Our first week away without the kids!

This is the instruction manual I left my mom for the kids. Sometimes I forget that she has already raised three kids herself.

Getting ready to get our 'float' on!

Floating day 2! SO FUN! Everyone must do this! You can see there are two seats in each raft. In the middle is a cooler! Perfect right?! We had these things down to a science, beers on the bottom, sandwiches on the top. We just tied the three of them some what together and let the river take us. So relaxing. My most favorite part of the week!


All blown up and ready to go! We had this all figured out as well. Drop the guys off at the gas station to fill up the rafts while we park the trucks and meet them at the docks!

Me introducing Karri to cake balls! Yum :)

Emerald Bay a.k.a. Heaven on Earth.

Ok, so there was a boy stuck on the side of one of the cliffs that needed to be rescued. After finding out that he was alright, we thought it was necessary to take a quick picture.

Our home away from home. Definately the way to go.

Craig and I at Donner Ski Ranch. We went there to check out something called Trial Racing. You should look it up if you don't know what it is. Pretty amazing. Just another fun day :)

We sent the guys in to buy rafts for us to float the river. As you can see, they were ABSOLUTELY THRILLED!

All of us!

Matt, Craig and Brent enjoying the deck!

Karri and I at Donner Ski Ranch :)

Craig and I had an awesome vacation in Tahoe this last week. We rented a home in Carnelian Bay with our friends Brent and Karri and Matt and Blythe. It was absolutely a blast! There were many times our faces hurt from laughing so hard! We did everything from hiking down to Emerald Bay, floating down the Truckee River TWICE (SO FUN!!!!), a little gambling, hot tubbing and a lot of relaxing. It was a week long laugh! This was my first time away from the kids for more than two nights. Although I missed them all so bad it hurt, we had so much fun our time there just flew by. We couldn't have asked for better company :)

It all happens so fast.

Today it happened, Jackson started 4th grade. I was totally fine with it until I saw that he was now on THE BIG PLAYGROUND! It seems like just yesterday we were leaving him for the first time on the padded playground. Today it was much different. Boys giving eachother fists and the famous 'head nod' and girls comparing shoes and skirts and purses. It was good to see so many of his buddies in his class. Craig and I actually came home from our week away in Tahoe, so we could take him. There was no way we would have missed it. I look forward to his phone call tonight to tell me all about it!

Pottery Barn who?

I mean really! Who needs Pottery Barn when you have Craig? I absolutely LOVE IT! We are finally getting somewhere with OUR room. We have been married for almost 13 years and have never decorated the master bedroom in any of our homes. I can't wait to start the next step!

The bed is in the house!!

Hard to see in this picture, but this is the headboard and footboard leaning against eachother.

Craig amazes me!

The bed is so close to being finished! I think we might even be able to sleep on it tomorrow night! Here is a sneak peek before we put it all together!

I LOVE IT!

FUNderland with friends!

The log ride!

They were so cute driving these cars.


Miss Daisy, driving Miss Daisy.

It's like a miniature Shelby and Megan!

Caitlin and Avary waiting for take off :)

They couldn't quite figure out how to make the tea cups spin, but still enjoyed it!

The Merry Go Round is always a hit!

This morning Avary and I met some friends at Funderland. It was just us girls and too cute to see the two of them wander around the park and pick what rides they wanted to go on next. After we ran out of tickets we went and sat under one the many amazing trees in Land Park and had a picnic lunch! I love girls day :)

Lasertag Party!

Jackson chose Boston Cream Pie for his birthday cake!

YUM!!

Some of the boys in a deep conversation :)

Jackson and his buddys celebrated his birthday playing lasertag this year! It was a lot of fun. In between games there were video games to play and an air hockey table. Lots of competion going on there!

It doesn't take much to make her mad.

Avary came home from school today slightly irritated. I asked her what was wrong and got the standard kid answer, "nothing.". Later asked her again. She says, "Two things! They spelled my name wrong AND I HAD TO WIPE MY OWN BUTT!". I told her that we would talk to the teachers about how to spell her name and that when you go to preschool you are supposed to wipe yourself. She just rolled her eyes and stomped upstairs. The next thirteen years of school should be a ton of fun.

Happy 9th Birthday Jackson!

This is how he got his nickname, Bubba!

Nine years ago today my name changed from Shelby to Mommy.

Happy 9th Birthday Jackson! We love you so much.

Beyonce is in da house!

Avary and Griffen love to dance. Whenever 'it' is about to hit the fan we turn on the music and let them go! This was the first time they have heard this song. I told Avary to watch Beyonce and do what she does and she did! It was hilarious. I love how Griffen just couldn't stand it anymore and had to dance too. So glad we got it recorded!

Make sure you have your volume turned up!

The writing is on the wall

We have a wall in our closet that we measure the kids on. I have told Craig that if we ever move, we will cut that part of the wall out and take it with us. I hope he knows that I am not kidding. With life being so crazy there have been NO baby book entries stating their shapes and size. Truth be told, there just are NO baby books at all. Thats what blogs are for right?

The first couple of years for all three are kinda few and far between. Now that they are older, we make it a point to measure them a few times a year. As you can see, they have a lot in common with their sizes. All three are pretty much the same at year 3 and now year 4.

"Oh, I gave him a tip!"

We have been teaching a little independce lately. Lastnight at the pool, the kids wanted an ice cream sandwich. Jackson volunteered to go to the snackbar and get them all one by himself. The old me would have taken control and gone and got them. The new me handed over the money and didn't budge. We gave him $5.00. He came back with $0. When we asked him where the change was, he was sooooo excited to tell us, "Oh, I tipped him!". Me, "You what?". Him, "I tipped him all the change!". We had a little explanation about finding what the percentage a tip should be ( I can still see Jacksons eyes rolling to the back of his head with boredom) and that we don't normally tip the the people at the club, just at a restuarant. The lady next to us was dying trying not to laugh. I don't think she could have put more of her towel over her face and still been able to watch her kids in the water. Thank goodness we didn't send him with more money!