Ryleigh's First day of School

Today was Ryleigh's first day of pre-school. After much thought and talking we decided that she is ready to go and have some fun. She will attend 2 mornings a week. Mark has taken her to the school one morning a week for the past three weeks to get her used to it. The first two he stayed in the room and last week he sat outside on a bench in case there was a problem. There wasn't.

So, it was off to school today for little Miss Ryleigh. She was oh so proud of her bright pink Dora backpack. She especially loves that it rolls and she pulls it along with gusto!

First, the family tradition of the photo by the front gate on the first day of school.

Ryleigh finds her cubby and quickly pushes her backpack in followed by her sweater!

A kiss for mom and dad, and it's off to hermit crab care and looking through magnifying glasses.


She must have had a great time because at 6:50 she was begging "nigh nigh mama". My girl was exhausted from a great first day of school.

Memorial Day

While Memorial Day is a holiday for most, it is not for those whose family or whom themselves lost their lives in a war....we must pause and think of them....because of them, we have our freedom. We spent the day with dear friends....a great lunch (super yummy seafood, and thank you MaryMia for getting Austin to try artichoke), and a fun romp on the beach was had by all which included attack of the sea lions (well, maybe we made that up after we saw one on the beach near us playing in the surf), sand and shell eating (yum, crunch), hole digging 101, "boys love trucks", and girls must have purses for their sand toys!

Oh, and I learned something today...it's a HECK of a lot harder to take pictures of six adorable kidlets then it is two.

Scootering

The kids are having the best time on scooters on our street. We have a couple new "weekend" neighbors that are pro's and they want to keep up. Our town is VERY hilly, and any sort of wheeled vehicle is tough for little kids, but mine are starting to get the hang of it.

Busy Birthday Weekend - sort of

We had a busy weekend. Friday was the 30th annual May Festival at Austin's school. The kindergartners danced to "I can run", "Take me out to the ballgame" and then with the whole school, they did the body alphabet and a bunch of yoga moves....(yes, it's California, so Yoga in PE!!) Austin did great, but I LOVE this picture of him doing "the wrong" thing....


Here's a cute one. Gotta love a telephoto lens!


Then on Sunday we had Austin's 6th birthday party at a place that is a huge warehouse full of bounce houses, and slides. It was really fun. We shared the party with his friend Chloe and his whole class was invited and a bunch of friends.




He received many very cute and fun gifts, mostly with a Spiderman theme...his favorite, a very muscly reversible red to black Spiderman costume!




Austin's real birthday is Wednesday!! 6 is so fun!

Sewing with my son

I've been trying to grab some time to sew....today I asked Austin if he wanted to "drive" the sewing machine for me, which basically means using the foot pedal. He loves doing it.

Then he showed some interest in sewing something for himself, and he REALLY loved that. I just grabbed some noodle scraps and he made himself a ninja headband.....next time, I told him we would make something more cool...but he did really well, showed great concentration and interest!!

My Mom

My Mom....

My mom is an incredibly strong woman, and these pictures bring back huge memories.

The Santa Claus pictures: She was Santa for our town one year, she walked around giving out candy canes, visiting shops, and listening to Christmas wishes!!!! No one knew Santa was a woman!!!!

The screaming picture: My mom hates to have her picture taken, and I can specifically remember taking that picture of her, and her racing towards me to stop me. I was about 16 or so.

The clown picture: My mom dressed up for Halloween every year and came to our schools and walked in the Halloween parade and gave out treats.... I'm pretty sure she was the only adult to do that, but I'm not sure. I think I might have been embarassed by it when I was in the 5th grade or so. BUT, she also brought a whole big pack of Bubble Yum bubble gum to school when I was in the 4th grade and it was impossible to find. She found it in a nearby town and she walked over to school with my sister who was an infant in the stroller and we all chewed bubble gum. What a treat!

The picture with the baby: We adopted my little sister, Serra, when I was 10. When she was 2, my parents decided to become foster parents. After that, we had infants all the time in our house, sometimes two at a time. Sometimes 4 pound preemies. We all loved them and cuddled them, but no one did it as good as my mom. She had the whole baby thing down!!!

My mom is incredible. She was in the Navy, she had three kids, my brother and I and later she adopted my sister. She survived having her 15 year old son be diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphona in May and die in December. She was so strong for us. She then had to live through me being diagnosed just FIVE years later with a Giant Cell tumor in my right knee which was so agressive it destroyed the whole end of my femur. During that time, my Grandmother (who was my moms best friend) died of a heart attack. She is amazing. We all live together and it's awesome. She is the best grandmother to my kids! Thanks, Mom! Happy Mothers Day!

Mother's Day

This is my fifth mother's day...hard to believe. This year in Kindergarten, Austin's class had a tea for the moms. We were given some wonderful gifts from the children. A hand painted pot, a silhouette of Austin, and a wonderful little book. The children sang 3 songs to us, making everyone teary.....


Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's out there, whether you have your child yet, or are still waiting. They are in your heart and that is what counts the most....

Off to work on my 1930's reproduction queen sized quilt....I love those fabrics....

Lucky Bunnies

This is the funniest ad I've seen on TV in a LONG LONG LONG time!

Weekend

Our weekend in a nutshell. Hunting bugs, fishing with dad, swimming at the club, riding bikes in the 80 degree weather and looking adorable.

I love these children!

Aquarium Fun....

This week I took the kids to the aquarium...two times! It is so nice to go when there is no one there. The kids can run around and not bother anyone. They have a great new freshwater otter exhibit. Wednesday we went with some school friends, way too much fun. Thursday we went back and took my mom so she could see the furry little guys. So CUTE!

Also, I was trying out this baby, my Mothers Day gift. I have a Digital Canon Rebel, but sometimes it would be nice to just have a little point and shoot in my purse. It is nice, but still, the delay for the flash KILLS me!!! I get so frustrated. We'll see how it goes!