Our new pool...

We decided to get the kiddies a new pool for the backyard so Leyla could let them splash around during the week. It's actually 2 pools attached by a little slide and 2 palm trees:) We tried it out yesterday and they both loved it! The palm trees spray water and Presto loves to get his face wet so he stood in the palm trees most of the time trying to catch the water in his mouth.





Presto enjoying the spraying palm trees!

Snack time!



And the kiss that made our day:)

Ojai with the Alvarado's

About 6 months ago The Alvarado's invited us to take a weekend trip to Ojai to go to the lavender festival and relax and the Ojai Valley Inn and Spa! Kell booked the rooms so how could we resist(she made it too easy for us). We drove up on Saturday morning and spent the early afternoon lazily wandering around the festival and then eating an awesome mexican lunch before heading the spa. Kell and I got "zero gravity" pedicures while the boys relaxed at the pool then we all met back up for a 3 hour dinner(that's my kind of dinner). The grounds of the resort are breathtaking. It's named one of the most relaxing places in the world and now we know why!! Sunday morning we slept in(much needed) and took our time getting ready. We all went into town and had a big breakfast then hit up the local farmer's market. It was just what we needed. We were of course so happy to get home to see the kids!
Pictures of us from the festival...don't we looked relaxed?




And of course we couldn't resist buying some fresh lavender which has made our house smell beautiful!

The Ojai Inn
BT on the balcony


We loved our dinner under the terrace

They had a big bird cage on the grounds that reminded us of this bird cage in Thailand at the Mandarin Oriental(of course this bird spoke English not Thai)

The grounds were breath taking. This was the view from our room. The "kiddie" pool was the closest. There's 3 pools on the grounds and the boys enjoyed the adult pool of course.


These signs were supposed to get you around(yeah right!)...we just used our internal navigation:)

This is BT relaxing:)


We had a big ole' breakfast with lots of adult conversation. The rarity of this was not lost on us. It was an awesome end to a relaxing weekend!

22 weeks preggy

And feeling large ha! My belly definitely popped out in a big way. I was feeling like I just looked chubby 'til 20 weeks but now I definitely look pregnant. Feeling very well rested as of this weekend(we spent the weekend in Ojai). Baby boy is coming along great. I have a doc appointment tomorrow so we'll see how his little heart is progressing. We're all really excited to meet the little guy and Sophia kisses my belly regularly. When we got home from Ojai she said she missed the baby:) Very sweet! Here's a pic of my growing belly!

Father's Day 2011

(our present to daddy)
Father's Day this year mama made breakfast for daddy and sent him to the spa. While he was at the spa I made homemade peach cobbler and it turned out to be delicious. I've been really into baking lately(I think I'm taking after Nana). When daddy came home we met Nana and Nonno for dinner at a new seafood restaurant in Simi and we all came back to our house to open presents and dip into the peach cobbler. The kiddies are so blessed to have such a sweet, patient daddy and we loved spoiling him rotten!

The kiddies helping daddy open his present


Daddy loved his picture! He's hung it in his office at work:)


And the kids favorite part was of course playing with all the paper!

Nonno being silly with Phia. We got Nonno a new apron that says "Grill Master, the man, the myth, the legend"

And my 3 favorite pictures from the week:
Sophia and Presto showing love:)

I taught Presto the joys of olive fingers. He was so proud of himself and ate a 1/2 can of olives in one sitting!

Jack's first b-day!

Yesterday we drove out to the South Bay to celebrate Jack's first birthday. The sun was shining and the kids had so much fun running around at the park! Jack loves his "smash" cake:) Here are a few pictures from the day!

Sophia all dressed up and ready to go!

Presto enjoying the fun bubbles!

Presto loved the steam(Sophia not so much)..

and he loved all the plastic balls. He dragged them around with him:)

Sophia helped herself to 2 yummy cupcakes!

Phia with Auntie Kelly!

Da birthday boy!! He did just what he was supposed to do with his smoosh cake! Soooo cute:)

We had 4 family photos snapped and in each one Presto's face looked just like this! He had such a blast at the park:)

20 weeks preggy with our 2nd BOY!!!

(that's his foot right by his face!!)

IT'S A BOY! We are so excited for our new little man:) We have all his clothes ready thanks to Preston..ha! The specialist detected that baby boy has heart arrhythmia. We heard it during the appointment too. Scared us both very much so the doctor has to monitor the baby's heart weekly(on top of all my normal baby appointments). I've already gone back for my first check up and the doc said it's already slightly better. I had to stop all chocolate, exercise, and coffee(even decaf). The doc kept asking me what I was doing for exercise and I couldn't figure out what he was getting at. Finally he gave us the news and said no more exercise. I joined a gym a few months ago and started frequently so I was doing pilates, yoga, and eliptical etc. so that's all out the window! I'm perfectly happy giving everything up as long as baby boy is healthy and we have faith that he will be. The best part of all these appointments is we get amazing 4D pictures of our little bean:) We think he already looks like Presto!

"More Cheese"

(Presto hanging out with "Lello"(He calls Woody "Lello" for his "yellow" shirt) after eating his morning "Lello's"(he also calls cheerios Lellos...ha!))

Last night Preston yelled "more cheese" from his high chair loud and clear while signing "more" feverishly! Brian and I both looked at each other and realized it was Preston's first 2 word sentence besides "Thank you" which he's had down for a long time. He's mastered "thank you" and says it all day long. He's such a polite little boy. We love his next choice of a 2 word sentence("more cheese") so much because we are a family who loves cheese!!! Preston will be 18 months this month and we took him to his pediatric foot specialist today about his little bowed leggies. The doc once again assured us that it will go away as he grows and said our next appointment in 6 months will probably be our last which made us happy. She did say he might be pigeoned toed for a while even when his bowed legs go away but there's nothing we can do about it which is just fine as he's our perfect little monkey:)