Summer Play

Who says you don't ever need an umbrella in Southern California?

We visited a new park today and Sky was thrilled when it had a sprinkler area. She went in with her clothes on. She's the one with the navy shirt.

Brad and Lila watched from afar in the dryer section of the park. We also flew kites and played on the playground.

Then Ken and I went out to celebrate our 15th anniversary. We enjoyed dinner out on the town and a bit of window shopping.

Changes for The Way Family

So the really BIG news is that Lila no longer needs to wear her helmet!!! She went for an appointment today with the specialist and he scanned her head with his fancy lasers and said that she is finally within a range of "normal" for head shape. So, hooray for Lila! This will be the last of the helmet pictures on the blog.

The big change for Brad is that we finally took away his binky (pacifier). He was only using it at night but it seemed like the right time now that he's 3 years old. He's waking up a bit in the night but I'm sure, in time, he will adjust.

Ken and I will be celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary on Thursday and Ken gave me a new setting for my diamond as well as 2 sapphires around it. I used to have yellow gold but I switched to white gold and I like it so much better. This isn't the clearest picture but the ring is really beautiful! I think I'll keep him!

The cat lady. She dolled up each cat with jewelry and hair clips and asked for their picture to be taken. I think we counted 17 cats along with an assortment of other animals. And, yes, that's an echo microphone, and, yes, it is used frequently each day.

Some things don't change: Lila is such a daddy's girl!

Last night we went to the park and for a walk around the duck pond. I really love the summer nights because they're cool and everyone is laid back.

Some recent changes in our house include painting a wall in our bedroom and applying this lettering to the wall. It says "Cherish Yesterday Dream Tommorow Live Today".
Our dear friend, Joyce Sallquist from Cincinnati, gave us this lettering as a housewarming gift and I love it. Joyce, if you're reading this, THANKS! And thanks for all of the prayers that you have offered up on Lila's behalf!

Ken has also painted one of our bathrooms green. It already has a green sink, shower and toilet, all original from when the house was built in the 1950's. I guess you could say that we've decided to embrace the green (mostly because we don't have the money to do anything else). So, Ken used a really light green paint that accents the color in the room pretty well.

Outside he's planted a peach tree, 2 birds of paradise, some decorative purple grass, and 2 lowquat trees in the backyard. It's really quite a labor of love as the ground here is soooooo hard and he has spent hours out there trying to dig and plant. It looks really nice and I can't wait for the fresh peaches and lowquats!

Last weekend Sky's friend Charlise celebrated her birthday with Sky at the Build a Bear store in Downtown Disney. The girls had a great day together! Afterward we went to Charlise's house for cake and Sky stayed a few extra hours to play. They had lots of fun!

I'm typing this entry from our back patio while sitting at a table for a kitty tea party. There are 8 stuffed kitties here right now and even more in Sky's room. I have a bad feeling that when she grows up, she's going to be one of those ladies who has an ungodly amount of kitties in her house and ends up featured on the local news! Let's hope not. Anyway, in the picture below, Sky has her latest kitty, a Furreal kitty, that really meows, purs, and walks. Yes, she's in kitty heaven. Sky used a Toys r Us gift card from her birthday to purchase this one. The kitty's name is Gem.

Here's a picture of Brad eating a fresh tomato from our friend's garden. That boy sure loves his fruits and vegetables!

This week is VBS (vacation Bible school) at our church. It is an Amazing Race theme and is really fun! We are visiting a different country everyday. I am helping out in Brad's class with the 3 year olds. There are 15 of them! They are high energy and super cute. Sky is also attending and is enjoying herself!

On Monday Sky and I had dentist appointments and I, thankfully, didn't have any cavities. Sky has one small one on the back bottom molar and they asked me if I wanted to wait til next time to fill it or fill it right then. Sky overheard the conversation and started saying that she was going to be sick, etc. You may recall that she had to have a cavity filled last year and she vomitted multiple times (Ken was at that appointment since I had just had Lila). Um, yeah, we'll see you in 6 months! Sky is now highly motivated to brush her teeth!

Finally, I have a funny Sky and Brad story: Yesterday I bought Brad a matchbox race track where 2 cars race each other down a spiral ramp. He LOVES it. This morning Sky and Brad were playing with it and Sky was naming all of the cars as they lined up to race. It went something like this, "Now Gem and Jewel are going to race and next Island Princess and Belle will race". Brad's job was to line them up and push them down the tracks and he didn't seem to mind one bit that his cars were being feminized. Too funny!

Lila's First Birthday

Today was Lila's first birthday. I cannot believe that she is already a year old. She is such a blessing to our lives and brings us such joy.
To celebrate her big day, we met about 25 friends at the BIOLA cafeteria for lunch. It worked out very well as there was no set up, clean up, or cooking for me. Lila seemed to enjoy her day.

We asked that friends bring a prayer for Lila instead of a gift. I hope to assemble a book of these prayers for Lila. I am also in the process of making her an online photo book of her first year. My friend Christine made a video of the birthday party which is just amazing. If I can figure out how to post it, I will.

For her birthday, we gave her a break from the helmet. Hopefully she will be done with it by next month.

I went with a pink and white polka dotted theme. The goodie bags were strawberry and chocolate malt balls (which struggled a bit in the heat) and these wooden crafts for the kids to color.

These were the pink and white cupcakes that I made.

Corona Del Mar

Last week someone gave us a FREE working hot tub! Here it is on the back patio waiting to be filled with water. It came with a cover which is now on it. We are going to hold off on using it until we increase our electrical amperage (?) for our home. But we are super excited about having it and it is in excellent condition.

Today we visited a new beach (new to us anyway), Corona Del Mar. It was really awesome! There were these cool rock formations to climb around on.

Sky was in the water every second possible. I used to be that way too but now I think the water is just way too cold. It's fun to watch her have such a great time though. The waves here weren't as huge as at some of the other beaches, which was nice.

Ken's favorite part was the crabs. Here Sky is holding a baby crab but there were loads of them, most were much bigger.

The homes along the beach were astounding. The view from up above them was really beautiful too.

Lila enjoyed hanging out in the shade of our tent and watching the birds fly around.

Brad was digging, digging, digging. I even joined him for a little while.

Happy 4th of July!

Three cheers for the red, white, and blue! This dress is so big on her. She'll probably wear it next year too! But the sweetness is undeniable.

Sky with her friend Zoe at the park before the fireworks started. I'm not sure why we make the trek to join thousands of other people for the fireworks show in our town each year. After living in Cincinnati where the fireworks show is absolutely incredible, this show is like fireworks from a backyard barbecue.

More sweetness...

Brad made a friend with Star, the puppy.

I am patriotic right down to my toes!

This past week Sky and Brad attended vacation Bible school (VBS) at a local church. It was from 6-8:30 each night. I am sad to report that Brad is a VBS drop out. He attended on Monday and Tuesday but by Wednesday he wanted to stay home with his mommy, daddy and sister Lila. Ken and I did have a date night on Tuesday (with Lila) while Sky and Brad were at VBS. Above you see Lila rocking out to the music at the VBS show. We had taken her helmet off because it was so hot that day and it was really bothering her.

There were about 250 kids at this VBS. It was a really fun medieval theme with princesses and knights, etc. Sky really had a blast. Below you can see her performing in the show on Friday night.