Gracie turns 6!

I can hardly believe that Gracie is already 6 years old! Today, I was looking through her 1st-year scrapbook and am amazed at how much she has grown! She still has that cute little face with the big round eyes, but she is as strong-willed as she was the day she was born! But that is our Gracie and we have come to love her for all that she is!

We celebrated her birthday by inviting 6 girls over for a little tea party. Gracie was excited for days and was constantly asking if it was her birthday yet. When the day finally arrived she could barely sit still until the first guest knocked on the door. Both Emma and Gracie squealed with delight and ran to the front door. And thus, the party began.

 Sierra was the first to arrive. She and Gracie were in kindergarten together and are like two peas in a pod!

 The craft was mosaic princess crowns. Each girl got to decorate a crown with little sticky squares. They loved it and wore the crowns the rest of the day.

 They climbed the apple tree even though we told them not to. Sierra and Lea especially liked the tree.

 Gracie was adamant that she wanted a pinata. We looked for a tea pot but couldn't find one. So, the next best thing was a pony because Gracie loves My Little Pony.

 She LOVED batting at that thing...a little too much. LOL!

 This is the second teapot cake we've made for a birthday. Marc got to do this one and it turned out quite well.

 Gracie approved of the cake and couldn't wait to partake of it. We had to keep her away so we could cut it.

 The girls took a little break after the cake. Sierra, Katie, Ashley, Alle, and Emma.

Gracie got lots of presents from her friends. She especially loved the Barbie car that Katie got her. I think they all had a great time. I know Grandma mom and dad had a good time!

The Pumpkin Patch

Every year, the weekend before the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival, Marc and I take the girls to the pumpkin patch at Arata's farm. It has become a family-favorite tradition that now includes my Mom. She flies out every year for Gracie's birthday. (Ah, note to self: must do blog about Gracie's bday party!)

The girls love to search for the best pumpkin. It could be round, tall, squat...doesn't matter, perfect is in the eye of the beholder!

 Arata farm  has a large coliseum built from hay bales. They have jousting with guys dressed as knights. They also have a maze from hay bales but the girls have yet to try that out because they are afraid they will get lost.

 Emma loves to pose for pictures and pumpkin day is no different!

 There is a little playground that the girls love, and it comes with Monkey bars supported by.....you guessed it, Bales of HAY!!!

 There is also a big pile of pumpkins near the monkey bars. We couldn't resist clamouring in for a picture op!

 It was a beautiful fall day with plenty of sunshine, pumpkins, and lots of laughter!

 Marc and the girls pose for a few photos, too. Check out that hair!!

Aren't they cute???? LOL!

It's been a while!

Well, the summer flew by, school started, and now it's fall! I can't believe the girls have been in school for almost two months, have picked out their Halloween costumes (Gracie is going to be Snow White and Emma is a vampire), and are on vacation for a week.

School started on August 16th. It was hot, hot, hot. Who's bright idea was it to start school in the middle of summer and then give the kids a week off the first week of October? Anyway, with school comes homework, even for 1st and 2nd grade. They each have about 30 - 60 minutes every night except Friday. They don't mind doing it, but getting them to start is like pulling teeth. Don't tell them,  but it's the worst part of my night! Oh, my other pet peeve about school is making and packing the lunch boxes. Kids don't want to eat anything you put in there and most of it comes home. I could make some serious money if I could figure out what to pack in a school lunch box that would actually get eaten!

Other than school, we haven't really done much. Marc was in Belgium for a week settling his father's estate, but the girls had school and I had work so we all stayed here. We went on a few hikes, bouncy land, and lots of bike rides. Here are just a few pictures of our hike this morning.

Looking for tadpoles

The pond.

The Lovely Miss Grace

My favorite tree

Miss Emma - she loves to smile!

Camping Out - In the house!!

The girls really love camping, but mom not so much. They love to go with their dad and always come back with stories of this and that, but really love the campfire and roasting marshmallows. So I thought, ''Hey, we can do that right here in the living room!"

I asked Marc to send over the small Ikea tent we bought ages ago because I knew it'd fit in my living room. We made hamburgers and hotdogs for dinner, some fruit, chips, etc..and we ate outdoors just like we were really camping out.

We cleaned up the dinner dishes, got the box of wood that I bought at Nobhill, our of the car, harassed the neighbors for some old newspaper, and built a fire in the fireplace. After it was roaring, we screwered some unsuspecting marshmallows and set them about to become the main ingredient in our s'mores. I set out the graham crackers, the chocolate bars, and the peanut butter. Yes, peanut butter. The girls sat by the fireplace, and roasted their marshmallows.

Of course the s'more part was fun, but they are still in the living room in their tent giggling and fighting and carrying on and it's way past 9 pm! I will have to go out soon and make them go to bed! Gracie can't go to sleep because Emma is moving around, and Emma can't go to sleep because Gracie is giggling. It's cute, but getting old very quickly!!

On a side note, another of Gracie's quick and witty comments. The girls were outside sneaking past the kitchen window, which I happen to be standing next to, thinking I didn't see them. I said, "I can see you!!" and they both said, "No you can't!'' and I said, ''Oh yes I can. I see everything." to which Gracie replied, "No you can't mommy. You can't see the future!" She's barely 6 and as clever and witty a girl as most adults! Maybe it's a good thing I can't see the future!

So much going on!

Wow, have we been busy the last few weeks.

After finding out about Marc's dad, the four of us booked tickets on a plane to Belgium. Let me tell you, I was not excited to spend 14 + hours on a plane with a 5 year old and a 7 year old. What was I going to do with them? I wanted to sleep, relax, take it easy before dealing with the trials of the family and a funeral! Well, we packed books, games, cards, crayons, markers, stuffed toys, everything we could think of to keep them busy. But my friend, Lori, offered up her kids Leapsters and a ton of games. So, we took those, too....We should have left the other things at home and saved ourselves the hassle of an extra suitcase! The Leapsters are GREAT for planes! Did I say GREAT! Yes, I mean they are GREAT!

Emma was entertained the entire time. Gracie slept, ate, drank, and played with the Leapster! It was awesome. Thank you Lori!!!

Belgium was as we expected, except the weather. It was hot and humid the whole time we were there. On the day of the funeral, I think it was 90 degrees. I opted to not put tights on the girls, who were going in black dresses, but white ankle socks. It was still dang hot, though. But we got through it and the girls were great. Gracie asked a ton of questions at the funeral like, "Is Papa in the box? Is he by himself? Did the angels come down and take his soul? Is she scared?" Emma didn't say a word and still hasn't talked about it.

The rest of the week was spent with aunts, uncles, and cousins. We all went to dinner one night at a local brasserie (I got mussels and fries, my favorite meal!) in the forest that had a playground and some domestic deer. 

The girls had a nice time with their cousins, Tui, Sally, Pauline, and Leander.

 

It was so nice for them to have a few days to spend with them and get to know them. The girls never see cousins or any relatives very often. I kind of regret living so far away....

The second vacation we took was to Hawaii's Big Island. I often wondered what the big deal was about going to Hawaii. It's boring. Nothing to do but lay at the beach, blah, blah, blah. NOT on this island! We couldn't fit in all the things we wanted to do. The first couple of days was spent doing absolutely nothing as we were all jet-lagged. But we did go to a nearby beach that was beautiful.

The girls loved looking for shells as I tried to hone my photography skills!

After a couple of days, we were ready to go, go, go! We drove around the north part of the island, went horseback riding, saw some waterfalls, and on the last day went on a snorkel trip! 

We also saw killer pygmy whales, spinner dolphins, sea turtles, and tons of colored fish. It was so much fun! Oh, and did I mention the water slides at the hotel? I think Gracie is our next X-games star as she went down the big slide about  a zillion times in every position imaginable! 

Last, but not the least, we saw a lot of sunsets, being on the West coast of the big island. I have about 200 shots, but will only share a few. Mahalo!