Party Time!

Today P1 had her first party at school. It was a "Harvest Party". The kids sang some "spooky songs" and had a little show for us. I have to say that I think it turned out pretty cute! I loved watching my little sunshine up there singing her heart out. I had many parents come up to me afterwards and tell me she was the best little singer up there. She sings ALL THE TIME at home and knows so many songs! It makes me so happy to see her growing and blossoming in her class. I am so grateful for the little things in life, and watching me daughter grow up is definitely one of them!

Each parent was responsible to bring something. Here is my 'fruit platter'. Pretty cute idea eh?

Wedding Bells

This weekend we went to Amador County for Lance's Cousin Beth's Wedding to David. It was so much fun to see family and just relax for a couple days! The vineyard where the wedding was held was beautiful and the company was even more enjoyable! I made P1's dress and P2's vest for the wedding to attempt to match Beth's colors of Black, white pink and orange. It was my second undertaking of sewing, and I must say, they came out quite well! The entertainment for the wedding was a belly dancer for about 20 mintues. The kids LOVED her! P1 went up and danced with her, and P2 was quick to follow. He was GLUED to her moves! Like father like son, I guess!


One of the reasons I love being able to go to weddings is that I am reminded of why I chose the husband that I have and all the reasons I love him more everyday. Thank you for being you, honey! You make my life happy.
(Scroll down for a video of the kids dancing with the Belly Dancer)
PS I tried to upload some pictures but Blogger is uploading only half of them. Anyone know how to fix that?

Time for school! Time for school!!

Friday was Peyton's first day of Preschool. The class that Lance and I decided to put her in has a 2/3 year old class and also a 4 year old class. We went last year and put her on the waitlist (it was advised we did this earlier than later as many parents up here place their children on this particular waitlist when their child is BORN!! - needless to say, Parker is already on this list!). The school that we had her on the list for ended up losing their teacher and the rest of their staff, and to make a long story short, we moved to the new school with the teacher. We were told that we had officially made it on the list, but a week later we got another call informing us we had been taken off and made 1st alternate because they needed to make room for children who needed this as a daycare as well. Tick. Me. Off. Being the pesky mother that I am, I called back a week before school started to see how her 1st alternate postition was doing, and they let me know that she was actually bumped up on to the "active list" that morning (huh...wonder what would have happened had I not called!).
At the end of all the hoopla, Peyton is officially going 2 days a week (Wednesdays and Fridays) from 8:30-12. I took a couple of days to prepare her, telling her that it was just like going to Nursery. She would have a teacher and make new friends, and have lots of new toys to play with. She seemed excited. Friday morning came, and I have to admit, it was hard for me to wake up so early! I haven't had to set my alarm for...I can't even remember the last time I set my alarm! 7:30 came, and I think I made a routine that will work for us. I did have to wake both kids up though! We walked her to they school (it is .17 miles from my house from my door to the door of the school) and I signed her in. She kind of got a little pouty face as I said goodbye to her, but then she looked around and saw all the other kids and the TOYS! She bravely looked at me and said "Ok mommy! This is just like nursery! I will see you in a little bit! I love you!" and off she went. Part of me was glad she was so brave, and part of me wanted to hide and watch her play for a little bit! So back home Parker and I went, and got ready to go for our run. It was nice to just have time for me and him. He seemed a little lost without his "pooks" with him, but after awhile he was happy to have me all to himself and vice-versa! It is gonna be an interesting year but I am ready for it, and I think both kids are too!

Hooray!

This past couple of weeks I was able to spend some time with my family. My little brother Clayton got married to his bride, Melanie, in the Sacramento Temple. It was awesome, and they are great together. It was so fun to be able to see and spend time with everyone. The wedding reception came together nicely and a good time was had by all. Congratulations Clayton and Melanie! I hope that many blessings and happiness come your way for the rest of your eternities together! Love you both!

Happenings

I love my life. It's that plain and simple. My kids make me laugh all the time and I love spending time with my husband. This summer he joined a hardball baseball league. The kids and I have been going to watch his games and they have been really good while we are there. They cheer him on and shout his name from the bleachers. "da-da! da-da!" you can hear P2 Cheer from the stands! He has done outstanding so far. It has been a great thing for us to do as a family. Can't wait until it is our kids out there we are watching!
P1 also took a couple weeks of swim lessons while we were down in Sacramento taking care of my dad. To say she did well would be a HUGE exaggeration! She was so obnoxious! The teacher finally asked me if I would just bring her 15 minutes earlier than her scheduled lesson and get in with her. From then on, it went better, but still not great. At some points, I just wanted to throw her in the middle of the pool and tell her to figure it out or else...but I didn't want CPS called on me! At the end of the 2nd week she pretty much knew that she had 20 minutes that she had to endure and get through and just went through the motions. Oh well, she will do it again next year much to her dismay!
P2 on the other hand is like a little sea otter! The kid is fearless! At my sister's pool he would DIVE into the deep end and swim (with are floaties on) all across the pool. I hardly had to watch him cause it was pretty much inately in him to just do it! He would put his face under, lay on his back and float and just jump in. Now THAT is my kid for sure! Loves the water. The other one...not so sure.
Since we have been home, we have been going to the lake once a week with friends. It has been a lot of fun for the kids. P1 has adjusted well and P2 I have to keep a serious eye on or else he will be 1/2 way out in the lake by the time I look up!
At the end of the month I am going down to Sacramento again to put on a Bridal Shower for my future Sister In Law, Melanie, with my sisters. Then a couple weeks after that we will be back to see them get married. Hopefully after that our summer will slow down and we will be able to start getting P1 ready for preschool in September! I can't believe it is already time for her to go. She is getting so big!
Lately she has really been in to watching the movies Tangled and Thumbelina. She dances around and sings ALL the songs. WORD FOR WORD. The kids has a memory for songs. I can put almost anything to a song and she will memorize it, which is how I taught her my phone number the other day. She knows all of her Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents, Cousins, Parents...middle names and half of their birthdays. And if she meets you on the street, beware; her immediate questions to you will probably be "Hi! What's your name? What is your birthday? How are you?" So be careful! I better not teach her my SSN or she will be stealing my identity!
P2 is so funny these days as well. He is talking a lot and trying hard to make his prescence known with such an attention hog for a sister. The other day it finally happened. He finally outsmarted her. P2 has a toy zebra that he loves to ride around on. He gets so mad when P1 is on it, so the other day, while she was riding around on it, he got made and did his normal "ahhh" while he tried to pull her off and looks at me to try to fix his problem. I told him that she had it first and he needed to play with something else until she was done. He promptly loooked around the room, searching for something that he knew she would want, grabbed her purse that she carries around EVERYWHERE, put it on his arm and started to walk out of the room. She sees him, walks over and asks him for it nicely (amazing). He instantly drops it down and runs his chubby little legs over to the zebra, sits down and looks up at me triumphantly! I couldn't keep the laughter in! It was the first of many I am sure.
So that is a little of what has been happeneing around here. I will try and update a couple tore times before the end of the summer!

Finally doing it!

We have lived in our house for a little more than a year and a half. When we moved in, we loved the neutral color palate, but knew that it wasn't 100% us and decided that we were going to redo them soon. Well, here we are! We are changing the color palate in the living room from browns and tans to shades of gray and black and white. We are also doing a chair rail and moulding around all the doors and windows. And the best part?!? We are getting a new door for the back! Thank heavens! This one gets harder and harder everyday and the vertical blinds are a pain in my pattotie! I will post before and after pictures soon! Stay tuned!

My Family

No, this is not going to be a post about my handsome husband, or my beautiful children. It is going to be about the family that I grew up with. The snotty, obnoxious i-know-you-better-than-anyone-else-because-I-have-known-you-the-longest-and-dealt-with-all-your-crap siblings that I love so much. The weekend of May 20th we were all able to get together (although under not so desired circumstances) and hang out in San Francisco. My brother Clayton courageously donated his kidney to our dad, so we all decided to make a trip to show them our support and love. And what a fun time it was! None of us had our kids with us (which was excellent) and though we missed them, we were able to stick to the 5 minute rule (just remember that after minutes with your kids again, you will wish that you were alone again). Nor did we have our spouses. This was a obstacle that we did have to overcome, but if they were all there with us, we would not have had the same experience as we would have been separated in cars, and would have desired to split up and go off alone.
So needless to say, we had an experience that I am sure none of us will forget. We all spent the night Friday night at our Sister Christina's house where we stayed up late, playing games and goofing off. We woke up early the next morning and headed into the city where we immediately went to the hospital to visit the sickies. They looked remarkable for having a transplant surgery only 24 hours prior! Both were up and walking and talking (boy, those meds made them interesting!). Then we all went to lunch in Chinatown. That was a whole other experience that deserves its own blog in itself! After that we walked down to Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 where we just walked around the shops and goofed off. Final stop, Ghirardelli Square where we fulfilled out Ice Cream cravings (the 5 sisters had a biggest loser challenge the 2 weeks before so we all deserved it!). That night we stayed up late in the hot tub and chatting until the wee hours in the morning with our mom. The next day some of us were a little testy from being together for such an extended amount of time. But to be honest, it wouldn't have been the same without it! (I guess everyone else thinks it was my fault, so we will just go with that. Better than continuing the argument). I guess it comes with the territory of being the oldest. You are always right. I wish the other 6 would just learn that, and all of our lives would be a lot easier. ;) Sunday we went walking down to Union Square and had lunch and shopped a little. Then back to the hospital to say our goodbyes. But not for long cause both my dad and brother were both released on Monday! The Dr's said they did remarkably well and were very impressed with their desire to get better.
All in all it was a great weekend and one I will not very quickly forget. For your enjoyment, here are some pictures documenting our trip.
My Brother Clayton and Me: post surgery.

All the Siblings post Surgery: (LtoR) Sydney, Ashley, Whitney, Clayton, Chris, Amber and Christina.

Las Hermanas

El Guapo