Outback

Lucky for us, Paul's mom was able to visit for a few days following a business trip she had. We enjoyed the visit and wish so much that she didn't live so far away. These pics were taken the night before she left our house at good old Outback steakhouse.

Apparently Anna is into rabbit ears...nice.

End of Soccer Season

Another great soccer season has come to a close. Anna's team did so well and were undefeated for the second year in a row. This was Lainie's first year. I wondered how well she would do being quite the cheerleader, but she loved it! In one of her games she asked me why I didn't cheer for her as loud as I cheer for Anna and I felt terrible. I did cheer, just not as often I guess. (Truth be told, Anna's games were just a bit more intense.) From then on I cheered my heart out for her. It paid off, she scored her very first goal in the second to last game and could not have been more proud of herself. It was awesome. Next fall should be interesting with 3 in soccer.

Halloween 09

Halloween seemed to come so quickly this year. We had soccer games in the afternoon and then came home for a quick pumpkin carving session and dinner, then out trick or treating with our neighborhood friends. The babes lasted about an hour and then I brought them home while Paul finished up with the girls.

7 Months

My two sweet babes all big and sitting up on their own. Lily has been sitting up for awhile now and Owen started last week. Such cute little ones.

I have no idea

Dont ask...really I have no idea what she does at night to get this bad of bed head.

darn gopher!

I apologize to any of my PNW friends who are animal rights fans, but this gopher needed to die! I patiently waited 5 long years to get grass and this little guy along with several of his friends are ripping up my yard! They sell smoke bombs and I've heard stories about juicy fruit gum, but there is a certain satisfaction that comes with seeing the actual carcass.

New Do

For those of you who were asking to see it. Not sure how I feel about the bangs.

Bugsy

Our little man. Lainie came up with his nickname. He's had really huge eyes since birth and it reminded her of the guinea pig on bedtime stories. Isn't he cute in his dr. glasses?

Hooray for Dental Insurance!

It's been years since we've had dental insurance, but with Paul's job change came really great insurance. Today was check up day for 4 of us. Luckily my mom was in town and so graciously sat with us while we were at the dentist for 3 hours!! I have to get an old filling replaced, Anna has to get some sealants done on her big girl molars, and Lainie came away with rave reviews of her pretty teeth. Sadly, though Ava was not so lucky. She has the same weak enamel that Anna was cursed with and had 3 cavities. So sad. She's really going to hate the next visit.

Besties

Popsicles

The mornings are actually starting to cool down, but the afternoons are still hot. Today was a day for popsicles.

6 Months

The babes are 6 months...and I'm still alive! j/k Honestly, it's really not as hard as it may seem. We have days that are difficult, but most of the time we do fine. These babies are so sweet and happy and our whole family feels blessed to have them. They had their 6 month appt. on the 25th and are still so tiny on the growth charts. Owen weighed in at 16.2 and Lily 15.9. They are in the 30th percentile for weight and 57th for height.

Dixie Cheer Clinic

Every year the girls bring home a flyer for the local high school's cheer clinic, and every year I say, "maybe next year girls." This year I decided to let them do it. It consisted of a few days of cheer practice and some sideline cheering and halftime performance at Fridays game. My parents are in town and watched the babies and Ava for me while I took the girls to the game. The girls were a little disappointed to find out that they only got to cheer in one game, but now they are wanting to do another clinic when basketball season arrives.

Lizard

Paul went out the back door and this little lizard came into our house. He picked it up and gave it to Ava to hold...she thought it was pretty great. It seems everyday now she is looking for a lizard to hold.

Visiting Our FireMan

The kiddos and I loaded up the MV and headed to Vegas for the night. Paul is nearly off his probationary period with LVFR and so we wanted to go and check out his station and meet all his coworkers. The girls thought it was fun to see daddy at work. We checked out every nook and cranny of Station 1-the largest in all of Vegas. I've been putting off going for quite some time, just because it's a long drive with 5 kids, not to mention staying in a hotel by myself with all of them. It turned out great though. We all had a great time. Valet and a bellman do wonders. We even got upgraded to a suite. Paul met up with us the next morning. We spent the day at the pool and then headed home.