For Old Times' Sake

I'm back with another out-of-order-Tahoe post.  (Hopefully, I'll have some actual beach pictures up here one of these days.)  

For the many, many years we vacationed in Tahoe as kids, we had a little Raley family tradition of getting those old-time photos taken.  You know, the kind where everyone dons Little House on the Prairie clothes, pretending to be slinging guns, robbing a bank, or "working" a saloon, and you get the photo in sepia print?  Well, we did this for the first time in Virginia City, Nevada, when Sara and I were about twelve years old, and Kyle was maybe ten and we continued every other year or so throughout our adolescence and beyond.  There's an embarrassing gallery of all of these shots up on a wall of Mop and Pop's house.  Even if I could pry those prints from their old-timey frames, scan them in and post them here, I absolutely would.not.do.that.  I need to maintain some shreds of dignity here.  

Instead, I'll just subject the girls to that everlasting sort of embarrassment, the kind that will forever and always be on the web...or whatever they'll call it in 20 years!  In order to do that, we decided to get one of these photos taken this year while my whole family was in Tahoe together.  Our Raley family is a teensy bit bigger now, with 8 grand kids 6 and under, and when we all traipsed in to the little photo shop in South Lake Tahoe, I'm sure the teen aged photographer/cashier shuddered a little.  There were a lot of little people to dress and get smiles out of! 

Pop, on the other hand, no matter how grumpy he looks here, loves this stuff!  

The girls got to work choosing outfits for themselves, and the photographer didn't mind at all if we broke the rules and snapped some pictures while everyone was getting dressed up.  These pictures are way cuter than the picture we came in there for ;)  Megan and Joey's cute cousin love knows no time boundaries!  Even in 1800's get-up, they still want to marry each other.

Of course, Bridget loved every minute of the dressing up!

And, what kind of western pictures would these be if we didn't get Annie with her gun? ;)

Even Mary got in on the action :)

Thanks to Mop and Pop for forcing us the great idea to keep this tradition going with the grand kids!  Do they look like they could possibly have 8 grandchildren?!  No way :)

The final result is sufficiently embarrassing, and will hopefully provide some good laughs when the girls are older.  Most embarrassing, though, is the PDA going on in the back row between Uncle Kyle and his then-girlfriend, who managed to spice up the background in the one photo (of course!) in which all of the kids are looking at the camera.  We'll have to get Sara on the task of doing some Photoshop work to rectify that, but in the meantime, here is the time-traveled version of our Raley family!

And, in the event that we start a gallery of our own one day, here is the first in our Stecher collection!

Five Goofy Little Girls

It's been a long time since I've asked the girls to lay down on the carpet to get a picture like this.  I just love how these pictures capture them being a little goofy.  And this is the first time I've subjected Mary to this craziness!  

The first picture has everyone smiling, but I think I like the outtakes even more.  Bridget cracks me up, and I didn't even notice her expressions until I uploaded these pictures.  She's a sneaky little actress :)

When I told them I was done, they went a little crazy.  And I kept taking pictures.  I love how Megan is fascinated with what Mary is doing: putting her little brown dog on Bridget's shoulder.

They shared a little smile over that.  Big M and little M laughing at the same thing.  This is not the first little joke they've shared, and I'm sure it won't be the last, either :)

Little Cougars

It's that time again! Megan and Bridget started back to school on Monday, so we officially have two grammar school kids.  They are incredibly excited to be at the same school now, and I'm thrilled to have two little girls in uniform.  These pictures don't really do the whole uniform justice.  The cutest part is the little sailor shirt they wear under the sweater.  Of course, when you start school at the end of the summer in San Francisco, you need a sweater!

Here are the uniforms in all of their glory, though, nice and neat the night before!

Unbelievably, Megan is now in first grade and Bridget is in kindergarten.  It's so nice to have them at the same school.  One drop-off and one pick-up!  And, of course, three at home!

Somehow, I didn't get a shot of Megan by herself, but here is Bridget.  She donned her uniform at about 6am, all by herself, before anyone else was awake.  (She normally sleeps in the latest, so she must have been a little excited!) She even tied her own shoes, which she'd been diligently practicing every day over the last week.  What a big girl!

Thankfully, the girls started school before Matt this year, which meant that he was along for the big day!  We were able to take our time, too, since we didn't need to be there until 10am.  Talk about easing our way into the school year :)  Bridget was ready way ahead of time, needless to say!

We had plenty of time for pictures in front of the school, including our sister shot.  I can't help but think about the many years they'll all be in uniform for this one!

When it came time to file inside with their classmates, Megan was ready.  She looks so confident and happy here, and such a big first-grader!  At the end of the day, though, she was slightly less confident.  She waltzed out of her first grade classroom just as her old kindergarten teacher was handing Bridget, and each of the other new kids, a little bag of goldfish as a treat.  Megan got weepy right there, and had tears streaming down her face, wishing that she was still in kindergarten with Ms. Connolly again.  I think the transition to her new classroom, complete with desks and little lockers, finally caught up with her.  Change is hard :(

Bridget, who had been waiting all morning for this moment, was ready, too!  There were no tears from this little kindergartner, although she reported back at the end of the day exactly who had been crying.  She also recounted more detail from her day than any 5-year-old should notice or care about, but satisfied my need for information.  I love that she's so like me in that way :)  She relayed entire conversations that she had, who's "mommy has a baby in her tummy," exactly what seat she was assigned and whose shoes she tied three times.  Yes, she tied another kid's shoes...and apparently told everyone at her table that they needed to wash their hands before lunch.  I'm hoping her classmates are not as observant and that no one else is noticing a bossy gossip emerging here.  Homework on day one:  Tone it down a little, Bridgey :)

Back at home, I've committed to home-schooling the twins instead of sending them to preschool this year.  As a plus, I'll have much more time with them, and less schlepping to do.  Every day from 8-3 will be "little girl" time!  We started with an informal lesson on the letter "A" and were interrupted by Mary over and over again... I'm not sure if I'm cut out for this!  Although Tessa and Annie are sold on going to school at home, and love that I'm their teacher, Tessa asked me, "Mommy, when you're our teacher, will you still be my Mommy?"  :)  I plan on soaking up little moments like those, and fully appreciating this year with my three at home, knowing they'll be in little uniforms before I know it!

Happy Campers

I have a lot of catching up to do here on this ol' blog, including many Tahoe pictures...two weeks worth of pictures and fun!  I'll start with a highlight of that Tahoe trip.  Megan went camping for the first time!!  She had the privilege of joining Joey (since they're BIG kids, you know), Matt, Uncle Tim, Uncle Kyle and Pop on a 3 day/2 night adventure at Fallen Leaf Lake.  I'm not sure which love she was more excited to spend three days with.  She asks on a regular basis why she can't marry cousin Joey...

 or Daddy!

She's never satisfied with my answers.  Luckily, she can go camping with them, though!  As the only girl on this trip, I'm pretty sure she was the only one to set foot in the campground's bathrooms :)

Many the iPhone picture was taken on this trip as Joey and Megan braved a nature hike, spied on fish, hiked to Fallen Leaf Lake, roasted s'mores, and learned how to use their survival kits that Pop bought for them.  Aren't they the cutest little campers?

Okay, maybe not so cute here.  Dirty and disheveled would be more accurate descriptors here :)

Sara and I visited our little campers on the second night, since the campsite was a whopping 15 minute drive from our cabin.  They welcomed us in like we were arriving from a far-off land, gave us a tour of their little tent city, and promptly nestled onto our laps.  Megan actually fell asleep on me for a few minutes, which never happens anymore.  I think she was a little worn out!

The Return of the Little People

I know there is something so wrong about our life right now that we were anticipating this so much:  The Fisher-Price Little People coming to our zoo.  We must be parents to more than a few small children who have not stopped talking about the last time this happened.  It's hard to even look at that post.  The twins were so tiny!

Anyway, this year, our own little poeple are a little bigger, but they were just as thrilled to play with all of the Fisher-Price toys, including some new play kitchens.

And, the race track with Fisher-Price vehicles was a huge hit, as expected!   I'm not sure if these girls will ever be behind the wheel of an Escalade or a cute little Mustang again, so I hope they thoroughly enjoyed it :)

This year, the "real" Little People put on a performance, too, with each kid getting some cool shades to watch the show.

Afterward, the girls charged the stage and put on their own show.

Annie's dance moves were cracking us up!  She was so serious and so into it!

Of course, we were at the zoo, so we decided it might be so a good idea to see some animals, too.  There was a cool nature trail set up for the kids to get up close and personal with some unique animals, like a snake and a ferret.  Ewww!

And we can't go to the zoo without a few family pictures, it seems.  Our own little zoo:

Some of us were more worn out than others by the time we headed home!

Sleepy Meeks Girls