Some videos

It's been awhile since I uploaded any video of the kids....so here ya go!

Silas doing kung fu with the sprinkler


Silas riding his bike on 5/30/11


Si's first attempt on 5/31/11


Superfast El-meister


Si doing great (except for the wall there at the end!)

Memorial Day Weekend

What a BUSY and FUN long weekend - it was a great mix of fun, productive, family and friends!

Friday was Silas' last day of preschool - as you can guess, it was very emotional for me!  They had a clapout at school and it was so sweet.  He is ready and excited for Kindergarten...he wanted to start this week!

Wednesday night will be the "official graduation".

Saturday night Justin and I went to a concert (The Avett Brothers) with Sarah, Brian, Donna and Lee. It was a PERFECT evening for an outdoor concert...warm & breezy. Justin even got to to take a little mini-nap in the middle of the concert.

Sunday the garden finally got planted and we got the flowers in the front beds and baskets.  Just in time for the 90 degree heat!!

Ella is very much like her mom.  She told Justin that "she wished everyday could be like today".  When he asked why she said because she "got to lay in the hammock and read and eat watermelon" :)  My little summer girl!

Sunday afternoon we went to a family cookout and then got to spend the evening with the lovey neighbors at another cookout. Delicious food and great company at both!

Today was blazing hot and the kids got their bathing suits and sprinkler out. Si decided to try out Ella's grass skirt :)  They ran around and got the squirt guns out and had a good old time, which was much better than the morning when they were fighting like cats and dogs!

A couple weeks ago we got Si a new bike.  He was way too big for his other one and we decided to go up to an 18 inch.  Problem is, they don't have training wheels on that size, so now we are trying to teach him to ride it without them.  We went to the school and after a few wobbly minutes, he was actually getting the hang of it, except for the sharp turns he'd decide to randomly take.  I think if we practice a few times a week, he'll have it in a couple weeks!

It was a great weekend with a lot of cherished time just being together.  Perfect. But what I didn't get much of this weekend was REST...I need to go get that now!

Some Random Updates

If tonight is any indication of how weepy I'm going to be about Mason starting high school in less than 2 weeks, then I am in big trouble! Tonight was the parent orientation night at Bradley. Not even 5 minutes into the principal's presentation, he said "raise your hand if this is your first child going into high school" - that was all I needed to get all teary-eyed for the rest of the night. I'm scared, excited, nervous...and I'm not even the one going to high school. I think it's going to be a great year...brand new school, loved the principal and the teachers that are part of Mason's Freshman teaching team, I am excited to see what types of activities he gets involved in, Friday night football games, dances, sports, maybe some student council...fun!

Ella has been funny this week - she made her bed by herself one day over the weekend, and now she refuses to get under the covers to sleep in it. She doesn't want to mess it up so she sleeps on top of her quilt and covers up with another blanket.
I was very proud of her this week. She has started riding her bike on the sidewalk. She learned how to ride with no training wheels last summer, but only when we go up to the school where there is more space. Last night I put her on the side walk and she was nervous and wobbly for the first 10 minutes and then she was screaming up and down the sidewalk, as fast as can be.



Silas still continues on his rotten, rotten, rotten streak. And we just can't seem to beat it out of him. I think it might be time for a new strategy...but no idea what that might be. Obstinate is definitely the word to describe him right now. We keep reminding ourselves that Ella was very stubborn and tough to deal with at this age, so hopefully Si will grow out of it too!

Cleo and Zoe are becoming best buddies. Well, not really buddies yet, but they are tolerating each other very well and manage to ignore each other mostly. This picture below is the first day that they were starting to get close to one another. Zoe was really wanting none of it but Cleo would come over and casually hang out by her and try to get noticed.

This video is cute - Cleo might have a Silas streak of rotten in her...

She loves to sleep in the baby doll stroller

Cleo has been a prefect fit for the family. She is so laid back, she just hangs out, plays, lets the kids carry her around...we're so happy to have her!

Justin has been VERY hard at work. JCS (his business) has started to take off and he's getting some great referrals. And a very sore back!

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Duh hanging out in the "family room" addition
Quite a significant project!

And I have been very busy with work, the kids, trying to get some photography practice in and just keeping up with all that needs to be done in life. I have discovered that I need 2/3rds caffeinated coffee to operate at maximum efficiency. Half-caf was not getting the job done, full-caf leaves me jittery and on edge.

Our garden is a shambles right now but the sunflowers are beautiful!

We're looking forward to a fun weekend of birthday parties and going to the new Clippers stadium for the first time! I've heard it is fantastic. We'll have to work some swimming in too - looks like temps in the 90's.

So there you have it - some random updates!

86 the Training Wheels!

Yesterday was a big day for Miss Boo! She had a wonderful time at school - loves her teacher, had fun at recess and loved riding the bus home.

Last night after dinner, we took the kids down to the school to play. Ella has been asking for the last month to take the training wheels off of her bike. So Justin took them off and after about 20 minutes of the wobbles and Justin running beside her, she got the hang of it and took off.

Here's a short video of her sans training wheels!