Weekend in Rewind

In between putting coats of paint on the bedroom furniture...Sunday we were at our friends the Pavanos to hclp celebrate their daughter Kaitie's 3rd-bday. The girls love horses these days so they had a great time minus the heat. Saturday we headed up to Auburn to play w/ the Bellezas at their homestead...the kids had a good time playing in the dirt, climbing, swinging, and roasting smores...


... and Friday was Daniel's squadron picnic on base. It was also hotter than blazes but it was nice to mingle with his coworkers, meet his new boss, and have some fun as a family.

Fall Project

After
Before

Our bedroom has been the most neglected room of our house since having kids. In the past 4 years with military moves and renting, I have had the least bit of interest in making any changes. Our mission style bed Daniel's parents bought us as a wedding present was in need of a coat of stain and I decided to take on a neglected dresser as well. After 2 coats, and many smelly hours later, the job was done.

My next mission was to get a new bedspread. The one we had been using was from the year we were married and ripping (can you picture it?:) and the other one was way too hot for California almost any time of year. While Lauren was at school the last 2 mornings, Shannon and I bargin hunted until we found a comforter at Walmart and two lamps w/ shades marked 75% off at Target. Can't beat $3.24 lamp shades!

Baby Bear

My mom purchased Baby Bear the morning Lauren was born and Lauren fell in love with her when she was almost 20 months and has not put her down since. Baby Bear has been with us on every trip, vacation, and numerous car rides over the past 2 1/2 years. Last summer while visiting my grandparents on my dad's side,my Aunt Cheryl said she thought my uncle's sister had a spare "It's a girl" beanie baby so we could have a backup Baby Bear (just in case she was ever lost). Many a night we have searched the entire house for that bear only to find it in the play microwave, behind the couch, or any random place you can think of, but Baby Bear has never been lost.

Last week Lauren sadly stated that she wished Baby Bear didn't have a broken nose and was pink again so I decided it was high time to pull out the replacement bear my aunt mailed me about year ago. I have yet to find the same bear so was so thankful my aunt took the liberty to find one for us! Over the past year my mom also purchased 2 pink bears for backups so I let the girls each choose a bear.



...hhhhmmmm now Lauren has 3 special pink bears to keep track of, but an almost 5 year old does a pretty good job keeping track of their most valuable possessions :) Shannon on the other hand loves all her babies equally and sometimes has a favorite kitty, puppy, or bear every few days :)

Elvis!

The long awaited classroom pet Elvis the guinea pig came to stay with us this past weekend. Since we don't have any pets yet, the girls were estatic! It was a great experience for them and the weekend went smoothly minus the 2 hours Lauren and I were at one of her classmates b-day parties and Shannon was home w/ Daddy and decided to feed Elvis part of a bag of mini carrots all by herself :) Thankfully he didn't OD on carrot sticks and we were able to return him to school this morning all in one piece :)

How we unwind after school....

After school, the tights come off...and the sillies come out :)
Lauren has a great sense of humor and keeps us laughing :) Her favorite stunt is to put her pj's on in the wrong order (panties on head, shirt on legs, and pants on arms).... I'll have to keep looking for that pic. In the meantime, here are a few other's...

Did I mention Shannon is silly and funny too? :)

(note: the potty seat on the head is gross on so many levels but in all fairness, I keep that seat a mighty clean)

hhhmmm...besides from us being silly, I wonder whom else may influence those sillies?

Growing Girls

Sept. 16th, 2008
Feb. 10, 2008
Sept 2008

Geesh, the girls are getting bigger! It has been so fun to watch their sisterly bond and true friendship grow. I think it is so important to have them tight, family first, so that when they are older and in different grades, they will always have a special bond between them.

We love you Lauren and Shannon!

Grandparents Day at Preschool

My mom was able to represent all of Lauren's grandma's and grandpa's for Grandparents Day at school last week. Its hard to live so far from family for one thing, but you are easily reminded how important it is for the girls to have their grandparents around....they just love them all to pieces! ....this includes Daniel's aunt and uncle whom a few weekends ago I can recall Shannon and Lauren using Uncle Harold as a horse :) I think our kids feel deprived of extended family because whenever we get around any they beam and glow with glee. Thank goodness the holidays are coming!

And thank you mom for planning your trip around this special day at school since we would have never heard the last of it had no one been able to come. oxo

oh and P.S... You were the best looking grandma there :)

Let's go to the Circus!

My mom was in town for the week and one of the fun things we were able to do with her was visit the circus. The last time my mom, Lauren, and I were at the Arco arena was for a Wiggles concert back in 2006 where we were the first to leave the concert and last to leave the arena (circular building=all exits look the same :) This time my mom made sure we knew where we parked :)

...except when you leave the markers are not visable from the arena so you have to walk down and try and guesstime where you parked. This time we were not the last to leave, but darn near close and my night driving was enough to scare the socks off my mom...and myself :)

Virginia City, Nevada

After the Balloon races we had lunch and a rest at Barb and Harolds then headed 30 minutes up a wild twisty mountainside to old town Virginia City (famous boomtown of old west and home to Mark Twain) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_City,_Nevada We ended up going the same weekend of their famous camel races but just walked along the old store fronts to stay out of the heat and enjoyed an ice cream.

With the early morning start the girls enjoyed early bedtimes and so did I. Daniel must have taken this picture and put her back in bed while I was out as well :)

Balloon Races

This past weekend we spent it in Reno with Daniel's aunt Barbara and uncle Harold. This was our third trip to the Balloon Races and by far our easiest trip travelwise with a 4 and 3 year old. To watch the dawn patrol, we had to get up a bit before 4am to get everyone dressed and out the door for the glow show. Last year Lauren was able to go up in a tethered balloon ride which was the highlight of her day.