Picture Day

We had our holiday pictures taken a couple of weeks ago! I love the kid's picture on the sled! So cute!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!! We had a great Thanksgiving filled with family, friends, and eating!!! My parents came into town and my mom took over the kitchen (which we all loved!!). We also visited with my dad's side of the family but I didn't get a picture of the group (just of GiGi). 

 

 Great-Grandma Cottrill (GiGi) and Tyler

 GiGi and Keira watching Barbie Perfect Christmas

 Papa getting attacked by Ty and Keira

 Keira helped Nana make lasagna, pizza, enchiladas, cinnamon rolls, and an apple pie!

They had a great time!!!

Halloween 2012

Happy Halloween!!!



 

 

 

 

 Keira dressed as Belle at her school Halloween Party

Tyler (Iron Man), Keira (Belle), friend Keileigh (Catwoman), and friend Ethan (Vader) at Tyler's school Fall Festival.

Halloween night! Keira as Tinker Bell and Ty as Iron Man

 

Didn't realize this picture was blurry at the time...Brian took the kids around trick or treating while I passed out candy. He brought Keira back to the house about 45 minutes later so she could help me. She loves to pass out the candy. Brian and Ty hit the neighborhood for another hour!! Fun times and LOTS of candy!!!

Visit from Uncle Michael

Brian's Uncle Michael came out for a visit over Columbus Day weekend! Brian took Mike and Ty camping and fishing on the boat for a couple of days which was wonderful since Mike and Brian's dad always wanted a boat! 

 

Brian's sister Brooke and her husband Dave came over for Monday night football!!

Cheering on the Sharks and the Gators!!!

On the boat

We took the boat out this weekend. While we didn't catch any fish we had a great time. Keira didn't like the boat going too fast but Ty did. 

 

 It is wonderful to see Brian so happy! He truly loves the boat and being on the water!

Happy faces! We had a great time!

H is for horse



Keira's school worked on the letter H before fall break. The last day of the week her teacher, Ms. Judi had a surprise for the kids....horse rides! Keira LOVED the horses and had a huge smile on her face the entire ride!

 



 

She was one of the few kids that wanted to feed the horses carrots. She made sure her hand was flat so the horses wouldn't nip her fingers.

The Boat

Brian has wanted a boat forever. His dream of owning a boat came from his father and he has always said he would own a boat one day. Well...we are now owners of a bass boat! It is not his dream boat by any means but it is a good start! He has taken it out a couple of times and really likes it. The kids and I haven't gone on it yet but we do hope to get a trip in soon!

Soccer!

 

 The kids are playing soccer this season. Ty played three seasons of flag football and while he liked it okay he wasn't too excited to play it again. So, I decided to see if they liked soccer any better. So far they have enjoyed it and it is so fun to watch. I played since I was a little kid through high school and now I know why Brian had a hard time during flag football, you just want to go in and help them so much!

 Tyler's team is the Gators. Tyler has never played soccer before so I was a bit nervous when the coach put him in as goalie! However, Tyler did great and really enjoyed it. The coach told me after the game that Ty volunteered to play goalie! Wow!!! The Team does not practice goalie (especially with the huge goals they use in games) so we are going to have to buy some goals to work on if Ty wants to be goalie again.

 Keira's team is the Sharks. This is the first season Keira has played a team sport. I have always put her in dance but she really wanted to play soccer and we knew it was good for her. She is still learning the game and when she gets tired she wants to come out and sit but the coach is wonderful works with the kids keeping in mind they are four. Keira almost scored a goal at the end of the game. She was so bummed she didn't make the point. Brian and I think Keira is going to be our competitive one!

Ty is Star of the Week

Tyler is Star of the Week this week at school. He had to fill out this poster and bring it in with some favorite pictures (of Sea World and Dinosaur Museum) and one favorite toy (a thorny devil lizard).

The questions are:
I am 7 years old
My favorite color is orange
My favorite animal is a cheetah
My favorite food is pizza
He added a picture of himself and of the family
My favorite place to visit San Diego
I want to be a biologist when I grow up
My favorite thing to do is play
If I had one wish I would wish for a pet shark

Labor Day Camping

Labor Day weekend we headed up North for a 2 day camping trip! We really wanted to get out of the heat and since we didn't have a chance to camp during the summer we decided to use the last weekend of summer to get out of town. 

 

 Making wishing with dandelions.

 

 

 Hiking Kinder Crossing Trail which was a good hike! The kids found a baby horned lizard and lots of birds.

At the bottom of the trail there was a river the kids had to play in.

 

 

 

The kids are playing soccer this season. They are both very excited about it. We got a lot of practice in which was fun!





 Of course we had to have S'mores to end every night! Very Yummy!!!



First Day of School

 Keira started another year in preschool at Ms. Judi's. There are only 5 kids in her class and she really enjoys going!

 Tyler started 2nd grade! His teacher is Mrs. Taylor and he says school is awesome which is huge coming from a kid who doesn't like leaving the house much!

Summer

We have had a busy and fun summer! I can't believe the kids start school in 3 weeks!!! Ty will be in 2nd grade and Keira will be in preschool!

 Keira and Tyler holding puppies! We are helping my Aunt Shelly foster four puppies for a couple of weeks. They are adorable (mutts) and are quite a handful! The kids love them and have been a big help taking care of them.

 IT RAINED! Yes, we are very excited when it rains here. We recently had several good rain storms. Saturday's rain left our yard flooded and the kids loved the puddles!

 We are enjoying the pool once again. The kids are swimming really well! Both has promoted a class this season which is great!

Tyler on a kayak fishing trip with daddy. They didn't catch anything but had a good time!

Ty turns 7!



Ty turned 7 on the 15th! We celebrated by going to Madagascar 3 & McDonald's! We also had a great weekend swimming and playing games!

Ty has wanted a fish tank for years. Brian found a tank on Craigslist and with some cleaning and treating the water for a week, it was ready for fish on Sunday. So, in celebrating Father's Day too, we went to Petsmart and picked out 4 new fish! Ty loves ocean animals so he picked a Bala Shark and a Rainbow Shark. Keira picked an Angelfish and Brian picked a Gold Gourami. We will add more fish in a couple of weeks.

So far all the fish are adjusting well. We love watching them and the kids are enjoying feeding them. I get the night feeding job of bloodworms. Yeah!! :) Ty and Keira are still working on naming the fish but it seems to be a challenging task since the names keep changing!