Swimming Lessons

Kali loved every minute of it! She loves the water and is much braver now with putting her face in and under the water. She is even starting to get the arms and leg kicking action going! Hooray!

If I would let Zach play with a noodle, he would look like this all day long! He loves the water and can hold his breath forever under the water. He was a little hesitant at the beginning of lessons because he couldn't touch the bottom (poor kid was the only one in his class who couldn't touch). Although, he quickly built up a little confidence and discovered he could still swim even if he can't touch. He has the arms and leg kicking action down and is becoming quite the little swimmer! Here are a few videos to prove it!

Big girl Kali!!

On Friday I left the kids with Mark for the morning while I took Madelyn to her one year check up at the doctor. When I got home I was greeted by a very excited little Kali who couldn't wait to show me her new trick. Mark sure doesn't waste any time when it comes to hanging out with the kids!! Kali is one PROUD little 3 year old!

Our baby girl is one!

Today was Madelyn's first birthday. I can't believe my baby is one! Where did that year go? I do have to say that Madelyn is such a joy to have in our family and her little personality and spirit brings so much fun into our home. She has been such a great baby and brings nothing but smiles to our faces!

A few things Madelyn is doing right now...WALKING! Full on walking ALL over the house! She is actually my first baby to be walking all over by her first birthday.

She is also no longer eating baby food and prefers any table food we will give her. Some of her favorites are mac'n cheese, green beans, cheerios, yogurt, chicken and rice, spaghetti, cheese, bananas, goldfish, and I'm sure chocolate is on the list after her birthday cake tonight!

She is babbling and saying "Mama, "Dada", and "baba"!

Madelyn loves to play peek-a-boo with her hands and with her blankie. It is one of her favorite games to play. She also loves to listen to music and dance or bounce to it.

She loves bath time and playing in the water...especially if big brother and sister are playing too!

For her birthday today we kept it pretty simple. (For any of you who know me, I am NOT a party thrower.) This morning we gave Madelyn her one big toy from us and let her just play with it, took a few pictures, then called it good. Here she is with her new little stroller pushing toy. She really was loving it and pushed it all over the house.

Then later this evening we let her open a few more presents from her cousins, and Aunt Kristin, and Mema (who is visiting from Texas). We've loved having Mema here!
Why is it they would rather just play with the card then the actual present?!
Madelyn got her first REAL pair of good walking shoes from Mema and Grandpa! Thank you!!
CAKE TIME! We got a yummy ice cream cake from Cold Stone and let's just say it was a hit! We let Madelyn make her mark on the cake first and she was LOVING it!
There were Kit-Kat candy bars on top and she has one in each hand. She was definitely okay with being messy! (unlike my first child)
Then we cut a slice for Madelyn to go to town on ...and she went for it! She got kinda mad when we tried to take it away.Kristin took some great pics that I will have to post later when I get them from her. So I'll just leave you with a few pics from Madelyn's one year pictures that we had done yesterday.

Happy 1st Birthday to our sweet beautiful Madelyn!! We love you so much!!

Are we ready for this?

Well, here she is! This was about a week ago and she has gotten even better since. Madelyn has taken off and there is no turning back now! She will be one this week on the 10th and I can't believe how fast this year has FLOWN by! She is so much fun!! I love this girl to pieces!!

SF Giants game

Last Saturday we packed up the kids and went to a San Francisco Giants game and we actually had a great time! Of course I was a little skeptical about the whole thing and how it was going to go with 3 kids but they actually did really well. It did help that it just happened to be "free Build-a-Bear night for the first 6000 kids under age 14", so when we walked in all three kids got handed really cute SF giants bears and they were loving that!



Our seats were actually really great even though they were pretty high up. We had a great view of the field and the wind was blocked and not blowing on us at all which sure made for an enjoyable evening.



Not sure how much of the game we really watched but it sure made for good times! We just might consider doing it again sometime!

Zach update...

Our little man has been quite busy the last couple weeks with preschool and his little T-ball class that he has enjoyed tons! Here are a few pics of the final class with his coach and the whole team. Zach is quite the little ball player with a good strong lefty swing and throw. He loves playing almost any sport that he can try and I'm sure we'll be doing the real deal t-ball next year with the city league. I didn't get any great pictures of him actually playing but I did get a short video of him hitting.



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Last Friday was Zach's preschool graduation/play day at the park and it was fun to see all the things they were learning with Ms. Jeannie like cute songs for the months of the year, days of the week and they even recited the pledge of allegiance. Zach really has loved going to preschool and he is even more excited to start kindergarten in the fall. He is writing all his letters and numbers very well and he has even started some reading! I can't believe my little boy is growing up so fast! He has become quite the helper and great big brother to his sisters too. I think I may be a little sad next year when he is actually going to go to a real big kid school.


Here he is with his little class of four boys and one girl. He really has loved his class and Ms. Jeannie so much! Zach is such a joy to have in our family and we are so proud of him!!

Memorial Day fun!

For Memorial Day this year I decided to take the kids up to South Lake Tahoe with Grandma Stacy. Mark had to work the whole day and Grandpa wasn't feeling well that day so it was just me and Grandma and the kids. Grandma really wanted to go to check out our campsites that we'll be camping at in July and I wasn't so sure about the long drive up and how the kids would do but I didn't want to stay home and do nothing... And who doesn't love just being in South Lake Tahoe at this time of year!? Surprisingly the kids did great and we had a really fun time just enjoying the beautiful weather and gorgeous scenery of Lake Tahoe! We drove up to Grandma and Grandpa's house the night before so that helped cut up the long drive. The kids did great and loved playing on the beach, going on little nature walks and hikes and just spending fun time with Grandma! Thanks so much Grandma for a fun day!! It was well worth the drive!!




Madelyn didn't like the sand. She sort of freaked out when we took her socks off and set her down.


Smart Grandma brought bubbles and balls for the kids to play with!


This was a little underwater viewing place that we had to walk on a little trail for a while before we found it. The kids were pretty tired by the time we found it but they did enjoy seeing the cool fish under water.


Luckily there were benches to rest on along the way! They were little troopers! We probably walked a couple miles the whole day!

And to top off the day we had to stop at the little ice cream shop and reward ourselves with a "little" treat! This was actually called a "single scoop"!! and the kids were "kids scoops"!! WOW! YUM! Thanks Grandma!!


Exhausted after a long day! They fell asleep in a matter of minutes once we got in the car to drive home. Thanks so much Grandma for going with us and making our Memorial Day one to remember!! We are so blessed to live in such a nice area and only a drive away from beautiful Lake Tahoe! It truly is one of the most gorgeous places on this earth!!