An Afternoon with the Brewsters

On Monday, we had the chance to spend the morning/early afternoon with our dear friends Ben and Di and their two children Levi and Micah. Madison was ecstatic to see Levi (they've known each other since they can remember) and Micah. Ben and Di are a couple that we grew really close to in 29 Palms while we were there and are so blessed to have in our lives. It was great to see them and celebrate with them as they had just found out that their bun in the oven is going to be another little boy!


(Di is 21.5 weeks pregnant here and I'm 39 weeks)

After Alex and Ben took the kiddos to the park, we gather the whole gang into our cars and we drove to Chipotle and enjoyed a nice lunch together and then we each went our separate ways to run errands. A little later in the afternoon we met up again and spent a little bit more time together before they had to had back home to beat not only work traffic, but holiday traffic as well.

It is always so fun to spend time with you Ben and Di...hope we can do it again soon!

First Field Trip: San Diego Zoo

Today, Madison had her first field trip, the San Diego Zoo. The weather was absolutely perfect, which was a huge blessing, being that it rained off and on for the last week. Madison was so excited to go to the zoo with all of her new classmates. I was excited too. I have always been the teacher on field trips, so it was so much fun getting to go as a parent and to watch Madison have a blast with her new friends. I was a little apprehensive about the fact that I am 39 weeks pregnant and knew we were going to be walking all over the zoo, but luckily for me, we stayed mostly at the children's part of the zoo and then just went to some of the other nearby exhibits without having to tackle too many of the hills, that the San Diego Zoo is known for.

Hanging with Kendra:


We arrived at the zoo at around 8:30am and waited for all of Madison's classmates and her teacher. Once we were all there, we entered the park and the fun began. We played on the playground, went to the petting zoo, saw all different kinds of animals, went in the special (new) hummingbird house, went in the bug house, looked at all of the reptiles and snakes, ate a picnic lunch and then finished the afternoon with the Sea Lion Show. Madison had such a great time.

Petting Zoo:


Lunch time:


I have always loved going to the zoo, although sometimes it makes me sad to see all of the animals locked up in cages and/or stuck in an exhibit. But, I love walking around at the San Diego Zoo, in particular, and can't wait until Hudson arrives and we can all go back to the zoo as a family and walk around and enjoy our beautiful weather.

Valentine's Day

We decided to celebrate Valentine's Day on Sunday the 13th because Alex wanted to make me dinner. He did such a good job last year that I requested the same dinner this year! He does such an awesome job. This year the menu slightly varied, but it was super tasty. We had Steak Diane (my favorite), sweet peas, roasted and sauteed yukon gold potatoes, french bread, and apple cranberry cider.



Alex was such a sweetie...he bought me a beautiful bouquet of long stem red roses (that I forgot to take a picture of) and he bought Madison a single long stem red rose. It was very sweet and Madison was in heaven...it was her first flower from her very first Valentine!


The next day, on the 14th, I made Madison a Valentine's Day lunch in celebration of one of my favorite holidays (mostly because of the hearts, but also because I'm a hopeless romantic). Alex also had little surprises for us that day as well. He had bought Madison one of those recordable Hallmark books about how she was his little princess and he had bought me the sequel to a two part series I'm reading by Francine Rivers. He's oh so thoughtful!


Hope you all had a wonderfully beautiful Valentine's Day!

La Jolla Tide Pools

Last weekend, Madison, Alex and I went to the La Jolla Tide Pools to have some fun outdoor adventures while it was sunny and gorgeous out. We couldn't have asked for better weather and it was low tide, so it was perfect. We looked at a lot of fun things while we were there, we explored caves, collected shells and even saw a pod of dolphins swim by. Once we were done at the Tide Pools we walked up a little further and played tag on a huge open field of grass. It was great!

On The Drive Home....

So, Madison had such a blast on her first day of Preschool.

While driving home, Madison was rattling off everything she did while at school and just kept telling me how much fun she had and that she can't wait to go back! She said they learned about the letter "O", they went to church and sang songs (Jesus Loves Me and Oh Happy Day), they read a couple stories and talked about not talking to strangers "especially bad ones", they played on the playground, they had snack, they played with Red Homemade Play-dough, and they played dress-up (Madison said she was Belle and Sleeping Beauty).

Madison had so much fun and asked me if I could take her back later today. I told her that she would get to go back on Thursday and she asked why she had to wait so long. I think she was definitely ready for school! :)

Oh and on another funny note...Madison said there was a very nice boy who kept trying to hold her hand...and so it begins! Lol!

First Day of Preschool

Madison in the car ready to drive to Preschool.




Well, the day finally arrived! Madison is at her first day of Preschool. After months of waiting for our phone call to say that there was room at the school we wanted her to attend, Madison is now in her very own classroom attending preschool. We are so thankful for Madison's enthusiasm for school and her desire to learn. I was so excited to get everything ready for Madison to have her first day of school, but not nearly as excited as she was. Madison woke up nice and early this morning talking and singing away as she explained to her stuffed animals that she would be gone this morning because she was going to Preschool, but that she would be back later to hug them. She told them to be brave and that she would be back by lunchtime. Madison then proceeded to complete her entire morning routine (going potty, making her bed, getting dressed, eating breakfast and brushing her teeth) without any help or extra direction needed. She was ready to get the show on the road.


When we arrived at her preschool, Madison was very excited and her teacher let her come in a little early to check everything out and to go over their daily routine, as well as show Madison where her cubby was and to introduce her to the class fish. Once Madison had thoroughly checked the place out, she looked at Alex and I and said, "I get to stay here without you guys right?" She was very ready for this day!!!! I am so happy that my sweet girl is so confident and so eager to learn.

Needless to say, I am very excited to go pick her up and hear how her first day of preschool went. I am sure she will have several stories. This is a fun day for her to have started attending too because today is Chapel (they have this once a month) and then on Thursday it's pajama day! What a great way first week for Preschool! I will write more later as I hear the fun stories unfold from her first week of school!