Alex's Lemonade Stand and oh yeah, Mom's birthday

I took on quite a large task which was organizing a neighborhood garage sale. We had a few things to sell and it's always more fun to involve other people. We had about 15 different houses participate and some combined efforts with other neighbors. Here's Garrett and Ty hanging with Matt Richardson and Matt Bell from down the street. Matt Bell is an excellent bartender and was generous enough to bring down a few Bloody Mary's to the guys.

We had 4 of us selling stuff at our house so it looked like a swap meet in our driveway. I think everyone made out pretty well and sold most of their stuff. Garrett filled his truck with the leftovers for Good Will and we now have a very open and clean garage. So cleansing!

To add to the fun, I set up an event day at Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation and we had 8 lemonade stands around the neighborhood. We raised about $303 for the cause and Tatum enjoyed baking, decorating and wearing yellow for her stand. We had a talk about what the foundation was for, to help fight childhood cancer. To this day she'll tell you she raise money to help a bad childhood sickness. She really got the point which was all I wanted out of this whole experience. Such a wonderful sales lady too, she made $80!

The Richardson's brought their stuff down to sell with us which was much more fun.

Here's Ty with his favorite buddy Matt. Check out this big squeeze! We use to see Matt at least once a week dropping his son Anderson off at preschool with Tatum. Matt would scoop up Ty and they'd have some bonding time while I got Tatum situated in class. Such good friends. :)

And these are two peas in a pod! I absolutely love this photo of Ty and Collin. They had so much fun playing together in the garage and had a great time in this wagon with their helmets on. Notice Ty's face covered in cream cheese and Collin saying "cheese". So cute!!

And even though we woke up at the crack o' dawn to throw a neighborhood garage sale, then headed out with our real estate agent to look at some houses for my mom for a few hours, we didn't forget that the day was a very special day because it was Grandma's birthday! We made her a Thanksgiving feast since that's her favorite meal. I wish I could say it was anywhere near as good as Thanksgiving but the runny mashed potatoes, dry stuffing and sliced turkey breast wasn't quite the same. But Grandma was thankful. After dinner, we headed outside for some smore making.

Here's the birthday girl enjoying some sticky smores on the new deck. Happy Birthday Grandma!!!

Lucky to have friends

It's been pretty hot around here so one night, after dinner, we called our neighbors Matt, Susan and Collin to meet us at one of our favorite parks for some kite flying. Hilltop Park is aptly named since it's on a large hill overlooking Poway, Rancho Penasquitos, Carmel Valley and if it's a clear day, you can see all the way to the ocean. Ty LOVES kites and kite flying. This was his second experience with it and he did a pretty good job of hanging on to the handle and keeping his kite up. His kite had Batman on it and he kept pointing and saying "mask' since he has a Batman mask at home.

Collin was an old pro. Look at this, one handed! These boys are only 18 days apart and such great friends. Well, I don't know as they know they're great friends, that will come into play when they actually notice each other at play dates. But they get along well. Collin is a calm, sweet, quiet boy, always absorbing and always following directions. Ty, on the other hand, is loud, outgoing, the first to have a melt down, and loves the limelight. These two make a perfect pair.

Tatum looks like a pro here too, one handed and gazing at her kite. She had an Ariel kite and did a wonderful job of keeping it up. She was also excellent at throwing the kites up when they'd fall down. She's loved kite flying since she was 2. Of course, the $2 kites we get at Walmart don't last long. One of these days we'll have to invest in a good kite, maybe even $10 worth! :)

Here's the one and only picture I took when we met up with my table mates from MOPs. Such an amazing group of girls and I'm sad to think about next season when we won't all be together. But we met at this awesome park in 4S, where they have a splash area and then a huge play structure. Fun for everyone.

Mommy and Daddy had a fun night out with friends. Leanne came down for a fun weekend and we met up with Erica and her husband Matt down in North Park. This use to be their home but they've recently moved to Tierrasanta so we had a one last hurrah at their favorite bar. Here's Garrett and Erica.

Leanne and I getting goofy.

My two loves. Notice the water in front of me, I was the DD.

I wanted to throw these two pictures in because Shauna brought over some delicious cup cakes one night and the kids went crazy. Ty couldn't wait to dive into the top.

These kids LOVE sugar and Shauna is constantly showering us with the most scrumptious desserts. We're so spoiled living down the street from GM! :)

Fabulous 4th of July!

Our fun 4th of July weekend started when the Jazayeri's came down and we headed to the pool. Cam loved the water and being pushed around by Daddy!

And the girls loved hanging on Garrett. They look like a circus act!

Ty and Daddy had fun just chilin' on the steps and catching some rays.

It was so relaxing and warm out, Tatum fell right to sleep in her tube. No, not really but she's a great actress, right? :)

We headed back to the house for a quick nap and shower and then Courtney and Tim came over for a bbq. The girls loved Courtney and wanted to be wherever she was. :)

After dinner, we headed outside for some messy smores, yum!

Look at these sweet BFFs!

We were sad the Jazayer's had to head home on Sunday. But on the 4th, we headed down to Old Poway Park and enjoyed all the patriotic festivities. They had booths of food, crafts, the steam engine taking people for rides around the park, a room with a huge model train set, and kids games and crafts. And the kids got these cute, little flags!

Nose kisses.

We had a picnic on the grass in the shade. It was hard to find a free spot since the place was so packed! Quite a popular event, but lots of fun.

And Tatum got this cool tattoo which she couldn't wait to put on her cheek. So cute!

And it wouldn't be a complete event without stopping at the cotton candy booth!

Ty loves trains and loved standing and waving at the steam engine as it went by. We've been on it once or twice but we definitely weren't going on it this day since the line to get on was ridiculous!

After a rest, our friends The Mahoney's came over for dinner and then we all headed over to Rancho Bernardo middle school to see the fireworks show. Here's Tatum and Ellie ready for a ride to the field.

And here are my patriotic kids, singing and dancing up a storm. This place was great, they had lots of room for all the kids to run and play with each other, while we sat on blankets and rested. They also had food booths and funnel cake which we had to go buy, yum!

Our other friends came to join us too. Kaitlin is Tatum's friend from preschool and she was so excited to introduce Kaitlin to Ellie. It wasn't 5 minutes and the girls were playing a game of ring around the rosie or something.

And I put this picture in because of Ty's look on his face in the back. He had a total crush on Kaitlin and wanted to be next to her every minute. Here he's trying to squeeze in between the girls to he could sit next to her, such a flirt!

And here are the looks on the kids faces during the fireworks show. It was awesome having them going off right over our heads, amazing!

Ty wasn't sure what to think but it didn't scare him. He just kept saying, "Boom, Boom!". It was all in all, a wonderful and memorable 4th of July!

Lots of random summer fun

Leanne, my dearest friend since 3rd grade, turned 34 and we all celebrated by going to a delicious sushi restaurant.

Some how we were talked into going to a Karaoke bar to celebrate further and this was a first for me. I was totally uninterested in going anywhere that I had to sing in public but this place had little rooms you could rent. We sang our hearts out for over an hour and no one booed us once!

Yep, that's Sweet Child O' Mine you see on the screen. :)

We have a tree in our backyard that gets these beautiful white blossoms in the winter. We just cut a hole in our back wall so we can see it clearly from the house. But in the summer, it has delicious red plums! Last year we came out back to check on the plums and they had dropped so fast and we missed our window. But this year, we picked lots of yummy plums and the kids loved it.

When Mattie came down, she helped us pick some plums too. So sweet and delicious.

Look at these three. I love Ty's tummy sticking out here. :)

Tatum took a two week swimming lesson session which was much needed. She's had a fear of swimming or water in general since she came out of the womb. But her teacher Miss. Alicia did a wonderful job with her and Tatum felt comfortable laying back in the water,...

blowing bubbles, putting her face in, and even going under! She would jump from the side of the pool into Miss. Alicia's arms and go under, so exciting!

And she had her good friend Kaitlin in her class which really helped and made Tatum feel comfortable. These two are going to be long time friends. :)

Garrett was nice enough to watch the kids and let me get away with my mom and my "aunties" Jane and Barbara for some wine tasting in Temecula. We hit 5 wineries, had a delicious brie bread bowl and bought some wonderful wine and pasta sauce. Thanks girls for a fun day away!

One of our favorite things to do in the summer is to attend the free concerts in the different parks around San Diego. This is Tatum and Ellie enjoying a concert in Coronado. Yummy food, a fun play ground, and great outside time!

And this is Ellie's sister Julia, 8 months old and as cute as can be. She enjoyed the music too.

We headed to Irvine to catch some more concert fun at the Peppertree Park in Tustin. Here's Cameron and Sadri dancing it out to some rockin' music.

Ty is quite the dancer and spent a bit of time on the dance floor with Grandma. He absolutely LOVES guitars so he was right up at the front of the stage, starring at the guitar player, and then occasionally mimicking his movements, so cute. Otherwise, he enjoyed sitting on the blankets, eating great food and posing for photographs. :)

Since we were in Irvine, and Jenny's annual pass to Pretend City was expiring, we met her and the kids there to have a few hours of fun. Ty really enjoyed the tool room, another one of his favorite topics.

Everyone enjoyed the stage, even sweet baby Cam!

And the girls enjoyed all the rooms, including the Dr. office. Here's Tatum being the Dr. and taking care of her patient Mattie.

Oh no, some one has a cavity!

And then some stage time!

Oh, and another posed picture of Ty. :)

Here's a quick glimpse of Ty rocking out. You can't really tell from a picture but he gets down and loves the music and lights they have on the stage at Pretend City. That's what I need to turn my garage into, a stage! :)

And then it was off to the beach for the girls in a BMW. Ty enjoyed the sand pit behind.

And what better way to enjoy the end of our Irvine trip, than breakfast in bed together! This was so cute, Ty couldn't wait to crawl up and sit with Tatum and they shared the tray. Such sweet siblings, every now and again at least. :)