Pumpkins, part deux

We took Coop to the patch now. Spence insisted that Coop needed to go, too. We have some great patches around here, but we went back to the familiar Bear Creek Pumpkin Patch. Spence had a grand time getting dirty, and Coop loved walking around, trying to catch up with big brother. He does that quite a bit. Today he saw Spence sitting on the couch watching a show, and Coop climbed up to sit just like his brother. Of course, his attention span is about 5 seconds for TV, which is fine with me, so it wasn't enough time to run and get the camera.

Poor Coop, he also got 5 shots today! My poor baby...he was so brave, and was even laughing later in the evening. Spencer remarked in the car on the way there, "Mommy, I am so proud that I don't have to get shots!" Cracks me up...I have been saying to him things like, "Good, you helped your brother. You must be proud of yourself." and "You stayed in bed last night! You must feel good!"....comments courtesy of Dr. Kevin Leman, author of Making Children Mind Without Losing Yours...a great discipline book, with a Christian parent's perspective. Check it out, mamas!
Enjoy the pictures.... I love the one of Coop chasing after his brother...what we have to look forward to...lovin' it!!!!!!! Boys rock!

Haircut and pumpkin patch!

Spencer went on his first field trip today! We went to the pumpkin patch. It was his first bus ride, too. He could hardly wait to go on the bus! The pre-schoolers were very well behaved. It was an enjoyable morning. Spencer is sporting a new 'do, also. He was getting pretty shaggy, so Daddy took him and he's almost bald (to me, anyway!). I wanted to cry when i saw him. He is so old looking now. These moments are passing too quickly. I am afraid if I blink, my boys will be grow up and be men. I can't handle that! But enjoy the pics...

TV Time

Aaahhh, a sight that warms this teacher's heart...her two boys reading...heehee...

Fall TV...what's on your "must see" list? Me, I haven't really found any new shows. My DVR still records "Grey's Anatomy" ( a must see!!!) and "How I Met Your Mother" (so cute!). I half enjoy the new show, "The Class", the characters are interesting, but it's not a must see for me. I DVR "One Tree Hill", but I watch most of it in fast forward. I get through the hour long show in 20 minutes. I don't why I feel like to have to know what's going on. Weird. I am looking forward to my "OC" returning, but now that Marissa Cooper is dead, I think it'll change the show too much. Ryan is quitting Berkeley for boxing?!?
Joe and I tried watching"30 Rock" tonight, but it didn't get any laughs out of us. Plus, the actors are soooo liberal in "real life". It's funny...in college I attended the Democrat Club meetings and campaigned for Democrat candidates (I interned with a political campaign firm in Santa Barbara), but now as wife, mom, and adult, I have become much more conservative. Plus, I think my hubby has rubbed off on me. Life is full of twisty turns and you'll never know where you'll find yourself.
I better go start my report cards...ugh...my least favorite part of teaching...grades....But I am really liking 4th grade! It's a good grade to teach. It's actually the grade I wanted to teach while working on my credential, but I have never taught it until now.
Good night!

Party time

Today we partied for Aiden's 3rd birthday at Kiddieland. Luckily, I brought my helper, Maddie...whew...once 2 are mobile, it gets harder and harder to bring them out alone...
we had a fun day. We ended the day at Grammy & Grampy's house with mexican food and playing outside. The cousins (Spence, Coop, Jake, Tyler, Riley and Maddie) had a blast, climbing all over the jungle gym, swinging, and just running around being crazy. Coop, of course, wants in on the action. He is one busy busy boy. Boys are so much fun!!!

Note to self...

...be careful about snack time! Maybe think twice about graham crackers and peanut butter or chocolate pudding (though I did not give to Coop...he stole from his big bro). Oh well...the joys of childhood, getting messy....

5 weird things

(Aren't they tooo cute....)


Ok, Sally tagged me....
5 Weird Things About Yourself....

1. I have a lock phobia. I have to check, double check, and sometimes triple check that I locked the car door or house. When I went to Nashville last week, we left at 5:00 AM, and I was worried for hours that I left the house unlocked (and maybe the door not shut all the way...).

2. I set my alarm for times like 6:22, 6:37, 7:03...never times like 6:30 or 7:00.

3. I have to write everything on the calendar, hence, my calendar is always full...too full

4. I get headaches a lot. I have been to the doctor and the eye doctor, and they can't find anything wrong.

5. My eyes do not like glasses. I get my eyes checked, glasses ordered, and then within a few days, my prescription is wrong. Back to the doctor, new prescription, and still happens. I have been to 3 different doctors, and it still happens. I prefer my contacts anyway.

OK, I am tagging: Vicki and Brian....go!

SCrappers: Here's a cool tip from Heidi Swapp's blog: rub the sides of your pictures with sandpaper, and then you don't have to mat them. It's a cool technique. Check out her blog. I just went and tried it on a pic and it looks good.

I'm baaaack!

OK, I made it and I'm home...boy, did I miss my boys a lot. But I came back inspired to be a better mom! If you are mom of a child 5 and under, go find a MOPS group! It's such a great organization! I was amazed at how close many groups got and how much they did for one another.
PLus, seeing Nashville was cool, too. No, I didn't go to the Grand Ole Opry this time(even though we were staying right next door...here.) But I went out with the Fergusons to Franklin and downtown historic Franklin and saw their house. It's so different in Tennessee. So green and lush, with trees and bushes everywhere. I really enjoyed touring and was inspired to maybe move there myself. Maybe...it would be nice to get more for our money than what we get in CA and be a stay at home mom. Is that crazy?
Anyway, before we up and move, I did really enjoy our visit. BUT I was happy to be home with my boys. They missed me. I think Daddy missed me the most! He did a great job!
Hope all is well with you, my friends.
Sorry, no pics to post. I didn't bring my camera. Bought postcards. But go check out the link and see the awesome Opryland Hotel. It's gorgeous!

I'm off!

Leaving tomorrow at 5AM to fly out to Nashville!!!! I am going to the MOPS convention...so excited, but also not so excited. I don't want to leave my boys....they'll be fine, daddy loves to "batch" it with them (bachelor), so it'll be popcorn, McDonald's, movies and staying up late. Will they miss me?
Hope all is well with everyone! See you in a few days. :-)
I leave you with my babies on a wagon ride this week!

Fresno?

This came from an article on yahoo.com (It's only the ending):
"Britney Spears, 24, gave birth to the baby who could be Sutton Pierce early Tuesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. She was admitted to the hospital after experiencing discomfort Monday, ultimately undergoing a Cesarian section four days earlier than scheduled.
According to various baby-name Websites, Sutton is a name of English origin used for both boys and girls, and meaning "the town to the South."
Spears hails from the Southern state of Louisiana. Federline, her 28-year-old husband, hails from Fresno, a California city south of Chowchilla."

Have you ever heard Fresno described that way???? Chowchilla is a tiny town(about 11,00-15,000) and Fresno is a big city! Actually, I think only "locals" will get this...
I just burst out laughing when I read this! HA!

Go Vote

Go here and vote for Under the Influence of Giants to be "who's next"!!!!

http://launch.yahoo.com/promotions/whosnext/

2 posts in 1 day!

This is for you, Auntie Emese...2 posts in 1 day...and your first day back at work...hope you are feeling OK. Miss you!


These are blasts from the past...the ones of Spence are from right around when he turned 2. The other is Aunt Meg with Coop when he was almost a month old.

Priceline dot com

Hey...check out www.priceline.com ...it rocks! Joe and I have used it many times over the years and gotten nsome great rooms. Basically, you enter in your location and a price you want to pay. We usually start with $50 and see what we can get. We've stayed in great places (Doubletrees, Marriotts, Hiltons, etc) in the bay area and San Diego and now Pasadena. We weren't getting anything with $50 last weekend, so I started looking up places on other sites and found we would probably be staying in a Quality 8 or something else. So we tried priceline one more time and entered the price we'd pay for a pretty cheap place, and we got the Sheraton! Yay! (However, jenny, in my opinion, I think the Marriott beds are better!) So next time you are going somewhere, try it. I promise you can stay at pretty decent places for pretty cheap!

This week is flying by...wheeeee....Coop had his 15 month appt and now is 29 inches! Go baby! The doctor had been a little worried b/c he had been very small at 9 months, but he's growing and growing...
Hopefully we'll finish painting the hall this weekend...maybe we start the family room?
Did you hear Britney Spears had her 2nd child, a boy? Congrats! :-)

Family Ties

If you haven't talked to or visited a certain family member in a while, stop reading this and go do it. It's so important to keep in touch with family!
I got to see some family this weekend that I hardly ever see. The main problem is that we are far away (Florida and Virgin Islands), but still...I miss them and love them so much. We got together for my Grandma's service ay her church. I think Grandma would have approved of the service. I know she is in a better place now, in heaven with her beloved husband . She had strong faith. We also had a nice time visiting with the family and telling family stories.
I am posting some pics of my cousin Amy, and Jen and me with Aunt Emese.
(And as a bonus, a cute pic of my Coop with his favorite toy, the remote! :))

busy busy bees

We have been so busy lately...Spencer is enjoying pre-school! I am busy with my 4th graders, I enjoy that age group a lot. Coop is busy getting into everything and climbing like a madman! :-) Just like his daddy, Grammy says! Joe is busy with work and life....he works at the pre-school every week! Lucky him! He loves it, too. Tomorrow our MOPS @ Nite group begins. I am very excited. If you are in the MOPS age bracket (pregnant to a age 5 children), join a group. I really feel like I have learned a lot about being the best mom I can be. Michelle and I are going with some of our MOPS leadership group to Nashville in 2 weeks....yippee!
We're also headed to LA this weekend to my grandma's service. Joe says we should just move back to LA, we have been there so often lately. Yes! :-) (Can't wait to see you, Jenny!)
Sorry I have been MIA lately, so busy...I know many of you are, too! Kim is busy with baby Amanda, who is a very good baby acoording to mom. Lucky!!! Robin just moved into a new house in the Seattle area...can't wait to hear all about it! Sally is back to teaching...how's it going this year???? Who else is reading my blog? What's new with YOU???? :-)

I leave you with a pic of Coop and Daddy playing on the computer.

SD pix for auntie Jen

OK, Jeanya, here are some of the pics...can't wait to see you next weekend...saving ALL my pics to discs thanks to Vicki's passionate plea to all of her friends (she lost many great pics on her computer). Thanks, Vicki (mama to be to a girl!!!! I'm thinking Coop's future wife?hee-hee)!

I miss you, Grandma

Grandma, you will be missed. I am so glad I saw you just a few weeks ago.

Precious Morgan

Here's one of the cutest little girls in the world...Baby Morgan at her Naming Ceremony! (Yay, Robin, I got it on!!!!)

Ohhh...my pics worked....here's Tegan!!!!! :-) From a week ago...Spencer's first best friend!

My baby is grown up

Feeling a little mopey...my baby Spence started pre-school today. How in the world did that happen???? My babies aren't babies anymore....he loved school, by the way. He looked so cute! His favorite part was playing with the trains in the yellow room. :-)
I am also a little mopey about school..liking my new partner, but other stuff are kinda bumming me out...oh well...anyway have a LOT of money to give us so I can stay home????

stuff I hate continued

Ah, Sally, you reminded me...
10. I hate doing report cards! I love teaching, but I do not like all the grading and paperwork! I get behind and then have to make a mad rush to catch up. I like to do daily assessments to know where my kids are.

I also hate crowded places, especially when I am with my 2 small boys. Waiting in line with them is hard. Especially my very mobile-on the move- can't stand still Cooper. His grammy says he is just like his daddy! We postponed our Disneyland trip for later this fall...hopefully less crowded than summer! :-)

Oh, and being stuck in traffic with 2 boys who may or may not be happy or hot or thirsty or hot...

OK, gotta go mop the floors...and help Joe paint...my favorites! Yippeeeee.....

10 Things You Hate Doing

Ok, 10 on Tuesday's newest tag is 10 Things you hate doing...here's mine...

1. Cleaning the toilets
2. Scrubbing the shower (anything bathroom related)
3. Painting the top part of the wall
4. Mopping (Can you tell cleaning is not my thing...)
5. Taking my car in to get fixed
6. Writing big checks
7. Putting away baby clothes because they won't fit my babies anymore...
8. hate being late and I am late a lot now....ugh...
9. losing my keys (starting to stretch...I guess maybe cleaning is my hated thing...)
10. hmmmm....

Ok, that was harder than I thought. Ok, I am tagging Sally, Vicki, and Brian....

Weekend Fun

So we ventured down south again to visit friends and go to Morgan's naming ceremony (Robin and Peter's beautiful baby girl). We had a blast! First we stayed with Tegan and family. Tegan was Spencer's first best friend. We love his family. Spencer had a great time playing with Tegan (and seeing Evan, his cute baby brother). He is the most well behaved 3 year old ever! Joe and I were amazed at him...he certainly seems much older than 3 and 2 months...Charity and Shane are some amazing parents!! Our boys weren't in the best form, though I know 2 long trips and a week without mommy all day didn't help. No more car trips for awhile...
We also visited with the Hayes family and their new addition, Summer. So cute! Diane, one of my dearest friends and Spencer's godmother, came over and chatted with us for a while at Charity's house. Diane is also mother to Aaron, lead singer of Under the Influence of Giants, a hot new band. They have been in People the last 2 weeks, on Jimmy Kimmel, and have a video on rotation on MTV. If you love dance music, you'll love them. Check it out on itunes!!! Awesome!!!
On Sunday we attended the naming ceremony. It was so good to see Robin. I miss her a lot. She is such a fun friend and we always have a good time together. Isn't her daughter just precious???? She slept through the whole party!
On the way home, we ran into a brush fire on the 5 and sat on the Grapevine for 2 hours!!! Augh! It was closed and we wern't sure what to do. Go back to LA? Just wait? Luckily (I guess...) they opened it before we had to be diverted onto an alternate route that would have taken us off and around the Grapevine, a delay of ??? hours! So we made it home, and I went straight to bed as today was my FIRST day of school! Already! But I survived and Maya, my new teaching partner, and I enjoyed our day. Tomorrow I'm off at 11:50, so I am looking forward to my shorter days!
UGH>>>>My pics won't link....Robin, I'll keep trying...I'm not sure what is going on....ugh...

Amanda's here!

Kim and Mike welcomed baby Amanda Joy yesterday! Congrats! Can't wait to see pictures! So excited for these guys!

pics that didn't post

my pics won't post...waaah...not my day!

Broken...

...toe....I broke my toe this morning...owwww! I was on my way to school, had the boys in the car, ran back to the house to get something and owww...ran into the handle of the hose house...my pinky toe was literally pointing the other way! It hurt soooo bad!!! I dropped the boys off at their auntie's house (Aunt Chelle) and went straight to Urgent Care. After an xray, a shot to numb the toe (MORE pain) and a post op shoe, I was at school. Monday is the first day of school. Nothing like starting the year with a broken toe. Hmmmm.....oh well....
I guess the house will stay half painted, the rooms messy...how did I get so far behind????

That's all...I'll leave with some pics from our San Diego trip. The boys had a blast! Spencer wants to move to San Diego (me, too!). Anyone else????

Kim, anxious to hear baby news...the countdown's on!

For the grandmas

Grandmas....here are some shots of Coop and his haircut! :-) He looks so cute and so grown-up! San Diego pictures coming soon!!!!
P.S. Little Locks in Ja Jolla rocks!!!!!

new shoes...

Cooper got his first pair of new shoes! We went to the cutest boutique, the owner is sooo sweet (vicki, I'll take you when you guys come up next!). They were out of size 4 in the shoes I really wanted, so she got on the phone to order more from the company, but I didn't want to wait so I picked another pair. They are so cute! Very fall-like...you can see the pics. In one of the pics, doesn't my baby look soooo old! Waaaah! (Edited to add, my links aren't working today...hmmm, but if you want to check out the shoes, they are See Kai Run style "Diego" at www.seekairun.com)

Summer's here!

Summer Hayes, baby of my friends Colleen & Chris, was born last night! Yay! I just got the news via a friend, but I had to post. Her big brother is Turner, 2. He must be so happy!
Congrats, Hayes Family!

Tagged

So Sally tagged me...what are 10 random songs that would come up on your ipod?
Well, I do not own an ipod (and that's OK with me, even though I know almost everyone owns one now...), but if I did, here are 10 songs that would come up on mine (from my itunes downloads and CD collection):
1. Dani California...Red Hot Chili Peppers
2. Mama's Room...Under the Influence of Giants (know this band! :-))
3. Feel Good Inc...Gorillaz
4. Stars are Blind...Paris Hilton (I know, I know, but I am a sucker for reggae/ska songs...)
5. Dancing Queen...Abba
6. Riley Jo...Hometown Hero (now they are band #2 above..)
7. Jane Fonda...Mickey Avalon
8. Lilian...Depeche Mode
9. Home...Coldplay
10. Copacabana...Barry Manilow (have I ever told you I got to stay up late in kindergarten to watch his concerts on TV, is that weird? Was I just a precocious child?)

OK, so I am tagging....Brian, Vicki, (fellow bloggers) and my other readers...send me your 10 random Ipod songs...tell me in the comments. :-) Get a blog! It's free, Kim, you KNOW your family and friends would love to see pics of the new baby girl as she grows...and Robin, you too, your LA family and friends would LOVE to keep posted on Morgan and Justin's lives....

where oh where does time go

OOPS, forgot to turn pic sideways...my boys fingerpainting outside!!!

Ok, where did the summer go? What was on my list again? Did I accomplish it? Noooo....BUT I did get Spencer potty trained, part way...he is trained enough for school, even naps in undies. So that's good. Still have to paint the front rooms, but we did pick a paint color...greystone from Kelly-Moore. We'll go pick up the paint tomorrow. You can see the actual color in the photos of Kim at her shower. I loved the paint color and asked Jen, the owner of the house, for the color. Did a lot of cleaning around the house, LOTS of papers cleared out, ready for the shredder. Even had a garage sale yesterday. Just sold junk, junk that Joe was ready to haul off to the dump. But I made about $76 in junk! Yesss!
Garage sales are weird, though. Should I be offended when someone pulls up, looks from inside the car, and drives away? Do they not want my junk??? One lady yelled out in joy when she saw the VHS version of The Birdcage. She said she had been looking for it! Ha! So, now there are only a few boxes ready to be carted off to la dump.
I have also started ebaying stuff and making some moola! I made almost $30 in shabby chic books (living with 3 boys has made me give up on my dream of a shabby chic home). Now selling a figurine and an oil lamp that has been in the box since a student gave it to me about 5 years ago (shhh, don't tell, it was nice thought)...so have a nice little chunk in my paypal account and have bought a few things for the boys, a wall grille for me, a book, some scrapbook supplies, and am bidding on some fall clothes for Spence. Joe loves it!
Ok, better go, my little man just woke up and is rooting around the doughnuts from this morning's doughnut run with Daddy. So long, healthy snack!

Baby Girl

Here's a pic of our newest member of the Brown clan, isn't she a cutie? She was grimacing because my camera has the worst strobe flash...a good reason for a new camera, right??? (Hint, Joe!) I have a cuter pic, but it shows her mommy in it, and I'm not sure Amber wants a pic of herself a few hours after giving birth on my blog! Ha!

Sally, I know you tagged me...

Sally, I know I was tagged...how fun! I will add my response later and tag others...watch out!

New baby, hot, and smarty alert!

OK, first congrats to my brother-in-law and sister-in-law on the birth of their baby girl, Panacea, this morning in Sacramento. She is welcomed by her big brother Tyler, 2. We're going up later today to see them. :-) The picture posted today is Spencer and Tyler last summer. Sorry it is kinda blurry, I think I need to get more pics of Tyler!

TOO HOT here still...we're breaking all kinds of records, it's been 110+ for over a week now. You open the front door and feel like you are walking into an oven. We can't do much of anything and the boys are getting cabin fever. Good thing our vacation to San Diego is coming up soon. We can't even swim because the water is so warm, it's not refreshing at all. Yuck...

Last, a shameless mommy brag, I don't want to be THAT kind of mom, but hey, I know my relatives are reading this (Hi!), so I'll post it. Others, you can leave now. :-) Spence was eating breakfast this mornig and playing with some alphabet magnets. He picked up the P and said, "P-p-p popcorn!" So, I picked up a few others, "R-M-O-B-E" and he correctly identified them! Go, Spence! I will ADD that his Leapfrog ABC Phonics DVD is his favorite movie right, so he is learning through that. I did attempt to pull out the flashcards (hey, I am a teacher after all), but he wasn't interested. He was more interested in napping with them, so maybe osmosis??? Hee-hee....
Stay cool and hope your summer is going well.

SO HOT>>>>>>>>>and scrapbooking

Whooo-hooo, it is H.O.T here...omigosh...it was 103 on our way to church at 10:30 and 111 on our way home from the grocery store at 1:00....it's like an oven out there. We are staying in, with the air blasting, the boys in diapers and undies....what about you? Are you roasting, too???

OK, so more of my friends are starting scrapbooking (i.e. Kim!), and I wanted to post about a fabulous book you need to get if you are a scrapper. It's not really a "layout" book, though it does have many examples, it's more of a theory. When I started scrapping, I had to go in order and had ro scrapp all the big moments in Spencer's life. That's probably why his first year takes up 2 overstuffed albums! And heck no, he is NOT taking it with him when he's older...unless I REALLY like his wife! BUT, now that I have Coop, and our family, and our house, and life, and etc.etc to scrap, I am soooo far behind. So I read Stacy Julian's The Big Picture Scrapbooking, she also has a website here. It totally freed me up from the "so behind" mentality. She suggests scrapbooking what you want to, telling your stories, and just putting them in albums that are not chronological, but topical: Birthdays, Our Town, Where We Go, What We Do, Our friends, etc...even for the kids once they start school, have a School of Life album that does 4 pages a year and includes going-ons from that year, not just school related. That is the album her kids will take when they move out. I love it! She also stresses how the story is the important thing...we want to remember stories, not how pretty that paper was. I am working on my journaling. I want Coop to know what his favorite food are and how he loves to climb everything and started crawling backwards first. I want Spence to know what his favorite books were at age 2 and how he is fascinated by aliens right now and how he remembers how to get everywhere (very good at directions!). Sooo, anyway, that's my little commercial for her book. Read it, you'll be happy and feel better about feeling behind. OK, so I am only about 7 pages into Cooper's first year album, but that's OK. I'll get there. I am working on a Halloween 6X6 album of their costumes and the stories behind them and just finished "Our House" album of the building and moving in. So, check it out....

High aspirations

So this morning as Spence is watching the garbage truck pick up the trash, he turns to me and says, "Mommy, when I get bigger, I am going to drive the garbage truck! When I get a little bigger!" So much for the doctor's kit ("Don't you love helping people, Spence?") and playing producer with the cell phone and coffee (that would be Daddy's pick!). Hee-hee...gotta love 'em!

On the bright side, he is wearing underwear most of the time...even to storytime at the library today! We had our first "visit a public restroom" experience...very lovely with Spence and Coop, who is into everything! Pic is of Spence and Jake. BFF.

POOL TIME

screensuckers and other thoughts

Ok, so a few months ago I read an article about organizing your life. One of the things it talked about was "screensuckers"...spending time on the computer and in front of the TV. Me, totally guilty! yes, I could be cleaning, organizing my cave of a closet, etc, etc....but I am sucked in by the lure of the glow of a screen....I am cutting down my TV time (I am actually not a big TV person, but can sit and watch House Hunters and Grey's Anatomy and of course some reality TV)and try not to check out blogs every day!
But I have been checking on my ebay accounts (3 auctions going on right now, 1 item I have bid on, 15 hours to go....) and trying to catch up on old emails for about the last half hour. I need to get off and go do laundry and scrap...trying to finish my "Our House" scrapbook. Do you get sucked in, too????
I also read in that same article that "organizing" is the "new dieting". Everyone is doing it and there are all kinds of products and books on the market about it. Here and here are two of my fav websites about it.
Ok, so I'm turning off the computer and doing something else....
The pic is of my 3 boys earlier this month because I HAVE to post a pic. :-)

Kim...too cute!

I went to my friend Kim's baby shower last weekend (she's also one of my blog readers...hi Kim!). She looks so adorable! She is one of those pregnant people who look like they stuck a basketball under their shirt, everything else remains the same. To be honest, I wanted to think of myself like that, but I look at pics of pregnant me and see the puffed up cheeks, for one. But Kim, even her face is same, too! Too cute!! :-) I am so excited for her to be a mom. She will be great! August 15 will be here before we know it!
Joe and I also went away last weekend. It was nice. Our wake up call was for 11 AM. In our life-before-kids, Joe and I were known for sleeping in. Sadly, I still woke up about 8, but I made myself lay in bed until 11. It was nice!
Happy Friday!

Life in Oregon

So some good friends of ours moved to the Portland, Oregon area and Nicole started a blog of her experiences. She is a writer, an amazing one, and I love reading her posts. Go check it out! Oregon sounds like an interesting place to live, but until Nicole and her husband started talking about it, I never really wanted to move there. Now Portland is on our "must check out list" of where to maybe move next. The pic is of Nic and her family.
Next post...pix of a pregnant Kim!

Summer TV...

Hmm...finally enjoying me some summer TV! They are showing Season 1 of Grey's Anatomy on Thursdays, as well as on Sundays! Watched the first 2 episodes last night. They look so young...ha, it was only a year ago!
Also, Big Brother All Stars started last night! I used to be a sucker for reality TV. Survivor, The Mole, Real World...you name it, we watched it. But I have slowly weaned myself off of it. OK, I may watch an occasional episode of Real World (or The Hills, the new show I am sucked into...it's not that interesting, but I can't stop watching!). BUT Joe and I love Big Bro! It's so bad it's good! This summer they brought back old players. We were able to just jump right into watching, since we already knew the players. I hate Alison....ugh, but she's up for eviction already...heehee...check it out, it will be on 3 nights a week (!!!), so you can actually have something to watch this summer. Anyone else out there BB fans????

New baby!!!! Joe's uncle, Mike, and his wife Holly just welcomed baby Aidan last night in Santa Barbara! Congrats! I can't wait to see the newest baby cousin. More babies to come this month...my friend Colleen is due at the end of the month and my sister-in-law Amber is due Aug. 1st. Babies!!!!! :-)

Tomorrow is Joe and my 6th anniversary (6 years of marriage, 11 years together). We are going to the Bay area for my friend Kim's baby shower and then a night away without kids. My first night away from Coop. A little nervous...

whew, what a week

We've been so busy, having so many friends and my sister and Justin in town for the last few days. Sleep, what is that??? We've had 3 BBQ's and a dinner at my parents during the last 4 days. It was weird just to eat dinner with the 4 of us tonight. I am sad that we are returning back to normal. I have a hard time with some changes. I can get very emotional. When I went to sleepovers or hosted a sleepover when I was younger, I was always moody and sad afterwards. Now I am feeling sad as I walk by the empty office where Jen, Just, and the 2 dogs slept. Coop walked into the room after he woke up from his nap and was saying "Da, Da!", looking for the dogs. That kids loves animals! He is never frightened, either, big dogs, little dogs, whatever. Yes, he is officially a walker now! We are going to buy his first pair of big boy shoes this week. Time to move on from the Robeez.
Now my 3 boys are asleep, and I am doing some cleaning. Some. I am tired.
But I wanted to post some pics because I know a few people will be excited to see them. The first is Spence and Jake waiting for the fireworks show to begin. The 2nd is my sis and mom. The 3rd is Coop excited with his cupcake, and the 4th is the shot of our firework cache. Whew, we had a lot. We spent the evening at my in-law's and had a BBQ and many friends joined in on the fun. Jenny, I couldn;t figure out how to pull up your camera pics for my blog! I will keep trying. She got some AWESOME pics with her new camera! Hope you had a great holiday, too!

Happy Fourth!!!!

Happy 4th of July to you! God bless our wonderful country, with all the freedoms we have to enjoy!
We had an early get together at our friend Steph's house on Sunday night and it was so much fun to get together with the "Merced Gang" (minus one). I am posting a pic of all of us and our kiddos. Steph is in front, then Joe and me, then in back are Chip and Vicki (who are expecting their first baby in Jan.!) and the Fergusons, Brian and Kelli (and their four kids: Ali, Brennah, Corbin and Macy). The original group was Steph, me, Joe, Chip, Brian, and Ryan. Now we get together only a few times a year because we're all spread out: us here, Steph in San Francisco, the Fergusons in Tennessee, and Chip and Vicki in LA. Ryan lives in LA, too. What fun time we have had and will continue to have! You enjoy your day, too! :-)