First Day of School 2010

This year school started early, Wednesday August 25.
It was a short summer, but the boys get a lot of days off during the school year.

Miles started 5th grade. (His LAST year in elementary school. He has Mrs. Rogers.
(Look how long his hair is!)

Caden started 2nd grade. He has Mrs. Rybolt. He has a lot of friends in his class.

Both boys right before school started that morning.

Miles wanted to go school clothes shopping.
He would only look/get clothes that were from JCPenney.
What a picky & silly kid he is.

Brownies & The Sandlot

Remember that part in the movie The Sandlot? The part when the clubhouse explodes (because they are trying to suck up the baseball with vacuum cleaners) and one of the boys is still in the club house and comes down and he is completely dirty and dusty?

Well that is what Caden looked liked today. Tim & Caden were attempting to make brownies today after church. Tim was opening up a package of brownies (without scissors) and the package burst open all over Caden. He had powdered brownie mix all over him. It was pretty funny.

What kind of chicken do you like?

We were driving home from church and asked the kids what they wanted for lunch?
I suggested Orange Chicken.

Caden yelled "I want Orange chicken!"

Zani yelled "I want Purple chicken!"

Pretty funny.

Look who came to dinner tonight

We had a fun visitor for dinner tonight.

Aunt Suzi came!!

She was out in CA for a friends trip to Monterey and happened to be close by our house so she stopped over for dinner. We also played Hot & Cold and then she wanted to see Miles' basketball skills so she and the boys played 2 games of HORSE. (Suzi won both times.) She only stayed for a couple of hours but it was fun to see her and wish she could of stayed longer. (Expect for Avery - she kept giving Suzi dirty looks during dinner. She is pretty shy around "strangers" still. But Zani was super friendly with Suzi.)

Caden kept making these crazy shots to stay alive. It was pretty funny.

Alexandra was hoping to play some b-ball and be a princess at the same time.
We love you Suzi!!

Caden's 7 year old Patriot Team

Caden was on a traveling baseball team this summer. They played in weekend tournaments in Pittsburg, Pleasant Hill, Rohnert Park, San Leandro and Manteca. He team was all 7 year-old players -- they played against teams that were mostly 8 year-olds. They won at least one game in each tournament. The most important was that they were able to get the experience so when they play together next year they will be so much better and beat the younger teams. The last tournament was in Manteca at a place called Big League Dreams. They had 6 replica fields, Caden's team got to play on Wrigley field and on Tiger field. Their team ended up taking 2nd place in the "B" bracket. (Did I mention that is was HOT the weekend that he played? Like 100* everyday?!)

Day 1: Caden at bat @ Wrigley field. His team won 8-2!

Day 2: Some of his teammates.
Playing on the Tiger field.
Day 3: Taking 2nd place in the "B" bracket.
So baseball is over, for now.

Miles has been doing basketball for the last month.
Caden starts football this next week.
So much for a break!

Side Note: Caden was "recruited" for the football team and has already been asked where he is going to High School -- because his coach wants him on the baseball team!

Miles' All-Star team

(I have done this post twice and blogger is not saving it, so I am trying it one more time...)

I should start by saying this year was extra busy with baseball. We signed up the boys for 2 different leagues. Caden at JOBL and Miles at Concord American; because all of his friends play in that league. So we were at 2 different fields this year plus extra volunteer times. Tim even home-plate umpired 2 times. With that being said..

Miles was chosen to be on the 10-year-old All-Star team this year. He was very excited. He finally got to be on a team with all his friends. (including Conner, Lucas, James and Cody!)

This was at the first All-Star game. This is my favorite picture. Lucas and Miles pounding arms. They are so cool...
The Concord American 10 year old All-Star team all lined up!
At the plate:
Miles played in the outfield for all the games. He caught a fly ball in left field during the 4th game!

His team lost the first game but ended up winning the next 3 games in a row. The 4th game was the most exciting. They were home team and they kept battling. Every time they were down they kept scoring and tying the game. After 6 innings the game was tied 10-10 and too dark to play anymore innings. So we had to continue the game out in Oakley on Wednesday afternoon. They would play until there was a winner. Martinez scored in the top of the 7th so we had to score 1 to tie and 2 to win. We had the bases loaded and Josh hit a blooper over the second baseman's head for the win. It was very exciting. Then the boys had to wait for an hour to play the next game. Unfortunately they got blown out. It was time to pack up their gear and say good-bye to their baseball season. The coaches said that they did better than anyone expected them too and went farther in the tournament than a 10-year-old team has gone in YEARS. (They finished 8th!) It was fun to watch.

Some of his cheerleaders!! The girls went to all the games. They did pretty good considering how long we were there some nights. (and eating french fries helped.)

Summer Vacations

I'm working on posting pictures of our trips last month. In the meantime.
Why would you want to come home from a vacation when you have a swimming pool all to yourself and have an awesome view of the St. Louis Arch?? Pretty Sweet.

Now batting ... #8

Miles & Caden!! Both boys made their baseball All-star teams.
They both chose #8 as their uniform number.

Zani's room

Remember when Alexandra did this to her bedroom wall?
When my mom came out to visit in March she helped me paint Alexandra's room. I picked out a light purple. I was worried that it was going to be too light but it turned out to be the perfect shade. Here is the finished color.
Alexandra pointing out the purple on her walls. She loves it!
Then our neighbors gave us a twin size captains bed. It sat in our garage for almost 2 months because it was so heavy that Tim and I couldn't carry it in the house by ourselves. Our home teachers came to the rescue and helped us move it in a few weeks ago. My mom painted the inserts of the drawers on the bed so they would match the wall. Here is the finished product.
I think it is a cute little girls room!

(Now we need to finish the other projects that we started last year. Hopefully they will get finished by next year.)

Avery update

(Jana requested more pictures of the kids.) Avery is getting so big. She will be 2 the end of August. Crazy! Her hair is long - and I cut about an inch off a month ago. She is definitely a momma's girl. She has great facial expressions too and she will stare you down if she doesn't want you around. (Ask April Jacobs!) She is eating bread sticks and ranch in these pictures. She loves her "dip." Sometimes she ends up eating just ketchup for lunch and leaving the chicken nuggets untouched. She talks - but it is usually mumbled. If you listen carefully you can figure out what she is trying to say. Except for "YEAH" she says that all the time and really loud. She will also take off her diaper whenever she can (so I try and keep pants on her most of the time). She is also learning from her sister and can make a mess quickly and quietly. What a cutie pie she really is.

Cause and Effect

Because Tim did this last Summer in Yosemite:
(Jump into a freezing cold river)

The girls and I got to see this on Saturday:
(At the Pixar studios)
More to come....

P.I.X.A.R. & {Toy Story 3}

So the girls and I got to go to PIXAR studios and see Toy Story 3! We went with Trent Crow and his family (Trent works at Pixar in the shading department. When Tim jumped in the river everyone had to give him something. Trent promised him tickets to see Toy Story 3.) We were all supposed to go but things came up at the last minute. Tim and Caden went to a baseball tournament, and Miles went on a scout hike. So just me and the girls went.
We got to see the movie in 3-D. All I am going to say is that the movie is really good. I may have even shed a tear or 2 at the end. After the movie was over we got to walk around Pixar and see artwork from the movie (we were not allowed to take pictures.)

We also got to see the life size Ken Doll house.

We saw Buzz & Woody made out of legos:

And we got to see some of our favorite Pixar Characters.
Zani's favorite were the "Incredibles"!

It was a fun morning and definitely something you don't get to do on a regular basis.

Lady Antebellum & Tim McGraw Concert

Last night we went to the Lady A. and Tim McGraw Concert at the Shoreline Amphitheater. Teri LOVES Tim McGraw.(that might be an understatement!!)

Tim bought tickets through the Lady A. Fan Club. We didn't know where our seats were until he picked up the tickets at Will Call. We were this far from the stage: (Row B!)

Lady Antebellum:

Tim & Britt

Teri was sooo happy to see Tim McGraw!

He walked past us several times. Teri and I would run over and put out our hands.

He touched our hands!! We are never going to wash them!!

Chris & Tim

It was a really fun night.

The worst part was the sold out crowd and all those people trying to leave from the same parking lot to get home. We spent a lot of time in the car!