Summer 2013

So i started this blog earlier today and actually had time to focus. It was not working, I stepped away and now it is gone. So much for setting aside some time to blog about all that has been happening. I guess such is the life with two kids. I am loving every minute of being a mom.

Jack is growing up so fast and very much boy. He loves his dad more than anything. He loves dirt, trains, cars, wrestling and music. He is super entertaining. His big thing right now is potty training. I thought this was going to be the absolute worse thing of parenting. Yes, it has been difficult, but not anywhere close to what I was imagining.

Chloe is our sweet little girl that watches everything and just takes in her surroundings. She loves everything and is not really bothered by anything. She will eat anything, especially if she can feed herself. She is also trying desperately to walk. She wants to keep up with Jack so badly. I know that she will be walk before we know it. Chloe is very much momma's girl. I love that because Jack is all about Daddy. I guess that is how it should be.

We have had a great summer, even though it has been spent mostly at home. It has been fun to just enjoy the kids and let them enjoy time to play. We have had a few weekend trips, but like I said, trying to just make the most of each day we have here at home.

I decided that this blog would mostly be pictures of our growing children and the things we have been up to all summer.

                    Brother and sisterly love!!!

                       Guitar playing with Daddy.

                                                                        Exploring!

 Jack loves having his picture taken while we are on our daily walks.

                              Laundry! so much more fun this way!

                          And she standing!!!

We have spent many days playing in Grandma and Grandpas backyard

 Chloe goes to work with me and she loves to recycle.

 If there is nowhere to put the blanket, keep it on your head.

 Tractors!!!! Jack's new favorite thing!!!

                                            Popscicles!!!

                              Cousin time!!!!

 Ice is so much fun to play with, especially when it is super smoky outside!

                                        Movie time with Daddy!

 Eating dirt never hurt, right?

Gardening!

It has been a great summer. We have had a great time.

Summer in The Cazin house

We have had quite the summer. In all actuality it has been pretty slow. We have had a few amazing weekends and lots of long days at home. I have enjoyed the days with my children. We have had many days of swimming, playing and just loving each other.

In May my brother and his wife came up for the weekend to have a wedding reception. i made all the desserts and had a great time doing it. I think I would totally love to do this as a side job. i love being able to make for other people.

In June we traveled down to San Luis obispo for the weekend for my cousin's wedding. That was an awesome weekend. We stayed in a house with the family, spent time at the beach, went on walks, and had an amazing time at the wedding.

July was a pretty slow month, but we had a great time relaxing.

We just got back from a great weekend celebrating our 5 wedding anniversary. It was so perfect. Charlie planned a weekend away at the pepper ill in Reno. We left the children and got to relax and do things completely on our own schedule. I loved that. It was a little tough to leave the kids for so long, but I think we both needed that. We came home feeling completely refreshed. We even got to spend a couple hours at Lake Tahoe. Charlie knows that is my favorite place.

Other than these few events we have watching the kids grow before our eyes.... Time is going by so fast.

Chloe is growing up so fast. It is hard to believe that she is almost ten months old. She has such a laid back personalty that is a little more reserved than Jack ever was. There are so many things that I notice that are different between the two of them. I am amazed that I can already tell a difference. Chloe is our petite little girl who is super determined. She does not give up easily. She is a pretty good sleeper, but I realize know that Jack is a huge sleeper. Also Chloe is a fast little crawler. She is standing up and trying to walk. I am sure it will be soon. Also, even though Chloe is small and may not eat a lot, she will eat anything. Ere has not been a food that she will not eat. However, she will also put everything in her mouth. It seems that even if I just vacuum she can find the one thing on the floor to put in her mouth. She will dig for things. It amazes me. One of my favorite things about Chloe is that she is a super snuggler. She is a momma's girl and I love that. I love that she always needs her mom and wants nothing more than to be right by me. I am so in love with this little girl of mine. I am so thankful that God has blessed me with a daughter. I look forward to watching her grow and developing an amazing friendship with her. I want to have such a special bond with her. These ten months with her have been amazing. She has the sweetest smile and the best personality.

Jack is two and a half today and every bit boy. Right after his second birthday he started loving everything boy. He loves dirt, trucks, tractors, balls, climbing,wrestling and music. He also loves his daddy so incredibly much, just like every boy should. As soon as Charlie gets home from work everything is about daddy. He wants daddy to help him with everything. I love and I know that it melts Charlie's heart. It is so amazing to watch. Jack is our little social butterfly. He loves other kids and will always find someone to play with, just today when we were at the park he was trying to get the other little boy to ply with him. He did not give up and finally succeeded. Because of all his cousins he is pretty convinced that he is at least four.   Jack has so much personality and loves things to be just the right way. He such a happy child and loves to make people laugh. it we will get right in their face until they respond. right now Jack has speech therapy twice a week and he is making great progress with communicating with us. i love that i am starting to understand what he is trying to say.

Charlie is working a lot and staying busy with different church activities. he spends all his free time with the kids. He such an amazing father and I love watching him with the kids. I am so blessedly to have such an amazing husband. We have had 5 in double years and God has continued to bless us. I look forward to so many more years together,

One of the major things I have taken up this summer is running. When I first moved home I started running and thought I could prepare for a marathon. That thought did not last long. However, I have recently been challenged by a friend to run a marathon with her. I have been running and the thought of running a marathon does sound rewarding, but at the same time it sounds completely scary. I wonder if I can really do that. I enjoy running, but I have never run more than 6 miles...not even close to 26. I have really been trying to push myself and see what I am capable of. I am getting discouraged because the last few times I have run I have ended up with a migraine. I need to figure out the cause and then maybe this goal with feel a little more achievable. We will see. I have some time. Like I said, I enjoy running so we will see how far I can go.

Our Life in Pictures

All I can say for not blogging this past month is that I have been enjoying life with my family. I have been soaking up time with them. There are so many times when I am reminded of the fact that these times will not last forever and I want to enjoy them as much as possible. I have thoroughly enjoyed how much spring weather we have had this year. There have been so many gorgeous days and we have been soaking up the sun. We have had so many days at the park, playing on the deck, going on walks and just having a great time. The kids and I have quite a bit of time during the day to just enjoy our little routine.

We have had a few amazing highlights from the last few months. We were super blessed to be able to spend a weekend at a timeshare in Windsor. It was a perfect weekend. We drove up Friday night and stayed until Sunday. My parents were able to go with us and we spent the weekend playing on the playground, exploring, swimming, shuffle boarding, relaxing and enjoying the downtown area. We also ate our way through the weekend. What a wonderful time with the kids. We felt so blessed.

  We ate breakfast on the back patio and had a great lunch downtown. We had ice cream, chocolate and coffee. I just loved the lack of a time schedule and the slow pace of the weekend.

We also got to visit the Schultz museum in Santa Rosa. We always like to see something extra when we go on vacation to a new place.

Charlie and Jack were watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory while the rest of us explored the candy store.

Jack and Chloe loved the pool. This was Chloe's first experience in the water and she did a great job. She was so relaxed I think she will be a great  swimmer. This little pool was great because Jack could stand up and run around. He played with all the other little kids that came into the pool. He really does not know a stranger.

 

 

 

 Mother's day was a special day for our family. We had the chance to dedicate Chloe to the Lord. That is always a very special time because it is recognizing the gift that God has blessed us with and promising to raise her in a godly home where she will be taught about the Lord.

 

 

 

That afternoon we joined with a few family and friends for a  day at the park. The kids played. Jack was the target for many of the water guns.

Elizabeth and Chloe had a great time playing as well.

We have been playing a lot at home. Jack practices feeding Chloe. We wrestle, play cards, build legos, snuggle, read books, do puzzles and just laugh a lot.

Chloe has mastered crawling and sitting up. There is not many places that Jack goes that she cannot. She wants to be right where he is. He is still adjusting to sharing toys and having a little sister in everything.

But He loves is little "Doee" so much.

Alan and Erin came to Grass Valley for the weekend. The kids had a great time playing with them. We also got to celebrate their wedding as we had a reception for them with some of our local friends where were not able to make it to Texas for the wedding. It was so fun to spend the weekend with them. Love you both so much.

 

I actually made all the desserts for the reception. Jack was my little helper.

We have had a lot of fun together and we are looking forward to a wonderful summer.  

April...our growing children.

Our life in pictures. What have we been up to during the past month. I could go into a lot of detail, but pictures are way more fun to look at and they are just so stinking cute. I have been trying really hard to make sure that I take pictures of Chloe. I don't want to get through this stage and realize that I have not take any pictures. We have hundreds of Jack, but it is definetly more difficult to remember, the more children you have. So here are several pictures of my cute girl and some of her milestones.

She started eating real food. She is only eat oatmeal for the time being, but she is starting to show more interest in what we are eating. She really is not a big eater so she has taken her time with this stage of life.

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!! I am sick month old. Crazy Daddy...what are you doing?

 

Oh and yes I am starting to crawl. I just love getting into brother's toys. THey are way more fun than my own. It is fun to able to get to where I want to go.

 

All this activity wears me out. I am sleeping through the night in my big crib. Okay, so mommy puts lots of blankets to keep me warm and I am sleeping on my tummy, but that is not mommy's fault. She always puts me on my back, but my tummy is much more comfortable.

Then we have Jack. After his second birthday in February, something clicked and he is all boy. NOtice him drumming. That is a very common occurance in our house. Also, he loves dirt, trucks, cars, food and balls. He is a super active boy and can entertain a crowd. I wonder where he gets that from? ANyway, he brings so much joy to our lives and we love each day with new adventures.

 

Our little Easter bunny. We had a great time celebrating Easter with friends and family. We had a big egg hunt outside and ended up getting soak from the rain. Jack was not ready to go inside. ALso, in the weeks since Easter he has managed to find 5 Easter eggs in my parents yard while he is playing out there. I guess we did not count the eggs very well.

 

Asleep again. With all the activity in our house she does not need a bed to fall asleep, the swing will do just fine.

Jack had a great time dying Easter eggs. He was pretty up set when we were all done and there were no more eggs to dye.

Crawling again.

 

 

We also got to get away this past weekend. We were able to travel to Windsor, CA and stay in a condo up there. We had a great time relaxing, swimming, playing outside, shopping and sight seeing. IT was so nice to get away and not really have any responsibilities. I loved it. Jack loved the pool. Chloe loved the pool as well and Charlie just loved being with his family.

 

At the end of the day Jack is pretty worn out and it is not unusual for us to find him asleep as if he did not even make it to lying down. What a cute kid.

This is Life

I keep thinking I should blog. It as been such a long time and I am really not keeping up. I was so good about blogging about Jack every single month, but I just barely remember that Chloe is another month older. The time has just flown by. Sometimes I wish that life would just slow down and I could just soak in the moments. Maybe that is some fo the reason I have not blogged very consistently, I am trying to soak up those moments. I absolutely love being a mother and I love both of my children dearly. Yes, it may mean days where I don't shower, or don't have a real meal. It may even mean melt downs and messes, but at the end of the day when I look into my children's faces and see their beautiful smiles, or when they give me big hugs or when everythin is right ith the world when mom walks in the door....those are the moments that make everything else worth it. I am often amazed at the love that I feel for my children. It is much more than I would have imagined possible. It is a gift.

It seems like all I do lately is focus on how difficult my life is and how it does not go the  way that I have expected it to. I really don't want to live in that place. God has been teaching me so much through friends, devotionals and even trials. I am reminded that I have a blessed life and outside the difficulties of this life I can stand firm on a very real hope. A hope that there is a purpose to each day and there is something bigger than my small little problems. What a good reminder. When I think of eternity it is great to remember the things that are important in this life. A professor in college once told me that the only thing in this life that matter are the relationships. I love that. I often have to remind myself of this so that each day I can focus on those relationships that God has blessed me with and the relationships that are to come my way.  I long to pass this on to my children. I want them to live with an eternal perspective and always put the needs of others above themselves. This is so contrary to our culture, but it is exactly what God has asked of us. I long for them to know these things. I know that the best way to teach them these things is by putting them into practice in my own life. It is more difficult than I imagined, but I pray that the love of Christ will shine through my actions so my children will be impacted.

Okay, I am not even sure what tangent I ended up on, but I guess sometimes it is good to just sit down and release emotions.