Shhhh... our own HGTV moment!

From baby pepto pink to all grown up!  The girls have been asking for their room to get redone and be more grown up.  They were feeling too old for their toddler room.  Steve and I agreed but told them that they would have to earn it.  They would have to start taking better care of their things and acting more grown up and we'd work them on making their room more grown up.  Well, after months and months towards working towards earning their room (the first few months were a struggle.  They didn't believe us).  By late June we felt that they had fulfilled the obligation in learning how to keep things clean.  So... sneaky mommy started making plans for a secret room makeover.  One of my fondest memories growing up was when my mom redecorated my room while I was away at camp.  I loved, loved that surprise and loved my new room.  I hoped the girls would have the same reaction.

Aunt Casey and Bubba helped us with our plan by agreeing to keeping the girls for the weekend.  Katie and Matt filled in for one night too.  They saw Gigi and Aunt Ginny and Tim too.  They had an action packed weekend.  While they were painting the town red, we were painting their room yellow and grey (well, Alex the painter, I mean)! 

 We spent the weekend shopping, buying, and staging their new room. 

 Oh ya, and crafting. 

Ryan wanted a place to hang her soccer medals.  I wanted something unique so I came up with this idea.

Charlie's side...

And Charlie got a medal hanger too!

Ryan's side...

The big 1st and 3rd graders needed their own workstations.

While we were busy decorating, the girls were busy with their aunts, uncles, and cousins...

Having lunch...

 Getting their nails done...

Playing Barbies....

Swimming....

And then after all this fun at Casey and Bubba's and Aunt Ginny's... they headed to Katie and Matt's house for a night.  No pictures of that fun night but I hear it was a doozy. A trip to Hollywood even!!!

It's time to pick them up...
Our sneaky babysitters!



 As the girls reminded me, they are addicted to electronics.  Even Katie's!

Casey took the girls to get their nails done.  

 Bubba walked us out to tell us the dog-biting story.  I still can't believe it.  So scary...Poor thing!

 After the big HGTV style reveal, the girls spent the WHOLE day in their new room!

They loved it!  Stay tuned for the YouTube video of the big reveal.  We'll let you know when it's up!

Thanks for helping us pull off the big surprise everyone!



We Are...The River People

We headed out to the river again this year with our friends, the Derosas and the Castillos.  Actually, this year there were more than 20 of us in the whole party.  As soon as we arrived, we got settled in our trailer, and headed out to the beach!  Charlie was so excited to put on her new suit and hat!  What a cutie.

 A good shot of the Malibu!

Ryan, Charlie and I were on the Castillo's boat for this outting!  Charlie continued her extreme tubing this year.  Ryan, who was very timid last year, certainly stepped up her game on the tube!  She loves it now and wanted to keep going faster!

 Brave Ryan tried kneeboarding this year!

 ... And was successful!  Yeah Ryan!

 Extreme Tubing Time

Momma and her Cuddle Bug

 Takin' a dip

 The ladies talkin' Girl Talk at the Sandbar

 hangin' on the boat... a little break from the sun

 Charlie, what kind of smile is that?

 A perfect afternoon!

 More Girl Talk

 "What's up people?"  (as Charlie says!)

 Shelley and Genny

 Tony and Brandon

 Shhh... the grown ups got away for a bucket at the bar!

(We love, love, love that Ally is old enough to babysit the kiddos now!!)

 All the couples:

Jen and Ernie Castillo

 Genny and Tony Derosa

 And us...

I can't believe we spend FIVE days at the river!  This is the longest vacation that Steve has taken since we were married!  He got a lot of sleep and hopefully we all rejuvenated ourselves for the upcoming school year and fall sports season!

The Pyramid Cup

More soccer...

Ryan's club hosts the "Pyramid Cup" each summer.  This was our first go around.  Long days of working the snack bar, team registration table, set up and clean up.  I had no idea how much work goes into putting on a tournament.  Very fun for the girls though...

The girls didn't earn any medals for this tourney though.  Oh well.  The poor things were out at the field by 7 a.m. for set up and their last game wasn't over until after 4:30 p.m.  That's a long, long day for 8 year olds!  No worries... we'll get it next year!



Not just Futbol but... it's FOOTBALL season too!

So... the Graces have a new sport to focus on this fall!  Little Miss Charlie has been begging us to play flag football.  Not be one of the cheerleaders for flag football but to play with the boys!  So, here she is... our little football star!  Go get 'em Buggy!

In order to prepare for the FNL (Friday Night Lights) season, we signed Charlie up for a 4-day football camp.  Mommy and Ryan cheered on Charlie all week from the sidelines!  We had lots of water and snacks on hand for the hot, hot week to keep our chica fed and hydrated!

Charlie was one of only 2 girls in the whole camp.  Charlie was the only one in her age group. 

Proud of you Charlie girl!

Fitting in with all the boys!

Getting some one-on-one attention from the coaches is always a good thing!

We had a few tears early in the week because she was nervous but certainly loved it by the time we were done!

Ryan, on the other hand, learned first hand what it feels like to "support your sister."  This is a phrase Charlie has had to learn over this past year with Ryan's soccer... now it was Ryan's turn to learn.  

All the practice at FNL Camp prepared Charlie to meet her team for the first official practice with her team, the Nebraska Cornhuskers!



 Coach Graham was teaching the Cornhuskers how to pull flags on the first night!

Friday Nights are going to be a whole new ball game for us... pun attended!  LOL!

GO CHARLIE!!!