Happy, Happy, Birthday to (almost) Everyone!

A major reason why the blog gets neglected all summer long is because it's Birthday Season!  In a short 6 weeks, we celebrate 4 birthdays!  Then, just 2 weeks later, Brian and I celebrate our wedding anniversary, so I get tired of eating cake, thinking about parties (so far, I've succeeded in the kids trading in parties for bigger things, like Disneyland passes), and buying gifts.  In fact, this year, I didn't bake a single birthday cake all summer long.  We took the kids out for each of their birthdays and let the restaurant treat count as the cake.  (I'm sure I'll feel guilty about that later, but, for now, it's great!)

So, here are our birthday stars!

Morgan turned SEVEN on June 18th.  

Favorites:

Nickname: Morgan Rae

Color: "I don't really care what color, but, I do like Blue and Caramel."

Animal: every animal, especially humans

Book: Laura Ingalls Wilder Series

Movie: Pirates of the Caribbean

Song: When I am Baptized (she learned to play it on the piano)

Food: fruits

Drink: ice cold water

Outfit: "I don't care, as long as it's beautiful!" (for a 7 year old, this pretty much encapsulates the   entirety of her wardrobe.)

Game/Toy: playing with stuffed animals (which, due to her mean mother, she only has 2--a dolphin and a bunny)

Friend: myself

Activity: reading

Restaurant:  not a big restaurant fan

Dream Vacation: Denver (this was talked about A LOT this summer, as we prepared to and sold our house there!)

What do you want to be when you grow up? "I still haven't decided!"

On July 16, Carson turned TWO!

Favorites:
Nickname: Carson Dude or Little Buddy
Color:
Animal:
Book: The Napping House
Movie: The Little Mermaid or Annie (he definitely has a thing for redheads these days!)
Song: Pirates of the Caribbean (Yo Ho!  Yo Ho!)
Food: Bananas
Drink:
Outfit:  Mickey Mouse Shirt
Game/Toy: drill set
Best Friend: Morgan
Activity:
Restaurant:
Dream Vacation:
What do you want to be when you grow up?

(Obviously, many of these are still blank, because he can't quite speak for himself.  I just filled in the ones that I know almost definitely!)

All day, he walked around with his balloon, saying, "Monster!  Boon!  Birthday!  Me!"

On July 27th, our sweet Sadie turned FIVE!!

Favorites:

Nickname: Sadie Bug or Sadie Pearl

Color: yellow and blue and purple

Animal:  Hippo (she may just be partial to Lulu, though)

Book:  The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss

Movie: Horton Hears a Who

Song: I am a Child of God

Food: Bean Burrito (preferably from Los Cabos, but, Taco Bell will do in a pinch!)

Drink: Lemonade

Outfit: pink dress

Game/Toy: Candyland

Best Friend: Morgan

Activity: build a tower with blocks

Restaurant: Chipotle (not really, she hates their bean burritos, because they're not mashed up)

Dream Vacation: the Statue of Liberty or Hawaii (she has it stuck in her mind that when Daddy finishes his tests--finished this summer!--he's taking all of us to Hawaii to celebrate)

What do you want to be when you grow up? a police officer

And, finally, on August 2nd, I turned 30.

Brian and the kids made me breakfast in bed, and, per tradition, woke me up with an annoying (but cute!) YouTube video of a Happy Birthday song.  (Last year, it was a mariachi band, this year, the Disney version.)  The kids picked out flowers for me and Brian was sure to bring home a balloon to rub in my age!  Then, I spent the evening with a dear childhood friend, Jennie Taylor, who was getting ready to move to Utah the following week.

And, don't worry.  I'll eventually get around to Brian's November birthday, complete with a cake that I baked and decorated AND a surprise!

Back to School

So, even though we were the LAST people I know of to go back to school (We didn't start until September 10th this year!), we did start a while ago, and, I am just now getting into a routine (more on that craziness later).

So, without further ado, here are our first day of school pics:

Our school is built on a hill.  Well, if you ask me every time I don't get a spot in the teeny-tiny parking lot, I may tell you it's actually more like a mountain.  Needless to say, it's steep, and, on the first day of school every good parent parks and walks their children to their classroom.

Last year, I had NO idea what to expect on the first day of school, since Morgan's Kindergarten was a teeny school of 85 kids.  I just parked in the parking lot and we walked in.  Easy peasy.

So, in 2012, when she started first grade, I had no idea what to expect (like 600+ kids in her Elementary School!).  I parked in the neighborhood and walked with all 3 kids, Carson barely walking himself, about 1/2 mile in my cute shoes (later regretted that choice) to take Morgan to her first day of school.  Big mistake.

This, year, we planned ahead.  And, I think we've found a great new tradition.  We got up and go left the house for school at 7:00, stopping at the donut shop on the way.  That put us in the school parking lot by 7:25, giving us a prime parking spot.  Then, we climbed into the back of the car and enjoyed our breakfast!  Yum!

 Morgan and her friends (photo courtesy of Eliza's mom, Angie).

Sadie got super lucky and Mommy, Daddy, and Carson all brought her to her first day of Kindergarten!!

And, now, while his sisters are away, Carson gets to be the head train engineer!  

Summer Days at the Lake

In the interest of my sanity, since I have slipped WAY behind on our blog, here's the gist of our summer:  We spent many, many, many, days at the lake!  Had a blast with friends and family!  For those of you that haven't come out to the lake yet, we'd love to take you!

At the Wilson Phillips concert in June:

For Father's Day, we took Papa Dale on a "cruise around the lake."  We rented a party boat and had pizza out on the water.  Lots of fun!

One day, we went to the lake after Sadie's t-ball game and enjoyed pizza on the lawn and ice cream bars.  Yum!

On hot afternoons, the girls and their friends (from the ward) cooled off under the life guard tower!

When the Vitzians came up, the dads took the kids fishing and we had a BBQ, complete with roasting marshmallows.  The kids even played a short game of ball.

Kellie Pickler performed at the lake this summer and we brought Grammy Tammy and Papa Dale along.  The girls especially loved dancing along during the concert!

I attended a girls nite out at the lake with some friends from my ward.  And, somehow, I got nominated to drive the boat!

Another trip with the Vitzians!

The Color Run 2013

Back in May (you know, LAST school year, before the summer, when all 3 of my kids and I were an entire YEAR younger?), we ran our second Color Run.  This time, we drug along some of our good friends, the Smiths.  We're hoping next year is even more fun (more on that below)!

This time, we participated in the Orange County run, held at the Great Park, not too far from our house.  Not only was it a bonus to drive less than 20 minutes to get there, but it was a double bonus, because the Great Park is flat (unlike Qualcomm Stadium, which, in my opinion, that last stretch uphill, might as well have been a mountain!).    My jog was not easy, though, because all three kids insisted on riding in strollers.  This meant I jogged a 5k whilst pushing a 50lb 6 year old in an umbrella stroller.  We later discovered (during the drive home!) 3 of our 5 family members had the flu.  

Here are a few pictures from the event.  And, other than Carson and I, those are fake smiles in all of our family photos.  (Poor Brian jogged pushing 2 kids, and he got sick!)

As you can see, we got really, really messy!  Thank goodness for the Kia!  

Family Photos 2013 (March)

My friend, Aubrey Antis (http://www.antisphotography.com), who is an amazing real estate photographer, wanted to try out family photo shoots.  So, she took a few shots for us.  Unfortunately, the only pics with the entire family also have the letter N in them, courtesy of a Mother's Day gift for my mom. (I've included Mom's gift at the bottom--my maiden name is GINOS, pronounced Guinness.)

Morgan, 6 3/4 years

Carson, 20 months

Sadie, 4 3/4 years

The Ginos Family--these are each mounted to canvas and hanging on my mom's wall.  The best alternative to a family picture when we live in 3 states.