before and after

Here are a couple of "after" pictures for this post.

And some of the girls' hair put up for ballet...

family hike and fish hatchery

Well, if anyone still reads my long-forgotten blog, here are a few posts. This past President's Day we packed a picnic lunch and took off for the hills for a family hike. The boys enjoyed throwing rocks into the river.


The girls insisted on wearing their tutus from Auntie Lizzie--not very practical, but it made for cute pictures.


This is Lily's Science journal. Throughout the day she would plop herself down on a rock or a log and "write down" her observations.

Buying fish food at the fish hatchery

Gracie was a bit cautious at first.

busy, busy, busy

The kids and I stopped by Target today on the way home from Taekwondo. They picked out the Valentines they'd like to give out this year. Lily was excited to find purple Dora Valentines! As soon as we got home she sat down at the table and wrote her name on all 32 of them.

She did such a good job!

curly girlies

Gracie and Lily told me they wanted to look like Shirley Temple.

I used to sleep in these foam curlers when I was a little girl.

Notice the difference in height! Lily was longer at birth.

the mouse takes the cheese

My boys know how much I despise rodents, so last week they followed me around the house pretending to be mice.

I decided to play along and set a trap, knowing how much these 2 little "mice" of mine love cheese.




Don't you just hate it when the cheese disappears and there's no mouse?

taekwando

The boys love going to taekwondo!

Here they are on their first day (which happened to be Jared's birthday).

Caleb looks so tough, doesn't he?

Sometimes they get a little rowdy in the car with their white belts!

jared turns 7--part 2

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!

jared turns 7

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.

christmas with cousins

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!

christmas at mom's

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

the baby house

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.

grandma silva

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.