First Day of School

School started on Wednesday August 18th. The kids were ready. I don't know if I was though.Gabriel was so excited and showing off his Hot Wheels lunch box. He is at Reagan Elementary this year.

Gillian is off to 3rd grade.
Wow Savannah is in the 6th grade now.
And Chyna is in Jr High. How did that happen. When did she get that old?
Now something happened between Gabriel's picture and the group shot. He was no longer happy and it went downhill from there.

We all took him to his school first. The girls were excited to help drop him off. Well he was not ready to be dropped off. The minute we got to the classroom his head dropped and he clinged to me so fast. We tried to take a picture for the teacher but his face was probably worse than the above. She tried a few times, but I was thinking just give up he is not going to smile for you. Then I had to leave to get the girls to school on time. That is when his panic set in and the screaming and crying started. His teacher, Mrs. Couret had to hold him down so I could leave the classroom. As sad as it was, I didn't cry. I feel like he needs this time. He is very shy, emotional and sensitive and hopefully school everyday will help him socialize more.

The girls were dropped off and excited to see all their friends again. But I can remember all of their first days of school. They were once all my little shy momma's girls and now they are running out of the car without even looking back. Time flies so fast.

Celebrating at Disneyland

No matter how many times we go to Disneyland I still just love the feeling of being there in the park. It makes me feel young again. I love sharing that feeling with my children and making these memories with them.The first day we let that be Gillian's day. We let her pick mostly everything we did. She wanted to ride Pirate's and Gabriel did not like that. So quickly it started, as usual being all about Gabriel. With every ride he started getting more and more nervous about the rides. After Splash Mountain he was done believing anything we said. One ride he loved that we had to ride over and over was Winnie the Pooh.
Tough decisions on the Mickey ears. Pirate or Toy Story????


Our birthday princess andSavannah.
Her other birthday present was to go to Build a Bear at Downtown Disney. Thanks to Aunt Lesa and Uncle Justin she was able to get an awesome bear and outfits.
And the Toy Story ears won. What cute kids, right?


For some reason my children like spinning in teacups till they feel like their heads are falling off so they ride with their dad. Chyna and I however decided to relax in our own teacup.
I wish I could get one of these cages at home to lock them up in when they start acting like wild animals.




The birthday girl wasn't always happy. It's my party and I 'll throw a fit if I want too....
Ha, proof I was at Disneyland too.






What a great trip it was. I hope Gillian felt as special as she is. We love you Bean!

It is Great to be 8!

On Saturday the 17th we had family over to celebrate Gillian's birthday. When we picked out the cake she wanted my name on it too. I am happy that she doesn't mind sharing her birthday with me because I know the time will come where that is embarrassing for her.She is turning out to be a wonderful, bubbly, fun loving little girl. We like to call her Little Miss Giggles because she is always giggling about something. And always skipping, bouncing or cartwheeling around the house.

She got a lot of wonderful gifts. She is very much loved by family. But her #1 gift she wanted this year was to spend her birthday at Disneyland.
Best buddies/cousins Luke and Gabriel.

So her wish was granted and off to Disneyland we went.

Happy Birthday To Me! I Am Now 33!

Friday the 16th was my 33rd birthday. As an adult I have given up on fun birthday surprises. I am mostly planning Gillian's birthday party, summer trips, girls camp etc. So a dinner out with the family is good enough for me. This year was a bit different. I actually wanted to stay home and just eat there and relax. We were heading for Disneyland a day later so I thought lets just hang out at home for the night. My request was ignored so I went with it. The kids love to pamper me so I thought they really wanted to take me out. Everyone was kind of acting weird. My girls faces had a giggle about them all day. I thought something was up but then again my kids are always weird so I didn't put much thought to it.
We had a nice dinner and I got some pretty flowers.
And then we decided to head home and relax. As I walk into the house I see this cheesecake (of course it wasn't half eaten at the time) sitting on my counter. I couldn't figure out how Jason got it there. Then I see two purses and I kind of started to get nervous from the anxiety of someone being in my house. And then two crazy ladies jump out and yell "surprise"!
I was scared but for many reasons, first that is just scary people jumping out at you when you come home, and second I was so afraid there were more people. After I scanned the living room and noticed it was just them I was relieved. That really is my worst nightmare a big surprise party. But this was a really nice surprise. I was so surprised Amy and Michelle would go to all that effort to make my birthday special. We ate some of the delicious cheesecake and then they treated me to the movies and a pedicure. The kids were so excited that they were able to keep a secret from me. They have never been able to surprise me because I am so sneaky and figure everything out. I must say they did it this year. I am so grateful to a great husband, kids, and friends who make me feel loved. Oh yeah that cheesecake is the most delicious thing ever, thanks Michelle.

Eclipse

Like most people I had been anticipating the midnight showing of Eclipse for months. I really wanted Michelle to go with me but she was so not into the Twilight series. I knew I had to convince her. Amazingly it wasn't that hard to get her to agree. We had an awesome time, we didn't have to wait at all to get in the theater and had great seats. I am so happy she came with me and now she is a true Twilight fan. I like to believe I am responsible for it. We already have plans for Breaking Dawn. She is such a sweet friend, she gave me a Twilight charm bracelet for inviting her. I am so thankful for her friendship and all the fun we have together. She edited this picture of us to make us "glow" a little.

Chyna was also lucky enough to be invited by her cousin Patrice. They were on strict orders to be in a different theater than me and my GNO but since their 's was so full people were sitting on the stairs they switched over to ours. They stayed down front though. I was glad she got to experience the premier and I still had my GNO.

My nieces Ciera, Patrice, Lauren and friend Haley with Chyna.

Sanger Seals

Chyna started swimming with Sanger Seals in February. Her practices have been Monday- Thursday since then so it feels like forever. Finally what we have all been waiting for is here...the swim meets. She is doing awesome and it is actually really fun going and watching her. Even though on most nights we aren't home until 11:00pm.

She is doing awesome. She swims in 5 or 6 different heats, 100 freestyle, 50 freestyle, 200 freestyle relay, 50 breaststroke, 50 backstroke and 200 medley relay. Her favorite is freestyle but she does good in all of them.




This is just a sneak peek, more pictures of her races to come.

Catching Up

This past month has been busy but yet I don't have alot to show for it in the picture department. I am trying to make it a goal to be better with taking pictures but it is just not my thing. The kids are growing up so fast and I hate to miss out on all the small things that they do that make me smile.

For instance the other night when I went to check in on the kids before I went to bed this is what I found.
Gabriel has been insistent on not wearing a shirt to bed. He says that is what Little Bill wears to bed. So he has been sleeping in boxers all week. He is so sweet and he looks dead tired. Maybe because he is on the go all day!
Chyna and Gillian share a room but it looks like after I go to sleep they share a twin bed too. Gillian has been having the worst nightmares and luckily her big sis doesn't mind her climbing into bed with her. I thought it was so sweet.


We have had a lot of end of the year activities so far. First the band and choir festival. Savannah is in choir and Chyna plays the flute in band. (Sorry the pics are so bad it was very dark in there)



Then Gillian joined Jr Company this year. It is a performance group that sings and dances. They performed a medley of Disney songs this year before the school play Beauty and the Beast. She did awesome. I can't believe she is the same little girl that stood there frozen on that very stage 2 years ago.