We’ve been so busy lately!
Liam really enjoys creating installation art in the kitchen.
The kids building a mega fort.
Amelie made her first cake. Turned out pretty cute and tasted good, too!
Easton loves preschool! Here he is at the car wash center during their transportation unit.
Saw these at the grocery store–took me right back to my childhood in El Salvador!
Could this guy get any cuter? Almost time to celebrate his 2nd birthday!
It’s been a fun month!
This week marks kind of a unique record for me. As of this week, I have been not pregnant for 22 months. Since Bryce and I got married in 2004 and having a baby became a real possibility for me, this is the longest I have been “not pregnant.” It’s a strange place to be. On the one hand, I love that my baby is getting more independent and that I can leave him with a sitter and not worry about nursing. On the other hand, I found so much joy in carrying a little life inside of me–feeling baby move, sharing our little secret world, being filled with the anticipation of meeting a brand new little person. On the one hand, I love things like actually sleeping at night and my wonderful doula work would be very hard to do as a pregnant or nursing mother. On the other hand, it makes me really sad that I might never again feel that tremendous excitement of bringing new life to the world. On the one hand, four keep me and Bryce plenty busy and I so look forward to our many adventures together. On the other hand, I sure do love new babies.
It’s a good thing I get to see a lot of new babies these days! As I consider closing one part of my creative life, becoming a doula has rebirthed me in so many ways. It excites me, engages me, and allows me to work with people on such an intimate level. I love it.
But today, in honor of my sweet babies, here they are in all their precious deliciousness. I sure do love you my little ones.
Amelie.
Calder.
Easton.
Liam.
You guys! I can’t believe I haven’t finished posting about our Disney trip! Guess we’ve been pretty busy around here lately.
For our final day in the parks, we chose to head over to Disneyland again. It rained all morning, but we actually loved it! The rain kept crowds to a minimum and we were prepared with umbrellas, rain ponchos, and a cover for the stroller. It was great!
One of the major perks of rain: no crowds! This is Toon Town and according to Brenda, seeing it empty like this is super rare.
Our little crew, ponchos and umbrellas in hand.
Meeting the very friendly Pluto.
Meeting Minnie–no line!
And the big Mouse himself!
I have to say, it was so great not having to wait in line to meet these characters!
We also got to ride the Monorail. Because of some delays, and because the kids and I were sitting up the very front with the conductor, she gave us fast passes to ride Space Mountain! This was perfect since the first time we rode Space Mountain, Amelie was too nervous to ride. Of course, she was heartbroken after we got off the ride and wished that she had gone on. These fast passes made that possible and she loved it!
Easton showing off his posing skills. He got to ride Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters something like 5 times with Grandma while the rest of us went on Space Mountain!
Another cute pose.
We got to see a fun show called Mickey and the Magical Map.
And Easton’s blankie that Aunt Christy made for him when he was born had to come, too, of course.
One of my favorite parts of our trips was the Christmas parade–really uplifting and fun!
Hard to get a great picture in the dark, but Santa even came by during the parade!
We got to finish our amazing trip by watching the fireworks from Small World. Great view of the fireworks and we got to see the ride all lit up!
Our visit ended on a purely magical note when “snow” fell after the fireworks and they played music. The kids loved it and I thought it was the perfect ending to a perfect trip.
I can’t wait to go back again in a couple years! Mark and Brenda, thank you so much for making the trip with us! Having you there made it really wonderful and so much fun!
Two more things we do every year: visit Santa and see the lights at Temple Square.
The lights are always amazing. So gorgeous.
Goofy kid.
Little loves. Somewhere on Temple Square is a little sock. Liam can’t stand socks on his feet when we’re outside (of course he is always asking to have them put on when we’re inside). By the time I noticed his little bare feet, both socks were gone. I back tracked and found one sock that he had discarded by the Nauvoo bell–who knows where the other one got tossed…
Santa! In years past, we’ve always visited him down at the Riverwoods in Provo. Now we’re too far away for that location, but we found a wonderful place to visit him at Trolley Square. No professional photographer trying to make you buy a package of photos–just a great visit with Santa.
Whispering about Christmas magic.
Giving Santa a thank you card.
Holiday smiles.
Love this time of year!
One of our traditions is making Christmas houses–small ones out of graham crackers and a big one out of homemade gingerbread. I remember making both kinds with my mom growing up–I loved it. It’s still a lot of fun for me and our children really enjoy it, too!
Chefs Easton and Calder hard at work. Easton’s preschool teachers made him the cute little apron.
Two detail-oriented decorators.
Happy about the selection of mini M&Ms!
His finished masterpiece.
I love the little shingles on his roof.
Stockpiling Hershey’s Kisses for winter.
Amelie’s house, complete with a Hershey’s Kiss tree.
Our big gingerbread house this year. The kids were such great helpers!
They love to see the lights glowing through the candy windows. They call them “stained glass.”
View from the back of the house.
All glowing and pretty.