Today was a perfect day at the beach. The girls and I had so much fun. Elle spent hours searching for sand crabs and chasing the waves in-and-out with her little friends. I am not sure what Gwen loved more, digging with the Coke cup or waving to the train each time it passed. The girls were happy, I was happy...a perfect day. I bet you can guess where we will be the majority of this summer. 
It's not Fathers Day without breakfast in bed. I remember being little and making scrambled eggs and bacon and taking breakfast to my dad in bed. It was so much fun. I have an amazing dad. Really, I love him more than anything. My hope when I was young was that someday I would be able to find someone like my dad to marry. I wanted to give my children the gift that my dad was to me. Well, it took a few years but when Jon and I met, not only did I fall in love, but I knew I had found someone like my dad. So the tradition continued this morning with breakfast in bed. Elle and Gwen both helped me make the scrambled eggs and bacon. Elle took her favorite spot up on the counter and cracked the eggs and helped stir. Gwen just loved observing everything as I held her (all 30 kissable pounds) on my hip as I cooked. Elle said, "mom we get to take it to daddy on the cutting board"! The cutting board with a towel on top is extra special around here. We sang as we walked up the stairs to deliver his special breakfast. The girls both love their daddy so much. Their little eyes light up whenever he comes into the room. The sweetest thing to see is how his eyes light up just as much when he sees them. Gwen is completely in love with her dad. I think her favorite sound in the world is the garage door. This sound means daddy is home. Whenever she hears it she lights up and starts running towards the garage door while saying, "da da da da da da"! Her little legs can't get to him fast enough. A true daddy's girl. Elle has a serious crush on her dad too. I sat her down yesterday afternoon and asked her a few questions about her daddy. Here is how our conversation went...in Elle's words.
Elle loves to play golf with Jon. The other night I went into the garage and found another lesson in progress. Jon put tape on the garage floor where her feet needed to be and another piece for where the ball should be. They set up a little ABC stacking block that was the hole. It is pretty cute to watch them interact. Jon is so proud of her love for the sport but what I really think she loves is spending time with her daddy.
we love them around here.
It's the little things in this home that make us happy. Gwenners is now officially civilized...if you don't count the whole diaper wearing, tantrum throwing business. Jon taught her how to eat with a fork (he is a man of many talents for sure). The first picture is my favorite because the one-eyed-pirate look is one she sports often. An awfully cute pirate if I do say so myself.
Today was Elle's last day of preschool. She has absolutely loved every minute of being in Miss Marie's class. I am so thankful to her teacher for giving Elle a happy start to her school career. For the end of the year party, Elle and her little friends sang a few songs at the park this afternoon and then we had cupcakes and the kids played. Elle was so excited about the performance that last night after Jon and I put her in bed, we were back in our room when we saw a little head peek around the corner out in the hall. Jon said, "Elle, you need to go back into your bed". Elle then came right into our room and stated that she NEEDED to practice her songs and then she would be able to go to sleep. She stood proudly up on our bed in her jammies and sang three of the songs that she had been practicing. Really, it was one of the cutest things I have ever seen as her mom. So here's to cute Elle and an amazing performance at the park this afternoon. Hooray for preschool!
The girls love when Uncle Syd comes to visit. He is so cute with them. How could any little girl resist a ride around the neighborhood inside of a backpack? We love you Uncle Syddles!
Yesterday I was able to visit one of my dearest friends from childhood. Tory and I have been friends since we were 13 years old. It was a special occasion because she and her husband, Ryan, just had their first baby. An adorable and perfect little girl. A trip to visit Tory wouldn't be complete without getting to also visit with Tory's mom, (my second mom) Betsy. We had so much fun chatting and catching up. Here are a few pictures I took of the newest member of their family. Welcome to the world, Baby Ella!
My girls are climbers. They get into everything (hmm...maybe it has something to do with the fact that I get my camera out instead of putting them in time-out). Here's Gwen up on the counter playing with the computer keyboard and mouse. I often wonder why our settings are always messed up. Another mystery solved.
This girl LOVES watermelon. I found her outside on the patio chairs just like this. I had started to cut the watermelon up and got distracted with Gwen. Elle couldn't wait any longer and took the whole thing outside.
Gwendolyn is now 18 months old (I can't believe it)! She had her first official day in the nursery at church today. After a year and a half of walking the halls, I was grateful to be able to drop her off and go to the other meetings. She loved it and didn't miss us a bit. She just walked in, started playing with toys and was happy as could be. Our very own social butterfly.
We headed off to Disneyland yesterday evening with my friend Christy and her two girls. It was a crowded but fun night. Gwen loved the tea cups so much she had a melt down when it was time to get off. I had my hands full trying to keep track of the girls. The minute I would put Gwen down she would take off running to whatever ride she could see and would climb up on the fence to try and get a better view. We all went on Pirates of the Caribbean. Gwen couldn't snuggle up close enough. Her head was burried in my neck but she kept her eyes wide open making sure not to miss any of the excitement. Elle was finally tall enough to ride splash mountain. She LOVED the drop at the end and started laughing hysterically. I had to check to make sure she wasn't crying! She held my hand laughing as we ran to catch up to the rest of the group. She kept saying, " I have to call Daddy and tell him that I did it"! We were at the very back of the park when it closed so the streets were quite vacant as we were leaving. Elle and her favorite little friend, Brinley, were so cute as they danced down the streets towards the exit. A fun evening for sure.
A relaxed and fun Memorial Day. It was a little cold for the beach but we headed there any way to get a grill dog at the snack shack for lunch. You may think that is random, but in my family that is a very special thing...I grew up eating those grill dogs from that snack shack. A true treat! When we got there, the snack shack was closed but the girls still had fun playing in the sand and water. They especially loved the train. The tracks are right on the sand. Each time it came we had to stop everything, turn around and wave to it. Cute little Gwen loves the water. It was all I could do to keep her from diving into the waves. Elle was so cute and found a shell that she said was so beautiful she wanted to take it home and put it in her jewelry box. In the evening we headed to Uncle Rob and Aunt Linda's house. The girls loved playing with their cousins and Grandma and Grandpa. Days like this make me excited for Summer.
A big day in the McGee house. After waiting a year and a half, Gwenners finally has enough hair to wear a clippie. It is so cute to see how proud she is of that little clip. She pats it, looks in the mirror and says, "pidy". You sure do look pretty, Gwen!
I was in a hurry to get out the door to run a few errands yesterday. I put Gwen in her carseat and turned around to get Elle into the car when I heard her yelling for me. I went over to our front porch and saw Elle posing with her stroller, stuffed animal elephant and pink cowboy boots. She said, "mama, do I look so cute"? And boy did she ever look cute. At her request, I quickly took a few pictures of her and then I put her in her carseat and off we went. So, these are for you Elle... and to answer you, YES you look so cute! I sure love you.
After the girls have their baths, as we are drying them off we tell them that they are now shiny bright. I don't know exactly how it started or maybe I grew up with that saying but "shiny bright" is said daily in our house. There is nothing more kissable than our just from the tub, sweet smelling little girls. The morning light was so pretty coming in from the window, I couldn't resist getting my camera out. Looking at these pictures of the girls, I can see so much of Jon in them. They both got their daddy's bright blue, almond shaped eyes (lucky girls). I sure love these little angels.
