THIS BLOG WAS BORN WHILE WE AWAITED THE ARRIVAL OF OUR BEAUTIFUL BABY GIRL. IT HAS GROWN INTO A COLLECTION OF FAMILY MEMOIRS...

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Friday, August 22, 2008

Fresh New Look...

Check out the fresh new look...Do you like? Still in progress, but long overdo.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Birthday Catch Up

I just realized that I never posted pics of the kids' birthdays this year. Birthdays are a big deal in our house so here's a quick catch up...

We took Cole and about 10 of his friends paint balling for Cole's 11th in January. Dave actually took them camping the night before (yes, in California you CAN go camping in January!!). The next day the kids and I met them at the paint balling place. It was a great party for this age group, and so easy! They had all the gear available to rent and unlimited paintballs available (for purchase, of course). The kids (and dads -- who could join in the fun for free) had an absolute blast (no pun...). At 11 years old he is a true joy, although, at this point in the game we are speed reading our "Positive Parenting for Teenagers". Some days are certainly more "positive" than others --if you know what I mean!
Gearin' up!

Cole, Kenny, and Chad

For Soli's birthday in May we had a Flip-Flop Fiesta. I have to give a special "shout out" (anyone listen to the Gayle King Show on Oprah and Friends XM radio?) to my dear friend Ada who thought of this brilliant party theme. Soli's favorite thing in the whole wide world (aside from me, of course) is a good pair of flip-flops. She will cruise around the house ransacking closet after closet in search of the perfect pair. She will come out with Evie's on then go back and get a pair of Cole's and cruise around for awhile, then it's on to Dave's for an hour of flop-hopping around, and so on and so forth throughout the day. Every day. It really is quite possibly the cutest thing any of my two year olds has been into. And so it came time to chose a birthday party theme and my brilliant friend Ada said, "A Flip-Flop Fiesta". And so it was...

A pretty pair of pink flip-flop cakes for my flip-flop lovin' girl.

Guests were encouraged to come dressed in appropriate attire. Yes, those are mini Havaiana's Soli is sporting. I wish I had bought those in the next three sizes!! So cute!

I just love this picture of the two of us. So Mother-Daughter!

Montana Summer

We spent most of our summer in Montana building a little cabin on the Madison River. Dave is still there keeping the building process on track and doing quite a bit of the work himself. Alas, the kids and I had to come home... that pesky school thing. Nothing like school to ruin a perfectly fabulous summer! Here are some pics of our Montana summer.

Our cabin on the Madison

The awe of Old Faithful

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone National Park. I love how my girls have matching scraggly hair do's with parts on the opposite sides. I guess that's what happens when you have boys first. But, not to worry, I do make an extra effort on school days busting out the brush and adorning with bows and braids (at least for the first few days...).

A buffalo crossed the road right in front of our car in Yellowstone! Very exciting!

Evie and Soli playing at the West Fork of the Madison. (In case anyone has ever wondered why they call it "Big Sky Country"...)

Wild West Yellowstone Rodeo

Back to School!

"I'm too sexy for my shirt"... Coleman (left) and Chad (a neighbor friend) heading off to middle school...on the bus!!

Soli - 2, Evie - 5 and Emerson -8 -- Emerson is in third grade this year and is now one of the "big kids" on campus (our school is K-5). Evie started kindergarten this year. She was so excited and so very ready, but I was so sad walking home from school without her. Sending my kids off to kindergarten is so hard for me. I always feel like I'm forgetting something as I leave the school without them. They still seem like babies and until kindergarten I don't have to share them much. But she has a wonderful teacher and a great little class with a couple of her little friends, so really, what more can I ask for. Maybe I should home school. The up side of Evie going to kindergarten is that it allows for lots of Mommy-Soli time which I adore. I'm sure she does too, although she kept asking about Evie (E) and Emerson (Bubba Am) and Cole (Bubba). So cute!

Walking to school...