Surprise Snow & Birthday Fun!

We went up to my parents' a couple of weeks ago to celebrate my niece Skye's first birthday.  We picked my sister and niece up at the train station and headed up a day early to stay over and get things ready for the party.  Saturday morning when we woke up we were happily surprised to see it had snowed in the night!  Snow is not a usual occurrence at their elevation, it wasn't a lot and it quickly melted, but we enjoyed the wonder of it anyways.

McGee ran out front, bare feet and all!  He inspected the snowflakes he and grandma had made and compared them to the snow he saw on the ground.  Then he patiently (or not) waited from Grandma & Grandpa to wake up so they could see it all too!  That's him peeking under their door hoping he could see some signs of life. :)

I loved McGee looking out the window completely enamored with the snow!

As it neared time for the party the three cousins enjoyed a bath together.

There she is - the birthday girl!

Uncle Trevor and his little Hannah girl

Instead of little bags of candy for party favors - Skye (and her parents) gave each one of the four kids an individual present.  You can see Miss Em was happy about her very own Strawberry Shortcake doll!  McGee, Grandpa and Hannah went right to work putting his new Lego set together!

There were party games - one of which involved guessing Skye's current weight!  I was way off.

The there were the many presents...clothes and toys and hats oh my!

And finally, the cake.  Skye was interested in checking it out, put her hands in it and then decided she really didn't like having messy fingers!

Happy 1st Birthday Skye Lynn - we love you!

Last Summer Vacation

I feel like my blog posts as of late have just been me joining in on other blog challenges and carnivals.  That is all well and good, but we have had LOTS going on here too that I do so wish to share with you all!

First up, the kids and I just returned from a trip to my sister's with my mom.  It was our last vacation of the summer as McGee will start pre-school next Monday.  We enjoyed a great few days hanging out with my sister, brother-in-law, nephew and our little sweet niece.  On Friday we headed over to Santa Cruz and had the BEST time!  The weather was perfect (although a bit windy and cold on the pier) and it was wonderful not to have any agenda other than relaxing and having fun.

McGee LOVE, LOVE, LOVED playing in the waves and sand and Miss Em enjoyed staying close to her Grandma and digging in the sand.  McGee practiced writing his letters in the sand and Baby Skye took a beachside nap.  A highlight for sure was feeding (and being swarmed by) the seagulls with our leftover rolls from lunch.  Grandma was heard saying she didn't think she had heard McGee laugh and giggle so much before!  How to top off that kind of a day?  Enjoying ice cream for dinner of course, at a local dive called Marianne's we were referred to by my friend Tina.  When she mentioned we might have to wait in line I didn't truly believe her, but indeed we had to wait almost a 1/2 hour!  It was good though and I couldn't believe all of the many flavor options!

Well there's plenty more to say about our trip, but I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves (and there are TONS more where these came from)!  I had such a hard time choosing which pics to post as there were so many that I loved!  Which of these is YOUR favorite?

Throwing the bread for the birds...

Skye's first trip to the beach...she thought she'd see what sand tastes like

Parading Through Town

I love that I grew up in a very small town.  I loved knowing everybody and have always taken pride in my little town.  I was so excited when the kids and I went up to my parents for the weekend and were able to partake of an annual tradition of our little town, the Italian Picnic Parade.  I marched in this parade many times as a child - with my Girl Scout troop, dance group and then for the last time as a entrant for the Miss Amador Pageant, that was nearly 13 years ago!  Crazy how time flies so fast!

McGee didn't want to go to the parade at first.  That morning I heard lots of "I don't want to go.  I want to stay home", but in the end he went and had a blast (as I knew he would)!  

You can find some pictures in my Not Me! Monday post from earlier in the week.  Here are some more:

An hour before the parade began (we got the time wrong and arrived WAY early)

Miss Em, My mom, My Sister & McGee

My 'lil sweetie got a pretty ribbon tiara

McGee was SO excited Grandma bought him a trumpet!

In awe and wonder...

My niece Skye woke up to enjoy the festivities...

The kids had a blast collecting all the candy that was thrown...

McGee was so into the candy that he started following the trucks down the street in search of more sweet treats (that's him below the blue arrow)...

Finding his way back to us...

The many faces of Miss Em...

Parade joy...

Toot-toot...

I liked this.  These were all of the cheerleaders from BOTH high schools in the county and their shirts say, "Spirit is what counts".  Very nice.  By the way - those with the blue shorts go to the BEST high school. :)

Man I love these people...

My girl...I have no words to explain why she was roaring and making these faces at a parade participant!  She is such a crack-up!

Gotta have Smokey the Bear!

My All-American kiddos...

Dots + A Boy = Pure JOY

As we were heading out from the parade I was taking this final shot and recognized my oldest (as in lifelong, not age) friend in the frame!

I was SO excited to see Liesl and her family.  Our moms were friends when they were pregnant with us and we've been friends ever since!  I can't tell you how many sweet cards, notes, postcards I have in my hope chest from Liesl through the years.  Her family traveled quite a bit (France, South Africa, South America) and we always kept in touch.  She was also one of my bridesmaids.  Sadly, the last time I saw Liesl and her husband Nathan (a friend of ours since jr. high) was more than TWO YEARS ago when I was 8 months pregnant with Miss Em and a very large bridesmaid in their wedding!

As my sister said, it was the highlight of our day to see Liesl and her family!  Hopefully we'll be seeing each other again soon!

Well if you've gotten this far down, thank you for looking at my many pictures, here's a sweet little wave "Bye!" from Miss Em and don't forget to go to your town's next parade!