Hello Again!

Wow! My first post of 2010! I'm a little behind. There is no way I can catch up from my last post so I figured I'd start over highlighting our Summer. I guess technically it's still summer, but school has been in for 2 1/2 weeks already and we are in full swing of homeschooling so summer for us has pretty much ended. Preston started 1st grade and is doing so well thus far. He really is a great student and loves to learn. There is no way to survive homeschooling one while taking care of two other little ones without a strict schedule! I learned this the hard way last year, so this year (so far) I'm on top of it and our schedule has worked out wonderfully. Ella and Aaden have been really good while I'm working with Preston. They play really well together and entertain each other while Preston is in "school". Lots of work, but I love being with my babies all day. =) Here are pics from a few of our fun summer excursions....


Me and my Aaden at the zoo for his 2nd b-day


Yummy Birthday cake!


The kids and I went cherry picking with my parents in July. It was seriously one of the highlights of the whole summer for me. It was soooo much fun. The weather was perfect and the trees were beautiful. We ended up with 21 lbs of cherries by the time we were done. Needless to say I made A LOT of cherry pie this summer. =)


Aaden showing off his bucket of cherries


Bumpa and Aaden


Ella in the cherry trees

Our neighborhood has a swim team and this was Preston's first year on the team. It turns out we have a fast little swimmer on our hands! At the very first meet he beat everyone in his races by so much, they moved him up to the next division of kids for the rest of the meets. He absolutely loved his swim season and can't wait until next summer!

The start of his freestyle


This was right after the gun went off for his backstroke. There were 4 other swimmers in this race (you can't see all of them in the pic) and.....

Preston left them all in the dust!!! He won by a huge margin and Mike and I would have definitely won the award for most loud and obnoxious parents. =) We were so proud of him!


Ella started ballet and tap and here she is trying on her brand new tap shoes


All dressed and ready for her first class!


Preston trying on his brand new sparring gear. Preston, Ella and I all started Tae Kwon Do. Yep, me too! We absolutely love it and it is really great for the kids to learn such discipline.


This was Aaden trying on my sparring gear. Yes I spar too and yes I wear that fabulous helmet. =) Aaden wanted to spar Daddy...

The tackle....

....and the take down!!


Ella riding her big girl bike out front


We went boating with our good friends and had so much fun. Ella and Preston loved jumping off the back of the boat


Swimmin' in the lake.


Preston tubing


and little Ella tubing!!


Ella and her girlfriends


Kisses for Daddy. So sweet =)


A bit blurry, but this is Preston crossing the finish line of his race. Every Thursday for about 7 weeks the local college held a 5k race in the evening for the adults and a kiddie k for the kids. I raced in the 5k's with the running club that I have been training with and the whole family would come to cheer me on. Around the 4th Thursday race Preston and Ella decided they wanted to race in the kiddie k. After running their first one, they loved it and wanted to race in the rest of them. They even competed in the series final and each received a medal at the end (that's the picture of them at the top with their medals). Preston was a really good little runner and finished near the front of the pack every time! Ella was a ham and literally smiled the whole race and crossed the finish line giggling...she makes me laugh.


And of course our Summer wouldn't be complete without a trip to our favorite place...Disneyland! We had a great summer , but I'm really looking forward to this fall and the upcoming holidays (they are just around the corner!!) Preston started AYSO so I'm sure I'll be posting pics of his soccer games soon!!