pre-school

brooklynn started pre-school last week. this is so huge for her. i have been dreading having her go to preschool since she was about 15 months old and developed a major attachment to me. she cried hysterically every time i left her with anyone else. every. single. time. it stressed me out. what was i going to do when she had to start school? was she going to be that kid who is screaming as i leave her with her teacher? the thought killed me. stressed me out. 

but about a month ago she made a huge break through. at our church she started her sunbeam class where for 2 hours she is in a school type setting. i was so nervous for this but at least i would be just down the hall. the first sunday she was nervous but she came out a new girl. she absolutely loved it. so when we started pre-school to told her it was similar. she was pumped and so excited. she went with no fight at all. she asks every day if today she gets to go to pre-school. i am still in shock that she goes so willingly. 

i have spent so many nights praying that she would break out of her shell that she would be able to show the world the amazing, smart, funny girl i see in the walls of my home. she's a pretty amazing little girl and i am beyond proud of her!

juicing... day 5

today is day 5 of my juicing cleanse. so that means for the past 5 days i have had nothing but fresh juice that i make from my juicer and water. now let me tell you, it's been really really really hard and at the same time much easier than i thought it would be. i know that doesn't really make sense but let me explain...

it's easy in the sense that, it's black and white. every time i try and diet or eat healthy i always make exceptions for myself.. like oh i can eat just this one thing.. or just one bite of this or that (which always turns into 5-10 bites) i have no self control. so this is black and white. i can have juice and water. and nothing else. there is no room for cheating. so that is easy. also, i'm really not as hungry as i thought i would be. the night is the hardest i've been going to bed really early. ha. but i'm only hungry when i start thinking about all the food that i wish i was eating. then i feel hungry when in reality i'm not that hungry. so that makes it easy. i have been training me mind to not thinking about food all day. 

but that's the hard part.. not thinking about all the foods that i love so much! the second it comes to mind i start to feel like i crazy person because i want that food so much! ah. i want it so much! but this is good for me.. to hopefully break that habit of just wanting food all of the time. i do miss the act of eating. it is really weird not eating. i definitely miss that. but i just have to tell myself that it's not like i'm never going to eat again. i will eat normal food again. i just have to reboot my system. 

another thing, i know i originally had said i was going to do this for 30 days.. but i'm changing it. i'm only going to do it for 15. i may be wimping out call it what you will, but i just think that is what's best for me. i think i need to learn how to eat healthy and i think this will be the kick start that i need. so, 10 more days, i can do it. i hope i can do it. i will be proud of myself for doing this for 15 days because let me tell you it is HARD! 

but it will be worth it. even just to prove to myself that i can do hard things.

a little trip to orange county

i am seriously loving living so much closer to my family. this past week i decided to take another little trip down there for a few days to spend some time at the beach and see my little brother and his wife who were also down there visiting from utah. 

brooklynn has finally broken through her shell and had the best time! more on that later. but we all had a great time! we went to the beach, hung out with family and friend, went to the movies (we saw mr peebody and it was SO funny!), hit up a bounce house place called scooters jungle. every morning papa took brooklynn to get donuts and even bought her a new bike. it was a pretty all around awesome trip and it makes me so happy that we are going to have so many more just like it! 

here a few photos from our time there last week.

park days

we have this really nice park right by our house that we have been going to almost on a daily basis. i've been trying to be more active and i want brooklynn to be active so it works out. it takes about 10-15 minutes to walk there so i walk pushing quinn in the stroller and brooklynn rides her scooter. she's getting really good at it. the weather has been really nice lately, cool but not too cold so we have been loving going to the park. it has been so nice living in california. i've got to enjoy these days before we endure a bakersfield summer. i hear it gets pretty dang hot. so for now we will be at the park. probably every day until it's too hot. brooklynn is just learning how to swing on the big kid swings. she will hop on and repeat out loud, "forward and back, forward and back" and she does it with her legs. it's pretty cute. quinn loves the baby swing. she could swing in that thing forever. i think quinn is quite enjoying being outside so much. she is 6 months old now. i can't even believe it. half way to a year. what in the world!? i love these kiddos of mine.