Home ..Sweet ... Home

We bought our home a little over two years ago. It was a long awaited purchase with the way the house market is in California. It was a foreclosure so a lot of work has went into this baby. We have needed to paint the outside and just had to wait until our wallets could accommodate. We were finally able to get it done and I love it.

BERORE:

This was actually after the painters had already done some work to it and cleaned it up. I was so ready to get rid of that blue door..

AFTER:

What has Addy been up to??

This is always the question that we ask ourselves when we hear quiet and ADDY is awake. She is a little FIRE BALL. I think that this is Addy and so I have given up on the notion that she might grow out of it. We just laugh and say we have to love you. She is crazy about painting her nails now. We have tried to put all nail polish out of her reach; she has managed to find it twice. Bailey's carpet has the proof. She still loves my makeup and has destroyed enough to fill a section at Macy's. She has been the easiest kido to potty train and to be un-potty trained. She was Potty trained until we went on our summer vacation and then we reverted a little. I have never had a kido to do this. We are working on it. She loves animals, though I am sure that our dog and cat do not appreciate this. She hates that she can not control the cat like she can the dog. She will just lay on our poor Cutie cat to get her to hold still. The cat is so dumb, When I make her get off of her, the cat doesn't run. At that point the cat gets what she deserves. She is still such a sweet heart coming up with all kids of funny sayings. She asked one day if the batteries were dead in her leap pad and I told her yes, we have to get new one's. She said,"Quick save them, I don't want them to die." She is a Princess and I worry about her love for clothes and shoes at two years of age. It is going to cause problems when she is a teenager. I am so blessed to have this little angel in my life.
We had a house full of kids after Taylor's baptism. She took advantage of the situation and got into my make-up.
Tom and I walked into the kitchen one day to find this.


She is so cute. A few days later she was up washing the dishes and we were letting her because we were cleaning up some chairs and tables from having company over and she decided to flood the kitchen floor. Needless to say, I didn't have to mop the floor the next day.
She just goes and goes until she poops out!!!

Father's and Son's Camp Out

My boys ask about the Father's and Son's camp out all year long: "When will the camp out be again?" They love it and look so forward to the time they get to spend with their dad. They had a great time this year. Parker had one wipe out on his bike, he will have a scar to prove it. The girls always do something special as well. This year Bailey had a birthday party she wanted to go to; so, Addy and I went to Fenton's together and shared a chocolate malt. She was so cute.

Scouts

Now that Taylor is 8 he is a Cub Scout. He was able to do his first Pinewood Derby. He was so excited and he loves scouts. He had such a fun time at his first twilight camp.


The fist time in his uniform.


Waiting for his car to cross the line.

The DERBY CAR. He came in 4th place.

Will he win??
The PROUD DERBY DAD's. This night was just as big for them as it was for the boys.

Being 8 is Great!!

Taylor turned 8 in May. He was baptized by his dad. It was a wonderful day. I am sad to say that I accidental deleted a few of the pictures from the day. I am so proud of the good decisions that he is making. He is such a blessing in our lives.

Taylor and his papa

Spring Break

We had an exciting Spring break. We had a ton of fun. I forgot that I had any kind of responsibility at home and just enjoyed my kidos. I really hope that we made some good memories! We did some fun things. Tom took a day off and we went to one of our favorite spots - Shell Beach. It is always a new adventure each time we go there.

Of coarse, business had be taken care of first. Tom always has to fish (or rather pry) some oysters off of the big oyster rock so her can bring them home. (((Yuck))) I will cook them for him. He gets them open and cleans them. I prepare them and then we BBQ them. I really can't bring myself to eat one. They are just to slimy.


He had brought his swimming trunks with him. We timed the tide just right and it was way out. He wasn't expecting to get as wet as he did. Of course the water was freezing cold and it was hilarious to watch this whole process.
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We always find lots of sea life, but this time we found some things that we hadn't seen there before. The kids found a baby octopus in one of the tide pools. We found a sunflower sea star and several crabs. Taylor caught several little fish in his bucket. The were more rocks covered with oysters where the kids could get to. They had fun trying to pull the smaller ones off from the rocks, it is hard work.

Parker had such a sad pouty face here. He was really upset with me when I told him that we had to put the sea stars back and that we couldn't take them home. He had trouble with this. He didn't realize that we couldn't keep them as pets. He said we can get a tank. I told him that they needed salt water, he said that we could put them in Nana's and Papa's tank (they have a salt water tank.)




There was run off from the rain. It formed a little stream, reaching to the ocean. The kids and Tom tried with all their might to build a dam and stop it. No matter how hard they tried, it didn't work. It made it to the ocean.



It was a really nice day. We had not planned on getting wet because well, the water is freezing. Bailey and Taylor could not help themselves.

Golden Gate Bridge

I took the kids to see the Golden Gate Bridge while we were in San Fransisco. They have lived in California all of their lives and we haven't ever made a big deal out of the bridge. Thousands of people come to California every year and visit the Golden Gate. There is a little tourist park right at the entrance. We turned off and had a bit of exploration. We went with my friend Maggie and her two little girls. It was a nice little pit stop before we headed for home after a long day in the city.
It was an amazing day in San Fransisco the day that we went. It was 65 and clear. Not many summer days are this nice in the city. We wore short sleeve shirts all day, which is amazing. Usually it is cold. By the time we made it to the , it was a little breezy, but it was still nice.

Taylor thought that this was so cool. He used his own money to see San Fransisco with, I am not sure how well it worked.

Addy wants to be like her big brother.

Not sure who is in the back of this picture, but I am sure that he is glad that he is on our blog.