Life and Death

Yesterday, we celebrated Cami's 1st birthday! I didn't want to have a full-on party, but I did want to do something special. So I ended up just inviting Melissa and the girls over for dinner. I had thrown a baby shower the day before for a friend who's having a girl, and I made these pink and brown butterfly decorations. I'm cheap, so I decided to keep those up for Cami's birthday.

The menu consisted of:

Crostini with Brie, Dates, and Toasted Walnuts
Baked Orzo with Shrimp, Lemon, and Feta
Green Beans with Tomatoes and Balsamic
and
Dark Chocolate Truffle Cupcakes for dessert

These were all new recipes for me, and everything turned out great, but for me, the stand out was the crostini. I even took a picture of them!



The cupcakes were also good. It was from my new "Simply Sweet" dessert cookbook from Pampered Chef, and it's a nice twist on a molten cake. The gooey middle comes from sticking a chocolate truffle inside the cupcake when they come out of the oven.

We had a good time. Kendall and Mookie were silly, as usual. And even though we didn't have family there, it really turned out to be a nice, memorable celebration. Although, we did Skype with a few family members, so that was nice.











Today, we're remembering the second anniversary of Ryan's death (Grant's younger brother). He would've been 19, and in his second year of college. I found these old pictures from when Grant's family visited us in Albuquerque in either 03 or 04, so Ryan was either 12 or 13.







And I don't know when this was written, but it's evident that Ryan really looked up to his big brothers. I think Grant's mom sent this to us after he died.



This sounds so cliche, but it's true - only God knows why Ryan died so young. We will never understand why, but we have to remember that it was part of God's plan. However, we can be comforted knowing that Ryan was a follower of Christ. 1 Thessalonian 4:13-18 says:

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Stuffed

Someone once told me that in case my kids ever do something drastic, like use the wall as their own artist's canvas, or put fingernail polish on their face, or other situations like that, to try to be the kind of mom that laughs at whatever it is and take a picture of it.

I had my first real opportunity to do that. This isn't nearly as drastic as those kinds of things, but Kendall was supposed to be taking a nap. I heard her open her door, and she was talking to herself in a really quiet voice. I asked her what she was doing, and just then, she appeared on the landing of the stairs, holding her pillow that was completely stuffed with random things. For one split second, I wanted to be upset that she wasn't taking her nap, but that person's voice ran through my head just in time, and I started cracking up! These aren't the best pictures, because I just grabbed my phone really quick, but it gives you an idea of the objects in there. Actually, it still doesn't give you a great idea, because there's easily 30 things stuffed in that pillow case. She was so proud of her accomplishment.

She's Got The Moves!

This is a little long, but when I went to edit it, I found myself having a hard time cutting any of it out!

Dancin' Girl from Kelly Spear on Vimeo.

Oh My Cuteness!

Melissa just posted this over on her blog, but it's too cute for me not to post on mine!

Twenty-Six Miles Across the Sea

We see it everyday (well, depending on the marine layer/smog/fog) from our back windows. It was mysterious to us. We even used to call it the island from LOST, and would wonder if smoke monsters, polar bears, and Jacob lived there. So we decided to investigate.

Actually, Grant just turned the big 3-0, so I planned a pretty amazing surprise day for him...but it didn't work out on his birthday (thanks to the aforementioned fog), so he found out the surprise on his birthday, but we didn't go until two days later. I started to type out the fiasco that occurred that day, but realized that I'm not ready to rehash the stress it caused, so I won't. Basically, I had originally planned for us to take a helicopter to Catalina Island, spend the day there, and take a boat back. Well, we ended up doing the opposite of that. We took the boat out there, then took a helicopter back. It ended up working out better than what I had originally planned.

So here's some pics. I should say, too, that another part of Grant's big birthday, was a few days earlier, his mom flew out as a surprise, too. We were happy to have her along on our adventure.

We have standing!

Cami is officially a stander. And I'm thinking in the very near future, she'll be a walker. Kendall walked at 11 months, 5 days. Cami is just over 10 months now.

She can stand without pulling up on anything, and when she does, she's really proud of herself.

Baby Kayak

A couple of weeks ago, Grant took Kendall out on the kayak with him. I somehow managed to forget the camera to document the event, but she really enjoyed it!

On Saturday, we took the kayaks down to Long Beach, and this time, he took Cami. All I can say is I'm glad I bought those life vests for our Lake Powell trip back in June. At the time, I didn't think we'd get much use out of them, but turns out, we are!





Cami did not like putting her life vest on, but once she was in the kayak, Grant said she was really calm and still. Thankfully, I had the camera with me this time, but Kendall didn't want to go out. She was having too much fun in the dirt...I mean, sand and water.

I Scream, You Scream

We've been invited to a birthday party for two girls tomorrow, and since I'm so into sewing right now, I figured I'd make them something. They're turning 4 and 5, so I thought of making aprons for both of them.

I found this tutorial, and went to work!

First was getting the fabric. As if I needed an excuse to go to The Cotton Shop, that's where me and the girls went on Monday. After looking and looking and more looking, I finally decided on this brown polka dot print, and either a cupcake or ice cream print. I was really drawn to the ice cream print, but couldn't really decide, so I went to my decision maker, Kendall, and she chose the ice cream print.




The aprons are reversible, so the pictures show what the front and the back looks for both aprons. I stayed with the tutorial for the most part, but I changed the pocket. The tutorial only has a pocket on one side, and I wanted a pocket on both sides. I also changed the style of the pocket, using the same style that was used on the apron I made for myself.

I'm so happy with how these turned out!

Gloria Patri, Take 2

About a month ago, I posted a video where Kendall and I were kind of singing the "Gloria Patri." Here's another go at it. This time, with a lot less laughing. By the way, my favorite part is when she says, "Eber shall be."

Gloria Patri from Kelly Spear on Vimeo.

Cami Can Play That Game, Too!

I talked about Kendall's hair accessories, but Cami has enough hair to wear the itty bitty clips, so I tried it out today. Pretty cute!

Climbing!

Chair Climber from Kelly Spear on Vimeo.

Homemade Bow Holder

I made this a while ago, with the intent to post about it, but I never did.

It's simply a picture frame, with the glass taken out, and ribbon put in.

This is the before,



And this is after.



Which makes me realize that Kendall has WAY too many accessories for her hair! And she's recently decided that if she's going to wear anything (that in itself is hard to get her to do), it will most certainly NOT be a bow! She prefers barrettes right now, the little clippy kind.

This is also not my original idea. I was planning to buy one, but after looking at several pictures, I realized I could just make one. My first idea was to get an old antiquey kind of frame and spruce it up a bit, but then I saw this one at Joann's, which was the perfect shade of green already, so I used my 40% off coupon to buy it. It's a great way to keep all of these little things in one place!

Sweetness

It's about 12:20 right now. Cami has been taking a super-long morning nap. I was going to get her up, and this is what I found.



I've never been the kind of mom that goes in and checks on her sleeping babies. Because I want them to stay sleeping. And I'm always afraid I'll wake them up. But apparently, I'm missing out on some serious cuteness!

She must be tired, because her door is squeaky, I used the flash on the camera, and the shutter is loud when it takes a picture...but she's still sleeping.

Big Mistake(s)

I went to the commissary today with the girls. I had to. I hadn't been since...well, I don't remember when the last time was. For those that don't know, shopping at the commissary saves quite a bit of money, especially if you're stocking up. So I do my here-and-there shopping at the closest grocery store, but when I really want to have stuff at the house, then I go to the commissary. Typically, I like to go every 2 weeks. This trip was way overdue.

This morning, I got my coupons and grocery list and headed out the door.

At least I thought so. Somehow I managed to forget my list and my coupons. But I didn't realize this until I got to the commissary. Did I mention it's over 20 miles away?

That was my first mistake.

Next was that I got in the doors, and realized that I forgot to bring any sort of baby carrier. So instead of going back out to the car (because I thought that would be a hassle), I decided to put both girls in the rocket ship/grocery cart.





In case you're keeping score, that was mistakes 2 and 3. Because I thought they would be okay together, and that's why I took these pictures with my phone. I mean, how cute are they? I knew Cami was a little small (ha!) to put in such a grown up seat, but I tightened the strap and thought it would be fine. Well, Kendall couldn't leave Cami alone. After about 10 minutes of screaming and crying by both girls, I ended up taking Cami out and carrying her the rest of the way.

By the way, she's heavy.

I guess you could say mistake number 4 was getting that stupid rocket ship. It doesn't hold nearly as much as a regular shopping cart does, and so towards the end of my trip, stuff was falling out left and right. I should've taken a picture of how cram-packed it was.

Number 5 was realizing AT THE REGISTER that I had left my military ID in the car.

Number 6 was going to a cashier that didn't speak English, so I ended up explaining my situation many, many times. I decided that I would get everything on the belt, then run out to the car (with both girls in tow), get my ID card, and run back in before she was done ringing me up. Try explaining that to someone who doesn't speak English, while barely holding onto a screaming baby. It's difficult.

So I ran out to the car, dropped off the huge diaper bag, got the baby carrier, got my ID card, ran back in before she was done and showed her my card. So I guess my one non-mistake was picking a cashier that was slow.

That was my morning. How was yours?

Ange and Caleb's Wedding

Let me give some background here...

Back at college, I was friends with Jenny. Then, her younger sister Kellie came to college. I was close friends with both of them. I always heard about their younger sister, Angela. I visited them a few times in Michigan, met Ange, but she was just their high school sister. Over the years, as I spent more time with their family, I was kind of adopted into their family, and I got to know Ange better. She started to become "my friend" instead of "my friend's sister." Then she moved out here to Orange County, and we got together regularly.

Well, she got married this last weekend, and thankfully, chose to get married out here instead of in Michigan, where she's from. So I got to see my best friends! It was a fun few days. Kellie had her first baby back in February (speaking of, I blogged about a really cute gift I made for her, but guess what...it got lost in the mail! So she never got it! How sucky is that?), so it was cool to finally meet baby Warren, and also for Jenny and Kellie to meet Cami (they had met Kendall before). Little Matthew has some serious competition for Cami's future husband!




And have I mentioned how Kendall is totally into a baby phase right now? She loves babies, and would rather play with them than kids her own age. So she was a little obsessed with baby Warren, and talked about holding him. Alot.



Anyways, a cool idea that Ange had was to do her own flowers. So on Thursday we all went to the LA Flower Market and picked up the flowers that were needed. They turned out so nice! It was a great way to save some money. I was hoping to help with putting the flowers together, but realized pretty quickly that with a toddler and a crawling, getting-into-everything baby in a small hotel room with flowers everywhere, we would just be in the way.



The wedding was on Friday, and it was awesome. It was on a boat in Newport Harbor, one of our favorite places! The setting was beautiful, the food was delicious, and the dancing was fun! All in all, it was one of the most memorable weddings I've ever been to. The girls were troopers, despite being on the boat until about 10 pm. Kendall loved dancing, but we kept her pretty far away from the dance floor, because some of the people were getting a little crazy.







Saturday, we all went to Laguna Beach for the day. I didn't get one picture the whole day, but Kendall was having so much fun! She hung out down by the water most of the time, and whenever the water would go out, she would stand up and yell, "Come on, ocean!" And when the waves would start to come in, she would run away really fast and say, "Oh...that was close!" She did this for hours. When it was time for us to leave, she was not very happy, but quickly fell asleep in the car.

Sunday was a site-seeing day for the family, so they came up this way to visit the tide pools by our house. Then they spent the rest of the day in LA. They really had fun, and even saw an octopus! It's kind of a random place to come when you're only in LA for a day, but it's one of Ange's favorite spots (it's where Caleb proposed to her), and they all loved it. I guess when you live in the Midwest, a place like this is pretty unique. I only got one picture from tide pools, and this random little girl made it into the shot. Oh well.



So that was it! The girls and I spent so many hours in the car over the last few days, but it was all worth it.

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