Half Moon Bay, California November 2012

Thursday, August 30, 2012

First Day of School!

Another school year has begun... and although I "felt" ready for it, I didn't really want my summer time to end with these 3 children of mine.  We had our ups and downs, but we shared them together.  They worked hard and they played hard... and then the next thing I knew, we were buying new backpacks and lunch boxes on-line. New shoes were ordered... and then the first day arrived!

First day of school!!!!  I woke up early and made them fresh waffles and sausages.  :)  (ONLY for the first day!)

In front of the house...
ONE --
 TWO --
 And all three ready to go!

Then we all walked to school -- along with the rest of the neighborhood it seemed.
And here they are... again!
My FIRST grader!
My FOURTH grader!
She saw her friend in line, ran over, and that was that!  (thank goodness because I had to walk MD over to his line and stay with him)
Here's MD meeting his teacher for the first time (Mrs. Kopecky):
Then he went into his classroom and found his desk, sat down, and waited for instructions.  Then we snuck out quickly...
E and I went home and read a few stories.  Then he drew:
Look at his picture.  Isn't it great?!  It was a long day...  He kept asking when it was time to go pick up his siblings.  I guess he really did miss them!  :)
Then they were back!!!!  It was a great day for them both.  I have pictures of them with their teacher... later though. I'm slowly trying to catch up!
Okay.. end of second week of school and now I have time to post a picture of MG and MD with their teachers!
MG and Mrs. Adams:
 MD and Mrs. Kopecky:




Monday, August 27, 2012

Good Friends....

good food, good plain fun, and a birthday celebration all to herself!

August 17, 2012

It was a simple "play date" that we scheduled almost last minute.  But the moms of these girls pulled it together for me by saying the girls could attend... 2 days before school started!  We set out some of her favorite food:

I made cupcakes for the girls (small and medium) then made her a large one!
 YUMMM!!!!
 We set out some crafts for the girls to do when they arrived.  She is making a quilt, so we cut up some small squares for each of the girls to decorate so that she may add those squares to her quilt.  It will be nice to see them all together on her quilt.  :)
 These girls were so serious!  :)
 Then they ate!
 And we sang her a song.  She made a wish and blew out her candle for the third time this summer!  (BEST dollar I every spent!)
 Group photo!!!
 Then we played a few games.  This was the M&M game. Each girl had to close her eyes and choose 2 M&Ms.  Then  she needed to open her mouth to show the others what was inside her mouth. If the 2 M&Ms were the same color then the others would tell her to eat them. If the colors were not the same, she had to keep them in her mouth!
 They even let the boys play -- and the boys were so excited!  (they were so good during the entire play date. I was so proud of them!)
 Lastly, she handed out the bracelets and pendants she made for each of her friends.
They all put them on right away and were so thrilled!
It was simple and fun for everyone -- including myself!!!!  Happy Birthday Baby Girl.


Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Birthday Celebration!

August always hits us with a big bang starting on the 1st, carrying to the 8th, and ending on the 12th!  This year we celebrated with a fun luau theme!  Matt helped a great deal and we are so thankful for his contribution.  He helped to pull all the decorations and food ideas together.  Check it out!

(Pictures courtesy of my cousin, Ratha, as I was too busy to take pictures!  Vince and our very awesome and good friend, Ed, took some too.)



Isn't this s great spread?!
When lunch was ready, Uncle Jim signaled the natives...
Because they were too busy swimming!

Look at them out there... without a care in the world... just having fun!  Hi Ryan!  :)
So the adults got started!
Matt made an amazing pork roast.  He then made a delicious pineapple salsa to accompany it.  The pork was served on a hoagie roll with napa cabbage... YUM!!!!

I love these 3!
After they ate... (finally!) they dove right back in the pool  Thank you Uncle Leo for this amazing pool!

Hello Nikasha nd Braden!

Most of the children tried to fit on this raft.  Keep your eyes on Jenna and MG...
Rocky... rocky...
OVER!  Hahahaha!!!!
Here I am with Braden's mom, Lori:

After some time... MG signaled the natives to come together...
(picture by Ed Yeh)
James gave it a go too!  (great job, James!)
(another picture by Ed Yeh)
They were signaling everyone to congregate because it was CAKE time!!!!
Well, we kept it simple and served cup ckaes!  :)
Yes, that is him lighting his own candle!  
(yet, another picture by Ed Yeh!)
And I love this picture Ed took of E!  Did he get it at the right time or what?!!!  LOVE!!!!
And we sang...
And everyone chose their dessert: brownies or cup cakes???
Then Vince brought out his toy... 
A shaved ice maker...
Emily approves!  ;)
(picture by Ed)
MD enjoying his:
(picture by Ed)
Alex waiting in line patiently for his:
(picture by Ed)

Once everyone went home... we stuck around and just relaxed... Then the children asked to opentheir gifts.  Sure, why not?  Go to town!!!! (Thank you cards are work in progress now...)

Check out these happy faces!!!!

Then Uncle Leo revealed the mother of all gifts... 3 large Lego boxes for them all to share
As you can see, they are speechless!
What an amazing day spent with some amazing bunch of family and friends.  These children should feel blessed to be loved by so many... I am feeling it right now as I write about them. :)

A big shout out goes to Uncle Matt and Unc;e Leo for hosting such a wonderful party.  I don't know how we are going to top this in a few years?!