Jammie Party!

Lora helps me with the girls so much. When Jeff and I both work she gets them to school for me. She asked if I could watch Camden and Sydney one evening and I was thrilled to be able to help her out for a change! We made it a jammie party!!!

Allison and Camden wore their matching space jammies Lora made for them a while back.

Emma and Sydney wore their matching flower capri jammies; again they were made by Lora!

Cute kiddos getting ready to watch a movie at the jammie party!
They're all snuggled in and ready for some zzzzzzzzzzzz's...or are they?!?!?

"Mommy Has Hair Like Mine Now!"

Whenever Monica cuts my hair, she always uses the flat iron on it to give me straight hair for the next 1-2 days. I like my hair straight but just cannot, for the life of me, work the flat iron by myself. I guess I have no depth perception and poor eye hand coordination! I would end up with burns all over my neck and face if I attempted this do at home!

Allison likes when my hair is straight because she says, "Mommy has hair like mine now!"

Asthenosphere Goo!

What a mess! We were studying the asthenosphere in science and I had the idea to make goo for my kids because that layer of the Earth is considered a solid but moves like a liquid. The girls wanted to help me, so we began our goo making adventure!

Allison loved playing in the red goo! Good thing she had a cookie sheet under her bowl because she made a mess! Should've shown this picture to my students to show them what NOT to do with their goo at school! Oh the horror in the classroom to see a mess like that! Good thing the mixture is just corn starch, water and food coloring. A big mess turns into some powder when dried that leaves your hands so silky soft!

Emma enjoyed watching the solid pieces almost melt into liquid. This project would be perfect for my science lab! Thanks for the help girlies!

A bowl of goo all set to pour into petri dishes to take to school. Watch out 6th graders...bring on the asthenoshphere goo-style!

Brussel Sprouts Anyone?

I made a trip to Trader Joe's. While I was there I found brussel sprouts on a stock. I'd never seen them that way and didn't realize that's how the grew! I had only ever seen them as individual sprouts. I just had to buy the stock because it looked so cool. Allison loved it when I came home. She had so much fun pulling them off for Jeff to cook for dinner. They were delicious!!

PS: I have no idea how I got the photos arranged in this order! I don't know how to fix them either!!! :(

Park Play

Every Thursday my running group meets at the park so us moms can get our runs in during the week. We bring the kiddos and take turns watching them at the park while the others go for a run. Then we switch roles. It works perfectly because we get our weekly runs in and the kiddos have fun playing with their friends at the park. It's a win-win!

Nikki is one of Allison's best park buddies. They love playing on the slide and tire swing together!

Twins!

Emma and Sydney have some similar and exact outfits. Guess that's because Lora and I both love Gymboree! The girls enjoy dressing as twins from time to time. Today was just the right time for twinsies! Funny how the sweater is almost a dress on my little Emma girl!

Allison and Layla wanted to join in on the twin photo op when the girls got home from school. Even though Layla didn't have the exact sweater, she was a pretty close match. Allison was just happy to have Sydney holding her in the picture!

Happy 4th Birthday Layla!

The girls were invited to Layla's 4th birthday at the park. It was very chilly, but they had a great time with the face painting, dragon fly craft, creating a dragon fly necklace and play park fun.

Em loved her dolphin face painting.

Allison and Layla work on decorating their dragonflies.

Emma had a ton of fun decorating her dragon fly with various colors of dye. Messy, but fun! The wind kept blowing the cups over and dye was everywhere! The dragon fly necklaces (below) weren't quite as messy, but required lots of mommy help.

Allison and Sophie (Layla's cousin) were so proud of their face painting too.
My pretty girl with big smiles!!! Love you to pieces!

Reddings Family Christmas in January

How do you get 8 children all under the age of 7 to still still long enough to take a 2nd cousins holiday photo at the annual Reddings Family Christmas?! Well...as you can see...you don't! One always wants to run away!

Had to settle for 6 of the 8 cousins here. They all look so happy, don't they?!

Aunt Bonnie bought Allison her first pair of roller skates. She was so excited when she opened the box. She was also a bit confused though. She looked at the box and wondered how she was going to skate with only the one skate that came in the box! She didn't realize that only one skate was showing and the other was closed up inside the box. Silly girl!

It was good for Allison to try out her skates on the carpet since it was the first time she'd ever worn a pair. She loved them!

Aunt Bonnie bought Emma her first ever pair of roller blades. So fun!

Going for a trial run on the carpet is always a good idea for her too. Can't wait to hit the pavement with my girl. I haven't been on my roller blades in years!

Poor Brynn came to the Reddings Family Christmas celebration with her pink cast. Somehow the poor, sweet girl broke a bone in her foot! It sure is challenging to keep those piggies warm in a cast in the middle of winter!

Mary and her GG (Great Grandma Rogers)...what a priceless memory!

Ta-da! We did it! All 8 2nd cousins sitting together at the end of the evening and most are even smiling! Success!

New Years 2010 in Pismo

Monica and Danny invited us on their annual New Year's camping trip to Pismo Beach. We had gone once before and the weather was terrible. Tons of rain added to all that sand = not the best camping adventure with a then-toddler Emma! Luckily, this year, the weather cooperated and we had a great time!

The girls just loved Julia. She would ride them all over our huge camping area in the golf cart. They thought that was the best thing ever! Julia was so sweet to hang out with them too.

Our camping area was decorated with old Christmas trees and all. The trees would become part of a huge bon fire New Year's Eve!

Darrian loved riding his mota (Portuguese for quad!) all over the place!
A beautiful sunset in Pismo.

Day 2: Never-ending sand box = fun times!

Danielle and Allison loved being buried in all that sand! What a mess to clean though! Gotta love camping!

Day 3: The Pacific Ocean is quite chilly in December/January, but that didn't stop Emma and Darrian from getting wet!

Crazy kids!
Allison watched from afar. She was not going any where near those waves!

There is nothing like a camping breakfast! What is it that makes it taste so much better than the same thing cooked at home?!

Weather was actually very nice as evidenced by Allison only wearing her undershirt. Made cleaning the sand out of her clothes a tad bit easier :)

Guess they thought it would be fun to take a sand bath!

Should Danielley take Em for a ride on the mota? No way!
Allison had to give it a shot too.
Another stroll down the beach before heading home. Had to get that last dig in!
Always time to find a shell on the beach. What memories we made!