My Little Sunshine Turns One!!

I can't believe my baby girl is already one year old!! That year flew by... We celebrated luau style with family and close friends. The weather was gorgeous and everyone had fun. Soli wasn't so into the messiness of her cake but, honestly, that's pretty typical for my kids...she fits right in. She has adjusted so easily to ebb and flow of our fun filled days. It's hard to remember a day without her. The kids have just a couple more weeks (10 days to be exact-Emerson informs me every day) of school, and then summer will be upon us!! We are planning to grab the kids out of school on the last day and hit the high road straight to Disney Land. We haven't been since Evie was a baby! I promised the kids that since we had a "small" Christmas (relatively speaking, of course) in Guatemala that we would take them to Disney Land when we got home. So we are making good on our promise. Dave is being a good sport by going along with the plan (he'd pretty much rather not do the whole D Land thing), and then we're taking a week to recover in Palm Springs. We can't wait for some quality R&R with our kiddos. Here are some fun pics of Soli's big day. I hope you are all happy and healthy. Please send thoughts of strength and good health to our dear friend Mike and his family, who was just diagnosed with a stage four, advanced carcinoma over his stomach and liver. Thanks for checking in. ~Heather

Good Morning my beautiful birthday girl!

A birthday dinner with Gramma and Grandpa.

I just love this birthday thing!! And I love my Miami Hurricanes Nemo from Gramma and Grandpa!!

Soli's favorite part about opening presents was eating the tissue paper. Her favorite toy, you ask? The instructions to her Wee Sing microphone...hours of entertainment!

Soli's cake - I was so excited about the hibiscus candle!

Daddy the grillmaster.

The "other" cake for the rest of us.

Sister cousins: Kylie, Payton (just 3 weeks old), Evie, and Soli (Kylie and Payton are my sister's daughters)

Sissies!!

I just love my birthday!!

Soli wasn't too sure about her cake...

So Evie stepped in to lend a hand...

But in the end the sticky frosting proved too much for our little birthday girl! "Mommy, I got messies on my finger!"

Nothing a dip in the jacuzzi didn't take care of!

Ni-night my birthday girl! I love you, mi nena!

Meeting Mr. Stew

I just love this series of Soli getting to know our kitty, Stewey. He is such a love and so tolerant of inquisitive little fingers.

"I'm not really sure how I feel about this whole kitty thing."

"What do you think, Mom? Is it safe?"

"I don't know. He seems rather...furry."

"Maybe if I just give him a tiny little touch..."

"He's not so bad! I think I love my new kitty!"

And she does love her kitties (we have two). One of her first words (after "hi") was "cat". Although, to the lay person it would probably sound more like, "ahhh!" with a sharp ending sound. It actually sounds just like cat minus the c and the t. Can you imagine? And "dog" sounds just about the same. So do "hat" and "hot". I guess really the only distinction is what it is she's looking at when she says the word. It's an all purpose word, really. Thanks for checking in. I'll be posting Easter pics soon (of course, "soon" is a relative term!).

Since We've Been Home...

We didn't waste a minute getting the kids to the snow after we got home! Here's Emerson and Dave on the lift.

Soli was far more interested in the dog than in the snow...

Spring Breakin' in Palm Springs. Soli is 11 months in this pic. Chill out girly!!

My mom got the girls matching swimsuits for Easter. Love it!!

We went camping at the beach in March (brrr!) with Gramma, Grandpa and all the cousins.

Here we are the six of us. The sun finally came out as we were leaving...

We had a couple of warm days in February so we wasted no time in getting the kids to the beach. We have rather foggy summers here so you have to take advantage of beach days when you can (even in February!). This was taken in Monterey near Lover's Point. Emerson - 6 1/2, Evie - 4, Coleman - 10, and Soli - 9 1/2 months

Gotta love Costco!

Soli and I went on our first "Mommy-Soli" adventure in March. We flew to San Antonio, Texas for my sister's baby shower. Here we are in front of the River Walk in downtown San Antonio. My favorite quote of the trip: "She must look like her daddy!" My second favorite quote of the trip: "Where'd y'all get her?" Honestly.

About 5 days after we got home from Guatemala Emerson and Dave had a "Dad and Lad" bake-off for boy scouts. The whole pack participated (about 65 boys and their dads) and my boys won second place for their Guatemala inspired volcano cake!! See the "smoke"? We were so excited! And the best part? I didn't have anything to do with it (moms were strictly prohibited from participating). We do have fun...

Soli loves bathtime and if I put in just the right amount of water she can lay back and her hair flows all around like an afro. Love it!

Stayin' close to Mama on Valentine's Day - just 4 days after we got home.

Soli's Valentine's Day shirt read "Picked With Love". I thought that was so fitting!

Look at my beautiful brown eyed baby girl!

Our second day home - getting the boys ready for their first day back to school. They were so excited. It was slightly surreal for me to walk into my kitchen and see four kids eating breakfast around the island. It was so great to be home!

After returning home from Antigua I had every intention of simplifying our over scheduled California life. Everything was on the chopping block: boy scouts, basketball, ballet, preschool, Costco, MOPS (my mothering club), even blogging was thrown into the "restructuring" pool of uncertainty. I told the kids that we were going to try to be less busy so we would have more "Antigua" time with nothing on the schedule. I told them that if they didn't absolutely love an activity or sport we were going to bag it. So we spent the better part of the first month home considering each of our activities, and much to my surprise, and initial frustration, we were hardly able to cut anything out. Emerson was more than happy to let basketball go by the wayside, although Cole was eager to play. Both boys were excited to get back into boy scouts, and I could hardly justify telling Evie that we weren't going to preschool anymore (she loves preschool!). And as much as I try to avoid Costco...well...I have four kids. We go through a lot of toilet paper. So, as you can see, we were right back to our old ways rather quickly! At first I felt irritated by my busy life and somewhat perplexed by why it was that we couldn't cut anything out. But the more I thought about it the more I realized that our life was exactly as we had designed it. Dave and I want our kids to have opportunities and learn new skills that they don't necessarily get in school. And we want to be involved in their lives. We want to volunteer in their classes and help coach their sports teams. We definitely want to help them do well in school and be there at their games and performances. So after about a month I realized this simple truth: this is my life for right now. This is my reality. Baseball and boy scouts and ballet and Costco are my reality at this point in my life. Sooner than I can even imagine, my kids will be grown and gone, and I will deeply miss my days of baseball, boy scouts, and ballet. So I decided to stop digging my heels in and love every jam packed busy day that I get with my kids. I'm embracing my busy-ness, and I have even found a special place in my heart for Costco. We have become more choosey about which activities we do and which we skip. The rule is that if you don't absolutely love it, it's not going on the schedule. And for the most part everyone is allowed to do one extra curricular activity at a time (although boy scouts is year round so that throws a monkey wrench...). Anyway, we're busy but balanced, and I am thankful for the freshened perspective on my busy-ness. I wouldn't wish away a single minute of it. As for my little miss Soli girl, she is adjusting smashingly. When we first got home she was a total Mama's girl (which you know I love!). She met so many new people in those first few days I think she was slightly overwhelmed. Whenever someone new would come around she would hold on tight to my shirt with both hands and bury her little face in my shoulder. But after just a few days she perked up and was smiling at all her new fans. She even learned to wave!! And her first word that she uttered just a few weeks after arriving home..."hi"! Is that the cutest thing ever?! All she heard was "hi" for 3 straight weeks! So fun! She has pretty much been sleeping through the night since we got home which is awesome. I swear she didn't sleep through the night but once while we were in Guatemala. I was rather sleep deprived, although Dave still thinks I was fibbing! It really did seem like she had been waiting to get home to her own bed. The first night we put her in her crib she put her little head down and rubbed her little hands on her soft flannel sheets. After a little head scratch and couple run throughs of "Nighty-night" she was out and didn't make a peep until 7:30 AM. She had such a rough time in Guatemala. Between rotavirus, stomach flu and the four teeth that came in she was uncomfortable a lot of the time. Not to mention that she was still getting used to us. Poor girl! But she just seems so much more comfortable since we've been home. I went through more infant medicine with her during those two months in Guatemala that I did during the infancies of the other three total. Just the other day I had to break out the infant tylenol for the first time since we've been home (she had a tooth breaking through). But that's over with and she is absolutely great! She is just about crawling. I would say she'll be officially mobile in the next day or two. She is a true joy and we all love her so much. Evie, however, is taking her time adjusting to having Soli her own environment. I think in Guatemala everything was so new that having a new baby in the house hardly made an impact on her. But now that we're home she is feeling the squeeze. She has to share her room and her toys and her grandparents. All of our friends are coming over to ohh and ahh over the new baby and she's like, "Hey, what about me? I used to be the baby princess! Don'tcha know?" So we have some hugs that are way too hard and some rough kisses that send Soli toppling backwards while she's sitting. The other day as I held Soli on my hip (on a boy scout outing no less) Evie came over and leaned up against my leg and bit Soli's dangling foot! I was so mad even though I know it's all totally normal and to be expected. Still very irritating! Errr! I'm just trying to give her as much special time as I can. Mommy-Sissy time we call it. That helps, and just in the last couple of days I've noticed some improvements, so hopefully she's moving through this phase. Anyway, I've posted some pics of what we've been up to these last couple of months. I hope all is well. Thanks for checking in! ~Heather

Volcan de Pacaya -- A Birthday Wish

Coleman's wish this year for his 10th birthday was to climb Volcan de Pacaya with his dad. This was an especially poignant request since Dave couldn't be in Guatemala for his birthday. So before we left Antigua Dave and Cole did the Volcan de Pacaya sunset tour. Here are some shots from their day.

Where else in the world can you capture 4 volcanoes in one camera lens at the same time? The sloping edge of Volcan Pacaya is in the foreground with Volcan de Agua, de Fuego, and de Acatenango (these are the three surrounding Antigua) in the background.

Yes, that is molten lava billowing toward my strapping lads.

Hurry and take the picture...I'm getting a little sweaty.

I just love the juxtaposition of the volcano, clouds, sun and dudes in this shot.

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart! I'm glad you got to climb a volcano with your dad. I love you. ~M

The Rio Dulce

I'm finally getting the chance to post these fun pics of our road trip to the Rio Dulce. I guess I've been kinda busy. So, when Dave arrived in Guatemala he rented this 11 seater, toyota, eurovan thing. It was great!! Each kid got their own row, and the boys took turns sitting next to the baby and entertaining her. It was about a 5 hour drive to the Rio, and the only excitement we encountered on the drive was navigating through Guatemala City. The countryside was beautiful and surprisingly varied. It was so fun to be out on our own for the first time as a family of six. Soli took to traveling really well, and it was fun to give her a little taste of what life is like in our family. We are constantly taking little (or big) road trips here and there in our life here in the States. We spent three nights (including my birthday) at the Tijax Jungle Lodge where Dave had his boat docked when we first met almost 12 years ago. The dock looked just the same, but the grounds had been improved significantly. Where there used to be nothing but jungle there were now two restaurants, a pool, two jacuzzis, and about a dozen darling jungle bungalows. It had grown perfectly to accommodate our new and improved family. At first, being back there was a bit of a head trip for both of us. Dave kept having the impulse to retreat to the privacy and solace of "Morgenstern", while I found myself drawn to the travelers crowd seated at the bar. Then we would both be pulled back to reality by one of four children running around with our names on them. The "twilight zone" only lasted a few hours and then we settled into jungle life: sipping Mojitos poolside while watching our kiddos diving for Quetzales, traversing the swinging jungle bridge, cruising the docks drooling and dreaming, and, of course, "fishing" for turtles off our back deck. It is definitely up there with one of the most memorable and meaningful getaways we've had as a family thus far. Enjoy the pics.

I'm just lovin' this Daddy guy! He's the coolest!

Soli cozying with Mommy after traversing the jungle bridge.

On my birthday we took a drive out into the countryside to the Finca Paraiso. In the middle of the jungle there is an amazingly beautiful, hot waterfall pouring into a cool, fresh water river. We spent the afternoon swimming, soaking and relaxing. It was great day.

You can hardly see them, but Dave and the kids are swimming near the rocks on their way to the hot waterfall.

This is the exact spot where I cut Dave's hair the morning after we met. See the yellow hull of the sailboat in the background? That's where Morgenstern was docked when I first met Dave.
Good times, good times.

Twelve years...

...and four kids later.

I know, girl. I can't get enough of him either.

Looking out over Lago Izabal from El Castillo. Lots of great memories on that lake...

Tijax Jungle Lodge -- I highly recommend it.

We hired a boat for the afternoon one day. He took us on a mini tour of the Rio stopping at El Castillo and the restaurant where Dave and I met. It used to be called Hollimar, but now it's called Pizza Bravo. Not quite the crescendo we had expected but still fun to see it. That is the bridge from Fronteras in the background.

After two months without him, all the kids were really glad to log in some Daddy time.

"Fishing" for turtles with jungle vines and bagels off of our little deck.

And Emerson caught one!! Isn't he cute?

Daddy caught one, too!

Happy birthday, Mommy!

Our little "jungalow".

The inside.

Daddy and Baby, chillin' after breakfast.

A few kids and a few palm trees. What else is there, really?
In front of El Castillo.