Mother's of Faith Summer Fun

MOF had a great summer. Just 5 things planned and organized, but we had a great turn out every time. We went to Fairytale Town, had a swim day at the Veliquette's, had a bra fitting (yes, a bra fitting down by a woman in our church who works for a fabulous company. this was our biggest hit!!) and a swim day at the Kiles and then a trip to our very own Nut Tree here in town. We wrapped the summer up with a family BBQ/swim day this past Sunday after church. I love this group of families, such a great group God brought to our church!!

Unfortunately, I forgot the camera most days, but did catch one!

Benjamin enjoyed this day the most! He was able to play with the big kids!

Most of our kids hanging out!

A special train ride even!

The Sun is Out!!

and we are playing in the pool. Thomas got this pool from his grandparents for his birthday and it promises lots of summer fun. It wasn't really hot enough for a swim, but non of us could resist.

Thomas loved it right away and found a zillion different ways to go down the slide. Benjamin got in for a little, but wasn't a fan. He preferred to be on the side looking in and splashing.

These two sweet boys have so much fun together. Starting to see Benjamin attempting everything that his big brother does.

My big boy! Couldn't help but think back 4 years when I got this great other great shot:

(he's almost exactly ben's age in this shot!)

Loves to be silly for the camera.

Sweet, sweet Thomas

Ben is getting so big, so fast. He loves this ball, any ball really and will chase it anywhere!!

Enjoying the warm weather!

Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue

Most days Thomas and Buzz are inseperable. Some days he's replaced with Woody or maybe a small Buzz, but he's always close. We are counting down the days he has until he can go see the movie, which will be after baby comes. It'll be a special treat for him and his daddy. He tells everyone he meets about Buzz and his buttons. He can't wait to go to his friend Josiah or Spencer's house because they have Buzzs, too. He keeps laughing with all their adventures, that's for sure! He even shares Buzz with baby, letting him hear all the things that Buzz can say. I had to share some fun pictures I got of them playing in the yard during the backyard re-do.

More Napa Pictures

It was just such a great day, I had to post more pictures of it! I didn't have my camera so I'm still gathering pics from friends. Here are a few more tho enjoy:

This is the staircase in Rubicon, it was beautiful, handmade and just one of the neat things at this winery.

This is the group in the private room for the tasting. We all felt awfully special having our own room. The wines were wonderful, but I personally enjoyed watching the group enjoy the fun and the experience.

This is Cathy. She is constantly cracking me up!! This guy was out, saving the blanket space for the rest of his group. I'm not sure how it came up, and no she hadn't had too much wine, but she was over by him for a picture. It was hilarious!!

Mom's Group Park Day

What fun it is to hang out with mommy friends and their kids at the park. The kids are having a blast running around, swinging and sliding and you get to sit and talk with friends. They have someone to play with and so do you! Today was a great day for that. We had a small group from our Mom's Group meet up at a local park and we had a great time!

Thomas was cracking me up and exploring everything. No fear in him today! Before I knew it he had climbed all the way up to the top of the structure and was sliding down all by himself, not evening needing me to watch. Growing up so fast! He also managed to climb up this ladder looking thing and make it back down safely! His new favorite thing has definitely become climbing. That and jumping. I feel a broken arm in my future. Pray for us!!

Another thing I found cute today, was T's new love for his new back pack. We picked out yesturday and he loves it!! It was so cute, he and his friend went running for the swings, took a moment to confer, turned around, took off the back packs and set them down on the curb in unison, made sure they were ok and then ran back to the swings. Too cute~

Swimming at Great Grandma's

What a day to forget the camera!! We had a full day of fun with friends and special memories at my Grandma's. Thomas and I headed down to Fremont early yesturday morning for a full day of play! We met up with my good friend Emily and her girls for some coffee. We chatted and the kids ran around amusing all the poor people on the Peet's patio. The kids are 4, 2 and 1.5, so they had lots of fun together. After that, I stopped in at Dr. Mah's for a quick eye exam and then off to my Grandma's house to meet Molly and Mr. T (her 3 year old). Thomas was so excited and had been looking forward to this all day. The boys were excited to see eachother and check out all of Great-Grandma's toys. She has the best stash and all the great-grandkids (I think we're on 15) love going over to play. We got to eat lunch on the patio and then take the boys in the pool. As I was setting up lunch, I thought how wonderful it was to be eating lunch with my cousin and my grandma on the patio just as we had done as little girls. Now we got to do it with our boys! Our boys get to enjoy their great grandma and all the cool things about her house we did as little girls. Lunch on the patio, exploring the "forest" (the trees in the back yard), and swimming in the pool. It was such fun to get those two little guys into the pool for some swimming, splashing and silly games. What a special memory!

Pulling Weeds

Last Friday, Thomas was in and out of the house playing games in the backyard, chasing Bailey, coming in to see me or grab another toy. He was having a blast! I was cleaning the kitchen and picking up the rooms. It was great! He was busy, I got my stuff done, but could still keep an eye on him. On one of his trips in the house he found my dusting glove and claimed it as his own. I said sure, it's for dusting so you have to dust. A few moments later I realized he was no longer in the room, but back outside. I couldn't see him, uh-oh. No worries were needed. He was down the side of the house, with a yard waste bucket up and filling it with weeds. He proudly showed me that he was using my glove to do it! So cute and so sweet I couldn't be upset in the least, it will wash!

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of that moment, but do have some from a previous weekend when he was out helping us in the yard. He loves picking weeds!!!

First Trip to the Movies

Some friends filled me in on the greatest secret ever! Regal theaters offers free movies during the summer, that's right, FREE!! Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 10am they play a G and a PG movie between 4 screens. So off we headed for Thomas' first movie, Horton Hears a Who. Since it was his first movie, I splurged on popcorn and a soda. Thomas couldn't believe it when he saw it. He was so excited to sit down and see the movie, just so he could eat the popcorn. He hoped right up into his chair and made himself comfortable. We were surrounded by tons of people and in a row with some friends. He managed to sit still for most of the movie. He did so well we even ventured back last week for Kung Fu Panda. He was so excited. Two more weeks and then we'll be waiting for next summer!

Photo Shoot of the Cousins

One of the best things about Mt. Hermon, for me, is getting to spend quality time with Jared's family! Unfortunately we don't get to see them all as often as we would like and are reminded of this every summer we get a couple of days with them. Their kids are a crack up, sweet kids and a pleasure to be around. I just have one sister, so being around 4 siblings was a blast. Thomas loved it, too. There was always someone to hang out with. I truly appreciate his sister and all she accomplishes everyday! We see Jared's parents a little more often, but still not as much as would be nice. They are so kind and generous with the four of us and all of the grandkids. It's so much fun watching them truly enjoy their grandkids and having them all under one roof for a week, even if it does get a little crazy once in awhile!

For Mt. Hermon and our anniversary trip, my sister let us borrow her fancy camera, so we took tons of pictures. Pictures of scenary, flowers, birds, toys and of course, the kids, too! One of the best things was we did a mini "photo-shoot" of Jared's sister and her family. It'ld been almost 8 years since they had taken family pictures. I couldn't handle this and Aleta was all for getting spiffed up and having our own photo-op time. Family photos are something that are so important to me! Something I'm convinced every family has to have. I'm a true believer that photos capture memories to be treasured, so I have them up everywhere and love to give them as gifts. Aleta's family has probably seen this the most. I'm known for pulling out the camera at Thanksgiving and then magically everyone gets pictures for Christmas... It's no longer a surprise. So, Mt. Hermon was no exception, but I did promise they won't have to wait until Christmas!

Thanks to the awesome camera and some cute poses, the results weren't too shabby!

Creek Walking

One of the best afternoons at Mt. Hermon was spent by the creek. Kenny & Aleta (J's sis and her hubby) found this great bench just above the creek that would make a great picnic spot. So, the next day we packed up lunch, put on our creek walking shoes and headed out. They were right, it was perfect! We had a great lunch and discovered Thomas' favorite things about Mt. Hermon, creek walking with his cousins. He was so excited to get in the freezing water and run along splashing and kicking the water every where. I saw smiles so big and heard laughter so loud, I burst out with joy as well!

Grandma M. loves walking in the creek, so she jumped right in on the action! We eventually waded out around the deep part to stand under the Mt. Hermon waterfall. Thomas soaked in every moment of it and so did the rest of us.

I should win a prize for this!

Check out the mosquito flying across Jared's neck. Now that takes skill!

A Good Day for Swimming

We spent the night in Lincoln after the 4th festivities so Jared could go on a ride along with Ross (Audra's husband). It was an exciting day for a ride along and Jared will have to tell you all about it later! Audra and I spent the day together, while it was much less exciting, it was still a great day. We got a nap in, watched some Mickey and went to the mall. We met up with Grammy and Papa for some lunch, which was cut short by Thomas' desire to take a nap on the concrete!

We met back up with the guys at mom and dad's where we had bbq for the third day in a row (that's way too many hot dog's for anyone!!) and had some more fun in the pool!! It was wonderful to have an impromtu fun, all the family together!

Mom's Group Trip to San Francisco

Last week the Mom's Group headed out to San Francisco! We visited the Sea Lions, Pier 39 and the Aquarium of the Bay. There were 27 people in the group, from babies to Grandma & Grandpa's, it was a great group! We caravaned from Vacaville all the way to the city. We even managed to get through the toll lanes and down Embarcadero together!

The Aquarium was a little pricey, but really cool. The kids were fascinated with the tunnels that went under the water. We saw huge fish and star fish in one and then sharks in the other. Upstairs, the kids saw a really cool Octopus, and wereable to pet bat rays, sharks and then touch starfish. It was a hit with the kids and even fascinating for the parents.

Afterwards we broke up into groups, got lunch, ice cream and then got out of town to beat the holiday weekend traffic!

Touching the starfish: (Thomas said the were "yucky")

Touching the bat rays and the sharks, with one finger: (Thomas looked brave and ready, until they came near, then he just laughed with excitement!)

They had a really cool aquarium that the kids could crawl under and stand up to be surrounded by the water! There was this one with fish and the other one was with the octopus)

Most of the kids for a group picture: (we should've gotten one of the adults, if there were 27 total, that means there were tons of adults!)

Our caravan group got a quick pictre before seeing the real sea lions!:

Swimming is Over As Well

We had our last day of swimming last Wednesday. He never really got back into the whole lesson thing either, so not too many new pictures. He loved playing on the water and didn't mind playing the games. When it was time to go out and do the lesson part he cried for me the entire time. It wasn't so much that he was scared or that he didn't like his teacher, he just had his own plans. He did however, learn to kick, to blow bubbles and isn't so afraid to float. Jared spent a lot of time in the pool with him over the long weekend and Thomas was happy to do all his new tricks and learn new things with him. Jared even got him to float on a kickboard and kick across the whole pool. My dad got him to float on his tummy with only Papa's hand holding him up. Thomas even managed to dunk himself. So overall, the lessons were a good experience, but dad was the best teacher of all!!

Summer Sports Comes to an End

It sure has been busy in the Matlock household lately! So, I'm a week late on getting this post up (seems like way more than that!!) But, here is Thomas' last week at Summer Olympics where we finally played T-ball. He did in fact love it, but was in a bit of a funk where he had to have Mommy or Daddy right by him and didn't want anyone else watching. I did manage to get some fun pictures between the crying and when he was paying attention. He loved hitting the ball off the T,did a great job throwing and catching, wasn't so into the running the bases with everone and overall enjoyed the evening.

More Swimming Lessons

Well we made it a full four sessions to swimming and Thomas is doing fabulously. Well, I guess I should say was. Here he is on Thursday:

Face in the water, blowing bubbles & kicking!

Sliding down the slide (from a couple feet back, not the top):

Blowing more bubbles:

Putting his face in the water to get the ring:

Today, however, we didn't get any pictures, because he wouldn't leave my side. He started out great and then suddenly decided he had to be with mommy. It was the same story this evening when we went to T-ball. So, it's either another "mommy phase" or it's because we were out of town this weekend. (more on that to come!)

We'll see how it goes tomorrow.