Spring has Sprung

Ready to walk over to the Spring celebration in her new, pretty Easter dress!
Look who is ready for the egg hunt. The Shwam Kids!

Maddy is so passive and sweet, she needed some cheering from Gamma to get started running.

Brody took charge and filled his basket with eggs.

Look at our loot!

Doing what he does best- finding any ball around!

She was on her way to the top and slid down so fast!
Maddy, Mommy and Gamma!

Saturday was the annual Spring Celebration and Easter Egg Hunt in Ladera. We look forward to these fun events that come from living in such a fun, family oriented place. Maddy was so excited to do the Easter Egg Hunt and excited that her brother could join her this year. Last year, he hung out in the Bjorn since he was three months old. They had a blast. Maddy got to do it all- the egg hunt, caterpillar crawl, big slide. She could have stayed all day. The weather was beautiful, but windy! My mom even stopped by to see the fun and pick Maddy and I up for a baby shower. Looking forward to all the Easter celebrations next weekend!

Madonna anyone?

Lately Mad has been loving the tutu and the necklaces, beads, hair accessories, etc. Tell me this isn't Madonna in the 80's...

I love her creative side, her love for dress-up and the fact that she is so girly!

Party for a Princess

Our niece, Hayley, is turning five on Easter this year! Yesterday was her princess tea party in her backyard. It was a girls day for Maddy and Mommy. We had so much fun. Maddy LOVED being one of the big girls. There were 14 girls and Maddy was the youngest. All of the girls were from Hay's school and Maddy is her little cousin. She loved watching the older girls, learning how to curtsy from Belle, getting her face painted from Snow White and singing with Cinderella. At one point I had a tear in my eye watching my little girl enjoy herself so much. She was so cute and so into the whole party. She is my little princess! I was so into watching her have fun that I didn't get a picture of us together. Hayley had a great time being the birthday girl!
Happy Birthday Hay- we love you!

Amazing party and set-up! Great job Stacy! Tables for the little girls.

Tables for the mommies!

The princesses just started arriving. Maddy is so excited she doesn't know what to do. Hayley the birthday girl is in the butterfly dress to the left.


Maddy wasn't shy and got right in there to hold Belle's hand.

Learning to curtsy- cutest thing EVER!

Princess food and tea party.

This little princess wouldn't leave Cinderella's side.

Very serious about that heart on her face.

Happy Birthday Hay Hay!

Her favorite princess!

Being a princess is HARD WORK...

15 things I love about you...

Today you are 15 months my little man! How did you get so big? When did you get so tall? Here are 15 things I LOVE about you at this time in your life...

1. You love to give your sister a hug and a kiss first thing when you both wake up in the morning.

2. Any time any music comes on you start rocking to the beat.

3. You LOVE balls, particularly basketballs and it is pretty fun to watch you stare at the TV and say "ball ball" during March Madness

4. Your snaggletooth is pretty darn cute when you share your toothy smile :).

5. When I pick you up at Pat's you come RUNNING to me from any place in the house. It melts my heart everytime.

6. You give open mouth kisses. You wouldn't think of closing those lips.

7. You remind me of Lynus from Charlie Brown with your blanket. You drag it around behind you and love it like it is your best friend.

8. You think it is pretty darn funny to climb on EVERYTHING. You know you aren't supposed to when you look at us from the top of the train table, the top of the changing table, and smirk.

9. You really love Kota. You will find her anywhere and pat her, give her hugs.

10. On the weekends when Daddy and I bring you in bed in the morning for cartoons and Daddy tells you to lay your head down (so we can close our eyes a little longer) you lay your head down on our pillow and look at us for about 2 seconds and then would rather dance to music on VH1. It is so funny! Yes, we start our weekends off with dance parties in bed.

11. When we ask you where your head is, you point to your head, when we ask you where your nose is you point to your nose, when we ask you where your ear is, you point to your eye- everytime without fail...that is okay you'll get it.

12. You love getting your feet massaged with lotion after a bath. It is about the ONLY time you will lay still for more than 30 seconds.

13. When you need your shoes on or your shirt off - you go straight to Daddy for help- like you know he is your buddy.

14. That you always have some sort of bruise, scab, etc...you are such a boy!

15. Every night when I get you ready for bed and you have given Daddy, Maddy and Kota kisses for the night, you lay your head on my shoulder for the walk down the hall to your room. It is the sweetest thing and our special little bond. I love you little man! Happy 15 months of life!

Beach Day in March

Maddy posing!
Just checking out the waves

They couldn't get enough of the water.

Is it too bright for you buddy?

This beach babe loves the sand!

"Stop taking pictures of me mommy, I'm building here."

Yesterday was so nice, so we decided to have our first official beach day of Spring! It was just the four of us and so much fun! Mike just got home from a week away for work and we decided to spend a day being together. The beach wasn't busy at all, but so beautiful. We soaked in the sun, built castles, played in the water (Maddy and Daddy did- Brody and I wimped out :) ha) and just had fun being a fam!

View from the top

The view!

My amazing parents! aka Gamma and Poppy



Maddy the photographer!

This kid is always hungry!

I want to kiss these chubby legs- and the first skinned knee!

No pain no gain...still playing ball with a golf club of course :)

My girl!

Go Grey!

Cuteness!

The spread

My parents recently moved and have an amazing view from the top overlooking the Saddleback Mountains- aka the City View :). We had a yummy BBQ dinner on Monday night to enjoy and celebrate the beginning of Daylight Savings. We ate, laughed, played ball and oh yeah, fell. Well, the kids did but they had fun doing it! Brody got his first skinned knee. We love living close to family and getting together a lot!

St. Patty's Day Fun in the Sun

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all!

What a beautiful day!

We decided to take off our green shirts and head

on over to the Daisy Water Park for some

fun with our friends- Kelly, Ashley and Colin.

First time at the waterpark since he can walk and he loved it!

Guess who is under these towels?

Maddy and her best girlfriend Ashley, of course!
Cuteness times two!

Lucky Me

I am lucky to be the mommy

of these two precious babes!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The happiest place on Earth

Mike and I have been wanting to take the kids to Disneyland for awhile now and finally did!! Saturday was perfect for D Land. It wasn't too hot - just perfect. We got there early. Thanks to a friend we were able to get in for free and got Park Hopper tickets. So we started our adventure at California Adventure. Right when we walked in Maddy spotted Minnie. She was ecstatic!! We did all the things there that we have wanted to do. The Toy Story ride was by far a big hit by all the Shwams- Brody loved it too. I tried pretty hard to keep his glasses on while in the ride. He wanted to play with them. We pretty much had Bug's Land to ourselves and Maddy and Brody were able to walk around. Imagine that! By the time we got to Disneyland it was getting crowded. We did Small World and saw the princesses! All in all a great day and these two pumpkins were the happiest kids on Earth!!