An Afternoon of USC

We have started to realize that the fall brings an automatic competition between college football schedules and coaching/playing AYSO soccer! Let's be honest...It's a bit of a struggle when the two collide! This past week worked out perfectly for us... we had a 9 o'clock soccer kick off and a 12:30 USC kick off! Not to mention with the perfect weather, we were able to plan a little USC football/pool party with some of our friends. We have met a lot of fun families through Ryan and Charlie's school and who luckily also share a passion for college football... well, the men do... I just have a passion for entertaining and hanging out with great company! LOL!

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See, as the men watched the game... the mommies caught up on good conversation (no TV in sight!)

Jenny Stevens and me. Her oldest daughters will always be in the same grades as Ryan and Charlie and they get along so very well! Adorable! Her youngest, Aubrey, is almost year old.

Kristina Scott (Kendall and Kyle's mom), Michele Stevens (Hannah and Campbell's mom), and Jessica Panzica (Olivia and the twins', Ben and Charlie's mom)
All moms from either Ryan's grade or Charlie's grade... we have at least 12 more years of sharing young/then tween/then teenage girl years together... whoa, watch out!!!



Jenny, me, and Cary Pawlyck (Avery's mom)
We all have kids that will be in kindergarten together next year (Ava, Charlie, and Avery) and crossing our fingers to get Mrs. Baker again... all together!

The MEN... taking on baby duty!

Ryan Stevens with Campbell. Tony Panzica with Ben. And Steve Pawlyck... teasing the other two about not having to hold a baby right now... haha!

In addition to our McGaugh friends, Ryan Smith brought the girls down to Ryan's soccer game and then over for the USC game too. The girls loved watching Ryan play soccer. They even had soccer outfits!

I think USC must be winning at this point...

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Oh ya... there were kids at this party too! A lot of kids to be exact.... actually a lot of little girls! The few boys that were here felt a bit outnumbered I would assume. Megan, our babysitter kept an eye on the chaos upstairs while the "official lifeguard" stayed at the pool... this was Steve's only request for his birthday! Whatever works... it's my goal to make him happy :-)

I think Olivia is having a dance party with baby brother, Ben? or is that Charlie? They are spinning so fast, it's blurry!

Shhhhh.... don't let Steve see the mess! haha... they had so much fun with the dress up closet. So cute. Don't worry... it will all get cleaned up (eventually).

Smith girls, Carson and Sydney hanging out with Avery.

Olivia and Abbie... happy first graders! Look at those gorgeous blue eyes on these girls!

Kendall, Ava, and Hannah enjoying some brownies! Who wouldn't have a smile to be al ear-to-ear brownie????

Sister love.

(Oh, and brownie-face love too.)

All these big girls were in the same K class. They are a bit more spread out this year but still great friends. Charlie loves being able to hang out with all of these "big" girls on the playground this year... she is in heaven.

THIS is the shot of the day.... 1o girls ages 6 and under! So cute.

This picture doesn't include the two 4th grade boys, two baby girls, and two twin baby boys.

A full house indeed.

A fun day to repeat.

Good times had by all.

Oh ya, and USC won which makes for a very happy Sunday morning in our house!

FIGHT ON!!!!

Last Mini Trip of the Summer

As a very spontaneous decision, we took our last mini trip of the summer to Big Bear to hang out with Nonna and Grandpa and Mike, Nancy, and the kids. I hate that I didn't get any pictures of us hanging out at the cabin but I did get some fun pictures from our weekend outtings.

While Cameron napped, Nancy and I took the girls swimming at the hotel

Then we went bowling... Charlie's favorite pasttime in Big Bear!

Nonna and Steve both were really good "on the lanes"

Steve and I bet who would win... He schooled me! Sometimes I hate that Steve is such a good athlete...I beat him the last time we played and now all of a sudden, he killed me this time! He picks up sports so fast.

The girl cousins posed for lots of pictures. Cameron wasn't really "feeling it" just yet!

After bowling we walked back to the village and stopped along the way to take some pics.

First stop in the village was the candy store... Can you spell H.E.A.V.E.N.?

There we go... Cameron is ready to pose now! Candy does amazing things to change the mood, ya know!

Someone got tired and "couldn't make her feet move anymore" as Charlie said.

Heading home to the cabin after a long day of fun and a great dinner.

Look at those cutie cousins!

First Day of School

First day of school for the girls was September 1st! Life has been cr-aaazy since then! Sorry for the delay in getting this post out! The girls were great on the first day... get out at 2:15 like the older kids, first grader - Ryan... And first time to the big playground pre-k'er- Charlie! No tears, big smiles, all is well in Seal Beach!

Ralph Lauren would be proud to have my little munchkins in their catalog on this first day of school!

New backpacks for a new year! Ryan's is very "pop star" with the hot pink fur and zebra print. Charlie's in very Mermaid spark-tacular! Perfectly suited for our little schoolies!

Kendall and Ryan are in different classes this year... it was a little bit of a transition for these "besties." Charlie got to be in class with some of her favorite friends from pre-school!

Charlie's Pre-K (called "Developmental Kinder" in our district) is located on the same wing as the kinder classes. We got to join Charlie in her class for a while just like we did when Ryan was in kindergarten. We even walked with the class on a tour around the school.

Here is "Charlotte" (as they called her) sitting on her square in Mrs. Hobbs class.

What a happy girl!

Another great year... I can feel it!

American Girls Debut

Just showin' off my good lookin' team... American Girls 2010 rock!!! Another year, another fun soccer team. We have moved up to the Under 8 division from Under 6. The ages range from first graders to third graders. We had picture day recently and we are getting ready for our first game on 9/11...oh, the irony for a team with a name like "American Girls!" Here are a few silly pictures while we waited in line for our picture time!

"Assistant Coach" and "Banner Dad"

Take a guess, which one is which?

Silly faces from some of our older girls, Carly and Cassidy (3rd graders).

Crazy eyes from 2 of our 3 first graders, Ryan and Kendall.

First grader, Riley and second graders, Isabelle and Cate!

So cute...

BFF

GO AMERICAN GIRLS!

Gonna kick some patriotic tail this year!

Hopefully you can catch a game this year! Check out our schedule at

www.ayso159.org

Back-to-School Shopping

I can remember shopping for school clothes when I was little... it was always one of my most favorite days! This is the first year where I truly let the girls pick out their own clothes with only minor persuasion from mom! It was really hard on me!

Fashion Island was our mall of choice this year for our big day! We started off at Bloomie's and the girls had more fun in front of the mirrors and with the mannequins than with picking out clothes! It was fun but I had to eventually get these kiddos focused!

Dance party!

New best friends.

We got a load of clothes at Bloomie's and then off to the other parts of the mall. The hardest part was actually having to go to the dressing room and try on clothes! We have finally gotten to the point where they have to try on EVERYTHING! Whoa....

After lots of shopping we stopped to enjoy the fountain...

...And then at the half way mark, we stopped for lunch at the Yard House! And no, that is not water mommy is drinking! What a long day with 2 little fashionistas! Mommy deserved a little break! LOL

After lunch, we start shoe shopping!

Charlie's favorite part was running around in the store to see how fast she is in her new shoes

Charlie fell asleep on the way home but Ryan was wide awake and wanted to do a fashion show for daddy! Here are her favorite outfits.

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Our big first grader ready to rock n' roll! I wish Charlie would have been awake so she could have showed off her outfits too!