Apple Hill

We had our annual Apple Hill trip with amazing friends the Rhodes and the Wisners on Thursday, October 4 it was a blast like normal.  The kids all did so good together.  Here we all are together.  The best thing is this picture was captured in just one take.  Can you belie it, everyone was smiling and looking at the camera.  Evie did have a random straw that she found on the ground in her mouth that we didn't really notice until after the picture, but makes for a good story. :)

Our first stop during our visit was to Apple Ridge Farms where the kids got to pet and feed the animals.

They also got to get on a tractor.  Evan doing his crazy Cheese yelling pose below.

Then also a much calmer pose with all the boys.

After the tractor fun we headed over the pumpkin patch.  Where they kids had fun picking up pumpkins and running.

Elaine had a great time too.  She did excellent during our whole trip.

These boys love to run!

After tons of fun at Apple Ridge Farms, we then headed over the High Hill for some more adventures.

This of course included more running and this time rolling down the hill too.

Then it was time to buy some apples with our silly helpers.

Last but not least we got to dine on Apple Donuts!  Yummy!!!

What an amazing trip.  We all had a blast.  Can't wait to do it again next year.  Love these two families so much!

California Capital Air Show

Our family got to go to the 7th Annual California Capital Air Show at Mather Airport on Sunday, September 9.  It was awesome and something that we had been wanting to do for sometime and finally made it out to enjoy.  The cool thing is my brother and sister-in-law were also there, Debra's work is one of the show's sponsors so they were able to get super cool seats and were able to let us sit with them too.  Here are Evie and Evan waiting for the second half of the show to begin.  

Evie, Elaine and I didn't sit for too long, Elaine was getting a little antsy, but Evan and Jim were enjoying the awesome view of all the air action.  Debra and Rhett are also amazing photographers the shots of the planes are their work.  Debra got some fantastic photos.

 

Before taking our seats, Jim and the kids and I did get to see a few planes up close.  The kids thought this was pretty neat.  You can see Jim and the kids coming back from walking through the plane.

Elaine and I waited outside.

Here is everyone checking out one of the airshow sites taking place too.  I love how everyone is looking into the air.

Here is an adorable picture of my Evie girl as we were relaxing a bit in the shade.  It was a pretty toasty day and the only real shade was under some of the airplanes wings.  However, we did luck out that they also had a KidZone that only people with children could go into.  This had a fantastic tent area and all sorts of games and activities for the kids.

Here are Rhett and Debra pictured in the KidZone tent below after the airshow was finished.

Here are Elaine, Jim and I too.

A fun fact about this event is Elaine was able to sleep through some of the super loud Thunderbird fly overs.  It was amazing!  Kids are so resilient   Overall, we had so much fun.  All the fly overs were pretty unbelievable and such a site to see.  I am sure we will be coming back to this event for many years.

Gold Country Fair and visit with Aunt Alison

On the weekend of September 8-10 we were privileged to have a visit from Aunt Alison.  It was so great to see her and to introduce her to little Elaine.  We had a lot of fun during her visit.  One of the things we did was attend the Gold Country Fair in Auburn on Saturday, September 8.  We were able to get this sweet LivingSocial deal for $27 which included two admissions, a parking voucher  one unlimited ride wristband (which we gave to Evan), and three waters or sodas.   Here are pictures of some of the fun.

We all had so much fun and can't wait to return next year.  

Our First ER Experience

On Wednesday, August 22 we got our first experience of taking one of our kids to the Emergency Room.  Surprisingly, it was our daughter Evie.  We were visiting my Grandma and the kids were having a wonderful time.  Well, kids being kids Evan and Evie were enjoying a game of jumping off my Grandma's marble fireplace.  Next thing we know Evie totally loses her footing and smacks her head backward on the fireplace and splits it open.  It was really traumatic for everyone.  Luckily my parents live close to my Grandma and were able to race over to help with the situation too.  Daddy also was able to rush out of work to meet us at the hospital.  We had excellent service and were seen right away at Kaiser Morris once we arrived.  We couldn't have been more pleased with the care Evie received.   

This is her after we finished at the ER, with all the blood in her hair (it sort of became like a blood gel).  

She was so brave and didn't cry at all once she finally had calmed down on our way to the hospital. The doctor thought for sure she would cry when he and the nurse fixed the wound too, but no, not one tear.  He said she was his best patient all day.  We were very lucky that they were able to repair the wound with glue and didn't have to use any stitches.

Here is our brave daughter below, showing off her Emergency Room bracelet; she thought this was pretty neat. 

Evie is all healed now and currently still has the glue in her hair.  She was pretty sore for a couple weeks after the accident, but we were able to wash her hair and didn't have to do any special treatment.  We were thankful to have such great results from a pretty scary situation.

Machado Orchards

Evan went on his first Preschool Field Trip on Tuesday, September 11 to Mochado Orchards in Auburn.  Evie, Elaine and I all got to attend too.  It was a lot of fun.  Here are all of Evan's preschool friends checking out some freshly picked apples at the Orchard.  Evie got to get in the picture too.  From left to right we Olivia, Krista, Cameron, Aubrey, Evan, Miles, Charlie, Ewan and Evie.

Here are the kids after hearing from our tour guide about how they pick the apples from the trees. We also got to taste them fresh off the tree too.

 Here is everyone heading back to the main building of the Orchard to see more fun sites.

 This was a special apple peeling machine.  The kids thought it was pretty awesome.  We also got to visit the bakery and store.

Everyone got to have some more samples at the peeling machine.  Evie wasn't too interested in trying things.  Evan did, he loved the apples, but wasn't super impressed with the peaches, but did like the pears though.

Here are some of the kids after the tour each with the souvenir pencil they received and an apple!

 

 

Lastly, here is our little peanut, Elaine all packed up and ready to go home, after our picnic lunch and buying some goodies at the Machado Store (peaches, apples, and some fish candy).  What a fun field trip.  Looking forward to experiencing more fun times with Mrs. Netty's Preschool.

Three Months Old

Elaine is three months old and just a bundle of cuteness!  She officially turned three months on Monday, October 8.
-She continues to sleep through the night.  Elaine usually goes down to sleep at about 9:30 or 10:00 p.m. and then will sleep until about 6:30 or 7:00 a.m. when her brother and sister wake up...sometimes she sleeps even longer than than.  She is amazing and will even just fall asleep just laying by herself sometimes.  It is fantastic!
-She loves to talk.  You can find her cooing and squealing all the time.
-She just started making raspberry sounds with her lips.
-Elaine loves her siblings and gets a big kick out of seeing what they are up to and watching them play.
-She discovered her hands and can be found admiring them through the day.
-Elaine likes to play with toys now too and can be found grabbing rings and hitting hanging objects from her activity mat.
-She has the best smile and laugh.  We can't get enough of this little beautiful munchkin.

Stop growing up so fast darling!  We love you to pieces!  Happy 3 months Elaine!

Evan's 4th Birthday Party

This blog post is way overdo....enjoy!

Evan's 4th Birthday party took place on Saturday, August 4 and was centered around racing.  He loves all kinds of racing from car racing to bike racing, and running races.  You name it he basically loves any kind of game or competition.  Jim  and I thought what better races are out there than the Olympics.  It was perfect to have Evan's birthday party themed as an Olympic party this year, especially since he was born during the summer Olympics and they were going on again this year too during his party.

We had a great time with decorations as both kids got to help make them for the party.  We created paper ring garlands to hang throughout the house with all five Olympic colors.  We also got party hats, which Evan selected and made a few Olympic food items.  Such as our Olympic Torches made from Ice Cream Cones and Popcorn and then some other basic snack food named Competitors Crunch.  

Here are Evan and Evie modeling the birthday hats at the beginning of the party.

The party wouldn't have been complete without some super cool Olympic Party Games.  We had a pretend Olympic Torch.  I explained that the flame stood for friendship and had the kids participate in a 

Torch Parade.  Basically this just involved the kids running around grass with the torch and then trading it off to another person.  I also gave them a little Olympic information such as the Olympic  Motto - Faster, Stronger, Higher.  Then I had them recite an Olympic Oath.

Olympic Oath- Put up their right hand and say an oath/promise at the beginning of the games:

“I promise to follow the rules of the games, to be fair, to be a good sport, honor my team, and to play for FUN!”

The first Olympic Game was a Relay Race.  We had two teams.  It basically ended up being the boys vs. girls.  They had to do a soccer ball drill, then they had to do over under with Frisbee, carry a ball on a Frisbee, and then finally do jumping run to finish.  Here are Evan and Evie below competing in the carry a ball on a Frisbee race.

After the relay race we did the Balloon Between the Knee Race.  This was adorable.  Just look at this picture below.

Then there was the Backward Run Race.

The Hug Balloon Buddy Race, pictured below are Tyler and Evan in action...

and Evie and Blake.

After all the races we did Water Balloon Archery.  Jim made a chalk Target on our Fence and the kids threw water balloons at the target.

We also attempted to do a Shot Put for Distance game with a ball made out of aluminum foil and a Discuss Throw using Frisbees.  They ultimately just ended up killing a little time as we started the hot dogs on the BBQ and setup the Grand Final Race our Streets of London Obstacle Course.  The kids had to jump six inner tubes.  Then they had to do a somersault and then go through the Cars Tent.  Followed by jumping over and going under two jump ropes.  Then they had to spin around on a bat on their heads, balance on a wood beam, and the finally was to ride the tricycle to the Finish Line.

Here is Jim demoing the Streets of London Obstacle Course for the kids.

Here are my awesome Obstacle Course volunteers.  Natalie helping with the Cars tent.  Kristina and Mike and Rhett and my Dad doing the over/under jump ropes.

Here is a great picture of Evie in action during the Obstacle Course with her Daddy helping her on the tricycle.

At the end all the children got a Gold Medal.  Here they are at the Award Ceremony.  I gave Evan four since it was his fourth birthday.  From left to right we have Andrew, Hannah, Evie, Evan, Jayne, Tyler, Bella, Ewan, Blake and Mady. 

After games it was lunch time.

Then after lunch it was present time.  

One of Evan's favorite gifts this year was $4 from Grandma and Grandpa.  He thought it was so cool to get money!

He had a blast opening up all the gifts with his buddies.

After presents it was time for blowing out the birthday candles.  My mom made delicious cupcakes, complete with Froot Loop Olympic rings.

Evan couldn't wait to blow out his candles this year and eat cake and ice cream!

We sure do love this wonderful 4 year old!  Happy Birthday Evan!  Here he is with Mommy and Daddy after the party.  He had a blast and so did we.  Thank you to family and friends for a super fun time.  We love you too. :)