beach & ice cream

yesterday amy and i packed up all of our girls and headed out to ocean beach.  it was so great to catch up, get some fresh air & sunshine, and listen to the waves.  i know this picture doesn’t look like we’re at the beach but if the camera was facing the other way you would see the pacific.  anabelle still doesn’t care for the sand so we just hung out on the grass.

i had told anabelle the day before that we were going to go to the beach and get some ice cream.  she hadn’t had ice cream before and didn’t really know what it was, but she was excited!  i kept hearing her say ‘beach ice cream!’

these two girls make my heart happy!

i loved getting to watch anabelle just wander around barefoot in the grass, looking at the birds, people practicing yoga, homeless people sleeping under the tree, bicycles, skateboards, joggers, surfers, all sorts!

the open space was so good for her.

oh my cutie girl!

i miss my anabelle lately.
with chris gone, my days are mighty full and it’s tricky to find quality one-on-one time with her.  plus, i’m not ready to be very far from emilymae quite yet. 
sorry, pumpkin.  i promise we’ll figure out a date soon, just you and me.

all the girls just relaxing.

hello there, millie bug.

hi miss olivia.

my amazing littles!  i am so in love.

enjoying her little picnic

buddies

anabelle wanted to lay with the babies too.

a happy momma. 
amy, i’m so proud of you and your strong growing o!

enjoying some time with my littlest one.

and now for the ice cream!

sure, go ahead.  say it.
we are the lame parents who didn’t give their kid an ice cream cone until she was over two
and when we finally did we gave her vanilla.  double lame.

just for the record, it’s homemade ice cream and we could see the pacific ocean from our seats. 
i’m sure there are plenty of points there, right?!

she was so excited to get it but wasn’t quite sure what to do with it once i handed it over to her.

she would touch it to her lips, laugh, and say ‘cold!’

i couldn’t really get her to lick it so we opted for a bowl and spoon.

the cone was a big hit.

she didn’t seem super impressed and i’m quite confident she’s not hooked (not yet).  it sure was a fun outing though and so great for all of us to get out of the house and go on a little adventure.

what shall we do next?! 

more faces

i was able to catch a few more cutie faces from my littlest one

a little quiet time is always helpful

crossfit

tomorrow is my first day back to crossfit. 
hope my body likes it.  hope the girls like it.  hope i’m not too sore on wednesday.

i’ve got my new ‘buff momma’ kicks all ready to go!

anabelle wanted to break them in for me

striped dress makeover

once there was a blue striped dress . . .

                   

and then there was a new baby.

everyone cheered!

not long after, grandma came to visit.  she’s a crafty one and filled with love. 
all of that together lead to this:

the heart is actually traced from my washable nursing pads
(bamboobies – they’re awesome!)

thanks, mom, for creating this little treasure!

. . . and the striped dress lives on.

papa’s helmet

chris was home extra early on friday so that he could get ready for his trip to key west the next morning.  he says it’s an ‘instructor exchange’ with the squadrons down there.  sounds pretty sneaky to me, ha!  there should be lots of flying so he will no doubt be lots of happy.

chris had to bring home all of his flight gear for his trip and anabelle so was excited to see him carrying that huge green bag into the living room.  she loves helmets so chris let her try his on.  it was a pretty funny show watching the two of them.

  

it was great to see how much chris was enjoying it too

  

whoa, this thing is heavy!

     

these two are my favorite, especially since you can see emilymae snoozing in the background.

  

all done with the helmet – time for the gloves

  

thanks, papa.  that was fun!
(notice how she got him to put on everything)