Labor Day

For the past 3 years, we have hosted a Labor Day pool party with the Pasadena crew. We are certainly professionals at this party by now... Everyone brings a dish to share. Steve gets on the grill. Everyone swims. Everyone eats. Everyone's casual. Always a fun, relaxing day!

Dana, Claudia, and the newest member of the crew... Baby Jack!

Celeste, Joe, Ryan, Erin, and Wyatt!

Sydney, Michelle, and Carson... The Smith Girls!

Claudia, me, and Mark

Steve on the grill wearing the girls' goggles! Apparently, the smoke was a bit much!

Celebrating Erin's birthday was an important part of the party!

I think Celeste celebrated Erin's birthday better than anyone! Look at those chocolate fingers!

And... the 3rd Day of School Too

A little crazy I know, but here are the third day of school outfits.

Don't I have the cutest little cuties ever???

2nd Day of School

My favorite part of the first week of school was always the new outfits that I had lined up for each day. Here are the second day of school ensembles!

Ryan and Charlie in Mom's favorite colors... orange and yellow!

Both girls wearing their new boots for the first time.

Ryan LOVED her twirly dress. She'd wear it every day if I'd let her. Thankfully, we got her a grey one too.

Just like her mommy, Ryan likes to be first in line! Such a rule follower... While all the other kids run around, Ryan waits patiently in line for the bell to ring.

Ryan and Kendall... Friends Forever!

First Day of School

Ah, I can't believe this day is here! Ryan starting kindergarten. Charlie in her second year of pre-school! What a wonderful day for everyone. Ryan cried, Charlie cried and so did mommy.
They both had a great first day. I am so proud of my big girls!

All ready to get in the car! Our first ride to school.

Ryan's outfit. She was very, very proud of her outfit. She tried it on 3 times in the days before school started.

Charlie's outfit! She liked it because it looked like a flower. However, at the last minute she asked to wear her mermaid costume to school! Uhhhh, no!

THE WALK ON CAMPUS

Their backpacks are bigger than they are. So precious!

Walking proud with daddy down the kindergarten wing.

Mommy and her girls.

Daddy and his girls.

PRE-SCHOOL DROP OFF

We went to Charlie's classroom first. She showed us the quiet corner. Since Charlie is in her second year of pre-school, she was totally the expert! Mrs. Crawford even let her be a "head buddy" for the whole day.

Charlie brought Ariel to keep her company.

Every morning Charlie has to sign in.

KINDERGARTEN DROP OFF

Ryan and Kendall being silly while waiting to line up. Yes, we are so excited! Both girls got the same teacher!

Paige, Abbie, Kendall, Ryan, and Olivia. Kindergarten classmates! There were 84 requests to get into Mrs. Baker's Kinder classroom... and all these girls were part of the lucky 25 that made the cut! Mommy is so, so happy! You have no idea how lucky we got!

The kids had to find and put on their name tag.

And here we go...

The parents got to stay for the first 40 minutes or so. I got to take some pictures in the classroom of Ryan while we watched and listened to the very first moments of kindergarten.

Ryan's first public speaking engagement. Each child had to come up and introduce themselves in front of all the kids and parents. Whoa, there was a lot of people in the room and she did great!

The classroom tour. We got to explore the classroom together.

Kendall is just like one of the family! Hee-hee!

Our big kindergartener and proud parents!

HAVE A GREAT YEAR GIRLS! WE LOVE YOU!

Impromptu Party

This past weekend, we decided to have our San Gabriel family down for an impromptu pool party and BBQ! Steve and I kept thinking about how everyone up that way must have really been suffering with the heat and smoke from the fires so we invited them down to get out of dodge! Unplanned parties always turn out to be great!

Our own personal amusement park ride -The Toss! The girls kept getting back in "line" for another turn. "Again! Again! Again!"

Bubba, Casey, and Katie just getting out of the pool!

Ryan holding "Little Sissy."

Big Steve's favorite spot in the pool.

The gathering spot.

Katie teaching Charlie the Watermelon Song.

Thanks for helping us wrap up a Sunday afternoon everyone!

Say, "Cheese!"

Ryan had her very first soccer Picture Day. I used to LOVE picture Day when I was a kid... the food, the banner contests, the carnival games, picnic with my new teammates... Hmmmm, where did all that fun go? I figured that we had hours and hours of fun ahead of us! Nope... guess things have changed! Come in, take your picture, and head out - THAT'S IT!! Oh well, I guess it's not Ryan's memory. It's mine. She never realized what she was missing!

She found her friends though! The girls all ended up on different teams but doesn't this make a pretty "sherbert ice cream" picture?

First Day of Practice!

Soccer season has begun!!! I have been waiting for Ryan's whole life for her to be ready to play soccer so that I could coach her! The moment is finally here! My dad always coached me in soccer throughout my youth and I wanted to be able to do the same for the girls! Ryan is playing in the GU6 (Girls Under 6) Division. Nowadays, AYSO plays a short-sided game (5 on 5) for the little ones so I only have 7 girls on my team! We got the best color uniforms... pink and black! So cool! The girls picked the name "PINK & BLACK ATTACK!"

Coach Mommy (as Ryan calls me) talking to the parents, getting ready for practice to begin!
I wore pink and black on this first practice day so that the players and parents could find me on the very crowded fields!

Stretching and playing the "name game" so that all the girls could learn each other's names.

"Coach Lori" teaching the girls how to dribble.

Little Miss Ryan is exhausted after her first practice! So fun!
If you'd like to come watch a game, check out our schedule at
http://www.ayso159.org/schedules.aspx

"2,4,6,8... soccer season is super great!"

A Day on Balboa

The Smith family rented a great house on Balboa Island a few weeks back and invited the girls and me to join them for a day on the beach! Michelle and I got a chance to just sit and hang out while the girls played on the sand and in the water... Ahhhh, it was so nice just to relax!

Thanks Smiths! We had a great time!

Big Girl Day at Disneyland

Ryan and I spent a hot, hot sweaty day at Disneyland... just the two of us. Ryan wanted to be able to try some "big girl" rides that Charlie is not quite ready for yet! We had a great time being "big girls!" Just in time for our big girl to start Kindergarten! Wow, time flies!

In line for the Matterhorn! Ryan was scared silly but later professed that she wanted to do it again! I was so proud of her.

After the Matterhorn, we went on Alice in Wonderland (Ryan needed some time to let her heart stop beating so fast... LOL)

Then we were off to the other side of the park to get in line for Splash Mountain! She got a little nervous so we went on the Haunted Mansion first (Charlie does NOT like the Haunted Mansion so usually can't go on that one when she is with us). After the Haunted Mansion, we took the plunge on Splash Mountain (nice pun,huh? LOL). Well, after waiting in line for 85 minutes! Luckily we were in line with some great people to help the time go by faster.

And we called Daddy and others to keep us busy!

We were in line behind some Italian Foreign Exchange students who LOVED Ryan. They all talked to her and played silly games with her.

And... behind us in line was another little girl. Ryan and Penny became fast friends! What luck! The 85 minutes was a little easier to bear.

We loved our "Big Girl" day at Disneyland.