Happy 10th Birthday Noah!

July 28th is the day I brought my son into this world. It's the day I became a mother. It's the day that I experienced the worst pain and suffering and yet also experienced the most joy and love I have ever known. It is a day I will never forget and will always treasure. Really is there anything more special than the day you help to bring a new life into this world?

Noah is having a party on Thursday, so we just celebrated with our family today. We took Noah to Sapporo, a Japanese Steak House. He got sung to and given a special dessert, group picture, and a really nice chopsticks set. He loved it!

Mike got him a Nerf machine gun, which he loves!

It was a good day.

I snapped a couple pictures of him blowing out his candles on a small cake just for today.

Monopoly...The DARK Side!

Mike and Noah spent a long evening playing Monopoly. It wasn't just plain old Monopoly it was the Star Wars the Clone Wars edition. The two really had a great time playing it! In the end Mike was the winner! Noah had two bills left and Mike owned everything! Mike asked me to document the carnage! Noah wants to play again, and just keeps asking. He had so, so, much fun! I hope they get to play again soon. It was fun to watch!

Mike showing off his properties and money!

Daddy simulating a rubbing of Noah's nose in the loss!

The Board! Notice Noah's two bills.

Mike's winnings once again!

Noah pretending to beg for money, while sucking on his thumb!

**Silly**

Sulley and Lucy....KUNG FU FIGHTING!

Sulley doesn't really know what to think of Lucy. He's warming to her, but he is still a little stand offish. This was their first "play session". The kids thought it was hilarious! I have to admit it was pretty funny! I can't wait for them to be good friends! I set this video to some music to be even funnier! Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Isabella!

Isabella is 2 years old today! She's my niece and I so wish I lived closer so I could really be an Aunt to her! She's a sweetie and she has these plastic animals she calls her "guys". She loves to play with them these days. Well, my sister had her photographed with her "guys" and I just love the photo!! It brings tears to my eyes! Mostly because I look at it and wish I could be there to see her in person! Here are a few pictures taken today, her 2nd birthday!

She is expecting a baby brother soon!
These are scanned images, so pardon the dust spots.

We love you Bella!!

Awesome Park in San Francisco Area

We took the kids up to Coyote Point Museum. It's an odd name, but it's a park and recreational area as well as a nature museum. The kids refer to it as the "Dragon Park", because of the large purple dragons. They had a blast, and we got to enjoy some sun and the company of our friends the O'Briens. We have known them since our earliest days of marriage.

Maddie and Grace with son #2 of the O'Brien family.

Son #1 of the O'Brien family.

Our Newest Member

This is Lucy, our new puppy. She is a Cairn Terrier, like Toto from the Wizard of Oz. She is a sweetie, from what we can tell, and very inquisitive. She is still so little, so she is sleepy a lot of the time. Grace is thrilled to have her!

Camping in Big Sur

We went camping June 19th-June 22nd. We camped at Big Sur with Aunt Gigi, Uncle Tom, and cousins Tommy, & Thomas along with a friend of Tommy's. That's a lot of Toms, huh? Gigi has a camper, so we didn't have to rough it too much. There were no hook ups, so we had to use public restrooms at the camp site. We had a good time, the kids loved it.

Mike and I on our 13th Wedding Anniversary!

Grace made a friend

Maddie enjoying the river

The girls enjoyed playing horses at the river and in the woods.

Beautiful

Playing horses

The smoke from the campfire floating in the air, made for a pretty picture.

The campsite, we set up two tents.

Maddie

Grace had hoped to find a salamander. She didn't find it, one of the boys did, but she was thrilled!

The 4th of July

We had a great time on the 4th of July this year. We spent it at Liz's house, well, really at their pool. They have a great pool right behind the house. We grilled by the pool, and Andre set up music outside. We swam and ate and talked and had a good time. Noah and Grace tried to dive. The kids swam for hours, we pulled them out when the sun was going down. Dried the kids off and then watched the fireworks from the front sidewalk.

Happy 4th to all!

Madison with Elishia's dog, Riley

Elishia trying to teaching Noah to dive

Kevin making a face, he didn't want his photo taken

Liz and Gigi

Dana

Scott (Dana's boyfriend)

Liz and Dolores

Mike and Grace

Thomas and Noah goofing off

Elishia and Madison

Recovering from all the fun