The Spirit of Giving....

Every year we have a few traditions around Christmas. The kids love them and look forward to them. One of our traditions are getting a "Christmas Angel" from the Salvation Army trees. Each kid gets to pick one. This year we explained that we were having a hard time budgeting it in. So the conversation went like this:
Daddy sits the kids down on the couch.
Daddy: "We decided to take back 1 present that we got each of you in order for us to buy our angel gifts. How does this sound to each of you?"
Marissa: "I understand and I still want to buy for a baby angel this year."
Hannah: "I still really want to get my angel a gift so take back some of my presents and maybe I will get 2 angels."
Ashlyn: "I WANT ALL OF MY PRESENTS.. DON'T TAKE ANY OF THEM BACK!! After a LONG temper tantrum she finally got the understanding of Christmas. Although while shopping she asked if we could still buy 2 of each thing so she can also have one!"
Where did I go wrong??

Growing Up with Sisters...

Poor Aidan, his sister's are constantly playing dress up with him. He now asks for "whipstick" and loves shoes and a purse. Daddy has a fit when he sees it, but the girls find it fun!

Halloween 2009....

We have a tradition on Halloween of chili and hotdogs every year. My parents and sister’s family come over and we eat then the guys take the kids trick or treating while the moms stay back and sit on the driveway with the firepit (even in AZ when it might not be cold) and pass out candy. This year daddy was sick so mommy pulled the wagon and traded daddy for awhile. We were also joined by my cousins families and Uncle Aaron this year. The kids had a great time. The night before Halloween we went trunk or treating with Grammy at her church. Ashlyn (my girly indecisive girl) was in 2 different costumes each night. Hannah had decades day on Friday at school so she too was in 2 different costumes. (good thing for dance costumes) Aidan loved that he could run up and say want candy (not trick or treat) and they would give it to him. In fact he would wait until they gave him everything in their hands. After all was said and done he had the most candy and they all had more than they needed!

Homecoming 2009..

Marissa went to Homecoming and according to her, "It was the worst one ever." It is her sophomore year so many to compare to. She met up with her friends as she isn't old enough to date and went to the dance with them. The end of the night she came home. So why was it the worst?? She has mean parents who didn't allow her to go to high school parties or have a date as she is on 15 and all of her friends had plans afterward. My answer is sorry you have mean parents now deal with it. I did offer to stay up to watch a movie but she opted for sulking in her bedroom. Ohh the woes of a teenage daughter at least I spent the money on the dress right??

Aidan Turns 2 (on Oct 22nd a little late on the post)

I say this with a little wince of sadness as I know my baby is growing up way to fast. He’s our last (YES OFFICIALLY) and my only little boy. He looks so big and has found his independence. The terrible 2’s have definitely have arrived (and I can’t wait for them to be gone). We had to reschedule his birthday as he and big sister Ashlyn were sick. We had a small party at our house a couple of weeks later. When it was time to sing Happy Birthday he led the song its his favorite song. He opened each present with such enthusiasm and loved everything.
A few Aidanism's:

• eat eat-always loves food and is always hungry
• (Insert Name) Meeee-everybody is mean when he doesn’t get what he wants
• I neeee you mommy-everytime he wants to be held
• A ka-Marissa (not sure where that came from)
• Ha Ya-Hannah
• A In-Ashlyn
• Gu E- Gussy the dog
• No No I O go broom broom- motorcycle goes vroom vroom everytime he sees one
• Mo Mo-Elmo
• Ooh Ooh- when he needs a diaper changed
• Tut Dow- Touchdown (any sport with something exciting happening.)

I love you little man. You are such a fun strong willed little boy. You are so eager to learn something new. You are always on the go and into something. You love to climb and try to take things apart. You are definately your fathers son. Thank you for being such an important part of our family. Happy Birthday!

Halloween at Dizz Wand aka: Disneyland.....

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We love California so much we headed back just 2 weeks after we left. Ok maybe just because the plan was in place to join our good friends, the I’Anson’s over fall break to Disneyland. The drive was what I was dreading, Aidan wasn’t very agreeable to travel with and continued to scream in his car seat, because he wanted out. It had only been 2 weeks since we had gotten back from our beach trip. (The trip before Aidan got the flu on the ride home so it made it more unbearable.) The trip there went well and we pulled into town at 11:00 pm. The next morning we were up early. Hannah and Ashlyn had been here before, but it had been several years and they didn’t remember it. They were so excited and they continued to ask questions. What do the rides look like? Can I meet Mickey, Donald, etc.. We had a great time.

So our story goes little Miss Ashlyn was fearless. She rode Space Mountain (although she wasn’t so sure about it) and the Tower of Terror and thought the story line was “funny”. She followed Erika and Hannah around like she was a big girl and even stood on her tippy toes to sneak onto Mulholland Madness with them. (Figured out how to be sneaky and it worked!) On Soarin she made everybody put their hands up (even though it’s not a scary ride), but she was overall braver than the big girls.
My little Hannah aka Miss Hates the Unknown and change was just as expected. She cried getting onto Space Mountain, almost peed her pants on Splash Mountain as it didn’t have seat belts and almost had a panic attack when getting onto Tower of Terror. She couldn’t understand her sister’s fearless behavior.

Aidan was in awe at all of the characters and the little rides. He hated Peter Pan, but daddy put him on the Matterhorn and daddy insists he wasn’t scared. He misunderstood the “Happiest Place on Earth” and still had his terrible twos tantrums with no nap. Quite a treat! He loved most of the rides and danced at the parade. One funny story (I don’t want to forget) Aidan was giving fives to Brother Bear and he was “fighting” him. We were walking off and Brother Bear had started walking our direction after he was done with pictures and Aidan turned around saw him coming and startled he turned around to run and smacked right into a trash can! Very sad (but funny) moment.

Marissa has been there so many times with her dad that she just enjoyed seeing the kid’s excitement. Marissa, our tour guide was helpful when we needed help deciding where to go next and finding the closest potty’s. The ADULTS even felt like kids and we wore the kids out for a change while we walked 12-14 hours a day. We even whined to them when they wanted to stop and eat. turned around saw him coming our way.

Enjoy our pics from our trip. Thanks I’Anson’s for a great time, we had lots of fun!!

New Found Freedom....

I added pictures of his room so I can remember what it looked like later.

I use to brag at how well Aidan would go to sleep. He loves to be rocked or as he calls it "Bye-a-bye. "He then says good night to his favorite toys and goes to sleep. In the morning he plays until somebody comes to rescue him.

Then one day.. he discovered he can climb out!! Never had he tried it, but now he loves it. He would just get out of bed and tell us “NO NO” and go play with his toys in the playroom. I even found him watching the tv in the playroom that had been turned off. After a week straight of this he finally hit his head pretty hard so here is his new bed and new freedom. My 10 minutes of snuggling at night has turned into an hour and a half of crying and screaming and putting him back to bed when he keeps getting up. Don't get me wrong he still snuggles, but if he thinks he is snuggling because it is bedtime he screams and fights! Help!

Ideal Vacation.....

We were fortunate enough to be invited to join my sister’s family, along with my parents to a beautiful, huge beach house. It was so nice and relaxing. The house was on a quiet beach and we could step out the backdoor right into the sand. We spent the days playing in the water and the evenings playing board games. The kids had so much fun. They woke up in the morning and put on their swimsuits. They loved boogie boarding and being buried in the sand. (We had to borrow a camera as our’s died so pictures to come later!)

First Time Taking the Bus to School.....

I needed to remember this story when Marissa gets older. Yes she is a sophomore in high school and has NEVER taken the bus. I have always driven her to and from school since she attended a Charter school for years there has never been an opportunity to take the bus. So after much anxiety of getting to the bus stop in time, who to sit by, not knowing anybody on the bus she made it out the door EARLY to the bus stop. She hurries along her walk when she realizes that by leaving early for the bus it will be awkward when she gets to the stop and she standing all alone. She proceeds to slow down and stare at the ground coming up with a solution. Still staring at the ground she decides to just wait in the park. Just then she runs into a ladder sticking out of the back of a truck, at the house across the street from the park. With her head hurting she looks in the truck side mirror to see, “My eyelashes all over my face and a huge red mark on my face!!” She wanted to just go home, but she knew she was told she had to take the bus. She tried to wipe the eyelashes and tears away as her makeup smears across her face. Just then the owner of the truck comes out to find her looking in his side mirror. Now mortified she ran away without telling him what happened and decides to just go the bus stop as there is no time to stand at the park now. Nobody was at the bus stop. Jus then she sees the bus come near her and then pass her without stopping. (We later find out is because nobody uses that stop) Finally a friend from many years ago sees her and helped her find a different stop. She was to embarrassed to tell him what happened and he got on the bus and found his friends, but she at least made it to school (and the nurses office for an ice pack). Although told to take the bus to and from school that day she found a ride home.

Spoiled Dog..

Just look how cute they are together. Gussy just thinks he is one of the kids. He enjoys being pushed in the doll stroller, and the shopping cart. He has to sleep snuggled up with the girls. He thinks he is neglected when he has to go outside for more than a few minutes. The girls are so good about taking care of him and they feed him, give him water, and clean up after his messes. I never thought we would be a dog family, but he sure fits right in.

Marissa Turns 15..

Yes hard to believe but my little girl is now 15. Not old enough to drive or date, but old enough to have an opinion about everything! She had a big party with her dad's family. At our house we had a low key celebration and she went shopping and for dessert with Grammy.
15 things that describe Marissa are:
1 She is beautiful on the inside and the out
2 She is a hard worker
3 She is loving and helpful with her siblings
4 She has a fun personality
5 She hasn’t missed Honor Roll ever.
5 She is a beautiful dancer
6 She is sensitive
7 She is thoughtful
8 She takes things to heart
9 She is DRAMA
10 She takes things to heart
11 She remembers everything you ever promised
12 She is ditzy
13 She is a perfectionist
14 She loves to shop.
15 She is looking forward to dating and driving. Ugh!!!
Happy birthday baby girl. We love you so much and are so glad you are such a part of our family.

Back to School..

..
Yes the inevitable day arrived. Marissa is now a Sophmore. (Crazy I know!!) She was excited to get back to see her friends again. She was a little stressed over her schedule, she is taking many Honors classes. She is pretty sure she has the meanest teachers in school, becuase she already heard rumors.
Hannah is now in 3rd grade. The anxiety of school starting again is always so hard for her. We went from crying the entire first month of kindergarten, (No lie!) to first 2 weeks of 1st grade, to the first week of 2nd grade. This year she allowed me only to take a picture of her outside the door. She then went into the classroom and bravely sat down and whispered the words goodbye to me with only a glimmer of a tear in her eyes. It still breaks my heart. She did great after that and loves her teacher!

Ashlyn started 4 year old preschool. This year she is doing a double session as she stays with the preschool teacher all day on preschool days. Her teacher offered to watch her so we can keep her in preschool and she can play with her friend Izzy, the teacher’s daughter. Thanks Jonna. She loves packing her lunch like her sister’s do and loves having homework. I am pretty sure that may change later in life.

Escaping the Heat....

We also had the opportunity to visit a friend’s cabin this summer. We love to get up North and our kids always have so much fun. On our way up there we visited the Cardinal’s Training Camp. Tim loved it and the kids had a great time at the activities they had to climb on. We had some dear friends Tony and Amy come and visit us for the day while we were at the cabin. They have 2 beautiful girls and loved visiting with them. While there we took the kids fishing down the road. This wasn’t the fun, relaxing trip most have when going fishing. Ashlyn and Wesley wanted to walk along the narrow embankment, eat snacks and throw rocks into the water. Hannah was very upset at the rocks being thrown in and the noise level as she takes her fishing sport very serious. Aidan wanted to get in the water and also walk along the embankment. Needless to say at the end of the afternoon we didn’t have any fish, but did get a few bites. J Daddy and Hannah had their own special fishing trip the next morning while Aidan, Ashlyn and I had fun at the cabin. One evening we went into town and got to see a real Wild West Shootout. It was the highlight of the evening.
It was a wonderful weekend and were sad to leave. Thanks Cole family for offering up the cabin. We ALWAYS love going up there.

The Lake...

After a couple of very busy weeks we spent some time at the lake with our very good friends the I’Ansons. Tim and I took Ashlyn and Aidan and had a great time. (Marissa had plans and Hannah was still in California) It was Aidan’s first time on the lake and he loved it. He was even lulled to sleep watching Ashlyn, Erica and Nicholas on the tube. Tim and I even went out on the tube while Eric was determined to knock us off. Needless to say I stayed on so long my arms hurt and a lovely monsoon storm moved in. I really didn’t want to fall off in that choppy, dark scary water!

Nationals....

Well as Dance Recital ends the need to get ready for Nationals begin. This year the Troupe traveled to Anaheim, California to participate. It is a great team building time for the girls. This year there was a little more down time than we have had in previous years. We were able to go to the beach and bowling together. So the girls were able to make it a vacation too. The Troupe hadn’t competed in Regionals this year due to cost so we had a competition night of very few other participants against us so we could compete Nationals. We took our 3 top scores for each Troupe to Nationals. The girls did great at Nationals and even took home a few Judges’ favorite awards. Marissa's group were a bit frustrated as last minute several of their teammates did not go to Nationals for one reason or another. The girls had to spent a lot of time doing last minute changes to their dances. It was hard on them but in the end they took home straight Gold awards and one judges favorite for their lyrical dance. Great job girls. I am so proud of you!

My Baby Girl Graduated... from 3 year old preschool to 4 year old preschool.

A huge day in her life. It was very cute. She got dressed up and had to have make up, nails painted and hair curled. I am not sure if she realizes that is not all necessary when graduating from preschool, but I was happy to oblige. I think she was feeling left out as it was the same week as her sisters dance recital. During the graduation she sang many songs and was thrilled to receive the “Ashlyn movie”. (pictures of their preschool year on a DVD to songs) Congratulations baby girl I know you will do great next year too! (at the same preschool)

Hannah...Our Little Traveler....

Hannah is becoming quite our little traveler. After dance recital she went for a week and a half with her cousin Brennan to fly to their Grandpa and Analee’s house in California. They had a great time going to the movies, playing games and showing off their talents for such willing grandparents. They spent a lot of time in the pool too. July 4th weekend they also had the opportunity to visit Grandma Pam and Uncle Matthew. They had a great time doing crafts, swimming in the hot tub, and being silly. Thank you all for the fun trip. The kids have such great memories of their special vacation.

Annual Dance Recital Time....

For those that know us well this is a CRAZY time of year for us. There is a lot that goes in to having a recital. It is a major event. The week consists of:

* A 6+ hours of dress rehearsal, * Running last minute to buy new tights, *Packing up anything and everything that kids might need, *Friday night of a 2 hour recital, *Saturday 2 recitals with a small break and needing to be there early the day is about 10 hours with cranky kids and a toddler!!

Not to mention that I manage and orchestrate the purchasing of food and the running of the snack bar. (The dance Troupe’s last fundraiser before Nationals) while Tim is Head Usher during the recital. Needless to say the girls did a wonderful job and we all survived. Here are a few pictures from the recital. Many of our family members joined us on Saturday night to watch the show. Thanks Mom, Pops, Dad, Analee, Chris, Sally, Aaron, Jessica, Corey and Brennan for joining us. Hannah did an acro routine to the Madagascar’s theme song and Marissa did 6 numbers. The theme this year was “Come Fly with Us”

June 2009 continued...

Here I am trying to do as quick as possible catch up session. I keep this blog as a way of remembering our family events so I have this need to catch up on my blog posts.

Happy Fathers Day Honey. (Yes it has been that long since I have blogged!) We love you daddy so much. We spent the day together. Daddy got a big breakfast and then we decided it would be fun to go bowling. The first game was great and we even let daddy win! We tried to get through games and quickly discovered we should have stoppped at one game. Melt downs started and Aidan kept running away. When we got home the girls made daddy homemade cards and he spent the day playing with them. That evening we had our family over for a big dinner. It was nice spending a great relaxing day together. Thank you for being such a great daddy and wonderful husband. We love you soooo much!

Happy Birthday Grammy

Tonight we celebrated "Grammy's" birthday (my mom). We had fajita's, yummy salsa, a lots of desserts. We had fun while the kids ran around and we visited. Grammy also got a few presents. Some presents are useful, some are just fun date nights, some sentimental and all very wonderful, but the one that topped the list was..... Ashlyn and Hannah's gifts. (ok so maybe not, but they did have the most creative). The girls wanted to "make grammy gifts". They spent time making cards and drawing pictures. Hannah made her a card that told her how everyday of the year she is loved by everybody in our family. With cute drawings of her with Grammy. Ashlyn had to one up her sister and gave her 5 cards each with writings (that are letters that don't spell anything) and pictures. They then on their own got into the gift bags and tissue paper and "wrapped" their gifts. Nobody knew until she was opening it. At the bottom of the bag past the wonderful cards were Ashlyn's thoughtful gifts. She gave her the flower food from the flowers we gave Grammy the other day we forgot to give it to her and the flowers are now dead. Ashlyn also gave her an almost empty bottle of hotel lotion, her used chapstick and her compact. We couldn't stop laughing it was so cute. Definately the most loved gift. Sorry no pictures I forgot again.

9 Years....

Tim and I celebrated our 9th anniversary this week. I can't believe how the time has passed. I have a wonderful husband and am the luckiest girl around. Here are 9 things I love about my husband (in no particular order):

1. He shows his family such unconditional love all the time.

2. He is my best friend and confidant.

3. He truly is a wonderful father.

4. He shares in the household duties including diapers, meal prep and cleaning.

5. He is such a hard worker and works hard to provide for our family.

6. No matter how tired he may be he still doesn't complain when I ask for help with one more thing.

7. He is still so snuggly.

8. He makes me feel special and beautiful even when I don't feel like I am.

9. He is still SO HOT!

This weekend we were able to get away to the Pointe for what should have been a bonding time for us to reconnect. We had a fabulous weekend, but we both missed our kids (see number 3) so we had the kids with us for half of the weekend. My lovely sister, Jessica helped us out bringing them back and forth and watched them, so we could have the best of both worlds.

We enjoyed our weekend and had a chance to reflect on the important things in our lives. Marriage isn't easy, in fact sometimes it is hard and takes work. We too have had our share of stress and problems, but we continue to work through them. Happy Anniversary Honey, I love you so much. One picture is of us this year at the Pointe. The other is our 5th anniversary we spent in Maui. The oldest picture I could find of us together on on the computer.

Hannah is "Trustworthy"

Each month at Hannah's school they award 1 child from each class that has demonstrated a particular "Character Building Block." The nominations come from the teachers and staff. Hannah was awarded the Trustworthy award. She was very excited to get her award in her assembly. She received a bronze metal, certificate and a pencil. Her teacher said, "She can always count on her for being honest and making good choices, and if ever their is a conflict she can count on Hannah to tell the truth about the situation." Congratulations Banana we are so proud of the beautiful little girl that you are.