Monterey Bay Aquarium...with Cuz Jonah

Shortly after Christmas, Cuz Jonah and Cuz Noah headed to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.   They were joined by a gaggle of parents and grandparents...Uncle Drew, Auntie Nessa, Mimi and

Pop-Pop {Jonah's grandparents}, Nana, Papa, Kc, and myself.  

Gotta love the kelp forest!

The two boys were so fun to watch.  They loved running after each other trying to be the first to find the next tank.

 

Noah just had to show Cuz Jonah how to be his very own sea creature.

 

Noah and Jonah got such a kick out of climbing on the large seahorse.

Noah tried to get an "up close" view of some seahorse eggs.

One of the highlights of the trip was the Jellies Experience.

 I just love watching the slow, undulating movements of the curious creatures.

 

I even got to be kaleidoscope jellyfish.  Noah got quite a kick out of it.

Noah got a pelican who flew all around the aquarium.

And, of course, we had to take the token picture at the tidal pool.

It was so fun share one of our favorite places in the world with some of our favorite people in the world.  A great big THANK YOU to Grams for making it all possible.

Christmas Festivities

Ok...I am finally feeling like my head is above water and I can dive back into "reality".  These past few weeks have been so busy with family, friends, report cards, surgery, end of the semester assessments, Oral Interpretation {a group I am co-coaching at school}, more end of the quarter assessments, and birthday celebrations.  EEK!

So...backing-up a few weeks...we were blessed to have family surrounding us for Christmas.  We celebrated Christmas Eve with Kc's side of the family.  For Noah, this meant tons of attention and presents!  He was so excited to see that his stocking from Rocklin had made the trip to Fresno.

The wind-up frog was so fun to watch.

He loved the semi-trucks from Aunt Sharon and Uncle Gary.

This Christmas was all about "Dress-Up Clothes".  He got a fantastic king/knight costume complete with sword and shield.  Daddy got his own sword and shield so I predict many a battle will be fought in the Jackson Kingdom.

Bubs also got a great doctor costume.

He had such a blast treating his sick patient, Squirt.  First Dr. Noah showed Squirt how to open wide so we could look in his mouth.

Next, Dr. Noah listened to Squirt's heartbeat.  "He's all healthy," Dr. Noah declared.  

 

On Christmas Day, we headed to Nana and Papa's house to celebrate with the Smith Family.  You can read Auntie Nessa's detailed post here. 

Once again, Bubs was all about the opening of presents.

Noah got a fantastic Angry Birds lunchbox from Cuz Jonah, 

 an adorable turtle backpack from Cuz Hunter, Cuz Brooklyn, and Cuz Jed,

a super cool helicopter and fire truck set from Nana and Papa,

that went with his awesome fireman costume.

We are so blessed to be surrounded by amazing family.

It truly was a Very Merry Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving

We hope your Thanksgiving is filled with food, family, fun, and a few little rascals running around.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Halloween

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Our little scuba diver is ready!

He has consulted with the experts,

learned how to swim on land,

and perfected the three magic words..."Trick-or-Treat"!

Father's Day Presents

Ever since Kc and Noah created the most wonderful Mother's Day gift for me,  I have been wracking my brain trying to think of something equally as creative.  I pinned a couple of things on Pinterest, like this, and this, and decided to just let the "creative juices" flow at the craft store.  

Bubs went with me and helped me pick out two {one for Daddy and one for PopRo} square canvases, some alphabet stickers, and a few bottles of paint.  I painted each canvas with the base color {orange for Daddy and Red for PopRo} and put the stickers on.

Then it was time for Bubs to get painting.  I pulled out all the colors of gray paint I had and even mixed up a few new ones to create about ten different shades of gray.

Noah was very careful in the beginning and I quickly realized that this project was going to take more than one day. 

After the first few layers of gray paint.

Noah asked me, "I touch it?" as he was already sticking his finger in the wet paint.

After the top had dried, I went ahead and painted the sided the darkest gray color I had.  The second day, we used a fairly dry brush, small amounts of paint, and I let Bubs add layers of color.

"Is the paint brush wet?", he asked me.  Why yes, it is!

Notice the swoopy lines of color on the canvas {yes, I just made up that word}, that was exactly what I wanted.  Layers, upon layers, upon layers of a single color.

Painting is SO MUCH FUN!

Bubs helped me carefully peel the stickers off the canvas.

True masterpieces!

Bubs couldn't wait to deliver his presents!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to the most amazing Daddy-O on the planet.  You are kind, thoughtful, playful, silly, loud, tender, considerate, rough, generous, and just plain awesome!

We couldn't have asked for a better Daddy!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!!!!

I am feeling so loved and blessed this morning!  Kc and Noah have been secretly working on the most spectacular art project for me.

I love the pallets, the burlap, the initial...Isn't it just fantastic!!

Kc started with 1x4 boards that he distressed and stained.

Next, he cut out a piece of burlap to cover the N.   

Noah told me, "N is for Noah".  Too cute!

Now the fun painting began.

 

Bubs had a blast covering the burlap.  He painted it with a brush and used a cup to make circles of paint.

Almost finished.

Kc finished the initial by wrapping the burlap around it and securing it to the pallet.   

I absolutely LOVE my artwork.  It was created with love by my two favorite guys.  Now I just need to figure out where to hang it.