This one is more for the family/friends who just appreciate updates on our lives.  And, being that I already feel like I blow up fb and instagram with more than enough photos on whatever non-important things we’re doing, I felt it a bit more respectful to post here, so that anyone who doesn’t want an overload of photos, can just pass on by this post:-)

Anthony Family Updates from the last month or two-ish…

We had Christmas, and my mom is beautiful.

Ellie now takes time-outs. AND it’s hilarious.  She gets SO sad, and looks so tiny and small in that big girl time out chair.  Her time-out’s are usually due to her sneaking upstairs and getting her blanket out of her crib, then sneaking back down and cuddling it with her fingers in her mouth as if nothing has changed.  We’re trying to break the finger-sucking habit, by keeping the blanket in the crib:-)

Went on a hike with the kids.  It was beautiful.

AND NOW… COSTCO LIFE HACK

I was SO tempted to take a photo of the guy who I recently learned this from, he was standing in line behind me. 1) He was from Cal, so yes he was Asian. 2) His shirt had a “hello” tag which read, “My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die.” (see above)  3) He did this super genius Costco line trick which made me like him all the more. 4) he probably would have let me take a photo, but the reasonable voice inside my head said, “you shouldn’t ask to take photos of strangers because it’s weird.”  However, this post would be MUCH better if I had, so next time I’m going to listen to the other voice that says, “who gives a care?  YOLO, do it!”

That’s his arm in the upper right corner.

Here’s the trick – flip OVER the thing that separates your groceries from the next, put your Costco card in it.  GENIUS!  

You all probably all do this already, but I thought it was too cool not to share.

In case you don’t happen to notice from all the pictures below, Ellie is in love with her Grandparents.  The Anthony’s were out here for a week, and Ellie wasted no time sitting on laps and being held.

She was scared in the hospital room when visiting our cousins new baby.

Papa and Kaitlin! Do you see her arms?  This girl is ripped.  Probably one of the best mixes of sweetness and strength I’ve ever met.  We love her and her sisters of course!

Bout’ to get some North Beach Pizza all up in he-ah.

Please notice that I’m getting old.  I do not photoshop my own pictures;-)

Beautiful SF park.

With Gramma Anthony on a hike.

Almond milk latte with a Trader Joe’s mint marshmallow dropped in for good measure.  NUUUMERS!

In preschool, the twins allegedly never saw each other’s art work, but BOTH did exactly the same thing and made those scoops upside down!  Their teacher thought it was adorable.  Must be a twin thing!

Visit from some former students!  LOVE these girls, they seriously get more beautiful every time I see them;-)

Papa has his hands full on a hike.

THIS was waaaaay to funny not to share.

Eli totally did a face-plant slide with the carpet 😦  Such a tough kid.

Visit from one of my best friends – Ellie was giving him toys, and kisses!

This is how to keep three kids relatively happy while I wait for the return line in Ikea.  We waited over 15 minutes.  Plus side?  This Veteran from the Korean war grabbed Ellie’s water when she dropped it quicker then I could have and handed it back to her.  Dude was OLD, but dang he was fast!  I wanted to hug him and tell him thank you for serving our country and that he’s very brave and extremely patient and thoughtful to pick up my kids water that she just chucked across the room, but all I could do was look in his eyes and say, “thank you.”  I always pansy out when thanking a Veteran, it’s like I never think any words I could say would even come close to what I want to convey in my heart, so I end up just smiling:-(  Life goal: learn how to properly thank a Veteran on the spot.

This photo completely summaries my youngest, who tends to be the only one who will usually pose for pictures.

So I have this really great friend, who happens to be my sister-in-law and mommy to my favorite niece.  She comes over at least once a week and the cousins “play” together.  She is super patient, brave and always down for whatever adventures we come up with.  Having family you love is like finding gold in the 49-er days.  I LOVE my family!

Ellie wanted to ride Dani’s bike, so Davin took Dani’s bigger princess bike that was given to her and removed the training wheels.  And then she learned to ride her bike that day 😦 TEARS!  I was NOT ready for that one.

The girls in the bike trailer!

This sauce is no joke super delicious.AND these little babies!  Knock your socks off yummy.  If you’re wearing any.

So that about does it.  I may do a post on Disneyland (which was back in November) only because when we were there, I purposely only posted ONE photo on instagram, because I didn’t want to be phone distracted while on vacation.  SOoooo, that may be coming too…

Thanks for reading, hope the random assortment of updates was fun:-)