Amelia's Art

Amelia drew this "Olive Family" at Grama Gwynne's the other day. I was happy to get a shot of it before it got erased. The story is told that it took the girl nearly 15 minutes to create this masterpiece as she stood back, arms crossed after each addition of legs, fingers, hair, etc. It seems to me that the "Mamma Olive" is bending down to talk to the "Baby Olive." Anyway, I just loved it!

BowlFest

Had a really fun time at the Black Oak Lanes this evening. Gwynne, Joel, Amelia and I shared a lane w/ bumpers and a ramp for the wee one and.... she bowled a STRIKE!!!!! Actually, I'm the only one in our foursome that did not have a single strike during the game. This was way more fun than staying at home!

Flener Wedding Weekend!

We had a fun and exhausting weekend in Sublimity, Oregon for cousin Justin Flener's wedding to Miss Jessica Stoopes. Lots of driving, lots of family and lots of berries!

We left early Friday morning, along with Gwynne, Emily and Roxy in a seperate car and headed north. Making many stops along the way, one at Crag Rock which was very beautiful, we arrived around 9pm. Saturday was spent playing in the pool, napping and primping for the party. We all headed over to Kerry and Don's for drinks before the gorgeous garden wedding - the fastest vows I've ever witnessed! The Bride was beautiful, the weather... perfect! We made it back to the hotel with a passed out toddler around 11pm.

Sunday was spent back at the Flener home for a full day of family visiting. Joel and the little girls spent the first part of the morning picking Marion berries and blueberries which were later made into one of Don's famous cobblers. Wonderful. Many hours later, it was back to the hotel for some much needed Zs before leaving at the crack of dawn Monday morning.

This time, we had an extra rider as Maxx needed a ride home. Amelia slept a lot more this time which made for less stops so after dropping Maxx off in Red Bluff, we arrived home before 6pm to some very excited pets!

Ava and Amelia play in the pond.

Three Years Old!

Amelia turned three years old yesterday! We celebrated with a luau attended by lots of family and friends! We started the morning by opening the gifts and cards that came in the mail. She got this cute gardening set from Grandpa and Grandma Frantz and a very fun TinkerBell outfit from the Nasarow family. After she wore the box on her head, she changed into the new outfit and flew around the house a bit. The luau got going around 11 and we all had fun in the bounce house, smacking the candy out of a butterfly pinata and making edible leis out of Fruit Loops. Joel cooked up some great burgers with grilled pineapple and we all enjoyed the SandCastle cake. Beach music played on our recently installed outdoor speakers and Amelia got lots of wonderful presents. During clean-up she changed clothes again. This time she put on her new Cinderella outfit from Nana and Grampa. Such Fun. Great pics!

Amelia's new gardening hat!

Amelia blows out the candles - Amelia and Ryan enjoy some cake!

Sue and Brandon, Patrick and Roxanne and Ryan and Alyssa.

Jeremiah and Amelia H, AnnMarie and Kevin, Thomas and Jessica and Abby and Marissa!

Ryan, Amelia and Alyssa

Fireworks

We had a pretty good time on Sunday. Went to Lake Don Pedro to celebrate our Independence and watch the 'works over the water... Beautiful. We put together a bunch of food and drinks, hopped in the truck and headed out. The place was pretty packed but we were still able to find a little place to swim around a bit. The show started at 9:30 and lasted about 1/2 hour. About 10 minutes in to it, Amelia said that she was very tired and wanted to go home. The traffic out was not as bad as expected and we made it home by 11. Amelia, of course, slept the whole way.