Coco is TWO

The best things about Cora's birthday this year were as followed: 

1) She actually knew what a birthday was and has been talking about it and has been beyond excited for weeks. 

2) It fell on the first day of summer break and NOT the last day of school, been there done that this was SO MUCH BETTER! and 

3) She was so easy to please and was just genuinely happy about the simplicity of it all. 

I love birthdays and I love Cora, what's not to love about both, right? It was so fun to celebrate my baby turning TWO and I'm just so happy that she's growing and learning and turning into the best little toddler this world has known. She is cherished by many, but I'm way up on that list and I'm glad she felt special on her big day. 

I love fresh birthday tables in the morning. Doesn't this image put butterflies in your stomach? It does to me!

Birthday donuts were cool, but the milk baba reigned supreme! She no longer takes bottles at bedtime or for naps, but I'm still a sucker and let her have them when she wakes up. And do I feel bad about it at all, nope! 

She got so many fun presents and was so excited about them all. It's so fun to see the ways she is similar to and different from her siblings and to see where her interests lie. She's a girly girl which is so new for us and she loves all things princess and make-up and cutesie. I love that she knows what she likes and is confident, even as a two-year-old. 

After we cleaned up the donuts and presents we put on our swim suits and parked ourselves on the beach for the next six hours. This long and lean lady loves the beach, and always comes home with sand in every crevice. 

Raise your hand if you're living your best two-year-old life with endless snacks, tons of friends and the cutest new swimsuit!

Now raise your hand if you want to spend EVERY birthday on the beach, just like this one!!!

Quinn was a little worried that Coco's little blows would never extinguish that flame, but she got lucky after like, five attempts, hahaha!

Quinn was such a great big sister for Coco's whole birthday! These two are so close together and I know it must be torture seeing Cora open up so many presents that could just as easily be given to Quinn but she was happy and kind and good all day. Big sister may be growing up! I love these cheesy two and I'm grateful they'll always have each other. Happy birthday Cora Sue. Mama loves you!

Kai's Baptism Weekend

I would have driven just about anywhere to make sure I was at Kai's baptism, but it sure was convenient that the Tat's decided to hold it in Sacramento so that my Friday after-school drive was shorter than it could have been. Traffic on the 405 turned a six-hour drive into an almost-eight-hour debacle but it was nothing a big bag of white cheddar cheese popcorn, juiced-up ipads and very forgiving children couldn't handle. We were in Sacramento less than 36-hours (and were asleep for 20 of them) so this trip was anything but relaxing and leisurely, but it was jam-packed fun and goodness with my favorite sister and her sweet little boy and I'm so grateful that we could make it work. Kai will always hold a special place in my heart because he is the one who made me an aunt for the first time and being there on his special day was amazing. 

I'm getting awfully good at wrangling these four on solo road trips. And how darling and dapper does my Kai-Kai look in his baptism suit? Oh gosh I love that guy!

T gave a talk on baptism and Ever said the closing prayer. Both of them worked so hard so that their parts would be special for Kai, and they succeeded. We all adore Kai, these three are the greatest of all cousins!

Isn't Ash's dress to die for?

After the baptism we went to Folsom Aquatic Center and swam all afternoon, which was fitting because it was 100 degrees outside!!! I wasn't planning on getting my hair wet because we had a BBQ later that evening, but that all changed when I made a deal with the dev--I mean, Talmage! The kid who was supposedly fearful to swim in 14-foot water all nonchalantly says, "Hey Mom, if I go off the high diving board will you go off too?" Probably too smugly I said, "Uh, yeah?!" because in a million years did I think he'd ever go off the high dive? No, no I did not. But that little pill marched right up and jumped off that thing as if he wasn't afraid of heights or depths or anything in between. And then the cowardly lion followed!

The bravery buddies!

I love these two more than anything!

We left Coco at home napping with Pepa, but these six had the greatest time with Mema (and a little with me and Ash, just a little).

Right before we left on Sunday morning Mema put some candles into a pre-birthday donut for Coco and gave her her library bag. She's such a sweetheart, that Cora-girl, and it was fun to start celebrating her early!

SUUUUUUMMMMMMMAAAAAAA!!!!

If you need us this Summer, you know where to find us. (Wink, wink!) I'm seriously giddy that we get another Summer of exploring, adventuring and playing together. Oh the memories we'll make in the best of all seasons! I love my kids (and the sunshine) and I have a feeling we're going to rock it this year, I just know we will!

Last day of school! Last day of school!

School may have ended on a Thursday this year, but we still celebrated with Friday ice cream, our last of the season and a fitting send-off to Summer. I wanted it to be a little more special than the rest so we had a banana split bar and the kids got to choose three scoops of ice cream instead of two, which believe you me is a pretty big deal around here. I also put my new outdoor tables to use and we made buckets of fluffy slime and slimy slime. I expected it to be super easy but honestly there was a bit of a learning curve...but we got there! It was really messy but the end result was happy children with handfuls of gak, so how's that for a special day?! Anyway, Summer is my favorite time of the year so I am beyond thrilled that I have my boys all to myself for the next couple of months. We're going to live it up (we're already off to a great start!)  

I will take aaaaalllllll of the maraschino cherries, please and thank you!

None of these kids had to do homework tonight and that in and of itself needs to be celebrated!

It was super messy until we realized that the more contact solution you use the less sticky it becomes. Seriously, contact solution for the win!

Happy Summer everyone, yeeeeessssssss!

Russian Festival

'Twas in the name of publicity that we attended the Russian Festival in Hollywood a few weekends back, at least that's what we told ourselves. Sure, we (meaning James, our only Russian-speaking family member) helped the LDS missionaries at a booth for a bit as they invited the Russian community members to a genealogy event, but let's be honest, mostly the kids and I just played games and colored crowns and begged the clown to make us balloon creations all the while dodging any questions in Russian with a smile. The hair dye was the highlight for the littles, but the pelmini and piroshki we ate before leaving was definitely my happy moment. And as for James? He was at a park with hundreds of people who were exclusively speaking Russian so yeah, he was in heaven.  

All of a sudden Quinn is begging for a unicorn birthday party and looking back on this picture I think I understand why.

The blue will come out after one wash, they say. It's totally temporary, they say. LIES! Almost a month later and this kids scalp is still like a smurf!

A library bag for Corabelle

For months now Cora has been devastated each week as the other kids get their bags ready for the library because she still didn't have one. I tried to explain to her that McKee cousins get their special bag from Mema and Pepa on their second birthday, but I think she was bitter that we didn't make an exception for her! Well, the day finally came and she was so excited that she literally wouldn't let anyone touch her bag. It was hilarious! The bag made it's maiden voyage to the library this last week and she did a great job filling it up and carrying it herself. It's hard to believe that all my babies are old enough for library bags, but it's also so awesome that they're growing and learning and filling those bags (and brains) with such great information. I love these four little book worms and I'm so truly glad they're mine.  

B13's Sibling Day

Being the party planner is the best classroom job in existence, especially when your teacher asks you to throw a sibling field day on the last week of school. I mean, how fun is that? We played egg relay races, tossed water balloons, played the Cheeto and shaving cream game, made a simple craft and then ate donuts together. It was hilarious and fun and darling to see the first graders having a blast together and I'm so glad I got to be a part of it! (I just wish I had more pictures, like one of Everett and his siblings. Sigh.)

This game definitely stole the show! Mr. Lesner and these dads were SUCH great sports about getting suited up and having cheetos thrown at their heads!!!