Memorial Day beach birthday party

May 27, 2015 by
We spent a very cloudy/gloomy Memorial Day celebrating something bright and fun– our friend, Nate’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-themed first birthday! S and A had no clue who TMNT was, but loved the turtle decor anyway.

Amelia and Samantha have this whole birthday thing down…. except whenever I tell them we are going to a birthday party, they start shouting, “Cake! Balloons! Elmo! Tacos!” No girls, no Elmo or tacos. It’s nice to know they still remember and appreciate their own birthday party– a whole two months later!

Samantha wouldn’t let anyone within a ten foot radius of her beach ball– even when she fell down on the asphalt trying to keep it away from Amelia, and got a huge goose egg on her head! At least she secured the valuables. 

Because who doesn’t like to have sand down their pants? 
Amelia chilled in her cocoon. 

Samantha and her beauty mark. 

If only I could stick them in a full-body sand entrapment at home…
Amelia is an expert at annoying her sister!
Making some sand cupcakes. 
The girls’ favorite part of the party was the water table set up for the three and under crowd. 

Nate’s coming to get me!

Peekaboo!

Made it out alive before two gigantic twins could catch me!

My definition of a successful outing: 
Lots of love, 
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Hiking S and A style

May 26, 2015 by
With the weather being cool and gorgeous, we took a hike over the weekend in Aliso Canyon. Once S and A spotted their beloved backpacks, they couldn’t wait to climb in and become “monkeys,” as Samantha calls it. 
The girls may love hitching a ride, but besides the fact that it’s a lot faster than waiting for them to toddle along and get distracted by every leaf, pinecone and rock, the carrier backpacks are not our favorite things. It takes a fair amount of mind power just to block out the neck and shoulder pain. 
At least Jake takes the heavier twin, plus our drinks and snacks. 
Amelia and Jake explored a creek. 

Samantha opted to hang in her backpack. 

I made some homemade energy bars before our excursion– too bad the two people who were actually burning calories didn’t get any (AHEM, little piggy girls!)

All this working out has me famished. 

So. Painful. 

After a certain point, I got used to my load; either that, or everything just went numb. 

The girls found a perfect little toddler chair on the side of the trail. 

The girls’ favorite finds: bones!

Double fisting it, as per usual. 

At the end of our hike, Samantha had an epic meltdown when the pinecone she so graciously offered Amelia was rejected. For whatever reason, Samantha gets extremely upset whenever she wants to give Amelia something, and Amelia, knowing EXACTLY how to push her buttons, says no. Amelia, being the peacemaker, finally gave in.

Cue a 20 minute tantrum after I chucked Samantha’s pinecone into the forest so she wouldn’t eat it. Even before bed, she was still wailing, “Pinecooooooooooone!” 
Like an elephant, she never forgets!
Lots of love, 
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LA fun continued

May 25, 2015 by
After our adventures at UCLA, the girls conked out in the car on the way over to their cousin’s house. Amelia snoozed for a good nap, but Samantha woke up during the dreaded car to bedroom transfer and once she realized she was in an unfamiliar place where there might be new TOYS, she was not having any mention of falling back asleep. 
Quality time with the twin cousins!
THIS ZIPLINE IS AWESOME!
Samantha told us she’s never leaving this house. Ever. Ever. Ever.
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
There was no shortage of fun to be had at Eleri, Rhys and Jack’s house– I’ve never seen the girls play non-stop at a house for so long!
Amelia and Eleri bounced their hearts out. 
We have the exact same dolls at our house– and yet they are SO much more fun at someone else’s!

Rhys created multiple scavenger hunts for the girls to follow. After playing “hot and cold” to find the treasure seemed to confuse the girls, Rhys opted for something more obvious– arrows leading directly to the surprise!

Rhys was so patient with the girls wanting to touch everything in her room. Sorry about those broken crayons!

After hearing the girls and Jack play, Amelia serenaded us with her own original songs. Because she’s a musical prodigy like that. 

It melted my heart when Rhys decided to teach the girls their first ever school lesson. We got through math, reading, and spelling, before the girls left to play with some tantalizing stuffed animals before class was dismissed. Rhys was forgiving and gave “Star Student” stickers to the girls anyway! She’s so sweet.

After UCLA and adventures with their cousins, we had a full day! And yet, this mama was way more tired than the girls.

Lots of love,

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First college tour

May 25, 2015 by
Our first adventure over Memorial Day weekend was visiting the girls’ life coach and personal mentor, Marisa, up at her stomping grounds! We couldn’t believe it had almost been a year since Marisa started her freshman year and we still hadn’t been up for a tour. Better late than never. 
The girls are convinced ADPi is the sorority for them– all it took were some English muffins and peanut butter from the kitchen and they were sold. 
Utes and Bruins unite!
The hill was just begging for the girls to do some somersaults. 
Sorority sisters for life. 
Touring the inside of the house– the girls especially loved the life-sized stuffed animals in the living room. 
The girls were so disappointed when they found out they couldn’t rush this year. 
After a ton of negotiating with the girls to leave the awesome hill, Marisa was our fabulous tour guide around campus, regaling us with an impressive amount of historical facts. We will definitely have to come back if Marisa ever starts leading orientation tours– her true calling! It’s a huge campus and we covered a lot of ground, considering we were stopping every thirty seconds to pick up leaves, look at ants, climb trees, and walk on the edges of fountains. 
I’m convinced we will never buy another theme park or children’s museum pass again– the girls were occupied for hours here for free!
Marisa wouldn’t be able to rescue Samantha from this fountain if she fell in because she’d be cursed and would be doomed to complete an extra quarter. The freshman touch it once during orientation where they become “bruinized” and can’t touch it again until graduation. 
Mesmerized by the Inverted Fountain. 
We loved walking around such a gorgeous campus with our expert guide!

Our final destination was a picnic lunch in the sculpture garden. Not much lunching happened as S and A were too busy inspecting the artwork, which they assumed was obviously there to climb on.

Playing peekaboo. 

Thanks, Marisa, for the educational and amazing UCLA tour– the girls were zonked and I think even Jake was impressed, although he spent the rest of the day indoctrinating the girls in all things Ute. 
Lots of love, 
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