Thanksgivukkah at the Beach!

This year we made the trek to sunny San Diego for Thanksgiving & a few nights of Hanukkah!  The kids were absolutely thrilled to spend time with their cousins, and a little beach time never hurts...  Any quality family time is an absolute party at the ages the kids are.  We ate turkey, lit the Menorah and hit a few surf shops!  Perfect combination to make the kids smile.

The Snail Monster Returns!

By now I'm surprised they don't stop us at the border and immediately arrest Aubrey on site!  She has such an all encompassing obsession with snails it's not even funny.  During this visit it rained a bit in Cali, which made for prime snail hunting conditions.  Here is sweet little Aubs with an entire bucket full of prisoners... Papa was a real sport and accompanied her on her daily snail hunts while at Aunt Caren's and Uncle Pat's. 

Snuggle Monsters!

Momma has a routine whenever we're in Cali.  She gets up early with the twins and sneaks out of the room so Mia & Daddy can sleep in...  The twins are definitely morning people, like Momma!  Here they are dancing along the shore in their new monster sweatshirts one morning.  Kinda fit their personality, huh?!

Skater Chick!

As has been clear from day 1, Mia is no ordinary child.  She excels at everything she does, and just has a super cool vibe to her personality.  Thankfully, she is not a traditional child.  She loves to race dirt bikes, work on cars and has decided that her new calling is to be a professional skater chick!  As you can tell, Daddy has no hand in any of this...  So Mia had her first skate boarding lesson tonight at the local skate park.  Her instructor, a teenage boy, couldn't believe how quickly she picked it up and was riding the ramps.  Mia almost cried when it was time to leave and was begging for her next visit.  It's so amazing to be able to see how cool she feels when she succeeds at something intimidating and challenging...  That's one cool chick!

Mrs. Chaos!

I swear this girl has 12 different personalities...  And they rotate every few minutes!  She is an unbelievably sweet and loving child.  She's also amazing fun & inquisitive.  That said, we're going to have our hands full in a few years...  Ugghhhh!

Handsome Man!

Brandon has entered the cutest phase of wanting to be like Daddy.  So the other morning when Mommy was getting the kids ready to go to the Children's Museum, Brandon decided he needed to be stylish.  He insisted that Daddy blow dry his hair and 'do it cool'.  Then he wanted to use Daddy's mouth wash and get a spritz of Daddy's cologne.  He topped it off with a tie and was ready for the day!  After a few hours at the museum Mommy asked Bubbies why the long face, and he lamented that no one had told him he looks handsome...  Such a sweet little guy!

Gingerbread Houses!

This week we decided to have a Gingerbread House competition!  Here's how it went down. Brandon dumped all of his icing in a big pile and then smashed his face into it and at it as quickly as possible! Aubrey made a few patterns, whined for more of whatever she didn't have, melted down, then smiled and ate all of her candy. Mia spent close to two hours perfecting a professional grade house design, complete with drawings and plans... Then executed with amazing detail and craftsmanship. Yep, pretty much tells you everything about their crazy divergent little personalities!

Spring Time!!

Spring has finally arrived!  Or at least our version of spring...  The heat has broken and the kids can't get enough of playing outside.  Here they are turning our street into a constant party.  Once the toys start coming out, the kids congregate from all over and the party begins! 

The Family Mutt!

It didn't take long for Mr Marshall to ingrain himself in the Lovell home!  He is an amazingly smart and sweet little guy, with the perfect temperament to deal with Aubrey's incessant harassment...  It only took about 2 weeks to housebreak him and, short of his constant stalking of the kitty, he's just about perfect.  We can't imagine life without our little Marshall. 

Hot Tub Season!

Now that the heat has broken and the gorgeous holiday weather has set in, the kids are living in the hot tub!  Nothing like a dip in the tub followed by smores around the fire to make for an ideal evening...

The Little Chef!

Every Friday night is family night.  We let the kids choose what they want to do.  Sometimes we stay in for movie night, others nights we head out to Dave n Busters, or some other fun establishment.  This past week Mia announced that she wanted her & Daddy to make dinner, from scratch, for the family. So we created a menu, generated shopping a list and got after it...  Pizza from scratch, an amazing salad, and some world class spaghetti made for one hell of a family meal!!  She was very committed and never lost focus. Then, of course, there is the mandatory class clown in the back ground.  Bubbies is always entertaining with his silly little personality!  At the end of the night, Mia proclaimed this was the best day she ever had... 

Underpants Girl

Aubrey decided to proclaim herself 'Underpants Girl' and ran around the house insisting I take pictures of her!  Yes, she's quite the ham...  The kids are all going through such amazingly fun ages.  We're past the challenges of diapers & cribs, and onto the party phase of child rearing!!