well HI. it's been a minute, right? we've been BUSY.

sacramento turned out to be a pretty great little trip!

we went up on a saturday... the drive is a little long at 4 hours (we took the 5 which is pretty boring, but beautiful), but we made a stop in kettelmen city for lunch at THE CUTEST place ever called bravo farms. it was part gift shop, part restaurant, part petting zoo, part tree house, part playground, part very clean and lovely bathrooms, and part cheese shop. i was mostly there for the bathrooms and the bbq, but we let the kids run around the playground for a bit too. randy got sneezed on by a llama TWICE. like, hay all over his head and face. 

anyway, we got to sacramento in time for check in, dinner, and bed. i was the lucky winner who got to share a bed with presley. a DOUBLE bed. which, is like, one inch wider than a twin. and it was miserable. she was all over me. meanwhile, randy is sprawled out in the bed next to us snoring. eli is in the other room in his pack n play, just peaceful as can be. i'm hot. i'm sweating. i've got a 4 year old kicking my kidneys. new year, same story.

sunday we woke up and hit up the free breakfast downstairs (parent hack #9329... always stay at embassy suites. free breakfast(GOOD breakfast). free happy hour (i don't even drink, but they have SNACKS. goldfish, chips and salsa, chex mix!) and they are all suites so you basically get two rooms for the price of one.). then we packed up the stroller and walked over to the old town sacramento. idk if it's called old town sacramento but that's what it is, so go with it. 

we had dole whip, we hit up the candy shops, we got a caramel apple for later, we even had the mini donuts i'd been thinking about since last year. basically we ate our way through the streets. 

but the best part was the california state railroad museum! it showed the history of the railroad in california, and had all different types of trains you could actually go into. it was amazing. eli was in HEAVEN.

i wish i'd have taken more pics! btw, we are all wearing UH gear because they were playing in the NCAA tournament that night (they won that game!).

after walking for a few hours around there, we decided to walk to the state capitol building.

it was so beautiful! the sculptures are so intricate and interesting.

the kids were worn out after all that walking. it must be rough riding around in a stroller all day. 😐

that night i suggested to presley that she might like sleeping on the couch that pulls out to make a bed in the room where eli was sleeping. wouldn't you know she was SO HAPPY to sleep there. it was like a dream come true. i slept so good that night.

the next day we drove to fairfield to go to the jelly belly factory! this time randy got to come with us. i'm pretty sure i'm still the only one who had fun, yet again. but whatev.

sorry for the watermarks. it cost like four hundred dollars to buy the stupid pic so i just settled for a screen shot.

eli loved the hat and kept it on forever.

the next day randy had to go to meetings and stuff so the kids and i had a day!

we went to CRACKER BARREL. and it was everything. bako needs a dang cracker barrel. and an heb... but for real. cracker barrel is realistic, right?

i also took the kids back to fairytale land! they had soooo much fun playing and sliding.

when we got back to the hotel, the kids were so tired but it was too late for a nap. presley begged me to take a nap (literally the first time in her life she has ever even asked to take a nap), but i told her no. she tricked me by saying she was going in the other room to watch her tablet. eli just lounged like a grown man.

the next day we headed home... we had to be mindful of the time because randy had to be at church by 5:45. we were making decent time, even after stopping at chickfila on the way home during lunch rush. then presley started screaming that her belly hurt and she really needed to poop. well guess what? once we got out of the sacramento area there is NOTHING and NO WHERE to stop on the 5. so randy's like, "we can stop at this rest stop." and i'm like, "MY CHILD IS NOT POOPING AT A REST STOP." but then she was screaming, like painful screams. so we stopped and i was shocked at how clean the restrooms actually were. presley, however, walked in, took one look at the metal toilet and said, "nope!" but i finally got her sitting down and she just couldn't poop. i told her there was no where else to stop and she said she was feeling better. "i just needed to get out of my carseat."

welllllll then about 20 minutes later she starts screaming again. and then she starts coughing. and then VOMIT. literal vomit. all over her. all over her carseat. all over the back of my chair. and remember, THERE IS NO WHERE TO STOP. so finally 10 miles later theres a gas station. i cleaned her and the car up the best i could with baby wipes. she rode home mostly naked. and i rode home in a constant state of prayer that she was ok and that it wasn't a bug the rest of us were going to catch.

luckily, she was completely fine that night. she even ate dinner. and the rest of us were fine too.

idk if it was car sickness or something she ate, but seriously, PRAISE GOD that it wasn't worse.

my sister got in a couple days after we got back! i LOVED LOVED LOVED having her all to myself for the shortest 4 nights ever. it was another "boring" trip, full of running my errands, getting haircuts, watching tv, and just being together. my kids loved her up and vice versa. i miss her so much, but i am so thankful she chooses to spend her time and hard earned money coming to visit us. she really is the best sissy EVER EVER EVER.

today she sent me a surprise in the mail...

GOLDEN GIRLS SOCKS. is there a more perfect gift for me?( i mean, besides my sofia chia pet, or my golden girls adult coloring book, of course.)😂

i've got more to share, like EASTER BUNNY PICS!, but that'll have to wait.

happy late st. patricks day to my fellow irish!

boom.

we had a fun weekend, that included a fun st patricks party at the clubhouse.

presley ate AT LEAST 10 of those fruit skewers. i honestly lost count. she kept saying "can i have more fruit?" and i'm like, "yes baby!" (while patting myself on the back like i'm mother of the year, when i know good and well she had chips and fruit loops for lunch.) 😂

our church was giving out tickets to the "faith and family night" at the raceway for saturday night, so randy took eli, and also invited our neighbor, chih, and his son lucas! eli and lucas are less than a month apart in age and they are SO CUTE when they get together.

when they got home, i asked eli all about his fun night, and it went like this:

did you go see racecars?!

yeah, i ate POPCORN!!!

he really loved it, and also told me it was "so loud!" and the "cars went so fast!", but he never forgets to say, "and i ate popcorn!" at least 4 times 😂😍

sunday we had a mission lunch and auction at church. it was so fun! they had lots of stuff for silent auction(each home group donated a basket!), tons of raffles, a dessert auction, and even a live auction. they had about 4 tables filled with every dessert you could imagine, but presley had her heart set on a tray full of cake pops. what baby wants baby gets. so $18 later... and she didn't even like them. for the record, they were DELICIOUS. presley even won a raffle prize...three huge bottles of bubbles. i wish you could have seen her face, she was so excited that she won! "i won! i won a prize! i was the winner!" randy bid and won(and then forgot to bring home) a starbucks giftcard, and i bought the hyacinth flower centerpiece for $5 because it smells sooooo good. it was easy and fun to spend a little money when it goes to missions! so proud of our church.

sunday evening we spent a few hours in the backyard, as pioneer woman would say, "cleaning up the homestead." the weather was amazing (it's already 80 degrees! yikes!) so randy mowed, cleared the porch off, killed wasps, etc. i hosed all the furniture and the porch down, cleaned the back windows, and used the shopvac to suck up nasty little bugs. idk what kind of bugs they are, but they COVER my window screens. they cling to the stucco in weird little spots. and they just swarm around when you're outside. they are tiny, but ANNOYING. i don't remember them at all from last year, so i think its a new problem. presley climbed up to the top of the wall in the back ALL BY HERSELF! eli played with the water table and his t-ball set and was loving every minute of being outside.

our wall is filling in, FINALLY, and our grass is starting to turn green again too... hello spring!

after we picked presley up from school i asked her to go change into play clothes so we could go play in the backyard again.

what do yall think? much fashion, right? 

and of course, one more pic of my precious baby boy who is just content to be out of the house.

i am soooo tiiiired.

i still haven't quite caught up on sleep from this weekend and that ONE lost hour seems like a whole lost day when you're 34 and also a mother of two small kids.

we spent the entire day at church saturday... i'm talking 7am until after 8pm. literally, all day.
the youth were having their d-now weekend and randy was teaching and i was in the kitchen cooking for breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, and dinner...and snack. my babies LOVED spending the day at church and all the attention they got from the big kids. they spent a lot of time on the playground, and even more time up on the stage with the keyboard and microphone. well, eli loved the keyboard... and presley claimed the microphone, surprise surprise.

at the end of the day they were FILTHY. like, dirt under fingernails nasty. 😖 so they got a nice long bath and were ASLEEP by 9. it took approx 32 seconds once they laid down for them to pass out.
it was fun, but my feet are still hurting from standing all day. (sister, idk how you do it.)

the rest of the week is busy busy as usual. dance tomorrow morning, bunco tomorrow night (yeaaaaah for mom's night out!), st. pattys party at school on friday, st. pattys party at the clubhouse saturday, randy and eli are going to nascar saturday night, and of course the 57 loads of laundry and sink full of dishes in there somewhere.

my parents left bakersfield a mere 25 hours ago, and i am SAD.
they were here for a week and it was the best lazy week ever.

we did a lot of nothing, a lot of eating at our favorite places, and played a lot of games with alexa. if you aren't taking advantage of alexa's games, try "alexa, play feel the pressure" or "alexa, play song quiz". those are my two new favorites. we also play "animal workout" which presley thinks is THE funnest thing ever. even though we didn't do much outside the house (it rained a lot!), having my parents here was everything i love... and my babies got SO MUCH lovin. it really was a perfect week.

my sister is coming at the end of the month, and i'm counting down the days! having family here is my favorite favorite favorite thing.

anyway, a few little updates.

ELI IS OFF THE PACI. like, completely. and has been for a couple weeks!
i kept cutting a little off, and when it was too short to keep in, i just threw it away. he hasn't even asked about it. SUCCESS. now let's pray that potty training comes that easy. (not even attempting until JULY.)

i got presley registered for KINDERGARTEN. it was a very outdated and arduous process. lots of writing my address over and over and over. you'd think living in fancy california with all the tree huggers, paperless processes would be the norm. but not in bakersfield! the folder they handed me to fill out was a full inch thick and repetative as all get out. but it's done and that is SUCH a relief.

another week, another update.

lots of fun things happened this past week, so here goes!

the biggest news, PRESLEY IS NOW 4 AND A HALF.
she has been asking me for MONTHS when she will be 4 1/2 and the day finally came.
she woke up on tuesday and walked into my room and i said, "oh hey 4 1/2!" and she snapped back, "i don't think i'm 4 1/2 just yet, because i got up and looked in the mirror and i still look 4?! so maybe later today after dance i'll be 4 1/2."
so then on the way to dance, i guess she realized she was actually 4 1/2 because she kept saying things like, "look how long my legs got! look how long my toes got, even that little toe is long! look at my long arms. i am so growned!" 😂
the rest of the week (and even still today) she has been adamant about telling anyone who will listen that she is 4 1/2.
we also went to the doctor that day for her kindergarten physical and she had to get FOUR shots and a finger poke....NOT FUN.
BUT, later that night we took the kids to see pj masks live at the rabobank and they both had fun! eli was SO into it, he did awesome.

the next day at school i told presleys teacher that she had her vaccines the day before and her legs might be sore and presley quickly added, "AND I'M 4 1/2".

friday we had movie night at our clubhouse. they put up a huge screen and had pizza and popcorn and we watched trolls. we love our neighborhood!

randy and chih were obviously enjoying the movie.

eli mostly loved the popcorn, of course, but sat through about half the movie with his friend lucas!

tomorrow i register my baby girl for kindergarten... well, if all goes as expected, i guess. i am not only having anxiety about this HUGE moment in both of our lives, but i've been stressing about the logistics of the whole situation as well. i have all the paperwork i need (i think), and i've looked at the checklist at least once a day for 3 months, but i'm still worried i'll forget something. as if they're not gonna let her in if i don't get her registered on day one. i just like to be on top of things like this!

pray for me.

how is this baby gonna be in kindergarten in six months? 😭

one quick presley-ism i don't want to forget...

anytime she sees a question mark, for instance when her tablet loses it's wifi connection a question mark pops up on the screen, she calls it a mystery. "mom there's a mystery!"

and an eli anecdote i don't want to forget...

he tries VERY hard to talk to alexa and he can get her attention, but getting her to play his songs (any song blippi sings) is challenging. so he was like, "ALEXA! play tractor!" and she was like, "sorry, i didn't quite get that, can you repeat that?" and he was like, "no." and walked away. 😂

well hello!

lots of good stuff has been going on over the past couple weeks and i finally have a minute to sit down and share, so here goes!

first, and foremost... the biggest news.
our grass is GREEN again. whoa, right? i'd say it's cause of all the rain we've been having, but i'd be lying.
we have a dirty little secret over here at pemberley manor, and it's called grass paint.
apparently you're supposed to "winter seed" or some similar nonsense over here in the california area. and apparently my yard man (RANDY) didn't get the memo. but he turned our ugly brown lawn (i say lawn, it's more like a patch) into green goodness.

before

after

crazy, right? he said he needs to, "work on the formula to get the perfect shade of green." 

and i was like, "do whatever you have to do, just keep looking that good while you're doing it." but really, look how cute he is. i've said it before, and i'll say it again... i have a crush on my yard guy.

speaking of rain, the other morning randy MADE ME GET OUT OF BED TO LOOK AT A RAINBOW. i was like, "rainbows are great and all, but sleep is even better." BUT i got up and went outside in my pajamas to look at the "coolest rainbow ever". 

so it was actually a double rainbow, and the bottom one was SO vibrant and clear, and it probably was the coolest rainbow i'd ever seen. so i ended up forgiving him for making me go outside looking like a hobo at 7am.

anyyyyway. valentine's day happened!

mom served up pink heart pancakes for breakfast, we went to presley's class party, and had heart shaped pasta for dinner! i also made a heart shaped cake, chocolate dipped strawberries, and strawberry shortcake. randy brought home roses and a sweet card (my fav! words of affirmation is my love language!) for me, a car for eli, and a balloon and a movie for presley (his valentine tradition is to buy her a disney princess movie!). 

i left friday to go to a women's conference in roseville with some amazing ladies from church. it was an INCREDIBLE weekend and so refreshing and restoring to my soul. i had no idea i needed this weekend so badly, but boy did i. God was really moving and using the speakers and worship team to speak straight to my heart.

 i was so anxious to leave randy and the babies, and honestly i expected a million "help!" texts but never even got one! randy told me when i got home that there was only one instance that presley said, "call mom"... and that it happened this morning before church. apparently eli found my makeup and had drawn on himself with eyeliner. presley came in and saw what happened and told randy, "ok, call mom." but randy handled it. he managed to get the kids and himself ready and not only made it to church, but also sunday school!

he told me that presley's outfit was a "group effort". i was expecting much worse, and presley looks so happy. randy killed it this weekend... he supported and encouraged me to go away for two nights and everytime we texted he reassured me everything was going great at home and to have fun. i just love him.

but the icing on the cake of this fun week was the birth of my NEWEST niece CAMILA!

she was born on february 12, and she is what you'd call perfection. we have already facetimed(and i cried the whole time) and she confirmed that i am her favorite aunt even though i won't be able to snuggle her in real life until JUNE. she has a dimple in one cheek and lots of dark brown hair and i'm just in love with this angel!

here's how my morning is going.

i woke up to the sound of the appliances beeping and clicking, and the sudden quietness that follows a power outage. that means sound machines turning off, and kids waking up. it wasn't early... we actually slept in until 7:40ish, but we probably could have had a little more time. but, of course, the headache i had since yesterday afternoon was still lingering (and still is). 

yesterday was rough.

presley woke up feeling kinda crummy...runny nose and low grade fever. i actually had to wake her up, which is really unusual. she was fussy and wouldn't stop crying, so i decided we should probably NOT send her to school. what can i say, as much as i needed a break from all that mess, i also want her teachers to like me. 

after a dose of cold medicine and tylenol, she was back to normal and completely and literally out of control. i'm not sure what got into her, but it was BAD. not listening, talking back, screaming...you name it. 

poor randy. we don't talk (text) much throughout the day because he's usually very busy at work. so he had no idea what he was walking into when he got home last night. and bless his sweet heart, of all days... he randomly showed up with surprises for the kids(and i'm all like, where's mine? and he's all like "i'm your surprise". and i'm all like, *eyeroll*, and he's all like, "rude.")-- a matchbox car for eli and a blindbag cupcake for presley. needless to say, presley didn't get her surprise because her attitude was on the highest level imaginable... and then being the meanest mom ever, i took her tablet away too.

also, an update on paci-gate. 

NOT GOING WELL. i repeat--GOING TERRIBLY.

ugh. he cried himself to sleep for naptime yesterday and again last night. and i hate myself more than i can even explain. my parent's are like, "you have to do it, just be strong". and my sister's all, "give it back! his teeth are gonna be messed up regardless!" she's so supportive.

so yesterday was a bust. and today started off ugly, too. BUT. but. BUT..... the power finally came back after about 45 minutes. also, (of course) i put hallmark channel on for background noise to write this blog, and heard the GREATEST NEWS EVERRRR--they are going to play a christmas movie EVERY FRIDAY NIGHT for the rest of the year! so consider my friday nights spoken for (as if i ever do anything besides watch hallmark channel on friday nights, anyway.) AND it's my favorite weather ever--rainy, cool, overcast--which is a rarity in bakersfield, so i'm here for it.

oh! AND! i snuck a picture of randy's new beard!

so, consider this day turned around. byeeeeee!