Thanksgiving Week

Happy holiday season everyone! Thanksgiving has started off our season with a bang. Mike and I hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year. Everyone left full and happy, so I'd say it was a success. We managed to fit everyone in our tiny house that day. Thank goodness for the nice weather. We were glad the kids had a place to run around.
The next day, Kate had her "big girl" furniture delivered. We said good-bye to the crib and hello to the new bed. She loves it.

Halloween 2010

Hello All,
It's been a long time I know! Here are a few pictures of Halloween this year. The kids had a fun time going to the school carnival and trick or treating! (The kids have grown a lot since my last post in April. Wow!)

Disneyland

We started our Spring Break with a quick trip to Disneyland. Our first day wasn't our best day, but it was great to be on vacation. Unfortunately It's A Small World was closed, so we walked around, met some characters, rode the train, went to the Tiki room, had some lunch and headed back to the hotel. We stayed at the hotel for a quick swim and a nap. Later that night, Jack, Mike, and I headed back to California Adventure for a few quick rides and the Electrical Parade. It was everything I remembered it to be.
Day 2 was much better. We had a "Magic Morning" entry and got into the park an hour earlier than the regular guests. Kate's first Fantasyland ride was Dumbo. She loved it. The lines were so short that morning we rode each ride twice. It's A Small World was open! We enjoyed looking for the new characters that they have added this year. Kate loved the ride and music so much, that she is still singing It's a Small World at least ten times a day. We did some of the bigger rides too like Thunder Mountain, Pirates of the Carribean, and the Haunted House. We were thrilled that we had a better day.
Day 3 was catch up day to do the things we hadn't gotten to. We did the Buzz Lightyear ride and Jack was chosen to do the Jedi Training Academy. He had to fight Darth Mal. We are pretty confident that with a little more training he will soon have Jedi status. Jack also started his pin trading/collecting with the employee's at Disneyland. He was thrilled to find 2 hidden Mickey pins which he now treasures. We wrapped things up at lunchtime and made our way back south. We look forward to another visit soon especially now that we know our little girl loves Disneyland as much as we do!
Ready For Disneyland!


Kate's First Ride On Dumbo

Happy After Their Ride

Jedi In Training

Jack Faces Darth Mal

Winter 2010

Happy 7th Birthday Jack!

Winter has been filled with birthdays, Cub Scouts, school, Saturday classes, a few colds, and a lot of growing from both Kate and Jack. Jack turned 7 at the end of January. We had a family birthday party of Parkway Bowl and then headed over to Mem and Papa's for spaghetti and cake. It was great celebrating with everyone. We kept busy on the other weekends too. Jack and Kate had basketball and a tumbling class on Saturday mornings. Every once in awhile we would sneak in a family bike ride on a Sunday. Somewhere in there I turned 38. Yikes! Jack and I finished trimester 2 at school. We are very proud of how well Jack is doing in first grade. He has become quite the reader and writer. We also had a cake decorating contest for Cub Scouts. Decorating a cake was really much harder than I expected it to be. You'll see my feeble attempt to create a cake that was in the shape of 100 to celebrate the 100th year of Scouting. We are currently on the count down to spring break. We are having fun celebrating all of our family's March birthdays including Mem's and Mike's. We are looking forward to our trip to Disneyland at the end of the month and Kate's 2 year birthday.

Jack and Grace

Cade, Eli, and Hannah

Hanging Out With the Family

Mike Getting Ready to Bowl a Strike

Ellen and Cheryl

Getting Ready For Some Cake and Ice Cream

Kate Reading With Uncle Michael

My Lovely Cake (Ha Ha!)

Kate In Her Doll Stroller--Her New Favorite Seat!

Christmas Part 3

Christmas Morning
My early riser, Jack, was ready to go at 5:00 in the morning! Remember that feeling? We started with the gifts from Santa. Jack got an iPod and new clock radio. Kate got a rocking horse (which she still hasn't warmed up to) and a new dolly. The kids also got beanbags from Grandma and Granddad and blankets from their Aunt Dana. After we opened all of our gifts from the family, we had breakfast with my mom and dad. The rest of the day, we enjoyed just being home, playing with our new presents, watching the movie UP, and just resting as we were not feeling very well that day. Overall it was a great day just being home with family.
The kids and their beanbags


Jack and his new iPod

Kate got a magic wand from Jack

Mom is so happy. She just got a wireless printer! Kate does not look happy. :(

Christmas Part 2

We celebrated Christmas with the family at Kim and Gabe's house. The kids loved playing with each other, while the adults did a little karaoke. Gabe and Kim made a great meal and then we exchanged presents with each other. It was nice to have everyone together.

December--Part One

Here we are at December already. Where has the year gone? Jack was so excited this year for Christmas to come. Ahhhhh...to be six again at Christmas time. He helped with all of the decorations and wrote Santa a four page Christmas list of just a few of the things he wanted. :) Kate loved the lights and would say "ooooh" everytime we passed a house that had them. I think next year will be even more fun for her.


On December 6th, Jack and his buddy Jacob were two of "the three kings" in their Kidz Klub holiday musical. He was so proud. Maybe next year he'll get a speaking part.



On December 13th, we had our annual Christmas in Redondo at Auntie Dot and Uncle Al's house. The kids had fun playing video games upstairs while the adults stayed downstairs to visit. My aunt made enough spaghetti and meatballs to feed 20 of us. It was amazing.