Newport Beach

I told them I was going to take a picture and Evie immediately assumed this position.

Michael slept in his hammock on the balcony

The Ashton clan. It's hard to believe this isn't even everybody.

The Fam. Unfortunately we were missing Nate and Leah, Eric and Ashley and Tommy and Julie

most of the girl cousins and aunts

sisters!

she LOVED "It's a Small World"

this was Livi's reaction to the Winnie the Pooh ride. Some of those rides are pretty creepy.

Maddie, my mom and Maddie's friend McKenna

petting starfish

Uncle Bret

skimming is way harder than it looks!

We had a family reunion with my mom's side of the family in Newport Beach, CA a few weeks ago. We had SUCH a good time. It was seriously difficult to come back to reality. We got home Saturday evening and Sunday I felt like a zombie, I didn't feel like doing anything. I just kept looking at pictures from the week.

Our house was right off of the beach and we enjoyed many days lounging on the beach, body surfing, boogy boarding, bike riding, walking to the pier where we saw dolphins and sting rays, going to the Aquarium (amazing!) and having an overall wonderful time. I was able to fulfill one of my life long dreams of riding a tandem bike. It was awesome. We went to Disneyland one day where we met up with some dear friends. Cecilia and James used to be in our ward here in Houston but they moved to Las Vegas a year ago. They drove over from Vegas and we met up and went to dinner and then went to Disneyland together. We sure miss them!

We shared a beach house with my Aunt Cami's family and had a blast hanging out with them. There were about 20 people crammed into a 4 bedroom house, but somehow it never felt cramped. Our days were spent at the beach and at night we would all eat together and have feats of strength, watch movies or go out. I can't even begin to express how much I enjoyed having all of those hands around to help with my kids. I don't think I held Jack for longer than 10 minutes at a time and Livi had a blast playing with her cousins. This week really made me wish we lived closer to family. It made me so sad to know that Livi and Jack won't get to see everybody again for a while. Family really is the greatest.

This was an extremely condensed version of a very wonderful week!

In order to try and beat the heat the last few days we've been heading out with our friends Bridgette, Ty and Devin. The kids love the fountains at Discovery Green, even though it took Livi a few trips to actually play in the water. We went to Hermann Park a few days ago to feed the ducks. Livi didn't like it if the ducks got too close so she stayed near Bridgette or me the whole time. As we were sitting on a bench eating snacks this seriously insane squirrel kept harassing us. It scratched Ty on the hand and then kept following us around. The kids were standing on the bench because it was looking at them like it was going to take a bite. It felt like when all the birds start attacking people in Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" That squirrel was out for blood.

3 years 4 Months

Jack had his 4 month check up yesterday and Livi had her 3 year.

Jack is:

18lbs 12 oz-95%

27"-95%

Livi is:

33lbs-70%

49"-75%

They had Livi get in a little purple gown and she loved it. She was sitting on the table while the Dr was typing in some notes and she whispers to me, "mommy, this is so comfortable." Oh! That girl cracks me up.

Since we moved downtown we have a different pediatrician than the one Livi has used since she was born, and I think I'm going to keep looking. I'm pretty sure this pediatrician doesn't have kids and doesn't even really like them. She's good with babies, but older kids...not so much. Anytime Livi does anything besides sit in her chair she (the dr.) gets all nervous and says, "sweetie, sweetie, lets not do that." For example, Livi was drumming her fingers on the desk and the dr said that exact sentence, then she was standing on the scale, again the dr pipes in and tells her to stop because she doesn't want her to break the scale. Really? You think a 33 pound girl is going to break your scale? The floor has different colored block tiles and Livi was jumping from color to color and of course that prompted The Good Dr to ask her to stop because she didn't want her to hurt herself. By jumping on a flat surface? And the real kicker is that she told me to not let Livi kiss Jack or to really touch him. What the?! Little does she know that Livi basically sticks Jacks head in her mouth every chance she gets. I don't think this lady has had much interaction with kids outside of her office that's for sure.

Pool Time

bathing beauty

I could literally kiss this baby all day long. I love when he wakes up from his naps and I get to squeeze him!

It has literally been over 100 degrees here the past few days, so after Phil and I did our workout this afternoon (we have been doing Insanity) we decided to hit the pool. Livi loves to swim this year and will swim by herself if she is wearing her floaties. Jack is still a little too young for me to feel comfortable taking him in the water so Phil and I took turns hanging out with him on the side. We finally were able to capture a few of his intoxicating smiles. I think the best word to describe him would be: jolly. Both he and Livi make me so happy. I can't help but look at them and feel so blessed.

Livi is getting way too smart for her britches. She loves to scream right as Jack is falling asleep, obviously to try and wake him up. The other day we were driving and she did just that so I told her when we got home she was going into time out for 5 minutes. She got upset and said, "no 3 minutes!" I told her I wasn't going to argue about it with her and it was 5 minutes so she said, "okay, 4 minutes!" I had to turn my head and look out the window so she wouldn't see me on the verge of laughter. How in the world does she know that 4 is more than 3 but less than 5?! Do 3 year olds have that kind of spatial understanding? One of Phil's classes this semester is basically how to negotiate, and I think he must be teaching her some tricks when I'm not around. I almost wanted to concede and let her have her 4 minute time out, purely for being so stinking cute, but I left it at 5. I think she may give me a run for my money in the years to come.

Catch Up

Jack's before hair

after the buzz

So much has happened over the past few months it would take me weeks to properly catch up so I'm just going to do a brief synopsis:

Jack is almost 4 months old and he is one big fella. He weighed over 14 pounds at his 2 month check up and I'm sure he weighs at least 17 now. He is wearing 9-12 month clothes. I can't get enough of him. I love his chubby cheeks and the way he smells and his never ending rolls. He is the happiest baby I've ever seen. He will smile at anyone or anything and his laugh is infectious. We gave him his first hair cut a few weeks ago. His hair was falling out and he was left with some rockin' bangs so we buzzed it all off. He may actually have light hair....

Livi is equally obsessed with Jack. She is always kissing him and draping herself all over him. She is constantly saying, "I love Jack so much!" "I love kissing him!" "He is so adorable!" "His head is so soft!" She basically worships the ground he walks on. The other day she said he was her best friend and it made my heart melt. One of my favorite things is when we ask her what she's doing and she always replies, "anything" (instead of nothing.) Livi also loves talking to herself and her imaginary friends. She has such an incredible imagination, I love listening to her when she thinks I'm not paying attention. She celebrated her 3rd birthday on May 17. We had a few friends over for cake and ice cream and games.

We had Jack's baby blessing on May 1 (my 29th birthday as well). My Dad and Kathleen as well as Phil's parents, grandma and brother all came to celebrate. It was one of the best birthday's ever. The blessing was wonderful, Phil did a beautiful job. Jack looked adorable in his little blessing outfit, the same one that my little brother Roly was blessed in many years ago.

Phil graduated from UT Austin a few weeks ago with his MBA!!! He technically still has class until July but this semester is cake compared to the past two years. We went up to Austin for the ceremony and it was wonderful (but really long). When Phil walked in with all of the graduates I got quite emotional. I was so incredibly proud of him. His drive and determination to be the best he can be at everything constantly amazes me. He received the Dean's award for Leadership and Service...a HUGE honor. We had fun exploring Austin, but I must say I prefer Houston. I think if you drink and are really into clubs you will think Austin is heaven on earth.

Obviously there is so much more that I am leaving out, but these are a few of the highlights. I am determined to be better at recording our goings on. Especially since Livi and Jack change so much so often, I know that there are so many things I won't remember when they're older.