Half Moon Bay With The Newlyweds

We spent a glorious afternoon at our all time favourite Bay Area beach with Bri and Meg.

It was a beautiful day, so warm and sunny, a rare and unpredictable occurrence in this area.

At the top of the cliff, first breathtaking view.

Like seriously, its gorgeous.

cant. stop. staring.

Caleb made quick work of the watermelon.

See the cliffs in the background?  That's what we all scaled down to get to this beach.

That is probably why this beach is not littered with people.

There is a path but let me tell you, it's a trek.

The so worth it kind of trek.

Meg packed a picnic spread.

Meg and Bri are living in San Jose while Bri is at chiropractic school.

We got to spend two days with them.

It was so nice to see the newlyweds in their space!

Mads approved of the food.

Picnicking on the beach of an ocean is very different than the beach of a lake.

The sand feels clean.

The sound of the waves is soothing.

And the smell of salt water...so good!

I didn't hear from Mailee the whole time.

She was enthralled.

Races with Aunty Meg.

Mads found lots of sea life.

My growing-too-fast kid.

Almost as tall as me.

It's a crime.

She does take a nice picture tho:)

{Ritz Carlton in the background.}

Caity and Aunty and footprints in the sand.

Can you see the sea star that the kids found?

{it's purple}

Racing with Daddy.

Searching for shells.

Family shot!

Seriously, how gorgeous is that background!?!? 

I can't get over it.

Candid.

{caleb...ha ha.}

Eight in a row!

{Cambi refused to hold Daddy's hand}

Thanks for a fun day, we love you two!!

Brian & Meghan's Vancouver Wedding

  This past weekend our family celebrated.

Our hearts expanded.

We shed a ton of happy, bursting with gladness tears.

I gained a beautiful, tender-hearted, loving new sister!

Here is their special day in a few of my favourite photos...

This was the gorgeous scene of their vows.

On the deck of the Vancouver Rowing Club.

Amazing.

Here are the bridesmaids.

(L-R) Meg's sister Kate, Shell, Tam, Ter and myself.

The bridal party!

Mike was the best man.

Caity was a flower girl.

Caleb was an "usher".

Wedding kids with the bride and groom!

Our complete family!  

Now all 5 siblings are married.

Adorable flats for the reception.

The girls had matching dresses.

They looked beautiful!

Little Cambi was a crazy cranky baby girl toward the end of the evening but she looks pretty happy here!

The view from the deck was incredible.

I couldn't stop looking at it.

This is the best family picture I was able to get...

The oldest four are cooperating...that counts for something:)

Here's a whole bunch of the kids.

They had a great night.

Meg and Bri were so gracious to invite all these munchkins.

There were fun activities for them on the kids tables, too.

So honoured to be included!

Adorable cupcakes (and guests).

I was thanked and complimented many times for making the cupcakes.

I did not make them.

I enjoyed decorating the table they sat on but that was the extent of my role.

Girl table!!

Guy table!!

The boys were right next to the coffee.

And the gigantic bowl of sugar cubes.

You can imagine how that turned out.

(let's just say, someone on the deck below ended up with a cupcake on their head...)

Lots of heartfelt speeches.

The quality of character of these two was apparent.

They have so many people who love, respect and admire them.

Their first dance was awesome!

Just a magical night!

(and I had no idea but Brian can dance:)

The kids danced the night away.

It was really fun to watch them!

Madison was dancing like crazy.

People kept telling me "that girl can dance!"

The city view at night was breathtaking!

                                                 

Just celebrated 13 years of marriage!

Caity played and danced her little heart out.

She eventually reached up to her Aunty Tammy, snuggled up in her arms and conked out.

What a sweetie!

This was the little "bed" we made for our two sweeties.

The music was pounding but they slept right through.

Soon Caleb gave in as well. 

I found him laying on two chairs under a table.

Brian and Meghan's wedding was beautiful, special, meaningful and magical.

I wish you all could have been there!

The getaway car!

Caleb's Birthday and Safety Village

Because we were in COlorado for Caleb's "real day", and we celebrated him royally while we were there, (ie. NBA finals game, Colorado Rockies game, BJ's for dinner, Focus on the Family party...) I combined his family celebration back home with a school field trip.

I remember this field trip with the big girls at school.

It was always a favourite.

Learning how to safely cross the street.

Getting the safety low-down from the safety guy!

More street crossing.

"Hey big girls, let's see if you can do it too...!?"

Nicely done!

Driving!

Opening gifts with siblings, cousins, grandmas and aunties.

Caleb got a razor scooter.

And the Lego Millennium Falcon.

He was so excited!

**We now interrupt the regular scheduled program to bring you some serious cuteness***

Cambi and Jamin in the yellow car!

Ahh!

It's too much.

Too much I say.

Cambi's got the wheel and she's not afraid to use it people!

Along with a bunch of celebrations and some shiny new toys, Caleb's 6 year old self is in the process of getting a new smile!

We love our one and only man-child so much.

He is sweet and full of life.

He loves lego and the Wii and jumping on the trampoline.

He is happy to have his own room and the privilege of getting his Daddy all to himself more often than any of the other kids.

Such a special boy!

Caity's Big Girl Hair

I have been touched by the many of you who have recently asked about the blog, reminded me that they read the blog, or asked that I hurry up and post something on the blog.  Thank you for the encouragement!  Here we go...

Our life is busy.

Like crazy, 4 loads of laundry a day busy.

(That's my fabulous excuse for my lack of posts:)

The business is also something that makes me sad sometimes.

Especially when I think about my youngest kids.

So many of the special things that are fun to do with preschoolers get skipped or rushed though around here.

I don't want it to be that way.

I'd like to change it as a matter of fact.

But for now, it seems to be true and it makes me sad.

I have been trying to be more intentional about carving away little pockets of time to be alone with Cait doing what she wants.

The other day, she wanted a "big girl braid".

My pretty girl!

She's growing so fast.

Sweet profile.

It sure doesn't take much to fill a three year old's tank.

She wants me to read a story.

Same one.

Over and over.

Sometimes she wants 10 minutes in the swing at the park.

Me pushing, her laughing.

Such simple needs.

Why is it that the simple needs of a toddler are so hard to meet?

I am determined to figure out where I am bleeding time and patch that problem.

Don't you love this sweet, fine, still baby but almost big girl hair?

It is nearly impossible to work with, so slippery and fine.

This girl is such a doll.

I hope I always remember her at this age!