Summer's End

As summer came to an end this year we decide to make labor day week our last adveture for the summer. So we kick out early Friday afternoon with Nono, Noni, Karlee, and Jeremy for Noni's cousins Tamra's house up in Windsor, CA. For those like me Windsor is up near the Alexander Valley, Dry Creek area of CA about an hour north of San Fransisco, very beautiful area. The weather up there was beautiful. When we pulled in Friday night around 7:00pm it was int 70's so the kids went for a evening swim which they thought was the best.

Tamra's house was gorgous beyond compare, with a beautiful outdoor area complete with pool. We spend the majority of the time swiming. We did spend a little time walking around a cute little down town area which was fun and of course we had to visit one winery.

On Sunday Matt and I celebrated our 6th aniversry so the crew decide to let us take of for the day and they all watched our kids!! THANK YOU AGAIN. We had a great time, we cruised down to a little town walked around, check out shops, grabed a bite to eat and then head out the Korbel. Yes Korbel Champange, where they accutly make the champange that was really fun. It was so pretty out there. We tasted champange. There are lots of flavors of champange!! Then we head back home to spend the rest of the evening with the family.

It was a perfect ending to a great summer. The kids had a blast. We had a fun just hanging out with family having no pressure to do anything. And the best part of it was Noni brought her camrea over yesterday to give me the pictures from the weekend and I stole all the pictures she had from the whole summer, so watch out over the next few weeks there might be lots of summer recap post because now I have all the pictures! For now here are the photos fromt he weekend.





One last bit of news, Matteo was a bit off all weekend and Noni, kept telling me that maybe he was teething and to give him something. I kept brushing her off being the great mother I am. I knew my son was not teething since Serafina got her first tooth at a year. Well Tuesday morning Matteo woke up bite my finger and low and behold he has a tooth!! I guess Grandma did know best!!!

First Grade

Our Proud First Grader and Preschooler

Today Sam headed off to first grade. He seemed very excited and nervous all together in one little first grader. When we got to school his nerves were washed away when he found out that one of his friends from kindergarten was in his class. There was now problem when we left, except that Serafina didn't want to go!

Then came pick up. He manged to make it to the car but once inside the hunger cries and tears started to pour out. The poor guy came home starving (he manged only to eat 2 bites of sandwich at lunch) and very tired. So we broke our no TV policies and watched 3 Little Einstein shows!! Oh yes and we had chocolate milk and pudding for snack. Then we were all smiles and by dinner were very happy with how the first day went. (by the way no homework first week, lucky little dude)

After my probing into his day and then my mom questions about his day we have learned nothing more then: 1. The lunch room is really loud, and 2. He gets to play on the playground 3 times. We know nothing about went on in the actual classroom. Maybe tomorrow we will find out more about what goes on inside the class then outside the class!

I think we have a fun week ahead of us!

The following pictures our my attempts at a group shot of all three!!

Little Boy

Our baby is starting to turn into a little boy!! This summer he has become a wild man, learning to crawl (army man style), and turning to solid foods! He is into everything and always wants to be were ever his big kids are! Here a couple pictures of the little man.

Practicing eating with his hands, a little messy!

Practicing eating with a bowl and silverware.

(note the silverware works better just sitting on the tray)


Standing up!!!
Yes my little man pulled up to standing position and I just happened to have the camera!

We love ya Matteo!

Feeling Out of Touch

As the last few weeks of summer come to end I am begining to feel slightly out of touch. My mom and good friend Summer are both back at work. However Sam and Serafina are still out of school. So with all 3 kids and no help I have not been able to attend my Stroller Stride class (I tried it once and it didn't work out well). Which means I have not been able to chat with my mom friends on a regular basis.
Then our telephones stop working, then our Internet went down, and then my computer went down!! Yes all three in three days. We did mange to get the phones up and working in a day. AT&T came out and discovered that our alarm system that was interfering. (which now means we have to re-do the alarm system but that can wait). Once we got a hold of our Internet company (DigitalPuty) we found out that the person who had or Internet repeater on their roof decide to just take it down with out telling anyone!! How funny is that. DigitalPuty was getting all these calls from people with no Internet and they had no clue why. Thank goodness they did jump to and had our Internet up that day. And then there was my computer...

Good old Uncle Jon came over to fix my computer which was saying it had a keyboard failure. My dad and him worked on it for about 3 hrs and then said it was dead. The only thing worth trying now was a new motherboard, which would cost more then it's worth because of the specialized sized. He told me to take it to the dump! Well on a whim I search through my paper work and found that the computer came with a two year warranty!! YEAH. The next day I called dell and today the dell dude came out and installed the new mother board for FREE. Well....that solved the keyboard problem but then we learned that the running system was/is alson corrupt, once again I called Uncle Jon and tomorrow he will back up my computer and wipe it clean. Which means that maybe by Monday I will be up and running, phone, internet and computer. Also I am hoping to attend stroller strides Monday since they are having there grand opening here in AG!! (I am going to see if Auntie Karlee will come with me or watch 1 or 2 kids, I haven't ask yet!)

So slowly but surely I am getting back in touch with the world by Aug 25th I should be good again. It is amazing at how much of an impact technology has in our lives!! Oh and I should say a thank you to my hubby who lets me check my e-mail on his computer every night. What a great guy he is!

Dont give up

To my family and friends:

Please do not give up on my blog and me. We are still out here just been very busy. Summer has proven to be very crazy with ever day being different and new. Being out of my normal routine has caused my blogging to be put aside for a while. For a structured person this wild summer of not knowing where and when anything is going to take place, I am just hanging on for dear life. Don't get me wrong I am enjoy, no loving, every moment and would not change it for the world. But for those of you who know we well, ever week my laundry day as taken me 3-4 days to complete(oppose to one), its just wrong. So please keep checking back with me. Hopefully as the summer comes to an end and my routine returns I will find the time to wax poetically about our adventures; swimming, the beach, Santa Cruz, girl's weekend, Matteo crawling, and just good old fashion fun!!

The Bad Blogger,
Tracy

Serafina Turns Three

Today my little angel turned three. It is simply amazing how fast they grow. Nana, Papa, Robob, Nono and Robob were all in Salt Lake for the day so it was up to Noni, Karlee Uncle Trevor and Aunt Jen, and Uncle Jon to make it a special day. Noni and Karlee showed up this morning with a balloon, a cupcake and a bag of goodies. She spent the morning with us in the village where we were being measured for our dress for Aunt Jen's wedding. There was only one mishap when Jen pulled out her dress to show Noni. Serafina became so over joyed at the beautiful dress she had to run on top of the train and try to shimmy up the dress to Jen. It happened so fast I could not stop her. Of course me grabbing her and running out side for a thinking moment probably happened just as fast!! It was one of those moments as a parent you just shake your head! Jeanette my daughter just out did your son at the bridal shop!!

Uncle Trevor and Jen then headed over to our house to bake cupcakes when they were out of the over Uncle Jon showed up and we head to Chili's for dinner. Yes, Serafina chose the restaurant . The best part of the evening was when we returned home to decorate the cupcakes. Trevor let Serafina dive in and do what ever she wanted, sprinkles, frosting, more sprinkles! It was wild. Sam, of course, got into the action as well. We ending the evening with a couple presents including her new Ipod shuffle (what other gift do you get a child who only wants to listen to music all day!). Which I dont think has been turned off yet! All in all I think the princess had a great day. Thanks to all the family that made her day special.

Just a few pictures

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Just Another Saturday Night

After a wonderful family fun day with Noni and Nono (post to follow) we tucked the kids in bed, I got ready for bed and then remembered one last story I wanted to share withl my hubby, John and David before I headed off to bed. So I trucked on outside were they are having lively conversation to find a scene I never expect:



Yes all three are cleaning guns, drinking, and smoking cigars!! OH MY GOSH!! Please don't get the wrong idea about our family, we really are wholesome!! But this was the craziest sight I have seen in a long time so I had to document it. At lease I did not hear the comment, "women get back in the kitchen"!! Now I am going to bed, Goodnight.

(Poll: do you think I should submit these photo's to the NRA?)