A's Game

 Papa and Grammie went to their first bobble head game. Liv was super excited.

 Grammie said her bobble head was going right on her mantle.

After the game, the girls tried to drive off with the police motorcycles... Noooo- they just posed for their picture!

The Last 30 Days

What haven't we done in the last 30 days...
We've gone to the movie theater for the free movies and ate gobs of popcorn complete with sprinkles, we've been on numerous water park play dates, we've been fishing, and we've gone to the pool. If all those things weren't enough we also went to Grammie and Papa's for an 11 day vacation. We rode bikes, went bowling, and swam in their pool often.

Both girls can now swim the length of the pool without a life jacket.

And then we went camping in the RV and a tent for a few days...

We went on many many hikes around the lake.

Some of it was on some pretty tough terrain with a ravine on the side of us but we managed to stay alive.

Liv found a butterfly garden and spent an hour holding them and chasing them.

We fished both on and off the dock. You can't see it but Ava and I are on shore fishing while the pros are conquering the dock.

We camped in the RV the first night.

We swam in Lake Siskyou until we were tired and then Daddy chauffeured the girls around on their raft.

Some of got to drink wine while others of us weren't allowed and were very disgruntled. That would be me.

The girls really wanted to tent camp under the stars and given the good father Dave is- he obliged.

Then we fished on the boat. Everyone caught something except my dad.

At first Liv caught a dragonfly and then she shared it with Ava.

Dave caught the mammoth crawfish which was later boiled and eaten by the girls.

Liv's catch which was fried up and eaten by the fishing queen herself.

Ecstatic Ava caught herself some grub and cooked it and ate it too. Then we roasted our nightly s'mores and headed to...

watch the fireworks off the boat for the 4th of July. But like all good things we had to go home-

but the fun doesn't stop there. Once we got home we set up the projector in the backyard and watched a movie under the stars in the backyard complete with popcorn and cheesy sprinkles.

And one night for dinner we ate the beans in this picture for dinner. These beans were dried pintos that came home as part of a project in Olivia's class. What I didn't know was that she planted them in one of my house plants and Dave unknowingly was watering them. So one day when I noticed these plants growing with my palm tree Olivia told me she was performing an experiment. Dave came home that night and they replanted said experiment in the garden OUTSIDE and since then they have grown and flourished and have become part of our dinner. Way to go Olivia- you little green thumbs!!!

Here we are at the water park last week when Julie brought Yentl and the kids out. She also brought baby ducks with her so the kids and the ducks all played in the water.

Poor little ducks. They did all survive.

The girls with Hannah.

Over the weekend, the girls and I met Nick and Rachael at the park for some water play. They seemed to play more in the dirt. Go figure.

And this is a big karate week. Olivia will be testing for her Orange belt on Wednesday. She has practiced really hard and we are all really excited for her.

Monterey Beach Vacation

Not even the mention of a tsunami can stop us from heading to our destination vacation. My Aunt Lou and Uncle Mike drove from Texas to visit us and Monterey. They aren't in the photos because one of their kids is adopted and her bio parent father found her once and I don't know if she should have her picture posted out in cyberspace. But just for reference they are there with us too and they had a great time with our kids.
Monterey Bay Aquarium here we come.
Liv's ready to scuba already. Once she's 13 she gets to take the class!

My Ava cakes will touch anything. She has absolutely NO fear. I love that.
The girls love the jelly fish.
My main squeeze and his hot mammas.
Look out Ava!! The seahorse is going to eat you... wahaaha!
Me and my kiddos heading to the beach.
The best sandcastle builder ever. She gets that from her Papa.


Ava's big hole. Everywhere there is sand or dirt Ava is close by- digging, digging, and more digging.
Liv and Daddy heading to the waves.
Proud of her accomplishments, Ava sits in her hole.

We had an excellent family reunion and a great little weekend getaway.

Grammie's New Dog

Grammie and Papa rescued a dog. There's actually a whole sorted story about it which I don't have time for since I am dog-ass tired from being up since 4 AM but anyways here she is in all of her glory.

Everyone loves Foxy, even Sugar the meanie.

End of Summer

Summer vacation has been a blast. Aside from some minor setbacks like the air conditioner dying at a really inopportune time, thankfully we bought another A/C before the temperature sky rocketed back up, and it only cost a mere $2000 to replace, insert sarcasm wherever, things have been fast and entertaining.

The girls have spent the summer between dance and soccer. On the days we seem to have nothing planned we still ended up finding something great, free, and enjoyable to do. We have seen a movie every week, we have been to countless water parks, played with neighbors and friends, BBQ'd, went swimming, you name it we've most likely done it. It has just been wonderful. But as always things have to change and another transition is upon us...school. And let me tell you I am so glad I enrolled Liv in the middle class starting at 10:40 because she has become a sleeper. Today in fact she woke up at 10:32 A.M. Who does this? I was up at 7:30 when the dogs wanted to go outside. Ava was up by 8 A.M. Apparently Liv needs her beauty sleep. So in a week school begins, the girls have their dance recital, and soccer ends as well.

I found a place that gives free dance lessons to kids under 5 and it is actually taught by the girl's hip hop teacher so Ava will still dance on Wednesdays after we drop off Liv at school. Ava's really excited she gets to dance in a class all by herself this time. I am excited that it is free.

So my last post was about packing to go to Grammie's house. We got there and swam all day for 4 days from sun up to sun down and then even at night under the stars. We are all really tan. Here's a few pictures of our vacation:

And yes at my mom's house Ava still squeezes into a high chair that she calls the queen's chair. She likes it because during the day she can sit in it and paint since it has one of those preformed cups in the tray to hold the water and it is high enough that she can see the TV over the back of the couch while she is doing it.

Breakfast outdoors after the first morning swim.

Livy the diver.

Trying to jump out as far as possible.

Dave's cannon ball attempt. He made a huge splash. We were slightly surprised there was still plenty of water left in the pool:)

Ava's cannonball.
Digging for carrots in Papa's garden.
Deciding who gets to hold the shovel.
And then after 4 entire days of swimming at Grammie's house we came back only to go swimming at my friend's house with her two kids.
Ava being chased by Jay.

And then we had soccer practice again. Liv's a fast runner. A lot of parents comment on how quick she is and how well she can manipulate the ball.

Training.

There are countless more pictures of the play date at the park with Nick and other activies we have done but those will have to wait for another day. I am done uploading pictures.

I am really glad that the girls are going back to/starting school. Olivia's brain seems to be exploding with knowledge. She watched a shark show on TV and is now obsessed with predator verses prey. Her vocabulary astounds me and her abstract train of thought is booming. We are so proud of her. She just sucks up knowledge every where she goes. Ava is smart as a whip too and as stubborn as me. She does what she wants when she wants otherwise look out. She has had the fortune of having the big sister to emulate so she is super smart already and ready to go to school. She practices her spelling words in the car and tries to read books. I know that she has them memorized but it is still cute watching her fake read.

I am also really proud of Dave and I. Last Saturday was the 7 year anniversary of when we met. We have had a great marriage so far, we hardly ever argue and if we do it is over something totally stupid like not leaving the dog out long enough so she craps outside instead of inside on my rug. We love each other, we talk to each other, and we truly enjoying being with each other. I hear a lot of our friends talk about money and how they hide it from their spouses. This has ever been an issue for us. We both know how much we have and what it is being used for. Also a friend of mine showed me the coupon trick and now I spend 1/3 on groceries and toiletries. It is amazing to see the total ring up to $250 and after the coupons I end up paying $46. Dave is proud of me for saving the dough and I am happy we have more money for other things. I see us as, "We're doing it. Without the help from anyone else, we made it." It did hurt to shell out $2000 for the A/C that I had saved for property taxes but at least I know that WE bought it and somehow WE will come up with the property tax money too. I don't really know from where... but we are in it together and together we will have to make it happen. It's hard being a one income family but I'm proud of us and proud of Dave for being a great husband, father, and provider for his family. I love you Dave and happy anniversary of when we met.