Monday, August 25, 2008

yep, my camera's usually within arms reach.



here are pictures from our best family vacation ever!!! PICS



and....random wonderful life....
congrats nurse jen!
nap time!



happy bday daddy!!!
carson is getting so big!
baby cole is here!! yay! hes absolutely perfect.








avery picked out the sunflower seeds from the bird food and stuck them in the ground.

movie night
and this is what they do instead of watch tv in the morning.
blue cheese from the big city.
steves organic tasty tomatos!!
love at first sight

just keep swimmin. jsut keep swimmin...
and this is why i dont wear nice clothes. im a mess.
jeni and goat face
my dad gets pissed when i let the goat in the house.
cheers dad!
happy bday autumn!
happy 4th bday to my cousin luke!



evidently juniper knows how to draw spiderman. uh..ok. i didnt even know she knew who spiderman was!

okey dokey...back to wedding photos...

last day of "summer"

kindergarten here we come.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

oh my god!


my baby starts kindergarten on tuesday!!!!!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

happy birthday daddy!



baking a cake for daddy!

WE have the bestest friends in the world

Happy birthday chloe valentina!!! oh my gosh! wheres the time going?? pictures

were soooo those people

the past week ive been glared at by old ladies for having loud kids, been reamed by strangers in small talk for lettting my cat have kittens, gotten a note about the dog being too noisy, and then an anonymous letter in the mail...ya..postmarked and everything... about the front of our yard. (theres still a big dirt pile in our driveway)



who the hell cares? i mean..really.
maybe we are being ridiculously irresponsible by spending our time & money on family trips (and alcohol), for some reason brandon and i evidently believe there might not be a tomorrow!? OR, uh i dont know..that maybe our kids are only going to be little once!! ...something inside us says "LIVE!!" so...when we grow up and start spending our time washing our cars and keepin up on our yard, ill let you know. until then..when we have a few days off , and an extra couple hundred sitting around, were renting kayaks and heading up the mountain again. cause this weekend was amazing!!! pics coming soon.

oh, and now the goat is in our backyard. shhhh...dont tell the passerby!!

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Thursday, August 14, 2008

the key to my heart...

...thank you notes. =) ***SIGH love

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Sunday, August 10, 2008

1st day of dance class

hes a rugged little man, but he wants to be just like his big sis.

"whens it my turn for dance class mommy? when's it my turn??""

so, here ya go..and ill buy him his very own black ballet shoes if hes really into it in after a few weeks. but, for now bud, im sorry, its hand me down pink ones..(well, kinda. they are the same shoe size at the moment)... at least i found a class with another boy in it, but they are all about a year younger than him. im switchin it up next week. im afraid he will be the only boy in the 3-4 year old class. so what??

FYI.brandon used to dance too!!!

Saturday, August 9, 2008

totoro!!

theres a studio ghibli homepage theme for google!!!!!! ahhhhh . im super happy.

Friday, August 8, 2008

lovin life

a sink full of dirty wineglasses = an evening well spent with friends.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Pinecrest!

Lainies annual bday trip pics...

finally there


i sat on the computer for almost two days straight going through wedding photos and portraits. they are starting to pile up on me. & i constantly feel in over my head, and guilty for being on the computer at night & on brandons days off.
However, we managed to escape from all the madness of home and get up to pinecrest for a couple nights with some of our best friends. which was absolutely awesome.
it was the first camping trip where i didnt worry about avery running away or grabbing sticks out of the fire... etc.
did i mention is was absolutely awesome?
We almost didnt go at first, being it has been an adult vacation for 6 years straight now , mainly i think because hardly any of them have kids. but i was still a bit aprehensive. i knew lainie would say "bring them!" no matter how she felt. thats just lainie.
i intended to keep our distance if too much craziness ensued.
little did i know i would have 10 gown up "kids" (my lovely friends) playing with june and avery the whole time. playing make believe games, teaching them about fishing, making smores sticks for them, and eating their billions of burnt smores just to appease them. aaahhh. it was beautiful. it made me so happy.
my kids are so lucky to have all these cool people in their lives. we are all so blessed.

&, after years and years of never giving in at bedtime, (even when camping) our diligence and patience has payed off. I put them in their sleeping bags, left the battery operated lantern hanging turned on, kissed them, hugged them, said "nite nite", zipped up the tent like it was a bedroom door and walked away.
not a peep. both nights. aaaaaaahhhhh. it feels good to finally be here.
with motherhood, there are small victories that are your only reward of all your hard work. it doesnt seem like much , but to me it is. because it hasnt been easy.

then , of course, we got drunk and crazy...my eyes never wandering too far from the lit up tent.
this being said, i still cant image starting over again. not now. not when were starting to have so much fun together as a family, (the only time i feel whole and perfect). we went on the party boat, went swimming, climbed giant rocks, went hiking, aaaahhhh... i want to go camping again!!!! pics coming soon.

ps. day 4 of no tv. going very well indeed.









here we go again...tying to figure out junipers weird blood test results..which came about in a routine iron test at age 1.
Formerly misdiagnosed as anemia At the clinic downtown,. after 6 months of iron supplements ,& no change in her hemoglobin levels...we went to childrens hospital in oakland.
Then, diagnosed as Thalassemia, then...after tubes and tubes of blood, this also has been ruled out. her hemoglobin levels are just wacked out. and her cell sizes seem to change for no reason.
viral they thought then, but no...
and still, i know nothing, and wont for a while, since we have to basically start all over with our new doctor in order to get a referral to the Hematologist.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

happy birthday baba lorinda!

biggest balloon ever

i cooked scallops and clams for the first time ever...in a nice butter garlic sauce over linguine. hell ya. wish i ate seafood.



the evenings entertainment...hula dancing.