray painted a bunch of real pumpkins.

They looked amazing in gold and shades of pink!

See that cute pumpkin?

How about the candlestick?

There's also a soup can and another dollar store crown.

With a little creativity you can make a little into a lot!

We also glittered a bunch of white pumpkins.

They looked so fabulous!!!

Oh the glittery gorgeousness!!

A few candles got the glitter treatment as well.

Here's a close up of one of the lanterns.

This was also very easy and soo worth the effort!

Ooh! Another fun thing that I'm so excited to share!

I bought those tacky number candles from the dollar store and glammed them up with gold glitter puff paint, rhinestones and beads.

I also added toothpicks to the bottom of each one so that they would stay in place on the cake.

They turned out so great.

I hope you'll take this idea and run with it. This makes the possibilities endless as far as tacky candles made fabulous is concerned:)

These candles were the favours.

We found the adorable pink glass vases on clearance and took them to our favourite soy candle creator Granville Island Candles.

They filled them with the flavour of Mailee's choice (Cinnamon Bun).

Oh I also spray painted a few vases gold:)

More pretty-ness.

Looky what I found at Michaels...Gold glittery wrapping paper!

Have I ever told you that I love little details?

Thanks for looking!

I may have missed something, if you have any questions just ask!

Mailee's Last Bash

2011-10-22T23:37:00.000-07:00

In Banmanland, the over the top parties are limited to 10 per child.

We still celebrate when they turn 11,12, etc. but not with an elaborate "event".

Knowing this, Mailee has been thinking and planning all year how she wanted to celebrate for her last big party.

The choice wasn't hard.

This girl loves all things fancy and formal.

Her birthday is October 25.

A dress up ball was the perfect theme.

Mailee fell in love with and picked this Marie Antoinette costume.

She looked adorable!

Mailee did not want a lot of games and activities because she prefers being able to visit and hang out to having structure.

I like how she knows what she likes!

This girl of mine loves to read her cards, soaks up every word, lingers on each gift and gives a hug to each friend and family member.

I can tell she is just savouring every second!

Mailee is my Barbie collector.

I was not surprised when she requested a Barbie cake this year:)

I have lots of fun birthday party photos with all the fun theme details to share and I'll get to those but I wanted to focus on the birthday girl tonight!

Makin' Mummies

2011-10-21T13:38:00.000-07:00

We are studying Ancient Egypt right now and it's all really interesting so we decided to do lapbooks!

My favourite part so far are the kids' mummies.

They hunted for sticks at the park and wrapped them carefully in long skinny strips of toilet paper.

Much concentration was needed to get them just right.

Way to go Caleb!

Looking forward to finishing these up so we can share the completed lapbooks:)

Park Date With Cait

2011-10-18T23:54:00.000-07:00

Thanks for all the comments of support and encouragement! You guys are awesome and I really appreciate you taking the time to leave some love.

Today the October afternoon fall sun was lighting up the park across the street, beckoning me to pull out the camera. Cait had been a little squirrelly so I asked her if she would like to go for a date to the park.

Caity is starting to really show all sides of her personality.

She is boisterous.

She is aggressive.

She is observant.

She is NOT a wallflower!

"peek-a-boo Mom"

What a cutie!

I love her little smile!

"Hey girl-fwend!"

Cait's favourite saying these days.

Me: "What time is it Mikayla?"

Cait: "Mom, it's one-two-fwee-firty"

Her shirt says it all:)

This girl's presence in the house is very large.

She's such a funny girl.

So lively.

So loving.

Precious profile!!

Ok I love this photo of Cait jumping.

I think it's the first time I've captured her off the ground!

The shoes?

This is SO not a fashion statement. This is all we could find in the closet.

Plain and simple.

Little Bear!

I love her!

Seriously spunky personality!

Everything about this picture just kills me.

Look at her cute chubby knees, the mis-matched boots and the fab leg warmers...

"How bout one wif me hugging your neck Mom"

Cait: "Can I see it?"

{Looking at camera screen}

"that's nice how bout one more"

Cait: "Okay can I fwing now?"

"Of course you can cute Caity, thanks for the photos!"

I was pondering the whole blogging thing a bit after my last post and I was reminded of the two reasons I started blogging; 1.) To keep my family connected and updated as the kids grow 2.) To document the "little things" in our lives while they are small, to capture a little slice of these crazy days while we are in the middle of them so that one day we can look back and be reminded of the precious sweet times of a young busy house.

I still love these reasons for blogging and along the way I have enjoyed so many other benefits. Just wanted to share my thoughts on that.

Ya. Okay, that's it for now...two posts this week! Woo hoo!

Latest Project- Girls' Bathroom Wall

2011-10-16T23:04:00.000-07:00

I have been undecided as to what to put on the wall in the girls' bathroom for two years. I figured a room that only girls use should be completely girly and fun.

Last weekend I found this old nic-nac holder at a little thrift store in Armstrong and I knew exactly what to do with it.

Regrettably, I did not take a before picture. This was brown, boring and dated.

A coat of berry spray paint and it was new and fresh!

I have saved this picture since Mikayla drew it at the age of 5.

I have been waiting for the perfect way to display it.

It really is so cute.

Dontcha think?

I mean seriously, look at the little bows, the colorful flowers, the neckless figures...this is some major sweetness!

I heart oval frames.

Especially ones filled with memories of my three little girls in the matchy-matchy days!

The girls were happy with the finished product and I was {still am} so proud because I hung it all up myself. I'm talking screwdriver, screw, level...hot glue gun, push pins...okay so I may not have a career at Home Depot but I made it work!

Crazy girls!

They were really hamming it up!

I miss blogging. I have committed this year to being completely available for my kids. This has meant letting the hair bows and blogging go for now. I recognize that this is a sacrifice that is worth making and most days the sweet faces in front of me and the VERY full days are enough to keep my mind off simple pleasures but every once in a while I miss those creative outlets.

I hope you won't give up on me. I intend to continue the blog and eventually get the kids more involved. I want this to be a place where you can come and be inspired, moved to tears or laughter and mostly encouraged. We are all working toward being our best and making each day count, on loving those around us and pleasing our Creator. I love finding a little extra motivation in the words of other women!!

If you are still reading, leave me a comment...those little words mean so much and definitely add to the motivation to get blogging when everyone is in bed instead of flop on the couch to watch Dance Moms! :)

Bible-times Tablets

2011-10-06T23:48:00.000-07:00

This week the kids learned what it was like to be a student in Bible times. We made tablets out of clay (cookie dough) and they wrote their names using the cuneiform alphabet.

I love hands on activities like this!

Everyone's finished products looked great!

Here's the alphabet. See if you can tell who's tablets are below...

Little Caity ate more than she made.

I love this picture of her little working hands!

Mikayla made this one for me:)

Big Family in the Big City

2011-10-05T09:56:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Mike had a chiropractic conference in Vancouver and myself, the kids and Terri and Jamin all came along. We painted the town all shades of pink and blue.

Here's a recap in photos...

Walking to dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory.

Baby cousin's first swim in a hotel pool!

Crazy Kiddos!

Cute little babies!

We got stopped a few times and asked if they were twins.

So excited for our big day in the city!

We buddied everyone up in an attempt to not lose any children.

Caleb was buddies with Aunty.

We also wrote my cell # on Caleb and Caitlyn's arms in Sharpie:)

Seven kids, three adults...hopping on the sky train.

Little Cambie (came-bee) celebrating her 6th month birthday.

How can this be so?

She is growing so quickly.

I love her tiny baby self so much.

Check out those fabulous pillars!

Vancouver Public Library.

My favourite building.

When I was at TWU, I would drive here on the weekends to spend the day and study.

It was fun to come back more than 10 years later and enjoy it on a different level with my pile of kids!

Cambri is hiding in the back seat of the stroller:)

Three mesmerized children watching the VERY enhusiastic librarian run story time.

Mailee and Cait reading together.

Their children's chairs were identical copies to the adult chairs just a miniature version.

So cute!

All the kidlers!

Cambria and Jamin do look like twins at first glance:)

Standing in front of a really crazy car we saw on the street. Here's a link to a video of the whole thing.

We met up with Mike in the afternoon and rode the sea bus to North Van.

Sea Bussers

Cute nephew and his beautiful mommy.

So fun with these two little lovies!

I love this photo Mailee took of the Vancouver skyline on the sea bus at night.

You can see the passengers in the reflection.

Vancouver was busy, crazy, loud, amazing, intriguing and so fun.

I am thankful to have such a cool city just 4 hours away!

Apple Orchard Field Trip

2011-09-23T22:05:00.000-07:00

Today we enjoyed our first filed trip.

We went to Davidson Orchards.

The kids loved it.

Here it is in pictures

Apple Pickin'.

Checking out the cold storage.

Tasting fresh apple juice.

Tractor ride with the little lady.

Kid pile.

Look at my sweet babies!

The kids and their cousins were in rare form, posing for all sorts of cute photos.

{Check out Caity}

Awesome Cousin Pyramid!

It was a really hot, beautiful, relaxing day at the orchard with the cousins.

FIrst field trip? Check!

Happy 5 Month Old Baby

2011-09-16T00:01:00.000-07:00

Cambria is 5 months old!

She is such a happy, agreeable baby.

Her temperament is very pleasant and contented.

She reminds me of Mailee as a baby.

Swinging with Daddy

Little cutie!

Hanging out with her cousin Jamin.

Little cousin babies!

Baby feet.

Taylor Swift Concert

2011-09-14T08:42:00.000-07:00

This weekend was too fun.

Like unforgettable.

The girls got to go to their first concert!

The 11 year old little girl in me was squealing inside just as much as my girls!!

Super excited...making their way out of the hotel to go to the concert.

Can't wait!!!

The girls planned their outfits two weeks beforehand.

They used plain shirts that we had around the house.

I just provided the paint and fabric and sparkles.

Looking lovely and ready to go.

I loved how great their shirts turned out.

They had awesome ideas!

Multi-tasking

I love this girl!!!

You know Tam and family moved to Armstrong (1 hour away) in February so time together has become an even more cherished thing.

The ride into the city on the sky train.

To say the girls got a little attention would be an understatement.

In our seats!!

Taylor!

The big frames were HD screens.

They moved all over at the back and played live views of Taylor along with other videos and pictures.

So cool!

Sorry about the quality of the pictures, I only brought my phone.

"Speak Now"

Taylor is at the top in purple.

Girlfriend played so many different instruments including a rhinestone encrusted guitar, a banjo, this little ukulele, a turquoise guitar with koi fish on it, and a white sparkly grand piano.

It was September 11 so she sang an Alan Jackson song as a tribute.

She had "Where were you when the world stopped turning?" written in sharpie on her left arm.

Full on ballet.

Beautiful.

Look who we bumped into...Teacher Amber!!

"TAYLOR Swift's youngest FAN"

Cambri was a little angel baby all night.

Don't worry, I covered her ears when the teenie-boppers were screaming!!

Souvenirs

Best moment of the evening...

Taylor, in a golden sparkly gown, floated over the crowd singing "Love Story".

She floated really close to us and the girls were all convinced that she waved right at them.

We have a movie of it...watch closely,you be the judge...

Oh and notice the golden confetti falling from the sky near the stage.

So pretty!!

If Taylor is coming to your area, I highly recommend you grab some tickets and take your daughters..or mother, or sisters, or friends...it was a magical evening.

The highlight for me?

Looking over at my girls and seeing the wonder in their eyes as they sang along. They were mesmerized and so happy. I know that it will be a night they remember for their entire lives.

First Day Of School 2011

2011-09-06T16:56:00.000-07:00

We started school today!

I have 4 school aged kids!

(stick with me...there's a video at at the end!!!)

Meet my students....

Caleb Michael

Loud, boisterous, clever, into puzzles and lego and baseball.

Maddie Faith

Can-do attitude, precise, math-minded, observant, loves animals and purple.

Mailee Joy

Careful, imaginative, sensitive, detail oriented, loves all things pretty and romantic.

Mikayla Grace

Organized, ambitious, responsible, intuitive, loves reading and quality time.

The classroom line-up!

We have a little sweetheart that will be doing preschool alongside the big kids.

Here she is!

Caity Hope

Confident, clever, determined, loves pink, potty training and reading stories.

Our kids with the Principal!

Teacher and her students.

The kids are obsessed with lockers. This is something we do not have in our {home}school. Today they were talking about a hilarious poem about a locker. (They saw this on Good Luck Charlie) They decided to act it out for their first day project.

Check it out.

Fun With The Obwalds

2011-09-02T10:17:00.000-07:00

We had such a great time with the Obwald family when we were in Fresno. We had so much fun on so many occasions that this topic deserves it's own post!

I went to elementary school with Dave and junior high and high school with Erin. These friendships go way back and seem to get stronger with the years.

I loved spending time with this special family, letting our kids play together while we catch up.

Such great times.

Playing chicken in the pool.

The crew of kids.

Nine for now.

(Obwalds are adopting)

That's one full slide!

Summer nights in Fresno.

Nothing like it.

Kid table.

Outside.

Underwater pics are so fun!

Here's Kirra.

Jenna.

An attempt at capturing the whole group underwater!

Look at all those little swimmers!

Dress up fun at Claire's.

Talk about blast from the past...

Check out these flip shades!!

The dressed up kids.

At the Farmer's Market.

Watching the clown tie balloons.

Cait loving Anutie Erin.

The boyz.

Some of the girlz.

The Obwalds just started My Father's World this year in their home school. It is gonna be so fun to have that extra thing in common!!! Notice their name is highlighted...you can click the link to see what they are up to. Erin is super creative and she's always up to something fun!

Garden Harvest 2011

2011-08-31T20:50:00.000-07:00

10 different varieties of heirloom tomatoes.

I'm in sweet tomato heaven!!

Caleb likes to help pick the goods.

The tomato plants grew wild and out of control while we were away in California!

Can you see the sunflower? Caleb planted those seeds and they came up beautifully!

Everything is more appreciated when it comes from the garden.

So pretty!

What an accomplishment.

Last year my tomato plant did nothing so I am really pleased to have had such success this year!!

Cait's Big Girl Bed

2011-08-31T08:37:00.000-07:00

Caitlyn has made a perfect transition to her big girl bed.

She was so excited to go to the mattress store and get her own mattress. She laid down in her new bed the first night and went right to sleep.

No issues.

No drama.

So not like a few of our other kids!

Proud girl in her big girl bed!

We bought this trundle bed when Mikayla and Mailee first shared a room.

I love it.

It is an awesome "first bed" for a toddler...

No rails.

No falling out.

See how her hands are on her hips?

She does this when she knows I am taking her picture.

It's her pose:)

Better view of the pose!

We are so proud of our little Caiters.

She is successfully sleeping in her big girl bed and working on potty training.

It's hard to believe she is this big already!!

Insta-Friday

2011-08-26T08:33:00.000-07:00

Once again this is my somewhat delinquent Insta post.

I skipped last week.

Better late than never, yes?

Maddie made this collage.

Featuring her newly pierced ears.

Pic frame and pixlrotatic are our two favourite photo editing apps right now.

Cambria is getting so good with her hands.

She especially loves the pink birdy hanging from her carseat.

Went for a playdate at Kingsley's house.

King has everything.

Cambri tried out all his fun apparatus!!

She weighed in at 13 pounds, 2 ounces.

Caity likes her nails painted.

Toast for a crowd.

Well just my kids actually.

That counts as a crowd.

Cambria rocked this outfit at the Farmer's Market.

When I say rocked I mean strait grinning from ear to ear, grabbing the attention of almost every person we passed.

Girlfriend got more compliments in a half hour than I've gotten in my whole life.

No exaggeration.

None at all.

Must be something about those giraffe leg warmers.

They are to die for.

And Caity rocked this little number.

Mikayla called her a gypsy clown.

I guess that sums this look up.

Mike put shelves in Maddie and Cait's closet.

Happy happy day.

It was out of hand, now it's beautiful!

Seriously.

This girl is so hilarious.

A little project with my cute nephew.

Can't wait to get this project finished and share the end results.

I have been loving my spray paint this week.

Came across this photo in an old frame.

Me and Mikayla.

Circa 2001.

Babies.

My son!

Wow he has a lot of energy!

I love him.

He starts Kindergarten this year!!

This is Cambria.

She manages to be cute all day long.

More cuteness.

A little project I'm working on for Mike's office.

Again, spray paint is involved.

Some sewing was in order for a new baby gift.

Moe Insta/Picframe/pixl editing fun from Maddie.

I organized my jewellery.

I have been hanging my necklaces on the towel rack for 4 years, waiting to make a cute frame jewellery organizer.

I decided I couldn't wait any longer so the necklaces are temporarily pinned to the wall and the towel is happily hanging on the rack!

That's all I've got for now.

Thanks for sticking with me.

Keeping it real?

I have not been able to get back on top of the mess/laundry/meals/routine since we came back from California. I think it's been 3 weeks now. Seems we have somewhere to go or something to do almost every day and the days just fly by. I would love to come up for air (translation have 2 days alone in my house with no kids to get things done with no interruptions) and feel ready to say, prepare for the school year that is rapidly approaching but assuming that won't happen, I would love to be gifted a few more hours to each day. Assuming THAT won't happen, I need to breathe and have some grace for myself.

Let's see your Insta week!

Remember Us?

2011-08-25T07:20:00.000-07:00

Oh hello there!

We are still here, just finding a lot of ways to occupy our time and not a lot of opportunities to post about it.

Here's a photo of Cambria and her cousin Jamin.

He's 2 1/2 months

She's 4 1/2 months

They're too cute.

Thanks for not giving up on us, we are still around and I'm gonna step up the blog effort.

Insta-Catch-Up

2011-08-14T23:07:00.000-07:00

I kinda neglected Insta Friday for a month so now I'm gonna smoosh the month of July and a few weeks of August into one happy little {BIG} post!

You ready?

Here we go, Banmans from Kelowna to California and back again....

Dressing room at Ross.

Me, a cute dress and my 6 kids.

Epic.

Made our mark on a Trader Joes.

Love what Mikayla wrote.

Cubling asleep on Grandma's couch.

Little lady in a hotel somewhere along the I-5.

Glorious Shasta hidden by the clouds.

Forever 21 Dressing room in Fresno.

Biggest XXI store on the West Coast.

Overwhelming.

Not my thing.

My bed in the hotel.

New earrings.

Exploring a new relationship with the color coral.

Never thought we could be friends but it turns out I was wrong.

Lego store in Portland.

Caleb remembered this store from last year and knew exactly where it was in the gigantic mall.

Impressive.

Out of my mouth as we passed this creek..."I'd love to stop there some day and walk on those rocks"

Mike takes the next exit and pulls off by the creek.

Spontaneous.

Random.

Reportedly one of the kids' favourite memories from our month long trip!

Me walking on the rocks with my coral {you can't tell from the pic} toes.

New love, my Anthropologie glass.

I need about 7 more to make my collection complete.

Now accepting donations in white or blue:)

Little shirt with baby's name on it.

Purchased in Cambria, CA.

Back home.

Feels good.

"current family favorite"

Swimming at Grandma Linda's pool.

Toddler buns are arguably one of the cutest things EVER!

Thunder and lightening scared my upstairs babies.

{Maddie and Cait and Caleb}

They all fell asleep in my bed.

Caleb likes his space but the girls were snuggled up like this.

New scooter bib=cute.

Organic blueberries and coconut milk for breakfast=healthy.

Cait=cute.

My garden which I left unattended for an entire month produced these gorgeous heirloom tomatoes and the basil.

Caprese salad just about does me in.

New fab app.

This is my new "lock screen" pic.

I love these photos that Jamie took last November!

Cambria and Kingsley.

His Mommy owns and runs Living Green Kid Co.

My favourite consignment store ever.

The babies were jumparoo buddies in the store the other day.

New faucet.

Basically like getting a new kitchen.

Thank you Mike.

Love it.

Cambria Love

Freezing blueberries in very large quantities.

My first attempt at Borscht.

Thumbs up all around.

{Thanks to my Mother in Law who told me what to do and then told me again 12 hours later when I called for a pep talk...}

I love conquering new things!!

Getting crafty at 12 midnight.

Craft night results..

A fabric flower for my friend Jessie's birthday:)

Me today.

That's it, I'm caught up!

Now to get the rest of my vacation posts up...

Fresno Zoo 2011

2011-08-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

We live in a town without a zoo.

I think the closest zoo is about 4 hours away.

Whenever we go to a town with a zoo, I like to take the kids.

Because we studied the countries and cultures around the world this year, we had fun seeing the animals from all climates and continents.

Oh and the best part about our trip to the zoo?

The Obwalds came with us!!

Apparently this bear is usually not very active...or visible.

On this day, we got to watch her move all around and also go for a swim.

The kids were glued to her.

Little Caity loved the seals. This is the pose she made while asking

"tan you take a pit-cher o me an da seal?"

Special friends!

This visit all the kids really connected and had a great time together.

Special friends.

Caleb was excited to see a real tiger up close!

Look at this guy, it's like he was posing for me!

The mandatory Fresno Zoo photo opp.

Can you guess the color scheme?

Neon seems to be the hot color this summer for my kids.

Funny, I remember it being the hot color for me 20+ years ago!

Caity liked Nosey the Elephant.

My monkey sitting on a monkey.

8 crazy kiddos.

In the afternoon we said goodbye to our friends, ate lunch in the park and went back in the zoo.

For 3 more hours.

Just me and the six.

Checking out the birds in the canopy.

Beautiful!

Big sister, Little sister.

The temperature was hot outside.

The misters in the Rainforest felt so good!

Looking for poisonous Dart frogs.

We learned about these little guys this year in school.

It seemed like the kids were more engaged on this Zoo trip than in the past, like their better understanding of eco systems and habitats made the experience make more sense.

As the teacher I like to think that's the case:)

Can you see the animal in this photo?

For Daddy.

Flamingoes were a big hit.

We saw them during feeding time.

Thanks for coming to the Zoo with us:)

Fun At Grandma Bev's

2011-08-10T23:54:00.000-07:00

We just got home from a month in California. We stayed at my Mom's house in Fresno. Here's a bunch of random moments that equalled a whole lot of fun at Grandmas...

Swinging on the deck eating healthy "Ice Cream".

This is a few seconds after Cambria rolled over for the first time!

Here she is back on her tummy. I tried to get her to recreate the big "roll over".

Ya, not happening.

We have yet to see her do it again.

One morning I heard something in the front room.

I peeked in on Caity playing with the wooden blocks.

The blocks I played with as a kid.

Kinda sentimental...I love that stuff!

Anyways, I also loved seeing my little toddler at 6 in the morning playing all by herself.

She was concentrating so hard.

Look at her fuzzy little bed head.

Cute to the max.

I could have watched her all day.

Too often I make a big stinky deal about the bad behaviour, roll my eyes and say "hurry up, hurry up" and all the little joys of small kids get taken for granted.

Oh and the little feet, who can resist those??

Grandma Bev's bed was "cozy" according to Cait.

Grandma Bev's floor looked like this a lot...

We got crafty...

...and enjoyed smooshing together around her cute little table.

Last but not least, here's a little video of Caitlyn and my Mom's dog Ginger.

I won't go into detail about my relationship with the dog.

I won't mention how frustrating it is when she escapes out the front door in 100+ heat and I have to stand behind the door while she sniffs the front yard and slowly meanders her way back inside. I won't even say a peep about what she does when she finds interesting smelling items (ie: laundry, dirty diapers..). I wouldn't do that.

What I will say is that he doggie is a nice little companion for my Mom and the kids had a lot of fun with her.

Cambria Hits The Town

2011-08-09T22:34:00.000-07:00

While in California, we made a special trip to the beach side town of Cambria.

I hope to go back some day and get one of her without me in it:)

I tried, but it was a little awkward.

Little cutie!

For the record, most of the Cambrians that we asked say "cam-bri-ah", not "came-bri-ah". We agreed we still like "Came-bri-ah" but we won't give you a dirty look if you say it wrong:)