Third annual Gillette-Feffer-Prentice Camping trip

The original plan had been to camp somewhere near Monterey. But I procrastinated and never made us reservations; then we decided that we were going to move this summer. So instead of camping, we had a sleepover at the Prentice house!

We started off the day with a hike; Annaliese, Josephine, and Holden rode in backpacks with the dads; Ashlie and I carried Elea and Haleigh in frontpacks. We hiked the Johnson Ranch trail in SLO and the oldest girls were even able to hike a bit themselves! It was pretty cute because Annaliese would yell out "hi Mommy" and Josephine would then do the same. Then you would hear them talking and then it was "My mommy is Ashlie." followed by "My mommy's name is Kari" or something similar! (Sorry...I guess we didn't take any pictures of the hike!)

 Annaliese, Haleigh, Josephine, Elea, Holden

After hiking, we headed back to Russ and Jenn's house to regroup, clean up a bit, catch up on the World Cup and eat some lunch. We then packed everyone up and headed to the beach in Avila. Unfortunately, it was very windy and not much fun. Needless to say, we didn't stay there for too long.

 Annaliese loved the water!

 Holden

the Feffer Family

We returned to Russ and Jenn's where we stayed for the remainder of our time together. Jenn prepared a delicious dinner that we enjoyed outside on the patio. There was an adult table and a kids table...pretty cute! After putting the kiddos to bed, we started a fire, enjoyed tasty cocktails, some beer (El Fin de Monde) and smores (after all, we were supposed to be camping!) It was so nice to be able to stay up late, talking and reminiscing, while the kids slept! At least most of the kids:) Haleigh was up with us for quite awhile. And as soon as she went to bed, Elea woke up:)

Sunday morning it was quite evident that we had skipped naps the day before! Everyone was a bit tired, but overall the kids still played well together. We enjoyed a breakfast of bacon and eggs, followed by more playtime outside. We left just after 10:30 to prepare for the rest of the days events.

 Haleigh...keeping an eye on the World Cup scores...and staying out of our way while breakfast was being prepared:)

Russ has this jeep that the kids loved! It runs on a battery, has a real radio, and the kids were able to drive it because it didn't go super fast on the grass! They did need a little guidance with the steering and the occasional reminder to watch where they were going...

While I was sad that we wouldn't actually be able to camp this year, this was a good substitute! It was much cleaner, doing dishes was easier, and the sleeping arrangements were quite comfortable! 

Half Marathon Training in progress

Kelsey asked me if I would be interested in running the Bellingham Half Marathon at the end of September. I said yes, eager for something to motivate me to get out the door and running on a regular basis. I underestimated how much work it is to get two little munchkins out the door for a run!

I have a fabulous running stroller that I absolutely love (thank you Grandma Kelley!) but convincing Annaliese that sitting in the stroller for any amount of time usually requires a bit of bargaining. I found a great 4 mile trail nearby that starts and ends at a park with a great playground...she also likes to go to the beach. I don't take the girls to the beach often because it is not in the least bit relaxing and Annaliese loves the water but doesn't understand the power of the ocean... but she's been asking to go so I decided to try it after our run through Pismo Beach last week. 

 I told Annaliese I wanted to take her picture and she looked at me and said "wait" and then ran a little ways away, stopped, turned around, and said "Cheese me now. Cheese." 

And then came running back towards the water!

On this particular day, after our run, I put the stroller away and carried Haleigh in the Ergo so that I would have both hands available for Annaliese and wouldn't get the stroller all sandy. I was very impressed with how well Annaliese did!

Today, after our run, I gave Annaliese the choice of playing on the slide at the park for a few minutes or coming home and having a picnic lunch outside on the grass. She picked the picnic. Of course, once we were in the car on the way home, she screamed the entire way about wanting to slide:) But once we were home and had lunch ready, she loved it!

(I might add that as far as actually training for this half marathon, I have yet to run more than 4 miles and only average 1, maybe 2 runs per week. I'm counting on the 'I push two kids in a double stroller' to provide some extra benefit!)

Day in and day out...

As I mentioned in the last post, I returned to work at the beginning of June. My computer also decided to quit working and my phone is definitely not functioning at its best...all of which combine to make it difficult to do my weekly post! Fortunately I have been able to capture some of our daily activities on camera still and will attempt to do a quick recap here to share some of the cuteness that I experience every day!

 Tea party...I think this was their first time playing together:) 

 Sometime during May, the Amgen Bike Tour of California came through town and went past our house. We walked to the end of the driveway to watch the race. I'm pretty sure Annaliese was way more impressed with all the motorcycle cops that were on the course before and after the bikers!

 Story time

 Collecting eggs. Annaliese is very polite and always tells the chickens "thank you" as we walk back to the house!

 Haleigh's not quite sure what's going on here:)

Watching VeggieTales...Annaliese gets to watch one every morning while I pump...and since Haleigh was only wearing a diaper, Annaliese undressed herself so she could be just like Haleigh!

Happy Father's Day!

3 Months!

As of yesterday, Haleigh is now 3 months old! Time goes by so quickly, and I am constantly reminding myself to cherish the times that I get to cuddle with her, the hours spent nursing, and that baby smell that I love! Haleigh continues to be an easy baby, full of smiles and giggles. It is such a joy having her in our family:)

3 months old! (Yes, the 3 is missing from the picture...I can't find it around this house!!)

The biggest change over the past month has been that I just returned to work. This past Monday was Haleigh's first real experience with a babysitter...and she was there all day long! It sounds like she did pretty well...wanted to be held a bit more than normal, but adjusted quickly. And on the way to drop the girls of Tuesday morning, Annaliese was very excited to be going to Amy's house again!! She kept saying, "Mom, you go to work? Annaliese goes to Amy's again? And play with Kailey? And Madison? And Haleigh's coming too?" And when I didn't reply, "Mom, talk. Talk to me." So we've all adjusted to my going back to work pretty well!

Here is a glimpse into the life of Haleigh at 3 months old: 

Sleeping: She loves to sleep! She continues to sleep through the night, going down anytime between 7:30 and 9 pm and sleeping until between 6 and 6:30 am. On days that I work, I wake her up at 6 to give us enough time to nurse and get to work. She naps multiple times throughout the day, usually going to sleep about an hour after she eats. The eat/play/sleep cycle continues to repeat itself every 2 1/2-3 hours!

Eating: Haleigh continues to be an excellent eater, and doesnt seem to care if she is nursing or taking a bottle. Good thing for us because we only tried a bottle a few times before my return to work. I have discovered that she doesn't like chocolate nearly as much as I do and I have cut it out of my diet completely. Although now that I write that, I'm thinking that all the milk she gets from the freezer has chocolate in it...and she seemed to handle that just fine. So maybe chocolate isn't a problem after all!

Clothes: Everything is either 3 months or 3-6 months. Although let's be honest, she loves to be naked!

Activities: Haleigh loves having her diaper changed, taking baths, sitting up and watching the world around her, riding in the car, and having the bottom of her feet kissed. She doesn't like loud, abrupt noises, being ignored, and we are still working on the tummy time too.

Memorial Weekend Fun!

Memorial Day weekend is also the weekend for the Strawberry Festival in Arroyo Grande. The past several years I have run in the Strawberry Stampede, running either the 5K or the 10K. I debated doing the 5K this year. And then I remembered that I can hardly run 3 miles at this time...reality sunk in. I would not be running in it this year! 

So instead we decided to go closer to lunch time, eat hot dogs sold by the church youth group and wander around looking at all the interesting things people sell at these sorts of things. And of course, eat a few strawberries. 

 Drinking freshly made Strawberry Lemonade!

 Annaliese was fascinated with the camels...they sure are stinky, rather ugly animals!

Two and a Half!

Annaliese is 2 1/2 years old! And on the one hand, she is such a joy...she can be so happy, full of smiles, laughter and a willingness to help out. On the other hand, she is becoming fiercely independent and will fall apart in an instant if something doesn't go the way she wants it to. I can honestly say that for the first time, we are at a stage that I don't particularly enjoy...mostly because she just doesn't listen that well and things that used to be so simple (like naptime) are becoming a daily struggle. 

 I tried to get a cute picture of her next to her blanket...she is definitely bigger than the bear now! She was mildly cooperative!

She is definitely growing into a little girl...one with her own ideas, wants, and needs. She is quick to tell us "not yet" when asked to do something or to tell us that she wants "two more minutes" if she doesn't want to be done with something. She knows what she wants to eat (for example, I poured her a bowl of Kix for breakfast yesterday. She didn't want Kix. Apparently she wanted Frosted Mini-Wheats. So she took her bowl of Kix and poured them all in the trash...lesson learned- ask Annaliese what she wants for breakfast!) what she wants to play (usually that would be outside!) and has an opinion about just about anything!

Here's a little summary:

Sleeping: We try to get her to bed around 6:30...lately she's been getting up at least once so it's closer to 8 by the time she settles down. Her wake-up time has began to vary...now that she can get out of bed on her own, she comes into our room anywhere from 5:15-7:00. I'm not sure why the change, but the early wake-up time has been hard on us all! Annaliese still needs a nap everyday, although, as I mentioned, it has become more of a challenge. It can easily take up to an hour for her to settle down and finally fall asleep. It has becoming a very exhausting part of the day, and not one I look forward to.

Check out that hair! That's how it looks every morning:)

Eating: Annaliese loves to eat whatever anyone else is eating! She particularly enjoys toast, chips, turkey, strawberries, oranges, warm milk, juice, and crackers. The only things that she consistenly won't eat are raw vegetables and cooked peppers. She would snack all day long if we let her, and will frequently ask for chocolate for lunch (I wonder where that idea came from!!!)

Clothes: All her shirts are 2T or 24 months; I've just added all the 24 month pants to her drawers. Most of them are still too big around the waist, but the 18 month stuff is getting too short.  Her shoes are size 6, although she is a huge fan of the purple jellies that Auntie Melissa gave her for Easter...and those are a sz 7 and she wears them all over the place!

Getting the dirt out of the purple jellies:)

Activities: Riding her bike, blowing bubbles, playing with Brodie, swinging on her belly, watching VeggieTales, swimming, baking and cleaning are all favorites. She also enjoys reading stories...the current favorites are her Bible and 10 Little Ladybugs. Visiting the horses, chickens and ducks has become a thing of the past. She no longer asks to go see them and doesn't hardly talk about them at all!

Vocabulary: Annaliese is talking like crazy and almost everything she says is understandable. She is always telling me "I want Haleigh to grow older." She then proceeds to tell me what she wants to do with Haleigh...eat 'urgurt' (yogurt), swing, sit on her... I recently over heard Annaliese saying "holy cow. holy cow" over and over while sitting at the bottom of the slide and when Haleigh was crying one morning, Annaliese ran up to her with a pacifier saying "shut up Haleigh. Shut up." Not sure where she picked up either phrase...but it was hard not to start laughing! She also says "I don't want to like it" anytime she doesn't like something.

Watching a butterfly

Dancing to the music while watching "Frozen."