Cienna - 6 Years, 1 Month... Kaylee - 3 Years, 8 Months!

After the holiday season, we break into the Birthday season.  A much anticipated visit by the Natal's began with nothing but fun, and stayed that way the whole time they were here.  Soon after their arrival we threw a "Fashion Design" party per Cienna's request for her first "friends from school" Birthday party!  It was full of crafts, dancing, a great time.  As if that wasn't enough we headed to Disneyland the next day, a dual celebration for June and Cienna... and all of us, really!  It was a full day, and we definitely made the most of it. Before the Natal's ventured home, Auntie Megan, along with June, went to spend some time helping out in Cienna's classroom.

Life continued with dentist appointments for the girls that week.  Then there was snow in the LBC, at Cienna's school nevertheless for Snow Day with monster size sledding and play area :)  Continuing that theme we all went to the movie theater (Mommy's first time in over a decade and the first time for the girls) to of course see Frozen.  The soundtrack was very quickly downloaded afterwards, and let the dance party and role playing commence.

More, very welcome, couple of visitors showed up the following week.  Vera brought precious Daniela for us all to meet.  We all got our time to cuddle and love on her (and Dani too) before they had to go.  The visit included a Birthday party at the park for Kaylee's school friend Ryhon.

That weekend we had a couple of friends over to watch (at least the start of) the Superbowl.  At least the smoked ribs and car bombs were good.  Another sunny week led to plenty of beach time and outdoor play.  The family then took a hiking adventure to San Pedro and followed up with fort making in the living room.   Since Cienna had the last two Mondays off of school, Daddy and Cienna got a day to spend time together for the first one.  The girls then got to exchange Valentines at school that week.

We sprinkled lots of crafts and even more dancing throughout the month which ended with a trip to a new park in Signal hill and playing in the muddy garden, which is getting prepared for Spring veggies!

Cienna had wonderful Birthday celebrations and loved having her Auntie and cousin visit her classroom.  Her dentist was pleased with her two new bottom teeth and we foresee a couple of top ones soon to come.  She has become an avid reader and has finished multi-hundred page books.  Her teacher has moved her out of "Star Readers" and into chapter books with reports.  Her creativity really comes through as she thinks up random detailed projects and can execute them just as she had planned.  She still would like to do gymnastics, but also decided she would try soccer this Spring, so is currently signed up to start LBYSO this coming up month.

Moving from 3 and a half toward 4 is such a developmental time! Knowing that Kaylee excels when she can see the big picture.  We started showing her how to sound out words and begin to read.  Then she decided that it was worth more effort and has quickly progressed with her Upper Case, Lower Case, and Letter sounds, which then led into sounding out words on her own.  It also makes her proud to have started writing letters as well.  Of course her favorite is still dancing and for the most part acting.  She can maintain a character or expression, even when we do our best to distract her.  Her dentist appointment went really well also, even though over two years later her dentist still thinks her front tooth may decay at any moment (no signs as of now) from the chip when she was 18 months old.

It is pure enjoyment to watch these girls grow together.  They love to be silly together and still spend time doing their own things.  Each one has their own characteristics that they share which helps the other grow in their strengths and weaknesses.  They learn to share even when they don't want to because they want the other to be happy.  And have also learned that the more they know about their sister, the easier it is to push their buttons on purpose at times too!

Till next month...

https://photos.app.goo.gl/53rFzZCYg1CFcdor6 

Cienna - 6 Years Old... Kaylee - 3 Years, 7 Months!

The holidays were full of fantastic family time and lots of activities.  Last month started with a fun 6 yr. old Birthday party at Lexi's house.  The same day, we celebrated the holiday's with the Chavez's and company.  Soon after we had a long awaited play day with Jamaica and Graysen.  Preparing for our Christmas morning at home, we headed out to pick out our tree.  Christmas morning was everything we hoped for, relaxing, fun and together!  That evening we were invited to join the Ferrario family for dinner.  It's pretty amazing how they make us feel like a part of their family.  Christmas continued with getting spoiled by Auntie Kimmie and Uncle Keith.

We headed to the snow, or lack their of, to bring in the New Year with Uncle Joe and Dana.  Even though there was almost no snow on the ground we did find some man made hills for our first time tubing.  Once the new year was here, we treated ourselves to Disney on Ice Rockin Ever After! 

Throughout the activities, we sprinkled in park play, crafts, and playdates with friends that we were missing since school was not in session.  There was even beach time in January.  We also started a batch of White IPA using our new brew kettle addition to the process.

Cienna's enjoying her last days of being 5.  Reading is still one of her favorite things to do alone.  She also has increased her drawing skills, with use of some how to draw books.  Her creativity shows through during quiet time, where she comes up with her own projects and crafts.

Kaylee amazes us at every park we go to with her ability to climb on, over, or through any obstacle.  She loves to help out around the house and picks up on things very quickly.  She is working hard to remember all her letter sounds.  Of course she still keeps us very entertained with her dancing and silly antics.

The girls were happy to go back to school and see their friends, but we miss having extra time together.

We got some new phones so Mommy gets to have a camera on her phone again which shows in the increase of pictures!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/bFpTo4uNKkrxqmwP6

Cienna - 5 Years, 11 Months... Kaylee - 3 Years, 6 Months!

Tis the season month started with our major Holiday road trip to Northern California to spend time with our wonderful family. We plan to have our first LB Christmas at home with the girls so our family agreed to include Christmas during our Thanksgiving vacation. The weather we brought from Southern California made for some great outdoor play. We started at the Rydman's with a fun filled day of play time together, while putting together a feast including a turkey and a ham. Just before our Thanksgiving feast, we had Christmas.

Lots of giving and cheer, Nana and Poppa's wall of watercolor was finally complete. We celebrated up till bedtime and got to wake up and spend more family time with the Rydmans before heading down the road to the McFarlands. More great weather let us enjoy the beautiful property that Sean and Jamie work so hard on. A fun filled fried turkey Thanksgiving day, and once the kids went to bed the adults went to the Tavern to celebrate! Carrie's 40th brought us out of our tryptophan lull, we had a great time with games and laughter, and saw hours of the day that most of us haven't seen in a long time.

Then of course woke bright and early for "Christmas" morning. The kids were spoiled as always and we had another successful white elephant for the adults! More spoiling was next as Grammy took 4 granddaughters to the Disney Store for basically anything they wanted. After a show put on at Grammy and Grandpa's and a relaxing evening we were on our way home the next morning when we met up with Uncle Matt for a hello and goodbye.

Although it's 8 hours, the girls are great on the road trip. Back at home we helped Scott make some home brew to share with his family for the holiday's. Went to Carter and Logan's Birthday at Chuck E. Cheese's. Lexie and Nickie came over for a play date. Enjoyed plenty of park time among ourselves. Put up our Christmas decorations. Then set out again on a much shorter field trip to San Diego. We spent some quality time with Uncle Joe and Dana at a Christmas themed Sea World.

Ending out the month was Cienna's first Elementary school concert. Cienna was great on stage, of course knowing every word for the "Pajama Sing". All kindergarten and TK students sang a handful of songs in the schools auditorium. When some of the more difficult words to memorize came about, you could hear Cienna's voice loud and clear. Funny typical first concert, the tall kid got place right in front of her which made her difficult to see : ). She has her nose in a book constantly now that she can read full books, even if she doesn't know the story already. Get to see influences of friends come out in her attitude (good and some not as good), but she does have good judgement. Her passion for art continues to evolve as well as her stubborn sense of style (no jacket, cause it wouldn't show her outfit that she picked).

Kaylee really enjoyed spending some one on one playtime with Isla without the interruptions of older siblings for the first time, and it was awesome to see how well they played together. She really is developing a love of learning shown through her explanations of her days at pre-school. She is a concept learner for sure. She needs to know why she is learning and what is the point, then the pieces all fall together. Her clothing style choices revolve around comfort and softness. On one of our trips back from walking Cienna to school she got the concept of skipping, once it clicked there was no stopping her. And what a cute skip it is!

Porter found some new friends in our tree next to the garage. There is a nest of birds way at the top. He now has discovered the ability to leap higher than ever just to say hello to them.

Looking forward to a simple Christmas at home but will miss the rest of the family! Thanks for making such a wonderful Thanksgiving, 40th Birthday, and Christmas vacation! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you and hope it is time well spent with family and friends!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/JTh2gbyP81my2foe7 

Cienna - 5 Years, 10 Months... Kaylee - 3 Years, 5 Months!

Holidays are coming, and it sure is apparent.  We've done our best to avoid the chaos and just have fun!  The greatest event last month was the 1 month early birth of Daniela Switek. Unfortunately Mommy missed the baby shower just weeks before her arrival, but will use the flight to enjoy baby Daniela early next year!  As it turned out, Mommy was much needed at work and at home that weekend.  Critical path at work, and costumes had to be sewed (Requests this year were for a Flower Fairy and a Baby Rollie Pollie!).  Daddy also needed help to get our beer started to be ready for the big Auntie Carrie Birthday /Thanksgiving/ Christmas all in one week coming up.

Red ribbon week followed, in which Cienna got to adjust her outfit with each day, crazy socks, in-side-out, backwards, all red, and crazy hair.  Carver Elementary had their fall festival that week also.  We got some pumpkin carving done as well in preparation for Halloween!
 
The weekend before Halloween, Mommy had some more work to do, but did get costumes done in time for Daddy to take the girls to Alexa's 3rd Birthday/Halloween costume party which included a laser show and Alexa's brand new baby brother Max, followed by a stop at the annual Rocktober Festival at the Bakx's (dancing is a must to the music of the AWESOME local band!).

Then for Halloween we started the evening with a trip to Second Street for date night, on the way encountering some new trick or treat friends thanks to Kaylee's friendly nature.  After dinner we came home for trick-or-treating around our amazing neighborhood.

Now that Halloween had passed, we had a weekend of replacing a 30+ year old hot water heater and enclosure, plumbing new sprinklers in preparation for our backyard deck, gas re-routing as well, and a new side gate for many reasons mostly to have a place for Porter while our deck is coming together.
New to the public school system, we had our first parent/teacher conference.  Our child is as amazing as we already knew (of course we are bias)  : )  She really does love to learn!

We shared our equipment with Scott to help brew a red ale for his family during the holidays.  Roman, Steph, Larry, Rylee, and Stone joined us as well, which led to a great play date and dusting off Guitar Hero.

After so much work Mommy didn't hesitate to take Veteran's Day off with the girls and loved every minute!  We were welcomed to a playdate with Lexie and Nickie for plenty of dress-up fun.  The following week at school included Pioneer day (an impromptu bonnet and apron sewed by Mommy), and Turkey Trot which Cienna raised some money thanks to Daddy's work friends.

Back to work around the house, we finally disposed of our dead tree in front of our house and replaced it with a single stem, shade, carrotwood tree, along with a couple of other plants that weren't looking so great. We are getting quite excited and preparing for our big upcoming trip up North to spend time with our family.

Little miss scholastic has been loving every minute of being in Kindergarten.  She can't be challenged enough and we are lucky to have a teacher that is doing all she can to encourage her love of learning.  She is reading books on her own everyday, determining the words by the story if she can't recognize them, and her ability to concentrate on writing her letters has helped with her love of art to represent all the objects and scenes that she loves to create.  She has made friends with pretty much all the Kindergartners at school as they are now all her best friends.

Kaylee as well has made friend with pretty much all the Kindergartners at Cienna's school.  They look forward to seeing her every morning and when we can pick her up from school (so do the parents).  Mommy and Kaylee had their last soccer class of the session, and she keeps asking when we get to go back for more.  She has learned to "skin the cat" by herself after only been shown once and climbs anything she has access to, weather it is 12 feet high or not.  We let her figure out how to get down on her own, hoping she'll learn not to go up if you can't go down.  So far she has managed to get down on her own no matter what.  She is still loving her workbooks as "homework", and had a great time making homemade play dough with Mommy!

Amazing how a large simple box can be so much fun for a family to enjoy.  Pretty much we love that anything can be so much fun when our family is doing it together!  The girls learn so much from each other.  We learn so much from them!  We all have our separate times, but the best times for all of us are when we are together!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/MtpQ2482RKpYUno28

Cienna - 5 Years, 9 Months... Kaylee - 3 Years, 4 Months!

Many busy work days this month, but on to the important stuff.   Happy birthday to Grandpa Kim.  Then another to Steph whom with we celebrated, to the best of our ability, during a camping trip to Doheny!  We sacrificed a late bed time to take part in a special late night magic act at Cienna’s school where her principal was turned into a Bunny Rabbit (was worth it for sure).  Mommy had a couple Sat. afternoon work hours, of which the Halloween decorations were set-up.  Also had another fantastic yearly trip to the Pumpkin Patch with the Bakx. Finally at the end of the month we may have made our first forward progress to a back deck….keep you posted.

After losing her first tooth which fell out twice in the supermarket and getting so upset that we would never find it, the second was less eventful as she was simply wiggling it while at home and it came out in her hand and under her control.  Nevertheless her bottom two permanent teeth bullied them both out.  Our first go around of school fundraisers occurred, and we all realized that our neighbors sure have years full of trying to learn to say no to two adorable children.  Nobody can describe Cienna other than a model student.  She loves the structure and the knowledge.  She is in a more advanced swimming class which is helping to push her passed her comfort zone, she is quickly excelling through her star reader sight words each week and still loves to do her homework.  Going to our neighborhood school has shown to be amazing, as we run into many new friends in our everyday lives.

Continuing to enjoy time alone with Mommy, Kaylee loves her new Parent and Me soccer class on Friday’s.  She is by far one of the most energetic kids in the class.  She is a ball of fire.  We have also visited many new parks and she is not at all too shy to make friends (anywhere we go for that matter).  Somehow whomever she talks to (which is pretty much everybody) she gets something from them.  A stuffed sheep, their car when she turns 16, library books, you name it.  Seems her favorite thing to do is make or fix things.  She loves to help around the house whenever she can.  It's been fun for her to start recognizing all her letters as we drive or travel around town as we sing to all her favorite radio hits.   We are lucky that her coordination is able to keep up with her strong willed/daredevil attitude, although it may be nerve racking, she can do it!

The girls learn so much from each other, both about themselves and one another.  Learning to care so much about their sister (their best friend) and yet trying to discover themselves, by getting a (not desired) reaction from the other.  Pretty awesome to here from each of them…. So what would you like to play?

Mommy’s SD card no longer works in her phone so it won’t take as long to get through the pictures this month : )  Still just as cute, Enjoy!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/M3JX9WDdSEJXGKyD8

Cienna - 5 Years, 8 Months... Kaylee - 3 Years, 3 Months!

We are now part of the Long Beach City School District!  Started with a Meet and Greet of Cienna's new Teacher and Classroom.  Then we decided to get dirty with good friend camping in Leo Carrillo before the daily grind began.  Also got a good taste of being an elementary school parent at our first PTA meeting.  The girls had a great play date with Lexie and Maddy at our house which was a preview of good times to be had a Kindergarten with both Lexie and Cienna going to the same school.  Labor Day weekend we harvested some hops in the backyard, had the most amazing photographer, person, and very close friend do our families first photo shoot (Thanks Kristy Geithman Photography!), followed by a Neighborhood progressive dinner in the middle of a blackout (we all made it work nevertheless), the next day was a pool party at the Ferrario's for Joan's 70th Birthday (we're lucky to be treated as part of that family!), and lastly Roman came over and we used all the hops we harvested from our garden a few day prior to start a LaborDay IPA which will be going to Doheny with us for Steph's 40th.  Then it happened, we all walked the extremely excited Cienna to her first day of Kindergarten.  We also continued swim lessons back up that day, and then the following day was Kaylee's first day back at Pre-School, which she had been asking about all summer long!  To celebrate the first week, we met up with friends on an amazing night to have dinner on the beach.  Finishing that weekend the family went to a local park and rented a pedal boat, then went for a hike at the Nature Center.  At the one week of school mark Mommy and Daddy got to go sit in little Kindergarten chairs with the other students parents for Back to School Night where we learned about the upcoming school year and homework to begin.  More school fun that Friday night with a Back to School Bash for all Carver families to attend.  The last weekend we went to a double Birthday party where the girls enjoyed lots of dress up, hosted by Cinderella and Snow White, and a real T-Party with all the friends.  The fun never ends, since later that day we got a visit from Uncle Joe and Dana!

Cienna loved her first time fishing.  Larry taught her how to cast her line while we were camping, even if there were no fish in that ocean or bait on the line.  She lost her first tooth at the same time she was in need of a school back pack, what a generous tooth fairy just in time for Kindergarten!  All we have to say is that when we picked her up after that first day, she came out of the gate, looked at us, and before anything else, she said..... THAT WAS AWESOME!!!  She continues to improve in swimming, going about 15 feet by herself.  We want to record how excited she is to get to do homework for those years, that might... might? not be the case.  And she has truly enjoyed her classmates and making new friends.  Needless to say she was more than ready for Kindergarten and she loves every minute.

Kaylee and Mommy have made the most out of some of our first chances to spend time one on one with each other while Cienna is at school.  Lots of one on one has proven to peak her interests and focus without having to compete for each thing.  Her enjoyment in reading has definitely become apparent, and memorization is on fire.  She is reciting songs that I don't even remember being on.  Although she may not being going the distance in swimming, she loves it and has great confidence and style!  A little more practice and she'll be on her way!  She like her sister is super excited for School!  She currently is lucky to get to go all three days Mommy is working since they have an open spot on that Thurs. (normally she would go M and Tu. then daycare on Thurs.).  One last work for Kaylee is social butterfly!

The girls have seemed to appreciate their time apart so when they are together, they love it!  They obviously can't get enough of school, since the main play activity with each other is playing school, and every stuffed animal and doll in the house gets to be involved.  We're sure glad that they are at least somewhat good at cleaning up.  If cooperative, sometimes Porter gets to be a student too.

It's so important to step back and think of all the love that is around us!  Thanks to all of you.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/S8JLQTXZVK7GfzUj6

Cienna - 5 Years, 7 Months... Kaylee - 3 Years, 2 Months!

Twas a month of cousins and Birthday's!  First a visit from Uncle Joe and Dana.  Joe had a paddling race at a local watering hole.  Then our first harvest of our crazy out pour of Cascade hops from the garden.  Next in preparation for a huge week long trip to Northern Ca. we fixed up the Truck with some soldering, and electrical work to fix the overhead temp/direction gauge and fan control mechanism.

On to the details of that Northern Ca. trip....Auntie Dana, Cousin Ashley, Cousin Erin, and Cousin Erik all had Birthday's at the end of July/beginning of Aug.  The family took the long road trip straight to camping in Bodega Bay.  We met up with the Rydman, Marty, and Kyle crew with visits from Grammy and Grandpa (Celebrating an anniversary this month) for a fantastic camping trip!  The pictures will fill you in on more details.  After three days of camping we were good and dirty showing up at the Natal's.  Mommy and Daddy put the girls to nap time with more Cousin's June and Grace then left them with Uncle RJ and Auntie Megan while they adventured off to San Francisco for their first two nights away from the girls to celebrate 10 years of wedded bliss.  Thanks to family we were hooked up with a cool Hotel Zetta right on Union Square.  Starting there, we purposely tried to fill the time with events which we wouldn't constantly think, the kids would love to be here, so we started with the Beach Blanket Babylon Musical followed by a "real" steak dinner.  After figuring out the city transportation we took a trolley to the Pier the next day to catch a fairy going to Angel Island which was a nice step back from the city life including a hike to the top and wonderful views.  Returning to the city we had to hit up a brewery and Rogue definitely made the cut.  We had a great time together but also missed the girls and were happy to return and hear about their fun filled weekend with the Natal's, then make the trip back home.

After getting back to the grind at work we had a nice weekend at home with family time at the park and a few hours of our first time at the OC Fair!  That was plenty.  The following weeks we got time with good friends including a play day with the Harpers, and a beach day with the Geithman's wishing Isla a Happy 3rd Birthday.   After a homemade treasure hunt, we finally found time to explore a part of a large neighborhood park that we hadn't been to, El Dorado Park, together.  They have a train, boats, and playgrounds.

Toward the end or our last month Uncle Mike, Uncle B, and Uncle RJ all had Birthday's.  Given that it was Uncle RJ's 20th... oh wait we mean 40th Birthday we headed back up North to celebrate!  The girls were a little excited to have more time with cousins and family, and we were very welcomed by the Natal's.  Mommy and Daddy also enjoyed spending time with RJ and Megan instead of just dropping off the girls with them.  Their first block party was a hit, Kan-Jam Tournament, Taco Stand, and all.

Daddy's eyes are doing well.  Quite a large improvement from his previous vision, and continuing to improve.  Another check up with the eye doctor coming soon will give even more insight on the progress.

Kindergarten is on its way (Sept. 4th) and Cienna couldn't be more excited.  She is a school girl by nature.  Getting all new school uniform clothes didn't hurt either (she is quite the fashionista).    T-Ball came to an end, and we had a couple more weeks of swim lessons this summer.  She can now swim over 10 feet, head in and out of the water, by herself.  "Breaking" news, she has her first permanent tooth coming in and it is forcing one of her middle bottom tooth to become loose.  This is exciting for her since it is a new step toward being a school girl.  She found out that she has Mrs. Ashcraft as her Kindergarten teacher this year and she is an "Early Bird" which means she starts school at 8:00am and ends after lunch at 12:10pm.  She reads every day and completed (reading and writing; Title, Author, and Summary) her first book reports on two books that Mommy and Daddy picked which got her 3 free rides at the OC Fair.

Princess Kaylee has taken the lead in pretend adventures this month, which veer from the conventional story and get quite creative.  Amazing how independent her personality is, yet still the best cuddler to Mommy and Daddy and nurturer to her "babies".  She's gotten her fare share of bumps and bruises given her level of play, and takes them with stride!  Even with a huge rash outbreak which we believe is from something in an unknown sunscreen, she was un-phased and literally a "happy camper" at Doran Beach.  She moved up to the next level swim class along with Cienna and is very comfortable in the water, swimming about 5 feet on her own.  Kaylee is now completely done with diapers, and has gotten a new NapMat (big girl bed) to use at daycare.  The last day this month, we determined that Cienna has flower hair that doesn't need cut, just cared for, Kaylee has hair like Mommy which is like grass that needs to be trimmed in order to stay healthy, so Kaylee just got her first hair cut!

Many photos to go along with our adventures... Enjoy!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/SzcUSMdPHSdpgRSF8