The Monkey Party

We had Adelyn's second birthday party last monday. We had so much fun. We had 19 monkeys running around our house (we had a monkey birthday). Addy was happy with her first present. The look on her face was so funny when she realized that she was getting more than one present.

Adelyn

My sweet baby is two. She has brought so much joy to our lives. She is always getting into things which keeps us on our toes. She makes us laugh with her cuteness. She is always full of smiles. We are so grateful to be her parents.

An attempt at TWO!

Addy is a big two year old now. I made an attempt to take some pictures, it didn't really work. We will try again another day.

The Maseda Family

On thanksgiving, we took a picture of the Maseda family. Almost everyone was there. We were missing Kyle (our nephew) and John and Ashley (Tom's Brother and wife). It was fun to be together with everyone.

Catfish Hunter

Tom took our tree oldest kiddos fishing at a place we call Catfish Hunter. They had so much fun and they did catch a 9 pound catfish. Somehow, my wonderful kiddos convinced their great dad that they needed to bring it home and keep it as a pet. So, they wrapped it up and brought it home. I DO NOT EAT CATFISH OR COOK IT! However, our neighbors do. I told Tom he needed to clean it so we could give it to them. Well, the kids grew very fond of this ugly catfish. We kept it in a wagon full of water. Then they decided that it needed to go in the kiddy pool. It swam around in our kiddy pool for the night. What a shocker when I woke up the next morning to only find it dead. Taylor didn't understand why it died. We were able to have a little chat about why it died. They went fishing again the next weekend. They caught a small Bass and it went back into the water.

Fifth Grade Camp

Bailey had fifth grade camp in October and I am just getting to the pictures. I went with her - I was not going to send her away from me for a week. We had so much fun. I had my own cabin of girls, but she was just a few doors down from me. I was able to give her a hug before bed and that was nice. We went to Alliance Redwoods which is up the coast of California near Santa Rosa. One of the activities was a night hike. They took our groups on a hike with out any flashlights. We were taught about our eyes and how night vision works. Then we stopped. Our leader explained how we are now going on a SOLO Hike - yes by ourselves in the dark. Now I was not to fond of this and I am an adult. I still sleep with a night light. I can tell you that most of the kids didn't like it either. I had several girls in my group crying. It was the only way to get back to camp. We all did it and survived. Bailey had a hard time with it in her group. She was worried that someone was going to jump out and scare her. Her teacher had to tell her to stop being dramatic - That's my Bailey Bops!


Bailey with some of her friends in her cabin.


These were the girls in my cabin. They were all very good. I think that I had the most sleep out of all of the cabin counselors.
Some Camp Songs..
Bailey - learning about recycling. Doesn't look like much but they played a very fun game to teach them.
Sitting at Fire Circle. We had to meet here 4 times a day. We met here before each meal and were excused by groups. If you had cleanest cabin than you were able to eat first, if you answered the trivia, or if you didn't have any food waste the meal before. YES, we had a food bucket and we had to put all of our food waste. They came and weighed it. This drove me so crazy, but it did teach the kids to take only what you will eat.


There were several challenge courses. Bailey went on the zip line and she had so much fun. My group went to the flying squirrel. It was a platform hooked to a redwood tree. You would get strapped into a harness and then jump off -- 70 feet up. It was scary, but I was glad that I did it. Some of the kids were so afraid to do this. I was to once I got up there and saw how far down it was. I get more chicken the older I get. I use to be such a thrill seeker -- I would go on any roller coaster that there was. I am becoming afraid of heights. Maybe now I realize that I have major responsibilities and so things that seem like they could cause injury are not so fun any more.



I had to turn around and look the other way while I was waiting so I didn't chicken out.

these were two of the camp leader there. They were hillarious. The kids loved them. They are all dressed up for skit night. Each cabin had to come up with thier own skit. They then performed them at a bon fire on the last night.

Myself with two of the other counselors.

Bailey and I the last night of camp. This is such a funny picture of Bailey with her red punch mustache. They had what they called a juice bar -- AKA-- sugar water. I think that Bailey drank this red punch every meal. I was glad when I could regulate a litlle more of what Bailey ate. The food wasn't horrible (for cafeteria food), but I was glad to have home cooked food.

While we were there, the kids were taught about animal adaptations. One of the nights they sent us back to our cabins to make up a new animal and tell about its adaptations. The catch was that the cabin counselor had to be the animal and the kids had to tell about the different attributes and their purposes.

Bailey with her Cabin Friends.

SISTERS -Friends Forever

a special bond --- LAUGHTER --- support ---LOVE ---
Growing Up Together --- hopes and Dreams ---
Sisters, caring for each other---sharing secrets --PALS---

I am so blessed to be a mother of two beautiful girls. They teach me so much. I love watching them interact together. Addy is constantly getting into Bailey's stuff as any good almost 2 year would do. Bailey gets so frustrated at times like any older sister would do. However, the love that they have for each other is undescribeable. Addy really looks up to Bailey Lynn already. She admires her sister and it is so cute to watch. Tonight Bailey is gone at the church for activity days. I went into Bailey's room to find Addy on Bailey's bed. She was hiding under a blanket playing Bailey's DSI. I wonder where she learned this little sneaky trick from. She copies her so much and it is so darn cute. I also caught Addy wearing Bailey's glasses. Bailey doesn't wear them often, but Addy know who they belong to. She was so proud of herself because she was like her big sister. They are wonderful!!!

When it all began!

My sweet Bailey...


She wants to be like her sister when she grows up!

A Trip To OZ

Every year, a co-worker to Toms', hosts a spectacular halloween party. She does it for charity. The ticket to get in is a new toy that she can give to kids in need. It is an amazing event. Suzzette is her name and SHE is amazing. Sadly, this was her last year of doing this. She has done it for 22 years. It takes her 3 minths to get ready for it. Our children look forward to this all year long. This year the theme was the WIzzard of Oz. She has a carving contest, food and so many activities for the kidos.

The setting is at the top of a hill overlooking the ocean at Dillan Beach. This is where her home is.

Our kidos look forward to the pumpkin carving every year. Tom is a great help to them. We anded up bringing home 8 pumpkins that were carved this year. There were extras so the kids decided to carve another one. They had prizes on them at the end for them to take home.

The yellow brick road. It took here several house to construct this special road out of yellow duck tape.

Bailey and Addy waiting for the horse carriage ride.


They thought that this was great.
After the carriage ride. She gave all of the munchkins OZ shirts. They wet running through the neighborhood looking for puzzles piecse that had a message from the Tin man. They were also looking for Todo.

Taylor found one of the puzzle pieces.

After they found Todo, Addy manages to get her hands on him. She thought that this was great. When we arrived back at her house, she handed out baskets full of OZ stuff, including everyones very own Todo. The witches hats were great.

Addy can't see to walk.

We had Piea for dinner. This was amazing to watch cook. It was a very different dish from Spain. It had shrimp, spicy sausage, chicken, vegetables and a rice. It was kind of like Gumbo - Spanish style. This is a traditiona dish that you would get if you went out to eat in Spain.