Thursday, August 16, 2012

Happy 2nd birthday to my miracle girl!

Happy Birthday beautiful girl!!

Presley turned two on June 1 and although we didn't have a big party for her we still made her day special. We had a small Dora themed family party a few days before her actual birthday where she was spoiled rotten by everyone. My camera was out of batteries so I don't have any pics =( I did take some on my mother-in-law's camera but I don't have them yet. 

We left for Oregon the day before her birthday and drove to my best friend Meadow's house to spend the night. The morning of her actual birthday we had a little Dora themed breakfast party for her.


Presley has continued to make a ton of progress and is pretty much like any other "typical" two year old. At her two year check up I got to check all the boxes for typical two year old behavior which was a really big deal for me. Some of the things she is doing:

-She probably says close to 100 words and is picking up new ones all the time.
-she loves Dora,wow wow wubbzy and mickey mouse. She can be having a full on tantrum and I say "do you want to watch wow wow"? and she perks right up, smiles and says "yeah"! And yes I realize this is not the proper way to stop a tantrum =).
- she loves her brother like no other! She does EVERYTHING that Peyton does! She is into cars, trains, building blocks, etc. If Peyton isn't around she always asks "where Peyton"? One of first three word phrases was "stop it Peyton". They have so much fun together and always get each other all riled up which is cute when we're not out in public otherwise they're running, screaming and chasing each other through restaurants which isn't always appropriate =).
- she loves to play in her kitchen and make me "zucchini soup". She thinks it's hysterical when I pretend it's to hot and scream. She also loves her babies and has to sleep with all 3 at night.
- she is still pretty shy around new people and in new places but she's coming out of her shell a little more lately, she just takes a little while to warm up (Peyt was the same way).

She is just beyond amazing, she is my miracle and there isn't a single day that has gone by that I don't thank God for where we are today. Happy Birthday baby girl. 
- 

Thursday, July 5, 2012

May recap

Lagging on posts as usual, but here is a quick recap of May.

On May 5th I hosted a baby shower for Jenna and little miss Mackenzie. I was nervous about the weather since early May can still be unpredictable, but the weather was amazing and everything turned out great!

                                                        The pretty mama to be
                                               Me with my prego sister-in-laws

On May 6th I celebrated my 30th birthday a few days early and went wine tasting with some of my best girlfriends.
                                                      Some of my besties!
                                                 Yummy cupcakes from Sift =)
Lunch at Benzinger
                               Picture from our tour at Benzinger. It was a beautiful day! It's always hard to get everyone together these days and we don't do it nearly often enough, but I was so glad my friends were able to make this day happen, I really needed it!

On May 8th, my actual birthday we just went over to my parents house for a low key dinner.

 I decided to give the start the Paleo diet the day before (which I've given up on since then) so my mom made a paleo friendly dessert of strawberry topped dates.
 Peyton opened up all of my presents for me and was pretty disappointed they were mostly clothes.
                                                        Family shot (Peyton took the picture).

On May 12th we did the Epilepsy Awareness Stroll at Discovery Kingdom. This was our second year doing it and Team Presley raised over $3,000 for the Northern California Epilepsy Foundation! Thank you to everyone who donated and to everyone who came out and walked with us.

                                                       Presley and Grandma Cindy.
                                                            My happy girl!
                                                      Presley and Grandma Patty
       Uncle Ken had to take Peyton on the swings since Mark and I both get motion sickness.
                                                  Me and my babies riding the train.
                                                          Daddy and Presley
What a difference a year makes....last year the epilepsy walk was really hard for us, I remember coming home and reading all the brochures on seizures, first aid and all kinds of scary stuff. At that time she had only been seizure free for about 3 months so seeing some of the people at the walk who were more severely affected by epilepsy combined with reading all the pamphlets was to much for us and I remember Mark and I both breaking down afterwards. This year things were easier. Obviously we still have scary statistics hanging over our heads but seeing her running around laughing like she is in the picture above makes it so much easier to just enjoy her and not be so scared all of the time. I felt myself get emotional once during the day but it had more to do with how far she has come then it did with being scared. We're a much stronger family than we were a year ago.

The next day was Mothers Day and I had a great day! We went to brunch in the morning with Mark's family then I got to go spend the day at the spa getting a massage, facial and pedicure! It was fabulous! After my spa day I met up with my mom to go see a movie then we headed to the town green to have a yummy dinner at Kin with my dad, Mark and the kids.
                                               Aww they love each other so much!
                                       Peyt, Pres and Cameron after Mothers Day brunch.

After being on the go the past few weekends we were happy to have a mellow week at home.

 Isn't Peyt the best big brother ever! Here he is having a tea party with Presley wearing her princess crown and all =)
                                                                 My beautiful girl.
                                                                 Backyard fun!
                                              Peyton with his new summer haircut.
                                                        Bike riding with Papa.
                                         Tuesday ice cream dates with Grandma and Papa.
                                                             More backyard fun.

The next weekend we headed to Tahoe and my parents watched the kids while Mark and I went to South Lake for the night. I missed the kids but it was nice to have a kid free night. We went to Dinner and a comedy show at Harvey's and then did lots of gambling for the rest of the night. We had a quick breakfast in the morning and spent a little time on the slot machines before we left.....we ended up hitting two separate jackpots and won $1,000!! We paid for our little trip and then some so we were stoked!
                                                      Peyton and his paper airplanes.
                                                    Having fun at the treehouse.
                                                Peyton working hard building a statue.
The kids had fun playing with Grandma, Papa and Sharon at the house and they also got to go to the arcade at Boomtown.

The last big event of the month was Peyton's preschool graduation. I can't believe he'll be starting Kindergarten in a few months, when did he get so big?
                                                         Ready to go to graduation.
        This is what happens when I try to get a nice picture of the two of them. =)
 Peyton and Talen were best buds in school for two years now but unfortunately they won't be going to the same school next year. Peyton is going to miss his pal Tal.
                                                                 Class of 2012 =)
                   Peyton getting his diploma and he won the award for best dancer.
                                   He was very proud of his medal for best dancer.
                                    Mommy and the graduate. I love you so much Peyt.

                                                   Now it's officially summer time!!

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

My little skier

We headed up to Tahoe the last weekend of April to get in a ski/boarding day before the resorts closed for the season. We decided to sign up peyton for another ski lesson which turned out to be more like a private lesson since the resort was pretty much deserted.
                                          Peyton riding up the moving sidewalk
                                         Learning to turn
        Presley loved the spring conditions since it meant she didn't have to wear gloves.
Peyton did great and when we came to watch toward the end of the lesson he told us "I'm the best skier in my class"! (there were only 2 other students) "I want to go do jumps"! Since he was feeling confident we decided to take him up the chairlift to the bunny hill. Even though it's a bunny hill it was much steeper than the area he had his lesson so he was struggling to get down it. It's really hard to help your child learn to ski when you're on a snowboard so finally Mark just decided to pick him up and give him a ride down the hill which Peyt loved!
I think after a few more lessons next year he'll be able to conquer the bunny hill solo.

Happy 5th Birthday to my little man!

Playing catch up on some posts, Peyt's bday was on April 23rd.

I can't believe my baby is 5! I hate that it's going by so quickly but love watching him grow into the smart little guy he is. I still remember like it was yesterday being pregnant with him and sitting in his nursery folding the same onesies over and over again and just feeling so anxious to meet this little guy! Time really does fly. A few pics to reminisce....

                                                       Peyton on his first birthday
                                                     Two years old
                                             Three years old (cheesy smile phase)
                                                    Four years old
                                                   My big five year old!

Peyton had quite the fun filled (and trauma filled) birthday weekend.

On Saturday he had a monster truck birthday party at scandia with his friends.




On Sunday we went Ice skating to celebrate Danika's 4th birthday. 
It started out fun with Jason pushing the kids around the ice......then the chair must have caught an edge which flipped it over leaving Peyton pretty badly cut up and VERY scared!!

He just couldn't seem to snap out of it after his fall even after a trip to toys r us so that evening I ended up taking him to the emergency room since he was complaining of a headache. After kicking the Doctor on duty and taking 3 people to hold him down to take off his band aids it turns out he was fine just sore from the fall.
Peyton had school on his actual birthday so we brought cupcakes to celebrate with his class. Here he is picking a birthday prize out of the treasure chest. On the night of his birthday we had a pirate themed family party at our house.






Even with the injury I think he had a pretty fun weekend overall. Spoiled rotten as usual =) Happy Birthday Peyton! Mommy loves you to the moon and back!