happy anniversary to us

Here we are on our 9th Anniversary, ready to go out for a relaxing dinner . . .

Things have changed a little in 9 years.

We now have a little person jumping in pictures and informing us that she intends to go out to dinner with us ;-)  We probably would have had a little boy in the pic too but he was already in bed!

9 years ago today . . .

I married the most amazing man!!!

I remember that day like it was yesterday!

Hard to believe it has been 9 years already. 

Where did the time go?

I can honestly say, I love him more and am even happier than I was that day!

 Seriously, he is that AWESOME!

I love you Garrett and look forward to the rest of our lives together!!!

we have pictures!!!

Thank you Adele for sending these!

Turns out we do have pictures from our fun at the beach (discussed in previous post) and some more of Miss Alli riding her big girl bike ~ yeah!!!  I will edit the previous post to include the beach pictures but here are some of Alli the day after she got her bike.  I promise she doesn't always wear dresses for bike rides :)

Just check out that smile ~ she LOVES her new bike!

long time no blog

Guess life has been a bit busier these past two weeks.  Wish I could think of reason why but I can't.  Guess we just got caught up in life :)

Last weekend, we had another garage sale to get rid of the rest of our stuff.  Not as successful as the previous one but we still got rid of a ton and made some more money!  No Toys R Us for Alli this time, at least not with us.  She got to have a play date with Ducky Gramma and Papa that day and they took her to Toys R Us and bought her a brand new, princess, big girl bike with training wheels and a matching helmet!!!

To say she loves it would be an understatement :)  It took a few rides before she had it figured out but now, she's a pro!  She LOVES to ride around the neighborhood and gets going so quickly that she tells us she's "racing" us.  Seriously, we have to jog to keep up!  Very entertaining.

Yesterday, the weather finally warmed up again and we took full advantage by going to the beach (Treasure Island).  Of course, in packing our bag, we forgot the camera so no photos but I assure you, a great time was had by all.  Thankfully, Adele had her camera and kindly shared the pictures so we can now show you how much fun we had.  We went out after lunch and went straight down to the water.  Alli was being a pill so we put her down for a nap and let Eli play on the beach until he kept trying to eat rocks ~ silly boy.  We tried to put him down as well but he was not at all interested in the pack-n-play and we didn't want to ruin Alli's nap so we put him in the Bob (stroller), in the shade, facing the water.  He LOVED that!!!  Chatted and played with his feet for about 20 minutes, then zonked! 

While the kids slept, G and his dad dug clams on the beach. 

When Eli woke up, we put him in his little swim trunks and let him play in the little pool.  He had a ball splashing around with toys.
  

Alli changed into her suit and joined in the fun when she woke up. She had no intention of getting in with him but was happy to play right next to the pool and two passed toys back and forth ;-)

After deciding they were done with the pool, Eli ate (what's new?)

and Alli rode her bike ~ both were quite happy :)

We had a great dinner out there and both kids crashed on the drive home.  Guess all that sun and swimming wore them out!

Today has also been pretty nice so we enjoyed lunch outside and worked in the yard.  Alli loves to pull weeds and Eli thinks it is great fun to crawl around on the grass so both had fun. 

We took a quick bike ride / stroll around the neighborhood before naps. As you can see, Eli loves to chill in the Bob :)

CinderALLI

Clean, clean, clean. 

Hey, she's 3 now, time to put her to work ;-)

Really though, the girl LOVES to vacuum . . .

Seriously!  She begs to vacuum ~ and she's really good at it!!!

Last Saturday, I was doing laundry and Alli took care of the vacuuming. 

I could get used to the help ;-)

last day as a Bunny

Here's a shot of our 'lil Bunny on her last day of preschool for the year . . .

It was a great year! 

She did amazingly well. 

We were very nervous given how long it can take her to warm up in most situations,

but she shocked us by loving Noah's Ark Preschool :)

For a comparison, here is a picture of her on her first day . . .

Amazing how much changed since September!

The last day was similar to the first in that the parents were asked to stay with the kiddos.  Only this time, it wasn't to make the little ones feel comfortable.  Nope, it was for a very yummy potluck.  Alli helped make apple muffins cupcakes ;-)  Unlike the first day, where Alli stuck pretty close to me, this time she was off playing ~ didn't want Mommy cramping her style!

It was so amazing to see her playing with all her classmates around her!  WOW!!!

She even had a lot of fun showing Eli around and sharing a snack with him . . .

Had to get a picture with her teacher, Mrs. Spellman.

The first year of preschool was a HUGE success!

Hard to believe our 'lil Bunny has graduated to the Teddy Bear class.

Where is the time going???????

sibling fun!

Eli in his "doo rag" (a.k.a. Alli's heart panties!?!?!?) that Alli put on him.  He is so proud!

Yesterday, after dinner, Eli was crawling under the table.  Alli decided to join him. 

What happened was nothing short of magical . . .

Yep, I'm pretty sure we have best buddies here!

garage sale success

Last Saturday, May 22nd, we had a garage sale and it was a huge success.  We even convinced Alli to let us sell some of her stuff with the promise that she would get $15 to spend on absolutely anything she wanted.  Well, it ended up being $16 because we had given her $1 to go shopping at our neighbors' sales (we did a neighborhood sale!) and when she went to pay for the bottle she bought with her dollar, Mrs. L gave her four quarters as change ;-) 

She was so excited when we gave her 16 dollar bills!!!

She was so ready to go spend her moola!

What better place to take her than Toys R Us?!?!?!  She did such a great job of making wise choices and wound up with another baby that she has named Baby Marley (one of the babies she knows from church).  When we were walking out, she wanted to ride a plane, I started to say no (habit I guess!) but stopped myself and told her she still had money if she wanted to ride (she had $.81 left after paying for the baby).  She climbed up and put in her two quarters.  What a ride!  Then she wanted Skittles and took out another quarter ~ she even asked both Mommy & Daddy if we wanted one!!!  She had $.06 left for her bunny bank and is already asking when we can have another garage sale ;-)

back to the beach

Yikes, it's been awhile since I've had time to make a real post so watch out, there a quite a few today!

Two weeks ago, we had some fabulous weather ~ hot and sunny ~ so we took full advantage by spending the time out at the beach on Treasure Island.

On Friday, May 14th, we woke up to warm sunshine and promptly headed out to the swingset after breakfast.  Alli had a blast running around the yard and pushing Eli on the swing ;-)

Talk about a full morning . . . all that fun was before we took Alli to preschool, which starts at 9:30!

Of course the fun didn't stop there.  After preschool, we came home to play outside some more, this time at the water table . . .

A shot of our 'lil munchkins right after lunch.  Alli was "sitting on Eli's lap" :)

Then it was out to the water table where Alli wanted Eli to be able to play too so she tried to help him stand ~ it was so sweet and cute!!!

We talked G into coming home early so we could head out to the beach for dinner.  It was a perfect evening to be at the beach and both kids had a blast!

Eli wasn't too sure about the water . . .

But Alli had no problem sticking her feet in the chilly water :)

With his big sister by his side, Eli was a bit braver ;-)

After our fun throwing rocks, we went up for dinner.  Who doesn't love to eat with this in the background?!

Eli was intrigued with G's beer and tried very hard to get it from him.  Fortunately, G won that battle ;-)

After dinner, we put the kids in the stroller to take a walk around the island. 

We didn't actually make it too far as we ran into Uncle Wes and Aunt Bev so by the time we were done visiting it was time to head home ~ way past bed time!  The first beach day of the season was AWESOME!!!

Whew, this wound up being longer than expected so I guess beach day two will have to be its own post :)