Happy Anniversary & Apple Hill

Today is our Anniversary. We had nothing planned. On a whim my mom contacted us about going up to Apple Hill this morning because Renee and Lily were in town for a little while. It was the Skubals, Rudnickis, Mom and Montes' minus Sammy. We had a great time. Brody couldn't get enough of the free apple cider, which is very very tasty!...can you see his little bum crack hanging out? HA HA!All the grandkids went horseback riding in a circle. Poor horses, but the kids loved it!

Bow & Arrow Fun

Lately Brody has been wanting to watch Robin Hood or The Swan Princess. Both have lots of shooting scenes using a bow and arrow and he begged me to make him one. So I made him one out of some branches we found in the backyard and some string and he starting practicing. He actually could hit targets I made for him. So today Jon decided to get these for Rylee and Brody! Watch out Taylee! (Look closely and you can see the other arrow coming out of the bottom of his shirt. He likes to house them on his back just like the characters in the movies.)

Preschool Field Trip

In preschool Brody has been learning about his body and how special it is. Today we went to the zoo to use our special bodies to explore the world around us. The kids made "view finders" (a decorated empty toilet paper roll). This allows the kids to see one thing at a time.

Little Helpers

In August we moved into our second home and just love it. We couldn't be happier with a huge backyard, pool, garden, and mini grove of fruit trees. Brody has been such a big helper keeping the dirt in the 4 raised beds turned over to keep the weeds from getting out of control. Here Jon has put ear muffs on the two of them while he mows the backyard. Cracks me up!This is the lizard Brody found. Gross!

Cutie Taylee

Poor Taylee gets a little over shadowed by our older two. I just wanted her to know how much we love her and appreciate her being a part of our family. Here she is on my back during soccer practice. She's been so good about just hanging around while I'm coaching and the kids are playing. We love you Taylee baby!!

Early Riser

Rylee and Taylee are my early risers. (What is it about boys, they just can never get enough sleep?) My girls wake up happy and cheery around 6:30-6:45am. Don't ask me why Rylee wanted her picture taken...Then Rylee wanted to take a picture of me in the morning. Just lovely, my best side. This is how I usually feel in the mornings...

Hitler Mustache

Every morning we drink a green shake that consists of TONS of spinach, whatever fruit we have on hand, flax meal and sometimes fish oil...or garlic (Jon only)! Taylee's Hitler mustache says it all about how our kids feel about our "green juice" in the mornings..."Mom's a nazi!!"

School Fun

Brody has been having so much fun doing preschool at home. Though I can say it just hasn't been the same since Rylee left him for Kindergarten. This is one of his art projects - finger painting with shave gel! Smells like daddy!
This week was "Zoo Week" in Kindergarten. Rylee has come home everyday this week sporting a new animal. Today was elephant!!
These two love sharing what they learned and made at school everyday!

911-Climb To Remember

Today Jon climbed the Renissance Tower in Sacramento 4 times with 342 other firefighters in tribute of the 343 that died while rushing into the Twin Towers in New York to save people from the collapse. They climbed the Tower 4 times to equal the 2200 stairs of the twin towers. Each firefighter pinned the name of the fallen firefighter over their own name on their jacket. Jon climbed for Firefighter Parro. Prior to the climb all the firefighters and families congregated in the basement of the building and listened to speakers talk about that day and the meaning of it. Then the bagpipers started playing, which was very touching. I'm sure those firefighters and many others that risked their life that day didn't know how much it meant to those still alive. During the climb we cheered on the firefighters in the basement as they came through 3 times and met them on the ground level after the 4th climb. While on the roof of the building after the 4th climb they unpinned the fallen firefighters name, hung it in a replica of the twin towers and received an American flag in return to place over the name of their firefighter in the memorial circle. This memorial was guarded by the police and firefighters.

Boating with the cousins

Today we went out on Grandpa Little's boat on Folsom Lake with all the cousins. Supposedly the husbands were coming, but Jon turned out to be the only one so he was the captain of the ship. We had a total of 10 grandkids on the boat plus 5 parents. Full house! All the older kids wanted to go on the tube by themselves and a few even tried the hydroslide. Old school water sports are the best!! It was great to see Brittany, Jessica, Aimee and all their kids. We had a great time and we surely missed you Renee! Oh ya, and Taylee fell asleep in the tube. What a nice way to be rocked to sleep.