Friday Favorites - Quotes by Kids

These two are a regular comedy show! They are constantly saying and doing silly things that make me forget that she takes her diaper off EVERY chance she gets, or that he doesn't always flush (ugh...is this a boy thing?). This is parenting and I LOVE that my little mini us's enjoy life and love each other.

Here are a few of the recent hilarious things these kiddos have come up with:


1. Chloe holds up an American Flag she found in a store and says, " Look Mama, I found a Trump!"
Yikes, parenting fail...


2. In regards to her birthday:

Me: Chloe what do you want for your birthday?
Chloe: (looong, thoughtful pause) Chicken Nuggets!!


3. During nighttime prayers (backstory, our new house is just down the street from Luke's best friend, Landon):

Luke: Thank you God so much for living by Landon, Thank you God for living by Landon, Thank you God so much for living by Landon-
Me: OK, He get's it!

4. While getting some medicine on his feet before bed Luke says to Chloe, " Chloe you have really beautiful feet, really beautiful!" 

5. While driving in the car:
Luke: I have a really big mouth.



6. Me: Luke, what do you want to make? (regarding what to eat for lunch)
Luke: A sandwich
Me: Chloe, what do you want to make?
Chloe: A sandwich
Me: Chloe, you are a copycat.
Chloe: Meeeooooow


Lately it seems like Luke has grown up so much and he is having such real feelings and desires to be a good brother to Chloe. On a walk the other day, Chloe pointed to a house and asked, " what is that?" Luke responded by saying it was a house. Then she said, " What is a house?". His response: "A house is where people eat, a house is where people sleep, a house is where people watch tv." What a good little teacher....

They aren't always the sweetest to each other- HELLO Terrible 2s for Chloe- but they sure do crack us up.  I gotta make sure to write these things down so we remember them. We remember the situations, the way the spoke, how they used the wrong word because they were still learning. I am around adults all day, so it's nice to get silly with my kids any chance I can get. Stay tuned for more sweet gems in a future post :)

Throwback Thursday - Anniversary in Sacramento, CA

Our first time getting a weekend away after Luke was born was to celebrate our five year anniversary. We were lucky enough to get a weekend away while Aaron's mom watched our little 11-month old. (A feat that has only happened once more for my sister's out of town wedding!). We chose to get away to Sacramento, CA. I love living in Central California and being about 3-4 hours away from most touristy spots in the state. Neither one of us had been to Sacramento since our fifth grade class trips respectively, so we were excited to do some exploring. We stayed in Old Town Sacramento which allowed for us to walk pretty much anywhere we wanted to go. We walked over to the the Old Sacramento State Historical Park and took in the sights.

They call this the Big Four House. It is actually 3 separate buildings (you can only see the middle building in the picture) that were built between 1851 and 1852! It even housed the first Central Railroad office for 11 years starting in 1862.

I made Aaron take a photo of this little sign, he didn't find it as amusing as I did :)

We walked over to the State Capitol. It was such a nice walk, we found Downtown Sacramento to be beautiful.  We toured the State Capitol, however they didn't really allow photos to be taken. Quite the feeling of gravitas to be in a room where laws were created and voted into being. 

Loved seeing the different sculptures around the Capital Building.

These buildings were across the river from us. I do not know what they are, but they looked really neat!

Aaron was just starting to dabble in photography at this point, so he loved taking pictures of everything. This bridge was pretty close to our hotel.  It is called the Tower Bridge and is a vertical lift bridge built in 1911. I just love the history that is Sacramento!

The Tower Bridge at night.

We also spent time visiting Sutter's Fort. (Have I mentioned I married a history major? :) ). I wish we would have taken more photos there. It was actually really cool to check out. You can explore different rooms and see John Sutter's desk.

 The next day we visited the California State Railroad Museum, also located in Old Town Sacramento (have I mentioned what a great area this was to stay in??!).

There was A TON of history about the formation of the railroads and I loved that you could tour everything on your own. You could actually walk through train cars that were used way back when. I loved getting to see what it was like to have train travel as new and the main source of transportation. 

Can you believe how large this locomotive was! 

It looks so powerful, so graceful.

During the months of November and December, you can take the Polar Express to the north pole and even get a visit from Santa!

As we set off for home, we made a quick out of the way stop at the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield, CA.  They offer free tours of the facility and even provide little samples of jelly bellys at the end of the tour. Checking out the Jelly Belly art was probably my favorite part- aside from the FREE Jelly Bellys! My absolute favorite mix is Pina Colada and Cotton Candy- eat them at the same time and it is amazing! You will thank me later :)

 We came home to this little guy. Gosh, this seems like ages ago- he wasn't even walking yet! 

Our trip to Sacramento was SO. MUCH. FUN. It was one of 2 times we have gotten a night away from our kids- you read that right, 2 times in almost 4.5 years :) and MAN it felt good. Of course we talked about Luke constantly and worried that he was sleeping well for his Nana, but it was so nice to just be Aaron and me. 

I look forward to taking the kids back one day and really sharing some of California's history with them. What things have you enjoyed doing in Sacramento?

The Great Debate

Last night, we sat around for 90 minutes watching two candidates, that were voted into the nominee position, talk at each other and to the American people. I was actually excited to watch it....will Hillary Clinton faint or start coughing for 10 minutes? or will Donald Trump say something so preposterous that his chance at the White House dissipates in a matter of minutes. None of that happened.

 

In watching the news prior to the debate, it was said that, 'a reserved Donald Trump is Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare." Maybe because she wouldn't be able to goat him and it's is when he is off the cuff that he typically says something outlandish.

 

Like most people, the first few minutes were entertaining and then it just got boring. More questions being asked while no one answers them.

 

You could tell she had prepared. We saw her reading off her notes and watched as her demeanor stayed stoic throughout. But she should be a pro- after being in politics for as many years as she has this was her 35th debate! There were times I felt for Trump, and would have interrupted (albeit annoying) just like him when someone was telling lies about me. He didn't throw very many big punches but my favorite was when he said, "I will release my taxes when Hillary releases the 33,000 emails that were deleted." I think there is merit to that. Deleting 1 email is a mistake, 33,000 is deliberate.

 

But I digress...I am really not a fan of either candidate. There are memes all over the place showing the 2 candidates and some form of "choosing the lesser of 2 evils." I hate that. The leader of the Free World is the 'lesser of 2 evils'.

 

I encourage you all to vote-heck I demand it of you! Get to the polls and make your voice heard! It is such a toss up at this point, one vote really could make a difference.

 

And BEFORE you go out and vote, EDUCATE yourself. Don't pick him because he is rich or had a reality television show and Don't pick her because she is a female (there will be others to come) or because you think she is 'one of us- I assure you, she is NOT Middle Class-or because you favorite celebrity endorses her. Know the FACTS and chose the candidate who you believe will work their hardest to improve our country and has a track record in doing so.

 

This video is one way I got through the debate....

 

One debate down, two more to go.....How many days until the election?

Last Weekend

I have shared several times about our new house and how much I love it. I have also shared about how handy my husband is and his amazing skills before, too. (Chloe's closet and Luke's closet) Well, last weekend, he added another project to his list of accomplishments. Our house came with a great cut-out for an entertainment center. It also had a great set of built-in lower cabinets in the hallway for storage. The first weekend we moved in, Aaron mentioned something about moving the hallway cabinets into the entertainment center cut-out in the living room. You know, I love, love, LOVE that about him. ALWAYS thinking outside the box. And the man can do ANYTHING. I mean he built an 11' by 20' patio cover (with shingles and everything, permitted too :)! ) with his bare hands. I have always had complete faith in his abilities. So Friday night, we got the project started. Here is the before picture of the entertainment center cut-out.

 

The cabinets were a BEAST to move. It was 2 sets of 3-door cabinets. However, the top piece was glued down to the cabinets instead of nailed, so it had to be moved as one MASSIVE 6 door cabinet. The two of us rolled up our sleeves, turned on Toy Story for the kids so they stayed out of the way while we were moving the piece, and got to lifting. Once we got it free from the wall in the hallway and closer to the living room, Aaron really put his skills to the test. He added more trim to each side and the top because the cabinets were 2 inches smaller then that cut out (go figure), and drilled all of the holes needed to use for wires and cables. 

As you can , we were both hard at work :)

 

He popped off the exisiting baseboard and pulled up the carpet so we could set it squarely on the concrete slab - Aaron is not one for shortcuts :). Finally, we moved it into place veeerrrrryyyy carefully. 

 

 Ta-DAaa! The finished product. It looks like it should have always been there! The cabinets match those in the kitchen and it all just looks so great!

Of course the WHOLE weekend wasn't spent doing work.....Aaron had this whole project done in just a few hours!

 

We had some outdoor fun at a few different parks

Watched some Saturday morning cartoons....

And had some friends over to watch the big game on Sunday. Isn't she just the cutest!

 

This is where the cabinets were initially. Next project is to turn this area into a desk and add more storage back to the hallway.... stay tuned!

Moni's Cozy Kitchen

I am always on the lookout for new pretties for our new house. I LOVE to shop and find fun and unique items that can be displayed- even better if they can serve more than one purpose! Our kitchen is probably the least decorated room in the house at this point. The color of the cabinets and counter tops are basically the opposite of our old house so none of our old decor works.  I saw this perfect tempered glass cutting board. Moni's Cozy Kitchen Designs has created such a cute 16 x 12 inch cutting board that can also be displayed. I love that it shares 'Kitchen Rules' and the colors allow it to with basically any color scheme! This would be so cute displayed on the counter top and then can be used to cut up whatever is being served for a meal. You can never have too many cutting boards!

This would also make a great Christmas, birthday or Mother's Day gift for that special person in your life who likes to cook!

Check our Moni's Cozy Kitchen on Facebook Here.

This is a sponsored post.  All opinions are my own.

Throwback Thursday - SeaWorld and San Diego Part 2

I shared last week about a trip Aaron and I took to the SeaWorld San Diego and the San Diego Zoo. I just love animal and would spend every day at the zoo watching them if I could. The San Diego Zoo is AMAZING. Founded in 1916 (100 years ago!), you can find over 3,500 different animals throughout the 100-acre park. 

They have a HUGE reptile exhibit.

We got to the Tiger exhibit just in time for feeding time!

 

The San Diego Zoo has a world class panda habitat.

This is a red panda.

 

 

They have a beautful 2 story enclosed area for birds to live and you can walk through and spot your favorites.

 

 

This picture cracks me up! Zebra Butts!

EK- my favorite! They have a great exhibit for Polar Bears and this guy was so entertaining to watch!

So Close!

When we went, they had recently uppgraded their Elephant Habitat. It was very big and they had several Elephants.

 

 

Elephant Selfie! Elfie?

We got to watch one of them cool down. It was so funny to watch them get wet, then throw dirt all over themselves to keep cool.

 

 

 

 

 

I cannot wait to go back and take the kiddos. I know they will love it, and I will too!