Earthquake

They say that bad news always travels the fastest. I was amazed to find an article on KSL's website about our morning earthquake. Just to put your minds at ease, we felt it here in Laguna Niguel, but all it did was shake us a bit. Here's a map of the epicenter and info on OCregister. It was a 5.8 according to most sources and it shook more up in LA. Mary and I were both in cars, in different places, but we both felt it. It was strange; we both thought that someone was bumping us from behind, or maybe there was a strong wind. Now we know what it feels like to have a quake in the car. Or maybe what it's like to have hydrolics on the car. Well, back to work.

Roly-poly

This girl can't stay in one spot!

Mr. Mom

This week was busy for Mom and Dad. We've been blessed with illustration projects coming in this summer while there's no school. We both have projects at the same time so it's hard for both of us to work and watch the girls. Since dad has a big project right now and Mom was finishing hers up, Dad watched the girls for a couple of days and assumed all the Mom-duties. It was a hard couple of days, but Dad made it through. It was nice to spend time with the girls though and Natalie especially liked to have the extra one-on-one time with dad. Natalie and Dad even took time to make a spice rack for Mom. Natalie is a great helper, helping to sort screws, sand, and paint. She picked the purple paint out herself from the hardware store. Funny thing was, Mom was complaining about needing to organize the spices and wanted to get a lazy susan. Dad didn't hear this but decided to make one all on his own. He used extra marbles, cut out circles, cut grooves and put together a rotating spice rack out of mostly scrap materials. It sure feels good to make something useful at a low cost. Mom loved it, and if mommy's happy, everyone's happy.

Snack break in the workshop.

Santa Ana Zoo fun

Our bestest friends the Bowles, invited us to a free day at the Santa Ana zoo yesterday. We got a free hot dog lunch , free admission, and a free train ride. And of course it was all made that much better because Natalie got to go with Maddie. These two girls are so cute together, even if they fight once in a while . They love to run around with each other and squeal with delight at everything. We had a blast hanging out and having a good time. A nice break from folding laundry.

Emily

Emily loves to swing. She also loves to chew on everything, and slobbers on everything she can. She's discovering how to squeal when she drops her toys, or when they get taken away by a three year old living in the house. She does love to play with Natalie's toy tortilla which makes a wonderful crinkling sound. She loves to suck on it and crinkle it. She makes the best faces too. We love our Emily!

Basketball goodness

I miss watching basketball.

Toes

Like any good four month old baby, Emily has discovered her toes. Anytime she can get her hands on her feet, they go in her mouth. And if she can get her big toe in there, she'll suck it like a thumb. Crazy kids.

Daddy daughter date

Well, Natalie and I went on our first daddy daughter date. She was pretty excited about spending quality time with her old man. I asked her what she wanted to do, and she said " I want to go catch frogs at the lake." Who knows where that came from, but we went to the lake and tried to find some frogs to catch. It's a reservoir and not the best place to find frogs, but it was the time spent together that was the best part. We then decided to try our Cherry on Top, a frozen yogurt bar. Natalie loves these places with all the toppings you can choose from and of course, chocolate frozen yogurt. (She's definitely my child) Then we trucked over to Party City, a party and costume supply store. It was fun to play with the stuff, and of course try on a few things. All in all it was a good first outing together. I'm realizing how hard it is to spend good one-on-one time with my girls these days. Sheesh, and I only have two. Well, three if you count Mary...

Being Emily

Our little Emily is all growed up and no longer a little newborn. *sigh* How time flies by. She is getting to be a wiggly baby now, rolling all around on the floor and squirming to get to toys left on the floor by her big sister. She's pushing up a lot these days too, getting ready for the crawling action. She's also got sticky fingers. Her fingers clamp onto anything within reach, including Mom's hair, Natalie's hair, Dad's shirt, her own clothes when were trying to dress her, among other things. And once she gets her hands on something, in it goes into the mouth. She loves to lick everything; just checking to see if it's good to eat I guess. Natalie loves to be her big sister though and takes good care of her. We sure do have some great girls in this here family.

Emily managed to pull down the jungle gym while we weren't looking. Besides, it's more fun this way.

Beach Bums

We were overdue for a beach afternoon so we went to one of our favorite beaches with some of our favorite people! The girls had so much fun covering themselves in sand, eating the sand, and of course digging all sorts of creations in the sand. Natalie's slowly getting use to the water again and starting to brave the waves. Mom actually got in after a few screams and swam with Dad in the water! Woohoo! All the preparation and work to get to the beach always pays off with relaxtion and good naps! Emily zonked out for us like a good little beach bum as you can tell. Ah yes we love the beach!

ponytails and cooking

mmmmmmmmmmmm......yummy! I love this recipe! You should try it! All you need is a daughter to sit a little bit too close to the mixer! I tried and tried to pull Natalie's hair out of the blender fan but to no avail. It really stuck in there deep so we had to cut her hair out in the end. Through all the tears mean ol' mom managed to take a picture in the middle of it, but it could've been a lot worse! We got over the tears fast and learned that ponytails are actually great things! Needless to say Natalie doesn't complain as much when I ask her to pull her hair back before we start a cooking project. That handmixer makes me a little nervous though thinking that maybe we didn't get all the hair out of it's motor. We may have hair as a secret ingredient for anything I use the mixer on. yum yum!!

The Fourth

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!
















It was a Hot parade, but it was a Good parade! We started our celebration in the morning with a local parade and then headed to lunch at El Pollo Loco. yum yum--one of my new favorite places to eat! (yeah for Clint by the way!) We cooled down in the pool for a few hours and enjoyed one of the last days our pool will be open. Can you believe they are closing our pool in mid-season? Me neither! Anyways, our good friends invited us to see WALL-E and it was the first time we have seen a movie as a family since Natalie was born. I can't believe it! We all enjoyed it and Emily did fine and loved staring at the big screen! I would recommend the show to anyone. It was a hit!
A classic hamburger and hotdog BBQ followed at our neighbors! It was really good eatin' and laughin with our good friends! All our daughters get along too so of course Natalie was loving life! There is no better way than to enjoy a holiday than with good company. Thanks for having us! We loved it! Soon after, everyone headed up to watch fireworks, but the city's show had to end about 10 minutes after starting because a fire started. Yikes! About an acre of land was scorched. At least no one was hurt. Well, we were all exhausted anyways and were able to still put the girls to bed at a somewhat decent hour. It was probably the only Fourth of July we'll spend here. Happy Fourth of July everyone and Happy Birthday Grandpa-sorry we couldn't be there!

During Dad's Show

Laguna Beach is known for its art festivals so there are a lot more people to accomadate (as you can tell by the crowded trolley) he he. Well, Michael's MFA program opened up an art gallery in the canyon so we were able to attend opening night. It was a good show and neat to see Mike's name and work up on the wall. We are so proud of all his hard work at school! Even when there aren't classes during the summer he is still managing to keep busy with ideas and work. So, there are free trolley shuttles that go the the festivals and that's what we decided to do during Dad's show--ride in a loop around town. Natalie was trilled because she got to ring the bell in the front of the trolley. She knows how to have a good time!