Vacation Bible School 2011...

This was the first year our kids were old enough to participate in our church's Vacation Bible School! They were so excited for the week long event! The theme was "Pandamania", where the kids learned that God is WILD about them! They had a ton of fun all week and then finished the week with a special Family Mass followed by a BBQ and water play! This was a rare occasion that Mike felt was worth taking the day off of work from! It really was a treat to see the kids with their friends on that last day and go to Mass with all of the kids, who were singing their newly learned songs throughout the service! They also had a slideshow of the week's events for us parents to see... very cool! The kids brought home a TON of crafts, which I'll have to take pictures of and post at another time! It was a great experience and they're already looking forward to next year... until then, we get to sing all of the songs in the van since we decided to buy the Pandamania CD!

Oh, and you'll notice in the pictures below that Addie was more cooperative for the camera... yeah... apparently Blake has reached the stage where Mom & Dad are an embarassment... he even wanted to sit with his friends at Mass instead of us... US... his TOTALLY AWESOME parents! ;) I'm sure he just didn't see us with our gigantic camera and 10 inch zoom lens... yeah, that must have been it! :)

Addison's FIRST Haircut!

At 3 years of age, Miss Addison Grace has let go of her first couple inches of hair! It was quite the big occasion, so we wanted to do it up right... almost like royalty... and where is a girl to go for this kind of treatment? ... Crowned Studio of course!!! Addie's Nina is a Master Stylist at Crowned Studio and made sure to give Addie the VIP treatment! Knowing my daughter well, I knew we didn't have to worry about her nerves getting the best of her! Just as I suspected, she jumped right in and enjoyed the pampering! This was definitely a special day for us girls!

Thanks to Nina Christina for doing a great job, as always! :)

A Little Summer 2011 Catching-Up... with more to come!

This summer was packed with all kinds of local, low-key fun! So much so that I couldn't keep up with the recording of it all! This is me throwing in *some* of the photos of our summer randomness before it goes by without remembrance!

I'll start with our beach trip with Grandpa Eggie and Uncle Cam! We were fortunate enough to get some extra quality time with Grandpa Eggie this summer since he was stir-crazy from multiple hospital stays!

We made some homemade pretzels for fun!

We BBQ'd a goat head for fun too since Mike has memories eating this delicacy as a child! The kids went nuts over the whole process and were more than delighted to eat the eyeballs and the tongue... I wish I was lying... video coming soon!

We attended many summer movies at our local park! It was actually a highlight of our summer with picnics and treats straight after Daddy came home from work each Wednesday!

Grandpa Eggie's stir-craziness paid off yet again with a trip down to Whittier to see St. Mary's, the church he grew up attending and the school he attended through 8th grade!

We also swung by the Rose Hills mortuary to see some loved ones...

Grandma Blake still sported a birthday card given to her by my grandfather a couple of months back.

And finally, Grandpa Eggie's childhood home in Whittier... much changed of course!

Back to randomness with my summer kick-off... watermelon waffles!

Most days looked like this over the summer...

With the exception of the day Addie got into a serving mood and surprised us with drinks... on a bathroom step-stool... totally her idea and we were so excited to partake in her hospitality!

We spent multiple days at the pottery painting place this summer as well!

Had a small espresso crisis that was so kindly solved by Grandpa Orozco...

And had a lot of special moments like this one... we went to check on the kids about an hour after them being tucked in, only to find that Blake had crept into his sister's room/bed and they had fallen asleep together! :) I'd say these moments are the best!

The End!