June

We kicked off summer with a busy, busy month. Hunter had his very last month of preschool and celebrated the last two weeks with fun days like: crazy hair day, pjs and a movie day, make your own pizza day, a field trip to the fire station, water day, and then his graduation. He was sad to leave his preschool, teacher and his friends.

With the heat and blazing sun we get in our house from the backyard, we finally installed a patio cover this month. It instantly made such a big difference inside the house as well as outside. We also netted the jacuzzi so we can finally fill it back up to be used. It has been drained for a long time since Skyler is such a daredevil, and was constantly trying to get in. So the backyard is finally a usable area again and we are using it constantly now.

We celebrated Fathers Day a day early with my family at my parents house with dinner and ping pong. The next day we had Monte and Nancy over for dinner and a campfire. So blessed to have those two dads as such great role models and for my hubby who is such a great dad to our kids.

A few days after that we celebrated my dad's birthday with a visit to Knott's Berry Farm followed by a nice boat ride in the Balboa Harbor and dinner at the Spaghetti Factory. Such a fun day celebrating such a fun guy.

Vicki's brother, Mike, came for a visit from Texas this month as well. Everyone had a great time reconnecting with him, and getting together for a big family BBQ.

Ending the month was our big 6 day camping trip to Bass Lake, Yosemite and the Sequoias. What an amazing trip with our good friends, the Dunns. 

May

Mothers Day we spent the morning at Vicki's clubhouse for the annual "man cooked breakfast". Delicious as always. Chase had to work later that day so after spending the morning there, he went to work and the kids and I headed to the Riggans' pool for the celebration with my family. The kids are turning into little fish, especially Skyler who loooooves swimming. She likes to wear her floaties and kick herself around all by herself (just like everything else these days. she is constantly saying "i do it". My parents like to remind me I was the same way as a little girl :)

We also had our annual Palm Springs vacation over Memorial weekend with the whole family. So sad I forgot my phone charger, my phone died and I didn't get any pictures. As soon as I get ahold of some I will update. We had a great time and started off with some miniature golf (more like throwing golf balls around and hitting things with clubs.. but hey, we tried :) Chase and Hunter came in first place racing go karts. We had a nice dinner with some family that arrived a day early, like we did. Then we spent the majority of the weekend in the pool. We did take a trip over to the "Living Desert Zoo" where the kids got to feed a giraffe! We celebrated Grandma Converse's 85th birthday one night with dinner, gourmet cakes, presents and sitting around the fire pit and reminiscing. The little girls had a pajama party while watching the much loved movie, Frozen. They all got up and danced together with all the songs. Sooo cute! We always have such a great time being with everybody and so happy the kids are growing up together and know and love each other.

 

Hunter has a few more weeks of preschool left . He has learned so much from his much loved teacher, Ms. Lorena. I love finding little things like this, or when he randomly reads something on his own or sings a new song. Skyler will be attending her preschool as soon as she turns 3, so happy with our experience, (even though Hunter hasn't always made good choices in her class, she has worked hard to find what works for him and help him learn to use his energy in the right way. We haven't succeeded yet, but I appreciate any help I can get ;)

April

 We celebrated our 6th anniversary this month with a day trip to hike in Palm Springs. Although the hike was a lot quicker than we thought, we enjoyed the rest of the day taking it easy, enjoying each others' company and shopping a bit. So lucky to be married to this awesome guy, he works so hard for our family and we are so thankful for him.

We also just finished redecorating our bedroom. We have been wanting a King size bed forever now and finally got to it. Of course, when you get a new mattress, you need new furniture, new bedding, so it was a whole new room by the end of it. And we are both so happy with the result. 

Easter seemed to last a whole week. We all had fun decorating easter eggs with crazy hair. Hunter had his school easter egg hunt, we had one at our church, one at Nana and Tom's, one at home, and one at the Powers' house with the Ehrlich family. The kids were candy crazy!!! 

Chase, Hunter and some friends went to the Lucas Oil Off Road Races that take place right down the street from our house. They had a blast, of course!

We are getting ready for a fun summer ahead, got the ball finally rolling on a patio cover for our backyard, and planning a camping trip with some friends to Yosemite, Bass Lake and the Sequoias. But first is our annual Palm Springs trip with my family, next month. Fun things ahead!

March

Skyler is 2 years old this month! Wish I could freeze her at this age. She is our silly, sweet, tomboy, girly girl, loving, disgusting, dramatic, precious, little angel. We are so blessed to have her every minute of every day.

I am kicking myself as I write this because I just realized that I only took movies of Skyler's 2nd Birthday party, and only a few pictures with my phone. But we had a great time, the party was at Pretend City in Irvine at 10 am. We had a party room set up with coffee, juice and a waffle bar. We gathered with 30 friends and family for brunch and then played for a few hours inside the museum. All the kids had fun and all the adults enjoyed watching all the kids. After the party was over we went to the San Clemente pier with some more family for lunch on the water. It was a great day.

A few days before her birthday Nana and Tom surprised her with her pink strider bike that she loves so much. She must want to be just like her big brother, eek! We opened her presents at home the day after her party and Oma and Opa surprised her with her very first playhouse! She loves cutting up her plastic food in the kitchen and sitting on her benches to put on her shoes. She also got a lot of Cinderella (her absolute favorite) toys and clothes, and some other really cute things. Lucky little 2 year old.

Hunter had his transitional kindergarten assessment at what will be his new school (Tuscany Hills Elementary). The teacher said "wow, he's a boss!" when they came back from the room. Um, not quite sure how she meant that but I hope she meant to say "he has great leadership skills?" :) She said it wasn't a bad thing, so who knows. She said he knew everything he was asked and he will do great in kindergarten. After looking at his birthday she discovered he will be entering transitional and said a couple more wows. I said, "i know, he's really big for his age." She said, "no, not that. Although he is really tall, he's so smart. hmmm." So again, who knows what that means. I take it that all is well and he will start a bit ahead of the game. That was the plan, pays to have a grandma that teaches kinder :)

Later in the month we drove out for one day of fun in the sun with Monte and Nancy and Nancy's daughter, Jessica and her 4 kids. We spent the day swimming and having fun with their cousins.

February

I go overboard for Christmas and birthdays but for some reason, I haven't done much for the other holidays throughout the year. And I feel guilty and regretful. So this year I am trying to put a little effort into it. Valentines morning we had little surprises waiting on the table, blueberry heart shaped pancakes with whipped cream, and red outfits to wear. Hunter had a party at school and was very excited to pass out his "dusty crophopper" Valentines with matching pencils and candy. They played with those cheap little balloons all month, I couldn't believe they survived so long :)

We have been making use of our Knotts Berry Farm passes again this year, and Skyler is finally tall enough to go on some of the bigger kids rides alone. She scared Grandma and I half to death when she was attempting to stand up in her seat on the airplane ride. Tall enough may not necessarily mean mature enough. Eek.

One morning Chase had a day off from work and woke up and said, "lets go to Sea World today". So that's what we did. Turns out, preschoolers can sign up and receive a free year pass. Adults pay one day and get a year free, and skyler is still free. So all 4 of us were able to go for the price of 2 adult day passes and now we can go the rest of the year. Score!

Another event this month was my mom and her twin's, my uncle Danny, 60th birthday! We had a full weekend of celebrating. Saturday we had a Senior Olympics themed party at my uncle's backyard beach along with a steak, lobster and shrimp feast, and some really funny minute-to-win-it style games. I didn't get any pictures but will try to get ahold of some from others. Then the following day we took the bikes down to Huntington and spent the day riding and roasting hotdogs and s'mores. So fun to spend time with this special lady I am so lucky to have as my mom.