Emma's Birthday Bash

 Elena's first girl only party and it was out of this world!  The slack line (above) was a huge hit.

Day Trip to LA

 On our way up to see the LA Galaxy, we stopped at a beach in Dana Point.  Cute beach with a lot of stairs and a steep ramp to go down but it was worth it.

Garden: Week 13

 Here is my garden update for the past week.  It looks about the same with a few little things going on.  Above Elena is checking out our Golden Bell Pepper plant.  The Green Bell has two growing on it.  They sure grow fast, can't wait to eat them :)

Climbing Monkeys

 Tonight we met up with friends to explore the world of rock climbing.  I've been exploring rock climbing options for Elena since she loves to climb so much.  All the lessons and camps are for 7 and up but in a conversation with Nicole, I found out there is no minimum age at the rock climbing open gym.  So here we are...Elena and Nicole chalking up :)

Garden: Week 12

 Whew!  It was a hot, hot dry week and the garden felt it.

Motor boat, Motor boat...

 We have been talking about swim lessons for some time now...today Elena finally took her first swim lesson. The teacher, Ms. Sam, started by taking each kid into the water, spinning them while singing "motor boat, motor boat go so slow.  Motor boat, motor boat go so fast.  Motor boat, motor boat run out of gas."  A familiar song to Elena, learned from Grandmazona.

Day of Celebrations

 Happy Mother's Day...and Happy Birthday to Carl!

Garden: Week 11

Garden update...At week 11 we are doing great.  Can you spot the new blooms we have in the garden?

9 Month Old Charlie

 Just lounging around on his 9 month birthday in underwear!!  Adorable, eh?

Garden: Week 10

 After not seeing the garden every day for a week, it feels like everything has gone wild.  I am continually amazed by my mess of plants.  Not only are weeds everywhere, some grew taller than my knee.

Elena's Preschool Open House

 Elena's preschool held an open house tonight.  Her teacher picked Dr. Seuss as a theme.  Above are truffula trees.  The kids mixed their "grass" and created the trees with patterns.  Aren't they just the cutest?  Ms. Amanda is an awesome preschool teacher.

A Visit to See Family

The kids and I spent the past week visiting my family in Illinois and Indiana.  It was one of our shorter trips, the weather was far from spring but it is always nice to visit family.  I wasn't great at taking photos but here are a few.

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DuPage Children's Museum

 When it's windy, cold, gloomy and rainy outside, what do you do with a 5 year old?

Fun with Friends

We have been in Illinois for a couple of days and today we met up with Jeanine, Laurel and their kids.

Garden: Week 9

 This will be a short post...the last time I will see the garden for a week.

Disneyland California Adventure

 And for the 3rd day of Elena's birthday celebration, we went to Disneyland California Adventure.

Happy 5th Birthday, Elena!

 Hard to believe it has been 5 years since this bundle of inquiry and light entered our lives.

Happy Easter!!

Good Morning and Happy Easter!

Garden: Week 8

 The garden continues to grow and inspire us.

Garden: Week 7

 Such excitement in the garden this week, Elena was over the moon!  What did she spot?

Safari Park!

 During most of April, the Safari Park has a Butterfly Exhibit.  It gives us a great excuse to get up there and use our Zoo/Park passes :)

Green Smoothie Strikes Again!

 "Uhh, Mama, what are you drinking and why aren't you sharing?"

Backyard Science

 Will it float or sink?

Food Interest, Finally!

 Yesterday, Charlie turned 8 months old.  He is doing well and healthy as you can see.  He weighs 23lbs 10oz and has 4 teeth.  We are still having a difficult time with food.

Evelyn's Party

 Elena made a few friends at the SDSU Children's Center that she truly misses.  Evelyn is one of them; Emma and Ema are a couple more.

Garden: Week 6

It seems during our long weekend in Arizona, the garden (and weeds) exploded!

 The garden from afar.  Come take a tour...

Water Conservation Garden

 Today Elena and I went to the Water Conservation Garden Butterfly Festival.  A little mom-daughter time, which we haven't had for a little while.  (And I want the plant above, so pretty)

Arizona Travels

Carl had a long weekend, Elena had spring break so we seized up an opportunity to visit our Arizona family :)

 We took a long weekend and headed to Arizona to visit family.  Snuggles with Grandmazona.

Preschool Grandparents Day

We are thrilled with Elena's new preschool.  She loves going, her teacher is lovely and they have cute parties.  Today, her class celebrated Grandparents Day.  The kids prepared for weeks with artwork, songs and they even made gluten/dairy/nut free brownies to share :)  Elena even dressed up (thanks for the dress Maggie!)

 Elena's teacher, Ms. Amanda, took this photo after Elena and Pop finished decorating a foam picture frame.  Yay for a cute photo!!

Potty, Potty

 These naked pictures were taken March 8th.  We started some extra naked time because it has been warm, Charlie has been suffering from diaper rash and the cloth diapers we are using (from Elena) are starting to disintegrate.

Garden: Week 4

 Strawberry fruits are forming.  Elena is super excited! (okay, so am I!)

Hello Again!

Hello!  I'm not sure you remember me, my name is Rachel ;)

Well, it's been sometime since I've written.  I'm sure you thought I have given up and maybe even still pregnant but I only needed time to focus on our family.  In the past 7+ months, we have been quite busy as you will see.  I am working to update the blog by backdating posts so keep eyes open for new posts.  This has proven quite time intensive...we really have been busy.  The updates will start in August and post until we are current.

A quick catch up:

Toward the end of January, I resigned my job as a grant administrator with San Diego State University.  I'm now a stay at home mom, homemaker...eh, not really sure what title I would give myself.  We've had a bit of a transition but are finally getting in the swing of things.  Elena started preschool three days a week for three hours a day.  She loves it and her teacher, Ms. Amanda, is awesome.  Charlie is doing great, growing big and independent fast.  Carl is also doing good.  I've taken over gardening and enjoy spending an hour or so out there daily checking on my seedlings, weeding and smelling the flowers.  Life feels in balance right now, its a good feeling.

Thanks for sticking around!

Garden: Week 3

 The seeds were planted nearly 3 weeks ago and doing great.

Plank Baby, Plank!

 Charlie is trying to learn how to crawl.  He can body swim across the floor and now he can plank!

Ants Came Marching In

Elena has these magnetic triangles and squares, she loves playing with them.  Everyday she has something to build and share.

 Today a family of ants descended into our living room.

Elena's Photo Request

Elena requested photos be taken today.  Such a rare moment, one must jump at the chance :)

 One of the many ways Elena and Charlie play together.  Lots of giggling!

Strawberry Flowers and more

 Our first strawberry flowers, so exciting!

Garden: Week 1

Well, it has been 1 week since I planted the seeds.  Look at all the growth we have already!  Exciting!

Rain...Finally, Rain!!

The weather has been extreme everywhere.  Back in Illinois/Indiana, the area has been continually pelted with Arctic Blasts.  It has been one of the snowiest and coldest winters on record.  Here, we have had one of the driest winters.  The weather has been wonderful until you realize how short we are on rainfall.  A major storm came through and over the last four days we received over 2" of rain with a lot of wind.  We are thrilled for the rain and hope we get at least one more of these winter storms in the next month or so.

 After a certain amount of rain in a short period of time, our yard always floods here.  It doesn't stay long though.

Charlie is Almost Crawling

I'm learning that just before Charlie masters a new skill, he sleeps poorly the night before it happens.  Last night he was up every 2 hours like clockwork for 12 hours.  I'm exhausted.  And today...well...he is getting ready to crawl.

Charlie's 1st Food: Avocado

Charlie and I have had a great breastfeeding relationship.  No issues like I had with Elena, though I'm sure taking off additional time from work really helps.  Now Charlie is 6-1/2 months, I suppose it is time to start introducing solid food.

Garden Installation Phase 2

We have slowly been working on our yard and garden space over the past 6-1/2 years (wow, can you believe that we have been here nearly 7 years?).  We took some time to figure out what we wanted and researched how to implement our ideas.  Last year 10 fruit trees were planted (phase 1); 9 in the back, 1 in the front.  This is in addition to the 5 we already have.  (I think I am addicted to fruit trees; I want more--can you ever have enough?)

Visit with Pop and Lorraine

We took a break from building the garden and met Pop and Lorraine for breakfast.  We worked hard on the garden all last weekend and this weekend.  It feels great to see such great progress.  Even better was taking a break to catch up with Pop and Lorraine and eat a yummy breakfast!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

 Sending lots of love and hugs to you...

Visit from Grandma Rae and Papa Rick, Charlie 6 months

Over this last weekend, my parents were here visiting.  After picking them up at the airport, we drove over to Sea Port Village for lunch and a carousel ride.

 Elena was so sad when she missed the carousel ride at Disneyland.  So nice to have one right here in San Diego.  This is her first carousel ride :)

Garden Update: Spring is Here!

This has been a mild winter and spring is upon us.

 The Dorset Golden apple tree is in full bloom.  This is one of our three apple trees we planted last January.

Visit from Ron and Dixie

On their way to Hawaii, Ron and Dixie had a stop over in LA.  They drove down to visit San Diego for a day and we met up at Sea Port Village.  We enjoyed a nice breakfast and then walked around the bay for a couple of hours.  We had spectacular weather.  It is always nice to spend time catching up with them.

Air and Space Museum

Some of the San Diego museums offer free admission on Tuesdays to residents.  Amazing I have been in San Diego so long and have never taken up this offer.  The museums rotate by the week.  Looking for something to do, Elena and I headed down to the Air and Space Museum.  It is a smallish museum but we had a great time.  A good place for a couple of hours.

 Space suits!

Nap Time, Or Is It?

Elena loves to stomp around the house and make a ton of noise but she can also be quite stealthy...

After lunch we all lay down and nap.

 That is until Elena creeps into Charlie's room and climbs into his crib while he is sleeping.  I wake up to the sound of both kids giggling.

Happy New Year!

New Year's Day ~ Ocean Beach

 Love the tree decorated with beach balls at the beach.