J~A~C~K~E~R

Whatchu looking at? Cowboys can ride quads too....

Jack has been really busy lately. My little guy started preschool last month. It was bittersweet for me. I knew that he would love getting out and playing with other kids but he's still my baby. He loves it and wants to go everyday. He has a great time and comes home with lots of stories. I love hearing all about it :-)

We also signed him up for Y-Sports through the YMCA. They do basketball, baseball and soccer. Here are a few pictures of him attempting to play. Both sets of grandparents made a real effort to attend his practices and he loved it.

Jack was also in our local newspaper recently. We went to an open house at the local fire station and Jack just happened to make the front page of the newspaper. The pictures turned out adorable and it's a fun memory.

Here are a few pictures I took.

Matt has found himself a good hiker buddy in Jack. He really enjoys going out hiking with Matt and asks me all the time when he can go again. I love that my hubby is so active with the kids and loves spending time with them. Here's the last hike they went on at Santiago Oaks.

We spend LOTS of time at the zoo. Both of my kids love going and often prefer the zoo over Disneyland, if you can believe that. It never gets old for Jack.

My dad has a new hairdo- a buzz :-) Here is a cute picture of all my guys after I gave them all a buzz.

Still working on getting rid of the paci.....

E*M*I*L*Y

A lot has been going on lately with Emily. My little girl started Kindergarden a couple of months ago and I could not be more proud of her. She has taken to Kindergarden SO well and is doing excellent. I was worried that she would give me a hard time but she absolutely loves it and is very serious about it. Her teacher is fantastic. I get to work in her classroom every Thursday and I love getting to know the kids and her teacher. They really are a great group of kids and I'm so excited to watch them all grow up together.

Here she is on her first day of school.

Emily lost her 1st tooth. And then lost the second one a day later :-)

She also won her first award. She entered in to a drawing/coloring contest for Red Ribbon week through the police station. And she won! They had a special ceremony for all of the winners and she got an award, lots of gift certificates, and a bunch of toys and goodies. She was pretty excited and we were so proud of her. My parents and us all came to cheer her on.

Shaking the mayors hand

Her elementary school had there jog-a-thon a couple of weeks ago. I was shocked that Emily actually ran most of it. She's not the sporty type so this was amazing that she even participated at all, let alone run about 10 laps. They all had a good time.

Apple pickin

It was that time again.... our annual apple pickin day at Oak Glen. It was a gorgeous day but really HOT! Almost too hot. This year our parents came with us which was a lot of fun. We picked raspberries, peaches, nectarines, and apples.

This was probably my favorite part of the day. This is the restaurant where they serve a BBQ lunch. They have a live band playing and the kids had the BEST time dancing with each other. I have some pretty funny movie footage of them dancing. It would definitely be titled "White 3 year old boys can't dance." It's pretty hilarious.

Where to start....

I was trying to think of where to start up on this again. We had a fun filled summer this year. We did some camping in San Clemente and Doheny, went to Sea World, lots of Disneyland, zoo, and the beach, swimming lessons, had a fun birthday party for the kids, went to the circus, got to spend lots of time with friends and family that live far away, and did some fishing with my dad. The kids had a great summer and made some very good memories.

So I guess I'll go back and start at the very end of summer. We took the kids to Wild Rivers this year. I wasn't sure if this was going to be a good idea since they are so young, but it ended up being a great idea. Wild Rivers has TONS for them to do. They did great and stayed with us all day. It wasn't until after we went that I started having nightmares at night about my children drowning. Seriously, I would wake up screaming at night. There are so many kids around that yours could get easily lost if you didn't keep your eye on them at all times. So Matt had one and I had the other and we kept a very close watch on them the whole time.

Anyways, we had so much fun and the kids still talk about it all the time. We can't wait to go back next summer!

Random animal days!

We've been busy with lots of different animals lately. My kids, especially Jack, are obsessed with ANY kinds of animals. Since Fun on the Farm was getting a little expensive I thought it would be a good idea to just get Zoo passes for the family. We pretty much go once a week and the kids have a blast every time we go. Our good friends, Whitney and Sydney, have passes too so we have a great time letting the kids roam around, get dirty, and play in the playground.

Here are some recent pictures of the kids at the zoo....

Emily, cousin Amanda, and Jack

My kids and Sydney. They got filthy dirty this day.

Sydney, Emily, Jack and Baby Emily (Lauren's little girl)

My kids also love to go out in the front yard when it gets dark at night and search for snails.... I know, totally gross, but they love it! Here is one night they were making a place for them to sleep...

We recently went to this really cool pet store called Prehistoric Pets. They have all these really cool animals that you can feed and pet and hold, it's pretty awesome. A little smelly but do you expect with all those nasty animals. Matt was really disappointed that I wouldn't give in to him and bring home a snake....YEAH RIGHT!!! I'm not that crazy. I know that when we eventually get a pet, it will be all my responsibility and I'm not about to take care of a snake. No WAY.

This is as close as Emily's getting to a snake.

All these animals are way bigger in person. Pictures do no justice for these creatures.

This is me trying not to freak out!

We went camping at Doheny Beach about a month ago. While we were out that way we stopped by a petting zoo in San Juan Capistrano. It was fun and of course the kids loved holding all the animals.

I love this picture. Matt and Emily are just smiling away, and Jack is freaking out because the goat has his shirt.