Christmas 2009

Christmas is so much fun when you have little ones! Josh and Zach were so excited about Christmas. They knew Santa was going to come to our house and couldn't stop talking about it!

Santa did come and all of our kids had a great Christmas.

Faith got a new bike, a camera, a beta fish with tank, money, gift cards, earrings, and lots of other stuff! Faith's favorite gift this year is her fish (which died the day after Christmas and we exchanged for a new one)!

Josh and Zach, they share most of their things so they are together, got a kitchen set, a tee ball net and tee set, Thomas the train blanket and pillow, cars and trucks galore. Zach's favorite gift this year has to be a little shop vacuum he got from his cousin Bella. Josh's favorite has to be the Buzz Lightyear wings his sister bought for him!

Ben got a couple ride on/walkers, a ball popper, an activity table, clothes, and a new car seat! He has to fight Zach to use his ball popper and his ride on train. I love how these new "baby" toys are entertaining my 3 and 5 year old!

We had a great Christmas watching the joy on the faces of our children, seeing our family, and knowing that God sent his only son for us!

Tis The Season

Yesterday we did all the pre Christmas things that we love to do and more! We saw Santa, rode on a horse drawn carriage, and went to a living Nativity.

We took Ben to see Santa for the first time and got lots of great pictures. I thought Ben would scream, but we got a couple of good pictures with him smiling. We also took some photos of all the kids with Santa. Josh and Zach loved seeing him and told him what they want for Christmas, which is a kitchen playset, and trucks. I guess they're well rounded boys! Josh told Santa that he wanted a doggy, to which Santa responded with a lecture on who (mommy) would be taking care of the dog, etc. He did a great job of talking Josh out of wanting a dog! Then Santa turned to Faith and told her that he knew exactly what she wanted for Christmas. We were right next to the Apple store and I was sure he was going to say and iPhone or iPod, but he said I bet you want those braces off! Faith is getting them off right after Christmas and Faith laughed and said that was something she wanted. Then Santa told her to keep up her studies, read, and spend some time in the Library, all of which Faith needs to do! When we left, Faith asked of we called him first. He really hit the nail on the head! We love that Santa and will return to see him every year!

Then across the street from Santa they were offering free horse drawn carriage rides. So we took the kids on that and they were able to pet the horse after the ride. They really loved being in the carriage. There was only one family ahead of us for Santa and for the carriage ride. We got lucky!

Then in the evening we went to see a living nativity. I told the boys that we were going to see baby Jesus. Josh, who has lately been very interested in Jesus, first told me that Jesus wasn't a baby anymore and then asked if we were going to heaven because that is where Jesus is! It was so cute! I cherish these moments with him! The living nativity was great. But, we had to wait in line for an hour and a half for it. By the time we finally got to go through the gates to see the living nativity, Josh and Zach were tired! We all enjoyed it. It was so beautiful and well done. There were even Camel rides, but after waiting in line for the nativity we decided that we didn't want to wait in line for the camel rides, maybe next year!

Meet the Parents

I am in two completely different stages in my life. One stage is having a teenager and the other is having 3 boys under the age of 5! Sometimes I feel very stretched and other times I feel very grounded. When Faith gives me her teenage attitude I can play and laugh with the boys. And at the end of the day after doing everything for the boys, it's nice to know that Faith can take her own shower!

Now we are at a new stage where Faith has a boyfriend! I was not happy about her having a boyfriend, but have found that most of the kids her age have boyfriends or girlfriends. Guess it's the thing to do. I will allow her to have a boyfriend, but will not allow her to date. I think having a boyfriend and dating are two totally different things. I would rather her not have a boyfriend or date until she is 18, but I guess that's not very reasonable, at least not to Faith. When she does date, Sean and I are going to be one of those parents, you know the ones who sit behind them at the theater and are at the table next to them during dinner. So for now Faith has a boyfriend and he's a nice kid, but still a boy! We have known this boy since Faith was in 4th grade and know his family fairly well. We have been to their house several times, before they became a couple.

Faith's boyfriend of 3 weeks, yes you read that right it's only been 3 weeks, has been to our house several times for dinner. He came again last night. We ate, talked, and played board games. We try to have a normal conversation with him and try not to interrogate him, but we do ask a lot of questions. It's such a hard thing. What do you do when the boyfriend comes over to date your daughter? We joked about having a gun rack, but Faith already told him we would say that and he knows we don't have any guns.

This is a tough stage. I don't like it, but am getting used to it. I think lots of prayer is the only thing to help me right now! Prayer and playing with my 3 crazy boys!

Christmas Movie Time

I love this time of year when all the Christmas movies are on TV. I think our DVR is filled with Christmas movies. We have been watching them every night. My favorites are the old classics, Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. Josh and Zach aren't thrilled with them. They like the more recent ones, Shrek the Halls and Disney's Prep and Landing.

Last night I thought it would be fun to watch the Charlie Brown Christmas Special and got the boys excited about watching it with me. We sat down with our popcorn and drinks, started the movie, and Josh blurts out "This looks old, I want Shrek!" Gotta love his honesty. So, we watched Shrek for the 10th time.

Drinking and Driving

"No drinking and driving, Zach" is what Sean loves to tell Zach! Zach is always putting his drinks in his cars and trucks. Then he pushes them all over the house. We don't want juice spilled inside the house, so no drinking and driving allowed in our house!

Weekend away

I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family. This past weekend I was able to attend my brother, Tyler's ordination service as he became an ordained pastor. It was so great being able to witness it and share that moment with him. During his speech after being ordained, he choked up when he was thanking his wife and telling her how much he loved her. That moment meant so much to me. I am so proud to have a brother who loves the Lord and serves him in all he does and who loves his family as much as Tyler does.

Ben and I flew up to Sacramento. Ben did great on the plane. He loved it and everyone around us loved him! Ben even got to sit with the pilot in the cockpit, but he screamed. He's at a stage where he only wants mommy to hold him, so the pilot let me sit in his seat and took our picture!

It was nice to be away from the chaos of my normal routine, but I missed my family. And I am happy to be back with them.

The Grinch!

Today I was able to take Josh on his second field trip. We went to Balboa Park to see the musical "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and had a wonderful time. It was such a fun musical. The kids were laughing at the jokes and were so focused. I thought Josh might get a little scared of the Grinch, but he didn't.

Afterwards Josh told me that he wanted to be in the musical. I asked him if he wanted to be one of the Whos, but he said he wanted to be the Grinch!

Time to write the Christmas Letter!

I love receiving all the Christmas cards and letters that come in the mail this time of year. I truly enjoy reading what everyone has done all year and look forward to getting the mail each day!

But it is so hard to sit down and write my own letter each year and I procrastinate it so much. We got our Christmas pictures done this year on the first Saturday of November, and I still haven't written our Christmas letter.

It's not that it's hard to write. I love to brag write about my family. It's just hard trying to narrow it down! My family is my life and there is so much I want to say about them. I'm so proud of all they have done.

As I write this, my Christmas cards are staring up at me, so I guess it's time to write the letter. Maybe it's not writing the Christmas letter that has me procrastinating, it's addressing the envelopes, stuffing them, and licking them that is the root of my procrastination!

Thanksgiving

I can't believe that it's already Thanksgiving! This is one of Sean's favorite holidays, but not mine (and I hate to admit it!) I do love the traditions, the food, and spending time with family. I just don't see what the big deal is.

This year we went to my mom's house, as we do most years. We went there early around 8:30am so that Sean could play in the annual gold tournament. All the men (and older boys) in the family get together and golf. And this year Sean and my nephew Alec won. They have won together in the past and are now the team to beat.

After the golf match, we ate together and hung out. It was a nice day spent with family. But a little stressful at times. It's hard to watch 4 kids in a not-so-kid-friendly home.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We missed having my brother Tyler and his wife LaVonne around. They recently moved up to Washington and will no longer be around for Thanksgiving. I miss being playing games with them after Thanksgiving dinner and planning our Black Friday shopping trips!

Kindergarten Thanksgiving Preformance!

This was seriously too cute for words....but I guess I'll try to tell you about it!

All of the kindergarteners from his school were on stage dressed as either a Pilgrim or an Indian. Josh was a Pilgrim with a paper collar and hat that he made. There was an afternoon breeze in the air and Josh's hat must have blown off 20 times in the 10 minute preformance! He would bend over and try to find it. It was the funniest thing to see Josh (he was the only one whose hat was blowing off) moving all about, standing up and bending over. He didn't put his hat on all the way, so it would blow off! Josh loves to sing and he really enjoyed the preformance!

Faith's Top 10

In no particular order....

1. Her cell phone! What can I say, the girl loves to text! It's even given her and I a new way to communicate, which is a good thing in these teen years! (OK, maybe this really is her #1, but the rest are in no order).

2. Cheerleading! She loves cheering for the games, learning new dances, and being involved in school.

3. Friends. Faith has so many friends that I can hardly keep up with all of them.

4. VOX, her high school youth group. She loves going to youth group and I am so happy. When we are getting ready for church Faith helps out so much because she wants to get out of the house asap so that she can get to her youth group!

5. Television! Faith has some days where all she wants to do is just sit and watch TV all day. And I'm sure she enjoys it even more if she is in her PJ's!

6. Sleep! Must be a teenage thing, although I admit I am envious!. She would love to sleep in until noon everyday if we let her. Usually Saturday is the only day she can sleep in because she has school and church on the other days.

7. Boys! I guess this must be on every teenage girls list!

8. Her Ipod! This must be on the top of her list. She loves music, and is always downloading it and listening to it.

9. Family Game Night! Faith loves to play board games and looks forward to our weekly family game night.

10. Food! Or should I say Chocolate! I don't know how she stays so skinny!

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Last Tuesday was Josh's first field trip. His class and one other kindergarten class went to the pumpkin patch in Del Mar (across from the race tracks). The class got a small lecture on different pumpkins and how they grow.

After the lecture they got to pick 5 rides to go on. Not easy to pick 5 when there were about 10 rides to choose from. Josh went on the monster trucks, the train, the rockets, a large slide, and into the petting zoo. He was on the slide for about 15 minutes. The ride master let the kids go up and down as many times as they wanted. He even let me, another mom, and Josh's teacher go! It was a fast ride down, no wonder the kids went on it so many times! I thought Josh would be terrified in the petting zoo, since he's generally afraid of animals. I even held onto his ticket, telling the petting zoo master that I thought he would turn right around and get out when the first animal got close enough. But, Josh surprised me and I surrendered his ticket. Josh pet all of the animals and stayed in the petting zoo for almost 20 minutes!

After the rides, the kids in the class were allowed to each pick out a pumpkin. I think picking out the pumpkin was a bit overwhelming for Josh. It took him so long and he told me several times that he didn't know which one to pick. I even had him pick out 3 and tried to get him to choose from those, but he couldn't make up his mind. After a while he found one that he liked and the class headed back to school.

It was a lot of fun and I got so many great pictures! Again I find myself thinking about how blessed I am that I am able to do these things with my children. I've got the best job in the world!

Three-O

Yesterday was Sean's birthday and I am happy (maybe a little too happy) to say that he is now in his 30's!!!

We took it easy, unfortunately his birthday gets lost in with the kids birthdays for the most part every year (and he loves it because as he says "It's like Christmas in September"). This year we had dinner on the beach, Sean surfed (his favorite thing to do), the kids and I played in the sand and water, and we sand him happy birthday over a plate of frosted brownies!

Josh's Top 10

In no particular order.....

1. Mommy! Just like his brother, Josh loves me!

2. Zach! They're BFFs and when they're not I think they enjoy fighting with each other because they do it so often!

3. Grandma and Grandpa! Josh loves when they come and visit. Sleeping with Grandma is his favorite!

4. School! Josh loves school, his teacher Mrs. Francis, and his best friend Dylan.

5. Hot Lunch! All of the kids in his kindergarten class are in love with getting hot lunch. He looks forward to Fridays when he gets to buy hot lunch!

6. Playing in the neighborhood! Josh has so much fun playing with the neighborhood kids. We live on a street with too many boys to count and there is always someone outside to play with!

7. Being like Daddy! Since his preschool graduation, Josh loves to be like daddy. He tries to wear his hair like daddy's and dresses like him. I often hear "I want to wear this so I look like daddy."

8. Counting! Josh has learned so much in school, that he brings it home with him and even likes to quiz us. He lets me know daily that there are 6 in our family, but when grandma and grandpa come over there are 8!

9. Swinging! We have a playground in our backyard and Josh learned to swing over the summer. He loves that he can do it all by himself. He won't even let me give him a little push!

10. Cartoons! Josh loves to watch TV, or movies rather. This is another thing he loves doing with grandma. He loves Madagascar, Ice Age, Bolt, or just about any cartoon movie. Even though he loves to watch movies, we really try to limit him in his TV time.

Disneyland

Yesterday we went to Disneyland for Faith, Josh, and Zach's birthdays. We went on Faith and Josh's actual birthday since they get in free on their birthdays. We had a great time. Zach loved seeing Mickey Mouse and riding on the rockets! I think Faith just loved missing school for the day! And Josh loved Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. It was Josh's first roller coaster and he had the biggest smile throughout the entire ride. And he got to ride twice because he went with me and we did a child switch so he could go with daddy also!

Sean's parents went with us and I don't know how we would have done it without them. It's nice having one adult per child! Although things still got crazy, like when Josh punched Pluto in the nose and when Ben tried to eat Mickey's nose!

It was so much fun seeing the joy on my children's faces. We will have to go back soon! And we got a great deal on our tickets from Ebay! Maybe when Ben is older I can talk Sean into a family season pass!

Let's Party!!

This morning we had Josh and Zach's birthday party. Josh invited his whole kindergarten class (although it was mostly the boys in the class that came), we invited our neighbors, and we invited family.

We had a giant jumper for the kids, a pinata filled with candy, and a doughnut eating contest. The kids and adults had a blast. I think my favorite part was the doughnut eating contest. it was so much fun to watch the kids try to eat a mini doughnut hanging on a string. I think it was torture for the kids, but fun for the adults to watch!

And as always, we ended up with way too many toys. Guess that's why we have 2 playrooms!

Zach's Top 10

1. Mommy (of course I'm his #1, haha daddy!) But, I'll put daddy in his #1 spot as well, because he does love to do things with both of us. Zach is our little helper. When Josh is at school he sticks to me like glue and helps me with everything, whether I want him to or not! (These are in no particular order, I just had to put myself first!)

2. The Vacuum! I almost put this as his #1, because he is obsessed. He has to vacuum daily, drags his toy vacuum with him all over the house, even bogarts the toy vacuum in his Sunday school class, and makes us go down the vacuum aisle every time we go to the store! The last one works to my advantage when I tell him he can only go down the vacuum aisle if he behaves!

3. Josh! What can I say, they're BFF's.

4. Sugar or anything sweet! Zach has such a sweet tooth (he must take after his mommy!) He loves chocolate, soda, candy, cupcakes, and anything else sweet. Really, Zach will eat anything I give him, but some how he know when there is something in the house with sugar. He definitely gets his share of treats, but not on a daily basis.

5. Walking Daddy out! Whenever daddy or anyone else leaves the house, Zach begs to walk them out. And by walking them out, we have to wait until they drive out of site before we can go back inside. Zach loves walking daddy out in the mornings and after lunch. When he knows it's time for daddy to leave, Zach gets so excited and says "I want to walk daddy out!" or sometimes when we are in the middle of something (like putting his shoes on so he can go outside) and he thinks daddy will leave before he gets the chance to walk him out, Zach screams and demands to walk him out.

6. Showers! Anytime Zach hears that Daddy or I am going to take a shower, his clothes come off and naked Zach goes running to the shower.

7. Bare feet! What can I say, the boy hates shoes! He takes his shoes off the second he goes inside the house, in car rides longer that 5 minutes, when he goes to the park, and on walks in the stroller.

8. Grandma and Grandpa! He loves his grandparents and asks almost everyday if they are coming over.

9. The phone! When it rings, he races to answer it. If someone answers it first, he usually has a meltdown.

10. Trucks! He loves to push them around inside and outside, fill them with small toys, and even sit/ride on them!

Labor Day Weekend

For the long weekend we went up to visit Grandma and Grandpa Kabo at their house. Josh and Zach absolutely love going to their house...they love doing anything with grandma and grandpa!

On Sunday, we went out on the lake. Sean and Faith went wake boarding and we went tubing. Josh and Zach really enjoyed being on the boat. It's the coolest thing to them. Faith thought it was the coolest thing when she got to drive the boat! I'm not sure what Ben thought, but he sure did look cute in his life vest!

After the lake, we swam in their pool and just enjoyed ourselves for the rest of the weekend!

High School, OMG!

Oh my gosh, not only do we have a Kindergartner, but a Freshman as well! Faith enjoyed her first day of school! She managed to find her way around the school. The thing she hated most was having to wear her cheer uniform on her first day of school. In fact she has been told that she has to wear it on Thursday and possibly Friday as well, so 3 of the 4 days in her first week of school. Oh the drama of being a freshman cheerleader!

Faith is happy about her classes and they are as follows...

1st Period-Geometry

2nd Period-Freshman PE

3rd Period-Drama

4th Period-Biology

5th Period-English

6th Period-Spanish 1

Faith has friends in all of her classes and the boy she likes is in her 5th period English class. She said that she got a lot of funny looks because of her cheer uniform. She got some glares from other girls. Why are girls so mean? I told her that the girls stare because they are jealous and the boys stare because she is a cute cheerleader!

I find that the older she gets the more I find myself praying for her! I pray that this year will be a good one. One where she makes strong friendships, continues to walk with the Lord, keeps up with her studies, and doesn't turn all my hair gray!

Haircuts...before and after!

Josh and Zach have always had long hair. We live by the beach and they look like little surfer boys with their long blong hair. Occasionally they get a trim, but we like to keep it long...until now!

Grandma Brooks said she wanted the boys to get a hair cut and that she would pay! Sean and I had been talking about cutting Josh's hair shorter (not short, just shorter) since he started kindergarten. We wanted him to look a little more studius!

On our way out the door to get the haircuts, Zach started screaming! He put flarp (something Grandma Brooks bought him and Josh that is noise making slime...it farts!) in his hair. I threw him in the shower, but couldn't get it out. So, we headed to our hair cutting appointment. On the car ride there I realized that we were going to have to go really short in order to get the flarp out of his hair and I was okay with that. So, Josh and Zach both have short normal boy haircuts, and they look so cute.

Kindergarten: We've arrived!

Josh is ready to walk to school with his backpack on and lunch box in hand on the first day of Kindergarten!

Josh started kindergarten this week and absolutely loved it! We've all seen and heard about the first day of kindergarten with all the crying and clinging. I was prepared for the worst. Luckily it didn't happen and things went smoothly; I didn't cry or cling to Josh!!


Josh is in Mrs. Frances' class and is one of about 17 students. When I dropped Josh off he played outside with some "kindergarten helpers" and the parents had Kindergarten Orientation. We learned all about his teacher and the class. I know Josh is going to love his teacher, I already do. She is very into art, laid back and very easy going. She says the kindergartners run the class and each student has a job. The jobs range from taking the chairs off the desks in the morning, being the line leader, and Josh's job this week of being the "peace maker." Mrs. Frances said Josh did a great job of making peace between two students on the first day of school.



The class will spend the first two weeks getting a routine down and making sure all of the students know their colors. So, each day is a different color and the students are to wear that color and try to bring something in their lunch that is the color of the day. Josh has been red, orange, green, and yellow. Next week he will have a pink and a purple day, so we're not sure what he'll be wearing!!


I am so blessed to be a SAHM (stay-at-home-mom) and be able to walk Josh to and from school every day. He tells me all of his "great ideas" on our walk to school and all about his day on our walk home.


This is going to be a great school year for all of us!

Josh's self portrait from the first day of Kindergarten!

We are "that" family!

I often wonder when we became "that" family. I'm not sure of when, I just know that we are "that" family.

We are "that" family, who uses two carts at the grocery store.

We are "that" family, who goes through an entire loaf of bread for one day's lunch.

We are "that" family, who takes their kids on a walk using multiple strollers.

And lastly, we are "that" family at the restaurant with "that" kid climbing all over the table, running up and down the aisles, and screaming at the top of his lungs. Which is why we never eat out! (And yes, "that" kid is Zach!)

I love being "that" family and wouldn't want it any other way!

Ball Park in Pictures (mostly)

Every year, our neighbor Elena, invites us to the Scripps Night at the Ball Park. This was our 5th year of going with them. It's great because not only do we get to see the Padres play, but they have a pre-game party with everyone from Scripps that wants to attend. We get matching shirts, hotdogs, soda, water, ice cream, peanuts, and cracker jacks. And they have jumpers, rock climbers, face painters, balloons, ect for the kids at the pre-game party. Our whole family went along with Faith's friend, Michaela. And, it was Ben's first game and he got a ball! Below are some of our pictures from this years game.