Dane is 6!

Dane had fun celebrations, both at school (I forgot the memory card for the camera) and home, yesterday! Blair and I enjoyed taking treats to the entire class and watching them devour every morsel of their sweets. We were also able to celebrate as a family (Yay!) eating Dane's pick for dinner - pizza! - and opening gifts from family and friends. I just love the picture of Dane and Matt above. Pure joy finding out he is going to his first REAL college football game this weekend with Daddy at the big NFL Qualcomm stadium here in San Diego! Happy, happy birthday to our sweet, smart, funny, curious yet sometimes challenging little guy :)

Fall Festival!

 Future QB?

 Perhaps! Nice shot!

 Enjoying the *free* ice cream!

 Scooter board races

 The beautiful ocean view from the playground

 Enjoying the food truck yummies...fish taco and vinegar fries!

 Blake braving the rock wall...way to go!

 Dane is on the left climbing the rock wall with one of his friends and classmates

 Go Dane!

 Frisbee toss game

Blake used all his might to throw those Frisbees!

~

We enjoyed the Del Mar Heights Elementary Fall Festival yesterday! As a family, even with Matt being on call. Everyone had a great time playing, eating, & socializing in the sun. It has taken a bit to adjust, but Del Mar does have a great community feel and they are committed to wonderful schools. So much fun!



Daddy's Birthday!

Today is Matt's 37th birthday, and he was able to be home to enjoy dinner and a treat with all of us. It seems obvious and simple for one's birthday, but with him being a fellow and having such a demanding schedule it's rare for all five of us to sit down together for a meal. We enjoyed chicken fajitas and homemade chocolate tacos! I wanted to do something different and special in lieu of a cake and luckily the tacos turned out great and were delish! The kids enjoyed making a card and writing their thoughts about their Daddy, which included his love of skateboarding (what?) and his birthday wish for a new x-ray book (totally unprompted). It was so fun to watch their excitement and pride when doing these things for their Daddy's birthday, and even more fun seeing Matt celebrate with all of us! Happy Birthday to a great husband, Daddy, brother, son, friend and surgeon. We love you!

Celebrate!

Matt passed his Ortho boards! This is such an ENORMOUS accomplishment and means he (we) are one step closer to being done with all the training. Join me in congratulating him! I am in still in awe of how he can be so successful at so many things...

The Year of the Dolphin?

A new city. A new school. Today completes the first week of school and looking back it seems like it went rather smooth. The boys have been excited and happy everyday, and I have alread received some nice compliments from teachers. So, here we go...our quick year in SoCal has begun and we will cheer on our Del Mar Heights Dolphins until departure next Summer. The mascot is so appropriate since you can watch for playing dolphins from the ocean view on the playground. Ahhhh.

Ta-Da!

From stacking to donning dress-up clothes to coloring...any achievement these days isn't complete without a "Ta-Da!" I love it.

Two

 Enjoying her first round of cupcakes

 Her cousin, Landon, getting ready to dig in!

 Enjoying the outside at my cousin's home

 Cupcakes: Round 2!

 Doesn't this just say it all when describing a 2-year old?!

Adorable duds courtesy of Mimi & Papa

 Exploring our yard in SD

 Puppies are a favorite, especially ones that read to you!

Blair Elise had quite the celebrationS for her 2nd birthday! Three to be exact. Lucky for her, her birthday fell during our travels from coast to coast. We were lucky enough to celebrate with her cousins at Uncle Travis and Aunt Melissa's, almost all of her Mimi's side of the family at my cousin's and wife's beautiful home on their land in Missouri, and finally in San Diego after we got settled. Blair is just a joy full of energy, creativity and a TON of language. She has been the perfect completion to our family of five, and we have had such fun watching her explore dressing up and other "girly" things. She loves stickers, painting, animals (real and stuffed), reading books, playing - or should I say - cooking in her kitchen and, of course, the beach!