Summer 2013 - 'C' comes home!

So, it's been A YEAR since I posted last.  I fail.  But, in my defense, our son came home 8 months ago and life has been moving at warp speed.  Here is the video of our daughter getting the news that she's gonna be a big sis.

On her second day of trying, 'O' was up and riding a 2-wheel bike without training wheels!

O's 5th birthday

'O' wanted a Hello Kitty themed party when she turned 5.  I was fine with that, in fact, I think I got more excited than her with all of my planning, baking, and decorating.  

Summer 2012

This summer was full of activities, lessons, trips, swimming, and stitches (for Cashy-dog.  He's fine now).  It definitely felt different than our first summer with O last year.  We are a more secure family now.  Things are more natural.  Don't get me wrong - life's no easy street, by any means.  But we are leaps and bounds more bonded than we were last summer.  

Our niece had her 9th birthday in California on July 30.  My cousin, Heidi, did a fabulous job (as usual) decorating for the Rockstar party theme.  Get ready for some rockin' moves!

Oceanside, CA July 2012

Blaine, "O", and I took a trip to Oceanside, CA for a week to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary, and just to have a family vacation.  Our beach cottage was a short 2 block walk to the beach. And the part of the beach that we were close to had a playground!  "O" was in heaven.  And so were we...infinite sand and water = infinite play time.

We took our dogs, Dolly and Cash, and knew that we would have a couple of visitors while down there.  My parents came for 1 night, and Blaine's parents, brother, his wife, and their girls visited during the day on a couple of the days.  Then, a few days later, my cousin and her family came for a night with their kids.  And then another cousin with her kids came for one afternoon and evening.  I believe it was the awesome location and not necessarily us that drew so many people to visit:)  Regardless, "O" was thrilled with so much activity and people to socialize with.  

Our family took a trip to Barcelona, Spain in April 2012.  It was Blaine and O's first time out of the country.  We stayed with my friend, Laura, and her husband and daughter for part of the time.  The other half of the week we stayed in a hotel in the center of the city.  It was a blast!  We are already trying to plan our next trip back.