Sleepy.

Can you even imagine......



Sleeping on the coffee table?

Bakersfield, February 2009

I love taking pictures in her frontyard. They always turn out so timeless....

We were off to visit Aunt Louise & Uncle Carl last week. Louise picked us up in LA and we had lunch at the Groves, Farmers Market (one of my favorite places). Then we were off to B-Field to cram in all my other favorites: Smith's, Dewars, Sweet Surrender, WoolGrowers. Detecting a theme....All about me? Sort of, but really it was for the kids. Emily, Billy and Abi got to spend some time with their Cali cousins Chloe and Gwen and their Great-Grandparents and be kings of Aunt Louise's castle for a week. They had a blast and I should have taken more pictures, but I didn't.

We inflated a tall queen sized air mattress for them to sleep on (in front of a TV, you do what you have to when it comes to a quiet bedtime in a strange place!). Only the mattress apparently had a slow leak and at some point in the night I noticed Emi climbed into bed with me. I glanced down at Billy and realized the mattress had lost a significant amount of air and had swallowed poor Billy! He was buried in the middle of the partially deflated bed and nearly invisible to anyone standing over him. So, I figured the right thing to do would be to go lay down there on the floor with him and my weight would displace enough air to bounce him back to the surface....Genius, considering it was sometime in the middle of the night and it would have made WAY more sense to just put him in my perfectly comfy bed with Emi and we all could have a decent nights sleep! Should have taken a picture of that scene. It was reminiscent of when Billy rolled off the back side of his bed in the night and all you could see were his hands in the air "I'm stuck."

The rest of the trip went something like that, really well, but kind of chaotic. We went to services at Aunt Louise & Uncle Carl's rockin' church on Sunday. Emi, Billy and Chloe were turned into three little piggies at their class and Abi got a sweet thank you note from her class. What is to be noted here is that I dropped my kids with complete strangers at church we don't normally attend and didn't get paged to come retrieve any of them!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

On Tuesday Aunt Louise treated all the girls (and Billy) to a day of pampering. They got to go get their hair curled at Avery's salon and all dressed up in new clothes for a photo shoot that afternoon. In spite of how crazy it can be to take 5 kids anywhere add to that a photographer and the pressure of perceived happiness and it's enough to make anybody crack. The kids did great though and we actually got some good pictures and fabulous memories from it. Notice what serious business being beautiful is to the girls....then take note of Billy's face!

Abi, wondering if she was ever going to get her turn to be fancy....

Then, not so sure she wanted it afterall!

Hard to tell in this small of a picture, but he is grinning from ear to ear.

We had a great time the rest of the week, we baked, we shopped, we ate! We had a tea party for the girls with my Great Grandma's china on the front porch. Pinkies up! On Friday Aunt Louise drove us into LA, to Mom (Grandma Trisha), and we had lunch and did just a bit more shopping....Then we were off. Homeward Bound.

Thanks for the hospitality. We had a great time!

Baby it's Cold!

Our Destination.

Abi - Absolutely devestated we would bring her to such a place.



One Giant snow angel!

We went on a whim to play in the snow....Sounds like fun, right? It was! We had a great time even though it sort of turned into a three-hour tour. From here in the valley you could see beautiful snow capped mountains all around you. So we figured, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, how far could it be? As it turns out, very far. By the time all was said and done and we were on our way it was after 3. We started driving and driving and, well, you get the point. The poor kids kept screaming out the window "snow!" everytime we passed even the slightest accumulation on the ground. And pass them we did! It was everywhere in very small north-facing amounts, but nothing big enough to play in. We got all the way to Flagstaff going "just up here kids". When we did finally get there though all was right with the world, at least for everyone but Abi. She is a city girl through and through it seems. As I mentioned in the salon flash she does: small dogs, shoes, trips to the salon (and the beach), but NOT: snow, wilderness or as the 60 Jamboree campers learned last year...tents! It was fun though and the kids were great considering I had them bundled up like little voodoo dolls, 3 pairs of everything on, and that was just in the car before jackets and hats! HA! Poor kids....

Abi - Relieved we finally returned her to the safety of the car.

Billy with an icy surprise. Isn't it the worst when the snow works its way into your clothes!

An amazing sunset for the ride home....

Abigail's 1st Haircut

So my little Squishy went and had her very first haircut last Wednesday, February 4, 2009. She is just so darn cute! She loved it. Completely surprising because she doesn't really love a whole lot of things, especially new things (with a few exceptions that someday I plan to chronicle on this blog....oh time). However, the constant flow of lollipops and bubbles being blown directly in the poor girl's face might have had something to do with it....Can you say "center of attention please." I suppose we'll see next time we go for "primping". She loved it though, so I have decided that she is my city girl for sure. Now it is official. She has a hysterical love for: shoes, tiny dogs and now trips to the salon! Oh, daaddyyy dearest! Emi of course had to have her hair done as well. She decided to cut it short, back to her shoulders, (this of course could have nothing to do with the fact that I have been trying for a month now to learn to french braid her hair).

Weekend at the Ranch

The last weekend in January we made a trip up to the ranch. We had some amazing family bonding time as is always to be found when you're up there. The weather was cold and nearly perfect. Chilly enough (okay downright cold enough) to have a fire going at night and warm enough in the sun to not need a coat. The new fence looks great 2D Ranch, I think it has a certain cowboy appeal....!

Grandpa James was working at a ranch down the road, Rose Creek. So, he and Grandma were able to come up and spend a couple nights with us and we were able to go down and visit Saturday for a nature walk and a fabulous picnic by the creek! The kids and grown-ups all had a great time! Russell Maynard even made the cut and got to come along. He was exhausted, as you can see....squeezed out like a piece of toothpaste across the top of the carseats.