We were lucky enough to have some visitors during Steve's birthday.  The girls were anticipating Baby Cal Cal's arrival for weeks (and Carrie & Josh).  Our time was mostly filled with the girls chasing Callen to pick him up and love on him.  He may have not enjoyed it, but they sure did!

 Chasing Callen at the museum

Starting the chicken fights early.  Ady needs to learn how to hold her own.  

Callen with the death grip!

Lovin' his mama

 On Friday (Steve's actual birthday), Ady and I picked up him up a Chai Tea and Santiago's burrito (his fave) and surprised him at work.  Ady wanted to stay - who would want to leave with an endless supply of M & Ms?

That evening we had everyone over for dinner and cake to celebrate.  Brooklynn's school was supposed to have an outdoor movie, but fall hit early so it was rained out.  

Daddy & his girlies

 Saturday morning after soccer we hit the road to Ft. Collins to watch the CSU game.  It was hot hot hot!  Summer had returned.  The girls had fun running and jumping off the bleachers and even better the Rammies won!

 We're a little obsessed!

As we get older, the birthdays get bigger for the kids and less significant for us but this was D

definitely a memorable celebration.  Happy Birthday babe!

We knew early on that our little bug was a laid-back kid.  As she approached 2 and started the terrible 2s the frustration began - the poor girl wasn't talking much and couldn't express her, so we didn't know what she wanted.  We started getting concerned about her talking, as her vocabulary wasn't building very quickly.  Of course we always compared her to Chandler, who was speaking in full sentences before she was 2.

At her 2 year-old check-up she scored in the "yellow (watch)" area for communication, and we had been talking to our parent educator (Mrs. Pam) about her progress.  We decided to get her evaluated to see if she qualified for speech therapy.  It seemed like an easy decision, but as I was filling out the mounds of paperwork and watching the initial evaluation it hit me.  What if she is labeled "special needs"?

I had numerous people say to me, "Oh she's just the young one.  She has 2 older sisters that talk for her.  She's fine.  Don't worry."  Bu this wasn't the case.  They weren't talking for her.  And why not worry?  Why not get her the help she may need?  As a teacher I had a student whose family refused to "test" their child, even though he needed the help desperately.  His parents didn't want the label.  Therefore he suffered and struggled throughout school.  Why are we, as parents, so scared of the label?  Why don't we just think of our child's best interests?  It's not about us....it's about them!  It's ok to worry about your child's progress, and it's ok to admit if there's concerns.  It doesn't reflect on us as bad parents, but rather as parents committed to helping our kids succeed.

A week before the thorough eval Ady's vocabulary started picking up again.  This time she started putting up to 5 words together, so I was fairly confident she wouldn't qualify for services.  We went through the process, and it turns out she's a few months behind in her speech, but nothing too concerning.  The best part of the eval was when we were leaving and she gave the evaluator a hug.  That made me more proud of her than any word combination she could've made!

One More Down......One to Go!

It's always a little strange to have the girls start school 2 weeks apart.  It's nice, because we get 2 extra weeks of summer with Chandler, but that's 2 more weeks to adjust to a routine.  I knew Chandler would be excited and do awesome this year.  She just has that personality!  

Chandler started getting a little nervous as we took her in on the first day, but as soon as she saw her BFF, Taylor, all was good.  I'm glad she gets to have her friend in class again this year, but a little nervous she won't make new friends.

Yet Another Kid-Free Trip

It feels like we hardly take the kids with us anymore, but we'll take advantage of the stress-free traveling.  Since Steve has been going to this conference for years now we were running out of things to see in San Fran, so we planned to take a trip up to Napa for some wine time.  We were able to fly into San Jose and sneak in some Thompson time before we headed to wine country.

We landed Thursday and spent the day hanging with Baby Cal Cal and Carrie before heading to Napa Friday morning.  

 Our first winery - a little family place!

 Another tasting at Cake Bread

 Awwwww

After a few wine tastings we drove to downtown Napa to stay the night in the heart of the quaint town.  We watched a concert in the park and had a few beers on the river.

 Best photo bomb!

Napa was nice but quite touristy and pricey.  I'm glad we saw it but I think we'll opt for low-key scenic Sonoma next time.

We left Saturday morning and drove to Sausalito to enjoy the beautiful weather!

After Carrie & Josh left we went to the city and did a little shopping and had a nice dinner in North Beach.  That night we were awoken at 3:30 by the earthquake.  By the time it was over I figured out what it was, but being from Colorado, we weren't sure if we were supposed to evacuate and run into the street screaming or what.  I figured it was probably just a little earthquake that happens frequently, but it turned out to be a pretty big one.  We were thankful we weren't in downtown Napa that night!  So we survived our first earthquake!

Sunday morning we woke up to do a 5k race sponsored by Steve's conference.  I was excited to actually race in another state with such a spectacular view!  We rocked it, finishing in under 24 minutes (PR).  After a nice chowder bread bowl it was off to the airport to see my babies.

Our race view

As it Ends....We had Fun!

There's nothing better than summertime.  And there's nothing better than having little ones to enjoy the summertime with.  We frequented our usual spots - the zoo, pools, and splash pads but also found a new hot spots this summer, making for an exciting summer that left us all exhausted!  Some of our new favorite summer pastime were camping, water parks/pools, and bike riding.

Camping became our quality family time, whether it was roasting marshmallows, playing games in the camper, and hiking around finding the best rocks to climb.  We camped with friends, family, and by ourselves.  Next summer we'll cut out the summer soccer season to make sure we can get up to those mountains more often.  We met up with Andy, Kenz, and the Ericksons for our last camping trip of the season.  What a fun way to end the camping season!

Our lovely ladies - this was the view from the top of our campsite.  Amazing!

 She has those 2 wrapped around her little finger!

 Some campfire entertainment

 Hiking the Colorado Trail

Every night (and some days with our cool summer) the neighborhood kids would all be out playing - riding bikes, swinging in our neighbor's tree, or making chalk drawings.  We feel so lucky to live in such a great neighborhood with so many kids, and it makes for some fun summer nights.  If only we didn't live on such a busy street that we have to really watch the traffic with the kids.

A couple weeks ago our neighbor told us about a little apple tree "orchard" right off the path by our house.  Funny because I always run over there but never noticed the apples.  We got on the bikes and loaded up on some yummy apples.  I love that the city planted these trees for everyone to enjoy!

 Who doesn't dress like this to pick apples?  Now home to make an apple crisp!

 Always love our ice cream on those hot days!

 And a little bowling.  Ady insisted on carrying the ball herself (even though there were some close calls on those toes)

 Loving our museum trips!  Go Broncos!

 They're actually punching the Buffalo....haha!

This summer all 3 girls became much more confident in the water, so we tried out different pools.  Brooklynn loved going down the water slides by herself, while the others loved hanging out in their floaties.  Our "end of summer fun day" was at The Bay, a little water park nearby.  It was a great way to say goodbye to a sweet summer.

The start of the school year is always a little bittersweet.  While I enjoy having more individual time with the girls, it's sad to have them gone as well.  I'm looking forward to a few days a week with just Ady (which has been rare until now), a couple days with both little girls, and some quality afternoon time with my Boo Bear when she's home from school and a lot less fighting between the girlies!

Back to School

The day I was dreading all summer finally came - the first day of school for Brooklynn, her first time to be gone all day.  I was nervous I'd feel lost without her and her sisters wouldn't know what to do without their ringleader.  Of course she was extremely anxious leading up to the day, because she was scared of a new teacher and new friends (she didn't have any friends from last year in her class).  

We only heard great things about her 1st grade teacher and were looking forward to one teacher the entire year!  After meeting her at the meet & greet our nerves subsided and we were ready to rock & roll!  By this time I was a little exhausted from breaking up the sister fights constantly and was hoping having only 2 during the day would be a breeze!

Although Brooklynn still had a few fears, she was awesome the first morning and obliging to all of my picture demands!  She even rode her bike the first day, showing off her new skills.  Her day was fabulous, and while it was and still is strange to have her gone all day, she is learning so much, and I'm just happy she's in an awesome classroom.  The little girls are finally getting along great with each other (apparently the odd number is tough and 2 is a breeze), making me a much happier mommy to be around.  Summers are fun, but I can see why parents say they are ready to shoo their kids back to school.

No tears on either side = successful 1st day!  We're so proud of our big girl!