October brought trips to the pumpkin patch, a ballet class for Miss. Hailey, and of course trick-or-treating on Halloween! We enjoyed every minute of it and James was actually off for Halloween this year, which made it even better. We had a potluck chili dinner with some of our neighbors and friends and then headed out in packs to get some candy!

My cuties at the pumpkin patch!

Hailey loved her ballet class! She got to wear a different tutu each week!

Ryan was a secret agent this year for Halloween! Doesn't he look so handsome!?!?

Jackson was a skeleton this year! James did a great job with the face paint!

Miss Hailey was Tinker Bell this year and she went trick-or-treating with our two neighborhood Dorothy's!!

September was a big month for the Ry-guy. He lost his first tooth at the beginning of the month and his second tooth on his 6th birthday! We celebrated big time this year, joining forces with our good friends and neighbors whose son, Jett, is Ryan's best buddy. The boys both have September birthdays and we decided to celebrate with a big, huge, gigantic block party!!!

First tooth lost!

Second tooth lost!!

Ryan and Jett blowing out the candles!

(It was a Pirate Themed party, so Ryan has a patch over his eye, in case you were wondering!)

Our awesome friends and neighbors! We had a great time planning and partying with them!

Happy New Year!

Welcome 2011! I am expecting great things this year and I pray the same for you! I cannot believe it is January already! I feel like the holidays always fly by faster every year and I'm surprised every time! Well, hopefully things will slow down a little and I can catch up with my blogging this year, I didn't so good last year! I shall start this year off right by posting the happenings of the Irvine 5 for the last few months and of course some pictures to go with it! I pray that everyone had a fantastic Christmas and a safe and happy New Year - let the fun begin!

Where to begin? I think I left off at the end of the summer so I'll start there. We wrapped up the summer and the boys went back to school! Jackson started the 3rd grade and Ryan the 1st grade - and his first year of all day school! This was a pretty exciting time for Ryan because it meant going to school at the same time as his big brother AND getting to eat lunch at school! Boy oh boy, fun times! Hailey also started school this fall, sort of. My good friend Donna and her little boy, Oliver, are teaming up with Hailey and I to do a little home pre-school once a week. We are starting out with the very basics and we have already seen a lot of learning going on between these two little cuties!

Hailey didn't get to go to school but she was ready anyway!

The boys rode to school in style with Dad on the Sidehack!

In September James' parents, aka Grammy and Grampy, came for a visit! we had a ton of fun with them, going to the water slides, playing mini-golf, taking a day trip to see an old gold mine, and just relaxing in the pool of course! We always love it when we get to spend time with them!

Looking good Grammy and Grampy! Hee hee hee hee...

To be continued....

Fast Forward...

Okay, so I've been slacking in the blog department and being the ana... type that I am I can't just skip over all the stuff that has happened since my last few posts. So, I've decided to fast forward through it all with PICTURES! Great idea, right??? I hope you enjoy SEEING what the Irvine 5 have been up to for the past few months! Try to keep up! :-)

{Arghh, I've been trying to upload photos for an hour and this is all I've got! Darn thing keeps telling me "bad error" and won't upload anymore, so I give up! I'll try again tomorrow, enjoy what I did get uploaded for now!!}
Hailey decided she need a new do this summer! Here's how SHE cut it:

And here's how it looked after we FIXED what she did! Oh well, good thing she's cute with long OR short hair! :-)
Of course we did some swimming over the summer! We also had our friends/neighbors over to join us! These two pic's are from one such occasion!



Ah, a lovely {brief} moment of brothers smiling together! I was trying out my new camera!

I got to go see my Gram out in Wyoming with my Dad this summer, a highlight of the summer for me!

Those would be THE Rocky Mountains in this picture, taken from a moving car on the way back to the Denver Airport!

We are family! That's my Gram with my cousin Chris, Aunt Kathy, cousin Kiley and her son Maddix - beautiful!

Where did the summer go?

Yeah, I know I promised I would post more this summer, but it's gone! Where did the summer go? I always think it will last soooo long but then, before you know it, it's back to school and the Halloween decorations are out! So, I will just have to make up for lost time. :-)

We had a fun summer and have finally gotten back into the school routine. We are enjoying having both boys at the same school at the same time for the first time ever! Whoo hooo! Of course next year Hailey will go to preschool and we'll once again have two different school schedules, but I'm enjoying this year for sure! The boys seem to like their teachers and are happy to have a few good friends in their classes.

Hailey hasn't been left out though, don't you worry. My good friend Donna and her little boy, Oliver, who is just two months older then Hailey, are doing a little home preschool together. Right now it's just once a week and there is probably more playing then teaching, but at least it's something! It's fun just to hang out with each other! My hope is that they will be exposed to school stuff and have a slight advantage next year when they actually go to a real preschool. :-)

Aside from school starting the other big thing around here was the Ry guys 6th birthday party and boy did he have a PAR-TAY! We combined his birthday with his best friend (and neighbor) to have a huge block party! We had two bounce houses, one a giant slide, a Power Wheels race track, sno-cones, popcorn, face painting, all sorts of carnival games, and of course swimming! We shut down part of the street to accommodate the big pirate themed bash and boy was it fun! I think that Ryan and his buddy, Jett, like it too!

Now it's time to figure out costumes and decorate the house for Halloween. They boys' school does a big Fall Festival that I'm helping out with this year, so we are still as busy as ever! The fun never ends around here! I will post pictures later, right now I gotta get to the school to help in the boys classes! I love being able to do that! Talk to you all again soon! :-P

Summer

Okay, so I said I would be updating soon and that was almost two months ago! Time seems to be getting away from me this summer. Only two weeks left until school starts up again, maybe then I'll actually have time to sit down and post some more!!!

I don't even know where to begin. We've celebrated Hailey's 3rd birthday, mine and James' 12th wedding anniversary, a couple of trips here and there - one of the most exciting being a visit to my Gramma Bubba's in L.A. and Disneyland with the kids! James and Jackson got to go to an A's vs. Yankees baseball game for Jackson's birthday. More recently, I got to go visit my other Grandmother, Gram, in Cheyenne, WY with my Dad for the weekend. We've also been busy at home swimming, swimming, swimming in our wonderful pool and we've enjoyed many play dates and parties, too!

All in all it has been a fun, busy summer for the Irvine 5, but it's not over yet!!! My Jackson-bug will be 8 years old this week and we'll be having a little shin-dig for him this weekend. We also have a wedding next month, James' little brother is gettin' hitched and we can't wait for the family to get here to help them celebrate! Then of course is Mr. Ry-guy's birthday at the end of September. We have a GIANT block party planned for him and his best little buddy who happens to live three houses down from us and also has a September birthday.

Yes there is a LOT to look forward to around here and that means (crossing my fingers) lots to blog about, too! Hope you enjoy these pic's from the last few months and there will be

more to come in the days ahead!!!

James and Jackson at the A's vs. Yankees game!

The family and Mickey Mouse!

My crazy kids and Great Gramma Bubba!

I took the boys and Hailey out for frozen yogurt to celebrate the last day of school!

Hailey's 3rd birthday!!!

More pic's to come soon!

Goodbye Sweet Rocky Dog!

I haven't posted in a while and I plan on making up for it very soon. Right now I just wanted to post a little tribute to the beloved 6th member of our family. We had to say goodbye to our Rocky dog last Thursday, June 17, after finding out he had cancer. He was our first "child", with us for nearly 10 years and very much a part of this family. It was very hard for us to see him go but we know that he is in a much better place now and completely pain free. We will miss him everyday! We love you, Rocky dog!

One happy puppy dog!

Hailey loved her big doggy!

That's baby Hailey petting her Rocky

This is the Ry-guy having some tummy time with his puppy dog.

Up close and personal! My sweet puppers!

A very regal looking guard dog! Rocky was a great protector of his family!

Jackson learned very early that if he didn't want to eat his food, Rocky would GLADLY help him out!!!

Easter Eggs!

The kids and I had fun doing the traditional dying of the Easter eggs a few days before Easter. I know that this post should have come before the Easter Day post, but... yeah I have no excuse, I'm just lazy! The kids had fun and I managed to NOT have a heart attack watching them make a mess of their clothes and hands with that dye! Now if only they would eat those eggs....

Still running!!!

That's right, it says 6 and a half miles!!! I've been running about this distance for almost two months but haven't had a chance to update my blog until now. I'm working on my time right now, trying to get under a 10 minute mile, then I'll start to add more distance. I'm almost ready for that 10k, maybe by late spring? Wish me luck!

Easter Fun!

We had a wonderful Easter Sunday last week, despite the horrible weather! The kids loved seeing the loot left by the "Easter Bunny" and enjoyed an indoor egg hunt after attending a packed morning church service. What a great day to remember what Jesus did for us on the cross, that He is risen!!! Amen! Enjoy the pictures of my beautiful family.

Easter pictures take.... 7!!! We didn't get a really great one, but some okay ones and some pretty funny ones!

Ryan was pretty excited!
Hailey is showing off her new princess lipstick!

On the hunt for some eggs!
Mom, I'm trying to find the eggs!
I will find one, I will!