Vote for Aubrey Anne, Cuz I'll Take a Stand!!

In September, our little miss Aubrey Anne wanted to run for 6th grade class President. She was excited to run and said that she would be able to handle it if she didn't win. So, she filled out the application got it signed by me and a couple of teachers and began her "campaign." She got to put up 3 posters and handed out little stickers to kids at the school asking them to vote for her. She also had to write a speech and give the speech to the 4th, 5th and 6th graders. My mom was in town so she got to come and hear Aubrey give her speech. Patrick and his girlfriend Dani also came to hear and support Aubrey! She looked so pretty the day she did her speech. We braided her hair and then put it in a bun. She looked so professional and grown up!!

Her slogan was, "Vote for Aubrey Anne, cuz I'll take a stand!" We all worked to come up with a slogan she would like and that would be catchy. Corey and Patrick ran for Vice President when they were at Allen and had funny "catchy" slogans too. Corey's slogan was, "Vote for Corey Snowman...cuz my enthusiasm will never melt away!" Patrick's slogan was, "Vote for Pat cuz that's where it's at; and if you don't what's up with dat??" Hahaha...are we witty and creative or what!!???

They had actual voting booths set up in the cafeteria, where each student took their turn to go in and vote. They also had boards up with each candidate and their picture on it so the students could recall who was running and for which office. I thought having actual voting booths up was such a great learning experience for the students!! Hopefully it got the kids excited about voting one day when they are 18!!

Well, I'm sad to say that she didn't win. She was disappointed but also really liked the girl that won. Over all it was a very good experience and it helped to build confidence in herself!

CVN wins the Pony World Series

Last Spring Daniel was on the Chula Vista North Pony team. Pony is for 12-14 year olds. Basically, it is for the middle school age kids. It is very competitive and a lot of fun!! They had a great year; They won the Chula Vista District, Region and then went on to win the Pony World Series in Fullerton, Ca. It is a big deal...not as big as the Little League World Series, but a big deal!! The team got to be on the news, in the Union Tribune, were honored by the Chula Vista City Mayor and also by the San Diego Mayor.

There is a local newspaper called the Star News. It is a paper for the Chula Vista/ Bonita area. They did a big article in the paper about the Chula Vista North Pony team and unknown to us, Daniel was the player chosen to be on the cover of the paper. We were sooo surprised and what an exciting thing for Daniel. One other neat thing they got to do was go to a San Diego Padres game and do a meet and greet with some of the players. Daniel took an all-white Padres hat and got quite a few player autographs. Their accomplishment was announced and honored in a pre-game announcement and the boys and coaches got to be down on the field for it. The Padres gave tickets to all of the boys and their entire families for the game! It was a lot of fun!

When Patrick played for the Chula VIsta North Pony team they also got to go to the World Series. His team didn't win, they took third. But it was SO fun and also a great experience for Patrick. Daniel was one of 2 sets of brothers who had both gone to the Pony World Series. They even mentioned it in the Star Newspaper article. Who knows...maybe Michael will go when he plays for CVN...that would be really cool!!

Q-berty...

As you know, I have a lot of girls in my house!

So, as you can also imagine, the topic of puberty has come up more than a couple of times...and that with going through puberty that girls get moody and grumpy.

Well, the other day Julia, who was 6 at the time, had been really grumpy and I had been upset with her for being so grumpy. She looked up at me and said in an upset crying voice...

"Mom, I have been really grumpy and moody lately...
I think I am going through Q-berty!!"

Hahaha...

Kids say the darnedest things!!

Family Pictures

I can't believe that it has been almost 4 months since I have posted on my blog. I have several posts to do, but I will start with the family pictures that we just had taken in Utah. It was the first time in 11 years that all of us have been together in Utah. We had a friend of Shelly's who is doing photography come take pictures of us. She did such a great job...Thank you Christel Fuentes!! These are some of my favorites...

Patrick's Graduation...

Patrick graduated from high school on June 4, 2010. It was a really nice day!! It was even better because Shelly, Ryan and the kids were able to come from Utah to go to the graduation. I am so glad Patrick is done with high school. Although I have been quite melancholy that I won't get to see him perform in Music Machine or on the football and baseball teams!! I will REALLY miss that. After graduation we all went to our favorite restaurant, Benihana's!! YUMMY!! It was really fun but crazy with all 16 of us there.

I'm proud of Patrick and I know that Patrick will be able to achieve whatever he works hard at!! He is a great leader and truly cares about others....He has such a BIG heart and that is my favorite thing about Patrick. Congratulations Patrick!! We love you sooooo much!!!!

By the way....Am I really OLD enough to have 2 high school graduates?????

strike a pose...

Emily did Aubrey and Julia's make-up one night and then took some cute pictures of them. Of course Michael had to get in on the fun too!!

teenagers and their cameras!!!

Emily and her 2 best friends, Hannah and Emily, take the funniest pictures. Of course it is very rare that there is just a "normal" picture...they have to be making some funny face or dressed in some weird fashion. I actually LOVE them because it shows soooo much of their personality. So here are just a FEW of the MANY crazy pictures I have of Emily, Hannah and Emily (Macy, my neice, and a couple of friends are also in a couple of them.)