January

After getting back from Idaho, we had another month with Stephen home on the weekends! (I could get used to that!) Uriah and I both celebrated birthdays - mine with a trip to the beach and his a trip to the zoo. Lots of play dates and time spent outside between the rain storms and a visit from Sherri to top it all off!

 ^^ Rainy day courtyard play! ^^

 ^^ New jammies for these two - dinosaurs and rescue vehicles! Pajamas are my favorite things to buy for the kids! ^^

 ^^ Rainy day play dates with friends who have much cooler toys than we do! An indoor bounce house?! The kids were thrilled! ^^

 ^^ Ezra and I got to make a Target run, just us girls. The whole way there in the car she quietly repeated to herself, "I go Target! Just girls!" I don't know if I should be proud or worried! ^^

 ^^ Birthday morning snuggling in bed! This selfie was taken and sent to my sister who was with my dad (bright and early in the hospital waiting to have a procedure done) and sending us early morning selfies! ^^

 ^^ Afternoon walk to the Arboretum and cactus garden! Uriah will take any excuse to ride his bike and I will take any excuse to use my new stroller (which Ezra was temporarily boycotting) But man, what a view! All the heart eyes for that sweet family of mine! ^^

 ^^ Uriah's birthday card to me! Ahh! I teared up! I love when he draws people! ^^

 ^^ My (extremely messy and delicious) chocolate cake! The middle two (!!) layers of frosting are a nutella frosting and the top frosting a fudge-y chocolate frosting that hardened ...Stephen did good! And clearly, Ezra approved! ^^

 ^^ No birthday wishes on candles could ever come close to bringing me this much joy! ^^

 ^^ Friday morning park date before celebrating "Friday Pizza Movie Night!" With the Appel clan, of course ;) ^^

^^ We spent a cold Saturday afternoon at the beach, leaving just as the sun was setting. Cold or not, it was still gorgeous and still (and always!) my very favorite place to spend my time. ^^

 ^^ That same Saturday night, what I thought was a knock on the door from DoorDash bringing me my Jeffery's Hamburger was really this sweet, beautiful group of ladies waiting to take me out to dinner...! Nicki had planned the whole thing and arranged it with Stephen - I had absolutely no idea and was both completely surprised and truly touched. I got to sit around a table with friends, talking all things girly and mom, sipping mango margaritas and eating delicious tacos, all while my husband was tucking my little terrors into bed without me... Happy birthday to me! ^^

 ^^ A not completely mom approved activity in the parking lot next door... ^^

 ^^ Church going sweetie pies! ^^

 ^^ Book worm! I love that my kiddos can sit and flip pages for minutes on end. I really hope that love for reading stays with them as they grow! ^^

 ^^ We bailed on school one morning and joined another Allyson and her kiddos at the California Academy of Sciences up in San Fransisco. It was a beautiful day and a super fun experience for the kids! My favorite was listening to Ezra find and excitedly point out every "Dory fish" in the aquarium - "Nother Dory! Oh! Nother Dory!" ^^

 ^^ Boys, boys, boys! Ezra was a little outnumbered at this particular play date! ^^

 ^^ On this particular morning, I woke up to Ezra and horses. Not a bad view, if you ask me ^^

 ^^ On the 28th we got to celebrate Uriah with all his friends! Baba, being the true guest of honor ;) We felt so loved being able to gather with all of our friends who took time out of their day to spoil Uriah with play, praise, presents and love! We couldn't have asked for better weather, either! It was such a joy to have a break from the rain and watch our sweet little boy run wild with his friends in the sunshine! ^^

 ^^ With Sherri in town, Stephen and I were able to sneak away for a little date! ...Even if it was just to Costco ;) ^^

 ^^ We let the kiddos skip nap on Sunday and headed out for a hike after church. It was chilly and green and beautiful and refreshing and fun and...! We found lots and lots of salamanders (surprising!), zero banana slugs, threw endless amounts of rocks in the water, created a dam, ventured onto an island and climbed boulders. Success! ^^

^^ Uriah requested that we go to the zoo on his birthday, so that's just what we did! The weather was perfect for it and the hippo even came out of the water to say hi! We scored the jackpot with that birthday boy I tell 'ya... He is as every bit as stubborn as I am but easily twice as silly and sweet! And you can't forget handsome! We had pizza with pepperoni and olives and strawberries for dinner and chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate sprinkles and chocolate ice cream with chocolate sprinkles for dessert, all per Uriah's request ;) ^^