Announcing!

Emma made a rather large announcement on Facebook this past Friday! We have been holding in this news for quite a while and are so excited to finally share!

I will be making weekly posts just like I did with Emma! They most likely won't be as elaborate as the one's for Emma, but she will definitely be a part of them!! Stay tuned for all the back updates that I have been journaling these past couple of weeks and we will officially start with our photos on Friday! 

Next week I will start posting my bumpdates when my weeks change over on Tuesdays! HOPEFULLY! I also have some non-baby related posts, but as you all know....thinks will be baby focused around here, as they have been since 2013 anyways! Stay tuned!

Easter 2016

How fun are these holidays with little ones? I mean experiencing all the traditions with them is just the best!

Easter morning Emma woke with such excitement! The Easter Bunny had hid the eggs and she was going to find them! She had such a blast finding those brightly colored plastic eggs and then meticulously opening each one. Some had stickers, some had jelly beans and some had CHANGE! Oh then on a breakfast of jelly beans she put each coin in her piggy bank and proceeded to shake it to hear the sound. We took the coins out of the bank several times just so she could put them back in. SO CUTE!

The Easter Bunny brought her a new outfit, a Minnie Mouse shaped plate with a new cup and a Playdoh set! Such fun! After the sugar high wore off we got ready to head to my aunt's home in Hermosa Beach. You may remember from the Easter bumpdate  with Emma.

My cousin, Emma's godmommy, pulled out her old kitchen set and Emma was in heaven playing with the plastic foods and all the tools that she had. We made the trek down to the beach to dip our toes in the water and Emma was NOT HAVING IT. She cried when we put her on the sand, when we tried to get her feet in the water, when mommy went into the water, when daddy went into the water. Poor thing was not interested in the beach one iota. We snapped a couple of photo's and then made our way back to the house.

Once back in the safe zone, Emma played and danced and snuggled with family while we ate some yummy food....I did not partake in the ham, but my cousin smoked an awesome side of beef and that went down so nicely!

On our way back up the hill we made sure to stop at the hospital where Emma came into the world and visit D's grandfather who had to have back surgery. On our way in we ran into his mom and grandma and made plans to get a bite to eat before we head out. We went up and spent a couple of minutes up there, we left because he was eating dinner, then went and had an Easter dinner of the Habit with Darin's mom, grandmother, sister and brother-in-law. It was a nice evening and we managed to get home in time to put Emma to bed. Poor thing was so wiped.

I hope your Easter was as wonderful as ours!

LA Airshow

One Sunday in March, my mom asked if we would be interested in joining us for the airshow that is held near our house. While Darin wasn't super interested in going I knew he would enjoy himself, so we packed some snacks and the stroller for Emma and headed out.

We got there at around 11 as the show was to start at 12, and the Blue Angels would perform at 3. We made our way through the mass of people and into the airfield. Lots of vendors were there and we looked for some souvenirs for Emma but they seemed a bit too old for her age. Although I regret not buying her a silly toy plane now! We met some of the Blue Angels and bought some lunch. On the way in a guy was handing out hats for a donation and I got an Air Force hat in honor of my dad. We watched all the old  WWI and WWII planes perform and then had some lunch.

We went and looked at all the cool display planes and even sat in a LA Sheriff helicopter and squad car for Emma's godfather. That will be the only time shes allowed in the back of a squad car! LOL.

Daddy picked up Emma to put her on his shoulders for a time while we watched all the cool planes fly and do awe inspiring tricks. Since I have limited storage on my phone I missed taking all those photos....but trust me they were impressive. Miss Emma and all of us enjoyed the day immensely. Can anyone else attest to doing this. I was so focused on keeping the sun off my precious baby's skin with sunscreen that I completely forgot to put some on myself until in was too late and I looked like a tomato on my back :-S Oh well. All in the name of motherhood I guess!

What fun things do you all do with your kiddos on the weekends?

Family Photo Shoot and a Visit 2016

We had a wonderful visitor back in March. My stepmom flew in from Florida to spend a week with us. To see our home and explore our town and just spend time with us. We had a great time exploring our little town on the first day shopping for her summer rental properties in Montana finding cute antique wall decor, going to the train museum and having lunch. We spent our evenings snuggled under blankets and watching MMC and other kid friendly shows.

We went and had wings in tribute and tradition, laughed, reminisced and talked all about how big Emma is and how great living in our area is going to be for her. We went to the park and played with all the kiddos and even had a meal with my parents to celebrate her visit, and Daryl got a sewing tutorial and made some of her own wall hangings for the rental.

We also trekked out to our old stomping grounds to have a photoshoot with our favorite photographer. She took our family photos last year, that I inadvertently forgot to post here! OOPS! She moved out of state, but would be in town that weekend and I thought that it would be perfect timing to have a nice family shoot with Daryl since we have never gotten professional photo's done. She got some wonderful shots and too many to post so here is a snippet.

We always love spending time with Daryl and are always sad to see her go. I cant wait for our next adventure together!

Wedding Quilt!

Man. Didn't think that I would be back did ya? We'll I'm not going to share an excuse. I just got lazy and haven't wanted to sit at the computer. Do I have lots of things to blog about? DUH! But it's time and the desire to do so. I have missed this space and am excited to be back!

Last month my hubbies brother got married. As per tradition I, with the help of Emma and Darin made the couple a quilt. They didn't really have a home style that they described to me, so I went with a patriotic theme. Darin and Emma each sewed a seam in the quilt so it was a family project.

Darin and Emma were both in the wedding. I attempted to get Emma to nap early because the wedding was at 3pm, smack in the middle of her naptime. After and hour and a half of screaming she finally fell asleep for 45 minutes!!! AHHHHH! In my head this was going to be a disaster. She had never walked down an aisle before, nor had she done so in front of over 100 people she didn't know. I was praying that she wouldn't meltdown right there in the middle of the church! Once the ceremony started, the ring bearer grabbed her hand and she walked straight down that aisle and back up after the ceremony without any fear or tears. It was the CUTEST thing ever! Damn camera wouldn't focus and I missed the shot! Oh photographer I'd like to see these photos!!!!

Once at the reception she ate, and mingled with the rest of the family. Danced with mommy, daddy and grandma and even gave up some cash for the money dance and danced with her uncle Ryan. She made it through most of the reception and crashed out on my chest. She was such a champ and it was such a good day! I love going to weddings with my hubby. It reminds me of our wedding day and I just want to go back and celebrate that day all over!

I will be better about posting blogs from now on! I promise!!!! I have lots to recap over the last 5 months!!!!

Merry Christmas Eve

Hi all! I'm back! So crazy right! I'm just popping in to give you a little update on Christmas life. We have had lots of fun decorating, baking cookies, visiting Santa and family, and prepping for C-Day that the month flew by! It is crazy.

We took little miss back into town to visit Santa. The same one from last year. While we hoped for a good outcome, we even brought the photo of him and her with so she would look at it, we prepared ourselves mentally that she would scream and cry. We went and had lunch first and she had a mini nap on the drive over so she was in a relatively good mood because we let her run off a little energy through the mall on the walk over. Once inside Santa asked that we not show her his face and I just plopped her in his lap. I backed up and started making faces and being silly and we got a huge smile. She even looked at Santa with a big grin and shed not a single tear (the same could not be said for the poor, yet creepy, Easter Bunny.) We were in shock. He said "don't expect that next year," but we thought the same thing about this year. It was totally awesome!

We are getting to have Christmas Eve dinner at our house for the first time ever and D and I are SO EXCITED. We bought some nice dishes and some accessories so I cannot wait to set the table. Tonight is cleaning and making cranberry sauce in preparation, while tomorrow I will be cooking up a storm all day (with my mom's assistance since I have never made a turkey before.) There will be a fire, various liquors and wine, and of course family and opening of our Christmas Eve gift (pajama's.) I cannot wait to spend the first Christmas in our own home. Here is the menu:

Turkey
Cranberry Pear Sauce
Cranberry Apple Sausage Stuffing (My dear friends recipe)
Sweet Potatoes
Mashed Potatoes
Gravy
and of course Starlight Sugar Twists, Sugar, Scotcharoos and chocolate chip cookies.

I hope you and yours have a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends. This is a time for giving, for families, and for love. Merry Merry Christmas!

Love The Kimball's

Oh Hai!

Murray Farms Corn Maze

Well then. It seems like I have fallen off the face of the earth hasn't it? Well I haven't. Life has just completely got in the way and sitting at the slowest computer on the planet doesn't sound like something I am interested in doing these days.

Things have just been a whirlwind these days. The first month of living in our home we were commuting and hour and a half and two hours respectively. Once we started our new jobs things settled down, but our new schedules are a little hectic with both of us working Saturdays, and split days off seem to be having us running a little harried. We try to spend lots of time with Emma on the days we have with her. We have taken her to the Pumpkin patch, she's experienced her first snowfall and are just settling into our home with all the holiday decor up. We are loving life in our new home and just trying to find the balance finding time for everything. It's hard, but we are making it work.

The house is coming together. If you follow me on Instagram (lil_birdie_emma0701) then you will get a weekly, sometimes daily update of what life looks like around these parts. I am going to try and get a weekly post up over here. That way your all not missing out on things over here, but still can get a taste into our lives. Lil miss is transitioning into a one nap lady, and it tends to be pretty short so getting in a post while she sleeps will be hard. Lol.

Were slowly decorating and fixing little issues around the house, It's a good thing I work in a home improvement store.....and get a discount. My goodness there's lots of things you need when you own a home! We bought an island and a credenza for our kitchen, some shelving and a new rug. We still need to figure out how to make the office/guest room function as an office/guest room before my step mom makes the trip in March. I have ideas so I hope they work out and I hope to do a post when its finished.

New credenza and shelving for the dining room

Were hosting Christmas eve with my parents this year so I am off to research new and easy recipes to make for that. The hubby requested turkey.....so I guess I will me making my first ever Turkey. Wish me luck! Well I think that's all I can think of for this ramble post. Here's a couple of photos!

My beauty watching the bubbles!

His happy place.

Our first snowfall!