Project LIFE 9/5 - 9/18

   

Sunday morning donuts with Daddy.

Olivia & Kathy giving Chopper a bath in the front yard.

Abbie, Olivia, & their friend Mara, playing at the park while Brandon was at soccer practice. It's so nice to have other "siblings" at practice for the girls to play with!

Olivia's first day of school!

She's now in pre-kindergarten at Stoneridge, and for the first time she DID NOT CRY (!) when we dropped her off! Woo-hoo!

Our stash on the sidelines: backpack with snacks & diapers, gatorade for Brandon, iced tea for me, and my purse.

Abbie wearing Olivia's & my shoes. While her feet are still smaller than ours :)

Picking out watches at Nordstrom.(And for those who care, I set the camera on the table for this one.)

(Another "on the table shot.")

Brandon put his Prince of Persia Legos (from his Brickmaster Club) together all by himself!

I just went back to work three days a week. I provide in-home speech therapy services for children aged birth to three. I *love* my job! I hate that I spend half of my day in the car.

 

flashback friday...play (2006)

With school starting up, I thought I'd share this from the end of summer, 2006.

Four years ago. Wow. Brandon just started kindergarten, along with all of the other babies here. One of the little girls is in his class. Amazing.

Project LIFE 8/22 - 9/4

 Star Wars pancakes for breakfast. Took forever to make, and of course they were gone in a flash. I must be a good mom!

 This is how Brandon & Olivia helped me pick out new glasses :)

Olivia was so excited to finally get a booster seat! And it's pink too :)

When the boy's away, the girls will play!

(And how much do I love the new blue walls! David painted our room this color last fall, so this year I decided that the whole interior should be this color, since he only painted "some" of it taupe!)

 

Margarita Friday! Okay, that isn't the best caption for *this* picture, lol! But while the adults were enjoying their beverages, the kids were eating pizza :)

 

 We went to the Rivercats game with our neighbors and had a blast out on the grass.

 Unfortunately, David did not agree that the entire house should be repainted blue. Boo! I don't understand, lol! So taupe it is. At least the playroom is blue (and not that hideous mauve anymore!)

 

I got to volunteer in Brandon's class today. It was so cute watching him learn.

 

 I am probably the last speech therapist on earth to get Mr. Potato Head! I've just always worked where there was one to use. And now that I travel from home to home, it's time to have my own. Of course Abbie had to test it out first!

I got these fun square bowls at Walmart after reading about them on the Pioneer Woman's blog. They are so fun, and the smaller ones can go in the oven! Score!

I love watching Abbie play on the mornings I'm home with her. I get so few anymore, now that I'm working three days a week.

Yeah, it's out of focus. And the color was awful (that's why it's now black & white!). But I think it's one of my favorite photos. I may even frame it.

I love how it captures my children having fun. You can see the laughter, the movement, the joy. I want to bottle it all up & keep it forever. But I can't.

But I can frame it. Thank you, David, for capturing this moment while I was at work.

Pool party at my Aunt Brenda's house in Oakdale. Brandon & Olivia played in the pool until it was time to get out. Abbie still isn't sure of the of the water...crazy baby!

Project LIFE 8/15 - 8/21

 

Brandon & Olivia love taking random photos with my camera. I love that they are learning to use a camera, and since it's digital, I really don't care what they take pictures of. I think it's so cool that Brandon got this shot of our entertainment center, with Phineas & Ferb coming on the TV. The kids love watching this show, so it's on all the time!

Abbie loves to eat apples (well, any fruit!). It's one of her favorite after-nap snacks.

Date night for me & Brandon. We went to Starbucks for hot chocolate to chat before his first day of kindergarten. I had been really sad the night before, realizing I was going to be at work all day, his last day "home" with us before heading to school, so I took him out on a date to make up for it.

Brandon's first day of kindergarten. Heading off to Oakhills Elementary in Granite Bay, CA.

(side note: how funny that I'm in two pics in a row, when I'm hardly in any!)

I used to give directions to our house in San Jose like this: exit 87 at Santa Teresa, make the first right by the mall. Make the next right by AAA. Make the next right onto Chynoweth. Keep going under the overpass, make the first left by Gunderson onto New World. Go to the end & make a right on Narvaez. Make another right onto Massachusetts & we're the house on the left with the big orange boat in the driveway.

(Gosh it takes me back to say that!)

(And by the way, yes, it did suck to have to learn how to spell Massachusetts in first grade when we had to learn our addresses! But it was fun to let other people flounder when they needed to write my address down .)

The girls with their matching Twinkle Toes bling shoes from Skechers, chillin' in the cart at Costco.

Girls' night out: Shopping at the Galleria followed by dinner at Tres Agaves.

Project LIFE 8/7 - 8/14

 

8/7: One of Brandon's Lego Clone Troopers, found in the entryway.

8/8: New backpack & lunch box for kindergarten. We bought him the Darth Vader set at Pottery Barn Kids as a surprise & he LOVED it!

8/9: Whole Foods Market.

Honestly, when it opened I was like, oh, cool, we had one Los Gatos. Now I do most of my shopping there. I like that in this crazy, uncontrollable world, I can at least (partially) control what goes into our bodies.

8/10: First day of soccer practice for the Crocodiles, with Keaton & Coach Leif.

8/11: Getting frozen yogurt for a special treat after dinner at Nuyo. The kids get to pick out which flavor yogurt and one topping, and then we put a cherry on top :) Fun new family tradition.

8/12: Another day of testing in Natomas until my contract is up. I have given these tests so many times I can recite them by heart. Which is kinda funny, because I end up zoning out while reading them sometimes!

8/13: Friday night picnic at the park. We got Chipotle & met mom, dad, & Kathy for dinner at the "rocket ship park" (Highland Park).

8/14: The kids & I found these fun little canvases to paint at Beverly's for $1!

Disneyland, June 2010

Three months after we got back & it's scrapped!

I used a Becky Higgins' sketch that I've used before. I love it because I can fit quite a few photos on it, and still have ample journaling space.

I used my fun spiral notebook punch again. I just love that look, and I'm sure 10 years from now I'll look back at my layouts & laugh.

I'm not big on using "themed" stickers on my layouts, but come on, it's a Disneyland layout! I originally had different colors picked out, but then Mickey didn't match. I was going to ditch the mouse, but my husband then pointed out that it just looked like any other layout. And it's not like we go there all the time. Besides, the Mickey sticker came with three epoxy Mickey heads, perfect for here:

turning two

Abbie had her second birthday almost two months ago! We had a small gathering at home since 1) most of my friends don't have kids her age and 2) of the friends who would come, most were on vacation. Which was fine with me!

I used some of my leftover My Mind's Eye papers from Olivia's birthday layout along with a Becky Higgins' sketch. I used some Thickers from my stash; I would've loved to have titled my layout "Abbie two" since she says "Abbie too" all the time! However, I named her Abbie with an "ie" not Abby with a "y". And I didn't have any black "e" sticker. I could've bought new Thickers, but I would've had to order them, and sometimes I just want to finish a layout, KWIM?

I added journaling strips on the right page, with some quick details of her "party" and what her gifts were (not much, since #3 doesn't really need anything!).

The buttons are mostly Jenni Bowlin & from my April/May Green Tangerine's kit. The colors just happened to match the papers! Yay me! I was short one button (I wanted three groups of three), so I used one of my Jillibean Cool Beans buttons.

I added this handprint of Abbie's on the page as well. I don't do it on every birthday layout, but it is a fun addition...and a free embellishment! I used her left hand since (at least right now) Abbie is left-handed. I just painted her hand with some acrylic paint & smooshed it down on white paper for her, and it only took one take! When I've done my other kids' handprints, it usually takes a couple of times!