Our little ballerina

Elizabeth had her first dance class on Tuesday and had a wonderful time. She was more excited than I can say....
There are only 4 or 5 girls in her class and she is the only new student, but she listened so well and tried so hard that it's not a problem. As soon as she came out of the studio she said, "Mommy, I can't wait to go back!" I feel so thankful that she can have this opportunity. She absolutely loves Angelina Ballerina, which, if you have girls, you probably know. She's a little mouse who wears a pink tutu and ballet slippers and loves ballet. Very cute. Anyway, that was the highlight of her week. She's also excited that her friens Abby and Aaron are back from a long trip to Canada.

Caleb....he's just Caleb. Sometimes he's so shy and clingy to Mommy. But today we went to the mall - one of our favorite summertime hangouts - to play in their kids' play area, and he climbed up on everything he could and he'd jump to whoever was standing there. He also walked around telling everyone "bye-bye". He has no fear. He climbs as high as he can, stands up, puts his hands up and yells "ta-daaa!"

Luke had a physical today. It was....interesting. He's in great health though, which is really no surprise. He's looking forward to the Steelers' pre-season game tomorrow night which is supposed to be on TV here. But we're also babysitting for our awesome babysitting co-op, so we'll see how much he can focus on TV....

Little pool

Here are Elizabeth, Caleb, and Luke in our little pool. Luke wants me to say that he's as strong as ever!!

Dance class

Elizabeth is going to take dance classes! I went and signed her up today. She'll be taking Creative Dance, which is a pre-ballet class, and this semester their theme is "Peter and the Wolf". So -- her class begins Tuesday. She was SOOOO excited when I got home that she immediately put on her tutu that her friend Amanda gave her. Of course, now we need to go to the approved store and buy the regulation powder blue leotard, pink tights and ballet shoes. Oh my goodness..... But we have told her that she could do this, so we'll see....

In other news, I've been feeling weird lately, so I went to the doctor and it looks like I have asthma, courtesy of the horrid air in our valley. Anyhow, I'm trying an inhaler and I'll go back in a couple weeks to see if it's helped. Pray that my blood tests come back negative for anything else. Any relief would be welcome!!!!

It's bath time. The grubby children need to be cleaned.....

Is this beautiful?

So does anyone think this is beautiful? These are foothill type hills of the coastal range of mountains. You drive through these totally brown, dry hills for hundreds of miles. No trees. Very strange to this western PA native. I guess it has its attributes. Blue skies.... Today Fresno broke our record for consecutive days over 100 degrees. Today is the 21st day over 100. Today I also made my first call to Poison Control. Pretty good considering I've been a mom for almost 4 years. Caleb ate some Shout. I'm not sure how much. But it turns out it's non-toxic. In case you wondered..... And he is fine.

Hint

Oh, in case you didn't figure it out, the title of the last entry is a link to another site, so that's what I wanted you to see....

For you Penn Staters

Hey there! It's almost football season and for those of you who have spent time in Happy Valley, you know the nostalgia associated with it! Luke and I were playing around on the computer the other day and found this site and had a very fun time listening to the Blue Band tunes and feeling a little sentimental. So if you have a good connection, listen and enjoy!!! And go PSU!!!

I love the beach!

So Sunday we headed to Avila Beach, which is an awesome beach for kids. It's in a great, protected cove so the waves aren't huge and often it's sunny there when the coastal marine layer clouds the other beaches. It was a GORGEOUS day. Almost 80 degrees, which for a California beach is very warm. I told Luke I think it's the first time I've actually been WARM on a beach in California. The kids had a great time. Elizabeth made rock pudding and dribbled the wet sand all over her legs for a long time. Caleb loved dancing out into the shallow part of the extremely cold water and running back when a wave came. And of course he loved digging too. My favorite part was sitting in a chair on the beach drinking coffee - actually feeling cool when we got there and it was only in the 60's - and I've always loved the beach. Yay!

Camping....

Feeling like I needed a break from Fresno, I suggested camping - for one night - and going to the beach! It was the first time we've camped with Caleb, and it went fairly well. We stayed at a KOA - so far, that's as far as I'll go towards "roughing it" - in Santa Margarita, which is almost as hot as Fresno. But there's a great pool and it cools off to the 50's at night - very nice! So we packed up our handy-dandy Suburban (thanks, God!!) and took a huge tent and yummy camp food and had a fun time. The kids were filthy, of course, and loved it! Why wouldn't they? Caleb loves to make me nervous with his daredevil tricks. Elizabeth just enjoys any new experience, and she doesn't remember the last time we camped, so it was great for her. Then on Sunday we headed to the beach.....

PSU 4 U

Luke's 2 cents

All this blog stuff is new for me, but of course I wanted to put in my two cents. Hope you like them both. On the left; Me and the kids in front of a classic airplane from the first airshow in fresno that happened just a few short blocks from our house. On the right; A bible club that was run at Kings Estates with a missions trip group from LA.

More pictures....

Summer days....

August is finally here! For us that means that the busiest part has passed for the most part. Camps are almost over, so we can breathe a sigh of relief. In Fresno it is still HOT - over 100 degrees daily. So we try to keep cool however we can - like swimming! These pictures are from last Saturday's teen swim. Elizabeth has always loved swimming, but Caleb is not so sure about it. In fact, he pretty much fell asleep in his floaty thing this time. But the girls LOVE him, as you can also see. He's going to be a charmer....do you like the cowboy hat?

Last week Elizabeth used her own money - two whole dollars - to buy 2 new baby chicks. She named them Peep and Marshmallow - much better than her original suggestions of Dog and Submarine. We are surprised that the chicks have lived this long. Being handled by two not-so-gentle children is traumatic for them. Especially when Caleb picks up Peep by her wing!!

Enjoy the pictures! I will try to update this blog regularly!!