Tolerant dog or happy dog?

I just adore my children!  Everything they do is so sweet!  (okay, okay... maybe not everything!)

August 15th, 2014: Happy 8th Birthday Lucy and Ava!!

 Chris and I decorated the girls door after we got home from Ashland so they could wake up to birthday fun!

 Lucy is officially 8 years old!

 Ava is officially 8 years old too!

 Love these smiles!

 Spaghetti was the birthday dinner request!  Surprised?

 And of course, chocolate cake!

 The girls made lots of presents for each other.  Inside this package was a clay hippo made by Lucy. :-)

 The girls wanted to make a fleece present for each other to give as a gift.  We went to the fabric store and I let them independently pick out fabric for each other.  Lucy or Ava didn't know what the other person chose for them, and they ended up picking out the exact same fabric!  It must be the twin connection! 

 Lucy made Ava this very creative horse monopoly game!  Very fun!

We drove all the way back to Fair Oaks from Ashland because the girls wanted to spend their birthday here in Fair Oaks.  we left Ashland at 630pm, and arrived home at midnight! (Yes, I am marking this down as parents of the year award... a 5 hour drive to celebrate their birthday!) Anyway, we had a great time celebrating 8 wonderful years with these beautiful girls.  We spent the day relaxing, swimming, bouncing in a bounce house, playing laser tag, and eating chocolate cake and spaghetti!  Happy Birthday sweet baby girls!!!!

We are officially Ashlanders!

We did it, we moved to Ashland!  Life has been super busy these

days!  On Monday, August 11th we left Fair Oaks around 4pm and arrived in Ashland around 1030pm.  Since then we have moved our belongings into the new house, had the carpets cleaned, cable/internet installed, registered all the girls for school, had the alarm company out, cleaned the new house, moved items to storage, and then drove all the way back to Sacramento on Thursday night!  Pheww! Yes, we are exhausted!

Masked girls

The girls made these fun little masks and actually wore them in public... Silly girls!

Catty the caterpillar emerges from his cocoon!

Hubba Bubba Challenge

I don't know whose idea this was, but the girls and I participated in the Hubba Bubba challenge... we put all 6 feet of gum in our mouth and chewed it! It was gross... really gross!  I still get sick when I look at these pictures.  I will never eat Hubba Bubba gum again! LOL

Our Ashland Trip in July

 Ava's note to herself... Don't forget the special blanket!

 We stayed in a cute little cabin in Green Springs.  The cabin has a screened in porch that the girls really wanted to sleep in.  It was cold, but they did it!

 Walking around Green Springs nature trails

 We were out driving around when we saw this cute church.  It was so charming and inviting!

 This is the towns cute little two room school house.  We actually took a tour of the school and met the principal.  We considered, Chris more than me, sending the girls to school here.  However, it's about a 40 minute drive to town...

 Ava found a crystal!

 The rain is coming to Ashland!

 Hyatt Lake fun... This is just before the rain came.

 Due to the drought all over the western side of the US, the lake was really low.  There was a huge layer of mud that the girls insisted on running (falling?) in.  They did have fun sinking and getting stuck in the mud!

 I don't think this big kid could resist either!

 I love clouds... seriously, I can't get enough of them!

 The rain came!  Just was we were leaving Hyatt lake a thunderstorm rolled in.  It was quite scary because the thunder would shake your body and the lighting seemed super close!

 About 5 minutes after we left Hyatt lake we were traveling on this road and saw all the debris from a lighting strike!  Maybe this is why the lightning seemed so close, because it was! Yikes!