We went camping this past weekend for one night and I took a lot of photos! It was just too fun not to. We went with a bunch of families (6 total) from our ward and the best part is that we were camping at our favorite beach ever. Sunset Beach is 16 miles south of Santa Cruz and is a complete gem in my opinion. I love it! I felt like I hit the jackpot the day I first discovered it. 

A few highlights:

• playing in the dirt with shovels and buckets (Greta)
• having friends around all the time (Holly)
• the sun set
• sleeping in a tent with all 4 of us in a row
• seeing the moon's reflection on the ocean at night time
• the girls slept through the night (10pm-6am)
• eating breakfast outdoors on the beautiful, clear morning
• visiting and laughing with friends
• playing hard at the beach
• a scenic drive home
• everything all working out despite the things we forgot

 

This is a really cute craft! I gave the girls a rectangular piece of cardstock each and then let them glue circles of cardstock onto it. I had to give them some guidance on how to place the circle around the edges and on the blank spots. They liked to stack the circles. Overall, I try to let the girls do their own thing and allow them creative license, but sometimes I think guidance is a good idea! We put googly eyes on the clouds and then I hot glued ribbon to the back of the clouds. Holly and Greta wanted to put their clouds on their bedroom door. I consider this craft a success! 

The original idea can be found here. 

Greta loves her bunny. We fondly call him "Bun-buns." Quirky little name, I know. I came up with it somehow. Anyways, Greta actually has two bunnies and for quite some time she would happily take either one of them. But then one day she stopped and only wanted the one with the biggest bald patch above the nose. And she checks to make sure we've given her the correct Bun-buns. It makes me laugh to watch Greta rub and twist his fur with her thumb and index finger. I look forward to the day Greta's old enough to have "The Velveteen Rabbit" read to her because I think she'll relate to it in a very real way. 

I love taking photos of my children sleeping. They're so peaceful and there's no sass or pushing back or not listening. It's bliss and it refreshes me to see them at peace and relaxed.

Because we're a gluten-free family and because we've been experimenting with different ways of eating, there has been a drastic reduction in bread and pasta in our home. I plan on having our family eat a little more of the gluten-free varieties, but because of the famine, if you will, my girls are even more bananas for bread and pasta. Our spaghetti dinner the other night was quite the hoot. Greta ate 5 good-sized helpings (growth spurt?) and Holly ate a pretty decent amount too! And to top it off, they both got really messy, which surprisingly doesn't happen as often as I think it should. So of course, out came the camera. And then because Holly's at that age, she started laying it on thick and getting a little more messy and a little more giggly than she would naturally. Don't you ever change baby. 

I often catch snippets of my girls doing sweet things for each other. And I breath a sigh of relief. Honestly, I love these little moments. Holly likes to baby Greta and do nice things for her and Greta is a selfish 2-year old so she likes to have Holly baby her and do nice things for her. They're a personality match-up until Greta starts scratching, pulling hair and biting. But clearly there was nothing but love happening in these photos.