Bailey and Raif Having Fun

This is in the corner of our living room. Bailey built a "bunny hole" for Raif and her. Raif had the top bunk and Bailey the bottom. Raif's bunk is on top of their toy chest. I'm not sure if Raif would ever do this on his own, I'm sure his big sister talked him into it.

Swim Lessons

I rarely talk about the kids swim lessons, and I think I only have one other video of Bailey at swim and no pictures of Raif. Swim lessons have been tough for us, at least with Raif. Bailey has been making tons of progress, she is now at the point where she can swim on her own, but is still lacking confidence. Raif, in a year of swim lessons, has made little progress. He battles each week with his instructor, and has such a hard time calming down.

It gets frustrating watching other children progress, while your child struggles each and every week. We are such huge water people, constantly out on our boat or hanging out at the bay. It's just one of those things. Nothing you can do about it, your kids are going to get it when they get it. Colby was the same way when he was a child, his mother said he hated the water, and now look at him! If he could take a pill to grow gills I think he would.

This week at swim lessons Bailey made me proud. She went on the slide, twice! She will do almost anything once, but to ask to do it again was pretty huge. Raif calmed down for about 2 minutes, which was huge for him. We're getting there, slowly, but we're doing it! If you have these same issues, know you're not alone. Kids grow at their own pace, figure things out when they're good and ready. All that you can do it give them the opportunity to grow, learn and experience. The rest is up to them. Probably one of the hardest things parents have to accept.

Swimming on her back
He looks pretty calm, right?

Not kicking his feet, huge for him!

Strawberry Picking at Tanaka Farms

My neighbor Anne and I packed up the 5 kids and headed over to Tanaka Farms for strawberry picking. It was perfect weather and was not overly hot. The kids had a great time and this year Bailey tried even more of the vegetables along our tractor ride. This is such a great little outing and doesn't take up too much time, but the kids seem inspired to try new things. We missed out last year on the watermelon ride, but hope to go on it this year in July/August.

Sunglass kids!
On the tractor ride.

A view of the fields

Samuel enjoying the ride

Out in the fields

Being silly!

Vicki and Annabelle

4 out of the 5, not bad!

Charlie Dog and Roxy the Squirrel

Mom and Dad,

Here is a video of Charlie dog and Roxy the squirrel. For those of you who are also reading this, my mom and dad have a bird feeder that has also been feeding two squirrels, one they named Roxy. She is very sassy. While my parents are gone, our neighbors are staying there while their house is being renovated.

Enjoy Mom and Dad!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! I hope everyone had a fun day. Here are our adventures from the morning!

Easter brunch at the Ireland's

The kids ready for the egg hunt

Our cool celebrities with sunglasses from their Easter baskets

So you know, slugs are attracted to the vinegar in the egg dye

Raif looking at the bunny prints, thank you Andrea for such a great idea!

Bailey hunting for eggs

Checking out the bunny prints

Bailey trying to figure out how the bunny prints were made. Colby was knocking my artistic ability saying they looked more like a bear came for a visit!

Bailey woke up about 2 hours before Raif, so she was very eager to show him everything in his Easter basket.

Our celebrity, she asked for a pen to sign autographs

Easter Egg Dyeing

Last night we had pizza and egg dyeing night. This is the first year we have done this on our own. My mom and dad are cruising to Russia and Kelly, Eli and the girls opted out :( But, we still had tons of fun and even carried on our long tradition of dyeing an egg for our dog who died about 30 years ago.

My dad always makes Charlie dog an expletive egg, I chose the high road but Colby called him an SOB, that one's for you, dad.
Raif and me

Colby crowned himself the king of egg dyeing, Congratulations Colby! My Grandma Donna used to be Queen of egg dyeing, I guess she passed the crown to Colby!

Bailey and her egg

Raif had just licked the egg, not so good, huh?

He is not a very messy kid for 2!

The kids and their creations.

"Rockin' Out"

It's always funny when you see your child do something that you never even knew they knew existed. The other day Bailey and I were listening to some music on tv and Raif starting doing this air guitar thing. We kept egging him on to do more of his "rockin' out" and he obliged. I know I went overkill on the videos, but grandma and grandpa are away to Russia for a month so they will get a kick of watching this on their cruise.

Early Easter Brunch

My mom and dad are leaving for Russia on Wednesday, so we had an early Easter brunch this Sunday. These are probably the worst pictures ever, no one was in a picture taking mood. But, nevertheless, we had a great time and the brunch was delicious. I thought I was going to get away with only having one egg hunt, but at the request of Lexy we had an early egg hunt. Jaymee wasn't as thrilled as Lexy, but she still had fun!

On your mark, get set, GO! Bailey took a break from egg hunting for a picture.

Raif was very excited every time he found an egg

Not quite as thrilled as Raif!

Jaymee looks like she just woke up, oh wait, she did!

Horrible picture, cute bunny ears.

Randoms...

And when I say random, this is the most random post ever. I just synced my iphone to my computer and had some random pictures. I had a chemical peel on Monday and have pretty much been home bound the entire week. It was a bit more invasive than anticipated, so I've been keeping myself busy with random things. Also, I shoved every picture into one post that I had left over on my camera.

This is day 2 or 3 of the chemical peel, it actually got worse after this.

Bows I've been making for Bailey to pass some of the time.

Bailey wearing all of the bows I made...at the same time. Bailey got her recital costume on Tuesday, it's ADORABLE!

Picture from Curtis' birthday, Colby and he wore matching jackets :)

Bailey at dance class, still loving it!

Raif had to wear a hat a few weeks ago, so cute!

Bailey shopping at the grocery store with me, I love these little carts.

Bailey at swim class. Her normal instructor was not there, and the new guy got her to go off the slide. It's a fast video, but she did it!

A Visit with the Easter Bunny

My mom and I headed over to South Coast Plaza to visit the "Easter Bunny." They have this mechanical bunny that I thought would be less scary for Raif, since I've had my picture taken with Santa Clause for the last two years. Of course, I was wrong and Raif hated it. Here are a few pictures from our time there.

This was the best picture of him not crying. Raif's look of, "what is this thing?"

Raif really not happy. Bailey was trying her best to help her little brother out, but it wasn't working.

B.E.B.=Before Easter Bunny

Raif is happy.

South Coast does a great job with spring time fun

Not sure what this face was

Bailey has no problem with hamming it up for the camera

Carousel ride, a must. When Raif first got on it he had forgotten what it was and started crying. I held my ground and made him ride it...of course he was all smiles after it started.

Grandma and Bailey