Monday, October 31, 2011

Halloween 2011

The kids got dressed up for Halloween and were able to wear their costumes to School. Nico was a Jedi, Christian the Grim Reaper, Izzy Snow White and Lili was a Ballerina. I also made it to all their school parties and was able to take some pics. Izzy kept saying, "that's my mommy!" I felt like the coolest parent ever!







Christian DID NOT think I was the coolest parent ever. On the contrary, he was completely embarrassed.
Snow White decorated sugar cookies at school with purple and orange frosting. She was wearing more frosting on her face and clothes than on her cookie. She licked her dress the whole way home, snacking on the frosting she managed to save for later. Should have gotten the picture BEFORE she went to school.


Baby Ballerina! Doesn't get cuter than this my friends. Love this baby to pieces!!!

a Jedi and a Grim Reaper. What a combo. We do not coordinate costumes. You know, some families are all characters from Star Wars. This takes time and some major planning and talent. Three things I have none of recently. I do, however, love to see other people who manage to pull themselves together enough to pull something like that off. Maybe next year when I'm not in charge of Super Saturday I can focus on costumes. Please, no one hold your breath on that one.

Smart and good looking. What a fun kid!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Christian Turns 10

It is crazy to think that your oldest child is x amount of years old. Mine turned 10 this month. A whole decade ago he was born and I became a mom. I know it's unbelievable, and it will be even more so when he turns, 20, 30, 40 and so on. I still can't believe he's so big. How fun! He's such a great kid. He's polite, fun, easy going and loves to have fun. For an oldest child, I got pretty dang lucky. Here are some pics to enjoy of his activities. We had a family party with my sister Elisa and brother Adrian followed by another party on Sunday with Jamie's family. This continued as the following Saturday he had a party with his friends where they got to shoot at Justin Bieber with a BB gun and have a Mario Kart tournament. One lucky 10 year old that's for sure.

Nightmare tradition. We celebrated Dianna and Christian's Birthday at Elisa's house on October 22, 2011. Look at all that ice cream melting in the bowl. The kids thought it was so cool. I couldn't get over how much sugar was about to be ingested and how many little monster would be created!

Adrian and his family came to stay with us for Christian and Dianna's birthday weekend. The kids all slept in the backyard in that super tent. Christian got a BB gun for his birthday and Jamie spent the morning showing Christian and all the little kiddos how to shoot the gun.
Big 10 years old! Happy Birthday Christian. You are one incredible boy.

Celebrating his Birthday with the Townsend's. Here he is with Gramma.

Birthday loot from Jamie and I. BB Gun, Legos, a target and more legos.

Guess who won the Mario Kart Tournament? Yup, Jaxon James Arthur! He was so super excited about it. How fun!




Tuesday, October 4, 2011

California

Our trip to California started out with so much Excitement! We drove to Utah for one night, picked up my parents and drove the next day to Steven and Keri's house to spend our first night with them. Our first day at Venice beach started out a bit chilly, but the kids didn't care one bit. Uncle Steve taught the boys to dig for sand crabs and Christian spent the rest of our trip digging up sand crabs. At New Port Beach he also found star fish and bigger crabs under the pier. He was in heaven! Our last day at the beach we spent 8 hours there and everyone got pretty fried. We just couldn't leave, the kids were having such a good time. The girls both took naps, my parents rented beach cruisers and we just relaxed! What a great vacation.

The trip back home was a different story. We vowed to never drive again after realizing what a terror Izzy is in the car drive when she is tired. We still love her and her craziness!



Had to stop in Las Vegas and get some In-N-Out Burgers. I'm not a fan, but the kids where more than happy to eat there and keep the hats for souvenirs.

Such cute cousins! Calvin was such a sport to entertain Izzy and share his toys. How cute are they in this picture?!


The following pictures are of Venice beach with KT, Brett, Keri and Steven. What a fun time!




Digging for sand crabs. Christian couldn't be more happy with all the digging he got to do. I wish I had taken a photo of all his finds.



Nico doing his own digging for sand crabs. What a handsome kid.

Lili with her Daddy. She is a mama's girl right now, but takes time out to be with her Daddy. Her first word was "Da". I think I know who her favorite it is...



The look on Izzy's face says it all. Sorry Calvin, maybe next year she will be more kind. Let's cross our fingers!


So sad I didn't get more pictures of KT and her family. Here is Christian with Oliver, and KT.


These two have the exact same parents. I promise.



Hangin' at the pool with my sister. She is such a great sister. Everyone should have an Elli around. She's amazing!


Lili is such a water baby. My other kids liked the water. Lili LOVES the water. I'm going to have to keep my eye on her when she can walk.

Our Daddy is pooped! After a nice lunch at Husky Boy Burger, there is nothing like a nice afternoon nap in the shade while your 4 children run around and splash in the pool. How does he do it?

Dewayne!

Took the ferry to Balboa Island. Very short ride. Needs to be longer. We had enough time to get out of the car and pose for pics.

What a classic picture. I thought Elli would appreciate this one. Poor Isaac doesn't have his mom's undivided attention. Hahaha!


Matching hats!

Being lazy in one of the pull out beds. Yes, that is Izzy crashed out. She does crash once she burns all her energy. It doesn't happen too often, but when it does it is so worth it!



Christian spent a whole entire hour out catching waves on his boogie board while Jamie did some surfing. It was so fun to watch the two of them together.
Nico spent his time building castles and destroying them. Such a boy thing...


Abu spent a whole afternoon with Izzy on the shore. So much fun! Izzy LOVED spending this time with her Abu.

Yup, he's all mine! That is until his big toe nail gets yanked by the leash on his surf board, then I can't go near the toe. Thanks Jame for covering it up with a band aid after the nail came off. Wowza!





Here she is again, crashed out and napping on the beach. Only happens rarely. How lucky to have it happen twice in one week!

After all the splashing on the shore, this baby was pooped! She crashed for a while, so Abu and I rented beach cruisers and took a nice long bike ride on the beach. So much fun!

The nasty toe before the nail got clipped. There was so much sand in it, Jamie had to keep cleaning it out and putting neosporin to keep it from getting infected. Ew!

Dang that Lili! She is looking at the water. Love this picture of all my kids. I have great kiddos.



Lili was the wake up call the morning we packed it up to go home. She LOVES her brothers. I don't blame her. They are pretty awesome.

The view from our balcony. So breath taking. You don't get tired of seeing this, that is for sure.

Abu, Papa and the girls. Thanks Abu and Papa for sharing your time share with us! We had a great time. Can't wait to go back next year.