Jared enjoyed lots of birthday morning phone calls.
He was so funny every time the phone rang...
"Don't worry, Mom, I'll get it. It's probably for me, anyway."
He chose to go to Chuck E. Cheese for his birthday this year.
He chose Transformers,
and pepperoni pizza...a winning combination for any 7 year old boy!
It's Jared vs. Gracie in foosball--it looks like Caleb is worried about the score.
With 4 kids, we always end up with lots of tickets!
Although his birthday was one week away, we decided to have a party for Jared at Gramma's house while all of our family was together. He chose to have a Transformer/Club Penguin party.
Phil made this great ice cream-filled igloo cake!
He loved all of his gifts and was so grateful to open each one.
I can't even begin to describe how much my kids love their cousins, Morgan and Lindsay. We were all so happy that Becky and her girls could be at Gramma and Grampa's house while we visited!
The kids worked on this great gingerbread house
and we enjoyed a wonderful prime rib Christmas dinner by candlelight.
So many sweet memories!
I can't believe I didn't take any pictures with my parents while we were visiting! And the only pictures of my dad are of the back of his head.
Auntie Emy brought Disney Monopoly to play with the kids.
Emy, Grandma Plyer and me
Whenever we visit California, the kids love to play in Corinne's house. We lived there for a few years--mostly when they were all babies, so they call it The Baby House. One of the things we found in the closet in the girls' old bedroom was my wedding dress. Gracie begged to try it on.
...and then Lily asked
...and then I tried. In case you're wondering--no, it didn't fit.
We had a great visit with my Grandma in Alameda while visiting family in California for Christmas. The kids lovingly call her their Spanish Great Grandma.
I'm trying to play catch up here on my blog. It seems I didn't post but a few times during the month of December.
Our trip down to California was about an 18 hour drive, so we stopped half-way in Bend, OR, and stayed in a little cabin at KOA.
Gracie's bed (on the top bunk!)
Phil and the boys playing their Club Penguin card game before bedtime
Here are a couple of pictures of Caleb singing in our church's Children's Christmas program. Sorry about the strange color. I guess the spotlights and super zoom setting on my camera don't get along very well.
The girls have new beds! Phil was able to convert their toddler beds into longer big-girl beds before we headed down to California for Christmas. The ladder goes up to the boys' loft area.
Under construction
We had fun decorating with new quilts and wall decals.
Gracie's bed
Reading before bedtime
And here's a picture of the four kids reading before bed. Phil did such a good job utilizing the space in their bedroom!
I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! We were very blessed to be able to spend Christmas down in California this year. It was so good to see both of our families again and to enjoy some California sunshine. I'm going to download all of my pictures as soon as we get unpacked, and I'll be sure to post them sometime this weekend.
Have a Happy New Year!
We signed the boys up for Taekwondo. They were so excited to get their uniforms tonight.
I figure this ought to go over well with our girls. I can just see and hear it now...lots of practicing and LOTS of screaming and tattling.
Here are a couple of pictures of the girls in their ballet class.
I didn't know Lily was this flexible!
