Jem and Audrey make it to Cali

It has been 3 years since we saw one of my best friends, Jem, and her daughter Audrey. They happened to come into town for 3 days. It was too short, but we still had a great time with them.

Jem is Cody's Godmother and she finally had the chance to meet him. They hit it off right away!



This is Audrey, the giant. :) She is only 8 years old and is almost 5 feet tall if not already. Her dad is 6'8"!!!



Here my kids are with Audrey and our other family friends, Marella and Marky.





Cody LOVES shoes and I always catch him looking at people's shoes whenever we are anywhere. When we are at home, he goes through all the shoes and wears them all.

He really liked Marella's jelly shoes!!!!

Our Orange Belt (again); Change of Style (again)

A few weeks ago, DJ did his testing for his orange belt in Kajukembo. He was so proud to finally get his orange belt since that is the belt he had in Tang Soo Do before we left San Diego.





That same day, we decided to no longer continue with the program at the community center and move on to a karate school. Right after his testing and promotion, we headed over to the other gym and signed him up to start Kenpo.


He is really enjoying that he now gets to do some sparring and learn some more physical moves than what he was doing in Kajukembo.


Within the first 2 classes, he learned a few self defense moves and is really good at it.

At his last private lesson this week, the instructor (an adult) told me that he was amazed that DJ's punches and kicks against the pad could actually move him. He said that most kids that size and age don't have that much power. GO DJ!!!! He is definitely our little karate kid (can you hear the theme song to the Karate Kid movie in your head??? LOL)

DJ's 1st Day of Kinder

I am SOOO behind on blogging, but before I blog any of the other recent events, I had to share today's important event....DJ's First Day of Kindergaten!!!!

He has been so excited about school and the first thing out of his mouth this morning was "I'm going to kinder today!" He could not wait to go to school (unlike his mom who was not ready at all!).

He had been waiting all summer for this day and it was finally here!

After getting dressed, he wanted his hair spiked.



Once it was time to go, he couldn't get his shoes on fast enough!



We decided to walk to school today and DJ was so excited (although, he kept going back and forth between walking (which would take longer) or driving (so he could get there faster).

Look how happy he is!!!



Check out the cool backpack!



Cody enjoyed the walk, too! He even fell asleep on the way home and it was 2 hours before his normal nap time!



DJ just couldn't stop smiling. Here he is in line getting ready to go in his classroom.



He found his cubby right away and hung his backpack up.



I was pretty excited that a family friend was in the class with him. Here he is with Marella.



Daddy, mommy and Cody were so excited to see DJ after school. As soon as we got home, Cody jumped DJ to give him a hug! He missed his brother so much!



Because DJ did SO well today, he was welcomed with a treat when he got home.





When I asked DJ what the best part of his day was he said "recess and snack time". I guess they haven't really started learning anything academic so it's okay that those were his answers. ;)

According to him, the other highlights were - hanging upside down on the dome, spinning on the metal bar at the playground and landing on his butt on the bark and sitting at the same table as Marella.

Stay tuned for more blog entries - mini horses, Reno, Discovery Kingdom, visiting friends and an orange belt.

Posing in the Clubhouse

Last week we had a fun playdate with DJ and Cody's favorite playmates. While DJ, JD and Josh were hiding in the play structure (we seriously couldn't find them for LONG periods of time because they were running around and so quiet), Leah and Cody were spending quality time together.

We have noticed that Cody really pays attention to Leah when she wears her brown dress. She had even asked me that day if that was the dress that Cody liked. Sure enough, he kept holding her hand and wanted to be wherever she was that day.

Here are some fun pictures of them during their down time together.

I love her sweet little kiss on his chubby cheek.



Cody really likes cell phones and stole Teri's phone to pretend to send text messages and make phone calls. Isn't the girl the one supposed to be on the phone???



Apparenly, this call was for Leah.



Here Cody is holding one of his famous LONG babbling sessions on the phone. He sure has a lot to say for someone that doesn't know too many words! :)

Bubbles and Chalk

It has been pretty nice outside so the boys and I went to the front of the house to test out their new bubble machine and write with sidewalk chalk.

Cody couldn't get enough of the bubbles. He even tried to catch them in his mouth.



DJ and Scooter enjoyed them, too!



Okay..maybe Scooter didn't enjoy them that much.



DJ's graffiti on the front porch welcomed everyone home that night.



Cody tried to draw, too, but it was mostly on his shirt and face.



The artist at work.



And I leave you with a cute shot of Cody enjoying his bubble machine.

80's Themed Party

Last weekend, my cousin Marie turned 40 and to honor the big 4-0, her family and friends threw her an 80's themed birthday party. Teri and I were SO excited and couldn't wait to get dolled up for the event!

Doyle went as a Vanilla Ice wanting to look like MC Hammer wannabe. :) The pants were courtesy of Ebay. Don't you love the elastic ankle cuffs and velcro waist closure??

DJ was dressed in an Adidas outfit sporting his "DJ MC" shirt. Cody would have worn the same outfit had he gone to the party. We were going to be out late so instead he stayed home with mama and papa.

I couldn't get my hair to go as high as it used to be (it was about 1/2 what I could make it do before!). Maybe it's because I didn't have the right hairspray - aquanet! I spent at least 2 of my 3 years of high school wearing skirts over leggings so it was only appropriate that I pay tribute to my old fashion.



Don't you just LOVE Teri's outfit??? The color are almost blinding. And those jelly shoes...ah...flashbacks...

Funny thing about my brother's outfit is his is EXACTLY how he used to dress in high school -paisley shirt, suspenders, pegged pants and deck shoes (or whatever they are called).



Love the WHITE shades!



Run DMC never looked THIS good!





Teri and I had to do the ol' skool "posing on the stairs" shot.



Almost all the guests got into the theme and dressed up. There were famous people there, too.

George Michael



and Prince



Look at my man...girls...hold yourselves back!!!!



What a group...can you imagine if they all went to the mall dressed like this?





Marie's son as one of Run DMC.



Her hubby as the other part. :)



Oh so stylish!



The birthday girl is on the right. I hope I look half as good as she does when I turn 40!



Who you gonna call???

Ghostbusters AND a Jedi to help fight the ghosts and goblins!



The prom queen has arrived!



Isn't she just the cutest? I know you want to pinch those cheeks. What little girl's ensemble isn't complete without a sailor outfit? I know I had one in the 80s...okay the 70s, but whose counting?



The other DJ MC.



What's a party without dancing?

DJ once again proved what a little party animal he was by taking the center of the dance floor to bust a move. He even pointed out people he didn't know to battle them in a dance off. He won every time and made sure to tell me "mommy, I beat them!"

It's a good thing that dancing is something he didn't inherit from his dad. The boy has rythm!! You have done your mommy proud! :) You stay on the dance floor all night just like your mom!! :)



The back spin...GO DJ..GO DJ



DJ enjoyed Vanessa's moves and copied some of them, too!