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. 

January

We started off the new year with a "first" for both the kids... bowling! I thought they were still going to be too young, but I was totally wrong. They both really enjoyed it, even Skyler. With the bumpers up, some fun friends to play with, and Daddy's help, they had a fun and successful game.

Hunter has started racing at the track now. His first few times, he was just happy to get around the track without falling and lately he has been getting faster and actually able to "keep up with the pack". He loves showing off his much earned wounds to his friends at school :)

With some left over birthday money, I decided to go ahead and splurge on something I have been wanting since we moved into our house... a giant canvas wall group for our front room. Love it!

Ever since receiving Monster Jam tickets on Christmas from Skyler and I, the boys have been looking forward to their "boys night out" this month.  They had a great time cheering on Grave Digger and hanging with some neighborhood buddies.

Skyler surprised us this month by climbing out of her crib. So she is now in her new "big girl" bed and so proud of herself. She also let me know that she is ready to use the potty. As soon as I put her on the toilet, she went potty and clapped for herself and its been a pretty easy road ever since. I am still scarred from the first round of potty training (which is still a daily battle)  and insist she wears pulls ups, but like everyone says, girls are so different. Thank GOD! lol

Nana and Tom brought over the newest member of the family, Bella. She is the cutest little scotty dog and Hunter looooooves her and is generally pretty good with her. Skyler, on the other hand loves her too but shows her love like a 2 year old. Kicking, hitting and squeezing. Poor Bella.

December

Christmas was beyond fun, making memories, and enjoying every last minute. Our "elf on the shelf", Elfis made his appearances each morning in a new spot, and the kids couldn't wait to find him. Skyler woke up every morning saying "elfie? elfie?" They took turns pulling a Christmas activity note out of our advent calendar every morning. We went to see the Christmas program at our church, went to a party at a neighbor's house where Santa made a surprise visit, saw "Snoopy On Ice" with Oma and Opa, read lots of Christmasy books and watched lots of Christmasy movies. Hunter had his own Christmas program with his preschool where he sang songs, bounced in a bounce house and danced with Jade (his girlfriend that week ;)

We made Christmas cookies, they both had a blast helping make the cookies, but the best part, of course, was the sprinkles! 

One day we made a Gingerbread house with Oma  and Grandma Converse.

I turned the big 30 this year. I spent the weekend shopping with my mom and got a lot of new clothes to start out my new decade. It was exactly what I needed and wanted; some ME time :) Along with some beautiful flowers and shopping money I got a special new Christmas decoration to put on the dinner table every December, a Christmas pyramid that spins by candle light. So cool, and the kids were mesmerized. 

Love this year's photo with Santa!

Christmas Eve was just as fun as always at Grandma MaryLou's. Santa stopped by with some gifts, white elephant gift exchange, yummy food, and quality time with the Ehrlich clan. Not to mention the dozens of presents from the whole generous group.

Christmas morning... So many presents, so much mess, so much to be thankful for!

before...

and after...

                 

Hunter and his new Christmas Train from Santa...

Skyler and her new kitchen from Santa...

Stockings.. Hunter had spent most of December on the naughty list. Santa must have decided he was nice enough to bring him presents under the tree, but only coal and a toothbrush in his stocking. Hunter didn't care in the slightest. :)

Nana, Tom, and Grandpa Pierce all came over for breakfast and presents. Skyler got the most special gift of all; a pair of diamond earrings made from Vicki's Mom's ring that she will receive when she is older. 

Later that morning at Oma and Opa's house... presents, presents, and more presents...

Christmas Night at Grandma Converse's we finally got a picture of her with all of her great-grandbabies.

These are the two new members to the family, Max and London. The love we all have for these babies made this Christmas truly special even though it was the first we had to spend without their dear Uncle Jake. The cousins, as we sat around the "kids table" shared a toast to him and wish more than anything he could have been there to hug us all and hold his sweet new niece and nephew. A special Merry Christmas up in heaven to Jake and Paka, we know you are watching down on us.

To end the year, we took the kids to downtown Temecula and went Ice Skating. It was the first time for both the kids and they LOVED it. Skyler got to ride on a giant seal and Hunter stayed on his feet almost the whole time. We made it home just before New York's countdown and rang in the new year banging on pots and pans in the living room. What a blessed year we have had and now looking forward to what 2014 has in store.. :)

(Family pic 2013- photography by Uncle Andrew of course :)