Beach Day

After being cooped up for 5 days being sick (me, not them), we decided to venture out and get some fresh air. Mike was working so the kids and I went on an adventure! We were actually up and ready for early church and got to the beach by 12ish!! We opted for Montana de Oro because it has the coolest rocks for collecting. And there is no sand, so it is much easier on my clean freak personality. The girls made rock cakes with seaweed topping, we had a picnic, played UNO and just relaxed. The girls even got in the FREEZING water!! Joshua ate at the beginning and then slept in the good 'ol Bob (his stroller) the rest of the time. The girls found loads, and I mean LOADS, of rocks. I let them each pick 2 big and 2 little (and a couple other faves) to bring home to paint.

Just life

We enjoyed a few hot days last weekend before Dad headed back to work... The kids love our little doughboy pool. The best $100 ever spent - 3 summers ago!! It has held up wonderfully and still offers hours of fun for the girls and Mike and a splash of cold water for the Momma to cool off in. Yes, the cast is waterproof. The countdown to removal is on... as of today, 18 days.
Snuggle bugs

My silly kids... all 4 of them =)

Mantime

Stay tuned... we have a big week ahead. Surgery day is Wednesday. Then it is off to Monterey to celebrate Kailee's big day!!! 7 years old!!

Faces of J-man

For those of you wanting pics of the man...

SURPRISE!!

SMILES!

Behavior Battles

This summer we are working really hard on behavior, chores, responsibility. So we started a chore chart/system.

It started with this: Weekly chores/treats. Like this week Addie is in charge of pulling up the trash cans, picking up dog poop and she gets to "Sit in the Middle" in the car... the best seat according to the girls because it is by Joshua. They constantly were arguing over it so now, it is a weekly treat. No arguments! Kailee is the table setter, and the Servant of the Week (the go to girl to help me) and she gets to sit by Dad at the dinner table, another constant battle. Monday they will switch.

They also have books that have their daily chores. These include making their beds, putting their clothes away, feeding dogs, 30 min reading quietly etc. They get to put a sticker on each when they are completed.

My BFF Beth found a new twist to add... She explains it really well in her blog. Basically, for each chore they are expected to do they earn a dollar (a fake one). They can also earn money for odd jobs they do or for just plain being nice to one another. The LOSE money for tattling, lying, running in the house, whinning, etc. They get to earn rewards, like swimming is $2, 30 min of TV is $2, or the bigger prizes, Drive in and beach are $100, Yogurt Creations is $25, etc. They can pool their money or spend alone. Lets just say, we are enjoying a pretty peaceful house with some very motivated helpers.

Addie-isms

Part 1
The other day my mom and I were doing my Insanity workout and Addie was doing it with us. Shaun T (the leader) says "Everybody follow me!" and she starts walking toward the TV like she was going to follow him into the TV. Then she kind of stops and realized that she was following him into the TV. My mom and I were silently laughing hysterically.

Part 2
We were sitting at the doctors office to get her cast. In the waiting room, there was a little old lady sitting across from us. Addie leans over to me and very discreetly (as discreetly as a 4 year old can be) says, "Mommy, that lady looks like a pirate!" I almost peed in my pants. Of course then I had to look to see what she looked like. When she left I asked Addie why she thought the lady looked like a pirate (because she didn't look like a pirate) and she said it was the way her hat was... sideways like a pirate hat. True. She did have a straw hat that was very pirate like.

2 minutes later, an older couple walks out of the exam room hallway and sees Addie with her splint. The man asks, "What happened to you?? Did you hit a Boy????" A, "Nooo.. (big smile) I fell off a rope swing!" They chat a little bit longer and the couple leaves the office. As soon as the door closes she looks at me and says, "They are REALLY old mom!" Holy cow. I was cracking up at her.

Genetics Results!!

Results are in!!! I called the genetics office again today and found out the microarray test showed.....



Drum roll please....



NO ABNORMALITIES!!!!

God is so amazing! I am absolutely in AWWW of the MIRACLE he has done in our son. The little man God blessed us with!

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support!

Golden Retriever Day in the Park!

Sunday we went to the 3rd Annual Golden Retriever Day in the Park. It was a blast. We went to the 1st one (Silas won a dancing contest) but last year we didn't hear about it... so we were so excited to find out about it and actually be able to attend this year! The girls love it and so do the boys (the dog boys that is). There wasn't a dancing contest this year, so Addie and I decided to enter Silas in the fetching contest. Here we are waiting our turn.
Still waiting...

In action. Addie was the "handler" and Silas did perfectly. We didn't win anything but had a great time! The winners had adult handlers that chucked the ball way far away. Silas could have done that, but it was more fun to see Addie handler her dog.

Kailee and Bryant cheered us on. After the contest the boys got to go to the pool area to cool off. Silas decided he was too good for the muddy water, but Bryant happily laid down in it.

Handsome boys!

All the kids, minus Joshua. He was snugged up in the stroller.

Kailee and Addie assissting the Red Cross lady in the animal CPR demonstration.

The Golden Parade. They had everyone sign up as the entered the park and told us at the end there were 250 Goldens! So much fun to see how different they all are.

The boys and kids were so well behaved, it was a great family outing.

Happy Fourth of July!

For those of you who do not know, I am in love with the 4th of July. It's right up there with Christmas and Fall, in that order. This year was definitly a lay low year. We had just gotten back from Salinas for Mike's surgery, new baby, etc. Bottom line, we just hung out as a fam all day long and then went to our great friends, the Shoemaker's, vineyard to watch fireworks.

I did manage to get our whole fam matching shirts... This is the only pic series we have in them. Let's just say, I saved them for the vineyard and the vineyard didn't exactly go as planned for pics.

This is why... We had been there not even long enough to completely unload and we had an injury. Addie was on the rope swing, asked to be pushed, a friend pushed her and she wasn't really ready and faceplanted. This is how she looked for a good portion of the evening.

We were pretty sure she had just sprained it because it never really got swollen, didn't bruise, she just favored it, but did go back out and play. Since it was the 4th, I didn't want to go to the emergency room and sit with a bunch of drunks so we opted to wait until the pediatrician opened Tuesday (we had to go for swimmer's ear anyway). As soon as the dr. looked at it she said, "Yep, it's broken. A buckle fracture". Happy summer Addie Ray. Poor baby! She hadn't even complained that much. Well, she did milk it a little.

Her best friend, Anabelle checked on her...

Even let her sit in her butterfly chair, and wear her jammies under her clothes when she was cold (I had brought her a change of clothes for the cold, but of course, Anabelle's were far superior.)

This is Beth and I trying to take a cute pic of ourselves... check out the hubbies in the background. Silly boys.

Kailee and Savannah snuggled in.

Tired baby after a busy evening...Here is where she milked it... the next day. For kicks we gave her a bell so we would know if she needed anything. We also put a tv in her room so she could watch movies. I figured if she would go for it that would be the best way to keep her resting her arm. Well, she went for it. Mike and I both wanted to break the bell when the day was done.

Tuesday morning we went to the pediatrician. As I said, she told us it was broken. Sad day. The good news is, we just went to the orthopedic dr. today (they wanted to wait until the swelling went down to put the real cast on) and we got a waterproof cast that she can swim in! He also said that her fracture is the best kind because they heal perfectly. Can't say I'm not surprised Miss Addie Ray was the first of our kids to break something!