Aedan's birthday celebration

We decided to celebrate Aedan's birthday on Friday since Saturday was Papa's funeral. We went out to run some errands and when we got back to my Mom's they had balloons for Aedan and sang Happy Birthday to him. He thought that was super cool!

Rainforest Cafe

We went to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. Aedan loved looking at all the fish and seeing all the leaves, trees and animals all over.

He was so excited to be there that he even said "cheese!" for the camera!

During the thunderstorms the kids looked around like "woa!" and sometimes looked a little scared. Cali covered her ears some times.

They loved their dinner!

When the Volcano came Aedan's reaction was the best! He was so excited and amazed at how big it was. The waiters got a huge kick out of him dancing (in his chair) to the birthday song. Then he blew out his candle and started digging right in. We had to rescue it before he dug in too much so that everyone could have some of it. :) It was YUMMY!!

Road Trip

On our way to California Cali fell asleep and she looked so funny with her hair all over the place and her mouth hanging open. She was so tired!

Aedan on the other hand, didn't sleep very long but was still happy playing with his cars.

My Papa

On Monday my Papa passed away. He was so sweet and thoughtful and loved all of his grandkids and great-grandkids so much! He was always so excited to see us and we'd always be greeted with a big smile and hug when we'd visit. Him and my Grandma were a big part of my life and came to every event (baptism, graduations, birthdays, ect). He supported us no matter what and was always willing to help in any way he could. Him and his sweet smile will always be missed. We love you Papa!

Papa

My very sweet and very loved Papa (Grandpa) has had cancer for a while now and has been doing great but slowly getting weaker. He recently went into the hospital and after some tests they discovered that the cancer had spread everywhere, including his brain. So, he is now in a Hospice Hospital in a coma and they've given him a week. While it has been coming on slowly it was still a bit of a shock to us so we planned a super last minute trip to California to visit and say goodbye. Tammy drove down from Utah and from here we drove to California together. When we walked in we noticed that the quilt we made him a few months ago was on him keeping him cozy and warm. It was so hard to see him that way and say goodbye but we are glad we went. We were able to see my Grandma and give her some support for the very short time we were there. We also got to see our Great Uncle Jim and Aunt Dolores who I haven't seen in like 20 years. They have been such a huge support for my Grandma and we are so grateful.

This was the night my camera battery was dead so the 1st few pictures are from my other camera or from Tammy. We took a few pictures but not many (for obvious reasons).

Cali and Lily were both great while we were there. It was as if they knew it was a sad time and a quiet time. Cali kept pointing to Papa and watching him. It was very sweet.

Aunt Dolores, Tammy, Grandma holding Lily, me holding Cali and Uncle Jim:

This morning we went back over there briefly and I took some pictures of Cali and of my Grandma holding Cali. She was eating fruit snacks and waving at me and I just thought the look on her face was kinda funny in this one:

Cali wanted to be a big kid and sit on a chair like the adults:

My adorable Grandma with Cali

Buddies

Cali got to spend about 24 hours with her little cousin Lily this weekend. They are pretty much fascinated by each other. They love to look at each other and smile and play together. Lily is only 2 months so she can't do much but it is so cute to watch them together. They already love each other.

My camera battery was dead so all but the 1st and last of the pictures from this post were taken by my sister and I'm glad because they are cute moments. :)

While we were in California for our short trip, my Grandparents were staying with my Mom so we got to see them. They met both Cali and Lily (CaliLily as we call them) for the 1st time. Grandpa played with them and tickled their toes. They LOVED it! It was great to see them.

The Garage door & The Park

So, a bolt thingy on our garage door broke the other day preventing it from opening and shutting with the click of the garage door opener. The kids and I went to leave this morning and I realized it was still broken and the car was in the garage. I opened it by hand, backed the car out and then went to shut it. I used the space between the panels to shut the door (totally forgetting that there is a very convenient handle I could have used) and the garage door shut so fast it closed on my fingers! It crushed about 3 fingers on each hand!! I was dying of pain and without my hands to free me I was in quite a predicament. Luckily I'm not a complete idiot :) so I realized I still had my feet and used those to open the door enough to pull my fingers out. It was pretty painful so I called Geoff who left work immediately to come to my rescue (my hero!). He drove the kids and I to where I needed to go and even took us to the park.

We stopped by Home Depot to grab the bolt he needed to fix the garage and now it works great! Now... since I'm typing this I'm sure you can guess that my fingers are fine and definitely not broken or anything. They were bruised and swolen but are now doing much better. They are still bruised and a little tender but only 2 of them hurt enough to really matter. I consider myself lucky. :)

So... today I am thankful for my husbands ability to leave work at the drop of a hat when I need him and that he is so willing to do so to take care of me. :)

As usual, I had my camera with me at the park so I took some pictures of the kids playing. The 1st picture is just a cute one I took of Aedan before we even left. The rest are of the kids on the swings and stuff. They had a great time! It's fun now that Cali can swing, slide and run around with Aedan.

Aedan was handing out "ice cream" to everyone.

ROAR!!

Cali LOVES to read books! Sometimes she will bring them to me so I can read them to her and sometimes she sits on or around a pile of books and just reads one after the other. It is so fun to watch because she doesn't actually know how to read yet... she is only 1 afterall. She will open the book, say a few words (Cali babble) and then turn the page and do the same until the end of the book. Sometimes she will start cracking up like something she read was so funny.

One thing that she does that just cracks me up! We have some books that have animals in them and when she finds one of those she will turn the pages, ROAR! really loud, turn the page and do it again until the end. It is the funniest thing! Well, we got ready to go today and I thought she looked so cute in one of her new summer shirts so I took out the camera. She sat with a book and started roaring so instead I took pictures of that. Whenever I try to get out the video camera she stops to come over and look so I haven't gotten it yet (dang!). For now these pictures will have to do. :)

"ROAR!"

Reading:

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!