Jack is a 7 year old!!

It's kind of bittersweet to see Jack growing up so fast! He's getting so tall and is learning so much - it is a far cry from his toddler days. Jack is becoming such a hardworker at school and is learning how to be a good friend. He has such an interest in science and looooves to read. Whenever we can't find him around the house we know he's up on his bunkbed READING! He's a great helper and has such a sensitive spirit - I know God has great plans for him!

Jack decided he wanted a Smores party this year so we invited his friends over and made smores over the fire in the backyard!

Here he is blowing out his birthday candle on his birthday SMORE!!

We got Jack a new bible for his birthday! Since he is a reading maniac we figured he could finally read it and would like to have his own. He loves it and stays up in his bed reading it at night with a flashlight!

Halloween Pics!...I know...super late :)

We had an awesome halloween this year! It was great weather which is an awesome perk of CA livin'. We went to our church and helped out with the carnival for an hour and then we went trick or treating around the neighborhood. The kids totally hit the motherload of candy which was awesome!

Jack was an animal rescuer, Beau was sporty Batman, and Maizie was Cinderella. They all wore stuff they already had this year instead of us buying costumes like we normally do. They did a great job figuring out their costumes.

And yes...that is Travis...

Finally got the Tramp out of the garage!! (and I ain't talkin about your mama)

It's been sitting in the garage for a year and we finally got that sucker out!! This is Jack's trick entitled "The Star".

Jack & Beau trying to get the hang of it again This is my favorite picture!!!! HOW CUTE IS THAT TUSH!!!

First Days of School!!

I'm kind of behind in posting if you can imagine that!!

September 15th was Maizie's very first day of preschool! She was so excited. She goes to Lakewood Christian Preschool 2 mornings a week and her teacher is Mrs. Angela.

She got to make play dough on her first day!

The boys started school on September 9th! Here I am packing Jack's very first lunch for school since he is now a 1st grader there all day!!!

The boys in their school uniforms - woohoo! walking a half block to school

Beau lining up on the fence waiting for his kindergarten to start!

There he is and a little unimpressed.

Jack going into his first grade class with Mrs. Wariner!

doing his work so diligently on his very first day

Colorado Visit Part Four!

The boys went fishing together along with Pappy & Grandpa! Trav was the only one who caught a fish but they had a super great time.

Beau gets to hold the fish! Pappy & Grandpa fishing away

Jack was doing a great job casting his line and is turning out to be a great fisherman!!

Beau on the other hand is more of a rock thrower :)

The lake was near a wolf preserve so the boys got to see a bunch of wolves...AWESOME!

playing pool at Pappy's house

lovely rainbow - we totally miss that living in Long Beach where it never rains!

CO Visit Part Three: Balloon Classic

We picked a great weekend to come because it was Balloon Classic weekend!! There was a ton of balloons - unfortunately we went on Sat. morning and the weather was sucky so they didn't fly but they did stand them up at least.

Jack in front of his favorite balloon with his hot cocoa. Maizie loved the balloons but was scared of the fire.

my mom & dad

finally a picture of me & the kids!

Colorado Balloon!

Energizer Bunny

Beau trying to wake himself up! It was darn early!

Colorado Visit - Part Two: Colorado State Fair!!

I don't think I ever even went to the fair when I lived in Colorado but for some reason my mom thought it would be a great place to go...and she was right!!

Here is a mini-horse not to be confused with a pony or donkey. Jack was such a good big brother here. He didn't want to go on this "baby ride" but knew that Maizie really wanted him to go so he did. I think he even secretly enjoyed it!

The kids painting a big ol' picture...great idea by the way fair people! Notice Maizie's poodle purse - no outing complete without some girly thing being bought.

Beau doing some roping!!!

The kids playing in a corn box - that's right a box o' corn.

Me & Maizie on the ferris wheel. She was begging all day to go on this and when we finally did she said, "That was a great furious wheel!"

Mom & Jack

Trav, Beau, & Trav's mom had to leave early and that's why there's no pics of Beau on any rides but everyone had a super time! We ate so much heart attack food and saw a lot of cool stuff!

Colorado Visit -Part One

We made our first visit back to CO since we've been here in CA on August 31st. The kids loved seeing their old stomping grounds and their first request was of course ," GARDEN OF THE GODS!!" This has always been a fun place for us to walk around so we had to stop there on our first outing.

The kissing camels formation - Maizie kept saying, "I don't see any camels!!!" Jack & Beau taking a water break about 2 minutes into our walk with Grammy

Maizie posing

J & B loved climbing the rocks and into crevices "looking for bears"

So adorable More to come.....

The Joys of the Neighbor's Pool

Our next door neighbor has this great pool that she has graciously opened up to us. She travels a bunch and is never home and never uses it so she has given us unlimited access! Woohoo!

Beau takes full advantage of the "baby pool".

We hang out a bunch with the 2 girls across the street (Ruthy & Cher) so of course they enjoy the pool with us! Do you think there's enough floaties in the pool? Maizie loves swimming with Daddy~

B-Dog putting his vest on so he can jump in the deep end!

Jack & Cher

Beau's unsafe backwards spin jump - where is his mother? Look at Cher's face! Priceless!

Jack pretending to fall in - what a ham!