A beautiful day in the bay!

The weekend before Andrew started school, we decided to officially end our summer with some good ol' American ball! We headed out early in the morning and decided to take the Bart from Concord into SF. Nothing like a Giant's game with friends and family to end the summer!

On the Muni to the ball park:

I was literally smashed against the door, I wonder where all these

people were going?? ;) hehe

It was indeed, a beautiful day in the bay

Andrew ( with Lou Seal ) and my niece Emma enjoying the game

My sister n law, don't worry she doesn't bite!

The hubby and I

Mama and Andrew.. just being... well, Andrew!

I love this picture

Whack!!!!!

Yep! I whacked off all my hair! A change was a' coming! Though I'm not entirely fond of the "A line" It's nice for a change to have it short. Once it grows our some more I'm going to even out the length and do some layers!

Before:

After:

My bestie and Stylist, Stephanie. She's going to school do to hair so I went down to support her and had her cut my hair at school. I can't wait until she's in a salon =)

First Day of 1st Grade

Last Monday I officially had a 1st grader! I can't say enough how thrilled I was for Andrew to start school, let alone the fact this year he goes a full day. While I still have a toddler at home, it's nice to have that down time and be able to give Luke the solid attention that Andrew got at his age. It was such a drag dropping him off at 8 and having to be back to get him at 11:40. You can't really get that much done in less than 4 hours. A costco trip and Target and then it was time to get him. So, It's safe to say I'm relieved and excited about the new schedule. did I mention we had that schedule for 2 years? We decided, since Andrew was super young when he started Kinder, to have him do another year. I believe it will be the best thing educationally we will do for him - the process was astonishing. Amazing the difference the second year made.

On the other hand I think Andrew really needed this as well. My little man's bran is way too active to not be absorbing and learning! We are already seeing some behavior improvements, so this may be just what the Dr. ordered!

Better late than never...

I told myself that the first thing I was going to do when I got on the computer today was post a blog. So, here I am. Let me see how far I can get ;). I miss blogging dearly, and have had plenty to blog about, so it's unclear to me why I have not blogged. Time could be my only logical conclusion...

As for our exciting news I mentioned in my last very brief post, thought it was time to blog about it before it isn't new news anymore. I mean heck, I still haven't even blogged about our Disneyland trip from May. I do give myself kudos for actually starting a blog for Day 1 of the trip.

So, about a month ago my husband randomly thought it was a good idea to stop at the animal shelter and look. We were in the area and thought the kids would enjoy it. Now, as some of you may recall a little over a year ago, we made the tough decision to find a new home for our 2 mini Doxies. It was one of the toughest things we had to do, but we know in our hearts it was what was best for everyone. I didn't trust frank around the kids alone, he had grown mean and aggressive and with how they were, they would be best suited in a home with no kids and someone who can sleep with them all day. which is really exactly where they went. We knew we would get another dog down the line better suited for our family, but never thought it would be so soon! One of the major factors for me was a bigger dog. No more lap dogs! Of course the priority over anything was going to be kid friendly. We needed a dog that could take a beating from my kids if it were to accidently happen and understand they are kids, not attempt to bite them in defense.

The shelter was full. Tons of homeless cats and dogs, it's just heartbreaking. How could you just leave with one? You feel so guilty. While we were there we did see Gretchen: She's about a 1 1/2 year old Staffordshire Terrier. This is her "mug shot" at the shelter.

While not so noticeable here, she has the most amazing pretty blue eyes!

Gretchen has settled in nicely. She's already attached to the family. She's amazing with the kids and has shown to be a good protector of her house =) She doesn't bark much, and hasn't gone to the bathroom in the house once. Though, we do have a chair that got munched on, a remote and some other random items, Gretchen had to be crate training but did so with flying colors!

Gretchen staying cool on a hot day

Our Miss Blue