I'M BACK...

OK...I know its been a long time since I have updated my blog and I know that I have been so missed :). I was having issues with my blog so I had to get my good friend, Kim to help me out...THANKS SO MUCH KIM.


But I am back and ready to start blogging again. I was so very behind that I didn't even post Christmas pictures or even a video of the kids countdown to the new year, which was so cute. But life has been extremely busy and now you will all be updated on that, my crazy life. Stay tuned...

hi

Alexandria's first slumber party

Alexandria had her first slumber party on Friday night. Times have changed...my first slumber party was when I was 8 years old...I think. One of the girls turned 7 on Friday and wanted to have a few friends over to spend the night including Alex. I was very hesitate at first...she's only 5...but we thought it's only next door. They girls did their nails, ate pizza, watched movies and played games. So, needless to say she had a blast. She was very tired the next day but she loved every minute of being a total girly girl. I am sure this is the start of many future slumber parties.

Fun Christmas Activities

For Family Home Evening we did a gingerbread house. We manage to do this every year but they always seem to fall down. This year was the best because that did not happen. This kit came with a tray to hold it up. It worked! The kids loved decorating the house.

I think it looks pretty good.We also did jello jigglers with Christmas cookie cutters. Brady is holding a snowman and yes, he is wearing his Buzz Lightyear Halloween costume :) Alexandria is holding a Christmas tree. This was really cute. Such easy but fun activities for them to do.

Grandpa's Visit

I am a little behind in blogging because grandpa came to visit on Thanksgiving. I should have blogged this before the "leg lamp." ha ha ha But we had a great time with grandpa. We showed him around Monterey. The kids loved spending 4 days with grandpa. We took grandpa to see the sea lions but the gate was closed...no sea lions. but the ocean was beautiful!!!!!

We love you!

"The Soft Glow of Electric Sex Gleaming in the Window"

Merry Christmas...I can't believe it's already December

We like to start off our Christmas season with:So, Joe's family loves the movie, "A Christmas Story." They watched it every year at Christmas and we do to. So, last year for Christmas I bought Joe an exact replica of the leg lamp. If you have seen the movie then I am sure that you will remember the leg lamp. Anyways...it is up for viewing. If you are LUCKY enough to live nearby, please feel free to drive by our house and take a look. We have it light up every night at dark. We will be going out of town for Christmas so you'd better hurry and come by and look. We think it's funny, hopefully you will too!!!!

Brady's new bike

So, Brady got a new bike. He has been riding Alexandria's old red tricycle for so long so it was time for a new bike. It's a really nice bike and he loves it. Yes, my kids are in their PJ's. We just bought the bike Saturday night and it was already dark outside so we said Sunday morning he could try it out. He didn't even wait to change his clothes. But this bike is big so a helmet is a definite requirement to ride his bike.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

What a night, What a day and what a week...I am glad that the week is over but so happy that my kids had so much fun. Brady and Alex both had Halloween parties/carnivals. Brady's school party was on Wednesday-smart idea. I like having it spread out. Alexandria's school carnival was today. The teachers and PTA put so much time into planning it and it showed. All the kids got to play different games, trick-or-treat, eat lunch and get a pumpkin. It was a blast. I volunteered today at her party. Brady and I both did. It was so much fun!!!!

So, Brady was Buzz Lightyear and Alexandria was Genevieve from the 12 dancing princesses (basically a barbie for those of you who don't know)
We curled Alexandria's hair. It was in ringlets. It looked so cute. We also sprayed her hair pink. At her school today they weren't allowed to wear costumes instead it was crazy hair ans sock day. So we sprayed it pink. But Alex loved having her hair curled. We should definitely do it more...the curl not the color.
We also sprayed Brady's hair-he wanted it done after seeing Alex's. His was blue. But Brady's costume was so cute. I bought inflatable wings for Brady's costume. Very cute. It also came with gloves. He fell in love with Buzz Lightyear since watching Toy story about 4 months and even more since visiting Disneyland and meeting him in June.
Brady in full costume. I love it!!!!!!!

Alexandria in all pink...what other color is there!!!!

This is Alexandria with her friends Kya and Adriann. They are coloring Halloween pictures.

Here's Brady with his best buds. These boys are so cute when they are together. They chase one another and of course, do the boy thing. WRESTLE EACH OTHER!!!!

Brady and Tyson.

The kids with their crazy hair and Halloween shirts.

We hope you all had a spooky but safe Halloween...

Happy 36th

Today is Joe's 36th birthday. WOW 36. We celebrated with apple pie. Joe request this every year as his birthday cake. of course, it has to be homemade by me crust and all...I think I make really good apple pies. I don't want to brag but I will...

This picture is not so good but Brady was done for the day. He didn't want a picture taken at the moment.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOE

My Little Girl

I am way behind on blogging for the last couple of weeks. So, I thought I would just post all my pictures at once. I couldn't decide on just a few pictures, so you get them all. I tried not to write too much because I have so many.

On Friday Alexandria was 1 of 4 chosen in her class for "Student of the Quarter." We are very proud of her. There was an Assembly for the entire school so each of the kids were recognized. Each class chose about 4 kids. Alexandria loves school. I hope she always does...I know it's just kindergarten but we are so very proud of her and her accomplishments in Kindergarten.
These are the other 3 kids chosen. They received a certificate, pencil, bumper sticker and a Popsicle. Very cute....
This is Alexandria's kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Tope. I am really happy that Alexandria is in her class. She is a great teacher and shows how much she enjoys teaching.

Fire Saftey Day

Brady's preschool had a fire saftey day. The fire department came to his school with the fire truck and talked to the kids about fire saftey. I have never seen Brady so still and in tune to what's being said. He loves fire trucks...
Brady got to walk through the fire truck with the help of a fireman. He really liked it.
All of the kids were pretty good. They all stood there looking at the fire truck and listening to the fireman. They even got to watch the ladder go up and around and then down. Brady is still talking about this. A fire truck is pretty exciting to a little boy.

Halloween Treats

The kids and I made cupcakes. Well-I made cupcakes and they decorated them. Brady of course, was a complete mess. No matter how much frosting or sprinkles I allow them to use, it always manages to be all over his body-I am not sure how but it does. Alex stays pretty clean. It must be a boy thing. He will do anything to get all dirty whether it's the mud puddles at the park or the frosting of a cupcake.

Boys will be Boys

Alex is completely clean...
Brady just started and already has chocolate all over his mouth.

Pumpkins, Pumkpins and more Pumpkins...

So, we carved one of our pumpkins the other night. The kids really love doing this. I think that's because they really like reaching into the pumpkin and pulling out the pumpkin guts.
Brady was a little nervous at first but then dived right in.
Alex had no hesitation. She went for it.
This is the pumpkin patch pretty close to home. It's only a pumpkin patch-no other things to do but the kids love searching for their perfect pumpkin.
They had snoopy and charlie brown signs all over the place so I thought I'd get a picture.
The pumpkin carriage.

Fall Break Activities

The kids fall break from school was a few weeks ago but that shows how behind I am in posting pictures. Anyways, a few of my friends and our kids went to the San Jose Children's Museum and the Oakland Zoo. It was a lot of fun. Brady and Alex loved going places with their friends. This is myself and the kids on a huge frog at the zoo. This is a picture of all the kids sitting on a wall by the children's museum. Some of the kids have their faces painted. That was one of the things to do at the museum.
I love this picture...All the kids looking at the elephants.

Marina Air Show

So we went to the air show in Marina a few weekends ago. The kids loved looking at all the planes and classic cars. Alex actually got to sit in one airplane. Brady didn't want to. I am not sure why but he didn't. The gentlemen was really nice letting the kids sit and touch the plane. The air show was free so it was a nice way to spend the day.

Our Flag

Alex's class with many other classes many weeks ago at school painted this flag with their hand prints at the front of the school. I kept forgetting my camera so today, now that the kids are back in school I had to get a picture before the paint started to fade. I think Brady's trying to find Alex's hand print
Alex found her hand print at the bottom. I'm not sure how she remembered exactly where it was, but she did.
A closer look-I still can't believe she's in Kindergarten. I loved having her home during break-it was hard because we had to keep busy but I think she missed school!

Of course, Brady wanted a picture too!

I've been Tagged...by Amy

So, I am new to the whole blogging thing as well as being tagged...so here goes!

What I was doing 10 years ago...
1. Celebrating my first year of marriage to a wonderful husband
2. Attending Idaho State University studying Elementary Education/Special Education
3. Getting up at 5:00 am to catch the bus to get up to ISU for school (i lived 1 1/2 hours from college)
4. Living in Idaho and adjusting to 0 degree weather with snow
5. Working at a scrap booking store trying to make any amount of money possible to help pay bills
6. Going out on weekly dates with my husband and not worrying about children at home with a babysitter

5 things on my to-do list today...
1. Finish last weeks bills
2. Take my kids to the park
3. Hem 2 pairs of pants
4. Sweep up the pile of sand from last weeks beach trip in front of the washer in the garage and clean the kids muddy rain boots from apple picking 2 weeks ago
5. Of course, watch today's young and the Restless that I recorded earlier

5 of my favorite snacks...
1. Trail mix with mm's
2. Big cheese it's
3. Dibs ice cream
4. cookies
5. Diet Dr. Pepper

5 jobs I've had...
1. Jack in the Box
2. Scrap booking store
3. Mystery shopper
4. Special Education Teacher
5. Full-time mom and wife

5 things I would do with a million dollars...
1. Buy my dream home
2. Take my husband and kids on a few vacations
3. Pay off student loans, credit cards and car payments
4. Buy my husband an old classic car to fix up
5. Put some money away for a rainy day

5 things that made me laugh this week...
1. Watching my son get mad because he was tired riding his bike on the way to the park (it's a couple blocks away and he's done it a million and a half times)
2. Watching my son brush his teeth (he puts on a show each morning while looking in the mirror at himself and brushing his teeth)
3. Reading all my friends blogs especially my friend Anita
4. Dog sitting for a friend (because I felt bad that the dog had pooped and peed on their carpet as well as destroyed a book, magazine and a pillow-shouldn't be funny but I laughed)
5. My daughter's day to day being a girl (my kids always make me laugh)

5 people I tag to answer these questions...
1. Erin
2. Kim
3. Anita
4. Amanda
5. Kristi

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Not such a great picture of our front door-I thought that the glow of the candles in the bags and of the alien would light up better-oh well. I know it's early but Happy Halloween. We are excited for Halloween. October is an exciting month for all kids but it's especially exciting for Joe because it's his birthday month. One year for his birthday, I got him this green alien. So, every year we put it out. One year Joe made a space ship to go out beside it. Sometimes we even put it out for Christmas with a Santa hat. I know ridiculous and sick. But we love it...

Apple Picking at Gizdich Ranch

Today, we went apple picking at Gizdich Ranch in Watsonville. We planned on doing this for about a week now but we weren't sure we'd be able to go because of the rain. But we made it-it was very muddy and slick but we had a blast. My kids love this ranch. The kids wore their rain boots. Perfect shoes for this kind of activity-of course, I wore flip flops. Not such a great idea. I was sliding all over the place.
We have been to this ranch so many times that my kids could be ranchers themselves :)
Brady was proud of the apples he picked. He kept saying, "daddy help me reach apples." Very cute!!!!!!!
Alexandria was able to reach some but needed help lots from her dad. The kids had to share their dads strong arms in picking them up to reach the apples.

AHH...The racoons won't go away!

So, I have no picture (the picture would be too embarrassing) but I thought I would share anyway. Last night I am laying on the couch watching TV. The kids are in bed and Joe is upstairs getting his things ready for school. I hear a noise...as paranoid as I am I think someone is outside. Of course not, it's our raccoon friends. They are eating and drinking what's left in our cats bowl-which is not much. I hurry to get the sling shot that Joe had bought for our raccoon stake out a few weeks ago. I am thinking to myself, "I don't need my husbands help. I can get rid of these raccoons." I try and fail many times. Let me also say that the raccoons are about 5 feet in front of me. Seriously, how pathetic am I. I guess that goes to show that some things are just meant for our husbands to take care of........