Ladybugs all over!

 Daddy bought a container of ladybugs and the girls had so much fun letting them go!  They were covered in ladybugs and thought it was so awesome!

SacKids Children Discovery Museum

 On Saturday we went to the brand new Discover Museum.  It is about a 50 minute drive from our house.  We are thrilled to finally have something this close!  We became members so hopefully you will see more pics and videos posted in the future!  Summer loves it.  Especially all the ball exhibits and the water tables! 

 When you first come in the door they have a huge light bright area.  All three girls had fun here!

 Summer could have stayed here forever!  She loved dropping the balls in and watching them roll around!

Alyssa and Kayla loved the art room!  It was their favorite part!  They both loved painting on the window and making crafts!

See Kayla so focused on her painting?

Aly and Summer at the ball drop

Alyssa and the ball drop

Ball Tower and walking 8/27/11

SacKids Museum Ball Tower

Terry comes for a visit

Terry came to visit us in our new house this weekend!  The girls had so much fun!  They love her sooo much!  She is so good to them and focuses all of her attention on them.  I have to admit, I wish I had more time with her without the girls but I am very happy that they get all of her attention.  It makes them feel so loved!

We went to the zoo and spent time at the house playing with toys and such.  Terry took turns sleeping with the girls which of course made them super happy!

A day at the Folsom Zoo

We had our wonderful friend Terry up for a visit this weekend.  She wanted to take the girls out for a day of fun!  I told her the Folsom Zoo was pretty fun, especially for babies because it is a rescue animal zoo and all of the animals are up close and easy to see.

Summer had learned to walk just two weeks ago and she was so ready for her own independence.  She didn't want to have anything to do with the stroller!  She didn't want me telling her where to go either!  Let's just say, Summer had a lot of mini fits!  Did you see the picture of her standing at the fence next to the deer?  All of the big kids were trying to pet the deer and were having a ton of fun looking at the deer.  Summer was just trying to get a leaf on the other side of the fence!  She could care less about the deer!  I thought it was pretty funny!

The best part of the day was when we got to see one of the California Bears climb an oak tree!  I couldn't believe how high he climbed!  It was so cool to watch.  We sat there for a half hour and watched him come down too!  One thing we will remember for the rest of our lives I am sure!

Sac kids opening day

Baby Walking 8/22/11

Summer learning to walk!

Summer learned to walk on the second Friday in August.  She was 13 months and three weeks old!  Alyssa was exactly 12 months old when she learned to walk and Kayla was 13 months and 2 weeks old!  It is always so interesting to see how each child follows their own comfort level and pace.  Summer has been practicing walking forever and if I would let her just hold my hand all the time, she may have never walked on her own!

Check out some of her videos and you can see her learning to walk!

Our Dogs are happy

Our dogs love it here too! 

Alyssa and Summer giving the Kitty love!

It is one of the few words Summer knows.  She will say, He Kitty, Kitty....it means, Here Kitty, Kitty.  So cute!  Alyssa and Summer both love to snuggle and give the Kitty love!

The Girls' First Day of School

The girls had to go to a new school due to our move.  They started last Thursday!  Kayla never really likes to get her picture taken but she was super happy to start school!  I promise!  LOL.  Alyssa wanted to dress very pretty for her first day.  She asked us to take lots of pictures! They both had a very good day at school.  They both also loved their teachers and their teachers said they both behaved really well!  Alyssa was nervous but she did a great job!  She said she made a friend with a boy but doesn't remember his name.  Kayla made a friend with a boy too!

Alyssa's Star Testing Results

We just got the results for the Standardized Testing that all elementary kids in 2nd through 12th grade have to take.  Alyssa scored very well!  We are so proud!  Way to go Smartie Pants!

Reading:
Word Analysis and Vocabulary-91%
Reading Comprehension-100%
Literary Response and Analysis-100%

Writing:
Written Conventions-100%
Writing Strategies-88%

Mathematics:
Place Value, Addition, and Subtraction-100%
Multiplication, Division, and Fractions-96%
Algebra and Functions-100%
Measurement and Geometry-86%
Statistics, Data Analysis, and Probability-86%

WOOHOO, go girl, 5 categories at 100%!

Baby Walking 8/12/11

Summer looks like Bam Bam

On moving day I made the babies hair look like Bam Bam.  She liked it, she kept making her head go forward and backward.  It probably felt good for her to have her bangs out of her face.

I think she looks a lot like Daddy!  Big features!

Ed's Plants and the waterfall

Dial Up

Well, we have been in the new house almost 6 days now!  We are loving it!  It has been a lot of working moving with 3 kids but well worth it!  The last time we moved was 9 years ago from the Bay Area.  Back then Ed and I did not have any kids and were moving into a 2100 square foot house from a 1000 square foot apartment.  It was a pretty easy move!
Even though I spent the past month purging and getting rid of 9 years of clutter, we still haven't moved everything!  I go back to the old house everyday and get a load to bring.  Our new Master bedroom closet is half the size of our old one so until I get another rod put in for the rest of my clothes, my winter stuff will be staying at the old house!  Honestly, that was the only negative for me at the new house, the smaller closet.  I know though once the bottom rod gets put in I will be able to fit.  Besides, Alyssa's closet is huge so if I needed to hang a few things in her walk in closet, I will!
I have had a problem with getting high speed internet to this house.  The previous owners had DSL.  When I called to get DSL they told me they would initially set me up with dial up and I could call and have them test my line and they would give me a higher speed.  I did this but they gave me false information and are refusing to give me any speed other than dial up.  They said the previous owner was grandfathered in to DSL and they are not offering that anymore to new customers.  So, I only have two other options, pay $80 a month for satellite internet or pay to have Comcast dig a line from the pole to my house to install cable here.  I am waiting on Comcast to give me a quote for that.  I am hoping it won't be too expensive!  So in the meantime it will be pretty hard for me to put videos on the blog.  Could take a long time to upload!
The dogs and cat are super happy here!  I was so worried the cat would run off but he is doing great and having a great time exploring the land.  Last night we all took a family walk around the property.  The dogs had fun sniffing all the smells and the girls had fun looking at all the berries that will be ripe in another couple of weeks.  The only downfall about the ripe berries is it will bring the bears at night!  From what everyone tells us they only come around between 2-3 in the morning, so we will hope to never personally encounter them!
We are all beyond thrilled to be living here.  I am so glad we had the opportunity to buy this house!  I am loving not having any stairs and being able to get everything I need without having to go downstairs to a basement!  It is also great not to have to have a baby gate!  I think the baby loves her freedom too!
Next week school starts.  The girls will be going to a new school.  I wrote the principal an email requesting a certain type of teacher for each of them.  He was so nice he called me himself and said he personally placed them into classes that fit the description of what they needed.  We know who their teachers will be so that is nice.  I don't really know anything about Alyssa's teacher.  I have some friends that go to this school and they all like Kayla's teachers so hopefully she will have a great year!
I will try to write a bit more in a few days about our transition!  Once we have the house all unpacked and put together I will take some pics and videos.  If I can't upload the videos due to slow speed maybe I can do it somewhere else.