March Motley

Here is the motley for the rest of the month of March:

They love playing "Santa" with each other and here they are one early morning with Ella pretending to be Santa and Julia supposedly telling her what she wants!  Ha!  

 Julia wanted in on the Dr. Seuss celebration from Joseph's school so stole his hat!  

 I'm pretty sure they were doing an obstacle course at this time and I just had to snap a picture of the craziness!! It's hard to see but this is so normal at our house-I try to remind them that couches aren't for jumping on but honestly most days it is just pointless to do so!  Julia even knows how to climb up the arms and can catapult herself across it!  

 Just hanging out with her big brother...you know, just not following mom's directions and sitting on the arm of the couch!!  

 Julia totally gets into story time these days!!

 Their favorite place to play at the playground at Joseph's school is right in the middle of the sand, water and mud!!  Many days I take them home with in very dirty clothes but they are having a blast and with a good soak thankfully it comes out! 

 Craziness at bedtime!

 We went to our neighbor's 4th birthday party on March 5th and they had two of the largest pinatas ever!!  The kids had a blast and we are so thankful for our neighborhood!!

 Ella taking a whack at it! 

And, Joseph's turn!

 I snapped this picture of Julia because it SO reminded me of her as a baby.  I think she definitely still has the same look!

 Hanging out at the Westwood club one afternoon.

 Being silly one morning as I got ready.

 Big girl loving the big girl swings!!

 Just hanging out one morning...

 We met up with friends from mops at a park one day to play and to decorate bunny cupcakes.

 The decorating crew

 Joseph continues to enjoy Little Rookies, the skills and drills type of tball/baseball classes that he attends weekly.  His buddy from school joined this past session which has been fun for the two of them!  In the huddle at the end of class yelling "Little Rookies!!"

 Ella and Joseph have enjoyed stealing my phone this month and taking all sorts of pictures-every night I find a variety of entertaining photos from them!

A funny tidbit about Ella this month-she was supposed to be resting while Joseph was at school one day and Julia was napping and she came into my room where I was on the floor reading and she asked me what I was doing.  I told her that I was reading but she could sit here next to me until I was done and then I'd get her what she needed.  She said ok and was quiet for a few moments while I started reading again and then she says, "Mom, I don't hear you reading!"  Too cute!!  

 We walked and rode bikes one morning at the community park about 2 miles from our house and Joseph had to stop and test out the pull up bars on the way around.

 Loving her first pony tail

 We colored eggs on March 12th for some Easter fun!

 Julia had a little help from Daddy at first.

She then quickly figured it out on her own.  

 Sweet sisters eating breakfast outside one morning.  

My friend from mops is super talented and designs and sews custom made outfits!  She needed some girl models so I happily agreed to volunteer our two sweet girls.  We met in La Jolla on a Sunday afternoon for pictures and although I was a bit anxious that I might lose one of them off the cliffs, everyone survived and she got some cute pictures.

I had to capture the sunset as we were leaving that night-so pretty!

 This girl is too funny!!  I just love her little personality and how she is always keeping up with Joseph and Ella!  She is totally into bags/purses and putting things in them and walking around with them.  She'll always say "bye" as she leaves the room normally pushing the stroller and carrying a purse or two.

 And, these curls!!!  Awww!

 We still aren't able to get into the pool since it continues to settle after the resurfacing but they sure are having a  blast with the squirt guns!

 And Julia keeps herself entertained while they are on the other side of the pool fence.

 Ella was playing really quietly by herself for a long time one day when Joseph was at school-just talking to herself with the duplex.

 We met my friend from Hawaii, Kristie, with her two kids at the Safari Park one day.  It was a gorgeous day and the kids had a blast!

 Sweet sisters

Ella still calls Julia "Baby Ju Ju" and always says things like, "Do you want your big sister to help you?"  

 Painting nails one morning

 They do such a good job of entertaining one another when I am folding laundry-today they decided to play potato sack races!  

 Modeling his new shades from the Easter bunny!

 The following pictures were found on my phone taken by Joseph!

 Putting a ponytail in her hair one morning.

Joseph and his donut that he made from school

 Sweet girls again!

 On the last day of March we headed down to the zoo to meet up with the Ozecks-a good time as always.

 After the zoo we checked out the carousel in Balboa Park for the first time!

Sadly, on March 26th (Easter Saturday) my Grandma D passed away.  She was 94 years old and had hip surgery the week due to a fall.  The surgery seemed to have gone well but she then had trouble recovering and just couldn't hold on any longer.  Thankfully my dad, along with her four other children, were able to be with her for the entire week prior to her passing and my dad said that she wasn't in pain and was ready.  Gram D was one of the most thoughtful people I have ever had the privilege of being close to and she was always such a joy to be around and to talk with on the phone.  You could just always feel the love and happiness from her and how much she truly loved her family. She will definitely be missed but we know that she is in a better place with her husband who passed away on Good Friday in 1969.  There is something sweet about both passing away over the Easter weekend just many years apart.  

This picture was taken just three weeks prior to her passing away as many of us were together for my Uncle Dennis' funeral.  I feel so thankful that we were able to see her then and she was able to meet Julia.  Gram didn't want a funeral so her children are going to New Jersey this summer to attend mass in the town where she grew up and spend time together there.  Love you Gram and thanks for being such a loving, patient and thoughtful matriarch for our family.  

 To finish out the month I had to include this sweet picture that one of the moms from Joseph's preschool class posted on her Facebook page.  Her caption said, "I love how they live life!! Kids are awesome and can teach us so much!"  It is so true!  Love the friendships that Joseph has made this year so far in his class and how much fun they have together.  

Now we are off to April...