Hello Again...

Hello my friends,
It has been quite a while since I've caught you up on what's going on with The Five of Us, so I'll attempt a short but sweet post to bring you all up-to-date. Actually it won't be short at all, but it might be sweet :)  Feel free to take a break when necessary...
Let's see..  we left off in late April. 
Our Easter break was spent relaxing at home and at the lake where we once again arrived to a FLOODED gameroom. 
My next child's name is most certainly going to be Noah.  Anyone know Noah's wife's name just in case it's a girl??
We (my hired labor of children + friends of children) pulled up the carpet AGAIN and we vowed to find a better option for flooring. (We're going with foam interlocking tiles - should be perfect - and waterproof!)

They look pretty happy even though they had to work!

On our way home from the lake we met up with my brother's family and my dad at a Ryan family reunion where my dad had the chance to visit with his cousins and his one aunt. It was really a great day to see him having fun and enjoying family. 

On a sidenote... My grandma was the oldest of three girls and grew up on a cattle ranch near Tulare.  When her father (my great-grandfather) passed away, she and my grandpa were offered the ranch, but she declined so it went to the next eldest sister.  My dad spent all of his summers working on the ranch with his cousins from the three families.  

When I was young we spent every Thanksgiving there, so it has been great that my Aunt reinstated a yearly get-together.  See this post for last year's recap.  One of the best parts for me was that all of these cousins knew my mom from the time she and my dad started dating.  They were High School sweethearts and were married the summer after High School.  Yikes!  Only 17 years old!!  Since my mom spent quite a bit of time at the ranch with my dad, they were all very close.  The girl cousins have wonderful stories about her and the boy cousins tell me how beautiful she was and how lucky they thought my dad was :)  It's nice to be with people who have such a strong connection with my mom.

 There was yummy bar-b-q:

 An egg hunt:

And we had lots of time to visit with family.  This is my dad's cousin "Bertie".  They all have nicknames for each other :)

And this is us with the youngest cousin who now lives on the ranch.  Mike told me that he was only 5 when he first met my mom and he had the biggest crush on her!  He told my dad that someday he was going to marry her :)

 This is what my mom looked like when Mike 'fell in love' :

I know... totally random picture!  It was a picture in the Shafter Press from when my mom was Miss Kern County that I already had scanned into my computer. 
Wasn't she pretty, though??
And here is the crew that used to spend summers working in the hot sun, branding cattle, and birthing baby calves (according to my dad!)  Although, once my mom got involved, I have a feeling all they did was sit by the pool, because I just can't see her on a dirty sweaty horse...

Here's my dad getting one of a million hugs from Aunt Billie:

 And a big love from Sophie!!

 I guess this would be considered the Blankenship Reunion since that was my grandmother's maiden name...

 And here are the Ryans:  

 Sienna is Jimmy's youngest.  I love this picture!

 Kayli just received her driving permit... see those keys in her hand and my dad's worried expression!!

Whew!  This is getting to be a very long post.  Bear with me and we'll be all caught up!!
In early April we spent a couple of days at a volleyball tournament in Anaheim.  Little kids swam in the pool and Lauren played some ball.  
Don't have great pictures, but you get the idea:

Moving on...
In late April the photographer from Lauren's soccer game (the Valley Championship) gave me a CD of the images he captured.  Take a look at these...

 I LOVE this one :)

 Her coach....Soooo excited!

 Her coach with his hand on Lauren's head :)   

He was a GREAT coach.  He wrote the team an inspiring letter - at least 4 paragraphs- before EVERY game and a beautiful letter after this win.  He had them hand delivered to the girls the day of each game.  She was very lucky to spend her first year of HS soccer with him.  He was also awarded the Bakersfield Californian's Coach of the Year Award for girl's soccer!!

And here she is at the awards program where she was nominated for Play of the Year.  She didn't win :(  She lost to the Liberty High School football team for their last-minute play to beat Centennial.  Definitely hard to beat an entire football team :)  But it was a fun night that recognized some amazing Kern County students and athletes so she was honored just to be a part of it! 

 (A bit windy for pictures...)

Alrighty then...  Moving on...

In early May we celebrated Joey's birthday and my dad's - they were born on the same day :)  We had lunch at a yummy Basque restaurant - my dad got to choose the restaurant since he turned 70!
Two of my favorite guys:

Joey's parents came to visit in early May, but that will have to be a different post, because Martha helped us put together Sophie's BIG GIRL BED with her mad sewing skills so big girl beds deserve their own post!

Then, in late May...  Sophie's Birthday!!! We decided to take her to Disneyland for her birthday instead of a party.  She still doesn't have any pre-school friends (she will next year!) so Dad, Mom, Jake, and Sophie headed to Disneyland...  What's that you say?  We didn't include Lauren??  Yes, I know... Horrible Mom Award... but there was NO time to go to Disneyland except for a weekday before Finals week.  No way could she miss school :(  But since all we did was spend time on little kiddos' rides, she was fine staying home!
And we weren't sure if Sophie would even ride anything at all...my littlest girl is ULTRA PAINFULLY SHY this year.  She LOVES being around people that she knows, but has no desire to meet new people, make new friends, or be in new situations.  Pre-school will be very very interesting... She actually chooses not to speak at all when she is uncomfortable.  Like, not a word!  Not even a peep!  Totally mute.  Yep, those pre-school teachers are gonna be wondering what is up with my child.  
Back to our trip.  We stayed at the amazing Grand Californian.  We loved the convenience and Jake loved the waterslide!

Here we go...

Sophie did not her leave her Daddy's side, hip, or shoulders for the 24 hours we were there.  She would only ride the rides with him and would not let go of him the entire day.  The crowds made her a bit nervous, so she asked her Daddy to hold her most of the day, and he happily obliged.  I think he recognizes how fast time flies when he sees how big and independent Lauren has become.

Take a look at the two who were connected at the hip the entire day:

 Remember I said how shy Sophie is...  She did NOT want anything to do with the characters, much to Jake's dismay!  This is how close she would get to Mickey, Minnie, Snow White, and Tigger...

 Mickey is right inside that doorway...

 There is Minnie in her house...

 Oh, Look!  There's Tigger...  And there's Sophie clinging to her brother!!

And even her favorite, Snow White, with NO line was not enough to tempt her...

All in all it was a super day with a very tentative little girl and a perfect big brother who did everything she wanted to do without asking once to ride something for himself.  I'm a pretty luck Mama!!

OK my fingers are permanently cramped and I'm sure you are nodding off by now, so I will let you digest all of that and be back soon!  
On the next episode of The Five of Us...
Sophie's Big Girl Pink Polka Dot bed, a new baby in the family named after a certain special someone, the first Bass Lake tubing pictures of the summer,
AND... a giveaway for all of you who were loyal enough to keep checking back!!!