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. :)

Give Thanks

This morning, the kids and I were talking about daily things going on at school. One of the big things going on is Kevin's Thanksgiving party tomorrow at school. It is a day to "Give Thanks", write letters to his teacher, and another excuse for parents to bring cameras into the classroom. Juliana said, "I remember when I had that party in Kindergarten. Kevin was in the hospital. It was so sad." That gave me flashbacks of this....

It is a great reminder to be thankful for what you have. I'll never forget the families making Thanksgiving preparations and all I could wish and hope for was to be home for Thanksgiving. After 19 days (I think), Kevin ended up being released on Thanksgiving Day evening, so we had a quick turkey meal at home alone. It was a memorable Thanksgiving for sure.

Wordless n' Priceless

Big Brother

Happy Birthday Patrick! My brother is celebrating his first birthday as a Daddy today. He and I have gone through hell together and we continue to push through it all. Not every day of our lives have been full of hugs and laughter, but I can say that if I were with him today, it would be. He's my big brother, the uncle that tickles my children, the brother-in-law that cheers Jason on, the husband that spoils his wife, and the Daddy that every child would want. I love where we are right now, I love my big brother. Happy Birthday Patrick!

Final Photo Friday

I will end with this photo. The sun may have been in our eyes, but I think this sums up our vacay. We look a wee bit tired mixed with a whole lot of Disney spirit too. I miss Mickey Mouse n' friends on this fabulous friday (and everyday). Until next time....

Disney interactions n' attractions

More highlights of our Disney vacay...

I am not sure that I've seen Jason smile this wide and laugh this hard in a long time. The tea cup ride turned him into a 10 year old very quickly. While I could not see straight, I snapped this picture, closed my eyes, and smiled knowing how happy my husband was in this moment. One of my favorite family moments ever! Oh, I failed to mention that the kids were hysterically laughing too. A great moment!

Here is the beginning to Kevin's full-on Disney interaction. He literally chatted it up, touched, or interacted with any character he saw (or tourist). He was chosen to fight Darth Vader and apparently he fought with passion. I was off with Juliana for our mommy/daughter alone time, so I didn't actually see it, but Daddy and the Disney photographer made sure to let me know how Kevin fought passionately to get rid of Darth Vader. Ha ha ha!

Kevin again chatting with Ariel. Is she rolling her eyes? Ehhh, probably.

I am pretty sure Princess Jasmine knew Kevin's life story after this visit. She loved him!

Finally, a Mickey Mouse ice cream! We are officially COOL in their eyes! Love it!

Goofy Birthday Getaway

I wish I could post all 300ish photos that I took and include the 75ish photos that the photographers at Disneyland took too. These photos kinda sorta have a story, sooooo I'll start with these from our getaway........

This is ME and my munchkins in front of It's A Small World. It was closed to prepare for Christmas decorations. Since it is my all-time favorite ride, I had to get a picture with the kids in front of it. This was taken on my birthday. Speaking of birthday at Disneyland, I got "Happy Birthday" at least 200 times from cast members and random visitors. It was so sweet!

My birthday itself was hands-down, the BEST BIRTHDAY EVER! We spent the entire day at Disneyland, and ended the evening/night at California Adventure. My birthday dinner was FANTABULOUS! It really wasn't very kid friendly, but was incredible. The desserts were made from chocolatiers and pastry chefs, and was just incredible! The night ended with the World of Color show. AMAZING!!!

Kevin browsing the castle. It was closed the day before because of the Christmas Day ABC concert/parade.

HILARIOUS! Kevin chatted the ears (and nose) off of Alice n' crew. He completely insulted the Mad Hatter by saying that he was actually Pinocchio because of his big nose! Haaaaa, it was a hilarious conversation. Alice, The Queen of Hearts, White Rabbit, and Mad Hatter chit-chatted with us for about 5 minutes then took off. Many people were ticked off, but it was a highlight of our trip.

HOLLYWOOD! On our way home, we stopped in Hollywood. Juliana loved the stars on the Walk of Fame. Snow White was one of her favorites. A story... back in September, she was chosen to play Snow White in her class play. She was so excited to sing in front of an audience and to have a big part. I had to tell her teacher that we would not be there for the performance (11/9), so her teacher had to snag the part from her. Yikes! Soooo, Juliana had an understudy perform the part for her. It made Juliana so sad, until of course, she knew that we were going to see the real princesses at Disneyland. And then, her day was made to see Snow White's star on the Walk of fame.

That's all for today. I'll do another post tomorrow, but I'll try not to go overboard.

A Budding Photographer

It's that time of year again. Juliana is entering an art contest in the "Photography" category. These are just 3 of the 47 she took on monday while we were out. I'm quite impressed! Last year, Juliana won 2nd place for her age level with photos of ocean waves. We'll see how she does this year. She had fun, that's for sure.

Scary times!

The days leading up to Halloween have been FULL of activities. Check 'em out...

Juliana dancing on stage at school. Her piggie tails crack me up, and the fact that she is mid-air.

Hanging out. I normally do not like shirts like this, but Daddy bought them, and they look pretty darn cute.

Singing at church in the children's choir. Yup, the kids are in their costumes. She also surprised me and sang in a trio for the entire communion song. She did really well. I was so proud to see her overcome so much, and do something she enjoys.

Carving the jack-o-lantern. Nothin' like last minute.

Finally, headed out to trick-or-treating.

Thank goodness for Daddy's work camera. I left my camera at my Granny's place. I have to go pick it up today. My aunt has advised me not to visit Granny anymore, and to take the last kiss from yesterday as the "last kiss". I am not sure I am ready for that, so I may do the "last kiss" today while I am there. Life stinks sometimes. People do this stuff all the time, often without warning. I just have a really hard time accepting it. I know Juliana will too. I know Granny would want us to move on and love life like she always has... soooooo, I'll do my best to do it. She is still here, and there is a chance that she may perk up again for a short time, and we can have a great Granny visit again. We'll see.