The Gebows

Yowza..

2010-05-09T16:07:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted! I guess there's been a lot going on, and not a ton of pictures get taken by me during the winter months. My computer also hasn't been working super fast these past few months.. BUT..enough excuses, here are a few pics I have on my mom's computer.
Since it's mothers day, and my own mother has been hassling (sp?) me to update the blog..Mom..consider this you're mothers day gift!!!
-@ Seattle center with Emma and family!

Ari, Emma & D
Love him
Ari, of course, had to get something from the gift shop...She really NEEDED another notebook
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture! In fact, I may need to make this my main blogger photo!!
@ Mcdonalds on D's 4th birthday! Hard to believe my babycakes is 4 years old this year!!!
@ Seattle with Grammy for Ari's 6th birthday! Don't even ask me how she can be 6 years old already!!
Grammy took Ari on a special overnighter downtown this year. They stayed at a fancy hotel and walked allll around the market. I told my mom she would probably just want to hang out in her hotel, but turns out I was wrong. We have a little Seattlelite on our hands. They walked for miles..and cabbed around town all day!!

Headed to the pool. In her favorite outfit, Uggs and a swimsuit!
How cute is this girl...and this swimsuit!!
@ Grammy's Easter morning!! Pretty much the cutest kids in the world, I know!
D wasn't going to have anything to do with the Easter Bunny..But Ari was all about it, as long as Grammy was by her side.
oh my lord they just keep getting cuter :)
LOL...I found this on my camera
Mothers Day Cuties
My gang

YaYa and Auntie Sarah came over to Grammy's for mimosas and KFC!! yup, we did it gourmet this mother's day!! Coming from the person who normally prepares and hosts the parties, it was quite easy and relaxing!! We had a great time!!
Little Diva

I'm Alive

2009-11-16T19:50:00.000-08:00

No, you are not dreaming. This is an actual post to my blog! Hard to believe, I know! Since it has been so long I wouldn't even know where to start so it's all about the photos...that's all anyone really cares about anyway right? Right! Enjoy.

My mom and I took the kids out to Jetty Island on one of the last weekends the ferry ran. It was so so soooo much fun I don't know why I wasn't there everyday, with or without my kids!!
I hope genes get me looking this good when I'm a grammy at the beach!!

It's a pretty big deal for both of them to like sand this year! My mom burried them!
Where'd they go?
Me and my girl at Pappys house!
My crew eating at the Taco Truck with Papps.
The girls (minus Lilly & Juno) over for a playdate!My mom and I took the kids to Stocker Farms pumpkin festival this year too! It was really fun for the kids, tons of stuff to do!
D got his face painted...he got to choose from a big sheet of pictures...he chose what any manly man would choose, a rainbow!! and it gets worse..see halloween pics below...

Ari practicing the hula-hoop!

We took a hay-ride around the farm and they did a pumpkin shoot out of a cannon. I love this picture..how excited they both were right when it shot out!
Noah and Auntie were in town for a visit a couple weeks ago, of course those pics are all still on my camera..but if you want to see more check my sisters always-updated-and-current-blog--->
I love this one of the little mans first taste of pho...extra sriracha just like his dad!
I can't figure out why my kids like going to Auntie Jessica's house? It might have something to do with the enormous "slices" of cake she let's them have! Right after this photo she let them shove their faces in it and eat with no hands!

Lills and Anns...sooo BFF's..I love it

D likes to take showers now instead of baths, but he doesn't like the water in his eyes..so he made what he calls his "shower umbrella"

Halloween!

My little Phantom. He chose this costume because it came with red light up eyes and a sickle. The sickle was quickly put up out of reach because I'm pretty sure we were all in danger while this was in D's possession.

Cutest Dorothy EVER!
Ari and Morgan trick or treating! D is back there too if you look. He refused to say "trick or treat" and insisted on "happy Halloween" instead. He also tried to negotiate which treats he got at most houses, and said "I'm a phantom" until each homeowner responded to him...
I love Ari's face in this picture, she was having sooo much fun!

Morgan's dog Jack, dressed up like a Ladybug just like her! Very tough-dog costume!

The fire station had free hot dogs & hot chocolate if you brought in cans of food for the food drive...not sure why but Ari was soooo excited for this part.

Stacey and me!
Cute girls!!
D and his Best Friend, Jess-ca...Notice his face painting. Once again out of a book full of scary spiders, ghosts, pirates..ect..D chose not ONE but TWO pink hearts...That's my lover boy.

Ari's Race

2009-08-11T19:22:00.001-07:00

A couple weeks ago Ari raced in the Aquafest Aquarun-fun run for kids. It was a 2k race, so a little over a mile. She was so excited! She did great!!! I was a little nervous with her little lungs and I'm sure I drove her a little crazy asking her every 2 mins if her chest hurt...but she was fine. We ran into my friend Nikki and her kids were running in it too! Ari hasn't played with Candie in a while but she never forgets a friend, and she was super excited to get to run with her!

Slumber party at Juno's house

2009-08-04T08:09:00.000-07:00

The kids and I got out of the heat last week with an overnighter at Juno's house. Juno had AC put in earlier in the year and it was niiiice! You should note that "Juno's house" was formerly known as "Greg & Jessica's house", but in a short few weeks, I'm pretty sure little Jun-bug has been given the reigns and is the leader the pack!!
The kids love going to their house. I can't say for sure if it's just how fun Greg & Jess are, or Jessica's selection of junk food, but either way they get very excited when they know we're headed to Ballard! Come to think of it, I'm still not sure which of those options is my reason for heading down there so often? lol
Lilly & Juno got to play, and these little tiny cute puppies play hard. It was non-stop wrestle mania until Lilly finally passed out in the deepest sleep ever. Jessica trimmed her hair,cleaned her eyes & brushed her out while she was asleep and she didn't move an inch. OK, enough puppy talk, they are so cute together, it's hard to stop!
We had a fun, cool, easy sleeping night! (Our house has been sooooo hot at night, the kids sleep fine, but I have been miserable!)

I won't lie, the 2 photos you see below, were actually 1 shot, I was holding both the puppies, they both looked at the camera and it was the perfect shot. However, if you look close in the top right/left corner you can see my huge double chin, almost like I was forcing it out there for the world, so bad, even Jess knew she had to edit the photo. It is NOT easy getting two puppies to post together either!!

The kids having the best bath ever in the Zevely's "hot tub" bath tub! Non stop bubbles & jets & deep water!!
My lover boy
and my sassy 5 year old...

yes, sassy!
3 tuckered out little ones.
Ari showing off her new shirt from Auntie Jessica! and please don't zoom in on D's under-roos. He forgot his backpack, and the only clean undies we had were his sisters! Pink & purple Curious George, at least there is a monkey on them and they are clean right!!
Starting off the morning with finger paints...Jessica is either the coolest person ever, or completely insane! Have you seen her kitchen??
Ari & Juno
Finally the sister's snuggled together on Juno's bed
The following night I came back down to Juno's and Jess & I went to the Kenny Chesney concert with our friend Jill & her girlfriend Melanie. We had a great time, the concert was a blast and I had a night off with no kiddos!

Group shot, Jess, Me, Jill & Melanie. This was taken buy a guy in the row in front of us, who really seemed to enjoy taking our picture. He asked on his own I think 3 times if he could take a picture of us...
It's important to always have a lot of these photos when we're together, not sure why!
The girls again, taken by another one of our new friends behind us!

Jill & Melanie...Love that hat...& the shirtless boy behind you! This was definitely late in the evening!

Kids Pictures

2009-07-30T09:13:00.000-07:00

My sis and I had the kids pictures taken when she was in town earlier in the month. It was a little hectic trying to get a 5 year old, 3 year old & 4 month old to cooperate at the same time, so I was a little nervous on how they would turn out, well... The photos turned out so good! I can't wait to blow a couple of them up!
My sis has the ones of Noah alone, so I can't post any of them..but I'm sure they are just as cute!
The girl who took them went to HS with my sis..she is soo good! Highly recommended! www.kerryannphotography.com

I love this one down below. The kids were getting antsy so I promised them Mcdonalds if they were good...this was Ari really really wanting Mcd's and trying to convince D to smile good!

I LOVE Chelan

2009-07-28T16:05:00.000-07:00

We spent this last week at Lake Chelan with Jessica & Greg. We had soo much fun, Chelan is even better than I remember as a kid! The kids had a blast, and Ari conquered some major water fears...she started jumping off the side of the pool, swimming around (in her life jacket) alone in the pool, dunking her head a couple times, and even TUBING! I'm sure most people who know my little scared girl are just as shocked to hear this as I was to see it! She actually went twice! D was just as awesome. Jon and him actually had a little "crash" off the tube and went under the water, as D tells the story "I did a big crash and went under the water just like a FISH". Neither of the kids barely left the water.
The weather was perfect and our condo was perfect and the company was perfect! We had friends up most of the week and I think our last night was the only night it was just the two families! Wayde even came up with his boat, even though he had a broken arm and couldn't get in the water..what a trooper! We ate really good food, and the boys (well Greg really) did most of the cooking which is just an extra bonus for me!
The trip wasn't entirely injury free...while Jon and Greg were playing tennis early on in the week, Greg tore his big muscle in his calf. Huge bummer, but luckily he decided that staying off your feet in Chelan is better than staying off your feet at home! Darren also decided to spray some sun screen DIRECTLY into his eyes from about 1 inch away, poor guy had red swollen eyes for a while.
I won't bore you with any more words, here's the good stuff:

This is how I spent most of my days...in the pool with the kiddos. Jessica's brother Juan came up with his little boy Jackson, who is 5. The kids had a blast with him, he is the cannon ball king!
Ari, D & Jackson
Jon's pool
Jess & I took the kids to one of the craft sessions Wapato Point does, we were making fruit loop necklaces.
This was all D wanted to put on, too busy eating them!

Love this picture!
I promise there aren't TOO many self portraits here...

That's my sassy girl
We jumped off the boat in the middle of the lake, a first for Ari. Note that my very chicken 5 year old Ari jumped in, and Jessica would not!! D & daddy tubing!
I still cannot believe she did this!

We made a cake for Greg & Jess's 2 year anniversary, can you guess who decorated it?

Such a healthy snack!
Catching up on some reading on our last day
D couldn't get enough of the trash magazines
BFF's
Just the girls took a trip into town on our last night...always a chance for a photo opp with Ari.
:)
So cute with our matching sweatshirts
Photo shoot gone wrong!
He really did love the boat
Wayde's daughter and her boyfriend...oh to be 15 again huh? I was pretty impressed!
Boating fool or supermodel?
Jenn & I barely on the tube...Wayde was not being so gentle with us!
Surprises from Greg!

He LOVED driving the boat.

This is the sign of a good vacation day!
The injured guys watching us jump in the lake for our nightly swim!
And our one and only group shot!

Holy Cuteness!!

2009-07-09T11:01:00.001-07:00

Scoliosis Brace Update

2009-07-01T08:02:00.000-07:00

Ari had her first check-up with her Ortho doc yesterday since wearing her brace. He wanted to get an X-ray of her spine with the brace on after she had been wearing it a couple weeks. The X-ray looked good, and the brace is doing what it should at this point. It's not that the brace is correcting the scoliosis at all, they are just hoping it will slow down her progressive scoliosis. Wearing the brace straightens her spine while it's on, however, if we were to take it off, and get an X-ray, it would show her curve back to what it was...if that makes sense? Overall I felt good about the appt. It's all we can do now is hope the brace does the trick and avoid surgery. In my honest opinion, and I'm not being just a pessimist (we all know that's not me!) I think she will eventually need the surgery, but having it when she is grown more, and a bit older is much much better! Oh, and the Dr. came right in and let us know that her MRI results were all good! Yay! So we know there are no other issues that are causing progressive scoliosis, just CDH.

As far as her brace goes, Ari is doing really great with it. I won't say she loves it, but she is doing better than I thought she would! I guess EVERYONE is right, these things are harder on the parents than the kids.

Shout out to...ME!

2009-06-27T09:05:00.000-07:00

I weighed in this morning at Weight Watchers...lost another 4.7 lbs! (over 2 weeks I missed last weeks weigh in). For a total of...37!! whoo hooo! I was/am hoping to be at 40 lost by my birthday party, so I may just be able to pull it off!!
I celebrated with a Krispy Kreme RIGHT after my meeting. (literally right after, I brought it with me and left it in the car, lol).
Anyways, I'm feeling good and today should be a fun day! It's Auntie Sarah's birthday and we're all going to Ride The Ducks, then to the Cheesecake Factory (I think?) for lunch! And it's sunny again...it doesn't get much better than this!

Reunited and it feels so goooood...

2009-06-21T08:36:00.000-07:00

Lilly & Juno were reunited Saturday night for Greg's big birthday bash after two long days apart! I wish I would have had my camera on me when they were playing outside, it was so cute. Minus the fact that my little Lilly may be a tad bit overzealous...every 10 seconds Juno was on her back being attacked by our little precious Lills. Sorry Juno if your sister scarred you for life. If I had to guess, Lilly was born before Juno because she definitely has the big sister gene.
How cute are these two, they slept like this for a good hour 1/2 or so during the party! Even with 5 little tykes all to anxious to wake them up!

Ari had a blast at Greg & Jessica's! Not that she doesn't always, but it's not very often there are other girls there for her to play with. She met little Audrey, who I must say puts all other kids to shame with her smarts & wits! She is only 3 and if you told me she was 7 I would think she was a little bit short, but believe you. I asked Ari later if she was having fun with the girls, and she said "ya, Audrey is really fun, and really helpfull to everyone. And a friend always helps". Hopefully we'll see the Sekora's at another Zevely function!
Before the party I took the kids to a free little truck show thing called Touch-a-truck at the Everett events center. There wasn't a whole lot to see, but for being free, and close to home, it was worth getting out for a bit! (nothing is ever free!) D got to climb in all the big trucks and there was even a free bouncy house there!
The kids in front of the Rockstar Monster Truck. Which was fitting because Ari told me her outfit made her look like a rockstar.

She may not be into trucks, but she was into showing off her new puppy. Taking a 1.5lb new puppy anywhere will guarentee you a lot of oooh's and aaaah's...she loved every minute of it.

Big D in the bouncy house:

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We are dog sitting our neighbors puppy Jack this week too! Yes, my house is a bit of a zoo, and I think Anna is considering running away, but it's all fun!

Jack says "what about me? I thought I was the only new puppy in town??"

No worries Jack, it's nearly impossible to out-cute a Puggle!

A few more cute pics from the weekend:

Still lot's of loves left for Anna...still the worlds best dog!

Our newest addition has arrived!!

2009-06-19T07:46:00.001-07:00

Miss Lilly joined our family yesterday! She is a 8 week old Maltese girl! For anyone who didn't know, here's the scoop:
She was actually a surprise to Ari! After we found out about her brace I really wanted to do something for her. Something fun and exciting. About a week later Jess called and said she decided to get a Maltese puppy from a friends mom who breeds them and had just had puppies! I sort of joked around and said maybe I should get her puppies sister. About 10 seconds later I thought seriously about it and realized this could/would be the best surprise for little Ari! Somehow we managed to keep it a secret from her for over a month!
Finally the puppies were old enough to leave their mama, so Jess (thank you) drove to Enumclaw and picked up the sisters last night for us!
We told Ari about 4 days ago that Thursday we had a big surprise for her..she has been going crazy!! Never guessing a puppy, but Lot's of other random things!! (note to self: next time maybe save some money and get her the Twinkle Toe Sketchers she's been wanting, lol)
OK, back to the story. Jon got home with Lilly and we had Ari close her eyes, Jon put her in a little bucket (again, courtesy of Jess) and set it in the front yard. Ari walked over and tried to grab her from her head. She just kind of stood there, she thought it was fake! When she realized what it was, she got really excited, I think mostly in shock though! It seemed unreal! On the video at the very end you can hear her say "is she real?".
Anyways, she ran up and gave Jon and I both the biggest hugs and said thank you thank you!! It was really sweet. She kept just petting her saying "oh I love you Lilly". And then there's Darren. He calls her Willy. :)
It was hard to get a good video. Her first impression was confusion, and as usual all the good stuff you can never catch on tape with kids!!

Ari was being the best mommy last night to Lilly. When she was ready for a nap, Ari layed on the couch right next to her for over an hour to make sure she didn't get up and fall off.

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Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

And then once again, there's my Darren:

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Happy Birthday Sissy!

2009-06-18T11:12:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to Ari,
Happy Birthday To YOU!

Seems like just yesterday when...
You were letting me be your maid for the day!
You let me be your student for the day and let me do real work.
You'd squeeze my arms in the hallway and tell me "mom and dad will never believe you if you tell them I hit you".
You let me help you clean out your desk, and though I wanted everything, you KNEW it was best if it got thrown away while I watched, but sometimes you'd let me keep a pencil or two.
We'd walk to Martha Lake Foods and you told me if I fell and got hurt you would leave me. I fell, you left, and I promised not to tell mom!
You would let me be your prisoner which just entailed me getting tied to a chair and put in the closet for a while!
You told me I was an accident.
You told me I looked like a boy.
You told me I looked like a monkey, so I tried to tape my ears flat.
You told me I looked like Boy George and started calling me that.

The list goes on and on...Somehow I still had the best childhood ever with the best sister...! Happy Birthday!

Fun in the Sun

2009-06-12T08:37:00.001-07:00

Ari finally realized that you can put a sprinkler under our trampoline and jump on it while getting all wet. I was hoping to get one more summer of her not knowing about this! Makes me a little nervous (mom, stop reading now) since D doesn't really ever pay attention while jumping and Ari doesn't have the best balance in the world! But, they saw our neighbors doing it and there was no saying no.
Turns out they are "pretty" careful on it...and it's tons of fun!!

B-Day

2009-06-10T15:08:00.000-07:00

Brace Day is here! We are home with the brace. I'll tell you this, I feel like it's the end & start of something. It's the end of the waiting "what's it going to be like" period. I had no clue what her brace was going to be like. They make them form fitted for each person's body & scoliosis type. The only example I ever saw was for an adult and it was pretty hard to tell what hers was going to be like. RELIEF. When Sarah, our nurse who brought it in who I love, walked through the door the first thing I thought of was how cute it was! They said they were putting some butterfly designs on it, and I pictured some cheesy stickers but it looks sooo soo sooo cute! It's all sort of a pink-ish, purple-ish color with really pretty butterflies ALL over it. It's also a little smaller and less intrusive than I had pictured as well!! They had her put it on and wear it for a while, then shaved it down around the edges where it was rubbing so it literally fits her to a T.
She is doing pretty good with it. I mean, she hasn't even had to start wearing it yet, but she is asking me TONS of questions, about what she can do with it on, and when she can have it off. My initial thought is that she will get the hang of it, and we'll sort of get a routine going for when she has it on/off. They wean you into wearing it, so today its just 4 hours, then a little more tomorrow..so on and so on...day 3 is the first day she'll wear it over night. After 6 days she'll be up to her full time schedule of 18-22 hours per day and no less than 16. Basically the more she wears it for longer period of times, the better chance we have of it actually working, so to me, we'll keep it on as much as possible. Luckily with a little girl her age who still naps during the day, really there isn't much more than 4-6 hours of hard play time for her a day anyways.
Sorry if I was ignoring your phone calls today! It wasn't because I was upset (like I thought I might be!). I promised the kids lunch out today and sprinkler in the back yard so I've just been busy!
So that's that. I'll keep everyone posted on how her first week is!

Grammy came with us and got Ari this new charm bracelet. They sell the charms there so now each time we go back to Children's she can get a new charm. Well this is what Grammy told her, which judging from the past might cost us and arm and a leg...she's worth it! She chose the butterfly charm today, how fitting!!

Sunday With Grammy

2009-06-09T08:39:00.001-07:00

The kids and I went to my moms house on Sunday. We wanted to just have a fun day before Ari starts wearing her brace. Luckily the weather held up so we got to run through the sprinkler and go to the swing park by my mom's house. At that park Grammy got all the kids at the park into a game of "pirates & mermaids" it was quite a sight to see. Especially Grammy swimming around like a mermaid all over the playground, while D and his Ship Mate were shooting her with their 100 cannons...What is it with boys and guns??
Later we went down to the Everett Marina and had fish & chips and walked around and saw all the boats. It was a perfect Sunday!

I wish I had my camera at the park for the Pirates & Mermaids...but...oh well..here are some photos from the weekend!

Love her outfit. We actually let her wear this to dinner. I never do that..she was quiet excited...those are high heels with it of course!

We went to our neighbors house for BBQ on Saturday night...I looked over and found D in their pool in this outfit, so all the kids got in...they had a blast! Either we are all really cool parents...or we had too much Maui Wine that night???
This is their dog Jack. He's a Puggle, and pretty much the cutest thing in the world. My kids are obsessed with him.

Saturday we had some painters come to start getting our house ready to be painted next weekend. D of course had to dress like a "worker" so he could "help" them.

This video was D after we got his sweatshirt & jeans off...he's never actually gotten any air off this slide..it was pretty funny...other than the fact that he got water in his nose and I was still videoing/laughing...

T-Shirt says it all

2009-06-08T09:12:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm posting!

2009-06-04T15:30:00.001-07:00

I know it's been a while since I last posted. Really I think my sister is just trying to make me look bad and post pictures everyday so that my kids are old news and Cousin Noah gets all the attention!!
Truth is I haven't taken very many photos lately, we've been here just hanging out getting ready for Ari to get her brace. She got fitted for it a couple weeks ago and we pick it up next Wed. A day I'm dreading but I know it will all be OK.
It's so nice out right now, I can't get over this weather. I love it! It's so nice to have my kids be old enough that I can just sit in a lawn chair for hours and watch them play in the pool/yard/sprinkler...and today, that is literally what I did. I also got in my swimsuit which apparently I never do even around my kids because they were both in shock. Ari said "you're getting in you're swimsuit?? Your the best mom EVER" and D...bless his heart said "Ma, you're a cutie pie" no joke. Why are they so cute?!
Photos Photos Photos Photos Photos Photos Photos Photos Photos Photos Photos Photos Photos

Last weekend I went to the M's game with Jon, Nick & Wayde...LUCKILY Jess & Greg ended up having tix & met us there, so Greg took my seat and I got to "watch" the game with Jess. By "watch" I mean annoy most of the people around us by not watching at all and talking the whole time..I'm sorry, but the actual game is BORING.

Jess & Jon...hmmmm???
We'll just say this was "late in the night"

He's always thrilled to take a self portrait with me...

Ari on the other hand, is the queen of them..I thought this was was hilarious...I found it on my camera...had to have Ariel in this photo too!

This one is from today..she really is just as good as her mama at self port. shots!! I love it!
Ari took this one..I love finding the photos on my camera when I let her play with it...Minus the cream cheese on his tank, isn't this the cutest shirt ever?? "I get my muscles from my DAD"
and of course had to have one that D took as well..
This one is for Big Ari..(she loves that name)...Love this hat!! Thanks Sissy
She calls this her "movie star lay"

Naked = Happy Boy = Happy Mama = Happy EVERYONE

My girl

Strange boy...cute bunz

She did it

2009-05-15T07:38:00.000-07:00

My sister started a blog!! I have the link over there -----> on my blog!!

My Boy

2009-05-14T11:29:00.000-07:00

My little Noah...

Changes

2009-05-08T15:35:00.000-07:00

We found out at Ari's scoliosis appt this week that there are going to be some big changes around here. Her "curve" has gotten quite a bit worse over the last 6 months. The Dr. shocked us with the news that this means Ari has to be in a brace probably until she is out of school (as in High School). It's a pretty hard constrictive brace, but it is worn under the clothes, and apparently isn't always too noticeable. She has to wear it everyday for 18-20 hours. I'm still at the point of being really upset, and not yet to the "things could be a lot worse" where I'm hoping to get to soon, and deep down I really do know that is true. We are so lucky she is here and "healthy" and happy. I have heard these are usually harder on the parents, and kids tend to get used to them pretty quickly. I was just so shocked when he said how long this would be. We know this wont correct the scoliosis, but we're hoping this will slow it enough to not have to think about surgery. Which is pretty tolerable, but also requires surgery every 6 months until she is done growing. I'm praying that this brace will do the trick and slow things down. We saw the X-rays and it was quite noticeable from her last appt. I knew it had gotten worse, and I was really really nervous for this appt, I guess that is my mothers intuition.

I have to call next week to schedule an appt for an MRI and brace fitting. They will do it together since she needs to be under sedation for it. The brace is custom fitted to her body, I would assume by the time it's finished she'll be in it in around 3 weeks. The reason for the MRI is just to make sure everything looks OK. The doc's mentioned that sometimes with scoliosis a cyst can form, but he didn't seem too concerned that this was her case (since she doesn't show any signs or anything at all) but since she has to be under sedation for the fitting, it seems better to be safe than sorry.

So that is the news around here...I've been bumming, but am getting better! Ari knows about her brace, we told her, and how often she'd have to wear it, but are trying to not make it a big deal to her, so unless she brings it up we're kind of just going along like normal. My tears have been attributed to my "hurt knee" wink wink. She usually doesn't miss a beat, but I really don't think she knows the real reason I'm upset so that's good!!

Cousins!!

2009-05-05T08:12:00.000-07:00

For anyone who doesn't know, my sis & Noah were out here visiting the past couple weeks!! We had so much fun and my kids just love Noah, which is really cute. It took Ari a little bit longer but now she just adores him. She made up a couple songs, and has nicknamed him "smiley face". Both my kids are pretty sure his favorite song is "the best day ever" by, Spongebob Squarepants of course! I must admit, it's a catchy song, and when I sing it to him, he loves it!!

Anyways, now they are back home (boo hoo) and we are all patiently waiting for the next trip...???...???PATIENTLY...

Cousins...look at that face...He already knows to smile for the camera..baby genius

Ari's first time holding cousin Noah...still smiling..
I LOVE this picture!
kisses
I watched Noah for a few hours one day while Ari had plans. He was perfect. Both kids gave him a bottle totally on their own and were being soo sooo cute...

I think this is what you call Grammy Heaven

Auntie GG

Noah & Mommy
The Feinberg clan
Lovin' kisses from his mama

A week in pictures...

2009-05-03T14:10:00.000-07:00

...minus Noah. For some reason the universe does not want me to post any pics of Noah and my kids this week. I have tried 3 times to get the photos from my sis' camera to my computer and each time they are gone. These are some really really cute photos too!! So, until she gets home and emails them to me, it's just my cute kids you get.

How could I ever say no to this face??

Or these buns??

We had a little party at my dads so everyone could meet Noah...D is really really into him, it's super cute!

Auntie Jennie & baby

Uncle Guy (Ben)

His hair is finally getting long enough for me to do! This might be one of my new favorite pics of D.
I'll be honest, I really like my bangs in this picture...blurry or not it's going on the blog!
This week I made cupcakes for our friends Shannon & Griffin's wedding. Griffin is Tim & Jodi's son, who I have known since I was born practically!!

I made 150 cupcakes plus a small round cake for cutting (for pictures really) and a big cupcake for the "topper" & for them to save & eat on their 1 year anniversary!

Ari was also a flower girl in the wedding and did really good! I did have to walk down the isle with her & the ring bearer which I wasn't really ready for. I told Jon normally when I know lots of people will be looking at me I make sure and suck in my stomach really good, and this was so last minute I'm pretty sure I forgot. I'm banking on the fact that Ari looked so cute no one even noticed me. Anyways- Here's the top cake & cupcake, my favorite part!!

It was no easy task making 100's of small sparkly flowers!! But always worth it because they look so cute!!
I was really happy with how they turned out!
My little flower girl
Just like her Grammy waiting for a refill..

Being REALLY REALLY cooperative for a photo!!

Seriously..this shirt is insane...sooo cute..
Sneaking a smile..I am so in love with this little guy!!
Saving the best for last!!

Cousin Maizey's FIRST birthday!

2009-04-28T09:45:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that Maizey is already 1!!! Seems like just yesterday Jessica and I were leaving for Cancun and Jess specifically looked at Lana's belly and told little Maizey to WAIT until we got back to make her appearance...I guess from day one that little girl has had a mind of her own!! My kids adore her and so do I. I'm so lucky to have Lana (Maizey's mom) be not only of my my closest friends but also family!!
I missed Maizey's party but Jon took the kids and it looks like everyone had a blast!! Thank you Erika for always taking amazing photos!

Probably the bravest thing my kids tried at The Little Gym:

Cousins Harper & Maizey

Looks like Jack and D are really giving each other the eye...

Whatever D is looking at he's either really excited or really scared..

Can't find D in this photo? Look for the child who looks like they can't follow directions:
I think this is from Maizey's family party at home (I stole it from Erika's photos). This shot is great, I'm sensing a little road rage already

Yay Me!

2009-04-25T09:46:00.001-07:00

After a couple vacations and missing a couple weeks of weight watchers, I weighed in today and lost 7lbs!! for a total of 26.5!! whoo hooo!! I'm just a little excited! So I had an apple fritter for breakfast!! yummmeee...I started this new cardio work out this week and I guess its working, and I love it so that's good!! Anyhoo..just had to share my good news. My next is to CROSS the 30 lbs lost mark..so about 5 lbs and I'll be there...maybe I'll eat something fabulous like Doritos after that!!

A couple cute pics too:

Tahuya

2009-04-22T16:31:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went up to Lana's cabin in Tahuya (Hood Canal) with Lana/Ryan/Maizey, Jess/Greg & Nick/Jill. We got so lucky with the weather we got to spend most of the weekend outside. We ate good and I ate excessively...paying for it this week in the work out dept. It was an all around great weekend. Here's some proof:

On the ferry ride over, cousin Maizey, sooo cute. This girl's smile is contagious...
Jon took the bike over so the kids and I met Lana and Jill on the ferry!
It wouldn't be a trip to Tahuya with out a stop at the Belfair Safeway, and of course some Uncle Greg & Tullys.

Jill made the best turkey lasagna Friday night..or as D calls it "pizza soup"

Pretty sunset shot taken by Greg, stolen by me...

If you look really really (really) close in the middle of this picture you'll see Jon out in the water...yes it was late & cold
The guys about to leave for golf on Saturday AM
I couldn't resist
Ari is in LOVE with this girl...
All the kids at the "dancing spot" (as Ari calls it)
I love this picture
and this one...

I gave Ari some cuticle remover stuff Saturday morning, so on our walk she kept telling me she just really needed to find a place to sit and do her nails...I like how her little legs are crossed but not because it's comfortable, I'm pretty sure it's because that's how she think you do your nails like big girl.

Nick & D out on the beach
"helping" Maizey get ready for her bath...
Auntie Jess reading D The Pout Pout Fish book...we have to read this every night before bed.
Handsome.

My little man

2009-04-07T08:26:00.000-07:00

That's Noah...my little guy...He is the sweetest cutest best little baby ever! I had such a fun trip down to NM last week! Minus my trip home which I'll get to shortly. Noah is soooo cute and TEEENY TINY! Everything about him is little, little eyes, little nose....all perfect and adorable...he seriously looks like a little angel when he's sleeping (which I'm guessing Mama wishes he'd do a little more of). Can I just tell you he loved his auntie gg...I'm not just saying that! He really did! Sorry Grammy but the competition is on!! I fully plan on doing whatever it takes to be his favorite Auntie in the world!!
We didn't do much on while I was down there, which to a stay at home mom, is the best vacation ever!! I also got to have some NyQuil sleep. Now I'm not a drug addict, but before I had kids if i had a cold, NyQuil would give me the best deep sleep ever, (maybe occasionally if I didn't have a cold, c'mon!!) I don't like to take it now just in case i needed to wake up alert...unfortunately I woke up on my first day with a cold..i figured I'd try and make something positive about it! aaaaaah NyQuil..OK, this post really is about more than my love for doxylamine succinate ( I just googled that, I'm not that smart).
I didn't take as many photo's as I had hoped, spent too much time holding and singing to my bouncy boy. He loves to be in his room with the lights dimmed, and singing really quietly to him....he would just stare at me...uuugh, I'm in love!!

Before I get to my photos let me tell you about my trip home. I was using a Buddy Pass from Southwest. Basically means I'm flying on standby, so I can go on any flight, just as long as there's one extra seat, seams pretty easy, my mom and sis have both done it no problem, and I flew down to NM with one. The only flight the told me I could for sure get one was an early morning flight from NM to Denver, then to Seattle. Bill and I got up at 3:30 to go to the Airport, my first flight to Denver was late b/c the pilot & co-pilot overslept in their hotel down the road (random?). I got to Denver 45 min before my flight home and found out it was overbooked, as in oversold "real" tickets, they bump people for these but not for people like me on standby, so I didn't make it on that flight. I did however meet a lady named Jenn who was on that flight going home to Seattle but offered to get bumped for a free ticket. We both got a flight from Denver to Sacramento later that day. In line to board that plane and it had mechanical prob. After about and hour in line, they decided it couldn't be fixed, so we got a new plan in a new terminal....in line again, (finally) they announce this plan was originally going back east and now has too much fuel so they are bringing a fuel truck to empty some....sit down.....OK, back in line again, I'm really gonna board now...nope. They couldn't get enough fuel out...we have to wait for a new plane, and we get another new terminal. Moving on, I got on a flight w/ my new bff Jenn from Denver to La.. Other than the fact that we both thought we were going to crash when landing because it felt like a roller coaster, that flight was easy. Until I tried to get on the LA-SEA flight..nope...sold out..Jenn offered to get bumped and let me have her seat, but they don't do that for stand by passengers which was a bummer, but how nice is that?? I'm so happy I met someone so nice to spend the day with!! I bid her farewell and finally found out there was another flight leaving that evening to Seattle, there were two open seats, but if they happen to get them sold at the last minute I would be out, soooo reluctantly, I had to purchase one of the tickets, and my standby ticket was no longer good...can I tell you how much i HATE spending money like that, but it was a gamble either way, with my luck if I didn't purchase the ticket I know the plane would have been overbooked. (just an FYI, there was an open seat at the end, grrr). I don't need to go into the detail of food/booze/passing out that happened while I was waiting for my FINAL flight at LA...Sorry for the long story, I had to get that out!

I love this picture, even though he is not thrilled about his bath...sooo cute..

I'm pretty sure those eyes are saying " I love you auntie"

My voice is super annoying in this video, and it's kinda long, but I pretty much think he's the cutest thing ever!!

ooops, I just got a new computer, and my sis had sent me all the pics that she took while I was there of Noah and I together, and they are already on my old computer...I'm on a roll though and need to get this post done while I can...I'll post them next time.

I have a few pics from Ari's birthday party this year too that I never posted. This year she opted for a family/friend party together and wanted a Pizza Party at Alfy's...

I took her to Safeway to pick out ANY cake she wanted out of the book, and instead she just chose the biggest chocolate cake she could fine with no decorations!

Tatum was her only friend that could make it, which devastated me, all I could think of was her little feelings being hurt, but Ari adores Tatum and was sooo sooo excited that she was coming she didn't seem to care about anything else, thank goodness!! We def. need to get these girls together more often...

YaYa and baby Jack..Tatum's little brother, and another possible future Seahawk?
I love this picture of Great Grandpa showing Ari the pics he got!
And this is just funny..
I'm pretty sure D thinks this one was for him
soo many gifts! We let Ari open her gifts on the pool table, I just realized that my Aunt Roxy is in the back of every shot ready to catch Ari if she falls off...she is sooo my mom's sister...lol

I'm In LOVE

2009-04-01T08:21:00.001-07:00

How stinkin' cute is he!! In case you haven't heard I get to go see him tomorrow!! Thanks dad/pappy for getting me down there!!
I'll be sure and post lots of pics on here while I'm visiting!

She's 5....finally!!

2009-03-27T16:23:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it has been 5 years! Where oh where has the time gone!! 5 years ago today I was still in the hospital after her birth and Jon was at Children's watching over our little girl! We are so lucky that we have a happy healthy little girl home with us now. So many CDH parents don't ever bring their babies home, each year Ari has a birthday I just feel so lucky. All the stress her health causes me seems so un-important compared to what other families have faced/are facing. We are lucky lucky lucky!

Ari had a SUPER fun "real birthday". Since her party isn't until Sunday we decided to just make Thursday F U N!

SURPRISE! She woke up and found a little Dora cake that she got to eat for breakfast, and a couple presents!!

She could not believe she got baby alive some food~! Thanks Auntie...mommy never let's her get food for this dolly!!
New big girl outfit for her bday party~ (don't mind our walls in the background, we are mid-kitchen update)
She was trying to show D how to "sit like a model"??? lol
Next: We headed off to Country Village so Ari could get her nails done. Pappy came with us and played with D in the park while we did our girly stuff.
Out of about 10 shades of pink/purple, Ari chose Silver. Why am I not surprised.
Pappy & Ari at the park in Country Village. I had never been here before, or at least not since I was a kid, and it is sooo fun! I can't wait till summer we'll be here all the time!!
After the park Pappy took us to lunch at Taco Bell, and then off to Old Navy to get Ari the outfit he promised her after working so hard and learning all her letters!! She also had some money from Auntie Jennie so she picked out some lip gloss and paid all by herself..she loves to do that and get a bag & receipt!

Pappy & Sissy
Finally we headed off my grandparents house for dinner. Grammy surprised us and came with another cake for the birthday girl and some flowers!! She even got a little tea set from great grandma....lucky little girl!!
Then we got home and found flowers & balloons from Ya Ya & Grampa!! These flowers are pretty enough to eat...and she tried!!

One last shot my my cutie kids!
One shot of our new floors! I can't wait for our kitchen to be all finished!

Good Times

2009-03-17T15:22:00.000-07:00

As usual, not a lot going on around here. We have stayed healthy this last part of winter and I'm crossing my fingers that we stay that way. Seems like everyone I talk to is sick. So if you are sick, or have just been sick, please stay away from us! I'm going a little stir crazy here and can't wait to be able to go to the mall or the children's museum or someplace, ANYPLACE! I figure one more month of being extra careful....one looong month.

Pictures Pictures Pictures:

Mama & Noah

He's Awake!!

We went out to dinner with Uncle Brad on Saturday night, Ari and I dressed as twins & did our hair the same, we thought we looked pretty cute ;)
Ari and her favorite guys
We went out to a new BBQ place in Everett..Ari was so excited to get hot wings for dinner! If you know Jon and I you know we are big fans of meat, preferably off the bone smothered in sauce, so of course I'm thrilled that she digs right in. (actually if i cook boneless pork chops or something she always asks why I can't just leave it on the bone) That's my girl!

We are painting our kitchen (finally)!! The kids think painting on the walls is pretty much the coolest thing ever. Ari has decided she wants to be a painter when she grows up, no joke. It's better than Taco Bell which was her previous choice!
Ari helping daddy paint:
D had to get in there too
I just love this picture...

Noah Milton Feinberg

2009-03-14T20:46:00.000-07:00

6lb 9oz

Cutest thing in the world! I cannot cannot cannot wait to meet my new nephew!! How stinkin' cute is he??

Baby coming today!!

2009-03-13T06:47:00.000-07:00

I'll be an auntie today (or maybe tomorrow, but hopefully today!)!!! My sis is being induced today around 1:30!! I just took my mom to the airport, I WISH I was getting on the plan with her...argh. I'll post pics and info as soon as I know anything!!

Summer is never coming,

2009-03-11T12:12:00.000-07:00

so we'll make the most of the crazy blizzard we had here Sunday & Monday! We are still completely snowed in up here. OK, not "snowed in", but we are still totally covered in snow! Here's a few pics from Monday:
I told Ari to pose cute for a picture. I'm not entirely sure she hasn't been sneaking into my TIVO and watching E! How else did she learn this "over the shoulder pose"?

My Cutie Patootie almost 5 year old!! Crazy snow dog, it really makes her insane... D wasn't cooperating for photos, but I feel bad not having any of him on here..so this is it.

Not that funny of a video, but I love Ari's comment at the very end. (please ignore my talking, I sound like a drunk smoker)

Video

2009-03-09T10:34:00.000-07:00

Don't bother D when he's talking on the phone:

and the award goes to....

2009-03-09T09:52:00.000-07:00

I'm sure I'll be getting the award for the Worst Blogger Ever pretty soon. Truth is there isn't much going on (including no baby yet!!). We've been laying pretty low trying to make it through a winter with no trips to Children's...so far so good (knock on wood). Such a bummer when Ari has to miss things she get's so excited for, like Tatum's birthday party!! I actually explained it to her and I think she gets it, it's just too bad that we couldn't take D either since it wouldn't do us any good to have him get sick and pass it to Ari. This is always her bad time of winter so we're just trying to make it through March with out going to any "kids" places. Her bday will be the last weekend so she'll get to see all her friends and play!!
Anyways, here are some photos from the last couple weeks, mostly of D's little family birthday party. Enjoy!

I decorated the house the night before his party after he went to bed. He woke up and had no idea what was going on! He was sooo excited!!
The birthday boy!

I took 5 shots of this, and this is the best one (literally) of Jon's eyes.
Grammy and the kiddos before the party
Luckily he has a big sister to help him out on his birthday!!
I found these pics on my camera, I didn't even know she took them, lol

Weight Watchers Soup Recipe...by popular demand

2009-02-26T15:57:00.000-08:00

A few people have asked me for the recipe of this WW Cabbage soup I've been making for the last 4 weeks. It's so good I just decided to post on here instead of emailing. It's 0 or maybe 1 point on WW. (might be 1 only because I add red potatoes) Anyways, I've made a pot of this every week so far on WW for snacking/lunch/dinner or whatever, it's nice just to have in the fridge and re-heat. It's super filling and while it's not like eating a bacon jalapeno cheeseburger with a thick slice of Tillamook extra sharp cheddar, it usually fills me up and its super duper healthy...BTW that cheeseburger I just mentioned (you know the bacon one??) well that is my treat I'm going to make myself when I hit the 20 lb mark. Until then....
Oh, I also don't really know the amounts b/c I just throw whatever I have in this soup, I really don't think you could mess it up!

INGREDIENTS:
3 carrots sliced
3 celery stalks sliced
1 yellow onion chopped
lots of chopped garlic
2 jalapenos thinly sliced w/ seeds (this makes it HOT, omit if your a wuss)
4-5 C low sodium fat free beef broth (or chicken, but beef is waaaay better)
1/2 head green cabbage chopped
1/2 bag frozen green beans
1/2 bag frozen bell pepper strips (or fresh would be the same, I just had this)
4 red potatoes cut to big bite size pieces
1 big handful of chopped Bok Choy
1 handful pearl onions
1 large can whole tomatoes (crushed) & some juice
Parsley, Oregano, Basil, Garlic Powder

Spray a large pot with Pam, add carrots, celery, onion, garlic & jalapenos. Spray veggies w/ a little more Pam and saute over med. heat until onions are soft. Add the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil, then simmer until potatoes are soft.

So easy, and healthy! I have to add though, the jalapenos give it really good spicy flavor, I'm not sure how flavorful it would be with out them, but I'm sure it would still be good. Let me know if you make it w/ out them!

oh, and AS I AM TYPING THIS, my neighbor just came over to drop off the 5 boxes of girl scout cookies I ordered a while back, pre-weight watchers. Great.

PROUD!

2009-02-25T16:07:00.000-08:00

I don't know how this compares to other kids her age. (and I honestly don't care!!) But Ari is finally starting to learn to write all the letters! One month ago the ONLY letters she would even attempt were A R I. Today she did this (see pic below) from memory/looking at her flash cards! She always tends to do things this way, she's a little behind and then, BAM, she masters something quickly! I had to share her words she wrote today with the world!

If you can't read it it says "Grammy" "Pappy" "Yaya" "Georgia"

PS to Grampa: She realized about an hour later on her own that she didn't add your name to that paper so of course she had to write it out !!

Happy Birthday Darren...and more!

2009-02-24T08:28:00.000-08:00

I can't believe my baby is 3! Seems crazy...time has been flying by, I guess that means we're having fun! Yesterday was his "real" birthday, but since we aren't having his family party until Saturday he was a little confused! He did have a fun day though!

Jenni took him to the new bouncy house in Granite Falls (yes, there is one in Granite, random huh?) in the morning, and Grammy took him to see Thomas Live at the Everett Events Center. Best of all, he got to have ravioli for breakfast, it's all he ever wants so my mom gave him money to buy his own birthday breakfast! He was really really excited!

We went to a family dinner with Jon's fam. last weekend and Erika got some great pics of the kids! It was so fun to see all the cousins together, Maizey and Harper are too cute for words (see pics) I am in love with them! My kids are also a little obsessed with Maizey and they couldn't wait for her to get there. Ari kept telling me she was so happy to have a friend to play with there.

Lastly, and not least my sister finally got all her baby furniture in and set up! The room looks so cute! They still need some stuff for the walls, but the room looks amazing! I can't wait to see it in person! I also have a new "bump" picture from my sister, which I almost don't want to post because she is totally one of "those" women....who don't gain any weight and look like Rachel on Friends being pregnant. uuugh...lucky!!

This is one of my fav. new pics of Sissyana

D and Grampa

Playing with Maizey

Birthday Boy

We were trying to get them to look at the camera...turned out cute anyhoo!

Cousin Harper
Cousin Maizey
My nephew's adorable room!

My Sissy, about to pop...I should find a pic of me prego with Ari about to pop...a little bigger ;)

Santa Fe

2009-01-29T21:14:00.000-08:00

Wow, it has been a while since I've updated! Sorry everyone, I'm sure a lot of you lost sleep over my lack of blogging....
The kids and I visited my sister & Bill at their new home in Santa Fe, NM this past week and had a blast! They have an amazing house right up in the mountains, or at least that's what it feels like when your there. It was blue sky & sunny everyday! The kids and I really made ourselves at home there! I was glad to see them not acting tired and fussy like they were on "vacation" time. It really just felt homey there...We didn't do a ton, just hung out and played ping ping! (yes, the house has a bedroom big enough for a ping pong table in it!)I finally got to feel the baby move! But we forgot to have little Ari feel and she had been asking about it since my sisters shower..now she's really sad...oops. We took the kids to the Children's Museum which was super fun! We will definitely be going back there every time!
D decided to start calling me "ma". He almost says it with a "hillbilly" accent and it's the funniest thing I've ever heard. "Dat's funny Ma" "you a winner MA". I'll try and record it sometime.
Ari walked into the kitchen one night when we were all hanging out talking, and all of a sudden I hear this little voice (thinking no one is listening) singing "You're hot and your cold, you're yes and you're no...) I just about lost it. It was so funny. I didn't even know she had heard that song before?? I guess it's better than singing "I kissed a girl and..."
All in all it was a fun relaxing vacation but we had to come home because the kids missed Jon so much. (just trying to be nice, actually they made it clear all they missed was Anna.) Ari was extremely worried Daddy wasn't going to feed her and give her water and play with her while we were gone.
Oh, couple other funny things:
1: When the plane landed in Albuquerque, it was all quiet and Ari raised her arms up and did a big "whoo hoooooo", she had a few rows of people laughing.
2: When the plan landed in Seattle, Ari put her back pack on and said "whew, that was an easy flight"
3: Right when we were walking through the door in our house Ari put her bags down and said "oh, it's good to be home"... Love that girl
So far we are 4 for 4 for easy easy flights with the kids! I'm so relieved!!
OK, here are some photos from the trip, like I mentioned before (maybe?) I didn't get a ton of great shots, but now maybe people will stop harassing me about my blog:)

On our way to the airport. They like to sit here every time we leave and "wait for the bus"

Easiest kids to fly with ever! Ari was out...
and D was out...
and Baby Alive was out.
They sat with Pappy the last lag of the flight. Should have been like this the whole way, my sis and I had the whole row to ourselves!
I LOVE this kitchen!!
The entry way to their house. Its a big fountain/pond up the steps on both sides, it's frozen now but I can't wait to see it in the summer!!
The house. And the awesome blue sunny sky we woke up to every morning!
On a family walk
Their house has a big wood play toy in the yard! its so fun!
D was trying to make his tummy look like Aunties. He always wants to see every ones belly. When he asked to see Ari's she showed him and he went " woooooowwwww" you had to be there.
At the Santa Fe Children's Museum. They have a D-I-Y face painting station. Ari's dream come true. Pretty nice mom for letting her paint mine as well. She did us as kitties.
Art station.
They had a huge area of just sand/dirt and shovels and wheelbarrows. D loved digging! He calls himself a "worker". (as in construction workers)
Auntie and Ari. Ari is still asking me if I think Auntie will let her paint her face next time we come down....Ari???
Lana, this one is for you...
D and his new "best friend" he met at the museum. His sister kept calling him scooby, I don't know if that's his real name, but it was kinda random.

Take two on the face painting
That's really all the photos i got on the trip. Sorry there isn't more of the house! These next ones are just funny to me. D was getting a little restless on the flight home, so I let him and Ari have my camera. There is probably at least 75 photos they took, i just posted the ones i thought were funny!

This one is my favorite..lol? random

D isn't as good as sissyana yet at the self portraits

Maizey!!

2009-01-08T09:26:00.000-08:00

I got to watch Maizey yesterday while Lana was at school! It was so fun and she is so cute and fun and amazing! I love her! I had the best time watching my kids interact with her...I had to be reminded that they are cousins! It's so fun to watch them together, and my kids haven't been around that many babies and they were so sweet with her. They both wanted Maizey in their own rooms, Ari would crawl toward where she wanted Maizey to go hoping she would follow her!! D kept trying to feed her..he really wanted to give her a bottle...he also kept trying to be a lion around her and growling, while she stared at him like "what is wrong with you"? Don't worry Maizey...we wonder the same thing!! I'm hoping we get to have her over again!! ANYTIME LANA!!!

Here some photos from yesterday...and a few extras...

Both the kids wanted to hold her the whole time...

I love Ari's face in this picture...
And D's little hand, he kept patting her on the back...
"must eat this doll"
Maizey, we are all wondering why D has to have a band aid right there everyday
"who are you?"

Ari was helping her take steps..
Luckily our living room is basically a padded room! Totally fall proof!

She really was having a good time....
Girls were lounging on my bed w/ their dollies

"who lil' old me? I didn't make this big mess"

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing
Last week we celebrated Xmas w/ my grandparents that couldn't make it over earlier due to the snow...I didn't get very many pics but I love this one of D with his Great Grandpa! He loves him! Every time we're with them he climbs right up onto his lap!
We looked out into the kitchen before dinner and found little sneaky guy just sitting right at the table...very convenient spot ....
This is what happens when you leave Ari at Grammy's house for two weekends...

Last weekend I went up to Tahuya to Lana's cabin for a girls weekend. We had a blast doing nothing, didn't even turn on the TV. Luckily just in case Jessica did bring up Vertical Limit, Wild hearts can't be broken (vhs) & Phenomenon...anyways...I didn't get very many good pics of us, but I love this one taken from the cabin!

Arizona Trip!

2009-01-01T10:40:00.000-08:00

Jon and I just got back from a vaca to AZ, with WAYDE (must EE-nun-cee-ate) and his cousin Jesse to watch the Seahawks play their last game of this not-so-great season. We lost, but it was still an awesome trip! We paid big moola to get seats at the 2nd row right at the tunnel where the players come in and out of...and it was worth it! We got to shake all their hands, and they gave us a bunch of their gloves that they wore during the game...nothing like putting on a sweaty Seahawks glove!! That's a true fan!! We vowed to never wash our hands again. I'm not entirely sure who's glove I have, but I'd like to think it was Kerney (even though he wasn't playing, and I don't even think he was there) I can dream....
Back to reality. The game and the whole quick weekend was a blast! We've decided to go back every year and watch the Hawks' play in AZ in those same seats! (our goal is to see the Seahawks play at least once at all their away games) So we're thinking (somewhere new) & Arizona each year. Here's some photos from our fun weekend:

On our way to AZ
Totally Wayde's favorite movie!
Bro's. Apparently Jon wasn't in on the "pose" for this picture

We went to a super yummy seafood restaurant our first night that was right by our hotel. CHEERS!
We all ate frog legs! It was actually good...just can't think of the cute little froggies...
Group Shot
We had breakfast at Margaritaville. This place is called Westgate Center (I think) and it's so nice because the stadium is pretty much in the desert in the middle of nowhere, and they built this town center type place right next to it. Tons of good restaurants & bars. Even at like 1am it's all bright and seems like day time.

Breakfast of Champions (or Vacationers)

The stadium was really cool!

I'm pretty sure Mo Morris (#20) was looking at Jon thinkin' "thanks bro for wearing my jersey"
Classic WAYDE (or SSWAYDE) (or Euro-WAYDE) shot
OK, so we almost didn't get into the game because of my purse. Apparently it was too big. (12x12 is the max) I think mine is like 13x14. The guy at the gate was like "sorry", you have to go put this in your car..."well I'm from Seattle and that's where my car is, I just took a 20 min cab ride here from my hotel" his advice, "sorry, maybe see if one of the tailgaters out there will hold it for you"...OK, started to freak out a little, we talked to a manager outside who said the same thing. We are like, we paid a ton for these tix and have no car? this is my purse and my carry on. And it's not that big! Jon went in and found some other manager who decided only because I happen to have my medication bottle in there that we could go in, but he put a special tag on my purse that I had to keep on! lol, pretty funny. He did say that if that med. wasn't in there, he wouldn't have let us in. Jon seems to think otherwise...glad we didn't have to take it that far.
Umm, I don't think so dude, that is a Seattle thing!
This was a good moment during the game!
Trying to get down to see the player leave, they have it all blocked off...

Good times
WAYDE rode the bull! He was the only one out of our group who did it, and he did it about 5 times!

Can you tell these two are related! Hope they don't check this blog. This was on the plane ride home...Jon and I are so mean!

Christmas, finally!

2008-12-30T08:39:00.001-08:00

Christmas Eve morning started with an early visit from euro-Wayde, I mean Santa Wade...He came by and dropped some presents off for the kiddos. He's such a good best friend to D. Just ask Darren who is best friend is...he'll tell you..."Wayde my best friend"
My cake! "white chocolate obsession cake"

My kids were really lacking this year, this is before Santa came...
Christmas love...

Uncle Brad did good!
Missy with her Barbie Diamond Castle stuff...talk about a cult...
Fancy ladies
Santa always brings the kids new jammies on Christmas eve
D in his new jammies, having his dinner (see video below). This kid's a health nut
After dinner bro's
Leaving cookies & chocolate milk for Santa
More lovin'
Santa did come, I guess the kids were good this year...coulda fooled me
Seriousness opening presents
Ari and her "Baby Alive" she poops & pees...She's actually quite needy.."play with me mommy, I'm hungry mommy, I'm full mommy, gotta go potty,hurry hurry, can i have a hug, can we sing..." that thing NEVER STOPS! Kind of like a real baby!
New Spidey Shades

After gifts at home we went over to YaYa & Grampa's house and what do you know, Santa had been there too!

Ari opening her Princess Liana dress...

Less than a minute later...
Diamond Castle tea-set...sensing a theme here for Ari..
After YaYa & Grampas we went over to Jon's Uncle Kirks house. Literally the best meal ever..I wish they hosted a "christmas dinner" once a month...we'd be there. I didn't get any photo's but we had a great time and got to see all the cousins on that side that we never see which is always fun! They are all so fun and nice. I can't wait for next year!

*Note to Janet, I will be needing more frosted sugar cookies next year...!!

This was Ari's big gift this year...I had cleared out that corner of room room the weekend before so it would be all ready! She was so excited (so was I ) and she just loves taking care of her new dollies in here!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few extra shots from xmas week:

I had to take Ari to the Doc's for her cold, and all the nurses thought she was looking especially cute, I agree'd and figured i better get a shot. Yes, my camera is glued to me!

Grammy took D to the mall while we were at the docs and surprised me with this new hat/jacket...I heard he was turning some heads as well! He calls it his cowboy hat...I said he was cute, not a genius!
This was just funny because D didn't eat much for dinner on xmas eve..too busy. But I found him in his room later with his version of a Holiday meal:

Then my mom and I were in the kitchen after Jon went to bed and D came out to find us:

Quick shot of D opening gifts at YaYa & Grampa's...He certainly didn't need any help this year!

Teaser...

2008-12-27T00:40:00.000-08:00

I haven't had time to post anything about our fun fun FUN Christmas this year! It was so amazing and way to quick...Long gone are the days of taking my time with my stocking, and slowly opening our gifts one at a time so Christmas morning lasts all morning. Nope, it was gone in a blizzard of wrapping paper yesterday! Most importantly the kids had fun, and got way to much stuff. I guess my idea of not going overboard didn't go so well. I had too much fun picking out gifts this year. OK, back to my point of the title of this post. I don't have any time to post right now so I'm leaving you with a teaser...Jon and I are off to AZ tomorrow AM to watch the Hawks play their last game this season, and Holmgren's last game coaching! It should be a short and fun trip! I promise lots of Xmas photos on here when I'm safely on the ground in Sea-town again.

OK, maybe 2 photos

Happy Birthday Jessica!

2008-12-22T20:02:00.000-08:00

Today is Jessica's big 30!!
Who would have thought Georgica would still be Georgica after 17 1/2 long years! Yup, that's when I met my Baby Girl, on the first day of 7th grade, I (nervously) asked her to be my locker partner. (you see I was very shy and it was the first day of middle school that took guts) but...She said NO..yup..she already had one and said no. I later found out she thought I was a snob because I carried a purse to school. (another side note, I DIDN'T want to take my purse to school, but my mom and sis insisted, thanks). Anyways..we ended up getting together at her house, which I though was the coolest place ever! We started drinking Jolt together and she told me she shaved her legs, but not to tell her mom if it came up during dinner! lol...I wish I was spending your 30th birthday with you Jess! I love you! Happy Birthday! And we will be celebrating sometime soon I promise...la ha & taco bell...

Round 3 Coming soon..

2008-12-20T13:18:00.001-08:00

We're stuck at home awaiting tonight's storm! They said in our area we might get like 9 inches of snow! If that is the case, we'll have so much snow here! We still have a foot on the ground at least! It would be pretty cool to see, as long as we don't loose power, I'm always up for a good storm! It's not like I have anywhere I have to be! Bring it on!

Trying to stay warm inside

My little home-maker

Snow! Snow! Snow! Round 2

2008-12-17T14:59:00.001-08:00

D is feeling better, Ari is still pretty sick, but we did get out today for a few minutes to play in the snow. I figured 10 mins of fresh air might do her good! D and I built a snow(wo)man & Ari helped by bringing out the accessories for it..I'm sure you'll be able to tell from the pics that she had a hand in it!
I cannot believe how much snow we have! I measured 8 inches this morning, and it's supposed to snow some more tonight!! I love it and I hope it keeps coming down!!

So much snow! I took this before it started snowing again!
It is pretty up here in the snow that's for sure!

Our snowman or snow-woman..Poor D surrounded by girls all day

Going in for a hug and kiss, he knocked it over :(

Our big tree looked really pretty today covered in snow!!

Snow! Snow! Snow!

2008-12-15T15:28:00.000-08:00

I love the snow! It's supposed to snow some more wed. night or so I'm told and I hope it does! The kids had a great time playing in it this weekend until D got sick...Now Ari is sick also and I'm hoping they just get better by Christmas. Anyways, here our fun times in the snow....so far!!

First snow of the year!!

My Snow babies Always stylish

Snow Angels
Grammy & Ari getting ready for their snow ball fight!

This video was just too funny (at least to us) to not put on the blog. My mom was trying to convince Ari to try sledding down her yard...

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Saturday in Seattle

2008-12-12T14:12:00.002-08:00

Every year my mom & sister & I take Ari downtown during Christmas for a "fancy night". She gets to wear her Christmas dress and ride the carousel...it's always a good time! This year was bittersweet because it was also my sisters last night in Sea-town...We had a great time and little Ari did great considering she barely had a nap that day and we were downtown till after 10...

Pre-funk at grammy's

She got to open her xmas gift from Auntie...Not sure if she was excited to get the Barbie Diamond Castle doll or not? What do you think? We always have drinks at the Fairmont before dinner...because it's always smart to teach a kid about $10 shirley temples

We finally made it to see the snow at Pacific Place...every year the timing is off
Waiting for our table at Palamino...luckily we had to wait for about 35 mins because Ari had "a lot of work to do"

Carousel ride

We always end the night with a horse & carriage ride around the city. It was really pretty this year and warm under the big blankets they give you!

Why it's fun having a boy!

2008-12-09T15:46:00.000-08:00

This video is a little long, and probably more funny to me than anyone else out there...but I had to post it! I actually captured two of his cutest little thing in one video. I was trying to get him to say "twirling around" or his version of that which is quite funny, and impossible to type out with letters..you hear him say it on the video after I ask him a couple times. Then I also happen to catch my most favorite thing he says...after anyone gets an 'owie' D loves to kiss it and pat it and say "bah better" (all better)...it's seriously the cutest thing ever...sorry it's kinda long...but here's my boy:

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Oh, and in case you noticed his pajama's are torn...no, I don't normally put my kids in ripped PJ's..but Jon accidentally tore these the night we got them trying to take off the tag..and well D can't live without his Buzz jammies...

CUTE

2008-12-04T09:24:00.001-08:00

Gingerbread Houses

2008-12-03T13:18:00.000-08:00

We were planning on decorating these on Thanksgiving, but as I should have expected time ran out! Not sure how I thought I was going to squeeze that in there..not to mention the mess i would have had on my hands on top of the regular thanksgiving mess!! I'm glad i waited! The kids decorated them on Monday and they turned out pretty cute! Ari did her all by herself, and D only needed a little help. It took everything I had not to do them and make them all cute and perfect...I figured it might take the fun away if i start judging my toddler's decorating abilities. I think next year I'll get myself one too! I do love doing that kind of stuff!
Oh, and D got a new haircut...as if he needed to be any cuter??

Such concentration:

Ari's finished house:
D's finished house:

Thanksgiving

2008-12-01T16:41:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is here and gone and Christmas is next! I'm pretty excited this year! Each year it gets more and more fun with the kids as they start to understand it more. Well they don't really understand the "real" meaning of it...but they start to get Santa coming down the chimney while their sleeping...hmmm, can't figure out why Ari would be scared of a big man who comes into our house while she's sleeping?

Back to the post...Thanksgiving was Awesome! We celebrated at our house and had tons of great food. We all made turkey hats and just hung out! We missed Fred and Vic since they had a little scare and were at the hospital for most of the day...but the best news was that everything was good so that made Thanksgiving even more special, even if they were only their in spirit! Sarah and Kirk brought some dinner to them that night so basically it's like they were with us!

TURKEY HATS

Auntie Sarah & Kirk

Grammy

We made Ari's room the craft room, still finding glitter everywhere

Yee Haw, Jon in his Thanksgiving attire...
Auntie Ari, Grammy & Bill...and baby !!
Belly shot!!
Ari (2X)
Our pretty table!
Football!
My dad and his "famous" (at least to me) grilled veggies
BFF's Brad & Ari
Post dinner lounging

...and post dinner chocolate!

Pedicure

2008-11-23T09:13:00.000-08:00

Ari has been fighting a cold all week, so on Saturday Jon took D to his family's early Thanksgiving and I stayed home so Ari could rest. We thought it would be a good time to give each other pedicures with out D's distraction. I do find it hard to have any "quiet" girl time when he's here!!

Pedicure Time...
Soaking her little feet...
Scrubbing...
Massage... Finished toes!!
I even got a little foot massage out of it...

Emily & John's Wedding!

2008-11-20T09:10:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday I was lucky enough to be invited Emily & John's wedding. For those that don't know Emily is been my sisters BFF since college...boy do I have some stories about them (Ari and Em that is). I used to go down and spend the night at their sorority when I was in high school still so of course I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Actually, they pretty much thought they were the coolest things ever, and well, some things don't change right ladies?? Should I have stood up at the wedding and thanked Em for all the times they bought 10 bottles of Boones & 6 packs of Schmidt Ice for Jessica and me? Back to the wedding. It was so beautiful and happy and relaxed. The ceremony was probably one of the best ceremony's I've ever been to. Besides the fact that the church was so amazingly beautiful, the ceremony it's self was awesome. It was longer than most ceremony's, and seemed quicker at the same time. I was actually interested in everything the pastor said it seemed really meaningful and special.
My sister was the MOH and looked so cute and very preggo in her dress! Bill apparently thought she looked OK too since he told me she was the "hottest mama" he'd ever seen, and she looked frickin' so amazing and beautiful...aaaahhhh...
I also need to give a huge thanks to Lana for helping us (me, my mom, my dad & his friend, yes, all in one car!) find the reception. We got completely lost for over 45 mins and I remembered that her high school reunion was at the same place. She got us there with no problems, after I'm sure being yelled at into the phone by someone in the car and being passed around on the phone....thanks Lana!!
Here are a couple pics from the fun night!

The bride, Emily looking amazing as always..yes, she's one of those girls that ALWAYS looks beautiful, I wouldn't expect anything less on her wedding day!

A couple photos of the church, it was so pretty...

The reception at Pravda Studios

Paparazzi

2008-11-13T17:27:00.000-08:00

Some cute photos of the kiddo's from the past couple days...nothing to report...except I booked my first trip to Santa Fe in January and I'm super excited! The kids and I are going to fly home with my sister and stay for a week! Can't wait! Should be/Might be really snowy!!

D's new favorite thing to do is snuggle up in his bed and watch "Buzz" (Toy Story) on the little DVD player...complete with popcorn of course, and his buzz phone so he can talk directly to buzz about the movie:

Last night we watched Morgan for a few hours after school & she had dinner with us. The girls did makeup, had a tea party, got McDonald's for dinner & decorated sugar cookies for dessert! It was a fun night!!

Do you think Ari was excited?

Today my dad watched the kids for me during my Dr. appt. When I got back to his house we went off on our usual errand-running-lunch-play...We found a fun park in Everett and got a couple great shots! Including my new favorite one of Ari that I used as the main photo on the blog!

Ari got her new snow pants for winter/Santa Fe! They are so cute, I couldn't resist a picture

Fun Weekend!

2008-11-10T14:17:00.000-08:00

As usual we kept busy this weekend, always fun though!

Friday night we celebrated my aunt Roxy's 50th birthday party with a family dinner at Anthony's, one of my favorite restaurants in Everett! I even decided to leave the kids at Jon's parents so we could have a "peaceful" dinner! They had a blast with YaYa & Grampa making princess & prince crowns, Ari got to use glitter which is her favorite thing in the world so she was in heaven.
My mom & Jennie
Jennie, me & Ari
Ari, Jon & Bill
Birthday cake by me of course!
The birthday girl, Aunt Roxy!
My mom...& a glass of champagne..
My sis & our Grandparents!
Lance, Roxy & Jennie

Saturday Stacy & I took Ari & Morgan to High School Musical, The Ice Tour. We had front row seats and it was super fun, and even more super expensive! We're talking double the price of Disneyland, hello?? Aside from the $18 programs (yes, $18 programs) it was great! Ari was a little scared the firs half. She hates being inside places that get dark..and they dimmed the lights a lot..so during intermission I got her a light up microphone (we won't discuss the price) and she was THRILLED the whole 2nd half. Plus I think she knew more of the songs from the 2nd half too so that was fun!

Ari & Morgan with their matching shirts!

Ari also got to help me make pancakes! She loves to help me in the kitchen, and I love her help! I'm hoping she always enjoys it as much as I do (cooking that is) because it's one of my favorite things to do! Back to pancakes, this time I actually let her pour the mix onto the hot pan which I don't normally do. Considering I always burn myself I figure it best to keep her away too!

Aquarium

2008-11-07T09:12:00.000-08:00

Last week my sister and I took the kids to the Seattle Aquarium. It was one of our last sunny warm fall days! The kids loved seeing all the sea critters..Ari even touched a couple (you know my brave kids, that's a big thing!)..not sure when she got more brave then D who wouldn't go near them. He was however super excited about the pirates that were everywhere. Actually they were skeletons for Halloween, but he thinks those are pirates, and I'm not about to explain to a 2 1/2 year old what a skeleton really is?? Best part for little Ari (& big Ari too) was Red Robin for lunch I'm sure! Must be something with the name..but those girls LOOOOVE Red Robin!!
Here are some photos from our fun day! I even snuck one of a little baby bump!

BFF'S

Ari's

Little baby bump in octopus jail

Ice Skating!

2008-11-04T16:26:00.000-08:00

So Ari has been obsessed the movie Ice Princess for about a year now. She has always wanted to go ice skating but to be honest I didn't realize that toddlers could even do it! Until I saw in blog world that Sydney went a couple months ago! I was so excited! Soon after I got the fall Everett Parks & rec. guide and they had a mom & tot ice skating class in October. Unfortunately not enough people signed up so the class was cancelled, they have another one in January that I'm hoping will be one! OK, my point of this post is that today I finally took the kids! Well with the help of trusty Auntie Jennie! (actually she came up last night and spent the night so it was really a fun 24 hours for my kids). In case you didn't know they are a little obsessed with her. It isn't hard to see why. She PLAYS with the kids! All the time, simple as that! During family dinners or parties or anything where they are together she just plays with them! The nice thing is she can actually tell them no too and they listen! OK..back to the topic...We took the kids today to the ice rink and it was so fun! I thought they would only last like 15 min or so and they were on the ice for over an hour! They had to hold our hands the whole time of course, but they did so well! I can't wait to take them again.

First time on the ice!
D & Auntie skating

Do you think Ari wanted to be in this picture? sassy girl...

Luv bug

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Sweet Home Alabama

2008-11-03T09:44:00.001-08:00

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Trick or Treat

2008-11-01T09:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was such a FUN Halloween! It was my favorite one so far. As the kids get a little older and understand it more, it just becomes much more enjoyable! Our neighbors (actually friends, I hate calling them "neighbors", sounds so impersonal!) came over for trick-or-treating, pizza, drinks...We hit up the new development across the street which was the perfect size, minus the fact that a TON of houses has all their lights on inside & out, but weren't home. Isn't it common sense that if your not home, or don't want to participate in Halloween that you turn your porch light off? I guess that hasn't made it's way all the way to the folks in Granite Falls yet!
Ari had been so excited to go trick 0r treating and have a "pizza party" with Morgan, she just ADORES her, it's pretty cute.
We got home and the kids spread out their candy on Ari's floor and did some major candy trading. That was my favorite thing to do on Halloween when I was little, though I'm pretty sure my sister tricked me out of all my good candy one way or another. "I'll give you THREE(gross, fake) chocolate coins for just 2 of your Twix bars??" something like that I'm sure....Maybe it was more, "give me a Snickers or I'll tell mom and dad you hit me!!"....ya, that was it..

Here are some photos from our fun Halloween day!

We stopped by my mom's neighbor Pat's house earlier in the day. She had little treats and cookies for the kids. A & D love her and she's so good to them! On our way home Ari was going through her treat bag and found that Pat had given her a dollar! I have never seen a little girl be so excited!! She told me, "I really liked all the candy Pat gave me, but I REALLY REALLY LOVED that dollar!" hilarious...

Mike Wazowski (from Monsters Inc.)
"Super-hero"

BFF's, Ari and Morgan, who was a "Charmed Witch"

Trying to get D to pose for a picture...uh huh...
Classic
The whole trick or treating gang. I love this pic because Morgan is looking at Ari, Ari is looking at Darren, Darren is looking at Maddy, and Maddy is smiling at the camera!
Big deal that Ari would go up to the doors with out me!

Morgan and all the candy!!
Cutie kids...

Finally!

2008-10-28T14:56:00.001-07:00

I'm actually posting an update can you believe it! There really isn't too much to report, which is always good I suppose. We've been chuggin' along enjoying this crazy wonderful weather! The kids love it because we can get back to the park and I love it, well actually I really just love that the new season of TV has started! I'm lame, I know.. but being a stay at home mom who spends 100% of my time busy with the kids, it's my one thing I love! Jessica asked me the other day what shows I couldn't miss, and when I typed out my response it was a little embarrassing...OK, enough about me, I know ya'll just care about my cutie patootie kids!
D finally out-weighs Ari! I know he's always been so big, but somehow she has still always weighed more than him until now. He's about 35lbs of pure love and Ari's around 33. I'm trying so hard to get her up to 35...so hard when she just wants to survive on bread & butter (literally). So far they have been healthy, unlike myself who got a bad case of the flu last week! I'm nervous as always for winter and just want to get it over with..She was so sick last year I can't imagine doing that again...but I will as I always do!

Jon's keeping busy with side jobs & work and I'm always busy and all is good around here!

I just wrote a whole lot about nothing...so here's the good stuff:

Enjoying a fire, maybe the last of the year??
D thought this was maybe the coolest game ever...

Getting into the pillowcase with the big pillow..that's a game right?

I love this pic! From a while back when Jess & Lana came over for dinner..Classic Jess with all the kiddo's having fun!

Our neighbors took Jon and I to the Packers/Hawks' game a couple weeks ago. They are from WI, Jon is emotional about the hawks. Let's just say it was interesting...

Me, Stacy, Wayde & Jon
We had a great time! Even if we did loose, bad..very very bad. At least Jon didn't try to beat up any old ladies, or his cousin, or me this time!!
The kids at Ya Ya & Grampa's house for Auntie Sarah's jewelry party. They loved this friend of Vicki's! It was so cute! It takes someone pretty fun for Ari to not be stuck to my side during a party!!
Notice D's ears...wearing Grammy's fancy earrings..
Ari and I got to my moms BFF Jodi's birthday party last week! We had so much good food I wish my mom's friends could cater all my parties!

My mom and Jodi:
Ari and the ladies:
My friend Nichole had her little teeny tiny baby a couple weeks ago, early! right before her shower at Jessica's house. Lucky for us we not only got to have the baby shower, but also see the baby! She is so tiny and perfect! I think her mommy has decided it was more of a "first week birthday party" rather then a baby shower...Lana also brought Maizey and I didn't have my kids there so I got to play with her a bit which will always just make you happy!
I love this pic of Maizey because she has black beans on her face! lol
Worlds best auntie/nanny/friend
Kids getting ready to head to the pumpkin patch last weekend.

Believe it or not, D was having much more fun in the wheelbarrow than Ari...Apparently I didn't capture that!

OK, this was hilarious..maybe a little inappropriate but oh well...

We had a Little sex-ed lesson at the pumpkin farm as well. They have a little animal farm there...this pigs were, well, feeling frisky...D kept yelling out: "he get up there, he get up there". Scroll to the next picture...lol

When daddy's gone...

2008-10-10T12:04:00.000-07:00

Jon's been back east for the past week. The kids and I were all pretty pooped out after Disneyland, so we layed low this week and just hung out. It was very nice & it doesn't happen very often that we have no plans! Of course with my little ones there was still some picture worthy moments during our quiet week!

He really really wanted to put it on! Sorry Jon!

Auntie Jennie got Ari a new baby on wed. She looves her. She changes her diaper & has a diaper bag..pretty cute.
Not to worry, he's still a pirate at heart! I love this photo ( & this kid)
Auntie Jennie came over last night too & did Ari's hair and makeup! Lookin' good...
We were dancing around in the kitchen yesterday and she wanted me to take a picture of her "shakin' her booty"

It's A......

2008-10-09T15:55:00.000-07:00

!!! B O Y !!!

There was a little disappointment in the room when the ultrasound technician confirmed that it is indeed NOT a Shih Tzu puppy.

HE is however a healthy bouncing (very bouncy) baby boy!! Oh boy my sister is in for it now!! If he's half the lover dover that my big D is, then you guys will be the happiest people in the world in a couple months! I know I joke about how crazy D is a lot, and boys in general...well that is true (very, very VERY true), he is also the worlds biggest mama's boy, snuggler & friendliest tot around!

Here are a couple of GEORGE'S latest pics..(j/k about the name btw)

ENJOY!

Isn't he handsome already?
Baby toes.