Rain, rain, don't go away!

It seems like it's been years since we've had a thunderstorm, but today we had one.  

We ventured out for preschool and a play date, but were stuck inside for the afternoon, which means the girls were a captive audience for some pictures...

Payton watching the rain... probably her first official rainstorm.

 During the storm, our bread maker came back from being repaired,

and the box was a major sanity saver, as it filled up a good couple of hours while the chili was cooking.

The days are long, but the years are short

It's taken nearly a full year for us to get back here, 

but after spending a few nights in a row in front of my laptop --

mainly to upload a lengthy backlog of pictures of the girls,

I happened to stumble across the quote:

The days are long, but the years are short,

and I couldn't help but feel some sense of heartache at that sentiment.

I don't know if it was because it was a particularly trying day in the world of little girls and big messes --

or if it was crazy mid-pregnancy hormonal tears --

or if it was just the fact that I've been cataloging more than a whole year's worth of

Nola and Payton 

and how these little forces of nature -- 

who didn't even exist a few years ago --

now define my life and fill my days

with combinations of immense joy, 

smatterings of "Don't touch me with that thing on your finger!!!",

and  lots of time for me to wonder if telling my daughter

not to wipe a booger on my pants

will, one day, land her in therapy.

Whatever it was that got me on here again...

 I realized that I need to start documenting these precious 

(and sometimes maddening) moments again.

We'll be back here, every now and then (I cannot promise consistency), 

but I felt a deep need to share this quote,

because, for me, it was such a wonderful reminder,

as a parent, to cherish each moment

because even though it doesn't feel like it -- especially when

 you're silently chanting to yourself to 

"Breathe, in through the nose... out through the mouth..." 

over and over again,

while watching your toddler take five minutes 

to try to snap a buckle

 that it would easily take you five seconds to do...

It's because of these moments, that seem to fill my days,

and instead of feeling drained by this,

I need to remind myself how very fleeting this small window of time is,

and remember that:

The days are long, but the years are short.

Hair Raising Good Times

Thought I'd share the effects of trampoline-induced-static-electricity on Nola's hair.

Calendar Shoot

Nonnie is in California for Christmas, and we are working on another calendar of the girls.  This is just a preview of what's to come!

We Just Love the Sea Center

One really nice thing about living in Camarillo is being halfway between Santa Barbara and Los Angeles.  Other than that, there are lots of other nice things to do, as long as you have no desire to do them after 10pm, which is when our entire town shuts down -- a fact that bothered us a lot more before we had kids, now, however, it's comforting to know we're not missing a thing.

Because of our proximity -- and the fact that we have our sweet Smith cousins in Santa Barbara -- we make it up there at least once a week.  Last week, we managed to make it to the Sea Center with our good friends, the Fraziers.

 Nola has been to the Sea Center often enough to guide a tour...

 One critical stop on her tour would, of course, be the puppet theater.

 Payton and Nola's best buddy, Nate, think Nola's puppeteering skills are whaley cool
(okay, that was a reach...)

Little Miss Payton just being precious & delighted to get to hang out with the big kids, instead of lugged around by mommy.

The Second Child

Very recently Nola discovered "her website," which is a fair nickname for our family's blog, especially since I have been neglectful -- to say the least. When I take a picture of the girls that I want to share with someone, I now have the ability to just text it to Nick, my mom, and my sisters -- generally, people who I know won't mind being texted in the middle of the day with giggly videos (apologies to Aunt Jaimee, who always seems to get these on days when she has to work with her boss.)

Honestly, until Nola rediscovered the blog, I kind of thought of it as a relic of the past.  Yet another online social media outlet that had been bowled over by Facebook & company.  Yet another new mommy novelty pushed to the back burner for the sake of just getting through another day. However, it is kind of a really cool multi-media baby book.  Nola loved finding her videos and pictures in the same place that she finds Dora, which is why I've decided to not shelf the blog entirely.  Payton deserves her moment in the sun, and she's just as funny and charming... and even if it is only my girls watching their videos and pictures, that should be all that matters.

I will do some patchwork catch-up sort of blogging -- to make things appear more filled in than they are, so bear with us over here at Nola's website as we make room for Payton.

Here, Nola took it on herself to feed Payton -- as "Payton finishing her snack," was the last thing that we had to do before we could decorate the Christmas tree.  

Cheerio!

We've been away for sometime, and I mainly have my newfangled iPad to blame, as it doesn't support various endeavors, blogposting included; however, when Nick captured this moment at Costco, I had to dust off the laptop to post it.