April Tidbits

This month Aubrey got to be student of the week at school and with that came a weekend with her class animal Chubby :).  She got to write in the class journal of our weekend adventures with Chubby and share in her class about herself, her family and bring in some special items that mean a lot to her.  Super cute activity, but it came on such a busy weekend when family was here!

 

 

We got to attend a birthday party at a science museum in Lodi and it was super fun!  They got to go around the museum for a day and even be "scientists" in their lab coats and make kid friendly lava lamps! 

 

Their favorite activity was the simulator ride in a pretend jet!

 

 

Oh Half Moon Bay...how we love you :).

Aubrey has become quite the avid little reader and I love catching her read voluntarily all on her own!

 

This month we got to attend a skate night from Aubrey's school.  It was the girls' first time skating and it kind of felt like mommy and daddy's first time skating as well! It really has been such a long time since we've been on skates!

 



 

The girls loved skating and caught on pretty quickly to it!

 

And moments like this one just melt your heart.  No arguing or tantrums, just two girls reading a princess book and enjoying it together.  Love.

 

 



 

Celebrating 10 Years Cancer Free!

This lady is a ROCK!  I just need to say it.  Words can't really describe just how much my mom exudes this word! 

 

Ten years ago, and we can all still remember the moment the call came in, we got news that my mom had two types of breast cancer, stage four.  It was devastating for all of us as we are such a close knit family and the thought of our mom and wife going through so much and the possibility of losing her made our hearts ache.  During the following year she underwent multiple surgeries, long treatments, countless times of sickness and fatigue, pain, emotional anguish, losing her hair, and her body changing forever.  It was a tough, sometimes very dark journey.  There were lots of tears, sleepless nights, and most of all prayers for this very special woman in our lives.  Each day brought about triumphs as well as heartache as she was the one going through all of this, and all we could do was help her out with different tasks and try to be there for her as much as we could.  Most days we all felt helpless.

 

Through it all, as much as my mom was a rock, my dad was the rock that she needed.  He was by her side every step of the way and the unconditional love and sacrifice that was shown was an example to all of us!

 

Now, jumping forward 10 years since that call, our mom is still with us and stronger than ever!  She got to be there for our weddings and meet and invest herself in her grand daughters, she continues to hold a full time job and puts her heart and soul into it every day, she works to stay healthy and strong, and she loves her family with all her heart and would do anything for us.  Words can't express how much she means to each and every one of us and we are so thankful that God has healed her.  She gets to be a part of our lives and we could not be more blessed by her!

 

So today, we celebrated 10 years.  She took her last anti-cancer pill with a celebratory mimosa, and we enjoyed a beautiful lunch amongst a garden of flowers of which she enjoys so much.

 

 

This beautiful lady needed to be celebrated!

 

We all tried to wear some form of pink to commemorate this special day :).

 





 

 If you or your family has been hit with cancer, you know how hard to journey can be.  For us, it has ended so well and we could not be more grateful!

 

Happy 10 years Mommy and to many more healthy years ahead!

Easter 2017

 

The rest of our spring break was pretty low key.  We took time to decorate some Easter eggs and spend as much time relaxing and taking it easy as much as we could.

 

We hosted Easter for our families this year for the first time! 

 

These girls...always so silly in their own little ways together!

 



And a celebration called for cake! 

 

This one ended up being a vanilla blackberry honey cake...

 

and yes I took many pictures of it because it actually turned out after some failed attempts!  I needed proof :).

Happy Easter!