Tablerock

My sis made a visit the end of July where we tackled the hike up to Table Rock. I've never done it before and didn't know what to expect. I strapped CJ to my back and all of us were off. (M&M, LittleA, CJ, myself, Ame, Izzie, & Steph) It was a faster pace at first because the kids were excited to be hiking. Then as we trudged along, the pace got a little slower and slower. At the end, near the top, it gets steaper and steaper and it took a lot of coaxing to get all the girls to continue walking. At one point, to give Little A a breather, I carried her. It was definitely a workout, but we made it! The girls were very excited to be at the top and have a snack. The trip down was much quicker. Too quick for Little A where she slid and skinned her knee. Sad at the moment, but stoked to show her Dad later that day. Good times!

CJ's first haircut

Last month CJ had his first haircut. He had curly little locks around his ears and it was really making him look like an old man :) I was torn to cut them off, but am glad I did. He is starting to look like a little boy now. Love this kid!

(Before & After)

Our first grader!

M&M started first grade earlier this month. She LOVES it! Her teacher seems to be really nice and she was excited to have one friend in her class. No bus this year so we either drive, walk, run, or bike to & from school. One thing she was so looking forward to was eating lunch at school. I made her take a lunch the first day and she came home that day and asked "Mom, can I PLEASE have school lunch tomorrow". We have compromised and do part hot lunch and part cold lunch. She picks the days to have hot lunch so it works out great. She was also stoked about having 4 recesses during the day. "Mom, that's 4 recesses!" It's fun having her so excited about learning at school and being so willing to come home and do her homework. I hope her love for homework stays around. :)
Now Little A on the other-hand isn't fond of having M&M at school now. She keeps asking when does she start school and is already talking about her first day of Kindergarten (that's in a whole year!) She asks me at least 15 times a day if she can go to someone's house or if so & so can come over. She just misses playing with her best friend now.

Park time!

The summer is almost over and I haven't posted much about it. Here are some random shots of us and friends at Settler's Park. Love that park!

Happy birthday to me & my sis!

So it's been a few weeks since my birthday but I have to go back and actually post about it. All in all it was a chill day. The kids were EXTRA good since it was my special day so that made for a great day! We went to On the Border that just opened close by with James' parents for dinner, then headed to a park with friends to have cake & ice cream. James had pre-arranged with Holly (my cake decorating partner) to make a fabulous cake for the special day. Fabulous it was! I was surprised with this sweet cake & cupcakes!

Since starting the frosted cherry, I've been spending a lot of time in my kitchen. I mentioned it to James that it would nice to have a little TV in there to have something to watch while I bake. Well he tucked that idea away and totally surprised me with a nice TV! He even wired it so I could watch our recorded shows from the TV in our room. Pretty sneaky! Thanks to all who helped out with it..I love it!!I don't have a picture of it, but this was me opening the card for it. The TV is now hanging right where that picture is in the background (above our phone). I really dislike pictures of myself but figured I better document what a 31 year old looks like :) Thanks to all my friends and family who made it a special day!

The cake aftermath!

Happy birthday to my sis too!
Ame came to town the weekend after our birthday so we celebrated again with her! She made me some awesome cake pops, that were amazing, and of course she got a strawberry pie. That girl is not a fan of cake (what the...is she related to me?) so pie it was!

Look whose riding.

M&M has been so nervous to try to ride without training wheels that we never thought she was ready to do it. We actually thought Little A would ride w/o training wheels before M&M! Well her Aunt Kara gave us a little smaller bike and I guess she thought she'd try it out by herself. James was sitting in the house a few weeks ago and looked outside to find M&M riding a bike all by herself! What?!? She was so surprised and excited and now LOVES riding her bike everyday. I love living in a culdesac for times like this.
She really wanted to race in the kid's race at the Twilight Criterium but we were a little hesitant since she really is clueless when it comes to riding around other kids or other things for that matter. We could just see her side swiping and taking out other kids in the process of trying to be the fastest. Maybe next year.

Our one year old!

June 2nd my littlest one turned 1!! It's crazy how fast they grow. I figured while he's young and he doesn't have a say, that we celebrate it with his sister. He had a great birthday and loved digging into the cake. If anyone knows our CJ, he loves to stuff just about anything in his mouth including cake!

Things he loves:
walking
tormenting Brutus
eating sand
Ripping flowers/bows out of his sisters' hair
FOOD!

We love our little man! Happy 1st birthday.