Saturday, June 28, 2008

Grandpa See

Rick's Grandpa See passed away last week. My heart is sad, but heaven gained an amazing angel and he is reunited with his true love, Grandma See! The girls got to meet their Great-Grandfather last spring when he was visiting CA. Grandpa's service was today in Escondido. A small family affair and I think it was beautiful and that he was pleased. Grandpa was an amazing man! He retired as a Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps and defended our country through THREE wars! He was kind, sincere and had a heart of gold. Family was so important to him! He loved his wife of 52 years, Louise, and cared for her until her passing several years ago. He loved his family, his daughters Ann and Lynda and his son Richard, Rick's dad. He remarried and loved his wife Beth and her family. He was involved in his grandchildrens' lives- Rick, Charles and Megan. And he got to meet his great- grandchildren (all 6 of them over 2 days) last year.
We will miss having Grandpa See with us, but take comfort knowing that he is now watching over us and smiling down.

Friday, June 27, 2008

FFF #14: Summer Lovin'!

AAAAHHHHH Summer! I just love it! This summer is so special to me because it is the last summer before the girls start school! Where did the time go? We have a LONG list of things we want to do this summer and I plan on keeping busy with projects around the house and trips to the beach and local activities. We have lots of things planned- and we've already done quite a few things! So Sarah's Favorite Foto Friday theme this week was PERFECT! (Isn't it always though?)

So what is summer lovin' O'Connor style? Here's a sample of the few things we've ALREADY done since the start of summer last weekend. ENJOY!

Summer=BASEBALL!

We went to a minor league game for our friend Pam's birthday. She got to throw out the first pitch (nailed it!) and the girls got to play a between innings game of chasing the mascot around the bases (Ashley kept telling me, "I'm gonna get that parrot!"). Sounded like a great idea when we signed them up- got them out there- they started to run and the balls started to fly as the players warmed up for the next inning! Ever have one of those "What the heck was I thinking?" moments and there is nothing you can do about it as you watch it happen? Yep- that was me as I watched my girls run those bases- loving every moment of it- with baseballs flying all around them! They were cute though and were a big hit!
Summer= Water time! We have a new pool and a new sprinkler- but the hose still wins for the water toy of choice. And old habits never die- they just suck in others- Ashley was our sole spitter last year- this year she taught Maddie. :) Summer= Golf

Aunt Chelle and Uncle Mike have a putting green in their back yard. The girls proved they were naturals (look out Tiger!)- in bathing suits no less! Hmmmm...stay away from Hugh Hefner!



Summer=Lemonade! Our lemon tree is drooping from the weight! Grammie helped the girls make lemonade. It was delicious! Lemonade stand anyone?


SO that is just after one week of summer! PHEW! Are you tired yet? Hang on! Summer's just started and we have an awesome list of things to do this summer! Stay tuned!



Also- Jennifer is back home from her CA trip and she has some pretty good stories and pictures from our get together on her blog. (Glad to see we weren't the only ones to have "issues" with the Peter Pan ride! LOL)

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Meet Leo!

Remember our plum tree?

It now looks like this.... bending to the ground from the weight of the fruit! This is by far the best year we've had with the fruit on these trees!


The fruit is almost ready to eat, in fact I've been able to take a few plums off to sample with great reviews from the girls...

Max is also enjoying the plums that fall off the tree, I won't share the details of Max's experience with eating all my parent's concord grapes that fell to the ground a few years ago- but i will tell you it wasn't pretty! So we'll see how he does with plums- especially since he is older now. LOL Might actually be good for him!However... we also have these in the backyard...
Max used to chase them out of the yard- all day long- now that he is a "senior" he really doesn't care about sharing space with them, so Max considers himself retired.

Well, they are now EATING all the plums before they fall SOOOO- meet Max's replacement, Leo!
He is a great horned plastic owl (but we don't hold that against him). Maddie and I came up with the name. Sort of inspired by Little Einsteins Leo. He's doing an ok job at warding off the birds- I think they sit on the fence and laugh at me as I move him around- and then attack the tree as soon as i leave. There really are so many plums that there is no way we'll be able to eat them all, but I'd like to get some!

Monday, June 23, 2008

Let summer begin!

I had my last two hours at work this morning and i am now on VACATION until Sept. 2nd! YAAAAAAAY! :P

We started summer festivities this weekend and included our first family trip to see Aunt Chelle and Uncle Mike's new home in Anaheim Hills! The girls have really been looking forward to seeing the house. We had a great time, a GREAT meal and it was just like "old times".
Cooling off in the backyard before dinner and helping Aunt Chelle water her flowers
Ready for dinner!

Emily spending time with Keenan- this was our "until next time" dinner with him, he's going back to school in North Carolina :( We'll miss you!


We brought some toys we had in storage for the girls to play with (it's like getting new toys!) But I think they were more excited about Uncle Mike's new TV toy!


We will be staying the night out there for the 4th of July, but the girls couldn't say no to the chance to have a bath in the BIG bath tub last night. They were very cute and silly until we turned the "bubbles" on. Emily and Ashley were horrified and then there's Madeline (who again- i tell ya can't stand to get her face wet- just like mommy) who loved every minute of it. maybe one day I'll figure her out :) The lights were a fun effect for the girls and we relaxed and watched a movie on Aunt Chelle and Uncle Mike's bed after baths. Yes- they are ready to stay over and were very upset when we loaded up to come home.
So here's to many more nights with Aunt Chelle and Uncle Mike! We're so happy to have them back! And here's to SUMMER! Hooray!!!!!

Friday, June 20, 2008

FFF #13: Daddy and Me!

Rick's car show went great last weekend so even though we didn't get to celebrate with him, it was worth it when it comes down to advertising for the business. They are doing great things with the shop! If you're interesting in checking out the latest- you can click here to see their webpage.
Rick is an awesome dad! I love watching him with the girls. I think its good that Rick and I had girls. Rick grew up around women and girls so he is familiar and comfortable with them. He's sweet, silly and nervous, and that's a good thing! I get to see a different side of Rick now that we have children- and I love it!
Building the new picnic table (above) and taking a Sunday snooze (below)
The girls adore their daddy and their shrieks of joy and "daddy's home!" when he opens our front gate melt my heart and make me smile. He's patient with all their "WHY?" questions answering way more in the chain than I do. Rick loves our girls and they love him- Happy Father's Day honey- you're the best!
To see more FFF posts on the men in our lives- please visit Sarah's blog! Have a great weekend!

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

WOW! and YAHOO!

I'm so proud of my Maddie girl! On Sunday she WROTE HER NAME, by herself (I didn't even have to tell her the letters) on my dad's Father's Day card! Do you know what a HUGE relief this is???? PHEW! The one thing I said to myself after we chose "Madeline" for one of the girls' names was that we must be crazy to pick such a LONG name! I was not looking forward to teaching her and LOOK! She did it herself! It's not perfect- but its pretty close in my book!That's one smart cookie! Being a good mommy- I made my dad give the card back so i could scan it and take her picture with it. He will get to keep the original of course!I am also really proud of Emily! We went to a party on Saturday and she really wanted to ride a WHITE horse (remember Emily is my animal lover). Luckily there were 2 white horses (phew!) so I let her pick which one (there were 4 horses total- so we got first choice anyway). Didn't my LITTLE girl (she's the smallest of the 3) choose the BIGGEST dang horse I've ever seen? No fear! She got up there and looked as comfortable as could be! Madeline rode a smaller horse and with gusto was throwing her arm out saying "yahoo!" and moving her feet saying, "giddy up!" Ashley was a tad nervous so we put her on the small, sweet DONKEY. Her face is priceless in the pictures- you can tell she's not thrilled LOL but i'm still proud of her for doing it!!

A few more pictures from the party- while the girls were waiting for the puppet show- I'll post more on the party later with some more pics.