First Day of School

Wednesday August 15, 2018 was the first day of school.  

They woke up to some fun back to school decor and I made them pancakes for breakfast.

 Aubrey was much more excited for school to start then Carter was this year.  She was really excited to get to see her friends.  Carter on the other hand would rather stay home and play but he was excited to play soccer at recess. 

 I look at this picture and think how lucky I am to be this beautiful girls mom! 

Aubrey is growing up to be such a lovely lady! We do have our days of pre-teen craziness but for the most part her and I are much more than just a mom and daughter, we are best friends! I love her so much and I'm excited for her year a head as a 5th grader.  At our school 5th grade switches classrooms so for English and social studies she has Mrs. Parker and for math and science she has Mrs. Rabith.  Mrs. Rabith is also her homeroom.  She was thrilled to find that she has lots of good friends in her class.  She is super excited about starting band this year! It's going to be a great year!!

I also look at this picture and think how lucky I am to get to be this cuties mom!!

 Carter my funny guy full of energy and life! Carter is amazing when it comes to one liners and jokes he has us on the edge of our seats at all times.  He also is the sweetest and melts my heart with his thoughtfulness and hearth full of love.  He always makes sure to tell me he loves me and to have a good day.  I just love that! Carter is in the 3rd grade and up to now has had all the same teachers Aubrey had but since Mrs. Livesay retired last year we went with a new teacher.  Her name is Mrs. Carter! How perfect is that Carter in Carter's class.  She seems like a wonderful teacher that always has a smile.  The rumor has it they watch a movie every Friday in class! Carter can't wait to see if that is true.  I think Carter will be able to do track and field this year so he is excited for that!

 and were off! I love that the first day is on a Wednesday so I get to pick them up early!!!

 Dad surprised us and got off early to pick the kids up with me!

 They were so excited! We went for a yummy treat at Yogolicious and to hear all about their days! 

They both LOVE their teachers and had a blast seeing all their friends. 

That night we went to Jantz for dinner to celebrate.

No Summer don't end!.....

Unfortunately it's true summer must come to an end each year.  

We sure tried to make the most of our last week at home...

We played with the dogs...

Fit in more craft time...

Snuggled with the dogs....

Went to the movies to see Christopher Robin....

Aubrey and I had a cupcake challenge....

and the boys voted....

Our favorite challenge was the cupcake impostors...

More snuggling....

Spencer and I got to sub Carter's primary class and we made a candle craft...

Spencer and I got to go to Fresno for a date to Cheesecake Factory...

and to see the comedian Jim Gaffigan! He was hilarious....

While Fresno Spencer surprised me with a shopping spree at LuLu Lemon...

Fun lunch picnic at the pool....

Last friend sleep over of the summer.

Aubrey had Mia and Lylah over....

and Carter had Max...

Pizza and a movie...

Slime making...

and Lego's...

In cleaning out old boxes we came across this picture of Spencer's mom...

The kids think it's so cool that she met "Uncle Jessie" from Full House

The day before school means checking the class list...

They got the teachers that I got to pick!

Aubrey is with Mrs. Rabith and Carter is with Mrs. Carter.

The night before school is our annual fashion show...

Got to have Panther pride....

and if the night before school wasn't exciting enough...

Carter lost a tooth and we got to have the tooth fairy come!

Can't believe we start a fresh year of school tomorrow!

Tahoe 2018

Family Vacation to Tahoe August 4th-August 8th! 

We were so excited to have a big family trip to Tahoe this summer.  Nana did a great job finding us a beautiful cabin that fit all 9 of us.  We were sad Aunt Shelly couldn't make it.  She was in Illinois visiting her mom.  I love the way all our matching tie dye shirts came out.

Saturday August 4th we woke up early and headed to Sacramento to pick Aunt Pat up and than off to Tahoe.  When we got there Nana gave us the grand tour of our pad for the next 4 nights.  The cabin was beautiful! It had everything you could want and more.  We all had our own rooms, bathrooms, a hot tub, pool table, darts, Foosball table, cable TV and a huge kitchen with a table that could fit us all! After we unpacked all the ladies went to Raley's to stock up on some food and treats, while the boys played at the cabin.  Then we all went to dinner to a really nice brewery that was super yummy, thanks Yelp!

After dinner we went to the casinos and had some play time in the arcades.

We went home and had a nice night.

Sunday August 5th Spencer and I woke up early for a work out and then went to the dock to get boat prices.  The kids enjoying all the cabin games....

Nana and Aubrey look so cute together!

Our awesome cabin!

Heading to the dock..

We rented a really nice boat with an inner tube for the day.

It was a perfect family adventure! We had a blast!!

We made it to Emerald bay and had our picnic lunch and floated on the inner tube.

After lunch we did some inner tubing and it was a blast! Carter and I were the first to go.  Then I went with Aubrey and then dad with the kids the kids.  It was a lot of fun!

Carter and dad did fall off and it was a little scary trying to get back on but they did it and laughed about it after.

Carter loved to drive the boat.

We picked the best day to go boating.  The rest of the time we were in Tahoe there was a lot of smoke over the lake from all the fires.  This day was beautiful!  It was so much fun being our whole group doing this all together.

After our day on the water we were all ready for some ice cream at the best parlor in town....

Man do you get a lot of ice cream! I was in heaven!

That night we had BBQ burgers at the cabin and had a nice relaxing night in.

Monday August 6th I had booked a zip line adventure in North Shore Lake Tahoe for us.  Papa, Gaga and our family of four went. 

Oh my goodness this was so much fun!!!! I was so happy to be able to make Carter's dream of zip lining come true this summer.  We had a blast!!! It was a zip lining course that took us all over the forest.  You didn't have a guide so you just did it all on your own.  There were so many fun different challenges that really tested yourself.  The zips were all really fun.  Some of the bridges were very tough and you wanted to give up but couldn't so it was a rewarding feeling when you faced your fear and completed it.  We will remember this neat place forever! So much fun!!!

Such a fun memory! After our zip adventure we were all starving so we went to Tahoe City for a nice BBQ lunch.

That afternoon we all came home and had a nice nap and relaxed before our night out.  

For dinner we went to a coffee shop in Monte Blue that had everything on the menu! It was yummy.

Unfortunately that night my mom and aunt had a huge argument that caused them to stop speaking which put us all in a hard spot.  I hope we can all work on it in the future.  Family drama sucks!

Tuesday August 7th Spencer and I went to the gym in the morning and then came home.  Spencer always takes doing Aubrey's hair very seriously! It always comes out really good!

That day Nana and Papa took the kids for a fun day.  They went and played mini golf and out to lunch.  They all had lots of fun!

Titi, Gaga, Aunt Pat, Spencer and I went shopping at Heavenly Village and did a little gambling.  We had a really nice lunch at California Burger and then met up with the kids to get one more arcade session in so they could redeem their tickets.

That evening we hung at our cabin and had pizza for dinner.  The backyard was huge! Papas always up for playing all day!

Wednesday August 8th we had to pack up :( It was sad to think our summer traveling had come to end.  But we felt so blessed to think of all we got to do and all the places we saw all summer long! We were also ready to get home and see our puppies!

On the way home we stopped and did a little back to school shopping...

When we got home the puppies were extremely excited to see us.  We had our friends the Chu's house/doggie sit for us and they did a fabulous job! Coming home to happy dogs, a clean house and homemade scones! What more could we ask for?!?!!