Happy Easter!!

It was an amazing day!  Our first Easter in our new house!! 

I meant to take pictures of us dying the eggs...but I had my hands full...literally. It was a fun, but messy project.

Here is Dylan's Easter basket...


And Miss Maddie's...


Where the Easter Bunny hid the eggs this year...





Maddie going through her Easter basket...Dylan had his ripped open before we even had a chance to take a picture.



And she's off to find the eggs before her brother gets them all!



The hunt is on...













After the festivities at our house, we were off to visit...who else? Grandma!!
Aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, great food & another egg hunt in the back yard.




It was an amazing day! Should I start counting down to Christmas yet?

Spring Fling!

On the beautiful Saturday afternoon, the day before Easter, the LA Zoo has their annual Spring Fling. I couldn't think of a better way to spend the day with the hubby & the little people. Madison is old enough now to enjoy the animals more, and it was so fun to watch her...she was so amazed!

Sitting at lunch, enjoying their smiles...



I can't remember what her deal was here, but she doesn't look happy, does she?


Maddie was so excited to pet the bunnies, but it was kind of a bummer. We spent 3 minutes listening to the rules...hold out 2 fingers & pet gently...we only got to pet the bunny for 3 seconds.


I got a kick out of this guy. He just sat there on his rock, staring at everyone staring at him.



The giraffes are my absolute favorite part of the zoo. I could sit there and watch them forever.




Meet the Koala family...they recently had a little Koala-baby.  It's the cutest little guy ever. 


I think Mommy Koala needs to have a talk with Daddy Koala...it doesn't seem like he's pulling his weight with the newborn! 

And my little bunnies....

Earth Day!!

I think about the impact of myself and my family on the environment often. I care...but sometimes don't think about the things I do and how bad they are for our planet. I've made small changes, but I want to do something bigger. I want to show my kids that if want to enjoy the world you live in, you have to do your part to take care of it. Not to sound cheesy, but actually totally sounding cheesy, if there was ever a time to make these changes, now would be that time. From the oil spill a year ago, the billions of water bottles people throw away every year, or to the nuclear situation in Japan, we need a change.


I've made a list of changes I intend to make in my family & home, in hopes that my children and my husband follow my lead...and maybe others will make some small changes as well...you just never know.

* Eat less meat.
* Save electricity (turn off lights, unplug things not being used, turn things off)
* Stop using plastic bags entirely
* Eat more local foods...loooove the Burbank Farmers Market!!
* Recycle everything I can
* Stop using plastic baggies...find re-usable fabric ones
* Shorter showers, less water


And these are some changes I've already started to make.

* I no longer use plastic water bottles. I carry my own re-usable water container everywhere I go, and I actually drink more water now than ever. AND I don't have 20 half-empty water bottles in my car all the time!
* I turned down the heat/air in the house.
* We planted a garden! I can't get more local than my own back yard!
* I bring my own bags to the grocery store. It's so easy, and they pay you to do it!


So there you have it, my (5) devoted readers. Ha! If anyone has any other tips or ways my family & I can help make a change, please leave me a comment! I want to hear more!

We Moved!!

It has been my dream to live in a house for so many years now. Every Halloween while we're taking the kids trick-or-treating I would wish to myself that I could hand out candy from my porch to little kids. Every Christmas when we drive around and look at Christmas lights I would wish for my own house to decorate with pretty icicle lights and a lit-up reindeer on the front lawn. I wanted a place where my kids could run in the yard. A place where we could have people over.
Now I'm not sure who is reading this, or if you are aware, but I don't live in the most rent-affordable city. Not even close. So I've seriously been working my ass off to get here.
And honestly, I'm so happy I could cry.
I've been so busy unpacking, settling in and decorating that I haven't taken many pictures, but here are a few that I took a couple days ago. It was a beautiful SoCal day, and Cody was turning the sprinklers on in the front yard, and before I knew it, Madison had wandered onto the grass & through the sprinklers, fully clothed. She was soaked. My first instinct was to make her go in and change, and then Dylan asked me if he could run through the water, too. How could I not let them? They looked like they were having so much fun, and it made me so happy to see them enjoying their new house. I'm so glad we're finally here.

Shiny & New...

Mama got a new toy!! I've been toying with the idea of getting a DSLR camera for a while now. I had never even touched one before, and then my friend brought hers to Disneyland for Madison's birthday, and I took a couple pictures with it, and the rest is history. My wonderful, sweet, amazing husband went out the next day, and the rest is history. I'm far from professional...I just love taking pictures for fun. Sooo, now I get to bore all of my 5 blog readers with random pictures of nature and even more pictures of the kids. YAY!!

I took these pictures of the moon the day that the news said it was closer to earth than it had been in, um, I don't know how long.




And of course, a couple of my little princess.



I think this may be the beginning of a beautiful friendship...of course I'm talking about the camera. Haha!