Fallbrook Fire!

We were evacuated on Monday October 22 due to a fire burning very close to our home. This is a picture I took as I was heading out of town. Fortunately for us this is as close as it got. My brother who lives up "in town" still is not sure how his house is doing. We are all pretty sure it is fine, all reports we have been able to piece together it appears that it has past through the canyon at the end of his street. Today is Wednesday, my birthday, and we are back in our home. I'm sure Dougie will be back in his home very soon.

Kaycee's 15

This is my niece Kaycee with her mom. Melanie will kill me for posting a picture of her, but oh well. They had a family party for Kaycee at their home, which they bought in my town (yea!). Anyway, happy birthday Kaycee. She is such a character, posing for pictures with everyone.

Little Olivia

On this rare occasion, Olivia let me dress her, so I was able to pick a cute matching outfit with a headband. I had to take pictures. This outfit stayed on her for a whole 4 hours. It's not really her fault that she changed. The outfit was too warm because the 20 year storm all the news stations said was going to hit us this day never came.

New Cousin!

Meet Amy. Amy is short for Amelia. This is my cousin April's newest addition and third daughter. Isn't she too cute? I think she looks alot like her daddy Alex.

Marty went Surfing

My parents rented a condo on the beach (for many reasons) and had GGPA's birthday party there. Since it was a 4 bedroom, we spent the night. Marty brought his surfboard and went surfing for the first time in probably a year. He was exhausted from the paddling. Marty's eyes are closed, but this is the best picture that came out because the sun was behind him. That's Natey behind him.

GGPA's Birthday

My grandpa just turned...drum roll please....92! Can you believe it? He still lives on his own and drives himself where he needs to go. Only just recently my mom has been making him a big casserole (or pot of something) on Sunday and he eats it for dinner all week, but it's not like he needs her to, she does the same thing for my dad for his lunch. I think my grandpa is healthier than me. Hehehe. I laugh, but I'm not kidding, I really think he is and I'm not "sick".

9 / 11 Patriotic Day

The kids school has a patriotic day every September 11th. Nathan's Boy Scout pack asked the boys to wear their uniforms and they could participate in the flag ceremony. So, I decided to go with my camera and catch a picture of Nate with his fellow scouts. Well, to my surprise Nathan was holding the California state flag. I was quite the proud mom. Everytime I saw someone I knew I would point to Nate and say "look, Nate is hold the flag"! I took so many pictures of him. Walking down the aisle, holding the flag, then putting it into it's stand. This one is my favorite because he is saluting. He is so adorable and I say this because while he is waiting for the ceremony to start, he's goofing around like any 7 year old, but as soon as it was "time" that boy was so serious and somber.

It's Soccer Time

It's that time of year again, soccer season. Nate is on a team called the Vipers. Every team in his age group is named after a species of snake, which is right up Nathan's alley. Nate's team won this game 2 - 1. Nate is such a cutie. :)

Labor Day Weekend

On Sunday we had a barbeque with our neighbors. This is our next door neighbors backyard. We took out a small section of fence between our yards. Their yard had the jumper and a baby pool and our yard had the playground and a slightly larger kid pool for the big kids. I made snow cones for the kids. In the picture are Cassie, Emily, Olivia, Nathan and JJ. Lucas is out of frame and Lexi and Andrew hadn't arrived yet. Everyone had a great time, especially the kids who jumped all afternoon and well into the night. Don't tell the jumper company, but the kids kept jumping into the pool and then straight into the jumper and made it a slip and slide.

First Day of School

August 27 - Today was the first day of school. It truly is "the most wonderful time of the year". Actually I wouldn't mind summer at all if I had more money. I simply could not afford to take the kids out and do all the things they wanted to do. I think I will try to put money aside all year just for summer activities. I was so tired of them complaining that we didn't get to do anything that I made them a scrapbook that I call "shut up, this is what you did this summer". I don't actually say that out loud to the kids. It ended up being about 25 pages long. I only made 1 page per destination, i.e. even though we went to the beach three times I only made one beach page, etc. I'll try and post pics of it later. Emily donated her long hair to Locks of Love the weekend before school started, she had been wanting to do it for close to a year. After we got the kids settled into their classrooms, the neighborhood moms (4 of us) went to a nearby scrapbook store woohoo!

August 26 - Ice Skating

We went ice skating on just about the hottest day of the summer. It was 107 degrees outside and I was freezing at the ice rink. This was Olivia's first time out on the ice. She wasn't having a good time until another skater let her use the walker. The rink only had two of them. I can't believe the rink wasn't packed. I guess since this was the day before school started, not too many people thought to get out of the heat.

San Diego Zoo

I drove the kids down to the zoo on Monday. We went with our neighbors Chrissy and her kids Cassie and Lucas and with Stacy and her son JJ. We got to see all the animals that we don't normally see at the Wild Animal Park. Nathan loved the all the snakes. I was especially creeped out by the insects. Bugs should just not be allowed to be as big as my fist. We saw the polar bears, a hippo, two pandas (mommy panda and new baby were off exhibit for now), a two week old flamingo (it was white and sooo fuzzy), various cats and exotic birds.

Auntie Sue got Married!

We went to Northern California for Auntie Sue's wedding. August 4, 2007. Also Nana Dora's birthday. Emily and Nathan were in the wedding as flower girl and ring bearer of course. The reception was a kick-back bbq in the backyard. The kids swam in the pool for hours. By the end of the night I had plenty of pictures we will be laughing over for years to come. I got Papa dancing like Elaine from Seinfeld, Nana and her sister laughing until they were beet red, and Sue with a beer tucked into her cleavage. I think that one is going to be our christmas card this year.

Sky High - July 24, 2007

Our neighbor Cassie had her 7th birthday party at Sky High, an inflatable wonderland for kids. Emily and Nathan are beating each other with giant q-tips. Olivia gave it a try too, but couldn't pick up the q-tip high enough to swing it at Emily. Needless to say, the kids all had a blast and really wore themselves out. Happy Birthday Cassie.

Bryce Canyon

Mommy and the kids went on a road trip to Utah again this year. We went to Bryce Canyon this time and did quite a hike down the Navajo Loop Trail. We went down a steep 1/4 mile trail down to where there was a rock slide last year and could not go any further. I had Olivia on my back in a backpack, so that added an additional 35 pounds. Luckily for me when we got to the bottom, she wanted out and she actually ran back up the trail. I had to keep yelling at her to stop and wait for me and to get away from the edge. She thought it was quite amusing to stand about three switch-backs above me and look at me from the very edge. That girl is going to give me a heart attack. Emily on the other hand stayed with me on the way back up and kept checking on me every 10 feet. "Are you okay mom? Want some water mom? Do you need to rest?" She's very sweet, but I wasn't that pathetic. I held my own quite nicely thank you.

Happy 4th of July!

We had a quiet 4th of July this year. The kids' Uncle Doug & Aunt Mel came over as well as Grandma & Aunt Nene. We BBQ'd and then had a fire and smores. The kids went to bed by 8pm and Mommy & Daddy packed for the kids trip with Daddy to go see Nana & Papa.

Beach Day!

We went to the beach Sunday. Yeah! Olivia did not want to go at all. She kept whining "No Beach!" She loves the pool, but the ocean scares her. We convinced her to go by telling her there would be lots of sand to play in. This day was the first time she let daddy take her not only near the water, but they went in the water up to Daddy's waist. She loved it. She even went for a ride on the boogie board and was not upset when she wiped out and rolled through the waves getting covered in sand. A good time was had by all.

My Boy Scout....

Nathan had a Boy Scout picnic on Saturday. He received his tiger badge and all the final beads and belt loops he earned this year. The Boy Scouts are having a graduation ceremony in August and that's when he will get his new neckerchief and hat.

Wild Animal Park

We went to the Wild Animal Park today! Boy was it hot, 101 degrees when we left at 3pm. This is the first time olivia fed and held a Lorikeet all by herself. We went with our friends from next door, Stacy and J.J. The lions and elephants were the only big animals we went to see. Other things we did was feeding Lorikeets, checking out the bugs, meerkats, flamingos, and the bird enclosure. Next time we'll check out the gorillas and giraffes.

School's Out...now I have to entertain them.

Now that school is out I have to come up with cheap activities to keep them occupied and active. We are so busy all school year with four different sports, Girl Scouts, and Boy Scouts that I refuse to put them into anything that has a time line (meaning a place to be at a specific time). Summer is for sleeping in and going when your darn good and ready to go. So know that I said all that....I took the kids to the Temecula Duck Pond this day. We bought a loaf of bread for 99 cents and feed the ducks and other birds. The pond also had lots of turtles. We walked around the large pond and checked out the statues. It's been a long time since I've been there and the city has put in a military memorial with engraved bricks and a statue. It was really nice.

I wanted one too....

I was hopping all over the internet a few weeks ago and came across a blog of someone I don't know at all and she had one of these set-ups that she saw on Heidi Swapps blog and Heidi saw it somewhere else too. I decided I wanted one too. So, I went to Target and found this serving tray for $4 with matching cups and bowls and pitcher. I got all new crayons, colored pencils, markers, color changing brush markers, and even craz smelling pens. I covered the kitchen table with butcher paper and this is what the kids saw when they came home on the last day of school. They thought it was the coolest thing.

Smores

Daddy with Nathan and Olivia. Olivia has smores all around her mouth. Yummy!

Sleepover....

Emily had her friend sleepover tonight. This is the first time a friend has slept over, Em has been to sleepovers at friends homes, but this is our first time as hosts. For 3 days beforehand, Emily was crazy on our cases to clean things up. I had to threaten to cancel the sleepover just to get her to stop using her mommy voice "Put that away NOW!" Anyway, Marty took them swimming, we got pizza for dinner, and we had a fire in the backyard and made Smores. Yummy!!