Kyle 6 and a half months

I can't believe 6 months have come and gone already since this little guy came into our life. He is so adorable! I love kissing his big round cheeks and making him laugh! At 6.5 months....

Kyle HATES baby food. He gags and throws up. Not sure what I'm going to do about this yet. I've tried everything.

Kyle loves to be held. All day. When my arms are too tired to hold him anymore, he lives in the Bjorn.

Kyle now loves to roll around the floor and play with toys. He really wants to crawl and I think we're close to his army man crawl starting.

He absolutely LOVES his big brother and sister! And who wouldn't. They spoil him and absolutely love him to pieces. (Ryan did this all on his own, hence the lined up books. I was getting dressed so Ryan was entertaining him while I got a shower. I ran to get my camera and caught the moment when I discovered them. I love these moments)

Saturday's- USC and Soccer

The college football season is upon us and as everyone knows, we were in full USC regalia. The opening weekend/game was a holiday at our house. Jason had 3 TV's going, and a big BBQ with lots of friends to enjoy the day. The kids couldn't wait to get their USC clothes on and get our flag hung to start our day.

My boys!

Ryan kept saying all day, "This is the best day ever!" Watching football with his dad, and getting to eat pizza, hot dogs, and BBQ chips, he truly was in heaven.
The other thing we're doing every Saturday for a while is soccer! Ryan is playing for his first year. It's called mini-kickers. And Jayne is playing with all of her friends again on a team called Purple Power!

Ryan's first week didn't go quite as well as we'd hoped. He got frustrated he couldn't play like a British soccer pro and had a minor meltdown (while most of the other kids where running around without even kicking the ball). I'm sure he'll learn to turn and pass the ball soon, in the mean time we're just hoping he'll mellow enough to just have fun. I think that's going to be our motto with him. (He's definitely his father's son. His intensity's going to be great when he's 16. Not so great when he's 3)

He wasn't in the mood to pose for pictures so maybe next week. This game actually got called short due to lightning in the area. (which is crazy for southern CA)

Jayne, our innate cheerleader, had so much fun! and did such a great job!! We were so excited for her. It's going to be a fun season watching her improve every week.

But regardless of everything, Dad splurged on Krispie Kreme Donuts to celebrate our first soccer weekend, so all was well!

I have a feeling their going to want these every weekend after soccer. :-) (and yes, Ryan was sad because his hands were dirty. He's definitely my son)

First Day of School & Preschool

Jayne started 1st grade this year, which means she's in school all day! It is so crazy. I miss her terribly. She is so fun and sweet, the boys and I are sad when she's gone so much. (Don't you just love her purple'ish sparkly converse tennis shoes. So very Jayne)

She was selected to be in a 1st/2nd Grade combo class. I hear this is a good thing and she will have many opportunities to excel. She also got the best teacher for 1st grade so we are really happy.

Jayne is thrilled to have one of her best friends Olivia in class with her again this year. The teacher said sit anywhere so of course Jayne runs in and get the center seat on the front row and saved the two next her for her buddies. It's going to be a great year!

Ryan got to start preschool! It's 2 days a week for just 2 hr. 45 min. but it's a great first step for him. He is so social and active that he loves having activities and places to go. He calls it his "House School" because it's at someone's house and not at Jayne's school, which is where he thought he was going at first. He insists on having a backpack and bringing a lunch box with snack (just like Jayne) so he can eat it on the way home from preschool. He loves it!

Kyle is a great sport! He spends a lot of time in this carrier getting toted back and forth from all of Jayne and Ryan's activities and schools. He's such a happy guy!

Summer Lemonade Stand & Trip to Grandma's

Right before we left on our trip to Montana, the kids and I got to visit my parents house for a few days. It's always fun. Jayne and Ryan wanted to have a lemonade stand as one of our summer activities. I told them they could do this, but only at Grandma's house on the family property. We called cousin Brooklynn over for reinforcements and got to work. My mom had the idea and supplies to make their stand. I had a really awesome recipe for the lemonade. The girls went and picked fresh lemon's from Great Grandma Dover's tree, and made choc. chip cookies to go with it. I called/emailed everyone on "the hill" to come by and see the kids. They had SOOOOO much fun! And made quite a bit too (Thank you family!). I'm sure they'll want to do this every summer now since it was such a hit!

Getting the Stand Ready

In Business

Ryan never left their side all afternoon. He was in heaven, especially when aunts and uncles would keep buying him cookies and drinks :-)

Before school started Jayne got to spend a little time at my parent's house playing. She had so much fun with my mom (we might have to give this tradition a name, like Grandma Camp). They had a fancy tea party, sewed a beautiful dress, made cookies, got their nails done, Jayne finished another doll blanket on her sewing machine, and they wanted to go to the pier and get ice cream at Ruby's. So much fun! Thanks mom and dad!!

The boys and I got to join in the last day fun and get ice cream on the pier. I can't wait till the boys get to go to grandpa's camp and learn to surf and go play golf together.

Here's Jayne with her fancy nails (that was her first time getting them done at a nail salon!) and her new Hawaiin dress headed out to dinner.

Montana

Our big summer vacation this year was to Whitefish Montana. We flew from LA to Missoula, then drove up to Whitefish. It was soooo much fun!! We stayed at Jen/Mark's townhouse up there. We had the best week and the kids had so much fun. Ryan was in heaven getting to run free, throw rocks, and play with sticks. Jayne had a blast too, running free, riding bikes, and looking for bugs.

We totally looked like tourists, taking pictures with all the taxidermy animals, but it was very fun and very different for us! You definitely don't see this in the airport terminal at LAX!

The alpine slide...

Fishing and Tubing on Whitefish Lake...
We did some huge, awesome hikes. Our kids were amazing. We did a several mile hike up the face of this mountain, where we got this amazing shot and the best view ever.
And another 5 mile hike up to a lake with tons of waterfalls coming off of glaciers and snow on the tops of the mountains. It was truly breath taking. Our kids were amazing hiking that far. Jason did have to carry Ryan the last 2 miles on his back but they did amazing!

Resting at the Lake on our hike.
My beautiful baby.
The kids had so much fun being with their cousins too.

You can take us away from the ocean, but not away from the water! The kids loved splashing around the lake playing and fishing.

We had SOOOO much fun and can't wait to go back! Thank you Mark & Jen for sharing your home with us and showing us the town!

Dad and Son Night Out

Ryan got to go with a bunch of his buddies and their dads to Demolition Derby night! They had a blast!

August Beach Days

We had an awesome month! Our summer was so much fun. The kids and I did so many fun things together. Honestly I'm a little exhausted. But it was all worth it. We went to the beach a lot. I guess most of my pictures from the summer are at the beach, so here's some favorites from August...

my beach baby...

lots of s'mores...

Heaven, I tell ya!
We also got to see our dear friends, Joy, Leanna and her kids! 3 generations of best friends. It's a rare time when we all get to be together anymore, so it was an extra special treat!
Jayne even got brave enough to boogie board!
Ryan and Tyler had so much fun playing together too.
and of course our girls had so much fun being together!! (I had to make chocolate no-bakes with them, their mother's tradition that we're passing on to them :-)