Peachy Accomplishment

Another year of canning peaches. This time me, Nicki, Kim and Sarah tackled them together. I haven't tasted them yet to know if they turned out, but we will just pretend that they did.... because if they didn't I would probably cry. I think we were canning/cleaning up for about five hours and I came home with six jars of peaches, but total we probably did over twenty. I showed Matt the completed jars, proud of my accomplishment, and he said "you only canned six jars in five hours." Leave it to a man to squash the domestic triumph I was feeling.

Hair dos and don'ts

Do: Wear a cute little pony tail to get the fine hair out of your eyes.

(Mazzi's first pony tail- 8 months old)

Don't: Do your baby girls hair in a Mohawk. This can make even the cutest of babies make some very weird faces- see examples below.

Don't: Do nothing to your child's hair. This will make them look rather rag-muffin-ish. Even if your baby is happy about the lack of hair styling.

This is how miss Mazzi can often be found chillin' at our house. Who needs to look good in their own home right? I certainly don't in my yellow basketball shorts and T-shirt (courtesy Ocean West Realty- Thanks Rob)

So Ready

Our little Tera begins preschool in just two days. I know people generally post these kind of things after school has begun, but she is so excited. I am sure there will be another post on her real first day of school but needed to share this cute experience. I know Tera will be a great student. She is such an artist and I think she will pick up writing very quickly. I thought Tera would miss me or be a little concerned about leaving me, but I was wrong. The other day Tera had a speech assessment and her open house for preschool. When we arrived at the Elementary school (where Ashton goes) for her speech appointment she un-buckled, opened the door and said "Bye Mom, I love you." She was ready to hop out and leave me. I had to tell her that I was going into the school with her. She was disappointed. She thought she was starting school just like Ashton and that I would drop her off there everyday and pick her up later. She kept saying "I'm at Ashton's school" and told him all about it when he got home from school. She was adorable at her speech appointment. She told the teacher what she saw in all the pictures and then answered some questions. Here are some of my favorites.

Teacher: What do you do when you are tired?
Tera:Um, Brush my teeth
(One of the steps for going to bed, right?)

Teacher: What do you need to do when you can't find your shoes?
Tera: Ummm, Ask my Daddy to find them.
(Or look for them)

Teacher: What do you do if you're hot?
Tera: Ummm. Turn something on
(I am assuming she meant the A/C)

I sat there listening during the 40 minutes speech assessment and had a smile on my face the whole time. It was really one of the cutest things I have ever seen. I will have to see if I can video her reading a book or talking. I just could listen to her and watch her for hours. She has the sweetest little voice and says umm before answering anything and always says "uh huh" instead of yes. She would smile big after answering each question. She was so proud of herself. I told her later how sad I would be when she went to preschool all by herself and left me. She gave me a hug and smiled "I'll come back Mom." I can't believe my sweet, little girl is old enough to start preschool. Look how huge her cute little Tinkerbell backpack is on her. I adore this girl. She's as sweet as they come.

Cuter with paint

I like paint. I love having the walls in my house different colors, love painting little pieces of furniture to match whatever room I am putting them in and love to see my kids paint. I love the smell of paint and the look of fresh paint on a wall. I am a firm believer that paint makes everything look better. I recently learned that even my kids look better with paint on them.



The other night at Chick-fil-a, they were offering free face painting on the kids eat free night (I am there every Tues) and I couldn't get over how cute they looked with their faces all done up.



Tera chose the classic princess paint. Look at her gorgeous eyes.



Ashton, always original, asked the lady to do an octopus. Something she had never done before. Ashton has a bit of an obsession with octopuses right now. It began with the octopus at Sea World, grew when he saw the baby octopus at his father/son cam pout near the beach, and grew even more when I showed him a video on you tube of an octopus defeating a shark. He thought it was fantastic.

Needless to say, if you are ever thinking your kids are looking a bit homely or plain (which I don't think about my kids by the way) some face paint does wonders!

Disneyland- Girls Only

The other night we went to Disneyland with the girls. Having Disneyland passes is definitely one of the pluses of living in Southern California. We had such a good time. We went on so many rides and walked so fast without a bunch of kiddos slowing us down. Here we are getting ready for the fun...

Me, Traci, Vanessa, Kim, Sarah and baby Brooke (6 weeks old) Sarah is brave!

At California adventure- after we met up with Nicki, Melissa and JenniferOn Space mountain. I love this ride. Kim possibly likes it more. I think she screamed the whole time. Kim was also our tour guide. She kept us all moving at a quick pace to ensure we got all the big rides in.On "Soarin." I wasn't too impressed with this one. But I guess it is relaxing. Melissa thought I should be a pit more impressed with the smell of orange blossoms. Melissa and Emily on Thunder mountain. I liked that ride as well.

Posing through the line in India Jones. For some reason we were really enjoying taking pictures in here. That ride seriously freaks me out. Especially with Traci and Vanessa tickling the back of my neck during the ride. I am such a sissy about "scary" things.

At the haunted mansion. This was lame. That's all I have to say about that.

And this is how we were looking by the end of the night.

We left the park at 11:00, went to In N Out and I don't think we got home till 1:30. I didn't fall asleep till about 2:30 and I was filling it for the next few days. think the Coke at In N out is what gave me rush and made it so I couldn't got sleep. It was a great night though! We were all talking about how tired our bodies were and how "old" we are getting and feeling. I don't think I ever would have complained about my legs being tired or me being tired at 11:00 in my college days. But, I am not in my college days anymore. Now I am turning into a pansy, an old pansy.

The end of a fun night.

Eight Months

Our little girl is eight months old and we love her more than ever. She now has one little tooth and is crawling around the house. She is as sweet as they come. I know these pictures aren't extra girly- but they are extra cute.

Family Pic

Not a common thing- A family picture of us all someone looking at the camera. Thanks for sharing this picture with me Katie.

Ashtons in Kindergarten!

Ashton started Kindergarten August 17, 2009. His teacher is Mrs. Welch. I must admit that as I pulled out of the school parking lot I began to cry. It seems official that my son can now be influenced by things outside my control and that was a sad moment for me. For four hours of nearly every day, someone else has him under their care. Someone else in influencing them, looking after him and teaching him. And all I know of what is going on is what he tells me. "What did you do today?" "Nothing." While I will welcome the break during the day from my crazy boy (who is currently locked in the bathroom for time-out as I blog about how I love him), it does make me sad that my boy is growing up and beginning the long road to responsibility. His carefree days are coming to an end in a small way. Very small in that his one homework assignment for the week is to decorate a gingerbread man. But still, he is growing up.

Here he is with one of his best buddies, Brandon, getting ready to go to class. They aren't in the same class together. Ashton was a little upset that none of his friends were in his class, but I was relieved. He said that he did make one friend, "Scissors" at school. After talking about it for a while, we realized he meant "Cesar." He still calls him scissors though.

After his first day of school I asked him if he liked it. He said "it is hard. We work really hard in class."

Kari and Jason's Wedding

Matt's little sister, Kari, got married last Saturday, August 15, 2009. It was a beautiful wedding, for a beautiful couple. Congratulations Kari and Jason. We wish you the best!

Kari looked gorgeous.

Matt and Jeff with their mother, Peggy
Tera was the flower girl. She took her job very seriously.

She is becoming quite the littler poser.

Ashton was the ring bearer. He looked so handsome in his tux! We had to bribe him to be good and walk down the aisle and stand their quietly. He did a pretty good job and was awarded with a batman action figure.

Tera was the belle of the ball at the party. She danced the night away and had about twenty different dance partners during the night (all women) She had a blast and it was so fun to watch her. She decided she wants to have a dance party for her birthday. She is quite the dancer! I wish we would have got it on video. It was cracking me up!

Jason, Kari, Peggy and Larry.

Matt with his little sis.

Our Trip- Part Three

The final part of our three-week trip was spent in Redding, Ca, Matt and I's hometown. Among the highlights were Mazzi meeting Aiden, my best friend, Hannah's little boy for the first time. Mazzi and Aiden are only four days apart and it was so fun seeing them together.

Mazzi thought Aiden was very cute...

and so was there dog Jackson. Mazzi was so excited about seeing this dog! She turned into a crazy baby. And she is usually so mellow.

Mazzi loved being held by her grandparents. Here she is with Matt's parents, Grandma and Grandpa Thompson.

This was Mazzi's first time meeting Uncle Trevor. They hit it off. He even babysat her a few times and got her to sleep- not an easy feat to accomplish!

Trevor is such a good Uncle and Brother. He just graduated from the CHP so was home for the first four days we were there. It was nice having him and his wife, Sandra, there with us.

We went to a water park with my Mom while we were there. Ashton and Tera loved teh slides, pools and lazy river. Mazzi was such a trooper and had a good time.
And of course we spent several hours at my parents Fun Center. We played a game of lazer tag with the Thompsons....Ashton invited his friend, Riley, to the fun center and they did the bumper boats...
And the kids become expert rock climbers. Teras new favorite game is air hockey. She challenged me, her Nana and her cousin Alaina while we were there. She had a huge smile on her face the whole time and giggled each time she scored (or her opponent for that matter)
We also spent an evening on Lake Shasta. Since it was so windy and the water was choppy everyone did the air-chair. I am horrible at the air chair! I think I tried getting up for about 20 minutes and swallowed a ton of water before giving up. The air chair and I just don't get along. Matt is pretty good at it though.

Mazzi loved being on the boat.

Tera with her Nana on the boat.