Savoring Life

Crowley/Robinson Vacation 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Ang) — Sat, 24 Aug 2013 05:38:00 +0000

Our 2011 family vacation to Yosemite was so much fun that we couldn't wait for it to be time to go on vacation again! Anyone with small kiddos knows how hard it is to come up with a vacation idea that doesn't require flying, a ridiculous amount of money and is fun for both the kids and adults. And with Bella being born in June, we were sorely limited by what we could do. We considered Yosemite again, because we knew it was a winner. But even a motorhome trip with a baby seemed difficult. And with a newborns busy nap schedule, she and I wouldn't be able to join Brian and the kids in some activities.

So when our good friends, the Robinsons, suggested we vacation together, we were all over that like dieting Crowleys on a buffet. Our boys are the same age and even though our girls are 3 years apart, they are great buddies and have the same interests. And it was a relief for me that Brian and the kids would have people to play with and wouldn't be bored while Bella was eating or sleeping.

So we rented a cabin at Gull Lake, (which is near June Lake) that housed all of us! It was the perfect setup. A large kitchen, dining room, family room with TV, 2 full bathrooms, laundry, and 3 bedrooms, a sitting room in the master bedroom, plus a spare queen bed in a little accordianed off room. We weren't going into the week thinking the kids would sleep much, all sharing a room but by shuffling kids around after they fell asleep and putting McKenna in a packNplay in the master bedroom's sitting room, they all slept pretty good! Well, almost. Austin was so excited to be there, he developed an annoying habit of waking before 6....singing. And since the big kids rooms were right next to Nicole and Justin's rooms, while Brian and I were upstairs, they got the pleasure of being serenaded awake each morning.

The cabin was just a three minute walk to the lake. Isn't it beautiful?!

Monday

We got to our cabin fairly late Sunday evening, so Monday was the first real day of playing and exploring. We decided to have a fairly laid back day, and stayed near the cabin. The day ended up being an odd hodgepodge of activities.

Playing Candyland. Austin has a great poker face, obviously.

Then we built a fort.

McKenna got her first pedicure. She was unsure at first but has been an addict ever since!

There was a pretty good park very close to our cabin, so we took lunch there and played a bit.

The kids loved the "zipline".

Then we came back to the cabin and the big kids played with playdough while our girls took naps.

Great first day!

Tuesday

It was decided that our second day we would have a picnic and go swimming at June Lake. McKenna thought it was never too early to practice safety first. Even while coloring!

Nothing like a lake filled with snow melt-off for swimming! Takes your breath away! Brian and Justin and the oldest two braved it first, and Nicole and I went in for a bit after lunch, but the younger ones were much more content to dig.

It did end up being a beautiful day for a picnic though. We were visited by a fairly aggressive duck. We told the kids to hold their sandwiches up so he wouldn't get them. They looked so silly protecting their food!

What trip to the mountains would be complete without s'mores? There was a giant campfire ring down by the lake, so we took all our supplies down for a yummy snack after dinner.

Our yummy night took a crazy turn when I saw something move on the other side of the bushes next to us. Less than 100 feet from us was a big black bear. Apparently she thought our s'mores smelled good too! We quickly herded our kids and were so thankful that the bear changed his mind. Never have we been so thankful for loud children. They probably scared her off! We had to be careful going back to the cabin, because she lumbered off in the exact direction we needed to go. It was so amazing and terrifying at the same time.

Of course, I had to attempt to take a picture! Once our kids were corralled, I grabbed the camera but it was mighty dark and all I got was a black picture. I was bummed! To get an idea of how close it was, I took this one later.

When we saw it, it was on the other side of those bushes and the fence, but just to the right of those bushes is a little bridge that led right to us. Had she come down the bridge, she would have been right on us!

Wednesday

Wednesday we journeyed to Yosemite! It was a bit of a drive, but it was so worth it. Yosemite is just beautiful!

We got some lunch and then drove around on the buses and got a view of the valley. The kids loved the bus!

We hiked up to Lower Yosemite Falls. We saw a momma deer with two babies! That was a special treat!

Bella enjoyed her first hike!

The kids are carrying brown bags because we had them do a scavenger hunt on the way up to the falls. It made the hike fun, but super long, since they didn't understand that they didn't need to pick up every stick on the way. Just one.

Taking the bigger kids rock-hopping was super nostalgic! That was one of my favorite things to do as a kid and I have vivid memories doing it at Lower Yosemite Falls!

McKenna didn't hop the big rocks with us, but she found her own log to happily climb!

And while Bella took a snack break, we kept the kids busy making rock pets. Gotta plan ahead when we have impatient kiddos!

After dinner and ice cream, we headed back to the cabin. We were treated to a gorgeous dusk coming out of the valley! Oh, how I love this place! I can't wait to get to go back in a few weeks!!!

Nicole got a picture of this fella was just as we were leaving. And we almost hit a few deer as we were driving back. Glad Brian was awake!

Thursday

June Lake, itself, doesn't have a lot to do, but it's a great jumping off point for adventures! Yosemite was within reasonable driving distance and Mammoth was very close too. So Thursday, we spent the day exploring Mammoth. We really had little idea what we would do there but ended up having an incredible experience!

First, we were treated to a beautiful drive!

One of our cutest travel companions!

We stopped at the Village at Mammoth for lunch. Best Mexican Food ever! Go to Gomez's if you are ever there! During the summer the Village has random games out for people to play as they walk around. The kids found a giant Jenga game.

We also found a ladder game, but the kids had a hard time throwing the bolas and decided they made better earmuffs!

After lunch, we took a gondola ride up to the top of the mountain. We didn't know how cool it would be but it was amazing! It felt like we were on top of the world! (It was crazy cold too! If you ever do this, take warm clothes!!)

Friday

Friday was going home day. We were sad to leave but it had been a full week. We are so thankful for good friends and the opportunity to make memories together!!

Another Two-fer: 13 & 14 Months

noreply@blogger.com (Ang) — Tue, 13 Aug 2013 16:23:00 +0000

I missed another month! Poor #3 kiddo. She's getting the shaft! Hopefully she'll understand. I'm going to do a combo post again, but sadly I can't really distinguish what was by 13 months and what was just in the last month. So they're just getting lumped together.
13 Months

14 Months

Favorite part of the last few months? Snuggles. Lots of snuggles. I'm in heaven. She's never really been much of a snuggler so I think that makes it that much better. When she's tired, she just wants to be held and puts her head down on my shoulder and holds on tight. She'll do it when I ask for hugs or snuggles or love too. Best part of my job!

Finally some new teeth! And lots! I make the weirdest teethers. She's been really slowly getting teeth #5 & 6, the next upper ones. They just barely popped through last week. No sign of the next bottom ones at all. Well, just a few days ago, I was holding her in my lap, tickling her and as she put her headback and laughed I saw a molar. And not just one, three out of her four molars were already in. She skipped 6 teeth!

Language is amazing! She's learning new words all the time. Not necessarily speaking them, but she understands so much more every day. I love asking her to bring me something or take something to one of her siblings and having her be able to do it. She loves repeating sounds, even the obnoxious ones her siblings make. My favorite new word that she actually learned to say is "please". She learned the sign at the same time and she whispers a "pssss". It is so cute! And it seems to make her less frustrated cuz she can ask when she wants something rather than just squawking at me.

Another new word is "ouch". The other day at lunch she accidentally bonked her head on the table and repeated right after me when I said, "oh ouch". Then she kept bonking her head and saying ouch. Way to ram the concept in, I guess!

She's also kinda obsessed with saying "Mama!" She loves to come up behind me and pat my shoulder and say "Mama? Mama? Mama?..." She picked up saying it over and over again from Austin, who usually says it in 3s. (My own little Sheldon!) So between the two of them, I hear my name a LOT! McKenna has been insisting on calling me "Mother" so at least there is a little variety.

She also added a few new signs these months too. Milk isn't exactly new, but getting the concept of asking for it specifically is. She yells "Mama! Mama! Mama!" and when I ask her what she needs she proudly holds up her hand and signs it. The first time she got the right response, I could tell she was so excited. Like she just discovered all the power that she can now wield! She also learned how to shake her head no, which has helped a lot at meal times too. We can have a little conversation to figure out what she'd like to eat and what she needs more of. Love it! And sometimes when I answer her, she just starts talking gibberish like she has something really important to say. Wish I knew what!

She's learned a few body parts too. Hair, belly button, mouth, tongue and nose. Nose is awesome! When you ask her where her nose is, she squeezes it and says "Honk!"

I *might* just have a kid that obeys! Maybe. It takes a few times of telling her no, but she will usually stop doing what she shouldn't or comes when you ask. Austin and McKenna took "no" as a challenge and would just laugh at me. And "come" meant run as fast they can in the opposite direction. If she's cranky though, I'm completely out of luck. She's got a stubborn streak in there too.

All along, I've had a feeling she might be my most difficult toddler. She was my easiest baby, so it's just fair I guess! She's still a happy joyful thing most of the time, but she is developing a serious temper too. I think I had at least until 16 months before I got legitimate tantrums out of the other two. She's already got them figured out. If you take something from her, she will flail herself back and start kicking and shrieking. She has also figured out how to go limp when you're trying to pick her up. If she starts copying McKenna's meltdowns, I'm in for a world of hurt.

Along those same lines, she's already entering the "do it by myself" phase. She will insist on walking without holding your hand. Really wants to hold the spoon and feed herself. Has to hold her own smoothie and straw and will rip them out of your hands, spraying yogurt everywhere in the process, if you try to help her. Praying this is short lived, but out of experience, I'd say it's not!

Still a good eater. I keep waiting for that ball to drop. Austin was a good eater until about a year. Thankfully she doesn't seem to be letting up on enjoying food! She is developing a few bad habits though. She's taken to chucking food if she's full or uninterested. And when she's done drinking her milk she flips it onto the floor. The kids would keep getting it for her and then she discovered it could be a game. With a little bit of a 'tude too. One time I gave it back to her and she promptly chucked it again, pointed to it and I swear she said "Get it!"

She's a water baby! We did swimming lessons with the big kids this year at a friend's pool. While one kid was in their lesson, I swam with the other two. Bella LOVES the water. When we get to the pool, she immediately tries to climb in all by herself. I've had to bring a booster seat to keep her contained while I sunscreen up the others, otherwise she's gone! As soon as she gets in the water she starts splashing everywhere. She dunks her own face too, although she doesn't always hold her breath. We're working on that. She knows how to kick on command and does a decent job swimming when you pass her under water between you and another person. I need to find a good floatie situation for her. All the arm floaties and swim bellies are too big for her and she hates the infant floatie. Can climb right out too! She doesn't want to be held all the time, convinced she can swim by herself, so it's a bit of a challenge! But it is so fun to see her enjoy it so much!

Her new excited face KILLS me! I just love it so much! It's really how I'm seeing her personality and sense of humor blooming. She excitedly brings me stuff she finds, running towards me to deliver it. Delivering items gives her such joy! She'll bring me my phone, then take it back and take it over to Brian. Then confiscate it again and repeats over and over.

Miscellaneous August Cuteness!

noreply@blogger.com (Ang) — Sun, 21 Jul 2013 01:00:00 +0000

Now for all of the cuteness that I can pass over but doesn't really go with anything.

It is so nice having cousins close in age live nearby! Cousins are such good buddies!

I had to post this video of McKenna. It's just too sweet. During bathtime she would "read" to her squirty toys. So that's what she's doing here. She sets up the pirates on her lap so that they can see the "book" and then reads to them. Her story consists of "One day..." and then some gibberish. And then "One day..."

Sisterly Love! Have I mentioned how much McKenna adores Bella?

She loves her so much that she shares all her toys with her! Can you find that Bella?

Sometimes, even daddies need some snuggles

Reason #427 why my son will hate me when he's 17.

(Actually, he's not sad that I put this on him, because I didn't. He did it himself. He's just upset that the wings are poking him. But this face was too much cuteness not to take a picture of first.)

My Sweet Little Loves!

Splashing with Cousins

noreply@blogger.com (Ang) — Sat, 20 Jul 2013 01:00:00 +0000

Scott & Robin and the kids came up for a swim day and bbq! They were bringing the kids up for a stay with Nani and Papa and hadn't seen our new house yet, so we killed two birds with one stone!

My niece and nephew, Monkey & Wiggles

Katelyn is a total water bug! She LOVES the water!

Wiggles was so good to McKenna! She's a great big cousin. She floated McKenna around and made sure she was having fun!

Bella got her first dip in the water! She loved it too!

Summer Playdates - Pool Party at our Place

noreply@blogger.com (Ang) — Fri, 19 Jul 2013 01:00:00 +0000

We ended the summer of playdates with a pool party at our pool. It was so hot last summer that everyone turned out to get some relief from the heat! I didn't take any pics but Becca had her water proof camera and got some great pics of the fun! Thanks Becca!

Jack discovered that we could launch the water from the jets with the pool noodles. Made a great hose!

Such a Sweet Face!

noreply@blogger.com (Ang) — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 01:00:00 +0000

A collection of my little sunshine at 2 months old.

I was able to get a few videos of her early giggles and babbling.

Summer Playdates - Under the Sea

noreply@blogger.com (Ang) — Wed, 17 Jul 2013 01:00:00 +0000

Under the Sea is an indoor playground by our old house in Redondo. It's small, but my kids really like it.

My kids really like these little cars. They could ride them all day long.

Austin likes to be chauffeured around too!

Sammy and Auntie Becca make a very cute pirate and mermaid!

We had a new playdate buddy! She's a few months older than Bella. She got to have her first swing. I think she was a little unsure of it!

I'm a Little Pineapple!

noreply@blogger.com (Ang) — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 01:00:00 +0000

When I was a baby, my mom kept a calendar of my milestones, or just little observations about me each day or so. Things like "Starting to smile", "Found her feet today", etc. Not too long ago, we were going through my baby stuff together and found the calendar. On one day I found the note "Hair still sticks straight up. She looks like a pineapple!"

Apparently, Bella inherited my pineapple-ness! I love my little pineapple!

Visitors!

noreply@blogger.com (Ang) — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 01:00:00 +0000

Brian's brother, Sean, is a flight mechanic in the Coast Guard. He and his wife, Sarah, are stationed in Hawaii right now. (We feel oh so bad for them!) We miss them very much! Unfortunately we can't really afford to go visit them right now, so it was really wonderful that they were able to come back to the mainland last summer to visit us and Sarah's family.

We had a fun day swimming at our pool. Austin showed his Coasty uncle how well he swims!

And we had some yummy lunch one day at Lazy Dog!

Summer Playdates - Travel Town

noreply@blogger.com (Ang) — Sun, 14 Jul 2013 01:00:00 +0000

Finally we had a big crowd for a playdate! Almost everyone was able to come to Travel Town. It's a train museum by the LA Zoo. My kids loves trains!

We started the adventure out by riding the train

Then we played in the museum on their train tracks. I'm pretty sure all the kids liked this more than the real trains!

One of our little buddies turned 2 that day, so after lunch we celebrated with some mini cupcakes

And then we did some more exploring on the large trains. McKenna's best buddy helped her up to the train, cuz she was scared of the stairs.

July McKenna Cuteness

noreply@blogger.com (Ang) — Sat, 13 Jul 2013 01:00:00 +0000

Isn't my McKenna beautiful?! She has the most gorgeous eyes in the whole world!

McKenna is incredibly patient in letting me play with her hair. It's so fun as her hair gets longer and thicker.

I love what an interest she took in Bella!

Making Bella smile!

Making sure Bella is warm enough. She must really love Bella to have shared her beloved blankie with Bella. This picture cracks me up because of the extra little blanket. That's the little one from their playmobile motorhome. McKenna has such a funny sense of humor.

We always had to keep an eye on McKenna when she was playing with Mr. Potatohead, because she seemed determined to insert various potato pieces into Bella's mouth and eyes! But this one I was okay with her dressing up Bella!

Bella Smiles

noreply@blogger.com (Ang) — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 01:00:00 +0000

I love those first baby smiles! Bella's melt me! Bella started smiling early and never stopped!

Summer Playdates - Beautiful Beach Day

noreply@blogger.com (Ang) — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 01:00:00 +0000

We only made it to the beach one time last summer! Getting to the beach is such a production that we hardly ever go. And with a 1 month old it's even more difficult. I was just thankful we got to go at all. Of course, we went with our buddies Jack and Sammy and Luke. It was a beautiful day!

The beach isn't really that different than a park with sand for my kids cuz they don't actually like going in the water. I tried to encourage some swimming, of course, but this is as close as I could get Austin. McKenna wouldn't even get this close!

McKenna was very content to dig and dig and dig.

And warm herself in the sun

Austin was just super happy to be there!

And my bella Bella thoroughly enjoyed her first visit to the beach by sleeping through it. Such a good baby!

Our playfellows are sure cuties too!

Jack was doing his best impression of a corndog!

And Luke loves his grandma snuggles

Happy 4th!

noreply@blogger.com (Ang) — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 01:00:00 +0000

4th of July last year was our first holiday in our new house, so we decided to christen the place with its first bbq. My parents and Brian's mom joined us for some yummy guac and hamburgers.

The kids sporting their cutest patriotic outfits.

McKenna discovered she likes guacamole!

And then the kids "napped". This has been a favorite game ever since.

Bella's really really good at this game!

Torrance (inexplicably) still didn't have a fireworks show, so we went on a search for a new good show. Fireworks are kinda my favorite! We ended up finding a last second parking spot (it may have been in the red) near El Segundo's main park, plopped ourselves on someone's lawn. I didn't get to take any pics though because both my big kids were fairly terrified of the fireworks and I had to give good snuggles to make it through the show. Someday they'll love them as much as me!

Summer Playdates - Palos Verdes Fountain

noreply@blogger.com (Ang) — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 01:00:00 +0000

Each summer we try to get together with our buddies each week for a different playdate adventure. Even with our new little addition, we tried to make as many as we could. It was a busy summer for everyone, so many playdates ended up being just Reeves & Crowleys, but those were fun too! We love playing with them!

The first one was splashing at the Palos Verdes Fountains. Always a winner, even on a cloudy day!

Seeing A Circus in a Suite

noreply@blogger.com (Ang) — Mon, 08 Jul 2013 01:00:00 +0000

There are more than a few perks to having Daddy work at Mattel! One of those perks is that Mattel owns a suite at the Staples Center. Which means that anytime there's a game or a concert or any event, Mattel automatically has tickets. Occasionally Brian gets to go to a basketball or hockey game. It's really rare that he gets an extra ticket to bring anyone. They are hard to come by. But last July, the circus was at the Staples Center and apparently not a ton of people wanted to go to it! So not only were we able to go to the circus with our best buddies, we had the whole suite to ourselves!

The kids had a lot of fun! And I have to confess that I probably had even more than they did. I can't remember the last time I went to a circus and I really like that type of stuff. The kids were ready to go before I was.

My favorites:

Lions!

Acrobats! It was amazing how high this guy is in this pic!

Elephants!

Lots of motorcycles in the ball of death!

My Sweet Firstborn

noreply@blogger.com (Ang) — Sun, 07 Jul 2013 01:00:00 +0000

In the same way that he looked huge the day we brought McKenna home from the hospital, Austin seemed to grow a foot the day we brought Bella home too! I made sure to take some cute pics and video of my firstborn in June to contrast against the littleness of my newborn!

I sure love this kid!

Austin had just recently become obsessed with legos. He is amazingly good at following the instructions all by himself. He has a great attention span (when he wants to!) and very good problem solving skills and attention to detail (again, when he wants to!). This was his first real "big" set though that he put together. He was so very proud of himself!

(I love McKenna's photobomb in this pic. Love her excited face!)

I took this video of him because there are just a few words that I always want to remember how my kids say them. For Austin, "granola" is one of them. I have a few more that I captured later months, but those will have to wait. He pronounces it "gralola" and I just think it's the cutest! And he also has a really silly way of saying "recycling bin" that I just love.

About this time, he figured out how to spell his name too. He still says it with the same inflection and he still spells it to just about everyone he introduces himself to.

In July, he went to VBS. On his packet of info for the week was a bible verse that they were going to focus on and I thought I'd see if he could learn it before the week was over. I was so impressed that he was able to! He's a little hard to understand but he knows it. "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23"

Miscellaneous June Cuteness

noreply@blogger.com (Ang) — Sat, 06 Jul 2013 01:00:00 +0000

It didn't take long after Brian went back to work for the kids to start getting restless from being held victim to a newborn's schedule. So we decided to venture out of the house and went to the park with Nani, Auntie Suz & Katelyn!

McKenna had so much fun just dumping sand with Nani. I don't know why this tickled her so, but I just love her giggles and smiles from that day!

And just a few more of Bella's cute little newborn face that didn't fit with the other posts.

Meeting Great Grandparents

noreply@blogger.com (Ang) — Fri, 05 Jul 2013 01:00:00 +0000

When she was a few weeks old, Bella got to meet her Great Grandma and Grandpa Wiley. She is the 11th great grandchild! They kinda liked her!

Grandma, always the baby whisperer, helped Bella get a good nap!

It's in the Genes

noreply@blogger.com (Ang) — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 01:00:00 +0000

Proof that the crazy poofy hair is hereditary! I was born with jet black hair that stuck straight up for months! While none of the kids had nearly as much hair as I did and it wasn't as dark, they all inherited the same poofiness!

Me

Austin

McKenna

Bella

Bella's poofy hair was, by far, the most impressive of my three kids. Her's also stuck around the longest. It didn't go away until almost 6 months. The first two kids had lost most of their hair after the first couple months, so there was less to poof! I loved Bella's poof! I never made attempts to tame it. It reflected her joyful personality too much!

Bella's First Bath - Third Time's a Charm!

noreply@blogger.com (Ang) — Tue, 02 Jul 2013 15:00:00 +0000

When it came time for Bella's first bath, we were determined to not get pooped on this time! With Austin, we didn't put a diaper on him right away and he pooped in his towel and promptly got a second bath! McKenna was diapered but still managed to explode everywhere and also promptly had a second bath. So this time, we made sure to wait until AFTER Bella had pooped to even start the bath and made sure to put a diaper on her immediately afterward. And thankfully, third times a charm! No poop! Bella was already turning out to be easier than the other two!

And true to her easy little self, she was uber calm and just happy as she could be during her first bath. Not to mention, she looked so cute all cleaned up!

Like Brother Like Sister

noreply@blogger.com (Ang) — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 15:00:00 +0000

Austin (18 months) helping me set up McKenna's bouncy seat

McKenna (26 months) doing the same when I got it out for Bella

Sibling Love

noreply@blogger.com (Ang) — Sun, 30 Jun 2013 23:33:00 +0000

We were a little anxious to see how the kids reacted to Bella's birth. Austin was really interested in the baby in my belly before she was born. He'd talk to her and seemed to be excited about her pending arrival. McKenna was only just 2, pretty darn clingy and smack dab in the middle of the terrible (-awful-horrendous-miserable) twos, so we were afraid she'd be jealous of the competition.

Both kids were the exact opposite of what we expected!

As it turned out, Austin was fairly indifferent for the first couple days! He didn't dislike her or anything, but just didn't show any special interest in Bella. He kinda went about his business as usual. But after a few days, he started warming up to her and was so sweet with her.

And McKenna was OBSESSED with Bella! She never left her side, was constantly giving her hugs and kisses, just could not get enough of this new little doll! She wasn't always gentle, but it was just because she wanted to smother her with love!

She also developed this high pitch way of talking to Bella that she still does!

I'm so thankful for these three little people! I can't wait to see their love for each other grow and how much fun they're going to have together!

Newborns Have It So Rough

noreply@blogger.com (Ang) — Sun, 30 Jun 2013 01:00:00 +0000

I want so bad to get caught up that I am tempted to condense everything into whole month posts, but these posts are like my scrapbook and I don't want to zip through all these early pics of Bella. I'm loving looking back at these first days of life with her. There's nothing like those first snuggles! And those were my last first snuggles! So bear with me as I savor getting caught up!

She had some serious built in pillows in those cheeks!

She was such a good sweet sleeper from the beginning! Thankfully she kept that up!

Bella Bella

noreply@blogger.com (Ang) — Sat, 29 Jun 2013 04:39:00 +0000

The hospital has a wonderful service where a company called (coincidentally!) Bella Baby Photography, comes and does a free photoshoot with your new baby. The pics aren't free to buy, but it was so great to have newborn pics of Bella! (The hospital didn't have this service when Austin was born. In fact, the pics they did take were so pitiful, we didn't bother with McKenna, not realizing they had switched to Bella Baby Photography by then. Still very sad I don't have professional pics of that first day with her!)

Aren't these beautiful?!