16 months

Calvin was back to his happy self this month. Still a mama's boy and always likes to know where I'm at, but he's been better about playing alone and letting me leave the room. Our family reunion was a little rough though because he tends to get overwhelmed in large groups of people - especially when he can't see me or know where I'm at. He did a lot of crying at the beginning, but seemed to warm up near the end of the week, and then was completely back to his old self when we got home.

Aside from being with Spencer or I, there was one person at the reunion who Calvin always wanted to be with and that was Uncle Jeremy! Jeremy always made it all better and I truly appreciate the break that it gave me! Thanks Jer!

Sure love this little boy of ours! He's super sweet, easy to make laugh, and I love how his entire face lights up when he smiles.

I haven't payed super close attention to Calvin's new tricks or skills learned this past month, but he did master the fork and actually prefers to eat with utensils now. When he's not able to "stab it", Cal will pick up the piece of food, put it on his fork, and then using the fork- put it into his mouth. He's getting pretty good with the spoon but still makes quite a mess. I'd rather feed him to keep it clean, but Cal will always try to grab the spoon away. Grabbing it out of my hand with usually send the food flying. Drives me crazy! Pretty sure my "feeding" days are over. Cal's on the road to eating independence.

Watching the train movie (that he's obsessed with) on daddy's phone. 

Love that sweet little smile of his!

Happy Birthday to Elle!!

Happy Happy Birthday to my sweet little 4 year old! It was a crazy action packed day filled with Calhoun cousins overnight, a big pancake breakfast, morning celebration and present opening, swim lessons, a flat tire, 4 new tires, playing with new Barbies, then picnic in the park with friends and cousins! I wish I had time to get all the pictures up here and write some more about my baby girl who is growing up way too fast, but it's late, I'm exhausted and we're headed out to Vegas in the morning for a week long Rudd family reunion!! Gotta go pack - I'll update when we get back!

Terry Cousins

Boy have we been having a fabulous time with the Terry family in town! It's been a fun two weeks and we've been jumping at any chance we get to hang with Lindsay, Shaun, and/or the kids (I just hope they haven't gotten sick of us yet). We're been loving it all - date night with Lindsay and Shaun (not sure how much Brittany enjoyed babysitting all 7 kids at our house though), 4th of July celebration, fireworks, swimming, the beach, sailing, canoeing, Skirball Museum, library shows, crazy crafts, playing checkers, Sunday dinners, and Elle's early birthday celebration! Don't like to say goodbye - we're keeping fingers crossed that the Terry's will be living much closer very soon! Thanks Terry family for the great visit!

Waiting to go into the Skirball Museum

Showing off inventions made in the art studio of the Skirball museum 

Sailing- best cousins!

Ashley going in for a hug

Balloon Show at the library

Eric keeping Cal entertained before dinner (loved what fabulous babysitters the older kids were)

Showing off their cool rocks from picnic in the park

Dinners at Boppi and Grandpa Al's

Sailing!

Having family in town is always a great excuse for some extra fun on the weekends! Saturday we decided to take out dad's sailboat (along with mom's dinghy, their canoe, and the Lassen's kayak). Elle and Tyler were strapped into lifejackets immediately and ready to head out. Madi was a little hesitant though and was worried about getting sea sick. She finally agreed to 20 minutes in the boat! Cal strapped into the lifejacket without a fuss, but lasted just a couple minutes before wanting it off. At least he wore it long enough to snap a picture!

The kids warmed up their rowing skills in Boppi's dinghy.

Then they got to watch Boppi and Kaitlyn take it out for a ride.

Elle and Tyler are the cutest little buddies and couldn't wait a second longer to get into the boat. 

Lindsay and I (with Ashely in the middle) took off for the beach in the canoe, while Mom and Calvin headed over in the van. It was so much fun for me to be able to join Linds for a ride in the canoe. Since I usually always have a baby in tow, I just expect to be the one to wait for everyone on the beach. So BIG thank you to my mother-in-law for helping out with Calvin.

 The sailors took off just after Lindsay and I, so I don't have a pic of them sailing away, but once we'd paddled the canoe safely to shore we were able to watch them from a distance. . .
L-R: Grandpa Al, Eric, Spencer, Elle, Madi, and Tyler

There was a nice breeze which gave them a good sail. I didn't get tons of pictures while on the beach because of the breeze - sand is what ruined my last lens, but I couldn't resist when they sailed into shore. Everyone jumped up, ran out to help the boat it, and quickly get all the kids off. This was obviously my first time bringing dad's boat onto the beach. I was not aware of the exiting and anchoring procedures. Instead I grabbed my camera for a picture (hey, but without me it wouldn't be documented:)!

After the kids were done boating they of course wanted some beach time. I was pretty cold and ready to go by this point by boy am I glad I waited and let Elle go swimming with Tyler and Kaitlyn! Normally Elle and Madi just jump the waves, but I've been learning a lot about Elle's personality lately and I've found her to be much more adventurous when given the right motivation. Tyler and Kaitlyn wanted to swim in the ocean, so Elle ran right out there with them!

This might not seem like a big deal to most, but both my girls have been so nervous in the water until now. Elle even swallowed a mouthful of ocean water and came up like no big deal! Such a fun moment for me!

When it was time to go, I wrapped Elle and Tyler's cold little bodies in the towel I was using to keep myself warm and watched them laugh and trip over each other while walking back to the group.

What a fun day! Oh how I wish my kids had cousins who lived close. I'm soaking up every minute of cousin time they are getting this summer (luckily it's been a lot - with more to come)!

4th of July

I love the 4th of July!! It's a Jenkins family favorite holiday! 

Spencer took the girls in the morning to the Camarillo Drive Parade put on by the Arbon families. We've been loving having our Terry cousins here and were thrilled to be able to celebrate with them! I wish Cal and I could have been there but I wanted to make sure he got a nap in before heading to the beach.

L-R: Kaitlyn, Tyler, Shaun, Ashley, Eric, Madi, & Elle

After the parade Spencer and the girls headed back to Boppi and Grandpa Al's with cousins to play while I packed lunches and beach stuff and waited for Cal to wake up.

It was a perfect beach day with lots of friends and family to hang with! 

Even Cal had fun and got in on the sand action!

Elle, Madi, Easton, and Brooklyn:

After the beach I dropped Spence off at his parents to get the root beer going while I cruised home with the kids to give baths and get cleaned up for dinner and fireworks. I even got Elle to take a 15 minute nap. Then back to Boppi and Grandpa Al's for dinner and fun with cousins and lots of friends!

4th of July dinner is my favorite of ALL the holidays! Nothing beats an all American BBQ (complete with homemade hamburger buns - compliments of my amazing sister-in-law, Lindsay Terry) homemade root beer, homemade onion rings, corn on the cob, lots of salads, fresh fruits, and veggies, then topped off with homemade ice cream!!

Mom and dad Jenkins sure know how to throw a great party! I think we had 31 people in all!

After ice cream, we hurried off with the Bell's and Terry's to watch fireworks from the Village of the Park soccer fields.

The kids were all tired- especially Calvin, but they were all so excited about staying up late, playing with glow sticks, and watching fireworks! One of my favorite things is snuggling with my kids during fireworks cause I love watching and hearing their reaction to it all. Brittany pulled Cal out of the stroller once it started and he was mesmerized. Lucky for me, he wanted to come sit in my lap about 5 minutes in. I asked Madi to come snuggle closer, but without looking at me she tells me she can't because she can't take her eyes off the beautiful fireworks. It was a great show!

How grateful I am for this beautiful land of America that we get to live in and for all the freedoms we enjoy. I look forward to doing more activities with the kids when they're a bit older to help them more fully understand the significance of this beloved holiday and to help them truly appreciate the sacrifices of those who helped to make it great! Including this link from Power of Moms for future use.

Madi's Birthday weekend!

Last Friday, June 28th, Madi turned six!! All month long she'd been reminding us that it's "her month" and would then add, "so I can do whatever I want!" Phew... thank goodness June is finally over! :) Her birthday turned into a weekend full of fun which started Friday morning when she woke up and discovered her special birthday visitor - Papa!! My mom was away babysitting other cousins in NC and then Texas, so Madi figured no one was coming. My parents have been able to see Madi every year on, or at least within a few days of her birthday, so we were grateful to Papa for carrying on the tradition!

Friday was a nice low key day. We had an early celebration in the morning with pancakes and presents before Spencer left for work.

Nancy Sanchez (Madi's primary teacher for next year) came over in the morning to do some face painting (something Nancy loves doing on the kids birthdays).

Then we headed out for ice cream and shopping with Papa to show off the girls beautiful "princess faces".

Halfway into our shopping trip Madi started feeling sick and wanted to go home. I had her favorite birthday dinner and dessert planned, but Madi just wasn't up for it. She took a bath and got ready for bed instead. I was feeling really worried since a birthday party was on the agenda for the next day. Spencer gave Madi a blessing before bed which helped her to relax and fall asleep. Then in the morning, after a solid 12 hours of sleep, Madi was as good as new!

I spent most of the day on Saturday getting ready for the big birthday party, but Papa, Spence, Madi, and Elle were able to go off for some fun during the day. Check out the sweet ride Papa drove down for the weekend. We had a lot of fun with that car in the 3 days Papa was here.

At 2pm the party started. Madi had 9 little girl friends come, so with her and Elle it was a total of 11 girls, plus 2 neighbor girls who came over as helpers. Madi was very specific about what she wanted to do at her party, the dessert she wanted, what games to play, etc. I wanted the party outside so we called it a backyard garden party and planned some of the games around the bunny theme that Madi wanted.

We started off with a little scavenger hunt to find the cotton balls they would need for our first game.
Here's the girls searching:

Then they used their cotton balls to play "Pin the tail on the bunny" (drawn by Spencer himself). Madi loved getting to spin each of her friends before their turn.

We had a flower craft (which ate up a lot of our time),

Then we tried to fit in a few more games before cupcakes and ice cream cones. Originally Madi asked for carrot cupcakes which I thought would be easy to make, but the cones weren't staying upright in the oven and I just got frustrated and gave up.  I was very happy with our much easier option!

A light breeze kept blowing out the candles. Madi got a kick out of watching her candles blow out while everyone sang to her.

Present opening was Madi's favorite part of the party. She's such a one-on-one kind of girl and loved having individual time with her friends. Each friend got to sit next to Madi while she opened their present and I took pictures to mail with the thank you cards Madi mailed out. Here's the line up:

I love how patient and calm little girls are. They were all so cute and loved watching Madi open all of her gifts. Parents started coming as soon as the first gift was opened so Madi ended up opening in the order of arriving parents.

I was quite pleased with how the party turned out. Two hours flew by! I had enough stuff planned that I could have easily filled another hour. Once the last guest left, we woke Cal up from his nap and took off for the beach- one of Madi's favorite beaches- the one with the swings!

The kids played, we splashed in the ocean, walked on the pier, and had a grand time!

Madi sporting her new dress (from friend Natalie) and glasses (from Lily)

Happy birthday Madi! We love you so much!