Hawaii

Clear back in February we were lucky enough to get a trip to Kauai with the Hagen family, and no one can complain about an expense paid trip to Hawaii! Although I'll admit the trip got off to a rough start. We missed our flight which meant me and Brad were traveling alone instead of with the rest of the family, and we also had to spend the ENTIRE day in the LA airport instead of on the beach in Hawaii. It was rough, here is a blurry image of one of the many new skills the girls picked up while stuck in a little airport wing for 7 hours, pushing their stroller.

 After a rough day and a rough night, the view of Hanalei Bay was a sight for sore eyes.

 We tried to go to the beach where Bethany Hamilton always surfed, but it was a hike and the waves seemed too big for us- we turned around quick.

 beach babes.

 Is my hat on straight?

 Little Hawaiian babies!

 And a duet, Lyla on the ukelele while June sings. ;)

 Family pictures

 Little family

 Lyla was obsessed with the ocean water. She fearlessly crawled right into the ocean. She also tried to get into small buckets of ocean water. (and she drank plenty of it too) June crawled around the sand in huge circles, just staring at the strange ground underneath her.

  It was exhausting work playing at the beach, lots of drink breaks.

 Um, the view is the other way girls.

 Our little pea pods were perfect for the trip, the girls took breaks from the sand in there & even napped a couple times at the beach.

When we weren't at the beach the girls were finding water anywhere they could at home.

Bubbles were fun for all!

 I have a thing for babies in sunglasses, too bad the girls don't have that same "thing", still managed to get a couple pictures though.

Tropical babes.

 The hot tub was a hit.

Hey Lyla, you've got a little sand on your...oh, never mind, we'll wait till we're off the beach.

 They were in love with playing in the sand. I wish we lived by a beach sometimes. (Sand pits really aren't the same)

 Reaching for daddy <3

 Babies in bikinis, gotta show off those pot bellies!

 Such fun!

 June, you've got sand everywhere and your swimsuit is, ahem, falling off. ;)

 Hahaha...I can't get enough of this pic of Lyla falling off of daddy's "ride" (she was fine)

 After that she was more hesitant...

 Little crabs

 A family picture

 Some of my favorite people: (not a bad background either)

 Fulfilling my lifelong dream, sailor babies! I wish my mom had kept my baby sailor outfit, but these little dresses I found are pretty darling too. :)

 In case you're concerned about safety, Brad is standing behind them with his hands on their backs. :)

 I love this.

 Sweet things

 Oh my gosh, sand!

Farm Animals

A few weeks back I wrote a thought out post with pictures for my weekly blog post goal and before I could post it got deleted somehow...grr. I was disheartened and gave up for several weeks, but for some reason I never want to give up on blogging even if I'm not that great at it, I guess it makes me feel slightly less guilty about how far behind I am on scrapbooking and the baby books I haven't made yet and the journals I don't write in. I've got to get things down somewhere, I don't think my kids will look back on old blog posts the way they would look back to pictures in a tangible book...but for now, this will have to do. It seems time consuming sometimes, but it's free and still much easier than the tangible memory books I should be working on. :)
Today we went to Wheeler Farm with grandma Lewis, grandma Barbara, Melinda & her kids. I hadn't been there since I was little and I realized its so close to our house we should go more often!

There were so many little farm animals and even baby twin piglets and twin baby lambs! The chickens and geese were the girls favorites.

 Lyla kept pointing at all the animals.

June and Tommy wanted to get closer to the little lambs.

 Lyla wasn't as mesmerized by the lambs as the other babies.

 Why hello there goose.

 Babies and grandmas.

 Grandmas with too many babies.

The girls had SO much fun looking at all the animals and listening to all their animal noises. Till next time on the farm!

birthday bunting banner tutorial

Per request, this is how I made my birthday bunting banner. I made this tutorial after the project was complete, so you'll have to use your imagination a little bit, but it's not too complicated! I really love having something so cute I can pull out for family birthdays for the rest of my life.  And I made the back side blank so it can be used for all sorts of celebrations and parties!

 Supplies:
1 pkg double fold bias tape
16 material scraps at least 6" by 7"(twice that for a double sided banner)
some additional scraps for the cupcakes
2 pkgs of iron on letters (I bought mine at michael's and started with one, but I would have had to write "feliz birthday" so I went back for a second package.) :)

First, get a piece of paper and fold it in half. Make a mark 3" from the top (Mine was actually more like 2.6" since I was just making this up, do what looks best to you). Make a mark 7" from the top. Connect the dots.

Then cut along the line and you now have your pattern.

You could make it really simple and just cut out 16 triangles of fabric. I wanted a double sided banner that has "happy birthday" on one side and blank on the other for all occasions. If you want double sided cut out 2 of every fabric (32 triangles)

Next I drew a little cupcake and cut it into 4 pieces, then I traced it on some scrap fabric and cut out 3 sets of cupcakes. If you don't want cupcakes on your banner you could skip this part, but it's not that hard and really adds something (In my opinion). :)

You could draw out a simple pattern yourself or try to print out this picture the right size, I'm better at sewing than technology, so I'll let you figure that out. 

 

 

 

 

Take one triangle of fabric from the first, last, and 7th place in your row (every triangle that won't have a letter) Sew on the pieces on at a time starting with the bottom and working up to the little flame.

Next, if you're going the double-sided route, line up each set of triangles right sides together and sew along both sides using no more than 1/4" seam allowance. (don't sew along the top) Turn right side out and use a pencil, scissors, or pointy object to get the tips out (you may want to trim off some excess fabric at the bottom)  *If your banner is one sided you could just leave the edges raw and be done with it (you know, "shabby chic" AKA, less work) ;)

After turning right side out you'll need to iron each triangle flat, I found it easier to iron the side seam flat first, then go over the whole triangle.

Once your triangles are all ready place them just barely in between the two sides of bias tape, pin them in place with how ever much space you'd like between them (I spaced them about 1 1/2" apart). Sew along the bottom. Arrange iron-on letters onto the triangles and iron according to directions.

Now you have a bunting banner that you can use for the rest of your life, for every celebration you can think of! Especially birthdays. :)

A happy Valentines for us all

 This year was by far my favorite valentines I've had! In fact, it's the best February I've ever had. It's normally kind of a yucky month just waiting for winter to end...but this year was filled with Hawaii, birthdays, and a fun valentines! :)

 We had dinner at home with the girls then Brad and I went out for pedicures and a movie. It was just perfect.

 Of course it was a great excuse to dress up the girls, as always. :)

 Things are changing this week with their highchairs btw, I bought some new straps that are sure* to keep them in.  (*likely)

 Brad gave roses to all of his ladies. I got a beautiful dozen red and the girls got white, they kind of liked them.

 I had to give the girls a little valentines candy to make them happy during this little photo session.

 They liked conversation hearts.

 What will I do when they don't humor me with these photo shoots anymore? I guess that's when you have more kids...lol. :)

 Hope you all had a lovely valentines!

january highlights

So my goal to not be a month behind on my blog is already ruined...but I have a plan. I'm going to try to do a post at least every Sunday, which would keep things up to date pretty good.  Also, my amazing friend Erin just made my blog all darling which makes me want to come here and post things, I just want to look at all her cuteness so I think I will actually keep my goal. Right now I can't help but check it out every 5 minutes or so, eventually I will mellow out to a daily dose I'm sure.
Anyway...
Here's some of what you missed in January:

the girls love their baths

 They were happy as can be at grandma's house while we were in Cabo.

 They seriously love the bath, they try to get in whenever the bathroom door is open- water or no water.

 We go out a lot, mostly to Costco and other grocery stores. 75% of the people are super nice and go gaga over the girls. Some people are just mean, I had a young mom flip me off in the Costco parking lot because she thought I stole her spot...Seriously? Sometimes people are CRAZY. It's a good thing I had to teach a lesson on "love thy neighbor" last week in church, sometimes it's easier said than done.

 I took the girls out into a little snow storm to let them feel snowflakes for the first time.

 

They started eating PB&J

 

They get messy, sticky little hands.

 And we all love guac. I've been working on mine ever since we got back from Mexico, the mortar and pestle really makes a difference!

 Here is June demonstrating their love of church doors.

 I took the girls on a lot of long drives for nap time, I'm trying to break that habit a bit now and trying to get them sleeping in their cribs more.

 They love people. They love their dolls. They love their mama. One of their favorite ways to show affection is trying to poke your eyes out, the more they go after you the more they love you. :)

  

And there's January in a nutshell. Back to the month of love!