January in Cali--Kind of an Awesome Joke.

January. Is it really January? It's sunny. And warm. And beautiful all day. And it's January? I don't know why Mother Nature loves me so much, but I'll take it--this has definitely been my kind of January.

The Bumbo Babes--I think Evie is about 5 weeks older than this pretty lady! They sat, sunbathing, for such a long time watching their older brothers play.

The Cameramen--these two rascals were born 9 days apart. Is it cooler that our neighbors have two kids the exact same age as our kids, or is it cooler that it was warm enough in January for us to all play outside together? Barefoot, might I add.

We have been making a habit out of having a snack on a blanket during the day. On that particular day our snack was Everett. He was de-lish.

Yes, California in January is amazing. It makes us really happy.

The Duck Pond and The Lizard Lady

I don't think going to the duck pond will ever get old. At least, I hope it will never get old. It has a dual purpose--getting rid of unused bread (which I store on top of the fridge for weeks in anticipation of duck day) and entertaining the munchkin (which almost always occurs--except, however, the day after he has a bad dream about a duck tickling his tummy).

No, I did not make that up. T has been having nightmares lately about animals--namely ducks and turtles--tickling his tummy. And he does not think it's funny. He also has a recurring dream about Lamby, his stuffed lamb, kicking him. This may sound cute and innocent, but these dreams cause the most blood-curdling screams at 2 am from T-Man. Poor kid. Anyway, he was a little nervous about feeding the ducks on this particular visit so I let him sit on the roof of the car. Everything was fine and dandy until a seagull decided to get a little closer to the action and sit next to T. There was screaming, and crying, and huffing for a few minutes. Luckily, they made their peace (although if he has a nightmare about a seagull soon I'll know why).

Eventually he got the hang of things on the roof and had a grand time throwing handfulls of bread at a time. You should have seen the duck/pigeon/seagull hysteria going on right next to our car.

And, of course, we couldn't have a simple smile for our picture. No...here's the cheese!

Our good friends told us that the Lizard Lady was coming to the library, and we gladly tagged along. She had a lot of snakes and reptiles to show the kids, and although they thoroughly freaked me out I put on my brave face, and even touched a Boa in an attempt to ease T's fears of the creatures. He likes to look at animals from a distance. He must have gotten that gene from me! The big hit of the show was when she brought out a huge tortoise named Bob from Brazil.

This little boy was a-dor-a-ble! And absolutely, totally, incredibly brave. I am not joking when I say that I don't think you could pay me enough money to let a snake wrap itself around me. Ew.

The truth is...

We are all trying to keep our happy-face on, but the thought of Everett having open-heart surgery in one week makes me feel just like this:

I really, really, really love this baby. Like REALLY love this baby. I'm praying for him like crazy and I know many of you have been as well. Thank you.

The Cheeseburger and His Brother

This is the cheeseburger:

And this is his brother:

The cheeseburger is obviously in a silly-smile stage. He cannot smile without saying cheese, squinting his eyes and tilting his head. He usually can't look at the camera either. It's all part of being a cheeseburger. Sometimes we give him glasses so the squinty eyes aren't so darn distracting, or maybe we think the flash is too bright and is causing the squinty eyes:

Every once in a while, however, we get a good picture of the cheeseburger and his brother, minus all that cheese. We get a picture that makes our kids look like they are always well-dressed, mild-mannered, faces-clean-and-hairs-done-and-noses-wiped kind of kids. And we love those pictures. We cherish those pictures. We look at those pictures over and over and over:

But just in case anyone wants to know, it's mostly just a lot of cheese around here all.the.time. And we're ok with that. We love our little cheeseburger for making life eventful, chaotic, and journal-worthy!

Baby Lacey

We have a new love, and her name is Lacey. She is itty-bitty (well, compared to our big boys) and dressed in pink. She likes to sleep and has the sweetest newborn cry when she's hungry. She's warm and melts into your body when you hold her, which you can basically do all day because she loves to cuddle. Being an aunt is the best gift a sibling can give a girl--thanks Care!

On Saturday we drove to Concord to meet our first little niece and it was heavenly. Lacey is just about the cutest thing in the world. I honestly couldn't wait to get that baby in my arms, and the only reason she left my arms was because I had to feed my own sweet baby. Wow, I love her!

Here they are! The super-cute new family of three (with Lacey-Lou in her cadillac swing...that thing is a-mazing) looking as beautiful as ever.

Carolyn is basically my hero. She pushed out a nine-pound-little-Lacey in like FIFTEEN MINUTES. One second I got a text saying that pushing had commenced, the next second I got a picture of Care holding a baby girl. And PS--in that picture she looked like a supermodel. I just don't get how that happens...and obviously my body didn't either!

Evie and T had lots of fun playing with GG at the park, and giving her loves during dinner.

And before we left we attempted to get a cousin shot. No, it was not perfect. But hey, when you're working with a two-year-old, a six-month-old and a 3-day-old you take what you can! Lacey was swing-bound so she could be hooked up to the lights for her jaundice, Evie was in a milk-induced coma, and T was being silly as silly can be.

These two little cousins are almost exactly 6 months apart and I just know they are going to love, love, love each other! I can't wait to see them grow up together. We love you little Lacey. Can't wait to see you again soon. Like, really soon. Like, you wanna come over?

Four years of knowing him

It was four years ago (a few days after Christmas) that I went on my first date with James. I had recently returned from my mission, and was having tons of fun dating and getting to know lots of boys. I had told myself that I was going to live up the single life, and I was. But as soon as I went on a date with Jim, everything changed. I know that saying, "I knew he was the one" sounds silly, naive and totally cliche, but, I knew he was the one. Almost immediately. We went to Scott's seafood for a late lunch and talked for hours. I respected him and admired him. When I got home my mom asked how it went and I answered, "Just call me Mrs. Wigginton because I'm going to marry that guy!" Little did she know I was serious. We were engaged a short time later (like, super short!) and married a short time after that (again, think super short!)

Every year we try to go on a little date around Christmas time and remember that first date, the one that changed our lives for the better, and for forever. This year as we were driving to the restaurant our conversation went something like this:

J: Four years ago went I picked you up I was in a nicer car, was wearing better clothes and had more hair.

Me: I like you more now then I did then.

This year we tried to go back to Scott's seafood, but it was closed to prepare for the new year's dinner rush. So instead we went to a little taqueria with incredible mexican food, had pink lemonade (with two straws) and walked around the outlet mall. It was perfect.

Care and Bryce...and a baby soon!!!

Jim's sister is having a baby...TODAY. Well, hopefully. I guess it could be tomorrow if this little girlie girl decides she wants to stay warm and snug a little longer. But I hope she comes soon because I can't wait to see her. Seriously.can't.wait! We stopped by their house on our way back to Stanford earlier this week and Bryce took and edited these pics on his sweet little iphone. Seriously, I need to take a step into this century and learn about all this technology stuff!