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"a portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013."

Julian - crab hunting

Ella - endless fun on a board

a wet weekend

 We spent the entire weekend submerged in water...well, I guess I shouldn't say 'we'.  More like the kids.  

Saturday was a pool day and Sunday was a beach day.  It was such a nice relaxing weekend.  

This was a little bit of a change for us.  It seems like the last couple of weekends were spent working on projects...garden beds, chicken coop, and parties.  Andy did work quite a bit on the coop on Saturday, but for the most part we did have some play time this weekend.  

I actually like working on projects and I'm pretty sure Andy does also, but it sure does feel good to relax a little and spend time together just having fun.  

Yesterday we dusted off the paddle boards and spent almost the entire day at the beach. 

 I am already sore today.  We paddled over to a little playground and the kids played there for about 5 minutes then spent the rest of the time at our stop playing on the paddle boards.  

Ella was getting pretty good at maneuvering around.  It was so cute to hear her offering to take Julian on a ride.  

The second half of our paddle was pretty much straight into the wind.  

Yikes!  I started thinking about what I was going to do if I couldn't make it back.  I think at one point I was actually going backwards, ha, ha.  

The kids were such good sports.  Ella was on my board and Julian was on Andy's.  They were lying down almost the entire time because it was so windy and they were so cold.  Ella didn't complain once even though she was shivering.  

Hot chocolate was well deserved after that.  

 Pruned fingers and toes...I love it.

pretty clouds

Huntington Beach -Dec 2012

Just some old pictures from like 2012

This made me laugh...A LOT!!

I am gathering supplies to make these concrete planters.  Fun huh?

Love you sun, you can stay all weekend

Have a great weekend!

sierra leone

just a cool video with good music

NAMIBIA from French Connexion on Vimeo.

have a good weekend!

finding something beautiful...

 in everyday life.

my phone doesn't take great quality pictures

 but without it i would have missed out on all of this

OC fair ferris wheel / a llama named Muriel ( at least that's what I named her) / Lake Tahoe blues / artwork by my little Mr. / pretty flowers / trekking along to Sunset Beach / yep, that's the hood of a car / fall sunset / beauty underfoot / lovin' the sand

hi autumn...

it's chilly.

it's overcast.

the kids wore sweaters to school today.

today it feels like autumn...

but last week we had record highs in the triple digits.  

we couldn't pass up an evening at the beach soaking in the last of what felt like summer.

we loaded up and packed into the car as soon as Andy got home from work and even still we ended up piling out of the car as the sun was getting low in the sky.

one sure sign that summer is truly gone until next year.  

the days are just a little shorter.

as I was running around with the kids and taking pictures, I noticed a family all dressed up walking straight towards me.  the mom asked if I could take a couple of family pictures for them.  they had planned on family pictures that night and their friend/photographer was tied up and unable to make it.

ha, well okay why not.

they were such a cute family I wish I would have shot a couple with my own camera.

ella kept trying to jump into their family pictures.  

she is a crazy one sometimes. 

I got plenty of her before and after my little impromptu shoot.

pretty much every time we go to the beach she manages to get

 the sandiest kid award.

love that girl!!

the best view...

some pictures from my phone.
love the one with the two gammies hanging out at the beach.  they were so cute.  they thought it was hilarious that i wanted to take their picture.
i hope i'm still hanging out at the beach like that when i'm their age.

ellas's last day of school was yesterday...yippee!!
right now we are...
~working on our summer list of activities we want to do - my favorite on the list so far is to make  homemade ice cream!! YUM!! (we printed this list)
~excited that ella put surfing on our activity list - yes, please!
~eating omelets in the afternoon - spinach and feta cheese is my current favorite
~looking forward to a relaxing weekend
~daydreaming about a vacation
~making ice tea - i think this will be on our weekly rotation this summer

have a great weekend celebrating the dads!!

Date night...and morning

this past weekend the kiddos had an overnighter at grandma and papa's house and Andy and I had almost 24 hours to ourselves. 

we were long overdue.

our evening was my perfect kind of date.

we went for a late dinner to Habana.  

this is my kind of place...kind of dark,  great ambience, and delicious food.

we scored a little table outside and kind of off by itself.

we gazed into each other's eyes and whispered sweet nothings into each other's ears...ha, ha, not really, but it was kind of magical.

i had the crab cakes...so yummy, and Andy had a meat dish.

after dinner we walked around and browsed one of my favorite stores, UO.

we finished off the night with a bowl of ice cream in bed. 

the next morning there were no little alarm clocks waking us up.

we had coffee and headed to the beach.

with the sun warm on my face i took a deep breath and glanced around me.  there was a small crowd but i had managed to get out of the pack.  i looked out into the distance and the set was rolling in. 

i watched a set wave crashing and breaking towards me just to the left.  

i stopped for a second...there is a moment where my heart melts from the beauty of the wave and at the same time my heart skips a beat and a jolt of fear shoots through me as i observe the size and power of the ocean.

i hadn't surfed in a while and it felt good to be out there.

the best part was being able to look over to see Andy dropping in on a bomb.

it was like the old days for us...chatting in the water and watching each other on waves.

there are just somethings i really miss about us and how it was pre-kids.

i do get excited now hoping the kids will soon be joining us out there.

that will be the cherry on top with surfing for me.

after a quick lunch we headed home.  i missed our babies and was anxious to see them.

these small breaks definitely make me a more patient mom...a better mom.

thanks mom!

the first...

we had our first beach bonfire evening for the season.

our good friend Barb was visiting us all the way from Panama and her one request was for a beach bonfire...of course we couldn't say no.

i love bonfires. 

at home we have them year round...

well, up until the firepit we had caved in on the bottom from all of the use it got.  

the evening was cold and a little windy but my little bro, the pyro, 

kept the fire raging and all of us toasty warm.

the kids kept busy in their big sandbox, 

my big bro kept us entertained, 

we had a yummy warm meal, 

i snapped some pictures of big feet and little tiny ones, 

andy danced the night away, ha, ha...not really

but it was a perfect evening and close to our weekend.

thanks Barb...we already miss you!!