Labor day and other stuff

Jared decided to surprise us and head to Utah for a mini vaca. It was so nice to getaway and enjoy a quite week with our family. We loved having quality time to just hang out.

J. was drooling over this life size Justin Beiber. She was too shy and embarrassed to actually take a picture so B. showed her the way to do it…In case you are wondering why B. is wearing a suit coat??? We just purchased it for his Halloween costume and all he wanted to do was wear it.

 We were driving back to the Sandy house one night and saw Wendy inside of  WENDY'S. We had to stop for such a rare opportunity with Wendy.
B. Loved it and J. was trying to figure her out.

 We enjoyed a nice afternoon with the kids in Park City. We ate lunch in Heber and headed up for the alpine slides. The kids had a blast. We dragged them to the shopping outlets and ended the long day at  home making chocolate chip cookies.

We got back from from Utah and soccer season had begun. B. is playing pee wee soccer on a local church league and they start out every game with a word of prayer…who says CA peeps aren't spiritual??? Unfortunately all the lord praises didn't work and they lost the game.

It was about 100 degrees on their game day.

 T. Is growing up faster than any of my other kids. She is always smiling. She started eating solids. She did not like any of the sweet foods like bananas, applesauce, & pears. She only wanted to eat vegetables. Her favorite are peas. She also loves green beans and winter squashes.

 She has been moving everywhere. I always happen to find her under our ottoman and frustrated that she can't get out. She has started getting up on all fours and trying to crawl.

One day I looked for B. and found him under the table reading a book about Disneyland. I love these little simple moments of kids.

B's first day of Pre-K

B didn't start school until a couple weeks after J. He was so excited to see his friends from last year and enjoy his last of pre-K year with Mrs. Ganino & Mrs. Wiedman.

                                                  His two buddies, Maxwell and Charlie

Birthday Continues

Since her birthday was a "school day" I pulled her out early and we went to go see Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I figured I would be bored but to my surprise it was a pretty cute movie. I had a blast going with my little (big) girly and leaving the other 2 kids at home.

 She took her new Monster High dolls everywhere we went.

 She also had gymnastics and we couldn't miss so after gymnastics we told her would would go anywhere she chose for dinner. (our tradition) She quickly chose on Panda Express like she did last year. It cracked me up because I think the last time we ate there was last year for her birthday.

                                        2012  7 years old                                         2011  6 years old

Birthday morning and party

J always has her birthday on a school day being that school starts on or very close to her birthday. She of course can not wait to open presents until after school so we celebrate in the morning and wait until the end of the week for her party. She was so excited and had been asking for very specific items on her list. 

B picked out this hat and was very clear when he chose it that he wanted the cheetah print.
She loved it and tried to wear it daily to school even if it doesn't match.

Her MAIN gift she wanted was an IPAD! This has been in the making for a few months now. She has been asking for one and not knowing what to do as parents we thought about it. Since she is only 7 and already asking for an IPAD we decided to tell her she would have to save her money and buy it herself. We figured this would tell us if she really wanted it. W.E.L.L. J has always been good at saving her money and this time she was exceptional. She

The story: She saved and saved and started by saving and recycling cans. In CA they pay a pretty good rate for cans and plastic. She earned $62 dollars. From that point she saved her allowance along with anything else she could dream up to earn money. She was at downtown Disney and as the musicians were playing she thought it would be a grand idea to put her drinking cup on the ground and start dancing. WHAT! My little girl was dancing to earn money???? She had a few people drop some change but she was thrilled. She would draw pictures and sell her artwork, bargain a toy with her brother for his money and anything else. She had finally earned $91. As her birthday was near we saw how much she had wanted the IPAD and would continue to save until she earned it. We decided we would get her an IPAD under the condition that she pay half. We wanted to let her go to buy it so I printed off a picture of an IPAD that read "Happy Birthday J, Love Mom & Dad. She could hardly contain herself from that point.

She had her traditional Doughnut breakfast before we rushed to get ready for school by 8:00 am

The PARTY!

She has been into Monster High dolls and decided on that for her theme. We decided to keep it small and personal this year only inviting her dearest friends. She picked all the items which included a popcorn box, sketch pads, cups, tattoos, stickers, pens and candy. She decided a "GHOULS NIGHT OUT" and to howl at sunset would be a splendid idea.

One of her gymnastics friends couldn't come until later in the evening. They started off with playing and being "ghouls"
Her friends Sarah, Piper, and Ella.

 We then had a dance party. Those Ghouls can definitely dance and have some pretty intense moves.

 Look at those little Sassy faces

We decided to make a LIPS cake with fangs. I traditionally make their cake every year. Last year I was too sick and pregnant to even think of being creative or frost anything so I was very excited to draw up a pattern and frost my heart out. She was excited with the surprise result and loved the touch of glitter on the lips.

The ghouls enjoyed the fang lips along with the boy who enjoyed his half eaten mustache.

We settled down after pizza and orange Fanta...(YUCK) and Daddy prepped popcorn while I settled the girls in their jammies and ready to lay down for the movie.

We finished the night off with Monstrous hair styles. I good party and a wiped out Mamma and Dad.

Happy Birthday Baby girl!

Happy 7th Birthday

J. turned 7 and was so excited.  Here are our favorite 7 things about little miss J.

1. She has a very large heart. She always makes room for more people to be loved by her. She is thoughtful and gives the best hugs, has the greatest smile and a contagious laugh.

2. She is a great example to her siblings and those around her. Her little testimony is large and she is not afraid to share her thoughts and beliefs.

3. She is extremely competitive and likes to win (at any cost) and will continue to work hard if it means she will win. She does not get this from her mom...

4. She is very analytical. She will think about things for months after the event and will pick apart every detail.

5. She keeps us on our toes. There is never a dull moment with her. She has so much energy and will entertain anyone who will watch. She is so confident in herself and is never trying to "be" anything and tells us she loves herself the way she is.

6. People gravitate towards her and is liked by many. She is a leader and will always create something fun. She is very creative and will turn anything into a fun situation. She is the leader of her extremely large and busy social life.

7. She will try to do most anything. There are few times I can recall her not wanting to try. She is always willing to try a new food (even if it looks gross) try a new activity or challenge herself to do something she has never done and EXCEL when she attempts it.

Back to School, 2nd grade

School started wayyyyy too soon this year. We started August 15th which sounds crazy being that we grew up starting September 4th. 

#1 started 2nd grade and was thrilled. She said "I need to look cool Mom because this is when everything changes. This is when you are a big person at school." It is amazing to look back at all of her first days of school and see her growth. 

1st year pre-school (3)

2nd year Pre-school (4)

                                                                   KINDERGARTEN (5)

                                                                         1ST GRADE (6)

2ND GRADE (7)

4th of July

We had a great 4th of July with lots of good company.

My sister in law's parents were a hit with the sno cone machine and everyone enjoyed more than 1

We had fun playing pool games and enjoying the nice weather

Towards the end of the night we all headed to a friends to light fireworks.