1st Annual Summer Kick-off Party

Cooper's last day of kindergarten was yesterday!

The day was a bit of a roller coaster ride for the little guy. When I woke him up in the morning I told him that tomorrow he didn't have to wake up for school. He told me he wanted to go to school and didn't want to have a break from school all summer long. Jake, the kids and I went to Cooper's school for the handing out of the kid's certificates and a slide show his teacher, Mr. Hall, put together of the whole year. Mr. Hall was so sweet recognizing each child and telling a little about each one. He said that Cooper was a model of responsibility and excited to be at school and that it showed in his work. He got very teary the whole morning, you could see how much he loves his job and the children he teaches. It's got to be hard having a group of kids every day then watching them move on each year. We appreciated his work so much this year. He is THE BEST kindergarten teacher ever. Every time I visited the classroom and observed him with the kids I could tell how great he was with them. It takes a special person to be in a room with 30 five and six year olds on the daily!!! He was SO organized and communicated SO well with us as parents. Cooper absolutely loved him and cried the whole way home from school yesterday when he realized Mr. Hall wouldn't be his teacher next year :(

We took all the kids to get an ice cream bar to celebrate then played at the park.

We decided a few weeks ago that we want to have a little party at the end of each school year to get summer started and at the end of the summer we'll have a little party to get ready for the next school year to start. Our party included yummy, fun hawaiian haystacks. I literally cannot remember the last time we had a dinner with ZERO complaints but it happened last night! The kids loved it, Jake had never had it and my neighbor had never heard of them. I'm pretty sure it's a Mormon thing? It typically takes cream of chicken soup but I don't like using cream of anything so I found this recipe. You can do whatever toppings you like. We had all the toppings chopped up in individual bowls and everyone built their own. That's probably the reason they all liked it so much.

During dinner we compiled our 2013 Summer Bucket List. We're traveling to Utah and Washington so we thought of some items that worked in all three states.


Here are a few pictures from our day:

Adele's 2nd Birthday

Adele is TWO! I'm really having a hard time understanding just how that flew by so fast. I know it is SO cliche but for real. I remember finding out I was pregnant with her and it amazes me how much our lives have completely changed over the last two years. Here we are in California going into the second year of law school for Jake. When Adele was on the way we were business owners with no intent of continuing Jake's education. I was a working woman and now I get to be home with my children, raise them myself, be a homemaker. What a dream job!!! And one of the reasons it really is heaven on earth being a mom is this sweet girl. 

For those of you who get to be around her you can back me up when I say she is pure (mostly) sweetness. She's a tiny little thing when you watch her walk around. She sings to herself. She loves her big brothers and watches their every move. She always wants her Daddy when he's around. 

 We started potty training a couple of weeks ago and today was actually the first day with no accidents! She's doing awesome and I'm thrilled. Since we started I had to differentiate between pee, poop and farts. Now that she knows the difference between the three she's constantly announcing that she farted. (pure sweetness, remember?)

She's also talking a lot, and getting a little bossy. It's hilarious watching her boss things (yes things, sometimes I don't know what she's talking to) around. She especially likes to boss the dog around. Griffin loves her the most because she gives him food and she's the smallest so he can jump on her and lick off all the sticky food she covers herself with every time she eats.

Her favorite foods right now are yogurt, cottage cheese and pineapple, the toppings on pizza and fruit. She knows how to count to twenty for the most part. She knows the names of colors but not what they are. Is that normal? She likes watching Curious George and Wonder Pets. She sleeps with her kitty every night and says her prayers with little help. She likes to be outside and swing when we're at the park. 

We celebrated Adele's birthday by having pizza for dinner and getting a dessert at Red Robin. We came home and opened presents where she got some of her very first girl toys ever. No joke.

Dear Adele, 

I'm so thankful to be your momma! You make me smile every day with your tight hugs, cozy snuggles and smoochy kisses. Thank you for telling me I have pretty hair and that you "luuubb" me..."soooo much".  Please stop growing up and stay little forever so I can always get away with pinching your cute booty and giving you tickles when you ask for more and more and more. Heavenly Father knew that I needed you more than you needed me. I love you to the moon little girl.

love, mom

Pictures from the last two weekends...

Last weekend my friend Tiffany watched the kids while Jake and I had a date night. It was her birthday gift to me and lemme tell you that is the BEST kind of birthday gift. Well that and money, and gift cards, and cute things from boutiques, and yummy treats. I'm easy to please, really. We went to Red Robin and used a bday gift card. Then we went to Target to run an errand. Then we drove around and looked at homes is Redlands, and stopped by a la minute for some bombdotcom ice cream. I got the strawberry balsamic and it was SO GOOD! After that we walked around downtown and sat to listen to this dude for a bit before heading to the theater to see "Now You See Me."

Friday night 66ers baseball game in San Bernardino with Meg and Brandon. 

Jack, Cooper, Cameron and Seth at Cam's bday party

Our babysitter, Brie, sat in front of us and spoiled Adele.

Brobee was at the game, Adele liked smacking him in the face.

We had a little girls night out yesterday to say goodbye to our friend Lindsey. Melanie bought her this really nice, high quality, gas station guardian angel as a parting gift. We ate at Lucille's BBQ and shopped to our little heart's delight.

The summer break that was too short.

Jake started his internship today at Harvey & Company LLC in Newport Beach, an investments and acquisitions company that deals mostly with private equity. I don't really know much about any of that but Jake is really excited about it! He's there T/W/TH of every week and it's a long commute and on top of the internship he's taking summer classes for his MBA in accounting and/or finance Tues and Thurs nights in Irvine. He switched to the Irvine campus for the summer because it's close to Newport Beach and he can go straight from Harvey & Co to class on those two nights.  Needless to say the weekends will be a treasured time for our family once again.

His internship is not paid this summer but could lead to a paid one next year. So for now I'll keep up with my slingin' ways and bring in some money any way I can! We always find ways though and feel very blessed by the Lord for that. We've been able to always do fun things as a family and enjoy little treats here and there. One thing's for sure is that I've gotten really good at finding deals! We have some traveling plans for this summer that include a jaunt up to Utah over 4th of July and my 10 year HS reunion in WA during August.

I'm so excited for summertime and can't wait for Cooper to get out of school!!! I like having my kids all day and have plans for lots of things for us to do together. Last week we took a spur of the moment outing to a splash park in Moreno Valley, about 20 or 30 minutes away. I'd been there once before but plan on going a few more times over the summer. Here are a few pictures from that day.

I just love her pretty face.

Mya (cooper's classmate that we babysit)

Cooper had a rough start and didn't get to play till the last 20 minutes or so. That boy can be so feisty sometimes.

waiting for the water buckets to dump

Jack climbing

This park has a sign that CLEARLY states that it's made for ages 2-12. Any kid's foot age 2-8 could easily fall through the bridge, design flaw!

She finally realized it was fun to run through the sprayers and get wet.

Cooper and Cameron (Mya's brother, who we also babysit)

Cooper's 6th Birthday

Hey guys guess what? I'm totally wiped after today. Here are a bunch of pictures from JUST today which don't even include my breakfast outing with Cooper for a donut this morning, me and Jack's trip to Cooper's classroom to drop off watermelon and chocolate milk in celebration of his birthday, or Jake's lunch date at McDonalds. Holy cow! Cooper had a great (and very full) day. Thank you to those of you who called him!! I don't know how any of the conversations went, I just handed him the phone and went about cleaning cake off the floor, loading the dishwasher (again), wrapping a gift or breaking up a fight. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

My best attempt at a boxing cake.

Cooper is boxing the balloons. We saw the movie "Here comes the Boom" earlier this year, that explains all the boxing going on.

Cooper and his friend Derek.

He is always so helpful and sweet with Adele, he and Jack both. It warms my heart!!!!

Cameron and Mya on a double tube.

Happy campers.

Derek was "warming up". It was 90 degrees outside though :)

My kids and their Daddy, they love that guy!

Miss Mya on the slide

Cooper calls these the leap pads? or lilly pads? or frog pads? something like that.

I call this an ombre tan.

Our little bday water park gang. Six kids and two adults, went surprisingly well.

Cooper's dinner of choice was mac'n'cheese, mashed potatoes and corn.

THE messiest eater everrrrrr. And that's saying something because of Jack.

The cake and ice cream gang.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!