Back to School, Back to School

My little boy Grant is in third grade this year, and my baby girl is in Kindergarten!! It was a very exciting day for my kids, neither of them could sleep the night before. Despite the fact that this is Grant's 5th elementary school he's attended, he loves school and makes friends easily. He has yet to attend the same school twice. He's such a trooper. The kids were excited to finally be able to wear the clothes they set out for the first day of school more than 3 weeks ago! It was definitely a mix of all sorts of emotions for me that day, and really this whole week. I'm happy they want to go to school, and I'm actually used to Grant being in school, but sending my baby girl and having two in school makes me a little sad. Luckily Eliza is only gone for a few hours in the afternoon, and not all day. She's like Z's second Mom, I don't know what I'm going to do without her.

Grant wearing what he calls, "the coolest shorts ever". Eliza already to go, 4 hours too early. She was disappointed when I didn't drop her off with Grant.

I will miss you Grant, but I think little Z will miss you even more.
My handsome boy!

Too cool for school!

Little miss Lu-Lu all ready for Kindergarten.
Total cuteness!
Zach has no idea how much his life will change without is favorite play mate around. As soon as we drop her off, he becomes a broken record asking "where's La-la" ? He misses her.

Eliza requested two braids for her first day of school.
Sitting at her table in the class room next to her new friend Grace.
All ready to take on the world! I will miss you Lu-Lu, probably the cutest Kindergartner ever!!

10 YEAR REUNION

I can't believe it's been ten years since high school! Actually, it feels longer since I've done more in the last 10 years than I did the first 18 years of my life! I was excited to have a mini vacation while my sweet hubby stayed home with the kids. I was only gone for the weekend, but it was perfect. Just sitting on an airplane alone for 5 hours with my new book (Eclipse, I know I'm only on the third one. I'm trying to catch up so I can read number 4, wahoo! ;) ) Just the plane ride could have been a vacation in itself.

I was so happy to see my family since I don't make it out there much. I pretty much got to see the whole gang! I saw a ton of siblings, nieces and nephews, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins...phew, what a weekend! Oh, and not to mention a ton of people I haven't seen since High School! Our reunion took place right in good 'ole Placerville at one of the vineyards, it was beautiful! I was surprised, and I'll admit a little disappointed that every body looked pretty much the same since I last saw them. I was hoping to get some entertainment out of seeing which people had dramatically changed since high school. I guess I was happy everybody looked so good. The whole night was totally fun, I am soo glad I went! Enjoy the pictures, these are for you Kari and Emily, I missed you guys!

We have nothing like this in Texas.

Mandy, Taryn, Me and Sarah


Amber, Christina, Sarah, Valarie, Megan and Me
Sorry, I have a lot of blurry pictures. It was either my camera, or whatever drunk person I could find to take the picture.


Esther, Christina, Jenny, Alyssa, Kristine, Me
Wynter, Sarah, Amber, Megan, Me
Sorry, this one is way blurry!

Christi, Wynter, Sarah
One of my best friends since the 6th grade! Love you Wynter!

One of the highlights of the trip was seeing my baby brother Alex! For those of you who don't know Alex, he suffers from severe Autism. He is now 18 years old, I can't believe it. For the last few years he has lived in a group home with other boys like him, and he loves it. Me and my Mom took Alex out to lunch at his favorite place, McDonalds, and then to the gas station so he could get his favorite candy bar, a Fast Break. I love Alex.

Is That Girl PREGNANT?!

Yes indeed it is true, we are expecting baby number 4! Isn't that crazy? We are so excited and feel so blessed! I've had some friends ask if I was ever going to post about it, so here it is. I am 17 weeks pregnant and due January 25. Other than a sciatic nerve issue I had for about six weeks, it's been a pretty good pregnancy so far (I'm actually one of those weirdo's who loves being pregnant). I've never had any problems with that nerve before and was wondering if any of you have? I had no idea it could get so bad and could barely walk for about a month (wasn't loving it so much then). Anytime I would go with Paul to the store he would beg me to ride on one of those motorized scooters the store has. Let me tell you it was tempting since I was in so much pain, but I'm much too prideful and figured somebody needed it more than me. Instead I would follow about 10 feet behind Paul and the cart full of kids. He would always joke that when people saw us together they must think, "Ah what a nice guy, he's married to a little crippled girl". Paul was a huge help during my "disabled" time. Thankfully things have shifted off that nerve and I can walk again, Hurray! The kids are as excited as I am about the pregnancy and ask all the time about the baby. Eliza loves to pat my ever growing belly several times a day and say, "wow mom, your tummy is sooo huge, I think it's almost ready to come out!" Nope, still have 23 more weeks, but thanks Eliza. We find out during our next Dr. appt what the gender is. I'll keep y'all posted! Can't wait till January!

The Curse of the Black Volvo

When Paul wrecked his last car he figured it was time he had a more fitting car for a business man like himself. He found the car he loved, a black Volvo S60 with leather interior, and he got it for a great deal I might add. Well he's loved it so far but his luck began to change within 4 days of moving to our new house. We had just moved in and we were busy unpacking boxes when a knock came to our door, I thought, how nice one of our neighbors is coming to welcome us to the neighbor hood. Welcome us indeed, she had backed out of her drive way and right into Paul's car that was parked in the street since our garage was full of boxes. Our very distraught neighbor apologized for the massive dent she left in the driver side door, luckily she had insurance. The VERY NEXT DAY, Paul was at work and some dumb-dumb hit his car in the parking lot, didn't leave any kind of note but left Paul's front bumper literally hanging off on one side, we had to pay for that one out of pocket. EXACTLY ONE WEEK LATER, he was on his way home and parked at a stop light when he was rear ended. As a result he has to get his back bumper fixed. After almost a week of his car being in the repair shop he finally gets it back to discover that the driver side window doesn't work and the lock doesn't work, so back to the repair shop it goes... I'm seriously afraid to get in that car, do you blame me? It's cursed I tell ya!