Fun with the hose and Mr. Funny Faces

Gracyn's First Day of First Grade

Gracyn's first day of school was this past Tuesday, Aug 28th.  Her teacher will be Mrs. Krein this year. So far she loves her teacher and has made a few new friends in her class.  She also has a few friends she made in Kindergarten last year in her class as well.  Gracyn loves school and is so happy to be back!

Lucy is 18 months

Our little baby is 18 months.  How did that happen???  Lucy is such an amazing little baby.  She is such a mix of her older siblings both by looks and personality.  She has Gracyn's features and Michael's coloring.  She has Michael's silliness and Gracyn's sass ( I mean that in a good way!).  Lucy is one happy little girl.  She loves bananas, bath time, being read to, and going bye-bye.  I'll always ask her is she is ready to go bye-bye and she runs to the door and gets so excited.  I guess thats a good thing because we are always on the go.  Lucy is really in the mix with the older kids too.  She doesn't miss a thing.  Everything the do she is right there with them which means you can't pass anything by her either.  If they get a dollop of whip cream for their strawberries..... so does she!!!  She is beginning to talk a lot too.  She has at least 30 words that I can understand and she tries to copy everything we say.  She is an early riser but all in all a good sleeper.  We just love this kid to pieces!!!! 

Did I mention she loves ice cream???  Take a look.

Russian River Trip in pictures

Lucy's First Hair Cut

No, there aren't any cute pictures or a little clip of hair for a memory box.  When you are the third child this is how your first hair cut happens..............  Your big brother, Michael, decides to run his motorized monster truck over your head nice and slow.  Well, I'm sure you can image what happened.   Those back wheels twirled her fine baby hair right up around the tire and........Ahhhhh!!!!!  Lucy was screaming.  I did my best to untangle everything but the scissors still had to come out.  I only wish I had a camera at the time to document this first hair cutting milestone.

Amazing

Dave and his buddies went out fishing this past Sunday off the coast of Santa Cruz.  They came back with 22 Albacore Tuna (yum) and this amazing video.  It's breathtaking!

vimeo.com/m/47138207

Our Little Girl Turned 6!!!!

Our sweet little Gracyn turned six a few weeks ago on July 25th.  Wasn't it just yesterday that I was bringing an adorable little red headed baby home from the hospital?  I can not believe that much time has gone by since we were blessed with our first baby.  Gracyn has grown into such a special little girl. She is kind, and sweet.  She is such a great big sister, loves animals, love to ride her bike, and swim,  and loves books and art.  She will be starting first grade in a few short weeks and is already reading.  It's amazing watching her learn and grow into this amazing little person.  Gracyn is quite the inquisitive little thing, always keeping on my toes with well thought out questions such as "Mommy, when you die where does your shadow go?"  Go-Go-Gracyn sure loves her sweets too.  I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree on that one.  She once told me "Mommy I don't have a sweet tooth, all my teeth are sweet."  She is such a sweet girl but has just enough spice to help her hold her own.  I'm am so grateful for her every day and thankful for all that she has taught me.

Gracyn got her first American Girl Doll from her Grandma and Grandaddy Ard.

We had her birthday party at the local Animal Rescue Foundation.  Gracyn and Michael love to play "puppy and kitties" so this party was perfect for her.  The kids learned about the rescue center, toured the animals, and then got to "adopt" an animal of their own, a stuffed animal!  The then took their new buddies to a pretend vet clinic and went shopping for supplies at the pet store.  It was so cute and the kids loved it.  Finally the kids got to meet a service dog and learn about training animals.  Of course everything was wrapped up with some yummy birthday treats!  Enjoy the pictures.