California Part I

Hurray!! We made it to California! We spent 11 days in the sunshine state, and when I mean 'sunshine' I mean 108 degree weather! We all enjoyed hanging out and visiting with our family, and celebrating my sister's new marriage. Here are a ton of pictures from the first half of our trip with the Cross side of the family! 

Papa picked us up at the airport, and after a 2.5 hr. drive to Bakersfield, the girls couldn't wait to try out the waterslide!

Maddie Grace LOVED the water and had a blast! Lulu didn't like the water in her eyes, but was happy to be cooled off.

Papa and Grammie watching the grand girls play.

Papa's Little Shadow

Funny story: Madison remembered Papa, and was literally connected to his hip whenever he was near. She would put out her little arms for him to hold her (which I Papa LOVED) and talked and talked her baby talk to him. Her little face lighted up when he walked in the room, he was a rockstar!

A tired Lulu getting some snuggles from Grammie!

Madison brought a book over to Uncle Matt, and he was so sweet to read it to her. Twice.

Grammie has a tradition of taking Lindsay and Madison to Build-a-Bear when they see her, and the next day we went to the mall and Lindsay picked out a pink/purple bear. She named it "Fruity"..lol. Madison wanted a little brown puppy, and decided to name it "Pup Pup".

 

Maddie Grace loving her Grammie kisses!

On Friday my sister and her husband flew into town, and we got to celebrate their marriage at Hodel's. They have such yummy food, and Great Grandma rented a private room for us to be together to catch up.

Papa, Lindsay, Grammie, Gigi, Aunt Annie, Alex, Me, Madison, Uncle Matt, Jarrett (taking the picture)

Annie & Alex... What a beautiful Sis I have!!

Gigi and Madison catching up on some love

 Mom gave a lovely toast to the new couple, and we all drank apple cider. There were a few pictures of the girls driving the cider from the glasses that I chose not post...lol.

Uncle Matt, Papa & Madison

Me & My Sister... Can you tell we are related?!? LOL

Saturday was Grammie's birthday, and we had a BBQ at her house. Gigi made her famous Texas Cake and Lindsay decorated it with candles.

The best part of getting together: the conversations!

 Grammie had lots of help blowing out her candles...

 

We set up the water slide, a blow-up pool and a baby pool to stay cool. I wasn't exaggerating about the heat: 109 degrees!! Whew!

What a hottie!

Me & my Grandma

Maddie Grace and Gigi having a chat

Grammie Kellie, Great Aunt Eunice and Madison



We stopped in at Gigi's house for a treat, a parfait with ice cream and strawberries. She always has something yummy for us!

 

 Jarrett and I ran some errands and stopped by the high school where he graduated... his ASB President picture is still hanging on the wall! Right before we moved to NJ, a student at Pepperdine tapped him on the shoulder and said, "You look so familiar? Are you from Bakersfield?" Turns out the student went to this high school and was in ASB and recognized him from his picture... Can you guess which one is Jarrett?

It's not fair- you age so well! You still got it, honey!!

On Sunday we had a great brunch at my Dad's, and had the opportunity to meet his girlfriend, Paula, for the first time. She was so easy to talk to, and sweet.. I think she's a keeper :) We had so much fun, and cherish the moments we got to spend visiting together. The girls had a blast being the center of lavish attention from the grandparents, and we love seeing our parents be grandparents! Thank you so much for the meals (oh we ate SO much) and the company- LOVE U!

Malibu Peeps in PA

We were so excited when we found out our sweet friends from Malibu were on the East Coast for a conference. Stacy, Graham and Emma were some of our best friends at Pepperdine, and we miss them SO much. They drove up from Maryland to meet up with us at Philly's Please Touch Children's Museum where we let the kids go bananas. It's one of our favorite places to take kids, and the best children's museum we have ever been too. So glad we were able to share it with them! The girls had so much fun playing and were so tired they fell asleep before we were on the freeway.     

Lindsay (3 yrs.) and Graham (2 yrs.) had fun running around from exhibit to exhibit. Here they are at the Mad Hatter's Tea Party in the Alice in Wonderland area. I first met Stacy when she was newly pregnant with G, and left Malibu when she was expecting her second little cutie, Emma.

When we lived in Malibu, Stacy and G were our dates for the park and beach almost every week. I was so excited to meet precious Emma (4 mo.) who made my ovaries skip a beat ;)



Lindsay's favorite part of the museum was the Children's Hospital, that has a Dr.'s office, nursery, and mini X-Ray machine. Madison loved the baby dolls in the nursery, and spent 15 minutes wanting to rock them in the tiny rocking chair. Lindsay had a blast giving her sister a "Check Up". It amazed me she knew what all the tools were in the play Dr. bag and how to use them!

 

Lindsay and Graham giving some love :) Stacy and I always laughed about how much they look like siblings. A special thanks to Stacy's in-laws who made the trip with us and helped us wrangle all the kiddos!

One of the greatest things about having a husband who works in higher education is the fabulous people you meet through the universities. The McNeal Family is one of those treasures, and we are looking forward to hanging out again soon, maybe over some Malibu Yo! xoxo

Father's Day 2013

Happy Father's Day! We had a fabulous one, which involved lots of swimming, splashing and grilling! Jarrett is adored by all the ladies in his life, and he is a tremendous father, husband and friend. Love you! Here's a few pictures of silliness we captured...

So excited to get into the kiddie pool from Walmart.

Best Daddy Award #1: Got into the FREEZING cold pool with his ladies. I opted out as the photographer.

DIVE!

Happy Father's Day to my Dad, I love you and can't wait to give you a big hug next week!! Thank you for being a terrific Dad and Papa to the girls!

BURRR! The water was COLD!

 

"This isn't like the bath!!" Not too sure about the cold water.

"BALL!!"

 Best Daddy Award #2: Getting into the pool with a banged-up thumb. (He smashed it earlier in the car door!)

My Handsome Honey

Simply J-O-Y

Daddy is so much fun!

Stop Splashing Maddie!!!

 

Testing out his Father's Day gift: a new grill!! We all got to enjoy that one :)

 

Thank you Sweetheart, for going to work and juggling the many hats you wear every day: Husband, Daddy, Son, Dean, Friend, Writer, GQ Model .... the list goes on and on. I appreciate all you do for me, our girls and our family. Your sense of humor, integrity and faith in our Lord make me love and respect you more each passing year, and it fills me with joy knowing you are imparting those traits to our sweet ladies. Your special bond with each girl echoes through our house when the door opens and a loud "DADA" and shrilly "DADDY" reverberates through the house. We love you!! Love, Your Girls xo 

Strawberry Patch

On Tuesdays during the summer Terhune Farms does a "Read and Pick" program for children where they read a story about an in-season fruit and then let them loose to pick them! This past Tuesday was Strawberry Day, and I took my two little shortcakes for some strawberry picking and lots of fun!

They had fresh picked peonies, and gave one to Lindsay. We put that little flower in some water at home and it lasted a week!

Madison was in heaven (you can see the happiness on her sweet face) and loves to hear stories!

The story they chose to read was one of our favorites, The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear. This was a story I begged my grandparents to read me over and over again. I love the illustrations, especially the little mouse's expressions!

After the story they each got an empty pint and ran into the strawberry patch to fill it with red ripe strawberries. Lindsay helped Maddie, and there were only a few berries that were stepped on :)

Love that they were holding hands :)

Displaying her treasure

We met our friends from the Mom's Club, and Lindsay had fun with her bestie, Lila.

They had lots of animals on the farm, and Madison had fun checking out the geese, horses, sheep and donkey!

The geese were wandering around the farm, and Madison was fasinated... more on that later!

They rescued a beautiful white peacock wandering the streets of Princeton. When it fluffed its tail, the feathers looked like lace...gorgeous!

The girls checking out the peacock and chicken...

Lindsay said "Hello" to a nice bunny, Alice. Lindsay told me, "She's a little shy today, Mama".

Waving at the sheep and trying to get them to come over.

Smile Maddie Grace...lol.

I can't believe Lindsay remembered riding a white pony named "Sweetie" at the farm last fall. This brown horse's name was "Mexicana".

Delighted!

Before you think, "Awww" Lindsay is loving on her baby sister, check out the next photo.

Lindsay was really using her baby sister as a human shield against the roaming geese.  LOL.

Scardy Cat!

To be fair, the geese were getting a little aggressive. I probably shouldn't have put the basket of strawberries next to Maddie. LOL. When we got home we made Chocolate Strawberry Shortcakes (gluten free of course!), and fresh picked strawberries are just simply the best! The girls had so much fun that we will probably go back next Tuesday for blueberry day!!

Little Miss is Walking!

Little Miss has been walking for several weeks now, and I finally got around to posting her first steps video! She had been cruising like crazy, and would take a few independent steps between furniture.  I can understand the hesitation... hardwood floors can be pretty unforgiving! When she worked up the courage to take her first steps, she took off and hasn't looked back! She has been walking everywhere, and has mastered the sit-stand-walk in the middle of the floor (instead of crawling to couch, and pushing off). We knew after her huge verbal and fine motor growth spurt, the physical gross motor was finally here! I love how in the video she is SO proud of herself. She was like, "Look Sissy!" and started walking towards her when Lindsay called her.

The girls have been pushing their babies in strollers around the house now that Maddie can walk.

 Big Girl!!

How is my baby a toddler?!?! Love you Sweet Maddie Grace! xo

Lulu's 1st Ballet Recital

One word could describe Lindsay's first ballet recital: ADORABLE!! Our little prima ballerina did a fantastic job on stage... I was unsure how she would do with an audience and lights (it is pretty overwhelming) but in her typical Lulu-ness, she danced her little heart out no matter who was watching :)

Can you find her? I had to drop her off at her special seat in front to sit with her class as she waited to perform her piece. She loved sitting in the very first row with her friends and a perfect view of all the dancers!

 As the parents were filing in and finding seats, they were playing the music from the pieces as background music. Well, as soon as Lindsay heard her recital music, she and a few other little dancers JUMPED on stage and began giving us a preview!

 

Obviously it was a pretty informal recital, and the teachers were busy wrangling other students and didn't seem to mind the pre-show too much! Daddy had to work (but went to the dress rehearsal the day before and got to see her perform!) so we invited Miss Kristy to come with us. Her daughter and husband were out of town at a wedding and she had to stay home and work and was lonesome. We are so, so grateful to have her come along and help out so I could get some great pictures and videos!!

 

 

Here is the video of her dance: *It's a little long (3 minutes), but very cute!*

 

 

 

A few highlights:

*There were three little guys in her class that were the "super heros" and had muscle costumes!

*I love how hard she was trying to balance, you can see the concentration on her face!

*She was pretty concerned about the empty dot next to her (she saw the audience and decided not to perform after all). It was cute when she was pointing, "Get back to the spot!!"

*I was so proud when she fell down she got right back up and kept going! Way to go! There was another precious little girl who helped her out a couple times by grabbing her hand. Sweet :)

*They had to literally pull her off the stage. LOL.

 

Proud Ballerina Lindsay

 Funny Story....At the end of the recital the director got up and wanted to thank all the teachers and give them a bouquet of flowers. Well, in two of Lindsay's favorite ballet books, "Fancy Nancy and the Mermaid Ballet" and "Tallulah's Tutu" the dancers get a bouquet of flowers after their performance. My sweet girl remembered this and jumped out of her seat, walked on stage and stood in front of the teachers with her arms outstretched for her very own bouquet of flowers. The audience thought it was adorable and laughed, and the teacher graciously handed her bouquet to Lindsay and helped her back to her seat! (Thank goodness Daddy got her very own flowers which were waiting for her when we saw her!!) It was pretty hilarious!!

 

Madison was enthralled watching all the dancers and sparkly costumes! A few times she would put her hands over her head and mimic the moves...maybe another future dancer on our hands?!