Happy 9th Birthday Abby!!

Well, I started this post on June 23rd, and it is now July 8th. YIKES!! Much to catch up on.
We celebrated Abby's 9th Birthday this year with a garden party. We've done a garden party before and it was a lot of fun.

Abby wanted me to make a chocolate cake with a flower on top...so this is my rendition of her request. I tried to write "Happy Birthday Abby" on it...but I only got to about the "P" and had to take the lettering off because it looked so awful. Chocolate frosting is very forgiving to lettering mistakes :)

All of the kids were given a pot to decorate. They looked so cute! Then, I made up a treasure hunt that they went on. The treasure (which was found in our mailbox) was a bunch of flowers that we let them choose from to put in their pots. So fun!

Happy 9th Birthday Abby!! You sure are a blessing to us!!

Happy 90th Grandma!

The girls and I went down to Arroyo Grande last weekend for my Grandma's 90th birthday. It was such a special treat to be able to spend time with both my Grandma and Grandpa. Can you believe that my Grandpa is 95? They both look amazing!


We took a little trip to Pismo Beach and looked around at the tide pools to see what sea creatures we could see. Oh...YES I did cut my hair...and...I'm getting used to the look:)



The girls with GG Pa


We went to the Olive Garden for Grandma's birthday.
Grandma, Jamie, and Ashley


We went to The Barn which is right near Avila Beach. It was a lot of fun! We got to feed the animals and we were even able to see some babies.

These baby goats were so cute! We stayed by them for a long time because they were so fun to watch. My girls wanted to ask someone if they could hold them.

Me and the girls :)

It is always hard to say good bye...and there were tears. :( I love them so much!

....but there was also laughing:):)

More Veggie Tales and More

For those of you that have been ANXIOUSLY awaiting the most recent pictures of our garden ;);)...here they are. Can you believe this? Pretty good for 2 people who really have no idea what they are doing :):) Actually, we have prayed a lot over this garden, because we KNOW that any good that comes out of it is ONLY the Lord!




Here is the bell pepper plant. It has one pepper on it...but that is the same pepper that was on it when I bought it...and it doesn't look like there are any more on it.....yet:)


Here are the sunflower plants. They are HUGE!


These are the ones that I am REALLY excited about! The Roma Tomatoes. I can't wait until they start appearing. We eat a lot of tomatoes so that will be fun.

OK...I'm done:) More veggie tales to come........

The boys little league season came to a close with an award night at Straw Hat Pizza. At Awana, the kids have special nights such as crazy hat night, animal night, etc. When I told Joshua that we were going to Straw Hat for awards, he asked me, "We need to get a straw hat and wear it Mom!" Obviously we are not a Straw Hat Pizza family :):) We prefer Me n Ed's Pizza...thank you very much;)

Caleb receiving his award from Coach Kirk with Coach Juan (who happens to be our backyard neighbor) in the background

Abby, Coach Kirk and Joshua

Last Sunday I took my camera to church, so I was able to get a few pictures of the kids in their Sunday School classes (Sorry Allie:) Love ya!)
Miss Lita's class with Eli, Joel, Anna, and Nessya

Alice and Allie with Annabelle, Joshua, Molly, Hannah, Abby, and Caleb

This past Monday we celebrated Baby Joseph Shapiro's birth with a baby shower.

Abby with Baby Joey

Kathie Ormsby gave an amazing and very sweet devotion that she included both Ellianna and Nessya in.

The girls received books from Kathie...one about Joseph and one about David.

AND THEN...both girls recited Psalm 100. They did a SUPER job!

"I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against You."

"Your Word is a Lamp unto my feet and a Light unto my path."

Piling up the activities

I really need to write on this blog more instead of piling up the activities until, like today, there is just too much to write about. I'll leave the other activities and pictures for another day. The main reason for the pile up is that my computer is down (where I usually download all of my pics) so I finally had to just download them onto the lap top since I didn't have any memory space left on the camera :( Well, these activities are totally out of order...but I really don't like having to move them around...so we will just have to live with out of order events:):)

We celebrated my sister Lindsay on Friday with a birthday lunch. All the kids made Auntie a birthday picture/card and we had a special lunch.

I

Mom, Lindsay, & me

Kristina made Auntie a special birthday picture.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNTIE LINDSAY!!! We hope you had a special day!

One day, not even sure when, when Charley took the other kids out somewhere, I was left home with Anna. Because I had quite a few half used frosting tubs in my fridge, I decided that we needed to make cupcakes to use up all the extra frosting. Anna helped me make the cupcakes and then we, of course, had to document this special Mommy and Anna time. Anna asked to take a picture of me...actually she wanted to take a picture of every step of putting the cupcakes in the oven...along with a silly face picture...but I will spare you those pictures and just put one on here:)

A very proud-of-herself Anna, holding our cupcakes.

Good Job Anna! Those cupcakes were yummy!

For Memorial Day, we went to the A's game as a family. We had a really fun time. I told Charley that I think that was the most relaxing and non-stressful game that I have been to (as a family). It was just really nice. Thankfully they won and we got to leave the Coliseum to the Celebration song. Let's GO OAKLAND!!!

JOSEPH DAVID SHAPIRO - 8lbs. 21 in.
Another exciting thing that happened on May 21st, was that Joseph David Shapiro was born to Noad and Sharyn Shapiro. We watched Elli and Nessya while Noad and Sharyn went to the hospital and little Joey came REALLY quick. Only about 2 1/2 hours after they got to the hospital. PTL! He is SUCH a cutie. All my kids have enjoyed holding him.

Joshua holding baby Joey.


Elli, Sharyn, and Baby Joseph

Congratulations Noad, Sharyn, Ellianna, and Nessya! You have been given a GIFT!