Berry Delicious

On the way home from school today we stopped by the strawberry stand. Boy do we love Strawberries fresh from the field! The fresh farm produce has got to be one of my favorite things about living where we do: Peaches, plums, melons, apricots, strawberries, garden veggies...mmmm.

For lunch we decided to have what Grace called a "strawberry feast." We enjoyed parfaits and little strawberry sandwiches. We've got to take advantage of strawberry season before its over soon. Which means making jam, freezing strawberries for smoothies, and having strawberry-filled meals like this!

Soccer

Grace had her first soccer game on Saturday. She was reluctant at first, but as soon as she decided that she was ready she really hustled! It was so entertaining to watch a soccer game between two groups of four and five-year-olds! There were kids dribbling toward the wrong goal, trying to take the ball away from their teammates, and completely missing the ball when going for a kick resulting in falls to the ground. It was adorable! But all of that aside, I was so impressed by these kids' gusto for the game. I'm definitely looking forward to the next few months of Saturdays.

Playgroup

Eve is part of a playgroup. Its pretty low-key, just a small group of moms that take turns having the kiddos over for a brief lesson on the ABC's and a lot of playing! It's so cute to watch them interact and start to do big-kid things like trace letters and make art projects. A couple of weeks ago when it was at another mom's house, she dressed them all up like bakers and made bread with them for the letter "B" lesson. Wow, was I impressed! My week was not quite as ambitious: For my letter "D" lesson we played doctor and then colored pictures of doctors, dogs, dinosaurs, ducks, dolphins...you get the idea!

Grandparents' Day

A couple of weeks ago (okay, so I'm behind) Grace's school had a special day for grandparents to come visit. Grace was so excited to have her Grandma Lewis at school with her. They spent time together in the classroom (singing songs, reading books, and writing in journals together) and then got to eat lunch in the cafeteria. Grace thought it was the coolest thing to be able to eat in the cafeteria (it was her first time; I always pick her up before lunch), and even more so because Grandma was right there with her! Afterward Grandma brought her home and visited with us a little more. What a fun day! The only thing that would have made it better is if all four of her Grandparents could have been there! Happy Grandparents day everyone!

100 Years Ago...

Our city celebrated it's centennial on Labor Day. They held a "Melon Carnival" and Kiddie Parade (Apparently they celebrated in much the same way 100 years ago!) The girls got to decorate their bikes and ride in the parade. It was really cute. They must have felt pretty important as people on either side of the parade route smiled and cheered! Afterwards we took a horse-drawn wagon ride, sampled local melon, watched Portuguese dancers, and got faces painted! It's fun to feel part of a community. Even though I wasn't born and raised here, it feels like home.

The Party

It makes you feel great when, in the middle of a fun-filled birthday party, your new five-year-old looks at you with all sincerity and says, "This is the best birthday party I've ever had!" And it truly was! We had a great party last night that Grace helped me plan. She told me what kind of cake she wanted, who she wanted to invite, and even helped me decorate.

Aaron's family came over, along with a few of Grace's friends (including her primary teacher.) After a dinner of pizza and salads the kids had a blast going on a "scavenger hunt" for hidden treasure (I hid clues that led to a chest full of Hershey's hugs and kisses.) We ended the night with cake, ice cream, and presents. The birthday-girl was delighted to be surrounded by people she loves. What a great way to celebrate your life!



Reading the clues...and finding the treasure! (I made the treasure chest out of a tissue box and card stock.)

Grace's Birthday

Grace turned five this past week and she had a very special day. Since she had to wait until the weekend to have her party, we tried to as much as we could to make her birthday memorable. It started with breakfast-in-bed (it was just her normal cereal and fruit, but she felt like a queen!) She said, "I'm just like a mommy on mother's day!"

Later that morning, I brought a birthday treat to Grace's class. I really enjoyed watching her interact with the others at school. It made me happy to see her already forming little friendships with kids she'll be with all year (possibly through high school!) After school "Daddy" met us at the park for picnic, and later we had Grace's favorite meal for dinner: Pancakes, eggs, sausage and fruit! Grace was giddy all day and loved the cards and phone calls she received from family and friends. She even got a special birthday package from Grandma and Grandpa Parkin. Everyone needs to feel that special at least one day a year!

A Day of Firsts

Grace started Kindergarten this morning...I can hardly believe it! She is really like Aaron in the way that she takes on new situations with such excitement and without any apprehension. I, on the other hand, had enough anxiety for both of us (although I didn't let her know that of course!) I even had a dream last night that it was my first day of school! All I remember is that I was sitting at my little student desk and it was taller than all of the other kids'!

Aaron, Eve, and I all accompanied Grace to her classroom to meet her teacher and have a look around the classroom. When it was time to say good-bye she was totally okay with us leaving. We gave her a hug and kiss, and out the door we went. I wasn't sure if I would, but yes, I did cry as we walked to our car! When I picked her up a few hours later she met me with a big hug and said she had "so much fun!" The only thing that went wrong was that she fell off the monkey bars once at recess, but she was okay.


Some other exciting news is that Eve wore "big girl panties" for the first time today. She had been only casually using the potty with the occasional success, but we decided that with Grace starting school it was a good time to advance Eve in some way as well. Although she has already had two accidents (which is to be expected for a first-timer) she feels so proud of herself. Just look at the expression on her face!

Grace, Me, and the City By the Bay

Last week Grace had a doctor's appointment in the Bay Area, so she and I planned to spend the day in San Fransisco after the visit. We had a fabulous time. It was great to be able to spend some one-on-one time with her...especially since she will be starting school next week. We went to Pier 39 and visited the Aquarium of the Bay. Grace was fascinated as we walked through tunnels that went under huge tanks of sea life. She especially enjoyed the sharks! We walked over to fisherman's wharf for dinner and had the classic clam chowder in a sour dough bread bowl. Grace thought it was hilarious that she got to eat her bowl when the soup was all gone!

I had a really great time just being with her, talking with her, joking with her, focusing all on her. She's growing up so fast and I'm in awe of the little person she's already become. She has recently started reading small words, and has the best time sounding out the story of Hop on Pop and the likes. She giggles with glee and is so pleased with herself for being able to read! She says she is like a magician because she makes words out of letters just like magic. I am so proud of my little girl and I really enjoy being her mom.

The Main Event

The Family Reunion was wonderful. The kids enjoyed themselves, the adults enjoyed themselves, and we did it all while living under one roof for three days! I got to see almost every member of my family and got to meet some new ones too! It was neat. Every one's favorite day was Friday, the day at the Lake. We had a blast riding rave runners, water skiing, tubing, swimming, digging, etc. What a great way to spend the day!

I know that was a crazy amount of pictures, but these pictures describe it so much better than words can!

I See, You See, We All See Chelsea

Another fun thing I got to do on my trip was visit my life-long-friend-through-thick-and-thin: Chelsea. I just love her...she is so much fun to be around and has been making me laugh for almost thirty years! We had a girls-night-out to Denny's for a late-night breakfast, and then the next day we enjoyed watching our kids play together as we did some more visiting. It was heart-warming to look at our little ones and realize that we had played together at the same age so many years ago (not to mention that Chelsea had the same haircut then as her little Boston has now!! I love it!)

Family Time

My side of the family had our first official Family Reunion this last week. It took place last Thursday through Sunday. Because of distance we don't get to see my family very much, so the girls and I drove out almost a week early to visit my parents and siblings that live nearby before the actual reunion took place. My mom flew out to accompany me and the girls on the twelve hour drive across the desert. I am so grateful she did...I don't know how I would have been able to drive and entertain those girls for all those hours by myself! Aaron couldn't take that much time off work, so he flew out for the reunion part of the trip, and we all drove home together.

The girls and I had so much fun staying at my parents home and enjoying fun activities with them and the local cousins, aunts, and uncles. To name a few: we went to a kid's Fun Center with my sisters-in-law and nieces and nephews, had a birthday party for Uncle Jonny, swam a lot in the community pool, had endless playtime in Grandma and Grandpa's toy room, visited "Grandma-Great" (my Grandma), and I got to go on an early morning hike to a waterfall with my sister Tausha (Oh, how I wish I had taken pictures of the beautiful surroundings.) It really meant a lot to me and the girls to have had so much time with family that we don't get to see as often as we'd like (and this was all before the reunion took place!) More fun to come!

The girls playing pirate ship with my dad on an air matress. He was such a good sport as they pulled him this way and that way to be part of their games!

Ty and Eve at the Fun Center


Doing the cousin cheer they made up while waiting for their cake and ice cream.


Eve and Grace with Chloee and Savannah (Jon and Casey Anne's girls)



Jon and Jeremy with their babies.

Home again, Home again Jiggity Jig

Being on vacation was great. We had a lot of fun and did all that we wanted to do. Even though it was good to return home, it was not so good to return to the workload awaiting me! Aside from the normal laundry and unpacking perils, I was welcomed by a huge stack of bills and invoices for Aaron's business (I have been doing the billing coordinating for him the last couple of months.) I have been knee-deep in catch-up work, doctors appointments near and far, cleaning the house, grocery shopping, dealing with work going on in our backyard, etc...So this is why I've been home for almost a week and written nothing about it!

I have so many pictures and events that happened that I don't even know where to begin! To avoid having the longest blog entry in the history of blogs, I have decided to break my trip up into separate posts. At this point I'm not sure if I will finish them all in this sitting, tomorrow, or next week...so stay tuned!

The Great Outdoors

We had so much fun this past Friday and Saturday camping in Stanislaus National Forrest. The place we usually camp was full, so we drove further up the mountain and found another campground that we liked. It was right next to the river and it was beautiful! It is always so enjoyable to spend time in nature with the ones you love. Here are a few moments captured on camera:

Roasting marshmallows (You can tell that the girls were a bit nervous to get too close to the fire!)


Not the most flattering picture of me, but it gives you a sense of what our campsite was like.


Aaron and the girls by the river