We love the beach!!!!!!

We headed out to the coast over the weekend! We are only about 30 minutes from the Pacific Ocean....Bodega is the little place we go!!! It's beautiful out there. Not the kind of beaches that folks picture when they imagine California beaches...they are rugged and can be dangerous with rip currents and frigid waters. We have had some really hot weather here so being able to drive 30 miles and have a 20 degree temperature drop is nice. Of course this year we have AC in our new house...which is heavenly!!! The coast was very crowded because of the hot weather...but stiff fun. Edie and Ella had seen the ocean before just not as close as we were this weekend...
Here is our family picture that some nice lady took for us...

Ella prefered to stroll the sands with daddy...

Edie trying to decide if it was safe to walk in the sand...

Ella and daddy again...

Edie sitting in the sand...still not sure about it!!!

Ella looking cute.....or maybe she was chewing something...


Edie has a new favorite thing...the empty clothes basket. She likes to sit in it and she likes to push it around. She pushes it through the house and picks up anything she can find and tosses it in....

We may have finally gotten off the bottle...


just kidding...they still enjoy their bottles at nap/night time but they equally love the mustard bottle!!!

This is the way we.......

Brush our teeth, Brush our teeth........



Ella Grace and Edie Claire are getting to be big little girls! It's happening so much faster the older they get. The girls are super sharp, observant and perceptive. Our days are filled with fun and amazement....which is a normal parental phenomena (is that how to spell that word?) but it's AWESOME!!! Just some of the things.....let's start with Ella Grace.
The girl can move...she's a full time walker! She does look a little like someone spiked her milk with all the wobbling but she makes it to where she needs to get. I kick myself every night for not working in a little video before she gets more steady on her feet and the opportunity passes.
She likes to snuggle more than her sister...she likes to pat Rubi and the kitties...and believe me they LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE it too.....(wink wink)! Her pats are a little on the punchy side.....but we practice gentle.
She knows how to identify people and herself....when we say "where is Ella?" she pats herself on the head....when we ask her where mommy, daddy or Rubi are she points at the appropriate person.....or dog! Brilliant, I tell you!
Here are some pictures of the little Einstein.......
See here..how she sits..smart huh??? Biased, I am not!


making sure she didn't step in a puppy pile in the backyard......


she likes to smile....good thing because she has a fabulous smile!


........there she goes!!!


here she comes.............


Now little Miss Edie Claire....
she is SOMETHING! ELSE! She has quite a sense of humor...likes to joke around! Her favorite joke is putting some piece of clothing over her head, walking into things and smiling or pulling the cloth off really quick and smiling as you say "where is Edie"......."there she is". Fun times people. Fun times!
When she is ready for you to come and get her from her crib she yells....."aaaayyyyy" really loudly and over and over again. Cute!
She demonstrated her newest skill for the first time today.......door opening! Yeah that's right......she stands high up on her tiptoes and opens doors!!! We have no deadbolts! We will soon have many deadbolts! Tacky.....but necessary!
When she is doing something that she knows she isn't supposed to.....say hitting her sister on the head....she looks at whoever is there and as soon as we say nooooo she starts shaking her head nooooooo......trouble!!!
Here is her photo shoot.......the little brilliant one!!!

Inquisitive.......


seriously mom....I am trying to play here!!!


Edie learned really quickly how to turn their little play sinks faucet on....


wheels are for chumps......


what can I get into next???

Rejuvenated........

Jon took this with his iphone. Edie pushed the high chair up to the sofa...(see the sofa arm there on the left...just barely!) She then climbed up on the sofa and across the tray into the chair. Not to be outdone....Ella followed her lead...

We have this bizarre small drawer under our double ovens...I assume it was meant for baking pans but you can't fit very many pans in it...what you can fit though is a 15 month old....


We had a great time in Florida...nice and relaxing!!! Just what the mommy ordered!!! There were 4 of us girls and we all enjoyed the rest and relaxation. I slept until 10 most days...ate and drank whenever and whatever I wanted! With the heat and humidity though I did not eat/drink near as much as I thought I would. I brought my friend Victoria with me and we met 2 of my long time friends in Louisiana and drove from there to Perdido Key! We had 3 full days on the beach, a night at the famous Flora-Bama, and nights filled with fun girl talk and it was FABULOUS!!!
Here is a picture from our balcony...it's blurry because every time I would bring my camera out to take a picture the lens would fog due to the humidity...


We ate out on the balcony most nights...it was usually boiled shrimp, salad, cheese and olive trays, etc.....


a view of our stretch of beach from our beach chairs....


our beach chairs that were set out for us each day.......by really cute beach boys...VERY VERY underage beach boys!!!


Since we had Victoria along and she had never been to New Orleans we decided to stop in on our way to Florida for lunch....we walked around and did some touristy shopping for a couple hours....it was fun and nice to show her around a little....we ate lunch at this little place called The Coffee Pot....it has a great tiny courtyard...


I highly recommend getting away for a girls trip...it was hard to make the plans because I was worried about being away from E Squared for so long...I miss them terribly when I work 12 hours shifts so I worried about not seeing them AT ALL for 6 days in a row. I did well I thought...I missed them but I was still able to have a great time and now that I am home I feel refreshed...I guess!!!

Is this why they call it Double Trouble????

Now that Edie and Ella are mobile we often find them digging into anything and everything. They are full of curiosity and mischief...it's great fun and 2 tons of work. It's awesome to watch their little wheels spinning...cool stuff!!! It is not uncommon to hear me say (way more than one time a day) "WHAT HAVE YOU GOTTEN INTO NOW???" ...of course in a very animated voice...you can't very well scold a 14 month old....and our house is pretty childproofed so they are usually into harmless things... I have noticed that Edie responds to this by either dropping what she has or turning around and walking away....it's is hilarious people!!! Funny too because it's not like she gets in trouble by us or anything but she definately knows right from wrong......here is a perfect example!!!
I came downstairs yesterday and found them with all their nighttime diapers strewn around the room...they love to do this. So I say something along the lines of ....WHAT DID YOU GIRLS DO????


Edie immediately got up and ran over to the ottoman......look at her....leaving her sister behind and acting like she did nothing of the sorts....



This must be why they have those straps on the highchairs....



No words needed........



They both love to lie on their bellies and play...too cute!!! Never mind the toys everywhere...usually the first thing they do every morning is empty the toybox...



here mommy...let me take some pictures...



sweet Ella Grace...



Ella kicked back watching some Backyardigans......



Edie ... playing a little ditty...or is it diddy???



Ella.........is a WALKER.....