Grammie Comes to Town!

 We were so excited to have Grammie come visit for a weekend while Jason is gone and we had lots of girl time planned!

She ended up having quite a travel day and getting in much later than we thought but we were just glad she was here and we headed to Dad's Kitchen...a diner in Sacramento that had been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives!

 The food was GREAT...they are known for their burgers and they didn't disappoint!  We headed home with full bellies and some tired little girls!

Riley went to school on Friday and Grammie watched Tessa while I did a few things BY MYSELF and got some work done!

I started the day getting my hair cut and going to Starbucks BY MYSELF to drink a Pumpkin Spice Latte and work.

I headed home to pick up Hank for his vet appointment on base and got him all taken care of and then headed home for a work call.

It was so nice to be able to get out alone...much needed for me! I love love love my girls but this mama needed a little break!

We picked up Riley from school and ran a few errands to get supplies for some Pinterest projects...fun fun fun!

That night I made pumpkin pancakes for dinner and we ate outside because the weather was just gorgeous!

Me and my girls...oh how I love being their mama!

 Grammie and her girls!

 Tessa was just starting to try finger foods and I let her have some pumpkin pancake...I couldn't get it on her highchair quick enough...she LOVED it!

 Saturday morning we headed to Riley's first soccer practice this fall.  She moved up to the 4 and 5 year old group and had a blast!

 Tessa cheered and then had to stop and have a snack!

Oh and Grammie's necklace was on the of the pinterest projects! I made it with an old Aggie tshirt so she can wear it to the A&M games!

After soccer we headed to the farmer's market and then cooked a yummy dinner and has Ashley and her kiddos over to eat since her hubby was out of town!  Another nice dinner outside and the kids got to run around and have a ton of fun!

Sunday we went to church, lunch with friends, and then we were off to the outlet malls to shop 'til we dropped...which doesn't take long with two kids..haha!  Actually the girls did great!

We had to stop so Riley could ride her horse Quicksilver!

 And we stopped for drinks too because we were famished!

It was a fun day of shopping and that night my mom and I worked on another pinterest project after the girls went to bed...we finished it the next morning and it turned out super cute!

What a fun weekend...we miss you Grammie and can't wait until our next visit!

Ollie-Fun!

Ollie got to come and spend a whole weekend with us!

 Riley and Ollie are best buds and get along GREAT!  As soon as Ollie walked in the door Riley said "Ollie are you ready for me to give you a makeover?" and Ollie replied "yup"...that's why they are best buds! :)

After the makeover Ollie got busy working with the tools!

 And Riley was a smoothie maker!

 Tessa was just having fun being in the middle of all of it!

 Later we headed outside where Riley and Ollie went camping!

 Riley loves to play camping...camping chairs, sleeping bags...she's got it all covered!

 Time to sleep!

 Tessa was just playing away!

This is her new face where she scrunches her nose and it just cracks me up!

 We had dinner outside...love these two!

 And of course this cutie loves to eat anything and anywhere!

 There was a little more time for playing before we headed inside!

 They had their cowboy hats on getting ready for Ella's cowgirl party the next morning!

And of course the night ended with a movie and popsicles!

 The next morning we headed out to Joyful Acres for Ella's cowgirl party!

Izzy needed a ride so I had a car full of kiddos!

 

It was over the top cute and Sara planned such fun things for all the kids!

 Riley was the lone ranger...the only boy...and he ate it up!

 There was cookie making, square dancing, scavenger hunts, and rides on a tire swing!

 Our pretty cowgirl!

Sunday we went to church and then I was brave and took all 3 kids to the commissary that afternoon!

Riley and Ollie got to ride together in the car cart so they had a blast and I carried Tessa in the carrier!

Then the kids played outside before dinner!

Hannah came and got Ollie later that night after he was fast asleep!

Phew...I survived!

Have three kids all by myself all weekend about did me in!  The kids were good...a few episodes that almost sent me to the looney bin..but all in all they were really great!  It's just juggling three kids especially with the fact that Tessa is all over the place and into everything right now.  I needed to be in two places at once on numerous occasions but that just isn't possible!  I notoriously stay up too late while Jason is gone and Saturday I realized I needed a good night's sleep so I would have the energy and patience to take good care of these kiddos...so Sunday was a much better day for me! :)

It was a fun weekend and I think everyone was worn out...in a good way!

Backyard Bash

 It's always fun to have friends over!  We had Vanessa and Max over to play and have pizza and it was quite a fun afternoon and evening!

It was quite a hot day so we had the kids play inside until the sun wasn't blazing into the backyard and then it was perfect outside!

Jill and her two sweet kiddos!

 Tessa had quite a time playing in the grass and watching all the big kids run wild!

 We had pizza for dinner and I had made the dough earlier so Riley and Vanessa could make their own pizza.  We had a kids cheese pizza and a mama's pizza with artichokes, lots of yummy cheeses, tomato, and basil!  It was delish! 

We had a fun dinner on the patio and then of course it was popsicle time!

 Love these kiddos!

 What a cutie!

 All the kiddos...we couldn't leave Miss Tessa out although she was wondering where in the world her popsicle was! :)

Nut Tree Fun

 The weekends are always the toughest when Jason is gone.  That's just supposed to be family time.  I try to keep us busy but sometimes need the motivation.  This Sunday we went to church and then came home for lunch and naps...I was thinking of taking the girls up to Nut Tree but also needed to do some grocery shopping.  Just as we left the store Ashley texted me and said they were heading up to Nut Tree...perfect...just the motivation I needed!

So we met the Burrells and the Fields up there and had a great afternoon / evening of fun!

We headed to Peets first...where I had to get an iced Pumpkin Latte because it was quite toasty outside!

Blake and Riley...could they be any cuter?

 Then we headed to let the kids ride play and ride the rides!

Me and my girls!

 The Burrell Fam!

 Sara and Ella!

 Miss Tessa got to go on her first carousel ride and she LOVED it!

We ended up having dinner there with the Fields and it was a great end to the weekend!

I'm so thankful for good friends!

Gig 'Em

 Are you ready for some football?

These girls are ready for some Aggie Football and our first season in the SEC! 

Whoop!

Tilden Park

 A bunch of our friends were planning a trip to Tilden Park on Saturday and that sounded like a great adventure for me and the girls!  Tilden Park is near Berkeley and is BEAUTIFUL and HUGE!  

Somehow I managed to get myself and the girls ready and out the door rather early because I planned to stop at Safeway to pick up lettuce and celery for the animals and I wanted to get a Pumpkin Spice Latte to kick off fall!  Okay..it was a little before fall but it was a cool crisp morning! :)

I have to share this story...Riley is VERY into being just like me and one of the ways she does that is by being a mommy to her babies...either Sally or Coco.  So on this particular day CoCo was her baby of choice and she had CoCo safely buckled in the extra carseat in the car and had brought her stroller as well.  I knew we were just going to run into Safeway quickly to grab the few things we needed so as I was getting out I gave Riley the verdict that CoCo would not be going with us on this trip and I assured her she would be fine in the car.  Well...I got out and got Tessa out of her carseat and a few minutes passed so my brain was onto something else and Riley was fully prepared to take advantage of that.  When I went around to the other side to get Riley out she said "Mommy...when I was little and you just needed to run into the store real quick did you ever just leave me in my carseat?"  Of course I responded with a gasp and "of course not honey...you can never leave a baby in the car."   Well I walked right into that one...her response was "well then I can't leave CoCo in the car"....wow.  Well as much as I had to hand it to her for completely planning to school her mom I put my foot down.  She didn't take it well, insisted she was a "real" mommy, and continued to tell me how it just wasn't fair!  That whole incident made my decision to treat myself to a Pumpkin Spice Latte even more justified!

After all of that we made our way to the park and met up with all of our friends!

Sara and Damon had picked up donuts for everyone so we scarfed some down before heading to feed the animals!

Quinn, Riley, Ella, and Blake

The mamas...and the babies!

They kids had so much fun feeding the cows...they giggled the whole time!

 Such a pretty place!

 After feeding the animals we headed to a playground area to have picnic lunches...the babies sat together and played and ate!

Addi and Tessa!

 After lunch and playtime we headed to the steam train and it was so fun!  I snuggled up with Hannah and Gavin and Riley rode with Ella...and they squealed with glee as we went through the tunnels!

 It was a fun day and Riley literally crashed on the way home...mouth wide open drool coming out crash!  That was after she assured me she wasn't tired..hehe!

We went over to Tim and Ashley's for dinner that night so the fun didn't have to end!  Ashley cooked a great meal and the kids played...it was a super fun day!