Monday, July 22, 2013

Celebrating 30 & 7!

Yesterday was my 30th birthday and our 7 year wedding anniversary. It's cliche, but it's crazy how fast time flies! It doesn't seem possible that we have been married for 7 years and it is even harder to believe that my 20's are over. Most of our friends have already hit the 30 mark and it didn't faze me, but now that it's my turn I'm not super excited. I suppose I have no choice but to embrace it, right?! So here's how we celebrated the milestone: Overnight trip to SF with my brother and sisters, then another night up in Bodega Bay area with my hubby. Great memories, amazing times, and a thankful and rested heart for a trip away without my sweet boys. 
Our SF room had a great view with a random curtain covered window.
Photo op! :)

Sisters at the Tipsy Pig!

Drinks at Tradition

Best birthday cake I've ever had from Suzie Cakes!

Then we said goodbye to the young and fun ones and headed up the very carsick-inducing road past Bodega Bay. Our hotel was right on these cliffs over the ocean and it was incredible! We had a great ocean view room and we were able to just relax and enjoy the quiet that we don't get at home. Heavenly!
7 years together enjoying our adventure!

That tower in the distance is where our hotel was. We hiked down to the water and sat and talked and enjoyed God's creation.

The next morning, we packed up and headed back to the crazies, with a stop at the famous Russian River Brewing Company first. Yummy lunch and beer sampler and a few to take home to share.

It was a fantastic and well-needed trip. I feel so blessed to be surrounded by so many loving people who helped make me feel special on my big birthday and for helping to take care of our boys, who didn't miss us at all. I think 30 is going to be the best decade yet! And I'm more than grateful to be married to the love of my life and my fellow partner in the craziness. Here's to another great year, Babe!

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Cooling off at the coast

Last weekend we scooted over to Monterey to escape the heat and enjoy some family time. We hit up the aquarium, the pier, the hotel pool, and spent the day with the Lockridges. Yay for 30 degrees cooler!

No Levi you cannot have a cake pop for breakfast. You can have a donut, or a cinnamon roll, or a... fine, you can have a cake pop. :)

Showing Uncle Charlie & Auntie Tina around the aquarium.

Being brave and touching the "sea stars" and seaweed with Grandma.

We found Nemo!

Happy as a clam.

Levi is finally giving real thumbs up now!
"Caleb, I found a bug! You should touch it!"

My big boys.

Back to the heat! We hit up Casa de Fruta on the way home. Yum!

Cool dude. Choo choo!


Friday, July 5, 2013

Happy Birthday America!

The Central Valley may have had a heat wave the past few days, but we didn't let that stop us from celebrating the 4th in true Modesto style!

Caleb at Concert in the Park's patriotic night.

This is how most of my pictures of Levi look these days: blurry but happy.

Levi and Grammy watching the Modesto 4th of July Parade.



Sarah, Me, Caleb, Levi, Grammy

Lockridgeland family picture attempt.

Sarah, Me, Alison


Waving our flags and cheering on the floats.

Cheese!

Trying to hide out from the sweltering sun. Thanks for our new chairs Grammy! :)

Uncle Bryan got to be in the parade this year, in a squirrel costume! 

So did his ONTHERUN truck!

Older cousins: Levi, Jack, Caleb, Charlie, Ashley
(Baby Liam was with his Mommy in the shade.)

It wouldn't be a traditional 4th without a BBQ at my parents' house!
Here are Alison's homemade cake-in-a-jar. So good!!

Levi & Papa doing a root beer cheers!

Baby Liam's very first time in the pool!

Waiting for the fireworks show.

The Lockridge boys LOVED the fireworks, even if some of them were a little loud.

Levi is getting so grown up and he was able to do his own sparklers this year. Wow!

Happy 4th of July from the Lockridges! It's one of our favorite days of the year, even if we spent it completely sweaty and hot. :)

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Lockridge Boys Update

It's been a while since we've done monthly updates, and I'm not about to bring those back, so I thought I could write out a few things about our growing boys to help me remember this time with them. That's really what this blog has turned into anyways, a journal or a photo book for our family to look back on and remember. If other people read it (and comment on it!) then all the better, but it's truly for us as a reminder of where we've been and all the fun we had there.

Levi is 2 years, 10 months old.
38 lbs.
40 inches

He is so much fun! It seems like overnight his language has exploded. He still gets talking quickly and then only I can understand him, but he tells us whole stories and has full conversations with us. It is really cool to get to interact with him like this and to see where his mind is. It's also extra special when Daddy travels for work and he can call in and actually talk to Levi on the phone. 

Levi has finally found his singing voice too. He speaks in a low tone of voice and he sings even lower. It's pretty hilarious so I'll have to upload some videos soon. 'Take Me Out To The Ballgame' is a big favorite and "Woody's Song" ('You've Got a Friend in Me') from Toy Story is close behind. He knows most of the words, makes up the rest and will just sing as loud as he can. 

Levi is still a picky eater and does not like most fruits or veggies, much to his parent's dismay. He ate everything as a baby and somewhere along the way just stopped. He's growing constantly so he's obviously not hurting from it, but I do wish he would branch out a bit. 

He is super athletic and we haven't found much that he isn't good at. He climbs, jumps, throws, runs, balances, bats. He loves to be outside and he loves to be active. We tried out a gymnastics class this Spring and he enjoyed it. He has incredible upper body strength and could do some things that were way out of his age level, but the class was a little slow for him so we'll move on and try something else in the Fall. Right now we have him enrolled in swim lessons (see picture above) and he LOVES it! At Grammy and Papa's house he wears a life jacket thing and he can swim all over and jump off the diving board too. He's a little more hesitant of things this summer than he was last summer but if we give him a little time he usually has it conquered in no time. 

He loves his little brother and he calls Caleb his best friend. Levi loves his Mommy but he adores his Daddy. Any time he can follow Dave or go with Dave do something near Dave, Levi is happy camper. 

Levi is mostly potty trained but, to be honest, we're still working on the #2's. I know he'll get it, I'm just ready for that to happen. :)

We sure love our big guy and we can't believe he's almost 3. Where does the time go?!



Caleb is 1 year, 8 months
34 lbs
35 inches

Caleb is a crack-up. He is really funny and he knows it. He's a big flirt with anyone who will give him eye contact and then he hides behind me and pretends to be a shy guy. He really just loves attention and if he's not getting it he usually comes up with a way to make you laugh-- sometimes it's just by throwing his head back and making an exaggerated laughing sound, "Bwaaa hahaha!" He has a sweet heart and gives hugs and kisses unconditionally. For the most part, he's a really easy going kid.

He idolizes his brother (who I'm pretty sure he's calling "Buddy") and we've affectionately started calling Caleb "Me too" because anything Levi is doing Caleb wants to be doing it too. Of course, they get on each other's nerves, and they're both loud boys so the noise level is often HIGH, but deep down they really, truly love each other. It's one of my favorite parts of being their Mommy.

If Levi is our singer, Caleb is our dancer. It doesn't matter where we are, if he hears music he stops to move. Actually if he hears a beat of any kind, it doesn't even have to be music! He's a pretty smooth guy! :)

Caleb has always been a "talker" but now he's starting to use more and more words we understand. Every once in a while he says something and we all look around and say,"Did he just say what I think he just said?" So he's now using names for people, things he wants, please, sorry, and a smattering of other ones I can't think of off the top of my head. He can say some animal names, and all his animal sounds; in fact, we often hear him in his crib neighing like a horse or whatever else he decides to be that morning. 

Caleb is also our super good eater. He literally eats everything. Brussel sprouts, asparagus, lasagna, I put things on his plate sometimes just to test him because I don't think he'll eat it but I don't want to be the one who limits him. He obviously has preferences, but I've never seen a toddler eat more things. 

I know I said he wants to do everything Levi does, but I mean he REALLY wants to! If Levi has to go potty, Caleb wants his turn to sit. Levi puts on his shoes, Caleb tries to put on his shoes. Levi starts picking up his toys, Caleb starts picking up toys. Levi wants milk, Caleb wants milk. I guess that means we really need to stay on top of Levi and make sure he's doing what he's supposed to be doing!  



These kids are just incredible to be around. Of course we have our off days, they fight, we argue, it's not all rosy; but getting the privilege to watch these two crazy boys grow up every day is just the best thing I could ever imagine doing. They're at such fun ages right now, so they're both doing and learning new things every day. We just love them! :) On that note, here's a few more odds and ends of pictures that have fallen through the cracks but are too cute not to share.

Family bike ride!

Buzz and Woody



Time for swim lessons!

Levi: "Mom! Look what I can do!"

Donuts with Daddy.

Blueberry picking.

Turtle watching.

Our latest family picture attempt at Concert in the Park last week.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Backyard Cousin Campout

This past weekend we had scheduled year two of our annual cousin campout. Due to unforeseen circumstances, it was cancelled. :( So the Lockridge's set up the tent and the fire pit and hosted a backyard campout instead!

The big boys in their camping chairs!
Levi, Charlie, Jack, Caleb

Now with Ashley the picture director: "Everybody hold up a chip this time!" 

Uncle Joel and sweet baby Liam.

The big boys eating their dinner.

Roasting marshmallows! Levi especially thought this was awesome. Although he never ate any!

Jack showing off his before marshmallow.

Auntie Amy and Liam
Next year he'll be in on all the big boy craziness!

And because we weren't *really* camping, we were able to shove all the kiddos in the bath to rinse off the marshmallow stickiness!

It was a great night! The kids went strong until hours past their bedtime and then we packed everyone off to their respective houses (much to Alison's dismay) and the Lockridge party of four +Hannity, slept in the tent all night long. Well until about 5:45am when Levi woke up and yelled, "The sun's up!" Oh geez. :)

for this child I prayed, and the LORD answered my prayer 1 Samuel 1:27