April supplement

Somehow I missed a whole folder of photos before. 

A few more Easter pics

 Livia's birthday

 Jane's birthday

Tea party

Aaaaand done.

May

This past weekend we were able to go on a Baldwin family trip to Palm Springs. There was lots of pool time and lots of family time. We all had so much fun!

 Jane was too afraid to go on the water slide until the very last morning. And then we couldn't get her off it. :)

You couldn't beat the view from our hotel room!

Mother's day photo with my girls

On the way home we were lucky enough to meet up with my family for frozen yogurt. My dad and brother even skipped work for an hour to join us. It's always so wonderful to see them!

It poured rain here yesterday, so I was able to check off #93 Play in the rain with my girls

I was also able this week to finally, finally, finally, cross off #2 Burn all home videos onto dvd. This took ages because I had to view and edit each video clip. But it is done! It is current! I can die happy.

March and April

Gracie's first time in a swing.

 And she learned to sit up on her own. This is my favorite stage, when they just sit and play with toys and don't go anywhere. She's so close to crawling now, and I can see my peace evaporating before my eyes.

 One Saturday we went up to San Francisco and ate delicious food, went to Golden Gate Park, and hit up the Ice Cream Bar.

Then Chase took the little girls home, and Livia and I had a night out to see Newsies! I love my little musical lover. And everyone was so, so nice to us. One man even gave us his excellent seats when he had to leave at intermission. I was in heaven!

 She wanted a sleep mask, but Livia was already wearing the only one we own. This suited her just fine.

 Preschool

 In March Chase and I got to work on our backyard. We killed all the weeds and then spent a full day tearing it all out.

 See?

Chase told me to go buy dirt. So I did. Lots of it. 

 Gracie watched and cheered us on as we wheelbarrowed it (is that even a term?) to the backyard.

 Fresh dirt laid and seeded!

 Livia and her 1st grade teacher, Ms. Le, whom we love!

 Your daily dose of Grace.

 Easter

 Over spring break I took the girls mini golfing.

 They loved it. They were terrible, but they loved it.

 We also went to the San Jose children's museum. Remind me to have my kids paint the driveway with water this summer. Such a brilliant idea that kept them occupied for quite some time.

 The grass started to grow!

 For their birthdays, I took the girls to see "Fancy Nancy: the Musical." It was heaven on Earth for these two Fancy Nancy lovers.

 And of course we had to stop at Fenton's on the way home for some "ice cream parfaits" like Fancy Nancy.

 Livia's birthday came first!

 She requested a giant serving of pôts de crème. It took her four days to finish it.

Another picture of Gracie because she's just so dang cute.

We had one Saturday filled with birthday parties, their cousin's and their own. I took no pictures at our own party, which was switched last minute from the park to our house, but they enjoyed both! Ella's was "rainbow butterfly" themed. Livia at first wanted to do mash-up of several Pixar movies. Luckily I was able to sway her to do an art-themed party instead.

It's growing!!

And we even planted a few flowers for our little gardener, Jane. She still loves plants so incredibly much. After we went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park, I asked what her favorite thing was, and she said, "the cactus and the bird of paradise plant."

January and February

Chase got me a new camera after I had Grace, and one day I had a little photo shoot with my girls.

 This next one is one of my favorite pictures, ever.

They're so cute when they're captured in photos, all happy and pleasant and not bickering with each other. :) 

Rolling over for the first time

 Went on a hike to Deer Hollow Farm with their cousin.

 Livia set up an art store outside one day. No customers, unfortunately. But then, we didn't advertise. She was totally undeterred and just drew happily the entire time.

 First bite of rice cereal!

This is how Jane goes to ballet class. Girl's got style.

 But don't let her do her own make-up. Yeesh.

 During winter break we took a trip down to Southern California. We stayed with my parents a bit, and also went to San Diego with Chase's parents.

We hiked to the top of a hill, which was not hard for us adults, but challenging for those with little legs! They were troopers, though!

We took the girls to Sea World, and they loved it!

 Jane was completely star struck

 I was able to visit with two other friends from high school, but I didn't get a picture with Kelly! I love catching up with everyone!

The San Diego Wild Animal Park was also a hit with my girls. Even Livia liked it, and she is notorious for disliking zoos. I think the icees helped.

I've been to lots of zoos, and I've never seen elephants play like this. We watched for a full half hour, as they rough housed in the water. The best part was a very young elephant that kept trying to sneak away from his parents to jump in the water. He finally succeeded. My girls cheered. I sympathized with the poor mother.

 Had to stop by the San Diego temple! Liv refused to get out of the car. Sigh.

 We took a tour of the USS Midway, which was fascinating, even for the girls.

 Checking out the planes Grandpa Baldwin used to fly!

 #43 Take Livia fishing (You didn't think I'd forgotten about my goals, did you?!)

Thank goodness my brother, Perry, was with us, because neither Chase nor I had been fishing since we were kids, and I was clueless. We went to a stocked pond in Apple Valley, and both Chase and Perry caught a fish, but apparently fishing is not one of my talents, because I came up totally empty.

City slickers:

 #19 Get my Grandma's bread recipe and make it.
It took me three tries to get it just right, but man, was it delicious.