Summary of Christmas

Besides the decorations going up and the countdown calendar, our holidays usually begin with a package from Grandma and Grandpa. In this package is, not only, our Christmas gifts but a present a day for the twelve days of Christmas. The girls love it and so do I. Part of the purpose of doing this is for the fun, obviously, but to also help keep the kids entertained so Mommy can get stuff done. Grandma...it is working! :) (Sadie, Daphne and Lucy watching the movie Up from Grandma and Grandpa.

Lucy got some Christmas fun rolling with her school program. She was so cute and did such a great job! You could hear her over everyone! It was hilarious!
Such a proud Daddy!
Lucy and Mrs. Lisa. She is so sweet! Lucy loves her!
Averee and Lucy - BFF!
We always go to Chuck E Cheese after. We lived it up and had a blast! There were even new rides so it was extra exciting! Lucy love the horse race!
Next we had Sadie's school party. I was lucky enough to be one of the planners of the party, so I helped the kids make these little snowflake ornaments.

They rotated from 4 different tables doing 2 different ornaments, a Christmas bingo, and decorating gingerbread cookies. Then they had a book exchange by reading a "left/right" story. Half of them didn't get their left and right so it was quite funny! There are some really sweet kids in her class!

Making her ornament.

We love Mrs. Little!

Mrs. Little had to do a silly face one! Sadie was game!

We had to decorate our own cookies at home too! Yes, it is cold here, but Sadie insists on coming home and changing into something else everyday! :)

We were so lucky and got to have my sister Cyndi and her husband Craig and their sweet baby Hunter come visit us for a few days before Christmas! Here is Hunter actually liking some rice cereal. He is so cute!
Daphne and Hunter had fun baby play times! They are so cute!
With Cyndi and I together it was fun to be able to do my family's tradition of playing the dice game. Sadie LOVED it and liked counting the dots on the dice. She REALLY had a great time with it and wanted to play it again the next day. Sadly I didn't have more little presents. Lucy was a little too distracted by standing on her head and whatever else! She did like rolling the dice though. For some reason she would close her eyes when she rolled the dice. It was so cute!
Cyndi, Hunter and Craig ready to play the dice game!
Christmas Eve all snug in their bed! (I tried to take one of Daphne but I totally woke her up when I went in her room...which is random because we go in every night just to look at her and her cute little snuggled face!)
Santa CAME!!! So EXCITING!!! So much chaos! :)
Daphne enjoyed her first Christmas! She didn't get the unwrapping part too much but enjoyed playing with the paper after. The girls were always willing to help unwrap presents for her though!

Lucy was done with pictures but Sadie and Daphne were ready for more!
Here is one of our new family members! This is Fluffy (formerly known as Squeakers - until we discovered that Fluffy squeaked all the time so we switched names!)
We got the girls 2 little hamsters. We didn't get a picture of Squeakers but she is quite cute and is solid dark gray. The girls absolutely love them. They haven't been a difficult pet so far. They sleep a lot and like to run around in their little ball.
Sadie must have heard the hamsters running in their wheel downstairs, because she came running into our room to wake us up saying that she "HEARD SANTA!!!" We needed to HURRY!! It was a great Christmas! We had so much fun hanging out, playing and relaxing!

Funny

At lunch today:

Sadie: (holding the salt) "This is the Salt."
(holding the pepper) "and is this the Dr. Pepper?"

We all laughed! :-D

First REAL Field Trip

Lindsey - this is for you! :)

What a year of firsts this has been for Sadie. Going on her first REAL field trip was so exciting! Her class got to go to Sweet Berry Farms Pumpkin Patch. We have been lots of times before, but it was much more adventurous to go with your class! Plus we got to do things that we have never done before that I think they reserve for field trips. So that was fun.

They started off eating lunch and were joined by lots and LOTS of bees! All the adults turned into official bee shoo-ers. So we ate quick!

Then we were off to the wagon relay. Sadie's teacher is Mrs. Little and we love her!! I love that her last name is so perfect for a Kindergarten teacher. She has them line up by saying, "Where is my Little Line?" So cute! :) So they got into two Little Lines and raced under a tunnel to get a pumpkin in their wagon, and race back.
Sadie got one with a little green on it. She was proud that it would last the longest. :) But then at the end of the race one person wanted to change. They said if you wanted to trade you could. Of course almost EVERY kid went back to spend their time picking out the perfect one! :)

Maddie and Sadie painting their pumpkins. They have so much fun together!

While the kids were painting their pumpkins, I plopped Daphne down for some pictures in her little pumpkin hat! (Tricia, you will be happy to know that I never got a picture of her in a pumpkin with it on.) Seriously, I love this girl!
While the kids went through the maze, I went and fed Daphne in the car. I found them doing water races, but I missed Sadie. We have done that before so I was okay. :)

Then we got to do something cool that we had never done before. They took an ear of Indian Corn and put it through this old "machine" that took all the kernels off the corn as the kids turned the wheel. It was hard to do so an adult had to help. They got to put their kernels in a bag and take the empty ear of corn and the bag of kernels home. It was pretty cool.Sadie so proud of her Indian Corn. Her corn was completely empty of kernels. She did good!
On the hay ride! We were packed on tight so that we could all fit! So don't mind the unneccessary close up. Sadie always loves to show off her little sister! She always wants her friends to see that she can hold her! It is cute.
Stuffing a scarecrow with her classmates. They are wearing their Westside Rockets t-shirts! :) Don't worry, the boys are black with green writing! :)
If you ask Sadie what the VERY BEST part about the field trip was, this would be her answer:

They got to ride on the bus! And she got to sit by Maddie! Cameron and Logan were close too. They are quite the foursome sometimes. I have seen them holding hands (boy, girl, boy, girl) while running during running club. SO cute! Sadie had the option of riding home with me and not having to go back to school. But of course she chose to RIDE the BUS!

Trick or Treat

The week of Halloween was full of fun festivities. Lately, I have just been forgetful and off and surprise, surprise...I didn't take that many pictures. For example: it was Red Ribbon week at school and everyday was a different crazy way to dress. I did not take one picture! Not ONE! It was so fun and took me back; as I remember dressing up and doing those crazy things for spirit week. It was fun to do it for Sadie. The last day was the costume parade (wait, actually I did take pictures! I just realized I have some on my little camera....I will post later I guess).
By the end of the week it seemed as if we dressed up in our costumes a million times! Each time there was a different look. Different accessories, makeup, hair...always different. Sadie is so funny and so particular! Here we are all ready for the church Trunk or Treat! (Lucy's hat is not on yet)
Lucy as Jesse from Toy Story 2
Sadie as Hannah Montana (of course!)

Striking that Hannah Montana pose!And our sweet little Daphne as a Sunshine.

I should have taken this next picture as a hint...Here is how our night ended up. Lucy threw up all over her costume on our way out the drive way! So Daddy and Sadie ended up going all by themselves. Sadie was so sweet and took Lucy's bag and got her candy too!
After a rough night, Lucy woke up feeling great! Me on the other hand, I needed more sleep! But who can sleep on Halloween!!!!
Here we are, ready to get some (more) candy!!
Little Lucy was so excited to be Jesse! Although it sounds like she says "Jelssie." No one could understand whenever she told them what she was going to be. :) At first she wanted to be a unicorn (good luck with that one Mom). When she changed her mind to be Jesse, I jumped on it! Her costume cleaned up well, thankfully!
Little Sadie is such a drama queen! I love her energy and wish I had half of it! She was so excited for candy! We were lucky and ran into a friend while we were Trick or Treating! Sadie and Vivian had a BLAST running from house to house!!
I don't really know what I was, but at least I dressed up right!?!
But Daphne, now she was too cute! I had a hard time trying to find a costume for her. When I saw this Sunshine costume, I knew it was perfect!!!! Just for her! She is our little Sunshine!! Bringing so much joy and light into our lives!
She wasn't quite sure what to think of me!

She did warm up to me after a little bit! She is so loving and sweet! I was going to say she loves her Mama, but really she loves her Daddy just as much! And you can't ignore how much she adores her sisters! She is just so sweet!!

6 Months

Seriously, where has the time gone? I always LOVE the 6 month stage, but that came too quickly. When people say they have a 6 month old I think, "awww, cute little smiley baby." Not "awww, look at that sweet little newborn." And that is how I want Daphne to be for just a little longer. Please!?! Although I must say, she is definitely a cute little smiley baby! I just love her to pieces! She is very into faces! She loves to look at expressions and loves to grab and claw at any and all facial parts! She absolutely A.D.O.R.E.S. her big sisters!!! She kicks and flaps her arms and squeals and giggles when she sees them! She can be completely crying as we are waiting to pick Sadie up from school and when Sadie gets in the car and gives her kisses and sits behind her, she will stop and giggle! She is starting to really notice our dog Missy. She loves to watch her, touch her, and share her food with her. Speaking of food, Daphne is quite the eater. She will down practically anything you give her which makes it nice for Mommy. She is also very vocal when she eats. It is hilarious. Maybe it is because that's a good long portion of time when she has my complete attention (poor third child!). But in between bites she will grunt and squeal and blow bubbles and tell me all sorts of stories. I love it!
She loves pulling the girls hair even though they don't like it very much. But they are VERY patient with her. They absolutely LOVE to be big helpers and help take care of her.
Daphne is starting to sit up but is still cute and wobbly. But the main thing that has happened is she has outgrown her carrier! SO SAD! No more portable naps! Being the third child she is always lugged around everywhere. In her carrier she could at least stay asleep as we are getting in and out of the car and to different places. Now...she gets woken up after falling asleep in the car for 5 minutes. :( This just has to mean that I need to slow down and little and not commit myself to too much.
But boy has Daphne had some good times in her carrier! Here are just a few of those times:
Que the music... ;)
Home from the hospital. 4/16/2009
Trip to the Dentist. 5/8/2009

Tons of sweaty days at the pool. 5/12/2009

Hangin' with friends.

Daphne and Ryder 5/14/2009

Daphne and Isabelle 9/3/2009Fourth of July 7/4/2009

Many trips to McDonalds 7/21/2009

First time relaxing on the beach, covered by a blanket - it was cold. 7/24/2009

First trip to the Ventura County Fair on the Merry-Go-Round. 8/6/2009

First solid. Rice Cereal given to me by Sadie. 8/13/2009

Lucy's Preschool Orientation. 9/3/2009

Lunch at Sadie's school. 9/4/2009

Day at the Park. 9/11/2009

Ice Cream and Snow Cones with Friends. 9/18/2009

Good bye dear carrier friend. We loved all of our times together. We will miss you! :)

Movin' on Out

We have recently had to swallow our pride, and make a decision that wasn't the most fun for us, but one that is a good decision for our family. We have sold our beautiful home. The home that we built and made TONS of changes to, to fit US will now benefit another family. It took a lot of prayers and strength, but we did it and, although there are moments, it feels good. Like we can breath again. We can enjoy each other more and not stress so much about the unimportant things.

Chris has a great job. It is 100% commission. With the struggling economy it has put a dent in his income. He still makes plenty for us, but we just had to adjust our bills to fit into the changes that have happened. Although when we built this home we were living easily within our means, it has been a learning experience for us. We don't need all the fancy things, especially with young kids. I realize now that having those nice things added stress to our daily lives because we didn't want the kids to ruin them, for example the forbidden wood floors. :) Once we finally made the decision, it felt good! GREAT! We looked forward to the move.

With a lot of hard work we listed and showed the home, and after only two days we got our first offer! Two days later we got an even higher offer. We were very happy. We packed everything up and the day came to move! It was a lot of work but we got it done! We said our goodbyes to our home. It was sad to see it empty. This is the first time selling a home has been sad for me. So many fun times that are hard to separate from. But we did it and it is good. We are getting settled and are excited for the change. The girls are having fun and love being able to meet new neighbor friends.

We were so lucky to have Grandma Christy come to help us move! She is always willing to drop everything to come and help us out. We are so thankful for her! We could not have done it with out her. We did get to have some fun times when she was here too. We went to lunch with Sadie and that was lots of fun!

So we have been busy and blogging has been pushed aside. But I will get back into it...I promise.