Quick update

Okay, Okay I have been called out by a few of you now and so I will do quick update as my babies are napping. So, they say a picture is worth a thousand words therefore feast on 10,000+ words:)
June- Preschool graduation, Vacation Bible School, graduation parties, visiting the grandparents, seeing some friends from seminary, catching up with old volleyball teammates from high school, Eliana meeting her great-grandparents for the first time, and preparing for our family reunion.

July- Thiel (Jeff's paternal grandmother's side) Family Reunion for a week- lots of fun activities including a day in SF, Fourth of July at our house and catching up with loved ones. I think in total there was about 70+ of us out of the 250 in the family.
And in between all that we have been blessed to have had lots of gathering/parties (youth groups, college, birthday bashes, reunions, etc) at our house, lots of swimming pool visitors, a 5 year old that can now swim the length of the pool better than I can and she has lost another tooth. And....lots more. We are thoroughly enjoying all the blessings and work of our new home and our new family!

The picture above epitimizes my Mondays- having fun in the yuckiness of cleaning a house and LAUNDRY! One more person added to our family and I swear the laundry increased 10-fold. But we are grateful we have a house and clothes to clean and to be able to have fun in the process- the girls see the laundry pile as a chance to practice their jumping and diving.


TOO GROWN UP~ and starting Kindergarten in a little over a month...I am going to be a mess! As we watched her in the cap and gown (yes, a bit more formal than when we all were kids) we fast forwarded 13 years and .....she needs to stop growing! This is all happening to fast and I have tried to take it all in and remember all these times but it is still happening too fast.

Ashlyn keeps telling me, "When I 5, I wear green dress and hat and I go graduation." Yes, Ashlyn but let's just be 3 right now and you too must stop growing!

Random shot in SF - the girls and I in front of the "Painted Ladies" some of the famous Victorians of SF. This was one stop on the trolley tour of San Francisco- you "Full House" fans might remember the yellow house:)
4th of July fireworks in San Ramon- and yes, it was a bit cool as the fog rolled back in that evening but the celebration was just as fun. Here we are with our good friends, The Millers.
Do you like the creativity of my 5 year old as she colored her own version of the flag and then used a spoon as the pole? I love her!
And yes, Eliana has super curly hair right after her baths and then it becomes just a nice wave- I didn't curl it, promise!
Hannah, Rayah, and Ashlyn after VBS one day wearing their crafts. The girls had such a fun time and look forward to it every year. Three big churches from our community come together every year and put on a 9 day VBS at our church campus- it is quite a feat and very well done!
Great Papa, and Great Grandma at the Ranch. Again the girls were sad to leave but we had a great time feeding the animals, laughing, running around, taking walks, getting muddy with the mud pies at the pond, playing in the hay barn, having lots of dessert (Rayah's favorite!), and enjoying family.




Happy Fourth of July belated and big hugs to my cousins and all those serving overseas right now! Thank you for being men of honor and sacrificing your lives for our freedom and the freedom of those who don't always appreciate it! And thank you to our grandpas and the many that have gone before this generation and laid a foundation of freedom with your service too! We will never understand the depths of what you have experienced and witnessed but hopefully our living everyday- being grateful for our freedom, remembering what is really important, and who heroes really are will be one way we can say thank you!