Gus Got A Hair Cut!

Today was a big day for Gus! (The girls named him after the chubby mouse in Cinderella.) He went to the groomer. Now I am not sure that I like his cut. I think it is a good summer cut, but for the winter, I'm not sure it is good. If you didn't know, Gus is a Snorkie. He's half Schnauzer and half Yorkie. He will be 6 months old in October.

I think I like his face in the Schnauzer cut but his body in the Yorkie style...a little longer. He has been to the groomer once before and they just trimmed his head and tail. This time, since he was looking a lot shaggy, we decided to get his whole body cut. He looks naked! lol I guess I am used to seeing him all shaggy so seeing him groomed is a change. Here are a few before pictures and a few after. The groomer told me he is a two person dog because he is so hyper. A typical Bronwell dog! lol


Before=shaggy Gus

After=naked Gus

Mommy, Are There Mango's Here??

Today, after staying home all day yesterday, we decided to head to the zoo in Oakland. Of course, before we can get out the door, Ashleigh has to play make-up artist and put lipstick and chapstick on Addison and herself!! She even made sure that Addison made her lips in the kissy face so she could properly apply the lipstick!


It has been awhile since we have been to this zoo. The weather usually is about 10 degrees cooler in Oakland than here so we get dressed appropriately and away we go. It takes about 45 minutes or so to get there. I packed a little lunch so we could have a picnic while we were there. We go to the entrance and Addison says, before I can even get out my membership card, "Mommy, they have mangos here?" Now I am assuming she means flamingos, so I point over to the flamingos, which are the first animal we always see, and say "You mean flamingos?" And she goes " Yes. Mangos!" I had to laugh at her because she was so concerned about her "mangos!"


It really is a great zoo. They have a great children's area with all kinds of things to play on. They girls LOVE playing on all the statues and the spider web. We had lunch on one of the benches near the play area. Ashleigh loves the lily pad area. There are these lily pads in the water that you can step on and move across a little pond. She went back and forth so many times. I was afraid she was going to fall in! At one point she started hopping like a frog on them. Addison is not as graceful so I had to help her across. They have slides and all kinds of things for the kids to explore and play on.








The girls love seeing the animals. I know I wish there was a zoo around my house when I was their age. I have always loved the zoo and seeing the different animals so I am glad that they girls seem to like it as much if not more than I do. We were able to get pretty close to some of the animals today. Not everything was out and about, but a few of the animals we don't normally see seemed to make an appearance. Ashleigh was upset that the Lemurs were inside today. When Uncle Mike came for a visit in February, he bought Ashleigh a stuffed lemur and Addy a stuffed lion from here. They LOVE them! Addy won't go anywhere without her lion and Ashleigh cuddles her lemur every night! I had to share a few pictures of the animals just because I thought some of them turned out nice. We always have to make a long stop at the meerkat exhibit. That has been a favorite of the girls for a long time, especially Ashleigh. We we would go to the zoo in Houston, when Addy was a baby, Ashleigh would love to watch the meerkats for HOURS! They are pretty entertaining! They have a tunnel that they kids can crawl in and get right "face to face" with them. Addison said her favorite were the elephants. We didn't' spend much time at the elephants because they are the last thing we see and the girls were getting pretty tired. I still think we are getting over being sick.



I swear this is real! I saw it move! lol






After we finished looking at the lions, they girls decided that they didn't like they way things smelled at the zoo and it must be the camels that stink! This was their response to the stink they thought they smelled!

SICK!

So I am guessing that the busy week finally caught up with us! We are all sick! Rick has been sick with a cold for a few days and then today when I woke up....low and behold I am sick. Addison has managed to wiggle her way into our bed so I know something is going on with her. She wakes up and comes out to the living room...and you guessed it! She's sick! Ashleigh wakes up an hour later...and again, I know something is going on with her. Yep..she's sick too! So we spent the day at home...in our pajamas just resting. We all took a 4 hour nap and we seem to be feeling better. They are fighting so they must be feeling better. The team had the day off today...but that doesn't apply us. Rick left late today at about 10 and still isn't home...so so much for any kind of day off. Oh well. Better that way I guess so we could rest. Hopefully if we are feeling better tomorrow we are going to the zoo. I wanted to go to Gilroy Gardens today buy didn't want to push it. I still have a little bit of a headache but feel better after a shower at 5:00! lol

It's Official...I'm A Soccer Mom!

Today was the first soccer for Ashleigh. We are a little tired as we didn't get home from the game until 11:30 pm and the girls were still awake at 12:15 am when I finally managed to think about bed. But nonetheless we got up bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning at 8:30 am and were ready to go! I was a little apprehensive about this soccer thing because it was the first time we have really ventured into team sports. Skating is fun because it's really just the teacher teaching kids...no parental involvement. Well let's just say that soccer today was interesting. Ashleigh was a little scared and sleepy in the beginning, but then seemed to warm up a bit.





Now I need advice from all you soccer pro mom's! I know that some of you have put your child in soccer at the Y and I want to hear about what you guys do. I know it was the coach's first time coaching...but I am not sure about it. It was a lady and her husband...but her husband didn't make it to the practice today because he was at the Sharks game last night! Too funny I think. I didn't say anything and kept my mouth shut for once! I know....shocking! There were 7 kids signed up for her class. An older girl didn't even put on her shirt and try to play and then the coach lady had an older boy (more on him later!) and a daughter about Addison's age that just played in her own little world. They are supposed to be 3 to start but I think this girl was 2-2 1/2. So Ashleigh was really the only girl. I had a chance when signing her up to put her in an all girls class later on in the season and decided to go with co-ed thinking it would be good for her to be around both boys and girls. After today, I am not sure this was the smartest decision! There were two boys age 5 that were..well I guess being boys! One was the coach lady's kid and the other was his friend. Well the boys proceeded to keep kicking the ball as had as they could every chance they got. So you have my sweet little girl ( I not biased am I!) trying to practice kicking the ball while walking and then you have these hellians kicking the ball as hard as they can. They hurt two different kids when they kicked the ball and hit them in the face....all while the mother, the coach lady, doesn't say anything. I am not sure what to do. I don't know if I am being over protective or what. We learned the skills we are supposed to in 15 minutes and then spend the rest of the time doing games...that well...weren't so good I didn't think. I really don't know what I was expecting....if it would be kids just running around playing the game or drills to learn the game the entire time, but I didn't feel that there was enough instruction. I looked around and could see all the other classes involved in drills to practice kicking the ball at the net. I felt like our class was the only ones basically goofing around. I am trying to open minded and remember that it is the first practice and hope ti gets better! So anyway the parental involvement was a bare minimum. I had to be her partner during one exercise so I managed to handle it. The best thing was that Ashleigh had a good time. She was running around full of energy once she woke up!



She seemed to catch on to the drills fairly quickly and really seemed to be enjoying herself. She was very patient waiting her turn in line when we did actually kick the ball at the goal.



She was pretty sweaty at the end of the class....considering it was 80 degrees today and that was at 10 am!!! I even had a sweat going on! Since she was the only girl that completed the whole hour long class...she was the only one that kicked the ball in the goal every time! She was pretty pumped up about that!

This was after she scored another goal! lol


She really enjoyed getting to have a snack at the end of the class. Addison even got to have one...and speaking of Addison....here are a few pictures of her day at the soccer field! She's a ham and entertains herself and others quite well! The parents were pretty entertained at her antics! Only our daughter! lol

First she was digging in the dirt and when she had enough of that........
then came the dirt angels! lol

First Game....

Tonight was the first exhibition game of the season. There were a lot of people here...I think 17,000. The girls had a good time. We are still at the rink waiting for Daddy to finish up. We have soccer in the morning so I am not sure how grumpy the girls will be! lol They are all wound up being back at hockey. It has been nice seeing familiar faces. We have a game tomorrow and then one on Tuesday. I can definitely say that it is a better experience being our second year. We are getting to know people so it is nice. Well it looks like Rick is ready to go. I can't wait to get home! lol I'm not used to these late nights! I guess I better get used to it since we have a whole season ahead of us! And btw, soccer tomorrow, I just found out today, is parent participation! We'll see how that goes!!! I almost forgot the funniest thing today! Ashleigh informed me that when someone goes on their honeymoon, they go to their grandma and grandpa's house! Too funny!

Busy Busy BUSY Days!

I am so exhausted I don't know what to do with myself! lol Today we went to story time at the library with our new friends that we met at the mall. We were going to walk, but decided to drive this time and walk the next time. The girls absolutely loved story time! The library is the nicest library I have even been in. It's only a few months old, but they have so many books and a whole wing just for the kids. The girls really liked to computer games that they had. During story time, the lady reads stories for about a half hour and then they have what they call stay and play. They bring out all these toys and the kids can play for another half hour. Ashleigh wasn't shy at all! She loves being around all the other kids. Our friends also enjoyed it. Her girls are a little shy so they didn't play much together, but I am glad that we did go so we can develop a friendship. We are going to go back tomorrow morning too. They have preschool story time on Friday's, today was toddler story time. I think that it will be good for the girls to go. Addison was kind of afraid of the puppets that they lady used. She sang songs to the kids and did hand motions for the songs. Ashleigh asked to go back again. I think with a few more visits, Addison will love it as much as Ashleigh.

We also started a new session of skating lessons today. Ashleigh is excited because she has the same teacher. There are a few kids from last session in her class too. She is the only girl. A friend of ours was at the rink today. He husband is Rick's boss. We have gotten to know them pretty well. Her kids are 9 and 5. The girls love her oldest, Lindsey. Anyway she said that Addison should get on the ice too. I thought she was too young but I think tomorrow we are going to try on Ashleigh's old skates and see how she does. I can't even begin to think about my baby on skates!! It should be interesting!

Here Comes The Hockey!

We went to the Teal and White hockey game yesterday. It was just a scrimmage that was only open to season ticket holders. There are a lot of them in San Jose. They had free ice cream, which you know the girls just LOVED!, face painting, autographs, midway games, prizes, pictures, and charachures. We didn't need autographs so we stood in line to get face painting done. The line was pretty short....about 30 minutes or so. The girls just love this! Ashleigh wanted a purple shark with sparkles. She had gotten very good at telling people what she wants. She sat so good when she was getting it done.






































Addison wanted a bug. I don't know where this came from but I finally talked her into a pink shark. She didn't want sparkles! She also sat very good!


































Then we moved on to something else. The doors opened at 5:00pm and the game didn't start until 7:00. We had a little over an hour so we decided to get in line for the charachures. The line didn't seem long....but an HOUR AND FIFTY minutes later.....it seemed pretty long!! The girls were VERY good while standing in line. We took some goofy pictures and the played around a bit. We were the last two drawings that the guy did. The people behind us were so angry! The girls wanted separate pictures and I figured after a wait like that, they deserved it!


















































He asked Ashleigh what she wanted to be drawn doing...and she said, again just like with the face painting, that she wanted to be a mermaid! It amazes that she is now really starting to develop her own thoughts and ideas. I guess she is growing up! lol

































Now came Addison. She had hard time sitting still. She was worn out after the long wait. She wanted to drawn as Snow White. She is in love with her at the moment! We finally decided on being a princess. As you can see, she didn't want to even look at this guy! Here's the final results...I think the are pretty cool and worth the wait! But then again, I'm not 4 or 2! lol



We were almost an hour late to get to see the game. The girls were hungry so we got popcorn. They didn't have really any good food out for this game. The reason I put up with all the super fan crap is because the girls, especially Ashleigh, LOVE going to the game! Addison still is in the I don't really understand stage, but Ashleigh's eyes just light up when we are at the rink. It's the only place they can scream as loud as they want without getting yelled at! lol Addison loved the popcorn! lol
































Ashleigh was very upset when the game was over that we missed her favorite player, Nabby, the goalie play. Good thing after the game she saw him and he gave her a hug and talked to her. Sharkie, the mascot, also didn't come to our section. Now Addison is deathly afraid of Sharkie. Ashleigh LOVES him! He came downstairs after the game and hugged Ashleigh. So over all it was a good game. We have games Friday and Saturday then Tuesday. Then the real season starts. Hockey is underway and things are about to get crazy!