My College Girls...

The six of us attended Cal State Fullerton together. We were all in the 4 year fast track program to get our BS and teaching credential, which meant we had just about every single class together. I am blessed to have these girls in my life! I am go glad that we are still connected...ten years later.....6 weddings later....7 kids later (and two more on the way)!! I love when I get to hang out with these precious girls! We can always pick right up where we left off! I love you girls!

A very long post...recapping september

Bear with me...this post is kinda long...have lots to catch up on...it's been a busy month!

The month of September includes: my mom's b-day (the 2nd), Owen's b-day (the 5th), Tim and my sister Tawny's b-day (the 13th), my b-day (the 25th) and Calvin's b-day (the 26th)

We have a tradition in our family to decorate the kids doors on their birthdays....so here are the kids once Owen woke up and saw his door.



We bought Owen his very own pair of turnouts for his birthday.



Owen and Tim both trying their turnouts on.




Thompson wanted to be dressed up too, so she went and got her SnowWhite outfit on.

Calvin was just sick of the highchair,,,,

On the 5th we had Owen's 3rd b-day party. Fulleton Fire Department was so kind and they brought a truck to Owen's party for a few minutes. Notice the veins popping out of Owen's neck....pure excitment. You would think it was the kids first time seeing a fire truck.

Getting to sit in the driver seat. I am just soaking it all in because I know there will come a day when Owen will "get over" this phase....and will move onto another obsession like Star Wars or something...but for now....we're just going with it!

We created an obstacle course for the kids during the party. (Wearing the fire truck costume, running at the sound of the bell, saving a cat from a tree, climbing a ladder, going through a tunnel, spraying a "fire"with a hose, etc). Here is Owen on the last step of the obstacle course.

Owen is such a fun kiddo. He loves loves loves to be silly. He makes us laugh constantly. The smallest things make him giggle. So we sang Happy Birthday the normal way. Then we sang it the silly way...."happy b-day to you...you live in a zoo...you look like a monkey...and you smell like one too." I love this picture (below) because you can tell he is really enjoying himself!!

Can't get enough kisses

Again...notice the veins popping out of his neck as he unwraps a firefighting book. We probably own 10+ fire fighting books...does that matter? No! Owen is THRILLED to have one more!

Owen riding his fire engine scooter from Aunt Posey. Tawny made this normal scooter into a fire engine scooter after Owen kept telling everyone that Posey was going to buy him a fire engine scooter for his birthday. She didn't let him down! Such a good auntie!!

This is another one of our traditions. I've made each of our kids a sign like this. Every year we add one more tally mark to show how old they are and we hang it up and take their picture in front of it. Happy 3rd birthday Owen!

Last weekend the five of us headed to my parent's condo in Palm Springs. It was great getting away just the 5 of us. Friday night we took the kids to Boomers and rode the race cars. Saturday we took the two older kids to Soak City before heading over to Nana and Papa's house.

Swimming at Nana and Papa's house. Of course, the USC football was enough reason to get together for a celebration but we celebrated Tawny and Tim's birthday too!

Calvin is walking everywhere now! Here he is roaming the golf course. At 11 months (when we were in Idaho) he really started taking a ton of steps. And about 2 weeks ago, he officially decided he was done with crawling and now he walks everywhere he goes. I love those chubby little legs!!

Owen...practicing his golf swing!

We went to Lucille's on Tim's actual birthday with both of our families. My dad (Boppa) and Calvin just happened to be matching, so we had to take a picture.

Tim and his girl

Thompson is going to a little kindergarten co-op class with 4 other kids. We've hired a teacher (Miss Char) and she and the kids meet in one of the kid's homes. Thompson goes Mondays and Thursdays from 9am-1pm. So far, she likes it.

Owen...putting his turnouts to great use. He thought up all this on his own. Eventually he was killing ants to "save" me and Thompson. He took his task quite seriously.

My Boys

Yesterday was Owen's 1st day of preschool. A few other families, along with us, hired a teacher named Laurel. He goes on Mondays to one of the kids homes from 9am-1pm. I am excited for him to have this little group of friends. Here he is with his friend Jack Rosenkranz. Jack goes to our church and he is our neighbor. Our backyard backs up to his backyard. We are thankful to have the Rosenkranz family in our lives. Their daughter, Elizabeth, is the same age as Thompson.




Owen's preschool class



Do you notice the hair? Yep! Thompson cut his hair on Saturday while I was feeding Calvin and Tim was cleaning up breakfast. Happened in about 5 minutes. We were pretty shocked. She took it down to the scalp...so buzzing it down to a 2 only did so much. Luckily it will grow out! Hopefully sooner than later.




On the way to visit Bekah a few days ago we found these two deer. The kids were really excited. We pulled over and watched them for about 15 minutes. They were eating from some bushes right on Bekah's cul-de-sac.

My little man is 11 months....how is this possible? I love this little guy! Just the sight of him melts my heart!

Idaho

Here are some highlights from our trip to Idaho. The first picture is of a moose.....my FIRST live moose I have EVER seen. I have been going to Idaho for the past five years and everyone in my family had seen a moose besides me. Not anymore! I was thrilled!!

The first few days we had thunder, lightning and pouring rain. Although it kept us off the water skiis it was a fun change from the summer heat at home.



My extremely happy husband...getting ready to single skii! SOOO fun!



Tom and Trish had their wave runner shipped up to Idaho. So we were lucky to be able to use it. I was surprised because Owen LOVED it and Thompson DID NOT. Not typical of their personalities. Owen even enjoyed a few rides with just Connor (my 11 year old cousin).




My kiddos watching me wakeboard and cheering me on!





One of my favorite memories from this trip was picking fruit with the Bass'. We drove about an hour away from spirit lake and went blackberry and apricot picking. It was gorgeous. It is something I will always remember and we would love to do everytime we are in Idaho in the summer. After berry picking...we went home and made fresh blackberry pie. Yum!

How did I survive having my other two kids without an ergo carrier?

I don't know! I LOVE this thing!!

Matching boys....berry picking!

My cute girl....searching for berries!

Found some...

I love this picture.

I could seriously see myself living in a place like this....I was in heaven!

Riding a pony. He kept saying, "Hi Moo Moo" as he rode

behind Thompson's pony. He loves his sister.

Our family....we went fishing one of the days on Spirit Lake, the lake we ski on.

Corey and Tia Rose (both firefighters) came to vacation in Idaho too. Tim met Corey in the LA City fire academy and they became good friends. It was fun getting to spend time with them. They are a fun couple and are great with our kids. Corey got us all set up to fish.

My cute boy...holding the one and only fish that was caught (Tim caught the fish first thing...and then that was it). At least we caught one.

We love visiting Idaho. It's so refreshing to get away and be in a place where you are constantly surrounded by beauty. Can't wait to go back.