First day of school

First day of school... Brandon-5th grade, Joseph-2nd grade and Kalea Sue is in Kindergarten @ North Terrace Elementary in Oceanside, California. Everyone was excited and came home talking non-stop about their day. I hope the excitements continues.

Kalea had a choice from a gazillion backpacks and decided on a "Hello Kitty" bag from the dollar spot at Target. Yes $1.00... love that girl!!

She wasted no time finding a seat and giving me a quick goodbye as she reminds that she is a BIG girl now. She was very anxious to begin her school career. Well... that is my last time taking my kids to their first day of Kindergarten... yeah... I am okay with that.

Pretty in Pink

Every time I would polish Kalea's toe nails she would inevitably start begging me to polish her finger nails. It was always the same discussion... I would tell her "When you stop biting your nails I will polish them." She would agree with "OK Mom I will." --- with no stopping -- until her cousin Paige came for a visit this summer. She thought Paige's nails were so pretty. Paige told her that she too use to bite her nails until one day she got tired of ugly nails and stopped biting. That's all it took.

She did it!! Kalea STOPPED biting her nails. I took her to Walmart and let her choose her polish. Pink! I am proud of her! She is pretty in pink!

Amber squared

What do you get when you put an Amber and Amber together? Yeap. Amber squared. We just hung out making each other laugh... especially when Amber (V) and I wanted to go to our favorite place (Barnes and Noble) and Amber (L) said... "What do we do when we get there? Read?"

Amber -- Jeni -- Amber

Could this be a Jeni sandwich?

My "Tennessee" cups were NOT good enough for Miss Vandy

so she made her own. Thanks for coming to visit! It was fun!

Love you both!

Grandaddy Rickard

Grandaddy Rickard came up from San Deigo to spend the day with us. Kalea is in love with her Grandad. She says when she grows up she will move in with him and take care of him.

After lunch we went to the skate park so the boys (and that includes Jeffrey) could show off their skating skills.

We finished off the afternoon with a walk on the Oceanside Peir and some ice cream -- because it just wouldn't be a visit with Grandaddy Rickard without ice cream -- Yummy!

Neighbors, friends & goodbyes

Keelin (Keels) and Joseph.


Cassidy and Kalea.


Morrie, Kalea and Cass.


Nami and Wyatt.


Jessie and Jeni -see I can have fun!!

Our Neighbors -The Van Wagenen's- instantly become our good friends. Their oldest girl, Keelin, is Joey's best friend, classmate and neighbor. Cassidy is Kalea's age and Morrie is the the cutest 3 year old. Jessie's from Texas and I think we connected through our southern roots. Adam just makes me laugh.We had a summer that we will not soon forget. There was lots of fun in the sun (including ice water fights), laughing, Phase Ten, desserts, Starbucks, snacks, pizza, movies and sleep overs.

So saying goodbye to them (as they head back to Texas for their next phase in the Marine Corps)was.... tough. We will keep in touch but our new neighbors will have big shoes to fill.

We love and miss you guys -- California won't be the same without you!