Marina Del Rey

Ryan thought it would be fun to rent a boat and cruise around the marina with the kids! The cool thing about living here is that we decided to go around 3 p.m and we were on the water by 4:30. Jeremy and Amelia have been on a boat before so we didn't think it would be an issue. It was a little bit of an issue for Amelia (shocker) with the life vest and she of course, fell over backwards and landed on her head in the boat. Some crying from her but it was a fun time!

She said, "lets go on that boat dada" about 10 times as we walked to the rental window!

J and A thought this was funny and so did momma!

Yes, even Mabel had to wear a life vest. It made holding her interesting but as usual, she was happy!

Jeremy and Amelia drove the boat and we had a sea lion swim right up along side of the boat!

Mabel chilled out and Jeremy LOVED every minute of it.

We finished the evening with dinner at Shanghai Reds and some ice cream. Bath and bed by 7:45!

6 month comparison....

Mabel is 6 months old, World Cup has started and we keep ourselves entertained!

Playdate at our house with the Phillips and Taylors! From left to right....Blaise, Olivia, Hudson, Simone, Jeremy, Mabel and Amelia!

How can mommy watch the World Cup and not be bothered? Let them tear apart some "hand me down" toys from a friend!

Watch mommy cook dinner in our new camping chairs!

Amelia's new favorite place to play...."momma's car"!

Updates

The potty present is still sitting on the bathroom counter!

The caterpillar is making it's cocoon as I type (kind of gross looking)!

Ryan is currently making plans to camp again, SOON!

Jacqui left today but we made, and I am making, great progress on the puzzle!

We've got nothing but time....

So why not do a 1000 piece puzzle....the "World's Smallest 1000 Piece Puzzle" with my sister and get annoyed that my kids actually need me.

And why not bring (more like a hitch hiking caterpillar from our camping trip) home a caterpillar, make it a home and watch and wait for it to turn into a butterfly!!!!!

Baby doll bashing and baby doll loving

Who loves Mabel?

Jeremy does A LOT!!!!!

Camping with the Taylors at Malibu Creek State Park

We headed to Malibu Creek State Park Saturday morning to test out the whole family camping thing. We dropped Mabel off with Oma and got to the campsite about 10:30a.m. The kids were thrilled and I think Amelia asked to go camping 100 times. Their favorite thing...playing in the tent. Nicole, Paul and the kiddos showed up shortly after us and we got everything set up and then headed out for a hike. Amelia was in the backpack and the other kids were troopers and walked most of the way. It was HOT! We got to the rock pool and it cooled us off quickly. The Taylors cooked dinner and then it was smore's time. The Meinhardt kids went to bed easily (only a couple "mommy" and "daddy" from the tent) but the Taylor kiddos were way too excited to not only be in a tent but to be with each other. Blaise kept Simone up :) We all went to bed but the campers next to us decided it would be really fun to stay awake until 2a.m. 1:30 a.m....Amelia wakes up screaming bloody murder (I think they call those night terrors) and didn't want anything to do with being in my or Ryan's arms. I put her in the car and drove around for 10 minutes and she was fine. Thankfully the camp spot to out other side was empty so once those party animals went to bed it was quiet and we slept until 7. Breakfast was our responsibility! Bacon, eggs and pancakes. We packed up and went to another water spot before heading home. Overall, on a scale 1-10, it was a 5 or 6. We now know what to bring, how to make it easier, etc. Now, if we could just figure out how to get Amelia to nap because she was one tired and grumpy girl all day today!!!!!

They loved their new sleeping bags. Too bad they kept slipping out of them during the night :)

View from our campsite!

Rimando Cousin Visit

They either love each other or Jett is stealing toys away from Amelia! They were running around the house like they had tons of sugar! It was pretty funny!

Chilling after bathtime!

Playing catch the butterfly!

Playdate with Kimmy and baby (although she's older than the girls) Shea! Shea is small and well, Benny and Mabel are big so they look about the same age. Shea is almost a year.

Like Mother like daughter

I know that kids imitate their parents but is this really what I look like "schleping" 3 kids around? Well, I hope so because she looks pretty cute. Notice the boy in the background carrying nothing. :)

Pillow Pet

Amelia LOVES her new "bady bug" pillow pet! Thank you Oma and Opa!

Amelia's Strawberry Shortcake Birthday Party

Arts and craft area. Decorate your own little flower pot and plant some seeds. They turned out super cute!

I pretended to be Marth Stewart and made vases out of watermelons! You don't even empty the watermelon out....the flowers drink up all the water!

....more pics to come

Happy Birthday Amelia!!!!

She doesn't know it's her birthday today because Ryan wants to be here and he's been out of town since Monday. He gets home tonight so when Amelia wakes up tomorrow...she'll be 2!!! :) So fun Friday it was with Nicole and the gang and we headed to Polliwog Park! Amelia got super tired by the end so my big 2 year old became a baby again! We also encountered a mommy duck and her ducklings and everyone was waving hello!!!!

Cool Cat

This cool cat is going to be 2 tomorrow! What happened to my little baby girl?!?! Time is flying....

Sibling Love

There are moments (and I said "moments") where the chaos, noise, parenting, refereeing and fighting stop and there is nothing but love between little people who call themselves siblings! And when that happens, it feels amazing as a parent and it can melt your heart. Today at Emerson School with Amelia, she made a pasta necklace for herself and one for her big brother. I was in the kitchen and gave her the necklace to give to him and she went outside to find him. I heard her mumble something about "pasta, necklace, for you" and he said "thank you Amelia" and she then replied "welcome". It was time to play with their necklaces on and I heard, "come on Amelia, let's go in the garage", "okay", "you wanna do that with me". I mean, it just feels good. So....I ran and grabbed my camera and he's been into putting his arm around her (he still doesn't look at the camera all the time) and she is too in love with her brother to look at the camera. Notice how she is holding his hand that's over her shoulder.

Check ups

Jeremy and Amelia had their yearly check ups today and as you can see, it went as expected. A lot of crying from Ms. Amelia, none from Jbird and a happy Ms. Mabel watching contently in her car seat!

Waiting to be called back...

Waiting for the doctor...

Ms. Amelia weighed in at 25 lbs 6 oz (35%) and 33 1/4 inches tall (25%)! No shots for her today so all in all, she was happy once she was done with her check up! I brought her blankie and pacifier for back up so I could actually have a conversation with the doctor!

Jeremy got to weigh in on the big kid scale and weighed in at 42 lbs (90%) and 42 inches (75%)! He got one shot, a hearing and vision test and passed with flying colors. Hopefully he got my vision!

ps...snuck in a weight on Mabel and she is 18 1/2 lbs! Catching up to Amelia :)