Our Awesome California Trip! - The Beach

Well, long story short, we ended up going on a fun family vacation the first week in February to California!! (The beach & Disneyland!) We've been planning that as some future event, and then found out about some deals & we're able to go with my Mom and sisters. We weren't sure how it was going to go with the kids all still being so young, but it ended up going SO well! We were so excited at how much fun the kids had! We made some wonderful memories...

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The first day we let the kids see the ocean for the first time ever! It was a perfect afternoon -- the weather was perfect and there was no one there that day. We hadn't planned on getting in the water because we figured it would be too cold, but everyone ended up wading a bit in their clothes!

Samuel & Colette

Cute little video of Colette (17 1/2 months old) doing her ABC's and Numbers & stuff... (Sorry my voice is so much louder than hers! But if you can hear her - I just love her sweet and pretty voice!) :)

Here is our all-grown-up Sam who traced his name all by himself for the first time this week!! He was so proud of himself... :)

Brielle's First Day of Preschool

Well, Brielle has been asking when she gets to go to school for years now, and we kept telling her when she's five. Luckily, we decided to sign her up for preschool now (kind of for an easier transition into all-day kindergarten when that comes in the fall), and her first week starting preschool just so happened to be this week after her fifth birthday! So that worked out kind of perfect, and she has been SO excited about "going to school" now, as she calls it... :)


Her first day was this past Tuesday, and she absolutely LOVES it!! On our way home that day, she looked over at Samuel, and said, "Sam, you would just love school. School is so fun!"
Samuel, by the way, was so worried about her that first day -- he kept asking why we had left Brielle and where she was and if she was coming home again... :) He was very relieved to see her, once we went back to get her!

Sunday Best

The kids looked so cute yesterday for church, and that's always a momentous occassion in and of itself!! :) (And of course another picture of our all-grown-up five-year-old)...