Random Conversations #88

Eliza (putting a curly fry on her finger):  Mom, look I'm getting married!
Me:  Oh, so who's the lucky man?
Eliza:  It's not a man, it's a curly fry.

It's that time again!

Time to go to the lake!

Price

Random Conversations #87

Price:  Sydney do not poke me back, I know you just got a text saying you were poked.  Do not poke me back
Syd:  Why...???
Price:  I need a break.

Big Beach Slumber Party #4

Sunburned, sore, and wiped out...

how we all felt on the drive home.

Big Beach Party #3

So when I started taking pictures at the beach I had my lighting all wrong because I took pictures at the Battle of the Books the day before. 

Even though they are are "a little" overexposed, I like them.  :)

Marley

Sydney

A Big Beach Slumber Party #2

It's so much fun spending time with Richard!  He makes you feel like you are the coolest and funniest person around!  We could all use more of that!  

We spent that night (after the beach) at the amusement park at Mission Beach!  

It is so fun when your kids love roller coasters too!

Uncle Richard spoiled us with omelets and sugar cereal for breakfast, movies, all the pillows we could dream of, tons of junk food, walks around the park, flying kites, Phil's Barbecue for dinner, the beach, AND an amusement park....

and that was all in one day!!!!

I have news for you Richard, you are the COOLEST and FUNNEST person around!
Thanks for the great time!  We hope we can do it again sometime soon!!!

A Big Beach Slumber Party

One quick call put us into action.  We had many chores to do that weekend, but they could wait...

Rob's brother, Richard, was planning on coming to visit us.  The day before he was supposed to get here, he called to invite us come visit him in San Diego.  Who could pass up the chance to visit the best uncle in the world in one of the best places on Earth?  So we threw our swimsuits in some bags, grabbed the boogie boards and took off for Southern Cal.

We spent one perfect day in California.

It all started with a trip to La Jolla Beach.

Man, he is good lookin'

Smash-ball=one of our favorite beach activities.  For some reason it isn't as fun anywhere else.

This was the best picture I got of Marley because she spent the entire day in the water

Battle of the Books!

After the last battle of the Books, Marley's team was in second place.  For the last round the top five teams were still in contention.  They had just over one month to prepare.  In that time Marley made a goal to reread all 18 books from the entire year.  She read an average of one book every two days.  The girl was a machine and finished the day before the championship!

There was some incredible competition but they were amazing!

Marley's team won!

Random Conversations #86

We went to Cheesecake Factory after Sydney's 8th grade promotion.  Grammy and Papa came with us.

I overheard Eliza talking to our server and she said, "Can you tell whoever made my pizza thank you.  It is delicious!"

My Musician

Marley joined the school band last year.  

She decided to play the Alto Saxophone because that is what Price played and that is what we had.  

She wasn't a natural musician.  

She is, however, very competitive and has practiced many hours and has been getting better and better.  

She even started to play the Tenor Sax in the Jazz Band.

This picture was taken with my iphone in a dark auditorium, it was the best I could do.

When we were at her last concert of the year we were surprised and so excited when...

Marley won the award for the 6th grade musician of the year! 

She even got a trophy!!

I am so proud of this girl!

A Red Carpet Event!

It was just the other day when she was sitting in her booster seat in the back of our minivan singing "Zippity Doo Dah!" over and over again.  

My heart hurts as I miss that little girl, and my heart is so full as I see the young woman she is becoming.

My Sydney is about to promote from the 8th grade and go on to high school.  

This year we had the Promotion Dance in our back yard.  I got to plan the dance along with some helpful 8th grade parents.

Sydney was beautiful!

She said she had a great time at the dance!  Which is very generous from Sydney.  :)

Great friends!

The food table.  We had hot pretzels (they loved those), nachos, a variety of cookies, and candy

Ice cream soda bar

Popcorn!

The dance floor

Mustaches, glasses, beards, hats, bow ties, boas, signs...fun!

The local high school's photography club came and took pictures of the event.

Marley(the tall one) and some of her friends were our servers for the night.  They performed superbly!  Awesome girls!!!

I love a good party!

Let's go fly a kite!

For Eliza's birthday this year she got a kite. No big deal right?  

Wrong, it was a BIG deal!  She found a new love!

The only problem.....no wind.

So a couple times a week we go to the park and Eliza runs back and forth for about a half an hour helping her kite fly!  

We would probably all be better off if we spent a couple hours every week flying a kite.

Random Conversations #85

While she was waiting for dinner and talking in her most whiny voice...

Eliza:  I'm just so hungry, I could eat everything in the whole entire world.
Me:  What about tacos?
Eliza:  No

Prom 2012

Coming from someone that was a tall girl way back when....

I have to admit that I have some pride adding another cute tall boy to the world.

Random Conversations #84

Eliza:  Lane, I am your conscience...
Lane:  No you're not.  My conscience looks just like me except it has a halo either that or a mustache and a tail.

Marley, the author

I find stories that Marley has written everywhere.  Here is an example of one.

Hi, my name is Chist and just so you know, I'm a girl NOT a boy.  My mom left to study gorillas in Africa for ten years when I was two.  my dad being a very busy scientist made a robot to be my mom while she was gone.  She promised she would write me but she never did, so by the age of 5 I had no choice but to think she was dead.

Now, I'm 12 and nothing like my parents, I was about the age of 9 when I realized I could be a science geek, and animal freak, or something completely different.  I'm pretty sure you know what I chose... and now I am a rebel.

I have a friend that says she can tell if she wants to read a book by the first sentence.  After that first sentence, I am hooked!  Can you blame me?