WARNING!!!! BLOG OVERLOAD Y'ALL!!

For my birthday, two of my bestie gal pals kidnapped my kiddos (without my knowledge) and they all plotted together to have my kids do a "model" shoot for an album for me.

I must tell you, they pulled it off completely. I was super surprised! I even shed some tears of enjoyment.

According to my friends, my kids were great subjects, and I must admit....I AGREE!

Of course there are WAY too many pictures to post (like 200), but I picked a few to share with you.

Thank you sooooo much to Erin and Sarah for one of the best surprises ever. And thank you to Keiley and Drake for being the best kids ever! Love you all!!

Showcasing Keiley!

A while ago, Keiley was invited along with a couple of other students to perform in a variety show with Murrieta High Schools' ASL department. It was a very cool show and we are super proud of her for doing so well!

End of summer fun!!

We wound down our summer with some good ole' fashioned beach fun. We went to Carlsbad with a group of friends for a birthday bash.

Ian and Drake are getting ready to head out to boogie board
Bubbles! Kids never outgrow bubbles! Kayla, Ian and Drake are having a bubble blowing contest. I think it was a tie :)
Boys in action! They thought it would be a great idea to try and skim board on their boogie boards....Yeah...not such a great idea :(

Keiley and Marshal intensely digging for sand crabs.

Keiley and Marshal checkin out the waves.

Drake now has his turn with Marshal and is taking him for the ride of his life....YIKES!

Another adventure to end summer: We are fortunate to have Auntie Lindz living with us for a while, so we wanted to introduce her to some horse races at Del Mar race track.

We packed a picnic and headed south to place our bets....

We didn't do so well, but Keiley on the other hand knows her stuff. She won (a small amount) on just about every race!

Better luck next time for us :)

Auntie Lindz and Keiley

Keiley and Kelsey stiking a pose.

Us girls decided to dress the part of the horse races with our "fancy" hats all with flowers on them that Keiley had made for us.

Drake Turns "9"

Drake turned 9 a few weeks ago and he had a very untraditional birthday. We let him decide the day and he decided to do a couple of his favorite things.
We took him and two of his friends to the beach for some surf lessons and a fun day in the sun followed by some indoor cart racing. Mix the day up with some pizza and a frozen yogurt stop and that makes up a perfect birthday!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY MR. MAN!!!! WE LOVE YOU!


Drakes first wave...I know it is a small picture and I swear it is him :)
Keiley opted for the boogie boarding experience this time.

Here they all are getting suited up for the cart racing.

Drake and Keiley (incase you can't tell ;) )

And here they all are after the race: Chase, Drake, Keiley and Connor.

Keiley came in first and Drake followed in 2nd place. She was not about to let her brother win, even if it was his birthday!

Portland in the summer!

One of our summer excursions was me taking the kids to see some high school friends of mine in Portland.
We had so much fun! Our trip was jam packed from the moment we stepped off the plane to the moment we boarded the plane to leave.
Our friends Michele and Emmet have 2 little boys, Ronan and Miles and we had a blast hangin out with all of them.


Keiley and Drake wait with anticipation to board the plane to leave...

We met Ronan a few years ago, but he was just a baby. This was our first meeting with Miles.
It looks like they both took very well to Keiley!

Our first full day Michele and Emmet decided to take us on a nature hike to the very top of this waterfall. The picture does not do it any justice, it was a mile hike up and then back down.

The scenery is just beautiful. So green and lush. We are not quite used to that here in So Cal.

We are standing on a bridge looking down at the waterfall and we are only about 1/8 of a mile up. We have a loooooong way to go!

Along the way up, there was random caves throughout. The kids thought it would be funny if they could just stay in one while we finished the hike.

I didn't get any pictures of us finishing the hike, simply because not all of us did. Emmet, Ronan and Drake were the only troopers and completed it in its entirety. Great job guys!

Another fun day we had was visiting one of many fountains a fabulous downtown park had. We also rented a peddle buggy to peddle all around the water front. Portland was a very physical trip....Lots of excersice. Not sure my kids ever want to go away with me again :)

Keiley and Miles deciding whether or not to brave the fountain....

Drake and Keiley are not too sure about this. We don't have fountains here that you can actually go for a swim in...or do we????

Wait! Drake had decided "why the heck not" right??

As our fabulous first trip to Portland came to an end, we had a little 8+ hour delay at the airport due to a wing malfunction on our plane. Rather than get on the plane, of course we just hung out in the airport. Kids running around, playing on the people movers and such. It made for a very long day, but with alot of great memories.

As a result however, the moment we finally got on a plane and took off, the kids took off to dream land.
How cute are they!

Babies, Babies, and more Babies!

We continue to keep being blessed with lots of "baby friends" these days.
As a result, my kids are loving it! They are both such nurturing souls.

Keiley is with Cash comforting him with snuggles and tummy rubs.


Our good friend Jamie recently became a new mommy. It's kind of weird to me, Jaime used to be our nanny after Drake was born until he was school age.
Here is her beautiful little bundle with my beautiful "not so little" bundle of joy.

Ella and Keiley
And Drake with lil' Ella too.

My Musicians!

Earlier this summer, the kids had a concert with their music school.

Drake plays in a band setting while Keiley has to date only played solos. They both did really great!

For some reason in Keileys video, Rick didn't find it necessary to video her face?? And the voices you may hear during the video is me disagreeing with him. Just try and focus on her playing her beautiful music :)

And Drake is, well no introduction necessary, he is hammin it up as Jason Mraz.

Enjoy!

June to September...Where has time gone???

The kids started off summer with a bang!
Friends, pool, and fun. What more could a kid (or any of us) ask for?

Good times!

Drake in action...
Keiley in action...