my heart

... is overwhelmed with love right now. As my mom and I came home from lunch today, Brooke fell asleep in the car as she always does and Vance scooped her up to put her in bed for her nap and I just felt ... overwhelmed. She is so, so big now. A walking running, jumping, sentence-talking, alphabet singing (kind of), stair climbing, counting to 20 (minus 14-16 .. more on that later) TODDLER. A little person.

Btw, look how amazingly tall my girl is! Clearly she does not get it from me.


I remember when our nights days (they would have been nights if sassy pants hadn't had her days and nights mixed up) were like this:


Now they look something more like this:

Little girl can pedal her on her own now! Amazeballs.

She used to look like this:


Then this:


Then this:


And now she looks like this:


She would eat soft things with no taste that melted in her mouth


Now she eats everything under the sun (except during breakfast/lunch/dinner, in which case she is Picky McPickerstein and only wants to eat noodles or rice)


I am just struck today by how incredibly BLESSED I am to have this little person in my life. This little girl who enriches me, challenges me and fills my with a love I didn't even know existed. I never, EVER want to be one of those parents who treat their children as though they are an inconvenience, or those that only show their affection in the privacy of their own home. I am so proud that she is my own. Oh, and it's an extra bonus to have this guy too:



Can you tell how much weight Vance has lost?!

Little lady,
Please don't grow up too quickly. You are easily the most amazing thing that I have ever -- or will ever do-- in my life and I can only thank the Lord above that you were given to us. ♥

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo!

Today's Tiny Tots adventures took us to the zoo. Vance, Brooke and I are unfortunately NOT zoo people-- Brooke and Vance are always hot and sweaty, unless it's air conditioned and cold to everyone else's standards. So to place the two of them in the zoo in the middle of the July ... it was rather crazy to say the least.

The first animal that caught our eyes were the monkeys. I've always thought monkeys were cute little animals that said, "ooh ah ah!" but these guys were literally SCREAMING at each other.


here's Brooke's reaction:

Then we spotted a playground and it was all over

Then headed into the Keiki Zone, where we saw Llama, Llama, Red Pajama:

Billy goats

Some big fish


Peacocks (so beautiful! These guys are just wandering freely around the zoo. Vance and I spotted two little boys chasing one around and I wanted to yell at them so badly. Grrrr)

Giraffes

Good thing Daddy came with us because I couldn't lug Sassy Pants around the zoo anymore for longer than 5 minutes!

My family ♥

Then we left to eat lunch in a comfortable AC, covered room. We chose to try a new restaurant (well, new to us at least)

Loco Moco

Mac-Attack


Sassy pants!


HAHA me half-bite and Brooke cheering about something


Then she tried out some funky chairs outside. I didn't realize how disgustingly dirty they were until I uploaded my pictures. YUCK!

a few thoughts on the media

crystal harris, you are pure EVIL. You have somehow made sweet old hugh hefner (who admittedly, is not an angel of any kind) look like a poor old heartbroken man and yet you are STILL taking stabs at him and talking about your sex life! have you no morals AT ALL?!

jesse james & kat von d split whaaaaaaat?! i really thought they were going to have a fairy tale wedding and live happily ever after! pfffft.

not new news of any sort, but still so very sad that amy winehouse has passed away. true, she may have had alcohol and drug problems in the past, but that does not take away from the fact at how truly talented she was as an artist. and from what celebrities are reporting (since i didn't personally know her, i have to go off of what others say), she was a very sweet and kind person, which seems very rare in hollywood.

j.lo & marc anthony split. . . the only thing i have to ask is: which hollywood couples are still married? what kind of role models where there be for our children and their marriages? i know, i know, the best example to set is the one of our own marriage, but when youngsters look elsewhere, it seems that marriage is just a fleeting relationship.

i'm pretty sure that kim kardashian suing old navy is just proving to the public that she is famous ... for absolutely no reason. i don't even understand the lawsuit and i lost a little respect for kim kardashian when i read the news.

what do you all think about the media lately?

the weekend

First things first, today is the boy's birthday. He turns the ripe young age of 27. And now we can officially sing the Happy Birthday song to someone on their birthday. Sassy pants is obsessed with the song and as a family, we've sang to Buddy, Zoe, the pillows, the car, the road and to our house. And every time she sings it she asks, "birthday cake? Umm, candles?" Haha!

Anyway, happy birthday to the only boy in my life. Thanks for giving our family a reason to sing the happy birthday song with candles and a cake :)

The weekend was long and filled with food and fun. I am officially exhausted.

Sassy pants hidden amongst tons of pillows in Costco

Riding the choo choo train with grandma at the mall

She took her job of waving to people very seriously

Lunch ♥


Playing with daddy's new toy

I finally got a haircut on Saturday and it feels so nice and clean :) We walked around the mall and at lunch at one of my favorite places, Nordstrom Cafe.

Sassy pants not looking too happy

& today while Daddy is out golfing, grandma, little lady and I went to see Sesame Street live. Brooke was so very excited in the beginning and I seriously almost cried tears of joy seeing her so happy!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!