rain, rain, rain

'rain, rain, stay to play'

i love the cold rainy days.

bye felicia!! (to 2014)

life has been back to normal.

back to the daily routines of every day monday-friday life.

wake up (at the last possible minute for me), get dressed as i hear the girls play like it's saturday morning already, hush them and remind them that we do share walls with neighbors who may not appreciate the banshee cries of their stuffed toys, toast our orange juices and coffee to a good day, zip up, lights out (those dark winter mornings), and lock up.

zoom down the three flights of stairs of our apartment building, with the hurriedness of mrs. clavel, always taking turns to jump off the last step.

believe it or not, this is all done in 30 mins or less.

supermom? i like to think so..

in these first couple january weeks, we've had a couple birthday parties, neighbor gave away a keurig i was happy to take (doesn't work great, but does work enough to do the job), a baby shower in a beautiful hotel room (i love anything in a hotel room. i do enjoy that eloise feeling), and much music listening instead of tv watching (music does let the sillies out more than tv does). i have to say, i am over those kids shows..if we can't agree to watch something together, then music it is!

xoxo -stephnay

2014. Well into the new year now...

Can I just say?

I don't know that I'll ever get used to this. So for now, if you do come and visit, be patient. I always come back.

Also! Something cool: 

not sure if you're a believer of the law of attraction or whatever way you may believe it, whether it be by meditating, praying, or just plain obsessing, but looking back at last year's resolution and writing that I wanted a car- It happened! Crazy, eh? It didn't happen how I thought it would though. I assumed a new car, as an addition to what we had already. Not that our shitter would actually take a shit and force us into a new one…but whatever, we have a newer working vehicle, with excellent gas mileage, and I am hootin darn happy 'bout that!

2013 did have its bummers:

Baby (or not really, anymore) Billie fractured her tibia and fibula right above her ankle, as well as busting her growth plate in half playing on the playground. She's perfectly fine now, but man, was that a scary venture. She needed surgery, pins, and much hope that her growth plate would not fuse to her actual bone, which would've caused her leg growth to be stunted. Thanks to all who sent us love and light, positive energy, and the smart hand of Dr. Thomas, she is fine and will be growing up like nothing happened. Except for the surgery scar, but we'll take that over anything worse. Though it was a worrisome experience, and the trauma of it all continues to make me wish every single day that it never happened, we learned a lot. Accidents happen, and that is that.You can do your best to avoid them, but really, it does happen to anyone. Just be careful, and though it may be impossible to not beat yourself up or feel that you're completely responsible, just know that it's not your fault. Husband blamed my father (who was watching the girls when it happened), and was stubborn on putting him to blame, which did not fare well between he and I at home. It created more stress. I'm not sure how he may feel about it now, but he knows how I feel and I gave him my input, and we don't discuss it. If he tries to, and begins to rile me up, I point to the front door. Hmph! But seriously, we're all good in the hood :)

Penelope has been bratty and so cute, and whiny, and adorable, and LOUD, but she can sure carry a pretty little tune. She was once afraid of all animals. She only liked them in books.. or at a distance.. I dreaded taking her on play dates where there would be dogs or cats involved, she'd claw her way up above my head! But she now LOVES 'em. Dogs particularly. She even asks if she can have one! One day, sweet child. One day..

Here is a pic she loved & I posted on IG after playin' around on a cat app:

Hubby's been pretty good to me lately. Coming around to all the kid parties, baby showers, friend's birthdays with me. I use to go alone believe it or not:

He's the great man I love.

And I don't care how late I may be in writing resolutions, but I'm doing it anyway:

.:Aida, moi in middle, and Erin NY2014:.

This year, I'd love for my little family to finally have our own home. We've been living with others or others living with us since Matt & I met. We've gone through plenty hard times and things are looking up, so it's time. I want a home to entertain people with game nights and experimental dinners, dammit! I've got too many ideas pinned up on Pinterest, it needs to happen.

Another car. Without our current vehicle breaking down.

We need to pay San Francisco a visit. Preferably by road trip (I hear it's beautiful). There are some fun people out there we'd like to paint the town red with!

Crossing my fingers xoxo

time flies too fast!

spring has been in bloom since sometime around march in las vegas.

after a horrid february, march was filled with more bipolar weather.

we're at the very end of april now, and it looks like it's going to stick to the beaming hot sun type of weather. i don't even recall any april showers this year..

 

here's a recap of what's been up!

^^billie blowin' them air kisses at the spring flowers^^

^^penelope had her 3rd birthday. she asked for ice cream, so i got her cake-fetti ice cream, topped with a sparkling # '3'. she really enjoyed it. she had a party thrown for her at her nana's the following weekend, and i didn't take pictures :( i was too busy having a good time with family!^^

 

^^spent one really warm afternoon at the park with some good friends for a mini shoot and some play time. hubby here showed penelope how fun dandelions are! we also let them get soaked in a play fountain. it was all fun and great until penelope discovered a tiny bug crawl around on her hand in the car on the way home. i've never seen/heard her freak out like that. i've been catching bugs lately to show her how harmless they actually are. ^^

 

 

^^went blonde^^

^^then fucsia. it's a lighter pink now, since it's semi permanent. but i have been having so much fun sporting this hair! not sure i would ever do it again, but it's fun for now :)^^

^^penelope shot her first commercial for a local springs preserve's dia del niño promo^^

^^my handsome matt also had a birthday.^^

^^it was #nationalsiblingsday a couple weeks back^^

^billie. talking so much lately. she also follows her big sis evvveerryywhhere. and anything penelope gets, billie has to make sure we get it for her too. they're competive, already. a lot of times it scares me, how fast they're growing up.^^

^^been playing with decorating my nails^^

 

^^had a day at the pool with some girlfriends. this night ended up being a sloppy one, ha!^^

 

so those are some highlights of march-april this year. may should be pretty chill month for us. a bff is coming in from dc, so i'm looking forward to some more girl time! and i'm definitely going to squeeze in more pool time!

 

*all photos taken on instagram.

.:this week:.

 ^^angel baby penelope pondering on what mischief she should get herself into^^

 

 

^^penelope adopted a new friend. no real name yet. when i asked her why she loved this baby giraffe so much, she said with sad eyes, 'he needs a mommy and daddy. i need to take care of him.' que me crying over how proud i am of my little girl with a big heart^^

 

 

^^bein' all acrobatic with daddy^^ 

 

 

^^bein' all gymnast with daddy^^ 

 

 

^^sigh..my baby love, billie^^ 

 

 

^^big eyed beauty^^ 

 

 

^^billie wanted a photo with her chalkboard art. she's proud of this one. which also gave me an idea for her: taking her photo with her art. i wonder what we'll have accumulated when she turns 10 even^^ 

 

 

^^nap time^^

 

 

^^have to give credit to this awesome nikon. i love it, i love it, i love it. we look good together, don't we? ha!^^

 

also, i finally did a little more experimenting with blogger and figured out how to make my images larger. felt pretty dumb when i figured it out because it only took two clicks of the mouse...i may also be jazzing up the place as it is all uneven now with the bigger images. so let's see how that'll turn out..



playin' with a real camera today

err..mom. what are you doing?

 

not too focused here, but i'm tryin'.

 

here, i accidentally focused on the bow.

 

hi, mom!

 

school photo lookin'.

 

too much flash. it was on auto, i turned it on no flash after this shot.

 

my first shot. not too bad for the first one!

 

*penelope was napping while this was going on. i'm having too much fun with this camera, so may post more later!



good times and bad

it's been hectic over here.

last tuesday, we got news that my grandfather passed away. i loved that man. what's sadder is that i was unable to attend his funeral the following friday, due to being completely broke (he lived in Cali). if i didn't have a shitter as a vehicle, it would have been possible. i was terribly upset. the morning of his funeral, i was in a foul mood, i cried, i took many showers (i like to think a lot during my showers). i decided to keep myself busy to present a positive attitude for the girls, so i happily baked a birthday cake for billie, as we were going to do a little shindig for her at my mother in law's the next day.

here it is:

..and i'm pretty proud of it. also, it was delicious:



see? you can tell by that look in her eye, that it was shockingly good.

here are a couple others from the birthday:

 

 

my billie.

you make me so happy, even in the toughest times.

you make me smile so much, i am so proud of you!

happy birthday my darling <3

momma loves you sooo much.



 

a friday

today, we went to bonnie springs.

the kids really loved it.

almost 1!

so my littlest will be 1 in two weeks!

my, has she been a little bit of a handful lately.

she's in a hitting/pinching phase, and telling her 'no' seems to make her smile and laugh instead of stop. she's also been into throwing fits and crying on purpose to get her sissy in trouble. <--yes, she totally does this. so my ears have been perking more than ever to make sure i'm sending peppy to time out for real reasons, rather than going by billie's cry, because i don't always see it.

this one...



hey there, sweets

long time no see.

this is what i look like these days. scrappy, damaged hair done by myself, and a tired pair of eyes.

here's what my kiddos look like now-a-days:

&

it's a little hard to get a good shot of the littler one..she's constantly on the move.

wanna know what else we've been up to?

1. i learned how to make pad thai via *pinterest. {delicious} *that's my pinterest page. the recipe can be found here.

2. billie playing hide n seek. *she's coming up to her 1st birthday in a couple weeks!  other amazing things she's been doing lately: says new words {uh, oh! diaper, tank ooo! (thank you). she's a magician or wizard, or i don't even know. but, she's quick. that baby gets to places that makes my head explode giant question marks.

3. billie, 4th of july.

4. i was soooooo happy to finally try hash house a gogo. penelope was, too.

5. i've been crafty lately.

in other news, i'm looking forward like crazy to going to los angeles, to attend the fyf festival, and hang out with some of the coolest friends in the world! it's only about 3 weeks away and i cannot wait. hurry up.

new year

yeah, like 17 days ago..i even told family and friends that i would update this thing more often this year as a new years resolution. so far, it has not been muy bueno. serisouly, i have no idea how the super moms out there with 2+ kids do it! but i know i'm different. i have a hobby of playing video games and..

..this came out. yep. occupied 100% of my no baby time for a little over 2 months. i have still yet to finish, but i've grown a bit bored. (level 21 high elf).

i also have this to blame..

..too many good shows, and at the time, holiday movies.

so, seeing that i'm about caught up on most and having plenty of 'me' time, i'm ready to have another go at it.

here's what was missed..

..good times with freinds..

..a few girl's nights..

..our wedding party..

..some good food..

..bad days..

..good mornings..

..happy holidays..

..sisterly bonds..

..more play times with Reese..

..chunky baby..

..pajama parties..

..and lovely moments like these..

xoxo