More 1st day of school photo's

Cousins & Soccer

Here are some pictures of the kids hanging out @ Bianca's soccer tournament in Auburn.  It was a great tournament.  The first game on Saturday the girls lost 4-1 against the Mustangs.... I'm not sure what happened that game, but it put the girls in a position of needing to win the rest of the games in order to advance.  Amy and Tyler showed up to the first game with snacks... Yay for starbucks Iced Mocha's... i was in need for sure. 

Game 2 the girls were down Madi and Bianca was playing defense in her spot.  Bianca can't remember much about the game and neither can I.  We won, getting the maximum points.  Game 3 was on Sunday and we were down players.  We were going to be playing with 9 girls on the field... and all we needed was a tie to advance to the championship against the Mustangs..  Velocity dominated the game with 9 players... and we got the tie we were looking for. 

championship game we were back to full strength, if you can call 1 sub full strength...  I had to leave before the game to attend a sharing parents meeting but I got the highlights when everyone got home.  The game was evenly matched....  back and forth, Bianca was playing defense again.. and we needed a score.  There was a free kick for us, Eleanor hit the ball hard, sending it to Haley who headed it and Bianca ran up, controlled the ball, driibbled and scored.... the crowd went wild... and Velocity won....  The Mustang coach was pissed but after the game he went up to Ben and let him know that #7 was the MVP.....  that's my girl.. #7  way to go Bianca....

Sleep over

Patrick came to hang out for a few days and nights with us.  The girls all enjoyed having him around and he couldn't get enough of Uncle Ben.  He kept tabs on where and when Ben was coming back and always greeted Uncle Ben with a huge hug. There was a dance off between Bianca and Patrick, there was a kinect sports tournament and even some Fable 3.

Playdate with Norma & the boys

Norma invited us over to swim.... finally.  It's been a couple of years and I guess her backyard is now playdate worthy.  We couldn't wait for 1 o'clock to roll around, so Bianca and I headed to the salon to get pedicures, it was so nice to have a massaging chair and someone to pamper my feet, and my toenails were in need of some TLC and midnight blue polish.   Picked up my nephew Patrick and then headed to show Kamren off to Norma.

We arrived in grand style... me dropping my phone in the water - it stopped working for a few hours... 

Pool time.  Kamren enjoyed visiting with Norma while me and all the kids played some Marco Polo... the water was cold at first, but after 5 minutes we were all used to it.  Richie was sleeping after a hard day on the soccer field and I think all the fun in the backyard woke him up cuz he couldn't wait to join the party.....  okay maybe it didn't happen exactly like that....

Alex loved holding Kamren and was surprised how much Kamren liked his mom.  I guess they have a cousin who isn't so happy when he's being held....  

First Tooth - 22 weeks

Monday August 8th....  Kams first tooth popped out....  the best thing was he didn't bite me... nope that's not how I found out. It was better than that....  I had my knuckle in his mouth, letting him bite it, and that's when he bit down hard and I felt that sharp pain....  turned him over and I could see the tooth.  So exciting, he's not even eating food yet and he's got a tooth....  Hard to believe. 

He hasn't been cranky or anything, just Mr Mc Drooly... I love my Mr Mc Drooly. 

Routine out the door again....  School starts for Sydney and Peyton on Monday.... and we don't have a good routine as it changed just last week because soccer practice was added to the agenda.  They love soccer practice, soccer and especially coach Donnie. 

Bianca has a part time babysitting gig, a lil girl named Lucie, she's 9 months old.  We all went over to meet Lucie and her mother Caroline.  The kids played with her ceramic tea sets, she has a tea party themed nursery, very cute.  She had lots of fun toys that kept all the kids entertained.  We need to go toy shopping for the lil man, he's tired of the toys he's got.

Last night was my last indoor soccer game of the season.  I won't have the time to play since we're coaching soccer again this season.  We got our butts kicked last night again. (2 weeks in a row) No subs and played down again...  last week at least I scored, this week I couldn't trap the ball worth a damn or shoot one in the net. 

Todays plan...  go buy a couple more memory cards for my camera, they are all full and I haven't gotten a chance to download them, or do anything with them.  I need to get all the files from my laptop and transfer them to my PC upstairs, make a lil room.  Gym time, swim time, board meeting too. 

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