A Good Week!

What a fun week it was, first real week of summer! Matthew and his buddies AJ & Aiden all got to participate in Kidsgames at North Coast Calvary Church. Despite it being a tad hectic (ok that's an understatement) and a few tear-y drop-offs, Matthew and the boys had a GREAT time running around, going in lots of jumpies, learning Bible stories, singing songs, and just plain having fun :) 

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Giraffes 2! Aiden is bottom left, Matthew is front middle, AJ is a bit hidden, 

hat over his eyes kinda smooshed into the first-ish row toward the right :)

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AJ, Aiden & Matthew - love these boys (and their moms)!! :)

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Thursday night we had dinner on the beach with good friends, the Turners, Davidsons and Martinezes  - such a joy to have such amazing friends, with kids our kids adore as well. We had such a great time, Josh and I decided to repeat dinner on the beach Friday night, just the 4 of us. We found a spot next to a ginormous sand pit someone had dug (pics do NOT do it justice) - the kids had a BLAST jumping in and out, rolling and tumbling, the whole night. I see MANY more beach dinners in our future :)

Paint!

Duck , Duck , Goose!!

Had a fun afternoon feeding the ducks (and geese) 

& "hiking" with the kiddos :)

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Wicked fun!

Back in 2003, when I went to New York with my girlfriends, Wicked was a brand new musical, just premiering on Broadway and getting rave reviews. I remember thinking it looked interesting, but I didn't know much about it. Since then it's popularity has boomed, and I picked up and read the book it is based on this past Fall. When I found out it was coming to San Diego this summer I was thrilled! Today I got to go see it with my mom and my mom's best friend (my *aunt*) Jan - it was amazing, really a fun show. I kept daydreaming about being up on stage belting out those songs along with them, I miss the stage, I really miss singing!! Someday, maybe when the kids are in school, I will get back into it :) 

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Ended the day with a trip to get fro yo with our good friends the Davidsons - Matthew, Sammy & Kaylie enjoying their creations :)

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Silly :)

Growing Up

I know they're constantly growing up, but it just seems like their growing up has been on fast forward lately! In the past two weeks, Kaylie has successfully potty-trained, moved into a big girl bed (well, it's in her room at least) and Matthew learned to ride his bike with no training wheels - he's awesome at it!! No more diapers. No more cribs. No more training wheels. I can already see them heading off to college. . . .it'll be here before I know it! :-/

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Pretty Potty-trained Princess :)

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Big Girl Bed!!

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Matthew on his bike minus training wheels - woohoo!

New Beginnings

After 3 wonderful years at home with M & K, Josh and I decided it was time for me to go back to work - it really all just fell into place, actually, I have really felt God opening so many doors. To backtrack a bit - before I became a stay at home mom, I was working as an administrative assistant for Growth Groups at North Coast Church - I actually blogged about my last day here :).  I mentioned in that post that I hoped to go back someday, and I did! I've actually gone back on several temporary assignments, but this time it's the real deal. I'm excited. I've only worked 1.5 days, but I'm loving it - the people are amazing, the job is great - it gets stressful but I'm not there yet :) I really feel like this is going to be a blessing for the kids as well - they get to spend a day with daddy, a day with grandma & grandpa, and 2 days at North Coast Church Preschool (so close to me!) - so blessed :) So here it is, my blank canvas, my desk area to make my own. I have a few things, but I'm coming up with some fun ideas to decorate - I'll have to post the finished product at a later date! A new chapter begins :)

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Happy Father's Day

To my dad - Scott Helton - probably the most amazing, goofiest, kindest, most self-sacrificing dad and grandpa in the whole entire world. Seriously. And not just grandpa, but best buddy to M and K - so blessed :)

To my husband - Josh - an awesome, hard-working, loving daddy, who loves to wrestle, ride bikes and be silly with the kiddos :)

Fun Times

Kids got to pick a mini-harvest at my parents' house the other day - they absolutely love growing fruits and veggies with Grandpa, from planting to watering to the best part - harvesting :) I love that they love their fruits and veggies, Matthew even prefers tomatoes over strawberries, he eats them like apples!

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Wednesday we got to go visit Josh's sister, Brittany, up in Menifee for the day - they live in an awesome community with a wonderful clubhouse/pool/splashground/playground - the kids had a blast!

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Today Josh took Matthew out on his bike, minus the training wheels! There was a lot of Josh running up and down the street with his hands on the handlebars alongside Matthew's, but there were several times M asked him to let go and he was able to balance himself and keep going! Our little boy is growing up fast :)

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Kaylie let me play dress up on her :) I bought this dress around Christmastime, but for whatever reason she never got to wear it - it's just been sitting in her closet without a proper occasion for. So today I saw it and thought "why not?!" It's a little short now, so I paired it with leggings, she looked so cute :)

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Proof of Matthew riding without training wheels!

Just Because. . .

. . .I have some pics I'd love to post, but they're not individually blog worthy :)

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The other day I made green goo, out of flour cornstarch, food coloring and water. Kids had a blast (and made a DISASTROUS mess - but it was worth it :)

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Kaylie at the top of the hill in my parents backyard, ready to fly her airplane

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Matthew was being quiet in his room, walked in to see this :)

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Fun hot tub afternoon with the kiddos

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K & M often run ahead to beat me to the front door, while I take my time - when I round the corner this is what I see most days :)

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Miles, AJ, M & K playing at the park :)

San Diego County Fair!

We were headed down the 5 freeway to Sea World this afternoon, when we passed the Del Mar Fair Grounds and realized "hey, it's opening day for the fair!" - looked it up quickly online and realized it was $4 admission day - awesome! So we turned around and went to the fair! First time ever for the kids, first time for josh and I in at least 5 years, if ever, I don't even remember. The kids loved the rides, we could have spent hours (and hundreds, yikes) there - walked through the cattle area and the inside "shopping" areas. Tried some disgusting garlic bacon ranch fries - I think I would have rather tried the fried frog legs two booths down :) Hoping to go back on a $2 Tuesday!

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In the double decker, on the way back to our car, posed for a pic with my boy - and the cool dude in the background, of course :)

En Vogue

Not only is my brother a cool guy and a good friend, he's a wonderful photographer as well! He and his wife Kristen came to visit from Portland a few weeks ago, we had such a good time seeing them, wish it happened more often. We were overdue for some quality family photos, and here's what we got!

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Matthew and one of his best buds, AJ :) 

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PT Week!

This sweet little face has embarked upon the infamous PT Week - Potty Training Boot Camp! 

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Final Tally Day 1: Four #1s in the potty, One #2 in the potty, and 2.5 accidents - using an M&Ms reward system (which of course I have to award Matthew too, haha) - proud of our little girl :) We'll see what the rest of the week brings, hoping she'll be primarily trained in 2 weeks, when I have to go back to work - we'll see! *Update! PT week has been going great! A few accidents, but overall success - by day 7 I'd say she's all but night-time potty trained!! Yay Kaylie :)

(Adorable pic by Greg Helton Photography - many more photos will be on the blog soon :)