2011 July-September

July 2011

This month brings about Hannah's birthday party. She decided since she has been in gymnastics for a little while, that she wanted a Gymnastics Birthday Party! I can't believe my baby is 5 years old!!! Where does the time go?

Here are all her friends who came to celebrate with her. 

She wanted a barbie doll birthday cake. 

Her favorite instructor was in charge of putting on the party. Thank you Ms. Katelyn! 

Here's Andrew's first experience with an electric toothbrush. Pretty funny!!!

Every summer we like to go canoeing at Nimbus Flat, off of Highway 50 and Hazel. Such a fun family adventure!

The kids also got a new slip and slide so they spent most of July sliding around on it. Such fun!

Andrew got a little water in the face on this one!

With all the nice weather we've been having, we decided to get another project done that has been on the to-do list for a while. A new gate on the side of our house. 

 

Our old one was knocked down when we had redid our backyard, because of all the heavy machinery trying to get through the side of our house. Good thing we've got a handy daddy!

We also celebrated our 10th Anniversary in July! Travis and I were blessed to go to San Francisco for 2 days and spend some quality time there, while our neighbor Natalie watched the kiddos for us--overnight! 

We had many yummy food choices, and ate at Scomas which is always a treat. Got ourselves some yummy seafood stew. Travis showing us how to eat the thing. We were so full afterwards, that we took leftovers back to the hotel and had it for dinner as well. 

We got a good deal at the Holiday Inn Express! Only needed to use one of the beds though! ;)

We went on a ferry ride and got a tour of the San francisco Bay, the different bridges, Ellis Island and Alcatraz. 

Such a fun 10 year anniversary trip!

August 2011

We visited Beales Point many times during our summer vacation. It's only 10 minutes away, and has a wonderful beach and swim area. The kiddos love it. This time we went with our neighbors Natalie, Tyler and Jayne. Tyler is Andrew's best friend. 

We also had a visit from Grandma and Grandpa. This is pretty much what Hannah and Grandpa did most of the trip. 

It was Mom Mom's birthday, so we came down and visited her at her new home in Sonora. Her health is not doing so well, with bouts of forgetfullness, possible Parkinsons, her legs and balance are unsteady. Praying that she gets better soon.

August also brought the end to our summer vacation. So sad! We had a wonderful summer, with so many memories, but school had to start up soon. Here's Hannah's first day at Kindergarten! She got accepted to Green Oaks Fundamental School in Orangevale. Hope she has a great first year!

September 2011

Another project we are working on is getting new garage shelves. Again, so blessed to have a handy husband. He gets the job done and did a beautiful job. 

Hannah has been in gymnastics since she was 3 1/2 years old. She got to show off for us how she is doing. So proud of her. 

The kiddos are such good helpers in the kitchen. Here they are practicing teamwork. Hannah is cutting the ends off, and Andrew is snapping the beans in half. 

2011 Recap April-June

April 2011

Every Spring, if it's open for the season we like to go to Daffodil Hill. It's located in Volcano, right outside of Jackson, CA. The lady that used to own the farm, just started planting daffodils on this one hill of her farm, and every year she planted more and more, and made paths to walk through the gardens. It's really a beautiful sight to see. Thankfully, we were blessed to go on another sunny day. 

The kids had a blast running down the different paths. 

Thankfully  this year (in comparrison to the last couple of years) neither one of the kids accidentally picked any daffodils. They just got to smell them which was good enough for them. Andrew said, "But they don't smell like anything!"

Our "little" Hannah is growing up way too fast. She's already in preschool, and having a blast.  Love that girl.

Also, in April was Easter. We got to spend it with Mom Mom who lives in Sonora now. Thankfully, her niece Patti brought her to Jackson Park (Detert Park) which is half way for both of us and we got to have an Easter Egg Hunt with her. 

The kids wore bunny ears, and had a blast trying to find all the Easter Eggs that we hid. Of course Hannah was more interested in picking flowers, her favorite past time.

This one is our favorite little blue bunny. Isn't he cute?

May 2011

It's Andrew's 3rd Birthday Party! We decided to celebrate it at our house, and Andrew wanted a sports/racing themed party, so I decided to make a race-track cake. Everybody sang happy birthday to him in their loudest voices.

He got to play basketball with his new hoop.

He loved playing soccer. 

And he got a new baseball bat and t-ball set. 

Overall, he had a super fun birthday. Especially when you finish it off with birthday cake.

Since the weather has been nice, we decided to do a backyard makeover. We put in new wood shavings, and got rid off a bunch of dirt and mud. Travis and the kids worked pretty hard. I worked hard too...taking pictures!

Okay...maybe I didn't JUST take pictures. 

Yey for a nicer backyard!!

Although...so much for the "nicer" weather we thought we were going to have. It started hailing right in the middle of our project! We were borrowing a friend's car and trailer to unload everything, so we had to keep going!!!

The last day of preschool arrived for Hannah. I can't believe she will be a Kindergartener this coming Fall. EEEKK! Not ready! 

She had such a fun year at Small Wonders. Definitely will be putting Andrew in the program when he's 4! She made a best friend there, Marissa. They had a blast together. I hope they will stay friends for many years to come.She even shed some tears when she had to say good-bye. 

There's her whole class in the front of the chapel on their last day. 

 I think she has grown a tad from when she started preschool. Hmmm. So glad she had a fun year!

On May 30th, Hannah rode her 2 wheel bike for the first time! We were so proud of her. 

We kept helping her down the sidewalk in front of our house, holding on to the back of the seat. Then she eventually just got it. She didn't want to stop either. She wanted to keep at it! Love her determination.  Here's a little video that shows her going down the sidewalk by herself. Good job Hannah!

June 2011

The big event in June, was Justin (Trav's brother) was getting married in Illinois and we all flew out to celebrate with him and his new wife, Jennifer. So excited for them both! Travis was a groomsmen and Hannah got to be a flower girl. She has been waiting eagerly for this day to arrive. We've red books about being a flower girl, she got to try on her new dress, and practice how to fling the flower pedals just right. 

The kids were so cute dressed up in their finest. Andrew had a nice vest on and Hannah got to wear her flower girl dress with a pink sash. For the first time ever, she also had her hair done in a real salon. Here they are taking a little break and playing peek-a-boo.

Here are Justin and Jennifer cutting their wedding cake. They were nice to each other and didn't stick it in each other's faces! 

 

Here we are with Grandma and Grandpa.

Unfortunately Uncle Daniel and Aunt Jenna were unable to make it. Daniel was on TDY in Greece and Jenna was working at a new job in Ramstein. So, Travis was the stand-in best man for Daniel.

 

On our visit, we also went to the Chicago Aquarium called Shed. They got to watch a white Balooga whale show with their cousin Taylor.

2011 Recap January-March

Since it's been such a long time that we have posted anything, I thought a recap of 2011 would be a good idea. Let's start with January 2011!

Travis worked very hard to get his work bench done in our garage, and he started the year off right by completing the project. So proud of him.

Now I can finally fit our car in the garage as well, since we decided to clean the whole garage out. 

Andrew of course wanted to help as well!

February 2011

 Daddy got to take Hannah on a "Daddy-daughter" date to see Disney on Ice. A neighbor happened to have discounted tickets to see it. They had a blast. 

 

Hannah's favorite part was seeing "Belle" and all the different princesses on ice skates. 

We also got to go to a snow park off of Highway 50. It was a bright, sunny day but still plenty of snow everywhere. 

Hannah and Andrew had a blast sledding. They were a little timid at first, but once they got the hang of it, they wanted to do it again and again. Especially Hannah. 

They even went over a couple of bumps coming down the hill. Here's Andrew holding on for dear life. 

They also got to make mini snowmen with Daddy. There wasn't quite enough snow to make bigger snowmen, so the little ones had to suffice. 

March 2011

It's my birthday month! Travis treated me by taking me on a train ride called the Sacramento River Train. It started out in Woodland, and took us down close to Sacramento, and then we headed back. It was a cold, rainy and WINDY day. Hair kept blowing everywhere...thank goodness we had a train car indoors. 

We even had the pleasure of listening to some fun, country-guitar music from this fellow. He was pretty funny. 

Thank you hubby for the wonderful time. I had a blast. 

It's definitely Spring time!! It sure has been raining a lot around here, and on the days it is not, I encourage the kiddos to play outside. Well, one day they came back looking like this. 

  

I really do have the best job in the world. Never a dull moment. Happy Spring!!