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Our little family had a chance to get away with Lois and Robert to Santa Cruz, where they rented a house for their vacation and asked us to join them. Of course we gladly accepted, since we do not get to get out much these days and it was a perfect opportunity to spend some quality time together. Before this, I have been to Santa Cruz only once and it left somewhat of a sour taste in my mouth, so the location did not get me all that excited, but I was happy to give it another chance and I am glad I did. This time around, I have seen quite a bit more of what Santa Cruz has to offer and I realized that it’s not just all about the Boardwalk and a dirty beach. We spent quite a bit of time at the beach, went on walks, ate yummy food and tried to relax, but I have come to one conclusion that vacations are not quite vacations anymore. Now days it is more about changing a scenery, because you pretty much do the same thing as at home with the kiddos, it’s just in a different place. The feeding, changing, bathing and laundry all come with you 😉 We had a great time and are grateful to Robert and Lois for inviting us on this little get away. Hanging out with Sarah was a great bonus to the trip, we were bummed Bobby was called to go on a fire.

I am blessed beyond measure with my Papi! The words can not describe how much I love him and how much of a role model he has been in my life. His quiet and humble nature, brings me nothing but joy. Our heavenly Father has blessed me with the most amazing dad who loves me very much and my mind does not even fathom how much love my God has for me. It is truly a day of celebration and reflection of how much love I have in my life. I love watching my dad with Bella and how much she adores him. Papa has a very special place in her heart and I hope she always knows how blessed she is to have such Papa in her life. My sweet husband celebrated his first Father’s day as a daddy of two 🙂 What a blessing! Thank you precious Lord for gifting me the most amazing dad and for being my Heavenly Father.

Our princess has finished her first round of swimming lessons and even got her first report card upon finishing it.  Is she swimming? No.  But, she loves the concept and she loves to kick in the water.  Her favorite ting of all is “play time” where they go into shallow end and pick out the toys they want to play with.  This girl is quite a character and I can’t help but laugh just remembering all the drama while trying to make her go under water or simply ask her to blow bubbles.  I am proud to report, that she has mastered the bubble blowing and kicking.  She goes under water if I or Barry put her under water, however she still very strongly dislikes that 😉  We are looking forward to taking both her and Joshy to swim classes next year.  I am more than certain she will love it more next year.  In the mean time, she is practicing her bubbles in the bath tub, almost daily 🙂  Oh how I love that girl!  Below are some pictures of memories created.

Oh where do I begin..?  Let’s start with my first official bike ride.  The whole idea came about when Barry and Oleg decided to do Tour de Lincoln and I have always played with the idea, but did not commit.  This time I thought, I could go with my dad and it could be more of a “father-daughter” ride, so I told my dad, he got excited, we signed up and on May 19th we were all set to ride.  Our goal was to go 40 miles.  The weather was absolutely perfect, the morning air was nice and crisp.  Upon getting to our starting point, we grabbed a small snack and off we went. We were doing fantastic until about 8 miles into the ride and then a very unfortunate thing happened, my dad had a slight fall where his left side got skinned pretty bad and he had to head back home.  I did not want to keep going without him, but Oleg told me there was no reason for me not to go on and that he was going to take care of dad while I finished.  The ride ended up being a “husband-wife” team ride.  I couldn’t help but think about my dad through the whole ride and some of the beautiful scenic places we went by where I knew my dad would absolutely love it.  I have faith we will get to go on another ride in the near future, hopefully without any injuries.  I am happy to say, I have finished it and was a bit disappointed as I was not tired and felt like I should have done the 63 miles.  Maybe next year 😉  I definitely want to ride a century one of these fine days.  Another big physical goal for me in 2013 is to run a Big Sur Marathon which I plan on registering for in July.

It seemed crazy to celebrate my birthday as it feels like only a little bit ago we celebrated my 30th.  Well, what do you know, I am another year older, but it was definitely a special birthday for me, thanks to my dear hubby and family.  First, he decided to surprise me with Ruth’s Chris dinner for which he asked my dearest parents to watch the kids.  On the morning of my birthday I woke up without any plans but to spend time with family, where again, I was in pure and complete shock to find my parents downstairs at 8A.M. with huge bouquet of flowers, cake and balloons.  The next thing that came out of Barry’s mouth was, “You better get ready, because you and your mom get to go out for the day on a shopping spree and here is your spending money”.  Can I say it’s every girl’s dream?  I was speechless!  I have not shopped for myself for so long, that it felt like the biggest treat 🙂  Still in shock, I got ready and we left for the day.  My mom and I had a blast, we just wished there were more hours in a day 😉  but who doesn’t?  We came home to more celebration, where Oleg, Lilya and my dad joined us.  There was a 26″ pizza waiting for us when we got there and probably 20lbs of cherries.  I was in heaven 😉  Hands down, one of the best birthdays.  It seems like my birthdays get better and better each year, maybe I don’t mind getting older after all;)

On the “getting older” note, the kids are growing way too fast.  I was putting away some of Joshy’s baby clothes that no longer fit and got quite emotional about how fast he is growing and how precious time is.  The other day Barry told me:  “I don’t want our kids to grow up”.  Funny that he did not know that I was thinking about that at almost that same time.  Just looking at how independent Bella is becoming and more and more she does things on her own.  She doesn’t even need her pants pulled up anymore after potty because she does it on her own ;(  It certainly makes life more and more easier that we don’t have to assist her in everything, but it also hurts to see how fast time is flying and in a blink of an eye she will be asking for car keys.  I am writing this all choked up just thinking how fast that day will come.  So, the dancing classes have ended and we have successfully moved on to swimming.  It has been a blast, Bella loves the water and would stay in it all day if we let her.  She is not the biggest fan of going under, but we are working on it and will hopefully master it soon.  Every day I talk to my baby girl, and still get amazed how huge her vocabulary is.  It’s just like talking to another adult.  Joshy is growing by a minute, the boy is wearing 9 months clothes and probably weighs about 17-18lbs.  I think he might be a tall fella 😉

We have also just celebrated our sever years of marriage and the only word that comes to mind is blessed.  God has hand picked Barry for me, which pretty much sums up that he is the best choice for me and I love him more and more every day.  These seven years flew by like a breeze but we have gained two precious gifts and can not be happier.  If Barry ends up reading this post, I love you honey and can not imagine my life without you.  You have been nothing but kind, loving, carrying, and simply a wonderful man, husband and daddy and I hope to celebrate our 25th and 50th together, perhaps somewhere in Italy 😉

As to traveling, Joshy took his first trip to Fresno last month and did absolutely fantastic on the way there and back.  He also met Mormor for the first time and we are pretty sure he liked her, they had a few bonding moments 🙂  It was fun to see Bella run around and play with sticks and dirt and of course to watch her relationship with Moses, the cat 😉  This is the conversation I overheard while walking by (Bella to Moses):  “I love you Moses, you are such a good cat”.  I wish you could hear the tone in that I love you, I couldn’t help but smile.  We talk about Moses very often still and I am sure we will see him again soon.  Now on to pictures…

What an honor and a gift from God to be a mother. Never in a million years, could I have imagined what mother’s love feels like until I had my babies. It’s almost as if your heart is going to burst with all the love you hold for them. Mother’s day is truly a wonderful holiday, not only do you give and receive extra attention; you also remember what an honor it is to have a mother and to be a mother. To me, it was a day of extreme appreciation and gratitude. I kept thanking God for my dear, kind, giving, and loving mom and at the same time could not tame my heart from the joy of being a mother myself. I kept asking God, “how did I ever deserve this”? I could not stop looking at my babies and praising Him for giving me a gift of motherhood. I pray that I can be the mother He intended for me to be, and I will never stop relying on the One and Only to walk me through the journey of selfless giving and yet to have enough strength to discipline and not give up. Every day holds a challenge and it is only through God that we face them with strength and love. I often get asked a question: “Don’t you get tired of being at home with kids every single day”? My response: “Never”. I am sure they are not talking about physical exhaustion but more so mental and I cannot even fathom my life any other way. Yes, it is exhausting at times, you get tired of laundry, spit-ups, cleaning up, ironing, repeating the same thing over and over again, but at the end of the day you have nothing but gratitude for such gifts in your life. Nothing compares, to hugs, also known as “squeezies” , the way their face lights up when they see you, the laughter, the cute little voices and especially when you hear “Mama/Daddy, you are my best friend”, or at the end of the night after you tuck them in and pray with them, “I love you mama/daddy”. To hear them pray for you and thank Jesus for you, is absolutely indescribable. What on this earth can be more valuable or precious than your baby’s life, and it is your job is to teach them love, compassion, generosity, gratitude and respect. It is for a fact the MOST difficult job you will be ever given, but also the MOST rewarding of all if you have done your job as a parent. God willing, I will have many more Mother’s Days to come and what a great day to simply sit back and reflect on the previous year and all the beautiful changes that took place. I continually ask God to guide me as a mother and to give me strength and patience to teach my babies what is most valuable in life.

Ever since it has been warm and sunny out, I had this idea in my head to take Bella out somewhere in the field of wild flowers and take a couple of pictures of her. Somehow, time kept slipping away and the next thing I knew it warmed up to 90’s and the snakes were out where I was planning on taking her. Last weekend, my parents invited us for barbeque and as I was getting the kids ready, I thought what a perfect day to take her out and shoot a few pictures. Of course it was warm that day and the sun was brightly shining, but with lots of sunscreen I got what I got and am grateful for it. Below are a few shots of Joshy inside and of Bella outside. I think they both had fun, even if I might be known as the crazy mom with camera in their face almost daily 😉 Just making memories is all 🙂

On April 28th, Bella had her first “tot dance” class. Ever since the day I signed her up for it, she has been excited and talking about it constantly. Finally the day came and she informed me, that she was not going to dance, especially not if “other girls” were there also. Let’s just say it was somewhat of a rocky morning and Barry and I had little to no hope that she was at all going to participate in the class that was already pre-paid. Luckily her friend Lissy was also attending the class and our hope was, that she would want to be right by Lissy’s side 😉 As soon as we walked in the room, our daughter started crying (expected). After a few minutes and watching Lissy jump around and asking Bella to come with her, she warmed up a little bit and took a few steps to join Lissy. It’s funny how us as parents also go through certain emotions and in this case, I was feeling a bit sad and wish I could help her acclimate without her feeling as if she doesn’t belong. Bella is definitely not someone I would call social and she never has been. She will not shower you with smiles and try to make friends, she is the type that will take her time and analyze each and every situation that comes her way. Often I feel I should get her exposed to more kids, but that is not who she is. She will be the type that will have a few friends and love and hold on to them dearly and there is nothing wrong with that. I can tell she is content to be with adults and does not feel a bit bored or unhappy. She told me the other day: “Mama, you are my best friend” as she held my face in her hands. Can I say priceless? Yes! I see I drifted off in my thoughts…back to the dance class. I was grateful Rachel (Lissy’s mama) was there, and she helped encourage Bella to join other girls and follow the instructions that were given. If I have done that, she would have just stayed by my side never leaving to see how fun dancing class can be. Thank you Rachel!
As all these cute girls jumped and twirled, I could not believe how quick time has gone by and my tiny Bella was twirling and dancing right there with them. It was the most adorable site, they were all so adorable and free spirited. Tutus, tights, ballet slippers, it was quite a girly deal all the way. At the end, she was so excited, she couldn’t wait to go back and has been again talking about it non stop 🙂 I love my girl!!!

Our handsome prince turned three months young today, what a blessing he has been.  I can’t even imagine life without him, he brings us nothing but joy.  I have decided to do a little photoshoot of Joshua on the 16th of each month and record his milestones.  Feel free to check out Joshua’s Page as well as Bella’s age for more updates.
Bella is starting dance classes at the end of this month and is very excited about it.  She asked to put on her ballerina shoes the other day with the rest of her dancing outfit 🙂  More updates about dance class to come.  Here are a few pictures from Joshua’s photoshoot today and Bella’s dancing outfit.

What a joy to celebrate Life! He has risen indeed! Every year Easter comes as such a blessing and a great reminder that Christ has laid his life for us. What an honor it is to be His child and to know that only by His grace we get eternal life. My heart wishes so much that every person would know what Christ has done for us and truly accept His gift of salvation. I came to a conclusion this year, that Christmas and Easter are by far two of my favorite holidays. They both celebrate Christ, birth and resurrection. I can not express the joy I have in my heart as I write this post.
On Easter morning our family went to church, it was Joshua’s first time in church and he did fantastic. We were fortunate enough that nana was working at Sunday school, so Bella could stay there during the service and play with her nana 🙂 After a wonderful Easter service both families came over to our house. This Easter we decided to host and boy, little did I realize, it was not as easy as I have anticipated with two kids, but it all worked out and we were able to get everything done on time and share a wonderful meal. Of course we could not pass up the opportunity to have everyone hunt for eggs as it was Bella’s first egg hunt, where she could fully comprehend what was going on. She and Joshy received special Easter baskets from both grandparents and from mommy and daddy. Our day was completed with a short trip to nana’s and papa’s house for yet another egg hunt and more presents. We have two very spoiled munchkins but what a wonderful blessing they are.
Thank you dear Lord for your precious gift of eternal life!

When Barry and I just got married and talked about potentially home schooling when we have kids, I was not too keen on the idea and believed that my kids will go to school just like all others. Now that we have kids and I see what public schools have to offer, I am singing a completely different tune and thinking that I will home school for as long as I can. Many disagree that home schooling is a smart choice, but every parent makes the final decision what is best for their child and for mine it will be home schooling, with possibly private school down the road. I have been working with Bella on colors, letters, animals, numbers and so much more since pretty much her birth. To me it’s nothing special, I just make sure to tell her what things are at all times and get her involved in coloring, painting, puzzles and other various fun projects. She learns very fast, so I constantly have to make sure to give her new information, otherwise she gets bored easily. She just turned two a couple of months ago and I feel like I got my work cut out for me. The years are flying by, I just have to make sure I can keep up and offer as much as I can to keep her interested. With that said, I have been laying out themes and looking for a good curriculum that will be interesting and interactive. I will keep each theme for a week and try to create as many activities and learning tools as possible to help her remember what she learned. Our theme for next week is “ocean life” which means we will learn about the ocean and all that lives in the ocean including corals and a variety of fish. I can’t wait!