Family Day, Sara's side!

I think I have hosted family day at our house for about 3years now? I could be wrong about the amount of time, but it is always here and I always plan it. Hint, hint my side of the family....

Since Em and the kids were here for 3weeks this summer we had family day to not only say "hello" but to say "happy birthday to you, JoJo, Hailee, Emma!" Jo the big 26, Hailee the big 10, and Emma the big 30! Wow, we are all growing up!

I made chicken drumstick which may sound boring but I baked them in the oven in a bag for an hour then BBQ'd them (thanks to Uncle Kev) because Derek was still at work. They turned out so yummy and I think Ken (Jo's hubby) ate half of them. He is always so hungry! I ran out of time to get a more proper dessert for the special day, so we just had cupcakes that Kels decorated for me when she stopped by to drop off a doll house (post to come).

I think everyone had a nice time and it was nice to see my grandparents since their move to an assisted living home (post to come). Thanks everyone in my family for helping and I am so sorry I did not take more pictures!








***Of course Em told us how fabulous she was even though she was turning thirty...which as her older (and more fab) sister I just rolled my eyes***

The Circus!

I loose track of the months and what I have been doing (a lot of fun is what we have been having/doing), so lets just say we went to the Circus when it was at the Honda Center (is it still there?). I got tickets from my mom's club for $12each. We went as a group and took up two rows! The kids loved it!

I have not been to the circus since Nathan (DeAnne's son) was 6months old (now he is 13yrs old!) and I think it was about the same then as now. One difference that I did notice was the tightened caging of the animals. Actually there was not many animals just tigers and elephants...oh and a dog or two. It made me think of that movie, "Water for Elephants," well at least that is what I think the silly movie is called. Oh and I guess I should name another difference, I had three of my kids to oo and aww with, even if I did not think it was that cool, but the kids loved it. Emma talked up a storm to a fellow MC friend that tagged whom I did not know, but she was just talking and talking to her (I kept apologizing) and Drew sat with his eyes HUGE! Oh, a funny thing....Lilly fell asleep on my lap for a bit during the second half, good thing she is free.

On a side note, if you get a plastic lemonade bottle thingy that says "hand wash" on it, then hand wash it because it will shrink to half it's size! Oh, and I did not do that, I think Derek did:)

Block Party!

BYOB, turn in $20 for food, bring a side to share, share some of your outside chairs, and be ready to party......Block Party Style!

We love our block and are very most weeknights playing outside after ballet or sports with all of them. Since we moved in almost a year ago, wow I can not believe that, we have had yet to enjoy a block party. Well, at the beginning of the month we did! It was a ton of fun with all of the kids running around after Avery (a neighbor boy), eating cakes, watching Alisha BBQ up some pollo asada (Derek had to let it go), and everyone having a great time. We just love this block!

Emma's 4th Birthday!

Yes, you read the title correctly....Emma turned 4! I can not believe we now have a 5,4 and almost 2 year old children! It is something Daddy and I are trying to get use to. I will post pictures of Emma's Fairy Garden birthday party later, but I want to at least acknowledge that she had her birthday last month.

What did we do? Well, the night before we headed over to Hero's for her annual dinner (saw a friend I use to work with and super excited he has a baby and is married....I did not realize we had not seen him since I was pregnant with Emma) and the next day was church (we all went!), lunch at Chili's, relaxing and then she left....yes, she left! My vision of the weekend was to hang out, just the five of us, but she REALLY wanted to go swimming at grandma's house. So, I gave in and just went with it. She left and did not come back until way after dinner time. At least I do know that she had a fantastic time with her grandma and auntie chow at Grandmaland. Hello, they swim in the pool and spa, go to dinner, and have as many juice boxes and donuts as they want....I want to be four years old again! Emma is a big girl and dare I say, I am sad!

Here are some pictures from her bday. I have not included her at grandma's, but have put her with her daddy giving her her birthday flowers and Kels/Kyle over to give her a gift.

Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day weekend was very busy! We were invited to so many fun parties, but decided to just spend it at our/Linda's house. The first set of photos is from a BBQ we had at our place with the neighbors to celebrate one of their birthday's. It was a great time eating and singing the birthday song, but they shortly moved away....thank goodness! Not everyone is sane!

The second set of pictures are from Linda's house. Linda and Damon have birthday's a few weeks apart so we always celebrate them together. Everyone had a great time, but we were sad that the Weil's could not be with us! I think Connor had a casting thing or something....hello, this was months ago. It was not warm enough for a pool or any water toys, but they LOVED the root beer in glasses held in coozies! There was basketball playing, bike riding to the nearby park, lots of food and of course....family fun!

The third, and last, set of pictures is from our house for a kind-of block party BBQ. It was thrown together at the last minute, but came together beautifully and I think everyone had fun. We set up food and seating in my garage, but no one was really in there because everyone was playing in the street or in the tiny pools we had set up. Got to LOVE our neighborhood.

 

 

 

Our First Beach Day

First,



Do you think we shop at Costco?

Second, can you believe that our first beach day for the summer was last Tuesday! Seriously, last Tuesday! I can not believe it, but we have been super busy this summer and have not had time to fit it in.

Last Tuesday I woke up and thought, "we are going to the beach damnit!" So I got Merlot (our sitter down the street and yes that is her name) to go with us and headed to Corona Del Mar. I love it there and even though it does cost money to park (thank you lawmakers for jacking the price up to 15 dollars!) at most beaches in So Cal, it is worth the money there because you can park and bamm there is little sand to the water. With a tent, two chairs, sand toys, towels, lunch and drinks in a cooler, and three kiddies there is a lot of work, so the closer the better. Merlot played with the kids in the sand making mud balls and castles. Lilly usually hates the sand and water but on this first beach day that we had she slowly started to love the sand. As of today and 5 beach days since, she LOVES the sand!
While she and the others played in the sand I layed out and loved the nice weather and did not having to go into the water. On the way home we got some Bucks and the kids fell asleep. Perfect!

VBS!

I think I got a preview of Kinder! Drew was at VBS for 5 days from 9-12 each day! He absolutely loved it and each day he would tell me what he did and what the lesson of the day was. If you ever want a great VBS to go to, I highly suggest the one that Drew went to! Even though they had over 400 kids there (so many for a Lutheran church) it was very organized...they had 170 volunteers. They sent home a newsletter everyday (it had photos from the days activities, so cool) and a craft.

I am so happy that Drew loved hearing about God and Jesus with his friend Caden! they really are very good friends!


**of course, I had to take pics of their sisters too!**

Is he a fish?

I do not think that Drew got his mommy and Auntie Patty's swimming abilities, but at 5 years old I am not sure he really knows. Then again, he could be the next Olympiad!

Drew sooo did not want to go to swim lessons at the beginning of the summer, but after he realized that he could "throw balls to Connor underwater if he held his breath long enough" I think he was pretty good with the lessons. Oh, and the toys I got him on day two and Auntie Patty got him on the day of completing his lessons did not hurt either! What a stinker!





*lessons were in June...postings are way behind:)*

Hannah B-a-n-a-n-a-s and Two More Things!

A few months ago Hannah turned THREE!! Yay!
Suzie and Dale threw Hannah a very fun fairy themed party to celebrate. It was too much fun to see Hannah have a blast and OF COURSE my girls dressed to match the theme! Man, that was a hectic day... looking back...attending two birthday parties and an Angel game in one day was, well, too much! Back to the party. Many of the Lee family were sick and most of the Bray family could not attend due to work or Royal Family Kids Camp.....but they still had a HUGE jumpy and all of the decorations were super cute. Suz even had a place setting for every child! If you were a boy you had pirate gifts and if a girl there were fairy wings and wands. It really was too cute!





Prior to Hannah's party we went to Nicolas G's 4th birthday party. Erin and Mike threw Nicolas a pirate party....it was so cute! We did not have enough time to make all of the crafts that Erin thought of, but since she does live right down the street I am sure we will see them later on (Erin is in my mom's club and I have known her and her hubby Mike since ...well forever!).





Then there was the Angel Game! I lost my phone and the photos and do not want to go through Casey's FB to get some pictures. So no picture to share. All I can say is that I really wish I had worn my Sox tshirt to the Yankee/Angel game! We were sitting next to all of the Yankee players wives, what fun I missed out on!

Tackle Tuesday

For a trip, I have so much to do!!! I have to pack for this, well at least make a list to get my mind ready!



still have to book this!


and I have to load my phone and folder with some of these! Last time we went to NE was 10 years ago!


WOOHOO for a trip, but DANG I have a lot to do!

Monday Meeting

I finally got one! Yep, a desk calender! No, not the same as the one below, because I will not take a picture of mine since my blog is not private....people are crazy! Nonetheless, I have one of these huge ugly things on my desk that takes up way too much room and each time I look at it, I feel defeat! I do not want to have this thing! I should be able to keep track of everything in my head...oh wait, I can not! I will let everyone know if it helps me keep track of my crazy schd!

:)

sara is wierd

Man oh Man!

I really have not been the blogger that I once was! I use to sit at the desk all of the time and just upload pics and write about what was going on in our lives! Well, life with three kiddies has officially 'taken me over!'

**actually while I was typing this Em yelled at me to come quick, which I did, then told me that Lilly spit up all over the couch...see I can never sit down!

Life with three babies is not one that allows me to just sit and type, I have realized! Now that LP can walk, Drew is a know-it-all, and Em is a little princess I can never get what I want done. Am I complaining!! Hell ya!! So as much as I hate the posts on blogs that say they are back, I am writing this, "I AM BACK!"