Dog day afternoon

How else do you spend an 86 degree day in December?

A picnic in the park, of course.

Followed by a little Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer in a box

Santa and the most magical place on earth!

We went to Disneyland last week with the girls and had a blast as usual. We got to see Santa and his reindeer and Mrs. Claus. It was so fun. Carmen was actually not afraid this year. But poor Petra was. Luckily I managed to get a picture of the two of them with Santa. However it's probably a picture that would be a hit on awkwardfamilyphotos.com as apposed to a sweet picture of the girls with Santa. Oh well.

And here are some snaps of us at the park.:

Not to brag or anything, but these girls just can't take a bad photo. They make the moment seem even more magical. I love these little frozen pieces of time. And when I think life is getting hard, I just need to look in their faces and at these pictures and realize, the stupid stuff ain't so bad. These girls make life fanTASTIC!

Bell's of the Ball

So, Halloween was lots of fun. The week leading up to Halloween, Carmen kept asking me if she could go trick-or-treating. Then when we went trick-or-treating, she kept asking if we could go to another house. Then, the next morning, Carmen woke up and said, "I love Halloween." We had a good time.

Shay's mom came into town to celebrate. We went to a pumpkin patch. We carved a pumpkin. We got the girls dressed in their costumes. I tried to take pictures. I got a few.

after a few tries:

Kids do the darndest things

I have to admit that I'm not the world's greatest mom. I don't sit every night with my girls and go over the alphabet and how to write letters or draw landscapes. If I think about it, I'll do it. But, those nights are few and far between at the Mehrdad household. Well, last night, as I was working, Carmen sat next to me with this alphabet book that has a magnet tablet on top of it to help teach your kids writing their letters. I think we've tried to use it a couple times in the past. Anyway, Carmen starts drawing "A" which actually looked more like an "H". Then we tried other letters. And to my amazement, Carmen could pretty much write all of her letters. Some may have been a little coached. But all the letters you see are written by Carmen all by herself. She' so smart.



And...I don't want to leave Petra out of this post...She can now give high fives and is completely proud of herself every time she gives one. That's my girl.

This is Halloween! This is Halloween!

Well, it's halloween time. I've never really been that into Halloween. But, Carmen has been really excited about it this year. Which has gotten me excited about it. So I got some decorations and we decorated the yard and inside too. Carmen keeps asking to dress up and get jack-o-lanterns and to see Jack and Sally at the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland. Hopefully Carmen can wait for a few more weeks to experience it all!

365 days of sunshine

I love living in southern california. It's nice to have everyday right around 70 degrees. It's nice to only be 10 minutes away from the coast and to never really have to deal with "weather."

...but sometimes I long for the changing of seasons. I'm finding myself really wanting to see some danged leaves change. Maybe I'll have to take a road trip.

Sisters

As I was going through pictures of baby Petra over the last year, I came across several moments of little miss Carmen being a great big sis. From day one, there was just this sweet connection that we were able to capture and have caught many more of them over the year. It's just such an awesome thing to really see the seeds of sister relationship blossom. I know that's cheesy, but it's so wonderful.

Here are a few gems:

There are many more, but these are a few of my favs.

My Baby Turns 1!!!!

For realz, they were not joking around when they said time flies. I can not believe it has been a whole YEAR since my baby Petra was born. Time like flew by full speed ahead. Time, please stop that! But we have had a blast with Petra. She is such a good baby. She is a little giggle bug who is also very emotional. I wonder who she gets that from. If you guessed Shay, you are right! (Just kidding...it's probably from me. Ha!)

Then:

Now:

We had a blast celebrating with our friends and family. Shay's parents hosted and threw a fabulous party filled with great food

and magic!

It was so much fun. We loved every second. And I think that Petra had a good time too. But time, please stop so we can enjoy Baby Petra more.

Here are just a few things we love about Petra at this age:

Her giggle. It's from the gut and I just love hearing it, so I often tickle her so I can hear that belly laugh.

She loves babies. From the time she was 7 months, she stole Carmen's baby doll and gave her hugs and kisses, holding her in her arms, over her shoulder and patting the doll on her back. She's such a sweetie.

She interested in everything. She inspects each and everything she sees and will most likely put it in her mouth.

She loves music and rocks her head back and forth like a true head banger whenever she hears a beat. The rock is in her blood.

She loves to be around people. Whenever we go into public she waves her hand in the air and starts talking to random people. It's like she's saying "What's up everyone?" I think that may be why she was born second. She will always have a constant companion.

Happy Birthday Petra! Stop Growing!!!!!

Wow

I'm inspired and blown away by these candy or treat tables.

I seriously had no idea this was a growing trend. Amazing.

Check out more awesome setups here:

http://www.amyatlas.com/index.php/main/portfolio/

mila's daydreams

i just found this awesome blog and i'm loving all the photos. makes me jealous and wishing i had thought of it. what a great idea.

http://milasdaydreams.blogspot.com/

things that i love about my girls

i just thought i'd take a moment to pause some time and document the cute things my girls are doing right now.

Carmen:

Every night when i put her to bed she says to me, "Mommy sleep with me a couple whiles." (how she came up with that phrase, i don't know...but i love it) Then, as we lay there, she says, "mom, can i wish on a star?" And then she lifts the blinds, looks up at the sky and says, "I wish I may I wish I might, I wish for..." and every night it's something different like "I wish for things. All things." and tonight she said, "i wish for my mommy. I love you, mommy."

Carmen continues to be a good storyteller. Always concocting monsters and she describes them in great detail. From what color they are to exactly how many teeth they have and how sharp they are.

When she wakes up in the morning, she always opens her blinds in her room.

She's a GREAT big sister and always plays with Petra.

Which brings me to Petra.

Petra...

Is definitely enamored with the idea of walking. She constantly wants to lead me around the house. But, is kind of scared of the idea of only holding one or none of my hands. However, she's gearing herself up for that...and it's both exciting and sad that she'll be walking soon! Where did the time go?

Petra loves to add to the conversation. She babbles with such conviction and often puts her two cents into whatever conversation Shay and I are having. Sometimes she'll even raise her arms in the air as she talks. I LOVE it!

Petra can drum! Well, sort of. We have a drum set that Carmen got for Christmas last year. And Petra will take the drum stick and use it to hit the snare drum. It's impressive for an 11 month old.

There you have it. Just a few little things that I love about my girls right now.

Perfect Day

Living in California is really hard. Especially on day like this:

or this:

or this:

or this:

and it's fun to spend days like this with these people:

just don't let them do this:

freakiest thing ever!

Attack of the Weeds!

There is an unidentified weed that grows in my backyard. before we had it landscaped, it had overtaken an entire side of our yard. I had no idea it's stranglehold on my yard until now. It is actually a pretty weed. It has purplish greenish leaves. But it is very deceiving. Beneath the pleasant looking petals are the most insane, disgusting tree like roots I have ever seen. I mean one weed may have a trunk root that's close to 5lbs in weight. It's insane! And i'm obsessed with obliterating it. I have dreams about how to destroy it. It's like the day of the triffids:

I will figure out a way to destroy it!

Utah!

Everyone! I dragged Shay to Utah and he actually had a good time! We all did. It was so fun to visit family and spend time together in the outdoors. We first stayed with my friend Carrie. Carmen had a blast with Garret and Amanda (her kids) riding tractors and horses and jumping on the trampoline. Well, we sorta had fun riding a horse. Let's be honest, it was a little scary. I know that was my first and last time. But it was also fun and a great memory.

Petra on the trampoline with Amanda (Carrie' little girl):



Carmen taking a ride with Garret (Carrie's little boy) on his tractor.



Petra with pigtails. She didn't like me pulling her hair to get them into pigtails. We probably won't do this again for a while:


Shay at breakfast with a bunch of kids. For those of you that don't know, Shay absolutely hates going out to eat with kids as they may get rowdy. So, it was funny to see him with so many kids at a restaurant.



At Wheeler Farm looking at animals:







Amanda holding Petra:



Carrie and Jera 2.0:



The Girls:



Carrie and Jera's kids all together:



Sunday we had dinner with my cousin Jessica and her family. Here are some pictures of the cute kids:





We took the kids to Lagoon on Monday with my Aunt Teri and her girls and my cousin Josh. I should have got a group shot of us all together...but alas, i was too busy taking pictures of Carmen on rides. She had a blast. It was so much fun. Hot, but fun. (I forgot how hot Utah can get in the summer)







Some cute photos of Petra with Teri and her kids:







Tuesday and Wednesday we went to Logan to visit my Aunt Laurie and her family. Again, we had a blast. We went to Willow Park and had a picnic and enjoyed each other's company while Carmen had fun running around, introducing herself to new kids and playing with cousin Andrew. It was a blast.









I'm in love with the Hipstamatic App on my iPhone. So, I took a bunch of pics of Petra in the grass. Here are a few:





And here are some "artsy" shots of some wildlife in the zoo:





Again, Utah was super fun. We wished we could have seen more people and done more. Hopefully, we'll catch more the next time we visit.