Papa's Birthday

Today Papa turned 63 so we celebrated with a beautiful day in one of his favorite spots...La Jolla. We started off with lunch at Piatti in La Jolla Shores.
We ate delicious paninis, pizza, lasagna and veal piccata.
We even had the chance to sing and share a piece of Tiramasu!
After lunch we walked a few blocks down to the water by the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club. Too bad we didn't bring our suits because it was a perfect summer beach day in late November!
Lots of families spent their last day of vacation kayaking and long boarding. It was hard to just watch but we hope we can get in the water over Christmas break.
We did enjoy the beautiful beach and gorgeous sunshine before going back to the car.
Then it was on to Prospect Street. The girls played in the tree and Grandma and Papa waited on a park bench while I took the girls to the Shell Shop to see the sea cave.
I had heard about this place before, but had never been in. We paid $3 each to take the steep, dark and wet staircase down to the sea cave.
We loved how the cave opening resembled a man's face with a very chiseled chin!

Then it was back to the park and up the hill for some ice cream and shopping while Papa had a beer at Karl Strauss and watched the Charger game. Other than the Chargers losing, it was a great day helping Papa celebrate his special day!

THANKSGIVING DAY

We are thankful for so many things, but five straight nights of graveyard shifts over a vacation week...not so much! However, we made the most of our limited time together and enjoyed having Grandma and Papa here to share in our Thanksgiving day, although I was horrible with the camera.Matt prepped the turkey before leaving for work last night and we spent the morning getting the rest of the meal ready. Matt woke up around 1:00 and we had a nice early meal before he headed back to work.
Turkey, mashed potatoes, yams, green beans, stuffing, rolls and gravy finished off with cranberry apple cider. We managed to even leave room for pumpkin and coconut creme pie!
Much of the afternoon was spent relaxing, playing board games and watching 3 great NFL games.
We are very thankful for our family, our friends, our health and even our jobs (even if Matt's has kept him away most of the week).

TVHS Thanksgiving Soccer Camp

I thought for sure that the girls would be excited about a week off of the field, but when offered a chance to do a 3-day camp at the high school, they jumped at the opportunity!43 girls, ranging from 1st to 8th grade, joined the JV and Varsity high school teams for 3 mornings of drills, scrimmages, games and fun instruction.
Allison loved her leaders and had fun with a few of the girls from her All-Star team...Reanna, Morgan, Olivia, Erin and Sydney.
Taylor and May just can't get enough either and had fun being challenged by the high schoolers.

Allison showing off some of her fancy footwork!
Taylor spent a lot of time improving her juggling and even doing some crazy "header" drills.
The girls are excited to be "ball girls" at one of the high school league games and will take all that they learned back to their own teams. Taylor is certainly feeling more motivated to make her high school team and Allison's confidence continues to grow. They just can't seem to get enough, which is so fun to see!

Feels more like Homecoming

Taylor was invited to Jaime's 13th birthday party tonight at Shogun. However, when I dropped her off, it felt more like Homecoming...the girls in fancy dresses and the boys in ties. There were 10 boys and 10 girls altogether and it was funny to see how the boys sat on one side of the table and the girls on the other.

They sure are a good looking group. I just can't believe we have already reached this stage!

Call Us Crazy...

For the 4th time, our group of Twi-Hards have braved the elements (long lines, cold weather, screaming teenagers, and near exhaustion) to catch opening night of The Twilight Saga...this time Breaking Dawn Part 1!
We arrived at 6:00pm to a zig-zagging line of hundreds of fans who began forming a line at 3:00am. We love this stuff, but have kids, jobs, responsibilities and the such which prevented us from getting there until dinnertime!
This year we were prepared with Chipotle burritos, beach chairs, blankets and an iPad to play Twilight trivia while we waited the 4 hours before being let into the theater. We were even spoiled with yummy hot biscuits from Lucille's, hand-delivered by an employee! We took turns taking potty breaks, walking to Starbuck's and putting our chairs away before entering the theater. The weather actually stayed fairly nice and the time passed quickly.
We continued with our "divide and conquer" plan to get the best seats. A few struck out in Theater #10, Wendy found 7 together in #14, but Amanda and I scored with these perfect seats in #12. No one in front of us and the nice railing and extra floor space to rest our feet!

We were all a little disturbed by the amount of elementary-aged kids watching this "not-so-appropriate"movie and being out til 2:30am on a school night, but we loved it! The wedding was gorgeous, the honeymoon destination was breathtaking and the movie was action packed. I can't believe we have to wait another full year for Part 2, but as much as we deny it, I know we will be standing in line again for our final viewing together...

Happy 12th Birthday Taylor!

12 years ago this morning, we welcomed Taylor Lillian into our lives. We loved her from the second she arrived, but could never have imagined the joy and pride she would bring to our family.
I have both looked forward to and dreaded this day as I watch my first baby grow up. How can she already be a 7th grader, almost taller than me and such a beautiful, talented and smart young lady?
It seems like every week we ask if she grew another inch or are amazed by a discussion or life lesson we face with a pre-teen. She is such a self-motivated, kind-hearted and gentle spirit and works very hard to be a wonderful student, athlete, friend, sister and daughter.
Her gorgeous blue eyes have captured us since the day she was born and I can't believe how fast the years have gone. I just wish we could stop time, but at the same time, am so eager to see all that she will accomplish in her life.Taylor, we love you more than you will ever know and are so proud to be your Mom and Dad. We hope this year brings you every blessing you deserve. We love you and wish you the best 12th Birthday.

Love,

Mom, Dad and Allison

Old Town

While Matt recovered from his graveyard shift and David headed to Oggi's to watch his Steelers play, we made our way to Old Town.The weather was perfect to walk around for a while and visit the Old Town Jail
and the new City Hall building and water fountain.
I can't believe Wendy and I have been friends for 21 years!!
I am so happy her family will be closer now for us to visit more often.
The kids all had a good time at the Pennypickle Children's Workshop. They loved the musical instruments, science experiments and loved seeing their skeleton hands glow in the black light room!

Only a Short Drive Away...

Now that the Raissle's have moved to Arizona, we are so excited to see them more often. It was getting nearly impossible to find time and money to fly everybody to Cincinnati, so it great to only have them be only a short 5 hour drive away!

Nolan (4) and Parker (2 1/2)

Apparently the boys have been practicing the "Happy Birthday" song all week to sing to Taylor so Nolan helped decorate this cute and very crunchy cake to help Taylor celebrate her birthday week!
They both did a great job singing and helping her blow out the candles!Wendy and David enjoyed a little mini-vacation while Taylor and Allison had a blast entertaining the boys. It gave us a little extra time for some much needed "catching up"! Taylor read lots of books to Parker and helped Nolan build lego sets.
Nolan and Allison had some very competitive "War" battles that brought lots of laughs!
They made the most of the rainy day playing Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders...

and cuddled up to watch Toy Story 3.

The girls loved helping with story time and Taylor rubbed Nolan's back to help him fall asleep. They kept saying they want a little brother now, but I think we will just cherish these very special weekends with the boys!

Taylor's Birthday Hunt

A Friday with no school seemed like the perfect day to schedule Taylor's Birthday party so there wouldn't be any conflicts. Good thing we didn't do a pool party with the big weekend storm on its way!

14 of her friends from school and soccer met at Red Robin for an afternoon of eating, hanging out and hunting through the mall.
Allison and Reanna were good sports and very patient little sisters! A big thank you to Leslie for helping me chaperone!
Taylor blushed as the staff sang "Happy Birthday"
and she shared her birthday sundae with the group.
Then it was into the mall for the Scavenger Hunt (apparently not permitted by mall management, but the girls behaved). The girls picked colored headbands out of a bag to determine teams.
Team Blue-Emily, Shelby, Taylor, Lexi and LaurenTeam Green-Mandy, Vanessa, Maylie and Jenna
Team Purple-Mya, Alyssa, Leilani, Jaden and Madison
Each team was given a list of 30 tasks to complete and $10. Some involved answering mall trivia questions..."How many restaurants are in the Food Court?", "How much does it cost to rent a stroller?" and "What movie is playing in Theater 2?".Other items included taking photos of pink shoes,posing in front of the Christmas tree,finding a game that started with the letter "M",solving a riddle about Claire's and posing in front of it,and the whole team with sunglasses. They even had to make a few purchases and hunt down to-go menus, discarded receipts and movie ticket stubs.
After determining Team Blue was the big winner, the girls sang "Happy Birthday" again, ate delicious Nothing Bundt Cakes' Bundtinis
and Taylor opened some of the cutest, most thoughtful gifts.

Soccer buddies!

It is hard to believe Taylor is turning 12 in just a few days, but it was a fun start to the celebration!