can it be?

this morning when i woke up, leia was "leaky", so i changed her diaper, then i got her milk and had kaia & leia lay in bed with derek to watch Sesame Street while i went to run. about 25 minutes later, i go back into the room to hop in the shower & what do i see? derek fast asleep, kaia watching t.v. and leia laying on the bed with only her shirt on and her diaper on my pillow (good thing it was a new diaper)...she had taken in off! i was covered in sweat and wanting to do nothing but take a shower...but, i thought, "maybe she is over her diaper"...so, i ask her if she has to go potty & she shakes her head "yes". sure enough, i put her on the potty and... tinkle, tinkle we hear. she actually kind of told us she had to go potty and went! she looked so proud of herself. i was actually gonna get the little potty out next week after swim lessons are done, but, hey...if she wants to start a week early...fine with me! now, i just need to remember how to potty train a kid. lord help me. :)

fun for the whole family!

i was checking blogs tonight and i came to my (little brother's wife) sister-in-law, elaine's, blog and then spent at least a 1/2 hour or so trying out this fun website. i got to see how i'd look with red hair, bangs, curly hair, etc.
anyways...i kinda liked the bangs, but this was kaia's favorite, she said i looked like Daedon's mom. what do you think cyndi? if you have some time to waste...click on this link to try it!

little mama...

kaia and leia get along most of the time, but of course...they have their moments. every day, it's kinda like a roller coaster...get along, not get along, etc., etc., etc. anyways, i took this picture the other day when kaia was in a very nurturing mood...i love it when she's in that mood, it's so much more fun for me to play photographer than referree.

another swimming video...

they love the water!

Happy Birthday Uncle John...

tomorrow's uncle john's birthday, so we went over to papa/nema's house today to swim and BBQ to have an early b-day celebration...
last night i asked kaia if she wanted to swim at papa/nema's house today (in an attempt to get her to go to bed easily so when she wakes up, she'll have something to look forward to)...and it kinda backfired. she says, "no mama...i just want to relax and have a shave ice". well, excuse me...i didn't know she had such a stressful life where she needs to just relax. so, as you can see...she decided she wouldn't mind swimming after all AND relax with her shave ice.
i guess leia could have done a better job relaxing if i had taken off her floaty-thingy...poor baby.
leia had pretty much every wearable kinda swimming thing that we own on today...hey, you can't be too careful. BTW, this life vest looking thing is supposed to help not un-do all the stuff she's learned at swim lessons. it's supposed to help her get the feel for doggie paddling, since the arm floaties help them too much. it seemed to do the trick!
just chillin'
this is john's b-day cake...we still had kaia's & leia's candle from when they both turned 2, so we thought we'd recycle...hey it worked & we got 1 more use out of them...

i won!

every now and then, if derek and i disagree on something and think we're both right, we'll bet on something that we're right, usually we bet on a trip to jamba juice or something. but, couple of nights ago, this happened and i KNEW i was right, so i thought, "why not go for the big bucks?" so, i said if i was right, i got to spend $100 on whatever i want...guilt free. not that he ever makes me feel guilty about spending money, i'm pretty reasonable when it comes to spending. i have the occassional splurge, but so does he.

well, because of this bet that i won...i, now, finally...i have a "grown up" purse. my only other really nice purse i've ever owned was a Petunia pickle Bottom & it was a diaper bag. it was great, but too big to be an every day purse especially now that leia's 2. i haven't used it for months...i've been using a purse that i got on clearance for $10 at a shoe store which i have no problem with, in fact i am the queen of bargain shoppers. the problem with that one was that the inside lining was tearing and ever time i tried to get something out of it, when i finally could find it (which was usually between the liner and the actual purse) i pulled a bunch of strings and thread out along with it.

anyways...all of that to say that i've need a new purse for a really long time. i'm not the type of person who needs a brand name purse, but, i just wanted a real leather, easy accesible, good quality purse...so off to "Nordstrom Rack" i go...there was nothing i really liked there. then, i head for "Off 5th"...and the only one i liked there was still a whopping $339 and that was like a 1/3 of the original price. i was getting really frustrated (did i mention that i was doing this with kaia and leia and NO stroller...bad idea). so, we leave the mall and about to head home and then i remember that we were close to a wonderful resale store called Plato's Closet, they have so many cute used clothes and purses that are brand name (if you haven't been there, you gotta go)...and i had a 20% off punch card that i had totally filled up. we were on our way...i walk in hoping they have something...anything, close to what i want. i walk in and head to the wall of purses...i see a bunch of the coach purses with the "C's" all over them (which are nice, but not what i'm looking for), then the owner of the store recognizes me and asks if she can help me find something. so, i tell her that i'm looking for a brown leather purse. she gets out her little hook thing and reaches up for one she said they just bought from someone like 1 hour earlier. it was perfect, even better than the $339 one and it looked brand new! i look at the price...$125, and with my 20% off coupon...$100 (exactly what i had won in our bet!) i bought it without a 2nd thought. so, last night derek and i looked it up to see what the original price is...$398! needless to say i am SO proud of my find. i feel like such an adult! oh, and thanks babe! :)

leia's birthday month...

is almost over...yes, we kinda celebrate off-and-on all month & we had a free "birthday girl" coupon for California Pizza Kitchen that we had to use before the end of the month so we went today after swim lessons...




when the waitor brought her ice cream sundae she looked at it like "what are we waiting for?"...then, grabbed her spoon and started to dig in. smart girl. :)

one down...one to go

last year kaia learned how to "swim" (more like doggy paddle...but, at least she can keep herself afloat) so, she's doing a refresher course this summer...but leia has NO fear of the water so we REALLY need to get her swimming. they started swimming lessons yesterday & leia's still at the age where she's doing mommy (or daddy)-and-me classes, and derek didn't have to work yesterday so he did the class with her and i did it today... here are some pics from Day 1:







and , here's Day2:







come on baby...you can do it! :)

my little fish...

i hope next time i talk with that baby talk voice, someone stops me (hmmm, hmmm, derek).

safe and sound...

okay, okay...i know, i take a lot of pictures. so, here are a few pictures from our trip to texas (i know it's a little more than a few, but it's only about an 1/8th of all the ones i took). anyways...here's a picture of me and the girls doing a little window shopping at the airport before our plane left for Texas (by the way...the flight wasn't bad at all, it was great having a direct flight...especially traveling with kids)...

here are the girls with cousin ashley in her awesome new playhouse...
it was soooo humid there, we had to get ice cream a couple of times...love Marble Slab! :)
my dad got tickets for us to go to this little kids theater where we watched a Snow White play. very cute...
then we swam at my dad's neighborhood pool...leia loved being thrown. no fear!
leia was wiped out from a busy day, she slept thru most of dinner with "texas grammy" (my mom)...
out in the playhouse again!
the girls have a new name for "texas papa"..."the jelly bean king", for very good reasons! :)
you can't go to San Antonio and not go shopping at The Shops at La Canterra...it's a great outdoor mall...we stopped here for "souvineers" (we call 'em that to take the guilt away :)
Texas Papa's house is full of golf stuff, so the girls had to get a quick putting lesson...
trust me...this is NOT my dad's cat (he's definitely not the cat lover), but the girls didn't mind the neighbor cat coming to visit!
part of the reason for the trip was for derek to go to a work related convention, so the girls and i hung out with some friends at the pool at the resort the convention was at...it was a great pool with a nice little beach like kid pool...
and a waterslide...
after a few hours there, we decided to drive out to the Guadalupe River with my sister, ashley, my little brother, mikey & his wife Elaine (as you can see we had a few sprinkles and thunder & lightening on the way... hey, we were in texas after all!)...
but, it stopped raining and we had a good time...

we have very few pics of just derek and me these days...but, here's one...
here's uncle mikey...getting crazy on the rope swing...
after, the river, we went to a fun outdoor BBQ place called Rudy's...and as you can see, leia tried ribs for the first time :)
check out leia's hair...hey, the messier the hair, the more fun you had. right?
my sticky baby...
almost everyone's here...if we could get my big brother, matthew, and his family down here from alaska, we'd have a complete sibling pic!
does this pic say "texas" or what! :)

we miss you guys already and love you ALL a lot.