A Day in the Woods

Every since my husband and I seen the movie Rise Planet of the Apes we have been wanting to go to Muir Woods. Muir Woods is where a couple of scenes took place in the movie, including the last one. Do you remember the famous line "Ceasar is home"? It was said at Muir Woods. Muir Woods is only about 1.5 hours from our home. We had an open Saturday last Saturday, so we called up my Sister and made it happen!

This is what I thought I was wearing:

Purple Shirt: B.Arden

White Pants: UnionBay

Purple shoes: Nike Free

You take a risk wearing white pants as a woman, mother, and human being. To make a long story short I did not even make it to the truck with those white pants on my legs.

What I really Wore:

Jeans:Guess

It was a beautiful from the beginning and entrance!

It was so nice experiencing it with my Sis and her boyfriend.

The kids were quite impressed too. They were just pointing at all the big beautiful trees!

Girl would have loved to lead us where ever she wanted to go & be our tour guide.

I kept on telling myself God could of given us anything but he chose AMAZING!

Of course we could not leave without getting some cute pictures of the kiddos!

Girl did not want TiTi(what they call my Sisters)to let her go...smart Girl!

I love the way Boy & Girl love on each other. So many special moments like this one.

I also love seeing life through their little eyes.

Watching Mr. Wonderful father never gets old too!

It's always a job to get our family of 4 in 1 picture. It's getting harder and harder to get both of them to look up at the camera & at the same time. I had to put Boy's shoe up for him to look up. I call it a Mommy trick.

This owl was at the exit to wish us a good night and say goodbye.

Our first X on the Summer List and it was a lovely X to pen in! Onto the next on the list....

2012 Summer List

Summer is officially here and I feel like it is already going by so fast. These beautiful summer days is an excuse to stay outside and make memories with the family. I want to be proactive so that I will not have any regrets when these sunny days are long gone. I showed my husband the Summer list and he said it looked very realistic & let the x-ing begin! This last Saturday we placed our first x in a box!

The Boy & The Chick

I am still doting over the awesome time we had visiting my Dad & family in Texas! A couple of our highlights was seeing the kids get excited about the animals on my family's Ranch! JJ was particularly fond of a little chick! This little chick brought a lot of expressions out of my son, similar to his 1st Shower! When going through some of the pictures I could not help but smile and even laugh out loud when I came to these. Here they are and my thoughts of what my Son trying to communicate:

What? No big deal it's just a chick Mommy.

I'll show you it's no big deal and get distracted by something else.

See I can multitask too!

Alright back to focusing on the bird. Maybe I will pray for the chicky to have a prosperous life.

Now I will sing to the chicky my favorite song. Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you....

Mom I have a question: Can we take Chicky home?

Please, I will love him like my own!

The boy was having a grand ole time! The chick on the other hand was chirping pretty loud. The boy not only has strong expressions but also a strong grip. I had to tell my brothers to take the chick away from the boy. The boy did not mind he just moved onto the next animal....

My 2 Super Heroes

It was not until I went to Junior High that I realized that my Daddy was not a real Super Hero. That just how amazing this little Girl thought her Daddy was in life. I thought that there was nothing to hard for him to fix or do in life.

(That's me in the lower right, at the age of 2 with my older Sis and my 1st Super Hero)

On this day I realize that he is still a super hero. He is totally a super Man & Dad. My Daddy played a strong role in the choice of my husband. I saw similarities in my husband before we were married. Their two hearts to love & serve people,  family, and God resembles each other. At times I still tell my husband that he reminds me of my Daddy.

On this day I want to say thank you Daddy! You set the super bar high. You helped me choose a Hero  for my kids!

Happy Fathers Day to my 2 Super Heroes!

I sent my Super Daddy's gift through the mail to Texas!

This is what I will be presenting to my Super Baby Daddy(when he wakes up,letting him sleep in this morning):

I thank him for your 31 years!

Who would have ever thought that I would be doting over this picture of a cute white baby boy? 31 years ago my husband was born on this day. His Mother's bag of water broke early and he was born 2 months premature & weighing only 3lbs. The devil has been out to get him since day one and Wes has been a fighter from the beginning. The devil knew that he would not be an ordinary man. He is an amazing man of God. 

When I met my husband in college I longed to be a female version of him, no joke. I have never met someone with such a big heart. A person who loves and respects everyone that comes into his presence. A man that always wants to do the right thing ,even when it is the hardest. An encourager, giver, fighter, and minister are a few things that his friends will call him. I call him the biggest blessing in my life. On this day I am thankful that God created someone so special as you, Wesley Walker Bell! Happy Birthday Mr. Wonderful!!!

Traveling with Toddlers

Before having kids I never realized the fear that came with traveling with kids. I totally took for granted the easiness of traveling solo or just with my husband.

As stated in previous blog posts we traveled to Texas last month. We have taken road trips as a family of four but this was our first time flying as a family.

We prepared traveling bags with snacks, milk, juice, plenty of wipes &diapers, emergency clothes, toys and of course the IPad. We prepared our hearts and prayed to God about the adventurous traveling experience we were about to endure.

I do believe that God hears and answers prayers.

Despite, it was not the perfect traveling experience. We usually privately grade our kids on their behavior. We both agreed that JJ got an A- and that JoJo got a C for traveling.

Yes, we were the parents with the one year old screaming on the back of the plane. We got plenty of stares. We in return just smiled back. We both realized that we could only do what we could do. Believe me, we tried all of our tricks.

We loved on our child and understood that she was a restless baby whose ears probably were in discomfort. Or maybe she was being fussy for no reason? Who will ever really know.

I do know that we will probably never see any of those passengers again and that our traveling adventure was worth all the memories that were created in Texas....

Tips for Parents Traveling with Toddlers:

* Pay for a straight through flight if you can

* Always carry spare clothes, accidents seem to always happen

* Pack plenty of wipes and hand sanitizer

* Dress the kids in clothes that are easy to take off for diaper changing

*A bottle and sippy cup cooler is worth every penny

*If you have the option of an umbrella stroller go with it

*Packing a sack lunch for kids would be helpful, airport food tends to not always be kid friendly

*Realize that somethings are just out of your control, go with the flow with a smile

*Have fun with your family because it will just be a memory one day

* If your child is kicking a fellow passengers chair please intervene( this one was via my BF)

Tips for passengers :

* Its just a couple of hours of your life, sharing a plane with toddlers

* If parents had a switch to turn off the kids whinnying, crying, yelling, and whatever else annoys you (and them)they would use it

* Remember that once you had kids too or maybe in the future you will

* Continual looks at the parent or child when they are "bothering" you does not at all help the situation unless they are physically bothering you(i.e. kicking your chair)

*You changing your seat to assist a family is such a great gift

* A smile goes a long way

InstaFriday

Insta Friday! Pictures taken with my camera phone throughout the week!

Five years into the marriage and we still love holding hands in the car!

Had mandatory computer class with fellow nurses. We went out to eat at this nice restaurant!

This french onion soup was part of my meal!

Breakfast with the family never gets old!

One of our cleanest meals!!!

This boy can build a tower out of anything!!!

Ready for Childrens Church

Sunday lunch on a patio

Our next generation...

Our next generation sleeping:)