A Trip for the White Stuff

A few weeks ago we made our annual trip with some great friends up to play in the snow.  Unfortunately, like last year, Miss Em wanted nothing to do with the snow so Daddy had to spend most of the time sitting in the car with her.  However, after lunch and some yummy hot chocolate, she was ready to sled and we enjoyed a good time getting cover in that wonderful white stuff. :)

McGee LOVES to sled - he had such a blast!

The adults - we always have a great time whenever we can get together.

The kiddos - don't you love McGee's pb&j mouth?

Dear me, could that be a real smile on McGee?

Daddy brushing off some snow after McGee took a snowball to the head.

Hard to believe just an hour or so earlier she was crying in the back of the van refusing to play in the snow.

We found a private little area for lots of snowball fun!

It was a beautiful day - perfect for fun with friends!

Family Campout

**Another catch-up post from the summer**

Our family used to have an annual campout every summer.  When I say family I don't just mean my parents and siblings, no I mean everyone, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandma...you get the idea.  I think it may have actually started for my birthday as I usually wanted to go camping for my birthday - so we ended up celebrating all of the July birthdays camping (there were 3-4 of us).

This year we celebrated my two baby cousins' birthday with a campout the first weekend in August.  Our camping used to consist of tents, but now my brother and my cousin Joel have upgraded to nice trailers which seems to make things so much easier.  The kids and I still slept in our tent and they did really well.

Campfires are the best!  Uncle Mike put McGee and Hannah to work collecting stick and taught them how to make a proper fire.  Grandma got some snuggles in with baby Skye.

Smores...the ultimate campfire tradition.  This top left photo is Em's taste of her first smore.  Mmm.... I love campfires!

The days were spent with wiffle ball games, fun in the dirt, and all the joys of camping.

Time with family was the best part!

Miss Hannah and Miss Ashlee celebrated their 4th and 1st birthdays!

Grandma and Grandpa bought McGee his first fishing pole - a Lightning McQueen one with a great rubber tire weight which was perfect for practicing his casting.  Uncle Mike took him out to try casting and fishing in the water.

Daddy ended up not being able to join us since he found out he had a job the day before we were to leave and he only had the weekend to set his new class up.  We were disappointed he would have to miss out on our first camping trip with the kids, but were thankful he had a job.  

Saturday night while we were out fishing my cousin Joel said, "Hey!" to someone and I expected it was another friend of his he knew.  When McGee and I turned around we were happily surprised to see Daddy who drove a couple of hours to come see us for an hour or two and then turn around to drive home as he was playing for worship the next morning at church.  I just love surprises - don't you?

It really meant a lot to have Daddy be there for McGee's first "fishing" experience (no fish were actually caught).

Had to sneak in a family shot before Daddy headed home.

Sunday morning we were blessed to enjoy a church service in the quaint little chapel on the lake.  The pastor who married Daddy and I gave the message and although I enjoyed what I could, it was hard to hear it all since Miss Em had me running around outside with her.

Camping = Dirt.  Plain and simple, and I love it!  I love cousins too.

Summer Fair Fun

*another overdue post from summer - lots of pictures*

Summer = fair time, right?

This summer the kids and I went to the State Fair with some friends and my hometown's County fair with family.  Both were fun and many memories were created.

The State fair had a great deal on their corn dogs - $3.50 for a jumbo dog!  Miss Em ate hers as well as some of mine.  The animals were a HUGE hit for Miss Em - in this top right picture she grabbed onto the fence of a sheep and wouldn't let go.  She may only be 2 years old, but she is strong!  I had to pry her away.  The days old piglets in the bottom picture were adorable and caught her eye as well.

The kids and I by the beautiful gardens

Look at those sunflowers!

My friend Alicia and I decided to let the kids each go on 1 ride.  McGee had been talking about the "Lightning McQueen" ride and how we had to walk up and around this one building and over a bridge to get to it.  I thought he was making it up but he said it was from when he came last year with Daddy and Uncle Matt and Papa.  We went to find this ride and I was skeptical, but sure enough, there was a CARs movie ride with little Jeeps and Mater that the kids could "drive" around a track.  McGee and Jed were so excited to go on it!

An excited McGee exiting from his ride.  We had trouble finding a ride that the little ones could go on, but finally found this boat ride that accepted their height.  Miss Em and Jackson had so much fun "driving" this boat round and round!  Funnel cake and fireworks (not pictured) completed our State Fair experience for 2010.

A week later we headed up to Mommy's hometown and joined Grandma and our cousins at the County Fair.  Little Ashlee was in the diaper derby but didn't really find herself wanting to crawl at all.  McGee - Mr. Need for Speed - won the diaper derby a few years ago as a crawler with his strange but speedy little gorilla crawl.  Miss Em was in it last year too, but didn't really feel like crawling much.

After the diaper derby we searched the exhibits to find a picture of McGee that Grandma & Grandpa's friend had taken and submitted- looks a little grouchy huh?

Next came the rides!  McGee, Hannah and Miss Em enjoyed an exhilarating car ride.  In fact, I think they may have gone on it a couple of times.

Next Hannah and McGee went flying in the airplanes, but McGee ended up being less than thrilled with being high above the ground.

We ran into some more cousins - Lori, Kim and Sydney - it was such a nice surprise!

I love this of the three little ones looking on at the bumper cars with such fascination!  We told them they had to wait a few years for that ride.

What's a fair without ice cream and cotton candy?!

A free ride on the carousel.  Miss Em kept saying, "Grandma look, I'm riding a horsey!"

So much fun was had this day!  Smiles, giggles, goofy and grumpy faces and boy do I always love sunflare!

I loved processing these two in one of my favorite bright processing styles!

This final image is a favorite of mine - Hannah and Miss Em enjoyed their first fair together!

It Has Begun - Preschool that is!

Yesterday was McGee's first day of preschool!  I have anticipated this day for months and am so excited for him as he begins this new chapter in his life: school.  I was/am a little sad that these past 4 years have flown by so quickly and from this point on McGee will most likely be away from me several days each week in school.  He was not the most cooperative for those first day of school pictures (big SHOCK!) but drop off went off without a hitch and he seemed to have a great time.

The best smile he could muster

A Brave Bluebird - listening like a good boy during storytime

Apparently McGee made a big impression during playtime outside.  His one teacher Miss Sonja told me how full of boy energy he was and how he was one of the "guards" (aka knight w/ a sword).  She wished her batteries hadn't run out on her camera because she wanted to record it for me.  Then as we were heading out two other teachers mentioned what a fun little boy he was and how much they enjoyed watching him on the playground.  It's killing me not getting to be a fly-on-the-wall and seeing how he is when Mommy's not around!  Fortunately so far all of the reports are positive. :)

After pick-up they allow the preschool kids to play in the yard as long as the parents supervise them and McGee had fun playing with his friends (J) and (N).  (N) and McGee are in the same class, but (J) is in a different class so McGee enjoyed getting the extra time to play with him.

All smiles once at school!

Growing up my mom had a tradition of taking me out for an ice cream sundae after the first day of school.  I want to keep that tradition with my children, but we were invited to join a few other moms and kids for "Happy Meals" and combined a "Happy Meal" with the ice cream sundae (they were only $1!).  Definitely a rare junk food day for us.

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!