Happy Birthday, Samuel!

The big 3 - 3 finally came for Samuel and

all I can say is,

"Good grief!  Thank goodness it's here!"

As much as I love celebrating how many wonderful

years he has graced this earth...

every...single...year

(because I'm older by two weeks),

he gloats about how he's a whole year younger than me!

Do your math, buddy!

Even if I have to say I'm 33

and you get to say your 32

-I'm still only two weeks older!

Anyway...

his birthday wouldn't be the same without this

annual back and forth,

and truly,

"Happy Birthday, Samuel!"

I love you, hon!

This year was a bit unconventional for us

in that I was away for the big day in Bakersfield, California.

My grandma's nephew passed away and

I drove her and my little sister down for the funeral.

It was a wonderful opporunity to visit

family that I haven't seen since I was a little girl,

and to be able to spend time with my grandma and sister

was priceless!

What to do about the homefront though?

Well the day before I left,

I baked my buns off and 

gave the girls the secret mission of carrying

on the festivities without momma!

I am so proud of those girls!

They put the finishing touches on a 

hearty lasagna dinner,

wrapped dad's gifts,

AND

served Samuel's favorite chocolate cake for dessert! 

They are wondeful little momma's!

And the boys,

they played their part well too!

Keeping daddy busy with their escapades so

the girls could finish up!

...

When I got home the next day,

there was nothing but hugs and kisses

from all but one...

Gabriel!

He refused to look at me,

or let me hold him!

He was so, so upset with me for leaving!

I apologized and

told him I was home now,

and only then did he crawl into my arms!

What a sweetie! 

I love my brood!

17 A's = 17 Free Donuts!

Granted,

we are not donut-people...

That's not to say that we don't EAT donuts,

we just buy them very, very rarely.

But when your girls amass an astounding

seventeen A's collectively on their report cards

-GREAT JOB, GIRLS!-

and Krispy Kreme offers one free donut for every A,

well...

Guess who was eating donuts?

The boys,

riding, or should I say, feasting, 

on the coattails of the girls efforts,

and happily doing so!

...

Isabella, Ava, & Iris,

You girls all make your mom and dad

so, so proud!

We love you very much!

xoxo

mom + dad

The Living Book Fair

What is a Living Book Fair?

Turns out,

it's pretty awesome!

Each grade selected a classic story

and brought it to life!

Thank you, Iris!

You did amazing in your play:

The Giving Tree!

You worked so hard to

memorize all of your lines,

and you sparkle "on stage"!

Ava's puppet show,

"Jack and the Beanstalk"

was a hit with all the kids!

Way to go, Ava!

Bella's class shared

"The Sign of the Beaver",

and brought to life a Native American village,

complete with a wig wam,

fishing, setting snares, and grinding cornmeal!

What a fun way to end the night!

Girls,

we're so proud of you!

Thank you for a wondeful evening!

We love you!



Girls Morning Out

I can remember being woken early

in the morning by my mom

-horribly early in the morning-

and it was for one of two reasons:

1) She needed help setting up her garage sale,

or 2) we were going to the auction.

I always hoped it was the latter,

but after scouring the endless number of booths

under the brutal morning heat,

neither of them really had the edge.

Now that I have my own family,

we hardly EVER go to the auction,

but when we do,

it takes me back!

My girls brought their spending money,

and we comparison shopped,

haggled,

and scrutinized

until they found token items that were just right!

And to my surprise,

the auction does NOT go on forever and forever!

We actually reached the back of it!

I had to just kind of stare at it for awhile,

I was so agog that my childhood belief that it

NEVER ENDED

wasn't true!

H A P P Y  B A R G A I N  S H O P P I N G !



A True First Day

I cannot believe it!

The first day of school is already here!

The summer, as usual,

has flown by!

My girls,

are so, so beautiful! 

And so big!

It really does seem like just yesterday that

I was folding pink onsies...

...

Not only is it the first day of school,

but their first day at a new school!

It's a huge leap of faith for all of us,

but after much thought and prayer,

we enrolled them in a charter school.

We love the classics-based curriculum,

the focus on Founding Father's principles,

and the uniforms, I must say,

rock!

The girls love it and we couldn't be happier!

Fall,

here we come!

New Territory...

Trying on uniform pants for the upcoming school year...

Lookin' good, Ava!

{She looks great in everything though...}

Sink or Swim...

Post-family camp meant only one thing...

Swim Lessons!

Our three girls couldn't wait to jump in,

Owen on the other hand...

Yes,

it was quite tramatic.

Fortunately,

by the end of two weeks he was getting into the water without crying,

and though he'll be repeating the same class next year,

at least he got his feet wet (yes, pun intended!).

Like I said before,

the girls were thrilled to get back into the water,

and of course,

they rocked it!

And thanks to Gabriel being such a

stick-to-you-with-glue kind-of-boy,

he sat quietly pretty much the whole time

and was content to munch on craisins and cheerios

during all the hoopla!

Ahhh.  Yes.

How could I forget?

The girls learned how to dive this season.



Or should I say,

attempted to dive this season?

{smile}



At least they know how to make waves!

One more season down...

All three girls earned free tickets to

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom for completing their school's reading challenge!

Congrats ladies!

And though Samuel and I had just completed

a 16-mile hike only the day before...

Away we went!

My sweet Ava!

She got soaked to the bone!

 

Waiting for the main event,

Shouka,

The Killer Whale!

She was amazing!

The boys, however,

look less than impressed...

We loved that there were both animals AND rides.

It made for a nice day alternating between the two.

 

I'll give the park this much:

They have rides for all age groups!

We have quite the spread with kids ranging from 2 - 9

and everyone was happy.

Samuel and I loved teasing the big girls who never

turned down a kiddie ride.

Smart girls for taking advantage of every opportunity,

but they still looked pretty funny sometimes!

 

After Kong, one of the big roller-coasters,

shut down for repair,

Samuel and Isa headed for the Medusa, another big one.

As you can see from Samuel's face,

someone was too short to ride.

Judging from her smile,

she knows she dodged a bullet,

and happily so!

Halfway through we realized we were being stalked

by a wild animal!

I brought him home with me.

{smile}

Just hangin' around...

Soaked!

Gabriel's concern over his first coaster

was well-justified.

He hated it.

We came.

We saw.

And I'm so glad we DON'T have a season pass!

Once is enough for this mom and dad!

Until next year...

and

H A P P Y  R E A D I N G !