Happy Jesus

At dinner tonight right when we sat down Courtney folded her hands and said "happy Jesus!" Reminded us we forgot to say grace tonight!

Chris and Julie

My good friends from high school, Chris Reynolds and Julie Bobbitt, came for a long weekend visit. We hadnt spent anytime with eachother since highschool but we started talking again through facebook. It's so funny how there are people in your life that you never meant to lose contact with but you do. It was a very familiar feeling being with them even though it had been 22 years! They werent strangers at all. It was so wonderful to be able to spend a good amount of time "catching" up. Alot happens in a persons life in 2 decades. They both are very happy and I am so excited to have them back in my life!

Neither Chris or Julie have kids..so this weekend was a little hectic but of course my girls loved them...especially at bedtime when they kept begging one more book please!

Chris and Samantha

Our big adventure was Sunday mornign I decided to take thme on a hike up Camelback.

My niece had done it a few months back and said it was a really fun hike but hard. She kept asking me to go with her (until it got really hot) she even wanted a camelback water back pack so she could go because she said carrying a water bottle was to hard. Anybody who knows Alyssa would think that this "hike" would be something that she would have hated. It is hard and steep and at times you are even crawiling n your hands and feet up the side of the mountain. I had to text her in the middle of this hike to tell her I was impressed because it's a badass of a hike. We all werent that prepared for it. Thankfully we had a lot of water but we should have packed some snacks and I sure should have had a bigger breakfast! It took us 3 1/2 hours to go up and down. It didnt help that we all were talking eachohters ears off and everytime we took a break we'd get a talking! It was so much fun! Thank God they like to hike!!

We finally made it to the top!

cheers!

and back to my house for homemade pizzas!!

Courtney the rocker!

yep Sydney

Sydney has always been the "troublemaker" in this family but lately she has been the "perfect" child. Like today for instance, Courtney (who has been a lil S*** lately) took the crayon box and dumped it all over the living room floor and ran off. I told her she needed to come back and clean it up and she refused. I was yelling at her to come back downstairs and she was thinking it was a fun game and hiding from me. I came downstairs and Sydney was singing the "clean up" song and picking up all the crayons for her sister. I rewarded her with a piece of chocolate! Dont get me wrong I am still mad at her sister but I thought that was so sweet...3 months ago she would have been the one throwing the crayons everywhere and coloring on the walls!!

Braided ponies

Before school on Weds Alyssa did Sams hair all pretty!

sleep

for some reason Courtney has been our lousy sleeper lately. She fights naps in the afternoon and always wakes up early. It's driving us nuts! Like today it's 8:45 am and both Sydney and Samantha are still sleeping but nooo Courtney woke up at 6:45!

cute shorts...

Sydney and Courtney only wear skorts or dresses...trying to get anyhting else on them is like pulling teeth. This morning I tried to put these cute bright pink shorts on that Namy bought for them (at Kohl's on sale) when we were up there. Nope they both freaked out and wanted skirts on...where did these girls come from?!

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

Took the girls to see "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" yesterday. We went to the theater in the mall because the twins usually only last for about an hour before they are bored and want to leave. We got them each a kids treat box (sprite, popcorn and gummy candy) They all watched the whole thing w only one bathroom break! yay!! It was a really cute fun movie.

Park night

After dinner tonight it was comfortable enough to go to the park for a little run around time! daddy and his little sportsters!

"go long"

Courtneys hair cut

The day went by really quick and I was trying to figure out a way to get Courtneys hair fixed from yesterdays little mishap. Sam had karate at the gym tonight from 5-5:45. I know they have a full service spa there but I hadnt checked it out yet. So I made an appointment for 5:15 for Courtney. It worked out perfectly. Courtney did a pretty good job. She did cry and towards the end she was done and stopped sitting still. The hairdresser did a pretty good job considering. When we got home Sydney cried becasue she wanted her hair cut too!

I took like 20 pictures but she just didnt want her picture taken today...this was the best I could get of her new do.

This is the end of Sams karate class. It was funny when we showed up today because he is one of the instructors at that expensive place we checked out yesterday! She loved it and was really impressed w the teacher because he can jump up in the air and do a flip. WOW!

Sam takes Karate

Last spring Samantha asked if she could take karate. I told her she could once she was back in school. She kept asking about it so today was her "free" class at one of the karate studios. She had a blast and I was thinking this would be a really good thing for her. Then they told me how much it cost. I was shocked. I mean she is 4 years old and it was going to work out to where it was something like $25 for a 30 minute class. I wouldnt pay that much for a class for me let alone a 4 year old. and they wanted a 12 month commitment... I looked into our gyms version and it works out to be $7 a for a 45 min class...and its 7 weeks 2 X a week. I think thats how much she'll like it before she says she wants to try basketball or something ...the only thing is we dont get a "free" uniform.

Courtney cuts...

her own hair.

The girls were playing on the computer well Sam was playing pollyworld and the twins were watching her. I keep the scissors in the cupboard above the computer station and Courtney climbed up and got them. Sam yelled to me that Courtney had the scissors. I was shocked to see that she had cut her hair and how much she had cut off her head. I sent her straight to bed and didnt think it looked as bad as it is. After bath tonight I combed it and she got a good chunk off the side of her head so we will be going to the hairdressers tomorrow!(I wish I could take her to see Michelle!)

oops today is the 15th... Look at all that hair!!

nice layered look on the top of her head!

the stinkeris is still a cutie pie though!

Twins dance!

Sydney and Courtney started dance this evening at the gym. They were so excited. I realized that I only had one leotard in their size so while they were sleeping I ran down to the Children's Orchard (a kids consignment store that is really close by) and found a shiny satin one that was perefect for Courtney. They were so happy to go. Sydney was excited to see all her friends. We didnt know anybody in their class but Sydney annouced to everyone that she was their friend!

We got there a little early so they were practicing their twirls...

and their ta da's!

I thought it was funny that they didnt want to stand next to eachother. When we picked them up Sydney saw us and started crying (the teacher said she was great until she saw us) and Courtney was holding hands with some other girl...go figure!
They wanted to hold their Dads hand out the door!

We decided to go out to dinner afterwards (the class is from 5:15-6:00 ever Monday) I dont hink we will be doing that again unless it's fast food night. Our girls just arent the best at sitting still and boy do they whine a lot!

San Francisco weekend

Jon's work threw a tailgate party Saturday for the employees and families. So Jon, Sam, and I flew up on Friday for a fun filled three day weekend. we decided the twins were better of staying home w Alyssa. We landed at SFO and took the Bart train. Jon went to work while Sam and I headed to the East Bay.

Here's Sam watching a movie on the long train ride!

Sarah picked us up in her convertible!

We had lunch and walked around Danville for a bit before I had to go see Michelle to get my hair done. Sam spent the afternoon with Sarah. They went and got pedicures! Poor Emily was home sick so she didnt get to play w her much. Jack and Jordan watched Sam while Dave Sarah Jon and I went to our favorite little sushi restaurant in danville. We got back and played apples to apples for a bit then went to our hotel in Walnut Creek.

On Saturday morning we went to Castro Valley and hung out with the Hodges. Sam and Taylor didnt miss a beat and were playing hard together! We sure do miss them!
Laron Dominic and Jon
Me and Julie!

We even made it to the Bayfair mall for some play time! Just like old times!

Saturday night was the work party. They had a catered tailgate party with a bouncey house and everything. Both Jon and I were stuffed from lunch! We watched around 4 innings before Sam made us take her to the play area...

The coke bottle is a big slide!

They have a little baseball diamond for the little kids. She was almost to big for it. The guy was like this is probably her last night. So weird to think she is getting to be to big for things!

We decided to leave at the 7 inning...the Giants were losing and it was a sold out game so traffic eas going to be teriffic if we stayed. We decided to drive over to Ghiradelli square for an ice cream sunday. We parked in the parking garage that was $2.25 for 20 minutes. We walked up there and sam really like the fountain so we took a few picutres then walked through the store so we could get our free piece of chocolate. We then went to the ice parlor part and ordered our banana chocolate ice cream sunday. It was so good that I wished we had ordered two. (Jon said that was the fat girl in me talking) Sam finished the last little bit and put the bowl back on the table and said "let's go now!" We went outside and she wanted her picture taken again a few times then we went to the car. It was our 17 minute cross town dessert. We only had to pay $2.25.


She said Mom "take a picture of me next to these pretty floweres"
Sammy and Daddy!
We headed back to another hotel in South San Francisco for the night. Jon got up early and spent the day watching football with Marty while Sam and I went back to the East bay for visits w the Woods and the Zinks!
Boo (Emilie) Samantha and Eric
Eric and Sam getting close to the ducks!

We had a great fun trip. Very tiring as pretty much every hour was fun filled. We missed our twinkles alot here is a phone conversation Samantha had w them. I jsut caught the last part of it!

The twins had a good time wth Alyssa. There were a few little mishaps here and there (one big one was Sydney rubbed her poop all over her wall and window-glad I didnt have to clean that one) but I think Alyssa had a good time with them. They all were happy to see us!!

Debbie

In August of 2003 my mom was diagnosed w aplastic anemia. At first they did a few different procedures but they didnt work. With my moms age they were a little hesitant on doing a stem cell transplant but she was at the point where if they didnt do anything she wouldnt be around any longer. They found a donor and in January of 2006 they put her stem cells in my moms body. She had to live in their RV near the Seattle cancer care for 3 months or so afterwards and was monitored closely by the doctors. Her blood cells were up and her body took to it. She no longer has the disease and is alive all because of this wonderful woman Debbie. I encourage everyone to be a donor. http://www.marrow.org/ It doesnt take much and my kids have their Namy because of this wonderful gift!
This week Debbie and her husband flew out from New Jersey to spend a week with my mom. They have been in communication for over a year now. They were told that they couldnt find out who their donor was or who they donated to for a year afterwards. They called with an hour of eachother to ask...My Mom and her stem cell donor Debbie