John & Julie Andress Family Blog

2011-03-30T16:48:00.001-07:00

Part One of Emma's Two Year Pics

2011-03-26T23:51:00.000-07:00

I've had an outdoor session planned for Emma for a couple of weeks, but the weather just hasn't been cooperating...So I decided to do a quick indoor session with her the other day. I haven't taken any official two year pictures for her yet, so I'm a little behind. She really was NOT in the mood for pictures, so I'm glad I got a few I was happy with. I still have some adorable ones to edit with her jumping on the bed and a few with her sister, but I can tell I'm getting sidetracked with work, so I thought I'd put up the first few. I hope to get the rest edited later in the week. This first one is my favorite..

2011-03-21T22:24:00.000-07:00

Okay, Jackie, so I remembered why I hadn't posted these pictures. This was not Emma's most agreeable day..lol. This was the best one of the bunch with her in it. And I had the hardest time with your glasses, but have since learned some tips that I wish I would have known before I took the pictures. I still love this one of you and Hailey though. She looks so much younger here.

Dana Point...

2011-03-21T21:49:00.000-07:00

As soon as this rain stops, I'm taking the girls out for some updated pictures, so I figured I should catch up on all these really old pictures first. Excuse the fact that they're just sort of thrown together. I haven't done so well at managing my time this past year. I hope to be able to get more balance soon with my business so that I can focus more on my favorite people:) This is last year's summer trip to Dana Point. They look so little. We had a blast.

What A Difference!

2010-09-30T11:03:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how big Hailey is getting. I was just comparing this year's first-day-of-school picture to last year's and wow...

First Day of Kindergarten...

First Day of 1st Grade...

Such a big girl:)

Finally Posting..

2010-09-26T20:07:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to post pictures forever. I can't believe the whole summer has gone by and I've hardly taken pictures of my girls. We did have a couple fun vacations that I need to catch up on, but I wanted to start by just posting something recent. I've been so caught up taking pictures of other kids, it's been hard to find the time to do sessions with my girls.

My mom took Hailey to a Wizard of Oz children's play yesterday, so John and I took Emma to the Arboretum for some pictures. We soon realized that the 100 degree heat wasn't going to be any fun, but I hadn't taken any 18 month pictures of Emma, so we suffered it out for just a little while.

Isn't she pretty!! I can't believe she's getting so big, so fast. I hope to post more pictures soon. I've got Hailey's first day of school, and I need to catch up on pics from a couple of trips we took over the summer. Hopefully I can start to keep up with this again. I miss it:)

Camping at Silverwood Lake

2010-04-28T20:37:00.000-07:00

So we took our first camping trip of the year last weekend. We found a great little place that's not too far away. It was great to have a little vacation! We went with a couple of friends and their kids, and the kids had sooo much fun! We hung out at the lake, rented little boats (that was sort of a disaster:), and bbq'd back at the camp. It was the first time using our pop up trailer, and it was so much better than sleeping in a tent! Emma did horrible sleeping the first night, but by the second night she was doing great.

She loves baby Chloe. I think they're going to be good friends!..and Hailey already misses playing with Matthew and Luke. Hopefully there will be many more camping trips in our future:)

And here's one of Emma by the lake...

Just Some Random Things I Love...

2010-04-28T20:29:00.000-07:00

Emma in her boots...

Grandparents coming to visit...

The flower assortments my girls make for me...

My new logo that Tyler created for me. Love it, Ty! Thanks:)

They're Off!!

2010-04-13T23:33:00.000-07:00

So, John finally got his braces off, and I finally got a chance to take some pictures of him today. As I was "Trying" to take his picture, I realized why it's taken me so long. John doesn't really like his picture taken. And he only knows two poses...serious and completely silly! Getting a middle-of-the-road smile out of him is nearly impossible, but he makes me laugh, and I take what I can get. Sooo.....

BEFORE

AFTER

Slackin', Slackin'...

2010-04-11T00:48:00.000-07:00

So I haven't posted in a couple of weeks, and I have lots of pictures to get caught up on. We had such a nice Easter...very busy, but fun! And, last week John FINALLY got his braces off!!! I'll have before and after pictures coming very soon.

But, in the meantime, I got sidetracked. Surprise, Surprise:) I've been working on creating my photography blog, and it's finally done..at least for now. It's pretty simple, but here it is... www.julieandressphotography.blogspot.com. So if anyone knows of anyone who wants free pictures, let me know. I plan on doing free shoots for the next couple of months and then I'll see where I'm at.

As I was looking through my pictures, I decided I wanted a newer one of Hailey, so we took some pictures Friday. She was really not in a picture mood, so bribing was in order. Luckily she's easy to bribe. All it took was a popsicle:) I still need to get a good one of the girls together, but I'm happy with the way these turned out:)

She was so funny! So part of our picture negotiations was that after I got a few poses that I wanted, she got to pick a bunch of poses...she was quite creative, as you can see....

So if you had to give up one...

2010-03-19T09:43:00.000-07:00

Would you rather give up your TV or your computer? Because I had to experience being without both during the past week, and I think I'm more addicted to my computer.

Last week it was turn-off-the-TV week at Hailey's school, and it was a real reality check. I never thought I was one of those moms that used the TV as a babysitter, but I now must embarrassingly admit that there are certain times in the day where I absolutely do. Oh, I know when Wonder Pets comes on, and I know that my girls will sit and watch that while I have that half hour to myself to just relax or check emails. And, yes, I could name other shows, but why embarrass myself more:)

And a lot of parents may have just assumed that turn-off-the-TV week includes the computer, or they may have assumed that parents should participate fully and not watch TV either. Us?....Not so much:) When 8:00 bedtime came, John and I rushed out to turn the TV on and watch our evening shows. And I must also admit, as I hold my head down in shame, that last Wednesday I told Hailey it was 8:00 when it was really only 7:00, so that I could watch TV. I know, bad......but she was tired. I could tell...lol. Hey, maybe that's why I was jinxed right after turn-off-the-TV week was over. We got a major virus on our computer and it took three days to have it fixed:(

BUT...we did lots of fun stuff, too. And it really was a good thing. Every day they would send home a little sheet with a suggestion of something you could do with your kids instead of watching TV, but with 6 hours to kill between school and bedtime, we definitely needed to come up with ideas of our own. Hailey helped me with dinner every night, and she did a great job...even made enchiladas one night almost entirely by herself. We baked, played softball and she got to pick out a new flower to plant...that will be her little summer project. It was fun spending that extra time with my big girl, and although we won't be turning the TV off totally, we'll definitely be watching it less:)

And here's my little baby, who's turning into a toddler right before my eyes.

Yay For New Photo Props....

2010-03-06T11:42:00.000-08:00

And my wonderful kids who let me take pictures of them even when they're tired and not feeling well.

John and I made this little backdrop. It's just painted plywood with a piece of molding and a fake floor I got at World Market. I love the fake floor. It rolls up and is so easy to store. The plywood, not so easy to store, but I still really like it.

So Hailey and Emma have both been sick with colds and sore throats this week. Hailey got it first (along with every little girl in her dance class that walked in the parade), and Emma caught it soon after. I took these yesterday while Hailey was at school, and even though Emma wasn't feeling too good, she still did a great job.
I love those little toes....

And I admit I totally stole this book idea. I saw it on a photography site and wanted to try it. Little bare baby butts are just too cute. This is another picture that had a hard time passing through daddy:) He's an absolutely-no-nudity kind of daddy:)

Hailey's Big Night

2010-03-06T11:21:00.000-08:00

So Hailey had her first piano recital on Thursday, and I'm so proud of my little girl. She was awesome...didn't miss a note. She was so nervous in the morning, saying she was too shy to play in front of lots of people, but once we got there it didn't seem to phase her. And she was the very first one up. There were maybe 25 people there watching, and she told me later she thought there were gonna be a lot more people, so she was okay.
Here she is with her Certificate of Completion. Doesn't she look like such a big girl. She's growing up too fast...

And here she is with her piano teacher....

After looking at these pictures last night, I was sort of mad at myself though. I was so busy getting pictures of Hailey playing that I forgot to get pictures with everyone else. Grammy took the day off of work and came all the way from Simi Valley to watch the show....and I didn't get even one picture with Grammy:( Nanny left work early to come...once again, no picture:( And none with mommy, daddy and Emma, either. Sheesh! What was I thinking? But thank you for coming, everyone. We love you:)

Oh, The Rain....

2010-02-28T21:13:00.000-08:00

Why oh why did it have to rain sooo hard the one morning we really wanted sunshine? Hailey has been in her Webby dance class for the past few months now, and all the girls have really been looking forward to walking in the TC parade. We knew the forecast was rain, but we were hoping it would hold off until the afternoon.

It had been such a nice week. Earlier in the week Hailey and I painted our nails, and since Emma's such a big girl now we painted her nails for the first time, too. I let Hailey do all the painting, and she did surprisingly well. What surprised me even more is that Emma held still while Hailey did the painting...
Hailey was a good sport and let Emma try to paint her nails too, but really Emma just wanted to eat the nail polish, so we ended that quickly....

So back to the rain! Hailey's class has been practicing their routine since before Christmas. They told us if the forecast was bad on Friday evening, they would just call us to cancel, but they never did. I looked at the weather report, and it clearly predicted showers in the early morning, but since no one cancelled John took Hailey over to meet the girls. I stayed back with Emma to get her ready and get a spot along the parade route to sit.

As the parade started, it was barely sprinkling. We thought, "No big deal." But it seemed that with every minute that passed it rained harder and harder. The full parade walk probably took the girls about 40 minutes, and by the time they got to where I was sitting about halfway down, it was pouring. I don't think this picture even does justice to how soaked they all were. I was so proud of my little girl out there in the rain. They didn't end up doing the dance, but they walked the entire parade route...and they were given a chance to just stop halfway through, but they finished.

She's the one with the red raincoat over her head. And there's daddy right next to her...

My mom said she'd watch Emma, so I decided to jump out there and walk the rest of the way with them. When I started walking, all of the coaches couldn't stop gushing over how wonderful John is. He ran to the store to get the blue rain covers for them, he went off to grab a wagon to put the radio in, and he got the girls all pumped up and in good spirits for their very long walk in the rain. Seriously, they all thought he was the greatest thing ever.....and while I acted a little surprised, I totally wasn't. He's an awesome daddy. And Hailey loved it...She kept saying "Everyone loved daddy." And as soon as they got home, daddy hopped in the shower, and Hailey hopped into a nice warm bath, with apple juice and Cheetos delivered to her while she thawed out...

And this is what else Hailey's been up to this week....lots of this! She has her recital on Thursday!

I Don't Want to Jinx it but.......

2010-02-25T20:46:00.000-08:00

Emma hasn't had any problems with her clogged tear duct in two whole weeks. Her eye looks perfect. No washing, no massaging....It's sooo nice. Keeping my fingers crossed it unclogged, but taking lots of pictures this week in case it comes back soon...
Bathtime is usually a whole ritual of washing and massaging her eye...so it's only fun for her once all that's done....But the last couple weeks, all smiles...

I think she's happy about it, too....

Hailey's First Song...

2010-02-22T10:57:00.001-08:00

Hailey started piano lessons a few weeks ago, and they've finished learning their first song. It's really fun because John and I get to learn, too. We know nothing about playing the piano, so we all learn together. And John lets Hailey learn the song first and then she teaches him, which she LOVES.

I wish they were learning more popular songs, though. This one is Night Storm...next is Jackson Blues. But at the end we're supposed to be learning Amazing Grace. I'm looking forward to that.

Oh yeah, and you'll probably have to pause the music at the bottom of the blog again...sorry.

Normal Days and Lemonade...

2010-02-20T23:42:00.000-08:00

So lately I've become a bit of a blog stalker. Not all blogs, but a few really good ones that I look forward to reading as I sit with my morning coffee...okay, okay, Diet Pepsi. Ones with great photographers documenting sweet moments, first scrapes, cookie baking...the things that make each family's story unique. And while reading one of those blogs today, I came across this quote:

"Normal day, let me be aware of the treasured day you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may. For it may not always be so. One day, I shall bury my face in a pillow or raise my hand to the sky and want, more than anything, your return."

....And it moved me.

It made me remember that I'm living some of my most memorably normal days right now. I have a healthy family, two beautiful little girls, a husband I adore...and who affords me the opportunity to be home with my girls most of the time. And though that may not always be something we can do, I cherish these days....the first steps, the piano lessons, the dancing and giggling, and the endless picture taking my family puts up with. These are my normal days, and I love them.

I've mentioned more than once that I'm not the best at writing in babybooks or documenting all the precious firsts that childhood brings, so this blog may be the biggest chunk of what my girls look back on to remember and reminisce. So I want to fill it with all the little things that make our family "us."

All this to say, there may be some very boring posts coming in the future. I'd like to try to find an interesting way to show the "normal," but some posts might be a complete miss. So you've been warned:) Now onto the post...

John has school on Friday nights, so we usually don't see much of him that day. He often goes straight from work to school, so we've officially name Fridays "Girl's Day." It makes it easier for Hailey, and she always gets to pick what we have for dinner that day, which 90% of the time means Mac n Cheese...Score for me on the cooking:) Then she gets to pick one fun thing that we do that day, like watching a movie or painting our nails or picking out a million games that she wants to play.

So this week she picked making lemonade. We had noticed over the weekend that the lemons were just starting to turn yellow, and she was anxious to make our first batch. She even wanted Emma to help, so we did the best we could to get a one-year old's attention long enough to help just a little...She was really just more interested in throwing lemons on the ground though:)

And then John surprised us and came home for a little while before rushing off to school. Hailey was so excited to pour daddy a glass of lemonade.

I couldn't get Emma to look at the camera for anything...and I didn't even notice her in this picture until I went to edit it. Wish I would have backed up another foot and gotten her in the picture, too.

This was, of course, the first expression I got from them when I tried to take a picture:)

Look Who's Walking...

2010-02-17T10:12:00.000-08:00

Reflecting....

2010-02-15T22:44:00.000-08:00

Just taking a minute to remember what Hailey looked like on her 1st birthday. Do they look alike? Hmmmm...I really don't know. Definitely sisters, but each they're own person.

Emma's One-Year Video

2010-02-14T22:14:00.001-08:00

I finally made a one-year video for Emma...been trying to get it done for about a month now:) You'll have to scroll down to the bottom of the page and pause the music that usually plays on my blog, so you can hear this music. Otherwise, not so good to hear both at once.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

2010-02-12T14:03:00.000-08:00

Emma's One Year Cake Smash

2010-02-08T01:10:00.000-08:00

This year has passed by so fast. Little Emma is one! I'm not very good about sitting down and writing the milestones in her babybook, so forgive me if I ramble off too many random facts here...but I want to get them down.

She's got 8 teeth, and she's such a little talker. She tries to say everything!! If you ask her to say something...anything..she will try, even if it's not even close. It's so cute. She can finally say Hailey (Hay-ee), mommy, daddy, dog, bear, woof, hi, bye, uh-oh. The cutest thing she does is try to say "thank you." When we hand her something she wants, she'll say "tay-ooo." It's adorable.

She just started waving and blowing kisses, and she loves to point. She's been crawling for what seems like forever so we thought for sure she'd be walking by now..but not yet. She's just starting to learn animals and body parts. Just within the last few days she can find my nose and point at the giraffe picture if I ask where it is. Still working on the details:) For the longest time, she was such a serious baby...probably up until 10 months old. But the last couple of months she has really developed a sense of humor. She's more giggly every day, and I love that!

And as you can see from her pics, she loves sweets (oh, no). We took these pictures at home, and Hailey had her cracking up. I will always cherish these because they so capture her personality. The top right picture is her cheesy smile she gives all day long, and I know it will end soon.

Happy 1st Birthday, Emma:)

This is the back of her little bloomers. She was a mess!

First Try Taking Pics with my Backdrop

2010-02-08T00:49:00.000-08:00

So the girls got me some white fleece for Christmas that I can use as a backdrop to take some pics at home. We finally got a chance to test it out, and it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be...but I love that when you take pictures yourself, they can tell a story instead of just showing a final outcome.

I thought maybe I could get a cute picture of Emma standing behind Hailey, but as you can see, Emma had different ideas. She's fascinated with hair, well, with pulling hair...so I should have known this pose wasn't going to work. At this point, Hailey is still in good spirits and quite understanding about her litte sister's lack of focus....
So I figured I would just let Hailey hold her and see what poses she came up with...but Emma got a little manhandled during that time:) Both still in good spirits though....

Then I guess Emma pulled Hailey's hair...lol. And the good times sort of ended after that. In Emma's defense, she was being pulled around quite a bit. I think it's so cute the way she's looking at Hailey, though.

But, in the middle of all that, I did get this picture...and so I'm happy:)

We Weren't Quite Done Yet

2010-02-08T00:22:00.000-08:00

So after we were done taking pictures, the girls were getting ready to take a bath, and Emma was so adorably smiley that I got them to jump back in front of the backdrop really quickly for a few more pictures....and I'm so glad I did. At first Emma was like, "What's up? What happened to my bath?"....
But then Hailey got her smiling again. I just adore this picture. I hope they can always make each other smile like this...so sweet!

I love this picture, too...Daddy is a little skeptical since he'd like to see more clothes:)...But the more I look at it, the more I think it looks timeless just the way it is. But I put my watermark (that I just learned how to make in my Photoshop class:) over part of Hailey to make Daddy feel better.

Emma - Almost 11 months old

2009-12-28T22:59:00.000-08:00

I can't believe Emma is almost a year old. She is such a sweet little girl. She has such a good temperment, and she's starting to sleep a lot better, which is sooo nice:)

She says mama, dada, dau (dog) and ball. She isn't walking yet, but she's cruising everywhere and putting everything in her mouth. The other day I caught her with dog food in her mouth...so gross. She had crawled into Kola's crate and found her food bowl. Must keep that locked:)

She's such a mommy's girl lately. Big groups of people definitely scare her, even if they're family. Sorry to all the people she cried at on Thanksgiving and Christmas...she's still getting used to the big family holidays. I hope she grows out of it soon. She has tons of personality at home. Waving, laughing, giving kisses, and babbling a ton. She is so precious, and I love watching her grow and change.

She was looking at Hailey when I took this picture....so sweet!

They've had lots of fun playing with all their Christmas presents. I'll post pics soon.

A Couple More Pics

2009-12-28T20:53:00.000-08:00

John's Christmas Decorations

2009-12-28T16:40:00.000-08:00

John worked so hard to get the house looking nice for Christmas. Temple City has an annual Christmas decoration contest, and John won! I'll post pics soon that show his yard sign and gift basket. There were 12 winners for our city, but John won the grand prize. I think the fact that he went and got real snow for the yard the night of the judging helped a lot.

Good job, hubby! Our girls are lucky to have such a fun daddy:)

Having Fun...Me & Hailey

2009-12-11T20:25:00.000-08:00

I took this picture while Hailey was having fun playing on the swing set at Grammy's house on Thanksgiving. Lucky for me, Hailey loves having her picture taken:)
And...I'm loving my online photo group. I've learned so much about Photoshop, and I'm a bit addicted at this point. Our weekly challenge was to make a pop out picture, and I instantly thought of this pic.

Emma's First Santa Visit

2009-12-11T20:18:00.000-08:00

We hadn't gotten a chance to take Hailey and Emma to see Santa yet, so when we heard Santa was going to be at our local park the other night we figured it would be a great trial run before going and taking official Santa pictures.

Emma was sooo scared. She's a real mommy's girl lately anyway, but as soon as she saw Santa she would not stop crying. I think we'll just skip the extra visit this year and wait until next year to visit again:)

So Surprised:0

2009-12-11T13:40:00.000-08:00

I went to get the mail on Saturday and was so surprised to see Hailey on the cover of the T.C. monthly magazine. This was taken last year at the local park. I just love the way she's looking at Santa...so sweet!!! I showed it to Hailey, and she was pretty excited...she even brought it to school to show her teacher.

Under Construction:)

2009-12-11T12:47:00.000-08:00

Excuse the way my blog will be looking for the next few days. I'm trying to change a few things around, and it's definitely trial and error. But..I finally figured out how to make my blog wider and my picture bigger. It took me about 10 tries. Ahhhh, it's the little victories:)
Here's sweet lil' Emma! As you can see, her tear duct hasn't opened up yet, but she's still adorable as ever.

A Day at the Park

2009-11-20T23:50:00.000-08:00

We went to the park the other day, and the girls had lots of fun. Hailey saw friends from school, and Emma had a good time just watching her sister run around like crazy. Here's Hailey's favorite - the monkey bars:)
Emma LOVED the swings. I remember Hailey didn't like it at that age. Emma was all smiles the whole time.

And here's Emma just hangin out at the house after. It's rare that she gives me such a nice smile for pictures....although I did have to jump around like a fool to get this one:)

And here's how the girls ended their day. Emma is finally getting big enough to have fun in the bath with her big sister...although you'd never know it from this picture. This is the usual face she makes when I pull out the camera.

Halloween

2009-11-10T22:10:00.001-08:00

This is Hailey and her friend, Leila. They had a parade at Hailey's school with games and trick or treating. She had so much fun. We could hardly keep track of her, there was so much to do. I think her favorite part was freeze dance. She didn't last very long, but she had so much fun!
And here's Emma dressed up as a little bear. She was still in a good mood at this point:)

Now in Emma's defense, it was about 10:00 when this next picture was taken at Aunt Kimmie's house. She usuall goes to bed at 7:00. Is it bad that I think it's adorable??:)

Just one more picture of Hailey in her Tinkerbell costume.

2009-11-10T21:36:00.000-08:00

Just a little something I learned in my online editing group. I was lost at first, so the fact that you can actually read what the pictures say....I'm kind of proud of myself:)

One Last Picture:)

2009-10-25T15:44:00.000-07:00

Poor Emma got my cold, so I didn't have too much luck getting pictures today either. I really wanted one of the girls together with Emma smiling, but I could tell she wasn't feeling well so we just tried to get one of her. Hailey got her to smile for this one, so I'm happy. Thanks again, Nanny, for the cute jammies!

Their First Matching Jammies:)

2009-10-24T17:23:00.000-07:00

My mom got Hailey and Emma their first pair of matching clothes...some adorable snowflake jammies. Hailey was so happy to be matching her sister. Emma wasn't really in a picture-taking mood, but I just had to get a picture of them. They look so cute that I'm going to try again tomorrow when Emma is in a more smiley mood. Hailey was all smiles:)

Emma @ 7 months

2009-09-12T23:26:00.001-07:00

Some Random Beach Pics

2009-09-08T00:32:00.001-07:00

John's Growing His Hair Out

2009-09-08T00:27:00.000-07:00

I took this picture of John at the beach not too long ago...I just thought he looked so handsome I would add it here:)

I Just Love This Picture!

2009-08-10T20:46:00.000-07:00

Weekend Party

2009-08-10T20:38:00.000-07:00

Just a few pictures I took at a party we went to last weekend with John's mom. It was so much fun, and the house it was at was amazing. It felt like I was spending the afternoon at a Hawaiian resort. They had a pool with a huge slide and waterfall...Hailey loved it. She was so busy running around that I hardly got to get pictures of her.

6 Months Old

2009-08-06T23:17:00.000-07:00

So I took a few 6 month pics of Emma yesterday, and I love them. I'm also trying to learn Photoshop (in baby steps), and it's really fun.

It's Been a Long Time...

2009-08-06T22:51:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a while since I've posted anything. I recently discovered Facebook, and boy is it addicting. I've been posting most of my pictures there, so I just wanted to take a minute to post some of my favorite pictures from the last few months over here.

Emma is exactly 6 months old (time is flying), and Hailey will be 5 on the 27th. Hailey is such a big girl now. There's nothing baby about her anymore, and while it sort of makes me sad (really sad:), I'm so proud of her.

She's excited to go Kindergarten, and she made some new friends during summer school. She's swimming without water wings (thank you Tayler:), jumping off the diving board and swimming all over the deep end. She's not diving yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if it happened any day now.

Emma is just cute as can be. She's sitting up, rolling over and is a very happy baby. She's not crawling yet, and I'm actually not disappointed about that at all:)...I'll just enjoy it as long as it lasts. She still thinks her sister is the most important person around, and despite some rough treatment Kola gives her, she still lights up every time that dog runs by. It's cute.

Emma @ 3 1/2 months......

2009-05-18T12:46:00.000-07:00

Emma's 3 1/2 months old, so I figured I'd take a minute to write about her personality in case I forget before I get a chance to do her baby book (I'm so bad with that:)...

Smiling - All the time, except when the camera comes out....and by the way, mom, I've caught on to the camera on your phone. I won't smile for that either.

Rolling over - What's that? No interest at all. Why would I do that when I have mommy and daddy to pick me up?

Laughing - Trying. I think my sister is very funny, but I only get out one little giggle...no belly laughs yet.

What I like to wear - Just my diaper. I like to sleep in onesies....I'll sleep 8 to 10 hours for you if you put me in one.

Things I like - Watching my sister dance for me; my glow seahorse; looking at myself in the mirror (I'm very cute and that always cheers me up); I just went in the pool for the first time the other day and I think I like that too:); talking. I'll have a full conversation with you if you understand "gooo" and "aboo."

Things I don't like - My pacifiers....stop buying different kinds, you'll never find one I like; taking naps during the day (that one really frustrates mommy); rides in the car, especially red lights; I'm not really sure if I like my mobile either. It kind of scares me after a couple minutes, and I always end up crying.

2009-05-18T12:44:00.000-07:00

A Rare Sight!

2009-05-18T12:37:00.000-07:00

How I wish this girl would take a pacifier more often....It's a rare occasion to find her sleeping like this so I had to grab the camera.

Everybody's Gettin' Along:)

2009-05-18T12:22:00.001-07:00

So far, so good with Kola. She's a great puppy and seems to have a very good temperment. She's even doing pretty well around Emma (for the little time we allow them together:) Hailey adores her and says she's her mommy, and Emma loves to sit on my lap in the back yard and watch them play. She's definitely a lot of work though....I feel like we have three kids:)

Some Daddy Pics

2009-05-18T12:08:00.000-07:00

These are Hailey and Daddy's favorite kind of pictures to take.....I guess we know she inherited Daddy's silly side:)

And here's Hailey at a Dodgers game last month with Manny Ramirez......oops, that's just Daddy with a silly wig on. We had so much fun. We hadn't been to a Dodgers game for a long time, and it was really like Hailey's first time. The first time we took her she was too little to realize what was going on.
She was a little bored, but still had lots of fun...especially since Lauren and Jaelynn were there!

Our New Puppy Kona

2009-05-04T12:02:00.000-07:00

On Friday we added our newest member to the family. I don't know what we were thinking...like we don't have our hands full already:) But we just fell in love with her. She's such a sweet little puppy. She's Belgium German Shepherd mix, and she must be mixed with a smaller breed because she's way smaller than a German Shepherd would be at this age. I'm hoping she'll only get around 30 pounds, but we'll see.

At first we named her Lucy, but after calling her Lucy for one day we just didn't think she was a Lucy....Okay, I admit it. I didn't like the name:) So we came up with Kona. Hailey's so cute...she keeps forgetting her name and calling her Kola. She starts puppy Kindergarten next Sunday...it's every Sunday for 8 weeks, so hopefully we'll teach her good manners early on. She has tons of energy.

Hailey's Dance Recital

2009-05-04T11:50:00.000-07:00

Her show was so cute. She really loved it. We couldn't believe they actually had them twirl the baton.....slowly, but they were twirling. Hailey is always so secretive about what they learn in dance class...she never shows us the dances ahead of time, so it's always a surprise. You did a great job, Hailey. We're so proud of you!

Me and My Grandmas

2009-05-04T11:43:00.000-07:00

Hailey was so proud to have you guys come out and see her dance show! Thanks for always making the time and making her feel so special. I'm sure Emma will be just as loved and spoiled:)

All Wrapped Up

2009-05-04T11:19:00.000-07:00

I thought this would be such a cute picture. Of course my sweet Hailey was game, but Emma was not liking this picture idea. As soon as she saw the camara....well, you can see what happened:)

So Serious

2009-05-04T10:59:00.000-07:00

Only three months old and Emma has already had it with my constant picture taking:) Lately she's refusing to smile every time she sees the camara come out. Hopefully she'll get over it quickly. But the good news.....Emma has been sleeping 8 hours straight for the past 4 nights. Woohoo...let's hope it lasts!

First Day in the Pool

2009-05-04T10:54:00.000-07:00

John and Hailey have been going in the pool for a while, but this was my first time going in. We decided to document it with an Austin Powers style jump off the diving board. It was cold!

2009-04-07T21:04:00.000-07:00

Finally...

2009-04-07T18:37:00.000-07:00

Finally I was able to capture the blue in Emma's eyes with the camara. It seems like every time I take a picture, they turn steel blue. I took this one as the sunlight was coming through our living room window and shining right on her.

2009-04-07T18:33:00.000-07:00

Emma's 1st Professional Photos

2009-04-05T22:03:00.000-07:00

Last week we went to the mall to take pictures of the girls. Hailey was the usual pro, always with a great smile. Emma was definitely not in the mood for pictures. She was crying so badly when we first got started that it took me about 20 minutes to feed her and get her calmed down, but after that she did great. She even gave us her first smiling picture, which I wasn't expecting.

2009-04-04T23:24:00.000-07:00

Filling Daddy's Shoes

2009-04-04T23:18:00.000-07:00

Okay, now I know kids always have fun trying on their parent's shoes, but this was just too funny to not take a picture of. Here's Hailey trying on daddy's new size 15 basketball shoes. Perfect fit, don't you think.....

My New Hobby

2009-04-02T20:23:00.000-07:00

I just discovered Photobucket and now I'm addicted to it. It's amazing what you can do with your pictures...and it's free. I love it. I took this picture of Emma sleeping this afternoon .... isn't she precious!

Time Flies

2009-02-28T18:45:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that Emma is already three weeks old. Time is going by so fast, and she's changing every day. We just adore her. Her face is really filling out, just like Hailey's did, but I'm not sure she looks that much like her sister. We're still trying to figure out who she looks like. Hailey was so clearly her daddy's little girl from day one:)

She's doing really well and even starting to smile at us. She's starting to lift her head up, and she makes diffent noises now. I'm remembering all the things I love about this age.....and the not so fun things......She's not the best sleeper yet, but that's okay....She's worth all the sleepless nights.

Precious Moments

2009-02-18T10:10:00.000-08:00

Emma is getting more and more alert every day, and Hailey loves to lay down next to her and talk to her and make silly faces. They're so cute to watch.

Just Hangin' Out at the House

2009-02-18T10:01:00.001-08:00

Valentine's Day

2009-02-18T09:18:00.000-08:00

John and I had our first night out on Valentine's Day. Hailey got invited to her friend Gabriella's birthday party with her Aunt Kimmie and Uncle Mauricio, and my mom and Leo came over and watched Emma so that John and I could go to PF Changs for dinner. We had such a nice time. Thanks guys for giving us an evening out.

Emma Marie is Finally Here!

2009-02-10T23:29:00.000-08:00

After all these months of waiting, our precious Emma Marie finally arrived on February 6th at 8:52 p.m. She weighed 8 lbs., 6 ounces, and she was 19 inches long. The best part of the delivery was that daddy was there to witness it all this time. We're all home now and getting some rest:) Hope to see you all soon.

Emma is such a sweet baby. She's getting used to her noisy but sweet sister who loves to wake her up, but most of the time she's still sleeping and looking adorable. I'm sure this isn't going to last long but we'll enjoy it while it does.

Sweet Sisters

2009-02-10T23:15:00.000-08:00

Hailey absolutely adores her little sister. It is the cutest thing to watch. She takes pictures of her and sings to her and loves to help with everything. She got to take pictures of Emma to school today for share day and was definitely the proud big sister.

This is a common occurence in our house. When we tell her not to give her sooo many kisses she says, "I just love her all the way to the moon and back to my heart." Too cute!

Wild Rivers

2008-08-12T15:36:00.000-07:00

We took Hailey to Wild Rivers in Irvine this weekend, and we had a blast. There was a huge area that had lots of rides that were perfect for Hailey's age. Here she is in the pool, testing out the water. It didn't take her long to realize this place was going to be lots of fun!

Here she is with Daddy going down one the mini slides.

Hailey's favorite thing was this 3' pool. It was huge, and she could walk the entire thing without any help. She really could have stayed in there all day (except Daddy was kind of bored by it). It had a rope hanging above it, and the kids could try to make their way across. Hailey was getting across it, with Daddy's help, of course:)

This was their little version of a river rafting ride. It was only about 30' long, but it had lots of little turns and Hailey really liked it.

Still Celebrating Birthdays!

2008-07-28T12:58:00.000-07:00

John and Leo's birthdays are only a couple of weeks apart so we took the guys out to El Cholo for a joint birthday celebration. Kim and Mauricio came, too, and we had a great time. Happy Birthday John & Leo!

Hailey had fun helping Daddy and Grandpa Leo blow out the candle on their cake....uhm, I mean, flan.

Here's a cute picture she took with Leo during dinner.

And here she is with her Aunt Kimmie and Uncle Mauricio being silly as we're waiting for the valet to bring our cars.

What great families we have. Thank you to everybody who helped make John's birthday special. We're very lucky to have you all.

Fishing at Mt. Baldy

2008-07-24T15:44:00.001-07:00

One of John and Hailey's favorite things to do is go fishing together. Although the actual fishing isn't one of my favorite things, I love watching them and taking pictures. John is such a great dad, and he's always so patient with Hailey.

We go to the trout ponds where it's really easy to catch the fish, too easy actually. You keep everything you catch, and they add up very fast, but it's a great place for little kids who can't stay focused for too long without catching something.

Here they are with their second catch of the day.

Here's Hailey with the third (and last) catch of the day. I love that she's not squirmish. She's such a fun kid, always up for anything.

We took a little walk along the trail while we were there. John made sure we got at least one picture with me in it:)

This picture was Hailey's idea - and she was right- cute picture. Although I know I'm definitely biased, I think she's always adorable.

John's Birthday Dinner

2008-07-21T21:33:00.001-07:00

We had a wonderful dinner at El Torito to celebrate John's birthday. We even had a surprise visit from his cousin, Jenny, and her adorable baby girl, Casey. John got some practice holding a little one again, and he enjoyed it.

Hailey's favorite part was seeing her friend, Jaelynn. She talked about her all day, and they had fun playing together at dinner.

It was great seeing all our family and friends that we definitely don't get to see often enough. Thank you all for coming to celebrate with us. We love you!

Family Pictures

2008-07-21T21:15:00.000-07:00

Here is Hailey and her Grammy. Thanks for spending the day with us, Grammy. We had tons of fun.

We stopped in to take a picture with Great Grandma, too.

These two always take the cutest pictures together. Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Feeding the Ducks

2008-07-21T20:34:00.000-07:00

Last Friday was John's birthday, and before meeting up with the family for dinner, we went to feed the ducks with Grammy. Hailey always loves doing this, and if she had it her way, she would give each duck a full slice of bread. We had to keep yelling, "Smaller Pieces," but she was adorable. In this picture she's throwing the bread over her shoulder to the ducks.

After feeding the ducks Hailey was all smiles, so we took a few pictures at the park. Here are a couple of my favorite pictures of her from that day.

Ultrasound Pics

2008-07-20T22:30:00.000-07:00

Here are our first pictures of the new baby. I'm only 11 weeks along so it will be a little while before we find out if it's a boy or girl, but we're very excited. The doctor said everything looked great, and the baby was moving around like crazy. Hailey went with us, too, and had fun watching the screen.

The picture at the top is the baby facing toward the camara. The bigger part is the head, then the tummy, and the little round circles are the arms and legs. The bottom two pictures are profiles. The long part is the body, big round circle the head.

Our Cruise to Ensanada

2008-07-20T21:54:00.000-07:00

Last weekend John and I took a cruise to Ensenada. It was our first full weekend without Hailey, and although we missed her, we had a great time. I had work meetings to go to on Saturday and Sunday, but John kept himself busy. He found the basketball court right away. Need I say more:) Here's our first picture getting on the boat.

Here's everyone's favorite part of a cruise.....getting your vest on and meeting out on the deck for the drill. We made the most of it:)

There was a rockclimbing wall on the boat, and John finally got to go rockclimbing on Sunday. He did great....no surprise. Although it looks easy, he's actually taking the path where you can only step on red rocks.

It wouldn't be John if there wasn't a silly picture in there somewhere. This is John waiting to go rockclimbing. The picture really doesn't do him justice though....it was much funnier in person. With the harness around his waist and the helmet and his braces he looked a lot like the Mike Myers character on Saturday Night Live that was always tied to the playground equiptment and trying to get away. He was doing a pretty good impression of it, too. He had everyone laughing.

More 4th of July Fun

2008-07-06T22:42:00.000-07:00

This was the first year Hailey really had fun with the sparklers and the California Candles. Here she is with her cousin, Bryanna, holding a California Candle.

She also got to see her friend Paige. Paige's grandparents live right across the street from my aunt, so they always see each other on the 4th of July. Paige is almost a year older than Hailey, and she left their daycare last year to go to preschool. Hailey will be starting preschool in September, and she's getting excited. So am I.

Some Family Pics From the 4th

2008-07-06T22:27:00.000-07:00

These are just a few pictures we took on July 4th. Hailey loves having her picture taken, unlike her mother:) We always have so much fun on the 4th of July, especially John. Fireworks are legal where we live, and John won a huge pack of them in a drawing. Okay, so he entered his name in the drawing about 15 times....but he won:)

We always go to my aunt's house and BBQ before doing fireworks. Between the fireworks we bought, the one's John won, and the one's my cousin bought, we had about a 2 hour fireworks show. Hailey loved it ...... almost as much as her daddy:)

Our Trip to Great Grandma's

2008-07-06T22:03:00.000-07:00

We hadn't seen Hailey's great grandma, Merilyn, in almost a year. We had so much fun visiting her in Modesto last weekend. She always makes us feel so welcome, and she loves to spoil Hailey. We went shopping to find Hailey a new backpack and lunchbox, which she loves.

Summer Soccer

2008-07-06T21:42:00.000-07:00

Hailey had so much fun playing soccer this summer. She was by far the youngest one on her team, but you'd never know it by looking at her. Two of her good friends, Matthew and Tayler, played on her team. There's a picture of the three of them above.

Her team did really well. They came in second place. She was so proud of her trophy and carried it around with her for days. We're proud of her, too!