We are FAMILY

I LOVE when my brother and his family come in town. I literally count down the days. Well they were here a couple weeks ago and it was a whirlwind weekend. The Saturday they were here, we rented a pontoon boat on Big Bear Lake and had a blast!!

The cousins all in a row..of course, trying to get them to all look at the camera at the same time...not gonna happen.
Our captain.

My handsome nephew, Colt.

All the kids had to wear life vests, even Gideon...a little big on him wouldn't you say?

My beautiful sister in law, Pia.

Me and my girl.

Esther hitching a ride with her uncle.

The motley crew.

Does Esther look like she looks up to her daddy?

Pile up on Auntie Pia.

A close up of my handsome son.

This mother duck and her ducklings kept following us, and we weren't even feeding them or anything..it was really cute. So of course, we gave in and DID feed them.

Our little skipper.

I love the colors in this picture.

A boy and his Appa.

Me and my niece, Matilda. Aren't her eyes gorgeous?

The weather was amazing there that day. Down the hill it was in the 100s and up in Big Bear was in the low 80s and some cloud cover made it even cooler. So nice to escape the heat.

A happy kid.

I love this picture.

Ring around the kitty

4th of July

We had a GREAT 4th of July...as always we went to Harris Ranch and swam and bbqed. Since Yucaipa wasn't doing fireworks this year, Jill decided to set up a giant movie screen in the backyard and played Wall-E. Another great holiday with family.

As always, a game of water war has begun.....

Rick and Campbell trying to fight back. Camille and Gideon..she is so sweet with him.

McKenna and Camille.

My parents joined us and Esther loved showing them her skills.

I think Esther has found her calling.....

Beginning the screening of Wall-E.

Served with love

It's been so much fun lately as the kids are interacting together more and more. Since Gideon has been sitting up and eating solids (in a high chair), Esther is always offering him toys to play with and of course, offering to feed him. Even though she isn't that good at it and it takes SO much longer than normal, I love to let her feed him his veggies and fruit. And Gideon is so cute. He loves his big sister so much, he is more than happy to wait a little bit longer for his lunch, since he knows it's served with love.

Another Big Milestone

****WARNING: if you find pee and poo offensive, LOOK AWAY***

Well the littlest girl in our house is learning to relieve herself via the potty. She started last Tuesday (the 23rd) and she is doing AWESOME!! I decided I was going to just stay home for a few days and JUST focus on potty training and the first day was rough. I doubted if she was ready and it seemed like she just didn't care if she peed all over herself. But things got better and then on Thursday it just seemed to "click" ya know and now our baby is almost completely potty trained. She hasn't had an accident since Tuesday (the 30th) and we really don't even have to remind her to go. She just goes when she needs to. Even when I was out with the kids yesterday running errands, I was leaving JCPenny's and she told me "pee pee" and we set up her potty in the back of the Mazda and she went right there in the parking lot. I can't believe the money we are going to save. I used cloth diapers at home up until Esther was 18 months and eco-friendly disposable diapers when we were out. But since we have just been using the disposable (Nature Babycare..awesome by the way), we were spending about $2.30 a day in diapers (those stinking things are 46 cents a piece!!!!)..that's $69 a month, $828 a year!!! Kills me...what a waste huh? Anyway, it's such a big milestone and I am SO proud of her. My little girl is growing up.......Of course I had to take pictures, but view at your own risk. :)

Esther and Her bunny, Babe kicking it together in the bathroom.
Her first pee in the potty.

Can you see it? Can ya, can ya?

That's one proud little girl (her first poo in the potty).

Father's Day @ the Crandell Casa

Our 2009 Father's Day included grills, grub and grins!! We had a great day. We invited my parents and grandma over, as well as Steve's parents. A nice relaxing afternoon in our backyard where we dined on grilled hawaiian chicken and shrimp, fruit salad, pototoes, broccoli salad and mint chocolate chip ice cream cake for dessert. The kids surprised Steve with a beautiful red gas grill...so nice of them, huh?
Honey, I have to say you rock as a dad. You are SO hands on, you never complain and I love how the kids' faces light up when you walk in the door. Even after a long day at work, you come home, play with the kids and change diapers. Our kids are SO blessed to have you. I never dreamed our life would be this way and IT'S AWESOME!!!! XOXOXO

Gideon and his Appa

Liberty hoping for some scraps.

Gideon enjoying some hug-time with his Gramma.

I'd say that's a happy man.

I think Esther makes the PERFECT Dad's Day gift.

Never gonna be able to do THIS again.

Couldn't ask for a better partner is this crazy journey of parenting.