Via Las Vegas

In May, Jim went out to Vegas and stayed at the Mandalay Bay for a work convention and thought it would be a fun place to bring the kids to. They have a really big outdoor pool area - complete with a lazy river and a huge wave pool, as well as several other pools. The kids had a great time swimming. Cole was pretty much in the water all day long, but man was it HOT!! Mental note: when you live in Sacramento where it's a 100+ degrees in the summer - don't take a vacation to Vegas where it's 110+ degrees :-) Heat aside, we had a fun time. We had a great room and Jim got me a massage at the spa as well as several hours away from the kids to relax. We ate a lot of good food (how can you not when you are in Vegas?) and enjoyed seeing all of the sights of Vegas!!

Messing around with the new camera. Our kiddos getting ready to go out for Mommy's birthday dinner.  
 

Birthday dinner
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 

The best part about the hotel according the kids - the TV in the bathroom
 

The jacuzzi tub made for some fun entertainment as well :-)
 

We got to the airport a little early and on top of that our flight was delayed, so Jim had plenty of time to mess around with the camera and take some pictures of the kids. Here is our "airport photo shoot."
 

 
 
 
 
 

Ahhh where did the summer go?

So clearly it has been a very hectic and busy summer because I am 2 1/2 months behind on my blog!! I HATE when this happens! One of my last posts in June was Cole's last day in preschool and they both started preschool for the Fall last Friday! Yikes!! Not sure where the summer months went, but they are gone, gone, gone! It's okay though because I am ready to say goodbye to this heat and hello to the Fall and some cool, crisp mornings - even though I don't think that is going to happen for at least another month of so. I guess the bulk of the summer was dedicated to remodeling our house! We finally purchased the house last April, but after living it in for more than 3 years, we knew exactly what we wanted to do it and it was just a matter of finding the right people. So I can sit here happily and say that it is 90% complete ( we are just waiting on picking out paint colors) but it was about 8 weeks of hell to go through! I didn't enjoy it one bit and I seriously underestimated the impact it would have on our lives! Olivia stopped napping in July :-( :-( :-( (mommy is very very sad about this). There was just too much noise and hammering going on and after about 2 weeks of her not napping and me giving up trying, there was no way she was going to start again (we've tried putting a lock on her door, buying her a new bed and emptying every toy out of her room) . So this has been tough on ALL of us because she is still really needs her naps and has complete breakdowns at nighttime, but such is life and we are learning to deal. Back to the house..... we ripped out the majority of the downstairs carpet and put in 1,000 Sq. Ft of hardwood floor (love it!), we took out two windows and replaced them with doors so the kids have better access to the yard, we opened up the wall between the family room and the downstairs bedroom and it's now the "family office", re-did all of the landscaping, removed all of the grass in the backyard and put in artificial grass (again...LOVE it) and finally we got a jacuzzi for backyard. And the best part is that the trampoline and FINALLY out of our house and in the yard where it belongs!! Unfortunately, I wasn't very good at taking pictures of the progress so I will have to take some of the "after" and post them here! We did manage to sneak in a few trips here and there as well. We took a family trip to Vegas in June, and "adult only" trip to Napa Valley, two camping trips in August (one to Lake Tahoe with my family and one to Rollins Lake with our neighbors) and Jim went spearfishing down in Mexico for a few days with his friend Steve and brought home 60 pounds of fish with him. Pictures and posts to follow ;-) And now we are back to school again! Both kids started Pre-School at Adventure Christian this year and are going MWF from 8:30 -11:30. I am LOVING the little break, although so far my mornings have all been pretty jam packed with errands and appointments. Today was only day #2 for them, but so far they are both enjoying it and I really like their teachers. No tears so far and no accidents (from Olivia!). I'm looking forward to all of the fun they are going to have and the good stuff they are going to learn! The last few pictures of the kids and Jim on the "indoor" trampoline. We had to move it outside so that wood floors could go in. Thank goodness :-) It was fun while it lasted.

My Birthday

For Jim and I's birthdays this year, we talked about going in on a "joint gift" and getting ourselves a new camera. Our old digital had seen better days and I wanted a nice one to capture all of the moments with the kids. Jim surprised me and brought one home from Costco. We love it and are enjoying taking pictures with it. One of these days (if I can ever find some free time), I'd love to take some classes so that I can actually use all of the cool options it has to offer :-) Our neighbors, the Brown's invited us over to their house for my birthday dinner and we had a great time hanging out with them. Leslie made a delicious dinner and we all enjoyed some yummy ice cream cake. I opened my camera at the their house, so here are some of our first shots, right out of the bag....literally!!!  
 
 
  These next 2 are my favorites. Note our four kids - Bailey, Olivia, Cole and Sydney (ages 2-6) and all 4 of them are playing on their own iPhone :-) Hey - it keeps them busy,so us parents can chat!!
 
 

Little Gym

I signed Olivia up for "Little Gym" back in January to give her and I something to do together. We went every Monday while Cole was in preschool and oh my goodness did she love it!! It's basically an hour long class where she works on running, jumping, playing, tumbling, balancing etc... Every morning when we would get in the car, she would ask, "Mommy are we going to little gym today." It was really cute and I'm excited to start her back up in the fall.

On the last day of class they had a little "performance" so Daddy came with us and took some shots.



 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

Random

Summer is finally upon us!! Yay for being able to sleep in and have lazy mornings around the house and yay for the warm weather and lots of pool time. So far we have been having a great summer and keeping busy. Both kids are in private swimming lessons this summer and are really enjoying them. Cole is learning freestyle and backstroke and learning how to take breaths. He loves his lessons and has a smile on his face the entire time. Olivia, on the other hand isn't as excited about the water but she is becoming more confident and learning to stick her head under the water.

Cole is also in a 5 week long Karate class thanks to a smoking deal I got on Groupon. He's going 1-2 times per week and really enjoying it. He also went to his first VBS camp last week at Bayside with two of his friends (and neighbors), Nolan and Enrico. They had a great time and I enjoyed some one on one time again with Olivia.

So below are some random shots of our summer thus far.......

Olivia and Marina enjoying some time outside


They found Cole's set of knee pads and elbow pads for his skateboard and were very excited to play dress up with them.


Cole and his friend Enrico on their way to the first day of camp. This is how they both showed up...same exact shoes, pirate bathing suits (in the same color) and t-shirts. So cute!!


Nolan, Enrico and Cole on their first day of VBS camp


My little crazy girl! I've been trying to listen to music more on the TV instead of watching shows, and every time I turn on the music, Olivia starts dancing and insists on dressing up. Here she is dancing to Lady Gaga :-)



Olivia's new trick = not sleeping in her own bed at night!!! About 2 minutes after we put her down at night, we hear her throw all of her baby dolls and other random toys from her crib and then she wonders around the upstairs until she finds a place that she wants to crash for the night. If Cole is asleep, she will usually go into his room, but if he is awake, he won't let her :-( So then she tries out our bed and we usually find her there. So the other night, when I went to check on her, I turn on the light, attempt to run up the stairs during my commercial break and accidentally step on this sleeping child. She knew better than to come all the way downstairs because Daddy or I would have put her back into her crib. Crazy girl!!




Jim tore his hamstring playing soccer a few weeks ago and picked up some ace bandages to wrap his leg in. The kids think these are the coolest thing ever and ask us to wrap their arms, legs etc... Fortunately he bought 2 so they can each have one. Jim got the idea to wrap them around each kid like a baby bjourn and carry their baby's in them. The kids thing this is pretty funny!

Cole's last day of Preschool

It's hard to believe Cole's first year of preschool has come and gone. My little boy is growing up :-( He had a great first year of school at Adventure Christian Preschool and I am so proud of the little man he is growing into. We love you Cole!!

Olivia, Mrs. Restori and Cole

Cole and Mrs. Schmidt


Cole and Dylan


Cole with his friends, Ketcher and Bianca