Zzzzzzzzzzzz

This never gets old….  Why do I love them so much when they sleep?  And how is it they can all sleep so well crammed right up next to each other?  I’m envious…  Oh… and don’t they look like they fell asleep right in the middle of cheering for something?  They must have been dreaming of cheering me on in my total awesomeness of daily super-stuff…..like slaying mosquito hawks, doing laundry and throwing chicken nuggets in the microwave.  That’s probably it.

Bikes

Last Sunday David asked me to take off the training wheels on his bike.  Of course it was right at the time they should all hunker down for Sunday-night-before-school baths, dinner and getting to bed.  I told him we would do it after school on Monday.  I actually figured he wouldn’t even ask again, but he did!  I decided if I was taking off David’s training wheels, Rose was going to get hers off too.  She hasn’t touched her bike for over a year after she and a curb had a major disagreement that left her with some good scars on her knees.   Short story even shorter, they both learned to ride those bikes in less than 5 minutes!  I know, I know, I have the most AMAZING KIDS…. EVER!  No ever kid learned this faster… just ask me!  Oh, and I don’t want to hear the details of how your kids did it when they were 2, frankly I don’t care! 

Snow Day

“Mommy….the Wii is broken!”  No kiddies, the power just went out. 

Last week we had our version of a snow day.  The power went out throughout SD county and they said it would be out for about a day and a half.  School was cancelled for the next day.  Woo-Hoo!  (woo-hoo for the kids anyway, the bummer part was that all 3 kids were going to school on Friday and I wasn’t working in the classroom, so I was looking forward to my 2 1/2 hours of complete ALONE time…but suddenly didn’t get because now I was going to have the kids home all day)  Long story short, the outage only lasted about 7 hours but the kids LOVED it.  We broke out the candles and flashlights and ate popsicles for dinner.  All the neighbor kids were out prowling the street for a few hours with flashlights.  The next day they could have gone to school, but since they had already sent out the message all schools would be closed, they a freebie day off, with electricity.   Sweet!

Forts

We have been on a fort kick in our house.  Our most recent architectural fabulousness now includes a TV!  Now, if I could just get kick the boys out of there, bring in a cooler of Sierra Nevada… I think I’ve found a my own little slice of heaven.

   

Picture Day

Last week the kids had picture day at school.  The boys will still let me decide what they will wear, but Rose just wasn’t having it.  She had her own ideas on what she wanted to wear and how she wanted her hair.  So when she wanted to wear the “fancy” hand-me-down dress the neighbor gave her over a year ago, (which I still think is just too mature for her, and still doesn’t quite fit her on top…but she had told me a year ago on picture day she would wear it THIS year) I was less than thrilled.  I decided not to fight that fight, so without further ado… here the kids are on the way to school for picture day.  I’m guessing they didn’t look quite as neat when pictures were actually taken.  (I begged Rose not to mess with her hair…but she was a wreck when I picked her up from school, so I can hardly wait to see how her pictures look)  (Oh, and I decided David didn’t have to wear the  polo shirt I had planned for him to wear… like I have made him wear for the last 3 picture days… he already hates wearing his glasses, don’t want to make him think I slated him to be geek from early on)

 

When do boys figure out they don’t want to hold hands with their best friends anymore?  I hope it isn’t soon…  Joey and Carter walking back to class after pictures: 

 

Draw Yourself

This is Joey’s self portrait on the first day of school.  Note the uncanny resemblance.

Summer Beauties

Ian

While it’s always great to see Grammy and Grandpa when they come to town, it’s an even better when they bring one of the favorite cousins with them.  So when Barbara and Paul came to visit with Ian, my kids were in REALLY excited.  (Rose instantly developed a cousin-crush on him, making sure he was watching when she was doing something incredibly interesting)  We had a great time while he was here, hitting touristy spots of interest; the zoo, aerospace museum, racetrack and best of all: Disneyland!  He also got to golf several times and, go swimming at cousin Daniel’s house.  We kept busy the whole week they were here.  After visits like this, we always wished we lived closer to more family.  Now, if we can just convince them all to move here….

Daniel, Ian & Grammy at the racetrack

Grandpa (Paul) & Ian

Aunt Randi, Uncle Brad, Grammy, Grandpa, Ian, Joey, Rose, Daniel, Andy & David

Start Spreading the News

We have new artwork at Casa de Stitzer.  Oddly enough, I sort of liked the shaved leg!  More to follow….

Back to School

The kids have all gone back to school.  The summer flew by…faster than ever.  The kids all love their teachers and it should be a good year.  (I HOPE!! … Joey is already getting in trouble…wrestling around on the circle time carpet with his friend Carter.  I know I will get a “talking to” by Mrs. Martin soon.)  David was placed in a Kindergarten / 1st grade class this year.  He has the same teacher, Mrs. Hafer, that Owen and Madeline had for kindergarten.  I think it will be a good fit and believe he is probably smarter than most of the 1st graders as it is.  I will find out at Parent/Teacher night.  Rose got the teacher she had talked about all summer, Mrs. Erb.  Owen and Madeline both just had her, and they loved her.   The only problem is she was separated from her 2 best friends, Allison and Bella.  She seems to be doing just fine so far. 

Enjoy the pictures…. and as the GENIOUS behind the back-to-school marketing campaign the last few years for Staples would play on her iPod, or in our case, on a crappy old cd player….  “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year…..”

Rose and Annika

David and some random kid he decided to pose with (ok, I made them pose)

Joey in front of his school, Garden Road (the 5th year of this same shot)

Joey with Mrs. Martin…for our 5th and final year at Garden Road.  The best preschool program and preschool teacher EVER!