3 Siblings

I know I need a better picture. But we will always be able to say that Sadie was front and center at Andy's 3rd birthday.

My 3 Year Old Boy

My big man turns 3 today. I can't even believe it. Where has the time gone??

Of course, he is the sweetest, most aware and caring 3 year old I have ever met.

We were so excited to celebrate him yesterday.  He had been saying for months that he wanted a "woody buzz" birthday. But as it drew near, and after I bought everything for a Toy Story birthday, he switched to Thomas the Train.

So we went with it. He got to pick the cake.

 And what a cake it was!!

 Unfortunately, we got few pictures of all the guests, but here is one good one.  Aunt Joanne and Cousin Lauren.  Lauren was such a great sport, being passed all over the place! She loved it.  She even tried to eat my sandwich!!

 Fortunately, we did get some great pictures of the birthday boy.

 He was being so cute and coy while we were singing to him. It was amazingly adorable.

 The great/terrible thing about the cake, you could tell everyone who ate it by the amount of blue all over them. My fingers are still blue from cutting it!!

Case and point, a beautiful great grandmother with blue teeth!

Present time is always tough at this age, he wanted to open and play with every gift right then and there. But he had fun and he is such a loved (we are going to use loved instead of spoiled) little boy.

And he got excited about everything!

And was happy to model his new hat.

And his other new hat. This is the one he chose to wear today.

And after the guests all left, he tried on and played with all his other gifts.

And eventually, the birthday boy conked out. He had a great party, a blast with his friends, gifts galore and more blue cake than any boy should eat.

Today he got to hang out with Daddy and Sissy all day. They came into my work and he got some extra love from all my "work friends" (as Julie has dubbed them and fits perfectly!).  Then we went to lunch. After naps we hit the park and came home to make cupcakes for his class tomorrow. 

So a very happy birthday to my big man.  You can brighten any day and fill any heart with love.

Proud

Tonight my mom received her 25 year pin.  That's right, 25 years working her rear end off at same place.  She has had a few different titles and lots of different responsibilities.

The Assistant City Manager said many nice things about her. And then the Association President came up and said more nice things. And presented her with flowers. She is the first one to work at her department 25 years.

I am so proud of her. I think it is easy to find a new job when things get stagnant, or personalities clash, or you get overwhelmed.  It takes a lot to have dedication, perseverance and loyalty. These are things that my mom has. Absolutely.

We are all proud of her.  Go Memere!!!

Soccer Game!!

Today Julie had her first soccer game. She has been practicing for the last 2 weeks, but honestly hadn't shown a whole lot of interest.  John and I didn't know what to expect and were just hoping that once she got there she would go with the flow and get into it.

Well, she did!

 Her team has 8 kids on it. They split the team into groups of 4 and each group plays on a separate field for a half hour. Then they switch and play the other half of the other team for half an hour. That means all the kids play the whole time. The coaches are out there as "referees" but mostly as coaches, which is great at this age. 

 There are no goalies, they all just run around after the ball.

 This was at the first break. She ran over to give us high fives and she was happy but she said, "Mommy, they are not giving me a turn!"  I explained to her that she didn't have to share, she could just go up and kick the ball, she didn't have to wait for a turn, she could just take it. Her response, "Can I push the other kids down??" Ummmmm, No.

She got much more aggressive after that little talk.

 And she scored a goal!!! (If you click on this picture it will make it big and you can see how excited she is!!)

 Also post-goal.

 She is enjoying us cheering for her.

 This was on the other field, and after I took this picture, she broke away and scored another goal!!

And after that, another!! That's right, 3 goals!!! We were so proud of how much fun she was having. She smiled the entire time she was out there, and she never stopped running. She was exhausted after!!

Looks like the start of a great season!!

To the Village

Two weeks ago, we went to pick up Andy from school. And as we always do, we asked how he was today. His teacher replied, "Great, you never have to worry about him, he is such a good kid!"

Wow, that was nice!

This morning, when I dropped Julie off at school I was confronted by her teachers. Have to admit, I was a little nervous about what they were going to say.

But Mrs Noelle, the head teacher, started out with, "I can't tell you how wonderful Julie is in class every day!" Then she proceeded to go on and on about what a genuinely caring person she is. How she always wants to help everyone. How she is bubbly and happy all the time. And most of all, she gets along great with all of her classmates.

The whole time she was talking to me, the other teacher was nodding in agreement.

Yup, it felt great. Made my day.

All day I have been thinking about these nice complements and what truly amazing children we have. And especially, how they are becoming that way because of the amazing people they have behind them.

Its true, it takes a village to raise a child. And my kids have an awesome village.

Thank you village.

Summer

Apparently we have been having a super busy summer. So busy, that I can not remember what we have been doing!!

I know last weekend, we went to warm the Cisneros house as the threw their first (of many!!) party in their new house!

We hit the beach last Sunday. Had a blast, just the 4 of us. Well, ok, 5.

One night last week, after we had put Andy to bed, this is where we found him.
The kids got to spend the day at Beth's house, which they think is the coolest thing ever. And this is what happened when we got home....
This week included Soccer practice for Julie and both kids starting the "school year" in their new classes. Another night, this is how we found Andy.
I guarantee, they are asleep in all 3 pictures. And, they are all different nights, even though Andy is wearing the same Jammies. They are some of his favorites. They get worn often.

So we have been having fun. So much fun, the kids can't even drag themselves to bed!

Gilroy Gardens

Yesterday we had the most awesome day at Gilroy Gardens!! We had never been there before and didn't really know what to expect. We were so happy about everything we found!! We are definitely getting season passes next year! The whole park is geared towards smaller kids. Like 8 and under. I could have taken a thousand pictures, but I refrained.

We started out getting the kids face painted. Which ended up being not the best idea because there was water involved later on, but the were super happy about it.
Flying goldfish!!!!


Andy was so serious. He loved all the cars. I didn't get a shot of them on the fire engines, or the soaring strawberries.
The whole gang! We loved having Memere there with us! Everything is more fun with Memere!!
Yeah, the balloons were that fun!
On a lot of the rides, the kids got their own buggies, so they didn't have to compromise on the color. Obviously Julie picked purple! She is my daughter!
I was surprised that Andy wasn't that into the driving. But he enjoyed the ride.
Artichoke Dips!!
She wasn't scared to drive!!
It was a bit of a bummer I couldn't go on more rides. I did enjoy the monorail and the train was great!! But I really can't complain when this was the view I enjoyed while they were on all the rides!! This was the most beautiful park ever! All theme parks should also be botanical gardens!
It was such a great day! We were all exhausted! But there were no fits, no tantrums, no time outs. The kids ate their lunches without prompting and walked the entire time. We didn't even bring a stroller!!