Dominic Turns Six

Last weekend we celebrated Dominic's Sixth Birthday. Everyone had a splashin good time. Uncle Rudy kept getting me wet while I was in the splash area trying to get the girls to play in the water. He kept directing the water at me... luckily for everyone I wore black instead of white.... - and in the end I got him really good. The first time he was chattin away and I took a big water balloon to his back, the next time he was relaxing on a bench and I dumped an entire water bottle over his head. ~smiles~ It felt really good.

Dominic got lots of Pokemon stuff, he was lovin it. Here are some pictures .

playin in the water
Athena, Me, Sydney holding onto me, Peyton playin with the water
Donovan and Bianca smile for the camera
Sydney wanted to play @ her park.... the swings and slides were way to hot, she was disappointed.
Devin & Ben
Uncle Michael lets Bianca use his crutch
Bianca and Matthew
Bianca & Kalyn

"So we meet again" Bianca & Andres this is something that they say everytime they see each other.... they act like Jedi's

My three beautiful girls


Peyton & Sydney eating PBJ and sippin cocktails
Hey batter.... Dominic takes the first swing
Peyton takes her turn, she's more interested in smiling at the camera than really hitting the pretty star
Sydney tries poking the pinata...

Confirmation

last weekend my cousin Ryan did his confirmation, it was a privilege for me to share the journey with Ryan as his sponsor. I'm waiting for my aunt and uncle to send me some pictures from the party. I had a baby attached to me most of the trip... so I didn't get to take many photos. Ben was the paparazzi... hence we didn't get to many pics...
Sydney, Bianca & Peyton
Ryan & Zach in the background
Bianca, Sydney, (Great) Grape Grandma & Peyton
Bianca strikes a pose in the corner
Sydney, Grape Grandma & Peyton
Aunt Roxann & Peyton
Peyton and the Panda snooze

Graduation

Sixth Grade Graduation

the cast: Papa, Grandma, Nana, Amy, Me, Ben, Sydney & Peyton

the setting: Tropical... palm trees and lays... it was hawaiian style

We got there at 10 am, the ceremony was going to start at 1030. We had an entire row reserved, Peyton said on the middle isle side, then me, with Sydney attached to my knee, Amy, Nana, Grandma, Papa, and Ben.... He sat on the opposite side of me so he didn't have to help with the girls. So I had my Nikon in one hand, while trying to balance Sydney on my knee and keep an eye on Peyton who was playing with the keys, dropping them and sliding out of the chair to retrieve them.... fun game.... Amy was in charge of the video.

Bianca was gorgeous, she looked older than eleven... ~pouts~ She was also first to walk down the isle. She was a blurr as she walked by so quickly... and I had on my tele lens thinking it would be easier to snap pictures of her on the stage....

all of the girls were dressed in beautiful dresses, some of the guys wore tuxes, a few suits and mostly a dressy casual look... slacks, polo's, button up shirts.... Everyone looked great.... they each paraded down the middle isle to their seats... The teachers read a Dr Seuss Story "oh, the places you'll go"

They called each graduate up to receive a certificate and a lay.... everyone cheered loudly. The babies were yelling Bianca's name most of the ceremony, or they were playing with the keys... yelling about the keys... trying to start the chair in front of us with the keys... Jaqui's mom was a sport as she was the one being poked most of the time... Cody's baby brother came to play with the girls towards the end of the ceremony... Hooray.

Afterwards there were flowers, balloons, cake, punch and lots of pictures. We went to visit Mrs R..(Bianca's 5th grade teacher) of course that was when the tears started to fall... She's been an awesome friend and teacher to Bianca. She's been there to help Bianca during her trying times, and keep her headed in the right direction. It's been great having her. The babies gave her hugs and high fives. Bianca loves Mrs R. She got teary eyed as we said our goodbyes... we'll be going back to visit... Hopefully she'll remember us....

After Mrs. R - we went to see Mrs H... Bianca's 2nd grade teacher, we've stayed in touch with her over the years. We see her outside of school and when she substitutes.... It's always good to see her and get some hugs. She's a lot of fun. We'll see her off and on this summer when we take Kallie to dog training...

We snapped some pictures and then Bianca wanted her special lunch celebration at Benihana's. After lunch Bianca went to spend some of her graduation money and then we headed home with a CRYING baby.... it was bad... Later that night Shannon, Mike, Estella and Diego came over to BBQ. The kids played outside for awhile, played kitchen, ran around, watched some curious george and then packed up and headed for home... i was exhausted.

Bianca & Nick
Jaqui, Kelsie, Bianca
Josh & Bianca
Michael & Bianca
Someone, Emily C, Kelsie, Emily M, Autumn, Bianca, Caelob
Grandma, Bianca, Papa
Amy & Bianca
Actin goofy

Ambers

After the long day at the pool.... I picked the babies up and we headed to Roseville to visit Amber. 45 minutes on the road and we arrived....Bianca has been asking for a hair cut for about two months now... and I'm finally getting around to taking her... HOORAY....

Amber did a great job.... the babies enjoyed the hair salon too.. Thanks Amber!

Del Norte

Today was the 6th grade swim party. Here are some pics

Nick & Bianca
Taylor & Bianca
Kelsie & Bianca
Kels, Autumn, Bianca, Taylor
Bianca & Nick

Check out the slideshow from the party

a surprise visit

there was a knock at the door this evening... Uncle Steven, Andrew and Luke stopped by to visit.

Bianca enjoyed making Luke smile and laugh. After a few pictures sitting in his carseat... we pulled Luke out and let him roll around on the floor. Hey.... he even let me hold him... no fussing at all....

Andrew and Sydney played kitchen... Peyton was still asleep from the car ride from walnut creek.

Uncle Steven checked out the GTA book and watched some UFC fights with Ben.

Thanks for stopping by, we enjoyed the visit

Walnut Creek

Today we drove to Walnut Creek to visit Grape Grandma (what the girls call Great Grandma) Aunt Roxann, Uncle Rick, Ryan and Zach (the girls say the boys). The ride was longer than normal, but we only made one pit stop.... the girls took about an hour nap during the drive. They woke up as we pulled up to the house.

Sydney was cool with high fives right from the start but it took Peyton a lot longer to warm up. They were a bit disappointed that Grape Grandma hadn't arrived but they were happy enough playing with Kelly (the dog). Sydney was the first to use the potty (3 times in ten minutes) She wanted to make sure it was in working order... ~lmao~

We went outside to play with the cat, dog and blow bubbles. The bigger kids - Ben, Ryan, Zach and Bianca played basketball while the rest of us blew bubbles and ate cookies... - after lunch of course. Peyton skipped lunch for the most part, but Sydney ate 4 helpings of colslaw, a half of a half of turkey, cheese and lettuce sandwich and a chip..

Ryan and I snuck out to his confirmation rehearsal and the girls didn't even know I was gone... SCORE ONE FOR MAMA....

Next week is the real deal... all i had to do was stand with my right hand on Ryan's shoulder and say "I present Sampson" I should be good to go on Saturday during the real ceremony. Very exciting stuff - I know I didn't make it sound so in my brief description... but I'm very honored to be Ryan's sponsor - it's been a great spiritual journey~ seeing it all come together when he is confirmed will be awesome.
Check out the slideshow
(the pictures on flicker are always posted in the wrong order, from last to first)

Zach, Sydney, Peyton, Bianca and Kelly chase Dopey (cat)

Sydney hangs on the rim after slamming one thru

Another slam dunk for Sydney
Peyton hangs from the rim
Peyton slams with authority

weekend update

Friday I picked Bianca and Patrick (my nephew) up from school. We headed to Arden Fair mall to check out the bathing suits. First we hit the gap, they had some really cute suits online... but we were disappointed once we got to the store. Then we went to Nordstroms where they had the cutest Roxy suits... but they didn't have Bianca's size.. and she didn't want me to spend $50 on a bathing suit for her....

Dang.. when i was her age I would have been all over that... oh wait.. i was..

We were having company over for Dinner so we raced to pick up the babies and get home in time to BBQ. Shannon, Mike, Estella and Diego came over for dinner. It was our first time using the new BBQ (Ben got a new one last Friday because he didn't like the way the other new one cooked, he said the heat disburstment was uneven) So we had Steak, Hotdogs, Potato Salad, green onions and watermelon... yummie.

We haven't seen Mike & Shannon since Christmas but we are going to be seeing a lot of them now that they moved back to Sac from Denver... Hooray. I'm trying to talk Shannon into coming to play soccer on my Tuesday Night Team.... The kids all had a great time and by the end of the night Diego was putty in my hands, letting me hold and kiss him.... he's a mama's boy.. kinda like my kids ~lmao~

Saturday morning the kids woke up early and we made pancakes. The kids played out back while Ben and I finished up the weed fabric and bark on the side of the house... after working in the yard in the morning we headed to Bianca's school carnival. The kids enjoyed playing the games and chasing the Cow around... to bad I forgot my camera