Day Sixty-Three

Actual Date: Thursday, May 27, 2010Like she does on most mornings, Ava was the first to wake on this morning. And like she does on most mornings, she continued to wake up the rest of the house by just being her. She has no concept of volume control... Anyways, she woke Parker up first and we heard him fuss from the living room. She said "Bubba is awake Mommy! I get him!" I waited a bit and then I heard some laughing and giggling so i went in to see what was going on. This is what I found. Two little cuties.

Oh, and I had forgotten about these little gems! These actually belong two posts back under May 25th.

While Chelsea and I were out shopping, my Mom and Grandma were watching the kids for us. When we got home this is what we found...

Apparently he had wet through his outfit and the only thing available to change him into was a pair of Ava's jammies. Poor guy. I've got to hand it to him though, he's rockin' that pink Unicorn with his Pirate helmet. Real mean wear pink!

Next is what happens when a Mommy, a Grandma and Great Grandma get involved, too involved, in their Real Housewives of New Jersey episode...

The child sitting not more than two feet away from all of them decides to sort through the stack of nail polish on the table and paint her toes. And not one of them notices, until it's too late.

At least she picked a color that matched her outfit and she kinda did a good job. Well, she kept it all on her toes at least. Oh my dear Ava, you keep life so interesting. And for that, I love you.

Day Sixty-Two

Actual Date: Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Very proud of the dirt from his slide to home base.

Another fun family evening at Garenn's Baseball game. The girls were off playing with Uncle Chris. First just he and Brooke went off to look at something and Ava started bawling crying and she said "I wanna stay my Uncle Chris forever!" Of course that melted his heart so sure enough, she went off to play too. Parker had a ball screaming at all the kids when they went running by to home base.

Day Sixty-One

Actual Date: Tuesday, May 25, 2010Are these shoes not the funniest thing ever? Couldn't resist.

On this day we visited one of my favorite stores ever, The Children's Orchard. If you haven't been there yet, get there! It's a children's resale shop. You can take in your "gently used" items and they will give you either cash or store credit for them. I always take store credit because I ALWAYS find something we need (or can't live without).

I love this store. The owners, Howard and Patty are super sweet. At this point in my trip I think I had been to the store at least twice already. The first time we bought a Pack N Play to keep at my Mom's house for when Parker takes naps there, a activity time sitting thing for Parker since he wasn't quite sitting up on his own yet, and a stroller since we could not fit ours in our car when we drove here. All that stuff added up to somewhere around $100.00 bucks which is amazing because it was all quality name brand stuff that looked like it had never even been used!

The prices are always reasonable, and it seems like there is always a sale, or at least one coming up. The fill the bag sale is my favorite, it only happens twice a year I think, but last time I got 27 items for $10.00! Now they have these reusable bags, if you buy one and use it on a Tuesday, you get 10% of your purchase. So that worked out good for me! You know me I love a deal.

So today I was on a mission to find some warm clothing for the kids because it kept getting colder and colder and they were freezing in the warm weather clothes I had brought for them. A few weeks before we had arrived in California it had been warm and sunny, go figure. Anyways, I got a ton of cute stuff. Including a pair of size 5 Roxy pants for $6.99! They look brand new! They have a lot of brand names and good quality stuff I just love it. I am sad though because I have been to a few children's resale shops here in Texas and none of them hold a candle to The Children's Orchard in Apple Valley. I have a balance of money waiting to be used at the Texas resale shop and that never happens when I'm at The Children's Orchard because of their great selection and prices. I keep trying to convince Howard and Patty to move here but so far their not taking the bait...

Day Sixty

Actual Date: Monday, May 24, 2010

The Desert can be beautiful.

Day Fifty-Nine

Actual Date: Sunday, May 23, 2010This is the view from my family's church this morning. Snow?! Are you kidding me California. First off it's the end of May and second, we just came from Texas! We were freezing!

Day Fifty-Eight

Actual Date: Saturday, May 22, 2010

This was a bitter sweet day. We were excited to be spending the day with family but we were also a little sad because Brian was leaving us to fly back home to Texas to work. Luckily it was only for about 2 weeks instead of the original three weeks that we had planned. Turns out he had some training to do in Mission Viejo during our last week there so it worked out perfect. He would fly back, work that week in California, and then we'd drive home together.

My Dad was headed down the hill on this day so he took Brian to the airport so that we could go see Garenn's Baseball game. It was so fun to watch all those little guys and girls. They are so cute. Some of them were so into it and others were so not. One little girl was in the outfield picking flowers. Kids are so funny.

Tanner was there to cheer his brother on.

Brooke and GarennChels, all decked out in the Giants orange and black.After the game we headed up the mountain to see the rest of the family and see Grandpa Ray get an award from the Elks Lodge.
I decided to hang back with the little kids and let them take a nap so they weren't to restless during the ceremony. Then after we were heading over to Grandpa Ray and Grandma Carol's for dinner.

While we waited for everyone to get back from the awards ceremony I decided I was going to tinker around and take some pictures of some of the cool things that my Auntie Diane has collected throughout the years. Her house is so unique and original. I love seeing all the new stuff she has every time I go there.

Uncle Michael and Brooke. He said "let me show you how I used to pick your Mama up!"I still remember too. =o)It was so beautiful outside so I decided to rake up some pine needles and sweep off the deck. The girls came outside with me and Brooke said "Mom I want to make something special for Auntie Diane so she is not sad about her Daddy." (Papa Dawe was her Father) So she collected all of the pine cones out of the yard and lined them up all along her rock walls. When she was done she said "Mom I just can't wait for her to see this. It's going to take her breath away. Now every time she comes home she'll see this and think of her Daddy and it'll make her so happy."

Isn't she so sweet? I love her heart. Here she is with her pine cone creation. After everyone got back from the award ceremony we headed over to Grandpa Ray and Grandma Carol's for dinner.

Ava and Chelsea coloring while we hung out.Here's Grandpa Ray's awards. He was honored with the Hiram award for dedicated service. Apparently it's the highest honored award from the Elks Lodge. Good job Grandpa! We're proud of you.

Day Fifty-Seven

Actual Date: Friday, May 21, 2010

Friday we all met to celebrate the life of Chuck Dawe, or as I've always known him Papa Dawe. I am glad I got to be there to pay my last respects to this loving man and to visit with family that I have been missing.

So you know how people say that when you see an orb of light on a a picture that it is a spirit... Check out these pictures that I took at the funeral. None of the pictures that I took before the funeral have anything like this on there, and none of the ones from after the funeral have any spots on them...

(Above)

In this one you can see a little light on the picture on the right.

Above:

Carolynn and Marc

& another orb of light down on the bottom middle



Above:

Marc and Jim

There is another ball of light on Marc's shoulder, in between the two men.


Above:

Chelsea and Marc

Orb on bottom right



Above from left to right:

Des, Nick, John, Diane and Tommy

This time the ball of light is above Diane's head.



At first I was thinking it was just light rays from the Sun but then I realized that all of these pictures were taken from different directions. Some were taken with the Sun to their backs and some were taken facing the Sun. You can draw your own conclusion to what caused these balls of light but I am pretty sure that it was Papa Dawe there watching over us. Every time I look at them, it gives me chills.

All of these next pictures were taken at the family get togethers after. This first picture is of the flag flying at his house, half mast in honor of Chuck.


It was so exciting to see Denice and Michele! And it was also exciting to surprise Michele with a piece of the rainbow cake (for her Birthday). She loved it. In her words it was "so gay!" haha Miss you girls!

After we left Papa Dawe's house we all headed to Mike and Sandie's to have a birthday celebration for Grandpa Ray. Here's Grandma Carol and Grandpa Ray looking great as usual! Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Chelsea holding Parker as he rocked out to the music. She told him "dance baby dance" and he was! He is such a entertainer. The more everyone laughed the more into the dance he got. It's now become his new favorite trick. Anytime anyone says "dance baby dance" he gets out his little disco finger, points it in the air and goes crazy.

Thanks Mike and Sandie for having us over. It was so good to see you guys and Carolynn!

We left the party and headed to our good friends John and Angie's house for dinner. We were also excited to see them and see how much the kids had grown.

Here's Jordann aka Shrimp Monster. Let me tell you this girl LOVES her some shrimp. I could not believe it. She is the cutest little thing ever. We had the funnest time listening to her long dramatic stories. "When we were camping der was a skunk by my Gwandma's twailer. And I didn't know it was there but I did know it was there..." haha Love this baby.

Here's Maddy and Brooke doing each other's hair. I can't believe that she's going to be in 1st grade! Where did the time go?

I just realized I didn't get any pictures of John and Angie. Whoops! We were to busy having fun I guess.

After the day was over and I had time to reflect, I realized more than ever how blessed I am to have friends and family like these people in my life. Like with John and Angie, we can go months without seeing each other and then get together and pick up right where we left off. It was equally amazing to look around at Papa Dawe's funeral and see his ex-wife and her husband, and her husband's grown children. Not only that but childhood friends of his children. Everybody was there to honor this great man and the friendship that they had been built through the years. I think it is a great testimony of the love that my family shares. I am honored to be a part of it.

Day Fifty-Six

Actual Date: Thursday, May 20, 2010

While we were at Disneyland the day before, my Mom's dog, Tyson was accidentally ran over. Unfortunately he didn't make it. RIP Tyson (or as I liked to call him Fe-Fe).