Strike!!!

Here's a first for us...we've never gone bowling as a family. Kaia caught on right away, just like a pro (well, with a little help from the bumper rails. or, whatever they're called)...
she didn't need any help
see....
just like an old pro
leia gave the ball a pretty good shove too! :)

Feels like summer!

it took a few pictures to get leia to smile...the water was freezing!
here's kaia just being kaia

A good old fashioned day of fun

who says you have to spend a ton of money to have fun? we had a great FREE day of fun at the canyon crest "water hole"...just like the old days (well...kinda) :)




well, we did spend 99 cents on thrifty's ice cream...not bad.
they had to stand on the bench to pet this dog...he was SO cute, his name is Chief.

yea...no cavities

So, kaia's almost 3 and a 1/2, so i thought that it's probably time to try to get her dental exam (our first attempt was when she was almost 2 & she REALLY wasn't ready then). so, i call the dentist yesterday to get an appointment & i ask them, "how do most kids do when they're this young?" and they tell me, "some do okay, but if they're not cooperating, we can strap them down with your approval". i was waiting for her to say "just kidding"...no, nothing. so, i proceed to ask them (still in shock by what i just heard), "what do you mean strap them down, like with belts?" and she says, "yes, we'd just put a belt-like strap around each wrist and around fer feet and hold her head still." i just tell her, "well, we WON'T be doing any strapping down, but we'll bring her in and try it & see how she does. i couldn't believe that they would acutally strap down a kid to clean their teeth...it's not like it's life-or-death. anyways, i was pretty leary about even going to this place after hearing this. but, we kept the appointment & went today.
everything started out really good...they were able to get 3 x-rays (kaia didn't like the thing they had to put in her mouth to get the back teeth, so they just got the front teeth)
now, we're in the exam/cleaning room & things are still going smoothly.
here, you can see that things are starting to go downhill. as soon as they started to recline the chair, i could see the fear in her eyes, then they ask her to open her mouth & kaia says, "i want mama". so, i ask if i can sit in the chair with her, that worked for a minute. she opened her mouth for them & then the tears start flowin'. i thought they were gonna whip out the restraints & i was gonna have to pick her up and run outta there, but they just asked me to hold her tight and they QUICKLY polished her teeth. she was NOT happy, she was screaming LOUD and i softly kept whispering in her ear that she's gonna get a lollipop as soon as they're done (i know...that's not what dentist's want to hear) :)

we had to take a break and bribe her with princess toothbrushes...and FINALLY we were done.
as soon as she sat up in the chair and her tears were wiped away, i said, "see kaia, that wasn't too bad was it?" and she says in the sweetest voice "no mama". and i continued with, "dentists are nice aren't they?" and she says, "yes". i never thought she would have aggreed to either of those questions after what had just occures 2 minutes earlier.
so, not 1, but 2 toothbrushes and a lollipop later & far away from the dentist office...kaia's happy.

California Adventure

thanks kim & john for meeting us at California Adventure today, we enjoyed hangin out.
here we are on the crazy ferris wheel that swings...kaia didn't like it much. she kept screaming, "i want out!" poor baby.
at least leia enjoyed it. everytime it swung, i could feel her stomach flex and she was cracking up...it was so cute.

the girls LOVE this one!
kaia loves her auntie kimmy
and leia loves uncle john
kaia rips!
now, THAT'S a corndog!

Leia

date night

there are so many nights that one of derek's games are on or one of my TLC or HGTV shows are on & most the time we are pretty good about compromising or flipping back and forth or something so the other one can watch their show. some of our shows that we totally agree on are American Idol, The Bachelor, Scrubs and House (i know...no, we haven't gotten into 24 yet. it just seems to hard to catch up now)...well, now there's one more we can add to that list...The Ultimate Fighter. it's on every thursday night, and it's a reality t.v./fighting show and it's really good. derek looks so happy when i come in the room to watch it with him and he can tell that i'm enjoying it as much as he is. have any other girls seen this show, and if so, am i right?
i love our new little "date night", babe.

all inked up

our church is doing a series on holiness called "Inked", so today they handed out fake tattoos as we left, so last night mama, daddy, kaia, papa & nema got "inked" (sorry leia i was worried that if we tattooed you, you'd suck it off or something...but, i hope daddy's tattoo makes up for it). we asked kaia, where do you want your flip flop tattoo, and she said, "on my foot". duh, isn't that where flip flops go...i shouda known, dumb question! anyways, here are a few pics of ours. too bad we didn't have our camera over at papa-nema's house, they look pretty cute (papa has a heart on his arm and nema has a cross on hers) :)

sorry, sandals...derek and i kinda altered our tattoos a little (derek's did say "real" on the paper until i made a few quick changes).
oh yea...derek, DID admit that a small tattoo wouldn't be that bad if i really want one, he thought it was cute. thanks babe.

Disneyland with Papa and "Nema"

i know...there are a TON of pictures on here, but, what can i say...we're at disneyland (leia's first time!). thank you SO much papa and "nema" for the wonderful day. we had so much fun!
we look like tourists...
good ol' mickey!
daddy's turn with goofy...
leia appearently LOVES the carosel
kaia too (but, we've known that since she was about leia's age)
she wasNOT happy when we took this away from her!!!
can't pass up a photo op with pluto (i kept calling him goofy...hey, they're both dogs!)
here's kaia at the Playhouse disney show
leia did NOT want to wear her hat!
"L" for Leia (oh yea...she's 10 months old today)
here we are in fron of "cinderella's castle"
kaia couldn't wait to go in the teacups
here's kaia & her "papa-nema" :)
she's getting sleepy

Say bye-bye to disneyland leia (for a little while!)

The easter bunny found us

we were down in san diego this Easter and...what do you know, the girls woke up to easter baskets (pretty smart easter bunny, huh?! :) ). derek played some music at a church down there and talked a little about everything that went on last year. it was cool.
here is kaia painting easter eggs (and leia's assisting)...
the easter bunny was very practical this year. he, he.
kaia's very helpful
here's a pic of the girls at the hotel before we went to the church...
see...she's not too young to do an easter egg hunt :)
she means business!
leia's just checkin' out her eggs!
kaia's a good "shar-er"
gotta love PEZ!!!