Knotts Berry Farm ...

Free tickets + school back in session + weather under 90 degrees = perfect time to take trouble the girls to Knotts for their first Camp Snoopy experience!

I think we (the mommies) were more drenched in sweat from our anxiety of the girls being big enough to ride on their first ride (the airplanes- which only supply a lap belt to secure the child in the flying seat!) than we were from the muggy, semi-rainy weather! They were thrilled as we placed them in their seats, buckled them in (getting reassurance from the ride manager that in the two years she has been there, not a single kid has tried the Houdini act during the ride), and took our place behind the parent gate.Their brief moment of panic, as we left them strapped in by themselves, quickly turned to excitement as the ride took off... and that's when our excitement turned to anxious panic that our two-year-olds would be the first to climb out of the simple lap strap! So of course I did the only think I knew... mamarazzi moment and turn on the video record!

Tall enough to ride their first ride alone!

exploring Camp Snoopy, testing out EVERY red bench we passed, the priceless thrill of the School Bus ride going around, and excited for their first carousel ride

the simple joy through a child's experience

trying to get a picture of the girls in front of something that says Knotts... instead we got 5 minutes of waterfall play

more exploring, relaxing in the air conditioned restaurant, dancing at Lucywood, and retiring to their  Bumbo chairs when we got home

Reasons we will probably get a season pass soon-
* Its 5 minutes from the Pessa house- so even if we only go for 30 minutes its not a crazy drive and parking is fairly easy
* Its WAYYYYY cheaper than Disneyland (and the girls don't know the Disney experience yet, so won't realize what they are missing just yet)
* Its an inexpensive way to treat them to a day of getting worn out on rides and activities that are perfect for their age/size... and not to mention the exercise us mommies get chasing them around :)

asa lama lakum

We kicked off the beautiful holiday weekend with playtime and a lunch date in Seal Beach with a very sick Bebba on Friday. We had planned on heading to her Bon Voyage get-together at my dad's on Sunday, but after an urgent phone call from Stace who wanted someone to be with "Becca who looked like she was dying on the floor" while she left for a couple hours, Ryan and I packed up and headed to Riverside on Saturday instead. My mom took Becca to urgent care, where they treated her for severe dehydration and complications from her kidney infection, while I whipped up some homemade chicken noodle soup (labor of love making soup over a hot stove in 105 degree weather!) and get-well green juice (and coconut water to replenish her)... After several hours at urgent care, we were able to drop off the care package at my mom's and decided it was too hot to eat the rest of the soup, so Ryan, my dad, Jayme and I headed out for Mexican food (apparently Ryan had a sympathy craving and needed Mexican food!)
Sunday morning was a quiet family morning as Ryan, Jayme and I enjoyed church together before picking up a seemingly revived (but still sick) Bebba- apparently our Nonnie's "caffine-cures-all" cup of coffee helped alleviate Bebba's 3 day strong migraine enough that she was able to liven up a bit for her Bon Voyage gathering that afternoon. As much as we all tried to avoid the obvious good-bye and just enjoy the sunshine, pool, and BBQ... the tears started for her friends Sunday evening. She kept assuring them its not "goodbye," its just "see you later" (like possibly a year or more kinda later)...

Then came Monday. I am pretty sure God had His hand in Jayme acting a complete pistol to make it easier for Bebba to say goodbye to her prissy-pants-pistol of a Nugget (who clearly has the ignorance of a child and had no idea that saying good bye to her Bebba was more indefinite than "see you in 2 days" or "talk to you on the phone tomorrow" or "beach with Bebba tomorrow, okay?" ) As much as I am super excited to see what God has planned for her travel adventures south of the border, the part that makes me sad is to know that we won't be getting a random daily phone call from Bebba to talk to Nugget... or an impromptu family dinner night... or regular Laguna sugaring trips... or when Nugget just wants Bebba, she will be hundreds of miles away and when my sweet girl hands me the phone to call her Bebba, I have to tell her we can't call Bebba. I guess my sadness lies in not being able to see my little girl continue her special bond she shares with her Bebba... and knowing I have to pretend like its not a big deal that she won't be around for a long while. I know the holidays are going to be even harder, especially now that Jayme is becoming so aware of everyday, and the idea of a tomorrow or a yesterday, and her Bebba's absence at major milestones will be tremendously missed: the first Santa Claus experience- now that she's sorta old enough to enjoy the nostalgia that goes with Christmas; the birth of her little brother; (hopefully/prayerfully) moving into our first house... I am sure there will be more... and I know it is selfish to want her to stay, but she has been such a big part of our small family in the past two years as we have endured one hurdle after another, it just feels like a void we will have to cope with and pray she finds what joy/purpose she is searching for on her journey in Baja and Mexico.

No more sappy sadness... on to the highlights of her final weekend at home....

Happy Birthday Bebba!!!

"Don't mind if I high-jack your birthday balloons"

the fam

spontaneity, two-ude, and our happy place...

After a crazy busy week (somehow having one car made it seem twice as busy, being that Jayme and I were in the car at least 5 hours a day 3 times last week), Ryan and Jayme came with me to my appointment in Laguna so that we could spend his Friday off as a family by the beach... we took our lil' beach lover to Balboa for some Ruby's on the pier and play time (which she ended up ready for a nap before we could hit the playground or sand). The absolutely gorgeous weather got us thinking and talking on our drive home about when we should get up to Morro Bay with Jayme before the baby comes... when we got home (to a neglected disaster that had accumulated over the busy week of being out and about), we started plugging in dates for a hotel room and attempting to plan the perfect time to go (because this is what complete type A planners do), Ryan asked if I thought it would be crazy to just go up this weekend- if it's not already too late to get a room at our usual hotel- trying to channel my sister's care-free "live in the moment" spontaneous attitude (even though it is soooooo against my nature- I thought I could fake it just this once) I went along with his "crazy suggestion"... after calling the hotel (it was already 6pm and we would have at least a 4-5 hour drive), I took a leap of faith and booked an non-refundable room for the weekend! We literally packed our bags, Jayme, and some food for the road, gassed up and were on the freeway by 7- leaving behind a tornado of laundry, dishes, toys, and complete clutter to come back to- but hey! we were living on the high of our spontaneous road trip and couldn't wait to experience our favorite little get-away spot one last time before we welcome the next little nugget.

I gotta say, despite some major two-ude (our new label for our princess pistol's attitude spurts), Jayme seemed to enjoy getting away with her Daddy and Mommy as much as we did!

Miscellaneous memories from our trip:
- Jayme's excitement over eating a PB & honey sandwich for dinner AND in the car
- The nice officer who was gracious enough to flash us and give a "slow down" warning with his arm gesture instead of pulling us over (for the record we were only going 80 on a complete open stretch of highway)
- Making it to the hotel right at 11 (4 hours on a Friday night is AWESOME timing!)
- Realizing that we were gonna need a sedative for our hyped up two-year-old if we were going to get her to sleep in the hotel room the second night
- Making the drive up to the Hearst Castle, only to have Jayme fall asleep 5 minutes before we got there... so we turned around and just enjoyed the beautiful drive back
- Finding new (to us) hidden gems along the coast and planning to revisit for our 10 year anniversary (without kids)- hidden beaches, kayaking, and horseback riding to name a few...
- Realizing my pregnant body no longer agrees with walking 2-3 miles in a day
- Seeing the pure joy in Jayme's little face as she took in the sights, smells, and sounds that surround Morro Bay and the drive
- Realizing our child does not share our love for clam chowder or fish & chips
- Enjoying the bond between father and daughter
-  Jayme's impromptu swim in the ocean (note- always bring a towel or change of clothes even if you don't plan on getting wet)
- swing.slide.friends. lucky little girl was able to enjoy some much needed play time on the most awesome playgrounds (mainly the view was awesome)
- Princess Pistol's need to have 2 purses at all times, and the meltdown that occurred if we dared to zip them up every time
- Ryan's new rhyme about Jayme: "She wants what she wants the way she wants it... we don't ask why, we just do or die (of embarrassment from her meltdown)"
- Feeding the sea lions
- Craving a cinnamon roll and forgetting to get one before we left

- Elderly people running over our only sippy cup before a long drive home... then seeing those same elderly people completely lost at lunch (sitting at different tables trying to figure out where the other spouse was)
- Taking the scenic drive home and realizing we should have never left such amazing weather... it was miserable hot and humid when we got home
- The beautiful memories made and spending an entire weekend without a plan!

never mind that the water was freezing, "she wants what she wants, when and how she wants it"... even if that means frolicking in the ocean in all of her clothes. At least she slept well that night ;-)

probably the last family trip as a family of only 3

swing.slide.friends.

bonding time... priceless moments that make my mommy heart melt

pure happiness and energy being released (we realized she was confined to a car seat, a stroller, or her daddy's arms/shoulders 90% of the time, so we finally let her loose ;-)

sitting in the car taking in the gorgeous surroundings instead of the Hearst Castle as our lil princess snores in the back seat

hidden gem- we definitely want to go back and kayak here!

another hidden gem to revisit

this might just be one of my favorite photos of her... not the greatest photo quality, but the moment surrounding this picture is one of those "pictures worth a thousand words" and beautiful memories being made

mommy loving up on her sweet girl

Ryan catching a candid moment of his girls taking in the beautiful surroundings

Bebba, Beach, and Bonding time...

We planned one last Bebba date before she leaves the country indefinitely... and although we did not accomplish most of our original plans, it was one of my favorite days- less of a "something so extravagant happened", more of a "simple little moments to be cherished" kinda day.
We had planned to rendezvous in Laguna for our regular sugaring appointment, followed by fulfilling my bucket list item of paddle-boarding, then lunch.... but courtesy of a kidney infection, Bebba was in no way, shape or form able to do any of our original plans (turns out paddle-boarding while pregnant is not advised anyway)... however, we made the most of the most beautiful beach weather and improvised by meeting Bebba in Seal Beach (after her doctor appt). She met us at the playground- where I felt the need to continually mention little statements such as, "man, that kidney infection looks really miserable!" or "too bad you have a kidney infection, Nugget would have loved her auntie to play on the swings/slide with her!" for other concerned looking mothers to overhear as my sister lay slumped over on the sand looking quite ill... We followed up a brief playtime with lunch at Taco Surf with Becca's old boss (who treated us ladies to lunch!), after we parted ways (Bebba was in complete agony at this point, and a complete trooper for trying to keep up with her last Nugget date), Jayme and I re-parked the car and headed down the pier to Ruby's for an impromptu mommy and me shake date and to look out over the ocean where she was in awe of everything from the fishermen, to the boats, to the shoreline, to the seagulls, to the seagull poop on the railings- disgusting! (she is obsessed with the beach and ocean- every day she begs "beach tomorrow, okay?") After 3 sips of her oreo shake, she decided she was over the idea of ice cream through a straw and had me toss it out (she is so not normal!). We headed back to the car and lucky for me she passed out before I even put the car in drive... I made an impromptu trip to Target followed by another hour and a half sitting in Labor Day weekend traffic as we headed to pick up Ryan at work- this lucky mom had a sleeping little girl the entire time!

I found similar pictures of her in the same swing at 4 months, the swing by our house at 16 months, and this week's picture at 28 months... crazy how time goes so fast

one last play-date with her  sick Bebba

I wish we could go to this park every week! She is in absolute heaven here...

Impromptu Ruby's date with mommy

my little ham was posing for anyone who walked by (hilarious, then ridiculous, then embarrassing) so of course I had to include some of these ;-)

I am going to make every effort to enjoy a few more of these impromptu dates with my little girl before her little brother arrives... she melts my heart, especially when I see the pure joy radiating from her little face.

summertime and a social life...

We have survived almost three weeks with one family car (although it has been super difficult and a major adjustment at times)! The biggest struggle has been our feeling of being cooped up inside without going crazy or losing our patience for a week straight... the weather has been too gosh-darn hot to even go for a walk to the park, and not that we could have anyway since our little bug caught a little bug and was snot-nosed, coughing and congested for a week (how little ones can catch a bad cold in the middle of 100 degree summer heat is beyond me!) However, this past week was much better as we were able to get out of the house more... We even had a couple play dates, and on Ryan's first Friday off we trekked down to the San Diego Zoo with Auntie Bebba before she leaves the country on her Tour De Suenos. Here are our highlights from the past week....

play date with her partner in crime- Audrey

(I failed my job of mamarazi on our play date at Riley's)... sugared up mess!

One last Zoo trip with her Auntie Bebba

Monkeying around with Bebba... our first zoo trip where the animals (monkeys especially) weren't lethargic and Jayme got a dose of excitement as one monkey came up to the glass to flirt with her

Nugget enjoyed soaking up some snuggle time and bonding time with her Bebba and Daddy, as well as meeting her cousins  (3rd cousin?) Chole and Bryce for the first time

After a full day at the zoo, we had dinner and a nice visit with Tia Lupe and cousin Bill (who Jayme called Grampa-pa) who were the most generous hosts and we can't wait to visit again! (Most of our time was spent watching all the excitement- including seeing the British Airways jumbo jet land at the airport- from their amazing view)

 

Saturday and Sunday were spent swimming, baking, and loving up on her family at Grampa's house

loving up on her baby "bruder" growing in mommy's tummy (20 weeks)... nevermind my aimless hands in the one pic ;-)

making memories... and a mess

It's not often when all four of us Smith kids are able to coordinate our schedules to get together, but every now and then our worlds align and Jayme gets a mega-dose of aunties and uncle attention. Last weekend I had a long over-due lunch with my childhood girlfriend and only planned to be gone an hour, so Bebba or Taycie had planned to watch the Nugget for a bit. Lunch was a much needed and wonderful catchup session crammed into an hour. When we pulled back into the driveway, the clean pig-tailed, princess I left behind with both sisters greeted me with open arms, her uncle Alex (an unexpected surprise) and a full body of warpaint! Turns out that she wanted to help her Aunt Taycie paint her dresser, and rather than keep telling Nugget "No"... the aunties improvised with a box of paint and a canvas just for Jayme to experience painting "a la aunties free-spirit style"

(from top left) "well this is fun!"- "uh oh. Bebba..."- "hmmmmm what else should I paint???"- "I know! my nose!"- "May as well cover my belly while I'm at it..."- "annnnnnd Taycie needs a little warpaint"- "back to work before mommy gets back"- "Look Mommy!!! Hugggg????"

too much silliness in one hour (memories that will last a lifetime)

Annnnnd because I'm such an awesome mom... I left this sugared up mess with the aunties and uncle  (and grampa) on her first official Grampa's house overnight!

 Meanwhile... Ryan and I took care of business... it was a bittersweet afternoon as we unloaded the truck in lieu of becoming a single car family, but our hopes for a first house outweigh the need to have an expensive vehicle (that we no longer need thanks to prayers answered and a career with Edison- complete with work truck!) Doing the math in our heads we figure we will save roughly $700-$800/month for this sacrifice! To counterbalance the initial sadness of departing with the truck that in two short years contributed to many memories (road trips, camping, work, and more) we decided to take in some In n' Out (doesn't that make anyone feel better?!) and The Campaign before a late night of couch potato sitting and mind-numbing Olympic watching (side note- isn't it ironic that these hundreds of athletes spend their lives training to be the best in their sport and the most fit, only to create idle couch potatoes in the millions billions of TV viewers around the world for 2 solid weeks?!)

Back at Grampa's house, Nugget finally learned to let go and swim on her own (literally- she would cling for dear life to anyone in the pool)! Granted, we have a ways to go before she is an official mermaid, but apparently Bebba and Uncle Alex encourage the right bit of confidence she needs to become independent in the pool (so glad we have spent $$$ on swim lessons :-/ )

July wrap up...

I can't believe we are already going into August! I swear July 4th was just last weekend right?! July has been quite the eventful month for our little family.

Our little Booger has continued blossoming into a little girl right before our eyes... we have been working diligently and our prayers for patience have started paying off as she is learning each day who the head of our household is (shocker its not her!) and we have had less spankings in the past couple weeks(yes we spank, and no I'm not sorry... it works for us and it appears to be working for our lil' sassy pants too).
*She has developed a love for rock collecting (so fun to see what naturally intrigues their little minds- even if it is a lifeless rock).
*Her shoe fetish has only grown (I literally can't take her down the shoe aisle at Target without a diva tantrum).
*She loves to learn (much like her mama) and has most of her letter sounds pretty much down (thank you Letter Factory!), as well as all of her colors (and corresponding signs), and counting to 10 or from 12-20.
*She love love loves her coloring time with her daddy (mommy is not allowed near her easel when daddy is home).
*We are officially done with the "bink" (seriously took 2 weeks to get her to soothe herself to sleep....annnnnnd now we have to give her extra hugs and cuddles before bed- not a bad trade off since we only get this sweet cuddle bug stage for so long)
*She started swim lessons with a private instructor at her grampa's pool and seems to be enjoying it.
*Whether or not she realizes how her only-child world will change in a matter of months, she loves to give sweet kisses or hugs to her baby "seester" or baby "bru-der"

In other news, Ryan officially starts as a full-time Edison employee in 2 weeks! He has been a contractor for Edison since October, and we are so blessed and excited for this new position that seemed to come at the perfect time (coincidence? I think not!) as Edison is scaling back and contractors are going to be the first to be cut pretty soon. The initial pay-cut will be a small change to get used to, but the long term career and benefits far outweigh the monthly income! And the best part is that his job will allow me to continue my role at home raising the lil' ones and making our house a home (prayerfully we will be in our actual first home before this baby comes!)

4th of July at Grampa's (Captain Dave and company's annual dinnertime hangout before a busy night of calls)

Enjoying her future babysitters and some Grampa BBQ with Aunt Tay

Impromptu dinner date with Grampa and Gramps (great-grampa)

Enjoying goofball time with her Aunties

Impromptu lunch date at Nana's work... she loves airplanes!

Late night finishing touches for Katie's vintage sports themed shower (my 5th shower/party in 6 months!)

Bebba and Nugget keeping cool and busy watching Calliou during the shower

A month full of blooming personality

Hopefully August goes by a little slower than July... especially since it will be our last month to enjoy Auntie Bebba before she embarks on her indefinite journey out of the country!

the daily joys of motherhood...

little miss independent (and aspiring fashionista?)

Motherhood is a choice you make every day, to put someone else's happiness
and well-being ahead of your own, to teach the hard lessons,
to do the right thing even when you're not sure what the right thing is...
and to forgive yourself, over and over again,
for doing everything wrong.

~ Donna Ball, At Home on Lady Bug Farm

Over the course of the past couple months, my little lady has been a roller coaster of emotions... they call it "TWO" ... One moment she's my sweetheart who melts my heart with a random hug or kiss before going back to her playtime, or trying to help me in the garden, with "aundrey" (laundry), or vacuuming - the next moment she is likely trying to declare her independence or find her voice, only it comes out in the form of a tantrum, a screech, or a straight up "NO! MIIIIIIIIIINE!" (I loathe these words!). I am so grateful for the numerous sweet moments (and the ability to journal them here where I can look back and remind myself from time to time that she really is a sweetheart), but I am definitely ready to move past this strong-will-independence-seeking stage! 

On another note- breaking the pacifier habit during this stage of "TWO" is not ideal.

 I was planning on breaking her bink habit after the new year, but with constant illness and then a difficult 2 months on top of one reason or another putting it off (let's face it, the bink is an excellent mute plug and it is mostly used for bed time/nap time)... 

but alas the time came when i felt compelled (and ashamed that my two year old still used a pacifier) to "pull the plug" just after turning 2. I started cutting the tips off her binks one by one as they would surface (the kid is no dummy, she has a stash everywhere!) Then when we had one final blue bink left (the sacred last binky,) it was as if she knew that was the last one and refused to sleep without it (screaming/crying so loud that our neighbors could hear at night), and so we have had a hard time taking that final bink away at night for about 3 weeks. Fast forward to this past Saturday, after a late night of no sleep at Grampa's house, then a busy day playing with her Nana, the sacred final bink got lost at Nana's and the dreaded time came inadvertently.

For 6 solid hours (unbelievable until you hear it first hand that crying that long is even possible) our little girl screamed, cried, whimpered, whined, and fought sleep without her bink... about half way through I lost my sanity and shut myself in my room to join her in crying out of sheer frustration and complete exhausted angst. Somewhere around midnight we both fell asleep, and each bedtime/naptime since then has gotten a tiny bit better, but I imagine this power struggle and coping without a pacifier to go to sleep will last the rest of the week... Lesson learned- next kid WILL NOT have a pacifier by 2 (maybe even one... but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it).

park playdate party

cake pop ball birthday cake

  

In lieu of a big birthday party for her second birthday  (we weren't about to have our friends and fam drive out on memorial day for a two-year-old birthday party), we celebrated low-key with Jayme's immediate friends at our favorite park in Brea... maybe next year we'll do up legitimate party (I just can't help myself from party planning already!)

birthday girl having a blast on the big slides (priceless face)

 

happy Jax

all the mom's (and dad) were kept plenty busy

friends and cake pops (sad I only got pics of them eating...)