Walking on Sunshine

Cooper at the beach Kendall at Mission Beach

Boogie boarding Spencer

Spencer and Grandma at Seaport Village The view of SD on the Seal Tour: bus that turns into a boat!

Aunt Jenny & Spencer

We're home from San Diego, had to get these pics up for some special relatives! Thanks, Jenny & Justin, for letting us stay with you!!!!! Can't wait to go back! My mom gets a special thanks for braving the trip with me and 3 children! Thanks, Mom! Tomorrow I'll post some more pictures, inclusing more of my Coop. I didn't get any good pics of him on my camera at Mission Beach, but I think Jenny did. He wasn't feeling quite up to beaching it that day. When we went to Ocean Beach, he was much happier and ready to play! My kids love Ocean Beach for some reason, maybe it's the laid back vibe, anything goes, maybe because it was the first beach they ever went to (all three of them, Spencer at 8 months, Cooper at 4 months, and Kendall at 4 months). Who knows?

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to a great Daddy! He's patient, loving, fun, giving, would do anything for his kids, and though I know he'd love to be working more, he gets to spend time with his kids, which in my book, is more important than the flashy cars and big houses. We are blessed.

We celebrated the afternoon at Cindy & Charlie's, with Nana and Grandpa.Yummy sandwich bar and a chocolate cake! Here are the guys (including the future daddies) getting ready to blow out the candles on the cake!

Nana and Grandpa

Grampy and his youngest grandchildThen, that evening we did our traditional Father's Day chinese food dinner with my parents! Yum! Joe got to have his favorites on his special day! I didn't take many pics, but here's Spencer playing with Papa.

I was playing on making something different for the Dads and Grandpas, but procrastinated...so I whipped up these brag books for each of them. Joe got 2 framed pictures of his family and updated 2009 pages in his Father's Day album (I quiz the kids each year on their Daddy (favorite thing to do with him, what he has taught them, etc.). I'll have to share that in another post.

Hope your Father's Day was wonderful!

Summer lovin'

Why hello there...

We are in full summer mode here. 2 weeks of swim lessons: check and done! Playdates galore: check. Summer reading program and library visits: check.

Walking along the creek: check. Vacation Bible School: check...

Spencer actually said today, "Mommy, this is supposed to be vacation! Why are we so busy?" that's my cue to slow down, but alas, don't see that happening anytime soon. That's what happens when a working mama tried to cram all kinds of fun into a short summer! But I will start carving out some time at home with nothing planned...loved those days growing up! I don't want to be one of those parents that overschedules their kids. Kids need time to play, to chill, to be bored and figure out what to do.

Sharing some pics from the June birthdays here at our household. Here's my goofy 6 year old with his birthday "table" of pictures.Here's my sweet Coop with his football cake!with his Grandma after his birthday breakfast!Cooper's birthday table.That also makes for a crazy beginning of summer! Happy June to you!!!!!!!!

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What I'm Reading

You know I love reading...here's what is catching my attention right now...
From the library, I checked out Clean House Clean Planet by Karen Logan. It's an oldie but goodie about keeping your house clean in a non-toxic way, with homemade cleaners. I like how she gives the full "recipe", but also rates the effectiveness. I think I may have to buy my own copy.
I ordered a photography book called Expressions: Taking Extraordinary Photos for Your Scrapbooks and Memory Art by Donna Smylie and Allison Tyler Jones. Awesome! It's not very technical, but gives pointers on getting a great shot of those you love. Digging this one a lot. Sally and I wanted to take a photography class this summer, but we don't exactly live in an area with an abundance of classes. Ha! Sometime...I've scouted out a few online, but of course, they are pricey, so I'll just be practicing on my own this summer.
I have a stack of books to dig into, so I'll be sure to keep you updated. What are YOU reading right now???

Review day!

Haven't done a review in a while, so thought I'd do one...

Sunscreen...appropriate for the summer...this year I wanted to use a non-chemical one on my kiddos. Still trying to go green! I bought the California Baby brand (around $18...ouch!). Only used it a few times before someone in my

family squirted it all out (thank you, Coop!), but it was very thick and you really had to rub it in. But it worked and no one had a reaction to it.

Sunscreen #2..TruKid Sunny Days mineral sunscreen (around $13).This stuff smells yummy! Not sunscreen-y at all, but fruity. You really have to rub it in and it does leave your skin with a slight white pallor (the mineral barrier does that). Spencer, though, had a reaction to it and got a pretty bad rash. That's very unusual since it doesn't have any chemicals in it! He does have very sensitive skin. So, while I am still using on Coop and KK, I needed something else for Spencer.

Sunscreen #3: Vanicream Sunscreen for Sensitive Skin SPF 60 (around $13, also). Love this! Not smelly, free of chemicals, rubs in easily, and Spencer had no reaction to it. Plus, on the skin deep website (a great resource if you are interested in toxins in personal care products), it rated a #1...low hazards in chemicals/ingredients you don't want. (TruKid was a #2 and California Baby was also a #1). I ordered it from amazon. (CB was purchased at Target and TruKid at amazon, too, though you can directly buy from the company website and supposedly at Whole Foods sometime soon).

Anyway, I will be purchasing Vanicream from now on. No one has received a burn, though they have gotten some color. What all have you tried?

EDITED: When we were in SD, Spencer got very pink with the Vanicream and Cooper and Kendall looked like they hadn't even been out in the sun wearing TruKid, so I am not as thrilled with Vanicream! That being said, Spencer was in the water a lot more than the other two, so maybe I needed to reapply more. But I wasn't too happy, though...

4 years ago right now...

...my sister-in-law Michelle was driving Joe and me to the hospital to have Cooper (he was born at 8:11 AM on June 11)! He was overdue and I was anxious to have him. Michelle had given me applesauce with castor oil in it for a late afternoon snack...apparently it worked...though I never told my doctor...didn't want her to get mad at me! LOL!

Wow...now I have an almost 4 year old...my little Cooper, who by the way picked the song you are now listening to...he loves his Rock star song! You should see him sing it! Cooper is so sweet, kind, caring, energetic, smart, mischievous, funny...love that kid...even when he throws a fit in Target today in front of oh, about 6 people I know, including my vice principal, parents of students, parents of other kids at his babysitters...stinker!!! But mama didn't give in, and he learned his lesson! (I hope!) He says he won't throw a fit next time at Target! Ha!

Happy early birthday to my sweetie-pie Coop...mama loves you!!!!

you say it's your birthday....

It's the birthday time in our household...two sweet boys born exactly 2 years and 1 week apart!
Spencer celebrated #6 at home with cake and family! Both boys had some friends for a pool party at Stephanie's house this weekend...our party planner extraordinaire...thank you!

Grandma helping Kendall enjoy her cupcakeJake...the guitar hero!

Aunt Meg came home!

Kendall An actual picture of me...yes, i handed over the camera!

My boys hamming it up on the "stage"

Coop and Macy

Riley and Brennah...two of a kind! The cakes....made by Steph (is there anything she can't do?) :-)

Coop and Kyle hanging out