A bloomin'

Two weeks later...

Love this time of the year!
Traveling all week (just got extended to friday) and am missing the kids + Si.
(hint hint love, post pictures for me!)

Spring has sprung!

It's going to be a fun summer. Below is just one reason why! Yes, Friday while Mama was working Daddy, Ri and Vons went out and bought a boat! Yaaahhhoooo!!

Ri ready for camping adventures and time for the snowboard to go away. 

Taking advantage of the spring air with more backyard projects. Updated photo of the new grass coming soon!

EASTER EGG HUNT TIME!

I see one Mama I see one....

There it is there it is!

So happy!

Pregnant, love, airplanes

Ha.  Stop freaking out mom.  It's our GARDEN that's pregnant - just ready to burst!  Love this time of the year. (this photo is a week old, it's totally filled in now... will update when I get home)

Got some "missing kids" computer time while traveling, so thought I'd do an actual keyboard update.

Our favorite walk at the ranch last weekend with our little girl (R gets to stay with nan now).  Oh I just LOVE this age, this time with her.  She's become such a little person, so many words, so great to finally see and understand what she's thinking.

Isn't this such an awesome hike under the rocks.

 My baby is all grown up, and no more of that stage.  Sad, yet glad to get to know our little girl...  To friends with newborns, I will come over and hold your baby and you can get out of the house/have a shower/sleep.  Seriously.

 Flying with daddy!

Riley is doing great, and both kids are getting along beautifully with our new (in Jan) nanny Echo.  Echo speaks Chinese with them and I'm so glad we finally went through with this, she's a treat and such a helper, great with the kids.  Especially now that Riley gets more comfortable, he'll sometimes say random words to vani in chinese and loves the songs.  He's definitely still more in listening mode than talking (he can just say the "high value" phrases like "please may I have an orange" or "can I go on my bike"), but its exciting to see progress.

Riley is also in preschool just for 2.5 hrs a few times a week and is thriving.  He's balancing being 'outgoing' without being obnoxious, and is still sensitive but not as extremely so as before.  We get great feedback from his teachers, and I'm so proud to have such a lovely boy.   Now touch wood!  (remind me to read this when he's a teenager)

I've had a lot of b2b weeks of travel and things are pretty hectic, too many planes, automobiles and emails.  I'm in portland right now and missing my buddies.  The actual job I'm doing is good and I'm starting to get some real results and exciting opportunities going...so now to ("just"... ha!) scale it back a bit and say "no" more often.

The cutest thing?  Vani knows when I go away as I tell her "tomorrow mamas going on an airplane for a few days".  Except she thinks that the whole time I'm gone, I'm on the airplane.  So if someone asks where mama is, "mama on airpwane!".  And when a plane flies overhead, Si says she always points and says "mama on airpwane?".

Me?  I'm loving our family.  So thankful for our health and our joy in our kids, surety in each other.  I've settled into my skin as a mother and started to forgive myself more, quit comparing to other mothers and just appreciate the role I fill, and Simon's help in balancing our family.  Thankful.

Easter

All dressed for his Easter egg hunt!

Progress begets a step backwards

So a few weeks ago I'd gone outside to rake for a few minutes

And after years of planting grass seed unsuccessfully we finally decided to go for sod. Brilliant results. This is the same area. 

Unfortunately it was so great it made the rest of our lawn look terrible. 

So impromptu project today is tearing the  rest of the lawn up and putting in new sod. 

Never a dull moment here ...

Photo dump

So the second Birthday party was so exciting we forgot to take pictures. So here's a photo dump from my phone (Simon). . . . .

Ri's a great helper. . .

Flying with Pops in the Turks! 

Palm Springs adventures

Echo (our awesome new nanny) skating for the first time! Vons helping out! 

Cuddles for the goats at Maplewood farms. 

Skating on the lake at the ranch.

Lovely cup of tea with dad!

Fun Happy Birthday combined party for Ri and Vons - Safari theme! 

Ri's first time skiing - great birthday present idea from dad 

Happy to see winter behind us now 

Ready for swimming daddy! 

Ri flying his kite in downtown Vancouver just near Stanley Park 

Yahooooo for ice cream day at preschool!

Such a great helper! 

Enjoying Starbucks outings with Daddy! 

Vonnie off and away on her first bike ride . . . .

Happy girl! 

Vonnie and Nan love trying on new outfits together. Here's Vons in her new Eskimo outfit! 

Ri at skating lessons! 

That's all off my phone for now.  Cheers! 

2 Happy Birthday's today!

Here we are at the first one. . .

We're back!

Giving up on catching up. Miss my blog posts. So happy Friday everyone!

We're back and Si is here too! And we've gone mobile so hopefully we'll be posting a lot more. 

 

My three best friends!