Ice cream with dad

Girls pics

I posted some pics of the girls on my photography blog at: Murrieta Family Photographer.  You can click the link to check them out!

Sunday School

Catechizing her baby dolls. "why did God make you? For his own glory."

Princess Fairies

Hi friends and family - 

I started this blog when Abby was born as a way for out of town family to keep up with us and the kids and they grow.  Since that time, I've also started a blog for my photography.  Since it's tricky to keep up with two blogs, I need to make changes to how I post.  From this point forward, most of the time I'll be posting photos to this blog that are taken with my phone.  Occasionally I'll also post pics of the girls on my photography blog and you're welcome to check in there for some additional updates.  You can go to www.BethP.com and click the "blog" button, or there is a direct link on the right hand side of this blog.  Thanks!

We like Highlights!

Abby at the beach

We spent some time at the beach and had a blast together.  Abby loved finding and trapping the sand crabs.

Summer has begun

The pool is still pretty cold, but after the initial shock they don't seem to mind!

Izzy's smiles

An age progressed photo

Abby says, "this is a picture of me when I am older"

Salsa baby

Here we are at one of our favorite restaurants, Wahoo's. They have fantastic carnitas enchiladas, polynesian shrimp tacos, and cilantro cream sauce. Believe it or not, one of Izzy's favorite things there is the salsa. Here she is enjoying the (pretty mild) pico de gallo.

Sometimes she just can't get enough good stuff on the chip. Then she resorts to pushing it on with the other hand.

Tastes great on french fries, too!

Donuts

The simple things in life...

Reading in bed

Abby loves looking at books. Tonight she was so happy to get to read after the lights went out.

Dinner tonight

My little helper...

Merry Christmas!!

Izzy is two years old!!

We've got fun plans for Izzy today! Click here to see more pics of her from the past two years.

Famous dish

This morning John and I got to go on a date and tried out "Toast on Market". They were highly recommended on urban spoon. I was excited to try the Lemon Souffle Pancakes with Blueberry Compote, and I can assure you they were scrumptious. We also wanted to try the hash brown casserole. Not as fancy sounding, but definitely rated well by reviewers.

Our food arrived and after a photo, we dug in. A bite of the hash brown casserole and I started to laugh. "My family used to make this every Thanksgiving and Christmas!!" Except we call it heart attack potatoes in my house since we know what's in the recipe. Who knew that my family harbored an award winning recipe. Maybe my grandma should open up a cafe!!

Halloween

Abby was so excited for Halloween this year. She was Sleeping Beauty - a costume that she asks to put on almost every day. This time it was extra special, though, because she got to wear a sparkly crown, too.

I was hoping that Izzy could wear this super cute kangaroo costume. Abby wore it when she was tiny. Izzy is growing so quickly!! My fast kangaroo stretched the suit to its limits.

We did a quick switcharoo and Izzy went as princess Tiana instead. (Princess and the frog) It was funny - I got quite a few comments about my fair skinned, blue eyed curly girl being the african american southern belle.

Definition of true happiness for a 4 year old:

Disneyland Trip

Last week we spent a day at Disneyland. Top on Abby's list was to go see the princesses and have them sign her autograph book. She was so glad that Belle was there since they were wearing matching dresses.




































Izzy loved the day out too. She often exclaimed loudly at things she saw! The highlight for her was the baby roller coaster - aka It's a small world.

Sisters

It was so fun to visit family in Washington this summer! One of the highlights was definitely spending time with these lovely ladies and their kiddos. I love my sisters!!

Well, I don't know who is checking this blog anymore after such a long absence, but for the sake of faithful grandmas, great grandmas, aunties and cousins I thought I'd post. :) I think that moving houses twice, vacation, and just an all around super busy summer have superceded the priority of posting to my blog, but definitely hasn't stopped us from enjoying our girls (or taking their pictures!)

Abby is so excited to be 4! She is well aware that she gets to go to school when she is 5. Several times when I've popped into her room she's packed up a couple of bags of clothes, shoes and toys so that she's "ready to go to school". She's also been pretty motivated at learning her letters - upper and lower case, and the sounds - because she needs to know them for school.

Izzy is a bouyant baby. Energetic, laughing, and happy. She doesn't have a huge vocabulary, but in sunny southern cal she's already got down, "it's hot" and "swim suit". :)

A couple of very different photos - Abby showing off her balancing skills, and Izzy goofing off with Mommy.