It's an Avila Halloween

We headed over to Uncle Rudy and Aunt Andria's for some tricks n treats. Bianca had a pointy tail, Sydney and Peyton were milkin it, Donavan was hangin around while Dominic was power n up.

Bianca and Dominic got tons of candy. The Monkey and Cows gave tons of candy away.

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

Halloween - Peyton, Finn, Sydney

Peyton gives Finn kisses

"Pucker up Buddy"
"Sugar for Finn"
Finn is cuddling with Sydney
Peyton wants some lovin too.

Halloween

Peyton, Sydney & Harper
Fin is snugglin one cow while the sister waits her turnThe cows start to graze

"Here we come mama"

Bishops Farm

Daddy, Mommie, Bianca, Sydney, Peyton, Patrick, Amy and Alex (my sister and her boyfriend) met Uncle Rudy, Tia Andria, Dominic, Donavan, Linda and Don (Andria's parents) at Bishops Farm. It was awesome weather. We rode the train, marched through the corn maze, ate lunch by the pumpkins, took a hayride and watched the kids play on Coyote Mountain.

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

October Memorial & Kyle's Birthday

Again here I am another month where I haven't written much and yet so much has happened. More than I can even remember at this point. Mommie Brain is a reality.

Quick Updates on the girls first - they both got the first dose of flu shots... Ouch... Sydney didn't cry from the shot it was when I handed her off to grandma and I grabbed Peyton that she burst out crying.... She didn't want her sister to get a shot. Peyton cried with the initial shot and then she was fine. They both weighed in at 19 lbs 11 oz - I got some big girls. They are growing like weeds in spring.

Peyton now has four teeth on the bottom and the same six on the top. Sydney has her two bottom and four top. They are still mostly eating the baby food, but they have had a few grains of rice, some wheat bread bits, and some homemade (Nordstroms Cafe) chicken noodle broth. Somedays they eat really well and other days its a chore.

Sydney is walking all over the house, still using furniture, peyton's head, or one of us for support. She's crawling like lightning mcqueen, yesterday she was racing Donovan at Papa and Grandma's house. Peyton is just starting out with her crawling, but she enjoys standing holding the furniture up and her favorite target is daddy and me... She likes to pull herself up using daddy's furcoat arms or my shoulders. She enjoys pinching too. It won't be long until she's scaling the furniture next to Sydney.

October 1st was our 2nd sharing parents memorial celebration. Every year on the first sunday in October sharing parents, friends and family get together at the Rose Gardens at McKinley Park to share stories and remember our children. See our friends that we met and shared our grief with, (some we see more often than others), see new babies that have been born and share our new babies too.

The first year we let five doves go, and this year we let five butterflies go - actually six they had left over butterflies and grandma made a donation and got another one. The doves were really beautiful, but it was hard to hold them and most of them got away quickly, with the butterflies it was easier and just as beautiful - opening up the lil box and watching the butterflies open their wings, crawl on you or a rose and then fly away.

Last year it was Grandma and Papa and Grandma and Papa, Uncle Rudy, Tia Andria, Dominic, Donovan, Uncle Josh, Tia Amy and Alex - and of course the three of us. This year it was Grandma and Papa and Grandma and Papa, Uncle Rudy, Tia Andria, Dominic, Donovan, Tia Amy and the five of us. It's wonderful to have such a loving and supportive family.

October 19th was Kyles Second Birthday - the only happy birthday we got to share with him was his actual 'Birth' day. I still remember every moment in that birthing room. From Bianca hiding behind my bed stroking my hair to seeing his face for the first time, kissing him as he lay on my chest.
I got a couple phone calls from friends remembering Kyle and his birthday, got some cards too. I love the fact that my friends still remember Kyle, his birthday, his anniversary and us. Watched my DVD of Kyle in the morning, the babies enjoyed the music. Daddy worked half a day and when we picked Bianca up we went to Party City and got balloons, way to many ballons this year, we could barely get them in the back of the explorer. We got a huge silver 2, the Kyle's name balloon, some regular balloons with the number 2 on them and some plain colored balloons to let go at the cemetery. We went to philips bakery and got cookies this year for his birthday celebration, plus we made chocolate cupcakes. Philips has the best cookies - i was disappointed that they didn't have any surfboard cookies this time, but we made do with all the cool halloween cookies they had.

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

mouthful

Peyton has a mouthful of teeth. She looks like a jack o latern. She has six on the top that are all coming out, some are already through, some are still pushing through. She loves to BITE....Check out the great shirts I got the babies. One says ...My mommy breast feeds in public - got a problem with that? Another says Mommy's Lil Vampire. Sydney has four on the top poking through and the two bottoms.

Yoga

Bright eyed and bushy tailed


Julie and Launa yogee together


Jonah goes to play with Peyton, but Sydney has other plans and grabs him by the scruff and reels him in for a kiss

Kiss Kiss


Sydney in the box


Jonah eating a toy, Sydney's about to grab him from behind and pull his hair... and yes he cried.

soccer babies

Sydney's doing tricks
Peyton's got goalie style

it's been a long time

I miss updating my blog, today it's like meeting up with an old friend sipping a cup of coffee... only I have the coos of babies in the background, an occassional scream here and there - lots of talking... it smells wonderful outside, I love the after rain smell.... it is so Fall out there.

okay speaking of talking.... the babies are talking... Yep... Peyton has a bigger vocabulary right now.... besides the goos, coos, ba, da, ma, those things.... both babies do that.... Peyton has said Good, Daddy, Bianca, and up. Sydney has said Bravo. We say those words lots... I'm expecting them to break out saying their own names soon enough.

I don't even know where to begin, so many things have happened.

Bianca's soccer Team lost her first league game - what a heartbreaker... I got some great pictures... Ben bought a new lens for the camera... a 70 - 300.... telephoto... wow.. it brings you close to the action... I started getting motion sick! Bianca has now moved to the middle - yep she's a midfielder now... when she's playing forward the middle falls apart, they can't seem to get the ball to the forwards so we can score.... She's actually happy playing in the middle... You Go Girlie... Just wait.. soon enough she'll have a boot on her and she'll be shooting and scoring from way outside.

Sydney is trying to walk now. She pulls herself up on anything and everything she can get her hands on. She lets go with one hand, and then usually two, only to fall. If you hold her hands, her lil legs go superfast, she's like speedy gonzalez. It's so cute. Peyton is content with hanging out, checking things out, occassionally getting on her hands and knees, doing the rock a way and letting everyone know that she's in the room.

there was an interuption.... Sydney is now asleep on the livingroom floor, and Peyton is fighting sleep on my bed.

Did I mention Bianca got braces on Sept 13th.... She loves them and she hates them. She had to get an expander on the roof of her mouth... food gets stuck, she complains... it's hard to talk... and the day after she got the expander, she had to give a short speech introducing her candidate for Vice President at her school. So we had to change the speech up a lil bit because she had a hard time saying some of the words... She pulled it out, what a champion. And as if I didn't have enough to do... each night before she goes to bed I have to use the key and turn the deal on her expander...

We're still hot and heavy at yoga... since Sydney's on the move it's harder to go everyday to the gym. We're still trying to get in at least 3 times a week. I'd love to go more, but I need my helper - Bianca or Amy to keep an eye on the babies. A bunch of the moms and kids at yoga graduated at the end of last month... their babies are crawling and getting into things and they don't wanna be bothered chasing after them when they are trying to yoga... Sydney is on the go but she's fascinated by all the other kids and the yoga moms... so she's happy. Peyton enjoyed doing some tummy time with Fin on Tuesday. She didn't get mad that she had to be on her tummy. usually she gets upset, but I guess looking into Fin's bright blue eyes made her forget she was doing tummy time. - right now she's doing tummy time on my bed, looking at me and clearing her throat so I'll pay attention. Now she's talking... she's not ready for mr sandman. being a mother is never boring... and for those fools at work who asked me if I was bored...~rolls eyes~ I could never be bored with this wonderful full time job I have at home.

I wanna post a few pictures and then I'll continue with my updates.

Never got around to posting the pictures - maybe later.... just got back from Yoga and the Gym.... I left the house at noon - Peyton was having issues going to sleep... so we took the show on the road - only it didn't work so well for Sydney who was woken from a deep sleep by a crying sister and never went back to sleep - until the 4 o clock car ride home - and now both baby girls are out, bianca is doing her homework and Ben is pretending to clean up in the kitchen.

I've got a RANT... I've asked Ben for over a month to put his ant/bug killer/weed killer out in the garage... he keeps telling me I will - later... okay I could very well put it in the garage myself... of course it means I either have to steal the garage key from him, or move a whole bunch or crap.. ie - baby carseats, boxes, clothes for the goodwill and other things that are piled high in front of the garage door in the kitchen.... So there sits the stuff that I want out of the house... I guess if it's still there tonight I'll put it out in the front yard - maybe someone else needs it... I also asked him to buy a big freezer (because the other one died about two years ago) and I wanted to store all my precious breastmilk... in the regular freezer it only last three months... in the grand free standing freezer I wanted - it last a year.... so instead I've gradually been throwing out that wonderful breast tonic because it's no longer yummie.... so I wasted a whole lot of time and num nums... I have no milk for when the babies go to daycare... okay they won't take a bottle - yet... but they may if there is no breast to nurse on... so what.. do I give them formula in a cup, in a bottle... do they go all day thirsty... I guess Ben could care less... I on the other hand am debating on this work thing.... full time or part time? working from home sounds good about now. not working sounds best.

Okay I got this great new coffee machine.. Senseo... makes one cup, really fast, no clean up, no coffee grounds making a mess.... Yep... i'll let you know how the coffee is... as soon as I can find a place to put it... Can't get rid of my regular cup o joe maker just yet... the bad thing is... I can't use Starbucks or Java City Coffee... you gotta use Senseo coffee's... they have a huge variety or so I'm told... it's a cappuccino machine - okay I'll let you know how it goes....

are you bored yet? Good...

Sydney did the sweetest thing the other day.... she was sleepin in the co-sleeper next to my side of the bed.... and she woke up.... when she wakes up she sits up right away, looks around and then decides to either cry, find her binky or play... she moved over and patted my head, waking me up....what a sweetheart.

I'm debating about putting the girls back in the crib together to sleep or one in the crib one in the co-sleeper. I'm not getting any sleep.

The babies are loving them some veggies... Carrots are numero uno. they also really like sweet peas, peas with brown rice, squash and sweet potatoes. They are now eating stage 1 and 2 - we do the earths best baby food. They don't like banana's, apples are alright, and they love watermelon.

Rib Fest Pictures

Sept 9th

Bianca turns ten.... it's official Bianca is now TEN... She had her birthday at Bouncetown from 830 pm til 1030 pm... so it was a late party. She was thinking she was having a sweet sixteen cuz she even changed during the party... I'm so not looking forward to her teenage parties...

Everyone had a great time jumping and running around. I had fun throwing balls at Uncle Rudy, wrestling around with my sister and playing in the bubbles with the babies.

Bianca got lots of prizes... lots of great outfits - capris, pants, shirts, skirts, sweaters, two pairs of shoes, some Bratz - one that's a kareoke ones, polly pockets, makeup, lots of Giftcards - YEAH SHE LOVES THOSE. Barnes and Noble, Borders, Claire's, Libby Lu, Toys R Us, Target, Gap - She's been shopping like crazy for a week. I'm scared of you... Plus she got cash too.... but she's smart about her cash, she puts it in the bank.... You Go Girlie

Angel, Feliz, Sydney & Peyton & Uncle Michael

Tourney Pictures and the Creek

I'm finally getting around to posting pictures from Bianca's Castro Valley Tourney. She's number 7. Some pictures of the girls at the hotel too.

Also pictures of Uncle Michael and Courtney playing with the babies.

We went to visit Great Grandma, Aunt Roxann and the boys-- got those in the slideshow too.

Help

I'm doing so much I can't even find the time to write about it.

Rib Cook off in Nevada Friday thru Sunday - Last weekend we - (The inlaws, Uncle Rudy and Aunt Andria, Dominic, Donavan, Ben, Me, Bianca, Sydney and Peyton) got some rooms at the Nugget. We got there first and got a room on the fifth floor - where the pool was.... Bianca was stoked. They have a huge indoor pool with mini hot tubs on one side of the pool, plus a round bigger hot tub - that's actually HOT, the others are warm. Papa, Grandma and the Tios/Primos were on the sixth floor. The Aussie Ribs and Sauce were the best, after two days of ribs and pork sandwiches... I was all BBQd out.. I don't wanna see anymore ribs for awhile... All the food was yummie, but it got to be to much. Day One -- We treked up and down the BLVD sampling ribs, lemonades and checkin out the latest fashions for a few hours. Then we all (Ben, Me, Bianca, Babies, Tio, Tia, Dominic and Donovan) played in the pool, Bianca is my shark in the water, she was everywhere...Peyton enjoyed the water my lil fish and Sydney wasn't a happy camper, I'll call her my lil crab for the night. The water was supposed to be eighty five, but I don't think it was... They had some of the sky windows open and the breeze wasn't all that warm. That night all three of my girls ended up with runny noses. Papa and Grandma did some gambling while we hung at the pool. Bianca spent the night with Papa and Grandma, Ben left me in the room with the babies while he went to gamble alone. (We were all tuckered out so we hit the hay.) Uncle Rudy stood him up and so did Uncle Michael. He came back about 2 am with a Benji's he won at Craps. He tried to get me to go play some, but I didn't want to. Day Two -- We went to a buffet brunch, it was yummie... the waffles w/strawberries and cream were the best.... I normally hate buffets, but I enjoyed this one. The boys went to gamble while the girls and kids went to the rooms. I nursed my girls and they took a short nap, the other girls, and lil boys watched videos... Then we all met up to hit the BLVD once more. Sampled more ribs, lemonades and treats... I love the chocolate covered banana's, Bianca likes the chocolate covered strawberries/banana's.... Dominic and Bianca went on the rides together, they seemed to have lots of fun, but the rest of us were hot, tired and grumpy... okay the babies were, but I think Donavan had enough of just sitting too... We went back to the room for some nursing and napping, Bianca hung out with the in laws and TiosPrimos. We all met up again at the pool. Rented Click when we got back to the room... it was pretty good. Day Three -- We checked out and went to Reno, Circus Circus, ate at another buffet, but it was LUNCH... pretty good... We took the kids to play games, we won lots of prizes, we gambled some more.... WHEEL OF FORTUNE... not my favorite... I think the most i won was like 200 quarters..... then I turned around and lost it all again... I prefer craps, but there wasn't enough time for me to play craps. The babies enjoyed the circus, rollin around in the Red Peg Perego and hootin and hollerin for some attention... I think they wanted out of the stroller, they wanted to walk, roll and sit on the floor.

Side Bar - The babies have been sitting up really well for awhile.... Sydney has been rolling everywhere, scooting some, doing the combat soldier crawl and finally crawling on her hands and knees (new today). She'd been rocking on her hands and knees and doing Down Dog, Plank and Crocodile (yoga poses) and pulling herself up to stand - using Bianca's hair, she can almost sit up on her own from her tummy, she's almost got it down . Peyton is now Rocking on her hands and knees... but no Down Dog yet... She's enjoying her sitting perfect pose playing with the toys and watching Syd get into things. Last night the girls slept separatley.... Peyton slept til 344 am and Sydney slept til 515. They both went to sleep about 930.... YEAH... Let's see what happens tonight.

MONDAY DRAFT DAY - First stop was Trader Joe's for flowers, then the cemetery. We took Kyle some new toys - wind chime things, (turtle) and his TY stuffed Froggie. The babies sat in the stroller as always, we got them out for a lil while too... then we loaded up.. and Ben decided to be a sweetheart and help buckle the babies in the car... Did I mention the girls moved into the convertible seats... anyhow guess he got side tracked and forgot to put the stroller ($350 Twin Aria Stroller) in the back. We went to the LOT and then to get Carnitas, then to Ben's parents house... we hung out, then went to see Uncle Tom (he had surgery on his prostate to remove cancer) then the grocery store where Ben realized we didn't have the stroller....then back to ben's parents so I could nurse babies... while I did that he went to the cemetery to see about our stroller... it was gone ... not to be seen again... We were all a lil sad, upset, sick to our stomaches... you name it.... we met up with the FANTASY FOOTBALLERS at Uncle Steven and Joan's house. That was a long four or so hours... In between picks (the girls - Me, Joan, Carmen) played with babies, fed babies and I of course nursed babies... The kids played outside, inside and sideways... I picked 7th.... Ben picked 10th (he got first place last year, I got fouth) With the first pick of the 2006/2007 draft year Steven picked EL JAY - er Larry Johnson. I picked for Papa... he got S. Alexander.... Uncle Michael got Tomlinson, Marcos got James, Martin got Peyton Manning, Rudy got Tiki, I got Ronnie Brown, Uncle Tom got Smith and Ben took Steven Jackson and Rudy Johnson.... won't bore you with the rest of the nights picks... This was so much better than the "work fantasy football". It's nice to see who people pick and then know who you want.. instead of doing it BLIND - like Franchise does it. after the third pick I was tired and not so interested... playing with the babies and talking was more fun.

Tuesday we went to Yoga and the gym - me the babies and my sister... the babies are eating Sweet Potatoes. Sydney likes to feed herself and Peyton loves letting me feed her. She opens her mouth like a lil bird waiting to be fed and Syd won't open her mouth unless she's shoveling the food and spoon herself.
Wednesday we got a new stroller... the Combi Savvy Sport ( only $200) I like it better, it's easier to manuever, the wheels don't get stuck all crazy like the Peg we had. The girls like the new stroller.. it's mango and grey and drives like a dream. It's got six wheels instead of four and folds up pretty crazy, small tight compact... went to the gym and to Bianca's soccer practice - hung out with Courtney and the babies.
Thursday went to Yoga and the gym (Bianca goes on Thursday's) Everyone loves when Bianca is there... all the yoga moms and babies like seeing her. Sydney and Peyton don't mind sharing their biggest bestest sister either. We went to dinner at grandma and papa's house too.

Castro Valley Tournament

Friday we packed up the SUV and headed for Hayward... It took us about 2 hours to find out hotel, the traffic wasn't bad, the babies slept and Bianca watched Posidon. Ben surprised her with the DVD, she wanted to see the movie in the theater's but we never got the chance, so he snuck the DVD into the Truck before we left and I handed her both remotes and as she settled in for what she thought was the Corpse Bride - she grinned and said we got her again.... she was happy about the movie, but it didn't compare to TITANIC....

We got Take Out Italian from Rigatoni's. yummy stuff. the babies ate squash and made huge messes...stained clothes and faces ~lmao~ The sleeping arrangement went haywire when Ben didn't bring the co sleeper and couldn't get a crib.... so it started off with Ben and me in a bed and ended up with me and the babies in one bed and Bianca and Ben in the other...

Saturday's games.... Game one... Time of possession went to us... Shots on goal went to us... but the game went to the other team.... They shot once and scored once.... We had three penalty kicks.. and missed all three... Our girls were a lil nervous and ended up embarressed ... Uncle Michael came to watch the end of Game one... saw Bianca shoot a PK to the goalie.... Uncle Michael played with the babies - got some good pictures, I'll have to post them later. I took over 270 pictures..... I called my friends Angel and Feliz (TWINS) and invited them to the games... Feliz was working but Angel came out. She met the babies and we hung out for a few hours. She said they lived close to where we were staying and invited us over for Sunday Breakfast before the games... Home Cooked Meal or Continental Breakfast... you guess what we picked ~lmao~ GAME TWO - we lost again.... i think it was five - nil... our girls couldn't even get close to the ball... the other team passed all over the place.... and they were big girls.... they grow em big everywhere we play... all the teams are second year under twelves... except us...

For dinner on Saturday we ate speghetti, another pasta dish, chicken, salad and bread.. it was yummie... we watched the older Rage and our Rage girls do Kareoke.... the babies grew tired quickly and we turned in for the night.

Sunday we woke up, cleared out the hotel room and went to see Angel and Feliz. It was our first time at their new place - any place actually, cept their parents place. It was really nice, they even have goats behind their place ~lol~ Bianca loved the stairs... it's kinda a tri level place... Angel made breakfast... scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, sausage and french toast... better than a grand slam... Feliz played with the babies while we grubbed.... I enjoyed the visit.

Sunday's game.... Again we lost.... Uncle Michael showed up again to root for the girls... didn't help... ~lmao~ After the game we went to visit Great Grandma, Aunt Roxann, Uncle Rick and the boys.... the babies were so excited and happy. they were smiling and talking like crazy. I got some pictures of Great Grandma holding the babies... I needed some of those. Also got some pictures with Aunt Roxann. The babies were really enjoying themselves, watching the dog Kelly and playing on the floor. we enjoyed our visit.

Update

Saturday and Sunday we were at the FairOaks Soccer Tourney.... we lost one, tied one and won one..... The Big Rage got first place... What a long weekend... Grandma came to game one. Papa, Grandma, Tia Amy, Tyler (amy's new beau), and Nana came to game two... Sunday Nana came to the game....and they won.... Go Nana....

Bianca started school on Monday, and so a new routine emerges. We've had a 'wake up it's the first day of school tradition - since kindergarten' So we did that on Monday morning and Bianca is always so pleasant when I wake her up like that... so I did it Tuesday and Wednesday too.... I made her lunch and breakfast and her and daddy headed for Kelsie's house - she's still catching a ride with them. It's a wonderful thing.

The babies woke up early and decided to play, my sister came over to help with the babies on my first day back to crazy. We hit the gym and then came home to play with babies. The girls are sitting up really well now, Sydney loves doing Down Dog (yoga pose) I think they'll be crawling soon, or scooting around. They are rolling all over the place. Except at Yoga and the gym, they like to stay on their blankie.

Tuesday it was just me and the girls and the dreaded 6 month shot series... Daddy met us there. The girls did wonderful, they cried for a minute and were fine. We missed Yoga and going to the gym because the babies were a lil tired after getting shots, so we went to visit papa and grandma.

Sydney is 17 lbs 3 oz (75%), 26 height (50%), head 17 (50%)

Peyton is 16 lbs 11 0z (50%), 26 3/4 height (89%), head 16 3/4 (50%)

Wednesday was a slow day, we got moving late because Tuesday night Peyton decided to be a night owl while Sydney went to bed early.. so mama stayed up way to late and didn't get enough rest. Daddy came home at lunchtime and I took a quick shower. YEAH - then I went to the gym... met up with my sister just in time to pick Bianca up from school and go to The Big Spoon (37th and J) Yummie Frozen Yogurt. Darice was going to the Fair with her hubby and stopped by to park her car at the house. We got a lil visit in and the babies enjoyed seeing a new face. Then off to a soccer scrimmage we went. Fun Fun, there were lots of bugs and the babies weren't happy. i wasn't happy either - i hate bugs.

Thursday was a nice day, we played lots in the morning in between morning naps. Picked Bianca up at 120 and headed for Yoga and the gym... Had the best workout... the babies all played in the center of class - it was Luke, Renne, Owen, Lana, Madilyn, Sydney, Peyton, Seth, Graciella, Juliet and Charlie. We missed Jonah. the kids all enjoyed playing together and I didn't have fussy babies so I almost got a full yoga session in... almost.. Peyton got really tired and needed some lovin... nursed babies and then hit the gym.... Peyton slept a whole five minutes before she was ready to play again. Sydney, Luke, Owen and Peyton played some more.

Tomorrow we leave for the Castro Valley Tourney. We're gonna get a visit in with great grandma and hopefully Aunt Roxann, Uncle Rick, Ryan and Zach. It's gonna be another busy weekend.... Uncle Michael is gonna grace us with his presence too.... It's his birthday and he's gonna spend it with his favorite cousins... okay he probably just pretends we're his favorite, he's buttering us up for something... It will be nice to see him.

I bought the best blackberries at Trader Joes... YUMMIE

pics

Experience Titanic - written by Bianca

On Sunday we went to San Francisco to go to the TITANIC exhibit. We purchased our tickets downstairs and took the elevator to the fourth floor. When we got upstairs, we were greeted by a man who gave us a telephone to use for the audio part of the tour. We saw a model of Titanic, and I took a picture next to it, we couldn't take pictures inside the exhibit. We got in line to board TITANIC, the lady gave us our boarding passes I was Mrs.Samuel L. Goldenburg(Nella Wiggens)while we were walking through the first 2 sections I saw a pair of glasses,a beaded coin purse and money all from Titanic. After that we walked through the hallway of first class passengers also we walked by the grand staircase(it was grand). I was a first class passenger so I saw what it looked like on the ship then we went to see the dinning area they had menus and had cooking ware from the ship after we went down to see third class cabins they were really small also we saw the compartments were the medal doors were shut. Now at 2:30a.m. the ship was gone in the icy water. They had a huge iceburg for us to touch, it was freezing cold, I couldn't imagine the water. In the next room there were a pair of shoes that belonged to a rich man. They had a big wall that had your name on it to see if you survived or died. My mom and me lived but my dad died the richest man on the ship was John Jacob Astor yet he died but his wife Madilene Astor survived . 183 first class people died 293 second class died 536 third class people died and 636 crew members died. I now hope that you don't just think of Titanic as only a ship but as a memorable story of how many people lost there lives so if you go to the Atlantic Ocean leave the greatest and grandest ship of all time in peace and harmony.

Party On

Donovan turns One

Saturday we celebrated my nephew/godson's first birthday. There was a big jump waterslide and a jumphouse. Most of the kids played on the slide - but the water was freezing, dominic had blue lips for a lil while.

The guests arrived promptly, of course we were first - after grandma and grandpa Max/Gertie... shhh and those are the dog's names, not the grandparents.

Peyton and Sydney enjoyed playing with Donovan's toys, Donovan joined in for a lil while until he'd had enough of Gerties (the scotty dog) barking.

Tia Andria spent two days making Donovan's first cake, it was in the shape of a ball and decorated in a rainbow of colors.... her wrist is mighty sore after using that tip for decorating... I bet she never tries that again. Donovan touched the cake and burst into tears... he didn't like the way it felt or tasted, instead he colored his hair with the frosting from his hands and then tossed the ball/cake to the ground for the dog to taste.

The rest of us enjoyed a slice of chocolate cake with a picture of the birthday boy.

Bianca spent the night with Dominic - he told me as he shook his finger in the air "Bianca's not going home with you Tia, she's spending the night" He loves having her stay the night. He showed me her bed, I guess she owns the top bunk for now... I'm sure that will change soon enough. Everytime we see him he asks if Bianca is spending the night.

pink roses

Our neice/goddaughter Alyssa celebrated a birthday on August 10, she would have been six years old. We picked up a beautiful baby pink rose bush to place by her marker. Kyle and Alyssa's markers are really close to each other so we often place flowers and lil goodies down for her when we visit the cemetery. It seems like everytime we leave a stuffed toy at her marker, it's only there a short time before someone or something takes off with it. We've been pretty lucky with Kyle's toys, his stuff usually last for a long time.

Picnic and Fountains

On Wednesday we met Tia Andria and Primos Dominic and Donovan at Sealy. Tia Andria beat us there, she had the blanket already set up when we got there. We ate some lunch and then Dominic and Bianca were off to splash in the fountains. Donovan, Sydney and Peyton played on the blanket. Check out the feet.

Bianca and Dominic went between the water and the park quite a few times. It was nice to sit in the park and watch the kids play and have a little bit of grown up talk. I was surprised at all the people, guess they have lots of mom groups that meet at Sealy. There were quite a few big kids too. When I was a kid Sealy had a pool, we spent most of our summers between Sealy, Howe, Cottage pools and Waterworld.



Bianca took Donovan to play in the water, looks like they were having fun. I'm thinking I need to get wet next time too.

Rage Team Picture

The Rage

Coach Ben, Annie, Cydney, Monesa, Tamiko, Alex, Blanca, Natalie, Coach Phil
Cathy, Tiara, Renee, Jade, Bianca, Christine, Catalina

Sonoma Classic

Game 1
Saturday we drove up to Fairfield for the Rage's first tournament. Our team happened to be the youngest team out there with the least experience but that didn't stop them. They were ready. The first game they won 1-nil, Blanca got the goal. Our girls had some good shots, some going off the posts, others the goalie - who was as big as me... was saving. We played most of the game shooting. We were happy with the shut out. The rage got 8 points for that game. The next game was like 6 hours later... it sucked... we went to the mall and ate, walked around til we were bored stupid... went back to the park and napped a lil - me and the babies that is. It was sooooooo WINDY, ugly wind - tents were flying around, umbrella's were snapping... but the babies and I managed to stay in the shade or outta the sun as much as possible.

Courntey helps out with the babies a lot, very glad to have her out there and holding one baby switching off with me... it's hard work. Her daughter is Cydney, she's the sweeper - Ben likes to refer to her as the one who cleans up the mess - like when someone blows by one of our midfielder or defenders.. Cydney jams over and knocks the ball out or back up the field. She saved us quite a few times.

Game 2
The Rage lost the next game 2-0. The girls were taking shots, we were getting unlucky, our girls had some shots... but we couldn't get them by the amazon lady in the box. The girls seemed tired and out of sync, bunching up and playing kick ball. I think it had something to do with playing early and being bored the rest of the day and not eating healthy lunches... Everyone was eating at that Chick Filet place....The other team were big girls, it seemed like all the teams were bigger than us. They were almost all 2nd year under 12's.... but our girls held their heads up.

Game 3
Sunday we drove up again... first game at 10, next game at 3 if we win - or had the second highest number of points. Game started... the girls looked good, we were playing like ourselves again or themselves. Again we had some shots but nothing fell in..... Tied 0-0, but we managed to have enough points to move on to play at 3 for third and fourth place.

Game 4
We were playing Annadale Strikers... Before the game I overhead the Strikers saying is that Purple team the Rage the team we're gonna beat to death... the coach was laughing... I was appauled.... We had to switch to the other side of the field cuz they were home team... they had switched to white shirts... When our team was on our side talking strategy their team came over and started shouting out while stretching... it was rude... oh well our team decided to switch to our white shirts before the game since we were visitors we could choose, that made the other team mad and they were shouting CHANGE BACK, but they had to change not us...

Bianca scored about 5 minutes into the game... everyone was going wild, cuz we scored first, that set the other team into a fiery, they started pushing and elbowing lots... the refs let it all go.... Bianca took an elbow in the eye, was crying and had to come out.. NO CALL at all on the elbow to the eye - what was the ref watching... the other team kept it up... next Jade came out after getting tripped and a cleat to the head.... Then Christine was taken out from behind and sprained her wrist... then Renee came out after having the wind knocked out of her, and then Blanca was taken out - kicked in the knee... it was brutal... RUGBY style - but Coach wouldn't let our girls sink to the Strikers level... The strikers scored a goal about 15 minutes into the game. Then half time.... The Strikers came right out and scored 20 seconds into the second half... we were down.... (all the injuries didn't happen in the first half... I just wanted to get them out there, not doing a play by play on the injuries). Right before Blanca got hurt she scored.. so we were tied up... GO RAGE.... The Strikers were pushing us off the ball, and acting like fools.. but getting away with it.. they got all the calls for them... amazing how it happened. The Ref called a handball against us in the box (there were lots of hand balls they didn't call) it wasn't really a handball, the girl covered her chest to keep from being hurt and turned away, it hit her elbow... they got the penalty kick and scored.... so we lost 3-2... but we were proud of our girls, they played well even after being hurt, pushed and bruised... we hung in there.... The Rage took 4th place - here they are sportin medals...

Friday - visit w/ friends

We had lunch with Sherri, Soccer Jim and Jordie. Sherri picked up Sunflower... her and jordie had nutburgers.... soccerjim had a grilled cheese and Bianca and I had quesadilla's - bianca was a good sport but didn't eat much. We also had some banana shake and some yummie fruit juice. Soccerjim picked up a cheesecake (passion fruit) The berries were amazing. We played catch up and enjoyed the babies.

- here are some pictures

Yoga Babies

Grillz

Stood up

Today Sydney decided to stand up.... okay it's not like it's her first time standing, or standing up... but it was the first time that she pulled herself up using something besides someone's hands. Peyton was sitting in the bouncer and bianca had sydney on her lap talking to peyton - sydney grabbed onto the orange bar on the bouncer and pulled herself into a standing position, then proceeded to eat the toys on the bouncer... she stood for a good three minutes, until Bianca grabbed her off and sat her back down... she kept doing it...

what's been going on

Random shots

Whoa


Mohawk Mania


Sydney is out for the count


Peyton's hungry

Cereal

Peyton enjoyed her first bowl of cereal "Mama, keep spooning that into my chops, don't stop?"


Sydney went first. "icky, I don't like this, why do you keep spooning this into my mouth

Rage Tournament

Saturday was the first tournament.... we were all glad it wasn't super hot.... the cooler weather was a welcome surprise. The girls had one sub.... but they were awesome. The first game was 1-0, Bianca scored the only goal. Second game was a really good game... lots of goals. Blanca got two goals, Bianca got one goal and Tiara got one goal. The third and forth game were ties. The last game we won 2-0 and Tiara got two goals. Our girls played so good together. They looked amazing, I was really surprised at how well they played. Every single girl contributed to those wins, we were proud of them all. Everyone played hard. The other teams were pushing and fouling lots, no cards given.... because it was coaches who were calling the game instead of real refs... UGGHH... We got 33 points and first in our division... GO RAGE.

The babies and I sat under a big beach umbrella playing... I had some help from Courntey, Irene and my sister came for the last two games... During the breaks the soccer girls would crowd around our blanket and talk to the babies.. Sydney and Peyton's buddie Carter was at the last two games.. and I took some pictures of them all... Someone asked if we had triplets... Carter is four months old, but as big as the girls... I'll post pictures soon. Peyton got a lil sunburned.. I was totally bummed... Sydney got less burnt than Peyton - i put sunscreen on them both and we were under the shade the whole time.. cept when we walked to the car to leave....

Chaotic July 26th

I woke up early, Ben left for LA, I don't even remember him saying goodbye.... how sad is that? I got up and nursed babies around 6:30, jumped in the shower, played with babies, woke Bianca up, hung out with Bianca, Babies and Grandma, nursed babies. My sister showed up late... I told her 7:45, she came at 8:15... I had a dr appt at 8:50 - my milk was spraying the world.. okay my paper sweater was WET, milk was just shootin across the room, for no apparent reason. Headed home to grab a few things, hit Starbucks for a fix - had a mocha frappachino (it was good, but it wasn't an iced vanilla latte).

A random young woman chased me down in the parking lot. Wanting to know what I was doing (right) in order to be a stay at home mom... Actually she said when she's out and about she likes to find out what people are doing - she's a finanical planner or something from Primeamerica.... anyhow I told her i was not a stay at home mom... I was going back to work in November... Then she asked "are all these yours" (amy, bianca, sydney and peyton). I claimed them all, but informed her that Amy was my sister... finally she let us on our way, with the promise of calling me... ~rolls eyes~ "how exciting".

We went to grandma's to change the babies and nurse the babies.. Peyton had an accident, so we had to change babies.... change outfits, because grandma doesn't think sydney and peyton should not not be matching... put the babies down for a quick nap... they hadn't slept yet.... 1100 to 1130 they napped then we headed to my work to introduce the babies..... First we went to the cafeteria to see Vangie and Carrie. Frankie and Leann met us down there too.... We ran into David's wife - Janie who came over to see the babies. Janie thought the babies were gorgeous and she had the girls smiling and laughing while Vangie decided to scare Sydney and make her cry... Vangie later redeemed herself. although I thought she might drop Sydney...Sydney tried to jump out of Vangie's arms... Beware of jumpin babies.

finally we made it upstairs after signing in and stealing up the elevator. We met Alison, Shona and Darice in the hallway, they got a baby fix and then we moved into our work area... that's where we saw everyone... it was a huge party. Amy (my coworker, not my sister) pinched my cheeks.. she got a handful of my cheek... wow, it was like being a kid again... she used to say she wanted to grab the babies chubby cheeks.. glad she chose mine instead. Liz told me that security was after me for using my badge when I wasn't supposed to.... OPPS Dwayne escorted me to get a visitor badge. The babies enjoyed being passed around, they were smiling, laughing and havin a great time. Peyton hung out with Roberta for a lil bit while Sydney tried to break Brian's Raiders watch.

We got to break up a meeting with the Portal Team... the babies brought the meeting to a halt... Marlene held Sydney for a few, while Diana held Peyton... we did some comparisons... it was so hot in the building.. holding a baby and being hot sucks.... i was surprised people wanted to hold hot, sweaty babies... of the girls... yes they are fraternal, Syd has light hair, Peyton has dark hair, Syd's got a lil more muscle while Peytons a bit taller (or so they say). Tina took Peyton off Diana's hands and that's when Vangie almost dropped Sydney... no...I'm not gonna forget that...

Darice took over the tour, guiding us to see Frankie... we hung out with Uncle Frankie for a lil while, waitin to see JW - my spinning friend and JR - another twin mom whom i worked with. We didn't see a Jennifer.

Fianlly we left, the babies went down for naps after they nursed.... I napped with Sydney...

it's gettin Hot in Here

Peyton's first tooth is pushing through... yep, we felt it today.... She's thrilled... she's been waiting for months now. She's tired of always being second, and she's determined to do something first, so we're wondering if it might be crawling first... She's gonna have competition cuz Sydney thinks she's number one - still always shaking her pointer finger at the world.

Oh yeah - the HOT POST.... 108 one day 105 the next, 110 if we're not careful. We spend the day swimming at my parents... the water is like a bathtub... not much fun swimming in warm water... we turned the slide and hose water on into the pool... it felt better...

Granite Arch

Peyton and Bianca the rock climbers

GoodDaySacramento - Wednesday 7/19

Yesterday Good Day Sacramento was at Sutter Pregna Gym - during our workout. Okay Mary asked me and the babies to come in early for the show.... we had quite a few people show up - we made the tickler at 850 am... Shows me standing over the babies and bianca while we were talking, didn't realize he was live until we got home and watched it. you won't see that on this actual video but I did TIVO it. STORY (you gotta find it.. 7/19 Lisa Gonzalez - sutter pregna gym). Yes STORY is a link....

After we worked out at the gym, we met Ben for lunch - blimpies.... then we went to my parents house to hang out. I watched Bianca and Patrick swim for awhile. Ben picks Bianca up around 4:15 and they head home and get ready for soccer training. So I stayed to hang out with my sister. Alex came to hang out too... and he was loving the babies and the babies were loving him. I think he busted Peyton's funny bone cuz she was laughing so much and so crazy... he was eating her toes, playing peek a boo, telling jokes - he had the girls going at Hello... they haven't seen him in at least a month or so... I think they enjoyed his visit. The babies got a lil fussy towards 7 o clock and I wish I had my camera, Alex was sitting on the coach rocking Peyton to sleep, it was very sweet. Oh yeah....We ate Taco Salad... yummie... my mom made the best taco salad ever...lots of cucumber and avacado.... now i'm craving it again....

Sick Kiddos

Yesterday Peyton got a runny nose.... she's never had a runny nose... so I was using the lovely bulb to get her yuckies out.... she didn't like it much.... then she started sneezing and more snot........ then came the cough. Poor girl. Okay so she's congested and has a runny nose... how does that work... I can't stand to see my baby sick. She's still laughing and happy for the most part, a lil moody... I can't blame her... and she's still nursing well.

Sydney had a fever last night.. 100.9 - gave her some tylenol, she started with the cough too... no sneezing or runny nose... her eating habits aren't great... she's not nursing as much.... I don't like when she's striking the buffet... makes for unhappy mommie. I of course was worried all night.. so i slept in the livingroom with them, waking up every lil while to check on them... "are they breathing, is the chest moving up and down, why do i have to keep rolling you over onto your back, why do you prefer your tummy now?"

Bianca's got a runny nose, sore throat.... no cough, no sneeze, no fever. She's not happy about the runny nose but she's tough and workinit out. She went to daddy's soccer game tonight.

Took the girls to the DR.... we got the old dr, she's like 100 years old or something.. she says they have colds, no fluid in the chest, nothing in the ears, just mucus running down the throat.... little colds med is what she said... 1/2 a dropper each..... so far.... nothing...... babies slept some, pooped some, nursed some... even laughed and played some... but they don't seem to be getting better... okay so they only had a 1/2 a dropper.....

gotta run and nurse me some babies

Rage Birthday, BBQ and more

Alex from the Rage - Soccer Team - had a birthday and we enjoyed a few hours of jumping (bouncetown), racing and eating. The babies met a new "boy" friend, his name is Carter, he's 3 months old (i think). He's very cute, he's got a reddish/brown colored mohawk and he enjoyed his toe touching with the girls. His big sister is Annie on the soccer team and he calls Jillian mom... er the all you can eat buffet - cuz he doesn't talk yet. She rocks, we got along great, I really enjoy hanging out with other moms of babies & tweens too...... it's nice to know that there are other buffets open 24/7 and it's fun to laugh about it. Hey Leah... Kristie got a new friend ~lmao~ the cake was yummie, the company was great, and I even got to run around and jump a little bit.

Next Day Rage BBQ - a fundraiser for our girls.... bbq'd burgers and dogs, chips, salad, watermelon and dessert - if you're thinking all you can eat - you're wrong, half price on the leftovers... "do i need a ticket for watermelon, cuz I only have one with a soda and hotdog?" 105 in the shade... "it's hot, can i have some ice... what.. i can't get a piece of ice... that's messed up." ..."hey do i need a ticket for a piece of your cake? two tickets? dang...." okay enough of that.... the bbq was fine. the girls played soccer against some of the parents.... I didn't get to play... I had the babies to play with... Jillian and Carter came late, but we did nurse the babies and talk some. Carter tried out the bumbo's... he didn't care for them much, he preferred his mama's arms.... it was all you could eat dessert.... not sure on the salad bar... i could have eaten some more salad but I didn't want the ticket lady to come after me...... the girls did sack races too.... they looked so cool hoppin in those bags...

9:02

Last week I bet Ben that Bianca would run the mile the fastest on her soccer team. I've only been to one practice so I don't know the rest of the girls that well. Ben (da coach) bet that Tiara would come in first. So.... Bianca came in first today... and she came in quite a bit faster than her teammates, Renee came in 2nd and her time was 10:31.... So to celebrate tomorrow... We'll be stopping off to pick up Shari's Berries... Go Bianca....You Rock.

Today was a slow day, Bianca and I woke up to the cooing of Sydney and Peyton around 830... Bianca stayed in bed til 900... When I went to check on them, I knew they were playing, but Peyton had rolled onto her tummy while Sydney had her feet up to her nose laying on her back.

This last week Peyton has been rolling over onto her side to fall sleep, I get nervous because I don't want her to roll onto her tummy and sleep. I left them for a few more minutes to play before nursing them and changing them. When big sister got up, she played with them while I cleaned up their bedroom some, and put some laundry away. I managed to clean the livingroom up too.... I hate cleaning....

after we all got some grub in our tummies, we hit the gym.... it was quiet at the gym today. We went to my parents house where Bianca did fashion shows sporting my sisters outfits...(hope you aren't reading this Amy). Finally I took the babies out near the pool (after I found some shade) and watched Bianca swim before she had soccer practice.

I stayed home with the cranky girls who wouldn't NAP... they both took thirty minute naps.. of course Peyton had a fifteen minute headstart so I only got fifteen minutes alone time... where I did some YOGA... boy could I use a lil break.

The girls are still awake...

Lemme see ya grill

bottom left - just popped out today... So Sydney was having a bad day, started when we got home from the gym, she took a lil nap while we ate lunch and woke up as soon as the phone rang and the boys from FTB called me... So I nursed her and then Peyton while I was talking on the phone... then Sydney started getting wild and yelling and fussing... so I tried to calm her down.. and finally we decided to take a ride in the car.. hit the drive thru at Starbucks... I've been craving a half caf...vanilla latte. Syd liked it, she took a nap again... slept great... about 430 I woke her up again and nursed her and then we headed to my parents house to swim.... that's when we found it.... Nana found it really.... a tooth... Yep Syd's got her first tooth. BRAVO

And we all got to swim.... Sweet deal, the babies enjoyed the evening swim. Now I have to get a picture of that grill