Since I saw one of the little girl rompers on line, I have not stopped dreaming of doing a little photoshoot with my sweet girl. I ordered one as soon as they went on sale and picked a day to make it happen. I could not have asked for a better subject or lighting, she did absolutely wonderful. Thank you Lord for blessing me with my little girl!
It has become somewhat a tradition that our side of the family leaves the everyday busy life and goes up to Truckee, the majestic mountains where you can feel nothing, but the presence of our Heavenly Father. It’s a blessing to have a friend who is very generous to let us use their cabin a couple of times a year. This year was even more special, because it was Oleg’s birthday and Joshy joined us 🙂 To make it even more exciting, him, Barry and a few other guys, decided to participate in Tough Mudder, which consists of many different obstacle courses, including wall climbing, mud pits, ice baths, monkey bars and many more. Needless to say, the boys did great and came home as stinky as they get but everyone was healthy and that is what’s most important. We celebrated the big day with a wonderful meal and galore of desserts, followed by family time and presents. There never seems enough time to take all of the beauty in, but a couple of nice walks were an absolute blessing. The girls, even managed to squeeze in some girl time in the three short days that we were there. This year, we added another little shopper, my princess and she enjoyed it fully. I am feeling very blessed and grateful for such wonderful family gatherings, and hoping for many more to come.
What joy it has been to watch my precious daughter learn and being able to teach her all that I can. She is absolutely amazing at memorizing and has been practicing reading, writing and just having fun. She asks me every day for projects and sometimes I feel overwhelmed with all that I want to do with her and choosing is quite a task for me. I am beginning to separate all of the activities into subjects and categories and plan ahead. She definitely enjoys every bit of what we have been doing so far and it has been a lot. Instead of writing what she has been working on, you can see for yourself. Joshy is also stepping in, with tiny steps, but he has had a few projects himself 🙂 I am one proud mama of a 2 ½ year old and 8 months old 🙂 Great job my babies!
Our little family decided to do something fun after church on Sunday, so we decided to take the kids to the flower farm. It’s a darling little place with a small coffee shop, a little water fall and some super cute gypsy chickens. Barry discovered this place when he was riding a bike with one of his friends, they stopped to get coffee there and from that moment he knew he would like to take me there, knowing how much I like little places like that. This time it was an outing with our family of four 🙂 Bella got to chase some chickens, Joshy took a nice nap and we shared a wonderful lunch with delicious drinks. Small memories were created 🙂
It feels like it has been a long while since I have written anything here, so it’s time for a little update. It seems that a lot has happened this month, but at the same time, not that much. One of the highlights has been a trip to the San Francisco Zoo. It was one of those spontaneous ideas that I came up with on Saturday night, right before bed time. I pitched the idea to Barry and he loved it, so Sunday morning the little packing started and for those that do not have kids will not understand what a small trip such as this entails. We are talking from warm clothes, diapers, extra shoes, extra blankets, snacks, lunch, water, stroller, two bag packs, two carriers, napkins (plain and sanitizing) and etc. Yes, it’s an ordeal, whether it’s for one day, or three days, the car is always packed with stuff. But it would not be as much fun otherwise 😉 We left our house around 9:30 A.M. and arrived to the zoo around 11 A.M. The drive was wonderful, the weather even better. When we got there it was 53 degrees, for a better comparison, it was already in 80’s in Roseville. Certainly for a moment there, I wish I lived in SF, until we all got too cold J We all loved the zoo, especially our little princess, she was so taken by all the animals and how close they were, you could practically touch them. The one that stood out to all of us was the rhinoceros. I have seen huge animals, but this thing was a beast, we are talking HUGE. The pictures do not do justice for this guy, but it was worth a shot. Both kiddos did great, we were there almost 4 hours and still felt like we haven’t seen it all. The little people needed to eat and quite frankly so did we 🙂 Our next stop was Pier 39 for the good old Boudin clam chowder which ended up being nothing but a disappointment. Boudin in Roseville is absolutely wonderful, the place is nice, clean and the customer service is great, in SF it’s only the opposite, therefore we will not be returning there. Since we were already there, we figured there is no point to rush home, because we finally got out and as I have shared earlier it’s definitely an ordeal, so we decided to go to one of our very favorite Ghirardelli square and have some delicious Ghirardelli ice cream. I love, love, love their Espresso Escape creation. If you are a dark chocolate lover, please do not miss out next time you have a chance to go. It is absolutely divine! After our nice, cold, windy and wonderful walk, we headed home. One thing Barry and I realized once again is that our stroller was one of THE best investments we have ever made. The kids were comfortable and sealed from the wind. Not only that it’s light, it also can load a ton of stuff that hides in the back. Chariot stroller all the way!
On another note, I have stopped working for TW Photography. It was one of the most difficult decisions for me as I absolutely love Tori and editing photos. It has become a very time consuming deal where Barry and I really began to notice it and weighing things out. Often times Barry has mentioned to me, oh if only you had time to help with our business, we could have so much more business in house instead of outsourcing. The more we talked about it and prayed about it, it became clear that I had to let go of editing. It has been one of the funnest jobs I have had. Every portrait session or a wedding I got to edit, it felt as if I was part of it. I just absolutely loved it! I don’t know if Tori will ever read this, but I am forever grateful to her for giving me an opportunity to do something I loved. I am sure it’s not the end of the editing road for me, but for now it has to be put on hold. I love you dearly my sweet friend, Tori Wible.
Joshy turned 7 months. Where does the time go? We love this little guy more and more every day, he is an absolute joy to our family. The love he has for his sissy and she has for him, is indescribable. God forbid Joshy gets hurt and his sissy is right there kissing him and hugging him and praying for him. The way he lights up when he sees Bella is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. May God keep giving us wisdom, patience, love and strength to bring these babies up just the way He intended.
We also had a chance to go see uncle “O” and auntie Lilya in their home. We love their cozy home and it’s always a pleasure and joy to be there. Our kids sleep just wonderfully there, every time we visit, we are beginning to think it should be more often 😉 Thank you God for our family!
I am writing this with huge gratitude to my God to thank Him for all that I have in life. Often we complain and get stuck on the negative, but what we don’t see is all the positive. Lately, I have been appreciating all that God has blessed me with. I look at my two most precious miracles and just can’t help but smile and thank God for allowing me to have my Isabella and my Joshua to raise. I ask nothing but to help us raise them the way He intended for them. I want them to be His children, that will soon become adults and will make their decisions based on what we will equip them with. My only desire is for these little people to be godly human beings, that will only add the positive to this world and be the light for those that do not know Christ. Then I look at both of our families, our parents, our siblings and think- Wow! God, how did I deserve to have a family like mine? What did I do that you granted me people that love me so very much and wish only what is best for me, when there are so many unwanted children in this world. My heart cries for those children and adults that never knew what being loved feels. Often, my head starts spinning, because I want to do so much for people in need and then somehow things get put on a back burner and I do not follow through. My goal is to change that this year and we will start with birthdays. We will try to do acts of kindness for every birthday in our family, no matter how small it is, whether it’s paying for someone’s meal or going to visit someone very alone at the hospital…there are so many opportunities. I can not wait for my children to learn that we were put on this earth to do good and to be the light for those that are in the dark without any hope. Sometimes my heart stops when I think that we are surrounded by so many people that we care for and they know nothing about our precious Christ and how much He loves them. I can’t help but wonder, what they think will happen to them after death and yet I get so scared to ask. Barry and I were just talking how easy it is for us to think that we will live forever on this earth, we age every year, but yet we do not feel any older. The truth of it all is yes, we will die and I can barely contain the joy of knowing that I have my God and I will go to be with Him when my time comes…but what about those that don’t?!? Our time on this earth is so short, it’s a blink of an eye and yet we treat it like it’s forever. Dear God, help me to always be the light, help me tell those that do not know of You. Thank you for every single miracle in my life, for the little blessings that I get to wake up to every day and for the families and friends we are surrounded with, thank you for breathing right now, thank you for giving us a reason to celebrate each day, no matter what it brings, thank you for picking us up when we fall and feel like we don’t have strength to get up, thank you for giving us lavished homes, food and clothes, thank you for providing for us, thank you for health, most of all, thank you for your love and for letting Yourself be known to us! Life would be dull and absolutely worthless without You!
After a long thought of what we can do that would be fun for the whole family, Barry came up with idea to go to the Rail Road Museum. As soon as he pitched the idea, I thought what a brilliant idea, especially with how much Bella loves trains. We packed pretty much our whole house and left for our half day trip. I often forget how fun old town of Sacramento can be. It has been a long while since I have gone there, but have certainly enjoyed it with our little family. The last time I visited the museum, was probably about 15+ years ago, so it was like looking at everything for the first time. We all loved it, including Joshy 😉 Bella has never seen a train so up close, so we had a little bit of drama with fear, but she got over it pretty quickly. Barry and I both enjoyed reading some of the history and checking out the trains inside. It is funny how things change with time. I got to a point in life, where I am getting excited about museums again, because I want my kids to learn as much as possible, but if you asked me to go visit one about three years ago, I would nicely decline 😉 We have so many exciting things to look forward to. God give us wisdom, strength, health and most of all patience 🙂
I honestly can not believe I am writing this, where did the time go, how did my tiny- tiny boy, became old enough to eat more than just breast milk? Before he was even born, I told myself that I will not rush him when it comes to solids, because it’s truly not necessary if baby nurses. Little did I know, it was not about when I decide that he is ready it was about when he decides and he certainly decided that he is ready. This guy has been eyeing real food for a while now and I could barely drag it out to six months as he would literally sit on your lap and watch you bring your fork or spoon from your plate to your mouth and open his, just in case it would make it in. Every time he does that, I can barely eat, as I know his hope never dies and he still thinks that one of those bites will make it into his mouth 😉 Bella was a very picky eater since the very beginning and I am almost certain that it’s maybe because it was not her time to eat yet, but I was overly excited to get her started. Joshy on the other hand is in love with everything I have given him so far. His first food ever, was a banana. He was not sure what he thought at first, but then got the hang of it and absolutely loved it. So far, he has tried bananas, rice cereal, avocados, butternut squash, peaches and yogurt. He loved all of it! As soon as I put him in high chair, this little guy gets so excited that he doesn’t know what to do. Every bowl of food is always finished and he waits for more…This little guy is going to be a little giant 😉
I still can not believe that my dear friend Toma is now married and a wife! I can not be happier for her and Elijah. What a blessing to find your soul mate and have God guide you through the new beginnings that bring both of you to the altar before Him. It was such a joy to watch them as they exchanged vows and just were both glowing every minute of the wonderful celebration. I felt honored to be part of it and was very happy to be there right by Toma’s side as she took yet another big step in life, she became a wife 🙂 It’s so much fun to have her tell me about all the things she loves about Elijah, who is now her husband and how much she waited for this day. They were married at Kearney park in Fresno, on a very hot day of 106 degrees, but nothing was more memorable than the two of them looking each other in the eye , very much in love with contagious smiles 🙂 Thank you precious Lord for guiding them to find one another and I pray that you bless their marriage as they begin this brand new and exciting journey together.
Yet another wonderful holiday that reminds us at what cost our freedom comes. Today, I feel grateful to all men and women that have and are serving our country so that our families can sleep peacefully at night. I can’t help but always think about the cost of my personal freedom that God granted me. What a high price for Christ to pay for all of our cruel sins and yet so often we are very ungrateful. I just pray that not only on 4th of July I remember this costly truth but every day as I take another breath.
