What happened to July?

July was good to us.  We spent the 4th of July at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.  We stayed for the fireworks, that was a huge mistake, no fireworks are that great, to wait an hour afterwards to leave the parking lot.  There were too many people, lots of honking and angry people trying to get home. 

Seems like everytime we go to Six Flags we find new rides or new shows.  So far the best shows are The Dolphins, Sea Lions and Shouka....  We finally braved the splash zone for Shouka...  Sydney, Peyton and me....  Kamren, Daddy and Bianca stayed dry at the top of the stadium.  We were soaked half the day from the drenching of Shouka...  We met up with Mike, Shannon, Stella, Diego and Gabi on one trip.  The kids had fun going on rides together.  I think the Cobra is still a big hit.  Shannon, Bianca, me and Sydney went on Pandamonium (Tony Hawk ride)  it was lots of fun.  Everyone liked getting wet on the water rides, Shannon put her hands up the entire time, not sure how she did it.  We can't wait to meet up again there.

The gym has been good to us, Bianca and I have been doing 5 miles everytime we go... on a new machine that adds Chest Press and Leg Press during your laps...  it's a great workout and one of my favorite next to swimming.  I need to get to the gym a little more often, but it's so hard because I don't like missing out on what Kamren is doing.  Even if it's only 2 hours.  I guess I should be okay with it, since I'll be going back to work and he'll be away for 8 hours instead of 2... 

Playdates are still our favorite things to do, we skip the gym on those days and it's worth it to see the kids having so much fun.... but those tantrums that come from Sydney on some of those days... I'd like to skip those......  I need to go through my pictures so I can add some.....  Kam is asleep, perfect time to try it.

Combat Crawl

Kamren has been scooting for awhile now (a few weeks) but now he is doing his own version of the combat crawl, grab and drag.... He grabs the carpet, blanket, a toy and drags himself forward....  he did the whole backwards moving and realized he didn't like it much....  So the last few weeks he's been putting his knees under himself and he'd lock his arms and lift himself up (not at the same time) and now he's doing this combat crawl and putting his knees under him, and almost moving like a snake forward...  *lol*  it's great....  put him on the floor (he loves it) and he just goes...  time to get gates and start the toddler proofing...  it's way to soon for this... isn't it? 

Everytime I pull the video camera out... Kamren decides he loves what he's playing with and won't scoot, crawl or roll....   I need to hide the camera so he doesn't know I'm getting him on video.  Time to go buy a bunch of DVD's to video tape.  I'm going to hire the girls to video for me.... Maybe he'll show off for them.

June is gone

Yep, it's been a month since I've blogged.  I started a whole bunch of posts, but I was having trouble downloading, uploading pictures to blogger....  I gave up.   But now that things have slowed down for a week... I'm back in the saddle.

The month of June had us busy and wishing for a vacation - we had a routine down and it couldn't get better than that, could it?  We had lots of breakfast dates with our pal Soccer Jim, we had swimming lessons every day for a month, we hit the gym every day for working out and more swimming.  I felt a lil stressed from all the running around.  waking up at 630, taking daddy to the train, getting home and fixing breakfast, nursing Kamren, getting 3 kids dressed, sunblocked, teeth brushed, hair brushed and out the door with all the necessary things for the day....  I only forgot the beach towels one time....  Yay  :)  Hit the swimming pool for some lessons, then lunch, then the gym for more swimming and maybe a workout, from the gym it was time to pick daddy up and get home to make dinner.  I was exhausted by 430 and ready for bed, but when your nursing there is no luxury of sleep.  Don't get me wrong - Kamren is an amazing baby who loves his sleep like his mama and sister Sydney.  Bed time is 10 o clock and first wake up call has been 545, it's like sleeping through the night. 

So June is a blurr of going to breakfast @ the Orphan, which has become #1 in my book, hitting up the Ugly Mug for some breakfast as well, the coffee was terrible, but the company is always good.  Picnic lunches at the park and playdates with friends and trips to the movies.  I think I have some pictures somewhere.  I haven't been as good at getting pictures off my camera as in years passed.  I think the combination of 4 kids, 3 under 5 and 1 nursing has taken a toll on the memory and the camera snapping...  not easy to snap away when you have a kid on the boob, on your lap or one whinning or fighting with another....  did i mention i love being a stay at home mom for the summer?  I do.. really I do..  I'll be on vacation come September when I head back to the rat race. 

lets find some pictures to blog

Playdate in Gold River

Donovan decided he wanted to sleep over - Yep slumber party with Bianca, Sydney and Peyton.  He never wants to stay because Uncle Ben is known to scare and torment young kids....  who then have nightmares....  so we were excited to have him come spend the night.  The kids played video games, played school, and ran around like animals with Kallie.  Donovan tried to walk the dog in the backyard, she decided she wanted to walk him instead, fun times in Kallie's Kennel.

We hit up the park in Gold River for some fun in the sun.  Kamren slept the entire date while Sydney, Peyton, Donovan, Dominic and Devin road slides, climbed cobwebs and posed for the camera. My camera had a battery malfunction so I only got a few pictures.

still swimming

Motorboat Motorboat go so slow
Motorboat Motorboat go so fast
Motorboat Motorboat step on the gas - (everyone goes under)

Swimming

The girls loved swimming lessons.  4 weeks of early trips to the pool, some mornings it was chilly, a couple times it rained, but for the most part the girls couldn't wait to see their teachers and learn how to put their monster arms, superman arms, face in the water and bobs together to make a swimming machine.  Peyton caught on quickly, by the 3rd week she was swimming like a champion.  Sydney preferred to keep her feet on the ground, and face above water, but she's got the bob down really well now.  Peyton can now do the crawl stroke (or is it freestyle now) face in the water, big monster arms and kicking those feet.  She can come up for air and then swim like a dolphin under water.  She'd rather leave the life jacket at home.  Sydney would rather dog paddle, because getting her hair and face wet (she is wearing goggles) isn't appealing.  I think I need to sign them up for another round of GUPPIES.  I've been thinking....  saving up my vacation for a summer off...  not a bad investment.  I'm loving it.

Kamren rolled over

He's 3 months old today...  well if you count March 7th to June 7th... and he's already rolled over...  This blog isn't allowing me to upload any pictures...  darn it...  not that I have a picture of him doing it...  but I can do a before and after

M & M Wedding Day

The night before the wedding we didn't sleep well... okay maybe it was just me.  Two full size beds and a crib, but Kamren didn't really like his crib, he woke up every two hours to nurse and be held.  We all got up about 8 am and the kids had to be to Michelle's room by 10 to get their hair fixed.  We dropped the kids off and went for a walk before heading back to the hotel to get ready. 

There was lots of drama at the hotel before the wedding... I'll just keep that under wraps :)  Uncle Michael and his best man arrived at the church in a rolls royce, as did the bride and her maid of honor.  The rest of the wedding party took a trolley from the hotel to the church.  The church was beautiful, Old St Marys on California. 

Kamren and I sat with Leslie and Emma in the 4th row on the grooms side.  Tia Andria and Tio Rudy sat right behind us and Tia got some good shots, while mom didn't get a chance to shoot much during the wedding.  The lighting was really bad and no flashes allowed, not to mention I was busy making sure Kamren's carseat didn't fall off the small pew.  Big butts not allowed....

The wedding was beautiful.  Bride and Groom knelt at the front while their bestman and maid of honor sat near them, the rest of the party sat in the pews.  The ceremony was traditional and the priest even got a kiss after the "ortega's were introduced to the family and friends". 

The trolley took the guests from the church to the reception, all but Tia Andria, Papa, Grandma, Kamren and me, we took the beautiful walk to the Julia Morgan Building - the place was gorgeous.

The wedding party

flower girls

junior bridesmaid

my beautiful girls

my two handsome guys

daddy telling Kamren to smile for the camera

baby blues

Ninos w Kamren

mama's lil man is dozin

Hanger steak, potatoes and aspargus - divine

Sydney & Uncle Michael do the $$ dance

Twirlin during the money dance

Bustin a move $$ dance

Peyton gets her dance with the groom

Sydney & Uncle Rudy cuttin a rug

Grandma get some cuddle time with kamren

The boys with the bride and flower girls

Finally Kamren gets a dance with Bianca

Peyton & Bianca dancin the night away

Peyton gets a much anticiapted dance with the bride

Ben refused to dance so he gets to rock Kamren to sleep instead

Peyton danced into the wee hours of the night with her Ninos

Sydney passed out in Papa's arms