The Great weather Outdoors

Happy peeps, soaking in the mild weather.

These Geese and ducks have been fed before! They came up to us! They were very loud and aggressive, one even bit Celia's knee. She scolded the goose though saying"No bite a the Celia's knee!" It was cute. Spence and I were hissed at and Joseph wouldn't have anything to do with them. Luckily some other people came and the group chased after them.

Celia was in heaven with a big park to run in.

Joseph enjoying the park~

This was a great nature trail, there were bathrooms at the beginning and trash cans around, it was clean and well attended to, and the weather couldn't have been any better. We had just a great walk.

Me leading the hike.

Emmy's Catwalk in the woods.

I wish I could take home this bush and plant it in my backyard hehe, The berries are so cute and christmasy.~ That's Addison's thumb he doesn't like to show his face in pictures, but claims he already famous.

I love how the trail would get smaller in some areas, we even had to cross a few trees~ This one had Andre scratched on it which Joseph claims as his name too.

Emmy& Tanya heading to the car after a very fun and fulfilling hike. Its great to get out and move~

Who'd think there would be such a drastic climate change from northern California to southern. The kids and I headed out on a rainy cold Monday to visit my Folks. We have beautiful weather while we were there. We even got in our bathing suits and Celia was very happy about that since she associates her floaty and grandmas house together.:)

Happy New Year

It was great ringing in the new year! My folks made three different types of yummy tacos, we watched movies, and played the Wii. Although the kids wrote a petition to turn off the movie and all signed it, they included other signatures too; Indiana Jones, Michael Jackson, The Boogie man, Walt Disney, And Derek Wibley who is married to Avril Lavigne and apparently has a big nose. Emmy and the cousins have been giggling about that for a month. The petition didn't work, but they got to play guitar hero soon enough! I think we had them eat popsicles while they waited. Almost all of the kids stayed up 'till midnight which is a first! And we all were very happy and feeling blessed, gotta love it!~

Addison & Tanya did awesome for their first try at Guitar hero.

That's me being entertained by all the commotion~

Kieran is a crack up, these were full Chinese splits, the kids loved my new sunglasses and guitar hero and were truly rocking out hehe.

Emmy especially had a great time, she loves playing with the cousins, staying up late, making noise! All the traditions.. It wasn't long after we left for home she was counting the time before we could go back and visit the grandparents!

My beautiful Mother, she is so wonderful. She works hard to make sure we are all happy, loved, fed, and generally enjoying life!

Its wonderful how mine and Tanya's relationship has improved recently. Being family oriented is such a blessing.~

It was such a great time going and visiting my parents, sister, and her kiddos. The weather couldn't be any better and we loved our time with one another. It was the fastest wait ever for midnight, just like the whole year of 2009. It seemed to pass by so fast!

Cousin Slumber Party

Tanya, Addison, & Kieran arrived on Sunday night. We had a lovely meal together, but that's another story.~ We exchanged gifts and managed to get this kids in their spots for sleeping by 9pm. They, of course, stayed up talking for much longer. It was great to have time to spend with each other. We weren't able to go to the snow due to it raining a lot, but everyone seems happy with car rides, Wii playing, pizza making, and going to see Avatar in 3D. We all thoroughly enjoyed the movie, and I loved sitting next to Joseph watching him jump and try to reach out and touch whatever he saw in front of him. We were all so glad they came up to visit.:)

Many hours of Wii playing time ensued this trip! Wii Sports resort had sword fighting... Can I say it was a big hit?!

Exchanging gifts, which happened to be Wii games!!

The boys room became the play room and since Emelie's Laptop could go anywhere, they were very content.:)

Addison and Kieran Loved Spencer's swing. Every time it was open, one of them was on it. Kieran even got Spencer off a few times to take a turn hehe.

The girls~ Celia, Emmy, Me & Tanya

Happy Spencer. He was a good boy. I think he was thoroughly entertained by watching the siblings and cousins play.:)

Emelie 13, Joseph 8, Kieran 7, and Addison 9

Making Pizza~

Tanya prepping for Pizza making.:)

Celia guarded the dough.

I don't remember, but I think Celia is saying its her turn. What do you think?:)

Kieran & Emelie

Kieran rolling the dough, we had a step stool so he and Celia could reach the counter.:)

Joseph was a natural, I think he learns by watching because it seemed he had done this many times before.~

We had such a great time anticipating Tanya and the cousins coming for a couple days right before Christmas! My sister Tanya is quite the culinary cook and we decided having a homemade pizza making party would be something we all would enjoy. Tanya made the dough at home and let it rise over night and drove(but flew) up here from Burbank. Needless to say the dough was very raised!:) We had to refigerate is 'till the next day too, but all in all was yummy.I had the toppings prepared. The kids all got to make some. What a fun and yummy activity. Maybe it will have to be made into a tradition!~

Santa Visit~

We made it! I had to go pick up Celia from school and hurry home to get all the kids in the car to go to the Alta regional Center for Santa Day. They close at 4pm and the kids all had a full day of School.

The Boys are Excited!

Emmy got Rudolph on her hand, Joseph got Christmas lights and Celia had fun picking out a gingerbread man to be painted on her.

Celia made this for Brian and I. She loves to describe the snowflakes and glitter to us! It was almost given to Santa when she showed them, but I just had to keep it!

Spence is a leaner and he wanted to hug Santa.~

Celia had to bring in all her art to show Santa. :) It was sweet.

Each of the kids are given a teddy bear by Santa. Celia's was white and So softy.

Spence and Celia with Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus. As always, Spencer liked his beard.

Here is Spencer relaxing after winning a prize in the game that was like a cake walk. He chose a pencil for his prize.:) He did like walking in circles and played it a few times.

Every year, we try and attend Santa Day and Alta Regional. They really make going to see Santa a better experience for little families like ours. The line for Santa is set up in such a way that you can eat and drink your refreshments in line, get your face or hand painted, and even have chairs to sit. Spence did run to the front of the line once but Barbara his worker who happened to be Santa's helper caught him and happily greeted us. Celia was awfully excited to see Santa, she brought her whole sack of art projects to see him. We are very grateful for an opportunity to have a great Santa visit experience.:)

Do you have a flyer?

I love flyers, especially the ones that I receive from Brian about his Annual Work Christmas Party. They are always in beautiful fancy restaurants, and I always have a great time. I get to see a more social side of Brian which I love and get to enjoy fantastic food, atmosphere, and dressing up! I didn't want to buy anything new, but I wanted to find something nice. I found the outfit I wore to my Ten Year high school reunion.:) Yay purple is a new Christmas color I decided.:) This year the party was at Chops Steak house on 11Th street in Sacramento. I usually google the restaurant before we go, but I was too busy too this time.~ The State Capitol was across the street and so beautiful lite up at night. It had poured all day, but we missed the rain going into the restaurant. It was very clear and beautiful out. Downtown Sacramento decorates with a lot of white lights.:) The restaurant was nice. It was very modern, I think the area we were in turns into a night club at night, the lounge seating tipped us off and the dark areas with benches that had sheer material encasing the booths. Looked a little like a harem would fit nicely in there lol. I loved the fresh flowers they had. Very exotic mixed with bird of paradise! They were beautiful in color and it renewed my hope of the bird of paradise growing outside my kitchen window. Its a gorgeous dark green color, but it has yet to bloom.

We received drink vouchers from our hostess and since we don't drink, I got a Shirley temple, which I was told by another gal there was so old fashioned and sweet.:) It was great to chat, although I was extremely embarrassed when one of brian's co workers started talking about World of Warcraft the video game. He was referring to a commercial for it, but started being like Mr. T and being really really loud lol. He knew the whole commercial and was talking about night elves and everything, I coulda died lol, so embarrassing. Brian just smiled and eventually the subject was changed, phew.

Since we were fashionably late, the name cards had been placed on the tables almost everywhere. Brian's boss moved some around and we sat at his table. The food was great! the bread was seasoned really well, the potatoes were seasoned really really well and the fillet Mignon was sooo good. I even loved the peppers and onions and broccoli they had for vegetables. In the past at these events I love the fresh fruit desserts, but this chocolate cake , I give two thumbs up! After dinner we play games. One was a pop quiz of current events, and the other was pairing license frames sayings. Both were a little challenging, but fun. Next year, as Brian's boss pointed out several times, Brian is in charge of the party. He'll have the mic, he'll pick the place, and he'll have to come up with the games and prizes. I'm nervous that some of that will be delegated my way.. hehe

Overall it was a big success, and I can't wait for next year. I'm so glad we got Judy reserved to babysit a month in advance, so I could attend this great event. Many people tried to take that date! We'll be sure to have a beautiful flyer next year, and many years to come.:)

Record Breaking

A warmy bubble bath, yes it couldn't get anymore water in the tub..lol

Morning snow!:)

Its cold its true, we had a tiny dusting of snow here in Sacramento a few days ago. Brian remembered the last time he'd seen snow here was in 1987! It baffles me though that it continues to be cold. Each morning we scrape our ice off our windshield and our roof stays white with frost until past noon in some areas! However, it makes it extra cozy to wear our big jackets, enjoy hot chocolate, bread sticks, down comforters, and fires in the fireplace. Even Cozy bubble baths help us to warm up. I'm very grateful we have the means to get warm this winter. We are truly blessed to have wonderful family friends and the light of the gospel in our lives.

I'm Looking for the Celia.

Poor Celia was saying "I'm looking for the Celia" while holding binoculars and sifting through six or seven pictures she found of her siblings with Santa Claus. We've gone a few times to the Alta Regional Center to see Santa, its easier for Spencer, but because of time constraints with school Santa is often done taking pictures when we get to the Holiday Party. I will take Celia to the Mall sometime when the kids are in school and visit Santa. Christmas is such an exciting time for children, its fun to see the bright eyes and amazement Celia shows when she discovers stars or Christmas trees around the town. She shows everyone our Christmas tree that comes over and is quite interested in all the Christmas songs. She is a joy and we're happy to have another relatively little one to share the excitement with all over again.