WOW!! I'm spoiled!!

Update to this post at the bottom ... original post on Saturday, August 8th.

Steve came home tonight with THESE!! 12 dozen red and pink roses!! He says there is one dozen for each year we've been married plus a surprise tomorrow for the 13th year!! Can't wait until tomorrow!

I love you Steve!!

Update!!

The surprise for the 13th year was a pair of diamond earrings to wear with the diamond necklace he got me for Christmas. BEAUTIFUL!! Loving them. And he also gave me the sweetest card. I am so grateful for Steve and I love him so much!!

I also have to share what Alyssa got for us (keep in mind she took some of her own money and rode her bike to Smith's Marketplace with her friend to get these gifts and then wrapped every one of them),... for me, a Soduku book, two different kinds of gum, and a necklace she made for me. For Steve, an advertisement for the new audioShare 201 that his company is releasing this month (she DREW the picture herself and yes, the piece of paper was wrapped), a candy bar, a pack of gum and a Y made out of pixos. How cute and sweet can she be!!

My day!

Yesterday, I got to go to lunch with a bunch of girlfriends for the August birthdays (Angie's is the 14th, Carol's is the 10th and mine is the 30th). We opted to go this week, before school starts so we'd all have sitters for our little ones.

I always love time out with the ladies in my neighborhood and birthday lunches are no exception! There were 8 of us (can you believe only one person brought her camera and we forgot to even get it out?!). It was Michele, Michelle T, and Michelle W, Laura, Dani and the 3 bday girls (plus Michelle W's twin babies). We went to the Trellis Cafe at the Thanksgiving Point Gardens. Its a yummy, soup, salad and sandwich restaurant, kind of an upscale cafe feel, that is open only for lunch. It overlooks the gardens and is great! We also got free desserts for our bdays so we each ordered a different dessert and then we shared them between all of us. YUMMY but I was SOO full afterward! Thanks ladies for lunch, the yummy chocolates, Mike & Ikes and the CHOCOLATE CAKE! And I'm looking forward to my digital scrapbooking stuff and the pedicure (they gave me gift certificates! - yippee!!!).

When I came home, I took my sitter home and my parents came to pick up my girls for an overnighter at their house! So, from 2:30 yesterday until almost 3pm today, I had no kids at my house! It was a nice break. I worked yesterday afternoon for awhile and then scrapbooked. When Steve got home, we had a date night and went out for dinner. Then I scrapbooked on the living room floor while he programmed and we watched tv. So nice! This morning, I got up and scrapbooked and watched TV. I got 10 spreads done (20 pages). And got layouts planned for 3 more! Yippee! I love my kids, but I really enjoy my personal quiet time!

At 3pm, I picked up the girls and we went to "meet the teacher" at the school!! (See post below). All and all, a great day. Thanks mom and dad for taking the girls. Thanks ladies for lunch yesterday and the gifts. Thanks Steve for a date night last night!

My life is good and I feel so blessed and spoiled!

Meet the Teachers

Its that time again! Back to School! Teacher lists were posted last Wednesday and today was Meet the Teachers afternoon at school. All 3 of my girls will be at Eaglecrest this year. Alyssa is going into 4th grade and has Miss DeWitt. Taylor will be in 1st grade - all day school - with Miss Crowton! And Jessica is doing the school district's preschool - 1/2 day, same time as our kindergarten but only 4 days a week and she'll have Miss Jana and Miss Angie. I'm excited to have all the girls in one school! We are excited about all their teachers too - feel like they are all a good fit for my girls. School starts on Thursday for the older two and a week later for Jessica. Part of me is REALLY ready for school to start. Its that part of me that looks forward to some quiet time, alone at home. Its that part of me that knows my girls do better when we have structure and organization in our lives. But part of me is sad to see summer end - I'll miss all the fun things we do in the summer (camping, hiking, swimming, outdoor stuff!) and a BIG part of me is not looking forward to getting up early again. :) But I know the school year will bring new fun things to do and enjoy and lots of new things to learn for the girls.

So here are the pics ...

Jessica with Ms Jana, Raylene (the afternoon aide) and Angie (morning aide). Jessica will go to morning preschool.
Taylor by her desk with her pencil box and other school supplies! LOVE THE GLASSES. She kept them on the entire time we were at the school (except when I made her take them off for a picture). Taylor was very at ease in Miss Crowton's class. I was very relieved. She was sad that a few of her friends from last year (and that came to her party) are not in her class this year, but then she realized she could make new friends so she was ok! YEAH!

Taylor with Miss Crowton.

Alyssa with Miss DeWitt. Alyssa was a little nervous at first to go in her new class, but then she was just very matter of fact ... very grown up about it. Not a lot to say, acted like it was just "old-hat" to be there. It was kind of cute, but kind of made me sad too. She's really growing up and FAST!

I can't believe they start school in under 36 hours. Where did the summer go?

Laundry Help!

The girls were supposed to be helping me with the laundry last Thursday before we went camping ... sorting it, folding it and putting it away. This is how I found them. They find simple fun in everything! Gotta love it! How simple and joyful a life is through the eyes of a child!

Look closely, you'll see Taylor's black shirt and hair - she's under the clothes that Jess is piling on top!

Thanks to all my visitors!

I've noticed on the "feedjit" that I've had lots of visitors lately. Not sure who everyone is, but I'm so glad you've stopped by and caught up on the life of us!! THANKS for visiting my blog. Would love for you to say hello! Just leave a comment on a post and say hello!

Swim Teacher and Treats!

The girls finished their swim lessons and their teacher promised them treats their last week. So she brought them over last week. Alyssa's treat was LUNCH with Suzy for swimming so well at her swim meet. Jessica and Taylor got to choose their favorite candy bar for trying to swim all the way across the pool. The girls loved Suzy. Had to share some cute pics of them with her when she came over! THANKS SUZY!!
Funny story - Jessica LOVES Suzy. Today, Suzy's younger sister Melissa came over for a few minutes to help me with something. Jessica climbed right up on Melissa's lap and started telling her all kinds of stories and showing her pictures from Jessica's baby book. It was the cutest thing. Then, Alyssa told her that she wasn't Suzy. Jessica looked up at Mel, as if to say "really, you aren't Suzy?" When I confirmed that it was Mel, Suzy's younger sister, Jessica just shrugged her shoulders and kept right on sharing stories with Mel. It was as if to say, that's ok. I love Suzy so much, and you're her sister so you must be pretty great too. Jess and Tay also both LOVE to go past Suzy's house ... just to see which house she lives in. You know you have had a good experience with swim lessons when the girls love their teacher that much. To me, that's half the battle. If they love being at swim lessons, they are going to learn to love to swim and have good memories and feelings about swimming. And that's as important to me as them actually learning the strokes.

The minds of 9 year olds!

Tonight, I had Alyssa and her friend Caitlyn in my van on our way home from a swim team party/awards night. They were discussing many things but the comment I had to laugh about was "I can't wait until Jesus comes again. I want to ask Him for His autograph since he's famous!". Gotta love how a 8 year old's mind works!

She also told me that when Christ comes again, we'll all have pets and love them because Christ loves all creatures. Nice try ... I'm still not getting you a dog Alyssa! She wants a pet so badly! :)

Go faster! Spin more! Whoa!!

We've done lots of fun stuff lately! On the 1st, we took our annual trip to Lagoon. We try to go at least once a summer. We take Karianna with us so she can go on the bigger rides and we stay back with the little girls. Steve and I just don't have the stomach to do the big rides ... whoa, yuck. Must be getting old! Even little rides like the Flying Aces and Tilt-a-Wirl kind of got us! But not the girls! "Make it go faster!" "Make it spin more." "Can we go again?" "Can we go higher?" .... They have the energy and love for rides that Steve and I both had ... but we just can't stomach anymore!

First stop for all of us though ... the Ferris Wheel. Such pretty views from up there!

The other half the group!

On Flying Aces ... wow, that kid likes to drive (fly) crazy!

Steve trying to keep his balance while he gets Jess off the ride - we were both walking a little crooked afterward. Wow, are we wimps or what? DON'T ANSWER THAT!!

Karianna and Alyssa on the Tilt-a-wirl (we rode just before them but I don't have those pics yet). We actually rode this ride twice during the day with the little girls. The second time we spun A LOT more than the first time. They loved it! I laughed a lot while we were at Lagoon- watching how happy and how silly the girls are!! That's why we go places like this ... because of the fun times and memories we have because of it!
Gotta love the kids meal toy from Taco Bell - big sunglasses! Jess got them right before we went to Lagoon and she loved them all day long! Notice she's got them around the rail though!

This ride had the LONGEST lines all day!! Don't waste your time. The line goes slow and the ride isn't worth the wait!If you've ever been to Lagoon, you probably recognize these boats ... they've been there forever. I love that they keep these old classic rides. Steve remembers riding them when he was little ... traditions!

A day at Lagoon just wouldn't be complete without a ride on the 150 year old Carousel!

Me too!!

Giggles, giggles and more giggles as she slid to the outside edge of the car on the Music Express!! She love to try to climb back into the center as it pushes you out.

Faster daddy, faster!!

Jess thought she was pretty cool driving - even if the first time she drove she got stuck in the wall and against this other kid and stayed there the ENTIRE time. Still just a happy, easy-going kid.

Taylor was actually quite good. The first time, she avoided everyone - no bumping for her. The second time, Alyssa drove too and it was all about the bumps!! Perfect time to slam into sisters without getting in trouble!

Heaven help me when she gets her real license! Do you see the crazy grin on her face? CLEAR THE ROADS!! Thank goodness we've got at least 6 years until permit time!

We played in the water park for awhile too - did some of the kid slides with the girls and Steve, Karianna and Alyssa did one of the big slides. Long lines though! We ended the day with dinner in the Gateway at CPK. Yummy! And we were all so tired by the time we got home!