Happy Anniversary!!!

Oct 27th was our 6th year anniversary and we went to Temcula for some wine tasting and then deposited some money at the Pachenga Casino. It was so so nice to have 26 straight hours of just the two of us, talking, watching Old School, sleeping in......Thanks to Emily & Iven for watching Mason & Luke and to Julie for taking Ty for a special date during the day and Tash for braving Ty, Zach & Redman for a sleepover!!! Ty came back bragging about his weekend so much I wondered who had more fun. :) You guys are the best!

Soccer Team Pictures

This is Ty's U5 AYSO team, The Bandits. There are six kids and two of the others go to school with Ty so there is a lot of goofing off, he loves it and I am enjoying my first year as a 'soccer mom'.
I thought I'd include one of Peyton's team too. Mark & Vern are the 'team parents' and you can see their talent in the banner. Who know they were so creative???? Geckos with red jerseys on them, very cute!!!

Halloween Practice

So, Ty decided this year they should all be Power Rangers. (He's very into them, wants the movie, toys, birthday party theme.....) Lukey is a green Mystic Ranger and Mason is a blue SPD Ranger. Ty is the red Operation Overdrive Ranger. Who knew there were so many types, I obviously have a lot to learn!!!
Zachy & Zoe joined the party as green & baby blue Mystic Rangers.
I decided to have them paint pumpkins since carving seems like a bit on the dangerous side, turns out it was a bit messier then I ever imagined, I am still finding paint around the house and we did this a week ago!! (They ended up painting their hands smacking everything they could and since they outnumber me it took a while before I could get everyone paint free!)
Eric did a great job of carving the big pumpkin, unfortunately when I left for work this morning I noticed it had collapsed overnight (one of the drawbacks of pumpkin carving too early in the desert). I am getting another one so we are all spooky for Halloween!!!

A day in Northridge & Camping

On Saturday the twins, Tash, Julie, Zoe & I loaded up in the minivan to take a trip to Northridge for our friends Leslie & Zack's daughter's first birthday party . Allison had a huge turn out to help her celebrate and the weather was beautiful. It doesn't hurt that Leslie & Zack have an amazing house with a gorgeous backyard, perfect setting for a party. They had a bounce house which was a huge hit and even better-a clown!! She did face and arm painting and balloon toys.
Luke was a big fan of the pink cake.
Zoe got a pink elephant on her arm and a princess scepter.
Mason got a green lizard on his arm and thanks to his runny nose, by the time we got home he looked like a baby shrek with all of the green on his face!! (Luke did not care for the clown so no 'tattoo' for him)
The big boys (Ty & Eric) went camping out to the Chuckawalla mountains with about 60 other people for the annual 'Quail hunt & Beer bust'. It was opening quail season and as usual, those clever quail avoided the hunters. Seems you need to be smarter than the quail......They had a great time, great food and fun company but the Santa Ana winds kept them up most of the night. Ty can't wait to go again!!!

Pumpkin Patch Time

Growing up in the Midwest we had pumpkin patches everywhere and each fall the 'Republic of Fetchenhier' would take a drive to see the leaves and pick pumpkins, apples, have cider, the whole fall experience. My sister and I would roll our eyes and sit in the back seat of the car hoping it would not take all day. We enjoyed it more as we got older and now I miss it. This past weekend we took the boys to a patch in Yucaipa, it is more of a 'spend tons of money on lots of jumpys and rides' rather than an authentic pumpkin patch, although we can actually pick your own pumpkin from the field. I chose to get the cheap grocery store ones, the kids don't know the difference yet!! The boys all loved riding on the 'mo-cy-cy' as Mason calls the motorcycles and feeding the goats. Those goats are FAT!!! and smart, they would take the cup out of the kids hands and tip it up then give it back for more. Mason was not too fond of them and one kept jumping up on Ty but Luke loved them and thought they were hysterical!!


The wheelbarrow, commonly used for pumpkins and kids.

Big Boys!!!

Mason and Luke are two and don't mind telling anyone around them. Mason keeps trying to tell people he's five, but I think he just likes saying the word.
Big boys, big muscles!! They love tattoos like their parents, they are going with Superman this week.
We finally went for it and took down the cribs!! Huge step since they are so content in their cribs. Here is a picture of their big boy beds. We did surfing theme, I love the bedding and we are getting surfboards with their names on them for the walls. If anyone has good ideas for window covering and closet covering(no doors on the closet leads to a lot less pinched fingers!) please let me know!!! Luke did great his first night, Mason, not so great. He called for me about every 1/2 hour so at 4 I gave up and just slept with him. They woke up in great moods, Mason yelling 'MAMA' and Luke with his sweet, 'maaamaaa...' Good naps today so that's a good sign I hope. Another stage gone.....sad but sweet.

Girl's Weekend

Where do I start? First of all, thanks to my WONDERFUL husband for watching 3 kids all weekend, and doing a fantastic job. Even though he was not feeling well and Ty and Luke are fabulous at antagonizing each other constantly right now, he was glad I enjoyed my weekend with the girls. He took Ty to soccer on Saturday too and they won their second game & Ty scored 2 more goals!!
So, first order of business upon arriving in Big Bear on Friday was going out to lunch. We ended up at a nice place and had a great lunch and a bottle of wine....that lead to going to Chad's to play darts & get a drink but since we all look SO young and Tasha did not bring her ID, we were denied. Julie had a wonderul idea of getting tatoos..so-we did!! We all got stars on our necks. We made Julie go first since this was Tasha's fifth and my third. Anyways, it was pretty painless and made for a great start to the weekend. We had so much fun being lazy, no kids, no husbands....thanks girls!!! We went to Oktoberfest on Saturday and met up with some friends and that was really fun, expensive, but fun. After a long weekend away from all of my boys I could not wait to get home to see them, hug them, snuggle them. I missed them a ton!!
This is Bubba, our tattoo 'artist'.

Drew's Hula Hula Party

Happy Birthday Drew!!! She turned 2 on Oct 1st. Mark and Vern had a Luau for her with amazing food and the kids all had a blast playing pin the fin on the shark and taking turns with the pinata. The pinata is always a huge hit, Ty loves to hit them and now gets the concept of scrambling for candy when it breaks. The twins just tried to get one piece of candy shoved in their mouths before it was all off the ground. Mason was so concened he even left some of the wrapper on.


The birthday girl!

SoccEr Started!!!!

Ty is playing AYSO in the U5 division this year. He is so excited and loves to wear his uniform, except he really thinks the shin guards belong on the outside of his socks. On Friday night they presented all of the teams to the parents at Palm Springs High School. Ty's friends Peyton & Dean are also playing, Dean is in the same league but Peyton is U6.
Ty's team is the Bandits and they played Dean's team, the Time Travelers, in the first game. It was so darn cute. They did a full on run in within the first few minutes & both fell backwards and got up laughing. Dean kept telling Ty to pass him the ball and we had to tell Ty not to since they are on different teams. I actually thought it was going to be mass chaos with 4 year olds but they were really quite good. Eric says if Peyton, Ty & Dean were on the same team they would be undefeated! Ty was so proud of himself, he scored 3-4 goals (hard to make sure with so many little feet trying to kick) and he can't wait for next week. Now that his daddy has seen him in action, he can't wait to put him in football pads!!!
Ty & Deano with their post game snack, got to keep that energy up!

Mason & Luke's Party

First of all, thanks to Lillie, Randi & Miss for giving me a reason to keep posting....Vern is a valued reader of course, just wanted to make sure a few other people were out there, I guess it's an ego thing. To Lillie-you are the bloger inspiration of all times, Thanks!!! Randi-I miss you sooooo much, ML too! Congratulations on the wedding. Miss-I hope you enjoy, I wish you were closer!!
Ok-on to the day. We started out with a trip to the park, which, in Ty's eyes, is never complete without a treat from the ice cream man. Above is Zach, Ty , Mason, Luke, Zoe and our neighbor, Nic.
Mark & his sweet girl Drew!
I made & frosted cupcakes and give the kids little tables out in the grass with lots of sprinkles. They had a blast decorating and I think more ended up on the grass than on the actual cupcake, despite that, I am sure mass quantities of sugar was consumed.
The big boys always manage to act silly for the camera. Dean, Ty, Peyton & Zachy.
Julie and the boys looking at stars. They are pretty good at pointing out the moon, of course it is always an excuse to stay up later too!!

Anyone out there?

Don't be afraid to comment....I am wondering if the only one who ever looks at my blog is Vern, not that it's a bad thing Vern, but I want to know if I am only blogging for your personal reading pleasure!!!

This picture is of the boy's nanny, Emily & her boyfriend Iven. I feel funny even calling her nanny, she & Iven are so much a part of our family!! All three boys just love them to pieces!!

Visiting!

My younger sister Melissa & her son Ethan came and visited for the weekend. Lucky for us she had to work during her trip so that left us with lots of 'Ethan time'!! Lucky for him, the novelty of having a baby in the house wore off of Mason & Luke after only a few hours. Mason liked to go get in his face and Luke kind of lurked around him, afraid to touch him at first but then pointing out all of his facial features...eyes, nose, mouth....!
This is Miss & I at Azul in Palm Springs.
Another good visit, Michelle, Charity and Leslie came out for the weekend from Northridge and they joined us for a 'girl's night out'.
Ethan looking like a big boy on the slide, all six months of him!!!