Happy Birthday!!

WOW!!! What a great birthday bash we had and Aria had a great time with her friends, pinatas, cake and new presents. She is officially the big 3 now and is certainly becoming such a big girl. I am so glad we made it through with no toddler meltdowns and lots of yummy food. She is still enjoying her new school routine and this helps us keep a routine at home too which has proven to be invaluable. Daddy was gone all last week and when he was finally able to return got a cold and now I think we are all passing it around...yuck. We are looking forward to cooler weather now finally and the holidays are fast approaching (including the new baby's debut...yikes). We have yet to do anything except get a crib that is still in its box...hmmm maybe this weekend can jumpstart things. So far all Dr. appts have gone well and Aria is due for her 3 yr check up soon. Until our next post enjoy the pics....

Ketchup!!...Ok maybe more like catch up.

Phew.....I realize now why I have never really kept up with a diary. Life goes zooming by it takes effort to sit and type it out. Anyhow...without regressing too much there has been much going on since Easter when I last posted. Aria has started pre-school and seems to have adjusted well to that and ballet once a week which she loves. She is also going to be a big sister come January and we are doing what we can to get her, and us, ready for that. The only way I am actually able to write this is I have put my foot down on this whole no napping thing. She needs it (I need it) so I was fighting the battles she would give me to NOT take one and would give up. But after tons of support and frequent mommy meltdowns I decided that I can put up with 30 min. of a tantrum for her to take a nap. Lo and behold it worked today. I put her down after a morning filled with 1.5 of jumpy playhouse time and a playdate at the park for a little over and hour. It took about 20 min. but she did fall asleep and that was the point. Gold star for mommy today!

We have only taken one trip this Summer and that was to Idyllwild which we really enjoyed and aria did great trekking around so we are hoping to do a future camping trip soon. It was beautiful there and cooler so that was nice. The weather here in the desert is also starting to cool, especially the mornings getting closer to the beautiful winters here. Aria's big 3rd birthday is coming this sunday so we are gearing up for that and I have been busy with that the past couple of weeks. So I will leave there as we will be posting after the big birthday bash!

Easter Time

We are gearing up for Easter tomorrow and Aria is very excited about the Easter Bunny visiting and bringing her eggs. We had a neighborhood egg hunt in the park today and it was fun. We got some eggs and Aria played in the playground while daddy and I met more of our new neighbors.

Already to go find some eggs

Visit from the Easter bunny

Afterward we came home and got to boiling some eggs to color them. Aria did so well helping daddy drop them in the colors. I got some great video of it all.

egg dying fun

BTW....Some Major News!!!!!!!

Aria is officially potty trained!!! I have been hesitating to post in fear that she may relapse (haha) but she has been doing so great! She still needs a diaper during the night but even during outings she is not having any more accidents. We are VERY proud of our big girl!!!!

Projects

I have been working on some crafting projects that I have been wanting to do and have been trying to manage my time better to get them done. I am excited about making Aria some Summer dresses and have finished my first one of the season. Fortunately for me she absolutely loves it and did not want to take it off! They are cool and refreshing for her so she can play to her hearts content!

I have also been working on making some new pillows for our living room.

front

back

I am hoping more to come!

Easter approaching

So I am trying to get up earlier to get my own little projects done including more posting. Easter is approaching and although we have not been able to find a home church yet we are still in celebration mode. I hosted a little cooking club event at my house where some of the moms from the mom club I joined came by and brought a dish. We ate, talked and watched the kids play which was fun. Always a treat to eat and have adult time.






Then it was time to go egg hunting for the first time of the season. There are tons of egg hunts around town including one our neighborhood is sponsoring coming up this weekend. Our first was with the moms club. Aria had a great time and wanted to pick up ALL the eggs and I had to slow her down to leave some for the other kids. What a beautiful time of year. It is definitely warmer here this time of year. I remember last Easter Aria was in a warm long sleeved dress. Happy Easter everyone!

Disney Trip 2011

What an amazing trip! I hate that I am just now getting to posting this but that seems to be a trend with me. Hope I can break it. I am trying to get up sooner to have more time for things like this. Who knew being a stay at home mom would leave no time for anything else! (ha ha)This was Matt's first trip to Disney anything! (so it was kind of a big deal). Matt had a business trip here so we decided to tag along at the last second and it turned out to be the best idea ever. Even though daddy was busy during the day we made the most of our time eating and playing at great places including Downtown Disney which was right outside our hotel room. Aria had a blast and got to see many of her favorite characters at Goofy's kitchen. She rode the carousel and the "Mr. toad" ride. All in all it was a wonderful first of many trips to Disney.

Stay Tuned!!!

Surprise!!!!! Impromptu trip to Anaheim coming up!!!!!!! Come back for pics here.

Coachella Valley Preserve

What an amazing place this is. You are literally surrounded by desert BUT here are these random oasis' with these Beautiful large palm trees and ponds! Actually they are not so random. Since we are on the fault line the water comes up from under the earth and creates these beautiful areas. We hiked nearly 3 miles and Aria did so well. We only had to carry her at the very end back to the car on daddy's shoulders. Take a good look at the photo of her near one of the ponds.....it is the one she ends up falling in to....hence the change of clothes! We had a great time and got to see some beautiful flora and fauna before the weather starts getting too hot. The weather was perfect (actually a little chilly at times) and we enjoyed a great lunch underneath the canopy of one of these oasis. Until the next adventure!

Saving a bunny

On a long walk this past weekend we came across a little bunny. At first we just thought it was too young and having difficulty getting around but soon realized that it was actually injured. Now more than likely this little guy was destined to be hawk or owl food but we could not just leave it and Aria was too excited for us to just say goodbye to it so we packed it up in the stroller and tried nursing it back to health to be able to take it to the animal shelter. Here is a pic of the cute little one and we did take it to the Living Desert preserve here.