Penny Homemade Song (New Direction..)

Penny Homemade Song (New Direction..).

1st Fourth in Osos

The Alfernesses came to visit us, as well as the Speers . We hiked the Bluffs in Montana de Oro with the kiddies. We Bbq'd at Cayucos, with friends. We ate lots of cookie dough.

Penny Homemade Song (New Direction..)

http://youtu.be/dHwaS1ElAxc

Benny Moods

Benny is developing his "angry" reponse. It's really adorable. We try to take him seriously.

Raymond's Graduation/Sartz Wedding

At the end of June, we went up north for Cousin Raymond's Fire Academy with Sac Metro, as well as Dallas & Megan's wedding in Livermore. We got to hang out with some Moras and Speers in the same trip, which doesn't happen often. After the graduation(sans kids)ceremony Uncle Robert treated us all to an amazing dinner at a new steak house in Folsom. Bobby finally got his jumbo prawns that he was dreaming of during the ceremony. The next day, I took the kids to play and swim at Nina Jess' house. Perfect for a super hot Roseville day! Then we met up with Grandma at the hotel so the kids could visit with her there. She and Gammy got to visit as well, which was long overdue. After some of that sweatiness, Gammy took all the kids home, so that Annie and I could meet up with Gina and the Moras at the Toby Keith bar and Grill. We were there the rest of the night, eating, drinking and being merry!
The following night, gene and I got to go to Dallas and Megan's wedding. We enjoyed the completely gorgeous venue, bride, daughter of the bride, and the incredible food. We visited with the Reeves, KC Brown and his wife and new baby, and Kurt and Sydney. The dance floor ruled. I was really sore for three days because I didn't take my heels off.

Fishing with Dad and Grandpa

Daddy took the Gabby and Kaleb on a special fishing trip with Grandpa in the spring. They also went to a museum and learned some things about the plight of their ancestors.

Father's Day 2013

For Father's Day, the dads went surfing and Mexican Marketing in the morning, then we all met up in baywood for coffee, pizza and sunshine. We came home for a Daddy nap, to be followed by dinner, bike riding, and beach at Montana De Oro with the Browns and Davenports!

Summer Kick-off LA Visit

Our first weekend of summer, we hauled all 7 of our butts and about 10 garbage bags of dirty laundry down to Grandma Annie's house. We went to King Bobby's birthday party at the Mora's. We enjoyed swimming, a catered taco bar, and the most fun family around. Kaleb got to go to a Dodger's game with Dad and Nino Mando. He came home so proud of his guy time, all decked out in blue gear. Annie, Gina and I took the rest of the kids to see a movie. We visited Abuelita. She gave Kaia this old book of fairy tales that her kids and her grand kids used to read. Kaia was beyond thrilled. Abuelita squealed constantly as she watched her great grandchildren eat and explore in her house. We visited Grandpa one day, and he made the kids laugh so hard with his stories and jokes. Benny watched B-Ball with Nani on her bed quite a bit. She loved it. we visited the two newest Beachhut Delis in Huntington Beach and Newport Beach. We got to visit with Pun! Tia I and Phil, Annie, Garett, Dom and Ava came to the Deli to eat with us also. We Also took our kids to the beach so they could swim without wetsuits. They couldn't believe how warm it was.

Summer Happeninfs 2013

Our 1st full summer in Los Osos got off to a rocky start with a broken washing machine, which meant several days of laundromat and researching replacement parts, while 5 kids ran around in smelly clothes( or no clothes, going into schedule-change shock(mostly Kaleb). Then, we topped that sundae off with some sort of bug infestation, which left me waking up covered in bites(infinitely more washing...and researching...and freaking out). Once those two bumps in the road were bypassed, we were able to relax a bit. Kaia did two weeks at Cuesta's College For Kids. She took Digital Imaging, Sculpture, and claymation. She was so inspired. She came home with her own claymation movie on DVD! Now she makes them with an app on my phone. She and Gabby have been enjoying swim team practices for the Pumas. Kaia decided to join shortly after Gabby got started. She is very giddy about it, and she never wants to miss a practice. Gabby doesn't want to get beat in races at practice. Her competitive nature will definitely work in her favor when meets begin. We have enjoyed several after practice get togethers with the Kennedy's, as they swim for Pumas as well. Our kids get along so well, like ALL 8 of them....then you add two moms that have been husband less for several days on end(weeks for Amy), Pizza or Mexican market, beer or wine, and you've got a great thing going.
Kaia has also been rendezvousing with Parker and Vienna & Sophie. Gabby has had several totally epic sleepovers with Zaiah. Now, they've got nicknames and a secret handshake. We all win when Zaiah comes over. She is an incredible Gabby-diffuser.
The main thing that keeps Kaleb out of trouble is helping in the kitchen. If he is focused on preparing food, he doesn't find himself bored and without direction or purpose. He likes to help make scrambled eggs, tuna, roasted vegetables, cookies, Mac and cheese, soup, enchiladas, tacos and anything he can finish with hot sauce and avocado.
Kaia has advanced to making her own cinnamon toast....okay, just putting it in the toaster. Gabby has been making her own guacamole, start to finish. Everytime we go to the store, she asks to get like 100 more avocados.
We have been going to Cayucos at about the same rate, almost every week. Kids found really big rock crabs last time. Benny playedB-ball with Dad.
Penny got a hair cut. She does significantly more mirror work now, which includes outfit assessing, hair smoothing, lipgloss application, earring checking, and sometimes some additional sparkles from Mommy's makeup.
We visited a new church that we all felt really good about! I enjoyed sitting in the pews with Kaia and Gabby. Kaia has been reading the good book on her own as of late. She has actually been a reading tornado this summer. She still Animal jams occasionally, and draws constantly, but her summer reading is far more abundant than during the school year. Her teacher really fostered the love or reading this past year. Benny is talking a lot, well, it's sort of like speaking in code. He blurts out key words then we try and string them together to find the message. One example is, "zoos!(shoes)...doo!(two)...daydub!(Kaleb)...woom!(room)"- which translates to "I want you to get my shoes from Kalebs room!".