Happy Birthday Pey-Pey!

We got to celebrate Pey-Pey's 5the bday at the Children's Museum of the Sierra's. The girls tried all kinds of neat things...and occupations :)

I got to hold Pey-Pey's new little brother, Preston McGowan!

Tessa's Big Girl Bed

Tessa has been really needing to get out of her pack n' play and into a big girl bed. So now that school is out, we decided to take the plunge. We put up her bed and tried to see how she did. Well, for the past 5 nights, she hasn't left her bed. Honestly, I think she's to scared to leave it. She has done great! She'll call from her bed, "Mommy...gotta go potty!" So far so good!

Graduation night

This year marked the end of an erra for Fresno Christian Schools. My father-in-law, Gary Schultz, stepped down as the Principal after 29 years of dedicated service. Though it was a night in celebration for the graduates of 2008, time was also taken out to honor Gary for his hard work and impact on the lives of students for almost 3 decades. To his surprise, after each of the 2008 grads had received thier awards and diplomas, a parade of graduates (1 representative from each graduating class for the last 29 years that Gary had been the principal) came across the stage and hugged Papa. Now, for those of you who do not know the things of Fresno Christian Schools, my father-in-law is affectionately called Papa by students and parents alike. It is tradition that after each student receives their diploma and they make their way back to their seat, they hug Papa. For some (who spent many hours in his office) this is a very special time for them to thank Papa and for Papa in turn to congratulate them personally for their accomplishement. So, back to the 29 grads...each one walked across stage and hugged Papa, and it was so special and endearing! Chris was the representative for the class of 1991 and I snapped a picture of him just as they hugged. It was a very emotional moment and a memorable one for our family! Congrats Papa, We love you!

Moving on Up!

Kamryn has now completed her 1st grade of school! I can't believe I've got a 2nd grader :) Here are a couple of pictures of her receiving various awards for spelling dictation, writing and reading aswell as a fitness award. She really excelled this year in story writing...hmmm..do I have an author on my hands? Each year the teachers give the kids a certificate for their character award; Kamryn's was 'attentiveness'. Congratulations Kamryn!

Daddy Date

For this next date with Daddy, Kamryn was the lucky recipient. Chris is wanting to do more golfing this summer, so he took Kamryn to the driving range...but before that, they stopped by the store and got Kamryn her own set of "kid" clubs. So she got to drive some balls too. Chris said she didn't do badly; she seems to have a natural knack for swinging (she picked up batting and tennis really easily). Over the next couple of days she would go get her clubs and pronounce that she had to "go out and practice." So these pictures are of her "practicing" and then helping Tessa to learn how as well. Leadership 101.

End of the Year

Kamryn's 1st grade class had an end of the year pool party. All the girls were excited to get back into the pool! Here is Kamryn with her 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Zaremba! She LOVED Mrs. Z!

Indoor Camping

This summer we are wanting to go camping again. The thing is last summer we rented a "rustic cabin" up at Mono Hot Springs. This year we want to tent. The girls have never been in a tent before, so to let them try it out, we (my sis Kim and I) put up one of Kim's tents in our living room. Talk about an adventure! The kids were stoked!
Kim went over the rules (no leaning on the tent, no in and out, no sand, etc. ). Well this took place when we had that little heat wave in the second week of May. Once they all got in the tent, it was so hot and sticky that we had a fan blowing on them and opened up all the screens. We let them watch a little video before bed and then Kamryn read a bible story. Ty and Tessa ended up back in their own beds, but the other girls stayed in the tent all night. In the end, they decided the liked the cabin better...we'll see!

Dessert Nite

I have been reading a book by Linda J. Eyre, "A Joyful Mother of Children: The Magic and Mayhem of Motherhood." I have gotten so much from this mother of 9!! I decided to put into practice one of the ideas she had about being flexible and spontaneous. In our family we have 2 nights that we call 'Dessert Nite', Tuesdays and Saturdays (to cut down on all the "can I have dessert?"..or "what's for dessert?" whailing"). I got all the kids into their pjs, Kim's kids included (my mom watches them on Tuesday nights) and we piled into the van. I told them we were running an errand and they were all clueless until we pulled into McDonalds and then we heard all the shreeks and screams!!! "Ice Cream ONLY!" I said.
It was quite a sight with all of them at the table licking thier cones,slippers and all. Unfortunately I forgot my camera...so that moment will be captured in my memory for now. The kids thought it was the absolute best! Way to go Mom! I can still have fun!

Family Nite Out

Since our anniversary trip, Chris and I decided to begin living a more active lifestyle. So we decided to start having a weekly family night of activity. This week we went to the Fresno Christian tennis court and played for about an hour. Kamryn really took to tennis. She could swing and hit the ball over the net on the first try. She loved it and was very patient. Soon, Chris took over with her running drills and doing suicides. I went with Addi and after trying a few different techniques, she began hitting the ball well too. Tessa was our little ball catcher, and patiently walked around the court picking up balls. She was great!
As we were leaving, the girls were both asking when we could come back and hit some more balls. Hmmm...I think we are on to something!

Then after our tennis workout, Daddy took Tessa and got her aquainted with the weight room. Daddy doesn't fool around. He's starting them early!

Then Chris took the two girls to a Fresno State softball game...the had a great time on thier date with Daddy. Way to go Daddy!

Happy Anniversary to us!

Chris and I just celebrated our 9th anniversary! It so wierd to think that we've been together that long. Time has flown by and we looked back on our 9 years with wonder and laughter over what we've experienced, done, and learned about each other.

We had the opportunity to stay at a house in Pismo Beach for two nights. It was such a treat to have two whole days to ourselves. Chris had it in his head that this would be an 'active' retreat for us. After having learned in my women's bible study that it is very important for men to be able to 'play' with thier wives...I was all for it! We did so much, we played golf, tennis, hiked, and took long walks to the beach. It was so wonderful to talk (uninterupted) and dream together; something we never feel able to do. Chris was so wonderful, making a conserted effort to focus on us and the present moment, instead of every deadline he had the following week, and all the calls he had to make.

On our way home on Sunday we scheduled a tour of Hearst Castle. I had never been there and it had been 20 years since Chris has visited. What a treat! A beautiful castle, and a definite must see if any of you visit the coast. We are already planning our next tour.

Kamryn's 1st Karate Tournament

Kamryn had her first Karate Tournament last Saturday in Madera. What an event! About 100 kids from 3 years old til 18 competing for medals. Plus all thier mom's and dad's, grammas and grampas watching. The room (yes, I said ROOM) was packed!

Kamryn competed in 3 divisions: Forms, Self-defense (in the air), and Freestyle Self-defense. It was quite nerve wracking for these little kids to get up infront of all these people and introduce themselves and perform moves they had memorized. We were very proud of Kamryn. She did very well and barely showed her nerves. She earned a silver medal in Forms, a gold medal in Self-defense, and a bronze in Freestyle. We realize with this age, it isn't about getting the GOLD, it's about getting a medal and Kamryn's response was, "Wow, I've got a silver and a gold, now all I need is a bronze!" And wouldn't you know it, that was exactly what her last medal was! It was a long day, but really rewarding.

Sisters

The weather has been so great lately. On Saturday's mom and dad usually work in the yard and the kids like to run around in the front yard. This day, the girls decided to help Gramma out with watering the flowers, and planting some new ones.

One thing that I appreciate so much about having 3 girls is the way they play together. I am so enjoying this stage in life and catch glimpses of the bond these girls are making everyday.

Our days of play

Because we live in such a community-type setting with my folks and Kim and Dave right next door, all the kids are growing up more like siblings then anything. I watch Ty 3 days/week and we definitely have many memorable moments. Here is a few recently:

Addi had a wonderful imagination. On this day she was taking her 3 bears to the beach. As you can see, she dressed each one up in Tessa's clothes to suit; Daddy, Mommy and Baby Bear.

Ty and Tessa also got in the dressup act, as a prince and a pricess...I have to say that this was all thier idea. I didn't even help them get into the outfits...with Addi's help, they were all into character.

Next: Tea Time!

Helping mommy bake cookies...

On this day a little friend, Alexa joined our gang for a few hours.

Just think! 3 days a week of this...there will always be more to share :)