First day of school...

Where has the summer gone??? Today my baby starts First grade and will be gone all day long what am I going to do with myself. He was my errand buddy and my best lunch date?!
This morning was crazy as I expected it to be the kids were so sleepy and then when we went outside to take pictures with the Oteros my camera battery was dead, REALLY!!!Thank goodness that my friend was on top of it this morning!!

The three boys who are for the first time all going to the same school!!! They were all excited and ready to go!!!

My first grader!! I can not believe that my kids are both in school all day long!!!

This is Aubrie's last year in Elementary school, next year we will be off to Middle School. I do not think I am ready for the teenage years at all!!!

This kids have all been friends for so long and they are just growing up way too fast!! Andrew is already in 3rd grade, it really seems like yesterday when he was starting kindergarten and this year it is Evan!

On the way to First Grade Brian had to stop and see his Favorite Teacher Ms Messerli. She was giving her graduated Kindergartners a First grade rocks pencil!! He was so excited to see her and then he was off for his first school lunch and his first whole day!!!

Rhonda and I went to pick up the kids from school today it was a long day for me!! Looks like they all survived and are ready for the year!!!

Farewell to Summer....

I can not believe that today is the last Friday before school starts. This three week summer has gone way too fast! This morning we had a meet and greet with the teachers at the school. First of course we stopped at Messerli's classroom to say hello and then we were off to find Brian's class. We walked in and he met his teacher and found his seat and was excited to see that he knew a lot of kids in his class. I was so worried about him since I am so not ready for him to go all day but he was fine and said that he can not wait for school to start. I can! Next we went to Aubrie's room to find out that her teacher had a family emergency and there would be a sub on the first day. Aubrie was pretty bummed but hopefully her teacher will be back soon.
After the meet and greet we met up with Rhonda and the boys and Lexi and we were on our way to have a party. First we stopped at Micheals and the kids were thrilled to look at the Halloween stuff and they were even more thrilled with the fact that they could try on masks. Of course I had to snap a picture of them acting crazy!!! After we found some goodies for Rhonda we were on our way to McDonald's and then swimming!!

The kids gobbled up their McDonald's and were ready to get to swimming! We got to Rhonda's mom house and they were in their swim suits in seconds and after they were sprayed down they were in and loving it.




They were in the pool the whole afternoon they did not get out once unless you count the endless jumping in and out. They were playing games and racing Rhonda on the kick boards and having a great time with each other.

This summer may have been a short one but these kids had a great time and like always did it together. School starts on Monday and another school year will be under way.

Painting...

Probably two years ago the kids got these projects and they have been collecting dust since then. So today as the kids were whining that they were so bored, I asked them if they wanted to paint them. They were excited and got everything they needed and opened the packages, they were so old that the paint was dried up, thank goodness we had extra paints they could use!!

Brian was done first and he was so proud of his painting. Aubrie was taking her time and was not done until the next day. They were so happy to have something to do, but since Brian got done so quick he was back to being bored. I told him to get in the art closet and find something to do, well he was not having it and went in his room and played with his cars.
Aubrie was entertained for hours painting and was painting everything in sight!!

Who are you going call???

Our usual Sunday dinner was moved to Valerie's house so we could help her build a book shelf. After work I picked up mom and the kids and we headed to Aunt Valerie's for Tuna Melts and chips. She made dinner while we all sat around chatting. After dinner we had to move the two boxes that were the IKEA bookshelf upstairs. After getting them upstairs we took all the pieces out of the box and laid them out and got ready to build. Well some of us, Gramma and Brian were having fun not building Ü

We were going to town getting done then before I knew it these two had disappeared, Aubrie was downstairs taking pictures of Gramma and Valerie, we were trying to catch Gramma sowing but she was too quick to hide her face every time!!!

It was me and Brian for a minute and we were going to town, quite the team we are. We got the whole thing together and were ready to put on the top piece and of course we hit a snag.We could not get the top piece to sit flush with the middle shelves, I was so IRRITATED then my sister and mom were like should we call so and so's husband. WHAT are you serious I was then determined to get it done. We took the top off and pounded it all really good and put the top back on and it was done and it looks great!! After the whole lovely home project I told Valerie that since I had built this for her she now had to sign up for Face Book, she did not fight it and before I left she was already having people request her!!! WELCOME to the 21st century now we have to work on Gramma!!!

Bert's bar-b-que

Rhonda asked us if we wanted to celebrate Bert's bday at their house tonight! Of course we said yes!! The kids and I ran to Costco to get his favorite Cheesecake!! And we were off to have some fun at the Otero's. Tasha, Eduardo, Natalia, Tico, Mima and Bert's dad were there when we arrived and were already having a good time! The kids were so excited to be there like we never ever do anything together so funny!!
Rhonda of course made amazing food, HUGE steaks, Mima's famous black beans and rice, fried bananas with a yummy dipping sauce and a green salad! Needless to say we were STUFFED at the end of dinner you could have rolled us across the rocks.
After a little while we all gathered to sing Happy Birthday to Bert! Then it was delish cheesecake for all of us. Aubrie realized that she really likes cheesecake, great there goes my cheap Cheesecake Factory dinner.

LOVE the candles Rhonda Ü

The Birthday Boy

All of Us!!!

After a while of listening to Bert and Danes music, Rhonda hijacked the radio and locked the door, yes she did so they could not come in and change it back. The kids were having so much fun dancing and as you can see Bert was loving the music also. We had a great time and are so glad that we have the Best Neighbors Ever!!!

Butterfly Picnic

Rhonda and I thought that today would be a great day to take the kids to the water park. I packed lunches and we got everyone in the car, first stop was Starbucks had to have some "refreshment" for the moms too!!! Then we were off to the "butterfly" park. We were excited because Rhonda had been told that there was a nature discovery walk.

We saw the trail right away and were excited to see that it was not that long, well I was since I was lugging the ice chest!!! After we saw all the animals we headed to find that the park had no tables with shade, so we found a tree that had some nice shade but the grass was REALLY wet, so we finally settled and sat down. Rhonda sprayed all the kids down with sunscreen and they were off!!!

Rhonda and I were writing lists for our party that we are hosting and then all the sudden we were bombarded with like 50 kids that were all hanging out in front of the bathroom. Then the "leader" hooked up the hose and we were waiting for him to spray us, then he sprayed Rhonda and we were done with that. We packed up the kids and headed to the other side of the park, and to our pleasure there was hardly no one at this part.


We found a great spot under a tree and all ate some yummy lunch and then the kids were off to play again. We enjoyed our time in the shade watching the kids, discussing how weird it was that we were sending them ALL of to school this year. We can both remember having conversations about how long we still had until Brian and Evan started school, WOW time flies!!!


When it started getting hot we were ready to call it a day, the kids were not done playing so we let them play out front when we got home. They enjoyed some Yummy Popsicles and some more water play.

Bountiful Baskets!!

A while back Aunt Stephanie had told me about this program, but I did not really get that much info so I was talking to Mrs Messerli and she was so excited about that it got me really excited to. So I signed up on Tuesday and waited to see how good it really was! I was pleasantly surprised!! I got all of this plus 17 HUGE tomatoes for $21. It was great and I have to say that the only thing that I was not to sure about was the egg plant never had it and have no idea how to cook it!! But the kids were stoked about the fruit and where ready to eat it right away. Everything was so FRESH and i have to say that I am addicted now! I got my mom to sign up and have told everyone I know that they should do it!!! Can not wait for my next basket!!

Lunch and some more swimming

A nice HOT day in the desert what a better way to spend it, then with friends and in the water!! Rhonda and I had planned to take the kids swimming on Monday but I had to work and we had to move it to Friday! The kids were stoked and ready to go! We got there and in the water they went. Everyone of them was in the water and then out of no where they were starving!!So they got out for lunch and then they were right back in for more!!



These kids love hanging out with each other! No matter what they are doing they are having fun. When it was time to go they all said there goodbyes and where already asking if they could play again tomorrow!!

Swimming again

Swimming again that is right we picked up Alyssa and headed over to Uncle Les' house and had a great time swimming in his pool. And yes I even got in and had a great time with the kids!! We had so much fun with Aunt Valerie too!!

The kids were jumping in and having fun with Alyssa. Valerie and I were just relaxing watching them. It was so much fun and of course we were playing with the new camera!!!




It was a great day for swimming then the lovely Vegas wind came and ruined it. We dropped Alyssa off and headed home to veg on the couch and do a whole lot of nothing!!!!

The After Party

Rhonda had a great idea that today we should have a swimming party for the kids since it was the end of the year and what better way to celebrate then a pool party!! Rhonda and her mom planned the party gave out assignments and we were ready to have a fun time!!!
We got there and it was time for swimming the kids were in the pool right away. They were doing all sorts of crazy jumps and laughing the whole time.
Since Alyssa lives right behind Rhonda's mom house I invited her over to swim with the kids!! They were all excited to see her as she jumped over the fence!!
The kids were jumping, splashing and loving every minute of it!! Brian was wearing a life jacket, which is funny because he had 5 years of swimming lessons but I was not going to say anything. Dane on the other hand made him take it off and swim with out it and he was a little nervous in the beginning but after that he was proud to say that he did not need a life jacket anymore and he was jumping in to show everyone!!

The Cheerleader!!!

Aubrie always posing for the camera

Brian showing off No life jacket!!!

The whole gang!!!!


The kids had a great time and where in the pool the whole day!! We had a great dinner and were stuffed then they were back in the pool until it was time to go.
I finally got up enough nerve to let Alyssa play with my camera under water. It is of course an under water camera but until now I did not have enough guts to try it out. So we had a whole under water photo shoot!!