I am so impressed.

Gracie has been an artist at heart since I gave her paper and crayons at age 2. She has always preferred to draw out her drawings instead of color in color books. In fact, if you gave her a color book it often would be found sitting in the corner of her room, with pages unfilled with color. It took awhile for us to realize this. But today, it is clear in all that she creates. She has some amazing drawings, sketches and story books completed. She really desires to be an artist. Robert has collected some of the books she has written so he can get them published. Every year since Kindergarten she is recognized in her class for her artistic ability. She clearly gets this from her father's side because it doesn't come from me. I was the child that loved to color- in fact I really was an expert color-er (if that's a word.) I loved filling up the pages with all of the lovely colors. But Gracie, she has been gifted with the ability to create, imagine, draw and bring her imagination to life right on paper. Lucky her.


For the fundraiser at her school, Robert played guitar at a restaurant and Gracie took it upon herself to make the poster to hang up in the entry as you came into the restaurant. She was so proud of her dad. It was amazing! Then after the event the school hung it up in their front office for weeks after. It was the first thing you saw as you entered. We are very proud of her.

Kickoff to Halloween!

Every October we begin our kickoff to Halloween, but really it officially begins the kickoff to all of the holidays, by going to Disneyland. We love how festive it gets and how excited the kids are for everything to come. We love to make it a family day and escape. This day we spent some time over at Disney's California Adventure. Here are some fun pics from our day.

Trina's playing soccer!!

Yes, I finally did it- I took up an activity for myself. It has been so fun. Here are some pics of my 1st and 2nd game. It is a co-ed team, we are trying to rally enough ladies so that we can have our own. I'm finding that a lot of women don't want to take the leap. They think they have to have experience and are afraid of the guys. I have learned, you just have to ignore the guys. They are filled with testosterone and the competitive nature in them just doesn't go away!












This is SO fun! I am so happy- I feel so great after my games. Energized and light! Love this and I am trying to recruit my friends to play! My family are great support- they love to come watch and root me on! So cute.
Below is what the kids like to do during the games- there is a pond right next to the field.

Disneyland

Ever since we have lived in Temecula (10 yrs. this year!), we have for most of the time, had annual passes to Disneyland. This has saved us so much money! So we usually go on spur of the moments and enjoy ourselves for a partial day. Here are some fun times that we had in September there.






Here are the bean bags the kids got for their birthdays. Robert is jealous now because theirs are so big compared to his. Cole also got a basket ball hoop. They were so happy!

Cole turns 5!

What a milestone this is. I can't believe my youngest has already hit it? Again, where has the time gone? He used to be my sweet and mellow baby/toddler and then he hit 3 and I don't know what happened! He challenges me everyday! Due to the fact that both kids birthdays are within 2 weeks of each other, Cole really has never had his own birthday party. We thought it time he have it! He got to invite 5 friends, Josh, Matthew, Jake, Cole and Christopher, and we went to the Pizza Factory. As you can see, we did have some BIG sisters tag along too!






Cole loved receiving all of his gifts and as you can see, he was thrilled with his skateboard. Cole was smiles the whole time and was just giddy that this whole day was about him. It was so cute! Happy Birthday my boy, welcome to the "whole hand" age!! :)

Cole in Pre-K

In the middle of last year, Robert and I had decided that we would not be sending Cole to Kindergarten because he wouldn't even be 5 until September. With Gracie, we did send her. Although she thrives academically, given the chance to do it all over again, we would probably have waited for her to start as well. So we grabbed the chance with Cole and so that we didn't have to send him to pre-school again, we decided to put him in a Pre-K program, some do call it Kindergarten and it counts as Kinder if you want it to. Our plan is for him to go there this year and then start Kindergarten at French Valley next Fall. He has been loving it every day and we are so proud at what he has accomplished in such a short period. Go Cole!!

Gracie's 8th Birthday

I could hardly believe it as I woke up on this day. :( I remember when Gracie was a newborn and people would tell me, "enjoy it now- the time goes by so fast." I used to think, "how can that be?" Especially when I was up at night nursing her or those times she was screaming her head off and I didn't know why. I used to think, "this will be an eternity- there is no way this can go by that fast." THEY were right. I will forever remember how someone once put it: " The days will go by slow, but the years will fly by." This has never left my head and has proven to be dead on.

She is 8 (Halfway to 16!- yikes.) It has flown by and there is not a thing I can do about it. NOT ONE THING.

We decided to have her birthday party on her actual day right after school. Gracie invited 8 kids, hence her age. Plus, a couple of little brothers tagged along. :)

Meghan, Payton, Madison, Abbey, Noel, Christian, Caitlin, and Megan arrived and the party began right outside in our pool.



Gracie was so happy celebrating with all of her friends and the day was plenty hot- well over 100 degrees. That is lovely Temecula for you. We made hot dogs and had chips and I made cupcakes for the occasion.




I can just continue to treasure every day with her and foster our relationship so that no matter what her age is, she still comes to me and appreciates me as her parent and trusts me to guide her in the right direction. I love my girl. She is growing into a kind-hearted, sweet, smart and sensitive girl. We are very proud.