Taelor's 5 {F.I.V.E}

Really was it already 5 years ago that we brought our precious little baby girl home who forever changed our lives?!? FIVE is such a big number for me, it's a whole hand, it's the age kindergarten will start, it's the age I feel they aren't toddlers anymore, they are actually "kids". Well my sweet princess is 5 and we brought in New Year's Eve with a great party for her. A few days before she invited her 3 girlfriends to Downtown Disney Studio 365 for a little makeover. It was so cute seeing these little girls get so pampered. I love having a New Year's Eve baby, it's a fun day, a day/evening everyone in the world celebrates, so what is there not to love about a New Year's Eve birthday! Taelor is one sweet little girl with the most timid, gentle, kind, loving heart. She adores her brother, LOVES Jesus, sings, dances, laughs, smiles, is girlie, plays dress up, loves to read, play with dolls, tea parties and anything sweet! This past year she learned to write her name, she can spell and write mommy and daddy as her first words, she played soccer and loved it and learned ballet. She is my precious love who I look forward to seeing grow this year (even though secretly I want her to stay young and innocent her whole life).  I love you my baby girl!

Thanksgiving to Christmas...

This Thanksgiving I hosted the hubby's family at our house. It was great to be the host with of course the help of my wonderful Mother in love :) The kids enjoyed preparing the food as you can see they were quite busy cutting ONE potato each! As for the turkey, well yeah that is a different story, let's just say I will have to leave the "prepping" of a turkey in the hands of my hubby or mother in love! Turkey and vegetarian just don't go together! All in all it was a great Thanksgiving!

The Christmas season went by in a flash. The kids were busy rehearsing each week for our church's choir in which my sweet little girl had a solo in and she did very well! We were busy each day doing and learning fun things for Christmas. We had our annual trip to see the Fashion Island Christmas tree and a visit with Santa. Our Elf on the Shelf was named Chippy and the kids enjoyed having him with us all month long. We wrote letters and mailed them to Santa, we baked cookies, read Christmas books that were wrapped under the tree each night, made lots of crafts, watched Christmas movies- Elf on the Shelf about 100 times, Polar Express, Home Alone, Toot and Puddle Christmas and many more. Christmas morning was priceless to see the looks on our kids faces when they saw their new bikes and all the other gifts Santa had left, we lounged around in our jammies till 2pm, until we had to head out to Gamma's, it was a wonderful relaxing morning!We had a great season we really did but I am sure glad all the craziness is winding down and life if getting back to "normal" or so I think!

Now it's a new Year 2012 and we celebrated Taelor's birthday on New Year's Eve, so I will be sure to post on the fun birthday festivities too!

Catching up with the Williams....

Wow where did Fall go?? Here in a nutshell is what our busy lives have been the last few months! The beginning of September through November was Soccer for Taelor and she loved it! She had a blast learning how to play and practice all her drills with real Brits! Yep it was a British League she was playing with and they did a great job at teaching these little ones the basics of soccer. She can't wait to play again and Ethan is excited to try his little feet at soccer next year too!

October was full of fun things to do for Halloween. Taelor and I went on her school field trip to Tanaka farms where we did the hay ride, corn maze, picked our own veggies and pumpkin. It was a lot of fun, we missed not having Ethan and Daddy there but it was still fun to see her with all her classmates. A week later we all went as a family and had a blast. I really love Tanaka Farms, it's a great tradition we do every year.

November brought Daddy's birthday (it was a big one but I won't mention the number :) We had a great time celebrating just the 4 of us, just the way daddy wanted it to be. Happy Birthday babe!

Thanksgiving has come and gone but that will be a post later this week....I promise and then I will share my December Dailies with you too, so stay tuned!

My new blog RoseLynn Lane

I started a new blog with my sweet friend Rosette. We both share a love for crafting, baking, and being creative so we decided to start our own blog called RoseLynn Lane. Stop by for some inspiration.

Time away....

Oh I am looking forward to getting away for the weekend with some amazing ladies from my church. I look forward to this weekend all year. I come back feeling so refreshed in my faith and getting to know some great girls a little more. Ok yes I also look forward to relaxing, sleeping in and being worry free for a few days! So here's to a great weekend ahead of me!

First day of Preschool

They had us make a "Kissing Hand" picture for them with a kiss from us

And there she goes in like a big girl....

Today was Taelor's first day of preschool and she loved it! Not a tear from her....or me (surprisingly). She was so excited to start school today, especially since she thinks she is such a big girl because her classroom is at a "real" elementary school and they get to play where the kindergartners play. I can't believe this is Taelor's last year before she starts kindergarten, sad? yes! happy? yes! I am feeling both emotions, so happy that she is growing up but at the same time sad that she is not my little "baby" girl anymore, she is entering the "real" world and that somewhat frightens me but I know I have to let go and that she will be ok.  Taelor I  hope you have a wonderful year at preschool, that you are a sponge for learning, that you make new friends and that you dream big dreams but most of all have FUN! We love you and are so proud of you!

Starbucks Pumpkin Spiced Latte

Awe....when I got to work this morning this was on my desk in a Starbucks cup! A little taste of FALL in a cup....and it was also the first day (for this soon to be season) that I wore my boots today, I cannot wait for Fall to be here!!!! I work with such a great group of people but my buyer really knows the treats I love....only because I do SO much work for him! Thank you Ken, this and the blueberry oat bar made my morning!

A snapshot in time

Do you ever just take a moment to capture your kids while they are playing? The other day while I was playing in the kids room I took a few moments to take some pictures of my kids, well just being kids. There were not posed shots (except for the few they had to do), it was them playing and being in the moment. I went around the room and took a few photos of their dresser and their favorite stuffed animals. I want to be able to look back in years from now and remember what a day in the life of my kids was. I mean don't get me wrong I take thousands of pictures on a monthly basis but they are usually when we are out doing something or at a special event, rarely do I capture them in these kind of moments, Taelor a 4 year old and Ethan a 3 year old! I will cherish these forever!

Taelor 4 Years Old

(Don't ask why she was in a bathing suit!?!)

Ethan 3 years old

Forth of July

What a fun day Forth of July was! We started our day bright and early at 8 am and headed down to Huntington Beach to my cousin Dawn and Manuel's house. They live only a few blocks from the beach and it was perfect. We headed to Main Street for the parade and WOW was is so BUSY down there, fortunately they have friends that live on Main Street and blocked off an area for all of us, so we had front row seats to the parade. The kids loved every moment of it and especially loved being with their cousins! After the parade we headed back to the house for lunch and then walked to the beach for a few hours. Afterwards we BBQ'd back at the house and then at night we walked back to the beach for the fireworks! It was a perfect day......until we needed to leave! It took us about 45 min just to get around the block, that is how crazy it was down there. The kids were wiped out and so were we but nothing beats spending time with your family and having a great time!

Sunsets

We love sunsets and so do our kids! Taelor asks if we can go watch the sunset all the time! Saul and I have been going to Look Out Point on top of Corona Del Mar beach for 13 years now (wow, yes 13 years) and we love this spot! We pack a picnic dinner and bring a blanket and just enjoy the free beauty of the sunset and ocean. The kids love to watch the boats go by and see the big waves across the way at the Wedge. Every time we go here it reminds me of when Saul and I first started dating, we have watched many sunsets here and we love that we can share this love with our kids and that they are loving it too!