Olivia's First Day of Preschool

Olivia, ahhhhh Olivia! Where to start with you! She started 4 year old preschool this year and I have her going all day, three days a week so that her schedule lines up with Cole and saves me spending my entire day in the car. So they are long days for her (8:30 - 3:00) but she is doing great. She loves her teachers, Mrs. Pearson and Mrs. Meier and is making all sorts of new friends. She has started coming out of her shell this year at school and gaining some more confidence. At our back to school party, she raised her hand and was chosen to lead the entire class, including parents, in a prayer. I almost fell over backwards when she did this, seeing that she won't even do it in front of our family. Anyways, she is doing great! Still a constant ball of energy, still very strong willed and still wearing her shoes on the wrong feet the majority of the time :-) Somethings never change!

My little girl is growing up :-(

But she sure looks cute!

Silly Face.

And this is her expression when I told her she has school ALL day!

My heart!!

Signing in her name

She wanted to hold Izzy for a picture.

Ahhhhh



Olivia with our neighbor, Sydney.



Cole's First Day of Kindergarten

It's official. I have a Kindergartner! Yikes! How did that happen? Cole started K in September and his teacher is Mrs. Velez. We love her and I think he is going to have a wonderful school year. We started off the first few weeks with a lot of tears and some anxiety and I should clarify that it was from Cole and not from me :-) But as we now know with him, after a few weeks of the new routine and getting to know his teachers and his classmates a little better, the tears are no longer occuring. The waking up in the morning is still rough - for ALL of us, but we are managing. He is already learning so much and I'm honestly so excited for him. Apparently he is quite the little ladies man at school, from the stories he comes home to share with us about from the one little girl that won't stop chasing him around the playground at recess and trying to kiss him. In fact, the other day when I put out his crocs (shoes), he said he needed to wear the tennis shoes so that he could run faster than her to keep his distance! And another little girl that sits next to him (Lauren, who is adorable, I may add) and whispered in his ear that she has a crush on Cole. I asked Cole what he told her when she said that and he said, "Nothing mom, I just looked at her!." Awwww Cole! Too funny! He's also playing soccer again this year and Jim is helping out as the Assistant Coach when he isn't on the road. I can't say for sure that Cole has any hopes of winning the World Cup; at this point, we'd be happy with a goal, but he is sticking with it and we are enjoying going to his games each weekend - in fact, I love it! Soccer games on Saturday - that's all part of becoming parents, right?? :-)

Dressed and ready to go!

Notice Olivia has her arm around Cole and he is trying to poke her! Ha

Inside his classroom

Cole with his teacher, Mrs. Velez. Love her!

Love you buddy! Have a wonderful day. xoxo

Summer Vacation to Southern California

Ahhh what a summer we had! It was awesome and I can appreciate it that much more, seeing that it is now the end of September and we are in the midst of school, packing lunches, soccer games, birthday parties etc... There hasn't been a dull moment since school started, but we had plenty of down time and great trips this summer! In fact, I'd say one of our best, most relaxing vacations yet and that is even including all 3 kids and a 10 hour drive. Since we weren't able to make it to Champions Club this year (we decided to have a baby instead), Jim's company was gracious enough to give him $$ instead and we were able to take a family vacation instead and rent a beach house in Mission Beach. Jim took two weeks off from work, 2 WHOLE weeks! He has never taken that much time off in a row ever and it was so nice for all of us. We started the trip down south with a stop in Orange County to visit his family. The kids had some good quality time with their family and we spent a lot of time in their pool. The weather was perfect, very hot for Southern California, and we pretty much just hung out and relaxed! One day we went to Newport Beach and rented a "duffy boat," and cruised around Balboa island. The kids had a lot of fun and we enjoyed looking at all of the beautiful houses! Millie and Tony also watched the kids for us one night so that Jim and I could enjoy a visit with Eric, Michelle and our cute little nephew, Blake. He and Bella are about 2 months apart.

Olivia and her Nanna playing in the jacuzzi

Bella meeting Aunty Miriam. She was all smiles!

The kids spent ALOT of time in this jacuzzi

Cole and Aunty Lisa on the duffy boat in Newport Beach.

Wow, we are all actually looking at the camera!

Kathleen and Millie

Blake (2 1/2 months) and Bella (4 1/2 months) just chillin

More jacuzzi time

So after spending 4 fun filled days in Orange County with Jim's family, we headed up to the mountain to spend some time with my mom and Mike and Lake Arrowhead. We drove up on Wednesday and my sister had been up there with her kids for a couple of days, so we were able to cross paths for a few hours and let the kids hang out before she left and drove back to San Diego. We met them in the village and took the boat over to the island so they could go for a dip and play in the sand. We spent the next several days enjoying lots of time out on the lake and in the sun water skiing. Cole tried out the EZ trainer a few times, Jim wake boarded and I got to water ski side by side with my mom. Izzy did great on the boat and was a real trooper wearing her life jacket. We had such a relaxing couple of days up there, we weren't ready to leave. It always feels good to be back "home." Thanks Mom and Mike for your wonderful hospitality. For all of yummy meals and for being such a patient boat captain Mike!!

Cole and Alec, taken seconds before they both fell in.

Cole on the EZ trainer for the first time.

"Izzy going"

It took awhile for Olivia to get in the lake,
but once she did, she loved it!

Grandma and Izzy

Mom and I waterskiing......together!

Olivia and Grandpa Mike

Feeding the ducks

Such a beautiful day

Ring Pops! I loved these as a kid.

Our car on the inside. There was honestly no space left and this picture
doesn't show the trailer hitch attached to the back of the car.

We packed up the car (AGAIN) and left Lake Arrowhead on Saturday to make our trip down to San Diego. After a long and very painful stop at the grocery store and Target with 3 cranky kids and trying to load up on food for an entire week, we were on our way! The beach house did not disappoint. It was great and was exactly what Jim and I were hoping for. It was right on the water with a huge patio for the kids to play on. Our 5 days spent here were filled with family, food and fun, exactly what we were hoping for! The kids had such a great time, as you can tell from these pictures, and are already asking when we can go back down again. They literally spent pretty much all day, every day at the beach, playing in the water, in the sand, flying kites, paddle boarding, learning to surf and playing games on the beach. It was a perfect family vacation!

The Beach house...we only had the bottom floor, but it was still amazing!

View from the water

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Tony, Michelle, Eric and Aunty Lisa (with Blake)

The happy new parents!

The kids enjoying our first night at the beach.

xoxo

Aunty Kathleen

My dad's birthday cake. It was awesome!

Jenny was out visiting from Utah and got to meet Miss. Izzy

Bella chillin at the beach

Jim and Cole looking through all of their new shells they found

Steve and Angie met the treck down from LA for a visit!

Anna and John

Scott and Jenny

My boys!

Cole's first attempt at boogie boarding. He loved it!

The Ward/Lewis Family

Daddy and Izzy

My dad, his wife, Carolyn and my sibilings with our spouses and kids!
The first time ALL the cousins have been together.
(Liam-2, Alec- 4 1/2, Blake-2 months, Olivia-4, Cole-6 and Izzy-4 months)

The sun was so bright!!

Cousins!

Scott and Cole

Olivia decided to play in the water before she was brave
enough to set out on the paddle boards.

Our first attempt at paddle boarding. It was so easy!!

Megan, Olivia and Nicole. Olivia LOVED hanging out with them!

Cole found a real shark tooth!

Olivia and Megan

I Love this little butt :-)

Covered in sand. This girl seriously would shower
like4-5 times a day!

Daddy testing out the waves

Another sunset

Another yummy breakfast. Pancakes, OJ and Fruit

Time to fly kites

Jim and both kids with 3 kites!

Coolin' off with some shaved ice!

She's all smiles, even though she isn't getting any!

Kathleen and Millie

My Dad and I

Jim finally caught one!

My Bella boo!

Cole caught a WAVE!!

He's up!

Yay! Go Cole

Our last sunset

Jim and Izzy enjoying the view

My Dad and his sister, Anna

Cousins!

Everybody was watching our last sunset of the trip

Riding bikes around Coronado Island

Not a bad view, huh?

At the Hotel Del. Half way through our bike ride. These bikes may look easy,
but they are HARD to ride.