Sick...

We have had "the illness" this week. It seems the same cough/cold has been going around, as most of our friends are reporting the same symptoms. It's a nasty little cough that has gotten everyone but John in our family...although, I've been pretending that it didn't get me and it seems to be going away. ;) So we've spent the last couple of days watching movies and hanging out on the couch. There have been occasional bursts of energy, usually proceded by a mini-meltdown, but we're laying low in hopes of not ruining our weekend full of birthday festivities.

Birthdays have begun...

Birthday season has begun so the invitations have been rolling in. It seems that most of our friends had their kids between February and June so our calendar is quickly filling up with parties. Next weekend we have 3 parties, 2 on the same day. And, of course, never wanting to miss the fun, we will attend all of them. Last night was Bailey's party, so we dressed appropriately for the hat-themed event and had a lot of fun. Happy Birthday, Bailey Boots!

Taking the opportunity for a cutesy family picture.

Brenda had little visors for the kids to decorate with sparkly stickers-

Kate took this task very seriously.

Reagan and Kate modeling their finished products.

Luke was much more interested in eating than hat making.

Happy Valentine's Day...

I've never been one to really get into Valentine's Day and all the festivities, not that I'm against it or anything. But now that we have kids I thought it would be fun to celebrate the "day o'love". So this morning when everyone was awake, we gave Kate and Luke a little valentine gift from Mommy & Daddy and then went out to breakfast with friends.

Luke opened a collection of Cars books and Kate got a few Strawberry Shortcake themed items.

After breakfast, Daddy headed off to work and the kids and I met my mom and Brooklyn over at my Nana & Bapa's for a little visit before swim lessons. All 3 kids had a great time playing at the park across the street and spending time with Bapa. Grammie & Pop Pop (John's parents) met us to watch swim lessons, then came over with yet more "love treats" for everyone.

When we were up from quiet/nap time, we got to baking and made some yummy heart shaped sugar cookies for an after dinner treat. Since John worked a day shift, he was able to be home for dinner and, at the last minute, we spent the evening at the Vander Molen's house. =)

Showing off the end result.

I've trained him well.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! ♥

Santa Ynez...

This weekend we spent a couple of days in Santa Ynez with Aaron, Sarah, Reagan, and Paige. Family friends of the Irelands, the Hertzogs, have a beautiful house on a vineyard and they were kind enough to let us stay there for a fun getaway. We drove up on Friday morning, played, took in the amazing views and ran around in the backyard, fed the horses next door, did a little wine tasting, had some arts/crafts time, and made dinner at the house.

Saturday morning we headed out to Solvang to walk around and have lunch. We got some special treats, by way of hot chocolate and cookies, at one of the many danish bakeries to satisfy our sweet tooth and warm us up. On the way back to the house for naptime, we stopped by to see the miniature horses.

Paige thought they were way cool! ;)

It was a really fun weekend with friends topped off with a delicious breakfast at Paula's Pancake House in Solvang and then a nice scenic drive home on the 101. Thanks to the Irelands for the invite and the Hertzogs for the hospitality!

OC Zoo...

Our new adventure for this week was a trip to the OC Zoo at Irvine Regional Park with the "Eastman Academy". We spent some time checking out the animals, feeding some goats, eating lunch, playing on the playground, and feeding the ducks. It was a fun day with friends. Thanks, Eastmans (read: Michelle), for always coming up with fun stuff to do and inviting us to come along!

Luke has been watching his big sis a little too closely...striking that very Kate-esque model pose

Kate LOVED feeding the goats....

....Luke is more cautious and loves from afar.