More of San Fran

Okay kids, I am almost out of time to use the internet so I have to quickly uploaded some pics for you. Today we decided to bike across the golden gate bridge. I was not so sure about this at first but ended up loving it. I think it will probably be one of my most favorite parts of the trip.

Way Fun!!

Look how far we rode. We started back by all of those building in the background.

Lastnight we toured Alcatraz and it was really cool. Here are just a few pics.

Dad, Irene and I in a solitary confinement cell.

This is a regular jail cell, not much!

San Fransico

Dave and I are in San Fransico right now and we are using this blog to send pics to my kids. We are having a lot of fun and have been on the go ever since we got here. My feet are killing me but it has been worth it. We toured Alcatraz tonight and it was great. I will put pics of that up tomorrow. This first pic is out of the window from our hotel. Our room is a corner room and we have a great view of the city.
First outing of the morning on the trolly

Salt Water Taffy!!!

Of course we had to stop!

Irene and I enjoying some of the best cupcakes I have ever eaten. We might have to stop by there again before coming home.

Cioppino!

Dave had heard about this dish long before we came and he has been craving it ever since.
This soup is filled with all kinds of sea food and he didn't even come close to finishing it.

Blue Angels getting ready for their show on Saturday. We are very excited to go and see the show. Dave and Martin were like little kids watching these planes go by over and over again.

Our Newest Addition!

Ha! Scared ya didn't I?

Carlee has been asking for a dog for the past two years. We finally told her that if she saved up enough money then she could buy herself a dog and she did just that. She bought this cute little cockapoo (cocker spaniel and poodle mixed) for $200.00. Wow! She is very cute and she met all of my criteria. She will probably not get much bigger and will only weigh around 10 pounds. She does not shed, even when I pull her hair to test it, and she is very mild mannered. The unfortunate thing is that Carlee has not been around much since she is on the volleyball team at school so guess who is taking care of the dog most of the day? Yep! That would be me but I am ok with it. I have decided that I don't want to get old and wish I had been a better mom and let my kids have some of the things they always wanted, such as the dog and oh, the hampster. She is a good girl and Carlee is very responsible when she is around. By the way, the dog's name is Lizzy!

Birthday Time

It is hard for me to believe that my baby is 2 years old. While I want her to grow up, I also want to keep her as my little baby. She is so fun to have around. She speaks in complete sentences and always wants to do whatever the older kids are doing. She gets really sad when the big kids leave to go play with friends after being gone all day at school.

Grace loves Elmo and has for a really long time so I knew I needed to make her an Elmo cake. I seriously considered buying her a cake until I saw one on line and decided to give it a try. She loved it and that is all that matters.

Grace was so cute when she blew out the candle.
She was very careful and proud of herself.


One of Grace's presents was this baby doll from her Grandma. She loves her and plays with her all day long. She took her money from Nana and Papa and bought a stroller and little diaper bag to go with the baby. I guess she wants to feel big too.
Notice all the hands in this picture. Poor girl!

Happy Birthday Taylor

14 years old and finally as tall as his little sister. Yea!!!

Taylor was finally able to celebrate his birthday on Sept. 11 which is Grace's birthday.
The boys had a great time making their own volcanos. I wanted to take a close up picture of one of them but they started eating before I could even get the camera out.

I should have known this would happen with teenage boys and reddi whip. I think all but one of the boys took a turn with it.

Taylor wanted to go swimming and airsofting (is that word?) as part of his party but it had been raining all day long. Fortunatly the rain let up just long enough for them to go out and play a little. In this picture the boys were posing for me when Dave walked out the door and shot Tyler right in the bumb and my camera went off just as all of the boys reacted. It was perfect.

They all spent the rest of the night playing the guitars, drums, Wii and card games.

I think they had a fun night.

I wanted to throw this pic in too. Taylor loves to fish at the pond behind our house and this is a picture of his latest catch. He was very pleased!

Oh, Happy Day!!!!

I walked out of my room yesterday to find this!

Yippee! Hallelujah! Hurray!!

Grace has finally assumed the "Jaren position" and she is watching TV!! Yeah! I know a good mom would not praise a child for watching TV but I have been waiting for months for Grace to have some sort of interest in it. This week I have tried leaving PBS on all day so that she could watch. She has ignored it until yesterday and it was Barney that caught her attention. She watched the whole show. Dave is going to love that. :) Barney is his favorite! Ha I do hope this will continue, even if she only watches Barney. I only need a few minutes of personal time each day before the wrecking machine is back in action. Happy Day!!!

Abby's 10

Abby has been waiting and waiting for her birthday so she can get her ears pierced. We celebrated a few days early during a school holiday and I think she had a great day!!

This year Abby wanted me to make her a cake that looked like pants. She went on line and found the cake she wanted and it even came with step by step instructions and a video on line if needed. Thank you Abby! I think it turned out cute and she LOVED IT!!

Earlier in the day Dave, Carlee and I took Abby to get her ears pierced. She was so excited and could hardly wait, that is until she got there.

She was so calm at first and then the look of fear. My strong confident little Abby was scared and I thought it was cute. It only took a matter of seconds and it was all over and she didn't even scream. Carlee kept telling her to be calm and that it really doesn't hurt. Like Carlee can talk, you should have seen her two years ago. I am surprised the lady even pierced her ears, she was freaking out!!

The finished product.

Abby loves them and she looks so cute!

We finished our outing with lunch at Olive Garden, Abby's choice. Each year Dave and I get to take the birthday kid out to lunch or dinner. I love this! It was fun getting to spend just a few minutes alone with the birthday girl.

Oh, I love her! Ten years old, Wow!

BBs Everywhere!!!

The new favorite thing to do at our house is to have Air Soft Gun wars. I would say that we have at least 2-3 per week. On average, we have about four boys here playing in the back yard. My yard is now multicolored with BBs Everywhere!!

Late one Saturday night Taylor and his friend Kevin were preparing for an air soft war. They could not find the protective glasses so they chose to wear Abby and Jaren's swimming goggles. They looked hilarious!! It is a rule of mine that when they play, they always have to wear protective glasses.
Dave wanted to get in on all the excitement and so he purchased his own gun. I finally called them in around 11:00 pm. I'm sure the neighbors appreciated that. They were having a Blast!!

Just before christmas while I was shopping I decided to stop in and get Grace's picture taken. I had not yet had her pics taken since she turned one. Grace always has a smile on her face but as soon as the camera comes out the smile goes away. This was the best picture we could get and look, she is missing a hand!
Check out those lashes!! I just love them!