Closing out the year we called 2010...

New Years Eve was spent at home with friends. The DeJongs and our neighbors Dan and Angela came over. We all brought some type of food and called it a "surprise dinner party." The DeJongs spoiled us though with steak and yummy brushetta. The kids played board games, Andrew and Lauren worked on their never ending book, the dads played Wii, Angela was attacked by small children to play games on the floor, the kids ran back and forth through our back fences to one anothor's houses, Allie choked on what seemed like a hairball at 8:55 and threw up, and at 9:00 we rung in the new year with poppers and champagne. Right after the ball dropped I put my messy daughter in the bath and changed myself (I was the lucky one holding her when she lost it). The kids all settled down and got tucked in. Andy went to bed as well and I ended up doing computer work until midnight (I know...highly exciting 111) It was a nice way to end this crazy year called 2010!! As I sat in a folding chair holding Allie, covered in pink throw up from her (she had a smoothie with dinner) as the ball dropped my wonderful husband gave me a New Year's kiss...I didn't expect anything else from this year...so glad it's 2011!!!

The end of an AMAZING Generation

On December 28th my mom's Aunt Nan went home to heaven. She was the last living relative of gram's generation. Her and grams were very close and were both amazing examples of women of strength. We joked about how they must all be having a crazy New Year's Eve party up in heaven celebrating being reunited with one another. Grams had one sister and there were 5 siblings on grandpa's side. Everyone was married and everyone had passed away except grams and aunt Nan. It is a weird feeling thinking about a whole generation in a family being gone. From the ones that I had met and knew since I was a little girl, I can say that they were an amazing generation who left a legacy of family values for each of us!!

WE LOVE Seal Beach

We just returned from a great visit with family and friends to Seal Beach. This was the first time we were back since grandma E's funeral. Her house was beautifully decorated for Christmas and the kids just loved seeing all the decorations. I was reminded about how much kids can bring JOY during difficult times. They just loved to see all the decorations and help go through old ones to separate them between families. It was hard to be too sad over her stuff when I watched our kids just treasure all the special things she has. We visited with friends (didn't take too many picture :() and spent a lot of time enjoying the beautiful weather. It rained one day, but every other day was beautiful. Grandpa and grandma met us down there and we enjoyed being together with them. They spoiled us with meals and treats for the kids while we were there. We were able to help with a bit of the "cleaning out" process. We enjoyed going through some of grams old stuff and hearing stories about certain things. It was a great way to end our year together as a family in a place we LOVE!!

Luke's "Seal Beach" Birthday

Luke was excited to be in Seal Beach for his 5th Birthday. We brought down a few things to decorate the table. We walked to Main Street for cinnamon rolls on the pier for breakfast and then went to the famous sea shell store. Aunt Emmie and Uncle Gary took us out to a yummy lunch at Ruby's on pier. In the evening we drove to Downtown Disney to hang out. It was very busy so we just walked around and looked in stores, but ended up not eating there because the wait was so long. Luke had $6.00 of his birthday money left and he looked in all the stores but didn't find anything. I loved seeing his kind heart in the Disney store. He walked Allie around like his own little daughter. He would say, "sweetie, do you want me to buy you this?" and then he would ask, "mom, do I have enough money to buy Allie this Minnie Mouse?" We resisted because the Minnie was way more than the money he had, but it was difficult to say no because he was being so thoughtful. He kindly explained to her that he didn't have enough money to buy the Minnie and tried finding something else. In the end we decided to go back to the Seal Beach shell store. He bought Andrew and Allie something from there. This boy has the sweetest heart when it comes to giving to his brother and sister. We ended our day at a local restaurant where Luke wanted a hot dog for dinner. He spent half his dinner time cutting up Allie's hot dog for her and he was very happy with himself. To end the night we got stuck outside grandma E's house because the alarm on the door was broken. We went to the neighbor for the garage door opener and when she found out it was his birthday she ran and got the boys remote control cars from her trunk. What a surprise!!! Luke was very excited though.
Happy Birthday Lukey James...we LOVE you so much buddy!!

Jack and Frank

The kids love my cousins Jack and Frank. They always enjoy the time they get to spend with them in Seal Beach. Allie has a little crush on Frank...as you can tell by her smile with him. They brought the kids Christmas gifts and Frank gave Allie a beautiful dress, shoes, and pearl necklace. She thought she was just beautiful for Frank!! Oh my...we have our hands full with this little girl!!

Happy 32nd Birthday Daddy!!!

We have a the greatest daddy in the world and he was so wonderful this year to drive us all the way to Seal Beach on his birthday. We made sure to get him a few Starbucks along the way. Aunt Jamey and Katelyn had dinner waiting for us when we got to grandma E's house and everyone came over for cake to celebrate!!
We are so blessed by Andy's patience and love for our family. He spoils me all the time with everything he does for our family. I love watching him interact with our kids...they all love him to pieces!! Happy Birthday Daddy!! We LOVE You!

LEGO Master

Andrew just loves his legos. He got a new fire boat from Santa and he spent 2 hours on Christmas building it. He was very proud of himself for building it all by himself. He has a great deal of patience with his legos. We love watching him build!! This is also my kiddos in their PJs before going to bed...just documenting that mommy let them stay in them all day long!!