End of 2010

Since Christmas Day, we've been busy going to freeze our tooshies off in the snow, busy being lazy, busy using new toys (like roller skates), and busy in Children's Hospital...

Full of fun in the snow! Snowball fights for over an hour makes for a super fun and freeeezing day! We left after an hour because of the big storm beginning while we were still on the mountain.

YES, that snowball did hit me! Haaaaa!

Using the new roller skates from Santa!

In the emergency room after a fall from skating. The marks are MUCH worse now. This was taken early on into the drama in the hospital. Juliana is being a super trooper right now with her leg brace and being immobile.

This isn't the way we anticipated ending 2010 and beginning 2011, but it could be a lot worse. Soooo, we're thankful for all we have and we have much to look forward to in the new year. Happy New Year!!!

HO HO HO!

I can not say enough about the holidays this year, or for the entire year of 2010. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day have been no exception. They've continued to make this year fabulous.

Santa is alive and well in this house, and I'm not afraid to admit it. Kevin even made that announcement during mass last night when Fr. asked him what made Christmas special, "SANTA!"... the congregation laughed, and Fr. actually said, "Yes, you're right, Santa does make Christmas special." He didn't try to con Kevin out of believing that way, which makes me a happy Catholic (well, in this church anyway). My munchkins also know what Christmas is all about, but Santa is an extra bonus.

Last night, Juliana sang in the children's choir at church. Once again, she sang in a trio too. This time, she was in the middle, voice in the microphone, and did really well. Yayyy!

Here are pictures from the last couple days....

Ready for Christmas Eve mass.

Heading to bed on Christmas Eve. Love the pajamas!

Christmas morning.... Santa gave a letter saying, "Trip to Build-A-Bear Workshop". Kevin has no clue what it is, and Juliana looks like she won the lottery.

Every kid's dream... new roller skates from Santa!

Ohhhh dear Lord, she's turning into MEEEEE! Yes, that is a real camera. Thanks to Uncle Patrick and Auntie Laura!

Favorite things

A few of my favorite things, in honor of Christmas Eve... my favorite day of the year!

1. Clean n' organized stores.

2. Late night phone call from hubby telling me to take care of the shopping since he sucks!

3. Peanut M&M's (green and red, of course)

4. Santa's lap.

5. Upcoming snow getaway.

6. Sunny and chilly Christmas Eve.

7. Christmas cookies.

8. Bath and Body Works.

9. Christmas lights.

10. STOCKINGS ROCK!

On the more serious side...

1. Juliana wanting to feed the poor again.

2. Kevin being clueless about feeding the poor, but wanting to do it anyway.

3. Juliana singing in a trio during mass again tonight.

4. Dressing in Christmas best.

5. Mom arriving for Christmas dinner.

6. Birth of two new boys into our family.

7. Jason's job.

8. Kids teachers, friends, doctors, etc.

9. Laughter.

10. After almost 10 years of marriage, we're stronger than ever. Seriously, I watch us evolve weekly, monthly, yearly, and I love it! Christmas can often bring out the ugly side of families (trust me, I know), yet somehow this year, we've made Christmas memorable, treasured, fun, laughable, and jolly. Life is GOOD!

Star is born!

Welcome to the world Chase Bernard! Our precious nephew was born (super) late last night! No photos since I do not have Mommy n' Daddy's permission to post their newborn on this page. Trust me when I say, he is absolutely handsome, and is definitely his Daddy's boy!

What Christmas is all about!

This Christmas season has truly been one of the best in a looooooooong time! For reasons that really no one could or would ever know unless you were a lucky member of my family. Yesterday was seriously one of the most wonderful family gatherings EVER! Just can not explain it... so I'm running with it. Here are a few photos...

Kevin and Little D pigging out together. I say "Little D" on this blog because he is hopefully my newest soon-to-be nephew. He is in the process of adoption, although it is not completed yet. He is the most precious toddler, full of energy, smiles, appetite, curiosity, and spunk. I hope he will become my "forever" nephew, but for now, we'll just trust the system and enjoy our time with him.

There's a bit of a baby switcharoo! This is my step-sis Tegan holding my nephew Cristian, and my sis-in-law holding my niece Hunter. Hunter was born May 7, and Cristan was born on June 23. They are #11 and #12 grandkids. Hopefully Little D will be Lucky Grandchild #13!

Just a random photo. My niece Chandler and of course, Juliana are on the bottom, then niece Taylore, sis-in-law Laura, niece Kelsey, and sister Steph complete the photo.

Dad, err Grandpa, holding Cristian.

OPENING PRESENTS!!!!

By the way, my newest nephew will be born tonight or tomorrow sometime!!!!! I wish we could be there to shower him with hugs and smooches, and to smell his newborn cheeks, but we will be 3000 miles away. Keep my sister-in-law Jill, brother-in-law Kyle, and big sister Cait in your prayers tonight!

Treasured Time

Holiday sentiments

Christmas cards have begun to arrive! My absolute favorite time of the year!!!!

Let me share with you some of the headlines on the tops of cards:

"Joy To The World"

"Peace, Love, Joy"

"Which Way to Bethlehem?"

"Merry Christmas"

"Warmest Wishes"

AND MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE......

"Merry Christmas! May VISA Lose All of Your Files!" - sent from friends Danny and Sonia.

Doing things a lil' different

The last three days have been way off schedule, routine, and yet so much fun for us! Friday, Juliana woke up with a big tummy ache. I kept her home from school, which is totally unlike me. I kind of had a hunch that she would be just fine after an hour or so, but I wanted to keep her home anyway. Sooo, Kev went off to school, while Juliana and I stayed home to watch TV, play board games, and clean too. After school, we headed to my mom's house.

Kev stayed at my mom's house friday night, and my brother/sis-in-law's last night. Jason and I wanted a weekend alone with Juliana. She had her birthday party on saturday-- minus a little brother getting in her way--, and us two girls went shopping to spend her birthday gift cards. Tons o' fun! Check out the pics...

Bowling with friends... Romi, Juliana, and Adeline.

Elena, Juliana, Kendall, Sonia, Tiffanie, and Romi.

Christmas tree made entirely of shopping carts. Welcome to the San Francisco Bay Area... more specifically (neighboring) Berkeley.

It's a wrap!

Juliana's BIG DAY in photos...

Here she is running up after her birthday announcement at school. Her fabulous second grade teacher is reading the birthdays instead of the principal, which made her giddy and sooo sooo happy!

Dinner time! We headed to Rainforest Cafe. It was a great meal, but horrible service. Poor Juliana listened to about 10 others be sung to, but she was forgotten. I felt bad for her, although she handled it pretty well. No more birthdays at Rainforest Cafe, that's for sure.

CUPCAKE TIME! These cupcakes are not your ordinary cupcake. These are SPRINKLES cupcakes (and probably why I am up at 3am not able to sleep). I drove an hour to get these for Juliana since she is so in love with Cupcake Wars on the Food Network.

Gift time!!! Juliana got just what she wanted. She got gift cards galore, and a few other things to open, like the game of LIFE, a Wizard of Oz puzzle, and.....

and a super stinkin' cute new winter hat!

That's a wrap on Juliana's 9th birthday! Thank you for the many phone calls, texts, facebook messages, e-mails, snail mail cards, and soooo much more!

Nine

Juliana Mary is 9 years young today. I woke her up at 7am to sing to her in bed, as I do every year. This year was a wee bit different because instead of leaping out of bed, she just gave me her dazed sleepy face and smiled. Since she did not want to join the world, I closed her door, and waited for her to wake up. Once she did, we had chocolate donuts n' milk, then proceeded with our normal morning routine.

At school, she received a gift as the kids do each year. I took pictures, but those will wait until later. Many many many more fun moments left in the day. For now, enjoy her birthday pictures from the past... I love doing this. She makes me so proud to be her mom. She has not really been dealt a fair hand, but continues to put on her poker face and win no matter what. I want to hold her tight and keep her little forever. Now that she is half way to adulthood, I am sad, and yet, so happy to see her change into a little woman.

December 7, 2001

1st Birthday!

2nd Birthday! You'll start to see a balloon trend. We love balloons over here!

3rd Birthday!

(missing 4th b'day) Happy 5th b'day!

6th Birthday!

7th Birthday!

8th Birthday!

AWAITING 9th BIRTHDAY PHOTO............

Wordless- Christmas past

Why yes......

...... I do pose my children in front of the Christmas tree every year. Actually this year, they expected it and told me to get out my camera. I happily obliged. Check out photos from the past... oh how fast it goes.............

Christmas-ish 2005

Christmas-ish 2008

Christmas-ish 2010

Sis Day

Today is my sister Stephanie's birthday! She's a whole 11 months 3 weeks older than me. I'm wishing her a fantastic birthday today and a wonderful year ahead!

Pictured: me in the back, L-R: Stephanie, sis-in-law Laura, step-sis Tegan, and step-sis Shannon.

Gobble gobble

Thanksgiving. It was just that... thanks n' giving. My brother and sis-in-law hosted this year, as they did last year. This year was different though. Not only was it different because there were diapers to change, bottles to give, and gummy smiles to see, but this year was only my mom, her two kids, our spouses, and our kids. I know my mom loved it!

Can you tell mom loved Thanksgiving? All 3 grandkids taking a moment for photos. LOVE IT!

Kevin was super snuggly too.

This didn't last long. Juliana wanted to feed him, but got super nervous pretty quickly. It's a cute pic though.

So thankful!

Moments and people whom I am thankful for this year (in absolutely no order whatsoever)....

My birthday getaway in Disneyland.

GG meeting her 14th great-grandchild for the first time.

My brother loving my kids.

The MA crew... Nana, Grampy, Uncle Kyle, Auntie Jill, and more.

Beach days.

Fantastic friend moments.

My Dad and Juliana bonding.

Juliana's First Communion. More family time.

I took about 3000 photos this year, so I am sparing you from an endless amount of photos. I've also had exciting times this year with the birth of my nephew, more time with my brother, trips to Vegas, New England, Disneyland, and sooooo much more. 2011 is going to bring many more special babies, special times, and of course, photos too.

One fall day

--cough cough cough-- "Hi, my name is Kevin. They call --cough cough BIG cough-- me Kev for --cough-- short. I'm weaaaally sick. --cough cough cough--"

Soooo, Kev has had a nasty cough for about 3 weeks. A dry one, but still nasty. I took him to the pediatrician on thursday to get some answers. Shocking, no answers, just the standard, "well, I'm not sure what it is, but if he gets a fever or changes behavior, give us a call back." Oooooook, I will.

Needless to say, only Juliana and I went on our excursion to see my family in places far away. Shadow actually had a vet appt there, so he went too. We began at the vet, dropped Shadow off at my mom's, and then headed to my brother's house.

Juliana feeding Cristian bananas for the first time.

After lunch with my sister, bro-in-law, niece Taylore, nephew Trace, my dad, stepmom, brother, baby Cristian, Juliana, and I, we headed BACK to my brother's house for some more baby snuggle time.

Cristian touching Juliana's tummy AKA tickling. It was hilarious!

Playing in the leaves at my mom's house.

Old man Shadow outside too.

The storms around here are pretty bad. The whole way home was sheets of rain, lots of lightening blinding us on the dark freeways, and flooding too. We have another 2 days of this, and other than being on the scary roads, I LOOOOOVE IT! Bring on the rain! And it is freeezing outside too. Temps in the 40's people... dat's chilly around places like dis. :)