Work, Work, Work!
While we were off playing in Bakersfield, Daddy was getting a ton of work done! He & Eric ran the electrical in the garage yesterday, so we can have real lights, and insulated & put up the first wall! I guess the electrical took awhile to figure out, so next time they work, Ka thinks they can get most of the walls done! Thanks for all your hard work Daddy & Eric!
You can see the wall/gardens Kaleb put in along the perimeter of the yard..It looks so nice! He is close to being done!

Kenslie Warmbrodt
As promised, here is a picture of our niece, Kenslie Sherayne Warmbrodt, born August 4th at 10:55pm. She weighed in at 8 lbs, 1 oz and 20 inches long....We can't wait to meet her! She's going to be well taken care of with 3 boys around her!

Birthday Party Saturday
I am having one of those days, where I am seriously questioning my parenting skills! Things have been relatively smooth for the last four years. I think kids that are 1 & 2 are pretty easy. You just keep them fed, clothed, and happy! At Jack's age of 4 1/2, things have definitely gotten harder. Throw in the sibling fighting, and it's enough to make anyone crazy. I never knew it would be this hard, to navigate parenting and raising happy, healthy children. I struggle to balance letting my kids be who they are (individuals who are both like Kaleb & I, and have their own qualities too), with wanting them to be well-behaved reflections of us! I know we all struggle with this, but today is just one of those days I seriously question all that I know about child-rearing!!! There has GOT to be a manual somewhere right? Anybody..anybody?!!

We spent today making the rounds at birthday parties. Our first stop was Madisyn's 5th Princess Birthday party! Jack informed me that he does not like princesses :) Here he is swimming with Madeline, who he gets along with really well. They were swimming "laps" and actually doing a really good job!
Colby got to get in the water & seriously had no fear! He kept jumping in & trying to swim. Kaleb would pull him back up & he'd have a huge smile on his face!

Here is the Big 5 Year Old, Madisyn! I love this picture of her...it shows her personality so much! She is a sweet girl :)

This is Madeline (who is in Jack's preschool class!), Madisyn, and Jackson. We all live in the same neighborhood, but didn't meet that way!

And then we went over to John's 2nd Birthday Party! He is one week older than Colby, and his mom Jenny & I used to teach together (and now we scrap together!). Here is Colby with John & Nick, John's little friend, doing sidewalk chalk.

There is the handsome birthday boy! Don't you just love the red hair??!! He is a sweet boy too :)

Happy 8 Years Baby!!!
Yesterday was our 8 year anniversary. It's so hard to believe 8 years have flown by so quickly! We had a kid-free day yesterday and just enjoyed shopping, lunch, and a dinner out last night. Thank you Aunt Kristin for watching the boys, and playing 4 rounds of Shoots & Ladders :) You are a trooper! (We also had a new addition to the Thompson family--baby Kenslie was born late Monday night. We'll add pictures as soon as we get them. Welcome Baby Kenslie!!).
We went to Seal Beach, our favorite place, and had dinner at The Crab Pot. We sat outside, enjoyed a kid-free dinner, and watched the sunset. After dinner we went to O'Malley's, our favorite Irish pub and had drinks. It was a great night out :)

You have to wear a bib to eat here, and they just dump the food on the table. It is really fun :)

We watched the sunset from our table....

Ka got me this beautiful peridot necklace. I love the circle shape, and the peridot is the birthstone for August. Since our anniversary is in August, it is doubly special, being Colby's birthstone too. You can't really see the green though in this picture.

In the morning, I asked Jack to take our picture. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but he did a great job! Maybe he'll love photography like his mommy :)

And here he said, "I got a nice one of your legs." He was totally serious :) Love that boy!!!

This was so funny yesterday. The boys got bubble guns at the fair (usually I'm not a fan of any toy guns, but these bubble guns are so awesome--there is NO mess involved!). They light up & make the bubbles different colors. So we saw Colby sitting here facing the window, just watching the bubbles hit the sliding glass door!

He noticed me taking his picture!!

Garage Project Begins!!
We spent last Sunday deep cleaning our garage. It was a super big mess when we started! We threw out a ton of stuff & filled our dumpster to the brim! Here is what is left, all boxed up in bins to be moved out to the new shed Kaleb built. Next week we can begin turning this into a play room, putting in electrical, insulation, sheetrock, an AC unit, and carpet! We are excited to have more room :)Here is proof that we filled it to the brim with junk!! Some of the junk was from our side yard, that had junk in it for years!

Here are the boys hanging out in the backyward while Daddy works on the yard. They have been Daddy's little helpers this summer--especially Colby; he just follows Kaleb around :) It is sweet.

Fair: Part Deux
We went to the fair this week with the Herticas. The kids had a lot of fun riding rides & playing games! Some of these pictures were taken by Ang...she brought her super zoom lense & got some great photos!
Kylie & Jackson both won a turtle!

Colby, Kylie, and Jack had fun dancing to music while we finished up eating our yummy BBQ!

On a small roller coaster...Jack kept his arms up the whole time!

My three favorite boys on the big slide!

Kaleb & Colby on the balloons..Colby had the best time!!

Jack & Kylie spinning around & around on the balloons!

Beach Visit
Last weekend we went to the beach to meet up with some of Kaleb's old students. They are now sophomores in high school! The boys loved the beach. Jack loved the water, and Colby liked digging and chasing "quack quacks" (sea gulls)! I had fun playing around with my camera and watching the boys enjoy the beach.

I was watching Jack down by the water (Kaleb was close by!), and I was thinking how small he looked next to the big ocean. It was a nice reminder of how young & precious he is :)

Kaleb's students that met up with us there made him cupcakes & sang Happy Birthday to him.