Summer = Bay Days + Swings

We have so been enjoying the great weather this summer, hittin' up the Bay, playing outside, park playdates, and different Orange County splash pads. The girls are staying up a little bit later than they used to, so we all look forward to filling Daddy in on our day when he gets home from work. Today I tried my best to document a little slice of our summer.

We call it "the bay," but really it's the Long Beach peninsula, with the channel on one side of Ocean Blvd, and the ocean on the other. ;) It's perfect for the kiddos.

The girls in action!

Chloe just cruises around the entire time. Today she decided to make friends with a dad and his kids and beg for graham crackers. Ohhh, Peanut.

Ava loves to crawl around, splash in the water, smile at friends...and eat sand. Content as can be!

Little Miss Raleigh.

Raleigh calls my girls her "sisters." She's just too darn cute with them. Such a little mama.

Jake keeps himself extremely busy transporting water, filling buckets with sand, making new friends and running off down the beach with said new friend, climbing up and down the sand berm, and just being a boy.

Today the Kramer Krew and Brooks Bunch decided to take over the hole/swimming pool the dad next to us dug for his two girls. Those are all their toys and buckets, too. I guess I wouldn't mess with our little gang, either.

We came home for naps, and the kids crashed hard. All three of them. Score for Mommy!

After naps, it was time to swing, according to Jake's directions. {Look at that sunburn. :( Poor guy. I try to always be really good about sunscreen, but he didn't get a second application at the bay today. Ooops.}

This kid loooooves his swing. "Peewwsh me hiiiiigher, MomMom!"

Ava perfecting her mad dogging skillz.

That's a smile from Chloe! Caught on camera!

Chloe did have some Willy Wonka hair going on this afternoon.

Ava was showing off her superb point-and-flex capabilities.

Such a good big brother pushing his sissies in their swings.

HA! Little eyes and little nostrils barely peeking over sissy's swing makes me laugh every time!

For the record, Jake is potty trained. He just wears a diaper for naps/nighttime. This afternoon he decided not to take his diaper off after naps, and apparently I never noticed until editing pictures now.

Where does the time go?! And that hair!!!

Summertime is such a gift.

Meal Planning Monday

On a roll again with MPM! The majority of this week's meals are inspired by my girl, The Pioneer Woman. Most Sunday mornings, D and I like to sip D's perfectly made coffee and catch up on whatever Pioneer Woman shows our DVR recorded from the Food Network. We get a kick out of watching their cattle ranch lifestyle, and she's got some yummy recipes to boot. Yesterday morning we watched a newer episode of her quick meals that were made in 30, 20, or 10 minutes. We've got a jam-packed week with playdates and photo shoots, so I thought this busy week would be perfect to try them all!

MONDAY: Mini Meatball Sandwiches

TUESDAY: Penne Alla Betsy

WEDNESDAY: Buffalo Chicken Salad

THURSDAY: Grilled Porkchops, Brown Rice, Roasted Green Beans

Happy Cooking!

House Updates!

We've tweaked a couple of things here and there in our house lately, and I thought it would be fun to share the changes with you guys!

Painting stripes on walls kept showing up all over Pinterest, then my Facebook and Instagram feed, and several blogs I follow. I caught the bug and I reeeeally wanted some stripes somewhere. I decided on my small wall in my hallway, because 1) I honestly didn't know if I'd be awful at painting stripes, and 2) if I got tired of it, it's a small wall to paint back over! In the hustle and bustle right before we were leaving for our week long trip to Lake Havasu last month, I decided that would be the *perfect* time to complete a project on my to-do list. I'm crazy. But really, my sis was in town visiting, so I knew I'd have help keeping the littles away from drying paint.

I repainted the wall the same color it was, Restoration Hardware's Linen, and then measured and taped off the stripes. I picked up a sample can from Home Depot of Behr's Cottage White for the stripes. It's a nice creamy off-white, which works. I didn't want it to be the same white as the door and trim and molding, so its yellowish base works really well to pop the Linen paint.

This was a fun and easy project completed in a day. The only suggestion I have is to use the green Frog's Tape...it worked really well to keep clean, straight lines!

This makes me smile big...we finally replaced our old faucet with this new one! Our old one had this little spout thing that if you pulled on it, it would spray the water. That broke off months after we moved in. Then sometime last year our faucet started screeching super loud every time we turned it on. (Like I *really* need something else screeching in this house, hahaha). Finally, in the last few months our old faucet started to leak. Broken sprayer & screeching I can deal with...but leak equals money! No bueno. Time for a new one. Thanks to my hot & handy hubby, this one was picked out and installed an an hour later!

Over the weekend, we put in ceiling fans in the three bedrooms (just not our master bedroom)!! I say "we" put in the fans, but by that I mean my cousin-in-law Chris came over and spent an ENTIRE day (thanks a million, Chris!!!) crawling up into our attic to install the electrical. Our house didn't have much overhead lighting when we moved in, so we had to put in the recessed lighting and fans in the family room and kitchen eating area. The bedrooms have desperately needed fans and lights. We didn't go with anything fancy, just some decent 52" basic Hampton Bay fans on sale at Home Depot. We love them for the bedrooms...super functional.

We opted for these fancy remote control switches that hug the wall nice and close. So cool!

Also over this past weekend I tackled another project I've been wanting to get done for a while. This shelf was handcrafted by my grandpa years and years ago when we was building cabinets in his shop. My mom added the hooks in the middle and hung it on the wall coming off of the garage, and it was perfect for purses, hooks, jackets, you name it. It ended up in our garage last summer when she no longer needed it because there are just certain things that are hard to part with (anything handmade by Poppi would be one of those things). I've been wanting some hooks (because I'm obsessed with hooks) to hang my camera bag, and little things like ladybug and butterfly wings leftover from parties. Don't you all have those lying around?

After a little paint to make it look new again, and a little sandpaper to make it look old again, I have myself the perfect hook accessory WITH a shelf on top for what else - pictures and wall art, of course! Those pictures won't be staying (at least not in those frames). They were just in Jake's closet and the colors in them worked well (look how much he's grown! Middle picture was from his newborn session with Ty Bebe Photography and picture on right was from his 6 month session with Gloria Plunkett Photography. When you're done checking them out, make sure to check out MY photography website, Harley Jay Photography. HA!) 

Last week I ran across these lyrics on Pinterest from The Beatles song "We Can Work It Out" (all time favorite band. Didn't know that? Now you do). But the link didn't take me to anyone selling the sorta wall art thing I saw. So I decided to make my own. So perfect for a playroom. And my kids.

Would you like that 8x10 file to print on your own printer? Leave me some blog love in the form of a comment on this post below, and I'll email it to you!

Meal Planning Monday

I'm back for another week of Meal Planning Monday! I keep my sanity by planning out the weekday meals and trying to hit the grocery store (usually Trader Joe's) only once a week. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I hate grocery shopping. Yes, I dropped the h-bomb for that one.

MONDAY: Turkey and Feta Stuffed Peppers

I am NOT kidding when I say this is probably my most favorite recipe I have found & loved on Pinterest so far. These filling in these stuffed peppers has SO MUCH flavor! Even Jake ate a big bowl of just the filling. I was definitely ok with that since it's just ground turkey and feta with tomatoes and some amazing spices. Using this recipe, I'm able to make about 6 stuffed green peppers! That's enough for dinner and lunch leftovers...and maybe even dinner again! Do yourself a favor and click on the above link, and make them this week. Trust me. You'll love.

TUESDAY: Trader Joe's Breaded Chicken, Sweet Potato Fries, Broccoli

This is a super easy, no mess, quick on the table meal. But maybe not as healthy as I'd like our weekday meals to be. Have you had the frozen sweet potato fries from Trader Joe's? You must! They'll having you buying more next week.

WEDNESDAY: Turkey Taco Casserole

From the same blog! This chick knows what's up when it comes to healthy dinners with the flavor kicked up! This is another must-try, I PROMISE. It's a lighter version of the traditional taco bake that's always a tummy-pleaser. I even used the low-carb Sonoma tortillas by the Tortilla Company to lighten things up even more. This recipe and the stuffed peppers will be appearing on our menu monthly for sure from now on!

THURSDAY: Trader Joe's Brown Rice Penne Pasta, Tomato & Basil Marinara with Chicken Sausage

Happy cooking!

Silly Girls

Where's Ava??

There she is!

Come over to our house and I can guarantee Miss Aves will have you play that game with her for.hours.on.end. She loves it, and thinks she is as silly as all get out!

I am in love with Chloe's crazy hair. I think it's awesome. She probably won't love it, however, when she's older and realizes she inherited her mama's crazy hair. Don't worry, ChloBear, as long as you blow dry it, it won't be nearly as crazy. ;)

She is obsessed with my phone. If she sees it, she wants it. And if she has it, it's in her mouth. Apparently she thinks it's a perfect teething toy.

The Ladies Turn One! {Ava & Chloe's First Birthday Bash!}

The ladies are one, and we celebrated ladybug style! This was a super fun party to plan. It just had to be ladybug theme since the expression "The Ladies Are One!" is just too dang cute for twin girls, Ava and Chloe are referred to endearingly as the ladies, and Nana & Poppi call them the ladybugs. Sold. ;)

I felt like all I did was take pictures all day, but I still didn't get nearly all of the pictures I wanted to! I am so bummed I didn't get any of my girls with Santa Barbara family who came down, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles...grrrr. But, little ladies, you had many friends and family there celebrating with you, and they love you to pieces! (Please email me any phone or camera pictures you might have snapped of you at the party, especially you with my girls! Thanks! Would be awesome for the scrapbook.)

This is going to one long picture-filled post! Don't say I didn't warn you.

The dessert table filled with all sorts of sweet treats!

Yummy Rice Krispie Treats made by Laurie, tasty chocolate-covered polka dot Oreos made by my sis Julia, and adorable ladybug sugar cookies made by Maya!

Poor cupcake fell victim to Jake's sweet tooth. That little stinker couldn't help himself!

Check out those adorable smash cakes! They were just too cute to eat. Seriously, though...I just couldn't cut into them! Too precious. I'm thinking I've got to do a styled cake smash session or something with them. A fellow twin mom makes these amazing cakes. We're trading services, and I can't wait to take pictures of her four little ladies in July! If you need custom cakes, shoot me a line and I'll get you in touch with her. ;)

Good thing Auntie Maya entertained Jake for the day prior to the party, and Auntie Laurie and Cousin Maya came over to help make those time-consuming adorable ladybug favor bags. They were all set up and ready to go for the pinata!

These were dangling above the ladybug bags.

Here is a better look at them because the pictures were hard to see with the glare.

I filled a galvanized bucket with ladybug and butterfly wings my sweet friend Anna picked up for me from the Dollar Store. I attached the "Ladies & Bugs" sign I made, and kids were able to pick up the wings, wear them at the party, and take them home!

I made the "The Ladies Are One!" banner in Photoshop, and if you want to know how I made the "ONE" letters below the scrap banner, check out this post.

This was a fun little activity that kept the kiddos entertained! I saw something similar floating around on Pinterest, so when I spotted the ladybug magnifying glasses and mini shovels at the Target dollar spot, I thought it would be fun for the kids to dig for "bug" erasers.

Best fwends laughing about something!

I love baby feet, especially little Faith's toesies.

Love this picture of Grandpa Emmet and Chloe!

The girls certainly knew what to do with their cupcakes...they gobbled them up!

I love how Ava is trying to feed Brother some cupcake in this picture!

Toward the end of the party, we gathered around the kiddos to "show them something." They watched as Presley opened the lid to a container...filled with ladybugs! This ladybug release was so much fun! The kids loved seeing ALL of the ladybugs flying and crawling out onto their fingers, hair, feet, legs, everywhere. This was definitely neat for the kids, and now we have a whole bunch of ladybugs in our backyard protecting our roses. :)

My little ladies went down for a nap while the party carried on and the kids jumped in the bounce house and played on the playhouse swingset.

As the party started to wind down, Jake got to spend some time with his Santa Barbara cousins in the bounce house. I can almost hear their little giggles as I look at these pictures!

I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate our little ladies turning ONE! Ava & Chloe, we love you to the moon and back, and cannot wait to see what this next year brings!